Bahtendah Wisdom - Pay Attention!
There's a serious void on SportsRadio WEEI these days and it's from 10:00AM until 2:00PM. I've been a regular listener since Dale Arnold and Michael Holley were replaced by the "Mut & Merloni Show" a few weeks ago. As far as I'm concerned, the verdict is in: Mike Mutnansky couldn't carry either Dale's or Holley's jockstrap.
The Mut-man is milquetoast personified. There are no controversial opinions, no insightful statistics, research or experiences. No unique perspectives presented and no challenging questions asked of the audience. As far as I can tell, Mutnansky has no in-depth experience or relationships with any of the major sports teams in town or their management and he has no standing relationships with any of the beat writers or columnists that cover the teams. The man is on a freakin' island. He has no influential friends or contacts in the business to bounce ideas off of or help inform his opinions. In fact, I've heard him refer to the "notes" he takes watching games on TV so that he'll have something to bring to the table on the following day's show. Pathetic. Here's a thought Mut-man - how about actually attending a sporting event and using your press credential to spend a little time in the locker room, in the press box, on the field or in the broadcast booth? You might learn something.
In short, Mutnansky's entertainment value is zero. Not funny, not persuasive, not demonstrative, not witty, not sarcastic, not anything. As a UConn grad I was expecting at least some high-energy, entertaining rant or bit on the morning following the men's recent national championship. There was nothing special at all. A little banal banter with Providence College grad Merloni and that was it. (By the way, I feel for Merloni. He could be a decent second fiddle to a strong host, as he was at times on The Big Show with Glen Ordway, but he's got nothing to work with here.) Even the show's interviews with superb regulars like Mike Millbury and Jackie MacMullan have gone seriously downhill.
Sports radio is pretty much the soundtrack to my working life. It's about the only thing I listen to as I write these unbelievably awesome blog posts for you all to marvel at. As such, I think I've become a bit of an expert over the years on the format and content. What used to be a high-level, sophisticated, sports discussion with truly educated hosts Dale Arnold and Michael Holley has become nothing of the sort. Where there used to be passion, it now feels forced. Where there used to be fast-changing pivots and turns on discussion topics, there now can be one minor issue beaten to death for hours at a time. Where there used to be experience and wisdom, there now is amateurism and sophomoric conjecture. The experiment is failing right before our very ears.
At least one thing is working for Mutnansky so far. The Mut-man is living up to his name - he's a dog.
