Hi everyone! This is Mike Mags with today’s ANP Sports Podcast. I would like to start by apologizing for some background noise during a few minutes of today’s taped show, which is highly detectable in the taped segment, due to our sound equipment being less than professional in quality, coupled with noise from machines used to facilitate some work on the building that our studio is located in. If we had extra time to spend, we would have been happy to redo the show.
As to the show, unfortunately there is not a great deal going on in the sports world today. I am looking forward to football soon. Despite the fact that on occasion we have an uneventful sports piece, our Behind the Scenes segments are rarely dull. I have to say, I wish my old pay Albie Vena was not named in our conversation, which is why I signaled to end the show for the day.
We’ll be back next week on Monday, July 29, 2013. Have a nice weekend.
12 Comments
Interesting episode. Michael sounded a little unnerved at the end there after your discussion of what’s his name. I hope everything is OK.
Everything is fine HF. Thank you.
Your a great speaker, Joe. Interesting show.
Dom,
You are very generous with giving compliments. However, I thank you. 😉
Great pod cast Joe. On a future behind the scenes, please ask Michael if he would share another JB story. It would be much appreciated.
You got it Eric!
Thanks Joe, is there any chance that you will reconsider and write a book about the outfit?
Eric, interesting that you should bring up writing a book. Despite the fact that I decided against writing one, I have recently been entertaining the idea of resuscitating my old plan to write one. A few people have been encouraging me to write a book in recent weeks.
That’s good to hear Joe. If you do, may I suggest that you add a photo section to it as well. I bet you have many obscure pictures to choose from. Thanks again, Eric.
Will do Eric.
Joe this is all very interesting. Thank you for submitting
my question to Michael more or less verbatim. Podcast format for the Outfit analysis
is superior to blogging because the physical act of writing (typing) is tedious
and a guy can only provide so much information via the comments box before it
is not worth the effort anymore. I think these podcasts could be the “rebirth” of
ANP, in a popular sense. A few years ago, there were a hundred or more comments
being posted per day, by at least twenty regular contributors. It was fun and
engaging until a pair of extremely
dogmatic commentators ruined it for everyone. The two people I am thinking of
believed they had the real inside story on the current Outfit and suffered from
“confirmation bias.” By that I mean that their Outfit theories were outlandish,
and when they were presented with information or facts that did not harmonize
with their crazy theories, they would either attempt to “shoe-horn” the new
information into their silly paradigm or they would dismiss the new information
as false, despite being factual. They were ignorant, in other words. The internet
makes people do crazy things, and many people develop “expert complexes” in
online forums. Part of what made ANP entertaining
for so long were the recurring characters (like “Teets”) and others who would post
what I am guessing were intentionally funny comments from time to time, just to
get us going. It is sad when I now peruse other mafia message boards and read
Chicago Outfit-oriented threads and notice someone rehashing Teets’ nonsense as
the “inside scoop” and cite “a very good source” (lol) when asked where they
got said information. There is a tendency to become deluded in web-based
discourse that becomes tiresome very quickly. The podcast is a good way of
streamlining things and keeping people’s “delusions of expertise” in check. As
for Michael’s response to my question, I have to say that I do believe him. For
years, I found it difficult to accept that there is an actual Chicago Outfit,
post-Family Secrets. I even thought of the Sarno Berwyn-bombing scenario as
unrelated to the Outfit—more like a crime perpetrated by “the Mike Sarno Gang”
or something. But, being who he is, I believe what Michael said. Thanks again!
(PS: I suspect Black Angelo is active on other mafia forums, perhaps behaving
in a way I described above. I am not sure about the Don, but I am wondering if
you have heard from him lately. Does he ever try to circumvent posting
restrictions? Did you ever find out who he is?)
Dear Merlin,
Thank you for your support. It was my pleasure submitting your questions to Michael. I am more than happy to take the time to work with people who are sincere, rational and genuinely interested in being productive. As for any of the naysayers who would rather use their time detracting my work (instead of simply ignoring it if they do not appreciate it), I am elated that my message-boards are clear of their abuse.
I like the Podcast format as well Merlin. Not only does the Podcast allow us to enjoy a humanlike experience, but it also puts to rest the notion that I am ‘conning’ people into thinking that Michael is involved with ANP (as he really is involved); and it dispels hateful rumors that Michael is incoherent due to substance abuse. It never ceases to amaze me how far some of my capable and calculating literary subjects are willing to go in order to detract the good content that ANP provides to her audience. Shooting the messenger is basically what my detractors aim to do. Merlin, when you consider who some of my literary subjects are, we cannot be shocked by the evil tricks they play. As for the few former negative commenter’s who once often plagued ANP’s message-boards, you are spot on in your assessment of things.
Definitely Michael is not the sole authority on the Chicago Outfit, but he is certainly the only genuine Outfit guy who I see that is willing to deal with full identity disclosure, while helping others learn some valuable history lessons about Chicago’s rich crime culture. His full-identity disclosure bolsters his credibility, unlike the phantoms who are not accountable for anything they say. We’ll leave all the hiding to the warped and frustrated individuals who portray themselves as Outfit know-it-alls and their naive and misguided followers (we’ll pray for them). The know-it-alls seem to regurgitate the same information over and over, which at some point makes rational people question themselves as to why anyone would read their content. As far as looking into the identities of any of my naysayers, I have moved on and have not looked back.
Again, thank you for your support. JF