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Cleveland Broadcaster Greer Dies

Jason Barrett

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A familiar voice passed from the Cleveland County sports scene on Saturday. Longtime local broadcaster Dan Greer, 62, died at his home in Shelby.

Greer was known for his 40-plus years of covering local high school games on the radio, as well as Shelby Post 82 American Legion baseball action.

“He was proud of all the local sports teams here,” said Shelby Post 82 coach Mike Grayson. “He was always good to me. Dan would come by about once a week and we’d talk baseball.

“I hated to hear it. His dad was my little league coach way back with the Kiwanis (team) and so I’ve known Dan my whole life.”

Greer, who attended Shelby High and Gardner-Webb, served as a member of the Gardner-Webb radio crew for basketball and football in the late 1970s and early ‘80s with Glenn Wall. Most recently he was on the internet broadcast team for Burns High football.

Greer and longtime radio announcing partner Andy Foster received the 2000 Paris Yelton Award for contributions to local sports at the FCA Hall of Fame banquet.

“You don’t find people who stick with it like that, over 40 years,” Foster said. “He was one of a kind. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. It’s devastating.”

That radio tag-team act actually met at a game.

“It was one of those games at Lexington that Shelby had in the old Western Association football days,” Foster said. “I was doing the game and Dan was there watching. He asked me if he could ride back to Shelby with me and he did, and we got to know one another.

“The last game we did together was the Crest-Shelby baseball game. I didn’t talk to him last week but he texted me congratulations after Duke won the (basketball) championship and that was my last contact with him.”

Others shared similar feelings about Greer’s broadcasting efforts.

“I really have known Dan a long time and really thought a lot of him,” said Gerald Weathers of Shelby. “He was really concerned making sure he did it the right way and did a good job.”

Grayson added that Greer “was in it for the right reasons. He was in it (sports) for the kids.”

Jeff Champion served as a broadcast partner and traveled to many games with Greer.

“Anybody that interacted with him liked him,” Champion said, “and all the coaches he did those interviews with for years. He was just dedicated to it … he would’ve done the games for nothing. He had such a passion for local sports.

“He was fair … he was not a homer. He honestly tried to be balanced in his coverage. And he was a good stats guy, he was very thorough with those. He took it seriously and took pride in it.”

Credit to the Shelby Star who originally published this story

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Boomer Esiason: Joe Benigno Was Just Doing His Job

“Good for Joe B. for letting everyone know who he is. That was his job. And I guess still is his job to some point.”

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Boomer & Gio
Courtesy: Audacy

Former WFAN host Joe Benigno continues to make headlines after he revealed sensitive text messages he had with New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh. Despite the controversy, Boomer Esiason believes Benigno was simply doing what was necessary.

After Boomer & Gio played a clip of Saleh saying he “still likes Joe B.”, Esiason argued that Benigno was doing his job by revealing that Saleh “didn’t like” Jets quarterback Zach Wilson.

When fill-in update anchor Chris Lo Presti pointed out that Saleh wouldn’t call Benigno by name — referring to him as “Joe B.” — Esiason said “That’s cause everyone knows who he is”.

“Good for Joe B. for letting everyone know who he is,” Esiason said. “That was his job. And I guess still is his job to some point. But man, I would think that Rob Saleh was pretty floored by all of that, I’d imagine.”

Co-host Gregg Giannotti agreed, questioning if Jets owner Woody Johnson spoke to Saleh about ceasing texting with the former WFAN host.

After originally revealing the text messages, Benigno has shared he wishes he hadn’t mentioned the comments made by Saleh in private. He later clarified that he took the coach’s statements out of context and misinterpreted them.

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Anthony Lima: People Will Watch NFL Games No Matter Who the Quarterbacks Are

“The ratings show that people are going to watch no matter who the quarterbacks are; no matter how bad the teams are.”

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Anthony Lima
Courtesy: X

As the NFL begins week 14 with a Thursday Night Football matchup that pits a pair of backup quarterbacks against one another, 92.3 The Fan morning hosts Ken Carman and Anthony Lima agree it doesn’t matter who’s under center, fans will still be tuning in.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are slated to face the New England Patriots as Mitch Trubisky and Baily Zappe will start at quarterback for each team. During The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima Thursday, the hosts agreed they’ll still watch the broadcast.

“Do you think fans are bored by the league with this or are they more interested?,” Carman asked, referencing the Steelers-Patriots matchup.

“Well the ratings don’t show that,” Lima said. “The ratings show that people are going to watch no matter who the quarterbacks are; no matter how bad the teams are.”

Indeed for its Week 13 Thursday night game, Amazon Prime Video recorded an all-time high average of 15.26 million viewers, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. The matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys marked the 11th consecutive week of year-over-year, double-digit viewership growth for the property, and helped engender a 29% increase from last year’s 11-week average viewership.

Carman offered an analogy pertaining to wrestling, conveying how many people are interested in the sport when they are younger. He enjoyed the sport in his youth but it then began to phase out until he went to middle school and became interested again. These phases, however, do not seem to apply when it comes to the game of football.

“We line up for years,” Carman said of football. “There’s people who haven’t missed Monday Night Football no matter what incarnation [it is] for 30+ years. Is it an enjoyable thing to sell all the quarterbacks down?”

Lima is cognizant of what has happened at the quarterback position this year and feels that it makes him want to watch a game less, affirming that the starters on Thursday night will need to earn his attention.

“I think I’ll give it a quarter,” Lima said. “I might even be a little late… [but] I’ll put it on and see where the game’s at.”

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Fred Toucher: What Did Joe Benigno Think Would Happen By Revealing Robert Saleh Texts?

“He’s on Zoom and he looks like he’s in his bedroom from like 1962. It looks like a little kid’s bedroom.”

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Fred Toucher
Courtesy: Beasley Media Group

Earlier this week, former WFAN host Joe Benigno raised eyebrows by revealing that New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh “doesn’t like” quarterback Zach Wilson. 98.5 The Sports Hub morning host Fred Toucher was dumbfounded by the entire situation.

During his morning show Thursday, Toucher questioned the motive behind Benigno sharing the text exchange, saying the former New York host “crossed the line” by revealing the coach’s texts.

“So what is it what is Joe Benigno thinks gonna happen? He comes on the air, he says he’s texting with Robert Saleh. He’s not lying,” said Toucher. “So if you’re Robert Saleh, you have this maniac old man texting you… You gotta be like ‘Alright dude, thanks. I shared with you my vulnerability and this is how you pay me back, you unempathetic prick. I expressed vulnerability to you, I showed you that I was concerned.'”

Fred Toucher did note that he actually likes Benigno and considers him a friend of the program, despite calling him a “psycho”.

“He’s an old guy. He’s a big-time Jets fan. Like, he loves the jets. Like really, really loves (the Jets),” Toucher said. “He’s on Zoom and he looks like he’s in his bedroom from like 1962. It looks like a little kid’s bedroom. There’s Jonathan Vilma jersey, it’s like tacked up hastily.”

Toucher concluded by noting he felt bad for Saleh, and hoped the revelation from Benigno didn’t cost him his job.

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