John Ireland - FishbowlLA

Steve Mason Reveals HBO Star’s ‘Pocket Personality’

Richard Horgan — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:55:42 +0000

Today at lunchtime, a memorable pair of anecdotes were shared on 710 ESPN Radio by John Ireland and Steve Mason, chatting on the crossover with Mychal Thompson and Mark Willard.

First, Ireland recalled how he and Mason once owned a horse that started out well but then became a loss leader. They wanted to call the horse Pocket Personality, but the name was taken and they settled instead for Phone Abroad.

Mason meanwhile explained that when he worked on The Late, Late Radio Show with Tom Snyder and Steve Mason, he once asked an absolute knockout of a female guest why she was dating a certain celeb. She admitted it was because he had “pocket personality,” e.g. his wallet was the overriding attraction. Mason promised to share the details on Twitter, only, and did.

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Wife of Lakers Broadcaster John Ireland Pays It Forward

Richard Horgan — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:15:07 +0000

The tweet, sent out late this afternoon via @LAIreland, transcends the realm of professional sports:

And on this Good Friday, the news waiting at the above shortened link is indeed very Good for all those who, like us, didn’t in fact already know. Leasa Ireland, wife of ESPN AM 710 host and Lakers radio play-by-play man John, is cancer-free after an arduous, year-plus-long battle. She writes:

I was overwhelmed and blessed with amazing support from family and friends near and far. I am also extremely fortunate to have a good healthcare plan (well, pretty good), and to live in a city where great doctors and quality care are readily available.

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Twitter Assist Powers John Ireland to Memorable Game-Ending Call

Richard Horgan — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:00:22 +0000

At the conclusion of Wednesday night’s ESPN 710 broadcast of the Lakers’ 113-99 drubbing of the Boston Celtics, play-by-play man John Ireland uttered these golden words: “I guess you could say that was just what the doctor ordered…”

It was such a perfect way to close out the first Lakers match since the death of team owner Dr. Jerry Buss that on today’s edition of Mason & Ireland, colleague Mark Willard wondered if Ireland had prepared the line beforehand or come up with it on the spot. “Neither,” the broadcaster honestly replied.

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ESPN Duo Less Than Amazed by The Amazing Kreskin

Richard Horgan — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:15:18 +0000

For better or worse, this is the power of Twitter. Within seconds of hanging up the phone this afternoon with New Jersey guest The Amazing Kreskin, ESPN 710 AM host John Ireland was letting listeners know about receiving this tweet:

He also, in the same breath, apologized to the audience for having to suffer through the 20-minute Kreskin conversation. But truth be told, it wasn’t quite as bad as Ireland, colleague Steve Mason and the above fan from “The 818″ were making out.

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Mass Shooting Takes Sports Out of 710 ESPN Talk Radio Equation

Richard Horgan — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 14:00:36 +0000

The first two hours of today’s Mason & Ireland broadcast on 710 ESPN AM radio, beginning at noon with Max Kellerman sitting in for John Ireland (who is on the road traveling with the Lakers), was much like the rest of today’s tragically interrupted U.S. sports talk radio slate. The mass shooting of young children at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut was suddenly and deservedly the only topic of discussion.

Instead of people calling in to discuss Lakers losing streaks and Angels free agent signings, Steve Mason and Kellerman were fielding calls from people like a SoCal male registered nurse. The caller said that in his experience, it was not so much the quantity of mental health care available that was an issue as much as the quality of treatment. Much of what is available for people who need it, he explained, falls far below what it should be, mainly because of the higher expense of top-notch mental health treatment. This caller also chillingly suggested he has dealt with many perpetrators who were simply “pure evil.”

Ireland called in from Washington, where the Lakers play the Wizards tonight. He addressed the issue of how to talk to kids about what has happened today, and the idea that school security must become more of a consideration for parents when they select the place to send their kids.

