Divers Down. Divers Down??? NESN pulls away from the MLS expansion draft after three rounds to show us Divers Down? How many times has Divers Down already aired this month? How many divers are there in November? And, I don't know if anyone else has heard the WEEI promo about "No wimpy sports talk radio here" and then has a wimpy voice saying something like "The Revolution are taking over the field." So the Revos get dissed by their own radio station's promos, which follows the likes of Dennis & Callaghan and THE big SHOW in dismissing the Revolution. The team's own radio station disses them and Divers Down bumps them. Wonderful.
NESN simulcasts ESPNews for the same time period each afternoon, then they switch to their own programming. Nothing to do with the Revs.
Before you start another rant BigFrank first check NESN's scheduled programming lineup and you'll see that Divers Down was scheduled for 4:30. No one is trying to screw over MLS.
Oh, so they couldn't bump or reschedule Divers Down? Wow, Divers Down is just so popular. Maybe ESPN should schedule Divers Down to interrupt the NFL draft. If MLS takes a back seat to Divers Down, well that says it all now, really. Interesting that so far no one thinks that the Revos getting dissed on their own radio station is nothing to be concerned about. "No wimpy sports radio." No Revos. What a great message from the station that carries the team's games.
You don't get it. You were watching NESN. You weren't watching ESPNNEWS. NESN has it's schedule. Instead of infomercials, it uses the ESPNNEWS feed as filler. The fact that you got half of the expansion draft is just by chance, nothing else. NESN doesn't really care about programming on ESPNNEWS, it's just filler. KC MetroSports also uses ESPNNEWS as filler and apparently a local football charity game rebroadcast clobbered the second half of the draft on that channel. Fact: The Expansion Draft was carried by ESPNNEWS. It wasn't scheduled on either NESN or KC MetroSports.
NESN carried one game. ESPN doesn't schedule Divers Down, NESN does. NESN only schedules ESPN News to fill time slots, as well as shows like Divers Down. If you wanted to catch the whole draft, pony out the extra bucks to get a package that includes ESPN News.
No. I get it. I was watching ESPNNEWS on NESN. It is filler to them. Just about everything is filler to them except Red Sox, Bruins (if they were still playing), local college football and hockey and their own produced shows, which is minimal. So they need a lot of filler. NESN could have shown some creativity and shown ESPNNEWS until 5 p.m., but either didn't know what was on might have more interest than Divers Down, didn't care or most likely never even gave it much, if any, thought. What is much more disturbing is the disrespect being shown on WEEI. It is one thing if their hosts don't like soccer and don't care about it. That is their opinion and they entitled to it. It is something completely different when the station, in one of its own promos, downgrades and dismisses one of the teams whose games are broadcast on that very station. Maybe Revos fans have become too passive to care about this kind of blatant slight. Maybe there aren't enough of them for the station care.
Look, I'm as rabidly into the Revs as anyone else on these boards, but it's a frigging expansion draft. Yes, I was glued to my computer while it was going on, but I'd be surprised if even very many regular MLS fans would want to watch it. ALso, the NBA had an expansion draft in June or July. The Celts are more popular locally than the Revs. I don't think any local stations aired it, and I don't even think that espn did.
Thank you Big Frank, that wasn't such a long step, was it. ESPNNEWS could have been televising something on the NFL, MLB, maybe even NASCAR, but due to NESN scheduling, local programming would have bumped that as well. It wasn's disrespecting soccer, it wasn't singling out soccer, it was following their standard programing schedule. Why should NESN show some "creativity" by making an exception to standard program scheduling, by extending coverage of a non-station program by 1/2 hour, simply to accomodate the 17 or so people not watching the draft on ESPNNEWS. Since when did NESN become the Johnny Appleseed of American soccer, eh? As JMMUS8 said, NESN's televised one game this season, and that wasn't a pre-determined telecast. Don't try to weasel out of things by making the issue WEEI, which we're not talking about; that's aseparate issue, and you're using it to distract others from the fact that you're dead wrong on the NESN issue. WEEI's ripped on the Revs for years, because for the most part their hosts are overfed, mental midgets who are self-servingly provocative, growup verions of the little boys in the back of class who told dirty jokes under the teacher's breath, were never especially motivated, never especially bright, unmotivated for the most part, yet still retained a measure of popularity no because of who they were, but because of what they did and said. Thing is, this appeals to a large segment of the local population of sports fans. The bigger problem, beggars can't be choosers and this is the only game in town, so the Revs efforts on WEEI follow the addage that, "bad publicity is better than no publicity." They may get dumped on regularly on WEEI, but at least it keeps the Revs name out there, and quite frankly, those who buy into their **************** aren't going to be those buying tickets or watching games anyway. I'm sorry Frank, but you really lost this argument. The Magpie
Can't see how I lost the argument when you agree with half of it. I was the one that lumped the two things together into one thread. Not as a distraction. I can accept the fact that NESN didn't give the draft any thought, and if that is the case, then it wasn't really a slight. But the WEEI thing is a slight. The hosts may be pin heads that are anti-soccer, and that is their right. But I can't see how the Revos could abide them in dissing them in one of their own promos. That is inexcusable, IMO. And that opinion is not going to change. If the hosts want to diss the Revos, that their opinion and they are entitled to it. Revolution soccer may be no big deal to WEEI, but it is part of their business. Burgers, chicken and fries may be McDonald's main business, but you don't see them making fun of their coffee. That, like the WEEI promo, serves no good reason.
