Nicol gets bashed by Sean McDonough

This might have something to do with Kraft being in bed with WEEI.

Perhaps.

 

What do you think they would say if Belicheck or Parcells put the cuffs on just before a big game? I suspect sliding scale standards here. Yes, we need to promote the product but Nicol has been to bigger games than little Sean could even imagine. He may not be helping from the PR standpoint but he is taking this very, very seriously.
JIM DOW

 

While I agree with Tom about focus, the exposure would have been good

Getting the Revs out in front of some hard core sports fans who might say what the heck let's go see the home team win it all would have been nice

 

Trust me on this, there is NOTHING that will p*ss off a talk show host more than having a guest or two scheduled, only to see them back out at the last minute. I don't know all the circumstances around why the Revs backed out, but I can certainly see why McDonough would be upset.

 

Exactly - but god knows they don't practice 24 hours a day esp in the crap we had today

A half hour would have been easy to do

The NFL has it every day during Super Bowl week

And by the way.....

Beat LA !

Beat LA !

 

exactly. the less people that know about this the better, actually. I am getting used to sitting where I want, no food lines, bathroom lines, easy in and out parking...

the more fat stupid lossers that show up, the more it will ruin the special expericence and intimacy that rev fans have with the product.

NE REVOLUTION. Less Marketing. More Enjoyment.

 

Sean McDonough is a lot like the old man in a lot of respects - he shouldn't be ripping people, though.

 

have you ever seen Will's nose up close? jeheezius christ!

 

Love Sean, and I can see where he's coming from.

But I can also see where Stevie is coming from.

Would have been nice to have them on, though.

 

How can people see where Nicol is coming from? What could he possibly think he is accomplishing? Be serious. Do people honestly think that if 2 players went into the studio to chat about the team and the game for 1/2 and hour, they would be so distracted that they would forget how to play, or they would be so fatigued that they wouldn't be able to perform? C'mon, what does Nicol think he accomplished?

I think that Sean has every right to be pissed, and I have no problem with him bashing Nicol and the decision. I do have a bit of a problem with Borges happily using this as an excuse to bash the sport, but to be honest, the coach and the team brought it on themselves.

This was an opportunity to get real exposure in a general sports forum where most of their listening public aren't soccer fans. Instead the team set themselves up to be pilloried. It’s not like the Revs often get a chance to get this much exposure all the time, and they should take every reasonable opportunity that comes their way. I think that Nicol should personally apologize to Sean and to the team’s fans, and I’m going to email the team to let them know how I feel.

 

I'm not sure but I think this is kind of a cool "first."

Usually the bashers are talking about how soccer stinks, etc.

Here, we have a case where the behavior of the coach is being questioned by media types. This is exactly the type of infinite discussion that goes on with the Redsox, et al, on all the radio talk shows.

I take this as a sign we've hit the big time.

EDIT: we just need another media type to discuss this "controversy" and then we're there.

 

Please take your mis-guided outrage elsewhere - If Steve Nicol says he needs the damn players in practice instead of shuttling to studios (which is more than a 30 minute undertaking with traffic and all) the So Be It. Winning the Cup will do more for the Revs then a dozen of these interviews ever will.

Rip Nicol If - and only If -we lose the Cup.

 

I just wrote a letter that I included below, and I put it in the 'Email Feedback Form' on the Rev's website. However when I click submit, nothing seems to happen, does anyone know if this is normal? Also, does anyone know of an actual email address to which I could/should send such note?

my letter:
I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with a recent decision by Coach Steve Nicol, that denied the team of a great opportunity to get some positive publicity for the upcoming MLS Cup, and for the team in general. I’m speaking about the coach’s decision to not allow 2 players a chance to go into the studio for half hour segment on the local sports radio station 1510 The Zone, during the prime, afternoon drive time.

To me, this idea was ill conceived, and downright embarrassing to the team and it’s fans. Instead of allowing the players to spend what would have been in radio terms, a very long time on air, fielding what no doubt would have been complimentary and accommodating questions and comments. Instead the coach chose to deny the players at the last minute, setting the team up to be ripped on air, giving fodder to all the soccer haters that are out there. Does the coach honestly think that such an endeavor, spending half and hour talking about soccer, would cause his players be mentally or physically handicapped for the upcoming game, which is by far the biggest game and opportunity for this team in it’s history? If so, then either he has no understanding of humans, or he has players who should not be playing professionally.

