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Angelo Cataldi Doubles Down On Stockton Criticism

“Although possibly sparked by Cataldi’s critique, Stockton’s call on Sunday was met with negative social media reaction from the audience.”

Brandon Contes

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Last week, Philadelphia sports radio host Angelo Cataldi declared Dick Stockton of FOX, the worst play-by-play announcer in the history of television during his morning show on 94 WIP.

The 76-year old Stockton, a Philadelphia native, has enjoyed a renowned broadcasting career spanning five decades, but in Cataldi’s opinion,” He’s awful, awful, awful! I can’t listen to one play he calls!”

As he was getting set to call the Eagles and Bears game this past Sunday, Stockton spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer about the criticism.

“When someone is just mean like that, I think it’s more a reflection of who they are than what I did,” Stockton said of Cataldi’s comments. “I remember critics over a decade ago saying I should quit or be retired. It goes with the territory.”

Cataldi doubled down on his opinion after reading Stockton’s rebuttal, challenging fans to listen to Sunday’s Eagles/Bears broadcast on FOX and judge the call themselves. “Listen to the Dick Stockton broadcast today on Fox and let me know who was right,” Cataldi wrote on Twitter early Sunday morning. “If he is not ruining the game for you — if he is even just competent — let me know. I have been listening to him for 40 years. There is zero chance you will enjoy his work. Zero.”

Although possibly sparked by Cataldi’s critique, Stockton’s call on Sunday was met with negative social media reaction from the audience.

Stockton wasn’t the only FOX NFL play-by-play announcer to receive criticism Sunday. Chris Kinard, program director for Washington DC’s 106.7 The Fan questioned the work of Chris Myers during his call of Sunday’s Redskins/Bills contest. 

https://twitter.com/ChrisKinard/status/1191057694842609664

Although Kinard didn’t share a specific issue he had with Myers’ work on the call, it likely had to do with the announcer believing it was the first time quarterback Dwayne Haskins was on the field. Sunday was Haskins first start, but it was the third time this season the rookie quarterback saw action.

Like Cataldi with Stockton, Kinard also wasn’t alone in his criticism of Myers.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.

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Joe Benigno: No Ground Rules in Texting Jets Head Coach

“What else do you want me to say? There’s nothing else I can say.”

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Joe Benigno

With a losing streak that has reached five consecutive games and questions surrounding the team, the New York Jets endured several rounds of negative publicity on Monday. A report from Dianna Russini of The Athletic stated that Wilson was reluctant to reassume the starting quarterback responsibilities, while former WFAN host Joe Benigno revealed that head coach Robert Saleh told him in a text message that he does not like Wilson.

While Saleh addressed the first matter in a press conference yesterday and gave a vote of confidence to his quarterback, there has been several discussions surrounding what Benigno revealed Monday on WFAN. Benigno recognized that he misinterpreted what Saleh said and appeared on Boomer & Gio on Tuesday morning to clear the air. Rather than not caring for his quarterback, Joe Benigno revealed that Saleh was incredulous to the fact that he wanted Wilson to start again after suggesting to him for weeks that he should be benched. The matter was a topic of discussion to open Tuesday’s edition of the show, and Benigno called in to try and defend his actions.

“Well look, I wouldn’t call [it] me hammering him,” Joe Benigno said. “You think I’m sitting there hammering him; is that what I’m doing?”

Benigno did not seem to grasp an understanding of what he did to Saleh, who morning show co-host Gregg Giannotti surmises received a deluge of messages and feedback about the purported narrative. Giannotti presented a hypothetical situation to Benigno where he promulgated information that Benigno did not like his co-host Evan Roberts based on what he was told by him. After asking Benigno whether or not he would consider the action by Giannotti to be an example of throwing him under the bus, he concurred that it would constitute such a classification.

“Okay, well that’s what you did to Rob Saleh yesterday!,” Giannotti replied. “That’s my point.”

“I defended myself in the way that I have to,” Joe Benigno said back. “What else do you want me  to say? I shouldn’t have done it.”

Benigno has fostered a relationship with Saleh where they text back-and-forth about the team, but there have not been ground rules established in their interactions. After Giannotti inquired pertaining to whether or not certain things were off-the-record, he was surprised to learn that there were no set limitations about what to and not to disseminate. This caused him not to want to know whether or not Benigno heard from Saleh himself yesterday after the reaction it elicited.

