Gerry Callahan is the co-host of the Dennis and Callahan Show on WEEI.

It’s easy to forget that at one time, Callahan was perhaps one of the best sports writers in the country.

Callahan grew up in Massachusetts, graduating from Chelmsford High School and UMass Amherst. He started his career with the Lowell Sun in 1983 and then moved on to the Boston Herald five years later. In 1994, he moved on to Sports Illustrated, where was a senior writer for the publication.

He was a frequent Big Show co-host in the early days of the program, before getting his own show with John Dennis starting in 1997. After leaving SI, he rejoined the Herald as a columnist.

In 2007, Callahan missed several months of work on the show with a throat ailment. By the time he was healthy enough to return, his contract as well as that of co-host Dennis was up for renewal, which resulted in a brief lockout for the pair which had them returning in time for the first “Patriots Monday” of the 2007 season on September 10th.

{democracy:131}

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

54 thoughts on “2011 Approval Ratings – Gerry Callahan”

    1. Gosh, I just realized I like him even more because all you Libs hate him. It's the ONLY show worth listening to on WEEI.

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  3. I'm glad both Callahan and Dennis signed new contracts a while back so we can all bear witness to their demise. The smug and hate-filled years of high ratings are now a thing of the past. I personally don't know anybody that still listens to them regularly. I only flip over on Mondays to catch Brady during football. The few "callers" I do hear sound like they are using pay phones at Long Term Care facilities. Soon both the Morning Show and Ordway will be as irrelevant as Eddie Andelman and the Fabulous Sports Babe. The funny part is they continue to whistle past the graveyard like they did in their salad days, ignoring the fact that the curtain is dropping on their worthless radio careers. Bye Bye Honkie.

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  5. Oh no poor baby Callahan is being disapproved, does he need his bottle, is he going to go run and cry to mommy.

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  6. I tuned this jack-off out years ago and I"m a better person because if it. I was afraid that if I kept listening I'd actually get stupider over time.

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  7. Maybe there is some microscopic semblance of happiness in Callahan's soul when he's not around Dennis but I wouldn't know.

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  8. Back in the day, he was a good writer and did a particularly good job with hockey. (hey, anyone who can provoke a Canadiens beat writer to flip out is ok in my book). But, since he has become primarily a radio personality, it seems as though he has focused so much on his "radio persona" that he has lost connection with sports in general and his readers in particular. He needs to try to remember where the radio schtick ends and the columnist begins.

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  9. Big disapprove. I also take issue with the statement that Callahan was at one time one of the best sportswriters in the country. Are you kidding me? Maybe his writing style at SI was different, but his Herald columns are 8th grade level. Full of silly pop culture and current event related similes and metaphors. They read like a middle school assignment gone bad.

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    2. I have to agree. I had just moved here in the late 1980s, and when Callahan was a reporter, I liked his work. Once he started writing a column, and we saw more of him and his views, my opinion of him declined. The cheap writing devices made him seem like a second rate Shaughnessy, who, in turn, is third rate when it comes to that kind of laziness. The same cookie-cutter approach and paint-with-a-broad brush approach on the radio makes him either lazy or not that intelligent Lucky, yes.

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    1. Funny I haven't seen one post relating to his politics above. Not sure why you are assuming we are all liberals because we don't like Callahan. I happen to be a Republican (although even I find his right wing lunacy laughable at times), and I can't stand the guy. His sports knowledge leaves a lot to be desired as well.

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      1. Don't take the bait. The obvious misspelling of Liberal and Jerry is a junior high-level ploy to paint those who approve of his politics as knuckle-draggers.

        Not that I entirely disagree, but the gambit is dumb.

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    2. If by "telling it like it is" you mean speaking is ignorant generalizations and shutting out anyone from disagreeing with him, then yes, he certainly tells it like it is.

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  12. Huge disapprove for "Clipper Callahan." Just a hateful, hateful man. The fact that him and that fat slob Dennis are getting pummeled in the ratings brings me an inordinate amount of joy.

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  13. I think the world would be a better place if more people understood that when you act the way Gerry does, it means you're a piece of garbage and a bad person. Almost the dictionary definition of a bully: a small, little man who abuses those he deems weaker than he is and turtles like a lily-livered coward when confronted or placed in the presence of a perceived superior.

