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.

Some people sleep out for concert tickets. Others wait for XBox video games to be released. A few need to be the first to see a new release in movie theaters.

As a media critic in the Internet Age, I prefer to wait up late night for the arrival of things like the Boston Herald’s /John Tomase’s Spygate Explanation of what the heck went wrong in this whole sordid mess.

The process will go like this: The Herald will post the story sometime shortly after midnight; We will cut and paste a copy into the live blog; we will read the story; we will then begin the discussion as it were.

By live-blogging the posting of a story which will appear in Friday’s Herald and then assessing that piece in a live format will offer us (and I hope there is an us) a real-time, in-the-moment, visceral assessment of what Tomase has given us in Day Three of Tomasegate content.

The brilliant thing about live-blogging with CoverItLive.com’s outstanding software is that the entire live blog can be replayed and enjoyed by anyone at any time. For better or worse. So if you join us late, just click ‘replay’ and enjoy.

One other programming note: Some Shots’ normal Friday fodder will be has been added to this post (below the CoverItLive box) once the live blog is over. Included is a look at the latest episode of Woe-Is-Bill Simmons and some nastiness in Heidi Watney’s Fresno wake.

Enjoy the Live Blog and be sure to take part in the polling and comments AFTER you have entirely read his explanation. We don’t want to completely rush to judgment.

• Wow, that went extremely well. Probably a good core of seven commenters and some legit discussion of the whole process of reading Tomase’s explanation/non-apology, apology.
Worth a ‘replay’ if you have the time. . . good diversity of commenters, too.

• While the Herald shimmies and squirms its way out of Tomasegate (Son of Spygate), there’s a noteworthy battle emerging between ex-Herald lackey, Bill Simmons (now The Sports Guy) and the Worldwide Leader in Prima Donnas, ESPN.

Simmons is yet again restless under the stringent reins of ESPN.com and he shared his semi-regular urge-for-going. We’ve had past Woe-is-me from the comfortably wealthy Simmons and to be honest, in this week when Tomase clings to his job by his notepad wire, we don’t need to be hearing the guy with one of the Top 5 jobs in sports writing bitching about constraints – real or perceived.

Know this too – ESPN is none-too-pleased with the latest Simmons microburst and probably really ticked off about the splinter website Simmons christened this week.

Shots alone has discovered these references to Simmons re-inventing or re-explaining what he believed to be his ESPN role that date back to 2005 and are found:here (3rd note from bottom), here (leeway comments), here (post-Janet Jackson era comment) and here (his NY Times interview).

The Guy clearly doesn’t like being told what to do or how to do it, and every now and again, he manages to get that message out.

So, in a Thursday email Shots asked Simmons these questions two:

1. If things are so awful at ESPN, why not leave?

2. Did you need prior approval to start your own blog page independent of ESPN? How serious will you take that blogging (daily, weekly, whenever?)

Simmons politely declined to respond, perhaps already feeling like he’d said enough to Will Leitch at Deadspin.

ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys also declined to comment further on Simmons saying, via email on Thursday, “(W)e aren’t going to get in a long dialogue on Bill. . . just going to leave it to what we said yesterday.”

Wednesday’s comment went like this: “Bill is an exceptional talent with a unique voice that we’re proud to bring to fans. In any creative environment that features talented people, there will inevitably be differences. As we have in the past, we’ll continue to work through them.”

Some Guys just don’t seem to appreciate how damn good they have it, ya know?

• Wow, Le Anne Schreiber gets a little carried away on this one. Yeah, the WWL did a nice job on the OJ Mayo story. But ESPN still completely underplayed the Reggie Bush story because it didn’t “own it.” Yahoo! did. She also touches on Miguel Tejada and then proceeds to question just how synergetic the TV and dot-com side are. Good stuff all around, but I do find myself thinking she has to do it bi-weekly. It’s always been the problem, even when Solomon had the space. Not frequent enough and not emphasized enough when presented.

• Nice headline on this Toni Monkovic blog entry for the New York Times. “Botched.” That’s what this was – a complete botching on the part of Tomase, the NFL, the Patriots (originally); Roger Goodell; the Herald’s management and leadership; are we missing anyone?

• Had to be a Comments record week for the Herald, as Tony Mazz’s piece generated over 200 comments on Thursday. Granted, a good 80 percent are worthless, vulgar, ill-informed or all of the above.

The sharp contrast from Mazz’s fire flamer to the editor’s letter from Kevin R. Convey (side-by-side in the print edition) is yet another illustration of just how opportunistic the Herald’s approach has been all week. Sorry, Dan Kennedy, but I don’t see how any can’t see the self-promotion aspect of how the Herald has (mis)handled Tomasegate into a three day newsstand boon.

• Some serious Heidi Watney backlash in Fresno and the comments are certainly worth perusing. We’re starting to think there may have been a reason – beyond NESN’s frugal ways – for the delay in hiring Watney after her audition out West.

[By the way, an email to Joel Feld and spokesman Gary Roy at NESN this week inquiring why Shots has been taken off email distribution for the Network's press releases was never returned by either party. We would certainly seek comment on whether the Network knew particulars of Watney's departure from Fresno, but if they aren't going to respond to emails, we're not going waste our time. This is how business is done over there, apparently. We welcome responses by either gentleman.]

Ever-diligent and alert Red Sox Monster, Dan Lamothe was sniffing the same trail. Nice week for the Monstah: TBL gig; Some Simmons revelations and a guest appearance at the Shots’ Live Blog (the third of which was a more of a coup for us, than anything.)

• Peter May, now officially done with the Globe, turns up at Yahoo! again in a freelance role.

• Lobel is already talking comeback and lobbying for a radio gig. So predictable and so disheartening. Have fun in the New Balance building with his act, y’all.

• Some worthwhile Tomase follow-ups you may have missed are here and here.

• One scenario already being floated from Herald Square is to send Tomase back to the Sox beat and put Jeff Horrigan full time on the Patriots beat. No matter the apology and the explanation it will be tough for Tomase to effectively do his job in Foxborough. Tough, not impossible, but certainly not easy.

• Greatest Feinstein takedown ever. Send Norman Chad a dollar, Shirley. (Not my mom Shirley, Chad’s Shirley.)

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 getting beaten by its sister on its own region’s biggest off-field story in years wasn’t enough, Boston.com further embarrassed the Boston Globe brand on Wednesday night when it sent out an ‘email alert’ of breaking news regarding the Matt Walsh fiasco. The mass email arrived at Shots’ inbox at 9:47 p.m.

Problem was, Boston.com had NO stories nor links to Greg Bishop’s New York Times story for at least 20 minutes after distribution of the email, which directed recipients “. . . To read more, visit http://www.boston.com.”

When Boston.com finally did have a summary of the Times‘ story at 10:11 p.m., the story’s byline space was left blank with just a “By” and the tagline read: “Background information from the Globe’s Christopher L. Gasper was used in this report.”

. . . This, from Mike Reiss was later posted in the 11 p.m. hour.

. . . In fairness, the Herald was woefully behind on the late-breaking (but not ridiculously so) news. But they didn’t send me an email directing me to the their website the way Boston.com’s gun-jumpers did.

. . . Just for kicks we clicked over to “Hit It” at the new NESN.com, thinking that a TV news-gathering operation may have had the sense to immediately post something on the Walsh development. No such luck. But fear not, NESN – Yahoo! Sports had nothing within the first hour of the Times’ story. (Interestingly, the NESN TV ticker did have the news – that thing needs to get synced to the website, folks.)