The Revs are not the Patriots, and they should be striving to get as much publicity as it can get, especially positive publicity, as long as it’s not unreasonable. Spending half and hour sitting down and chatting in a studio, 5 days before a game, is certainly not unreasonable. Sean McDonough has supported the team to some degree, by having Revolution players call in for a few minutes of airtime in the past. He was willing to let the team take another step towards the general media acceptance, by having players in studio for a long segment, and the team chose to thank him for this by snubbing the station at the last minute.

I thought that the coach deserved all the personal shots he received, and I am not at all angered by the station saying that they will now support the Galaxy instead of the Revs. I think that Steve Nicol should reverse his decision, and he should also personally apologize to Sean, the station, and the fans. These fans have worked hard to help make the team and the sport a viable professional sport, only to have the coach try to undo this work with his inane decision, by severing what had been a decent relationship with a well known member of the local sports media. I don’t know that he would be able to total repair the damage done by his snub, but it would be nice if he at least made an honest effort.

 

How is this misguided? I am actually enough in touch with reality to know that on top of spending 30 minutes in the studio, the players would have to drive to and from the station. You forgot to mention that the players would probably even have to arrive a bit before the segment started, and probably wouldn’t immediately be placed in their cars as soon as the segment finished, adding even more time to this arduous endeavor.

As someone already said, it’s not like the it’s not like the players are spending 24 hours a day practicing. It’s not like their even spending 12 hours a day practicing, and the other 12 hours sleeping. I’m sure that even now, they’ve got a bit of time to kill. I doubt that they all just drive to practice, and then just drive right home again, spending all of their time either on the field or in their homes. Do you honestly think that all this driving you talk about, not to mention the talking into a microphone, 5 days before a game, would wear out the players for Sunday? It's not like they were asking the players to go stand out in today's rain for an hour in nothing but shorts and a t-shirt.

I don’t see how anyone can see harm in, rather than spending a little time that might have otherwise have been dedicated to going shopping or hanging out with friends, instead two player do something in an effort towards building stronger bridges with the local media, and perhaps getting positive exposure with people who could become fans. I just think that instead the team has tried to burn a bridge with someone who had been appreciative of the team, a someone who has his own rather important local sports radio show (I’m not interested in debating how important the show is, you have to admit it’s at least somewhat important). Such burnt bridges can come back to haunt you in the future.

 

Calm down people, we don't know all of the facts.
What was the time of the interview?
Was it originally agreed that they would be in-studio or by phone? I could see where SN might have okayed a phoner, which can be done right from the field on a cell, but didn't okay an in-person, which would have involved travel, thus cutting into some practice time. We don't know. With the Revs staff being what it is, sounds like one big time mixup.
Sean should lighten up...this stuff happens, he should understand what is going on this week. He's probably mad because he had to spend an hour researching the game of soccer to prep for the interview.

But, then again, we don't know all the facts do we?

(I'm sure Sean easily segued into some more obscure facts about what the San Francisco Giants ballboys favorite videos are, and other important baseball crap....(yawn))

 

Yes of course. This is Sean's fault. A guy who semi-regularly has Jay Heaps on, always refers to him as a buddy of his, and who gives at least as much, if not more, respect to the sport and the team than any other broadcast sports person in our area.

You obviously didn’t listen to the show (I listened to the last hour). They said that they had originally agreed to half an hour of in studio time. Nicol nixed it, giving the reason that he didn’t want his players getting tired or distracted. Going into a radio station, where they would no doubt be forced to sit in a warm studio, eat the free food, and answer questions about the sport they love, not to mention the driving too and from, would be too taxing for players who will be playing a big game in 5 days. If it were a case of the interview cutting into practice time, lets do it some other time, I have no doubt Sean would have understood. These are people who bash players like AI for saying that practice is unimportant. They understand that players have to practice with the team. Had it been some sort of mix-up, where practice would have been impinged or something, there is no way Sean would have been so perturbed. That is the kind of thing that happens they people will overlook. It was a case of a commitment being backed out of for what was seen as an absurd reason.

