Report: This is Don Orsillo's last season

[IpswichSox]

Yes, really -- that is an example of what O'Brien does very well, describing dramatic moments with a little extra vocal flare, but without going over the top.

That call was as good as anything Orsillo did during his tenure (though in fairness, Don didn't do any of the Red Sox play-by-play during the postseason, and that O'Brien call was from the ALCS in 2013).

I like O'Brien fine, and assume he'll grow more comfortable into the role -- and those of us who mostly watch games, and haven't regularly listened to O'Brien for years on the radio, will get more comfortable with him, too. And I do like Remy's focus this year and willingness to offer insights into game strategy. Whether that's because of new mandates from his NESN bosses, Remy seeing the writing on the wall, or because he's emerging from a couple years of a horrible personal situation -- whatever the motivation, we're all better for it. Still, the decision with Orsillo was just so unnecessary, and the manner it was done was unforgivable IMO.

 

[grimshaw]

Fangraphs did their annual ranking of announcers using crowdsourcing, and the Sox dropped from 5th to 11th this year.

Quite a few comments were about DO leaving, but it's also possible the odd casual Extra Innings viewer caught Steve Lyons by mistake.
The Rangers review is absolutely hilarious.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2016-broadcaster-rankings-tv-20-11/

Hawk Harrelson keeps on keeping on with the #32 ranking.

 

[joyofsox]

I started out liking O'Brien for the first couple of weeks, but he is already wearing on me.

Every night he'll make a couple of bone-headed comments, like wondering if a late Sunday night flight was hampering the team's ability to hit on Thursday evening. I am also noticing his catch-phrases, like "hoovered it up" and "a fast out". He is wildly in love with radar gun readings, but does not seem to factor in if these speedy offerings are being hit. No, it's "THAT'S 95 ON THE GUN!". And his insistence on defining a pitcher's season performance solely by W-L record seems almost willfully ignorant.

This afternoon, he kept repeating how JBJ did not have a hit and his hitting streak was on the line. He mentioned it so much, you would have thought Bradley was at 50 games or something.

 

[Marbleheader]

Meh, people are probably just catching bits and pieces of a weekday day game. He's fine. Don certainly had his quirks too.

 

[LuckyBen]

Meh, people are probably just catching bits and pieces of a weekday day game. He's fine. Don certainly had his quirks too.

The don and Jerry complaining was over the top the previous two years. Of course Don walks on water now.

 

[joe dokes]

I

Every night he'll make a couple of bone-headed comments, like wondering if a late Sunday night flight was hampering the team's ability to hit on Thursday evening. .

Maybe he's extrapolating from the fact that working that road trip with Lyons a couple of weeks ago caused him to question his career choice.

 

[geoduck no quahog]

I like O'Brien fine. Particularly his voice. On the other hand, I kind of wish play-by-play would remain just that, with as little commentary as possible. Leave color to the color guy...unless it's Lyons.

The O'Brien call that annoys me is "...off the green." It's not "the green". It's "the wall" or "the green monster" so stop fucking it up.

All in all though, he's pretty good.

 

[joe dokes]

I like O'Brien fine. Particularly his voice. On the other hand, I kind of wish play-by-play would remain just that, with as little commentary as possible. Leave color to the color guy...unless it's Lyons.

The O'Brien call that annoys me is "...off the green." It's not "the green". It's "the wall" or "the green monster" so stop fucking it up.

All in all though, he's pretty good.

As far as I'm concerned, he could call it "the verdigris impervious rectangular structure," as long as he's strangling Steve Lyons while he does it.

 

[The Price Is Wrong]

Is this the Remy / DOB / Lyons thread? I want to know where to locate rants about the current announcing team, in light of last night's announcing abomination.

 

[InsideTheParker]

Have you written to NESN to complain? sports@nesn.com

 

[joe dokes]

And if you're feeling particulalry bold or intoxicated, write to a sponsor or two. "I turned my TV off" is probably not something they like to hear (to the extent they care).

 

[the1andonly3003]

Is this the Remy / DOB / Lyons thread? I want to know where to locate rants about the current announcing team, in light of last night's announcing abomination.

what happened last night?

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

Okay, I've listened to O'Brien for half a season now. I find him somewhere between irritating and boring.

