CRUEL IRONY: While they continue to heap praise on their fallen hero, I have to put forth some inconvenient truth: did KNBR mention how they FIRED Ralph Barbieri in the midst of his Parkinson's disease ? Did they tell listeners yesterday (Monday) why the departed Barbieri was shallowly shown the door in the midst of his glory years? NO, that would have messed up the narrative.
I'm all for burying the hatchet but I also have to laugh at all the phonies who DETESTED Barbieri and couldn't stand him (maybe justified) and who are now calling him the male Mother Teresa. Complete and utter phonies. Like Tim Kawakami. Like Brian Sabean. I'll give Larry Baer credit: he was MIA on Monday. At least he didn't spout BS like the others. I'm not excusing him but he was not at all a Barbieri buddy and even as The Razor was fired from KNBR in 2012, both he and Sabean didn't lose sleep. Sabean was in full praise on Monday about his Razor interviews even though he DETESTED Ralph. Ok, so death do you part; that said, Sabean's outpouring sounded phony. It was.
Remember, it was Barbieri that was escorted to the door in April, 2012 by KNBR henchmen who didn't allow him to gather his personal belongings and made him walk through the building with some asshole security guards. The same man that made MILLIONS for the station and Cumulus. Seriously? Ralph would laugh. Maybe spit up too. And that would be the proper response.
Excuse me too while I pule because the BS meter is OFF THE CHART.
I was at my roomates funeral and everyone(including me) was getting up and saying how he was the greatest roommate ever and blah blah blah. Then his brother gets up there and brings that up by saying. "Everyone here is talking about how he was the greatest or best ever. He wasn't, he was a royal pain in the ass. A lovable pain in the ass but he certainly wasn't the greatest roommate or person". He was so true he was a pain in the ass, but in the end you tend not to remember those things. This may be true only for family and close friends not acquaintances.
ReplyDeleteRod Brooks did refer to how Ralph was not given the privilege of saying "Goodbye" on the air because of "the powers that be." Sabean didn't praise Ralph as much as he withheld his disgust by giving a tepid nod instead on Ralph's "passion as a Giants fan, which is what you want in a fan."
ReplyDeleteRalph could be loud, verbose and incredibly overbearing. But Ralph wouldn't have wanted it to be any other way.
ReplyDeleteThere is a full page (small print) paid obituary for Barbieri in today's (Wednesday) San Francisco Chronicle.
ReplyDeleteRe-printed on Sunday. I can't think of any obit, from the NY Times or anywhere else that was so lengthy and self-important. What an embarrassment. What an ego.
DeleteIt's been nearly a decade and KNBR still hasn't really been able to replace Ralph. His firing was a double hit for the station because it moved Tom into the lead role which didn't make the best use of his talents.
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