SB Nation Boston: All Posts by Bruce Allen

Media roundup: 'Star Spangled Sundays,' how the NFL rose to greatness

2013-01-04T19:36:51Z

The power of the NFL as a business and cultural power is at an all-time high.

Consider this, for the regular season that just concluded, 29 of the 30 most-watched shows on television were NFL games. (The exception was the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.) Nothing rated higher than football for the last four months.

If you're up on your pro football history, such as Michael MacCambridge's America's Game, you know it wasn't always like this. As opposed to today, when owning an NFL team is essentially a licence to print money, teams routinely lost money in the 1940's. Teams relocated and folded regularly. Baseball was truly the national pastime, and if a sport dominated television in the early days of that medium, it was boxing. Player salaries were not enough to even keep players from having to hold "regular jobs." Some during the season, and almost all of them during the offseason.

So just how did the NFL come to the point where it is now? Where it dominates televisions ratings and has made millionaires of thousands?

"Star Spangled Sundays," a four-part special that will document the rise of the NFL to become the most-popular sport in America. debuts Tuesday, January 8 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.

The following are the scheduled original airdates for the four-part series:

Episode I: Rise of a Colossus - Tuesday, January 8 at 10 p.m. ET. Deft handling of the new medium of television vaults the National Football League from America's fourth most popular sport into a cultural and financial titan.

Episode II: Labor Pains - Tuesday, January 15 (Time: TBD). NFL players and owners work to create labor peace.

Episode III: Brand NFL - Tuesday, January 22 (Time: TBD). Riding a cultural and demographic tidal wave, the NFL turns professional football into a year-round, revenue-generating business and has become the most powerful brand in American sports.

Episode IV: Super Sunday - Tuesday, January 29 (Time: TBD). The NFL transforms the Super Bowl into the biggest entertainment event on the American calendar.

This series is produced by Ross Greenburg Productions and NFL Films. With this production, NFL Films will now have produced 24 shows for 11 networks since the beginning of the 2011 NFL season.

MacCambridge is among those interviewed in the series. Others of note include Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who can speak of how things were at the very beginning of the AFL from a fan's perspective, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Hall of Fame running back Bobby Mitchell, Upton Bell -- whose father Bert Bell was commissioner of the NFL for part of those early days and Don Ohlmeyer, the pioneering TV executive who was the first producer of Monday Night Football.

The NBC Sports Network is looking for a boost from this series, as the fledgling sports network has struggled with the lack of NHL hockey due to the league lockout. It, too, hopes to use the NFL to boost its own profile and ratings by means of this series.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: Cool off on the 'hot team' talk in the NFL

2012-12-28T13:01:29Z

"They are the best team in the league right now. I have to knit-pick to find something wrong with them." - Marshall Faulk on the Falcons.

The Atlanta Falcons were the hot team, the team to beat in the NFL, the sure-thing lock for the Super Bowl, until they lost to the New Orleans Saints. Then they weren't.

"The Falcons need to be able to run the ball when everyone in the stadium knows you are going to run the ball." - Steve Mariucci on the Atlanta Falcons' potential fatal flaw.

The Houston Texans were the hot team, the team to beat in the NFL, then they lost to the New England Patriots. Then they weren't.

"The Houston Texans were exposed vs. New England and no one is scared of them anymore. Matt Schaub has no mobility. That is a problem." - Deion Sanders.

"Tom Brady is going to carve up the San Francisco 49ers defense." - Deion Sanders

The New England Patriots were the hot team, the team to beat in the NFL, then they lost to the San Francisco 49ers. Then they weren't.

As usual, with the Patriots, it's Tom Brady, and his tight ends and a bunch of ghosts on defense. Their window has already slammed shut. They just don't know it - pretender. - Jim Rome.

The San Francisco 49ers were the hot team, the team to beat in the NFL, then they lost to the Seattle Seahawks. Then they weren't.

The Seattle Seahawks are currently the hot team in the NFL. The team to beat. Everyone is talking about them.

"Seattle is good enough to get the Super Bowl." - Deion Sanders

This week-to-week "hot team" stuff gets weary after awhile. In the midst of all of this, the Denver Broncos have reeled off 10 wins in a row, and while they have gotten some discussion (mostly from New England fans and media who are scared to death of Peyton Manning) their accomplishment doesn't rate the "hot team" status given on a week-to-week basis by the national media. Consistent doesn't equal "hot" I guess.