 

[DisgruntledSoxFan77]

Okay, I've listened to O'Brien for half a season now. I find him somewhere between irritating and boring.

He's unbuttered mashed potatoes: he gets the job done when there's absolutely nothing else, but uncomfortably boring every second

 

[Van Everyman]

You are describing Don Orsillo

 

[E5 Yaz]

Okay, I've listened to O'Brien for half a season now. I find him somewhere between irritating and boring.

I feel the same way, and I wonder whether the issue is that O'Brien has spent too much time doing national games (more than Orsillo has, for certain). O'Brien sticks to a generic sound that disappears into background noise during a game. That's a good trait for the ESPN pbp guys -- who have to conduct traffic, feed the analysts and generally stay out of the way. But for a home team announcer it doesn't add much to a broadcast.

O'Brien, as has been noted, likes to dole out the stats -- and he's particularly fond of wishcasting events, in case it happens during the moment at hand. He did so last night, talking about Ortiz's recent home run drought just before No. 522. Again, that sort of thing works on a national broadcast where the viewers might not be aware of such things. But, for the home team, it gets redundant and irritating. O'Brien even takes it to the extreme if, for instance, "(Player) hasn't had an extra base hit in 5 games" when there's a runner on first.

We don't get a sense that we know him. Granted, with Orsillo, we discovered too much and that was a distraction on its own. O'Brien's awkward attempts at discussing fatherhood with Remy (of all people) when Fathers Day rolled around stand out as cringeworthy.

Oddly, where O'Brien has sone is in the rather blunt conversations he's had with Remy and Eck about when things have gone wrong. He's gotten a lot of those times with them -- which, again, feeds into his time doing national games and the types of situations where details of the play come into focus. O'Brien's been pointed in wondering about the job Farrell's doing, and that has made for good listening.

Overall, though, I just get the sense that he's a voice -- and he could be talking about the Rockies or the Mariners with the same level of personal interest that he displays with the Red Sox. It's professional and pretty much mistake-free. But it just sort of there.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

You are describing Don Orsillo

Exactly. The most common complaint about Orsillo, especially early on in his time with NESN, was that he was generic and boring and had no chemistry with Remy.

History repeats itself with O'Brien.

 

[the1andonly3003]

anyone know if O'Brien will be forced to take a midseason vacation?

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

“He never called me, he never talked to me,” said Orsillo of Werner. “The last six weeks of the season he never reached out to me, called me, talked to me, or told me why. I was only told what I read in your article. And that’s been my standard line from day one.

“And there was the press release,” he said.

“It said ‘thanks for your service’ on the last line, or something like that.”

More here

 

[the1andonly3003]

McAdam just posted a video:

 

[Van Everyman]

Ok, am I the only one who was kind of taken aback at how little Don's voice sounded like Don in that video?

 

[Van Everyman]

Edit: double post

 

[twibnotes]

Ok, am I the only one who was kind of taken aback at how little Don's voice sounded like Don in that video?

I had the same reaction

Wait a second...maybe Werner is smarter then we think. At this rate, Orsillo will sound like Mickey Mouse by '18

 

[Koufax]

Don Orsillo was canned because he and Jerry Remy spent too much time giggling about stupid conversations (to call them jokes would be too kind) and too little time describing and analyzing the game. This is partly Remy's fault for sure, but it was necessary to break up the band. One of them had credibility as a former player (and former great broadcaster) and the other did not. The result speaks for itself - the shakeup has roused Remy out of his slumber and he has returned to the form that made his such a good broadcaster early in his career.

Yes there are more factors than that at play, but it's a big part of what happened. And if Don Orsillo isn't smart enough to understand that his unprofessional gigglefests played a large part in his dismissal, well that's too bad. He should stop whining -- he's got a job most broadcasters would kill for and he should be grateful that Boston provided a platform for him to create the reputation that got him that gig.

 

[Van Everyman]

You're not totally wrong except for the fact that Remy had already turned it around last year. Just check the game threads.*

Orsillo, as I've said before, grew into a very solid PBP guy. He began his career as a aural body double for Sean McDonough. He had the advantage of calling games for the Red Sox during a golden era for the team. As a result, many people —myself included probably—have overestimated his talent and legacy and unnecessarily jumped all over his successor who is poised to be quite good if not great. Like anyone—including St. Don—he needs a little time to grow into the job.