ESPN sure did. And we can only imagine the overplay they give it between now and the Walsh meeting on the 13th.

• The most intriguing development from the Walsh tapes delivery may be what it means legally for the Boston Herald, its writer John Tomase and the New England Patriots. Many Shots confidants (and others, of course) are convinced that the wording of the Patriots’ April 23 statement was specifically geared to emphasize the Pats’ contention that they never did anything improper surrounding the St. Louis Super Bowl. If those theorists are correct and the specific wording of, “At all times, we cooperated fully with the league’s investigation and stand by our initial public statement from Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008: ‘The suggestion that the New England Patriots recorded the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 is absolutely false,’” then the Herald and Tomase would seem to be in a precarious position.

Walsh’s lawyer addressed the mystery of the St. Louis tape directly to the Times:

“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” said Walsh’s lawyer Michael Levy, according to the Times. “Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article.”

And now the biggest question of the whole mess becomes, “Who was that source?”

• So, in summary – A marketing email that was most likely generated by a person with good news judgment steered potential Boston.com users to a website that had nothing to report; in so doing it triggered traffic for its NYT company compadre; and also exposed the paper’s miscommunication network.

• Heidi Watney’s first test in her new market came on Wednesday night as the Sox lost a wild one to the Tigers. She was properly somber in her tease and throw to sooooo-yesterday Hazel Mae for the tease of SportsDesk, following a tease for Sox Tox with Tom Caron and sidekEck. (Jeebus – how much teasing is going on over there these days?)

Watney struggled a bit through Terry’s Take on Wednesday and the low-talking-after-a-loss Francona doesn’t help matters. We’re all waiting to offer full assessments on Watney, but the earliest indications reveal she is a 26-year-old, green and still-learning TV personality. Fresno is a long way from Boston in many ways and with NESN’s payscale there is always going to be need for patience and forgiveness with new hires. [Yes, that signals the official start of Watney Watching. Please proceed with caution you Dawgs and Monsters and Fangs.]

. . . “What a terrible way to lose. Nobody hit the ball hard (for Detroit in the ninth),” said Dennis Eckersley in the postgame show. Eck really needs to just get up and move on down to the big network in Bristol. He’s over-ready for a national gig.

• What a weak explosion by Paps in the Visitors’ dugout on following the 10-9, broken bat, walk-off loss. Smash something. Make a splash. Spray some cups. Use a bat. Slap and ass. I actually think he may have been more pissed that he couldn’t find his right warm-up jersey. What do you bet he picked up Lugo’s warm-up first?

[Video to come, from everywhere, I'm sure. . . . Cliff's Notes version: He kicked one Gatorade bucket, pawed at another and generally had a very poor hissy fit after a very forgivable loss.]

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.

First, thanks to all of you who extended well wishes on our announcement from last week. People who know the life of a freelancer know that having a steady project to work on is the equivalent of a 15-seed over a two. If the book sells well, it will a be 16 over a one.

Not much to offer, mostly we just want to direct everyone to the Posting Up blog at CSTV.com where Shots and several dedicated bloggers will bring you on-site, blog-centric coverage of the greatest month-long sporting event ever dreamed up.

But for your indulgence, here are some pertinent Boston sports media matters.

• Dale Arnold is going to take some getting used to in his limited reps with Joe Castiglione on Red Sox radio. That’s all we’ll say for now. It’s certainly better than Geff, but just how much better is TBD.

• NESN’s Big Four (Sean McGrail, Russ Kenn, Joel Feld and TV Tom Werner) is still undecided on the Tina Cervasio replacement as Red Sox sideline reporter, but we have been assured the spot is going to a female. Finalists are now down to less than a handful of KTITs (Kathryn Tappens-in-Training) and TV Tom is expected to review the demo reels in the next couple of weeks. It’s believed Werner has final say in the decision, but it’s been a group to trim down the field. Don Orsillo will likely fill the reporter’s pre-game role for the first American road trip of the season and the Network hopes to have announced a Cervasio replacement by the time of the home-opener.

In the meantime, part-timer Naoko Funayama, from WMUR in New Hampshire, will “deliver daily reports and feature stories to ‘NESN SportsDesk’ during the team’s season-opening trip to Japan as well. (Funayama) will contribute to the pre-game shows on 3/25 and 3/26 (starting at 5 a.m. each day),” according to NESN spokesman, Gary Roy.

• Patriots Coach Bill Belichick was shown on ESPN2′s Florida/San Diego State NIT game in Gainesville sitting next to Gator football Urban Meyer. It’s his annual trip, I’m sure, but it’s also a reminder that Beli likes dem Gators. Looked like Bill was sporting a Green St. Louis baseball cap – a remnant of a LaRussa visit, perhaps? BB gave a thumbs up, surely a secret Pats’ signal that pesky Matt Walsh has been dispensed with. (Boy, did that story just die or what? Not that we’re complaining.)

• NESN will be unveiling more regular use of technology it experimented with last season, the NESN Pitch Zone. The now-familiar product is from industry innovator SportsVision but the important thing for Russ Kenn and Jerry Remy’s new in-game toy is that NESN managed to “sell” its Pitch Zone for more than a third of the season (to Amica Insurance) and is hoping to find another sponsor for further usage. So far, the technology will be used for 60 games during the season, both home and away and HD compatible.

Banner week for Shots with the Chris Berman videos story earlier this week (thanks to Extra Mustard, et al) and Thursday’s Fox NewsChannel appearance with shrewd Shepard Smith discussing the unending Arlen Specter debacle. That in mind, and knowing that too much of a good thing can be bad, today’s offering will be slightly abbreviated.

Also factoring into the shorter Shots: A Thursday night trip out to Amherst to see the Minutemen completely confound their coach and the withering, few remaining True Umies.

It was a Valentine’s Day very similar to the ones I experienced as a student at the State U. – I spent most of it alone in a gym (at the more-than-half-empty Mullins Center); there were co-eds all around but not-a-one looking in my direction; my team lost; and, most familiar of all: I wound up alone at a bar near campus.

The more things change. . .

• At first blush, the announcement of Dale Arnold as the primary fill-in for the wonderful Dave O’Brien on Red Sox radio broadcasts struck us as odd. Dull Dale wouldn’t have been among our Top 5 choices and he may not have even made the Top 10.

But upon further review, Arnold was really the only choice that Entercom had – and make no mistake, this was Entercom (and Jason Wolfe’s) choice. (Interestingly, Wolfe was the only one quoted in the Arnold release from Entercom thru Regan Communications, unlike last year’s joint effort from the Sox and Entercom on the Obie/Geff introduction.)

The cost-cutting Entercommies obviously wanted to put in there own guy after being force-fed Sox booth pick, Glenn Geffner last season. (Geffner will be in the Florida Marlins’ radio booth this season).

After Arnold, there was no one else in the WEEI bullpen who could have filled the role, although we would have been interested to hear Sean Grande get in the mix. ‘Jon Rish is solid in his pre- and post-game duties, but to have him do more than a handful of games would have been too risky and not something the Red Sox would have been comfortable with.

So Arnold was the guy and it will work out quite well for all parties. O’Brien will have a steadier, deeper presence and the Sox get a dutiful soldier who will – as he did for the Bruins – become a virtual PR man for the team. With Arnold’s 20 hours of on-air time per week it will ensure ‘EEI’s valuable partner, the Sox, that they have a company man on duty during the midday at Nation’s radio station.