Some try to downplay the Broncos streak by claiming that they have played a very weak schedule. That was the same ammunition aimed at the Patriots this year and last. Dan Shaughnessy repeatedly used the term "tomato cans" to describe the Patriots schedule. It's hard to win in the NFL. Fans resented when the Patriots allegedly soft scheduled was used against them in the past, I don't put stock in it when it comes to Denver.

There are some proclamations out there about the Broncos being the team "no one wants to face" but when you think about it, does any team want to face the Patriots? You can see what a meaningless statement that really is.

Why can't we look at an entire season of work, or look at how things are trending on more than a week-to-week basis? Once again it is the "instant reaction" age in which we live.

If one looks objectively at the entire league, all of those teams above are pretty good, including the Broncos. In the AFC, you would say the Patriots, Broncos and Texans all have a chance to represent the conference in the Super Bowl. In the NFC, the Falcons, 49ers and Seahawks, along with probably the Packers are the top teams in the conference.

It might be the most competitive NFL season in years. This weekend's playoff seedings and the upcoming playoffs promise us some terrific weekends of football. Lets enjoy them, and then in February, we can anoint a team as the "hot" team and the one to beat in the NFL.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: MLB Network's 'The Third Team' offers mic'd up look at umpires

2012-12-25T14:00:14Z

Players have been mic'd up during games and coaches have been mic'd up during games. We get plenty of shots of the fans and their reactions. What's left? How about the officials who call the games, or in the case of baseball, the umpires?

Well, if you had a nagging curiosity about the lives of Major League Baseball umpires, then the MLB Network special The Third Team: All-Access 2012 World Series is for you.

This one hour special which premieres Thursday, December 27 at 9:00 p.m. ET and features behind-the-scenes access and audio of MLB umpires Fieldin Culbreth, Gerry Davis, Brian Gorman, Dan Iassogna, Brian O'Nora and Joe West, as they worked this past year's World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers.

The umpires were all mic'd before, during and after the games, giving a complete picture of their routines, including pregame rituals, who they talk to, how they do their jobs and make critical calls, their interaction with players and managers after those calls, and how they unwind after the games.

One segment shows Iassogna's crucial out call of Detroit's Prince Fielder at home plate in Game Two and his subsequent conversation with Tigers Manager Jim Leyland about the play. Iassogna was working his first World Series, and of his assignment to home plate for game two, he said "If I tell you, I'll start crying...I'll just say I had a lot of people out there with me... [My wife] Denise and the girls, my parents, everybody I ever worked with, they were all with me."

Joe West has been one of the more controversial umpires in his career. He's known to Red Sox fans for both bad and good reasons. West was at home plate for game six of the 2004 ALCS when Alex Rodriguez slapped the ball out of the glove of Bronson Arroyo at first base. Originally called safe by first base umpire Randy Marsh, West, who had a better view convened with the other umpires and the call was changed to offensive interference, wiping a run off the board for the Yankees.

In the special West talks about when a call goes wrong: "I can honestly say, that whenever any umpire makes a mistake, a little bit of him dies inside." He added "The average person doesn't look at us as real human beings. They think we're just robots that go out there and do what we do. They don't look at you as having families, and that's not true. They all have their own lives, their own mortgages, their own car payments. They have a real life, like everybody else."

Brian Gorman was born into the profession, so to speak: "My dad was already in the big leagues when I was born, so I kind of knew growing up what the lifestyle's like [and] what the baseball family's all about. Now that I'm going through it, I have much more admiration for what he went through because he wasn't really making that much money and things like that. The travel was tough on him. My mom died when I was real little, so he was doing it by himself."

Seeing the human side of umpires is a bit different. How often they are the target of our wrath, yet they're just doing a job, trying to make a living, and face all the same challenges and difficulties that we do. This special is a great idea and vehicle to allow us a glimpse into those lives

I'd love to see the NBA to something like this, though they might not like having cameras there when David Stern makes the call to Joey Crawford to make sure that the Celtics get screwed good that night.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: ESPN, WGBH team up to track concussion data

2012-12-14T17:09:18Z

The issue of head trauma and the long-term repercussions on football players has been a hot topic for some time now. At present some nearly 4,000 former players are suing the NFL over the link between football and long-term brain damage as a result of concussions and head trauma.

