Following Evan Roberts accusing the Tampa Bay Rays of cheating on WFAN’s afternoon program Carton & Roberts, numerous personalities from around the world of sports media are speaking out against him. Jay Recher if the Rays’ flagship station, 95.3 WDAE, challenged Roberts to a debate through a video he released on Twitter Wednesday.
Over the last day, the video has picked up traction and drawn interest from those around the industry, including WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti. He shared the clip of Recher with his co-host, Boomer Esiason, Friday morning on Boomer & Gio and gave sports radio listeners his perspective of the situation.
“It basically is nonsense,” Giannotti said. “There’s this whole idea of, ‘Oh, why are you going to bother giving somebody attention?’ or ‘Why would you punch down at a guy at a station like this?’ All of these things.”
Giannotti proceeded to say that nobody listens to WDAE and express just how funny it was that a sports radio host was ostensibly attempting to have people pay attention to the situation. All and all, Roberts is under siege from not just Recher, but Tampa Bay Rays fans, former Major League Baseball players and other figures from the world of sports media. Yet the response from Recher, where he offers to fly to WFAN to debate Roberts about either New York or Tampa Bay sports, comes off to Giannotti as a plea for relevancy and an attempt to channel his inner-Mike Francesa.
“This guy is just so lame, and the fact that he goes, ‘If you’re going to come at the king of the MLB this year, you best not miss,’” Giannotti mimicked as he shuffled around papers to imply that Recher was reading. “Come on. First of all, who says ‘the MLB’? That right there is total lame-ass stuff…That guy – he’s watched too much wrestling. The best is yet to come with this guy.”
Giannotti then hyperbolically repeated what Recher said, expressing how Recher was trying to make the situation as if it was DEFCON 5 in that he spoke about flying to New York City and entering the WFAN studios set for a debate. The part that confused Giannotti was how Recher said he would have to travel on his own dime, leading him to question if there was even any other choice.
“This all started because Evan accused the Tampa Bay Rays of cheating,” Esiason replied, “and he has no proof.”
As a sports radio host in the No. 1 U.S. market, Giannotti understands that a critical aspect of the medium is entertaining listeners, and he is under the assumption that it is what Recher intended to do with his video. After extended cachinnation by everyone in the WFAN studios, Esiason wondered if Roberts had ever been attacked in this manner before, to which Giannotti replied that he did not recall a similar instance.
“Honestly, I think it’s a good thing for Evan,” Giannotti said. “Generally, there aren’t articles written about what Evan has said in any way, shape or form. There’s really been nothing there. I think this is good for him.”
Giannotti believes that the remarks made by Roberts on WFAN will last the entire year, giving him a consistent talking point and something to celebrate if it turns out to be true that the team was indeed cheating. There is no concrete, bonafide evidence of anything occurring at the moment as the team is in the midst of a road trip where they play both the New York Yankees and New York Mets. The Rays currently own the best record in Major League Baseball and sit nine games ahead of the last place Yankees, but there are still plenty of games to be played to determine the final outcome of the regular season.
“If they continue to play well, then people are going to continue to go after him,” Giannotti explained pertaining to Roberts and the Rays. “If they fall apart, Evan will be like, ‘See, I told you these guys weren’t that good.’ If they are found to be doing something, then he’s all of a sudden going to scream from the top of the mountain.”
