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WEEI: Paragon of quality sports talk

WEEI yesterday suspended one of its blabbers for some on-air racial douchebaggery:

Earlier today during his show, Christian Fauria impersonated athlete agent, Don Yee in an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt at humor. We regret Christian’s commentary and we apologize to Mr. Yee and those offended by the segment. ...

We do not support or condone Christian’s comments, and we have suspended him for five days effective immediately.

Fauria himself apologized:

Earlier today I made a horrible attempt at humor. In a segment during the show, I impersonated agent Don Yee in an insensitive and regrettable way. I want to publicly apologize to Don and anyone in the audience who heard it. ...

I have also reached out to Don directly to personally apologize. I have been disciplined by WEEI management and I fully support their decision.

It was quite the day for 'EEI. In addition to this, it got its call signs in all the papers when one of its listeners played his part in getting a Herald columnist suspended.

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Comments

There is a failure of management when the employees can get the station into the news two days in a row for bad behavior. It really sounds like they need an off season as well and a top down clean out. Sports news does not need to support this type of culture. And the suspension is too light. If he is willing to engage in that type of behavior on air there is likely plenty of other incidents that co-workers can disclose when he's in the lunch room.

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WEEI has been made for and by racist scum for many years.

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agreed. i listened to it a couple times many years ago to see what it was all about. my intelligence dropped a bit for those two days.

What baffles me is... why do sportsball people get to hijack the city's reputation?

The Sportsball community does not live in Boston.

- Dan Shag-whoever...lives in newton.
- christian fauria....lives in north attle-something.
- "die hard" sportsball fans live in cow hampshire and the burbs for the most part. (go to a game and ask the people sitting around you where they live. it won't be boston).
- beloved meathead Gronk lives in foxoboro
- the serial killer for the patriots, Aaron Hernandez, lived in north attleboro.
- cheater tom brady lives in brookline..etc, etc.

Boston Sportsball = bridge and tunnel crowd.

we should have congestion pricing every time there is a home match.

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You aren't from Boston, and wherever you are there is a 100% chance they don't want to admit it.

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Please stay on topic.

it doesn't matter if they are called the NE patriots, the boston patriots, the boston celtics, the unversal hub bruins or the massahusetts red sox.

the point is when someone from the sportball community does something stupid, that person does not live in boston. he (typically male of course) doesn't vote in local elections, he doesn't pay property tax...he is not a Bostonian. yet, that person tarnishes Boston's reputation.

it's like the reverse of taxation without representation!

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...says the suburban whiner who hijacks a thread to give himself a platform to beat his favorite dead horse. That's not, by the way, a euphemism for masturbation, but in your case it does appear to be your sole source of (self-)gratification around here.

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Stop giving all of us a bad name with your trolling.

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and so could plenty of other people who live in Cambridge, Brookline, or even Somerville (where I am). So?

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The Sportsball community does not live in Boston.

So? What's your point?

my intelligence dropped a bit for those two days.

I see it drop every time you post here.

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The sports radio demographic is a guy in his car - either commuting into the city or driving around for work (truck drivers, etc). In general people who listen to the radio are in their car.

The combination of guy + lives outside city + sports fan skews the political profile to the right. For WEEI add in older listeners as well.

In Boston, where sports are a bigger deal and more people drive for a commute, this dynamic is even more extreme. (I'm comparing Boston in these instances to New York, where I lived before moving here. So the "bridge and tunnel" analogy struck home for me).

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Something that's also not in Boston is where Tom Brady and Gronk play football.

BTW...don't talk shit about Tom!

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Why not be honest and admit this douchebag is a former Patriot and he was just behaving like his natural Cheatriot self. The entire franchise is manned by douchebags. The HC had an affair with a married woman when he was with the Giants leading to her divorce. The QB dumped his pregnant girlfriend and asked her to get an abortion so he could shack up with the underwear model. And then there's Aaron Hernandez and the rest of the crap bag humans on the team.

They're a fine reflection of their owner. You know, Trump's best buddy.

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the hell are you talking about, Brady never asked Bridget to terminate the pregnancy. And even if that event did occur, why is it your business? Are you an insane person?

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Why not be honest and admit this douchebag is a former Patriot and he was just behaving like his natural Cheatriot self. The entire franchise is manned by douchebags. The HC had an affair with a married woman when he was with the Giants leading to her divorce. The QB dumped his pregnant girlfriend and asked her to get an abortion so he could shack up with the underwear model. And then there's Aaron Hernandez and the rest of the crap bag humans on the team.

They're a fine reflection of their owner. You know, Trump's best buddy.

(...standing ovation...)

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Hey, "Terrapin", how's your team doing this off season?

They're a fine reflection of their owner. You know, Trump's best buddy.

