By David Scott
Boston Sports Media

• What was the biggest thing missing from the Wednesday/Thursday Manny Mayhem? How about one – just one – of the city’s general sports columnists’ take on “blind to Francona’s ‘bind’” Ramirez? The Globe went with Gordon Edes, the Herald with on-fire, Tony Mazz and not one other “opinion person” was anywhere to be found in the city. Vacations are one thing, but are you telling me Buckley, Shaughnasty or Jackie Mack couldn’t be found for a quick, definitive Manny dissection? We realize it’s the summer and all, but for crying out loud, isn’t anybody working? It was an afternoon story (2 p.m. on Wednesday was when it got rolling) and it could have been blown up HUGE by an opportunistic desk. Instead, it got second class treatment at both of our “major dailies.” And don’t even get me started on what a monster Internet story it SHOULD have been. Instant polls, running blogs and audio links should have been the norm. Instead, they were the missing. And you know what else? I’m sick of the excuses. “We don’t have the budget.” “Our technology is lacking.” No, your managerial ways are lacking. The media world is zooming past Boston in a 25th century vehicle and we’re sitting on the damn trolley in Cleveland Circle watching it go by.

• Boston Sports Guy has officially become ESPN’s Roger Ebert. The guy does more movie reviews than Jay Carr. Our own ex-Yellow Boxer, is really starting to steal the Disney money and it’s got to be embarrassing for the bean-counters who are forced to justify cutting a check to a shadow of the former writer. Simmons should have had a Manny Response piece by dinner time on Wednesday – instead his site is still (late Thursday night) featuring a “Double-feature review of Wedding Crashers and Bad News Bears.” Great. Maybe we’ll check out E! for some Manny reaction. Thanks, Sports Guy. You’re the hardest working guy, we know!

• Now that we’re really revved up – we are reminded of the Mystery Voice rotation at WEEI 850 AM during these Summer dog days: You half expect to hear Fluto Shinzawa sitting in for Dale just to get some hockey talk. It’s so awful trying to guess the speaker these days that we’ve just gone and assumed that everyone moron in Butch Stearns and every lucid thinker is Cranky Callahan.

• Which then reminds us: How tough would it be for WEEI to let us know about their new hires? They have a website, correct? Wouldn’t it be courteous to let the loyal listeners know that Bob Leone (once of NESN), John (pronounced: RHINE-der, we believe) and another flasher by the name of REESH-ay, have been giving Flash updates this week? An email to big mah-cha (Yiddish for big-timer) Jason Wolfe about Leone’s hiring went unanswered. So we didn’t bother asking about the other new and/or temporary voices. All we’re saying is that a little transparency goes a long way. Use your damn website a bit more effectively folks – the Marconi doesn’t go to pretenders ya know?. . . Shots has also been tracking the movement of John Wallach who apparently is in line for an expanded role at the ‘I’ of local sports radio. If Wednesday’s Wally and Holley experiment was any indication, we’ll reserve our Wallach enthusiasm for a later date. Wallach fawned at the all-knowing feet of Holley and then Holley attempted to get a “lightning round” going toward the end of their stint. He terribly misjudged the ability of callers to speak in a coherent and brief fashion. I still maintain that no matter how annoying the WFAN-660 AM callers can be, they at least understand the format. They’ve been trained to get their question out and immediately stay silent. Here, in Boston, our nitwit callers have been trained to be laughing, interrupting hyenas – like most of the hosts themselves (sorry Meat Head, but you’re even more unbearable when you’re on a high horse about a player like Manny.). . . Leone, as one media wag said this week: “Sounds like he should be at WBZ.” Or at WAARP, we added. A whiner liner cracked wise with this one: “Hey, (Bob Leone) - my great grandfather called. He wants his voice back.”

• One indisputable truth to emerge from the Thursday Big Show Without the Big O was that Larry Johnson’s ‘Manny with a pacifier’ illo at theremyreport.com was a true keeper. Johnson’s pipes do grate, but his crayons they do radiate. So sayeth The Shots.

