By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

• Omitted from last week’s NBC7’s Wendi Nix/Conflict of Sox Interest story that got deserved attention from both John “Blitz” Molori and emerging Globe “Sports Media” writer, Susan Bickelhaupt, was the view from Yawkey Way.

Specifically, there was little heard from Nix’s hubby, Ben Cherington (of the now famous Ben and Jeddy [Hoyer] duo). (Let us, at this time, dub Red Sox Nation’s new First Couple, “Bendi,” as a tribute to the “Bennifer” combo that had been holding that distinction. Track Gals will, from here on out, owe us 58 cents for each Bendi usage – so sayeth Shots.)

Shots remedied that Lack of Ben situation last week, with a brief email correspondence to Nixy’s betrothed.

So how ‘bout it Ben? Did the “conflict” ever come up with The Trio during the interview process?

“Red Sox ownership is aware of what Wendi does and we had a good discussion about it before I accepted this position,” Cherington wrote in a Christmas Eve message to Shots. “ We all felt that as long as Wendi and I continued to perform our jobs in the manner in which we always have that it would not be an issue.”

Cherington was whimsical enough to include the following answer after Shots opined/asked: “(The situation has) got a certain Hollywood element to it; your marriage, (both) your camera-friendly appearances and (both) your talents make you intriguing to a wide range of people. . .Is that an offshoot that was expected, in addition to the added scrutiny?”

Cherington replied: “Wendi may be camera-friendly….I am more radio friendly…I do feel better prepared for working with media having watched her do her job for so many years.”

Lastly, we asked Cherington to address the “conflict” conundrum directly. His answer was most revealing, and delves a little into what the Sox deal with on the Globe front:

“I think the most dangerous conflicts of interest are the ones that are more veiled….Wendi’s job and my job are both pretty public. We’re not hiding anything. Everyone knows what we are doing. In the end it is up to us to make sure we do our jobs in such a way that avoids conflict and since we do those jobs publicly there is a natural system of checks and balances.”

Agreed.

. . . And casting for the roles of Beni, Jeddi, Lucki and Wendi (in the project with the working title “There’s No ‘I’ in Conflict”) is beginning now at the email address below. So far we’re thinking Charlize Theron for Nix and Alan Alda for Lucki. But we’re still open to suggestions.

. . .We hate to do this, but in reading all the Nix stuff, we couldn’t help but realize what an awkward marriage it must be. There was a heavy dose of “we don’t see each other much” if you ask Shots. Still, the couple’s commonalities must make for some truly tremendous conversations.

Okay – Dr. Phil is leaving now. We’ll try not to allow him back for a few months.

• He saved it for the last week of the year, but like a late-release Oscar movie, it is what he’ll be remembered for in 2005: Boston Sports Guy’s finest piece in many a moon. He just GOT IT with every paragraph – complete and total domination of the subject. It was MJ at his finest; Bird at his cockiest. Quite a way to finish up – especially in the year that saw The now-Ended Cartoon and The Never-ending Book Tour.

Happy, happy SG – you give us hope/to carry on.

• It was a mostly intolerable vacation week of radio over at WEEI 850 AM with most of the station’s TRUE talent enjoying some off-time (in the run up to playoffs and spring training).

Fill-in hosts were the norm (was that Upton and Eddie we heard at one point?!) and as expected, none were less listenable than the Windbag of This and Any Year, Pete Meat Sheppard. In the few moments Shots stomached on Wednesday afternoon, Meathead and Steve “Scoop” DeOssie attempted, in the abbreviated show’s intro, to discuss all things Boston College football and basketball.

While DeOssie might be able to offer some insight on the pigskin, Sheppard was clearly out of his comfort zone on both topics. After a couple of minutes lambasting BC hoops non-conference schedule and proclaiming anything less than a Sweet 16 appearance would be a disappointment, Mighty Meat was left answer-less when DeOssie asked where the men’s Final Four is being held this year. “I don’t know,” moaned Meat. “The women’s is here in Boston.”

Uh, gee thanks, Meat Turd. Great insight there. But wouldn’t you think your listeners would take a little issue with your credibility and authority on a subject when you don’t even know where the sport’s championship will be held?

If a caller didn’t know the Super Bowl was in Detroit he’d be laughed off the air forever more.

It’s in Indy, MeatFraud - April 1 and 3, 2006.

Perhaps you should stick with what you know – once you discover what that is.

. . . Guess this is what the Blue Field Game’s MPC Exec. meant when he supposedly spoke of the “arrogant Boston media.”

