Make no mistake. John Dennis, Gerry Callahan and Kirk Minihane are absolutely loving every bit of attention they are getting from Minihane’s Erin Andrews comments. Their bosses are as well. Either that, or management is afraid to take action against their highest-rated show.

They keep adding on to it so that they can keep themselves in the news, and bring attention to themselves. They also get to play the persecuted victims role here, as everyone who dares to criticize them has an agenda.

Fine. I get it. They all DO have an agenda. That doesn’t automatically invalidate what they’re saying though.  But let’s also not pretend that D&C and Minihane don’t have their own agenda here as well.

Such as the fact that the station has every employee that I can see tweeting out the link to Minihane’s column this morning complaining about unfairly he is being treated.

My view on it is this- If Kirk was going to make those comments, and then not retreat from them (as shown by his remarks when he returned to the air) then he needs to own them and forfeits any right to complain about ill-treatment or agenda by others. His apologies have basically consisted of I’m sorry if YOU were offended.

I mean seriously. These guys spend four hours  a day dumping on people, and then one of them says something which causes backlash and they circle the wagons and play the martyr?

(Underneath all that, I’ll admit that Minihane has a valid point about the coziness of the Globe columnists like Shaughnessy and Gasper to 98.5.)

Yesterday, it came out that NESN will no longer be simulcasting the WEEI morning show once the contracts of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan expire in September. While everyone is very carefully noting that this decision is in no way connected with this Minihane incident, the timing of it is just too much.

NESN tuning out WEEI’s ‘Dennis and Callahan’ simulcast – Chad Finn

NESN dump of WEEI show unrelated to flap – Gayle Fee

Even if the move was in the works for weeks as is noted in the columns above, the fact that this information came out right now (last night, actually) could be a message in itself, as NESN is not pleased with recent events as evidenced by a statement from NESN in Finn’s column:

“NESN has absolutely no editorial control of WEEI’s ‘Dennis and Callahan Morning Show,’ and completely disapproves of Mr. Minihane’s disparaging statements. Furthermore, we feel it’s unfortunate that his comments aired on our network.”

A statement like that along with the move being made public now sure seems too much to be a coincidence despite claims to the contrary. NESN may not have wished to make this public at this time, but someone did. Appearances can be everything.

I want to be clear about one last thing. I don’t think anyone is out there lauding Erin Andrews for her journalistic ability or her talent as an interviewer. The strawman has been created that people are upset because Minihane was critical of her as a professional.

No. That’s not the case. Criticism of Andrew’s work is fair game. Minihane went beyond that, and got personal. Calling her a “gutless bitch” and joking that she “drop dead” was bad enough, but then to make the weight and waitress remark while “apologizing” took it to another level.

He deserves any criticism he gets, and in my opinion should just sit there and take it. I don’t think he and his colleagues have always been “fair” when attacking others, and have done so with glee at times. Now when it is turned around and aimed at him, he’s whining?

Turnabout is fair play, Kirk.

 

Addendum

It is worth noting what Minihane wrote about Joe Haggerty when the later had a bizarre incident during the Bruins playoffs against Montreal. (emphasis mine)

“There you go. Follow-ups asking about potential discipline were not answered. I respect and like many of the people at Comcast — they have been great to me and are smart, hard-working and sincere in their desire to do terrific work. But if they let Haggerty skate on this they absolutely deserve whatever happens the next time he screws up (and Haggerty was filing stories from Montreal on Wednesday afternoon). The enabler is every bit as responsible as the enabled. A suspension seems the minimum discipline; this is a serious breach of ethics at best. If no punishment is handed out it’s an endorsement, a look the other way, and an insult to the superb writers at CSNNE.com (Tom E. Curran, Sean McAdam, A. Sherrod Blakely and others, plus the on- and off-camera staff). That’s the road to disaster.

Kirk (and WEEI) would do well to consider applying all the bolden sections above to themselves.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

30 thoughts on “NESN Dump of D&C has nothing NOTHING to do w recent events. TRULY.”

  1. Good column, and you’re spot on about Minihane needing to have thicker skin. But he does make some good points in his column. I don’t think he minds the criticism as much from fans, but when it comes from the likes of Globe writers and Keith Olbermann i think he doesn’t like the hypocritical nature of it. Olbermann, for example, has said far worse things about people on his show than Minihane’s Erin Andrews remarks. And the Globe obviously has an agenda. Another thing too, No way am I buying that the NESN move was unrelated to recent events. Of course it was, and if anyone thinks otherwise, they’re crazy.

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  2. Having only lived around here I have to ask — are the mediots in other cities as ridiculously thin-skinned and hypocritical as the mediots who infest Boston? They’re all so pathetically whiny and defensive whenever they are challenged on anything or have their own tactics turned on them.

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    1. Yes. Chris Russo is famous for his thin skin. Phil Mushnik is another one. Go listen to whining on Philly sports radio. Go out into the hinterland and it is hard to tell because the quality of talk is so poor you can’t really tell if the host is offended or just a fan of NASCAR.

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    2. I think most outside this area would be considered honks defending the local teams to the end (see Gresh and Zo & Pats)

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      1. Or perhaps they realize that the people in their listening audience are far and away fans first and would appreciate hearing some positive news about their teams when they are performing well. Cripes, the majority of the shows on both stations dumped on the Sox right up until the parade last year. The beatings the Patriots take around here make it sound like they have performed like the Bills since 1999, not a team to finish below .500 once in that time span. When criticism is warranted, go for it, but the constant tearing down of local teams and players grows tired after a while when there has been almost nothing but winning for the better part of 15 years.

