His career as a professional athlete isn't the sole reason WEEI's Lou Merloni is a good radio host, but it certainly has helped.
The entertaining and opinionated Merloni, co-host of Merloni and Fauria, spent parts of nine seasons in the major leagues with the Red Sox, Angels, Indians (now the Guardians), and Padres. He also spent portions of 15 straight years in the minor leagues and even did a stint in Japan.
One of the biggest clichés in all of sports is that baseball is a game of adjustments. The pitcher adjusts to the hitter. The hitter adjusts to the pitcher. Players have to adjust to the ballpark. And in Merloni's case, you're adjusting constantly to which roster you're on and which teammates you're playing with.
"I played with people all over the country, all over the world," Merloni told BSM. "Understanding people, and kind of being like, okay, this is maybe what makes this guy tick or that guy tick. I think those things have helped me (in radio) as well."
Since breaking into the media in 2008, Merloni has worked with different radio partners including Mike Mutnansky, Tim Benz, Glenn Ordway, and current co-host Christian Fauria. Merloni has worked on two-person and three-person radio shows, served as a color commentator on Red Sox radio broadcasts, done pre- and post-game television work on the NESN, not to mention shows on NBC Sports Boston alongside his radio rival, Mike Felger, of 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Merloni continues to adjust today, as his responsibilities on Merloni and Fauria have recently shifted. Since the retirement of former co-host and longtime Boston radio stalwart Glenn Ordway in 2021, Merloni has found himself as the driver of the show—a role we don't typically see former athletes in.
"I've tried to learn as much as I can from (Ordway), but there's definitely a transition in being this guy that was just in the second chair to all of a sudden trying to host the show," he said. "It's something that you still struggle with or still work on. He was a host. And it's funny, when you are not in that position you don't realize what's asked of you, filling in the gaps and the direction of the show and keeping it on line."
Maybe that will change in the coming weeks. Of course, it was just hours after my deadline that Lou and partner Christian Fauria announced that Meghan Ottolini would be joining their show as the new full-time co-host.
It has certainly been my experience in radio that when the main driver of a show is gone, the others tend to do the show a little looser. It's often less structured and more of a free-for-all. You've all seen it. Heck, some of you are even guilty of it. But for Merloni without Ordway? The opposite is happening.
"I think because I'm new at it, I'm keeping it more in line," Merloni said. "He would have a little bit more flexibility and that's something I've got to kind of learn sometimes as well at times. So for me, I'm constantly trying to do the fundamentals correctly because I'm new at it. Whether it's teasing, or whether it's staying on the clock, it's something I try to focus on as much as possible just because I'm still trying to feel my way through it and get better at it."
While the ability to adjust is one critical trait that crosses over between professional athlete and radio host, it's not the only one for Merloni. The ability to be coachable and the desire to compete and be better drive him, and his current partner in Fauria.
"I think one of the things about being an athlete, and this is where I think Christian and I are similar, is that both of us just want to be better," he said. "When you're an athlete, it's like, if I'm not swinging the bat well, I want my hitting coach to come up to me say 'you're doing this wrong'. I'm not going to take that personally because you're trying to help me. And if that's what I've got to do, then that's what I'm going to do. Because I just want that final goal of excelling and being the best that I can be."
As Merloni continues to build towards the best version of his media self, he isn't sure what the ultimate end game is. This offseason, he turned down a potential opportunity to be part of the Red Sox rotating cast of television color commentators.
"I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about where I'm headed," Merloni said. "And really, a big impact on my professional career is my son, who's 12 years old. He plays baseball and, when it comes to my job, I love calling Red Sox games, but there's isn't anything I love more than watching my son play sports and just spending that time. If my son was 18 and going off to college, maybe I would be in a booth permanently. I have no idea, but right now I enjoy the flexibility. The time that I'm able to spend with him, you know, the weekends, getting home for dinner and hanging out with him. That, right now, is the most important thing to me. We'll see how that changes down the road. But right now, I'm just trying to stay in the moment and enjoy what I'm doing."
Merloni doesn't know what the future will bring, but it has been quite a ride for the former infielder, who started out doing weekly appearances on The Big Show with Ordway in 2008 before ascending into a mainstay in WEEI's lineup.
But as the road eventually comes into more clarity, you can bet Merloni will adjust and adapt.
He's made a career out of it after all.
When writing one of these pieces, you are always paying attention to the narrative that emerges and trying to make everything included fit the story you're trying to tell. That means good stuff ends up on the cutting room floor.
Well, in this case, I had two questions that Lou gave great answers to, and unfortunately, I just could not find a way to work them in. Here they are, presented just as they were asked and answered.
BSM: You and Mike Felger are radio rivals, how do you handle doing a television show on NBC Sports Boston with a guy you aren't "supposed" to like?
LM: I've known Mike for a long time. I respect what he does. So for me, it's like, it is competitive but we don't play them. It's not like a one-on-one matchup for me as an athlete. So all I can do is to just worry about our show and do what I think is best. I know what the ratings are, we are getting our ass kicked, and the idea is for that to start turning around, close the gap a little bit, and then it's a little positive that you try to build on from there. Felger is good at what he does, we all know that, but our job is to kind of counterprogram that and just be the best we can be and hopefully grab people back. When I've worked with him, it's not like, "I don't want to work with you because you're the competitor" type of thing. I try to just separate it and focus on what I do, because that's the only thing that could help us.
BSM: Do you run with the whole "Angry Lou" bit or is that something you roll your eyes at?
LM: I think it was always kind of therapeutic for me at times, to be honest with you. People always say, "Oh, you're negative on the Patriots or the Celtics or something." The Angry Lou really comes out with the Red Sox. That's where it kind of started. That's what it's all about, just things bothering me with the organization at times over the years. I'm just passionate about it. It's not an act. I've got to get something off my chest and it sort of turned into this rant that organically just started happening.
No comments:
Post a Comment