There's no question that NESN handled Don's departure badly. But it wasn't necessarily a bad choice.

*Edit: It seems pretty clear that long before Orsillo was given the hook the new suit at NESN that everybody supposedly hates had already put the whole team on notice with the mandatory "in season vacations" and bringing in the likes of Eck and (gah) Lyons as color guys among other things. And yes, I'm sure he was just carrying out orders from Werner et al to boost ratings.

 

[Granite Sox]

If Don giggled too much, wasn't ever any good and we're guilty of viewing his tenure through rose-colored glasses, I don't think he would have been regularly retained by TBS for national playoff broadcasts. He's a top 10 MLB PBP guy who got booted at the expiration of his contract via the "change for change's sake" whim of station/team ownership and replaced by a bot.

 

[the1andonly3003]

Don Orsillo was canned because he and Jerry Remy spent too much time giggling about stupid conversations (to call them jokes would be too kind) and too little time describing and analyzing the game. This is partly Remy's fault for sure, but it was necessary to break up the band. One of them had credibility as a former player (and former great broadcaster) and the other did not. The result speaks for itself - the shakeup has roused Remy out of his slumber and he has returned to the form that made his such a good broadcaster early in his career.

Yes there are more factors than that at play, but it's a big part of what happened. And if Don Orsillo isn't smart enough to understand that his unprofessional gigglefests played a large part in his dismissal, well that's too bad. He should stop whining -- he's got a job most broadcasters would kill for and he should be grateful that Boston provided a platform for him to create the reputation that got him that gig.

if you hate the giggling (and the awkward humor b/w DOB & Remy/Eck/Lyons) blame the producers who are in their ears egging them on...the bad humor in the booth would be bad even if it were Brian Anderson in the booth

 

[ledsox]

Watched the Padres game last night which Orsillo was doing. I'm not the biggest Don fan but I am very happy he landed out here in SD.
Lots of giggling between he and Mark Grant on the broadcast. They have developed a good bond, mostly over food (of course).
They were bragging about how many Dodger dogs they put away on the recent visit to LA. Don had 7 in 4 games, Grant had 6 in 3.
Then, cheeseball happened and much hilarity ensued. Some laugh out loud stuff.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-foul-ball-turns-into-an-outstanding-catch-then-turns-into-nachos/

Overall, I'm happy how things worked out. I like Neveritt on the radio (I listen a lot) and Don makes tuning in to the Padres a bit more interesting and fun.
With the prospects on the way this could be the new 'Red Sox West'.

 

[Curll]

Cheeseball and a Balk Off.

Not a bad week for DO.

 

[timlinin8th]

Then, cheeseball happened and much hilarity ensued. Some laugh out loud stuff.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/watch-foul-ball-turns-into-an-outstanding-catch-then-turns-into-nachos/

Please tell me Orsillo made a Dennis Eckersley reference.

"That ball had some serious cheese"

 

[the1andonly3003]

anyone know when Orsillo calls games on the radio for the Padres?

 

[Clears Cleaver]

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

That's awesome.

 

[24JoshuaPoint]

Hahaha he seems like such a genuine guy.

 

[Van Everyman]

Agreed. I suspect that's why so many people were upset about the way he was let go.

 

[IpswichSox]

Nice job, Tom Warner!

 

[Toe Nash]

Don Orsillo was canned because he and Jerry Remy spent too much time giggling about stupid conversations (to call them jokes would be too kind) and too little time describing and analyzing the game. This is partly Remy's fault for sure, but it was necessary to break up the band. One of them had credibility as a former player (and former great broadcaster) and the other did not. The result speaks for itself - the shakeup has roused Remy out of his slumber and he has returned to the form that made his such a good broadcaster early in his career.

I disagree pretty strongly. I don't think NESN's image of Red Sox fans is people who hang on every word and live, eat and breathe baseball. As has been said, those people are watching no matter what.

162 games of baseball are boring for most people, and the average Sox fan likes the "Remdawg" persona. And that's fine. The most memorable thing Orsillo and Remy ever did together was laugh at a guy throwing a slice of pizza. As long as they give the weight to important games and moments and the chemistry works, this is a good thing.

