*Little Bobbie Fitzgerald brown-toilet-papered his way to the Warriors broadcasting chair by kissing up to a guy named Robin Baggett.
Baggett was ex-owner, Chris Cohan's lawyer and chief negotiator in the mid-to late 90's and early 2000's. Baggett, among other things, acted as a front man for Cohan on Oakland Arena renovations, player contracts and Cohan's internal affairs rep. He had significant power, mainly on the business side.
He was also responsible for the Warriors' broadcast division along with another powerful figure, Tod Leiweke.
At the time, Greg Papa was the main Warriors pbp guy, both on TV and radio. The Warriors held him in high regard, (mostly Leiweke, a Papa ally), but were also concerned about his A's broadcast duties. The Warriors wanted a solo guy. Their guy.
That's when Fitz made his move. Baggett was impressed enough, (along with Giggles overt brown-nosing and back-room negotiating to eventually ace out Papa and thus, provide the foundation of Rudy's assent to his present position).
*A longtime reader, Kevin Triplett asks "why does John Henry Smith on Comcast Sports Bay Area read the sports news as if he is reporting a world crisis?"
Simple, Kevin. He comes from the Henry Wofford school of authenticity. They're both delusional and clearly can't grasp the notion that exaggerated speech is phony and viewers clearly see it. That's the least of CCSNBA's problems. They, after all, employ "Amy G", which is a total disgrace, but talent is costly these days.
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I havent see much of JHS. He does seem like a serious Urkel. I might have a different OP. when I see and hear more of the guy.
ReplyDeleteAmy G.? C'mon,she does what you would expect of her. And she's a beauty. And that's why she was grossing me out last year flirting with..Kuiper???..yuck. All that "sit on my lap talk",-sick-en-ing.
At least she does have an excuse as a girl..What's Krukows? He might as well as wear a dress to be so sun shiny over every Giant loss. Show SOME dignity Mike,could you?. Your making me think money (your 1 mill salary) WILL buy a man's soul.
Amy G is like that cute, annoying girl we all knew back in school who wasn't particularly bright or talented, but always seemed to have men eating out of her hand. That said, she adds nothing but fluff to the Giants home telecasts and it must bother seasoned pros like Kuiper and Krukow to continuously have to throw it to her for her little insignificant fluff pieces in the stands. Iknow for a fact that both men would rather not have her on the telecasts, but it's not their call Unfortunately, that's the way TV baseball broadcasts are going these days. Ever watched the Red Sox or Yanks brodcasts, or some of the other teams? They all have these cutsy little gals who are all dolled up and smiling at the camera, probably thrilled to have any kind of a job in broadcasting! Meanwhile fans at home are gnashing their teeth in frustration at the wasted time spent talking about insignificant items such as the ones that Amy G likes to delve into. It also does a disservice to talented women sportscasters who actually might know something about the games, could add something to the broadcasts and actually have some talent.
ReplyDeleteAmy G also needs to go to a voice coach, as she sounds like a freshman high school cheerleader-type with her annoying teenage voice. . But I guess that doesn't make any difference to the programming wizards at Comcast sportsnet, who have already shown their inability to hire decent on air talent, given the dreck that they've put on "Sportsnet Central" and their other shows.
More info on Bobby Fitz's backstabbing of Papa back in 1997. Fitzie was told by his sleazy agent Martin Mandel, that the warriors also wanted to save money and wanted a real "homer" to call their TV games. When Cohan and his minion Baggett offered Fitzie the job, he was also told not to say a word to anyone until it was official. It was Papa who brought Fitz into the fold encouraged him to get the backup work on the radio as the warriors play by play guy, and it was Papa who introduced him to the Warriors front office folks Cohan and Baggett.
ReplyDeleteFitzie also sucked up to Tony Salvadore, who pushed hard to Fitzie as the Warriors radio voice (although Tim Roye was instead hired). But then came the TV opportunity, and Bobby Fitz showed his gratitude by not only stabbing Pap in the back and stealing his job, but we bay area basketball fans have had to listen to his drivel now for over 15 years! It's well-chronicled that the Cohan regime made so many stupid and unforgivable errors over the years, but firing Papa and then hiring "Bobby Fitz" was one of their worst all time moves. I fervently hope that this brown nosing weasel will eventually be exposed and fired for the fraud that he is. "Bobby Fitz" a disgrace to broadcasting!
We must continue to show our Fitz disdain to Messirs Lacob & Guber! Too bad 95.7 is just as bad and much smaller than knibber, otherwise it would be megacool if the W's, A's, & Raiders (although the latter still use Live 105) can finally be together at the same station, separate from the SF teams. But getting rid of the biggest disgrace in the Eastbay Irish community must come first! And this is coming from a man with Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, & Fremont roots now proudly residing in Pleasanton! FITZGERALD MUST GO!
ReplyDeleteBring back Papa! No backstabbers!!
ReplyDeleteFitz is truly the spawn of Satan.
ReplyDeleteI am new reader of this blog and enjoy
ReplyDeletereading it very much. Can some one explain
what "knibber" refers to? Is it a person
or Knbr or what?
Thanks.
If Lacob and Gruber seriously want a first class operation they will remove this shill and hire an objective broadcaster. The new ownership group seems that they want a first class operation, in all respects, and this would be a step in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear I'm not the only one who can't stand Henry Wofford's bombastic delivery. Luckily, I've only watched him about three times.
ReplyDeleteKrukow reads this blog!..he was pathologically feminine today ,giddy over every Giant mistake as a "positive!"
ReplyDeleteYes, knibber is KNBR.
ReplyDeleteGreg Papa is doing just fine. Does Giants pre and post Giants games and also can be heard screaming "Touchdown Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiders". Even though they don't score much. Giggles should be taken off KNBR 12-3
ReplyDeleteThink Rod Brooks is bad 12-3?
ReplyDeleteShould have heard him on the radio broadcast of the Niner-Raider game. Useless. Amy G comes up with more thought provoking pablum than that guy.
BTW- the post game show w Bruce and Krueger was pretty good. Even reported the parking lot shooting incident (via a Tonelli text) way before it was reported by the news outlets, KTVU was the first with details.
Rod Brooks is just as awful as Giggles.
ReplyDeleteBrooks can't speak coherently, has little knowledge, chuckles at every lame unfunny comment, is just a windbag with no real talent. Here's a sample of Brooks....
"uh, uh just wh what do you think the uh uh Niners will do against the Raiders uh ......"
Dude stutters and stammers through every sentence. He's is as bad as Giggles.
As a new reader to this blog, who is "Giggles"?
ReplyDeleteBob Fitzgerald id Giggles
ReplyDeleteWe call him "Hegenberger Bob" in deference to "Baghdad Bob", the Iraqi Minister of Information from the gulf war:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/
"He comes from the Henry Wofford school of authenticity. They're both delusional and clearly can't grasp the notion that exaggerated speech is phony and viewers clearly see it."
ReplyDeleteEven though I agree that Henry needs to lay off the caffeine, there is one thing that makes him stand out in my mind,
His voice.
Wofford's voice is just so great that its hard not to like the guy even with the caffeine kick. The same cannot be said about John Henry Smith however. As his grating voice combined with the caffeine just makes me want to rip apart a portrait of a Mega Man robot! Sadly, John Henry is still less grating than Victoria Jackson (former Saturday Night Live cast member) however. So that's something good about John Henry I guess.