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  14. I like Gerry Calahan…there I said it. I agree with Bruce, for a while he was one of the best sportswriters in the country. To this day his written freelance work for the Herald (I call it freelance because nothing is really regular, is usually well researched, well articulated and topical. Having said that, the morning show is the absolute wrong vehicle for him. Gerry would be much better suited to long form midday talk where he could explore a topic instead of the ADD style a morning show with its pop-in listeners demand. At the same time I think John Dennis is another problem as he is a very bad choice in partner for Callahan. Because Dennis has no sports knowledge and is basically Ted Baxter, Gerry is forced to carry the "ideas" of the show. If you remember back to when he was a Big Show guest or if you listened to the shows he worked this summer with Dale, he was excellent. He stayed focused, didn't say or do stupid things, made good points and largely is listenable. The morning show format is awful for him. The sad thing is unless he is moved to something else his legacy is going to be that of a political dingbat who was supposed to be "talkin' spahrts". Team him with Tom Curran and give them the midday show and I bet he is quite good.

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    1. LTD, I appreciate your unique take on Callahan – I was a fan of his back in the Lobel days of 'Sports Final' when he would only appear for a 5-10 minute roundtable segment and stuck to talking about sports (perhaps like any vice, he is best taken in small dosages).

      Interesting that you suggest Callahan might work better with another co-host. His first actual EEI partner was former Ch. 56 sports anchor Michael Barkann. I'm probably one of the few who recall that pairing in the mid 90's, and I thought they had good on-air chemistry and MB would always keep Gerry on point. Unfortunately for most of us, Barkann moved to Philly (I believe that might be his hometown) to go work for Comcast, Dennis jumped into the vacant chair and the rest, as they say, is disapproving history.

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    2. LTD-Gotta disagree with you on his Herald work lately – it’s generally a rehash of what he talked about the day before on the radio (a page ripped directly out of the Shaughnessy playbook and now being used more and more by the likes of Mazz).

      Needs everything to be “compelling”.

      The PGA Tour is no longer “COMPELLING” without Tiger…..

      The Patriots games last year weren’t “COMPELLING” because they were often way ahead.

      When they had real competition on the air (Stern way back when and now T&R) they are getting buried.

      Congratulations Gerry, you beat 97 year old Don Imus, Loren & Wally and Greg Hill.

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    3. I don't actually remember him on the Big Show, so… I'm starting to think Dennis is a blight upon the landscape in a different way than Callahan is.

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  16. Was really an outstanding writer in his Herald Part 1 and SI days. Don't know where it all went wrong. But it went wrong, and badly. Had he only ever opened his mouth about sports, maybe we wouldn't have seen the bile, the arrogance, the condescending disdain, or the narrowmindedness. Too late now, though.

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  17. Once heard him use the same adjective to describe Manny as he used to describe the priests that were being accused of molestation. Hearing that, i stoped listening, which i think was in the 2003 time frame

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  18. Lost all respect after thye 'Metco Gorrilla" incident. He let Dennis (although he is a creep) take all the blame at first without saying a word. Once the tapes were reviewed it was clear that Callahan was involved too. Real stand-up guy.
    When they came back from their suspension instead of discussing what happened and explaining himself at 6:05 Callahan just said "it is time to move on". A phrase Callahan would jump all over if made by someone he detested.

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  19. First off, COULD NOT CARE LESS about his politics. I'm one of those who thinks politics is a bunch of CRAP, that goes for BOTH SIDES. All they do is play games and blame each other….YADA-YADA-YADA…..,.It's his take on SPORTS that bugs me. He seems to think we should watch sports and decide who to root for based on "Morals'….."How can you root for Haynesworth?'…..'how can you root for (insert player here)

    He treats sports as if it were one big senate investigation. The only thing he seems to get excited about is STEROIDS!!!! or which player got arrested for what…Callahan is so far removed from sports fans it's not funny. ….Listen up Callahan, most of us watch sports for a diversion from "real life" and to have SOME FUN. Simple as that, lighten up you ANGRY OLD PRICK……..Callahan would be better suited as Howie Carr's sidekick (John Dennis could be their "flash boy")

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  20. DISAPPROVE from me. Like Bruce though, I remember when he was a good writer. And APNDR is correct in saying that during his first stint with the Herald and SI his writing was very good. As bad as he is now, he isn't even close to being my most hated WEEI personality. Mikey, Meter, and Dennis are my WEEI axis of evil, and I have more hate for Ordway than I do for Gerry.

