ANALYSIS

While his agent, his employer (Entercom) and undoubtedly his lackeys who ride his coattails are rejoicing over the news of Glenn Ordway’s re-signing with WEEI 850 AM, the move is far from the “landscape” altering event Ordway’s agent George Tobia would like us to believe.

Instead, it means there will more of the same juvenile, inane and insulting sports talk radio that Boston listeners have been subjected to for much of Ordway’s lengthy tenure. The only saving grace may be that since Entercom opened the purse strings for Ordway that they may be cash-poor to retain the collection of meatheads that populate the WEEI studio during afternoon drive time. But even that is a longshot because the Pete Sheppards, Fred Smerlases, Steve DeOssies, Butchie Stearns and Brian Daubachs of the world know better than to bite the hand that feeds them, lest they be exposed as the frauds they are. Those elephants would work for peanuts because no other circus would be foolish enough to pay them.

As for those who continue to think Ordway was able to get a deal on par with what John Dennis and Gerry Callahan finagled last year from Entercom, I’d ask you to look no further than the Entercom stock price. On Monday, it was trading near a buck-and-a-half and has plunged to as low as half-a-buck over the past 52-weeks. There is no way a sane-thinking business person could ever suggest that Ordway didn’t have to take some kind of “hometown discount” because of the current fiscal crisis facing the nation. Ordway and Tobia read the tea leaves and knew there was no sense in playing hardball with a media company dangling by its frayed wires and they decided to get the most they could without ever seriously risking Ordway’s Big Chair spot.

In fact, there’s probably even some respect that needs to be paid to both Ordway and WEEI for not milking the re-signing as a way to temporarily boost ratings (although with the fill-ins available, that would have been a risky proposition). [Interestingly, Shots is told that Dale Arnold was the fallback plan to take over for Ordway if he bolted.] The D&C saga last year had a whole lot of contrived elements and anything of similar odor would have been frowned upon – even by the dolts who continue to fawn over Ordway and his assemblage of blabberers – especially with layoffs and cost-cutting affecting even the most rundown of regular WEEI listeners.

Shots is also told by well-placed Entercom and media sources that the reported $1 million per year is more of a “max-obtainable” figure than what Ordway’s base pay will be. While he will continue to hit ratings incentives, the insiders say, it will be difficult for Ordway to reach other performance-based thresholds, especially any that pertain to TV and/or the Web.

Still, whatever the lofty six-figure amount of money Ordway will be paid, it will, without question, make him the country’s highest-paid babysitter. If Ordway were ever able to silence his peanut gallery for good, then – and only then – would he achieve the “legendary status” of which Jason Wolfe gushed about.

• As for the TV component, we’re just not seeing how four hours of watching feeding time at the zoo is going to play for Comcast SportsNet or anyone else. (We strongly doubt snafu-suffering NESN is a serious player in the “Big Show on TV” sweepstakes and if there has to be any investment at all made by the McGrail/Feld group, it’s a non-starter.)

The WFAN simulcast that is so often cited worked because Mike and the Mad Dog were intelligent, entertaining and informative. None of those words come to mind when thinking of Ordway’s posse. A couple of options that may work would be a one-hour live-simulcast (maybe in the 5 to 6 hour) when the day’s premier guests could be featured and/or a one hour “Best of” re-cap later in the evening. (Heaven help the producer who has to mine for 50 minutes of gold from that show on a daily basis).

Similarly, we’re not seeing how well a web video simulcast would work unless there are in-studio guests that will be featured.

• Some housekeeping to tend to. . .

No, the return of Shots over the past week is not an indication that I’m back in full service operation of Scott’s Shots or it subsidiaries. I had promised at least one more 2008 post and I delivered it. (Wow, am I starting to explain myself in Simmons’s tone? Yikes.)

Then, NESN made a major mistake during the course of broadcasting an unexpected national story (BC’s upset of No. 1 UNC). I couldn’t just stand by and not delve into that a bit.

[As a minor follow-up to our earlier reporting on the incident, a national Fox SportsNet spokesperson had not heard of the situation, even after NESN had posted its Monday, "blame-FOX," non-explanation.

Shots' early afternoon phone call was, according to the spokesperson, "the first I'm hearing about it." As of the close of business Monday, FOX Sports Net was still looking into the matter.]

. . . Big ups to the Herald Dave Wedge’s better half, (Jessica Heslam), who did a nice job of cobbling together a NESN flub sidebar for the Monday print edition of the Herald. The sidebar drew heavily on Heslam’s prompt Sunday night post and included official comment from a NESN spinster.

. . . I will say it’s been nice to realize that some of you really do miss having us around. Okay, not “some.” But at least “one” of the crowd. Keep the clean comments coming and thanks for being there. I’d forgotten how passionate some of us are.

That said, some random observations:

• The ESPN.com re-design is solid. Nothing more. Put it this way, the one thing that I needed (Monday’s PTI episode) was no where to be found from the home page. Come on, People. You have a great product with PTI and you consistently under-promote it. Ride those two the way that Cardinal rode his pardner on Saturday night.

• Enough with college football already. Saturation point passed about a month ago with that whole traveshamockery.

. . . Then again, the Texas-OSU finish was compelling – except for you know, the non-compelling part where it didn’t mean a damn thing.

• Mariotti? One trick pony and he used his lone trick in the first column for AOL. I’ll never understand the recylcing that occurs in the business, but I do acknowledge there’s no stopping it. Lots of guys owing lots of other guys favors from wars gone by. Never gonna change in coaching and never gonna change in sports journalism.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009 and is now available for pre-order.

In truth I can’t really afford to be coming out of my “book nook” for any amount of time, but two ongoing stories in Boston sports media need some assessing and Shots realizes it’s our official duty to analyze both (and some bonus topics for the new year).

To spice things up a bit, we’ll present those two stories (Globe v. NESN; Ordway v. Entercom) within the 2008 Shotties, given sporadically since 1990 for outstanding achievement in the realm of Boston sports media (and slightly beyond). As always, we welcome your intelligent comments and insight – buffoons need not apply. Have a happy new year and we’ll do our best to come back strong in the Spring time after we put our baby to bed.

The Shotties: A look back at the calendar year of 2008 in Boston sports media.

The Shotty for Least Stable Sports Media Relationship
TIE
A. The Boston Globe and NESN
B. Glenn Ordway and Entercom

The quiet cancellation of NESN’s “Globe 10.0″ in late December and the curious, semi-sign-off of Glenn Ordway were significant on many levels. By this time next year, we will likely look at both “events” as monumental days in the shaping of Boston Sports Media 2.0; hat’s how big the players in these two soap operas are and that’s how impactful the two stories will be on 2009.

First, the Globe’s battle with NESN:

A. Even before the Christmas Eve bombshell about the 17 Percenters looking to dump their Red Sox stake, the rift between the Boston Globe sports department and the Red Sox sports department (NESN) was widening – almost by the day. [For more confounding and confusing looks at the Globe's woes, we'd ask you to check here and here (for the astonishing Barclay's report).

The end of "Globe 10.0" got neatly buried in this Boston Globe's space-wasting, so-called "Media Column", with a two sentence explanation, saying "NESN announced. . . it will cease production of its original programming of "Globe 10.0" by the end of the year. The half-hour show, hosted by columnist Bob Ryan and featuring Globe writers, premiered on the network in June 2007."

Incredibly(!), NESN neglected to post the announcement on its own, pathetic press room page (and the network's oh-so-professional PR arm has long since stopped sending releases of any kind to Shots).

The move, initiated by NESN's higher-ups and delivered (awkwardly and clumsily, according to multiple sources) by Joel Feld, the network's executive vice president of programming and executive producer, was yet another sign of an eroding relationship between the Red Sox broadcast unit and the New York Times Company (dba here in Boston as the Boston Globe). It's a deterioration that was first made public when NESN severed its ties with the Globe on Boston.com, where its on-line presence had lived, and began its own mediocre site at NESN.com.

By dumping the Globe-branded thrice-weekly, half-hour show Feld and and Silent Sean McGrail further bruised egos on Morrissey Boulevard. The tension, Shots is told, has been escalated by the more frequent appearances by Globe personnel on Comcast SportsNet, NESN's direct competitor. We are told it also didn't sit well with Globe folks that both WEEI (Mike Adams) and Boston Herald (Steve Buckley) contributors were being used by NESN.

It's never been a secret that the paper's writers have had discomfort with the NYT Co.'s partial ownership of the Local Nine, but the mistrust and mis-communication between both sides has boiled over in recent months and the end of "10.0" can be seen as the water roiling over onto the stovetop.

For his part, when Shots spoke with Bob Ryan a couple of weeks back, Basketball Bob took the diplomatic approach to the 18 month run he was given. He said the powers-that-be informed him and his producer, Alan Miller, of the show's termination during the course of the week of Dec. 8.

Quite simply, Ryan was told, the move was purely financial. The show debuted in the summer of 2007 with Verizon as the presenting sponsor. That deal with Verizon expired in May, and neither NESN nor the Globe was able to lock down a sponsor to offset the costs of the largely in-studio production. [Ratings for the show were never spectacular, said one NESN insider, but on the days it served as the lead-in to Sox pre-games, it showed promise.]

Neither entity ever put the marketing muscle behind the project that was deserved to give it a legit shot in a difficult time slot (against local news and PTI on ESPN).

Ryan had evolved into a more-than-capable host within about six months of his debut. He – and Miller – used “PTI” and “Around the Horn” as their inspirations and created an enjoyable and informative 30 minute show that deserved a better fate. Ryan’s rapport with Charlie Pierce, Christopher L. Gasper and Lou Merloni began to take on regional similarities to the magic Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon create with “PTI” and the show really hit its stride over the past 10 months.

The much ballyhooed virtual set was never utilized to its full potential (although it is getting new life with “The Insitigators,” where three bartenders stand behind a counter and appear ready to serve drinks. Why are they standing? Why?) Whether it was technical snafus or a lack of commitment to the set, NESN certainly never gave the show all the resources it needed to succeed. They could have created a cornerstone original program, instead they played footsies with it and never gave it a real shot at succeeding.

The upshot is that Ryan will slide back into a 3 times weekly general columnist for the paper and told us he will continue to update his blog for Boston.com.

“I let the column slide,” Ryan admitted. “I haven’t been able to focus as much on the writing and I look forward to getting back to that.

“Listen, I’m a big boy about this,” he said. “This is why I always say that i would never have TV or Radio be my primary gig.”

But the blame does not lie with Ryan on this one, it lies with penny-pinching NESN and its continued curious decisions (vanilla “SportsDesk” anchor John Chandler and overmatched newbie Cole Wright come immediately to mind when thinking of other NESN missteps in ’08).

NESN wants everyone to think its New England’s version of ESPN, but the truth is, it’s a far cry from anything that is being done in Bristol.

And now, to The Big O. . .

B. If it wasn’t for bad timing, Glenn Ordway wouldn’t have no timing at all. With his contract expiring at Entercom, Ordway finds himself in a precarious place as the host of WEEI 850 AM’s afternoon drive, “Big Show.” Long-praised as the cornerstone of the ‘EEI Empire, Ordway and his representative are reportedly locked in delicate, drawn out and precarious negotiation with Entercom Emperors.

The problem is, Ordway has virtually no leverage. Sure, there are still Beantown rumors about an all-sports entrant on the FM dial hoping to nab the Big O and build a station around him. There has even been murmurs of a satellite gig for Ordway, but I think we can all agree he is a regional talent at best. Ordway’s lone, best option is to remain in the big chair with the Big Meatheads he babysits five times a week and get paid handsomely for doing just that.

Time and again, the people Shots has polled on the topic continue to point out that Ordway has no chance of getting what one insider termed “Dennis and Callahan money” in the current marketplace.

So Ordway has to decide whether he can take a “pay cut” from what he might have been able to land had the economy not gone in the dumper and whether his ego will allow for him to be, what he would probably term, “slightly underpaid.” If he’s banking on playing satellite radio or other terrestrial radio off of Entercom, he might as well give up now. No one can justify overspending for a “name” in this economic climate and Entercom has a very realistic replacement waiting in the wings at WEEI.com in Mike Felger.