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John Ireland, Mychal Thompson Sign Contract Extensions

Marcus Vanderberg — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:00:27 +0000

The Los Angeles Lakers radio team of John Ireland and Mychal Thompson are returning for the 2012-13 NBA season as the duo signed contract extensions Monday.

After spending years as a sideline reporter, Ireland was handed the play-by-play gig when Spero Dedes left for a radio position with the New York Knicks. Thompson has been the color analyst since the 2003-04 season.

710 AM ESPN Radio has been the flagship home of the Lakers since 2009.

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Lakers Announcer Revisits Toronto Makeup Incident That Went Viral

Richard Horgan — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:30:02 +0000

Chicago-based 411mania.com contributor Tony Farinella has posted a solid interview with 710 ESPN radio host and Lakers play-by-play man John Ireland.

It’s always a compliment when the person being interviewed notes that no one has asked them a particular question before. This happens twice to Farinella. When asked to grade his first season as a Lakers radio announcer, Ireland gives himself a B minus. The veteran journalist also says his favorite “third chair” celebrity guests on the broadcast so far have been Jamal Wilkes, David Hasselhoff, Andy Garcia and Jeannie Buss.

Ireland also revisits an infamous incident from earlier this year during which he could be seen on TV in the background of a Lakers-Raptors broadcast, applying makeup to his face. He says this was a particularly lazy version of dealing with the juxtaposition of his radio duties and a live post-game TV interview show:

“It was the sixth game of a six-game round trip. What I had done was I had always gone back to the bathroom at halftime to put my makeup on, so when the game ends, I can run right to TV.”

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Despite Colossal Dodgers Blunder, ESPN Opts for No Immediate Apology

Richard Horgan — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:15:14 +0000

LA Weekly reporter Gene Maddaus starts off his crackerjack expose of con man Dodgers bidder Josh Macciello with a dozen or so paragraphs about the duped January 2012 reporting efforts of ESPN journalists Steve Mason, John Ireland and Ramona Shelburne. To make a long story short, all three stumped for a guy eight zeroes short of any real shot at the MLB team.

Surprisingly, at least to FishbowlLA, there was no addressing of this issue at the top of this afternoon’s “Mason & Ireland” broadcast on 710 ESPN Radio. Separately, our efforts to get comment from Bristol, CT HQ generated an email response that “the network and hosts will be making no statement about this matter.”

As Kevin Roderick noted in a blog post late last night, several other LA journalists got the Macciello story wrong. But it all started with the January introduction and recall on ESPN of this individual as a vetted entity.

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Tom Hoffarth Ranks His Best and Worst TV Anchors

Marcus Vanderberg — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:38:27 +0000

It’s that time of the year when local sports personalities cringe as Daily News columnist Tom Hoffarth rolls out his annual “Best and Worst of the L.A. Sports Media.”

First up, the Top 10 anchors/reporters:

1. Curt Sandoval, KABC Channel 7 reporter/anchor

2. Jim Hill, KCBS Channel 2/KCAL Channel 9 anchor/reporter

3. Fred Roggin, KNBC Channel 4 anchor

4. Patrick O’Neal, FSW/Prime Ticket reporter/host

5. John Ireland, KCAL Channel 9/KCBS Channel 2 reporter/anchor

6. Gary Miller, KCAL Channel 9 anchor/reporter/ studio host

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Jackson Called It, Magic Deplores It

Richard Horgan — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:50:55 +0000

Last night on 710 ESPN Radio, Dave McMenamin (pictured) revisited with amazement a radio interview that former Lakers coach Phil Jackson gave to John Ireland a year ago, ahead of a team road game with the New Orleans Hornets. The Zen Master perfectly predicted the mess that is this week’s NBA veto of the Chris Paul trade.

McMenamin follows up last night’s broadcast today with an extended blog post. He tried to get in touch with Jackson for further comment, but the son of Jackson’s agent politely declined, on Phil’s behalf.

