By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

NOTE: Shots is scheduled for a 3:20 p.m. EST Monday spot on FOX NewsChannel’s “Studio B” with Shepard Smith to discuss the Red Sox. Set your DVRs accordingly.

Thank you Dice-K, thank you new Pedey and thank you Millsy. Much obliged Tito, Papi, Paps and Youk.

We acknowledge our gratitude to the Men in Red Sox not so much for the trophy they have re-secured in sweeping fashion, but for the pending exit of all these local MedIdiots who are forever sullying our good city’s name.

The weekend’s menu had no shortage of contestants for most embarrassing performance by a news anchor, but WHDH-TV’s Frances Rivera clinched the honor with her Saturday eve report from Coors Field in Denver.

Rivera, who, like her news-side sisters and brothers, has an endless supply of red clothing, questioned the Denver Post’s decision to have actual news coverage on its Saturday front page instead of the fluff-filled World Series stories Rivera deems more important. The lesser half of the Randy Price/Rivera duo held out the front and sports sections of the Post and decried the lack of homerism and enthusiasm throughout the paper.

Let’s all be thankful that Rivera isn’t making of this city’s important editorial decisions. Then again, maybe she’s making all of them.

Regardless, with the parade’s culmination, we will all be allowed to go back to a normal life where crime, politics and war are what the pretty faces are BSing their way through instead of pretending they know the difference between an ERA and an RBI.

All that good griping now in the open, here are your Shots’ Glimpses of Championship post-game coverage, 2007:

• The Sox’ own network, NESN, was once again hindered by its strict adherence to Major League broadcasting rules and didn’t join local, live coverage of the post-game until seven minutes after Comcast SportsNet had launched its Gary Tanguay, Mike Felger and Greg Dickerson (in Denver) three-way at 12:17. Other locals, including NECN and WBZTV, were showing highlights well before the FOX “all-clear,” a practice that NESN refuses to employ despite the slight competitive disadvantage it has been giving them this post-season.

Once NESN did join the fray, they were immediately caught off guard as the Series MVP Mike Lowell had already started his post-game presser on all the other competing outlets.

. . . Important to note that neither NESN nor CSN conveyed any sense of the potentially dangerous situation in and around Kenmore Square – the very type of coverage that forced the locals like 4, 7 and 25 to go to split screens of on-field interviews with in-city pick-up truck tipping. If either network is going to be taken seriously as “news gathering” organizations, they will both need to understand the societal impacts the sports teams have on the region’s fans and be prepared to cover those aspects – especially in light of the 2004 post-ALCS tragedy.

• Award for Biggest Cigar: John Henry had an absolute Marley stogie in a live interview with Butch Stearns and Mark Ockerbloom at FOX25 around 1:50 a.m.

. . . Stearns did more cheerleading for the pom-pom squad of FOX25 when he finished his 12:55 a.m. Jonathan Papelbon interview with a plea to the assembled Sox crowd to, “Let’s hear it for Papelbon.”

That was after he coyly asked Paps if, “We’ll have the next dance back in Boston?”

• At 2:17 a.m., WHDH’s Joe Amorosino declared victory as he energetically said, “That is it, we’re wrapping it up. We’re the last ones standing on the field,” he said as Channel 7 was once again the last of the locals with live coverage from Coors.

• Jordan’s furniture ran its “Congratulations Red Sox and furniture winners” spot on FOX25 soon after the final out and the Eliott in Goggles spoof was quite humorous.

.• WBZ-TV went live with NESN’s Don Orsillo interview with Terry Francona as Orsillo was the first of the locals to get the manager. WBZ then stuck with Francona’s next one-on-one with WHDH-TV’s Joe Amorosino and then, finally Babbling Distracted Bob Lobel got the manager but didn’t ask any questions, instead going into rambling commentaries which Francona somehow made seem logical.

. . . Lobel had a brief moment where he hinted at possibly doing some actual reporting but then let Dr. Charles Steinberg get away without directly asking whether the rumors of Steinberg’s pending departure from Fenway were true. “Don’t mistake me for Mike Lowell,” Doc Chuck laughed as he walked away from Lobel without being pressed by the Babbling One.

Lobel was a discombobulated mess as he meandered all over the field, frequently forgetting he was providing live commentary to an audience in Boston. Granted, live TV in the thick of a crowd is touchy at best, but instead of telling the story of the night, Lobel was heard instructing his cameraman, giving play-by-play on Alice Cooke’s whereabouts and continually asking, “Where’d all these Boston fans come from?”

. . . “He just got you a raise,” said Lobel to durable Dan Roche who grabbed a be-goggled Jason Varitek for an interview.

Does that mean you got a deduction in pay for doing nothing, Bob?

• NESN’s Don Orsillo was probably the best all-around on-field interviewer that we saw in our travels.

• Comcast SportsNet’s Greg Dickerson, surprisingly effective all weekend in Denver, brought out the “Cinco-Ocho” in Jonathan Papelbon, leading to Paps and Coco Crisp promising all levels of disorderly conduct upon their return to Boston.

. . . “Yes, I want to come back,” Mike Timlin said to Dickerson when he reminded Dickerson that Schilling isn’t the only free agent pitcher on the roster. Timlin also revealed he was fathering a 12-pack of Bud Light under his championship t-shirt.

• Timlin’s NESN moment with Tim Wakefield was a definite highlight and Wake’s show of emotion was very telling for the long-time Sox pitcher.

• Dangerous Dan Hausle was doing Fenway Park duty for WHDH, Channel 7, but he was far removed from the heat of the action where fires and flipping were happening. Prima donna.

