The WEEI morning show has been supplanted atop the ratings books by Toucher and Rich for some time now. With the contracts of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan reported to be expiring soon, there seems to be a bit of desperation creeping in to keep their show relevant, and to attract attention to themselves in an effort to bolster their negotiating positions. I suspect though, that the following incidents are doing them no favors with WEEI management.

Two incidents from this week have made their way into the national spotlight.

Sportswriter Jeff Pearlman, on his blog, recounts a Twitter battle he had with John Dennis which included Dennis saying that the First Lady has “an ass as wide as a double barn door.” Dennis loves to insult people on their weight, which is funny, seeing as how he magically lost 60 lbs in mere weeks after his show was picked up by NESN and he didn’t like people seeing him like this.

Then this morning Kirk Minihane called Erin Andrews a ‘Gutless Bitch’.  His colleagues agreed, adding that Andrews is a “bubblehead” and a “bimbo.”

WEEI Host on Erin Andrews: “What a gutless bitch … Drop dead” – The Big Lead.

WEEI Boston Morning Radio Show Absolutely Trashes Erin Andrews, Calls Her ‘Gutless Bitch’ – Sports Grid.

Shitty Sports Radio Dude Calls Erin Andrews A “Gutless Bitch” – Deadspin

I’m sure though, if Kirk met Andrews, he’d be just like when he met Jenny Dell after writing and saying things about her.

I’ve always liked Minihane, but he’s turning me off with stuff like this. Maybe this is who he has always been and being on the radio every day is just showing it to all, but his radio act is wearing thin on me.

If Kirk and John and Gerry are just looking for attention, then Mission Accomplished!

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

38 thoughts on “Dennis and Callahan and Minihane Taking Hate To New Levels”

  1. Personally, I’d rather listen to the gutless bitch than to the utter wastes of human life who should be machine-gunned into a ditch as soon as possible who are on EEI in the mornings.

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    1. Gee, Dave … re-enacting the butchery in the ME a few weeks ago must really give you some wood. Check with a doctor.

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      1. They wondered out loud on air if they can now say the “a hole ” word on air. Can people calling in use that word? I am sure a lot would like to!

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  2. Ugh just reading this made me feel dirty. I can’t believe any of these assholes still has an audience.

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  3. Just on the ‘media’, EA gave critics enough from the interview last night, but I don’t understand the need for ‘bimbo’ or anything there. Plus, these guys already know that the Richard Deitschs and Deadspins monitor their show, in DEFCON1 mode, from previous incidents–or, at least D&C know.

    Add this to the list of stuff nobody can defend.. If it was a ‘cheap stunt’, it’s a pretty bad one.

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  4. It gets into the same stuff as Bruce mentioned on the last article with Jenny Dell..

    EA for PO? Nobody will say it but.. oh lets use our brains, our red-blooded, male brains.. or is there too much of that same red blood in another organ? Apologies on the crudeness, but it’s the industry..

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    1. You mean to tell me that the folks who produce NFL broadcasts want someone more, well let’s just say, more suitable for HD as their reporter?
      Well I for one am shocked and or appalled!

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    2. Yeah, same reason Newsweek, for its cover story on Columbine way back in the day, showed a full-page picture of one of the students there, a teenage blonde girl…from behind. It’s not just sports radio, it’s not just broadcast. It’s every damn bit of media there is.

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      1. Yeah, and the problem is, with the news, is your requirement comes to just looks. 99% of “news” (turn on any 6pm news), is you basically have to just have a degree, which anyone can have; remove whatever accent/dialect, which the network will coach and pay for, and be able to read (you’d hope the college part took care of that) stuff from a teleprompter or something prescripted.

        Remove the ‘hot’ thing and what is EA? Probably monitoring the police scanner in West Salmon Falls, Idaho, for the Local 16 news.

        The one difference, between Dell and EA, is that Dell came out doing football at ESPN. NESN threw her in the baseball thing. Dell is also a bit younger, having to think that she’s got time to grow and become better. I’ve seen enough of EA over the years and have never found a reason why she’s on TV other than looks.

        If the folks who love to go ballistic on networks about ‘gender equality’ really were honest about the issue, they’d go after the networks for this. They invest so much in ‘talent’ but don’t seem to do much in the way as far as making sure they’re professionals. But, well beyond the scope of this board.

