NESN and Jerry Remy announced last night at the Red Sox analyst will not return to the booth this season as he deals with the aftermath of his son having been arrested for murder.

JERRY REMY TO REMAIN WITH HIS FAMILY THROUGH THE REST OF THE SEASON

August 29, 2013 – Beloved NESN broadcaster and Red Sox Hall of Famer Jerry Remy will sit out the remaining games of the 2013 season to be with his family.

“I am full of grief for the Martel family,” Remy said. “My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to them. My wife and I are sick about this senseless tragedy. It’s clear this isn’t the time for me to return to broadcasting Red Sox games. It’s my hope that I can do so in the spring. I thank NESN and the Red Sox for their support through this nightmare.”

“We met with Jerry and conveyed our support,” said NESN President and CEO Sean McGrail, “and when Jerry feels the time is right, we will welcome him back. All of us at NESN and the Red Sox once again express our deepest sympathies to the Martel family for their terrible and tragic loss.”

It’s for the best. I still have my doubts as to whether Remy will return at all, despite the statement above that he will be welcomed back whenever he feels the time is right.

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The WEEI morning show again spent a good chunk of time today refuting the Boston Globe story from yesterday. Kirk Minihane also wrote a rebuttal column about it:

New low for Boston Globe with amateurish takedown piece on WEEI

It really is rather strange that the author of the story used two friends/acquaintances as the only “listeners”  to provide quotes to support his premise. As we’re in full disclosure mode, he did contact me, and I gave him quotes, and information, some of which was posted here yesterday about my views of Entercom’s expectations for the station going forward. None of it was used in the article. I did say Dennis and Callahan dragged the station down, which makes for a poor lead-in to the rest of the day’s programming, but my focus was more on Entercom.

Dan Kennedy also has a look at the entire situation, including the salvos launched from this site:

Globe, Herald at center of multimedia sports battle

A good look from an unattached outsider of the various battles going on within the Boston sports media at this time.

NBC eager to kick off ‘Sunday Night Football’ – Chad Finn has his weekly sports media column, which looks at real football kicking off next week, and various other local notes.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

19 thoughts on “Jerry Remy Done For The Season, WEEI Still Not Happy At Globe”

  1. The Remy family is a train wreck and Remy’s twitter followers are more concerned with their well being than the victims of some of the horrific things that the Remys have done. Homerism gone mad? I don’t care if he’s “one of ours.”

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    1. Yeah, contrast the treatment Andy Reid got in Philly after his son committed suicide–and he killed himself, not someone else. I’d say Reid got respectful treatment at the very most, along with a certain amount of “Sounds like you’ve got a lot on your plate…maybe you should quit?” He certainly didn’t receive the display of affection that Remy has. And Reid’s kid seems to have been every bit as troubled as Remy’s.

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  2. It looks Like Mike Reiss may have won out in his battle for control of the Patriots blog on ESPN Boston. I was just on the site and the blog is back on the front page where it normally is and although the new NFLNation banner is still there, all of the extra content that ESPN was trying to force down our throats is gone. I hope it stays that way. Good for your Mike.

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    1. Listening now; he said Greater wanted to put Sox on 96.9 (wrong, 92.9); that Ent. wanted to put C’s on 850 and they said screw you; that Scott Fybush wrote for Boston Radio Watch (wrong, N.E. Radio Watch); that Field wants D&C off and replaced by the .com people–and predicted EEI would either go country or mostly ESPN “with maybe one local show”. He said he hasn’t been wrong.

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      1. Interesting.

        I recall posts on the radiodiscussions Boston forum (maybe yours?) about this. Is there an article somewhere or something linking to what the plan was?

        Could the morning move still happen and they’re just waiting until the contracts are less of a hit?

        And, could it eventually switch to something like that with a national/local mixture like many stations are, even with ESPN not working in Boston?

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        1. Yeah, like the Big Jab in Portland (which is unfortunately all I get most of the time, unless I want a dose of rock songs on BLM that I’d heard enough of by age 18). EEI could still make money, not bother challenging for the ratings crown, and only pay local staff for morning and afternoon drive shows. Sort of a radio version of the Astros.

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          1. Contracts for D&C end late next year. Herald on 9/10/07 reported a 5 yr deal, some kind of 2 yr extension after that (Howie C set to expire late ’14 too). Don’t know if there’s an article I could link to though some recent Herald & Globe articles mention D&C expires in a yr.

