Last year we asked you guys what you thought of various members of the Rays media. For the most part you guys approved. Based on yesterday’s discussion in “The Hangover” we thought we would dust off this feature for the Rays new color commentator, Kevin Kennedy. For comparison, the man Kennedy replaced, Joe Magrane, scored a 91.4% approval rating.
We want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Here are the most recent results. Next up…Rays radio pre- and postgame host Rich Herrera…
As we have stated before, we rarely listen to the Rays’ radio broadcasts. Between the “Extra Innings” package, MLB.tv, and the Slingbox (world’s greatest invention), we always have the TV broadcast. So we are not sure we would even recognize Herrera’s voice.
The only opinion we could find on the interwebs was this piece from Ted Flemming.
From the Rays’ website:
Rich returns for his fourth season on the Rays Baseball Network as host of the pre- and postgame shows. He also serves as the Rays director of radio operations, running the Rays statewide radio network. Rich came to the Rays from Fox Sports, where he was a national talk show host for the Fox Sports Radio Network and later, a host and program director for Fox Sports Radio in Arizona. He previously worked with the Oakland A’s as their postgame show host from 1998-2000 and spent two years (1996-97) hosting the postgame talk shows for the San Francisco Giants and the NBA’s Golden State Warriors on KKRB. He has also been a member of the Sports USA Radio football crew working as a sideline reporter for their nationally syndicated NFL and NCAA broadcasts the past five seasons. Herrera graduated from California State University.
So: Do you like Rich Herrera? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
We still have several of these to go through, but thought we would show how the various Rays media members are faring so far…
In general, Rays fans are happy with the on-air media with all scoring above 90%. As for the print media, the fans are more supportive of the writers from the St. Pete Times. Could this be an anti-Tampa Tribune bias? Or maybe this is a reflection of the Yankees love-fest that regularly occurs at the Tribune?
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…Tampa Tribune columnist Martin Fennelly…
We could not find a bio on Fennelly so we don’t have a background for you.
Our biggest concerns with Fennelly over the years have been his inexplicable desire to write columns filled with paragraphs consisting of a single sentence fragment.
Holy cow.
Fennelly’s done it again.
Fennelly’s idea of a paragraph.
9th grade English teachers vomit.
And for those that say we are nit-picking as usual, check out these recent columns, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. Those are Fennelly’s last 7 columns. See a pattern? Some are worse than others but all have the tell-tale signs of Fennellyism. Good thing he is not being paid by the word.
And we understand that one of the goals of a columnist is to emote and draw a reaction from his/her readers, but Fennelly tends towards the over-dramatic when he does things like criticizing the Rays for only winning 2 of 3 from the Marlins in early June.
So: Do you like Martin Fennelly? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…St. Pete Times columnist John Romano…
Romano, a St. Pete native, has been with the Times since 1985 and has been a columnist for the past 6 years. According to Romano’s bio, he wants to be the “companion you would want on the next bar stool,” and “wants to share the stories beyond the images: the emotion and the motivation; the disappointments and the successes; the heartbreak and the humor.”
Only once have we been very critical of Romano. That was last season when Romano referred to Delmon Young as a “petulant brat” because Young would not speak with Romano.
Romano did show us back in March that 88 wins was not an unreasonable prediction for the Rays. As of today, the Rays are on pace for 99 wins. But we were a little perplexed that he would compare the Rays to the ’07 Rockies, as if Colorado had invented low-payroll success. And he was too hard on the Rays when he called the team “spineless” for deciding not to release Elijah Dukes last June.
Romano did co-author one of our all-time favorite columns about the Rays. A format we wish he would bring back.
So: Do you like John Romano? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…St. Pete Times beat writer Marc Topkin…
[Ed. Note: The above image came up under Google Image Search when we entered "Marc Topkin". It does have some resemblance to his byline pic. If it so happens to NOT be Topkin, please don't tell us. We like the image of Topkin giggling like a schoolgirl while groping two steroid-infused pro wrestlers.]
While Lancaster lost points for being a UGA grad, Topkin is a Drake University graduate. Don’t know where Drake is? That would be Des Moines, Iowa. The hometown of Jeremy Hellickson and about 90 minutes west of where we did our undergrad work (that’s 90 min by car. 4 hours by tractor).
