Wonder why he didn’t get invited back to NESN……..

I really don’t understand why anyone still listens to this show. Both of em are just complete clowns with very little actual sports knowledge.

Fire him.

That's Boston sports radio in a nutshell. As far back as I can remember, these shows were all conservative radio masquerading as sports talk.

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Both Felger insipid take on Boston sports and This weasel's mealy mouth voice just combine to create a hole in my radio spectrum near their station when they are on. Boston deserves better.

old white man from boston racist?! truly shocking information right there. never could've seen that one coming. that's never happened before!

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What is the alternative? EEI has been garbage for more than a decade.

Look for him at Barstool soon.

Found someone who’s never listened to 98.5 right here.

They’re one of the best rated sports shows in the country. Boston is lucky.

The comments were not 'insensitive.'

They were flat out racist. Call it for what it was. Tony Massarotti is a racist.

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Mazz used to be an actually knowledgeable baseball writer. He gets a vote for who enters the Hall of Fame. I don't know if radio broke him, or maybe he's always been an idiot and radio lets that come to the forefront.

Lol oh someone in sports in the Boston area is racist lol color me surprised. Must be a good 75% or the fanbase

Boston is indeed lucky but not in any way due to this pair of bozos.

I think the word is racist, no?

He was a good writer. Radio got to his head. He just loves to hear himself talk, and it’s usually nonsense. He was one of the more vocal local ppl who said we should trade Brady in ‘14, and sticked with it for the next 5 years. If that doesn’t show ppl how much a moron he is idk what will.

What’s infuriating is that it’s an act/character he puts on for the evening drive show with Felger. I haven’t listened to either their show or WEEI in years, but it used to be very apparent when the baseball writers show was on immediately after Felger and Mazz; he completely dropped the schtick and actually had decent insights on the Red Sox and baseball in general. Felger and Mazz are just total bozos trying to take controversial stances for the ratings. And it’s annoying as hell when you just want some decent discussion on local teams instead of “entertainment”

I don't think that's fair or true. I don't really like him, but if you actually read the article and get the context you see that he was intending to make fun of felger for having his car stolen last time he was there. It was kind of a dumb thing to say, he should have paused and been more aware before making the joke, but reading his apology and reading about the situation makes it very unfair to call him a racist.

It's definitely a learning moment, i don't think he intentionally set out to be racist, but it's a great example of how remarks like this can creep into racist areas without racist intentions. Put the pitchfork down and save it for where it's truly deserved.

It’s pretty clear to me what happened. Talk radio only works if you piss people off. Felger knows nothing about sports, but he knows how to rile up a fan base and get people calling in, yelling at him and engaging with the show.

You can see Mazz try to be more like Felger, and it’s always transparently flat.

He's the kind of racist they think and openly espouse "doesn't exist in Boston"

I actually think this is an incredibly teachable moment, he should get a week suspension, and then come back humble, realizing WHY he was wrong to say what he said. In no planet, should he lose his job. But he like many his age come from a different time and place, and if he were to become a model for learning how his demographic should behave, thats a dub.

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Except he LITERALLY didn't say that.

Yes, he did

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98.5 isn't as bad as EEI. I'll give you that.

He did not say Black guy. He said guys like that. "They can't hear us, right? Okay, so I would be careful if I were you. Because the last time you were around a couple of guys like that, they stole your car."

You take your cooler head and get out of here! This is the place for fire and brimstone not this level headed shit you are peddling.

ETA: Responded to wrong comment. Same comment posted below in correct thread

My point wasn’t that he said ‘black guys.’ My point was that he knew he was saying something offensive which is why he asked if they would hear him

You’re trying to say he was just making a joke about the other guys car getting stolen but if that’s true, why did he ask if they guy in the back can hear what he was saying?

My point wasn’t that he said ‘black guys.’ My point was that he knew he was saying something offensive which is why he asked if they would hear him

You’re trying to say he was just making a joke about the other guys car getting stolen but if that’s true, why did he ask if they guy in the back can hear what he was saying?

This guy gets it. Felger and Mazz are personalities that play a certain character on the show. They stick to it because they have strong ratings (very strong). Both very likely pull in north of $1M annually from the show + endorsements.

Why would you change if that’s what brings home the bacon?

It's offensive to anyone to say "Hey you look like a car thief." Black, white, hispanic, asian, whatever.

