Just another day in the world of the Boston sports media.

In the morning, we had Pete Sheppard taking on Ron Borges on the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show. Borges, as usual sounded like a raving madman, screaming, yelling and cursing on the air- getting bleeped out, shouting down any accusations or points made against him. As far as defenses go, its a reliable one, if you’re on the offensive and changing the talking points every two seconds, it’s going to be hard to build that stable case against you in the short time you have on the air.

Of course, the case against Borges was made a long time ago, and it has only been added to since.

One accusation that Sheppard made was that Borges had had dinner at Drew Bledsoe’s house, and how this closeness was part of the reason Borges turned on Bill Belichick so venomously when Belichick named Brady the starter even when Bledsoe was ready to return in 2001.

Borges went ballistic on Sheppard, screaming, asking what evidence he had of this supposed dinner, and when pressed on it yelled “NO I DIDN’T” and demanded again to have Sheppard reveal evidence.

Here’s your evidence, Ron: From Drew Bledsoe himself:

So there you go. Yet another documented case of Ron Borges lying.

Gerry Callahan was his usual loathsome self during the show,  at one point dropping into his whiny, feminine voice to say that Sheppard would now be wearing a fireman’s helmet to the games and leading the cheers of P-A-T-S, PATS!

When the topic of Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning throwing the ball on the Packers with five minutes to go came up, the goalposts were shifted again, instead of it being only the evil Patriots and Bill Belichick that do this, it became “we’re only concerned with Tom Brady and him getting hurt.”

In the afternoon, Tony Massarotti spent the afternoon yelling that Jermaine Cunningham was clearly much bigger than he was in previous seasons and that the suspension was definitely not for Adderall.  He presented absolutely zero evidence of this, and really,  how could he? How much is he around the team? I’m not convinced that he even watches the games.

Meanwhile, if you want to know about Adderall, and why NFL players might want to take it, and why it is banned, Tom E Curran has it all.

A GIS search of Cunningham shows no obvious changes in his body since joining the Patriots. Some modest increase in strength, but no Barry Bonds-like transformation. Yet Massarotti was screaming that if you didn’t see, it, you’re an idiot, a moron and just plain stupid.

I continue to be baffled as to way anyone who actually enjoys sports and their teams would listen to this type of programming willingly. I’m clearly old-school, maybe not this old school, but definitely from before the time when sports radio only existed to dump on the local teams 24/7.

The running-up-the-score hypocrisy will not die. Peter King in his MMQB, Tuesday Edition answered an email from a New England NFL fan:

BELICHICK DOES IT ALL THE TIME. COUGHLIN, NOT SO MUCH. “How about a team that is up by four touchdowns (38-10) with five minutes left and keeping the starting quarterback in and is STILL throwing the ball? Man, that Belichick is one evil…. oh wait… that was Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning against Green Bay Sunday night. When it’s not Belichick, the moral outrage goes away, right?”
— Tom, Portsmouth, N.H.

It’s a little different. Belichick’s done this often over the years. You need more than one hand to count the times Tom Brady’s been in a total blowout in the middle of the fourth quarter. But Coughlin had a reason, I believe. His offense had been struggling for four weeks, and he has every right to use the game to do what he can to make sure his team is back on track for the stretch run. People wouldn’t be killing Belichick if it were a one-time occurrence. Obviously, it’s not.

My mind is still spinning at this.

It’s OK for Coughlin to use a real, live game to work on things to make his team better and make sure they’re in top form for the postseason. Bill Belichick does it, and it’s just out of spite and poor sportsmanship. Got it.

I mean, it’s not like Saint Tony Dungy ever did this sort of thing with Peyton Manning. Oh, wait.

I think this might be the more accurate explanation for why only Belichick gets flayed for this.

The other thing to wonder is how often are other teams even in this position? It’s all well and good to say that Coughlin, or any other coach doesn’t leave their QB in with a 35-point lead, or isn’t passing under five minutes with a 35-point lead. How many teams routinely have 35-point leads?

Still on the Patriots, with the Gil Santos era winding down, the subject of his replacement is gaining momentum.

John Rooke, The Obvious Choice To Take Over For Gil Santos – Derek Havens looks at why Rooke and his 20 years of working for the Patriots make him the best choice for the job. I’m on-board with this, certainly if it keeps Gary Tanguay or Jon Meterparel away from the gig.

Meanwhile, Red Sox reporters are waiting for something to happen.

Abraham of course, wrote a Lester column himself, but that was sort of his point. Right now, the Red Sox media is jumping on any scrap of information and writing about it.

I thought Abraham and Chad Finn had a nice 1-2 punch on the Jon Lester for Wil Myers rumor(?) Is it even a rumor? Speculation?

