Brian McGrory Is Delusional, And Other Media Links

Brian McGrory really should never write about sports.

He really has no clue. He attempts to wax poetically about the time when the Red Sox were lovable losers, but can’t even manage a decent impression of Doris Kearns Goodwin in this regard.

Adrian Gonzalez is one of his targets, for supposedly complaining about the schedule, (He was actually answering a question from a reporter about whether the scheduled had been tough on him – comments that were made before the collapse, but held until after the season.) and then for his “God’s plan” comments, which Gordon Edes did a great job putting into context.

McGrory puts Gonzalez in the same category as Josh Beckett and John Lackey, and wants him gone. His solution to the Red Sox problems:

Build an entire team around Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Marco Scutaro. Don’t overspend, ever, on anyone from the outside. Your fans would rather lose 50 percent of the games with a scrappy, charismatic team than win 60 percent of the time with the flavorless jerks you seem to favor.

Wow. Where do we begin with this statement? What planet does he live on? Anyone notice a pattern about the four players he mentions? Do you think if McGrory actually knew that Scutaro is Venezuelan, not Italian (though of Italian descent, apparently), that he would’ve included him on this list? He does also know that Scutaro is an almost-36-year-old journeyman, not a guy you build around, right? I doubt it.

So what he’s saying, really here, is that Boston would LOVE a .500 team made up of scrappy light-skinned (has anyone other than a white athlete ever been called “scrappy?”) players who are demonstrative on the field, in the mold of Trot Nixon. We want that more than a winning team. OK.

What a complete joke Brian McGrory is.

Now that that is out of the way, here’s some media links from today:

As Fox’s pinch hitter, Francona connected – Chad Finn has Terry Francona talking his stint next to Joe Buck in the broadcast booth.

Media Roundup: Comcast SportsNet, NESN Beef Up Boston Bruins Coverage – On SB Nation Boston, I’ve got a look at new Bruins programming from CSNNE and NESN.

Sports Hub’s Michael Felger apologizes for Watney remark, sort of – The Names Blog on Boston.com has Felger feeling some regret for comments about Heidi Watney.

ESPN’s Chris Berman is serious about having fun – Bill Doyle catches up with the ESPN personality.

America’s Snitches’ Team – Michael Gee looks at the Bob Hohler article from the perspective of an ex-newspaper man.