“… the most hated sportswriter …”

Remember when Harry Sinden dropped a bomb shell and up and quit as coach of the Bruins shortly after they won their first Orr-era Stanley cup? They came back and won another cup two years later. Then Sinden came back and they haven’t won anything since.

Thanks for highlighting this.

How does analysis of information in the public arena make someone comparable to Judy Miller? There was precious little leaked in the Sunday piece, other than the thrice-sourced comment about a botched trade. The rest was analysis of stuff we already knew. No anonymous sources, just commentary. Don’t buy the desparate last gasp spin from The Herald and those who seek to prop it because they just don’t like The Globe. There was a dispute, of sorts, between two sides and to suggest, without evidence, that someone was in the tank for one side simply because his analysis favored that side is more intellectually dishonest than anything Shaughnessy is accused of

Shaughnessy and his editors allowed him to get pimped by the Red Sox, and for what? Did the Globe benefit? Doesn’t seem like it. Did the readers benefit. Hell no. Did the subjects (Theo, Larry) benefit? Of course not. Did Larry Bird benefit (duh–just threw that in because the CHB invokes Larry Legend about once every 5 columns).So why write it?

It looks to me like Shaughnessy allowed himself to be used by Lucchino to get some digs in against Theo at the end of some tough negotiations over Theo’s contract. I’m sure Larry resented that Theo has been so celebrated in this town for bringing us a championship and used that fact to get as many $$$ as he could from the Sox. But, with the deal essentially done, Larry couldn’t resist blasting Theo in the Globe to remind him who was boss. The problem was, though, the contract wasn’t yet signed and Shaughnessy’s column seems to have been the last straw for Theo.Bad for Lucchino: his mouth got him in trouble when he should have waited for the deal to be done and then said whatever he wanted to the CHB. Bad for Shaughnessy: he allowed himself to be used by Lucchino and his reporting (and the Globe’s Sox coverage in general) will now be a little suspect because of the Globe/Times’ status as part owner of the Red Sox. Theo, meanwhile, will land on his feet somewhere else and comes off smelling like a rose.

In answer to the “How is a columnist “used” by a public figure because another public figure reportedly doesn’t like what the columnist wrote?” comment, it’s pretty easy. Reporters report: that’s the mantra that CHB, Massarotti and pretty much any journalist falls back on. And it’s a copout. Reasons: Because they should be able to recognize that 1) they owe their allegiance to the reader, not the source, and 2) their sources are inherently biased, and the good reporter/columnist (whomever that is) needs to be able sift through the spin, not just print everything they are told. None of that has been happening here.

Wow, the CHB is reading this site. Where does he find the time?OK, just for kicks: How do you know it’s all been reported before? For instance, show me the bit about Larry Lucchino being a good HS baseball player, and then explain to me how’s that’s relevant to anything. Did you hear the CHB on WEEI today? It’s all at http://danshaughnessy.blogspot.com/Excerpts:CHB: Most of this has been written before. It’s old stuff.Dennis: What about the Colorado thing? That was new to me.CHB: That was new. … And I know it was absolutely true.:Comment: How does he know it to be “absolutely true?”…And then there’s this:Dennis: When you have a longstanding mole, does it change the veracity [the need to always challenge that source]? CHB: I suppose that’s true, but you have to guard against that. If you’re talking about the Colorado trade situation, I had more than one source. JD: Did it occur to you as you wrote that piece that it would get the attention of and piss off Theo?CHB: That was one of things in the column. Too much was out there. Maybe I knew too much. They would have to answer that. … I know both of these guys pretty well … and Larry’s side wasn’t getting out there….So the CHB wants it both ways. Blame Larry, blame Theo, blame Boston, just don’t blame me! blah blah blahAnd for the record, no “sic” is needed. “Columnist” could take the 3d person singular (he/she) or plural (to avoid gender bias).

C O R R E C T I O NIn third graf, make readXXX or Byung-Hyun Kim or Jeremy Giambi XXX(Stead Jason)

Re “larry’s side wasn’t getting out there” that would seem to be the job of a columnist — to raise unique perspectives and to challenge conventional wisdom.If it’s Larry’s perspective, then it’s not the CHB’s. And if it’s Larry’s perspective, then say as much. Dan writes the column as if it’s his own, as in “I just thought of this.” Then, in the face of brutal and deserved criticism, he backs off, and comes up with some lame-ass response. And it took him two days to think of that, even. He’s making this up as he goes along.Come to think of it, that’s also how he writes his column.