I can’t believe that people who seem to regularly whine about how ‘the mainstream media’ doesn’t give soccer any respect, etc, say it’s no big deal when the team craps on a well known member of the main stream media. Sean McDonough is very well known locally, and known nationally as well. I’m not saying he’s the greatest person ever, but I listen to his show occasionally. He strikes me as a person with a level head, his mantra when he came in was ‘Raising the bar of sports talk radio’. He tries to stay above the childishness common to such forums. But he sounded truly hurt by how Nicol forced these players to back out at the last moment. As I’ve said, he has given the Revs exposure in the past, was trying to take the exposure up a notch, and instead he was shown a bit of disrespect. Yet even while he was bashing Nicol, he said on more than one occasion that he was also saying these things with tongue in cheek, and that he had nothing against the team, and certainly nothing against the players or the sport, all while, guest Ron Borges was trying to turn it into somewhat of an anti-soccer session. In fact, rather than bash the sport or the event, he just said that he’ll see if the Galaxy will be willing to let their players do interviews leading up to the game instead. But I’m sure he will not be taking any pains to do any thing to help the Revs out in the future, if the team doesn’t try to placate him a bit.

I’m not looking to create some anti-Nicol thing, kick him out, or even say he’s a bad guy, I’m just saying that this was a very ill-conceived decision, given the state of soccer and soccer coverage in this country. I’m quite sure that if Nicol hadn’t come into it, and Kraft had said no, then you guys would be all over the ‘evil owner’. I feel like I’m the only lunatic who was truly disappointed by this, and that bothers me a bit because I don’t like being perceived as such, but I just think people are missing the bigger picture here.

 

During the World Cup, Sean his partners bashed soccer all the time. Also during the Revs run up to the playoffs the bashed it too, so I have no problem with them not going on it the show. I also hate Fatty an the Forehead;ss show on eei in the morning because they bash it too. What pisses me off is meetheadperel is on themorning show an doesnt stick up for soccer at all.

 

Alright, I guess I'll give up. Apparently people think that either
a) the media should be bending over backwards to accommodate a sport that is well behind the other 4 major pro teams in the area, and we should complain when they don’t do so.

or b) the team should try to get back and any outlet/forum/etc where any anti-soccer sentiment might have been expressed, rather than perhaps trying to bring such people into the fold when the express interest in trying. I’m sure that 1510 The Zone will long regret having had people who made jokes about soccer, not to mention any bashing, on their station.

Lets do our best to keep soccer a niche sport here, and try to bite any hand that might have the ability of feeding us in the future.

I'll take my "misguided" thoughts on trying to broaden our team's and our sport's appeal over to the couch, and watch the Bruins instead.

 

I'm with jw here. We don't know all the facts. Could have been in studio, could have been a phone interview, could have been a mixup between Revs staff and Sean/his producer, etc. It happens. Happened with a Taylor Twellman WEEI interview recently as well. Taylor ended up calling another day. Maybe that will happen with this as well. Having worked in the entertainment biz for more than a few years now (as jw does), I've seen it happen many times. It's frustrating, but it usually works out. Sean can't take it personally. It's coming from the coach, not the guys he's apparently friends with.

(And by the way, jw didn't say it was Sean's fault)

As Mike Marshall said, nothing annoys a talk show host like having guests cancel last minute. I can understand Sean's frustration about that. I'd be unhappy too especially if I had prepared for it and enjoy the sport, know the guests, etc. But like I said, you can't take it personally.

Good point Jim Dow. I'm sure they would have been unhappy about any other area coach pulling a player interview.

I can see both sides. I'm happy that Sean wanted to promote the game and the team. I want to see as much Revs coverage as possible. However, I also want the team to do well Sunday and Steve Nicol has helped them do that so far this year, and as a man that won titles in his career, I don't want to question him now. Disappointing that both sides couldn't work something out on this one...at least not yet.

Like I said, maybe they'll make it up later.

Lastly, we do care about the Revs and about the media coverage...there are several threads that have addressed it in the last few weeks and there have been many before that. It's a discussion that will never go away.