• It’s been this way for a while, but the rumblings out of the Schrafft Building are getting louder that ESPN Radio 890 is hanging on by a thread. Someone needs to pull the plug soon – it’s just not working. With all the moves at other places, somethings got to give with the Tang Gang.

• Our trip to NCAA headquarters last week for the Mock Selection session was all sorts of educational.

Maybe most pleasant of all our discoveries was the time we got to spend with ESPN’s Tom Brennan (the ex-Vermont coach) and former Maryland Terp, Adrian Branch. The duo was paired up as one “team” during last Thursday’s exercise and they consistently provided the best entertainment.

Brennan radio background shows through at every turn and he and Doug Gottlieb have developed a great rapport (even though we’re still waiting for TB to finally snap and wrestle the oftentimes smug and opinionated Gottlieb to the parquet).

As for Branch – who worked the UMass-Fordham game for ESPN2 – he’s a rising star at the Worldwide Leader. He combines a player’s mentality with a good sense of humor and a smooth delivery. We expect him to be called up from the ESPNU minor leagues soon and to stick for a while.

. . . Also at the session we attended was CBS’s Clark Kellogg, who has grown considerably from his early days with the network and is now as much a part of March Madness as Billy Packer and buzzer beaters. Kellogg’s passion and knowledge of the game serve him well and he was very into the selection process.

• Andy Pettitte is teflon in all of this. Here’s a guy who “only did it once,” then admits he did it another time, but his father was involved the second time, so he didn’t think he had to mention it.

Which means that he, too, lied.

Still, even as Andy is throwing Roger under the bus, he’s touted as honest and good man.

Won’t they all just go away? Please?

. . . No, of course not. It’s going to get more sordid. This McNamee is a real piece of work, by the way.

• Imagine if the Krafty Ones pulled off 19-0?. Oh, and don’t think we didn’t notice it being announced on Clemens Day. And yes, we’re renewing our foursome – it’s an investment.

But this is a substantial increase across the board (minus standing room which is probably on Route One somewhere) and one wonders whether they would have been better off with a gradual increase annually? For these prices – already highest in the NFL last season – we will fully expect the Gillette Stadium entrance policies will be revised and streamlined so hard-working folks can get to our 117 dollar seat in a timely manner and not be herded like doomed cattle on the way in.

• Best Shots Comments ever from Valentine’s Day 2008: #3 – Shots is one bitter dude, followed by #4 – 30 bucks on Antonio’s is A LOT of pizza.

[In fact, I got 40 bucks worth of the treasured Amherst pizza on Thursday – a full 16 slices of exotic flavors that will serve as the main course for Nephew Jake’s post-game meal tonight after the freshman hoop team’s season finale. I spoil the kid, whaddya want? Makes him like UMass as his college of choice. . .

• Continued bad news from GateHouse land where Shots is told that the Brockton Enterprise sports editor Bill Abramson is part of the cuts, leaving assistant Ken Lechtanski to focus more on Web matters. Meanwhile the Patriot Ledger sports editor (and former Herald boss) Mark Torpey is going to become sports editor for both papers’ sports departments. An insider at the one of the titles sees this as a further sign that overlap will be eliminated, staffs will be melded and coverage will be, to say the least, compromised.

. . . Say what you will as to whether the recession is real or imagined: it’s serious in matters of media job availability. . . again. And forever, we fear.

• CN8 re-launched its late night “Out of Bounds” offering this week with a re-titled and re-positioned (at 11:30 p.m.) half-hour show, “Out of Bounds Late Night.” The new iteration of an old property is hosted by market newcomer Jeff Rickard and is more highlight driven than its prior hourlong incarnation. (DISCLAIMER TIME: Shots appears regularly on OOB episodes including the un-changed 7 p.m. Philly-originating version.)

Remaining as the 11:30’s reporter is the multi-talented John Carchedi in a role that will allow him to further show his chops in story-telling and on-scene reportage. Former OOB 11 p.m. co-host Phil Burton has been re-assigned within the CN8 family and will contribute to CN8′s lineup of original programs, according to a company spokeswoman. In March, Burton will host CN8′s first-ever live broadcast of Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast.

. . . Rickard, an avid cyclist, spent four years as a nationally syndicated talk show host at Sporting News Radio and most recently at ESPN radio. Prior to ESPN, Rickard was the program director for an all sports radio station in Salt Lake City while also working as the television studio host for the Utah Jazz.

• Shots is off to Beale Street again next week for what could be a Holy War, not to mention a very pricey ticket, so no regularly schedule edition of this space will appear. It’s worth reminding you that as March Madness approaches in earnest, our time will be dedicated to the bouncing ball more and more. We always seem to give this warning and then always seem to be brought back in to the fray with some emerging sports media story or another. But for the sake of our bank account, that will happen less and less in the coming weeks and months.

I know you understand and appreciate your patience and patronage.

. . . Worth noting that CBS’s earnest and visible takeover of CSTV is already paying off on the TV side. I’m inclined, oddly, to applaud for Billy Packer for taking the assignment – or even volunteering for it.

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

His work – and weekly college hoops report card – for CSTV.com can be found at the Hang Time blog on Mondays and The Glass Sneaker throughout the week. You can also listen for the weekly Professor’s Podcast, also at CSTV.com in iTunes at The Daily Buzz.

• Not sure if Green Boxer, Chris Snow was joking when he blogged this on Sunday: “Apologies for the lack of humor in these dispatches. I’m keeping it serious, given that Gordon is on blogging probation for signing one of his dispatches with the salutation ‘Layta’ at the winter meetings.”

Knowing a few things about the Globe, I’m guessing he’s serious. Can any editorial person in a position of power possibly be that clueless?

Guess so.

• Good intentions, awful execution: The Globe has been doing book reviews on its Page 2 Sunday sports for a few months now. Bob Duffy does the writing in most instances and as reviews go, the word content is passable. Reviews are reviews are reviews. . .

But the subject matter is out-dated, to say the least. The most recent example came this past Sunday with a review of May 2005’s release, Sunday Money by Jeff MacGregor.

The book admittedly had buzz – nine months ago.

In fact, a check of the last five Duffy reviews finds a book from November 2004, one from September 2005, another from June 2005, a fourth from January 2005 and the NASCAR book.

How about getting some review copies for the new stuff. Like this one from Scott Gray or how about this recently relevant tome from a Shots’ confidant?

We just saw the bludgeoning given to the deserving John Feinstein last Sunday at the Mothership. Can’t the baby sister Globe get on that same review copy mailing list?

Either give us new releases or give us nothing. And don’t be afraid to do two reviews in the space you’re now using for one. Or one big review, as is, and two thumb up or thumb down recommendations. Jazz it up a bit – graphically even.

I know, I know – so simple when you think about it. But you don’t have the time. I do. That’s why I’m here.

• The CBS4 sports department pushed the technological envelope a bit on Thursday night by having a Spring Training Webcast at 6:45 p.m.

We like that the Lobellers are merging media more and more, but we don’t like being discriminated against for using a Macintosh, and more specifically, a Mac-friendly browser (Safari). The video player only supported Netscape and Internet Explorer. Shots did get the audio, which was mostly fine and included a blunt-as-always Mike Timlin.

Babbling Bob Lobel, who was at his babbling worst on Wednesday night’s 11 p.m. newscast, when the sprinklers stole 99 percent of his attention, was paired with Dan Roche to answer viewer email and showed good “interactivity” on the 4Webcast. Roche called something a “horse’s bum,” showing his good FCC upbringing, even in cyberspace.

