[h2]Warriors-commenter twist: Looks like Flunkster Dude had an off-site flunky[/h2]
Posted by
Tim Kawakami on May 30th, 2009 at 9:47 am | Categorized as
NBA,
Warriors
This is not a big development in the Flunkster Chroncles, but this little wrinkle in Warriors PR Wonder is further reinforcement of that bizarre, seething, comment-addicted cult over there.
They just cannot help themselves. They're righteous beings, put upon by us downbeat scoundrels. Hey, I can't complain about the comments: Helps the view-time average on all of our blogs.
Post all the comments you want, fellahs, you're welcome here, though you may be occasionally pointed out as fringe-y cultists. The Cohan Illuminati. Just don't put on Nikes and wear purple vestaments. At least not in public.
As suspected, it's very possible and indeed almost certain that Flunkster Dude did not toil and type alone these last few years. This was a serial thing, I think, and may still be. (Let's see what happens to the comment board on this item.)
FD had at least one spiritual twin who was wise enough not to use Warriors computers to post his or her anonymous comments.
Let's be frank: It's a big and lonely job to man-up in public (anonymously) for an owner whose only notable supporters are those he employs.
FD had support. Maybe he didn't know he had support, but it's also possible that he had a loyal flunky, a designated spare anonymous commenter always ready to step in to defend Chris Cohan when others wearied of typing from the Warriors own IP address, though certainly not as focused as FD.
A Flunkster No. 2. A sidekick, if only in spirit.
I always figured this to be true and Adam Lauridsen filled in the necessary blanks in a
post from earlier this week which detailed several more anonymous comments from the Warriors IP address (this time on his blog) and then one that particularly got my attention.
There was one post on Adam's blog that did NOT come from the Warriors HQ but was too suspicious in tone and content to ignore.
Adam first wrote about this comment when it posted on his site in '07. I guess I missed it back then; thank goodness he mentioned it again, especially as I'm fairly zeroed in on the Warriors PR festivities of Flunkster Dude and all of his anonymous, Chris Cohan-loving progeny.
Adam detailed an Aug. 2007 anon-comment defending Chris Cohan's financial commitment and Adam noted that the anonymous comment mentioned
the same players in the same order as an interview a certain Warriors-tied TV Announcer did with WarriorsWorld.net
at the same time.
Yes, how interesting. Thanks again to Adam for making that connection.
-Here's the TC Firehouse comment on Adam's blog:
Let's see- Cohan paid Dampier, Caffey, Fortson, Antawn, Jason, Murphy, Dunleavy, Fisher and Foyle.
You are right, he must be cheap. I want so see some "actions" to prove otherwise. Adam, you are better than that.
That was not written by Raymond Ridder, no way. That was written by an angrier, even-more-culty person, someone who doesn't work every day in the Warriors offices. But still was compelled to stand up for Chris Cohan.
The anonymous commenter's screen name sounded familiar, and
especially that last ("
you are better than that") line sounded exceedingly familiar to me, since it has been included in several e-mails I've received, unbidden.
I figured this familiar person had commented on my blog before. I checked and yes indeed I found a "TC Firehouse"-signed comment on my blog. Also from Aug 2007 (busy!).
* Here's the Firehouse-signed comment on my blog, responding to an item I wrote about Al Harrington:
TC Firehouse/
Let's see…Harrington can't defend, can't rebound, won't pass, can't make a layup, poor foul shooter and was benched during the Dallas series (Warriors win), started playing against Utah (Warriors lost).
I think I'd still rather have Troy Murphy. Same offensive game, MUCH better rebounder, better passer and smarter player. Throw in Sarunas wasted money and the only part of the Indy deal that looks good is Jackson for Dunleavy (which looks very good).
From Al Harrington isn't Garnett, but can he help the Warriors fake it?, 2007/08/04 at 3:43 PM.
--
Back to me: So I had that IP address. Out of curiosity, I searched for any more comments left by that address. I found several, all with new and different screen names, yet the same IP address.
And they had the same style of writing, with some variations of theme, though most of them referenced Notre Dame and none of them mentioned Cohan specifically.
Adam got the big blast of Cohan-defense. I got other stuff from this specific IP address. Adam's comment is directly relevant to the PR cause. The ones sent to me are just… funny. I find it all hilarious, actually.
And not surprising at all that at least one of the cultists would shadow my blog.
