98.5 The Sports Hub host Mike Felger has responded to a San Francisco Chronicle columnist ripping the Boston media personality for his “zombie apocalypse” rant about the California city during Super Bowl week.
Felger, Tony Massarotti, and “Big Jim” Murray have been out in San Fran this week on Radio Row before Super Bowl 60 between the Patriots and Seahawks.
During a Tuesday segment, Felger asked the “Felger and Mazz” panel about their thoughts of the Super Bowl host city.
Massarotti said the city has “plummeted” in the last decade.
“It is filthy,” Mazz said. “You know, there’s crap all over the sidewalks. Dogs taking a leak practically on your feet. It’s a mess. I used to love coming here, and I do like the food of the city, like the food here is great, but man, what a dump it has turned into.”
Felger said officials need to “get a grip” on the city’s major open-air drug problem.
“Holy crap, like what has happened here?” Mazz responded.
“It’s not just squalor, it’s not just homelessness,” Felger added. “It is the tweaked-out, drugged-out element that is too close to everything else.”
“It’s borderline post-apocalyptic,” Mazz said.
“I deemed it the zombie apocalypse in 2016, and it is the zombie apocalypse,” Felger said. “… Like out of a horror movie, tweaked out, drug element is just, it’s a lot. It’s a lot… You’ve gotta figure this out in some way, shape, or form.”
Felger had two pieces of advice for people heading to San Fran.
“Head on a swivel, just be aware of your surroundings, and seek higher ground,” Felger said. “The higher you go, the neighborhoods automatically get a little nicer the higher you go, and I think it’s because the zombies can’t walk up the hills.”
The “Felger and Mazz” hosts then came under fire for their comments in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Their Culture Critic, Peter Hartlaub, took aim at the Boston radio personalities in a piece headlined, “Are all Patriots fans this soft? Boston radio hosts mock S.F. in idiotic Super Bowl tirade.”
Hartlaub wrote, “I’ve seen the city’s street dynamic bring out the best in people, locals and tourists alike. Some carry Narcan that will save a life. Some donate their money or time to places such as Glide Memorial Church or the St. Anthony Foundation. Some visit the city, see people hurting and dedicate the rest of their lives to helping.
“And some go on their radio program to reveal just how much they’ve failed at being a basic human being,” the columnist wrote, later adding, “A zombie apocalypse? Are all adult male Patriots fans this fragile and soft?”
The columnist wrote that the city is “an empathy test.”
Felger addressed the column during “Felger and Mazz” on Thursday.
“Empathy is not one of my great traits,” Felger said. “So these quotes sound like I’m not empathetic, for sure, guilty as charged. But I do have sympathy. That’s why it’s so hard to look at. It’s so hard to look at these people in parts of the city, and I don’t know how anyone can think it’s OK.”
Felger noted that he does “really like” the city.
“But what’s going on outside of our hotel is not OK,” Felger added. “Like that’s just not OK. And as a city, I can’t believe that there are a significant number of people in this city who are OK with that… It blows me away, that I guess, the acceptance level of it.”
The columnist called Felger a “soft” Patriots fan, but he actually grew up in Wisconsin and is a Green Bay Packers fan.