It’d be worth a sponsor’s looksie, I’d venture to guess. Might be a nice post-game spot for Yankees games and expanded playoffs coverage.

. . .The rest of the original programming out of The Fort was mostly unremarkable. The Dick’s golf shirts being sported by Gary Tanguay and Greg Dickerson have gone from bad (putrid colors) to worse (shiny fabrics) over at FSN’s Diamondhead spot. Same crew of talking heads with varying degrees of sunburn. Tony Massarotti continues to shine as one of the region’s best print-turned-electornic faces and voices. For our money Mazz has a lot more national appeal for a show like “Around the Horn” than say, a dolt like Woody Wood Man. . . Meanwhile, NESN has brought the big guns with a giant, ESPN-on-the-road-type, set (and set-up) from the Sox’ spring training facility. Tom Caron has been the steady, composed anchor we’ve come to know and enjoy and the regular parade of Globies to the NESN road desk has been constant. . . And truth be told, Youk’s Tito imitation was pretty hilarious last night (Thursday).

Everyone’s getting the same interviews in different rotations and for the most part, no one’s saying anything of merit. NECN’s Chris Collins was chummy with Keith Foulke on Wednesday night and had a slightly awkward moment when he brought up the Johnny from Burger King affair. But yet-to-be-rattled Foulkie let it roll off his striped Nike shirt. See if that’s happening in July after blown save No. 8!. . . Over at CN8, Easy Ed Berliner played Big Red to the his Little Red partner, Kevin Winter from ESPN Radio Boston. Earlier in the week, FlorEda was sharing mucho screen time with mlb.com contributor Mike Petraglia from a bench at the park. Winter, Mike Felger’s sidekick on The Drive, went baseball-capped for his “Pulse” time, likely so he could avoid the summer he was encountering. (Sorry, folks, seasonal jokes always get me.).

Bottom line for the local Spring Training coverage we’ve been able to catch: Everyone’s there playing defense against everyone else. If something happens, they’ll be there. If not – they’re making the bosses think the work’s brutal and the hours are long.

March One Manny’s arrival will now keep, and eventually increase, the masses who are going to various lengths to provide over-coverage of the over-covered. It will peak on Wednesday – if Manny speaks – and then most everyone (except the newspaper/web guys) will come home and wait for Opening Day.

• On that note, sort of, Shots is scheduled for a debut spot with NECN’s Mike Giardi on “Sports Latenight” this coming Sunday. If your weekend needs that one, special capper to set your upcoming week in motion, look no further than Channel 6 on many cable systems.

• ESPN’s done lost its damn mind. Turns out it’s from the makers of “Iron Chef,” of course, but without the superior foreign commentary.

At the very least, The Sklar brothers are guaranteed material for the foreseeable future.

• Old friend, and local Legacy, Duke Castiglione is taking a considerable step up the national ladder.

Castiglione won’t be re-upping with his New York’s CBS2 commitments (after almost six years there) and instead will be getting a heavier workload from the good folks in Bristol, ESPN.

Already loaded with March “sideline” reporting assignments for the Disney baseball division, Joe’s Kid will also find himself with more college football, Third-Man-In duties for the ESPNers, as well. There is also talk of some SportsCenter reporting, something that would be natural for a New York-based guy with easy access to “breaking news” at Shea and Evil Empire Stadium. (He was, you’ll note, the Media Man Who Pissed Off the Big Unit – in other words, he’s got a little oomph behind the pretty face.)

Duke had been mentioned as a possible Lobel replacement by this space a few weeks back and we still believe there was at least some interest on the part of Duke’s former co-workers, who now call Soldiers’ Field Road their office-home. ESPN’s commitment to Castiglione proves that if those WBZ bosses weren’t thinking about the Duke of New York, they should have been. He’s got national skills and a local name – two components that are unusual in this, or any market.

Maybe next time around, after Lobel completely loses it.

• Don’t look now but Boston University could be a No. 3-seed in the America East tourney – Dennis Wolff consistently proves what a tremendous coach he is. But we hardly care in this warped town. . . Our favorite Hebrew Vol, Sharon’s Bruce Pearl, (scroll down in article) sweat through a suit the other night like no man has ever sweat before. “I sweat sweet,” he said. “It’s not a stinky sweat at all.” On SportsCenter on Thursday he even used the word schvitz, believed to be an SC first. Unless Cosell said it once.

• Let’s be sure to watch the maneuverings for control over The Sporting News and/or its components.

Once it goes by the wayside – and you’ve got to figure the magazine will not be salvaged – you’re really down to SI and ESPN as the mainstay sports titles. How TSN has made it this far is nothing short of staggering. The fact that it has diminished so in value (one estimate said it’s gone from a $100 million property to a $37 million operation) only confirms what had been assumed for the last decade: It’s a two horse race for the sports glossies.

For those scoring at home, the final death march went like this: IN the late 1990s, Inside Sports was swallowed by SPORT (actually “Incorporated”); SPORT then folded at the turn of the century; now TSN’s print unit will likely be shuttered.

Sad, on many levels, but also part of the natural evolution of any industry.

• The sleeper best concert of the winter took place in Hingham last Saturday night when Jake Armerding and his father tore up the stage at a Hingham coffeehouse show. The Old Man has talent only just now beginning to emerge from the 28-year-old son – but even that is high praise for Jake. Taylor, the elder, is that amazing. Mandolins just work for me – I know they don’t work for everyone.

What’s that? Steve Morse called and he wants me to stop being musical? Okay – my bad.

• Proof positive that good things happen to good people: Herald college hoops contributor Jeff Goodman has been added to FOXsports.com’s roster as a national college hoops writer. According to Goodman, he will be able to maintain his Herald work, highlighted by this city’s only devoted, ACC hoops notebook of note.

Having written for scout.com, Goodman gained entry into foxsports.com after the somewhat overlooked (by me, anyway) buyout of scout.com by Fox and its emerging “Fox Interactive Media” division.

• Ummm, someone’s got sex appeal to match her silver medal:

• USA (aka NBC2) had Gary Bettman in-studio before the final, preliminary round game for Team Uninterested in Showing Any emotion.

As expected, Ray Ferraro Granato (Tammy’s hubby, in forming the First Couple of NBC Sports) and Bill Clement made the sweater clad commish feel as comfy as if he were in front of the blazing fire back at the chateau – with the family.

By not inquiring, in some way, about the Rick Tocchet situation, NBC failed in the most miserable of ways. Business partner or not, there needs to be some level of honesty between the Network and the Viewer.

In fairness, Bob Costas did press Wayne Gretzky on the matter a bit, in his Wednesday night sit-down with Gretzky on NBC, during the “Lampley Latenight.” Gretzky seemed adverse to even saying the word “gambling.” And, as Costas pointed out, he did look a bit shot.

. . .Hockey voice Mike Emrick shrank during the course of the Olympic pucks tourney. Odd phenomenon, that.

• Not just separated at birth, Adam Morrison IS Rick Danko (rest his soul).

• Some Shots programming information for the next week to ten days:

The Shots March Madness Road Trip to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball tournament, in Albany, NY, will commence next weekend (March 4-6). The postings from our luxury suite at the regal Albany Crowne Plaza will begin appearing in the early morning hours of Sunday the fifth and will continue three straight days (at any time, mind you), culminating in a championship night extravaganza. Or at least a posting before tip and after post-game on Monday night.

