The whole Bay Area sporting world is talking about the 49ers apparent free fall--one would think that KCBS anchor, Stan Bunger, would begin his daily chat with John Madden asking the coach about that subject matter--one would think wrong.
Bunger began his interview with some banality involving cricket--I'm not kidding. In fact, it was Madden who himself brought the 49ers dysfunction into the discussion and Bunger then took the coach's lead. Thankfully.
Madden could have been asked if the rash of player departures, off-field issues and the rumors about the future of Colin Kaepernick affects team morale--certainly Madden has an opinion or two, but that was never asked (Madden talked a little about Kap); maybe Bunger could use a little more common sense and 86 the cute stuff when there's real, legitimate news involving the Bay Area's #-1 sports team.
...SPEAKING of WHICH...Just my opinion (naturally) but although the Giants get a ton of concentration during the summer (as a team that wins World Series should) it's the 49ers that DOMINATE the sports news domain in the Bay Area. Not even close. Listen to the talk shows. Check the water cooler. It's all 49ers talk. That's no knock on the Giants--far from it, just an acknowledgement that football--NFL Football is KING. And while the 49ers seem to be on an organizational decline they still command the attention --the Giants are popular --but the talk is 49ers now and will always be.
--KRON is undervalued. An albatross, sure, but if run correctly with some vision and leadership, could be more relevant and perhaps even significant because not only is it in the #6 market (for TV--#4 for radio) it has prominence, a great signal, an identity. None of the latter is because of the station's current personnel although some of its air talent understand the equation. Some being the key word.
The problem with KRON's junior varsity look is the way the people who run it view it. Its News Director, ego-infested, Generalissimo Aaron Pero and his incompetence, couldn't run an ice show in Alaska let alone a news operation thus you have the current state of mass indifference and low morale even though the troops moved into nicer digs recently.
Pero's direction or lack thereof is unchecked. Nobody is minding the store. Pero likes to lead by intimidation and fear and plays favorites; makes some reporters outright cry and fear reprisal if they don't do things his way. Instead of conducting an open, free-thought plan with a designed course ahead, Pero's way is one littered with mass confusion and no vision. Then again, in order to have a vision that is respected by the workers, the workers would have to respect the news manager--that's not the case at KRON. Hasn't been so for years. Hurry up, Disney.
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"...the talk is 49ers now and will always be." However the front office seems intent on making sure that the "talk" will focus on what a crummy team they'll be this season and what a good team they used to be.
ReplyDeleteWrong, Rich. Giants are king in these parts now. I never hear anyone talk of the 49ers unless it's about how much of a thug Kap is. Water cooler talk may have been all the rage when you last worked however the last decade or so most people use water bottles.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that you're a transplant and your Giants hat is a couple months old. And I hope it fits that delusional head of yours because anybody who REALLY knows, knows this is and always will be a 49ers town first.
DeleteNice to see The Whiners being dysfunction junction. Plus their FB got arrested for domestic abuse the other day.
ReplyDeletePablo complaining about the Giants also.
Doesn't get any better than this!!
Yeah, downturns happen to just about every organization in sports from time to time. But few teams in any sport could maintain the success that the Niners and Giants have enjoyed. With 5 Lombardi Trophies won in six Super Bowls, and 3 MLB Championships in the last 5 seasons, it doesn't get any better than that!!
DeleteDogs and cats, living together, MASS HYSTERIA
DeleteAnyone discussing your teams? Didn't think so.
DeleteKRON is like a High School. They make it obvious who's popular,who's the bully,who's the lead "Heather". Who the brown noser is. Their reporters do a good job but lately it seems its the same three guys. JR Stone,the chubby guy and the guy with the beard.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Pablo? I've written about that for months. The Giants have a pattern of treating their Latin players as lesser then the rest. Uribe,Molina,and now Pablo. The Giants don't show the same respect- Molina read he had been traded in a blog for Christ sake. You add the Pablo is fat lecture by Sabean a few years ago. I never heard Sabean complain about Huffs beer drinking,Rowan being surly,Lincecum's drug use. Zito? Find the Sabean rip of Zito. If that doesn't prove me right..
You can also see the local media is encouraged to bash the Latins who have left. It seems to come very easy to follow the Giant's propaganda for them. Not a one questions the Giants. Not a one reporter/columnist is Latino..not one.
You're kidding right? Oh, I forgot, it's Stan...
DeleteThe Giants have been one of the leading teams in bringing Latin ballplayers into the MLB from way back. Get real, Stan.
The media totally (and rightly) bashed Rowand for his attitude. Zito got ripped every day by your favorite Raddy. Molina was given a ring for 2010 and treated with respect by the fans when he was given it.
DeleteBut hey, I wouldn't want to interfere with your sense of victimhood...
And good riddance to Pablo, who talks shit about a team that gave him a lot of breaks in spite of his total lack of discipline. If I was making the money he is, I'd be HAPPY to work out in the gym, and eat really tasty food prepared by folks who know nutrition and how to prepare things I like at the same time.
Discipline in exchange for millions? That's an insult!!!!
Thank you @8:52, for identifying Stan's "victim-hood" theme.
DeleteI'm sorry that Pablo is gone but he was fat and out of shape much of the time and was an undisciplined hitter who went through prolonged cold streaks. No denying that he got hot at just the right time for both the Giants and himself. The Giants offered him plenty of money to stay and he chose to go elsewhere.
Good luck Pablo when you hit a cold streak in Boston. The fans will devour you.