Ordway is going to need to eat some humble pie and that’s never been a big part of the big fella’s diet. Still, Ordway never struck us as a dumb man and he surely knows what is at stake for the final chapter of his broadcasting career. Will he get STOOPID money? No. But he will have no problem maintaining a lifestyle befitting the King of Boston Sports Talk Radio.

The Tom Ellis Shotty for Overstaying Their Welcome:

Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti, WBCN 104.1 FM, The Patriots Rock Radio Network

The only thing sadder in local broadcasting than Tom Ellis’s NECN farewell last Saturday night is the fact that the earnest Ellis doesn’t realize how far removed he is from his glory days at the anchor desk.

Gil and Gino appear to be similarly delusional about their broadcasting chops.

WBCN and the Patriots (read: The Krafts) need to begin transitioning out of Gil and Gino and into more capable play-calling and color commentating. It’s no longer a matter of IF the Krafts need to initiate a change in the radio booth, it’s a question HOW they handle it. Even with the deep appreciation Shots has for the history of the duo, it’s painfully obvious that they are doing a disservice to the listeners, not to mention advertisers and the organization.

Look for the names of Mike Lynch (PBP), (hopefully) Sean McDonough (PBP), Gary Tanguay (PBP), Scott Zolak (color) and cerebral Tim Fox (color) to circulate WHEN the change is made. It would make sense if the Pats and ‘BCN do it quietly over the off-season.

(By the way, Tanguay’s turn on Celtics games as PBP man in Mike Gorman’s absence probably wasn’t the best audition tape for a potential booth job with the Pats. Tanguay is steady and suitable for studio work – not so much for PBP.)

[One note on the Tom Ellis farewell: NECN mainstay sports guy Jimmy Young tried to soften the shakiness of Ellis's farewell, and Young's knowledge of the market and Ellis's place in it, was sincere.

But the simple fact of the matter is that the Locals (or regionals) don't have room for the Tom Ellises, the Bob Lobels and the Joyce Kulhawiks. That list will surely grow in 2009, as WCVB looks to get younger and leaner, the way its competitors already have.]

The Shotty for the Worst Kept Sports Media Secret

An easy call, as this has to be the not-so-hush-hush departure of Jessamy Tang from almost-also-ran ESPN 890. Tang, it turns out, was well into in her second trimester of pregnancy when she quietly announced to the 890 staff in late Fall that she would be leaving the station all together. Apparently, employees had no clue of the baby bump.

Launched in the Fall of 2005, ESPN 890 has made very little – if any – headway in denting WEEI’s armor but Tang had weathered some storms, some departures and kept investors and ESPN interested enough to let her continue to putter with a weak signal and barely any marketing dollars.

Now, it will be the full-time function of WallerSutton’s WS2K Media to oversee 890, removing Tang and her J Sports from the equation.

Schrafft Building moles tell Shots that Route 81′s CEO, Ira Rosenblatt who will be the “new” Jessamy. You would have to think this is sink or swim time for the station and it’s a heck of a time to be trying to do either in these rough waters of the Second Great Depression.

Safe money says that 2009 will finally be the year that 890 admits it is nothing more than a tin can and string operation that embarrasses the national ESPN brand with each passing week.

The Shotty for the Biggest Waste of Weekly TV Air Time during Patriots Season

Awarded to any of the awful pre- or postgame offerings from WBZTV Channel 4 where Stammering Steve Burton and Steve “DeAwful” DeOssie are paired together. It’s car crash TV at its worst with every potential utterance a frontal assault on the English language. Add in the station’s insistence on using a constantly shaky handi-cam from the company-owned restaurant/bar in Foxborough and the end result was 16 weeks of unwatchable local football coverage.

The Shotty for Most Pleasant Surprise of 2008

WEEI.com

By any sensible standard, the initial months of the website built by Tim Murphy and Rob Bradford were a success for Entercom and even the hiccups have been forgivable. Do not underestimate what the “acquisition” of Curt Schilling meant and you can be sure that 2009 will have even more innovation and exploration by the MurphFord combo.

While I was quoted in the above-linked Phoenix story by Adam Reilly, I think it’s probably worth including some of my (long-winded replies) to Reilly’s questions that didn’t make his article. His questions are marked by “AR” and my responses are after “DS”:

AR: What do you think WEEI.com has done right?
DS: Let’s look at it this way: In less than half a year they have assembled a diverse and provocative line-up that includes Rob Bradford, Alex Speier, Curt Schilling, Will Leitch, Mike Felger and, incredibly, “Fitzy” (I don’t see his appeal, but I’m probably not supposed to).

That doesn’t even mention the in-the-trenches crew they’ve cultivated (Joe Haggerty on hockey was a GREAT freelance hire as was Paul Flannery on the Celts and more than I ever imagined, Mike Petraglia as a jack of all trades).

The web site has been able to inform, entertain and extend the WEEI brand into a space – The Web – that it desperately needed a presence in. They’ve had some some hiccups (design/layout/navigation is still a mess) and I still question that initial hire of Ron Borges, but if you’re asking for a grade on what they’ve done in a short period of time, in a marketplace that is trembling with fear, I’d say it’s a solid B-Plus. Even that should probably be grade-curved up because they’re doing it all under the direction of Entercom’s notoriously fickle regime. The Big E is making cuts all over, but they have been solidly behind the venture at WEEI.com and they need to be commended for that.

And don’t forget, Murphy and Bradford have consistently pointed to January/February as when they will be fully up and running with bells, whistles and maybe even a few more “big name” additions. You can’t give a true judgment until at least 9 or more likely 12 months. They started with virtually nothing as a foundation and now have a very sturdy base (including some eye-catching story art to tease the content).

AR: Where, if anywhere, do you think they’ve been less impressive?
DS: It’s not really “less impressive,” but some of the execution has been lacking because they don’t really have a full-time “Big Picture” guy. Rob and Alex are writing and editing a good deal and that takes time away (understandably so) from thinking about how to package and present stories and use WEEI’s multi-media resources. Instead of bringing on more out-front folks that don’t quite fit**, I’d like to see them bring in a dedicated content configurer who could focus on gaining eyeballs and increasing the site’s visibility. [NOTE: The addition of Christopher Price is an encouraging sign that could help in the area of big picture planning as Price will have editing duties.]

**Just as an aside, I haven’t seen the Leitch presence pay off. I emailed with Will early on about finding his groove within the context of both Boston and WEEI and he admitted then it would be a process. Mailbags have been weak and the columns haven’t quite knocked my socks off. The thing(s) he did with Flannery fell way short and he’s almost too timid as the “Outsider” – like he doesn’t want to offend the good people of Boston? Please. These people deserve to be offended with their boorish behavior.

I am leaning toward his shortcomings in this market being a result of WEEI’s Meathead Factor. There’s just too many Pete Sheppard worshippers that don’t understand the innate genius of Will and he may be trying to cater to them too much.

ALSO, From what I can gather, a good deal of the radio guys aren’t very receptive to being “used” on the web without compensation. Pretty ludicrous from a crew that should just be happy to be employed at all.

AR: And how much of a threat do you think they pose to the Globe and the Herald?
DS: They’ve already done loops around the woeful Boston Herald’s sports-web presence. That wasn’t even a contest. And, to their credit, they’ve certainly pushed the Globe on several fronts (live-blogging, for instance) but for now Boston.com’s reach and established name are too big and too entrenched to allow for a start-up like WEEI.com to truly register. If Entercom stays the course and lets Bradford manage his personnel and find a nuts-and-bolts overseer, it will be the Globe and WEEI.com duking it out for the No. 1 spot in the region’s sports infotainment delivery.

The Shotty for Most Frustrating Re-Design of a Sports Section

The Boston Globe (specifically Sunday notes columns)

Amid all the turmoil and comings and goings that Joe Sullivan has had to deal with for the Globies, it’s the static, glacially evolving sports page that may be the most egregious error of the past year. Instead of figuring out more and better ways to integrate the print product into the electronic copy, Sullivan’s crew continues to tiptoe around making bold changes and instead settles for inconsistent and incomplete moves. The print needs to drive the web and the web needs to drive the print and right now, that synergy is still lacking.

As for the debacle that is the Sunday notes columns, Sulivan allowed for some new designs and elements, but not all of them are treated equally across sports and the result is hard to follow, sloppily laid out notebooks that frustrate more than they inform. I’d like to see them blow up the notes entirely and figure out a way to make them relevant and newsworthy again. As you’d assume, I’ve got tons of ideas, but no one’s asked me for them. Yet.

The insistence on giving Stan Grossfeld space for his Sunday photo play of “What they were thinking?” is a Sully stubbornness at its worst. Each Sunday we ask, “What are YOU thinking by continuing with this feature?”

On the web side, there seems to have been a reluctance to embrace the Cover It Live software for live-blogging, something WEEI.com continues to experiment (successfully) with.

Sully is probably looking at one more major defection in the next calendar year (Rookie of the Year Marc Spears has drawn national interest, according to industry sources), but after he deals with that, he needs to get everyone on staff thinking about one thing and one thing only: Making the Globe sports page come alive on the web every hour of every day.

The Shotty for the Region’s Most Complete Media Talent

Mike Reiss, Boston.com/Boston Globe

Retire this award and call it “The Reissy.” We’ve long been unabashed and unyielding advocates for the work of Reiss, but this past year he took everything up a notch to a point where larger, more significant, national job opportunities are surely in the offing for the Umie stalwart. His blog skills are legendary, but he has spread his wings more on TV reporting for NESN and offering astute, measured and reasonable commentary on any number of outlets (chiefly for undeserving WBZTV and the passable WCVB “Patriots All-Acccess”).

The best part? Reiss still remains one of the most liked, most humble and most respected media members in the entire region – no easy task with the piranhas that populate the local scene.

• And finally, some quick Shotties in various categories:

Best New Blood in the Market
Adam Kilgore, Boston Globe – His baseball coverage has already been fantastic, but we’re actually looking forward to having him spice up the college hoops coverage in the region, especially with Boston as a host site in March. Sully can’t hog all the college hoops for himself.

Worst Old Blood in the Market
Pete Sheppard, WEEI – Sheppard will have to accept this on behalf of his fellow unqualified morons who he shares studio space with daily. It really is a group honor for the Meat Men, who continue to exemplify the very worst elements of sports coverage in the region and indeed, the country. When Sheppard appeared at the “VIP table” of a recent Phantom Gourmet episode with one of Eddie Andelman’s annoying offspring, we were left to wonder what exactly the VIP stood for? Very Ignorant or Virtually Incompetent Person?

Oh, and of course, Butch Stearns.

You’ll Be Missed Shotty
Take your pick here. The market lost Jeff Horrigan from the Herald when he abandoned the business and the city. Likable Laura Behnke, who shone for NECN and Comcast SportsNet headed west. The talented and capable folks over at CN8, where Shots always enjoyed playing TV dude, got discarded. Jeff Goldberg also got bumped at the Hartford Courant and Steven Krasner at the crumbling ProJo sports desk. Those are some tough losses to overcome for any market, but especially one that values quality people doing quality work.

Maybe the biggest loss of all was the little man from down South Coast way, Danny Pires. I still find myself wanting to hit Dan with a wise-ass email or phone call and long to read and hear his wise-ass response. Rest peacefully, DP.

You Won’t Be Missed Shotty
Hazel Mae, NESN – The power of a very good agent at IMG helped Hazel land a job with the January 1-launching MLB network but we stand by our assessment that Mae is far from a national talent. She will need a strong producer and good behind-the-scenes folks to make her a marquee talent for Tony Petitti’s gang.

Let’s also throw Babbling Bob Lobel into this category, although he will never fully go away, no matter how much we wish for it. And of course, despite a re-appearance this week, we say a hearty farewell to Mustard and Johnson.