Lester for a prospect? Here’s why it’s crazy – Abraham

Jon Lester for Wil Myers? Why not? – Finn

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

21 thoughts on “Ron Borges Caught In Another Lie, Mazz Making Stuff Up, and Peter King’s Laughable Rationalization”

  1. Laughable how Peter King and others keep “shifting the goalposts” when it comes to BB and then trot out some convoluted reason as to why….Also heard the usual BB bashers trying to blame BB for the Pats Adderall suspensions…..Some screaming, “that’s THREE this YEAR!! conveniently “forgetting” Talib was with Tampa when he was caught…..saying, THREE!! sounds better for their agenda….of course Gerry Callahan couldn’t wait to “Re-tweet” THIS from some “Lawyer”>>>>>>

    Michael McCann ‏@McCannSportsLaw

    @HeyCallahan @JohnDennisWEEI Shouldn’t teams that have multiple players test positive be punished? Coaches must know. Take away draft picks?

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  2. Love PeteAbe, but I think he was dead wrong in that Lester column. If the Royals offer Myers for Lester, I get the paperwork signed before they can change their minds. I personally fly to wherever Dayton Moore is on that day and take him to lunch so that I can get him to sign the paperwork. I buy him TWO desserts. I offer to put all his kids through college if he signs the paperwork right now. I offer to debase myself in whatever manner he chooses, in whatever venue he prefers, if he signs the paperwork.

    Pete makes good points about Lester’s value. He’s not a worthless afterthought; he’s a valuable lefty starter. But he falls into the same trap others have: he assumes that you’re giving up “five or six years” of Lester’s pitching. You’re not — you’re giving up two years. He’s got one year plus a club option left on his current deal, then he’s a FA. If he’s as good over the next two years as Pete projects, do you seriously think he’s (a) going to want to stay in KC unless they’re a big-time contender, or (b) get the kind of money he’d command on the open market from them in an extension deal? Hellz naw. He’s hitting the market, end of story. So if he does perform at that level, that leaves the Sox with copious amounts of salary room to sign him to a market or above-market deal, should that be in their best interests.

    What do you give up? Two years of solid pitching… during a period where you’re not expecting to contend. It’s clear right now that the team’s timeframe is to contend with Bradley, Bogaerts, et al. when they reach their potential, which will probably be no fewer than two years from now. So you’re losing Lester during a non-contending period, and retain the ability to go out and buy him back when you’re contending. An in exchange for that rental, you get a top 15 in baseball prospect, whose likely downside level of production is “Dwight Evans without the spectacular defense”. How is this “crazy”?

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  3. Yeah. That’s why, at the moment, I’ll listen to T&R, Zo and Gresh, and /sometimes/ Holly and Ordway. (And I don’t listen to colin cowherd.) I’m not actively boycotting or something inane like that, but I probably should email both 98.5 and 93.7 and explain why. (Presuming they go on the political theory that one person bothering to write a letter means many more people think similarly.)

    Mind you, Eddie was over the top and irritating in different ways.

    I don’t know if Tanguay’d be that bad, as a PBP guy. It’d mean his voice, which is actually nice, would be on display, not his opinions. OTOH, I don’t know how well he’d describe things.

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    1. No way! Tanguay is the worst. He’s the king of “just sayin” media. I can’t have that on a Pats game. Even though I haven’t listened to a game on the radio in 5 years, I still don’t even want the possibility to become a reality.

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  4. Bruce, I love when you vent your spleen. I can tell when you are doing it by reading a column like this. I bet it took you about 5 minutes to write it didn’t it? You basically summed up everything in one piece what I, and I am sure most Boston sports fans, were feeling this morning after listening to Borges. I really hope we get to a place where people get tired of this assclownery and the ratings drop for the likes of Felger/Maz and D&C to the point where they lose their shows. Keep them honest Bruce!!

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    1. exactly..these HACKS think it’s their God-Given right to spew whatever they want and go unchallenged (hence, Berty Breer getting upset and calling me a “Twitter Detective”) Bruce provides a much needed service.

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  5. Isn’t it obvious that this job is the first time Mazz has been invited to sit with the cool kids? Now he gets to crap on everyone “below him.” I’m amazed it’s lasted this long.

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  6. Off topic but pertains to current events:

    I heard something from a friend close to CBS that said there is some “plan” to try and convert CBS (WBZ here) stations, in most markets, to something similar to what ESPN does.

    They’d kill all local 6-10 shows and broadcast a “national show” like Mike and Mike. The person suggested they would use Boomer and Canton out of WFAN because it’s already “like a national show” and has the simulcast on MSG in NY. They’d keep local programming from 10-6 and then go back to national shows. So, it’d mean cutting one of the local shows in each market.

