For those who think cussing belong in sports radio, there were fewer f-bombs dropped on The Score's Hardcore Radio last week as host Gabriel Morency was absent from the afternoon radio/ TV program. Tuesday we found out why. Morency broke the news on Twitter that he's been fired by the network. "what up all!!the chains are off and so are the gloves.......me and hsr-score media group are no longer together.we have parted ways." Morency vows that he'll still be blogging and hopes to have his website ready in a few weeks.
Morency was originally suspended last week after an on-air drinking incident and other behavioural quirks (eating someone else's food?), something confirmed by John Levy, CEO of The Score. "That was part of the consideration for the suspension," Levy told Usual Suspects. "But Gabe is no longer working at Hardcore Radio. It wasn't working for either of us. We concluded it was best to go in our own directions."
The show goes into hiatus this week as the network decides on how to proceed.
"We haven't got someone slated to fill in yet, but we'll look both internally and externally for new ideas,'' Levy said. "We have lots of talented people in the meantime."
Hardcore was best known for its interactive format and the profanity used on-air by hosts. It remains to be seen whether the concept can work in the hands of someone more inclusive than Morency, who came from Montreal's Team 990 radio.
Tender Ears: Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly called Sunday's game with Montreal a statement game. It was a nice thought. His team was practically mute in the 48-13 beatdown from les Alouettes. But Kelly himself had plenty of things to say in the moments after the game on the team's host radio station CJOB. In a pithy exchange with hosts Bob Irving and Mitch Zalnasky, Kelly blasted his critics and peppered his diatribe with a little profanity, decrying the "media bullshit" he has to suffer on a daily basis. He then hung up the phone rather pointedly in Mr. Irving's ear.
Kelly's radio performance - Irving called it the single worst interview in his lengthy career - was the continuation of a simmering border skirmish between the Bombers head coach and the fourth estate of Manitoba. (The sides have been at loggerheads since training camp.) On Monday it drew the attention of CFL commissioner Mark Cohon, who fined the caustic Kelly $2,000 for his language, tone and demeanour on the radio show.
Cohon also chastised Kelly for his "disrespectful behaviour towards the media". Well, thank you Mr. Commissioner. But if Usual Suspects can speak on behalf of our peers, we don't really need protection from the disrespectful behaviour of the Kellys in our world. In fact, we like it when coaches play rough with us. It sells papers and keeps car radios tuned. It marks a respite from the usual "bullshit" - if we may use a Kellyism. And it forces our bosses to decide if they'll print the word bullshit.
In fact, the only complaint we have with coaches is when they keep the dressing room closed too long after the final whistle, not allowing us to finish our jobs. It's understandable that Cohon wants to project a family image for the league. He's solicitous of the tender sensibilities of fans. He doesn't want sponsors to think he's running a business where bullshit is an operative phrase. We get that.
But there's no need to rap Kelly's knuckles on our behalf, Mr. Commish. We can man (and woman) up to anything he or his brethren can dish out. Just so long as they don't make the games last too long with all their trick plays.
Home Run Ratings: No surprise with the No. 1 (New York) and No. 4 (Philadelphia) media markets in the U.S. represented in the World Series, but ratings on FOX TV are stellar. While some say baseball is dying, the average audience of 14.69-million viewers (8.8 rating, 14 share) says that there's life in the game yet. The first four games averaged 19-million viewers, far ahead of the 13-million average viewership in 2008 for the first four games of the Phillies/ Tampa Bay Rays series. As many as a quarter of all TV homes in Philadelphia have been watching either playoff or World Series games.
Perhaps a little more surprising are the strong numbers on Sportsnet. With no real dog in the Series fight, Canadians still are tuning into the Yankees/Phillies. Through four games, Sportsnet has averaged 715,000 viewers a game. Last year's average audience was 450,000. Maybe it's Greg Zaun's beard . . .
Inside Edge: Finally, Canadian Olympian are forever racking their brains for funding ideas. In the Excited States it's a lot easier. You just go on Stephen Colbert's yuk-fest and look desperate. That's what the American speed skating team did. They sent former media sensation (in a speed-skating sense) Dan Jansen to the Comedy Central show to announce that the skaters will wear Colbert Nation patches on their hoodies and other training gear. Viewers of Colbert are now free to send in money; it doesn't appear Colbert's show was tossing any filthy lucre at the skaters destined to fall beneath the blades of Canadians in Vancouver.
Colbert himself is bracing for the Vancouver Games. "It still tragically involves a lot of Canadians," Colbert told his audience "It's kind of unseemly how many Canadians I'm going to have to be dealing with." We feel that way a lot, Steve.
dowbboy@shaw.ca