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  21. My first post here but I wanted to share this. Probably the worst thing I ever heard him say was when Manny did not go to Walter Reed with the other Sox, a guy called in who said he was diabetic and went on to defend Manny in some way. Callahan said, "A diabetic? You just like sticking needles in your arms. You're probably a heroin addict." (Paraphrasing) When the caller called him out on that statement, he claimed he never said it. The caller asked them play the tape back, it had magically disappeared. That was the end of the road for me as a casual listener of his show.

    As an aside, I run road races and one of the happiest moments of my running career was when I was skimming the results of a 5k and noticed I had beaten him by better than three minutes. I had no clue he was in the race until I saw his name on the result sheet but it felt good!

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    1. Right because Gerald Callahan is not a common name in this area and it must have been the radio personality.

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      1. Exactly, Gerry Callahan is the fastest man in the world. He's raced horses and beat them. He's Gerry Callahan. He's the fastest man in the world. He's Gerry Callahan. He's faster than airplanes. He's ran from Boston to California in 5 hours. He's Gerry Callahan. He's faster than God. Can God run the hundred in 8 seconds? No!

        If Gerry lost it's only because he had to slow down because he was afraid his feet were about to burst into flames and burn the other runners.

        By the way, Clip sucks. DISAPPROVE!

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      2. The age and city were also the same as his. So I assume there are several Gerry Callahans of the same age from his hometown. Possible, sure. Not likely, especially since he mentioned in an interview with Scott Brown how he had been training for 5K's.

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        1. wow, you beat him in a 5k? Why not compare paychecks, see how you fare in that competition.

          I love all the bashing, yet the show is still rated higher than Toucher and Rich consistently.

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  22. Disapprove. The show has no insight, let alone this specific personality. The man is clearly filled with so much hate, and is constantly casting stones. I cannot confirm, but I truly believe he is extremely prejudiced, based of his snarky remarks. I agree with Late that his teaming with Dale isn't awful, much better than Dennis. To me Callahan will never be must hear radio, as I just despise him as a human being too much!

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    1. " he is extremely prejudiced": AMEN to that. I happen to be a recent immigrant to this country and used to listen to EEI from 2005 til 98.5 came along. I couldn't stand him when he talked about minorities. I am still shocked that he never got suspended for some of the crap he said. Gerry Callahan and Michael Savage are just about the same in my book…hate message all day long.

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  23. Callahan is almost the archetype EEI personality, which is why they are losing the war. Smug, dismissive arrogance and smoldering anger appeals to very few people. And those it does appeal to are generally in the older demo which is losing influence across the board. The sooner Wolfe realizes this, the better off the station is.

    Someone mentioned it in an earlier comment, but it's worth repeating – D&C's multiple racist episodes are definitely noteworthy and should not be overlooked. Political slants aside, there simply is no room for that kind of thing in today's media. That they are still on the air is actually kind of unbelievable.

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  25. Huge approve….. excellent writer…. great republican…. despises demented liberal moonbats… has stones wimps like evil Tony Mazz dream of having…. the conservative will mcdonough of our time. Bruce, take a poll of all the commentators in this site and I will wager that 85% voted for those 2 criminal alien loving pacifists Deval Patrick and Barack Hussein Obama, as well as John gigolo Kerry. That's mostly why they all rip Callahan.

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    1. I worked for both Steve Pierce and Ronald Reagan. That conservative enough for you? Eh? And I rip Callahan because he's less than worthless; the same kind of ignorant, arrogant, racist, dumb effing Mick (I'm Irish too, so I can say that) who gives this city a bad name, and a subset of the breed of morons who are giving the GOP a bad name. He's too dumb to formulate intelligent opinions, and too condescending to permit anyone to dare educate him away from his retarded "common sense". The problem in this country today is that truly stupid people are being empowered to think their opinions and thoughts are even remotely valuable. And examples #1, 2, and 3 are Gerry Callahan, John Dennis, and WEEI.

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  27. Stopped listening to them. A big issue for me, aside from the instrusion of politics into their 'sports' discussions, is that they just don't seem to have any fun at all. Sports, even if you get passionate and upset, at some level should be fun. Really, if you can't enjoy a period of time when all the teams you are being paid to cover and talk about are achieving a level of sustained excellence we've never seen before 'round here … well, find another line of work.

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  28. "It’s easy to forget that at one time, Callahan was perhaps one of the best sports writers in the country."

    It's easy to forget because he never was.