• Newly-hired Bianca De La Garza and Bob Halloran handled in-studio duties for ABC5 and meshed quite well. What a contrast to the aged Tom Ellis at NECN, who covered the 1918 team as a buck reporter for WRKO Radio. (That’s a lie, of course. But not a huge one, probably.)

. . . “It’s kind of ugly out here from time to time,” said Rhondella Richardson as she reported fires on arrests and fires in the streets for WCVB. “They’re a hearty bunch, I can say that much.”

• As Mike Felger quipped on CSN just before its sign-off, “When you start interviewing Michael Chiklis,” it’s probably time to wrap it up. That was dually confirmed when ABC5 also talked to the Lowell native.

• There were once again several examples of naughty words being uttered and surely it’s the duty of the individual station to go on a delay to block the FCC prohibited words. But there is such weak enforcement, it seems, that it’s not a very high priority for the locals.

• Everyone except NESN was clear of sports coverage by 2:15 a.m. NESN’s SportsDesk continued until 2:35, finishing with a montage set to “Shipping Up To Boston.”

• ESPN’s Peter Gammons slammed both A-Rod and Scott Boras for taking attention way from guys like Jon Lester and Dustin Pedroia who have “done things Alex Rodriguez hasn’t - played in (and won) a World Series.”

Good stuff, indeed from Gambo.

. . . Monday’s back page of the Daily News, according to Linda Cohn on NESN, reads, “GET LOST.” And one of the Steinberg boys is quoted saying, “. . . it’s good-bye” for A-Rod in NY.

• Still not convinced this experiment by Yahoo! actually worked.

• Doc Chuck was incredibly hands-off in saying to any and all that the “parade is the city’s gift to us,” and that Mayor Menino would be announcing the plans, likely on Monday morning.

We’re guessing the parade is Tuesday and we’re betting the Dropkicks, Neil Diamond and James Taylor are all somehow involved. And we tend to agree with Felger who lobbied for an old-fashioned rally at City Hall so Paps or Papi can utter some “Moses-does-eat-shit”-esque line to an adoring crowd.

• The ballyhooed Donnie Wahlberg/Reebok 30-second spot that ran over the weekend jammed in a bevy of Boston landmarks and legends. Here’s what we were able to catch in several pause-and-play replays. Let us know what/who we missed:

1. Rowers on the Charles
2. T trolley
3. Cask ‘n Flagon
4. Josh Beckett
5. Laurence Maroney
6. Curt Schilling
7. Patriots (logo)
8. Sox (logo)
9. Tim Wakefield
10. Patrice Bergeron
11. Ty Warren
12. Boston College Eagles (logo)
13. Jeff Jagodzinski
14. Doug Flutie
15. Mayor Menino
16. Jonathan Papelbon
17. David Ortiz
18. Ben Waston
19. Rajon Rondo
20. Either Jabar Gaffney or Donte Stallworth
21. Bobby Orr

• It was one of Vac’s weekly Whacks and it echoed loudly after examining some of the post-game fallout from the Patriots’ latest romp:

“I could be wrong here, of course,” wrote the outstanding Mike Vaccaro on Sunday, “but I don’t think even the dynasty Yankees inspired the kind of unified-front, out-of-market hatred that the 2007 Patriots do. If you don’t root for them, you not only want them defeated, you want for 30 of the names to somehow slip into the Mitchell Report.”

The Herald’s John Tomase is already (smartly) playing up the different approaches taken by the Colts and the Pats in Sunday blowouts.

• Despite a REAL, LIVE, HONEST TO GOODNESS reporter from his employer having already reported the Sox’ starting line-up for Saturday night’s game, DimDog Steve Silva felt it necessary to also post the information, 20 minutes after the reporter’s post AND with a credit to WEEI 850 AM. I’m sure Amalie Benjamin really appreciated that one

Silva’s report was later taken down, but Shots cut and pasted the entries for posterity’s sake.:

October 27, 2007
Sox Game 3 lineup
By Steve Silva, Boston.com Staff
Here’s the lineup for Game 3 as reported by Boston sports radio WEEI moments ago.
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, 1B
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Julio Lugo, SS
9. Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP
Posted By: ssilva | Time: 04:30:39 PM | Link | Sound off | E-mail to a friend

October 27, 2007
Red Sox lineup
By Amalie Benjamin, Globe Staff
Pretty much just as expected…
Red Sox
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Julio Lugo, SS
9. Daisuke Matsuzaka, P
Posted By: abenjamin | Time: 04:10:00 PM | Link | Sound off | E-mail to a friend

• The wicked hit on Patrice Bergeron during Saturday afternoon’s Bruins broadcast on NESN turned into a unfortunate compilation errors and gaffs in the post-game as Kathryn Tappen, Gord Kluzak and Rob Simpson turned the analysis of the hit into amateur night at the Garden. Tappen was flummoxed as to what was coming next (twice promising Claude Julien interviews before consecutive commercial breaks.) Simpson butchered the eventual interview with Julien by never having the sense to ask the logical follow-up to the coach, “Do you have any report from the hospital on Bergeron?” Instead Simpson went onto a question about the way the team played after the incident.

Following the Julien chat’s finish, Tappen had to throw back to Simpson in order for him to inform viewers (in backwards, incongruous order) the news that Bergeron had suffered a concussion and broken nose and had movement in his extremities. He then clumsily made a Glen Murray reference which resulted in a return to the desk with Tappen and Kluzak as they laughed at some inside joke.

Before all that, Kluzak was shot off-center on-camera, with eyes wandering from camera to camera as he tried to assess the severity of the matter.

The good news is that probably very few folks were watching and the ones who were are probably already accustomed to the work-in-progress that is the Bruins pre and post-game shows.

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