Mike Barnicle

Any TV producer who puts Mike Barnicle on to talk about Bulger should be fired, immediately

adamg — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:49:34 +0000

For those who don't remember (raises hand), Salon recounts one of Barnicle's more infamous columns, after a guy won a $14 million lottery jackpot and then claimed Bulger was actually part owner of the ticket (purchased at the South Boston liquor store Bulger took over by threatening to kill its owner's child):

Hey, good things happen to good people, right? Of course, there is an army of malcontents who refuse to believe that the result of a mere game of chance is on the level when the cash cow moos at the doorstep of a man - Bulger - who, according to illegal eavesdropping by FBI agents and their cheap equipment (And I will show you how lousy their stuff is), runs a vastly overrated criminal enterprise in the area. ...

So, lay off Jimmy Bulger. For the first time in his life, he got lucky, legitimately, and won the lottery. Knowing him, he probably already has handed out money to St. Augustine's, figuring that when he goes - and the odds on that are better than winning Mass Millions - there will be some people left behind who will say, "Not a bad guy."

Slurp, slurp.

Mike Barnicle is a zombie

adamg — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 23:34:13 +0000

That's one explanation for why nothing can kill the plagiarist. Or, in the case of why Ken Burns chose him to explain the 2004 Red Sox in his recent docu-update, maybe one needs to apply that old journalistic adage: "Follow the money." As Joan Walsh writes:

Mike Barnicle is a moron

adamg — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:07:55 +0000

But I repeat myself. In any case, listen to Barnicle whining about soccer.

Via Garrett Quinn, who fumes:

... Mike if you're going to do a commentary about a soccer game you should at least bother to find out what league you're talking about. Instead you give us the same old tired Jim Rome bullshit about how it's boring and for kids. Give me a break. You probably just stole one of his commentaries. Isn't that how you made a living at the Globe, anyway? ...

"Journalist" Mike Barnicle "You people suck whatever..."

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:57:53 +0000

This morning on MSNBC Morning Joe in a segment about a CNBC documentary, Mike Barnicle poses a question about the role of Congress in the financial crisis. But he can't do it without fabricating quotations of members of Congress with words more likely to be heard at a Red Sox Yankees game:

"You people suck whatever......"

are the words he invented and put into the mouths of Congressmen and Congresswomen who questioned bank executives yesterday.

Two things:

Mike Barnicle insults "self-important" bloggers

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:29:55 +0000

I'm not sure but is Barnicle saying that he and other media personalities should have the exclusive right to be bloviating blowhards?

The drawback to watching MSNBC yesterday

adamg — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:53:39 +0000

Sure, they didn't have Princess Leia begging Obi-Wan Kenobi for help like CNN, but they did have Mike Barnicle. Elias winces:

The abiding drawback to working the polls on election day is watching Mike Barnicle run his meat hole by the hour on MSNBC.

After a mere sixty minutes he runs out of sensible things to say and is reduced to decrying the "the 24-7 cable news culture", y'know the one that otherwise keeps the wolf far from Mike's door. ...

The Mike Barnicle Challenge

adamg — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:07:56 +0000

Brian writes:

Over the next few months, it might be fun to keep a tally of how many times Civic Disgrace Mike Barnicle talks up his friendship with the late Tim Russert. ...

The Barnicle column generator

adamg — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:00:34 +0000

The Columnist Who Will Not Die shows up on Huffington Post with a column that, as Dan Kennedy shows, probably took him five minutes to write, given that it's the same exact column he's been writing since the 1980s.

What is it with white male Globe metro columnists and vapid Opening Day columns?

adamg — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:33:14 +0000

Back when he was a metro columnist, Brian McGrory would always write about Opening Day. Yesterday, his replacement in the Globe's White Guy slot, Kevin Cullen, expressed his disgust at being mistaken for a Yankee fan and a geezer (bonus points for slipping in a reference to a 1979 British labor dispute). Today, the grande dame of Boyo Columnists, Mike Barnicle Himself, weighs in (granted, at the Herald), with a Column for the Ages that complains how future generations will look back and wonder why developers ruined Fenway by building condos around it, instead of leaving it surrounded by Howard Johnsons and Burger Kings, those bastihds.

The Barnicle crisis needs resolution

adamg — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 20:22:07 +0000

WBUR should either finally hire him so people can start donating to WGBH instead or they should announce they're not hiring him so people can stop getting heartburn.

Speaking of 'GBH, Emily Rooney kvetches about the lack of substance on local newscasts these days and fantasizes about marching into some local newsroom and shaking things up. Apparently, Rooney doesn't remember the days when WGBH had its own local newscast. Instead of complaining how vapid the commercial newscasts are, why not restart it? Isn't public television supposed to provide intelligent alternatives to commercial TV? Or has it all come down to Peter, Paul and Mary concerts during Pledge Week?

The Campaign to Stamp Out Mike Barnicle

adamg — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:27:52 +0000

UPDATE: Looks like the site was taken down. Oh, well. It was full of Mike Barnicle's greatest hits.

If it had a Web site, it would look like this.

I'd forgotten the Mandingo quote.

Via Amy Derjue.

Mike Barnicle's 'remarkable gift'

adamg — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:23:58 +0000

WBUR general manager to Barnicle haters: It's been 10 years, people, give it a rest. But while he tells Dan Kennedy he thinks Boston needs Barnicle, he doesn't say whether he's offering Barnicle a job on 'BUR.

Anybody have a garlic necklace?

adamg — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:50:31 +0000

Adam Reilly, back to blogging, reports on the interesting/depressing possibility that Mike Barnicle might wind up on WBUR, now run by Paul LaCamera, who worked with Barnicle at Channel 5 and who thinks Barnicle got a bum deal just because he plagiarized George Karlin 'n' stuff.

Best description of Mike Barnicle

adamg — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:44:43 +0000

See if you can top this (no, of course I don't like him).

Mike Barnicle finally meets a media opportunity he doesn't like

adamg — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:06:49 +0000

Jessica Heslam reports Barnicle doesn't want to permanently replace Don Imus on WTKK.