And, for other reasons entirely, Bob Gamere.

Lastly, this is probably a good place to put the former Boston Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. What? He hasn’t gone anywhere? Oh. My bad. All those hissy fits and Shawshank rebellions during 2008 had me thinking Simmons just had to get out from under the wrath of the Mouse Ears.

Guess it was all just artistic differences. Maybe in Ought-Nine, Simmons can just appreciate how good he has it and focus on the writing that he can still do so well.

Most Questionable Moves by One Newspaper
The Boston Herald – From the (mis)handling of the John Tomase affair and the (mis)hiring of Ron Borges, the Wingo Wayers did some very tabloidy things over the course of 2008, but the payoffs have not been substantial and the paper continues to lag far behind in Web presence. They are the little train that could and we always like rooting for the underdog, but the Herald needs to start making some serious hay on the web side and spicing up its back page if it wants to have relevance in this town. The Herald hired Borges to be his provocative, bombastic self and instead they’ve been given Timid Ron – and they still have never addressed Borges’s boxing connections, despite still using him for coverage of fights put on by his former employer, Oscar De La Hoya. Readers deserved explanation when Borges was hired and they still deserve one today.

Funniest Oversight by a Local Media Organization.
The Tiny Member photo, Boston Globe.

Some other favorites from 2008 in Shots’ coverage:

Callahan v. Simers

Kimball v. Halloran

Sad exit from ProJo for Sean McAdam

Wilbon takes on Kimbo

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009 and is now available for pre-order.

A SHOTS FIELD TRIP TO. . .

This has never been the regular series it should be, but every once in a while Shots does leave Hull and venture into the crowded streets of – and around – Boston. It usually ends poorly with a traffic jam or general bitterness, but sometimes we do discover new and exciting ventures when we venture off-peninsula. On Tuesday of this week, we had just such an opportunity at the offices of YouCastr in Cambridge. Our tour guide was a co-founder of the “The You” and serial start-up guy, Brad Johnson. Regular Shots meanderings follow, so feel free to skim ahead if you’re not into featurey/business story content.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Across Hurley Street, outside the makeshift conference room’s windows at YouCastr headquarters, the building with the Biopure logo on it sits as a cautionary tale for any 21st century start-up. Biopure appears to have stumbled sloppily in chasing what all new ventures covet: financial success.

Brad Johnson, however, is too busy unwrapping a chicken burrito and glancing at his handwritten notes about YouCastr to even think about Biopure. Or the inherent obstacles of standing out in today’s (overly) crowded digital sports media sector.

“You have to have a level of comfort in taking risks in the start-up world,” says Johnson, YouCastr’s co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, who previously founded Intrepid Learning Solutions and has been on the inside with major players like EMC, PepsiCo, Polaroid, and KPMG. “We don’t pretend we’ll be a huge media company. In fact, our dream is to be a part of large media company like Disney or FOX.”

For now though, the angel-funded, small (under 10 person) start-up is still crawling into its walking phase. Already, the YouCastr crew has developed a robust community of both amateur and professional New Media providers and consumers. At present, the nascent site is a conglomeration of 21st century Ham radio operators who are experimenting with broadcasting globally while thinking locally. They exhibit varying degrees of professionalism and entertainment and they mostly do a good job of taking blogging into its 2.0 phase (video, audio and interactivity).

The bulk of the site is currently audio-driven, but there are written elements as well with video on the horizon. With a mix of opinion-based talk-radio-influenced shows and live broadcasts of high school, college and amateur sporting events, YouCastr’s fledgling “community” is offering up original content heretofore unavailable for widespread consumption.

“We’ve had several hundred listeners who tuned in for an American Legion Baseball tournament,” said Johnson, 46 and a native of Jamestown, New York who did undergrad at St. Bonaventure. “And we’ve had smaller numbers for things like a Whiffle ball tournament and some high school football games. (So-called) ‘Olympic sports’ participants at colleges are loving it because they have a way for their fans to follow them when they’re on the road.”

(The site seems perfect for campus radio stations to use for coverage of non-revenue sports created entirely by students at reasonable costs.)

Added up, the numbers will begin to become attractive for advertisers (and/or potential investors in YouCastr), according to Johsnon, because the users are from all over the country and hit a desirable, hard-to-reach demogrpahic (mostly 14-29 year-olds, Johnson indicates). Still in the Beta phase, Johnson said YouCastr is averaging a respectable 30,000 unique users per month.

That number is likely to jump considerably in the coming weeks as video is incorporated and the chance for live video streams from users becomes available. Already, the audio format is simple-to-use for even novice podcasters and the video offerings will be similar, according to Johnson. In some ways, YouCastr is creating a live-version of YouTube with an emphasis on sports. Although, as Johnson admits, “it translates into all sort of news coverage, entertainment, politics.”

Instead of having 10,000 people listen to one broadcast or show, Johsnon says YouCastr is looking to offer thousands of options to niche audiences. In September, YouCastr had 1,200 broadcasts, Johnson says.

“We had a grandmother from Hawaii write in to thank us for allowing her to listen to her daughter’s softball game from the University of Alabama.”

The concept for YouCastr was conceived, according to Johnson, on the Back Bay roof deck of co-founder Ariel Diaz. “We’d bring a white board up there and just write down ideas of what we thought it could be,” said Johsnon. “There are a lot of broadcasters that bring an event to thousands of people. We realized that what no one was doing was bring a thousand different things to a hundred people each.”

The broadcasts incorporate the ability to chat with users, conduct polls and, for purposes of sports talk shows, accept callers. There are logical extensions being incorporated for hand-held device usage. “One group of our broadcasters have already come together and they have basically created a “station” with regular time slots, cross-promotion and crossover banter,” says Johsnon, “just like a talk radio station would have.” YouCastr has also forged deals to livestream existing radio stations’ content, including that of 890 ESPN, an early signee that helped shape what YouCastr could best provide for commercial stations.

“I didn’t realize how quickly and (virally) the community would spring up,” says Johnson.

That community is expanding with an army of foot soldiers being assembled on college campuses to help spread the gospel of YouCastr through giveaways and buzz-creation. “It’s a good way to put feet on the street at a low cost,” says Johnson. “We’re all over Facebook, MySpace, Twitter – that’s how our users communicate and that’s where we have to be (telling our story).”

It’s a story that Johnson hopes won’t include the travails of its across-the-street neighbor in Start-upVille.

• The tireless and incomparable Michael David Smith picked up on some irresponsible accusations from Angry Michael Wilbon on Thursday’s “Pardon the Interruption.” Shots too was taken aback by the Wilby Words.

We get the feeling that the between-segments “bumper” between Wilby and on-satellite Dan Le Batard wasn’t meant for audio. These are some of the most damning words Wilbon uttered (taken from MDS’s transcription and copacetic with what Shots heard as we were in the backyard in listen-only mode for the segment).

“I don’t know what Kimbo’s ties are,” Wilbon said. “Kimbo still could have taken a dive while others are trying to prop him up. He could have gotten paid.”

His “ties?” That’s not a very nice word to be insinuating about an event that, in one night, had at least the same amount of viewers as the average MLB division series number on TBS (4.3 million).

“Ties” suggest something untoward (as does the fix discussion Wilbon initiated, of course) and without substantiated evidence, Wilbon is treading very lightly on some serious legal grounds. he certainly wouldn’t make such claims about the NHL or, shudder at the thought, the Arena Football League.

Reached via email on Thursday night ESPN spokesman, Mike Soltys, said, “PTI has been doing something different the past month with little segments in the middle of commercial breaks that have the appearance of being accidental look-ins, but (are) all planned. I didn’t see show, but I assume that is what happened.”

. . . Kimbo and Wilby on CBS for the next installment? Might make for a better match than a rematch with the Smoothie King. Might have to rename Wilbon “Mimbo” for the evening.

. . . Sure sounds like a better investment to do an EliteXC event for short money and grab an audience comparable to one of America’s Three Major Sports, right? Elite is actually the poor man’s version of the industry standard, UFC, and its Boston-connected president, Dana White.

. . . Good work by the Herald’s Dan Duggan to get White on the record on Wednesday.

. . . How about old WWZN 1510 AM friend Jon Anik making his mark on ESPN’s MMA show? Anik certainly never got his due in this market as the video confirms.

. . . Lot of MMA talk out there if you’d like a crash course.

• Am I the only one laughing out loud at HBO’s new “Life and Times of Tim?” Not to mention I’m in love with his cartoon girlfriend Amy (yep, a new low for Shots – Cartoon Girl crush). Best I can tell, Tim is a cross between Ray Romano and Jerry Seinfeld. Oh, and Tom Werner is an executive producer, so you’ll be supporting Red Sox Nation by watching.

Trust me on this one. Sunday nights.

• There’s just no need for the three man booth we’ll be getting from TBS for the ALDS [Chip Caray (play-by-play), Ron Darling (analyst), Buck Martinez (analyst) and Craig Sager (reporter)]. Darling and Martinez are equally unimpressive and to try and create one full color analyst out of two halves is a waste of air time. Caray has been underwhelming for the most part and there’s not one iota of homerism when we tell you that Don Orsillo is very close to meriting the Caray role. Very close.

Ernie Johnson has been his usual stellar self in-studio (although you just know he misses Kenny and Charles) and Dennis Eckersley has again proven he’s a National guy with a capital “N.” ESPN really should make another run at The Eck and figure out a way to use him – even if he doesn’t want to go Bristol all the time.

. . . Outdoor pre-season hoops with Charles however could be worth a looksie.

• My goodness, Lou Merloni has really burst on the scene, hasn’t he? Framingham Lou went toe-to-toe with Basketball Bob Ryan on “Globe 10.0″ this week and Lou-Lou held his own across all sports.

. . . Brian Daubach on the other hand, not so good in his WEEI 850 AM shifts.

• Comcast SportsNet announced on Thursday that Tommy Heinsohn will work zero road games this season for the first time in 28 years. In addition, Shots has confirmed that the network’s nine-year relationship with add-in color commentator Bob Cousy has ended. Cousy had averaged about ten games per year for CSN, according to a spokesman for the regional network.

Heinsohn will continue to do color commentary for home Celts’ games alongside Mike Gorman and Heinsohn will provide in-studio analysis for road games, alongside Gary Tanguay. Donny Marshall gets color duty for the full slate of CSN’s road games and Greg Dickerson continues as sideline reporter for both home and away contests.

. . . CSN is also boasting “new in-game graphics, including a new logo; new in-game scoreboard; and new in-game animation. During every Comcast SportsNet Celtics telecast, fans can chat with Comcast SportsNet talent . . . during the game via ComcastSportsNet.com.”

. . . Shots has confirmed that Marshall will not return to the network’s “Celtics Now” weekly, in-season magazine show and that a sole, male host will fill the role previously held by Marshall and Laura Behnke (who left the market, see below). The as-yet-named replacement is from outside the network, Shots is told.

• Behnke is now a few months into her stint at WNTV, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco, and in an email correspondence with Shots reported that things are going well on the Left Coast.

“It’s been interesting so far, but I must admit I do miss many things about Boston, especially the sports passion,” said Behnke, who shone brightly in her NECN and CSN time in Beantown, even making a smooth transition into fill-in duty at WEEI 850 AM. “I still keep a close eye on the New England teams, and had a great time covering the 49ers/Patriots game last Sunday.”

Behnke said she was on Lane Kiffin Watch the past month or so in addition to her sports anchor duties and added that she is learning how to navigate her way through Candlestick Park and McAfee Coliseum.

“This is a much more laid back market, something I’m definitely not used to,” said Behnke. “Bottom line, so far, so good in San Francisco; though part of me will always be in Boston.”

• The Boston Globe’s “OT Magazine” has made its first major mistake by bringing aboard ex-WBZ-TV sports anchor Bob Lobel as a columnist. Lobel – who has incredibly managed to land a morning radio gig – lost all credibility (or what remained of his cred) when he overinflated and mis-reported some Manny matters in July. Now, upstart ‘OT’ brings Lobel aboard and immediately gets demerits for such a useless addition. Name recognition is one thing, one trick ponies are quite another. We have no problem with a responsible and credible contributor like Tom Caron for ‘OT’, but why on earth would a “new” publication with a group of fresh voices go for the such a trite cliche of Boston’s sports media past.

