Orioles announcer Kevin Brown removed from booth for comments on lack of previous wins vs Rays

[mauf]

Witness the inherent dangers of the broadcast outlet being essentially the house organ for the team. The Orioles hold a 75% stake in MASN. God forbid that the reporters and broadcasters employed by the network do any actual work that puts the team in a less than stellar light (which he actually did not do here - he went over a set of facts in recent team history which pointed to a new winning direction for a formerly moribund organization).

The Orioles were stupid enough to make this a thing when it was nothing more than stating facts. It happened there - and it can and will happen everywhere else that the arrangement is the same, including here with NESN. YES, SNY, Marquee, Sportsnet up in Toronto all spring to mind. It's not broadcasting, it's propaganda, and at the end of the day it's the fans who lose out on objective reporting about their team.

If “independent” coverage means what we’ve gotten from the Globe and the Herald over the years, or what New Yorkers have gotten from the Post and the Daily News, then I’ll pass.

One of the things MLB has done right in the 21st Century has been to fund their own media but keep a very loose rein on editorial content. Sure, there won’t be hard-hitting exposes on the seamy side of the sport, but traditional writers weren’t unearthing those stories anyway — partly because they are, for the most part, not real journalists, but mostly because that’s not what people open the sports page to read. And that’s ok — sports writers don’t need to be the Fourth Estate holding government to account the way their hard-news counterparts are.

This is an Orioles story, not an independent media story.

 

[Van Everyman]

Witness the inherent dangers of the broadcast outlet being essentially the house organ for the team. The Orioles hold a 75% stake in MASN. God forbid that the reporters and broadcasters employed by the network do any actual work that puts the team in a less than stellar light (which he actually did not do here - he went over a set of facts in recent team history which pointed to a new winning direction for a formerly moribund organization).

The Orioles were stupid enough to make this a thing when it was nothing more than stating facts. It happened there - and it can and will happen everywhere else that the arrangement is the same, including here with NESN. YES, SNY, Marquee, Sportsnet up in Toronto all spring to mind. It's not broadcasting, it's propaganda, and at the end of the day it's the fans who lose out on objective reporting about their team.

If “independent” coverage means what we’ve gotten from the Globe and the Herald over the years, or what New Yorkers have gotten from the Post and the Daily News, then I’ll pass.

One of the things MLB has done right in the 21st Century has been to fund their own media but keep a very loose rein on editorial content. Sure, there won’t be hard-hitting exposes on the seamy side of the sport, but traditional writers weren’t unearthing those stories anyway — partly because they are, for the most part, not real journalists, but mostly because that’s not what people open the sports page to read. And that’s ok — sports writers don’t need to be the Fourth Estate holding government to account the way their hard-news counterparts are.

This is an Orioles story, not an independent media story.

True. But on the bright side, we’ve finally identified Dan Shaughnessy’s SoSH account.

 

[8slim]

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a lifetime working at corporations is that a lot of executives are thin skinned, petty and small. Clearly O’s management fits that description to a T. Clowns.

 

[Nator]

What really sucks for Brown is everyone seeing the headline assumes he said something racist.

I listened to it twice, trying to figure out where the inappropriate verbiage was, assuming it was a racial slur.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I can remember Eck expressing far more negative opinions about the Sox than this guy's facts about the Orioles, and I don't remember there ever even being a hint of any sort of reprimand or push back from the Red Sox (unless David Price counts). If there was never any comeback on him, I have very little concern anyone working for NESN is in any danger of facing a similar situation to Brown's. Like Mauf said, this is definitely an Orioles story not something more.

 

[joe dokes]

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a lifetime working at corporations is that a lot of executives are thin skinned, petty and small. Clearly O’s management fits that description to a T. Clowns.

Especially when the decision-maker is the probably-otherwise-unemployable-and-certainly-unfireable son of the owner.

 

[richgedman'sghost]

What really sucks for Brown is everyone seeing the headline assumes he said something racist.

Seeing the headline I assumed Kevin Brown said something racist, sexist or homophobic. I also assumed it was the ex pitcher. Looks like I was wrong on all counts.
It's refreshing seeing all of Kevin's colleagues have his back.

 

[TomBrunansky23]

True. But on the bright side, we’ve finally identified Dan Shaughnessy’s SoSH account.

I'm not sure if you're calling out me or mauf as Shank...but your words hurt, sir!

Just to respond a little bit to mauf's comments, please don't take it that I think the current Globe/Herald coverage is the bastion of journalistic excellence...but at the very least a writer at one of those outlets can cite to basic factual or statistical analysis to justifiably criticize the team or a player. It's approaching the point now with some of these in house broadcasts where you have to wonder if you're watching an infomercial rather than coverage of the game. Perhaps the Orioles under Little Lord Angelos are the extreme example, but the trend worries me long term.