@959 - I hope your Raiders win before 2020. Sandoval is a great hitter, catcher turned thirdbaseman - has a brother Michael - who the Giants gave a chance to wear a uniform in San Jose after being out of baseball for three years and another agent whose skirtish thin skin made him go off and pout. Big Papi called it right. "I have a big boiler but nothing the size of Pablo"...
ReplyDeleteHow many Raiders have been arrested for? Drugs, weapon charges, and or domestic battery?
Delete11:07 Your a Kool Aid drinking liberal 49er apologist. Someone who can't even come up with an original thought.
A girlie man also.
"winning with class"... what a joke Jed York is.
ReplyDeleteYou only have to listen to 10 minutes of Marty Lurie to understand that baseball is a graying, dying sport.
ReplyDeleteThat's right. Nary a person under 60 in those record attendances. And of the very few people who showed up at that World Series parade, the vast majority of them were over 80.
DeleteIn my younger, less-enlightened. days, I equated baseball naysayers with 'homos' and 'commies'. Now that I am older, and no longer use such politically incorrect terminolgy, it suffices to say that the anti-baseball types are just assholes.
DeleteI HATE that I LOVE baseball so much.
DeleteYou should have heard Dennis O. last night on Nightbeat. You could be excused for thinking that he had a side deal with Jed York. The glass wasn'the just half full it was 3/4 full. I wanted to puke. Dennis makes Radnich look like a genius.
ReplyDeleteWell Rich, when you get to be an anchor on one of the leading, local radio stations, you be sure to ask all the relevant questions.
ReplyDeleteWhile I suspect the Niners are still the king around these parts, it does feel like people care less about them than in the past.
ReplyDeleteKCBS anchors know or have learned not to ask Madden anything that he might consider to be negative and anyone else would consider to be newsworthy. He does not take kindly to such questions and has been known to immediately turn sour on the air and refuse to talk to that person again. In regard to Madden, management has told the anchors to "let him talk." His segment is the only one allowed to break the station's rigid format.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of kron. Did anyone catch Tom Sinkovitz last night being interviewed on KTVU? Apparently he lives in the Marina and he was OUTRAGED that the Alcatraz ferry wants to move its point of departure from the Embarcadero to the Marina. I had to do a double take when I recognized that luscious full head of hair...
ReplyDeleteAfter the developments since December, it is going to be awhile before the Niners are #1 team in the Bay Area. The Giants are on the best run with the fans since the Montana 49ers. Football being a once a week thing is easier to grab the casual fan. One need only to walk the streets and public locales of SF, the North Bay, the Sacramento Valley, the Peninsula, etc. to see who is #1 now, the Giants. The 49er talk now is ALL negative. I grew up with Brodie and Washington and relished all the 49er success in the past, but right now, it is a major downer.
ReplyDeleteNFL football was once seasonal, like all other sports. Now it is a twelve-month mania, with the coaching speculation and roster moves starting the day after the season ends. Add to that minicamps, draft hysteria, and the soap opera that is the Forty-Niners, and it is no wonder there is media fuel every hour or every day.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine a company like Disney would allow Pero's and Darya's "arrangement
ReplyDeleteThe company I work for has a strict written rule in its employee handbook saying supervisors and staff are not allowed to date. I would think most companies nowadays to be the same.
DeleteWhite athlete is arrested for domestic abuse and it isn't even a story. No posturing about white thugs or white low lifes, just silence on the whole damn matter.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing just fine, bigot.
DeleteSanta Clara 49ers - Dysfunctional Ownership, abandoned the City the team is named for, reasons for leaving SF were all based on half truths, & falsehoods, eaten up by the Santa Clara Suburbanites who will pay for Levi's Stadium, leaked rumors that undermined HC Harbaugh all season long, used Jim Harbaugh to get their stadium Financed, fired Head Coach Harbaugh under a "mutual agreement" lie, Ownership said they wanted their new HC to be a teacher for their starting QB - in walks Jimmy T, Due Process for off field bad behavior, won't stand for Domestic Abuse, but no one is "ever" convicted....And there is lots more from the gang that can't shoot straight....the current Ownership of the 49ers...Smh?!
ReplyDeleteSF Giants - \o/ - woo hoo!...Three World Series Titles in 5 years!!!
KCBS pays Madden six figures to BS for eight minutes every morning. That's great for him and bad for the broadcast industry.
ReplyDelete2:56 It's a good gig if you can get it!!
ReplyDeleteBunger's talking about cricket reminds me of how Bitker continually pushes the obscure sports like soccer, hockey, and tennis rather than sticking with what most sports listeners want to hear: baseball, football, and basketball.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing upper management could do at KRON is fire Aaron Pero, and make sure to do it mid-day and let the whole staff watch him walk his box of shit out for the last time as they get to clap and laugh. He's a sociopathic little weasel whose time has come. He spends his days stomping around, yelling nonsense and will scream at somebody to do something, then yell at them after they've done it and angrily shout that they shouldn't have done the thing he told them to do. And his power allows his girlfriend Darya to get away with completely awful behavior on top of it. Those two have been treating KRON - and the morning show - like their private high school for far too long. Can Pero and watch morale go up, the shows get better and KRON become a viable product again.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the latest on the Raiders moving to Carson to share a stadium with the Chargers. That's a hoot to me. What are they going to name the stadium, Hatfield/McCoy Field? I'll believe it when I see it.
ReplyDelete