Political Potpourri

This does not mean I’m going political, but stealing a phrase from John McLaughlin, I’ll do a mishmash of links on Fridays from the various media columns across the country. Depending on the time, I can do it early on Fridays or in the case of today, I’ll update things as the day progresses.

First, the return of Ron Borges to the Boston Globe and unfortunately, to the public airwaves. He was suspended two months ago for plagiarizing a football notes column from the Tacoma (WA) News Tribune. Cold Hard Football Facts chronicled the entire debacle when it happened two months ago. Before the incident occurred, Borges was notorious for being a contrarian and getting under New England Patriots fans’ skin. His prediction that the Pats would lose 73-0 to the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI is an example. Blogger Dave Scott of Boston Sports Media Watch has some suggestions for Borges as he comes back from disgrace this weekend.

Red Sox fans have not been too thrilled with Glenn Geffner as one of the replacements for ousted Jerry Trupiano. Trup was known for his calls of “WAAAAAAY BACK! WAAAAAAAAY BACK! FFFFFFFOOOOOWWWWWWLLL BAAAAAAWWWWWLLLLL!” on Red Sox radio broadcasts for 15 seasons starting in 1993. His contract was not renewed by the Red Sox in favor of a two man replacement, Geffner and Dave O’Brien, who’s been doing work for ESPN and the New York Mets. The general consensus among fans on message boards and the media is that O’Brien is more polished of the two. Geffner’s calls have sounded forced to this blogger. And because of O’Brien’s schedule with ESPN, calling Monday Night Baseball and Thursday MSL, Geffner has been getting the majority of games. One blog, 38Cliches has been tracking Geffner and has been critical. I think it’s deserved and I don’t think Geffner’s going to get any better.

If you’re wondering, here’s a list of Red Sox Broadcasters dating back to 1926. I kid you not.

To the national front, the NBA Playoffs may be compelling, but they’re not necessarily translating to eyeballs in front of the TV set. Yes, great upset by Golden State, the 8 seed out West upsetting No. 1 seed Dallas, but that means Dirk Nowitski is out along with Shaq and Kobe. The lack of marquee names could hurt ABC/ESPN and TNT in the long run. Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the lack of true rivalries in this year’s playoffs could lead to record lows for the NBA’s network partners. I agree. The NBA has seen record ratings in the regular season. I don’t mean record highs, I’m talking record lows for ABC which at one point this season, tied the NHL. It hasn’t hit the notorious zero-point-zero yet, but give the NBA a year or two and it just might.

We’ll have more later.