You won’t need to be well-versed in metro New York college hoops, but you will need to enjoy and appreciate the month that is March and the sport that is college basketball.

• Also, in the near future, I will be doing what is sure to be one of many lengthy pleas for Dick Vitale to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. I’m an unabashed fan of Vitale, but I also have eyes of my own and I see the NBA-bias that exists off of Route 91 in western Mass.

I’d like for the piece, once it runs, to open some serious dialogue about Vitale and his Hall worthiness. I’m not a huge Hall-of-any-kind debate guy, but this one has had some added significance after a recent piece I was able to do on Vitale for the forthcoming New Jersey Monthly magazine.

So look for that in the coming days as well.

• Next week will be a regularly scheduled Shots and will include plans to out-Deadspin the Deadspin Guy during his schedule Boston visit surrounding this.

Enjoy the end of the Laff-a-‘lympics – we’ll miss you Mary Carillo.

No we won’t.

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

A LOOK BACK AT LAST NIGHT’S PHENOMENAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FOLLOWS THE “First At Scott’s Shots” NEWS OF THE RED SOX DECIDING NOT TO RENEW WITH UPN38.

We’ll be back with a regular Shots on Friday morning, as well. . .

Now, EVERYone’s Sox Network

• The famed Red Sox Cartel and NESN appear to be closing ranks just a bit, ditching its once-a-week affiliation with UPN38 and keeping the team’s Friday Night Baseball package in-house at NESN, the network announced (after a day of badgering from Shots).

The Red Sox will be taking the package away from its “over-the-air” partner of three season (UPN38), preferring to keep its full roster of games on NESN.

Ro Dooley-Webster, spokeswoman for UPN38 and sister station CBS4, referred all calls to NESN president Sean McGrail and refused to answer any questions regarding the package. Red Sox Media Relations VP Glenn Geffner did not return a message left by Shots for comment from the Sox.

McGrail, around dinner time on Wednesday, told Shots: “This is just the completion of what we started five years ago with the Bruins and Red Sox. The other eight Designated Market Areas, or DMAs (markets like Hartford, Springfield, Providence, etc., where the games are shown) had already been ALL-NESN for all games. This just closes the loop,” said McGrail. “We have clearly been the flagship for Red Sox and Bruins coverage. We want to be the lens through which people see these teams.”

McGrail pointed to about “30 other organzations” in professional sports that no longer have over-the-air partners as evidence of the trend toward completely cable-based distribution of professional sports.

The Red Sox agreement with UPN38 and CBS4 expired at the end of last season. The Lobellies were working under a three-year agreement that commenced with the 2003 season, according to a Sept. 4, 2002 release at the station’s website.

The change will also mean the end of BlogMan Dan Roche’s outstanding run as the “Friday Night Baseball” sideline/jokeman for UPN38 Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, NESN’s regular tandem will continue to handle the games as they had when the package was at UPN38.

The move, though not surprising, is another indication of the increased emphasis being put on in-house programming by NESN’s recently-named Vice President of Programming/Production and Executive Producer, Joel Feld.

Already offering the off-season/hot stove series, “Red Sox Now,” a new show called “Reliving the Rivalry” which debuts Thursday (Jan. 5) and the regular line-up of in-season Sox programming, NESN is expanding coverage of its team in an obvious move to capitalize on the team’s never-ceasing popularity.

By adding the Friday Night package to its own network, the Sox will now control all ad inventory for its broadcasts and make the network a one-stop shop for just about everything Red Sox (excluding blacked-out national telecasts on FOX and ESPN). The move also helps to alleviate the problems some folks ran into on Friday evenings when they weren’t sure where to find their Sox. As ridiculous as that sounds, it was clearly a problem for some, shall we say, less TV-savvy (read: OLD) fans of the team. McGrail wasn’t overly concerned with a protest from the VHF/UHF clingers-on, but he was excited about the ability to make the Friday night telecasts “less cluttered” for the majority of the DMAs

The question for UPN38 is whether they will be able to continue providing the inside access they have displayed as a “partner” of the Sox and make “Red Sox This Week” worth investing in for another season. Shots says it would be a good move, continuity-wise, to keep the multi-talented Roche as the program’s signature host and continue the show solely on CBS4. In addition to being a solid newsman with deep ties and familiarity with many of the Sox players and personnel, Roche is as good as it gets in keeping “This Week” crisp, informative and worthwhile. The show has merit, for sure and a passable lead-in with Sports Final as its lead-in at CBS4).

Meanwhile, UPN38 loses a significant property that it used as a lead-in to its newscast and as a draw for the sports fan who might not know of the myriad (and often awful) offerings from “The U.”

TV38, in different incarnations and call letters, had a long and storied history with the Sox, dating back to the 1970s according to this always helpful website. WABU took the Sox rights in the mid-90s, which then led to the weekly broadcasts being aired on FOX25.

Keep in mind, the Sox are also in the final year of their agreement with WEEI 850 AM to serve as the team’s radio flagship. With new kid on the block, ESPN Radio Boston 890 AM in the mix, there has been some early speculation that the ERB folks might, at the very least, attempt to drive up the price for carrying the Sox on radio. Others have speculated that the Sox would create a NESN-for-radio type platform, thus being able to entirely control its broadcasts. That might be a longshot, but let’s remember that media mogul and Tom Werner is involved in all of this, and when the topic is “diverse revenue streams,” the Sox ownership group is never ones to say “never.”

• One other note from our brief phone conversation with Dooley-Webster – Shots also inquired about the contract status of in-limbo sports legend, Bob Lobel. The spokeswoman said she would look into it and get back to us.

Read what you will into that – we find it a bit peculiar that the station’s point person would not have an answer regarding, arguably the most recognizable face on local TV. But the way things have been going on the newside at struggling CBS4, we’re not overly surprised that Lobel might not be the top priority. They’re probably too busy trying to find Shelby Scott (no relation) to re-team with nine-life cat, Jack Williams.

• HD is nice and all, but you just took away a game a week from the folks who still have rabbit ears!!!

Also, in the release below, notice the deep mention of the Follow-FSN-To-the-Beach shows that will be orginiating from Ft. Myers. Shots might have taken a bit of thunder from that announcement last week, making the news a little more bury-worthy. Or is that too conspiratorial to even suggest? Fact is, NESN will now have a serious edge over everyone else for everything Red Soxian – as if they didn’t already. . .

•••••

Forever Young

• “I’m kind of feeling like Joe (Paterno),” gushed ABC legend Keith Jackson, “I’m too old for this.” And then Vince Young ran into the end zone, hurdled a few dozen photogs/sideline hangers-on, and took down the USC Trojans.

At a time when everything is (falsely) instantly Classic, last night’s ABC thriller that stretched just short of 12:30 a.m., was the epitome of the term. Someone call the Sklar brothers, they just got bumped out of the “Cheap Seats.”

“A classic,” confirmed Dan Fouts, “it lived up to the hype.”

• It just didn’t appear to be a safe environment to have a football game, did it? It was like Arena Football with no boards. I kept thinking of how many completely clueless and unnecessary people were on the fringe of the Coliseum.

. . . It had all the moments now didn’t it? Let’s be sure to notice and appreciate what Basketball Bob Ryan does on (extremely) tight deadline with a game of that significance and splendor. And let’s hope he gets a follow-up, perspective piece for the Friday paper – if not Saturday.