Your argument was about NESN, which was readily, and throughly quashed. It wasn't about them not giving the draft any thought, it could have been Purnia dog-racing, and NESN still would have cut to local planning. You're argument was built around the suggestion that not showing the Revs was a slight by NESN.... blah, blah, blah, and you lost that. Perhaps understanding this, you tried to change the subject, and while I agree with you to an extent that WEEI is hostile to soccer, that wasn't the argument. The short version regaring soccer and WEEI is this: the station won't support fair coverage of the Revolution -- at least not relative to the other sports it covers, it's naive to hope for as such, but it's the only game in town in terms of sports radio. That's why I said, the Revs will take getting ********** on by WEEI rather than not get talked about at all. Beggars can't be chosers Frank, so better save the "shaking the fist at the who world 'DAMN YOU WEEI! SHOW SOME RESPECT TO THE REVOLUTION!!!'" energy for someplace else where it'll be more readily applied." The Magpie
The Revs are not the only team in town to get little exposure on WEEI. It has almost exlusively become the station of Sox and Patriots talk. I think it makes more fun of the Bruins than it does of the Revs. Also BF, I agree with you in most businesses it would be unacceptable for WEEI to make fun of or critize a paying customer publicly. But WEEI does that even to the Red Sox. Their format really embraces over-the-top statements and it seems to work from a listener point of view.
I changed the subject? Go back and read the original post. It was about NESN and WEEI. You can accept or not accept whatever part of the original argument that you want. But both were there, and you can not change that. I can accept that NESN wasn't a slight. I do not accept that WEEI is not a slight. How can I change a subject that I started by using two examples? WEEI's host have the right to diss whatever they want. That is their opinion. WEEI management should not be dissing the Revolution, whose games are broadcast on their very own station, in their own promos. They don't have to show the Revolution any respect, if they choose not to. It might be smart business on their part if they did, at least during the season. There are differences between showing respect, not showing respect or disrespect and showing disrespect. They show disrespect. If anything good can come out of that for the Revolution, for area soccer or for WEEI, then please let us know. If you can't, then go back to watching the next installment of Divers Down.
That being the case, let me trot out a question that Big Frank seems chomping at the bit to ask: if WEEI has effectively become a Sox and Patriots station, then why don't the Krafts use their leverage with the Pats to bring about fair/more consistent coverage of the Revolution? I can feel him begging to put that one out there.
The Krafts should not put any pressure on WEEI with regard to anything that their hosts say. If the Krafts have a business relationship with WEEI, then they should tell them to lay off dissing the Revos in their own promos because that makes no good business sense for either. The Bruins are WBZ. WBZ and WEEI are competitors. The Revolution are on WEEI. WEEI and the Revolution are not competitors, they are partners.
I do wonder why WEEI doesn't have a bit of Revs talk before, and certainly after, the matches. You have 10kish folks in cars at that point who would be tuned in. Might not be significant numbers enough before the game, but the material they broadcast 10pm Saturday nights can't have too much appeal around the Boston area. I have no insider knowledge of WEEI, but it does not seem like the sports talk show format works well when the hosts speak mostly positively. The moaning and nitpicking is pretty amazing. I think the station would strongly resist being pressured to play nice.
I have not heard the promos you speak of, but it is pathetic that WEEI resorts to picking on soccer to make a few bucks. Pretty small minded.
You guys are clueless. WEEI makes fun of the Revs because we have such a small fanbase. We don't have a small fanbase because WEEI makes fun of us. Ordway makes no secret or apology (and none is deserved, frankly) that he caters to his audience to get the highest ratings he can. And that means the Pats and the Sox. If the Revs want more respect, then the fan base has to grow. Ordway follows the fans, he doesn't lead them. And Big Frank, its funny, but in a way I think WEEI is a counterpart to you! You are the first to point out the dwindling fan base this year, and the (at least in your opinion) uninspiring mismanagment and regular season play of the Revs. You rip them all the time. Then WEEI makes a joke about the small fanbase and you say THEY're disrespectful! Dude, they're just echoing some of your arguments. If anyone at WEEI should be ripped, its Meterperel and his inconsistent wishy-washy interest in MLS and the Revs. Guys like Callahan never claimed they liked soccer, why should they hide their feelings?
Anyone who believes that popular opinion shapes the media instead of the opposite is living in a fantasy world. That is the objective of the media, that is the function of the media, and that is what happens. Otherwise, companies wouldn't need to advertise or want to advertise.
Or you could've, you know switched to ESPN News which is on most cable systems. Not that there's anything wrong with NESN carrying the ESPN News feed as well, twice the ESPN News, twice the fun. It doubles the chance I might accidentally begin watching something I could've already seen for three hours straight on Sportscenter rebroadcasts.
I admit I'm coming from an advertising background and not a journalism one, but you've never read Roland Marchand, have you? Because while the Stewart Ewen/Adbusters school of thought would suggest snythetically created public demand and opinion, years of advertising history indicate otherwise. It's actually a combination of both sides (public and media) feeding off each other, creating both the dominant cultural hegemony and smaller counter-hegemonies. Hey, when is MLS gonna get its own deal with a satellite radio group, like other sports have done? And please go to Sirius 'cause I'm apparently getting one of their setups for Christmas kthx.
This may be the best for MLS actually. Sirius is the next biggest thing in media. A lot of big names have joined Sirius, it would be nice to have MLS be one of those names.