Toucher and Rich are dominating morning drive ratings in Boston. So when they mentioned on this morning’s show they had a “master class in sports broadcasting,” one’s ears perk.
Co-host Rich Shertenlieb began the segment by saying that he is about to present a “how-to and how not-to handle certain things”. This all came from audio over the long holiday weekend. He started with a station favorite. “If you didn’t see it, Cedric Maxwell was just a rock star,” Rich continued.
Cedric Maxwell, a former Boston Celtic and current radio color commentator for the team, was asked to be a part of the trophy presentation to the winning Celtics. Lisa Salters, ESPN’s on-court began and introduced Maxwell for the first presentation, the Eastern Conference Championship. After a brief session interviewing Al Horford, Salters was back to introduce the inaugural Larry Bird trophy (presented to the Eastern Conference Finals MVP). Salters invited Maxwell back to introduce to recipient and he sounded even more comfortable.
“Girl, it is a pleasure to be on top. Now for me to give this MVP trophy out, let me see here, Jayson Tatum”.
The show also played the audio of Maxwell still on the court interrupting Stephen A. Smith’s live hit with Scott Van Pelt after the game.
“How about then damn Celtics,” boomed the voice of Maxwell. “Man, how about them damn Celtics!”
Toucher & Rich are huge fans of Cedric Maxwell. They’ve had him on the show many times (including this morning) and frequently play his wild, sometimes incomprehensible reactions to Celtics moments on the court.
The show then juxtaposed those moments with “another person working the postgame or should I say post-fight interview,” Rich began. “Fred, that would be your best buddy, Jim Gray”.
It is important to note that Toucher & Rich have a history with Jim Gray that dates back to a tense interview on radio row at the Super Bowl in 2019. Since then, the show has not minced words about Gray.
Gray was working the boxing event for Showtime on Saturday. The moment in question came after Gervonta “Tank” Davis knocked out Rolly Romero. Gray asked about Davis’ future and future opponents when Davis said this:
“I’m here baby. I’m here. Whatever they want to do I’m here, baby! Ain’t no safety on this glock, you know? Ain’t no safety on this glock and I got a lot of ammunition.”
Gray pulled the microphone back and added “let’s stay away from guns, this is an awful time in our nation. I know you’re just meaning this in terms of boxing.”
That’s when Toucher made the sad trombone sound with his mouth and Rich asked, “Are you kidding me with that?
Toucher then opined “when you start clarifying with ‘I know you didn’t mean it that way’ then maybe don’t say anything.”
It’s also worthy of noting that moments after the Davis fight, there was a false alarm at the Barclays Center when someone reported hearing gunshots.
Rich concluded the segment by expressing how happy he was for Maxwell. “I felt happy for him. I saw him on TV and I was like ‘Max! This is great!”