 

[luckiestman]

Are we sure this is the reason the guy is off the air. It seems too crazy even for me to believe.

 

[Sad Sam Jones]

A senior Orioles official communicated to us “We don’t comment on personnel matters”

I take that as an admission of guilt. If it wasn't the reason he's off the air, I'd have to think they'd have at least clarified that there were other/additional circumstances for the suspension rather than just take a nationwide PR pummeling over the past 24 hours without response.

 

[singaporesoxfan]

This is like Thom Brennaman getting fired not for his homophobic remarks but for describing the drive into deep left field by Castellanos

 

[joe dokes]

Back on Friday?:
Kevin Brown to return to Orioles broadcast on Friday - The Baltimore Banner

 

[canderson]

I get MASN (I'm in the O's market) and will definitely tune in to the game to see what happens with Palmer. I hope they don't do any announcing or make some kind of stand.

 

[E5 Yaz]

I get MASN (I'm in the O's market) and will definitely tune in to the game to see what happens with Palmer. I hope they don't do any announcing or make some kind of stand.

Brown been off the broadcasts for more than a week. The other Baltimore announcers have done nothing in support of him.

 

[joe dokes]

I get MASN (I'm in the O's market) and will definitely tune in to the game to see what happens with Palmer. I hope they don't do any announcing or make some kind of stand.

"We didn't want to say anything controversial, so we said nothing at all" would be nice.

 

[Obscure Name]

Are we sure this is the reason the guy is off the air. It seems too crazy even for me to believe.

It's pretty telling when there's no pushback from the organization when they're being dragged so publicly. I feel like one of these announcers coming to his defense would know the full story or at least enough to be comfortable blasting them on air.

 

[canderson]

Watched pregame and the first two innings and crickets about this on MASN. The O’s however are kicking Houston’s butt.

 

[Wingack]

View: https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1689080073683369985?s=20

 

[steeplechase3k]

A "Free Kevin Brown" chant at Camden Yards:
View: https://twitter.com/afkostka/status/1689078965569208320?t=ilbnw1dBKQOLahvdNrQidA

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

Way to stain an incredible season, Orioles.

Hope Brown is hired away by a more respectable organization, shouldn’t be hard to find one.

 

[Wingack]

Bautista just blew a three run lead by giving up a grand slam to Kyle Tucker in the 9th.

THE CURSE OF KEVIN BROWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[E5 Yaz]

Bautista just blew a three run lead by giving up a grand slam to Kyle Tucker in the 9th.

THE CURSE OF KEVIN BROWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were playing pretty well before tonight without him

 

[canderson]

One of the best losses in memory tonight. Awesome!

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

The media has been comparing the Orioles to the Astros a lot lately and giving them the “Next Big Thing” label. That was a very Patriots-eque moment by Houston. Not ready for prime time yet.

 

[Van Everyman]

Meanwhile, Angelos is also holding out renewing his lease for some $600M Patriot Place-style shopping plaza around Camden Yards that will never come because it’s smack dab in the middle of a densely built city:

View: https://twitter.com/ken_rosenthal/status/1689247078159986688?s=46&t=4DK5sD-8gsSKFExcsnEJqg


Also, the announcers continue to rage about this on every broadcast. I listened to the Sox game for five minutes on the way to playing my Tuesday night basketball game and for another five on the way back. Flemming and Joe were talking about it on the way there and still talking about it when I came back an hour and a half later.

Have to imagine Angelos’s goons aren’t already leaning on other ball clubs to clamp down on this. Hopefully Henry et al tell them to pound sand.

 

[Norm Siebern]

This is so typically Orioles, to a T. I live in the region and have never seen a more small minded, insecure, petty, jealous sports organization (and to a degree, fan base) in my life. The demand for sycophancy stretches back the last thirty plus years, complete with on air requirements for fealty from otherwise good broadcasters such as Gary Thorne and others when things didn't go the 0's way. Only Palmer seemed to be able to get away with on air criticism - a HOF resume has its perks, apparently. Now I realize that what I interpreted as on air whining from Rick Dempsey et al was simply pro forma kneeling before the boss to keep your job.

It really is indicative of the small minded, petty insecurities that are rampant in the Baltimore organization and fan base. This is what makes watching the so called "Oriole Magic" laughable. Its a joke. This organization wasn't just bad the previous five years to last year, it was historically bad, on a level with the 1962 to 1966 Mets bad. This team should have been relegated. It made a mockery of the sport, of competition. It wanted to lose. And lose it did. So forgive me for laughing at its success this season. You could never get away with this (purposely tanking for five years) in a city like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago or Boston. This is a minor league organization in a minor league town. This Kevin Brown affair has exposed the joke this entire organization is. A pox on them. What a bunch of losers.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

You could never get away with this (purposely tanking for five years) in a city like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago or Boston. This is a minor league organization in a minor league town. This Kevin Brown affair has exposed the joke this entire organization is. A pox on them. What a bunch of losers.

