Toucher & Rich: NH Sports Talk Host Has Advice For T&R
BOSTON (CBS) - On Tuesday, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Rich Shertenleib went to Bobby Valentine's pregame press conference to ask the manager a question from the listeners.
"Obviously it's been a tough year for the fans of the Red Sox and if you had to make your case to those fans as to why you should remain the manager of the Red Sox next year, what would you say to them?" Rich asked the manager.
"I feel bad for those fans. I don't have to make a case to them though, I've suffered with them," Bobby V answered.
That didn't really get the answer Rich was looking for so he followed it up, "But from the outside looking in what do you want to say to them in order to make them believe that if you were to stay next year would have a different result?"
"I'm the best man for the job," was Valentine's answer.
It all seemed fairly harmless, but many writers didn't care for it. So they wrote their stories, which in turn led Fred Toucher on one of his all-time rants on the "Boston Sports Lodge."
Listen: Toucher & Rich: What Would You Ask Bobby Valentine?
But it didn't end there.
WGAM's --ESPN Radio in New Hampshire -- Matt Perrault took offense to what T&R were saying about Gordon Edes, and went on a rant of his own. He called Toucher and Rich a couple of yahoos -- very good yahoos -- but let them have it for taking on Gordon.
"The question itself was not a horrible question, but in the context of that place, with the New York media there, and you're not a guy that shows your face that often," said Perrault. "To steal a line from Bryce Harper, 'It's a clown question, bro.' It doesn't make any sense. You're trying to elicit a response."
"I'm almost positive Bobby had no idea who he was. But Bobby didn't take the bait. So that brings me to the point as to why I brought this up. It's what was brought up by Toucher and Rich. They needed a villain, some way to make noise. To them, it was our friend Gordon Edes – who wrote a very benign recap of what happened."
"Gordon Edes is a guy you're going to come after because he wrote something on the ESPN blog about what you did? Isn't that the point? You wanted people talking about you," continued Perrault. "When your little gag blew up because Bobby didn't take the bait, you had to find the villain. It's Gordon Edes, who you knew wouldn't respond. That's what pisses me off even more! Gordon Edes is above you, he has more class than you."
"He isn't going to say, or sink to your level, and they knew it. This is why I'm ranting about it, because Gordon wouldn't say it."
That is just part of Perrault's 27-minute rant. So what do the guys do? On Thursday, they broke it down and tried to figure out what Perrault's so upset about, and what his advice is.
"It was a clown question, you should have asked him 'Hey, you're playing the Yankees today,'" said Fred. "Sports Talk Matt has been around the block a time or two. You ask him a question about something obvious. 'So Bobby, you've got a white shirt on today?' Sports Talk Matt."
"Good for Sports Talk Matt, baby. He has it all figured out, and he's going to give the audience a lesson," said Fred. "An entertaining lesson on how to handle these things. 'Don't be a yahoo!'"