• ‘EEI’s Ted Sarandis had guest, Paul Perillo in-studio on Thursday night and Sarandis repeatedly referred to Perillo as being from Patriots Football Weekly AND the Boston Herald - a quick Google found Perillo having done some spot coverage for the Yellow Boxers. I’m kind of doubting the Yellow Boxers would be very thrilled hearing Perillo being tagged as a Patriots in-house writer and a Herald employee as well. Something seems amiss there and we’re wondering, in any event, why a guy whose main beat is the Pats, could have so much ‘insight’ into the Sox? He got caught on a night when Manny talk dominated and we would have liked to see him defer a bit; instead he opined loud and aggressively on something he was mostly pretending to know about from the inside. Teddy’s always been good about putting on the up-and-comers, but this was a bad case of mis-casting and it resulted in some very painful radio.

• All of you haters are out there are worried about Manny Mania while poor Olly The Dog winds up sharing the Herald’s front page on Thursday cuz some whacko put rat poison at an Eastie Park. Percy The Dog – and Shots The Person – extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery to the precious pooch and his mommy. You’re both welcome in Hull anytime, Olly, – plenty of poison-free beach to run free and Percy might even share some doggie treats!. . . I’m thinking of calling Buckley to see if Zoe The Dog would like to organizer an old-timers’ game for poison dog victims. We could run it as the opening act to the August 17 game in Cambridge (media day is on the 8th, folks).

• I give up. Somebody please tell me what incriminating photos John Valentin holds of Red Sox higher-ups? Werner and Couric in not so cute poses? Henry at the Foxy Lady with Mo? Lucchino and a chimp? What – what is it that makes Valentin so appealing to the local talent scouts? This week’s latest broadcasting nightmare in the voyage of Val came with his appearance on the NESN Sportsplus/Minus show (Wednesday edition). We’re not saying the guy will never be TV-ready. But he’s nowhere close right now. And you already know how we feel about his radio disabilities. Val – start in the minors again and work your way up. It’s the only way, trust us.

• Tom Curran of the Providence Journal launched the first legitimate Scud of the soon-to-be full-fledged “Boston (mainstream) Blog Wars” on Wednesday, only to have his missile fizzle and sputter miserably.

A bit of history first – Mike Reiss via the Boston Herald’s web entity and because of his incomparable commitment to his beat, has had the region’s most-read “mainstream” blog of the last 12 months. His Reiss’ Pieces started on October 19, 2004 and in less than a year has made the page “must-click” viewing for anyone with an eight-of-an-ounce of Patriot passion.

In doing so, Reiss has raised the profile of his own masthead, the respected MetroWest Daily News, the Herald and, most certainly, himself. He is now the brightest, risingest and articulate-est star on the Talking Head Horizon. He does radio, TV and web and his versatility can not be overstated. (True enough, Shots and Pieces go back a ways, but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: There is no one you should be rooting for more than the Pieces Purveyor.)

Anyway, within the past six months, many of the region’s other media mavens have begun re-examining how their beat guys perform their daily duties. You can expect further roll out of Beat Guy Blogs in the coming months with both the Globe and Herald – at the very least – examining the feasibility of such “additional” reporter requirements.
The thinking, savvy progressive managers will find additional revenue streams for the writers and throw them a few extra shekels for their added responsibilities. As most beat folk will tell you, they use only about 33 percent of the actual info they gather. Some would relish the chance to go free-form for a few hundred words on the ‘net. Others will bitch and moan. And, it should be predicted, will be left in the dust.

Which brings us back to Curran, an earnest, diligent and highly competent reporter. He’s good on all the platforms he’s been used on and any paper would be lucky to have him. But he picked a bad day – and a bad way – to start his Projo.com Pats Blog. His Wednesday launch got bogged down in a “. . . my son Dan. . .” anecdote and largely left the explanation of what he was beginning until the second half of the entry. No biggie – he tried and eventually got his point across. He concluded with: “My aim during training camp is to post each day by 1 p.m. that I’m down there (which will be most every day). I’ll get something up immediately if it’s breaking news. Fair enough?”

Surely.