• Monday night’s ALDS celebration once again brought out the worst in local sports anchors from Fenway. Between the giddy screaming of NECN’s Chris Collins and the over-the-top fawning of everything Red and Sox from WHDH Channel 7′s Joe Amorosino it was enough to force all sane-thinking viewers over to Channel 4, which had the good sense (or lack of resources) to go with its regularly scheduled programming of David Letterman at 11:30. (Not surprisingly , Dan Roche got some of the best stuff from the post-game, which ran fresh during Monday’s evening news broadcasts). NESN did a pretty solid job of mixing in analysis and interviews, even utilizing Framingham Lou on-field with Kathryn Tappen (while Heidi Watney once again was relegated to soaking clubhouse duty).

• Lastly, we know we say it regularly and then never follow through, but we really and truly need to get away from this blog for the sake of our “real life” projects. If I’m doing what I’m supposed to be and progressing as I need to, my visits to these parts will be infrequent. I hope you understand and appreciate your support. A couple a months of solitude and we’ll be back at you before the year evaporates.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

WEEI.com editor Rob Bradford has confirmed to Scott’s Shots that part-timer Ron Borges is leaving the site for a full-time gig at the Boston Herald.

When reached on his cell phone Tuesday night in the 7 p.m. hour, Borges hung up on me after I identified myself. I took that as a classless way of saying “no comment.”

But Bradford indicated Borges would be done with WEEI.com on or about October 3 and that it is likely Borges will be writing for the Herald when the Patriots return from the bye week in San Francisco.

“The Herald is getting a guy who is being read and I have the numbers to prove it,” said Bradford, who declined to be specific on page views. “He was living up to the investment we made in him. I would encourage anyone to go back and look at the 14 (pieces) he has done for us (so far) and they will see exactly the reasons we hired Ron: (among them were) his NFL sources, his strong voice and his writing.”

Bradford said he has no regrets in what turns out to be a month-long rental of the former Boston Globe writer who “retired” after his suspension from that paper for what the Globe termed plagiarism.

Since then, Borges has been on a road to redemption with frequent, paid TV spots and several writing gigs, in addition to a weak attempt at personal blogging. His short, but effective stint at WEEI.com may have helped remind locals what “Good Ron Borges” can offer in terms of expertise and insight. It’s the “Evil Ron Borges” that adds the intrigue to the whole package.

“That was a defining moment in getting Ron and it gave us some momentum that we haven’t relinquished,” Bradford said. “We are grateful to Ron for what he did for us and I think he was grateful for the (opportunity). What he did for us, I think, helped his position in the eyes of the marketplace and that’s good for him.”

It’s unclear whether the move will wind up being good for the Boston Herald and sports editor Hank Hryniewicz. The hire comes at a pivotal time for the scrappy tabloid, especially on the sports desk where recent defections have left the ranks of Hank’s Heroes very thin. Beyond the personnel losses, the Borges hire signifies a calculated risk by Hryniewicz, who finds himself only four months removed from the mid-May maelstrom over the John Tomase matter.

With Tomase and Borges on his staff, Hank Herald now holds two of the most notorious sportswriters in the city’s history on his roster. In reality, it amounts to a cross-highway trade of Borges for Tony Massarotti – a swap that would seem to favor the Globe.

The falling dominoes were set in motion over the course of the summer as the Herald lost valued contributors Bradford (WEEI.com), Massarotti (Globe), Mike Felger (WEEI) and Jeff Horrigan (lifestyle change). Hank Herald is in the process of filling three vacant spots and Borges appears to be the first move that has been locked down, with the two other spots likely going to baseball writers.

Last week, Hryniewicz told Shots in an email that he would have “no comment on any ongoing interviews or negotiations. I will say, however, that I continue to speak with a number of impressive candidates for the three positions and I am quite pleased with the quality of the individuals who have shown an interest in coming to work for the Boston Herald.”

Bradford said he knew there was a possibility that a full time offer would woo Borges away from Entercom’s fledgling webiste, “but it was still a good move for us and for Ron. I told him, ‘I’m happy for you and I’m also happy for Hank and the Herald.”

. . . It’s also unclear how the new job will affect Borges’s other multi-media affiliations. He currently averages about two nights per week on the CN8 7 p.m. edition of “Out of Bounds.” [Disclaimer: Shots also appears on that and the 11:30 p.m. OOB.] But Borges – who will likely be traveling more in his Herald role – also recently appeared on Comcast SportsNet and those appearances likely require less time at a similar payscale to the CN8 spots. Alliances such as the one with Golden Boy Promotions would clearly have to cease if, in fact, they are still in place (as they appear to be according to Dan Rafael). Other part-time gigs would also likely be out for Borges per terms of his Herald deal.

. . . Bradford has already begun the process of filling the soon-to-be vacant Borges spot and said “there is no shortage” of candidates. He also indicated the site is close to filling two part-time Celtics slots after having already posted some of new Bruins’ contributor, Joe Haggerty.

. . . Not sure if we should expect a “Welcome to the Paperhood” note from Kerry J. Byrne or not?

• SHOTS’ INSTANT ANALYSIS OF THE BORGES HIRE:

Bradford is right. The Herald is getting a voice. But at what cost?

Borges is both polarizing and abrasive – two traits that usually make for excellent tabloid journalism. But he’s also never fully explained his departure from the Globe and the lingering questions are something Hryniewicz needs to have answered before Borges can effectively do his job. The Tomase situation was handled with some very sloppy direction from above which makes it imperative for the re-birth of Borges at Wingo Way to be handled with glasnost and transparency by ALL involved.

I don’t want to get too personal on this assessment of Borges, but I do thing his reaction to my Tuesday call is quite telling. How hard is a “no comment” or an “I’m not talking to you,” instead of simply hanging up?

There’s no question I have been critical of the former Broadsheet Bully (turned Tabloid Tyrant), but I have also made every attempt to balance my coverage of Borges since his odd separation from the Globe. When his Brady scoop from earlier in the month happened, I – and others – gave Borges credit. When he started a personal blog and infrequently updated it, I called him out on it. When it was apparent that Borges was in cahoots with Oscar De La Hoya, I pointed it out. And when WEEI.com hired him, I gave both the pros and cons of such a move. In other words, I’ve covered Borges the way he covers his subjects.

Would I hire Ron Borges if I were Hank Herald. Probably not. But maybe that’s because I don’t know Ron’s side of things from the plagiarism examples that were unearthed while he was at the Globe. He once suggested that the Lord would have a role in dispersing the true story, but as of yet the Almighty has not deemed it a worthy topic. Perhaps He should.

There is, as a trusted reader reminded me recently, only one mortal sin in the business of professional journalism and that is the act of plagiarism. Even if the industry has long forgotten that tenet (Witness: Barnicle, Mike; Davis, Ken; et al), it is still the duty of reputable news organizations to have the decency to ensure readers that the highest level of journalism is being practiced. If there is someone on staff who has had blemishes on his past works, it would seem only proper that those blemishes be addressed before the writer begins earnestly trying to gain our trust again.

Especially at a paper where the “bond” of trust is so valued.

• The Papelbon-fueled post-game celebration from Fenway on Tuesday night gave a telling glimpse into how the NESN people are considering using their sideline talent as the season wends into October. Using both Heidi Watney and Kathryn Tappen for post-game reaction, the network leaned much more heavily on the more polished Tappen for interviews (including Terry Francona’s). Watney was caught unprepared with follow-up questions several times (with a very patient Theo Epstein once) and was clearly asked by a producer to fall back on the catch-all “greatest memory of the season” question.

It’s worth monitoring who NESN sends on the road with the Sox in the playoffs as it might behoove the in-house network of the team to have a more seasoned and ready reporter (Tappen) under the pressure of post-season pre- and post-game duties.

. . . “It never gets old,” but then again, it gets old pretty quickly. I mean really, WHAT have they accomplished? I hate to be cranky, but it’s just a little too much champagne spraying for September 23. Save the bubbly for October wins of note.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

Watch the following clip get a taste for just how incongruous and out of place it was to have Bob Costas introduce John Mellencamp at Saturday’s Farm Aid music extravaganza in Mansfield.

Was that odd or what? And Costas doesn’t deliver on his 10-second promise, instead taking 30 uncomfortable seconds to bring on the ever-more schmaltzy artist formerly known as John Cougar. Costas was in the NBC Sunday night studios, so he evidently snuck in from Manhattan for his bizarre appearance from stage left which had been delivering Carson Daly to the Mansfield stage as the day’s emcee.

Some more Farm Aid-related tidbits below if anyone cares, but first a few updates and tidbits for your Monday morning:

• The final stages of the Boston Herald’s attempt to fill three sportswriting positions appear to be nearing as Scott’s Shots is still being told by several reliable sources that Ron Borges is close to joining Hank Hryniewicz’s staff as a general columnist. Two other positions – now believed to BOTH be on the baseball beat – are also close to being wrapped up with a local writer and a New York tabloid baseball scribe holding the edge for what will likely become a baseball columnist and a Sox beat position.

That development is intriguing because it could potentially mean that John Tomase would remain on the Patriots beat instead of being switched over to the Sox, as had been discussed over the past month.

A Friday email response to s Shot’s request from Hank Herald would only say, “I will have no comment on any ongoing interviews or negotiations. I will say, however, that I continue to speak with a number of impressive candidates for the three positions and I am quite pleased with the quality of the individuals who have shown an interest in coming to work for the Boston Herald.”

. . . A Borges hire would be similar to the tactic the Herald used in 2004 – with mixed results – in employing Mike Barnicle. That track record alone, would make the hire a must-follow storyline for area business and media writers.

• Meanwhile, one of Borges’s most fervent opponents has entered into an agreement with the Bully’s former employer (which directly accused Borges of plagiarism). Scott’s Shots has learned that Kerry Byrne, the founder of Cold Hard Football Facts has signed a sales and content deal with Boston.com. Combined with pre-existing deals with both Sports Illustrated and OpenSports.com, the move completes an impressive “Big Three” of content distributors for Byrne’s wide-ranging site.

Adding further intrigue into the new deal for CHFF is the fact that Byrne is also a part-timer at the Herald for the Food section.

• Last week’s travel schedule allowed us to have access to the debut week of Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo on Sirius XM and we were pretty encouraged by the Puppy’s first nibbles. There was – as should have been expected – a huge New York presence on the phone lines, but that’s a big reason why Russo was coveted by the satellite radio giant. There’s potential for strong banter with Steve Torre and the addition of a another few “characters” will go a long way in solidifying the show. But overall, Russo is deft enough to handle the show by himself and gets a fairly intelligent and well-spoken class of caller (at least early in the show’s existence).

Russo also happened to be 100 percent correct when he explained on Friday that EVERY sports fan – or TRUE sports fan – would be wise to take in the Yankee Stadium ceremonies on Sunday night. From Don Larsen scooping dirt from the pitcher’s mound to Bern Baby Bern’s ovation and with many other moments mixed in, the event had significance and meaning beyond the glitz and glamour it artificially created (thanks, ESPN).

• Those master marketers, the Kraft Family, last week sent out “2008 Season Ticket Holder lapel pins” as a “small token of appreciation for your loyal support and to recognize your unique status in the Patriots fan base.” Conveniently included in the same padded envelope were four coupons for use at four separate Patriot Place stores (20 percent off at Off Broadway, Reebok and Bed, Bath & Beyond and 10 percent at Bass Pro Shops) and a reminder “Be a part of Patriots history!” at the newly opened Hall of Fame (but no discounts or comps for admission to the new venue).

. . . Fear not, Boston sports media inhalers – the Pats’ bye week will not be as all-encompassing and banal as it would be in, say, Novemeber when they are the only meaningful show in town. The start of the baseball post-season will surely temper the overkill and over-reaction to Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Miami Dolphins.