. . .Sounds like all those Idaho-hos were either liquored up or brain-dead – or both. Too bad we didn’t get any first person accounts of the Boise Boosters Banquet from the local writers. Those banquets can be brutal, but we bet there’s always a notebook note in every damn one. If the Kiwanuka name bungling is true, there should be some type of formal apology from a few different quarters.

• Shots is told by Someone Who Knows to keep an eye on the battle for February’s “Reports from the Fort,” especially between Sox Cartel member NESN and Celts’ Cartel member FSNE.

Returning for a week of broadcasts (Feb. 20-24) from Diamondhead Resort will be the odd couple of Gary Tanguay and Greg Dickerson. Last year’s debut featured awkward pink skin but also a good dose of “name” interviews, Oceanside for your viewing pleasure.

And now, following closely in FSNE’s tracks in the Fort Myer’s Beach sand, will be NESN and a few of its signature programs. Likely to piggyback on some long hours in the sun will be “SportsDesk” (with Hazel Mae likely to be getting some southern exposure), “Red Sox Now” and “SportsPlus” which will all likely find some Spring Training elements in Training Camp ‘06’s commencement.

We’re also told to expect some significant presence by NESN at camp throughout the run-up to Opening Day. It could serve as the launching pad for “SportsPlus’s” move to a nightly format, something that would appear to be getting closer and closer to implementation.

Complicating matters is a planned move for SOX/GLOBETV (aka NESN) into new, state-of-the-art digs, currently under construction. There’s a lot of logistics that go into such moves and it will become a truly tangled web once late February arrives.

At last check, the NESNers were still making final arrangements with its Ft. Myers-area resort affiliation (ala the Diamondhead alliance that FSNE has established). FSNE also managed to get a “presenting sponsor” in Dick’s Sporting Goods and you can be sure Granite City or WB Mason might like to add its logo to some specialized programming. If any of the local media entities had a website worth a damn, there would also be web-base opportunities for those corporations. But that kind of synergy hardly exists in this market at any noticeable level.

. . . We’re still trying to discover whether any of the other locals – perhaps NECN and CN8 – will originate programming from the Fort. With both FSNE and NESN focusing on the opening of camp, other locals may be best off trying to fill in during ensuing weeks. Or admit defeat and do the canned packages that are par for the course at that time of year.

. . . Lastly on the Spring Fling plans: Shots is hereby offering up our services to provide live (and tape-delayed) coverage from either of the resorts utilized by the local crews. We will promise, for the entire weeklong stay, to only mention YOUR resort and only the happenings on the show emanating from YOUR resort.

In exchange, you will cover room, board and some amount of YOUR resort’s food and drink (at a rate mutually agreed upon). Shots will handle airfare down and any other expenses. YOUR resort wins with my honest and imaginative wit describing your fine features; YOUR guest, NESN or FSNE, wins, by getting the added exposure that comes with a Scott’s Shots Internet Event; and YOUR name begins to grow with future Red Sox visitors as a friendly place to meet and mingle.

You think I’m kidding? Mold Pizza’s Woody Rage and Skip Clueless reportedly begged, publicly, for additional jobs this week – why can’t Shots?

• Speaking of the clueless, Jimmy Kimmel was absolutely TRASHED during his Insight Bowl appearance with Brent Musburger and Gary Danielson in the 3rd quarter of Tuesday night’s game. Somehow, we’re guessing Letterman doesn’t allow that to happen – even 20 years ago. The network should be very proud. So much for family values and Disney, eh? Let’s have our drunkest late-night host give us two minutes of incoherence. Too bad Uncle Sal and Belligerent Cousin couldn’t fit in the booth.

. . . Later, in that same telecast, You’re Looking Live at Brent made the awful faux pas of teasing Tony Dungy’s son’s funeral story on the upcoming SportsCenter and then following it up with a lament about losing an NFL team in a “Suicide Pool.” Sensitivity and common sense evidently don’t go hand in hand with decades of broadcast experience.

. . . ESPN continues to show great – and deserved – faith in Joe’s Kid, Duke Castiglione, the New York TV face now getting regular gigs with the Worldwide Leader. In Thursday’s Georgia Tech/Utah game, The Duke of the Sidelines got down and dirty in the sod at the Ole Stick in San Fran. And boy, did those Emerald commercials work their magic with Shots. I’m eating nuts like a freakin’ nut right now. . . as I type.

• The Phoenix, a local institution that Shots has mostly high praise for, does need to admit its woeful shortcoming on delivering the “Sports Media Blog” it had hyped on its front page during the Fall.

As of Thursday, the blog had not been updated since mid-November. All tolled, there was three days of weak-hearted blogging. A mag like The Phoenix needs to be more responsible when they “launch” a new feature. If you’re doing it half-ass, it shows, and your readers begin to question your commitment to things beyond just the blog.