But on Thursday when the Ted Johnson retirement bombshell hit, Curran was no where to be found. (And don’t tell me camp didn’t start yet - It’s Game On in Foxboro form here on out.) The Wednesday TC post remained until a 6:40 p.m. Thursday post and a brief follow-up at 9:17 p.m. (assuming all projo.com posting clocks are proper). In contrast, by 12:40 p.m. yesterday, Reiss’ Pieces had dished out four separate entries including the Johnson quotes, words from Bob Kraft and Coach Bill as well as a quick look at what the prospects at middle linebacker become without Johnson on the field. Not to mention a nugget invoking the name of free agent Roman Phifer and four other night time posts, each one better than anything Curran offered up.
Curran – and/or the ProJo – miscalculated at their ability to erase the 24-hour news cycle and create the minute-by-minute news cycle. It will take some twekaing and we’re betting Curran will get there in due time. He will likely be better off trying to differentiate himself a bit from Reiss (and ensuing followers) and seemed to try that with his “I” usage regarding Johnson, but his debut on the Big Blog circuit was less than stellar and less than impressive.
For yet another day, the Pats’ Blog Wars were controlled and ruled by Mike Reiss.

The same as it has been since October 19.

•The Baze’s classic response to Olly The Dog’s plight? “It’s probably Ramirez who left the poison.” And you wonder where I get my bitterness from? It’s in the genes, folks. Like every other fukakta gene Pittsburgh’s side of the family gave me.

• Can I say fukakta in my own space?

• Familiar name Jeff Sullivan has started up his Blog Thang over at: http://sheriffsully.blogspot.com/. There’s a new Sheriff in Town for sure and we’ll take a whole six-shooter full of the kind of ammo fired with his “Curse of Craig James” riff. . . It’s right about now when I start to be boggled by the amount of talent out there in the blogosphere and the amount of garbage floating at Old Media venues.

• This from media Life on Wednesday: “Producer Tom Werner has been looking for a home for his new production company, and it looks like Warner Bros. TV might be the lead contender. Werner and new partners Eric Gold and Jimmy Miller of Mosaic Media have been in talks with several studios about a potential deal, including NBC Universal. WB TV is said to be most likely to enter into a deal, though an agreement is far from secured. This is Werner’s first endeavor after parting with longtime partner Marcy Carsey.”

• There was some early week Whiner Line chatter about a comical Mike Adams/Hazel Mae exchange on Tuesday morning. How perfect is Adams for the Denky and Cranky morning mischief? He’s proving the early hours can’t stop him from being productive and anyway, Meter needs to focus on his BC duties. It would be worth listening for Adams alone, never mind the ever-intriguing, always-on, Cranky Callahan. Problem is, Denky might be pushed out if that combo was ever allowed to flourish. All this is nothing more than saying that Mike Adams is a huge, huge talent and worth any headache a GM fears he may cause. Hear that Boston, ESPN Radio people?

• Remdawg’s parents made it to the Trop the other night and you have to appreciate how cool it would be to have your parents in your office, while you work. At least at Remy’s office.

• Also from Media Life this week: There is life after “Saved By The Bell,” at least for Mario Lopez, who has been named co-anchor of “ESPN Hollywood.” The new ESPN2 show will look at the intersection between Hollywood and sports. Lopez is no stranger to either. He was a high school wrestler and has co-hosted with Dick Clark and Danny Bonaduce on “The Other Half.” Lopez was also the host of Animal Planet’s “Pet Star.” Lopez joins Thea Andrews, former co-host of ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza,” on the new show.

• Speaking of Mold Pizza – at what point in time will the Woody and Skip experiment be deemed a bigger failure than all-time awful, I, Max? I never get past 10 seconds when one or both of those nincompoops are shown on-screen. No matter how hard ESPN tries, they can’t fix that show. We’d suggest blowing it up entirely and starting over.

• In the interest of fairness, here is the result of Michael Gee’s efforts during the Sox-Yanks series that coincided with the Gee/BU story (form the Village Voice):

http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0530,essay,66192,15.html. . . We say “Shame on you, Boston Phoenix media man, Mark Jurkowitz,” for your lame explanation of why you didn’t get involved in the Gee story and further shame on Northeastern’s Dan Kennedy for his own dismissal of the legit, Boston-centric, media story (based at a cross-town, academic rival, no less).

• Last Saturday, William Rhoden of the New York Times had a great column on something we had alluded to a few months ago – the Larry Brown/John Calipari coaching clinic that occurs each summer. As with most Rhoden pieces, it’s worth the looksie:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/sports/basketball/23rhoden.html

• Go ahead and enjoy the Trade Deadline Weekend – things are starting to happen in these parts and we’re not sure what to expect next. Well, that’s not quite true. We’ll be on the Shores of Nantasket all weekend just enjoying the view and working a crossword puzzle. Wish you were here. . .

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. and can be reached at shots@bostonsportsmediadotcom