• Stop, already, with the people who truly believe that the team’s radio duo of Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti is still worthy of being on-air. The misidentifications, missed plays and repeated mis-speaks by G&G are ghastly. In less than a full (first) half of listening on Sunday, Shots heard one or the other or both of the duo call Bill Belichick “Bill Parcells”; completely miss a Miami penalty flag that led to a Patriots first down; and give a reception to a receiver who didn’t get his first reception until the second half (an error feintly corrected by Santos when he gave the catch to Ted Ginn, Jr.).

The Rock Radio Nitwits are ready for their curtain call and it’s time to send in the replacements (where the new conjoining of Scott Zolak and Mike Lynch at WCVB has some informed people thinking that duo could be next in the radio booth.)

[Harsh? Maybe - but let's not allow the Krafts to get a pass for foisting the past-their-prime pairing upon us for another full season of sub-par broadcasting.]

. . . WEEI 850 AM picked up the Marconi Award for national Sports Station of the Year and we’d be foolish not to recognize the significance of that accomplishment. So, yes, loud and boorish is actually a way to go through life, we suppose. Congrats to the Wolfe Man and the gang – the formula does seem to work.

. . . Bob Lobel on morning radio at an oldies station. Perfect. Just perfect.

• So, the Neil Young set list at Farm Aid – which started off completely smoking and peaked with a stirring “Powderfinger,” went like this:

Love And Only Love
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Powderfinger
Mother Earth
Unknown Legend
Old Man
Get Back To The Country
A Day In The Life

. . . Kenny Chesney had the women swooning and we gotta admit, there’s some appeal to the Sox-inclusive She’s From Boston Girl and this one, too (having been there before. Several times.) Consider Shots a newfound Chesney chooser (although I was unfairly swayed by a Section 13, bespectacled beauty who sang every song and glowed through the entire Chesney set.)

. . . The Pretenders set was completely overlooked in all the early reviews I saw. Chrissie Hynde still has the sultry voice that can’t be ignored.

. . . Last moment of playing “Rolling Stone Shots”: Great Woods (insert real name if you feel it necessary) is an awful, awful venue that needs to be thoroughly re-done or simply imploded. Saturday night’s monster gathering stretched the place to its limits and it was an ugly sight to see the hammering the facilities took. Concession costs were OUTRAGEOUS and the feel of “Farm Aid” was lost on a very young, very drunk and very green crowd that roamed the upper portions of the seating area and the incredible, shrinking, grassy knoll up top.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

As if to show just how serious they are about being an Internet player, WEEI.com today (8/18/08) announces the addition of Deadspin founder, Will Leitch, to its rapidly expanding line-up of writers. Leitch – tabbed as “The Outsider” – will write twice-monthly (every other Wednesday) for the site and offers up a “Hello, Boston” piece today. In short, Leitch told Scott’s Shots joining the WEEI.com team was an easy decision, as he had previously felt the power of ‘EEI and it shook him to his soul. Sort of.

“When I was on the book tour,” Leitch explained via email over the weekend, “I bet I did 8 to 10 radio interviews a day for the first three weeks. Only one of them earned any appreciable traction: WEEI.

“Every Boston friend I have is oddly meticulous about the station; they know who’s on at pretty much every hour, and can psychologically break down every broadcaster for biases, weaknesses and favorite in-break snack,” said Leitch. “It’s pretty difficult to find any community like that anywhere. Plus, you know, they asked.”

Doing the asking was Rob Bradford, the site’s content overlord as well as a featured writer. Bradford had never met nor spoken with Leitch, but he recognized the slightly deranged Midwesterner as one of the most important Internet sports voices of the decade and figured, “. . . you never know. Couldn’t hurt to ask,” said Bradford in an extensive phone interview on Friday. “The goal for WEEI.com is to get the best people, to be creative and to be ahead of the curve. Will has built his reputation with his creativity.

“He will provide an outsider’s view on Boston sports,” he said. “We sometimes lose ourselves in our own little world here. He’ll bring perspective as to how we’re being perceived from (beyond Route 495).”

Leitch, who left Deadspin this summer for a spot at New York Magazine, is also contributing to The Sporting News and working on another book “about baseball.” He is well aware of the sharpened fangs (and unique users) that will surely accompany his arrival at WEEI.com.

“Oh, I’m certainly not counting on any sort of acceptance. I honestly have no idea how this will work,” he said. “They’ve given me pretty free reign with it, but, from the get-go, I’m making it as clear as possible that I’m no expert in Boston sports. That’s why I hope it will be fun. I think when you’re in the middle of the maelstrom, it can be difficult to fathom how the rest of the world sees you.

“Right now, Boston is the most compelling sports city in America; it’s not even close,” he said. “I’m hoping to tap into that. Look at the Manny situation. When he started acting up, the rest of the planet was like, ‘Well, there he goes again. They’ll figure it out, like they always do.’

“Boston fans knew better; they knew the atmosphere had changed. That’s amazing to me. The city’s fandom is a palpable, breathing thing; it’s fascinating to watch,” said Leitch, 32. “I want to try to figure that out. I’ll probably fail. But hopefully it’ll be fun trying. And hey: I’ve been writing online for a long time. I can certainly take whatever criticism comes my way; I’m sure I’ll deserve just about all of it.”

With Leitch joining the ranks of Boston’s bloggers, the city will now have claims on both the Grandfather of New Media Sports “coverage” (Bill Simmons) and the Godfather of the genre (Leitch).

“I’d be pretty honored to be compared to Simmons, until you realize how poorly one measures up to Simmons, and then I’m screwed,” said Leitch. “Simmons oozed Boston sports from his pores back in the day; I won’t be doing that. I couldn’t if I tried. But hey, nobody wants a St. Louis Sports Guy. If people are expecting me to be a new Simmons, they’ll be sorely disappointed. But I don’t think anybody expects that.”

Mostly, as Leitch will learn, the Boston sports media consumer wants full effort and full interest in the topics. Leitch seems to know that and appears to be reaching a tipping point for side projects.

“My plate’s pretty full right now. I’m working on the next book. . . I’m writing a page for The Sporting News in every issue and, of course, working at New York mag, which is more fun than I could have imagined.

“Everyone here is so freaking smart; I’m honored they think I could possibly keep up. (I can’t.),” he said. “And, of course, I’ll keep popping by Deadspin whenever (Leitch’s replacement) AJ (Daulerio) lets me.”

• Okay, now that you have digested the Leitch role for fledgling WEEI.com. it’s probably a good idea to do a little re-set here before we get too deep into all of this. The web site is on the verge of announcing several hires in addition to this list we have already compiled in prior posts:

– Rob Bradford (Full-time, content editor/writer)
– Alex Speier (Full-time, editor/writing)
– Mike Felger (Weekly Patriots Report Card and Mailbag)
– Ron Borges (A post-game column and a Friday offering)
– Jeff Goodman (Basketball offering)

Shots has also confirmed through WEEI.com that the website is also bringing aboard:

– Mike Petraglia (Contributor with audio and writing)
– Carlson Mozdiez (Full-time – was Webmaster/Marketing/Promotions and will add blogging and continue with technical side expertise)
– Gary (Marbry) From Chapel Hill (Contributor of Nuggetpalooza)
– Kirk Minihane (Contributor, Fantasy Football writer)
– Some type of “Onion”-like Boston-focused contribution
– Sean Casey of the Red Sox (likely for video-logging)
- An offering from ‘EEI producers.

Also, there will be some special debut Monday introductory offerings from Leitch, Felger, Borges et al.

(The transition to some new content will take time, as you’ll see in cruising the site – best bet is probably to go to the “Columnists/Blogs” tab.)

The immediate result of all this is what launches today at WEEI.com, but both Bradford and Vice Prsident/General Manager, Tim Murphy, emphasize this is only a beginning of what they both ultimately envision as a major destination site for Boston Sports Fans.

“This is a ground-breaking, not a ribbon-cutting,” said Murphy in an exclusive interview with Shots last week. “Hopefully by the end of January, we will be (at full capacity). First, we have to become ‘must-bookmark’ and I think we’re well on our way to that (with this first round of development).”

For now, the Entercom entrance into the arena has set off a slight flurry of shuffling at the Globe.

“I want to make this point clear,” said an invigorated and fiery Bradford. “These initial moves weren’t done just to have people talking about us for a day or two. I believe Ron (Borges) is amongst the best at what he does. His game column in the Globe was always must-read. The day he left that paper, it became a worse paper.

“We approached Will because he is one of the most creative and talented writers out there today,” said Bradford. “We’re getting the best people at what they do and that will mean a combination of old school journalists and new media people as well.”

Tempering the simmering competition a bit, Murphy is presently content with sharing the market’s Internet pie.

“We’re not trying to emulate Boston.com or BostonHerald.com and we don’t necessarily have to beat them or replace them,” said Murphy. “We’ll offer a unique perspective and be a source of both news and entertainment and we’ll do it with a new cast of editorial voices to add to the compelling and informative audio content we already have from WEEI.”

As for the early controversy that accompanied news of the Borges acquisition, Bradford is steadfast in his belief that Borges is committed and, quite possibly driven to silence his detractors.

“When I talked to Ron, the only thing I needed to know from him was whether he was ready to kick some butt,” said Bradford. “He is. Some people will forget (about his past) and some won’t and I get that. But I think he is motivated to put some of that stuff to rest and that motivation serves us well.”

(A Scott’s Shots attempt to interview Borges was rebuffed by WEEI.com’s PR agency of record.)

The all-in approach to the web-side is a new one for an Entercom entity, but as Murphy pointed out, WEEI is a pretty advanced laboratory to experiment in.

“In many ways, WEEI is an anomaly in the radio world,” Murphy said. “The depth of penetration in 25-54 year old male demographic is incredible. It’s the model for (this segment of) radio in many ways.

“Any media company that reaches a broad segment is at a point now where they have to act quickly to leverage these assets they have,” said Murphy. “That’s what Entercom – and David Field – is doing by investing in the web. This is the way broadcasting in general is going.”

Murphy said the WEEI.com is generating 250,000 unique visitors per month now (8,300 per day, which seems high for a mostly static site) and he hopes to have that number at 1 million per month by the end of 2009. The task is daunting, but Murphy thinks he’s got a leg up.

“What scares me is that there’s a large graveyard full of the web entries that had huge traffic but couldn’t monetize it,” said Murphy. “WEEI has already done that and this will allows us to further that. The site as it is, is currently profitable.”

. . . Murphy promised an updated look and feel for the site, an optimization of the audio search feature and easier navigation.

. . . Murphy on Borges and Felger: “Ron and Mike will perspective that will be somewhat in contrast to a lot of what is on the air and that will help give a 360 degree perspective on the Patriots.”

. . . Murphy on Borges: “We’re very comfortable bringing Ron on board and he’s eager to re-establish himself. He was must-read in the Globe. We’re aware of his past and he’s excited to move forward.”

. . . Bradford on what appeals to him about the opportunity at WEEI.com: “It’s a clean slate, we can mold things the way we want. We’ve got resources, we’re not doing this on the cheap and we’ve also got all this amazing audio to use, which no one else has.”

. . . Bradford on the reaction from people who discover he left an Old Media stalwart for a New Media start-up: “People get it. They know what this opportunity is. It’s cool that people are seeing what I saw when I took the job.”

. . . It’s reasonable to expect a Celtics columnist to be brought on in the coming weeks. Shots confirmed that Jackie MacMullan was pursued aggressively but currently she is too busy on her own book project to contribute to WEEI.com. That likely is a fluid situation and could change at any time. Peter May is probably also in the mix, but we’d rather see an up-and-comer grab the Celts spot.

. . . Bradford will be with the red Sox in Baltimore on his first official WEEI.com road-trip.

