As this season continues to circle the bowl, waiting for inevitable early-October flush, all of Red Sox Nation is in agreement that change is needed, and very likely coming before the region’s first snow.
But the first salvo of that change has proven to be straight out of left field: NESN has opted to not renew Don Orsillo’s contract after this season. Meaning we’ve got roughly one more month to bask in the magic of DO. Then he’s gone.
Odd as it may seem, this news hit me hard. Even harder than the loss of Lester or the extension of Porcello or any other inexplicably horrible thing that’s come out of Yawkey Way in recent years.
I’m old enough to have seen a lot of Red Sox TV announcer pairings, on both NESN and TV38. I remember Ned Martin and Bob Montgomery. Sean McDonough and Bob Montgomery. Jerry Remy and Ned Martin. Jerry Remy and Bob Kurtz. Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy. Jerry Remy and Bob Rodgers. “Alabama” John Russo and Billy Hydrogen. But when someone at NESN had the good sense to pair Remy with Don Orsillo, they captured lightning in a bottle. At last, Remy was given his perfect partner. The Batman to his Robin. The Laverne to his Shirley. The Hall to his Oates. The straight man to his scraggly, cigarette-stained oldster. Their banter was like that reliable, well-worn suitjacket in the back of your closet: classing up any occasion and comfy as fuck.
In fact, the chemistry between DO and Remy was so good, the world was thrown out of alignment whenever one of them was ill or vacationing and a replacement was thrown in the mix. Somehow, they made even the most turgid, one-sided games watchable. You could argue that they’d become so good at what they did, they unconsciously took the hijinks up a notch when the audience needed it most.
And now, we’re faced with the prospect of a 2016 Red Sox season that features Rick Porcello and Hanley Ramirez, but no DO. That, my friends, is a swift kick to the nuts.
Good luck to whoever NESN taps to fill his shoes. You’re gonna need it.
I’ll close with this clip from DO’s very first game as the regular Red Sox play by play guy. Which just happened to be Hideo Nomo’s first start for the Sox in 2001. Which just happened to be a no hitter.
Godspeed DO. Good night, and good luck.
SurvivingGrady This is all Werner. I wanna throat punch him
SurvivingGrady and yet I have no other choice.
jreil26 SurvivingGrady There’s so much that Werner can be blamed for.
SurvivingGrady holy shit I can not deal with this
bullshit
Bullshit is right!
Noooo!!
this sucks.
Remy sucks. He should go too.
Weirdest season ever..
I’ve been waiting all day for your words on this terrible disaster. And now I’m teary again. My first thought this morning was this is worse than losing some of the great players we’ve had. I’m glad I’m not alone in feeling that way. U0001f494U0001f494U0001f494
Wtf!
Dislike ‼️
Fuck Maar.
Hmmm. Evidently ownership wants to see if I’ll become apathetic or kissed off enough to become a Yankees fan.
We’ll always have the Pizza Incident. Comedy gold.
SurvivingGrady 1. That sucks. 2. That vid took me back (oh Rod Beck, where are you now?) 3. Your VCR needs the tracking adjusted.
SurvivingGrady Also, it’s damn good my mom isn’t here to see this. She’d be ripping pissed.
dannychapes funny, that’s the first thing I thought when I looked at that vid again. Kept reaching for an invisible tracking button.
Best of luck Don, thanks for the good times.
Bad move NESN. You don’t split up a winning team. You’d think a sports network would get that.
Omg, thank you for that clip.
Well to add insult to injury we get fucking Dave the Douchebag O’Fuckme-brian
Dave O’Brian: His voice is like fingernails on a chalk board — he never stops talking – he’s always wrong – and he’s always looking for the perfect stilted catch phrase to show what a wonderful announcer he is — he’s the epitome of all that’s wrong with sports broadcasting.
http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150825/SPORTS/150829596
So bummed about this. What a strange move.
Was DO on Jared’s email list or something? He’s a tremendous PBP announcer and those guys don’t grown in trees.
Seriously. They made a great team.
