The key is to always be passionate, even where it's not warranted. This allows them to keep listeners engaged and stretch out a discussion over multiple commercial breaks. The main way to find sports radio success is to be unnecessarily and excessively hostile toward basically any talking point. Massarotti is slated to work something in the range of 30 to 40 games for NESN this season, and it's an unintentionally funny fit. He still co-hosts Felger & Mazz, but this year he auditioned for the NESN gig and earned a spot. Pre-Defector readers might remember Tony Massarotti as one of the Boston sports radio chowderheads for the station 98.5 The Sports Hub. It is unclear if he has ever changed his haircut. He tends to talk more about pitchers, which makes sense since he's drawing from a book of his own experiences. This is the kind of guy who, in 2022, will offhandedly reference skinny jeans while making a broader point about baseball pants, but he's best when his booth partner keeps him on topic.Įckersley is engaged with the action, although he's noticeably grouchier during day games. I enjoy it, but it could get tiring over 162 games. Your mileage may vary on how entertaining this is. In 2021, he and Remy spent half an inning tearing apart the velocity of Ryan Yarbrough's stuff: (Kaprelian was pulled in the fourth inning.) One of Eck's recurring complaints is about how if he were The Pitcher Playing Poorly, his manager would have already given him the hook. During a home game on June 15, he was complaining about how Oakland A's starter James Kaprelian was still in the game, even after issuing six walks. That's the kind of candor you'll get from Eckersley, and it usually shows up when an opposing pitcher is doing badly. The broadcast is silent for a few seconds, because someone pressed the cough button a little late, then everyone moves on. As the broadcast shows the instant replay of Youkilis getting plunked, Eckersley says something like, And look, you can see what he's saying right there as he got tagged: "Shit." It's a little tense, but nothing happens beyond that.Įckersley's role in the booth means he's supposed to give some commentary on this HBP and the building tension. Youkilis shouts something, which is natural for someone who's been hit by a baseball, and Santana says something back. In the bottom of the fifth, Mets starter Johan Santana tags Kevin Youkilis on the elbow with a pitch. Here's an example of what you get with Eckersley, and I'll mainly have to rely on my own inexact memory: The Mets are playing the Red Sox at Fenway on May 22, 2009. Eck's entertaining, and probably the most polished of the four for this specific role, but does that mean he's good? The Hall of Fame pitcher has been with the network since 2003, filling in when needed, but his role grew over the last few years with Remy's health issues and absences. Dennis Eckersley (Note: Mike Monaco is the fill-in PBP guy here.)Įckersley isn't actually a new face on NESN. Ideally this will help someone decide whether to mute the game and play some music. Since this is the time of the year when people are most likely to watch the Red Sox, I thought it'd be useful to do a little scouting report for each NESN color commentator. But with all of these NESN announcing permutations, I've become more aware of the differences in a "good" or "bad" baseball color commentator. My strongest belief as it relates to sports broadcasting is that Don Orsillo is the most pleasant PBP baseball guy to listen to, and NESN, which is owned by the Red Sox and Bruins, treated him and continues to treat him poorly. The quality of commentating is not an important factor in how much I enjoy a game. This might be NESN's way of holding unofficial tryouts for the long term, but whatever the plan is here, each of them have developed their own commentating tics and habits. Depending on the series or road trip, Red Sox fans would hear a different guy in the booth. In March, the network announced that the 2022 Red Sox season would feature a rotation of color commentators alongside play-by-play announcer Dave O'Brien: Dennis Eckersley, Tony Massarotti, Kevin Youkilis, and Kevin Millar. Over time, Remy became something of a beloved figurehead for "Red Sox Nation." With his death, NESN faced the difficult task of finding his replacement. The Fall River native had worked as a broadcaster for NESN since the early '90s non-regional baseball fans may remember his pivotal role in the "Here Comes The Pizza" saga. Longtime Red Sox TV color commentator Jerry Remy, 68, died this past October from lung cancer, which he had been treating since 2008.
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