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  29. Arrogant condescending piece of garbage (he might be a great husband and dad but we only know Gerry Callahan the radio host). This is the same guy who boasted for several minutes about what a lucrative career he has; "great house, no mortgage, brand new truck and a great job" (Im paraphrasing but that's almost verbatim). Hats off to him BUT WE DON'T CARE!!
    I wasn't born in this country and I cant stand the racist, condescending comments he would regularly make about minorities. It is so blatant and insensitive, they made me want to put my fist through my car radio several times. Thats when I knew this douche bag isnt worth listening to.

    I know radio is about fabricating controversy. I've read several articles about the "METCO gorilla"…people do say stupid things when given a microphone, especially if your job is to talk for 4 hours/five days a week. But in this day and age of political correctness, how can you say such a remark unless you are inherently a racist person.
    Like many of you, I needed my sports talk fix before the Sports hub came along and EEI used to be the only outlet. You sort of had no other option but with or without the emergence of TSH I was all done with EEI.

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  30. The thing I hate most about Callahan is his sneer. No, wait, that's not it, it's his pretending he doesn't know stuff just so he can make fun of it. No, wait, /that's/ not it either. The thing I hate /most/ is his not actually knowing stuff a 10 year old would know. Or maybe the thing I hate most is that he never seems to enjoy anything but golf, and has to find something to carp about for the entirety of the show. Hey, Jerry, your team just won, have some fun!

    Or maybe it's ALL OF THAT AND MORE.

    I don't care about his writing anymore (which is still fairly OK) because his radio persona is such a moronic jerk.

    Please note: I'm not even talking about his politics, up there, or the stuff I interpret as racist xenophobia. The stuff I most hate has to do with his negativism and his smugness.

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  31. The thing I hate most about Callahan is his sneer. No, wait, that's not it, it's his pretending he doesn't know stuff just so he can make fun of it. No, wait, /that's/ not it either. The thing I hate /most/ is his not actually knowing stuff a 10 year old would know. Or maybe the thing I hate most is that he never seems to enjoy anything but golf, and has to find something to carp about for the entirety of the show. Hey, Jerry, your team just won, have some fun!

    Or maybe it's ALL THAT AND MORE. Grr.

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  32. (Btw, is xenophobia one of the auto-delete words? I keep running afoul of the comment monitoring software and it's baffling as to how. is there a list somewhere, so I can avoid the pertinent words?)

    Edit: Hrm, evidently not. I can't remember what else it might've been. Oh, welll.

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  33. As a writer Callahan used to be one best writers around. His "Loserville" article for the Herald completely summed up the early 90's in Boston. Now he is a shell of himself. A few years ago he wrote an article about what a selfish and bad teammate Pedro Martinez was. He said Pedro only cared about the money. A couple of years ago D&C were not on the air for about two months. Why, because they were being locked out. What was the reason? D&C wanted more money. How selfish of Callahan. Why did he not accept the first offer from WEEI? He would have been on the air and not missed any days. Gerry is not a team player.

    Callahan may be the equivalent of Mother Theresa away from the mic, but I can only go by what I hear on the radio. Callahan is a mean, snide, lousy human being. Bruce brought up a great example of this last year when he was hosting the show with the insufferable Meterparel. Shonda Schilling was guest on the show talking about her book on children with Aspergers Syndrome and how she handles her child who suffers from it. After the interview, a caller who struggles with the illness asked where he could buy the book. Callahan in typical snide self said, "at the bookstore, How should I know?!" When called out about it, Callahan refused to apologize and felt we are all too sensitive. Well Gerry, it looks like the chickens have finally come home to roost.

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  34. Callahan is a hypocrit of the worst kind. after this past week of listening to him and how others shouldve reacted and how he wouldve handled it, Has anyone mentioned the boston red sox and their dealings with a child molestor? how about a question for dustin pedroia and his dealings? and theirs was right under their noses for years and years also. who covered that up? where was st. callahan then? did he write anything about it? did he uncover anything? nah, he just reacted as usual. I hope sanduskey, paterno and PSU burn but u shouldnt be throwing boulders out of yer glass house. hey gerry ur a real tough guy. have a great day.

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  35. I would rather pay the Verizon data charges to stream T&R to my phone in Western MA, then listen to D&C. Callaham reminds me of the nazi plate collecting dad from American Beauty… I'm just wating for him to snap and plant a big wet one on Meterperell.

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