Despite my hatred of this ownership group for trading Mookie Betts for pennies on the dollar and countless scumbag moves over the years, I sort of miss baseball and want to give the game another chance. I've got too much history with the Sox to throw it all away, and I don't want my baseball trivia knowledge to suffer because I don't know current players!
Unfortunately, I don't have conventional cable, so I'm SOL when it comes to watching the Red Sox. NESN hasn't been on YoutubeTV in over two years, and despite a free MLBtv sub, thanks to my T-Mobile membership, I can't watch due to idiotic blackout rules.
I didn't even really know about the Jerry Remy celebration at Fenway last night until after the fact. I might have seen something on Twitter beforehand, but I was focused on the Celtics playoff game while being an engaging guest at my g-ma's.
If you missed the ceremony, which you likely did because NESN sucks, it's on Youtube. You'll notice a glaring omission.
Instead of giving you more to read in this blog, watch this video that explains what happened, or in this case, didn't happen, at the Remy celebration.
Don Orsillo was infamously fired from NESN late in the 2015 campaign but finished out the season, calling David Ortiz's 500th home run in Tampa.
Since 2016 he's worked as a broadcaster for the San Diego Padres. Due to his schedule, he wasn't able to make the ceremony. It's been nearly seven years since Orsillo's untimely dismissal, and there's still not much information about why. Many think it had to do with Dave O'Brien (overrated!!!), but there's no denying the Red Sox fucked up. Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy were widely considered one of, if not the best, broadcast teams in baseball. They worked together for 15 years at the peak of the Red Sox success. Obviously, they didn't play in the fucking games, but they played a significant role in the popularity of the Boston Red Sox in the 2000s and 2010s. Because the Red Sox and NESN love to make terrible decisions, they decided that the man who spent 15 years on Jerry Remy's side wasn't worth including in the ceremony, but thank the fucking Heavens that Gary Striewski was. Orsillo tweeted this last night to explain his absence:
Some are saying that if Orsillo wanted to be a part of the night, he should've shown up. In a way, I agree with that. In a perfect world, he should be able to miss a Padres-Reds game in April to make it in-person, but who knows if he was ever technically invited? Red Sox President Sam Kennedy claims he was the first person they asked, but from the way Don put it, it appears he was offered to record a video for the ceremony, then the Red Sox/NESN said "nevermind," and just omitted him completely? It is sort of weird he didn't tweet the video. My potential future co-worker Kirk Minihane thinks Orsillo might've never made one. Apparently the Sox said "we're good" before Don submitted one?
And before I go any further, yes, this night was to honor JERRY REMY, and I'm well aware that Don Orsillo is not Jerry Remy, but the two were more or less married to one another. It's hard to think of one without thinking about the other. Of course, it was Jerry's night, but not including Don's message in the ceremonies creates this shit storm and controversy. Nobody would be saying anything today if his clip was part of the festivities.
Maybe the Padres are scummy too and wouldn't let Don go? Maybe it's too hard for him to go back to Fenway after how everything ended (even though he's called games for TBS there)? I don't care what the reason is, the Red Sox/NESN royally fucked up by not including Don Orsillo, and it's really not much more complicated than that (unless he's the one lying). Of course, the Red Sox state media isn't gonna call them out. Instead, they'll defend the inexcusable omission and plead ignorance.
And you know no soul Sam Kennedy said word salad when asked about this situation.
If you think Orsillo should've been there in person, I get your argument and basically agree. He should've been there. In the grand scheme of things, this was like a baseball funeral, and it's much more important than one April Padres-Reds game, but he had a conflict. Maybe he couldn't get out of it? Regardless, most of the blame has to go to the Red Sox and NESN. This was such a lay-up and they managed to bang it off the backboard. Their excuse of this being a fully on-field celebration is bull shit. You could've easily put Don's like 90-second video up on the many scoreboards at Fenway Park. Just add this to the pile of reasons the Red Sox ownership and NESN stink out loud.R.I.P. Jerry Remy
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