COULD BE A BIG GAMBLE
Can Carton and sports radio’s new love for wagering mix?
At one point in HBO’s two-minute trailer for its upcoming documentary on Craig Carton, the former WFAN morning Gasbag asks: “How do you make picks? Not with a spread?”
Before he eventually returns to sports talk radio, a platform currently infested and fueled by gambling advertising revenue, Carton may be asking himself: How do I ever make picks again? How can I read advertisements and endorse “products” that not only motivate people to gamble, but also entice people to get hooked?
It’s hard to imagine anyone with a conscience encouraging someone to start down the dark path that will be chronicled in HBO’s Carton documentary, “Wildcard: Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth,” which debuts in early October.
In 2018 Carton was found guilty for using a ticket-resale Ponzi scheme to try and pay his massive gambling debts. In April 2019, he was sentenced to 42 months in jail but was released from federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., in June. Multiple reports have him returning to WFAN, but Carton has not spoken publicly since his release.
It’s worth wondering if listeners tuning in will figuratively hear Carton’s cautionary tale every time he opens his mouth on the radio, no matter what he says. Or will they wonder, considering what he’s been through, how he can cavalierly urge people to start an account at FanDuel or DraftKings? Those who see no evil in legalized gambling, many who read the ads and endorse the products on WFAN or ESPN-98.7, take comfort in reading the tag line: “Have a gambling problem, call……,” like that takes them off the hook.
Evidently, Carton didn’t dial that number when the walls were closing in on him.
The flip-side is that the mouths who push these gambling sites, have to make a living. It’s not like they have a choice when it comes to reading the gambling ads and endorsing the product, no matter who it damages.
Yet, that shouldn’t stop them from offering the other, the dark side, of the gambling equation. Or how much money they have lost over the course of a few football Sunday’s. They rarely do. Instead, they cover their losses with alleged humor.
The suits running these stations are more interested in having their talent promote gambling and make picks. And if Carton should end up back at WFAN, management will want Carton to be Carton — outrageous, cocky, infuriating. Yet now he also brings a new life experience to the microphone. One that can’t be ignored and could help others.
They already have plenty of gambling shills. They don’t need Carton to be another one.
COACHES SHOW CANCELED
In case no one noticed, Joe Judge and Adam Gase didn’t do the usual coaches weekly spot son the Giants( W FAN) and Jets (ESPN-98.7) radio flagships after Week 1 of the season. And they won’t be doing them the rest of the season. No great loss.
Or as one radio exec said: “It’s not like these coaches are major attractions. They haven’t done anything yet.” True. And with station blabbermouths taking pay cuts because of the coronavirus pandemic, how could the suits justify paying the $60,000-$70,000 it usually takes to get a coach to double-talk his way through a weekly interview during the season.
The only time these sessions were any good was when Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa went up and in on guys like Pat Shurmur, causing the coach to quit the show. Other than interviews when The Pope let the coach know who was the smartest mouth behind the microphone, most of these coach/manager sessions are Twinkie Munches.
TIKI’S TORCH
Never knew how many football media savants realized Saquon Barkley had a blocking problem until Tiki Barber told them about it.
After Barber, with Brandon Tierney playing backup singer (grunting and gasping) on CBS Sports Radio, said Barkley was “blocking” like a matador on third down, and is “a big back who wants to play small,” assorted mouths claimed they had made the same observation.
The only voice we heard strongly call Barkley out BEFORE Barber did was Mike (GM Shuffle) Lombardi who really lowered the boom on Saquon during an appearance with WFAN’s Marc Malusis and Maggie Gray.
Of course, Barber’s legit observation rekindled stories about him critiquing Eli Manning’s comedy stylings in 2007, which led to Tiki, then with NBC Sports, being raked over hot coals by Big Blue media operatives.
Unfortunately, Barber never gets enough credit for coming off the field, going directly to a national microphone, and doing his job, taking no prisoners. And it won’t be surprising if Sunday, CBS’ Charles Davis (working Bears-Giants) will remember Barber’s words and keep a close eye on Barkley’s blocking,or lack thereof.
JETS A FINE WHINE
Mike Greenberg must be in need of more airtime.
Why else would the ESPN mouth, who hosts the daily twohour “Get Up!” program and his own two-hour daily radio show “Greeny,” feel inclined to call in (he was not a scheduled guest) to Anita Marks’ Saturday afternoon show?
As if he doesn’t already get enough mic run, Greenberg just had to call in from his car to rebut a caller, “Buddha From the Bronx,” who had the temerity to trash Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. In case you didn’t know (how could you not?) Greenberg is a Jets fan and obviously is fond of Darnold. So fond, he would find time to call in a talk show and rip a guy known as “Buddha From the Bronx.”
Greenberg should realize this: When it comes to whining Jets fans who have access to a microphone, he’s got a long way to go before he approaches the misery level of the FAN’s Joe Benigno.
No one whines about the Jets longer, louder, and better than Benigno.