I’ve noticed something over the last few evenings. The broadcasters for the ALCS series keep pronouncing Mark Shapiro’s last name sha-PIE-ro, with a long “i”. This can only mean one of two things: either Joe Buck and Tim McCarver are botching Shapiro’s name, or that actually is how Shapiro pronounces his name.

So I looked it up and, sure enough, Wikipedia says his name is pronounced: “m?rk ??p?a?ro”.

Now, I’m no expert on these things, but isn’t it usually pronounced “sha-PEE-ro?

I looked through the list of other Shapiros who have entries on Wikipedia and there was no pronunciation key for the dozen or so I clicked on. I have to believe that’s because they pronounce their names the traditional way.

I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. It’s not like this is a Brett Favre situation or anything like that (incidentally, I’ve met members of Brett’s extended family and they pronounce it how it’s spelled). But what’s with the nontraditional pronunciation, Mark?

PS. If it’s because you wanted to distinguish yourself from that other Mark Shapiro (aka the guy who brought you Cold Pizza, Playmakers, etc.), I can respect that.

Mark Shapiro is a former executive at ESPN and was my boss when I was an intern at Cold Pizza, back in the good old days before CP became a vehicle for Woody and Skip to yell at each other.

I can say from experience that Shapiro is a total maniac, in the Leo Mazzone model. He would stand in the control room during shows with his arms crossed and rock back and forth, like a man in the full throws of a nervous breakdown. Then, every once in a while, he would yell at the executive producer (who was about 20 years his senior) about something he didn’t like and then the executive producer would yell at me and I’d rush to correct the problem, usually only possessing a partial understanding of what needed to be done.

Now Shapiro is working for Daniel Snyder, as the head of the Six Flags. And, as our friends at Deadspin are reporting, he’s once again thinking outside the box. From Deadspin:

For the month of October, if you want to cut in line for a ride at Six Flags Great American in Gurnee, Illinois, all you have to do is eat a live cockroach. You have to gulp down the three-inch horned cockroach, live, and then you and three others will be able to hop to the front. It’s really that simple.

You gotta give Shapiro credit: he isn’t afraid to roll the dice. First he gave Stephen A. Smith his own show, now he’s encouraging his customers to eat bugs. Unfortunately, few of Shapiro’s gambles ever seem to pay off. And this one is just plain creepy.