• The Wednesday Herald’s over/under for the game was 69.5 – with 10:47 to go in the game it was 31-23 USC, giving the degenerate gamblers a 54 point combo as midnight approached and it finished at 79 (41-38). How freaking good are the Wiseguys? And by them, we speak of the TV people and the Vegas people and all the people who “conspire” to create what we got last night on ABC. It all works too swimmingly sometimes. But I’ll take it.

• Every time they called “Aaron” (Taylor) on the ABC desk, I thought they were saying ERIN. He hooted like an Erin at the end as the Notre Dame alum he waved the Wheaties box and gave a Hook ‘em sign. It was a bizarre Howard Dean kinda moment. Please explain. . .

• Since you can be damn sure we’d all be rippin’ away if it was the failure it seems destined to be, we also must praise one hell of an entertaining college bowl season. And I’m not saying it just because Tirico said it either. Did I ever tell you guys the Freddy Albany/Reeks story from Syracuse? Never will either. ‘Cuz there are too many versions floating around at this point.

• Not speaking of the Boston Sports Guy, he came back this week with some promises (and a couple of excuses for the Downward Spiral believers). I think the only thing we can do is hold him accountable. If a Cowbell stays up on the main page for four days or more, with no other original addition by SG, we all have the right to bombard him with the extra long email subject line of: “Your School Has You and Shaughnasty; Our School (UMass) has Kevin Cullen and Gerry Callahan – two Irish drinkers with a serious writing problem. And Buckley makes three.”

• When did Tostitos get a blimp? Or did they do over an old Goodyear?

• That Miners story was an amazing follow up to the odd ending of the Orange Bowl and we happened to be hanging with Anderson Cooper as the whole thing unfolded. It was just surreal. Cooper had a mother, her young son and younger daughter as his “sources.” Staggering. There was this image, at one point, of a dog sleeping and Cooper 360 framed it with a literary reference to “Our Town.” That was before the terrible error was revealed. It made more sense after.

• ESPN’s Pencil Lee Corso commanded Vince Young, just before the ABC sign-off, to skip his senior year and go to the NFL. It was blunt and brazen. And oh so true – his stock can never be higher. Ever. . . And wither Reggie Bush’s stock? Good postgame fodder form this one, too. Yet another sign of a “Good ‘Un.”

• Who the heck is the bozo who said “yes” when Ed in the Nokia commercial asks if we want him to sing the Dukes of Hazzard theme song? Keep your ring tone and your theme song to yourself, Ed. People might you like you better. . .Or you could give a little ringy dingy to the bee-yatch who erased a “David.”

NESN’S OFFICIAL RELEASE (We would link, but the release had yet to be posted on NESN website’s “News and Info” tab as of 6:20 p.m. Wednesday evening.):

NESN TO TELEVISE EVERY 2006 RED SOX GAME IN THE BOSTON DMA
Network will Become the First Regional in the Country to Produce Every Game in HD

BOSTON – NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, will deliver exclusive coverage of every locally televised Red Sox game in the Boston television market next season. For Boston area fans, this will create one destination for all Red Sox telecasts and align coverage of the games with the rest of New England. Since 2003, NESN has provided coverage of every Red Sox game in eight of the nine New England DMAs.

This change will also make it possible for NESN to become the first regional network in the country to produce every game in high definition (HD). NESN is a sports leader in HD programming, having produced 152 live high-def games in 2005 and plans to produce over 225 live HD games in 2006. In addition to game coverage, NESN will also originate over 700 studio programs in HD this year.

Popular announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy will return to the NESN booth for their 6th season together to deliver the network’s Emmy Award winning play-by-play coverage. NESN will also continue its comprehensive Red Sox coverage with one hour pre and post-game shows in 2006.

NESN’s current off-season Red Sox programming includes: Red Sox Now, a Wednesday night hot-stove program that delivers off-season news, interviews and previews; and Reliving the Rivalry, a look back at the best Red Sox – Yankees games that have appeared on NESN over the past three seasons. Both programs are hosted by NESN’s Red Sox studio host Tom Caron.

NESN begins the 2006 baseball season on Friday, February 17th with 45 days of Red Sox spring training coverage that includes daily reports from Tom Caron and Don Orsillo on NESN SportsDesk. NESN will also highlight the first week of spring training with 5 live episodes of Red Sox Now from Fort Myers beginning Monday, February 20th and Boston Globe SportsPlus on-location on the 22nd and 24th. NESN’s nine (9) game spring training schedule begins Saturday, March 4, 2006 at 1:00 PM when the Sox take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

NESN’s 2006 Boston Red Sox
Spring Training Schedule

Sat. March 4 Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Red Sox 1:00 PM
Sat. March 11 Red Sox vs. Pittsburgh Pirates 1:00 PM
Sun. March 12 Minnesota Twins vs. Red Sox 1:00 PM
Sun. March 19 Baltimore Orioles vs. Red Sox 1:00 PM
Wed. March 22 Red Sox vs. New York Yankees 7:00 PM
Sat. March 25 Toronto Blue Jays vs. Red Sox 1:00 PM
Sun. March 26 Red Sox vs. Philadelphia Phillies 1:00 PM
Sat. April 1 Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies 1:00 PM
Sun. April 2 Red Sox at Philadelphia Phillies 1:00 PM

A brand new PodShots is available for downloading. This week’s offering features Donny Marshall and can be found by visiting PodShots’ Podcast . (Or direct download it here.) The former UConn Husky is currently the rookie in-studio analyst for FSN New England’s Celtics telecasts.

All that and more as we mark the start to the Celts’ 2005-06 season with the Green Team’s newest media personality, Donny Marshall.

• We’ll admit it: This past week knocked us on our ass. We had grand plans for both a WWZN follow-up piece on Jon Anik AND the start of the “Howard Bryant Chronicles.”

Both are in various states of edit/production, so we’re going to keep it short and snappy and get cranking on those. Sadly (I jest), we’ve also seen a huge spike in “real, bill-paying” work as well, so the priorities are being juggled a bit. In a nutshell: Things are hoppin’ and happenin’. Which is better than the many alternative, most of which I’ve experienced in 15 years in The Biz.

Also, in another bit of housekeeping, we need to thank all of you who supported our Sheriff Sully/Shots’ tete-a-tete that took place on Tuesday night and Wednesday during the Theo Hearings. It’s humbling to realize how many of you clicked back and forth to get some perspective (and wise-assed-ness) from the Lawman and the Lawless Man. I know I speak for Sully when I say, “Thanks for being here.”

And finally, before we get into our usual vitriol and rhetoric, Shots wants to let fellow Hullonian, George Kimball, know that a whole slew of his friends, admirers and former colleagues have their thoughts and prayers with the big fella.

Kimball, who left the Herald under the buyout program, was featured in last week’s Hull Times in another keeper from Lanny Larason (three guesses to anyone, of whose pen-name that is). Kimball told Larason, “This isn’t the Herald’s most shining moment, but it I hope it might bounce back.”

There are a bunch of ink-stained, and not-so-ink-stained folks, who wish the same for Kimball. Stay strong, George.

Now onto some easy reading for the end of a loooooooonnnggg week:

• Ah, sorry, that was my cell phone that was ringing during the packers presser. My bad.

• The most evident outcome of the Bob Neumeier/Bob Ryan segment during Thursday’s “SportsPlus” on NESN was this: the P-A-S-S-I-O-N that Ryan has for his job and his livelihood.