Read this, then shut up forever. I loathe Trump, and I find this story really astonishing given what a selfish piece of human waste he is...but if someone had done that for me, I don't think I could turn my back on them. Could you?

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Actually, the Terrapin name has nothing to do with Maryland or its teams. Try again.

I thought is was the 38 year old Ricki Noel Lander that was comforting Kraft after his precious Myra passed away. You know, the blond hottie that's 39 years younger than him. She's less than half his age and younger than his kids. I'm not sure the phone calls from Trump were what kept his (ahem) spirits up?

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This week in Boston: a sportswriter got suspended for an erroneous Brady story after Fake Don Yee pranked him, then, a sports radio host got suspended for doing a racist on-air Fake Don Yee impression. The sports media has been embarrassing the city for 3 solid decades, it sucks.

Hard to believe a city that desperately tries to fight it's racist image lets these racist cretins flourish and proliferate. One other thing is that Minibrane and Callahan have turned their tiny brains on Shirley Leung. Calling her a SJW for speaking out on the blatant racism here. Another sign that these and their ilk are easily offended pussies who can dish it out, but when called to task for it they throw around a neanderthal name like SJW,as they have no other intellectual or moral capacity to rebut. And on top of it they made me agree with her for once.
Scumbags.

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image, because it's not 'racist'. The only people who're obsessed with racism and skin color are self described 'progressives'. Just because a white person didn't smile at you at a store or on the street and you got 'triggered' doesn't equate 'oppression' or 'racism.' As for reported hate crimes, 99% of them generally turn out to be fake. Check out the fake hate crimes at Framingham State for one if the latest widely publicized fake hate crimes.

If anyone thinks the U.S. is this horribly 'racist' place, you need to spend time in Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and eastern Europe. YOU WILL HAVE A CARDIAC ARREST.

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Hey, I don't personally experience racism, ever, but I know it exists because people who do not share my skin color or accent keep telling me (whether directly or through their writing) about their experiences.

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Another Howie Carr listener pipes in!!

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but are going to be stunned as to why:

..because it's not 'racist'.

Right. Boston is not a racist city. the people that actually live in the City are wonderful, well cultured people.

its the trashy sports fans from the burbs that ruin boston's image. which should not happen because....you know, they don't actually live in Boston. but i have a whole separate post about that.

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Even though that hotbed of racism that is WEEI is on Guest Street in Brighton broadcasting to those suburban morons primarily,don't think for one minute they're also not favored by some of the old townies.

Not that they're not "well cultured" too, amirite?

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about once a month. Filthy racist Boston residents. You live in a Yuppie bubble. Stay there and keep your month shut.

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my bubble? it includes people from all over the world; people that speak many different languages; people that practice many different religions; people from many different races and cultures...it actually represents the demographics of the City of Boston.

how about the boston sportsball bubble? Just about every person is the same in the seats at a bruins, sox, pats and celtics game. i think the boston globe wrote a whole article about it. how about people that listen to sportball radio? it must be even worse. Boston Sportsball people live in a bubble. go to a sporting event in LA and it is completely different.

You do have me there though. That is one demographic missing from my bubble..racist, meathead boston sportsball fans, "journalists" and radio personalities

THANK GOD the Eagles won the championship match. they saved our beautiful city from having a silly parade for the Patriots and thousands of meatheads flocking in from the burbs.

- An Actual Boston resident that cares about the city's reputation.

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An Actual Boston resident that cares about the city's reputation.

No one believes you, son.

THANK GOD the Eagles won the championship match. they saved our beautiful city from having a silly parade for the Patriots and thousands of meatheads flocking in from the burbs.

Oh, so you go to Suffolk? Or you've got one of those super-spendy places across from the Common? If not, this parade wouldn't have taken place in your neighborhood. If there's anything more pathetic than someone complaining about a disruption in another neighborhood, I have yet to see it.

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you might have a "black friend" in that bubble, but you will never be a Bostonian. NEVER.

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Embrace and accept the new Boston. if you can't there is always Weymouth where you can cling to the past.

I am looking forward to voting for Linda Dorcena Forry's Senate seat. I'll be voting for the least towniest candidate.

- A Proud Bostonian, Go Eagles!

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New Boston is the evolution of Old Boston. People move in. People move out. New generations are born and old generation pass on. As individuals changes and grow. So does any living city. Change is inevitable.

But your cheering for outside teams. Framing that everyone who cheers for Boston into an "Us vs Them" setup. Going out of the way to frame suburbanites in your context. Making arguments where you exclude Brookline as Suburban but still include places like Hyde Park despite being miles in difference. Cheering for things like the new rich luxury building under construction because it happens to displace people that particularly you don't like is... well hate.

