-VB>  There are folks that call into those radio shows that are
-VB> so STUPID!
 
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  The worst type of talk show is the
one that is carried by a team's "house" station.  Callers who 
disagree with the way things are run routinely get diverted
away, or put on up against the news so they don't have time
to talk.
 
Back in the days when the Red Sox were owned by the sorry team
of Buddy LeRoux and Haywood Sullivan, they had a house station
that carried two old time retired sportwriters as hosts - they
were the "Clif and Claf" show - Clif "Poison Pen" Keane from the
Globe and Larry Claflin from the old Herald.
 
They even resorted to subtle racism, regularly referring to
George Scott (who was on the Sox) as "Chicken George".
 
Now, we have a guy on the Red Sox house station, WEEI.  Ted
Sarandis (he calls himself Ted "Nation"--the station has had
a variety of characters, ranging from a "Colonel Mustard", 
Eddie "E-Man" Andleman, and of course the drivel from the self-
proclaimed "fabulous sports babe"). -- has been accused of never
going for the jugular -- any criticism is a softball.  And our
own staid old Boring Broadsheet, the Boston Globe, actually sat
on stories - drug problems in the 1985 Patriots, and they tried
to make a minor issue of the Wade Boggs-Margo Adams story by
burying it on the third page of the sports section for a few 
days.
 
Remember, that although a reporter or broadcaster is allegedly
independent, he  or she is actually an advertising wing of the
team he or she covers.  If they go too far, they will be nosed
out of stories and eventually become ineffective and lose their
beat.  Of course, when a big, breaking story (such as the Boggs
girlfriend story) breaks, they must go with it as they would 
look like fools if one paper had it on the front page and they
had no story or tried to play it down.  And they lose all 
credibility if they are caught sitting on a big story.
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