• Here are the Next Three Things, WEEI.com should seriously consider doing (in order of import):

1.Get an exclusive deal with a video partner, preferably Comcast Sports Network. There are already logical tie-ins with the regional network (Felger, Bradford) and a partnering would benefit both sides (especially CSN, which has yet to deliver on its promise of a “news-gathering” division). It allows for even more cross-promotion and gives the station another good Celtics tie-in.

2.Get a woman. Yahoo! Sports has done wonders with its morning Sports Minute update featuring a competent, attractive young lady. WEEI.com can do the very same things on a local level and probably use the very same sponsor already supporting the Y! offering – Dunkin’ Donuts.

3.Get an on-air show that prominently incorporates WEEI.com. This will have to be a “test kitchen” type of experiment, but one that could pay big dividends. By using a block of programming (weekend or late night, we’d guess) the station would be able to simultaneously promote the website and engage users with polls, email questions and on-line interactivity. Let Bradford and Speier have run of the studio and see what they come up with. It would have to be better than the current Saturday offerings of Musty, The Tracer and Butchie The Mayor, right?

• John Dennis admitted last week that he – and others at WEEI – were, at first, skeptical of what WEEI.com would actually be. The cynics rolled their eyes, Dennis said.

“But we were dead wrong,” Dennis said. “This is not out of altruism that they are doing this. This is the next revenue stream and they see that.

“It’s not unlike what the Red Sox have done,” he said. “They saw they could earn revenue from putting signage on the Wall. They saw they could get naming rights money. You drill holes and see what comes up from (beneath). For WEEI.com, they aren’t cutting any corners. I think it has potential to be (a game-changer).

“I think, in their wildest dreams, they probably see that it could become as a local version of ESPN.com, with all these ways to cross-promote and sell,” Dennis said.

He laid out a scenario where he could envision an existing major sponsor at the station expanding its reach by sponsoring some exclusive “Dennis and Callahan” audio at WEEI.com

• LEITCH LEFTOVERS:

. . . We couldn’t help but notice that Leitch now has slices of New York and Boston in his repertoire, we asked if LA was far behind?

“Well, all columns about LA would start three paragraphs in and end four paragraphs early. And those would be a bitch to edit,” he said.

Hear that Manny? Will Kills L.A.

. . . We let Leitch “out of here” with a closer that asked him to name three ways St. Louis (he is a lifelong Cards diehards card-carrying member) and Boston sports fans are alike and three ways they are different.

His reply:

SIMILARITIES:
1. Fans are extremely knowledgeable, devoted and respectful of history.
2. You get the sense that every fan at the home stadium would never want to be anywhere else than sitting in those stands.
3.The football team can do whatever it wants, but it’ll never compare to the baseball team.

DIFFERENCES

1. Cardinals fans STILL lustily cheer a groundout to the second baseman if it moves the runner to third. Boston fans are not that lame.
2. It is still possible to get tickets to a game at Busch Stadium.
3. Your signature city beer is still brewed and owned by Americans. (If Cincinnati still counts as “America.”) Ours? Not so much.

• According to the Boston Globe review of GSTF, Leitch has termed some of local sports figures thusly:

“. . . he describes Manny Ramirez as a ‘dingbat Red Sox slugger,’ Sox pitcher Curt Schilling as not ‘satisfied until he is deemed king,’ and Bill Belichick as the ‘Napoleonic Patriots coach’ hated by ‘anyone who happens not to work for him’. . .”

• Asked by the New York Post’s always-entertaining Lenn Robbins to name his “(f)avorite sport other than football,” Boston College linebacker Brian Toal answered, “Beer pong” in a Sunday Q&A with New Jersey LBs. Funny, or a trend or both?

• Herald Sports Editor Hank Hryniewicz responded to an email from Shots regarding the recent departures on Wingo Way by saying, rather defiantly, via email, “I’ve known Tony (Massarotti) as a friend for nearly two decades and as a co-worker for almost as long. Although I will miss the daily give-and-take I’ve enjoyed with Tony along with his contributions to the Herald, we’re already in the process of interviewing candidates to fill the vacancies on our sports staff.”

• The WEEI/NESN Radio-Telethon for the Jimmy Fund really knocked it out of the park by surpassing it’s $4 million goal by $800,000. Well done, folks. Especially the NESN people who were able to let the pictures tell so many stories.

• The WEEI.com press release on the “ground-breaking”:

WEEI.com Announces All-Star Roster Additions

Deadspin.com founder Will Leitch and former Boston Globe sportswriter Ron Borges headline latest additions to WEEI.com

BOSTON (August 18, 2008) – WEEI.com announced today the additions of six first-rate journalists joining its staff, along with the first upgrade to the website’s content and design. Joining WEEI.com editor Rob Bradford and columnist Mike Felger are a collection of top print and online journalists with excellent experience and reputations both in Boston and nationally.

Will Leitch, the founder of popular sports blog Deadspin.com, will be joining WEEI.com to provide an outsider’s look at Boston sports and its fans. Leitch has authored three books, including “God Save the Fan” and is currently a contributing editor to New York Magazine.

Ron Borges is a 24-year veteran of the Boston Globe, serving as the Patriots beat writer, national football writer and boxing reporter. He will serve as a columnist for WEEI.com covering the Patriots and national football news. Borges has received many awards and praise throughout his writing career, including being named Massachusetts Sports Writer of the Year by the National Association of Sportswriters and Sports Broadcasters five times since 1999.

Baseball writing veteran Alex Speier assist in handling the Red Sox beat and serve as Online Content Manager for WEEI.com. Speier is a graduate of Harvard University and has covered the Red Sox for several local and national publications, including the New Hampshire Union Leader, Boston Metro, Boston Herald and Baseball America.

“We’ve assembled a great new team at WEEI.com,” said Bradford. “It is an amazing collection of talent and I think that New England sports fans will enjoy the new voices and content our website is putting out. WEEI.com will be a great complement to the best sports radio station in the country.”

Also joining WEEI.com are Mike Petraglia, Jeff Goodman and Gary Marbry. Petraglia has more than 15 years experience covering Boston sports and will be contributing real time updates and breaking news to the site. Goodman is a basketball writer for Fox Sports and will write a column on professional and local college basketball. Marbry, better known as “Gary from Chapel Hill,” is WEEI.com’s stat geek. He’ll contribute to the site regularly examining sports through a number cruncher’s perspective.

WEEI.com will work as a complementary medium to WEEI Radio Network, taking the market’s top audio content and having it readily available online, while using the radio station to drive traffic to the website. Audio content, including weekly interviews with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Terry Francona, will be easily available for users. WEEI veteran Carlson Mozdiez will handle this aspect of the site, shifting from the marketing and promotions department to take on the role of Digital Radio Content Manager.

“This isn’t a ribbon cutting, it’s a ground-breaking,” WEEI.com Vice President and General Manager Tim Murphy said. “These are just our first steps in creating a website that will provide the more local sports content than anyone else in Boston. Our aim is to, over time, make WEEI.com a must-bookmark site for news, opinions and fun features about the local sports scene.”

Among the new content today on WEEI.com is “Patriots 360,” a complement to the radio station’s Patriots Monday and Friday. Felger will grade the Pats every Tuesday in his report card and also answer questions in a weekly mailbag. Borges will write a GameDay column, as well as other pieces centered around the Patriots throughout the week. In addition, Patriots 360 will feature updates from Gillette Stadium throughout the week and a collection of links to stories, statistics and features to make WEEI.com a must read for Patriots fans.

WEEI.com is also creating a dedicated Red Sox area on the site as the team drives toward the playoffs. Bradford and Speier will provide original content throughout the week, along with audio, links and other features. WEEI.com will also have exclusive content from Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey and other players, offering insight from the clubhouse and showing behind the scenes look at the defending World Series champions.

Log onto WEEI.com to see the website’s first upgrade and for all new content and contributors.

Entercom is one of the nation’s largest radio broadcasters with operations in San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Portland, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Austin, Norfolk, Buffalo, New Orleans, Providence, Memphis, Greensboro, Rochester, Greenville/Spartanburg, Madison, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Springfield and Gainesville/Ocala.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

Local sports talk station, 890 ESPN has officially announced the changes which have been reported here at Scott’s Shots in recent weeks. The release from 890 follows and clears up some my confusion over the afternoon drive times (there’s a noon-2 p.m. slot and a 4-6 p.m., meaning in total, it’s one hour more than the 3-hour block Felger used to give 890. Post Mike & Mike and the in-between slot will be filled with ESPN’s national programming line-up):

890 ESPN EXPANDS LOCAL PROGRAMMING WITH ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW DAILY LINEUP
Fresh New Voices and Boston Perspectives Highlight Program Change

BOSTON – August 11, 2008 – In a move to expand local programming and help meet Boston’s insatiable appetite for local sports talk, 890 ESPN Radio today announced a new afternoon and drive time program line up.
Beginning Thursday, August 14, WCVB-TV 5 news and sports anchor Bob Halloran will team with current 890 sports reporter Mike Salk for “Salk & Halloran” which will run weekdays between noon and 2pm.
A new drive time show, “Lew and Mike,” hosted by the sports talk team of Lew and Mike (Lew Goldstein and Mike Vallee) will air between 4pm and 6 pm. The “Lew and Mike Show” had run on AM 1510 The Zone.
“These moves allow us to supplement our local sports talk and Boston sports news which our listeners cannot get enough of,” said 890 ESPN program director Len Weiner. “Boston is America’s number one sports town and ESPN is America’s number one sports brand. We are excited to expand our programming and offer more new local voices along with the resources and great talent at ESPN.”
Halloran’s entry into the station lineup is a welcome home of sorts. Before joining WCVB’s SportsCenter 5, Halloran was at ESPNews where he spent three years as an anchor and writer for ESPN.com. He is also the author of “Irish Thunder: The Hard Life and Times of Micky Ward,” published by The Lyons Press.
Mike Salk has been 890 ESPN’s Red Sox reporter for the past two years, and will continue in that role. He also can be heard on ESPN’s national programming.
The “Lew and Mike Show” at AM 1510 meanwhile has earned a significant response and a reputation for edgy sports commentary and news by two local opinionated and enthusiastic sports observers.
“I’m confident that 890′s listeners will embrace these new shows. It’s a new day for 890 ESPN, and we look forward to perhaps bringing even more local programming to the station.” said Weiner.

• It appears that Jessamy Tang is taking a very hands-off approach on the public side of this one. This is clearly Len Weiner’s baby and the latest rumor from Schrafft’s central has the station’s program director also assuming the roles of producer for L&M. It appears Kevin Winter will be the SportsCenter update guy for the afternoon drive. Not sure yet who will fill that role for the Noon show, but Felger’s old producer, Ross “Lisa Loeb” Carey, is set to pilot the Salk and Halloran show.

• Instant analysis: Does the move do anything to “move the needle” for 890.

Barely. The biggest positive is that 890 is getting a chance at a different slot in which to challenge WEEI. “Dale and Holley” is not nearly as strong as The Big Show and the chance exists that Salk and Halloran will be able to borrow a few more sets of ears at the outset, but whether they’ll be keep them is quite a variable to have to deal with.

For a search that supposedly included the semi-sexy names of Ron Borges, Andy Gresh, Ryen Russillo and others, the fact that Tang’s Gang is left with two Mikes, a Lew and a Bob is hardly pulsating.

And let’s not forget the little fact that WEEI is about to embark on a complete website overhaul that will fortify even further it’s radio stations’ (WEEI and WRKO) stranglehold on the market. Not only will WEEI continue to be the 50,000 watt monster that it is, but it will now be able to package what insiders are saying will be a “substantial” and “creative” web set-up at WEEI.com. “It will be like what ESPN is able to do with all its platforms,” said a person familiar with the dot-com’s business plan.

So, we’ll give 890 credit for re-shaping its line-up, but we’ll also remember that most of the contracts it was offering talent were for 13-week deals. That’s one fiscal quarter’s time to make hay and it took Felger almost three full years to even make a recognizable dent.

• Weiner hints at “perhaps” bringing more local programming to 890. That would presumably be beyond the “Metro Gameday” show which will continue from 6 to 7 p.m. though the end of baseball season.