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    3. Media is a very incestuous industry. Everyone knows everybody. Most of the grads/bigs/people there usually were all funneled through the big j-schools PSU/Syracuse/Northwestern. They all either went to school or met others at networking events. When someone gets a big job at a national network, after slaving on a beat, they’re going “wow that douche got a job at ESPN? Why did they hire that prick?”. ltd said it below but I’ve seen the most sparring with Boston, NYC and Philly. You’ll find it elsewhere but to a lesser degree.

      You might see the bad but we do have it good here. It’s been mentioned many times, by others than me, but go to a smaller city’s radio or find something via TuneIn.com sometime. You’ll be blown away at how ‘amateur’ it sounds. We might talk the bad here but do be appreciative that there’s 2 major stations in town, with alternative options, for you to pick from.

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  3. Bruce….

    Do you think there is a media person in the market with access who could ask NESN why they wish Minihane comments which are clearly his opinion on an opinion show, had not been broadcast on their network…as implying it was morally repugnant…but NESN has no problem leaving Jerry Remy on the air because to NESN evidently nothing he did while enabling his son to murder Jennifer Martel crosses that line.

    Enquiring minds want to know!

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    3. During Finn’s chat today (3:30 mark):

      JB: Any idea what might replace D&C on NESN?
      Finn: Hear they may start their own morning show. Have had people in for auditions for a few months

      Ordway, also reiterated today: They’ve had the plan for months. Have had people in for interviews. Any media insider knew this. Did they want to do damage by leaking this after all the Minihane stuff? Probably.

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  4. “They also get to play the persecuted victims role here”

    From what I’ve heard, listening to the show intermittently, playing the persecuted victim is the essence of Gerry’s existence.

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    1. Gerry has played the victim since he was called for clipping on a kick return that would have gone for the winning TD in Chelmsford High’s 1978 loss to CM in the EMASS D2 Superbowl. In the 80’s when he was writing for the Lowell Sun and covering high school games, the crowd would point at him chanting “Clip Clip Clipping”. No wonder he is such a cynical dbag today.

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  5. NESN had to look at the contract status with D&C and think that there was no way that they were going to attach themselves to such uncertainty.

    I really believe that WEEI is going to dump one or both of the Dennis and Callahan combo, keeping Minihane. Sounds crazy but he is the only thing that has generated any interest on their behalf, positive or negative. I could see him being paired with somebody who can tone him down a bit. Having said that Minihane will either rise on his own or crash and burn spectacularly.

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    1. I don’t get why anyone would think D&C aren’t going to both get new contracts. Put personal feelings aside and look at the ratings over the last year. Couple it with the fact that T&R’s ratings are moving in the opposite direction. EEI’s most successful show by far is poised to overtake the #1 show in the timeslot. Making a drastic change at this point would be plain dumb. And the idea that Minihane is the reason for the turnaround doesn’t make that much sense when you consider that he has morphed into the same type of personality as D&C. The swing in the ratings in clearly due to people wanting to tune into a show that knows sports versus a pop culture comedy show broadcast on a sports station. D&C aren’t going anywhere. When T&R start to tank (and it’s on the horizon), look for 98.5 to pull the trigger very quickly.

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  6. I have written to both WEEI and NESN applauding NESN’s decision and encouraging WEEI to do the same. I know of no sports radio hosts who are as negative, hateful, and demeaning as D&C. I hoped Kirk would add some class to the show, but he has apparently challenged them to a rce to the bottom. I urge others to write to the two stations as well.

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  7. Was listening to EEI last night and heard what turned out to be a infomercial.For something called Media Compass Network.I found it curious they offered a lot of pro and college live games.

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  8. Suspensions? Why bother? People eventually return to the mean. Want to teach any media member a lesson? Make them do a 4 hour show with ‘Danny from Quincy’. If that’s not a permanent ‘electric dog collar’, I’m not sure what is.

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    1. Bruce any thoughts the Media Compass Network they offer a lot of live sports programming.

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  11. Did anyone have Stephen A. Smith in their “First person on First Take to get suspended or Fired?” office pool? I had my entire 401k on Skip.

    Between Minihane, Dungy, SaS, the media defending the Rice suspension … is there just some irrationality out there from football being so close out there? Is in the DSMV now?

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      1. Yeah, I don’t think so, either. He’s got too many cozy relationships in the NBA for them to axe him over something like this.

        ESPN normally warns their staff from eating their own but Beetle’s response did do what is needed there.

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        1. Come on, dude. A. Smith passively sided with Rice because of race. And A. Smith won’t face any consequences from ESPN because of race. Let’s call a spade a spade.

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    2. I find it somewhat ironic that just the other day Keith Law wrote that he feels bad for Alex Speir (sp?) having to work at a place like WEEI where such actions are condoned. And now, we have Stephen A. Smith…

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  12. Doesn’t deserve to be on the radio? That’s as ridiculous as some of the statements Callahan makes himself. Look, you don’t like his politics. That’s fine. Tune out.

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    2. After he calls her a gutless bitch, his next appearance is referred to as a “triumphant return” by ‘EEI. But when sponsors start to pull out, then the station has a problem with Minihane’s words. Interesting.

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      1. Leave it to the CHB to put it succinctly.

        Dan Shaughnessy @Dan_Shaughnessy · 57m

        Wait . . . Have I got this right? . . . WEEI waits until advertising is pulled, and THEN suspends a guy??? How righteous.

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