PBSs FRONTLINE, which is produced by WGBH here in Boston, and ESPNs Outside the Lines have launched a joint project to investigate the ongoing story of concussions in the National Football League.

"FRONTLINE has been distinguished by high-quality investigative reporting for many years," said Vince Doria, ESPN's senior vice president and director of news. "For ESPN and Outside The Lines to partner with the unit on such an important story, and to bring two of our strongest enterprise reporters to the effort, is a rare opportunity, and we believe it will result in some ground-breaking work."

FRONTLINE Deputy Executive Producer Raney Aronson is equally enthusiastic about working with ESPN. "ESPN is a terrific partner for this investigation, she said, adding "They bring unmatched knowledge and experience examining the defining questions in American sports."

This year-long project will be led by ESPN reporters (and brothers) Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada, and FRONTLINE producers Tom Jennings and Sabrina Shankman, who will examine the latest research on brain injuries and football, the impact on players, and the NFLs effort to deal with a crisis that may significantly impact its future.

Steve Fainaru spent 11 years here working for the Boston Globe, where he spent some of that time covering the Red Sox. His brother Mark is known for his work at the San Francisco Chronicle where he uncovered the BALCO scandal and co-authored will Lance Williams the best-selling book Game of Shadows.

The current project includes a web site that was launched on Thursday - Concussion Watch (link at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/concussion-watch/ ). This is an online public database tracking every confirmed concussion identified by NFL injury reports this season. In addition, fans are encouraged to report big hits and possible concussions by filling out a form that will be shared in a private tips database. The tip form is available on the Concussion Watch website.

Viewers can also submit tips for follow up via Twitter by providing the season week number and the name of the player hit via "#ConcussionWatch," the official hashtag for the project. The tips will be used for further reporting and, if verified, may be added to the Concussion Watch database.

The data is comprehensive. You can sort out concussions by week, by team, by opponent or by position. Click on a player, and you will see how he was reported on the injury report in the weeks following the injury and whether he played.

Research into the subject has already resulted in a November 16 segment on ESPNs Outside the Lines focusing on late Hall of Famer, Mike Webster. The former Pittsburgh Steelers center was the first NFL player officially diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy or football brain disease. The joint investigation has also reported that that years before the NFL publicly acknowledged a connection between football and long-term mental disease, the NFLs disability board was quietly paying more than a million dollars in benefits to several players with brain-related illnesses.

The project will culminate with a full-length FRONTLINE documentary produced by Jennings in time to launch the fall season of FRONTLINE on PBS in 2013.

In addition in fall 2013, Crown Archetype, a division of Random House Inc., is scheduled to publish an as of yet untitled book on the topic written by Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: Do you know Bo Jackson? If not, you really should

2012-12-07T13:05:43Z

Bo knows football. Bo knows baseball. Do you know Bo?

If you're under the age of 35, you may have heard the name Bo Jackson, but have no idea just what a huge figure he was when he became the most talked about athlete of his time. Jackson did things on both the football field and baseball diamond that made you question whether what you just saw actually happened. Whether it was running over big-mouth linebacker Brian Bosworth or throwing out Harold Reynolds on a line from just about the furthest point on the field from home plate, Bo Jackson was amazing.

If you're not familiar with Bo, you need to watch the latest ESPN 30 for 30 production You Don't Know Bo, which airs Saturday, December 8 at 9:00 p.m. eastern on ESPN immediately following the conclusion of the Heisman Trophy presentation.

"We thought it was a good time to tell this story." said ESPN Films executive producer John Dahl this week. "Bo just turned 50 last Friday. We're now 25 years removed from his famous game against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football, one of the greatest single performances in Monday Night Football history, and we're 30 years now past Bo over the top in the Alabama‑Auburn game of '82. In an era of specialization and in an era of sophisticated marketing campaigns, we thought it was a fitting time to tell his story."