    This was stated in “this is what’s being floated around” and in no ways was presented in “this is happening tomorrow” or “happening in the next year”.

    I thought it’s kinda crazy but they work close enough to know something like this.

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    1. Its not crazy and from a dollars and cents perspective it makes sense. It is much cheaper to run syndication than it is to do original programing. The issue has always been unique to the Boston Market…we are extremely provincial. National shows do not work in this market. We want local sports…not only that we only want to talk Pro sports. I think it would be a mistake to bump T&R for a national gig. it would also hurt Gresh and Zo as the lead in would be smaller.

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    2. First, Boomer and Carton are not going to be the national show for CBS. Dana Jacobsen, Tiki Barber, and some other guy are going to be the show.

      Second, T&R are doing extremely well and it would make no sense to break them up. It has already been announced that Boston will not broadcast the full CBS radio slate.

      So basically everything you claim to have heard is wrong.

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      1. 1.) Yeah, I did some homework after and saw that @sportsbybrooks had this first and its now been confirmed by industry observers.

        2.) Not only T+R but I think most local CBS shows in their respective markets are good, so it would be a major risk to rip each one off the air to get a national show going. I asked about this before where I wondered

        Note: I hope the language I used above suggested that all of this is speculative. I’m not suggesting nor implying it’s true nor will be. The source I get this from is very close to things at top and they hear things due to the projects they’re brought in on, and they’ve been right in the past on many things said. I only brought it up in case others have heard something.

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  7. So Bruce help me with something. John Rooke was and still is unlistenable when he has a radio show. It was that way when he had the regular gig on 790 the score. It was that way when he used to fill in at WEEI. It is that way now on his consignment local show in providence the hooker loving red head. His silly PA antics in the stadium detract from the in stadium experience to the point where you are praying he will just shut up. I do agree he has been incredibly loyal to the Pats organization, but to reward him with the PBP spot is just as idiotic as awarding Tanguay. Neither is competent. I do not understand why Dave O’Brien is not being considered more prominently. For that matter there have to be other voices outside this market that could come in without any preconceived baggage. Rooke would not be a good partner to Zolak…their styles do not compliment one another.

    As for the Borges-Pete battle. That was case one as to why Pete deserves to replace Muttansky on the mid-day show. For all of his flaws…he is bombastic, arrogant and at times ignorant…he at least is passionate and fearless. I contend that the lack of his voice significantly damaged the Big Show. The line of hosts who are much worse than Pete yet still have jobs is quite long.

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    1. Just thinking out loud here but I would assume O’Brien is happy with his ESPN MLB/NCAA Basketball deal in addition to the Red Sox. I doubt he’d give up some or all of that for the Patriots.

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      1. Except he did Monday Night football for Westwood One for several years. My understanding is he enjoys football PBP. Seems to me the NFL would be a better gig than the College hoops. Fact is he could probably do both as college hoops are not played on Sundays.

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    2. Fearless? What does that mean when it comes to radio? Sheppard and Borges screaming is a return to old-time WEEI big show blowhard radio—if you say it loudest, you are correct,as well as passionate and apparently fearless. No one wants Sheppard locally,and like you say about the local “talent”, that says a lot.

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      1. Speak for yourself. I’d take Sheppard any day of the week over these hacks that hate the Patriots. At the end of the day I want the hosts to care that the Pats lose, not be overjoyed because that can take swipes at BB. Sheppard may stammer, and stutter his way through points sometimes, but at least I know he roots for the same team as me. I’ll take that over some polished a-hole.

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        1. I like Pete myself…..however, asking that the host’s “care if the Pats lose” is sort of asking them to be fans. As much as I criticize the media I don’t expect them to be “fans”….I’m just looking for some BALANCE…Ron Borges is obviously “Unbalanced” (in more ways than one) and deserved everything Pete was TRYING to give him.

          Problem with that segment was Dennis or Callahan should have tried harder to me a moderator. Instead they let in turn into an episode of, “First Take” with Sheppard and Borges SCREAMING at each other like Stephan A Smith and Skippy Bayless.

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          1. Well most sports media members got into sports because they were fans when they were younger. I’ll be honest, I too would prefer a Mike Reiss or a Tom E. Curran type of perspective, but absent of logical thinking I’d rather a Tommy Heinsohn than a Mike Felger any day of the week.

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  9. How about the other side of the coin? What about the coaches who leave their QB’s in against the Pats/Giants in a “blowout” e.g., the Colts/Luck and the Packers/Rogers?

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