There are certain times when Ryan is so in tune with a topic that you can start to see all the wheels in his cranium spinning into overdrive. Steam just about toots from his ears.

Such is the case on the entire Theo Fiasco, right down to the tangled web now woven within the paper Ryan was representing (on the network his paper co-owns, discussing the team his paper has a stake in). Ryan knows the truism of perception being reality and he was smart enough to not dismiss public sentiment entirely. Trust for the Globe might be eroding, but people like Ryan (and Jackie MacMullan makes two) are not about to let people sully the name of the section they’ve poured their lives into.

MacMullan, we’re told, went on the offensive during Mike Felger’s “The Drive” on Wednesday, chiding Jersey Bob Halloran in her impassioned defense of the Globe and especially Chris Snow and Gordon Edes. (You have noticed, by the way, that almost everyone – to a man – has let Shaughnessy dig himself out of his own grave. That might be the most telling tale of the whole Globe involvement in Theogate.)

As one Globie told us on Thursday: “It just seems like it’s getting personal (between the Herald and the Globe writers) and that’s what bothers a lot of people. But it’s probably inevitable.”

Yes, it is inevitable. Especially at this juncture in the history of Boston newspapers – remember, the Herald is in a much larger state of flux than the Globe will ever be in. Because of that, the Herald, as a whole, has begun to hang its hat on discrediting and yes, “smearing,” the Globe at every turn.

A natural offshoot of all this will be strained relationships between the two sets of Sox beat writers, which in turn will lead to fiercer competition, which, oddly, will result in better coverage for all of us.

So really, The Cartel IS working for you!

• Okay, David Halberstam can write the crap out of a page of words. We recognize and praise that. But he doesn’t make good TV and probably the only thing keeping Neumie awake during the interview was the bright lights of the NESN nest. You’ll sell more books leaving a little mystery than putting forth the deliberate, monotone Halby.

• WEEI owned the week on radio (i.e., Curt Schilling, John Henry, Shaughnessy in the AM drive), as they should have, but it would appear that ESPN Radio Boston 890 AM and its afternoon “Drive” was not all that far behind. They had Shaughnasty first in the market; the aforementioned Jackie Mack semi-event; and a Bill Simmons chat on Thursday afternoon. (If Simmons isn’t a regular by now, he should be. Not necessarily because he’s the greatest radio guy (although he is pretty capable) but moreso because he brings you an audience that can become fiercely, fiercely loyal.)

• Tee Oh, not to be confused with Theo, was spouting off again last night to an “exclusive” interview with ESPN.com contributor, Graham Bensinger. All due respect to Graham and his ability to get an exclusive – he’s the same young buck who nabbed OJ for ESPN’s E-ticket – it seems TO might talk to the Hull High School Daily Pirate if they would just call. Or even existed.

The rest of the talk with Bensinger, ESPN.com promised, will appear next week. Next week? By then, TO will have done 18 more exclusives and his semi-syndicated weekly hit with Dan LeBatard.

• Wasn’t it odd that Babbling Bob Lobel had all this Theo contract discussion during the week at the very time when he is undergoing protracted (if not delicate) negotiations? We were reminded in a lengthy talk with a local TV insider last week, that it’s coming up on one year that Lobie has been without a contract from his CBS4, WBZ TV bosses. Doesn’t seem to indicate a big embrace from the suits, now does it? Maybe Lobie can bring Theo in to negotiate for him. . . That same conversation also spurred the idea that Neumie could be adding NFL on NBC duties to his now-expanded Olympic role, come next season. He’d probably make a great No. 1 sideline reporter, ala seven-time Emmy winner, Armen Keteyian for CBS.

• Paul Shirley got snatched up by ESPN.com and let me tell you something: he may be the best new writer to come along on those pages since, well, yeah, The Boston-version of Sports Guy. . .Also good to see some sensibility in the removal of Page 3 from ESPN.com. The post-Mark Shapiro maneuverings are either beginning, or beginning to begin. There was also some low-level banter regarding the future of ESPN Original Entertainment, and its direction. . .And all this, amongst a backdrop, that had CBS reportedly interested in snatching up the Chelsea Piers (NYC)-based College Sports TV. Meaning, in essence, that the company that made Seth Davis into TV and the company that gives Seth Davis his highest profile might be buying the company that Seth Davis moonlights for. When, of course, he’s not moonlighting on Sports Illustrated. All of which boils down to this: Seth Davis is sitting pretty damn pretty and we’re not sure we’re in favor of that development.

• Did anyone hear Eddie’s last stand?

Okay, how about this, anyone hear Eddie in the last 10 years or so?

All righty, try this one: Do you know who Eddie is?

Bye, Eddie. Thanks for the memories – of the 80s.

• Evidently, news of Ted Nation being annexed from WEEI hasn’t made it over to the streaming portion of the website: His show is still shown as being on from 7 p.m. – midnight when you try to “Listen Live” to the 850ers. Which sort of makes us feel good because that means mighty busy Jason Wolfe isn’t strictly too busy just for Shots, but also for his very own website. (Wolfe last week, explained to us in person, that he’s been too busy to extend the common courtesy of returning a phone call. He must be spending all his hours trying to replace the malfunctioning recorder that continues to make the station sound like student-run radio, WUMA. Glenn Ordway’s premise was right when he bitched about the long-broken device: If you’re going to be No. 1, act like it.)

• The Herald neglected its “Clubhouse Insider” blog after Michael Silverman broke the news on Monday that Theo was gone. That’s too bad, but likely a direct result of the enormous burdens put on the under-sized staff, all week long. Newbie John Tomase was writing pigskin AND rawhide and it was all hands on deck for the Wednesday presser.

Still, once you alert people to your blog by being credited with some relevant breaking news, you need to keep those users coming back by giving them some crumbs in the aftermath. Just another missed opportunity for the tightly-budgeted Yellow Boxers, who otherwise had a fantastic week from A1 to the back page. The Business folks got into Henry’s other obligations and the Track Gals even pitched in with an unflattering Theo/Significant Other/Mother photo from a while back. (By the way, and we mean this most kindly, is that a Shiksa on Theo’s arm? The name indicates a WASP lineage (Whitney), but we thought our Tribesman would be sharing time with ah, well, Michael Gee, what would you call it? A “sloe-eyed. . . bitchin’ bod. . . .sabra,” perhaps? We’re sure she’s a nice girl and all, but we were just a little surprised that she might not have been born under the Chai sign.

• Here was what I took away from the few initial minutes of the WEEI Big Show/John Henry interview at 5 p.m. on Thursday: Henry should have let his (soft) words from Wednesday stand. Instead he brought up this whole “reason to be named later” joke regarding Theo’s impetus for leaving and he also continued the assault on his co-owner’s newspaper, the Building 17 Percenters. Henry was questioning where sourcing for Snow’s A1 story on Thursday had come from, at the very time everyone else had almost forgotten about the huge swing and a miss taken by Snow and Edes on Monday.

Further, Henry, who we’ve never actually seen make an emotional display, tried to play the role of funny guy for a bit and at one point even said “Sources suck.” Thank Beavis, can we now hear from Butthead?

For all the money the Sox must spend on their PR machine, with Doc Chuck and Glenn Geffner and who knows how many consultants?, they really have been completely overmatched this week. The purpose of John Henry doing what he did on Wednesday was to make that the final “new newsday” of the whole story’s cycle. Instead, it will now continue with new fuel in the fire.

The Sox damage controllers and spinners are failing miserably.