Film director Michael Bonfiglio notes that introducing a new generation to the feats of Bo Jackson was definitely something that crossed their minds. I remember I was talking to my 13‑ and 16‑year‑old cousins who are big sports fans and I was telling them that I was working on this film, and they'd never heard of Bo. And I talked to more people, people in their early 20s, and they'd never heard of Bo." He continues, "I think that there's an incredible enthusiasm for him by fans, but he ‑‑ I think if you know who he is, you assume everybody else does. But in actuality, I think because he is not in any of the Halls of Fame, he's not a record holder in very many areas, he is at risk of being forgotten a little bit, and I think that that was part of this film."

Happily, Jackson himself participated in this film, though the filmmakers stated that they would've made the film even without Jackson, as they felt compelled to tell his story.

Jackson is a little reticent when people have tried to label him a phenomenon. "I would never call myself that. I'm just being me. I think you all labeled me as that, or the phrase that most of my buddies, my teammates, used, a freak of nature. But the stuff that I was doing throughout college and through my short pro career, I was doing that when I was a teenager, when I was 12, 13, 14 years old. It was normal to me." He adds that the feats that shocked so many while he was on the national stage did not come as a surprise to those who knew him. "My people, my friends and people that I grew up with and parents of my friends, they would say, oh, we used to see him do that all the time. That's nothing new. And that was normal for me."

As for why he competed in multiple sports at the same time, "that was just a way to keep me out of trouble. Idle time with me is the devil's workshop, and if my mother was still alive, she would tell you."

Jackson's marvelous body eventually broke down, far sooner than it should have. A broken hip took his incredible athleticism away, and it was a loss for all fans. "What we really tried to do was really make you feel that injury and the tremendous loss that that was to the whole world of sports and fans and people who just loved Bo." says Bonfiglio. " I hope we succeeded in that."

Still, even after the injury Bo continued to amaze, becoming the first person to play Major League Baseball with an artificial hip, and even hitting a home run in his first at-bat after his return.

If you don't know Bo, you need to know Bo. Watch You Don't Know Bo.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: Major League Baseball's winter meetings enter 21st century

2012-12-01T13:03:19Z

The baseball winter meetings used to be a time when executives from teams would get together in almost a retreat-like getaway, to talk some business, and spend time socializing getting together over a few cocktails in the hotel bar.

Any coverage of the event might come a lone reporter or two who might have his ear to the ground, or happened to be at the bar when a few executives started talking a little too loudly about this deal they had just made.

Now in this age of 24/7/365 sports coverage, the Baseball Winter Meetings are now an event. An event worthy of sending teams of reporters for around-the-clock coverage and instant analysis of the very latest rumors.

At least three major outlets - ESPN, MLB Network and Sirius Satellite Radio are setting up shop in Nashville, this year's home to the Winter Meetings, which will take place from December 2nd to the 6th.

ESPN announced this week that they are setting up the first-ever Baseball Tonight digital series of shows, These 10-minute live shows will include news and analysis from ESPN MLB Insiders Buster Olney, Tim Kurkjian and Jayson Stark. The shows will be posted to a special "Winter Meetings Live" page on ESPN.com and will also be available via ESPN3 and WatchESPN.

ESPN will have more than 30 MLB commentators contributing to their coverage of the meetings. In addition to the digital series, there will also be televised editions of SportsCenter Special at the Winter Meetings and Baseball Tonight at the Winter Meetings. The special Winter Meetings Live page will also feature a 75-hour chat, beginning on Monday, Dec. 3 at 9 a.m., which will run continuously throughout the week.

MLB Network will air more than 25 live hours of coverage from the Winter Meetings with special editions of Hot Stove, Intentional Talk and MLB Tonight, starting with a live MLB Tonight preview on Sunday, December 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Hot Stove, which is co-hosted by Matt Vasgersian and Harold Reynolds will air each morning at 9:00 on Monday through Thursday. Then at 3:00pm and 6:00pm MLB Tonight will air, with hosts Greg Amsinger, Brian Kenny and Matt Yallof, analysts Larry Bowa, Peter Gammons, Dan Plesac and Reynolds, and insiders Jon Heyman, Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci. Intentional Talk, hosted by Kevin Millar and Chris Rose will air live at 5:00 p.m. ET from Monday, December 3 through Wednesday December 5, featuring interviews with team personnel and updates on the latest news and rumors from around the league. Intentional Talk will air live at 2:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 6.