I mean, look at the video a couple posts up. Baseball doesn't have to be serious 3+ hours a day 162 days a year.

 

[Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat]

That's just great stuff. I really miss Don.

 

[runnels3]

Nice job, Tom Warner!

It's Werner, but Warner is fine by me.

 

[the1andonly3003]

Sox are also on TBS today...it's a good comp to listen to Brian Anderson vs DOB

Anderson is pretty good imo

 

[MakeMineMoxie]

Since O'Brien doesn't have his own thread, I'll put my rant here.

I saw only a few NESN games before the break & thought O'Brien was pretty good, a capable replacement for Orsillo, whom I liked.

After the break, we signed up for MLB Extra Innings & now watch every game on NESN and I'm not sure how much more of him I can take.

He must think viewers have a 5 second attention span because he is constantly repeating irrelevant and useless comments. How many times has he called the current road trip "brutal" or made it sound like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow? In the Minnesota series at Fenway, we heard every game that Miguel Sano is a "really big man", that he "really fills up that batters box". He is fascinated by pitcher's W-L record.

Was he this bad on the radio? Are the NESN producers pushing this crap? The other thing driving me from NESN are the endless promos and the maddening sameness of each one. I swear it's a recording they play because no human could say the spiel for Draft Kings exactly the same every time. To be fair, I had the same complaint about Orsillo so it's probably a NESN thing but when you watch some other broadcasts, you see how bad NESN really is.

I'm going to try the KC broadcast for the upcoming series.

 

[Rusty13]

Since O'Brien doesn't have his own thread, I'll put my rant here.

I saw only a few NESN games before the break & thought O'Brien was pretty good, a capable replacement for Orsillo, whom I liked.

After the break, we signed up for MLB Extra Innings & now watch every game on NESN and I'm not sure how much more of him I can take.

He must think viewers have a 5 second attention span because he is constantly repeating irrelevant and useless comments. How many times has he called the current road trip "brutal" or made it sound like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow? In the Minnesota series at Fenway, we heard every game that Miguel Sano is a "really big man", that he "really fills up that batters box". He is fascinated by pitcher's W-L record.

Was he this bad on the radio? Are the NESN producers pushing this crap? The other thing driving me from NESN are the endless promos and the maddening sameness of each one. I swear it's a recording they play because no human could say the spiel for Draft Kings exactly the same every time. To be fair, I had the same complaint about Orsillo so it's probably a NESN thing but when you watch some other broadcasts, you see how bad NESN really is.

I'm going to try the KC broadcast for the upcoming series.

Yeah, I don't think he's an upgrade. At best, he's a wash with what Orsillo brought to the table. At least I can now watch the guy who I wish had the job over both of them with regularity on Monday Night Football this year.

 

[joe dokes]

Was he this bad on the radio? Are the NESN producers pushing this crap? The other thing driving me from NESN are the endless promos and the maddening sameness of each one. I swear it's a recording they play because no human could say the spiel for Draft Kings exactly the same every time. To be fair, I had the same complaint about Orsillo so it's probably a NESN thing but when you watch some other broadcasts, you see how bad NESN really is.
.

He wasn't. And I think its because Joe Castig is such an effortless storyteller, and they had to share time, it kept O'B from exploiting his own worst tendencies. Its one of the things I didn't like about Neverett, but he's getting a bit better....sometimes during a 3 hour game the announcer *has* to talk about stuff other than what's going on in front of him. There's only so much you can say about Sano, or the road trip, so if you dont talk about the Little League World Series, or other teams, you inevitably beat stuff into the ground.

 

[grimshaw]

Since O'Brien doesn't have his own thread, I'll put my rant here.

I saw only a few NESN games before the break & thought O'Brien was pretty good, a capable replacement for Orsillo, whom I liked.

After the break, we signed up for MLB Extra Innings & now watch every game on NESN and I'm not sure how much more of him I can take.

You missed out on the detailed chronicling of Pedey's hitting streak vs. the Jays. Just a bunch of shitty stats no one cares about.
He's like Kurtz with better pipes.