Halladay was endangering himself and others with reckless stunt flying while on drugs. He deserves no sympathy.

People obviously want this. Look at FoxNews

I'm reminded of how, when you went on certain forums in the early 2000s people were falling all over themselves to exonerate dennis and callahan when they were making their racist comments.

Some people need a guy in a hood with a deep southern accent saying the N-word standing next to a federal judge before they believe in racism.

Yeah this ain’t really the hill to die on with what we know now. He’s lucky he didn’t hurt anyone else.

Don't know why the downvotes. This is a dead-on accurate take.

Well, what can you expect from an Italian?

hashtag irony

Accurate. Listen to Dan Rea some night.

Example?

Pick any random caller.

>he was intending to make fun of felger for having his car stolen last time he was there.

How did he do this? Specifically

Yeah, but why does he look like a car thief?

I guess he should have been wearing a suit and had a straight haircut. Maybe wear librarian glasses. :\

To me, on the scale of racists on 1 to 10 where 10 is 100% racist. This is like a 5/6. He's not a day to day racist, but it's there. Otherwise, he doesn't say what he said.

What does a car thief look like to you?

Also this is like a 2.

Holy shit this guy is nothing like Dennis and Callahan. They would never have owned up to what they said and learned from it. They are scum.

Fuck the homers.

What do you think Maz is looking at on the video that makes him think those guys would make sense in a car thief joke? Are they holding one of those window door jimmy things? Are they dressed in masks? No, they're black. That's why he thinks they look like thieves. It's racist.

Are you trying to argue this point because it feels like something you'd say or do? Maybe you would need to rethink that.

How hard is it to see that seeing two black dudes and saying "haha those two car thieves behind you" is racist?

And the guy talks a lot, maybe he misspoke and the whole thing was somehow funny in his head. Maybe joking that the two black guys "who can't hear us, right?" are car thieves... is racist?

I seems like it to me. I honestly don't think it's worth arguing about where we'd put this on a 1-10 scale. It's pretty subjective how that scale is defined. I'd probably put anything over a 5 as fireable. I think the guy should be fired for this.

This is why I can't stand Mazz, but I understand why he does it. When he was the beat writer for the Red Sox while working for the Herald in the late 90's/early 00's, he was an occasional guest on Ordway's show on 'EEI, but eventually worked his way into regular appearances along with with other Herald, ProJo, and Ledger guys (Globe banned their writers from appearing on WEEI for a long time, not sure if they still do).

Massarotti was actually a kind and humble guy in the beginning of his radio career. He was a baseball encyclopedia and his opinions were always balanced and well-spoken. Then he started getting more aggressive with callers and his opinions (Ordway called this his Angry Tony persona), and it was clear he was taking advice to be more controversial to secure a more lucrative future in radio. Obviously he succeeded, hence why I understand his reason for acting like an asshole.

I do think it's an act, and that he's not as bad of a guy as he comes off as, but it comes at a price. I couldn't listen to him on Red Sox broadcasts because I just associated his awful radio persona with what I saw watching the team. I have no sympathy for Tony at this point, and I'd be fine with his career going in the direction of two other loser scumbags formerly at 'EEI, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan.

They’re just obnoxiously loud frauds that have a platform and are payed well to give the worst sports takes to stir up listeners. So bad. I just stopped listening to sports radio in general here.

Get lost.

Tone deaf AND ignorant. What a catch.

What does a car thief look like to you???

Their whole shtick is to be condescending douche bags and give vague hot takes to get people to call in angrily and say stupid things so they can say “Oh but I didn’t actually say that, what I said was…”. It’s the radio version of garbage reality TV. They’re only on the air because it works.

It’s like the 2nd date update on 96.9. It’s all scripted fake phone calls to elicit reactions or keep people listening through the commercial breaks.

Its fine if he loses his job.

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Who cares

You're leaving out the part that he had a car stolen there before. That definitely played into busting his balls. He would not have said it out of nowhere.

He looks like the kind of guy who would say that.

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https://i.imgur.com/sJzEfxY.png

He was making a joke about Felger getting his car stolen previously and it came off as racially insensitive. It wasn't even close to what you're thinking. This isn't like when D&C made the comments about the gorilla and the residents of Mattapan, and even they were only suspended.

He's been suspended for the rest of the week though so the issue is over now.