Don’t let Tony Mazz off the hook!!!I never liked Dan and never will. For sure. He is a pompous idiot who thinks he is better than anyone who reads or listens to him. It’s quite a statement that when paired with pompous Mike Barnicle, he makes him sound modest and fun. Too over-rated, over-paid and over-exposed waste of time and journlasitic space and credentials fro both of them.Dan is not after informing or adding to the story or ANYTHING BUT helping himself. He once again immerses himself in one of the major sports teams sagas and is part of the story. This idiot is going to be hawking a book for sure about ‘Theo’s Cursed Tenure On Yawkey Way’ pretty soon, you know it.But I want to implore the public not to let Tony Mazz and WEEI, with is frat boy PD Jason Wolfe and his gang of sports-trash-with-a-mic off the hook.Only in our town can the media be allowed to run amok again with Sports, Sports teams, Major Sports business, internal team dynamics and policies and bring out the show to the open and immerse the public in it, making it a whole circus and an unbearable affair mostly for the players or the execs affected.Most of the media controversies harping on ANY big story in the last few years that drove a star out of town or changed the course of events COULD have been averted had the media stayed out of it and focused on -minded- its own business, ie reporting and debating but NOT intruding.Why is this allowed to fester in the open? No other city does this. This is so embarrassing. Because of WEEI, we may see yet again another star -MANNY- head out of town and were it not for a self-serving Tony Mazz and constant harping by WEEI, Theo might have still been on Sox Payroll.ALL day long, we are only talking about what caused Theo to go, who is at fault, who leaked, Is Lucchino at fault? Should Lucchino go instead??IT ISN’T ANY OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!!!Stick to sports. Talk about possibilities of trade in the aftermath of a Theo departure. Talk about the biggest game of the Partiots regular season in a few days. Or how about you talk at ALL about The Celts new season, or the Bruins first season in a couple of years.Yet, again, Jason Idiot Wolfe sets the tone of sports media by allowing his thugs to drag themselves right smack in the middle of other people’s laundry.Why does Tony Mazz or any other WEEI personality have to insult Theo or Lucchino about anything? It is part of business and is a business decision, as hard and unpopular as it may be, they have the right to make it and it is no business of Tony, Dale Arnold, Glen Blowhard or even Felger to profess Lucchino being fired or labeled as an evil character here.Get out of it! If you had stayed out of it, maybe there would be no media influence or PR posturing intruding on negotiating a deal that was an inch awy from being signed by Theo.Theo is a bright , nice decent guy. But he is wildly over-rated and owes the World series more to Dan Duquette’s pieces of the puzzle, including a very savvy late signing of a very instrumental Jonny Damon and so many other Duquette-signed stars and to more importantly a timely decline of the Yankees. Many powerful Yankees had either already exited or aged so that the team, however expensive it continued to be, was no longer a dominant factor that it could be insurmountable for an imporving solid Red Sox team.Timing was very very crucial in Yankee demise and the Red Sox squeaking by. Had even Pettite and Clemens not gone to Texas, maybe they would have outlasted the Sox. Who knows? But you can’t credit Theo or any other Red Sox exec for a weakening Yankee roster. They undid themselves with no farm pipeline and stupid contract structures on failed bets.Theo can’t hurt you. He made very good moves, some very bad decisions and was about to make some disastrous ones -Pavano and Contreras come to mind first- and he let some good arms go – Pedro and Cabrera most prominently. So he is no automatic genious. But in the balance, the Red Sox would have been better off with a maturing Theo on board and on a learning curve.But it is done, so let’s move on. Everyday, countless companies make decisions like this, letting good smart execs walk away for personal and other political reasons go. What if Theo made Lucchino feel insecure? So what? It s#cks but it happens and Larry has the upper hand and can let him go. It stinks but it is normal. Theo is a good success story and the mdeia machine wanted to see it unfold before it and got so mad when it was appearant it wasn’t allowed to watch it anymore. That’s when an impulsive Tony Mazz springs to action. Shut up, squeaky Tony. Let the Sox handle their business and it will take care of itself. Instead, he screws the whole thing up with