Except Theo basically did it in Chicago. Maybe not 5 years but definitely 2012-14.

And the White Sox basically tanked, though they were not as successful.

Peter Angelos from my armchair psychology is definitely an insecure man and needed to prove to himself and others that he was "worth" all of the money he earned (as opposed to just saying, "Right place, right time". That ethos (again IMO) permeated itself through all of his organizations, none of which I understand to be great places to work.

And apparently passed down at least a little to his sons.

That being said, the people of Baltimore have nothing to do with Angelos and except for the fact that Peter never threatened to move the team, most of them wanted very little to do with Peter.

I'll also note that this whole Kevin Brown thing obscures the really important Oriole business going on - which that its lease for Camden Yards expires on December 31 and the Os have not signed a new lease even though there's $600M of stadium improvement money waiting for them if they sign a long-term lease.

 

[johnmd20]

This is so typically Orioles, to a T. I live in the region and have never seen a more small minded, insecure, petty, jealous sports organization (and to a degree, fan base) in my life. The demand for sycophancy stretches back the last thirty plus years, complete with on air requirements for fealty from otherwise good broadcasters such as Gary Thorne and others when things didn't go the 0's way. Only Palmer seemed to be able to get away with on air criticism - a HOF resume has its perks, apparently. Now I realize that what I interpreted as on air whining from Rick Dempsey et al was simply pro forma kneeling before the boss to keep your job.

It really is indicative of the small minded, petty insecurities that are rampant in the Baltimore organization and fan base. This is what makes watching the so called "Oriole Magic" laughable. Its a joke. This organization wasn't just bad the previous five years to last year, it was historically bad, on a level with the 1962 to 1966 Mets bad. This team should have been relegated. It made a mockery of the sport, of competition. It wanted to lose. And lose it did. So forgive me for laughing at its success this season. You could never get away with this (purposely tanking for five years) in a city like Philadelphia, New York, Chicago or Boston. This is a minor league organization in a minor league town. This Kevin Brown affair has exposed the joke this entire organization is. A pox on them. What a bunch of losers.

This post is something. Nobody cares about the Orioles to care as much as you do about people caring about them.

You've definitely never seen Chicago or Philly have stretches where they have stunk. You just couldn't get away with it in Philly. Or Boston. Or New York. The Mets? Dominant for the last 30 years. Count the ringz.

Just not an option.

 

[InstaFace]

I can remember Eck expressing far more negative opinions about the Sox than this guy's facts about the Orioles, and I don't remember there ever even being a hint of any sort of reprimand or push back from the Red Sox (unless David Price counts). If there was never any comeback on him, I have very little concern anyone working for NESN is in any danger of facing a similar situation to Brown's. Like Mauf said, this is definitely an Orioles story not something more.

I mean, other than The Dentist sending Don "Announcer Boy" Orsillo away to baseball purgatory because he was insufficiently obsequious about the team and front office when on-air.

 

[YTF]

I mean, other than The Dentist sending Don "Announcer Boy" Orsillo away to baseball purgatory because he was insufficiently obsequious about the team and front office when on-air.

The dentist did that?

 

[Van Everyman]

I mean, other than The Dentist sending Don "Announcer Boy" Orsillo away to baseball purgatory because he was insufficiently obsequious about the team and front office when on-air.

I thought Steinberg was long gone by them. I also thought dismissing Orsillo was less about fealty to the organization than them not wanting to lose DOB to another organization.

 

[InstaFace]

I thought Steinberg was long gone by them. I also thought dismissing Orsillo was less about fealty to the organization than them not wanting to lose DOB to another organization.

Not Steinberg, sorry, forced out by NESN VP of Programming Joseph Maar, the creator of PTI and Around the Horn:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/08/25/don-orsillo-will-not-return-red-sox-telecasts-next-season/DdTqPTwN4jepexaUXIKImK/story.html

View: https://twitter.com/GlobeChadFinn/status/636213362855165952


...at the direction, or at least with the assent, of Tom Werner. So, wrong Red Sox executive. My bad, appreciate the correction. And it wasn't that Orsillo wasn't fawning enough, it's that Werner wanted* to "re-energize" the broadcast.

Anyway, they still kinda treated the whole thing shittily for a guy who'd been nothing but loyal and competent:

https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/report-this-is-don-orsillos-last-season.10814/page-3#post-1331714

Lucchino had protected Orsillo and this came after Lucchino had left:

http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2015/08/dennis-and-callahan-report-that-nesn-will-part-ways-with-don-orsillo

The petition to keep Orsillo got 63k signatures.

