Steak Shapiro, a radio host who defends Arthur Blank at absolutely every turn and refused to countenance the idea that the Blank-McKay axis running the Falcons weren't football geniuses, ripped on Sekou Smith yesterday for being "syncophantic" towards the Hawks. If Steak was making the charge correctly, he would note that every bombshell comes out about the Hawks - Josh Smith allegedly fighting with teammates or Mike Woodson, the Atlanta Spirit team disagreeing vehemently over the Joe Johnson trade, etc. - comes from a source outside of Atlanta (Sports Illustrated, Peter Vescey, Detroit beat writers, etc.). Of course, that criticism wouldn't be just of Sekou, but would instead extend to the entire sports media in Atlanta, which includes, inconveniently, both sports talk stations. Instead, Steak turned it into yet another unmodified "Billy Knight (who won't come on my show) is an idiot and Mike Woodson is a terrible coach" rant that comes out every time the Hawks play poorly.
So, with that prelude out of the way, Steak Shapiro criticizing someone else for being syncophantic is the equivalent of:
a. Dick Vitale criticizing other announcers for loving Mike Krzyzewski too much;
b. John Daly calling another person a drunk;
c. Republicans in Congress criticizing other politicians for excessive spending; or
d. Oedipus getting mad and calling an enemy a motherf***er.
3 comments:
Today the story was how Terrence Moore has a personal vendetta against Arthur Blank.
So if you're too critical for Steak's taste (against Steak's friend), you have a personal vendetta. If you're not critical enough for Steak's taste (against Steak's "enemy"), you're a sycophant.
There are, like 15 regular hosts on790. Steak Shapiro is the worst of them all.
Steak is a pretentious, overweight, blubbering, moron. I won't listen to the 790 show anymore after Mike Bell left. He was the only guy worth listening to. After the switch, you got way too much Steak. I had to switch.
Also, is he gay (bi-curious?)? He openly flirts with guys he perceives as being solid, i.e., rich, young, attractive, guys.
I heard Steak's rant against Terrence Moore as well. Steak thought Moore was very unfair to quote Shannon Sharpe's observation that there must be something about the Falcon's (i.e. Blank) that makes coaches want to leave, because Mora went on a radio station in Seattle to campaign for the UW job and Petrino left before the season was over.
I actually think Sharpe and Moore have a point. There is something about the Falcons that aggrevates coaches and a good argument can be made the problem is Arthur Blank and his blind spot for Rich McKay. McKay is arguably the worst GM in Atlanta. If any one person bears the blame for the Falcons state of awfulness, it's McKay. Yet, he hasn't been fired by Blank. Indeed, he got a raise.
Then there's Blank's eleven person (including McKay) committee interviewing for a new coach and GM. The interview team included the head of Blank's charitable foundation, who gets offer an opinion as to how well a new coach would fit in with the foundation's fund raising and PR activities.
Imagine what Steak and the rest of the Zone personalities (all of whom seem to have gotten a memo nixing criticism of Blank and McKay) would say if this were another team. Blank and McKay's leadership has been awful. And is rightly open to ridicule, even by the likes of Shannon Sharpe.
The Zone has suffered a dramatic decline in listeners in part because of their loss of integrity. I don't have an Arbitron book or meter, so whether I listen or not doesn't matter. But the station just seems to be getting worse and worse about being more about staying on the guest list for the "cool" sports events/parties in town. It's a shame because quite a few figures in Atlanta sports need to be called on the carpet and the media in town appears to be afraid to offer the sort of criticism necessary to rouse the ownership of the Hawks, Thrashers and Falcons. (Because I don't see how you can say there are not serious problem with Knight and Woodson heading up the Hawks.)
Post a Comment