. . . And we reaffirm our belief that Globe Sports Editor Joe Sullivan needs to make some sort of public statement. May we suggest the most-read Sunday Globe for an Editor’s Explanation of the week that was? And bite your damn tongue if you want to yell out “It’s not Judith Miller for crying out loud!”

You’re right, it isn’t. But it’s about the very same thing: credibility, leaks and sourcing. So there should be some explanation from the man-in-charge. And if there isn’t there should be demands for it from Sullivan’s superiors at the Globe. The very reason that Bob Ryan and Jackie Mack are out there defending, tooth and nail, their co-workers and the section, is the very reason that some explaining needs to be done by Sullivan: re-gain our trust now, or lose it for good, later.

• Shots has once again located the guy that Leigh Montville famously dubbed “Our Babul” back during the Calipari Days in Amherst. Mike Babul, the former Minuteman and North Attleboro hoopster, is Bruiser Flint’s Coordinator of Basketball Operations at Drexel this season. Babul has now served under UMass exiles, John Robic, John Calipari and Flint. he also managed a year as an assistant at Seekonk High School. “Their Babul” – Mike’s brother, Jon who played at Georgia Tech, had been at James Madison last year, was hired at Jacksonville University in May, but does not appear on the Jacksonville website as a coach for this season.

If anyone knows the final destination of where “Their Babul” is, let us know. We’ll be sure to pass it along.

• Yes, he’s a close personal friend. And yes, I like the idea of close, personal friends reaching milestones. But to think that Dan Wetzel’s commentary is appearing on Wheaties boxes across the country (back of box), well, I can’t deny a chill or two up the ole Shots’ spine. The front-of-box photo has Wetz soaring, Air Jordanesque, over the bowl of wheatie goodness.

Okay, so it doesn’t. But I’ve seen him dunk.

A donut.

Into coffee.

. . . And while we’re at the web-genius side of things, what would be the chances that the Globe or Herald would ever think about something as “outside the box” (sorry for the pun) as creatively getting their content and their brand name into peoples’ hands in innovative manners? Slim. And none. Internet leaders like Yahoo! don’t waste their time trying to pinch pennies and cut costs. The Old Media still has that market covered.

• All right, thanks for sticking with us all week long. Check back over the weekend and on Monday for some leftovers and a trimmed down version of the Bryant Chronicles. And don’t forget PodShots too!

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

• This will sound boastful, pompous and gross: But I’m sweating my earlobes off with all this blogging. No joke. It’s like Cardio-writing or Speed-blogging. Someone get me Body By Jake on Line 2!

• On behalf of the Badged-One and myself, Shots, we extend our warmest of welcomes to the good folks who have wandered into this Theo Realm form the Deadspin Zone. It’s a tribute to Will and Deadspin that so many folks can be bored to tears with the wayward ramblings of two of Boston’s bitterest (but most well-adjusted), media-bashing (and crtiquing) boys. Welcome aboard, folks! I’m Shots, he’s Sully and we’re the Wonder Twins:
Shape of Theo’s gorilla costume; Form of John Henry’s voicebox (aka invisible).

• Sully – some of the stuff you may have missed being in Texas and all. Y’all:
NBC7 didn’t make it to the end of John Henry. . . Who’s Better Than Butch Stearns did a stand-up for FOX25, post-presser, with Kim Carrigan and the station’s most-qualified, sports-savvy, talent, Gene Lavanchy in the newsroom. They were the final station to leave Fenway and the Theogate Hearings, lasting until 1:53 p.m. . .Tom Caron appeared for NESN and was sporting his hockey season goatee, which took us aback a bit. Hockey guys love goatees the way Springfield’s Garry Brown loves Labrador retrievers. . . Post-presser analysis from Babbling Bob Lobel began thusly: “How can you sum up 45 minutes of reality TV?” and ended clumsily with his announcement that “The Young and the restless will be re-aired at 1:35 a.m.,” he said, then adding, “Some people may claim they have just witnessed that very show, the Young and the Restless (from Fenway). . . Lobie’s website, CBS4boston.com, was touting that they will have the full audio of the news conference. We’ll be downloading the John Henry portion to replace the ocean waves MP3 that currently aids our nappy time.

• If this is wrong, so be it. But we simply include it to show how warped our readers are and how surreal this story has become. It’snot meant to be racially offensive in any way. Just humor offensive:

Dear Shots, And the once question that no one asked Theo: Were you a METCO gorilla?
Ah, thank you. The 9:30 show is completely different than the 7:00.

• Wait, you went to Ted Kennedy’s funeral and he was alive at it? That just figures. How big can he be? Tom Heinsohn big? Or Charlie Weis big? Or Wilson Phillips big?

• Fine, don’t join me in Amanda’s panties. But it would have been another fine story for Sully and the Ladies lore. You can be sure of that.

• Any chance of you flying into Logan for Eddie Andelman’s farewell show on Thursday? We could do the Eddie Farewell Blog, live from the Soldier’s Home with Eddie, Jon Anik and Anthony Pepe. And a bunch of old farts in their pajamas and walkers. That’s my kinda crowd, ya know?

Which reminds me – I’ve had a post-mortem follow-up on The Zone death in the hopper, in various stages of assembly, but this Theo thing has thrown everything out of whack. I’m thinking I can get to that after the Donny Marshall Podcast, which will hopefully be posted tonight before the end of the Celts’ (overlooked) opener.

Sorry, Sully – some programming housekeeping for the Shots readers out there – feel free to do same about your upcoming entries.

• All right – Percy The Dog doesn’t comprehend “when I finish the Blog” any longer. All he hears is: “blah, blah, blah, blah tennis ball.” So we’re heading down the beach for a couple of hours and then we’ve got a nap scheduled and a full night of writing, recording and ‘rithmetic.

Great job, Sully. We broke new ground today. Let’s hope no one falls in the hole.

• I really doubt Shaughnessy was there or it would’ve been reported already.

• Henry is a strange man, but always attempts to be honest. I also love how he returns emails to the media and fans. But he’s a business man first and foremost.

• Guess I was wrong on Mazz, my bad. I can’t believe he’s 10 years older than me. He belongs somewhere better than the Herald.

• Reading between the lines, there’s no doubt Theo should be with the Dodgers within two weeks. Let’s say four years for $8-9 million.

• You know that was always my biggest issue as a reporter, the privacy. Sports isn’t nearly as bad as news. I spent almost a year as a news reporter and had some nasty arguments with my editor over what I was willing to do. From calling family members hours after someone died to having to cover a funeral of kid killed in Iraq. That one was awful, at some Funeral home in Quincy and luckily, the Globe, Herald and ProJo were there, too, and I just kind of followed the pack. Ted Kennedy was there and wow, in person, the guy is huge.

• Over my three decades on this planet, I’ve never had a sip of coffee or watched a soap opera for longer than two seconds. I plan on leaving this planet some day with both those facts in tact so the Sheriff will pass on Amanda and her panties. Wait, that didn’t sound right.

• One aspect of this that should have Sox fans nervous is what Theo did with the Minor League system. If fans can really stomach 80 wins this season and 85-88 in 2007, kind of like the Indians the last few years, Boston could have a solid core for 10 or so years. Thing is, Henry and company wouldn’t lose any money as the seats are going to sell out either way.

• Michael Holley, who I’m a fan of as a person, isn’t any great shakes on the radio. That’s the first I’ve listened to him, having caught the last 20 minutes of the Halberstam interview.

More to come. . .