The Red Sox started confiscating pro-Orsillo signs brought to the ballpark... and then the report about that in the (Henry-owned) Globe got struck from the article after it was published. Orsillo was asked to tweet that it was a mutual parting, to take the heat off management (to which he declined).

At the end of the season, NESN refused to air the Orsillo tribute that ran on the jumbotron. And then they added further insult to injury:

Orsillo did, according to sources, get an offer at the end of the last homestand to stay in the Red Sox family by joining WEEI’s radio booth to work with Castiglione. Included in the offer was a request to emcee some 40 offseason gigs at Fenway, work the phones to drum up advertising clients and accept a salary of approximately a third of what he was earning at NESN.

My point was that it was a ham-handed and unnecessarily cruel decision to announce Orsillo's defenestration mid-season, make him twist in the wind for half a season, for no reason other than Tom Werner and his NESN hack decided they liked DOB better. Which strikes me as somewhat analogous, if not quite as petty, as the Orioles' situation here. Our team has a history of being petty and heartless about these things.

* Edes' mention of a "commiserating phone call from an irate Terry Francona" to Orsillo reminded me of how they treated arguably the greatest manager in RS history on his way out the door, too.

Edit: also, I miss Rasputin.

 

[snowmanny]

* Edes' mention of a "commiserating phone call from an irate Terry Francona" to Orsillo reminded me of how they treated arguably the greatest manager in RS history on his way out the door, too.

Inarguably

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

Edit: also, I miss Rasputin.

Did @Rasputin go away?

 

[InstaFace]

Did @Rasputin go away?

Looks like he's still around but posting very sporadically. Had a spate of a couple dozen posts two weeks ago, then almost none since March, then only a handful since last October, etc. Glad he's still kicking. And he's probably glad he's been able to cut back and successfully avoid the non-baseball parts of the site.

 

[Rasputin]

Did @Rasputin go away?

I am unkillable.

And I stand by my opinion on Ron Darling.

And whoever this clown is who sounds like he gargles glass shards should really find another job.

Looks like he's still around but posting very sporadically. Had a spate of a couple dozen posts two weeks ago, then almost none since March, then only a handful since last October, etc. Glad he's still kicking. And he's probably glad he's been able to cut back and successfully avoid the non-baseball parts of the site.

Yeah, uh, my wife died and I went into a deep depression that I'm still pulling myself out of. Other than that, you're spot on.

I kinda miss P&G sometimes though.

 

[InstaFace]

Yeah, uh, my wife died and I went into a deep depression that I'm still pulling myself out of. Other than that, you're spot on.

I kinda miss P&G sometimes though.

I'm so sorry to hear that, Ras. Wishing you luck in your fight against depression, and glad that you've (I assume) found better venues for doing so than hanging with us bunch of shitposters around here.

 

[canderson]

I am unkillable.

And I stand by my opinion on Ron Darling.

And whoever this clown is who sounds like he gargles glass shards should really find another job.



Yeah, uh, my wife died and I went into a deep depression that I'm still pulling myself out of. Other than that, you're spot on.

I kinda miss P&G sometimes though.

I’m incredibly sorry Ras - my heart aches for you. We’re here for you.

 

[LogansDad]

Yeah, uh, my wife died and I went into a deep depression that I'm still pulling myself out of. Other than that, you're spot on.

I kinda miss P&G sometimes though.

Really sorry to hear this. It's always hard for me to find the right words for this stuff, but I hope that you can continue to find your way back to normalcy and okay-ness.

 

[Pandemonium67]

Yeah, that is really horrible, Ras. Good luck fighting your way through.

 

[Rasputin]

Thanks folks. I'm most of the way out. It's been a shit five years though.

Not sure what it means that I'm coming back here after a while.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

I am unkillable.

And I stand by my opinion on Ron Darling.

And whoever this clown is who sounds like he gargles glass shards should really find another job.



Yeah, uh, my wife died and I went into a deep depression that I'm still pulling myself out of. Other than that, you're spot on.

I kinda miss P&G sometimes though.

Holy shit, man. My deepest condolences. Please hang around if you can and try to let us help you with this.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Thanks folks. I'm most of the way out. It's been a shit five years though.

Not sure what it means that I'm coming back here after a while.

Really sorry for your loss. Good to see you here.

 

[Kremlin Watcher]

Ras I am so sorry to hear that. Hope you are getting the support you need. As always you can count on us if you need something.

 

[wade boggs chicken dinner]

Very sorry for your loss. Hope you can find some measure of peace in your life.

 

[JMDurron]

Thanks folks. I'm most of the way out. It's been a shit five years though.

Not sure what it means that I'm coming back here after a while.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

I hope this means that returning is some small part of you coming out of your depressive state. Because you know this community is here for you.