Media Roundup: More Whining And Complaining In Boston

By Bruce Allen - Media Columnist

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Jul 30, 2010 - The week began with Hideki Okajima melting down in Seattle and then refusing to appear before the assembled media following the game, despite repeated requests.

This resulted in a tidal wave of indignant Tweets from Red Sox beat writers, who called Okajima unprofessional, cowardly and not accountable for his actions.

Never mind that the guy doesn't speak English well (or at all), but what would he even have said that would've provided insight on his performance? "I just didn't have it today, guys," or, " I just lost my mind for a moment out there."

Okajima then gave ESPNBoston's Gordon Edes an exclusive the next day. Edes, coincidentally (or, perhaps not) was not one of the angry mob of Twitter users who hammered Okajima in the wake of the incident.

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Does anyone else think that if it had been anyone other than Curt Schilling moving his company to Rhode Island, that WEEI's Dennis & Callahan would've absolutely torched him on the air this week? Instead, we get a positive spin on it, and an appearance from Curt himself.

Speaking of spin, have you been following the WEEI ratings-gate scandal? In the latest round of ratings, WEEI has been pushing numbers that include both their Boston and Providence stations, arguing they should be combined and count as one number. This combined number makes them look more impressive in relation to their competition. Well, they got called on it, and went into a full court press spin mode.

Then, former WEEI personality Pete Sheppard weighed in to reveal that even though WEEI is now pushing for the numbers to be combined for ratings purposes, the station would not use the same criteria when it came time to issue performance bonuses.

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Patriots training camp has begun, and with it, the usual media buzz around the team. The start of training camp begins a whole new period of work for those assigned to cover the team, and it's a big commitment to report on the team on a full time basis. There are press conferences and media sessions at least six days a week, with gameday coverage often lasting late into the night on prime time games.

But these fine folks who have chosen this as their profession know all that, which make it curious to me that they would complain about it on Twitter. On Tuesday, Shalise Manza Young of the Globe posted that Thursday (the start of camp) was hanging over her "like a black cloud."

They do realize that the whole world can see these tweets, right? And that most who read them may not necessary realize all that that goes into the job, and the time it can take from the family? It's the danger of Twitter, when someone thinks (or acts like) they're having a one-on-one conversation, when really it is out there for everyone.

News and Notes:

• Dale Arnold of WEEI announced Thursday that the station's NFL Sunday show will have a new cast member. Former Patriot Troy Brown will replace Michael Holley on the program, which also features Arnold, Christopher Price and former Patriots Tight End Christian Fauria. As Arnold pointed out, their show will be the only Patriots program featuring two people who have been in a huddle with Tom Brady.
• Comcast SportsNet's Saturday Baseball Show will be moved this Saturday only from its usual morning slow to 12:00 p.m. It will run until 3:30 p.m. and will be simulcast on WEEI. The move is to get the show closer to the 4:00 p.m. trading deadline on Saturday.
• They just keep adding to the stable over there at CSN. Bob Neumeier made his debut on CSN's Sports Central program this week, alongside Carolyn Manno.
• ESPN announced their latest round of "30 for 30" films, and one of them, entitled Four Days In October, will be of special interest to Red Sox fans. It's the story of the 2004 ALCS, and using extensive archive coverage from that week, Major League Baseball Productions will produce a film in "real-time" that takes an in-depth look at the 96 hours that brought the Red Sox back from an 0-3 deficit to historic victory over the New York Yankees. The film is set to debut on Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 8:00 P.M. on ESPN.

This week's featured Tweet:

 

Um, no, Mrs Henry, it really doesn't.

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