Not only do people listen. It’s one of the most listened to sports talk shows in the nation. Recent controversy aside, maybe it’s you.

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Lmfao I didn’t say ppl don’t listen , I said I don’t understand why ppl listen to that garbage. Millions of ppl watch the bachelor/bachelorette every week, doesn’t make it a good show. Again, they’re clowns and the callers are usually worse.

Well he has been suspended for a week and he already issued an apology.

> He literally asked if that black guy could hear him before he said it

You did not say that he asked if the "guy" behind him could hear him...you explicitly said "black guy".

You are missing the point. Why would he ask if the guy could hear him if he wasn’t about to saying something offensive?

It’s not whether or not he said ‘black guy’ he was referring to the black guy. That’s the point!

Its called etiquette...

You're thinking of EEI where they are "sports" but the morning show used to be a Trump Forum. Sports hub is literally the opposite on every show.

Right, because he knew he was going to say something offensive

Right, but he didnt get in trouble for saying something offensive...they all say offensive things all the time. Matty in the Morning went YEARS saying offensive jokes.

The issue is the allegations of racially offensive material. So the skin color of the folks in the room is important...hence why you brought it up.

Yeah, it was racially offensive. How was it not?

I'm so sick of people saying "that is not who I am" when they get consequences for their racist behavior. Nah, I imagine it is exactly who you are.

Mazz feeds off being a heel, well, this is where you are now bud.

>Must be a good 75% or the fanbase

First, fuck you

Second, this is the exact logic racists apply, good job

Oh ok ya so it’s just this guy lol. Everyone knows how it works with Boston sports. Everyone.

If it weren't for Boston sports fans in every sub pissing and moaning about these guys every day I wouldn't hear about them at all.

This issue aside, this is separate, maybe everyone should just try...idk...not giving a fuck about Felger and Mazz? Wouldn't hear about em at all if it weren't for you guys just always whining about it, saying the same exact shit day in and day out. Just turn it off.

Researcher: The average radio listener listens for eighteen minutes. The average Howard Stern fan listens for - are you ready for this? - an hour and twenty minutes.

Pig Vomit: How can that be?

Researcher: Answer most commonly given? "I want to see what he'll say next."

Pig Vomit: Okay, fine. But what about the people who hate Stern?

Researcher: Good point. The average Stern hater listens for two and a half hours a day.

Pig Vomit: But... if they hate him, why do they listen?

Researcher: Most common answer? "I want to see what he'll say next."

Maybe be a little more open minded. Your opinion isn’t the only one and is certainly in the minority.

Of course it's not just this guy but it is the minority.

And you're doing it again. You're applying generalizing overly broad statements to an entire demographic. You realize that right? That is the same shit bigots do.

Agreed. I was starved for Boston sport content when I was living out of state and started listening to felger and mazz for Murray, who was a classic cranky but funny Boston fanboy, until he became a caricature of himself with the "grumpy old man yells constantly about woke youths" character. Now I dislike him as much (maybe more at this point) than the other two.

I didnt mind Mazz as much as the other two tbh but mostly just tune into some guests (mostly just Gasper and Bedard for pats stuff) but its become just another outrage ratings grab so I quit listening.

They literrally said what you are saying. "No racists connections intended, blah blah, blah"

https://www.sunjournal.com/2003/10/22/talk-show-hosts-back-air/

Again, if you go back, you comment is just like guys carrying water for Callahan and Dennis back in the day.

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Obviously, Mazz isn't as bad as Dennis and Callahan, and later Minihane, but the support that they had and people saying that they "didn't have a racist bone in their body." Led to them spiraling out and saying crazier and worse things until the whole thing was shut down a few years ago.

If they didn't have defenders back then, they might not have gone as far as they did.

“Creeping into racist areas without racist intentions”

cmon, man! It was absolutely racist, you don’t have to excuse it.

Felger usually has good hockey takes. He can troll like the best of them (never came close to Adam Jones though) but it’s good background noise when I’m working either way.

What did Minihane say that was worse than what Mazz said? Calling a reporter a gutless bitch for asking a stupid question isn't as bad as what Mazz said.

Lol Your quote just proves my point that a lot of ppl hate listen to their show. Doesn’t make them as well liked as their numbers show. Again, any legitimate sports fans know they’re opinions are trash.

