It was the biggest story in the Bay Area Monday; as news spread lightning quick out of Oakland that the Warriors were up for sale, multiple news outlets from local TV to the internet burned up with comments on Tim Kawakami's SJ Mercury News blog, SF Gate, Yahoo Sports, among the chief players.
Everywhere, that is, unless you happened to tune to KNBR 680's "Fitz and Brooks" show, where the big news received but a scant notice, and I'm being kind.
Remarkably, the Warriors story was essentially shunned and IGNORED. No calls were taken on the subject and it was rather obvious that 'Fitz did his usual kowtow to anything even remotely perceived as anti-Warriors, and anti-Chris Cohan. It wasn't. More importantly, it was NEWS and both he and KNBR head suit, Lee Hammer, chose to ignore. Credibility issue? You betcha.
Quick take: 'Fitz works as a PBP announcer for the Warriors. He is paid by the team. No earth-shaking news here; many announcers are paid by the teams' these days. Its quite common, but Fitzgerald can't have it both ways. As a talk-show host on KNBR, which carries the Warriors, he should either suck it up and allow calls and defer to his co-host, Rod Brooks, or simply take the day off.
Look, had Fitzgerald simply opened the show with an acknowledgment of the news reports out of Oakland, stated that he was unable to talk specifically about developments, that would have at least tempered the situation. It would have shown a degree of tact and deference too, but that wasn't in the equation. Too logical, I guess.
Instead, he perpetuated the image that he's nothing but a shill for the basketball team. It is a clear conflict of interest, and only reinforces his detractors. (Take a look at the comment posts on Kawakami's blog and elsewhere.)
Ironically, if you wanted any detailed immediate analysis on the Warriors proposed sale, you'd have switched to KNBR's sister station, 1050 AM, where Damon Bruce was front and center on it, with his usual tour-de-force. Bruce' comments attracted John Sasaki of KTVU News.
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You are right on when you say Fitzgerald can't have it both ways. A good example of how it should be handled is 90 miles east - the Sacramento Kings' PBP man Grant Napier also host an afternoon drive show, and I've heard him numerous times be critical of the Kings (both on the court play and the business side) when he thought it was appropriate. He has said that even though he is paid by the Kings for his PBP he owes it to his audience on his radio show to be honest and critical when the situation calls for it. Obviously Fitz doesn't think that way. I guess the integrity of his talk show is the price he pays for being employed by Cohan and company.
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