MEDIA BLITZ By John Molori

MEDIA BLITZ
By John Molori

Boston sports media reacts strongly to A-Rod deal

Shock, anger and pain. No, it’s not the feelings of someone looking at a Joan Rivers Sports Illustrated swimsuit spread. It’s the reaction of many Red Sox fans to Alex Rodriguez joining the Yankees.

In the wake of the blockbuster deal, I asked several Boston media and marketing professionals their immediate thoughts. The responses run the gamut of emotions.

“I feel like I just married Star Jones only to learn from the limo driver that Beyonce was hoping I had asked her,” says Sportsradio 850 WEEI’s Larry Johnson.

AM 1510’s Anthony Pepe was equally injured stating, “My immediate response was, ‘Is it too late to trademark the phrase Yankees Suck’?”

Adds NESN’s Tom Caron, “In one move, the Yankees were able to bring us all back down from a glorious off-season of great Red Sox moves. It suddenly seems like the Super Bowl was years ago, doesn’t it?”

WB56 news and sports anchor Frank Mallicoat compares Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner to Mother Nature, i.e., don’t fool with him. Says Mallicoat, “It’s not good to throw stones at The Boss. George doesn’t get mad he gets even!”

Steve Buckley was covering a high school hockey game when he heard the news. He states, “I asked myself, ‘Should I stay here and watch this great game or go home and be one of 1,237 pundits to write a column about the trade?’

“I sat back and watched the game. Sure enough, the next day’s papers offered dozens of views on the trade and, somewhere way back in the sports section, my take on the Catholic Memorial-BC High game.”

Buckley’s Boston Herald colleague Karen Guregian relates, “I pictured Theo Epstein praying that Ashton Kutcher would pop out from behind a hidden camera and say it was all a ruse. He’d just been “Punk’d.” Then I thought about Steinbrenner, and I got sick.”

Jon Goode, head of corporate communications for the Red Sox Single A affiliate Lowell Spinners states, “It was like asking for a gift you wanted more than anything in this world for Christmas and not getting it.

“When you get to school the next day, the kid you dislike more than anyone in this world comes in a rubs the gift you wanted right in your face.”

FleetBoston Classic marketing chief Brian Oates took the move personally stating, “I am headed to the Tobin Bridge. Please explain the situation to my son. My wife will understand. She’s a Cubs fan.”

WEEI regular Bill Burt offers, “I was stunned, then I started laughing thinking the Yankees did it again. For us in the media business, it’s a great thing.”

Mike Silvia of Duffy & Shanley Advertising is the man responsible for many of the clever ad campaigns seen on Fox Sports Net. He states, “When Aaron Boone went down playing pickup hoops, I immediately proclaimed that the curse was over.

“I’m not mad at anyone except, of course, for God. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to dive back into the hamper for my Pats t-shirt.”

Adds Marc Connolly of ESPN.com and ABC.com, “I turned on WEEI and heard some insane Sox fan cursing out Steinbrenner for doing exactly what the Red Sox were trying to do. Hats off to the Yankees.”

Fox Sports Net’s Greg Dickerson stated, “I can’t believe I’m on vacation during this. I want to come home and talk about it!”

WBZ-TV’s Bob Lobel gives us a personal reaction. “It made me sick to my stomach,” says the veteran sports anchor. “I always vowed never to take these things seriously.

“Had A-Rod not been coveted by the local entry, it probably would not have been so bad. We had to blow up the “Sports Final” show we had planned for Sunday and redo the whole thing. There was nothing good about the weekend except the fact that it ended.”

WB56 sports anchor Mike Ratte had immediate questions about the trade. He asks, “How were the Yankees able to get Texas to pick up a third of A-Rod’s contract?

“Was this just the ultimate zing given to Red Sox management by Rangers owner Tom Hicks for not agreeing to his demands back in December?”

Scott Cordischi of The Score AM and FM in Providence points the finger of blame at the Red Sox. “George Steinbrenner was able to accomplish what Larry Lucchino and John Henry were not, he states. “A-Rod was the apple of the Red Sox’ eye during the off-season and they failed to land him.”

Conversely, Comcast CN8’s Ed Berliner conjures up images of the “Evil Empire” stating, “Steinbrenner has an unlimited bank account, and is willing to use it. Those who say this is just his ‘competitive nature’ and his ‘ability to make smarter deals than others’ have the baseball brainpower of a rosin bag.”

Noted sports agent Steve Freyer was not shocked at the deal. “When the deal fell apart with the Red Sox, it became probable they’d try move A-Rod somewhere else,” he states.

“Good ole George. It’s stunning just how much he loves to stick it to Boston. Just when you thought the animus couldn’t be much greater, he raises the stakes.”

WEEI’s “Ted Nation” regular Tom King adds, “Aaron Boone sticks it to the Red Sox, not once with his pennant-winning home run, but twice by playing basketball and tearing up his knee.

“The Red Sox had their shot and blew it. I guess they can bury their hearts at Wounded Knee.”

Fox25’s Butch Stearns reaction to the deal was multi-layered, “My immediate response was, ‘Boy I wouldn’t mind being Nomar right now!’ My second response was, ‘Boy I’m glad I’m not Larry Lucchino right now.’

“The next thing I thought of was, ‘Why didn’t the Red Sox ask A-Rod to play third?’ After that, I immediately went to the fridge for a couple of cold ones, one to drink and the other to put on my forehead.”

Providence Journal writer Tom Curran is already sick of the public response to the deal. “I knew that it would spawn another round of knee-jerk Evil Empire gum-flapping,” says Curran.

“That is, without argument, the most stale, overwrought, self-important, lazy, woe-is-us, wallow-in-our-own-downtrodden-misery exercise in all of sports, but I’m a football guy, so who the heck cares?”

Speaking of football guys, “Patriots Football Weekly’s” Bryan Morry states, “I have to laugh when I hear Boston people complaining about this being bad for baseball. How did the Devil Rays feel about Boston signing Schilling and Foulke? That’s fair, but when the Yankees use their even bigger resources, they’re evil. It’s a joke.”

Veteran Red Sox reporter Debbi Wrobleski adds, “First I thought, ‘Oh (expletive deleted). Then, I wondered if the Yankees checked A-Rod’s OPS and OBP before they pulled the trigger.”

Perhaps, Boston Baseball Magazine Mike Rutstein gives the most fitting response to A-Rod in pinstripes. He probably speaks for all Red Sox followers when he simply says, “Ugh.”

John Molori’s Media Blitz column is published in The Boston Metro, The Providence Journal, The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, The Lowell Sun, Patriots Football Weekly, BostonSportsMedia.com and MethuenOnline.com. John can be reached via E-mail at JOMOL3@aol.com.