Dusty Baker off Stephen A. Smith's show

[KurtEvans]

In case you guys haven't heard, there was a bit of controversy regarding some EMails sent by the show Quite Frankly to some Cubs blogs ...

 

Long story short, they told us that fans were invited to attend and BOO Dusty Baker. I didn't like that, so I wrote some things up about it, and EMailed Len Kasper to warn Dusty that he was going to get heckled, and Dusty has cancelled his appearance. If you want to know the full details, you can read about it here: link to Goat Riders of the Apocalypse

[Roast]

hahaha I hate stephen A smith...however, I totally would have loved to see him get boo'd.

[CubinNY]

I saw the Greenstein article. Well done Kurt.

 

BTW I wish Teddy was still the Cubs beatwriter for the Trib. But I guess he was too goood at his job.

 

In 2003 in an ask Paul Column I asked Paul if he could trade himself for Teddy and ALF. At the time Teddy was the beatwriter for the Sox. It didn't get printed.

[goonys evil twin]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Why should Dusty back out? Nobody watches the show.

[CubinNY]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

 

The problem I have with it is not the fact that people would boo Dusty, it's the fact that the producers of the show were recruiting for people to boo Dusty.

[KurtEvans]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

 

Sir, I have no problem with the idea of Dusty being criticized by Smith. Had Dusty done the interview, I would have expected Smith to ask hard questions. But I have a sincere problem with Dusty agreeing to do the show in good faith, only to have the show's producers EMail Cubs fans, asking them to BOO Dusty in the studio. That is backhanded, it is juvenile, and it is unfair. It seemed to absolutely be a rating's ploy on their part. It seemed like something worthy of Springer, not of ESPN.

 

I dislike Dusty Baker. I want the Cubs to fire him. If I'm at a game, I will boo him. If he was ever gracious enough to agree to an interview with me, I would not arrange to have Cub fans heckle him from a distance. It's unfair. Simple as that.

[goonys evil twin]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

 

The problem I have with it is not the fact that people would boo Dusty, it's the fact that the producers of the show were recruiting for people to boo Dusty.

 

Sounds to me like a joke. No show is going to have audience members sit there and boo a guest.

[goonys evil twin]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

 

Sir, I have no problem with the idea of Dusty being criticized by Smith. Had Dusty done the interview, I would have expected Smith to ask hard questions.

 

Hah! Smith would have sat there and talked about how great Dusty is and how tough this must be on him.

[RynoRules]

I don't understand why people warned Dusty about this. What, is he too good of a man to have to face people who will actually be critical of him? I'm sure the show wouldn't have turned into a boofest.

 

Sir, I have no problem with the idea of Dusty being criticized by Smith. Had Dusty done the interview, I would have expected Smith to ask hard questions. But I have a sincere problem with Dusty agreeing to do the show in good faith, only to have the show's producers EMail Cubs fans, asking them to BOO Dusty in the studio. That is backhanded, it is juvenile, and it is unfair. It seemed to absolutely be a rating's ploy on their part. It seemed like something worthy of Springer, not of ESPN.

 

I dislike Dusty Baker. I want the Cubs to fire him. If I'm at a game, I will boo him. If he was ever gracious enough to agree to an interview with me, I would not arrange to have Cub fans heckle him from a distance. It's unfair. Simple as that.

 

I read your comments in this morning's Trib and agree with all of them. Well done.

[goonys evil twin]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

 

 

How many Cubs fans do you really think they thought they could get to go to Times Square and boo Dusty.

 

 

 

Something out of nothing I say.

[KurtEvans]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

If it was a joke, then they should have said it was a joke. Instead, they have denied that anyone from ESPN encouraged Cub fans to boo Dusty, and have accused Cubs blogs and Deadspin of doctoring the original EMail.

 

I believe that they were courting the controversy. They wanted Dusty because he might soon be fired, and they wanted fans to heckle Dusty because it would look good on TV. That show has terrible ratings, so it reaks of a ratings ploy to me.

 

All I did was write one article on the subject. I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't.

[goonys evil twin]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

If it was a joke, then they should have said it was a joke. Instead, they have denied that anyone from ESPN encouraged Cub fans to boo Dusty, and have accused Cubs blogs and Deadspin of doctoring the original EMail.

 

I believe that they were courting the controversy. They wanted Dusty because he might soon be fired, and they wanted fans to heckle Dusty because it would look good on TV. That show has terrible ratings, so it reaks of a ratings ploy to me.