In a perfect world, sure. But what happens more often is that fans will get angrier, hosts dig in more to their "everyones a baby and offended all the time" schtick (so original) and rile more people up. its the same method that the "news" uses. It gets ratings

Minifan here and was curious if anyone who knows nothing about Kirk or KMS would try and lump him into this

Or you could just stay off Reddit.

Breaking News: Shock Jocks Shock More At 11.

I think the joke was bad in a show full of bad jokes but I don't know if its racism. If two minorities steal my car am I as the victim never allowed to talk about the situation again or I have to omit the race of the two people who stole it?

Racism is a bias or hatred for a particular group based on race, gender, or other other fact that one cannot control. This was a comment about a specific scenario where a crime was committed. Yes it was a stupid thing to say, he knew it would be offensive but honestly that is the shows schtick.

Players single out Boston as the most racist fans in the nation but ya I guess they’re just overly generalizing

But he knew what he was doing. It wasn’t an off hand remark. He asked Felger “can they hear us?” before he said it exhibiting that he knew it shouldn’t be said.

Yeah I know. He didnt want to offend the people in the room, because his comment wasn't about the people in the room.

He doesn’t need to learn from it. It he didn’t think or know it was racist then he wouldn’t have first asked Felger if the guys in the room could hear him. No Mazz but we did.

One of the main reasons I like to listen is the no pleasantries, no nonsense attitude. I don’t give a shit about their personal lives or what they think of pop culture like every other sports talk show thinking they’re Howard Stern. I have very limited time to tune in so if I have 30 minutes I know I’m getting 30 minutes of sports talk.

UPDATE: He's since been suspended without pay.

But you said it wasnt about race...

But if you think they might be offended then maybe you should think I probably shouldn’t say it regardless of the reason.

I never said that

I used to love dale hawley and keefe

> He was one of the more vocal local ppl who said we should trade Brady in ‘14, and sticked with it for the next 5 years.

Felger was also big on pushing Brady out of town. Among other things he claimed Brady used steroids, claimed Brady was putting in hardly any effort, claimed Brady had illegal dealings going on with Kraft surrounding Alex Guerrero, took any opportunity he could to bash the TB12 stuff, claimed Brady would completely fall off a cliff like Favre did, and has pushed his chips in probably more than anyone in the local media that Brady is a cheater over Deflategate (when pretty much anyone these days knows it was just the weather).

...the second Brady leaves for Tampa? Felger bashing Belichick and the Patriots endlessly for "running Brady out of town".

Felger and Mazz actually hardly ever talk about politics and when they have they more often than not display leftist positions.

Its downvoted because its not true. That describes say Dennis & Callahan (gone from the market for what, 10 years now?) or Glenn Ordway (also no longer on the air). It does not describe Felger & Mazz.

That's not the point though. I'm sure Michael Felger is ecstatic that people hate him. All that matters to him is that people tune in such that his ratings are high and he can continue to get paid a lot of money to work 4 hours a day.

The biggest way critics of Felger & Mazz will succeed and get them off the air is to stop listening to them and to not talk about them at all. They get ignored, they become irrelevant and go away. The problem is people can't help but listen to them, especially those who don't like them.

I stopped listening to both.

I’m just enjoying the schadenfreude seeing that Mazz and Felger are both typical wealthy, Boston liberals. They’re the darlings of Boston Globe, Wellesley, and Concord. It’s amusing.

Podcasts.

Oh I’m not saying he’s not successful at what he does. He definitely loves the hate. My whole stance is that he has trash takes, isn’t entertaining, and isn’t nearly sport literate enough to be as big as a host as he is.

Unfortunately you can't go around life worrying that everyone might be offended.

I just really don’t think he deserves to be compared to Dennis and Callahan. Those guys were undoubtedly racist bastards. They said questionable things almost daily. Tony totally deserves criticism and punishment for what he said but the guy talks on air for thousands of hours a year and just fucked up.

Eddie Andelman and his crazy antics (hot dog safari for one) was the last time I listened to sports talk

He wasn't wrong. Look at all the looting from the 2020 riots.

Who’s putting out 4 hours of podcast content on Boston sports every day?

Fighting racism with racism. That’s an incredible level of ignorance.

Longer than that. I turned them off in 2004

This guy is a clown and deserves to be fired… post haste!

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I can't even imagine being so into Boston sports that I need to hear 4 hours a day of talk about it. That's more then the amount of actual play time they are talking about.

Trashbag should be dumped.