Two of SiriusXM's exclusive sports talk channels - MLB Network Radio (channel 89 on XM and channel 209 on Sirius Premier) and SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (channel 87 on XM and channel 210 on Sirius Premier) - will broadcast live from Nashville, where club owners, front office executives, managers and many others from the major and minor leagues will be gathered to discuss offseason baseball business.

Among the shows on the schedule are The Front Office with former GM's Jim Bowden and Jim Duquette, First Pitch with Jeff Nelson and Jim Memolo, Power Alley with Jim Duquette and Mike Ferrin, Inside Pitch with Jim Bowden and Casey Stern and MLB Network's MLB Tonight Live from Nashville.

Former Mets GM Steve Phillips, who hosts Evan & Phillips in the Morning weekdays (6-10 am ET) on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Radio channel (channel 86), will also serve as an on-site correspondent for other Mad Dog Radio shows during the week.

In addition to all that national coverage, most of the local outlets will also be sending down reporters to the meetings, providing Red Sox-centric coverage of the meetings.

We don't know what or when it will be, but if and when the Red Sox do make a move down in Nashville, it will be well covered.

We won't even have to wait for a tipsy GM to spill the beans to an eavesdropping newspaperman in a hotel bar.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.

Media roundup: Even in victory, Patriots chatter in Boston unbearable

2012-11-23T13:01:42Z

This week was a perfect example of why it can be so frustrating to be a Patriots fan in this town.

After a week of hype about how rookie quarterback Andrew Luck would shred up the Patriots defense, New England issued a 59-24 reality check to Luck and the Colts, scoring two touchdowns on defense on interception returns, and scoring another on special teams.

Most places would enjoy such a win. Instead, here in New England we got three days of recycled talk about running up the score and ridiculously uninformed complaints about Rob Gronkowski getting injured while on the extra point team on the final score of the game.

The running up the score talk is spearheaded by WEEI's morning duo of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, who are unable to even keep their arguments consistent. At various times they bring up poor sportsmanship, keeping the starters in the game too long, and then, just keeping Brady in the game too long. When Gronkowski was hurt, he was then included with Brady in the "keep these guys off the field at all costs" category.

In tandem with the running up the score cries was the hand-wringing over Rob Gronkowski still being on the field for the final extra point. On the surface it might seem like a logical question, and sports radio is apparently only for those who can't see below the surface.

Both storylines have been debunked so thoroughly this week, yet the proponents keep sticking to their guns. Sports radio hosts and columnists have never been afraid of looking stupid, their paychecks usually assuage any misgivings they may have about playing that role. Still, there's more to this than just stubbornness.

The chance to stick it to Bill Belichick on anything, even something completely inaccurate, is something a number of people in the media will never pass up. That's what much of this nonsense really boils down to. It doesn't matter what the rest of the league is doing, or how many people in the league come to the defense of Belichick and the Patriots.

Peter King in his Monday Morning Quarterback column this week bewailed the fact that Tom Brady was still in the game with over seven minutes left in the game and up by 28. Even worse, Brady threw the ball two more times. Did he mention that Drew Brees and Robert Griffin III were both throwing in their games with five minutes to go, up by 25 and 28? Of course not.

King has mentioned more than once that Belichick does not speak to him anymore following a disagreement. Do you think that factors into his skewering Belichick over this practice and not other coaches?

Numerous players and coaches (among them Rex Ryan, no less) stated this week that playing starters on various special teams units is just a fact in the NFL, and that you can't really change those units if a blowout is in progress. Tedy Bruschi in a chat on ESPN Boston Monday noted that "you always leave your starters in on the P.A.T., even on the field-goal block team. When I was playing defense and we were blowing out an opponent, you were told, "You're out of the game now, Tedy, but you're still on the field goal block team." It's just the way it is in football."

Testimony like that doesn't sway those who have the insatiable desire to have something to hammer Belichick about. They know that most people are not going to bother to look into a matter more than what it appears to be on the surface. John Dennis spent time this week whining about Belichick and how the Big Show handles their weekly interviews with them. He sniped about them defending Belichick no matter what he does, suggesting his own deep-rooted issues with the coach. No surprise then that he is out in front with both of the storylines on this issue.