If they could only grab two unknowns for afternoon drive, it’s hard to imagine what else they’d put on the air with even more local offerings. Probably better off to wait and see how this shake-up goes before committing to more chazerai.

• Could be helpful to 890 to actually know that Halloran is more than a sports anchor at WCVB. NOTE: They had it right, my bad. He does weekend news anchor duties mostly. They love him for his versatility. Sort of a Scott Wahle-alike. Or a Gene Lavanchy-type.

• Interesting turn of a phrase: “. . . has earned a significant response and a reputation for edgy sports commentary and news. . . ” My Google search of the duo (even with their last names) found nothing significant or edgy.

• No idea what all this is about, but as one local scribe said to us last week, “You’ll miss Schilling when he’s not around.”

With a week to digest the rather compelling WEEI.com news that Shots led the way on late last week, it’s clearly time for a Winners and Losers edition of “As the Boston Sports Media Market Turns”:

WINNER
Glenn Ordway

The biggest – in every sense – winner is none other than Glenn “Pay Day” Ordway, whose contract is expiring with WEEI 850 AM. Ordway has the leverage of a Posey and the WEEI.com component of the equation could very well make Ordway famously wealthy, should he manipulate the web extensions to his benefit. (Similar to Posey, Ordway is going to want the extra year AND the extra dollars.)

Some of the things Ordway can now roll into his contract demands would be additional monies for live-streaming (or TV broadcasting) of The Big Show; exclusive on-line chats with the Big-O; a “Big O Big Blog”; Interactive elements to his show; and whatever other scams Ordway and his handlers can figure out.

With all that the Big O has meant to the station, ‘EEI pretty much needs to show him the money.

In short, Ordway is probably just weeks away from becoming the town’s highest paid sports media personality ever. And considering some of the stupid money that’s been thrown around this town (Hello, WCVB and WBZ!), that’s saying something.

LOSER
Local Mainstream Sports Websites

Boston.com’s sports package on the web probably doesn’t need to start quaking in its big boots just yet, but we’d suggest that the Boston Herald’s digital sports division might want to get a move on things. Without Bradford’s blog, the meager Herald site is sure to lose traffic and loyalists.

Further, Bradford’s pending arrival in the New Balance Building means that he’s going to be given the keys to some very interesting toys, aka resources. Video, written word, spoken word and community development options will all be elements available to Bradford. (Might be worth looking at what the Worldwide Leader is doing with something it’s calling “Streak for Cash.” In essence, it’s building brand loyalty and offering fabulous cash and cache prizes.

Bradford thought out of the box on the beat and he will have to continue to go where others fear to tread in his new content editor role for WEEI.com. Best yet, he will still be allowed to spread his wings as a writer.

WINNER/LOSER
Hank Hryniewicz

It’s a mixed bag for Help Me Hank, the Herald’s resourceful sports editor. On the one hand he loses Bradford, a true talent and a voice that popped from his pages (web and print).

On the other hand, he has a built-in escape hatch that can plop John Tomase right on to the Red Sox beat and keep him away from Foxborough, where the whole situation is bound to be a festering sore unless Tomase is quietly shifted off football and back onto baseball. We’re told it’s Tomase’s sport of choice and he has done some of his best work from the clubhouse, not the locker room.

The Bradford departure affords everyone at the Herald a more workable situation with Karen Guregian able to take lead duties and Jeff Horrigan and Tony Mazz able to augment her efforts. Throw in Buck and a couple of Callahan classics and the Pats beat is covered pretty securely while the Sox beat gets the best available replacement for Bradford (although Herald freelancer Alex Speier is a close second).

WINNER
Local Off-Mainstream Sports Websites

WEEI.com operatives are trying to convince us that the content-providers (i.e. columnists and commentators) for the new-fangled website won’t just be old graybeards looking for a check. We’ll believe that once the re-launch is complete and there’s not a Borges or a Peter May to be found on the site. Still, the promise of new blood is encouraging for some of the established local sports blogs that might be able to add content for WEEI.com VP/GM Tim Murphy and Bradford’s newborn baby.

Creative sorts like the people behind Soxaholix, or, dare we say it, 38pitches.com, would be able to bring established audiences to the WEEI site and help to quickly build a loyal audience. It’s almost a shame that Chad Finn jumped to Boston.com because he’s the kind of pick-up that would indicate ‘EEI.com recognizes a “true” blogger-type.

WINNER
Michael Holley

After Gerry Callahan (who probably doesn’t need the headache of writing anything beyond his limited Herald offerings), Holley is the in-house candidate who could help WEEI.com the most. Give him an exclusive column once a week and use him for whatever video component Bradford settles upon and the result would be some original content from an original fella with worthwhile takes. Holley is a five-tool guy and he’s smart enough to know that some groundfloor, reasonably-priced web work for the employer will serve him well down the road.

LOSER
The One Trick Ponies Currently at WEEI

While intrusive laughing, general ignorance and single-mindedness play well on sports talk radio, the effectiveness of our generic, moronic, Meaty Men for use on the website is going to be negligible. Beyond re-packaging the snorts and soundbites of Smerlas, DeAwful and The Dwarves, it’s not like any of those big, bad, bullies could ever blog or otherwise communicate effectively. Sentence writing, we’re guessing, wasn’t high on the course list at Connecticut School of Broadcasting.

The beauty of what WEEI.com is going to be able to do, is that it won’t have to strictly rely on in-house (non-)talents to fill the web pages. Murphy and Bradford will be able to line up freelancers and gifted souls who aren’t beholden to fart jokes and homophobia. Even if the majority of WEEI’s radio talk isn’t intelligent and barely entertaining, the website has the hope and ability to be both.

WINNERS
Jason Wolfe and Julie Kahn

Say what you will (and Lord knows we have) about Entercom’s Boston Duo of Dynamic, but this significant move into the digital market could very well be a coup for the company and ‘EEI in general. The ability to use the WEEI brand across platforms and do so in a new, and much-needed way for the market is the kind of move that will keep ‘EEI on top for a long time to come.

Still, the question of whether the Entercommie culture will overcome guys like Murphy and Bradford or whether they’ll be able to overcome IT, will eventually foretell the success or failure of the initiative.

LOSER
ESPN 890

They lose their only legit local-originating show’s host and he not only jumps ship, he jumps back to the dominating competition. As Felger said to Paul Flannery at BoMag, most (including Shots) figured 890 would last a year. They’ve been around three years now but their effectiveness and place in the market is still as poor as when they began. “That was a tough road to hoe,” said Felger late last week. “I got my brains beat in for three years by WEEI and Glenn. I enjoyed 890 and having my own little show. Yeah, a (better) signal would have helped but it’s all about the competition at WEEI. They have such resources to draw on.”

An 890 spokesman this week indicated the station would have new line-up information in two or three weeks, but for now capable Kevin Winter has been hosting a show inexplicably called “Prime Time Live” in the old Felger slot from 3 to 6 p.m. All the usual suspects have been mentioned as possible permanent replacements for Felger, but the longer the delay in announcing the changes the more likely it is that 890 will be forced to shutter once and for all.

WINNER
Hamilton College

WEEI is now Hamilton College East. Both Murphy and the guy who brought him into the New Balance building Jim Rushton are Hamilton College grads. Both graduated in 1992. Go Continentals! (Worst. Nickname. Ever.)

[One clarification on Murphy's career path from our reporting last week. Here's how Murphy confirms his profession progression in resume form: 1994-1999, Titleist & FootJoy Worldwide, last title was Senior Brand Manager; 1999-2006, NYTimes Company/Boston Globe Media, last title was VP of Advertising & Marketing; 2006-2007 Monster.com, VP of Strategic Marketing; 2007-2008, Comcast/Golf Channel, Director of Digital Media; Current, WEEI.com, VP/GM.]

• The Hartford Courant’s Red Sox beat guy, Jeff Goldberg confirms that he is taking the paper’s buyout (effective at the end of the Sox season) and it’s likely he’s not the only sports desk member of the Hartford staff that takes the option.

Said Goldberg via email, “I grew up in West Hartford, went to Hall High (and eventually Central Conn. State Univ.) and started an internship in the sports department (at the Courant) the summer before my junior year at Hall (16 years old, I’m 39 now). I did just about everything up the sports department food chain – took high school scores over the phone, filed photos, did agate, copy-edited, then started writing on a regular, full-time basis about 10 years ago.

“But, all good things must come to an end, I’m afraid,” said Goldberg, who hopes to continue writing in the Boston market. “UConn won the first 70 games I covered (Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird crew) for the Courant. (Goldberg) switched to the Sox beat in 2007 and between UConn and the Red Sox, I’ve covered four championship teams in six-plus seasons. Not bad.”

Mark our words, as guys like Felger and Goldberg leave newspapers, there will not be 20 years-at-one-paper writers for a foreseeable stretch and the mere thought of Lifers like Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy is laughable in today’s race-up-the-totem-pole world of sports journalism.

“Leaving the Herald is by far the hardest part of all of this,” said Felger last Friday. “I’m 39 years old. This would have been my 20th year at the Herald. It’s going to be weird not being in the paper. It really is.

“But the brand of WEEI is huge. They are No. 1 in the market and what they’re doing is the future.”

• Familiar Providence voice Scott Cordischi confirms to Shots that he will be hosting a show on WPRO on Saturday mornings from 9-11:45am. “It will be called ‘Scott Cordischi On Sports’ and starts Saturday (July 19th),” he said via email. “I am very much looking forward to talking sports with Rhode Islanders and Southern New Englanders once again here in Providence. I have missed talking about things like the Sox, Yankees, the Celts run to a championship, the PC coaching search, the NFL Draft, etc. It’ll be nice to do it again.”

• While I agree with the general sentiment that ESPN Ombudswoman Le Anne Schreiber has been mostly effective and aggressive in her role, I couldn’t help but giggle this week when she brought up the fact that ESPN announcers sometimes do game coverage from the confines of a Bristol bunker.

The practice has been going on for years and we had exposed it two years ago, but the tactic is still employed and there is very little way for viewers to know what is ral and what is Memorex. It was misleading then and it is still misleading now. Schreiber’s ignorance on certain rudimentary matters is still puzzling to me and it makes me wonder just how effective she really is and how seriously her Ombudsing is taken by the higher-ups.

• A different take on Josh Beckett from Friend of Shots (FOS), Matt Waxman.

• Speaking of former CSTV cohorts, look at what goodies the former network (now CBS College Sports) is pulling out starting this Monday:

CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK RELIVES THE ACTION AND EXCITEMENT OF THE 2008 NCAA® DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP WITH “NCAA MARCH MADNESS® REWIND”

Extensive Programming Block Begins Monday, July 21, and Features EveryGame from the 2008 Tournament

CBS College Sports Network relives March Madness this summer with a special encore presentation of the 2008 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. “NCAA MARCH MADNESS REWIND” features all 63 tournament games, from the first-round to the championship game, in their entirety, beginning Monday, July 21 (NOON, PM ET). A full programming schedule is available at www.cbssports.com/cbscollegesports.

Kansas’ thrilling overtime win against Memphis in the National Championship Game will air twice, Friday, Aug. 1 (10:00 PM, ET) and Saturday, Aug. 2 (6:00 PM, ET). Other memorable games include:

First Round – #12 Western Kentucky over #5 Drake (101-99, OT)
Airs Wednesday, July 23 (10:00 PM, ET)
Drake erased a 16-point deficit in the final eight minutes of regulation to push the game into overtime. Down 99-98 in OT with 5.7 seconds left, Western Kentucky’s Ty Rogers hit a desperation three pointer from the wing to notch the win and give the Hilltoppers their first tournament victory since 1995.

Second Round – #1 UCLA over #9 Texas A&M (51-49)
Airs Sunday, July 27 (4:00 PM, ET)
Down for much of the game, the Bruins survived the Aggies with the help of Darren Collison’s late game heroics. Collison’s shot with 9.5 seconds left gave the Bruins the lead for good, propelling them to the Sweet 16.

