Feeling wronged, ex-Met manager Bobby Valentine lit into WFAN host Sid Rosenberg in an off-the-air, four-minute, expletive-filled barrage last Friday.
After a published report said Valentine told Yankee GM Brian Cashman that one of Armando Benitez’ biggest problems in the Mets’ clubhouse was John Franco’s back-stabbing, Rosenberg said he knows Franco and found it hard to believe he would do something like that.
Rosenberg added he could see Valentine acting “vindictive.”
“I just threw something out there like we do all the time,” Rosenberg said.
After hearing Rosenberg’s remarks, Valentine – now an ESPN baseball analyst – called the station, first trying to contact WFAN’s GM, Lee Davis. With Davis on vacation, Valentine was transferred to producer Eddie Scozzare.
Eyeing potentially explosive radio, Scozzare asked Valentine twice if he wanted to go on the air. Valentine declined ,instead giving Scozzare his cell number.
During a break, Rosenberg called Valentine. Valentine laced into Rosenberg, wondering, between off-color words, how telling Cashman something was somehow retaliating at Franco.
“I have never heard somebody so angry in my life,” said Rosenberg, who pointed out his Brooklyn roots to show the severity of that statement.
Valentine felt wronged and wanted to hold Rosenberg accountable.
“I hope that I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by using the descriptive words that I used and being a little vocal,” Valentine said. “I just called because they were off-base on their premise of their programming.”
* Working solo Monday, WFAN’s Mike Francesa repeatedly referred to Met rookie starter Aaron Heilman as “Eric.” He also asked, “What’s Duncan’s first name?” It’s Jeff.
This is noteworthy because Francesa presents himself as the man who knows everything. Francesa, though, did say later, he “didn’t want to get on the kids.” How could he? He doesn’t know their names.
* On Saturday, NBC devalued the Sybase Big Apple Classic when it didn’t show Hee Won Han’s attempt on the 18th hole to tie Meg Mallon for the third-round lead. Instead, at 4 p.m., NBC switched to its celebrity golf even, so as not to miss one misguided swing by Charles Barkley, et al.
Basically, NBC’s decision came down to ratings. The celebrity event draws more viewers, while the Big Apple Classic bought time to be on NBC. Still, if you invested two hours on Saturday into woman’s golf, it was like watching a baseball game and not being able to see the ninth inning.
“The event is not concluding on Saturday,” NBC spokesman Kevin Sullivan said.
On Sunday, to NBC’s credit, it did stay 15 minutes past the scheduled sign off time as Han won.