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  5. I don’t hope for people to lose their jobs, but given those two not so undercover bigots history, I hope they get fired.

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  6. “Why on Earth is FOX demoting Pam Oliver for her?”
    Who gives a poop why? What has Pam Oliver done for your enjoyment of a football game? I don’t “like” Andrews but I just do not care about who is telling me things I’m not listening to from the sidelines.
    And you really can’t just take away the language he used. There’s no putting the toothpaste back in that tube.

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  7. This is not Sports Radio.

    It’s (bad) Sports Media Radio. And the best part is how these guys on the radio think they can draw a line in the sand, between them and beat/sideline/dugout/courtside reporters.

    Does anyone on the outside actually expend the energy to make this distinction? I mean for crying out loud, the radio stations PAY the athletes for interviews. They’re ALL in the media business of selling advertising.

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    1. Chelsea Handler is offended by your rudimentary analysis of how she puts food on the table.

      But, yes, that’s a ton of ‘media’. “My job is to get attention by being offended or pointing out why you should be offended/outraged” … it’s like this perversion of ombudsman-ship.

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  9. ‘Media’ is your career choice when you have no aptitude to do much else in life. All sorts of media hacks will waddle themselves over here and get all ‘offended’ that I characterize their business this way, but perception–ours, not yours–is reality. And local radio is the cellar of media, truth be told. Where is this diminutive, limp-wristed radio hack going to go after he gets tossed from this gig? You think his resume is an impressive one? Hah! There are three characteristics looked for when searching for a local radio hack: someone who does lousy in school, someone eager to fill their face with free food, and someone who can’t bother themselves with buying their own tickets to sporting events.

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    1. In some cases yes. Mazz, Felger and Holley were all beat guys once. I’m not sure about Minihane, but he’s also done a fair amount of writing. They could go back to it, if anybody’s hiring. Callahan can still spin a good column, and has never entirely left his gig at the Herald. Dennis could probably land himself a gig at faux if he tried hard enough. But the others…ex-athletes and radio-only guys…yeah, you’re probably right.

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  10. I think merit should matter for people getting gigs, and when those gigs are in my face on the things I like to watch, I’ll judge them. Has Pam Oliver ever made an NFL game more enjoyable for me? I cant’ recall….which is kind of the point. I can recall a number of times Andrews made a viewing experience worse, including last night’s all-star game and the Red Sox stuff last fall.

    For me, the brand of game coverage I’d like, is on-air talent that stays the heck out of the way and doesn’t become a sideshow to the actual game. Erin Andrews is the opposite of that, and I don’t really understand why saying so has to come with qualifiers and other nonsense.

    Dave Portnoy’s take over at Barstool is basically how I feel about this.

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    1. Compare your ‘take’ to what KM said. You didn’t use adjectives like ‘bimbo’ and other provocative terms.

      And, like you, I find sideline reporting obsolete and useless. Two reasons as to why:

      – Social media. If there is ‘news’ it gets texted and sources leak it out. No longer do people working the sidelines hear anything. Or, by the time they do, its ‘old’. All networks have PA/interns who are monitoring this and relay it to the producer on site, who, if important, gets it into the ear of the lead, who then announces it on air. Or, by this time, it’s already typed in the teletype machine and appearing in text on the crawl below the broadcast.
      – There are people who I’d label pros, like Michelle Tafoya, Tracy Wolfson, but, in large part, the space seems to be filled by someone who we’re supposed to treat as professional but is only there due to looks. That majority, there due to their looks, does no favor to those might be pros but either are not the most attractive, or they’re nearing that magic expiration date. PO just happened to be the latest casualty here.

      But, again, the spirit might be there but you do your argument and case no favors by the words used. They could have articulated what we’re discussing above w/o using ‘bimbo’ and saying someone ‘should die’.

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  11. And here I thought their thinly veiled homophobic overtones regarding men expressing love for each other (platonically) in the 6AM hour would be the gutter moment of the day….Andrews is vapid and certainly has benefited from being smoking hot but Lil Dino couldn’t just run with that. What’s worse is their ratings are seeing an uptick, meaning there’s a significant portion of Bostonians who enjoy this intolerance and the hosts’ abhorrent behavior.

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    1. This is not misogyny.

      This is Kirk’s Mega-Douchebag mission to see himself crowned as the King of All Media Ombudsmen.