Morning show co-host Boomer Esiason continued the discussion by asking Benigno how the owner of the Jets would feel if someone revealed information that was obtained through a text message that was willingly sent by the head coach. He also averred that Saleh would likely have plenty of time to text with Benigno in the future, surmising that he would be losing his job after the team’s performance this season. Benigno still did not understand how he harmed the reputation of the head coach, causing Giannotti to recapitulate what he had explained earlier.

“The fact that he wants to continue texting you about the team after this makes him look like a stone-cold moron,” Giannotti said, preceding his remarks by explaining that he intended to demonstrate no disrespect to Benigno. “If he didn’t learn his lesson this time around and he’s still going to go back and talk to you about the team, then he shouldn’t be the head coach because that is idiotic. I can’t even imagine the stuff that he heard yesterday from people.”

Although Benigno is not sure if Saleh will still text him about the team, the morning show co-hosts seemed to feel that he reached an understanding about the implications and consequences of his actions. After the call concluded, Esiason inferred that Benigno was feeling “sick to his stomach” about what he did on the air.

“Alright, well look,” Benigno said. “I guess only time will tell, alright. What else do you want me to say? There’s nothing else I can say. Obviously I made a mistake here; something I shouldn’t have done; totally misinterpreted it; and what can I do about it now – not much.”

“What you did actually,” Giannotti answered. “I think what you can do about it now is what you did, which is understand what happened; that’s all. At least we understand that you understand now, so now we can move on with an understanding.”

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Shan Shariff: FS1 Has the Worst NFL Analysts

He noted that Skip Bayless, Craig Carton, and LeSean McCoy were the “dumbest” analysts for FS1.

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Shan Shariff
Courtesy: Audacy

FS1 has assembled a wide-ranging cast of former NFL players and pundits throughout its analyst, panelist, and host roles. That doesn’t mean they have earned the respect of 105.3 The Fan’s Shan Shariff.

During the Dallas morning show Tuesday, Shariff shared that in a recent interview with Awful Announcing, he named the three “dumbest” analysts when it comes to the Dallas Cowboys. He noted that Skip Bayless is the worst offender, while Craig Carton is third on his list behind LeSean McCoy. All three work for FS1.

A recent statement from McCoy caught the particular ire of Shariff, for arguing that Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, despite playing well recently and being viewed as an NFL MVP candidate, needs to play worse to see how he’ll respond to the adversity.

“I wanna see when he messes and how he responds,” McCoy said.

“I honestly think — I don’t know if he’s a clown or if he’s just not intelligent…he made zero sense,” Shariff said. “Everyone else on set was looking at him like ‘You want him to be worse and mess up so he can respond to that in order to get more MVP consideration?'”

“If he had said ‘I need to see Dak play well against good teams’, that’s a totally valid statement,” co-host RJ Choppy said. “This makes no sense.”

Shariff then brought up a recent statement from FS1’s Joy Taylor that argued Prescott can’t win the MVP due to his on-field play.

“This is like a two-and-a-half-minute clip. I don’t have the patience for or the tolerance for that,” Shariff said.

Co-host Bobby Belt responded by saying “She’s clearly on TV because of her football opinions,” which led Shan Shariff to say “Yeah, Thanks, Jason Taylor,” the older brother of Joy Taylor, who made the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a 13-year NFL career.

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ESPN 1400 Coming to KGVL in Greenville, Texas

Greenville, Texas is 50 miles northeast of Dallas.

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A photo of the ESPN 1400 logo
(Photo: E Radio Network)

KGVL in Greenville, Texas is preparing to flip formats from oldies to sports radio with ESPN 1400 set to debut after Christmas.

After it wraps up airing Christmas music, the station will permanently air a sports format with ESPN Radio.

“While we have enjoyed bringing you classic hits for the last few years, we have an opportunity to bring something to Northeast Texas that we can’t pass up!,” a post to the station’s Facebook stage said. “Starting after the Holidays, we will become ESPN 1400! Not only will we bring you non-stop sports, but we will also carry LIVE sports like college football, NFL, NBA, MLB, and even CFP Bowl Games!”

Greenville, Texas is 50 miles northeast of Dallas. KGVL is a Class C, 1,000 watt station owned by E Radio Network. The station covers the majority of Dallas and the eastern portion of the Metroplex. It can also be heard on FM translators on 105.9 FM and 107.7 FM.

The news was first reported by RadioInsight.

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