What's up with NST?

[highwater]

I really don't know why you guys are bickering. Here's an idea -- let's start over.

Festivus, I'd like to introduce you to Houston.

Houston, this is festivus.

<shake hands>

[festivus]

HW, between you and me, I'm not sure I'm the one who needs to be introduced to Houston.

On page one of this thread he ripped a local media outlet with broad generalizations - nothing specific *at all* - for a solid *full page* of blasting.

Lo and behold he later admits he never listens to the station at all.

Along comes another poster, who makes a carefully worded precise point about one host on the same radio station, and I agree with him.

Back comes Houston, claiming what this second poster said is what he'd said to begin with.

HW, I understand Houston better than you think I do.

On the firm advice of another poster here, I've put him on my ignore list.

[ClericBlackDave]

Not at all the case. For quite a long time he compared the two front offices and gave the Ravens high reviews while appropriately crapping on the Os' front office.

When the Ravens deserved it he called them out. The facts are Billick was not handled well at all and the coaching search was not clean and smooth like a fan would hope. Please don't try and sell me that shit sandwich and call it tuna salad.

Thank you, a voice of reason.


Wake up and smell the coffee, people. WNST may be taking a hard stance, but they aren't that far off on this one.


This last firing and hiring process was poorly done. It was a shitty. It was not what I've come to expect of the Ravens, or of something that Newsome is in control of. Which isn't a suprise, because it's pretty clear to me that Bisciotti and his cronies controlled the process.


If it were up to Newsome, we'd have Martyball right now. But it was never up to him.


This was Bisciotti's decision, and his mark to make on the franchise. If it works out, he'll look like a genius. If it doesn't, he'll look like another Dan Snyder or Peter Angelos.


But the process was poorly run. Anytime Ray knows more than the closest advisors to Bisciotti it lets you know a lot. First off, i'm sure Ray had a lot of input into firing Billick, which isn't good. Secondly, its clear that Bisciotti broke any chain of command and essentially took over a process that SHOULD HAVE been controlled primarily by his GM.


I'll say this: Newsome has his flaws, but his drafting and overall decision making was a large part of why this is/was a winning franchise. If Bisciotti starts to cut him out of things, or if the Newsome for any reason leaves, this franchise could be in for some rough times.


This firing/hiring process had Bisciotti written all over it. Not Newsome. Hence, it smelled like shit.

[flraven]

um, great post shaslers!

thanks for the info on Sirius, been considering it for the car since radio down here leaves a bit to be desired. Maybe I'll just keep downloading music (legally) and burning CDs.

[shaslers]

Wake up and smell the coffee, people. WNST may be taking a hard stance, but they aren't that far off on this one. his last firing and hiring process was poorly done. It was a shitty. ... Bisciotti and his cronies controlled the process....If it were up to Newsome, we'd have Martyball right now. But it was never up to him....This was Bisciotti's decision, and his mark to make on the franchise. ...But the process was poorly run....First off, i'm sure Ray had a lot of input into firing Billick, which isn't good. Secondly, its clear that Bisciotti broke any chain of command and essentially took over a process that SHOULD HAVE been controlled primarily by his GM......f Bisciotti starts to cut him out of things, or if the Newsome for any reason leaves, this franchise could be in for some rough times....This firing/hiring process had Bisciotti written all over it. Not Newsome. Hence, it smelled like shit.

No question that the way this went down was shitty. Brian was told he was coming back, and he had a handful of plane tickets, ready to go interview possible offensive coordinators, and Steve instead called him in and fired him. It's incredibly awkward to have that happen when your minister of propaganda is on baltimoreravens.com three days prior blogging about what a smart decision it was to retain Billick. It ain't the greatest to hear that they analyzed the situation and decided the best move was to keep Brian, but then ultimately this decision was reversed based on "a gut feeling." I grant you, none of that is any good, whether or not you believe Brian should have been kept or should have been fired.

However, that doesn't mean WNST is right. My contention is that they (Drew Forrester in particular) have overstated the problem by claiming (1) Bisciotti lied, and (2) the football people have been kicked to the curb.

I've addressed the first point.

Also the second, but I'll come back to say that, Dave, maybe you are drinking the WNST Koolaid.

Drew Forrester said that Ozzie liked Marty as a candidate. Okay, I can believe that. I heard Ozzie himself say they called Marty and he was reluctant to throw his hat in the ring because his son Brian was in the running. That's really all we know. The rest is pure speculation.

Drew Forrester would have us believe that Ozzie was adamant about Marty, but Dick Cass and Steve Bisciotti stiff armed him and ran with a candidate Ozzie didn't approve of. He says he has inside information that tells him Ozzie's state of mind.

I'm saying I don't think it's as dramatic as Drew thinks his "evidence" points to. It's seldom as black and white as we perceive it. Reasonable people can disagree without it being a sign the organization is crumbling. When I interview job candidates I usually end up with a handful I like, and one that's at the top of my list. If my colleagues' lists are ranked differently it's not a sign the my opinion was shat upon.

Drew's evidence that the non-football people are now running the show inside the Castle is circumstantial at best. I don't buy it.

Dave, you extrapolate WNST's reports to suggest that Ray Lewis controlled Bisciotti's mind on this one, and now Bisciotti is in some way out of control, dictating the draft.


Wha-wwwha-what??

First, Bisciotti said he never talked to Ray. Ray could have called him, but never did. But let's pretend Bisciotti went out of his way to lie. Are you suggesting that Ray Lewis lobbied Bisciotti to hire John Harbaugh, as opposed to, oh, I don't know, Rex Ryan?

You write, "if Bisciotti starts to cut Newsome out of things..." I just don't see that this has happened. I see that Ozzie has had input every step of the way, but the final decision rested with the owner, not Ozzie, as it should be.

[camdenyard]

"Brian will be back next year...trust me!"



Seriously, nobody really likes the taste that's in our mouth after the way things went down. But like the guy who had a bad feeling about a flight and chose not to board, only to hear of it going down in flames, Bisciotti did what he thought he had to do. It may end up being the right move. He deserves the benefit of the doubt. We certainly gave King Pete a few of those before deciding he was incompetent.

Certain NST figures should stick to reporting news and stop tying to make it.

[HoustonRaven]

I really don't know why you guys are bickering. Here's an idea -- let's start over.

Festivus, I'd like to introduce you to Houston.

Houston, this is festivus.

<shake hands>

I dont know why either. No bad feelings towards him or anyone. I would glady shake his hand. But if my words get twisted, Im gonna say something.

Anywho, back to the topic .... given the ratings of NST, I just really dont see how they are on the air much longer. I seem to recall a station in the Baltimore area back in the early 90's that tried their hand at having the ownership have a duel roll of on air talent and the administration of the station -- it was the original WHFS and it eventually went latin!

I hope PP does win the lottery. He listens to Ron Smith so he already has a leg up on recognizing good radio talent!