 

All I did was write one article on the subject. I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't.

 

You wrote one article, then wrote another about it, then went to another board to talk about it. Doesn't seem like you are that unhappy it hasn't gone away.

 

If they were doing the show from the Cubby Bear then your claims might have some merit. But to think that the show thought they'd get a bunch of Cubs fans heckling Dusty at a show that nobody watches is a pretty big leap. I still think it looks like a joke that you took way too seriously.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

It seems to me if they weren't asking for people to come and boo, they shouldn't have been recruiting from a fanbase largely based in Chicago. Is the show that bad off that they cannot get Cubs fans in NYC to come to Times Square?

[badger1679666666]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

If it was a joke, then they should have said it was a joke. Instead, they have denied that anyone from ESPN encouraged Cub fans to boo Dusty, and have accused Cubs blogs and Deadspin of doctoring the original EMail.

 

I believe that they were courting the controversy. They wanted Dusty because he might soon be fired, and they wanted fans to heckle Dusty because it would look good on TV. That show has terrible ratings, so it reaks of a ratings ploy to me.

 

All I did was write one article on the subject. I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't.

 

Looks like you got an appearance on the show cancelled because you didn't know how to read into a clear off the cuff joke "You can boo Dusty if you want".

 

If that's recruiting people to boo dusty, me and you have very different ideas of what "recruiting" is. Seems like you got involved in something you shouldn't have.

[CubColtPacer]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

If it was a joke, then they should have said it was a joke. Instead, they have denied that anyone from ESPN encouraged Cub fans to boo Dusty, and have accused Cubs blogs and Deadspin of doctoring the original EMail.

 

I believe that they were courting the controversy. They wanted Dusty because he might soon be fired, and they wanted fans to heckle Dusty because it would look good on TV. That show has terrible ratings, so it reaks of a ratings ploy to me.

 

All I did was write one article on the subject. I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't.

 

Looks like you got an appearance on the show cancelled because you didn't know how to read into a clear off the cuff joke "You can boo Dusty if you want".

 

If that's recruiting people to boo dusty, me and you have very different ideas of what "recruiting" is. Seems like you got involved in something you shouldn't have.

 

All he did was forward the e-mail on to Kasper. If Kasper thought it was a joke, he never would have shown it to anybody. When he showed it to Dusty, if Dusty had thought it was a joke, he wouldn't have canceled. If the Tribune had thought it was a joke, they wouldn't have written an entire article over it. It may have been a joke-but Kurt wasn't the only one who was pretty sure it wasn't.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I honestly feel that Kurt did the right thing here. Did he over-react? I dont think he did. I dont like Dusty, but to ambush him on air is just stupid, and I'm sorry, I dont place the people in Bristol much higher then the people running Jerry Springer. A show with those ratings is begging for some attention.

[goonys evil twin]

I honestly feel that Kurt did the right thing here. Did he over-react? I dont think he did. I dont like Dusty, but to ambush him on air is just stupid, and I'm sorry, I dont place the people in Bristol much higher then the people running Jerry Springer. A show with those ratings is begging for some attention.

 

Then why didn't they go to Chicago to do the show, where they would actually have a chance to get people to boo Dusty?

[goonys evil twin]

The funny thing is, that show got more promotion out of this story than it ever would have if they even managed to get a couple Cubs fans to go to the taping just to boo Dusty.

 

 

It's bad enough that you "saved" Dusty from possibly facing critics, but you've also given undue attention to a terrible show.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I honestly feel that Kurt did the right thing here. Did he over-react? I dont think he did. I dont like Dusty, but to ambush him on air is just stupid, and I'm sorry, I dont place the people in Bristol much higher then the people running Jerry Springer. A show with those ratings is begging for some attention.

 

Then why didn't they go to Chicago to do the show, where they would actually have a chance to get people to boo Dusty?

 

why would they have to if they could get them to go to the show in NY?

 

I do agree with your assertation of the undue attention Smith will get becuase of Kurt, however.

[KurtEvans]

Looks like you tried to make it more dramatic than it was. They sarcastically said you can boo him if you want, in what seems pretty clear it was a joke. They did not recruit people with the intent to boo Dusty.

 

If it was a joke, then they should have said it was a joke. Instead, they have denied that anyone from ESPN encouraged Cub fans to boo Dusty, and have accused Cubs blogs and Deadspin of doctoring the original EMail.