Not being a Sox fan, I had to Google the pizza incident. I’m glad I did:
http://youtu.be/ufSQMXLO95w
And what’s as bad is we could end up with Hanley @ first next year as opposed to him being on another team
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/08/hanley-ramirez-first-base-red-sox.html
SurvivingGrady Well said
mpacc thank you, sir
SurvivingGrady I’m old enough to remember Hawk doing Sox. TV, Ned Martin doing radio, 41 years of watching/listening. I will miss DO.
paulinmedia seems odd to say, but we build memories with these guys much like we do with the players.
SurvivingGrady nice
SurvivingGrady It’s true. The Red Sox announcers have been part of my life longer than most of my friends.
paulinmedia SurvivingGrady
I’m old enough to remember Curt Gowdy & Ned Martin
SurvivingGrady 100 Bonus points for the Hall and Oates reference!
OttNik he even has the mustache.
SurvivingGrady I’m seeing Hall and Oates one week from today at Red Rocks! Maybe I’ll invite DO since he jives well with duos.
When I heard DO was not coming back I had a sudden pain in the groin. Get new pitchers, move away from those who can’t stay healthy, use the young guys who are showing promise, but changing announcers is about as stupid a way to fix a last place team (3 out of 4 years) as I have ever heard of.
it’s not the first time Management has thrown the baby out with the bath water & it wont be the the last , WHAT THE FREEKING HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE HIGH PAID people?? there just flexing there mussels. what would wake them up is to come to a stadium AS EMPTY AS EMPTY CAN BE remember WE THE FANS PAY THERE SALARY ,MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR MANAGEMENT TO GO JOB HUNTING,
Being a Sox fan growing up in New York I had the pleasure of listening to some pretty great baseball announcers over the years.
Mel Allen, Red Barber, Vin Scully, Russ Hodges, Ernie Harwell, Phil Rizzuto, Bob Murphy, Lindsay Nelson right on up to todays crop of Buck, McCarver, Harrelson, Sterling and Kay etal.
None however, did I ever enjoy more than the Remy/Orsillo combination.
What the hell is NESN and the Red Sox brass thinking. Obviously not much at all since they don’t give a reason for his dismissal.
Farewell my friend, I know your going to do well.
I BET I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED,I SAW IT AND WONDERED WHAT MANAGEMENT WOULD DO,I WILL NOT SAY WHAT IT WAS BUT IT WAS FUNNY AS HELL, COME ON GUYS TELL US WHAT HE DID TO GET FIRED, SHOW US YOUR NOT HIDING BEHIND WHAT A REAL MAN WOULD DO,LET US SEE YOU COME TO THE TABLE, LIKE A REAL MAN WOULD DO.
whats wrong with the post i just sent,??? too close for comfort for NESN??
Totally agree. Don and Jerry are the best baseball announcers together. NESN is just stupid on this. When we have seasons like 2014 and 2015 sometimes the only good thing about watching the Red Sox is listening to the interaction between Jerry and Don. The 2011 Spring Training Mayor’s Cup game was so funny I still smile when I remember it. It just isn’t going to be the same without the Red Sox odd couple giving us the play by play on the field on the other fun stuff about the off field items. Oh Don, we will miss you terribly.
But to come put and tell the public one would need a big set of family jewels which are obviously lacking with the decision makers. It is my hope that Dombrowski had nothing to do with it.
According to Forbes is was Joseph Maar who had to make his twitter account private after Red Sox Nation found out. He’s not a Don Orsillo fan so of course his view is the only one that matters. What a dumb ass.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2015/08/26/don-orsillo-nesn-firing/
#SaveDonOrsillo
SurvivingGrady Still don’t understand that move Just spite or just stupid?
MdBeahGuy maybe both…
SurvivingGrady just un fathomable to me
I have been shutting the sound OFF and the Radio ON so I could hear something baseball related during their broadcasts for about 4 years. Listen to Vince Scully ONCE and you will understand this move. Peace, Geoff
SurvivingGrady We all know its Don’s fault for the ratings drop this season, and HAS nothing to do with 58-69 record.
SurvivingGrady It should be noted that the Sox might not be in last if they hadn’t tanked that road trip where Don was on his “vacation”.
DO will replace Scully in LA