By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Shots’ last day at Camp Dice-K turned into Manny’s first day and the scene was, once again, nothing short of incomprehendable.

Just how big was Manny’s appearance? Well, NBC7’s newbie Larry Ridley and his camera man were in the boarding area, on-line for their 10:15 a.m. departure out of the US Airways gate when Ridley got a call from Boston. The duo was instructed to abort their flight and return immediately to Edison Ave. for one more day at camp, where they will do live shots all afternoon and evening.

Welcome, once again, to Boston, Larry. “I love it,” he said - although with a little ‘un and a wife at home, Ridley is certainly jonesing to get back to Beantown.

If Ridley was the victim of Manny’s timing, other media members such as Jackie MacMullan, Sean McAdam, Michael Silverman, Jerry Remy and WEEI’s Jon Rish were the benficiaries of some opportune planning as all four of them are spending their first day at The Fort.

. . . Manager Terry Francona spotted Remdawg just outside the clubhouse and the two shared a quick hug before Tito made time for the media throng that was bursting at the seams becasue of the Dice-K BP session that began after 11 a.m., combined with Manny Mania.

. . . Shots was able to catch up briefly with one-half of Team Manny, Gene Mato, who we had known from many years ago when we worked on a story about Manny and another of Mato’s clients, the incredible Edgerrin James. Mato and agent Gerg Genske were passing time just opposite the Funai Media Tent when we caught up with them. If ever two men were weary and defensive, it was these two. The Genske presser, which is available from Boston.com, was contentious and borderline uncomfortable, especially for some of the media members who seem to take offense that Manny is both late and incommunicative.

. . . Remy signed autographs form within the comfy confines of the Media Petting Zoo area (fenced off like the goat pens at Drumlin Farm) and later, Coco Crisp did the same.

. . . Glenn Geffner was able to confirm that he will do the Opening Day Entercom radio broadcast from Kansas City on April 2 at 4:10 p.m. Geffner has received his schedule and it looks like he’ll get the bulk of the work with Joe Castiglione as he is penned in for about 100 games. That leaves the remainder of the radio broadcasts to fellow first-year Sox radio team member, Dave O’Brien, who is scheduled to call the Spring Training opener with Castiglione on Wednesday against Minnesota, accoridng to Geffner.

. . . Entercom’s Jon Rish, who will begin his second full-season as the Sox pre- and post-game shows host, was in camp today and told us he is really looking forward to both the move to WRKO 680 AM and his extended post-game duties which will include an 11 p.m. call-in show on WEEI 850 AM. (The Planet Mikey show with Mike Adams will run to 11 p.m., at which time Rish will run down the hall way from ‘RKO and assume host duties for the yet-to-be-named post game show on ‘EEI that will include caller participation as well as clunhouse soundbytes). The pre-game show will remain as a 40-minute intro to the game, hosted by Rish and the post-game show will stay at its customary 20 minutes.

Rish, a 1994 Boston College graduate from the Jersey Shore town of Ventnor, also does BC Hockey games for the ISP network (heard in Boston on still-kicking 1510 AM). He, like pretty much everybody who has touched down in Ft. Myers, is taken aback by all the Japanese media and the general interest level in the ‘07 Sox. “I didn’t think it was possible to have more buzz around this team, but they keep finding ways to do it,” said Rish, a father of three children ages 5, 2 and 1. “I usually get home by about 1:15 or so and I get my wake-up call (form the kids) at 7 a.m. The off-season was for sleeping.”

. . . The incredible four-minute package compiled from “Brewzer Cam” is on the WBZTV.com website and is well-worth the effort of finding. We got to say goodbye to Brewzer this afternoon in an emotional farewell. I’ve never seen a better camera dog than that dude. He had me at hello. Or “ARF.”

Good doggie, Brew.

While you’re over there, you can also check out Dan Roche’s Hit and Run blog. Roche continues to fly quietly under the radar while consistently delivering scoops, news and top-rate coverage.

. . .We just had another Bill James sighting. I swear the guy is tabulating numbers as he walks. Scary.

. . . All right - time to saddle up the horse and head up north for a few days in Tampa with Cousin Dave for some R&R before the big March Madness Shots tour begins for CSTV.com. We’ll get to some highlights and observations from our six day stay in Ft. Myers in the next day or so. For now, we leave you in the trusty hands of all these “real” Sox writers.

Hope you enjoed our spin on things and got something out of our slightly different take on Camp Dice-K. Thanks for joining us and we’ll be back with you soon.