And let’s face it, if they want a sports media blog that fits their style, they should be contacting Shots. Otherwise, they’re just pissing into the wind.

(That was job/and or free trip beg No. 2, for those keeping a tally at home. One more should suffice for this year-end edition.)

• WEEI’s Planet Mikey Adams, last Thursday night, had a bimbette from Hudson in-studio for the proceedings, thus delivering on his promise of “Chicks AND Sports Talk.” Noting that he had a (pregnant) wife at home who was going to be “hot” at him because of the “hot” guests, Adams again reminded why he will soon be known as ‘EEI’s Howard Stern. The ticking time bomb aspect to Adams will draw listeners, and the entertaining dialogue will keep ‘em.

Welcome to the new night time at ‘EEI, kiddies. Enjoy your visit to Planet Mikey.

. . .The blurry, amateur pictures from the Miss WEEI contest found at the woeful WEEI website showed once again, what a “high class” organization the radio station truly is. Over/Under on the total number of Revere and Worcester hair bimbos was four and a half. The pictures probably don’t justice to the, ahem, lovelies, but it was a motley crew to be sure. And it begs the question: What kind of woman would want to be Miss ‘EEI? And what are the benefits?

• We would never understand something like this in these parts (for the most part, anyway) – but here’s how Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara’s Homecoming game (a “home” game in Pennsylvania) was played by the Scranton Times, according to the outstanding Mike Waters at the Post-Standard’s site :

“Just hit Scranton
I just got into Scranton along with two of our Post-Standard photographers – Dennis Nett and Mike Greenlar. Bud Poliquin and Kim Baxter should be along any minute.
As soon as I got to the hotel, I purchased a copy of today’s Scranton Times. Inside was a 16-page special section on tonight’s game and, specifically, Gerry McNamara.
The cover was an artist’s rendering of Gerry’s media guide photo with three versions of Gerry in action poses surrounding the main art. Inside there was a two-page montage of photos from Gerry’s childhood with some game action at SU games thrown in.
What was really interesting were the ads. It read like a yearbook with messages in many ads like “Best Wishes Gerry!” and “Catch Gerry and the Orange all season on our 50 TVs!”
The best was a full-page ad from the City of Scranton and a message from Mayor Chris Doherty. There was an SU No. 3 uniform and the slogan “The Boy is Back in Town.”
- Mike Waters
mwaters@syracuse.com

• A leftover from the recently completed Shots Caravan to Florida:
Driving into Tarpon Springs in FLA on Monday afternoon (12/19/05) and Jim Rome is the only thing giving good reception on the (Sebring convertible’s) radio. Rome’s bitching about Rick Mahorn blowing him off for a scheduled interview and that if Mahorn doesn’t call within, like, 90 seconds, Romey will ban him from the show until 2024. Funny stuff.

Shots figures Mahorn needs to keep up relations as he tries to further his broadcast career with the Pistons – and we never like to see Romey get an edge. So we put in a call on the Bat Phone to Shots confidant, Iona Coach and partner in McFilthy/McNastiness, Jeff Ruland, and tell him to get Mahorn to call in cause Romey’s killin’ him. Ruland plays along and even calls us back to let us know Mahorn’s number (which we’ve tucked away for safe-keeping).

Sure enough, Mahorn (who left the number at home) calls in, tells Rome what happened and Romey immediately starts praising Rules and giving him credit for the assist (his first-ever, a wiseguy might suggest).

“Ruland put out an APB on me!” Mahorn joked. At the end of the strong interview, Rome says he is now instituting the Jeff Ruland Rule – anyone who tracks down a guest that is blowing off Rome and gets that guest to call in, will automatically be given a segment on an upcoming Rome show.

The upshot is Rules is getting a guest slot with Romey sometime after the first of the year. For some guys that wouldn’t mean much, but for a mid-major coach on the rise, that’s a freaking BINGO and Shots will be expecting no fewer than a dozen Red Gaels at our next Rules’-sponsored outing (likely at the Beechmont on North Ave.) The reality is, Shots should be getting the time with Romey, but we’re guessing Ruland, the consummate character, will give better radio.

That’s good stuff anyway you cut it – the power of the cell phone and the radio and the wonder of a wandering, aimless tourist in Florida. If you don’t find the humor in all of that, well, you were probably stuck in the cold of Boston and not eating saganaki (OPA!) with Rio the Greek at Mr. Souvlaki in Tarpon.

• All right friends – aren’t you glad we spared you a re-cap of the year in Boston Sports Media? For that alone, you all owe us another year of your undying loyalty.

Have a very happy and healthy New Year and as always, thanks for being there.

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