 

[the1andonly3003]

on this day in 2015, the story came out that Orsillo was out

 

[joyofsox]

Next series with the Orioles, take a drink every time O'Brien tells us that Ryan Flaherty is from Maine.

(Hint: Seriously stock up on booze.)

I also thought OB was some fresh air - for about a week or so. Now I cannot stand him and listen to the radio feed. But Castig is also annoying in that he apparently never looks at his monitor during play so he's calling pitches at the letters "low" and pitches well inside or outside "right down the middle". Twice in a recent game, he called a pitch that bounced in front of the plate "high to Bogaerts". In a recent series, he mentioned two times over three innings - seemingly in all seriousness - a player hitting a "foul home run", like that was something to worry about. (I fear he is becoming Sterlingesque.)

 

[Bergs]

I've mentioned this in some game threads, but I'll consolidate some here.

1) DOB jinxes the living shit out of everything. No-hitters, shutouts, good road trips, you name it. Am I stupid enough to believe it matters? No, I'm not. But it's annoying. When an announcer plays it close to the vest, it's like "we're all in this together...no one say anything!"...it's part of the fun, part of feeling like you're part of the broadcast, in on the joke. DOB destroys that in a way I don't remember ever hearing from any other announcer (and I'm old).

2) DOB often uses awkward phrasing (e.g.; "Off the Green", "Bases filled Up", "pop" instead of "fly" and vice-versa) and mixes up known tropes like he's playing a game of Mad Libs (e.g.; "lasers a shot" or "hammers a drive"). I am especially attuned to shit like this, and it infuriates me (I recognize this doesn't necessarily reflect well on me, but fuck it).

3) "Swifty." Fucking die (figuratively)

4) DOB often uses statements without meaning: "The key to Buchholz' recent success is that he's been hard to hit"

5) DOB (or his producer?) is in love with streaks and statistical oddities like 20/20 seasons. He seems to have an agenda for each series and pounds the living shit out of it.

6) DOB cannot shut up about player struggles (or good streaks)...he seems very recency-bias driven, and it gets annoying.

I like DOB as a person from what I know of him, and have a shitload of respect for him as a father and human being, but I simply do not enjoy his work. At all. And I certainly don't think he compares favorably to Orsillo as a broadcast talent.

In closing, I would point out that when people say stuff like "well everyone bitched about Orsillo, too", they neglect that the giggle-fests were usually in games where we were getting pummeled (and people will bitch about anything in those circumstances).

 

[Bergs]

And I'm just today seeing this...can't stop watching it!

 

[the1andonly3003]

I've mentioned this in some game threads, but I'll consolidate some here.

1) DOB jinxes the living shit out of everything. No-hitters, shutouts, good road trips, you name it. Am I stupid enough to believe it matters? No, I'm not. But it's annoying. When an announcer plays it close to the vest, it's like "we're all in this together...no one say anything!"...it's part of the fun, part of feeling like you're part of the broadcast, in on the joke. DOB destroys that in a way I don't remember ever hearing from any other announcer (and I'm old).

2) DOB often uses awkward phrasing (e.g.; "Off the Green", "Bases filled Up", "pop" instead of "fly" and vice-versa) and mixes up known tropes like he's playing a game of Mad Libs (e.g.; "lasers a shot" or "hammers a drive"). I am especially attuned to shit like this, and it infuriates me (I recognize this doesn't necessarily reflect well on me, but fuck it).

3) "Swifty." Fucking die (figuratively)

4) DOB often uses statements without meaning: "The key to Buchholz' recent success is that he's been hard to hit"

5) DOB (or his producer?) is in love with streaks and statistical oddities like 20/20 seasons. He seems to have an agenda for each series and pounds the living shit out of it.

6) DOB cannot shut up about player struggles (or good streaks)...he seems very recency-bias driven, and it gets annoying.

I like DOB as a person from what I know of him, and have a shitload of respect for him as a father and human being, but I simply do not enjoy his work. At all. And I certainly don't think he compares favorably to Orsillo as a broadcast talent.

In closing, I would point out that when people say stuff like "well everyone bitched about Orsillo, too", they neglect that the giggle-fests were usually in games where we were getting pummeled (and people will bitch about anything in those circumstances).

was he this bad on ESPN?

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

No, but familiarity something something...