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  15. Was it Minihane who told a boothmate to “Shut Up” on the air last week? And I thought that was the worst thing you could do on air.
    Nice new low there, Kirk….

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  16. WEEI/Kirk issued a statement w/apology:

    http://m.weei.com/extras/press-release/kirk-minihane-issues-apology-erin-andrews-comments

    Kirk Minihane has issued the following statement regarding comments he made about Erin Andrews on Wednesday morning.

    “This morning on the radio I used a series of words to describe Erin Andrews’ work at the All-Star Game. My choice of words was wrong; I was wrong to have used them. To all whom I offended — particularly Ms. Andrews — I apologize. There is no place for what was said. It was immature and completely uncalled for. I am often critical of media members and their work and recognize here that I’ve made the kind of mistake I would call out if it was done by another sportscaster or writer. Again, to all involved, I’m very sorry.”

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      1. Wasn’t able to catch much of the show, and I didn’t see anything mentioned on forums or Twitter. I have to think there is the usual “don’t mention” edict that comes with things like this, as it allows it to disappear quicker.

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  17. While navigating the elliptical to nowhere at the gym this morning, I glimpsed at one of the plasma TVs facing the row of machines and there were these three media clowns on NESN. I listened to a reading of the audio book ‘Double Dexter’ on my iPod instead of plugging into the sound for the plasma, but their nonsense was close-captioned for all to read. They seemed to be chuckling to themselves in a ‘We’ve Really Done it Now’ sort of way. But I paid more attention to the sponsors of the show. One was White’s Metal Detectors, which is something I’m sure everyone is clamoring for. Another was Town Fair Tire. So vote with your money and send it elsewhere. At least we don’t have to worry about DD; they saw this train-wreck LONG ago and jumped off the track.

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    1. I’m 99% sure that Kirk and Co. would have attacked a male for doing the same thing. Instead of calling her a bitch, they would go with Wuss. So of course the language used would have been different, but this whole Judging the Media Schtick is a big favorite of Kirk, Fatty and Forehead. They seem to think that this puts them outside the “mainstream”.

      The way these guys talk, you’d think that their show and by extension, anyone in the mass media that they approve of (there has to be someone), is operating as unlicensed pirate broadcasters on the run from the FCC. It’s laughable.

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      1. He has. I mentioned the “die in a fire” for Lalas. Obviously, you heard no uproar because of the male-male part that doesn’t make for headlines. I think someone mentioned he went on a similar rant about Jack Edwards.

        It’s still over the line, no? F+M criticized Lalas, as well, just without the language.

        Criticize the media and call them out. I find it entertaining but also like that people inside do it. Can’t we even attribute a ton of F+M’s success to their “we talk hockey, WEEI doesn’t” and the 2011 RedSox season, where they called media people out? Now, we call them out when they start torching anyone (Reiss) who disagrees with them (Welker contract), but they’re still not using ‘words you should not use’.

        I’d have to think, for Minihane’s own job security, he’s learned where “the line” is on this type of stuff.

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  19. Butch doesn’t play the fool because he is a fool. He went from lead of a TV sports department to weekend gigs on sports radio, and as far as I know hasn’t found anything since. That should tell you a lot about Butch.
    Go listen to his famous back peddle against Curt in the Car, I swear his career hit the skids not long after that.

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  21. Im not entirely sure if this is who Kirk “really is.” I think the worst just gets brought out in him but those two bigoted, racist, angry, bitter human beings. Never have I heard such vitriol and misery on the radio, I just don’t understand what the hell they’re so pissed off about all the time. They’re like gossipy, teenage girls who constantly go for the jugular when they sense competition. It’s sad and I’m so glad for the Sports Hub.

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  23. Sports radio isn’t about honesty anymore. It’d about drama, what cranks up the audience, making things up as they go along and throwing everything again the wall to see what sticks. D+C are the absolute worst—yet they just get resigned? Haven’t the new honchos over at EEI been paying attention? Dennis says that unless they crank up the audience, by disagreeing and being a-holes, they’re not doing their job. Brilliant way to do business, huh? 98.5 the Hub has two ex-platter spinning DJ’s kicking D+C+M’s butt every quarter and they get resigned? I’m starting to believe what I’ve been saying about life all along—-that everybody is an idiot.

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