Yesterday was the last edition of the Mut and Lou show on WEEI. Mike Mutnansky will soon transition over to the role previously held by John Ryder, working Red Sox broadcasts and last nights. All in all, it’s not a horrible move for Mutnansky, who stays employed and gets a role that still gives him some of the spotlight.

Kirk Minihane wrote a column yesterday paying tribute to Mutnansky – Taking time to appreciate the Mut Man – and it was a sweet of Kirk to come to the defense of the exiled midday host. (Though how many radios tuned to 98.5 at 10:00am to hear Andy Gresh respond to Kirk’s insults about him?)

Just like Minihane tends to go over the top when writing about someone like Joe Haggerty, he goes a bit over the top in writing nice things about Mutnansky. It’s what Minihane does. I agree with much of what he writes about Mutnansky as a person. He’s a good guy, he works hard. I feel like he unsuccessfully tried too hard to be something he’s not. Some people can get away with that, he couldn’t.

If Kirk really wanted to be brutally honest and over the top he might question how the son of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute President and Chief Executive Officer got the midday job on the station that just happens to hold the Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon every year. I’m sure there’s no connection there whatsoever.

In the Globe today, Chad Finn looks at How NESN has changed in 30 years with a look back at the first telecast (which literally no one saw) and several milestones along the way.

There are also links to a Jack Craig column after the debut of NESN and foot-stomping columns by Bob Ryan (Why can’t I watch the Red Sox on Ch. 38?) and Leigh Montville – Pay-cable television will begin for the Red Sox with this game and I will kick the Florida ground at the very idea.

Over on the T&G Bill Doyle writes Holy Cross football to have bigger presence on Charter TV-3.

Dan Kennedy looks at the sale of the T&G – John Henry sells Worcester Telegram to Florida chain which is noteworthy since the Red Sox and Globe owner had previously said he would only sell that paper to local owners or he would continue to operate it himself.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

16 thoughts on “Media Links and Week Wrap”

  1. Does Kirk Min. ever NOT write about someone else that is employed by or a situation that involves another media entity? Increasingly, media/journalism = voyeurism. There is very little reporting or news. I love that the radio guys try so hard at all times to differentiate themselves from the beat reporters. I’m pretty sure that most listeners don’t give a crap, all group them all together.

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    1. Oh, you didn’t stop what you’re doing and care about who gets to edit a newspaper that matters to less than 1% of people? I find you shallow and pedantic.

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    1. Best part of the piece:

      Did the Red Sox have to give Stephen Drew the prorated version of the $14.1 qualifying offer he turned down? Probably not. But they did, out of good will, out of respect. They did because he was the player everyone wanted back.

      I’ve edited it for veracity:

      Did the Red Sox have to give Stephen Drew the prorated version of the $14.1 qualifying offer he turned down? Probably not. But they did, out of good will, out of respect. They did because he was the player everyone Scott Boras, and myself because I’m on his payroll, wanted back.

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  3. Minihane is delusional. Mike Mutnansky might be a nice guy. He might be prepared. His show failed not because he followed Dale Arnold and not because he had lousy guidance from bad management. It failed because Mike Mutnansky ran a slow show, that had little to no provocative ideas and which bored the ever living crap out of its listeners. I consider him not talented.

    I am happy he has been reassigned because you never like to see someone (especially someone with a young family) lose their job…but in the media business , which is heartless, cold and at time callous…the listeners deserve better than Mike Mutnansky on a major sports taler in a top media market’s midday show.

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    1. you nailed it…that’s the kiss of death right there. People can despise you (Felger, Borges,Shaughnessy etc..etc.) and you can still have a long career in sports media…but if you bore people…it’s sayonara,baby

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  4. Bruce, you are the first I’ve seen to find a nice “link” between the Benz and WEEI hire. Is there some inside information here? I saw nothing anywhere else. If so, as you said, you can’t “help but notice” the link between the two.

