Felger & Co. get ‘Sports Sunday’ up to speed
Last Sunday night marked the 10th episode of
The hourlong program, which airs at 10, was particularly insightful and informative this past Sunday, most notably when it came to the breaking news that Rasheed Wallace had decided to sign with the Celtics.
Felger, along with his fellow “Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight’’ host Gary Tanguay (who deserves kudos for being plugged into the Wallace story all week) spoke immediately to Wallace’s agent, Bill Strickland, who detailed why his client chose Boston.
It was a nifty and well-executed juggling act by Felger and the show’s producers, who had been prepared to lead the show with the Red Sox.
“It was a scramble,’’ said Felger. “We had been planning on going with something on the Sox being just a game up on the Yankees. We had to scrap all of that.
“But in a way, that’s the fun part of it, too. You always hope to have a hot topic, and we certainly had one there with the Wallace news.’’
Felger is a ubiquitous presence on the Boston media landscape - he hosts two other programs on Comcast SportsNet, while also serving in a prominent role on sports radio WEEI as well as writing for the station’s website - and is also a polarizing one at times. He’s never shy about sharing his opinion, no matter how well-formed it may or may not be, but he usually pulls it off because of his self-effacing manner.
He knows how to pick an argument, but is willing to admit he’s wrong. The latter is an uncommon characteristic, among local sports radio hosts in particular, and it suits him well in his “Sports Sunday’’ role, in which he is accompanied by a knowledgeable cast of contributors, among them Lou Merloni, WEEI’s Michael Holley, and the Globe’s Bob Ryan and Christopher Gasper this past Sunday.
“I feel like the format really works - hit the relevant topics to Boston fans,’’ said Felger, who thinks the 10 p.m. start time will be of particular benefit during football season, when other networks’ sports wrapup shows typically run later. “Sunday was the Wimbledon final between [Andy] Roddick and [Roger] Federer. Great match. There was golf. Yet we didn’t say a word about those events. That stuff is for ‘SportsCenter.’
“We know what our audience wants, and we give it to them.’’
During the Derby, which airs live at 8 p.m. Monday and leads off Major League Baseball’s All-Star festivities in St. Louis, the network will debut its “Ball Track’’ feature, which utilizes Doppler radar to follow the baseball, while providing a plethora of real-time information.
After the ball is hit, viewers will know virtually instantaneously such pieces of information as the distance the ball is traveling (from the point of impact to its eventual landing spot), the arc and path of the ball as it travels through the air, and an immediate projection as the ball is in midflight whether it will be a home run.
ESPN has displayed home run distances previously, but never has the information been presented in such detail and so quickly.
“I’m going to really make it fun. I’m using Twitter during games, during halftime, after the games,’’ Ochocinco told Houston radio station KGOW. “I’m going to take it to a whole new level.’’
No doubt that revelation thrilled Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.
Given that Ochocinco - formerly known as Johnson - recently tweeted that singer Michael Jackson’s death is a tragedy as sad as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he should be an entertaining read. Right up until the inevitable moment when the NFL puts the kibosh on his plans.
Ochocinco’s unique insights can be found at twitter.com/OchoNFLCinco85.