his big mouth.Another business decision. No more. No less. We have lost countless good people because some exec does not want to be eclipsed by a young smart buck that HE FOSTERED and promoted. Theo wasn’t the first and won’t be the last. Theo was getting too much credit, unfairly, and the Red Sox have to make sure that no one rises above the team. The Sox will be just fine.But I do hope that in the upcoming contract negotiations, the Red Sox pull the rug from under WEEI. They are too cocky, too idiotic, too brash, too over-confident, too immersed in affairs that are outside of their scope. WEEI has had its prints over many players leaving town and THEY should NEVER be alowed to have that influence.They drove Carl Everett -kookie but very competent- and Mo Vaughn out of town. They had a considerable role in shaping public perception negatively of Pedro and Nomar and prepped the field for their departure. Shills like Glen and Sean McAdam still want to persuade us that NOTHING could have kept Pedro from walking away and he wouldn’t have stayed he no matter what. Now why wouldn’t they put a muzzle on Pete the Meat Moron and his harping on Manny that is turning people against him. And idiotic Gerry Callahan mocking Damon and his wife certainly pushes them out the door. Why not go to New York where they wouldn’t get so much negative attentiona and they’d be left alone and only get covered on sports matters and not get dragged in the mud.Yank the contract from WEEI and it will teach them a lesson. They are too cocky now to understand. A rock could have performed well given Patriots and Sox successes in the last couple of years. WEEI is just riding that success and reaping the benefits. They are no geniuses and are certainly not “America’s best rated sports channel” Talk about Lies and exagerations.They are where they are by default, in the best sports town in the country and running against a mismanaged 1510 The Zone with a depleted staff. Jason Wolf getting nomiated for ANTHING is an over-rating and injustice by excellence. A college grad would done well with the recent successes and public demand. Or even Julie Kahn getting any credit for being at tthe right time, at the right place when teams are doing well anyway and yahoo fear-mongering insecure talk radio is on the rise anyway throughout the country, driving WEEI and WRKO ratings up and back down these days back to earth.So Give the contract to someone else or buy out 1510 skeleton and put your own channel up again as an extention of your cable presence or even ESPN 890 might be a viable option now. I have not been able to listen to WEEI for the last couple of days for more than 1 minute at the time. The Arnold-Holley View is tedious and unbearable now, sounding like a funeral with all the carping and second-guessing. The Big Raucus is even worse now more than ever, especially that it has an agnda now: Demonize Lucchino. Wolfe lost the last classy guy on the sports dial. They harassed and disrespected Teddy Sarandis right out the door at a time when they needed his cool-headed perspective and reminding callers abou t what is realy at stake here and having them keep their eyes on the prize.So, for God’s sake, get over it. Everyone will be just OK.And Jason, one last advice: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you!N.

Aren’t Moneyball, Mind Game, baseballprospectus.com and the sonsofsamhorn based on analysis of public information mixed with occasional reporting from ‘sources.’ But when the Globe columnist does the same thing he’s “pimped by the Red Sox” and referred to by infantile nicknames. The morning duo on WEEI — the Sports Illustrated wash-out (check the precipitous drop in by-lined articles through the course of this hack’s tenure) and the would-be flak for pro athletes (does he have any clients? why doesn’t the radio station require disclosure of clients past and present? has he ever taken a fee from or on behalf of someone he talks about on the radio?) — couldn’t lay a glove on him, despite the creative use of ellipses on various hate sites.

There’s one interesting nugget hidden in the bowels of N.’s diatribe: Who should write about the business side of sports?Certainly, few sportswriters have the background to properly assess the financials of sports franchises, or the economics of sports in general.Also, they are probably less prepared to recognize and rate the business abilities of the C-level executives. You wouldn’t send Bob Ryan to interview Jack Welch, so why let him cover John Henry?Perhaps individuals in the media should stick to what they are good at (insert your own joke here), and the turf lines drawn accordingly.

Incredulous? You should be asking our pardon for being boring. Stop being boring!