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  5. OFF TOPIC: Rodney Harrison is the best , “player turned analyst” and it’s not even close. Heard him this morning ( on whatever WEEI puts out early Sunday mornings) and it was great. Intelligent conversation on long term health care for NFL players…no yelling, no screaming, no “Hot Sportztakes”. no ax to grind…really great listen

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  7. Fill-in duty is always fun around when the regulars get time off. You either get a view at the folks slaving along for a shot one day, or a reminder of why others don’t have a show.

    D&C was Butch Jones + Fred and Steve. (Wonder if Ordway had an issue there?)

    They, of course, wandered onto Patriots talk. In accessing the draft, the exchange went something like this:

    Butch: “Why did you like Easley, Fred?”
    Fred: “Because BB picked him.” “He was projected top10 talent and every team passed on him.”
    Steve: “He was not projected top10” (Still no mention as to why)
    Fred: “Yes, he was.”

    Eventually, Fred either got reminded of why he was not picked top10 (2xACL issue) or finally accepted it but seemed to admit that every team was too stupid to pick him in the top10. The general report on him was that he should have gone in the top of the first, if he had only one ACL issue and was fine last year. He didn’t. It was a gamble, but one a contender could take high (remember, SEA wanted him @ 32 and traded back because the Patriots took him).

    So, you either forgot or didn’t know why he fell. I’m not sure what it is. The first statement about liking a guy just because BB picked him is….

    Right before this, all three (I had patchy radio reception here, so I might have missed something) seemed to want Andre Johnson. Fred, “trade for AJ and, forget it, AFC is over..” Did he forget about his cap hit? There’s a reason why the Texans can’t trade him w/o eating a ton, which they won’t, unless some team with a ton of space is desperate. He’s overpaid and his dead $ is too much for a guy who can still produce, so he won’t be cut. Maybe a little “cap is crap” but I don’t think this logic is used outside of the YARM show.

    I get that it is fill-in duty but when your hosts sound like your average sports talk caller…

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  8. For those who wondered why Pat drafted a QB in second round (BESIDES Mallet contract coming up) …..Won’t find a bigger Brady fan than me and we still have 3 years…but beyond that?…Mother Nature gets EVERYBODY…here’s is all time list for QB’s who played age 40 and beyond (listed oldest to youngest).If anybody can do it Brady can BUT most were backups by that time. Success rate was not good. Also interesting is that the list only has a few “Hall Of Famers” on it. A lot of them had “so-so” careers or fell into “journeymen” category.

    Age 40 and older QB’s

    Blanda
    DeBerg
    Moon
    Testaverde
    Flutie
    Morrall
    Brunell
    Favre
    Len Dawson
    Charlie Conerly
    Vince Evans
    Joe Ferguson
    Brad Johnson
    Jurgensn
    Krieg
    Unitas
    Wade Wilson

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  10. My early days of NESN memory:

    We only had cable at the Cape, and only got NESN one year that I can remember — probably 1985 or 1986. Back then, NESN had virtually no programming other than the Red Sox and Bruins. For the rest of the day, they had a “ticker”-like series of computer-generated graphic slides, probably (in hindsight) ginned up on an Amiga or something similar. As a computer nerd, I LOOOOVED those slides, as they were actually fairly state-of-the-art graphics-wise.

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  11. So I listened to the first hour or so of the MFB show. First impression it will be and probably already is a better show than Mutt and Merloni. Second impression…utility Lou is just awful. I know a lot of people thought Mike Mutnansky was the problem but as listening to 10 minutes of Lou Merloni without Mike Mutnansky proves…they both are boring. I actually thought that Tim Benz sounded good. His delivery was smooth and he seemed to move conversation along. I generally like Fauria so we will see what happens when he is in the summer doldrums and forced to talk baseball for 3 straight weeks as we wait for camp.

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  12. Goucher/Beers are damned good. Brickley is good but Edwards is often hit for being too much of a homer, and if you’re too much a homer for Boston you are definitely too much of a homer.

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