Like his counterpart at the Tampa Tribune, Marc Lancaster, we have at times been pretty hard hard on Topkin. We love it when he shills for the Rays. But our favorite is when he called a game in Mid-May “something of a must-win game” or the time Jason Hammel gave up 2 runs in 6 innings and Topkin called it a “gem”. We should just be grateful he is not the Rays GM…We haven’t always been so negative. We have seen glimpses of what could be.
And of course there was the Barry Bonds rumors this past Spring that were almost single-handedly started by Topkin. We should give him a pass for that cluster-f*** as that story certainly drove a lot of attention to Topkin and the Times. So, even if the story was greatly exaggerated, it was a smart business move. It is just too bad that we as Rays fans had to pay.
There are some people that like his work: (From Topkin’s St. Pete Times bio)
Marc has won numerous state writing awards for his news coverage and a national award for investigative reporting. He is also heavily involved in the St. Petersburg community, speaking to classes and coaching youth sports teams. In 2006, Marc won a Green Eyeshade Award from the Society of Prefoessional Journalists for his series “What Went Wrong: 10 Years of Devil Rays.”
Of course, Topkin was only runner-up for the “Pink Eyeshade Award.”
So: Do you like Marc Topkin? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…Tampa Tribune beat writer Marc Lancaster…
Marc Lancaster gets a demerit right off the bat for being a University of Georgia graduate, but we will try to look past that. Before coming to the Tampa Tribune Lancaster covered the Reds for the Cincinnati Enquirer and as far as we can tell, he was one of the first baseball beat writers to start blogging on a newspaper’s website.
For the last three years he has covered the Rays for the Tampa Tribune and spends a lot of time blogging on the paper’s website under the title of “Rays Report“.
We have on occasion, been hard on Lancaster…ok, very hard, and yet we never take the time to praise Marc. We do like 87.3% of his work. But he seems to disappear when we need him most. While we were updating this site yesterday 21 times with trade rumors and reports, we got one update from Lancaster that was based on a report from the day before. Lancaster is the beat writer for the Rays with a blog that is supposed to be utilized to provide information in a more timely manner than the morning paper. And yet, with all the buzz surrounding the Rays yesterday, Lancaster was noticiably absent.
So: Do you like Marc Lancaster? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…Rays pregame host and in-game reporter Todd Kalas…
Kalas is the son of hall-of-fame broadcaster Harry Kalas, who worked for the Phillies for many years. In addition to being the Rays token sideline blonde, Kalas also hosts the pregame show and “Inside the Rays” on FSN. He comes off to us as a bit of a homer. His choice of a suit often looks grossly out of place in the stands and yet he looks a bit uncomfortable when he wears a polo (only during afternoon games?). Maybe he should get some wardrobe advice from Erin Andrews next time she is in town.
For us he seems likeable, but he spends a bit too much time catering to signs made by 5th graders and a little too little time getting the viewers relevant information about the game.
So: Do you like Todd Kalas? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…Rays Radio Play-by-Play guy Dave Wills…
Again, we know little about the Rays’ radio crew. In the last two seasons, we have listened to 3 or 4 games on the radio. We do know that Wills has been with the Rays since 2005 and previously did pre- and post-game work for the Chicago White Sox. The poor guy probably spent more time with Hawk Harrelson than is considered healthy by the Center for Disease Control.
So: Do you like the Dave Wills? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
C’mon, you guys knew this was coming eventually…There is a general sense amongst some of our readers that all we do is bash the Rays media coverage. The truth is we actually admire most of the working media and respect most of their work. We just get a sense that the Rays media coverage can at times be lazy. Just because the Rays were a second-class team for many years doesn’t mean we as fans deserved second-class coverage. So while our frustration can manifest itself at times on this site, we want to know what you guys think of various members of the Rays media coverage. Next up…Rays Radio Play-by-Play guy Andy Freed…
We must admit, we know very little about Andy Freed. In the last two seasons, we have listened to 3 or 4 games on the radio. We do know that the Rays’ gig is his first in the major leagues having formerly worked for a couple of minor league teams, and he turned down an opportunity to be considered for the Mets vacant radio position this past off-season.
So: Do you like the Andy Freed? And let’s hear your reasons in the comments…