 

I believe that they were courting the controversy. They wanted Dusty because he might soon be fired, and they wanted fans to heckle Dusty because it would look good on TV. That show has terrible ratings, so it reaks of a ratings ploy to me.

 

All I did was write one article on the subject. I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't.

 

You wrote one article, then wrote another about it, then went to another board to talk about it. Doesn't seem like you are that unhappy it hasn't gone away.

 

I expected the whole thing to go away. It didn't. So, I kept writing about it. Three days later, Dusty cancelled his appearance.

 

I have mixed feelings about the ordeal. I really don't want anyone to lose their jobs over this, and I get the feeling that the person who sent the initial EMails must be in trouble. I feel sorry for Stephen A. Smith because I don't want his show to fail, although in no way is any one incident responsible for that. I'm also thrilled by the publicity for the site I write for, and am glad that Dusty avoided the ambush. However, I wasn't courting it. I didn't EMail Teddy Greenstein, and I didn't ask Len to "tell Dusty that Goatriders thinks he should stay home." In fact, until today's post, I didn't tell ANYBODY that I asked Len to tell Dusty, and I only mentioned it then because Greenstein had heard about it from other sources.

 

Anyway, I think the story is interesting, and I happen to be a small part of it. Regardless of your opinion on my intent, it was all along a hope that Dusty wouldn't get ambushed. In that sense, mission accomplished.

[ToupeeOnFire]

The funny thing is, that show got more promotion out of this story than it ever would have if they even managed to get a couple Cubs fans to go to the taping just to boo Dusty.

 

 

It's bad enough that you "saved" Dusty from possibly facing critics, but you've also given undue attention to a terrible show.

Oh please. I'm sure the producers of the "Screamin'" Stephen A. Show are basking in all of the attention that they've received from all the controversy generated by a couple of podunk blogs (no offense to the bloggers, but in the grand scheme of things, your blogs - Deadspin included - qualify as podunk) and a Ted Greenstein article in the Tribune.

 

And quite frankly (no pun intended), even if Dusty were to face a hostile crowd, my bet would be that he comes off looking sympathetic. Besides, Hendry isn't going to base his decision on whether to hire or fire Dusty based on a TV show that nobody watches.

[goonys evil twin]

The funny thing is, that show got more promotion out of this story than it ever would have if they even managed to get a couple Cubs fans to go to the taping just to boo Dusty.

 

 

It's bad enough that you "saved" Dusty from possibly facing critics, but you've also given undue attention to a terrible show.

Oh please. I'm sure the producers of the "Screamin'" Stephen A. Show are basking in all of the attention that they've received from all the controversy generated by a couple of podunk blogs (no offense to the bloggers, but in the grand scheme of things, your blogs - Deadspin included - qualify as podunk) and a Ted Greenstein article in the Tribune.

 

Consider his ratings, even if only a dozen people who read that article or the blogs watch the show in the future, that could double or triple his audience.

 

And quite frankly (no pun intended), even if Dusty were to face a hostile crowd, my bet would be that he comes off looking sympathetic. Besides, Hendry isn't going to base his decision on whether to hire or fire Dusty based on a TV show that nobody watches.

 

Which is why I don't understand why somebody is trying to take on the hero role of saving Dusty from an "ambush".

 

You protect Dusty from critics (even when the likelihood of critics being around was extremely low) and sympathize with Stephan A. Smith at the same time and I just can't much support for your cause.

 

 

 

I honestly feel that Kurt did the right thing here. Did he over-react? I dont think he did. I dont like Dusty, but to ambush him on air is just stupid, and I'm sorry, I dont place the people in Bristol much higher then the people running Jerry Springer. A show with those ratings is begging for some attention.

 

 

Then why didn't they go to Chicago to do the show, where they would actually have a chance to get people to boo Dusty?

 

 

why would they have to if they could get them to go to the show in NY?

 

The point is they couldn't. The boo line wasn't going to attract Cubs fans to the show in NY.

 

They didn't try to get people to boo, they said they could if they wanted to. That's like saying that the Tribune is inviting fans to boo at Wrigley simply by allowing them to show up and boo.

 

Somebody is trying to make it look like the producers had this secret plan of flying in 100 Cubs fans to perform a punk'd episode on Dusty, when that isn't even close to the truth.

[abuck1220]

sorry, but i can't support anyone who doesn't want to see that guy's show fail. he's terrible.

[treebird]

well, somebody new read your blog and you got to be an f-list internet sports celebrity for about 30 seconds, so i guess it worked out in your favor. kinda lame if you ask me though.