Re: Coverage of Williams firing

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Dan B wrote:
>Both Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy have been very critical of the firing of
>Jimy Williams during the Red Sox game tonight.  They had Dan Duquette on for
>one-half inning and were polite in their questioning and let him have his
>say.  For the last three innings, they have blasted the Sox for the move.
>I'm sure the Sox aren't pleased.

Joe and Jerry on radio were more circumspect, but I certainly got the sense 
that they were not terribly fond of the move either. Peter Gammons on ESPN 
blasted Duquette for saying Kerrigan was his second choice, and everybody 
seemed puzzled on WEEI about why Williams was being fired NOW-- general 
consensus was that Duquette had just been waiting for an excuse to do 
it.  WEEI callers were very anti-Jimy Williams, and thought it should have 
been done long ago.  But what was really amusing-- and tells you how hot 
the topic is in Boston, is that not only was the firing the lead story on 
WBZ News Radio (as it should be-- the Red Sox are an obsession around 
here), but then, it was the first subject on the DAVID BRUDNOY SHOW (not 
exactly a bastion of sports talk) which did an hour on it, with Alan Segal 
and Gary Tanguay as guests. WBZ callers were generally pro-Jimy Williams, 
and felt he was being asked to take the fall to cover the mistakes that 
Duquette made in putting the current team together.  David, G-d bless him, 
was surprisingly knowledgeable about the topic.