The specific comment topics: Criticism of me, defense of Troy Murphy and one rip of Tyrone Willingham. Hmm, that does sound like a specific person writing these comments. You'd think a Notre Dame guy. Can't quite put my finger on it…
To the comments (sorry, I really have trouble keeping the fonts normal when I transfer over these comments. It's a standard problem I have. I apologize in advance)…
**** The first one was in response to me listing a ton of potential candidates to replace Mike Nolan, and yes, I mentioned Tyrone Willingham, who I knew John York liked. But "T Connelly" did not approve of the mention.
The comment:
T Connelly/
Excellent research and some good thoughts. Did enjoy the funniest line of the whole piece- "Tyrone Willingham is a good fit at Washington". 9-21 and a career .500 coach over 13 years in college with only 5 winning seasons. Yeah, that should get someone an NFL head coaching job. Almost spit my breakfast out I was laughing so hard.
From Could the 49ers find somebody better than Nolan? Let's make a list and see, 2007/10/24 at 10:10 PM.
*** This next comment was in response to something I wrote about Don Nelson, and no, the comment really seems out of place, oh well, probably meant to put it near my "Greatest Wariors" moments item, I'd assume.
Tommy T
Sleepy Floyd the second best moment?? They lost the series 4-1. Not sure his 51 was even better than Jamsion going for 50 and 51 other than regular season vs. post-season.
Win over the Bulls in Game 7, Warriors beating Dallas, FAR more significant in Warrior and NBA history.
From
Nelson reflects on the mega-trade, Sacramento job (plus Bill Walton loves Nellie), 2007/05/12 at 12:30
*** This next comment was in response to me saying that the blog would go dark for a few days of vacation:
Tommy T
Tim,
in your world, it must be great that we got rid of Troy Murphy for the Great Al Harrington. He has had such a huge impact on this series. Let's see, can't make a jumper, can't make a free throw, doesn't guard or rebound and can't make a lay-up. Stephen Jackson for Dunleavy was the genius trade. 20 and 12 for Murphy? If Harrington's series totals add up to that I'd be surprised. And why don't we read your grilling Chris Mullin for signing Murphy? If Mullin and Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird think he can play, I'd trust their opinions over your petty bitterness. As I recall you never wanted the Warriors to draft Richardson either.
Again, I emphasize, there's nothing directly Warriors PR-related on these items. Nothing. This is a minor batch of comments.
I imagine the "TC Firehouse" commenter wised up after Oct '07 and made sure to start switching the IP address to an account that could no longer be traced to a specific Bay Area city.
I can't imagine that the commenter stopped commenting cold turkey on my blog in '07, but perhaps it is possible.
More likely, these anon-comments are just another sign of Warriors rancid loopiness-Cohan and Rowell seem to attract that kind of person and voice… and they run off any sign of free and independent thinking.
What's left surrounding them are the Cohan zealots and raging agenda-promoters, and they cannot resist shrieking out their arguments on the most readily available blog comment boards.
Anonymously. Weirdly. Nervously. Poorly.
I guarantee you, whoever they are, they're most certainly NOT better than that.
[h2]
KNBR "Fitz" Producers Refuse Warriors Fans to Discuss "Anon" Posts[/h2]
This is essentially a post from my original column, but worthy of a seperate mention.
KNBR's Bob Fitzgerald, who may have posted annonymous comments about the Warriors, (see earlier post/story below) has remained silent and refuses to comment on this story. His only comment: "no comment."And loads of e-mail from the biggest Warriors fan's web page, (
warriorsworld.net) have stated they tried to call into KNBR this afternoon during the "Fitz and Brooks" show to ask Fitzgerald himself, and producers hung up on them and stated that "Bob doesn't want to talk about it."
Indeed, I even called into the switchboard, identified myself, and was subsequently told "no" to any mention of that topic. Stay tuned.
Developing Story...
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FOLLOW UP: 5: 09 PST: still not a peep from Fitzgerald and/or KNBR. I would assume as long as this peculiar silence stays the same, the more to this contention about Fitz' annonymous posts and KNBR's refusal to allow any form of comment/discussion of this matter. I'll keep following up and try to stay on this.