You only have to hear Dennis and his partner Gerry Callahan "interview" Curt Schilling, or even Tom Brady for that matter to realize even further that Dennis isn't interested in quality, hard-hitting interviews, but instead is simply looking to advance his agenda against whatever sins Belichick has committed against him.

Sadly, he and others have a very public platform from which to take whatever shots they wish, no matter how inaccurate their claims may be. They also have their own followers who will go along with and support whatever they say. Between the morning show on WEEI and the afternoon show on 98.5 The Sports Hub, it was a fairly miserable week for Patriots fans.

After a 59-24 victory.

Media roundup: Who's the best candidate for WEEI's Morning Flash opening?

2012-11-16T18:36:11Z

It's rare that WEEI has openings for everyday positions, so when they do become available, they are highly coveted and the station understandably uses the opening as an opportunity to attract attention.

The recent departure of Jon Meterparel from the Dennis and Callahan Morning Show has led to weeks of auditions and tryouts, as well as speculation about the position. WEEI program director Jason Wolfe has told Chad Finn of the Boston Globe that there is no timetable for a replacement to be announced and they want to find "the right person." In reality, they probably know who they want to hire already, but they can't resist drawing out the process in order to keep people talking (and writing) about it.

To me, the choice seems to come down to two people - Pete Sheppard and Mike Adams. The others who have auditioned, including local sports reporter Jen Royle and comedian Graig Murphy just don't seem to be the right match. Royle has her fans, though her appearances seemed to simply bring out the lewdest side of John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. Discussions quickly degenerated to crude, painful discussions of male anatomy.

Kirk Minihane was another who has been on the show, but I don't consider him a true candidate for this position. (More on him in a minute.) Former 1510 The Zone and ESPN 890 host Kevin Winter, who now works for ESPN Radio has also been in, but I'd almost consider it a step down for Winter if he were to take the job.

Personally, my choice would be for Pete Sheppard get the job. The former Big Show flash announcer would provide a much-needed jolt of reality to many of the discussions that the two hosts tend to get into. Their style of bully elitism combined with schoolmarm chastising tends to get nauseating after a while. They're rarely challenged by anyone, and when they are, Callahan's sarcastic whiny-baby voice is unbearable. In several of his appearances Sheppard blunty called some of Dennis and Callahan's arguments and points "dumb" and "stupid" - which they were.

Dennis and Callahan, like other radio voices in town, tend to go off on the Patriots, whether it is for not winning games impressively enough, or for running up the score. Having Sheppard on hand would be a nice check to that kind of unreasonable discussion. Whether or not Dennis and Callahan actually want someone who will stand up to them is another story.

Mike Adams on the other hand, has great chemistry with Dennis and Callahan, and they don't have to worry about him challenging any of their notions. When he's on with them, he is nothing but a friendly goofball who tells funny stories about the 1977 Red Sox and reads the sports flashes.

Adams, of course, already has his own show on the station, hosting nights when neither the Red Sox nor Celtics are playing a game. Would he be OK giving up his show to join D&C? It's one thing to get up in the morning occasionally as a fill-in, and another to have to do it every day. Adams has already had his own morning drive show, at the old 1510 The Zone. It was a disaster, complaints that Adam being unprepared and showing up at the last possible second. Working nights seems much more suited to his lifestyle.

If Adams can commit to the morning schedule, moving him there might be WEEI's most appealing option. By freeing up the evening show, they can put Kirk Minihane there, and with that sporadic schedule still be able to utilize him on the print side on WEEI.com. They want to find an a prominent on-air spot for him - as evidenced by naming him host of their Red Sox Hot Stove program on Thursday nights.

There have been rumblings of interest in the position nationally, though that also could be WEEI propaganda aimed at generating perceived interest in the position. It seems likely that the spot will ultimately go to someone who is familiar to the Boston sports radio listener. While this listener would prefer Pete Sheppard, a move of Mike Adams to the morning with Kirk Minihane taking over the evenings seems like a more natural move.

Bruce Allen is a Media Columnist for SB Nation Boston. Twitter: @BruceAllen.