The other Lakers media voice today that really matters in the wake of Stern’s a-Paul-ing judgment call is that of the point guard in whose hallowed footsteps CP3 would have been stepping. Magic Johnson is all over the topic on Twitter, suggesting it was the wrong decision by the commish and owners involved.

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Spero Dedes Dodges DWI, Gets Knicks Radio Job

Richard Horgan — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:45:31 +0000

FishbowlLA is thrilled to hear from ESPN that former Lakers radio play-by-play man Spero Dedes has managed to circumvent some recent, personal July 4 weekend fireworks.

When Dedes was booked on a DWI in Southampton last month, much speculation ensued about whether or not the New York Knicks would back out of plans to hire him as their new radio play-by-play guy. But all is good again in the Dedes world, with the talented 32-year-old set to glide this fall from ESPN 710 Radio in LA to ESPN 1050 Radio in New York:

“I can remember walking into Madison Square Garden for my first Knicks game as a teenager and feeling the magic of the place,” Dedes said in the statement. “I’ve been in love with this franchise ever since. When I was a broadcast student at Fordham all I dreamt about was what it would feel like to be a Knicks announcer and now it’s become reality. I’m truly humbled by this opportunity, and having my family close to me again means a great deal. In addition, I’m forever grateful to the Lakers organization for my time spent there.”

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Spero Dedes Heading to New York to Cover Knicks

Matthew Fleischer — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:30:13 +0000

It was a bit of a surprise when news broke yesterday that John Ireland was replacing Spero Dedes as the Lakers’ play-by-play man for 710 AM ESPN Radio. Dedes had held the job for the past six seasons. But the Daily News’ Tom Hoffarth seems to have figured out what’s going on. He reports that Dedes has taken a job as the radio and TV play-by-play man for the New York Knicks–”a contract that will allow him to continue working for CBS on the NFL and college basketball.”

Lakers spokesman John Black told Hoffarth that prior to the Knicks deal, the Lakers had worked out a tentative verbal agreement with Dedes to handle the TV play-by-play this season, “but he had a change of heart.”

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Bill Macdonald and John Ireland to Handle Lakers Play-by-Play Next Season (If There Is One)

Matthew Fleischer — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:18:58 +0000

The NBA is probably headed for a lockout. But if there are games to be played next year, the Lakers have their radio and television play-by-play announcers nailed down. Bill Macdonald, it was announced today, will partner with long-time color commentator Stu Lantz to call TV games on Fox Sports West and KCAL 9 for the 2011-12 season, while former sideline reporter John Ireland will join Mychal Thompson on 710 AM ESPN Radio.

Both Macdonald and Ireland have four local Emmys to their names.

Macdonald is currently the host of the Fox Sports West pre-and post-game shows “Lakers Live,” “Angels Live” and “Ducks Live,” while Ireland co-hosts the Mason and Ireland Show on 710 AM ESPN Radio.

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Cleveland Cavaliers Dunk on LA Sports Media

Richard Horgan — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:00:41 +0000

Oops. That’s all that can be said today in the halls of ESPN 710 AM radio following the Lakers’ embarrassing 104-99 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Among those rubbing it in: Cleveland ABC-TV affiliate Channel 5. With great glee, the station shares this morning the text of a pre-game promo heard on the LA station:

“Tomorrow, the champs are in Cleveland to get another quality practice in before the All-Star break. Oh yeah, the Cavaliers will be there, too. Doing what? Who knows?”

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The Prop-8 Trial Re-Enactments Coming Soon

Tina Dupuy — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:54:10 +0000

Patrick Range McDonald (don’t call him a blogger) at LA Weekly’s Queer Town sent us this. Above is a preview of filmmaker John Ireland‘s re-enactment of inside the courtroom of the Prop 8 trial.

McDonald writes:

Screen Actors Guild actors, who are not being paid for their work, portray the real life participants of the gay marriage ban trial.

Ireland Productions asks for donations to help defray the costs to produce the re-enactments.

Previously on FBLA:

Cameras Aren’t Allow at Prop 8 Trial, But Tweeters Are

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