FINAL UPDATE FOR TONIGHT: 6: 44 PST: After over 175 e-mails, (I got 'em all) and quite a bit of unexpected passion, I'm going to put a kabosh on this for tonight; having said that, I do believe that there's "legs" to this story, and whether or not Mr. Fitzgerald cops to the annonymous postings, (in my opinion, his silence speaks volumes) is not really the issue here anymore. What
IS the issue is how KNBR completely disallowed any comment(s) on this affair. Why? Did KNBR have something to hide? Why did not ONE, not 1 host mention this mess when it's all over the Bay Area sports blogs,
WarriorsWorld in particular? I have a pretty good idea, and I'll opine on that issue and comment more about the crappola taking place at the so-called, "Sports Leader."
Posted By:
Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman (
Email) | Jun 01 at 02:37 PM
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KNBR/ Fitzgerald's 'Silence' about W's "Anon Posts"--Won't take calls on Subject.[/h2]
Tim Kawakami writes a blog called
"Talking Points" for the San Jose Merc. He's generally regarded in Bay Area media circles as credible, fair, and tenacious. I agree.
A few weeks ago, Kawakami, who also writes a column for the print edition of the Merc, broke the "
flunkster dude" story, having to do with the revalation that
Warriors PR head,
Ray Ridder was posting pro-GS statements on a fan web site, under an anonymous username, ("flunkster dude")No biggie really; the story was more of an "inside baseball" angle in my book--was Ridder wrong? Yes, but he's a PR guy, (and a good one) and in that context, I don't think it's that big a deal, but again, that's not the issue here.The story pretty much died, except on Warriors fan sites like
warriorsworld.com, where it was topic A for obvious reasons.Last Saturday, however, the story picked up a different twist and gained a little steam.Kawakami received an e-mail from a fan who noticed a series of pro-Warriors/Chris Cohan comments, and mentioned to Tim that the comments had similar wording in each post.That prompted Kawakami to research his own readers comments on various posts regarding the W's and Kawakami discovered several comments, (under different usernames, but with the same IP address) that were almost word-for-word identical. The posts were almost all Golden State-related, but several also made references to Notre Dame. Humn.Kawakami affirmed bluntly that these latest-discovered internet comments were
NOT written by Ray Ridder. And the newly-discovered "anon" comments, (from Merc reader/W's fan,
Adam Lauridsen, who was mindful enough to do his own investigative work) makes the obvious inference: Warriors play-by-play broadcaster,
Bob Fitzgerald, wrote the anonymous posts, using different usernames.I e-mailed Fitzgerald three different times for a comment to this story, and asked him, point blank, if he indeed posted the comments, and received no response.Curiously, "
Fitz" made no mention of the Ridder story on his
KNBR talk show, and not one caller refered to it, although on the blogs and Warriors message boards, a few contended they wanted to talk about it and were shunned by KNBR producers. One particular person said they we're hung up on.In addition, Fitzgerald, who happens to be a Notre Dame alum, and has made numerous anti-Ty Willingham remarks, on-air, (Willingham coached at ND for three years, before being fired) has been fiercely pro-Warriors on his show. No biggie, he
IS the team play-by-play broadcaster, and has a right to 'toe the company line. Including making posts about the team on message boards, but annonymously? That wouldn't be such a big deal, but when you make a point of belittling the original article, there's a problem there. Hypocrisy comes to mind.As for KNBR, as I indicated, this issue, other than a passing reference from a couple of shows, has generated ZERO comments, either from any of the hosts or callers, even though it's topic A all over the Bay Area sports blogs, (just do a google search and see for yourself) And keep in mind that KNBR is the flagship station for the Warriors.To be fair, the NBA playoffs and Giants are usually huge grist for the mill, but Saturday's Kawakami item, and it was lengthy and well-documented, deserves at least
some explanation and comment from Fitzgerald. And so far, he's been amazingly
SILENT. This isn't life or death, or even a Watergate cover-up, but it involves credibility issues. Warriors fans are passionate and loyal to the core. They deserve a response. Or, at the very least, an explanation. An acknowledgement? Something. So far, the silence speaks volumes.UPDATE: Just got an e-mail back from Fitzgerald, who refused to comment for this story.UPDATE: 2: 09 PST--About twenty minutes ago, I called in to KNBR's switchboard, and after saying I wanted to ask "Fitz" about the issue, his producer said, "Bob doesn't want to talk about that." Then, a hang-up. I've also received throngs of e-mails, (over 50 as of a minute ago) from Warriorsworld.net members that, they too, have tried calling KNBR, and were hung up on...Fitzgerald has not mentioned nor acknowledged the story, and his continued silence on the matter, in addition to KNBR's producers refusal to allow discussion on this subject leads me to believe this issue has some teeth to it. I'll continue to follow up.
