Felger show surreal in post-rant fallout
Admission enough, don’t punish him
Michael Felger yesterday held a four-hour press conference/confessional on air.
Felger expressed contrition a day after his rant on the death of Roy Halladay scorched the internet, igniting cries for his head across social media, and triggering a one-man, sign-wielding march on the CBS Boston studios in Brighton by WEEI’s Kirk Minihane.
“I had no self-management. I couldn’t control myself,” Felger said.
His primary crime — which he copped to multiple times during the “Felger and Mazz” show on 98.5 The Sports Hub — was a lack of decorum, humanity and compassion for Halladay’s widow and her children. The man called a “doting dad” and “a love bug” by his wife in a recent profile came off as a dunderheaded daredevil with a death wish.
“Soooreeey” wasn’t going to cut it.
Felger stood by his take that Halladay took a foolish and needless risk given the issues surrounding the type of plane he was flying. Halladay’s family yesterday refuted claims that he was a reckless pilot.
Meanwhile, Roy Halladay is unable to defend himself. Criticizing the dead when we don’t know all the facts surrounding their passing is lazy and dangerous.
Yesterday’s show swung into the surreal early and never left. Felger and Tony Massarotti took calls from supporters and detractors, and answered questions from media types. To Felger’s credit, he ducked nothing.
Yet his customary air of confidence all but evaporated for a day. He appeared sullen, at least through the lenses of NBC Sports Boston.
If this was an act, an Emmy is in the offing.
Felger was “not ordered” by management at either The Sports Hub or NBC Sports New England to issue an apology. He did admit he may have been pushed into one if he had not taken the initiative to do so. He said he didn’t know whether he would face any further discipline from either of his Boston media employers, CBS Radio and NBC Boston.
Felger said he knew he screwed up Wednesday after seeing a Deadspin story featuring the headline: “Boston Sports Radio Chud Goes on Long Rant About How Roy Halladay Deserved to Die.”
The internet was littered with similar headlines. Boston was again held hostage by the musings of a media personality whose passions and DNA lie elsewhere.
Felger and I have lived in Wisconsin, Florida and Massachusetts. I never went fullCheesehead during my days at Marquette University, nor would I expect Felger to ever go full townie, even though he’s worked in Boston for 20 years. You have to be born and raised here to know how all of this really feels.
Felger should neither be suspended nor fired for his stunt. The marketplace will determine his fate. There is something fundamentally wrong when an industry rooted in free speech punishes anyone for speaking freely. That holds for Minihane, Curt Schilling, Jemele Hill and Felger.
Felger’s contrarian stitch has earned him success, ratings and wealth. Being an “outsider” allows him to play that role to the hilt.
But if Halladay had played in Boston, Felger would be unemployed. That’s fact, not opinion.