I mean I don’t listen to all four hours, most days hours 3 & 4 are just repeating hours 1 & 2, I was just making the point that podcasts aren’t really an option if you like to listen to sports radio each day.

I also don’t listen live instead opting to wait for the episodes to be uploaded as podcasts and that cuts the runtime down to 45 minutes for every hour before skipping the ads.

But clearly he was worried about it otherwise he wouldn’t have wanted to make sure they didn’t hear him.

Can I be honest? That’s literally the point of sports talk and they are masters of it. A lot of people “hate listen” to them for this exact reason. They stir up shit and people listen.

It’s (sadly) how modern sports talk succeeds.

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Mazz be gone

Dale and Holley were great, Michael Holley was easily one of my favorite sports guys. He knew what he was talking about and he kept the non-sports talk to a minimum without making the conversations ever feel forced.

It wasn't long after those two left that the morning shows became about hot takes and stopped having sports be the main focus, the amount I've listened to sports radio has done nothing but decline since Holley stopped being a part of Boston radio, now I don't listen to any at all.

They have been racist assholes for as long as I can remember. I will never forget when that Chimpanzee escaped from Franklin park and John Dennis from. WEEI said it was a METCO kid. Fuck sports radio https://apnews.com/article/eeb981b2c211afca1e271fc3c50b6816

Except I dont think thats going to happen at all. Massachusetts is pretty reasonable and I think This sentiment will be reflected by their callers.

Yes you omit the race

No one on felger and mazz is associated with the show you referenced as far as I know. It's not even the same station.

You know they had Jerry Remy on until he couldn't do it anymore right? Ever hear about his kid and how involved Remy made sure he stayed with the team even though there were repeated issues before the tragedy happened? Ever look up what happened to Eckersleys kid just recently in the woods and the involvement or lack thereof he had with her? NESN don't care if the ratings are there.

I hate this clown and when they had him in the TV booth in NESN I shut off the sound.

Personally as a Black guy, I’ve never stole anything in my life and actually hate thieves just like I hate the descendants of colonizers who pillage, divide, destroy, rape, deceive, oppress and enslave people. Also hate them for controlling the narrative as if they are not the main perpetrators of crimes but because of their color they’re able to get away with it.

Yeah? Why? It’s not relevant to the crime/story?

That was the point of the post.

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Does the joke "work" if the guys are white?

No.

It's a racist joke.

And what kind of etiquette is it to imply that a guy is a car thief when you're putting them on a stream/TV without asking them. Presumably that guy right now is having to deal with the fallout of being the lame end of this stupidity.

The joke was that two guys stole Felgers car. There were two guys in the room with Felger alone. Thats the joke.

Mazz said nothing about race, because the race is irrelevant.

In fact, the only ones mentioning race are the racists like yourself who assume that stealing cars is somehow a "black trait", because of your assumption that the only reason why Mazz is making this joke is because the guys in the room are black...

Make it less obvious next time, bigot.

Neither are liberals

Guy has been an ass for decades

This is far from the first time he has crossed a line

They aren't even close to leftists, maz is a conservative catholic

Either podcasts or just don't listening to sports radio at all.

I stopped 3 years ago and my sports fandom has only improved.

I think Felger knows his stuff pretty well, he is well informed and does the research. But that doesn't translate into how he comes off on the air as he is all about leaning heavily into the schtick of being a big time troll. Does he have trash takes? Absolutely. As to if he's entertaining, well ultimately the high ratings bear it out. People like us want something of higher quality but it seems like the masses are fine with content that is all about trolling the audience and getting them mad at him.

Mazz and Jim Murray? Idiots who hardly put any effort in.

Seriously. He makes that kind of comment at work, imagine the shit he says around friends and family?

Nope. My pitchfork will remain out indefinitely.

Stick to worrying about the weather, JV Milt Dunne. Go suckle a Rose of Sharon. These two are quintessential Massa. Rich, White Phonies that live in leafy suburbs that only vote every four years, and check the “D” box. I’ve listened to them from my own Mcalester.

Yea Dennis & Callahan were on a whole nother level compared to Mazz. I don't get the impression that Mazz is a bad dude, whereas D & C are actual human garbage (moreso C).

Stop apologizing to people with no sense of humor. He was joking about an event that actually happened. It’s not like he pulled a hypothetical out of his ass.

Sounds like you're no better than Massarotti.