Can you ever stop hating? If you claim to follow the values you follow with how "worldly" your bubble of friends are, this a form of hate going against your values just much as your values push to know people from all over the world. Because in the end, everyone is people. Thus even even if you don't like sports and don't like sport culture. It should means you don't like sports and the bad habits tend to be done by it. Not hating the people. People that not all live outside Boston's legal (or statistical) borders. Not cheering for every change that is associable to "yuppies" (for lack of a better word) because it means sticking it to "Old Boston". Nor framing every new transplant as a condescending replacement. Nor bring up congrestion tolling as a way to attack a people you don't like (and using that, colors from what should be based on - a possible tactic in our toolbox for a better Boston).

I grew up in Boston. But I'm the child of two Asian parents who immigrated here and worked their asses off to raise me. I went attended BU. Partially from my background, I speak 3 languages. And now works in the downtown Boston after a stint working in NH. I cheer for all 4 sports teams but maintain an understanding it is just "sports". I also too get annoyed at crazy blackout drunk type of revelry.

What does all that last paragraph mean? Nothing. As it should be. It is one thing to dislike bad behaviors. It is another to hate all the people associated with it and categorize all such behavior to certain group.

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is that she has a huge sexual harassment story at her workplace and she is in the best position as anyone to report on it there or comment on it. If she doesn't, she is a hypocrite like everyone else. She must have some inside information there right. Names? Isn't that a goldmine for a reporter? Or is her job and salary the most important?

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I loathe Leung and have said so many times. She even admitted to me she had no problem with me calling her a shill. That being said, she had every right to call out these cretins for who they are.

If she knew about the harassment and said nothing, that's a separate issue from the racist morons at EEI telling an Asian woman she has no place speaking out against a brain damaged racist like Fauria.

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So it ties both issues together and that was what they were getting at.

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the difference being whatever else Leung may be, she's not the racist that the men criticizing her take pride in being.

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I wasn't referring to that part of their conversation.

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The Twitter comments to the first link in Adam's post are a whole other level of sad and scary. Racism and sports fans seem to go hand in hand so tightly it's beyond comprehension.

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This station let get started long ago. Who can forget the escaped gorilla picture and Dennis and Callahan calling him a Metco student. As usual the media is too lenient on itself. If this had happened in most businesses the Fauria would have been fired, no questions asked.

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Yeah, it was a gorilla at the bus stop. That was funny enough - gorilla escapes zoo, waits for a bus. The Metco shit was doubly vile, though, because it attacked kids with racism.

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I haven't listened to much of either sports station the past several years- particularly after 'EEI hosts and callers spent the week after SB 42 blaming John Tomase and the Herald for the Patriots' loss- Patriot losses seem to bring out the worst- listened for about 10 min aggregate this week and heard 1 caller say Belichick held out Butler to spite Brady & Kraft out of a 6th ring and heard another say Butler was held out because Belichick sniffed out a possible point-shaving scheme

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Screaming "don't say it" in the host's headset while they hit the mute button on the seven second delay? Rhetorical.

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On my rather long drive into Boston, I flip back and forth between NPR and sports talk radio. It's not nearly as crazy as it sounds, or at least, it's no crazier than the commute. I listen to sports talk radio because I like sports, and I like to know what's up with sports teams -- but all too often I have to flip the dial because some racist, sexist, homophobic, Trumpist douchebro is blowing the dogwhistles. This takes the form of:

  • Letting their bigot flag fly anytime a person of color/woman/lgbt person/progressive does something dumb (or that they can mischaracterize as dumb) and turning it into an indictment of everyone in that category.
  • Microaggressive insults that skirt the edge of shit that gets you thrown off the air. Sometimes, as in this case, they go over the edge, and then they offer an insincere apology, and they're right back on.
  • Conflating everything that irritates their straight white male Trumpist smugness into one vast conspiracy that's out to do the white man down.
  • Resolute, determined refusal to consider that when people call something racist or sexist or homophobic over and over again, it just might be true, and you maybe should look at that instead of shouting it down so that your fee-fees don't get hurt.

I still listen to sports talk radio, but I need to start responding directly to stations that give a voice to bigots. If all they ever hear from are racist white dudes, they'll never change.

Once upon a time, I would have responded to the question of whether Boston was racist with, "Of course not!". Then I started listening to the responses to the question. It doesn't matter if "Boston is racist" -- the hysterical reaction to that question, the blind, emotional, desperate response of "NO IT IS NOT AND YOU'RE THE REAL RACIST FOR SAYING SO", is deeply racist. If you're not willing to listen to the question and carefully consider it, you care more for your own mental and emotional comfort than for others' well-being, you think your perspective should hold more sway than that of someone who is the target of bigotry, and you're a big part of the problem. Boston will face this question forever unless white people grow up and stop being afraid to look at the question head-on, do some honest reflection about it, and admit what they don't know.

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