Second Round – #3 Stanford over #6 Marquette (82-81, OT)
Airs Sunday, July 27 (6:00 PM, ET)
Stanford’s Brooke Lopez hits the winning shot with 1.3 seconds left in overtime. The Cardinal overcomes the first half ejection of coach Trent Johnson and a six-point halftime deficit.

Second Round – #10 Davidson over #2 Georgetown (74-70)
Airs Monday, July 28 (9:00 PM, ET)
Led by Stephen Curry’s dominating second half performance, Davidson upsets Georgetown. Curry outscored Georgetown 25 to 22 over the final 14:24 of the game.

. . . For the record, I’m still not ready to watch the Memphis-Kansas game. Maybe another decade or so.

• Brand new farmer’s market starting up in Hull on Friday – see you there.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

DEVELOPING STORY:

In what could very well be a death knell for the struggling all-sports talk radio also-ran in the Boston market, ESPN 890 AM’s General Manager Jessamy Tang sent the following memo to employees earlier this afternoon:

“Due to Mike Felger’s obligations to Comcast Sports Net, he cannot continue as our Afternoon Drive host and we were unable to reach an agreement for him to host a mid-day show. We appreciate his three years of service and helping us launch 890 ESPN. We wish him the best as he moves forward.

This opens an exciting opportunity for us to expand our local programming. Each weekday, we plan to offer a local mid-day show and new afternoon drive show, in addition to our local Baseball Show from 6pm- 7pm and Pro Football Daily throughout the entire Patriots season. We will continue to broadcast Sunday Night Baseball, MLB playoffs and World Series, NBA games, NFL games, and all the Bowl Championship Series games.

We are working on the details of our new, local, Mid-Day show and Afternoon Drive Show. And as we firm up our plans, we will make sure you are informed.”

Shots is following up on the details and we have a message in with Felger on his voice mail. Word is that Felger will be jumping over to WEEI.com, joining the Herald’s Rob Bradford.

More news as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION ON FELGER’S MOVE:

Shots has confirmed that Felger is all done with ESPN 890. Sidekick Kevin Winter is hosting the show today and 890 is promising forthcoming news on a new line-up at the station (and they are refuting our claim that this is a death knell for the under-performing outfit). Felger had made mention at the end of Thursday’s show that he would have a special announcement today, but both sides agreed in the interim that it would be best for Felger to not go on-air on today’s show.

Felger’s main employer will remain Comcast SportsNet, but his WEEI radio (as a fill-in host) and WEEI.com duties will also mean that Felger’s near-20-year run with the Boston Herald is over. It is believed Felger, who has been freeelance with the Herald for quite some time, will bring a version of his Patriots Report Card to WEEI.com.

. . . Felger has been without a contract since June, according to a source close to the situation, and the two sides were in discussion to keep him at the station – in a different timeslot, earlier in the afternoon, as to avoid conflict with his CSN duties. Felger has been doing the radio show from the former office of Greg Dickerson at CSN’s Burlington studios in an arrangement that was enabled by some mutual agreements amongst all parties.

• Lots of re-tread names are now surfacing as possible WEEI.com hires (either as full-timers or contributors) and the list is enough to make a longtime observer puke at the thought of so many old hacks feeding at the trough once again. Let’s hope the “familiar name” trap isn’t one that WEEI.com falls into as it fills out its roster.

• Who is having a worse week, The Tang Gang head, Jessamy Tang or Harry Houdini of the Herald, Hank Hryniewicz? Tang lost her afternoon drive host AND a block of Patriots programming (which 890 declined the renew option on, according to a station spokesman); Hank Houdini lost Rob Bradford and Mike Felger.

Whoever is the bigger loser, I can guarantee you that Hank will deal with the departures better than Tang’s Gang – he’s more used to it and has a deeper bench.

• There’s just no credible way for ESPN 890 to spin this thing as a positive step forward for the station. Felger is a marquee name in the market and even he couldn’t make chicken salad out of the chicken droppings that come with a weak signal, little promotion and even less marketing. That doesn’t even bring into account the MONSTER that WEEI 850 is. To think a new afternoon line-up with what would have to be B-level local substitutes (or national programming which really doesn’t fly here in Boston) could turn around the stagnant station, is pure fantasy.

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.

In an unprecedented move for the Boston market, Boston Herald Red Sox reporter Rob Bradford is leaving the paper and will head up the burgeoning dot-com staff at the soon-to-be re-launched and re-focused WEEI.com, several sources have confirmed to Scott’s Shots.

WEEI.com’s Vice President/General Manager Tim Murphy would only say to Shots that “WEEI.com is ramping up and building a website reflective of, and an extension to, the radio platform,” already in place at sports talk leader WEEI 850 AM. Murphy said an announcement was “imminent” regarding initial hire(s), but job postings for several WEEI.com positions have already been widely circulating.

When contacted by Shots, Bradford deferred comment to Murphy (who, for the record, reports to Entercom’s Julie Kahn). However, two separate Herald employees confirmed that Bradford will finish out the month at the paper and then begin at WEEI.com in early August.

Bradford has been one of the region’s biggest beneficiaries of main stream media’s acceptance of blogging. In moving from the Lowell Sun to the Lawrence Eagle Tribune to the Herald, Bradford, a 1992 Springfield College graduate, stayed true to his out-of-the-box heritage and the result has been a four tool star (print/blog/radio/TV) who is now ready to take on the considerable challenge of extending and enhancing the established and strong WEEI brand with editorial content.

The move is important on several levels and Shots has already been told to expect more dominoes to fall in the market as Murphy and WEEI.com snag other local talents from established media organizations to join the dot-com line-up. The result, Murphy hopes, will be a combination of straight news delivery blended with opinion (blogs) and other, logical extensions of ‘EEI’s terrestrial audio content (and personalities).

“The idea is to distribute our audio content more aggressively,” said Murphy, 38, who joined WEEI.com in late Spring, jumping ship from the Boston Globe’s digital division. “I learned a lot in (six-plus years) at the Globe about how a traditional media organization can leverage (digital assets). WEEI.com can do a better job in optimizing our already outstanding audio content for the web.”

The re-launch doesn’t have a firm date yet, but changes will become more and more apparent in the coming weeks and months, according to Murphy, a native of Canton who went to Hamilton College in up-state New York. Murphy discussed a re-design of the site and also the use of regular contributions from “reputable talent,” as well as video content and written word as features of the improved WEEI.com portal.

Murphy said he foresees the site evolving into a hybrid of ESPN.com and “The Daily Show,” but also praised the efforts of both Deadspin.com and, interestingly, NPR.com’s use of its audio content on the web. All are worthy models to borrow from in an effort to make a distinct and different destination for local sports consumers and it’s the very kind of talk that makes the WEEI.com earnest entrance into the web wars so very compelling.

• First and foremost, Bradford’s leap marks the first time a full-time Boston writer has jumped from print to local web – and Bradford’s going to a radio station, no less. The move is eye-opening, as well as quite telling. Five years ago and certainly 10, the Herald-to-’EEI switch would have been considered ludicrous. Now, it’s probably Bradford’s best career (and lifestyle ) option and one that many of his peers would relish. (Bradford is a husband and father of three young children.)

The fact is, there’s more stability with Entercom’s digital future than there is with the current state of the combined operations of the Herald’s digital and print units. Shots has been told that ‘EEI is well-funded by Entercom for this serious foray into the web and if it fails, it won’t be for a lack of commitment by the Entercommie Emperors and their deep, gelded cofers.

[It's unclear what Bradford's specific role will be with the website, but as the site's first hire, it's logical to assume he will do a fair share of content management and editing, in addition to his own blogging, on-air radio spots and other web duties. To some extent, Bradford will be given a just-shaken and cleared Etch-a-Sketch to create his own job picture and role. It's something Bradford is comfortable doing after "hybridding" a role for himself at the Herald. His "Bradford Files" blog will likely carry with him and baseball will surely remain a focus, but Bradford will also be able to spread his wings a bit into other arenas in the area.]

Here are some other ramifications within the market and beyond that are signified by a real commitment to the Web by THE engine that drives sports discussion in this city, WEEI, and its expansive network of affiliates:

• There’s no questioning the notion that WEEI.com has been a sleeping giant simply because of the reach and power of Entercom’s Sports Leader throughout New England. Constant reminders to visit a newly-focused WEEI.com during all hours of radio programming will have the ability to generate thousands and thousands of site visits daily. Not to mention the likelihood that advertisers want multi-platform opportunities. Murphy’s bility to package highly-rated radio programming with original content (and existing archives) will be very attractive to a stable-ful of loyal ad-buyers.

“WEEI already has a point of view and a voice that is informed and irreverent,” Murphy said. “That voice can be captured in many ways on-line and then it can be consumed on different platforms (through the website) as we mirror what is done on-air.”

• With the Herald facing pending layoffs, it’s uncertain whether the Harry Houdini of sports editors, (fellow double-Her) Hank Hryniewicz, might actually get to make a hire to fill a the sports desk’s lost body – an opportunity he’s not always afforded on the belt-tightening Wingo Way.

Should any further Herald poaching occur, Hank Herald will be forced to delve even deeper into his bag of tricks. Anyone for the Track Gals on the Bruins beat???

• With both the Sox and the Celtics as deep-under-the-covers Entercom partners, we’re guessing there will also be a basketball hire in the offing for WEEI.com. It will also be imperative to have a Patriots person, but the site will clearly have plenty of audio options from WEEI’s myriad Pats’ player pop-ins. There will need to be several technical positions filled and we’d expect a large pool of freeelancers to contribute various content to the site. The “talent” positions are going to require multi-tool guys who are comfortable with new(er) technologies and able to podcast, videocast and, yes, wordcast.

• The Julie Donaldson story has been handled with remarkable class, restraint and propriety and we can’t help but think that part of the reason is because it was the Boston Globe (and Mark Shanahan) that was ahead of the story. In a week that saw the Herald’s Track Gals snag a big one with A-Rod’s Boston bimbo, it was Shanahan who first brought to light the horrific details of Donaldson’s alleged issues with Ivan Lattimore. The Herald played catch-up and did so quietly with a non-hyped Jessica Heslam-at-the-court-room piece for Thursday’s paper.

We did notice that the downplayed videotaping of sex by the couple revelation presented an interesting challenge for the reporters as Shanahan wove it into his Day Two story. Heslam steered clear of the tape, which would likely be part of any trial that may result from this week’s revealing hearings. The Track Gals picked up the ball for Friday’s Track and got into the effect all of this could have for Donaldson and Goldklank-scarred WHDH-TV.

. . . Shots did attempt to get some comment on the status of Ivan Lattimore from whatever is left of SlamBall but IMG representatives did not respond to email requests through contact email addresses. It does seem a bit irresponsible of everyone to just assume that Lattimore is still with SlamBall – or even that SlamBall still exists.

• ESPN’s PR peeps went to great lengths this week to say that everything was quite normal with The Former Boston Sports Guy Bill Simmons taking a two-and-a-half month respite. “It’s pretty standard for us to work with our writers and personalities and give them time to work on books they are writing,” said a spokesman for the dot-com. “This has been planned for a long time and is nothing out of the ordinary. This was a planned break so he can finish his second book for ESPN Books. In the mean time, he’ll continue with the B.S. Report podcast but will not file his normal columns for ESPN.com or ESPN the Magazine. If something warrants it, he may write one-offs during that time, but he is not scheduled to write while he works on finishing the book.”

The irony of all ironies is that Simmons is now writing less for his employer than Rick Reilly, who he had mock-mocked to Dennis & Callahan in early June.

• Very nice of the Guvnah to stop by Hull for a sunset chat on Thursday. Our guy, the talk-radio legend, Robert Hedlund, was also under the Bernie King Pavilion, which afforded us the chance to wish the good Senator a happy birthday. You do the same if you see him, ya hear?

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

Scott’s first book, with Memphis Coach John Calipari, is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2009.