I’ve got a few basic principals of sports radio. One of them is “say what you believe, not what you think your listeners believe”. WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti put that on display last week.
Much has been made about Kyrie Irving’s mind-numbingly stupid decision to tweet out a link to an anti-Semitic film on Amazon Prime Video, and the lack of responsibility he took for his actions, and the lack of discipline from the NBA.
Giannotti went on a rant Wednesday about the situation, reaching the point of shouting several times as his co-host, Boomer Esiason, sat quietly to take in his partner’s thoughts, even stifling laughs at times because of Giannotti’s comments.
“Nobody’s doing anything about it!,” Giannotti shouted. “What world are we living in?! Honestly! There was the Sacramento Kings play-by-play guy that tweeted out ‘All Lives Matter’ and was fired in 10 seconds! 10 seconds his ass was on the street! Kyrie Irving is posting about a video that says the Holocaust didn’t happen and he’s dodging the media, and playing in NBA games! And getting paid a gazillion dollars! Where are the rational people?! Where did you go?! Where are the people with guts?! Where are you?! Why are we afraid of this a-hole?! Why are we afraid of him?!”
This isn’t to say that the Giannotti’s take on the situation was the best I saw last week. Nick Wright had a fantastic opinion on why Irving’s sentiments and reactions were inappropriate and wrong, as did 670 The Score host Dan Bernstein. But the reason Giannotti’s opinion on the matter stood out to me, and maybe it’s just easier to pull off in New York — a market known for its vitriol to it’s own players — is because that’s the home market for Irving.
Not to be hyperbolic, but damn near anyone can get on the radio and defend the players on their market’s team. To borrow a phrase from the political sphere, there are a lot of radio hosts “playing to their base” these days. Playing defense of “your” players and coaches is easy. Going on the offense and being critical and pointing out the absurdity of the situation takes guts.
I worked in a market dominated by interest in Ohio State and the Cleveland Browns. When it was clear in 2018 that Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was knowledgeable that one of his assistants was guilty of domestic violence, it wasn’t popular to say he deserved to face repercussions for his actions, but it was right. When the Cleveland Browns traded for an accused sexual predator, it wasn’t popular to say that might not be the world’s greatest decision, but it was right. It’s easy to look past things that make our favorite teams and players look bad. It’s difficult to confront them.
So to see Giannotti not only take on Kyrie Irving’s idiotic take, his childish nature, and call out what is wrong, but slam the franchise and the league as whole, was refreshing. To hear a host shout “It’s obvious what you do. You do the right thing!” about a player in his own market shouldn’t be the outlier. It should be the rule. And it gave me hope that some day others will see that being more than just PR for the players and franchises in your market, is a great way to operate.
Gregg Giannotti took the difficult route. Believe me, I understand the allure of feeling as popular as Taylor Swift while she says “What’s going on, New York!” from the stage as the audience roars in approval because “Yes! That’s where I’m from and am currently located!”, but having a conscience is a whole lot cooler.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