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          3. Pete not on 1510 today; NBC Sports instead…meanwhile WEEI re-ups with Pats Mon, Fri etc. shows h/t Mark BRW. Maybe Shep’s just on vacay

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  5. Never knew The Globe story existed; I’d rather buy a small Chicken McNuggets with 99 cents than a month of that Leftist rag. Not to be left alone, I did want to bludgeon WEEI because I think they deserve it. Glancing at the photo in The Globe story I couldn’t help but notice the Pentium I machine behind D&C. They’ll need a few more “Hair Club for Men’ sport to afford a Pentium II.

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  6. Did you listen to Barstool Sports on 98.5 yesterday, with guest host Shag. Was he really talking or just playing old tapes of earlier bile laden comments, while reading the paper? The Patriots 52-0 victory over the Redskins a few years ago was nothing compared to the unvarnished drubbing Barstool gave Mini Me Maz (Felger’s man servant) and Shag over the Borges alledged story in that despicable rag, the moss laden Rolling Stone. It was black comedy or theater of the absurd at its best. Toni and Shag running for cover, making up excuses as they ran and Barstool, replete with factual and logical refutes just siting there, defending Bill, watching Shag and Maz decompose like that stuff you put on shrubs to help make them grow. Unfortunately, the only thing growing on 98.5 yesterday, however, were Maz and Shag’s noses. But such pretty noses, wouldn’t you agree. Such a shame Felgie wasn’t there, He must have known Barstool was coming and got claen out of town. After all, he can’t stand the truth, ya know.

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  7. The more WEEI objects to the Globe story, the more I think there is panic over there. I can’t for the life of me understand why they are pointing people to a story that casts them in a negative light while they are supposedly refuting it. This goes against everything I have ever heard of regarding crisis management PR.

    The other thing I do not understand is what are they expecting from the Globe? An apology? A retraction? Hari Kari? None of that will ever happen so all they are really doing is peeing into the wind while giving even more people an understanding of the “feelings of badness” they feel emanating from WEEI.

    A war between WEEI and the Globe…although fun to watch from a spectators perspective accomplishes nothing for either entity….with one ominous foreshadow…I am think the John Henry owned Sox might be looking to a new radio syndicate network.

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  8. The Globe running that story, particularly on the front page, was embarrassing. Not because it failed to disclose the reporter was a former WEEI intern (it should have), or because it was an unwarranted rip job (it was fairly harmless considering what WEEI could be ripped for, and has been ripped for round these parts). It’s embarrassing because the Globe couldn’t find anything better to print on its front page than a shoddy article about a sports radio station that sheds no new light on the subject.

    The article reads like Borches threw it together last minute (citing two of his personal friends to represent opinions of listeners?) in order to capitalize on the recent WEEI woes of the past week, and did little to no original research or reporting. Other than some brief mention of revenues, but no specifics, there was nothing in that article I hadn’t read elsewhere some time ago. Borche’s whole piece was essentially an amateur’s rehash of every Chad Finn article from the past six months.

    I understand why WEEI would be upset with the story, but trying to spin it as being factually incorrect is laughable. WEEI may generate more revenue than 98.5, but they’re also in considerably more markets throughout New England. Not to mention WEEI’s operating costs are probably sky high when compared to TSH; costs including a bloated payroll that’s likely four times the size of 98.5’s, $20 million per year in rights fees for Sox games, additional operating and maintenance costs for the various other signals they broadcast from, etc. End of the day, no doubt in my mind TSH is the better run station.

    Bottom line is that WEEI needs to stop acting all butthurt over this (if they’re like that on air, imagine how bad they’re freaking out behind the scenes) and move on. You’re not convincing anyone that you’re still a respected media powerhouse in this town. Go win a few ratings books, then talk.

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  9. Dumbass tweet of the day winner IS >>

    Dan Shaughnessy ‏@Dan_Shaughnessy18h
    Pats cut Zoltan Mesko. Top community guy on the team at a time when team needs community. Also good punter. Is this over money?

    What the hell does, “team needs community” even mean??…have I missed something?…have Pats fans been turning in their season tickets?…are the Pats TV ratings going down? and yes Shank, money did have a little to do with it. The league does have a salary cap. Allen is cheaper AND although it was close, he won the job fair and square.

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  10. Jared Sullinger has some legal problems:

    http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/9629508/jared-sullinger-boston-celtics-arrested-domestic-situation

    I fully expect @AlbertBreer to demand answers from Thad Matta and Doc as to why the team was not aware of Sullinger’s potential ‘domestic violence’ issues.
    —–
    Looks like Rex Ryan is next to go with the Jets:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-rex-cutting-jets-clemson-shows-losing-interest-influence-article-1.1444054

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  11. As Theo liked to say; I think the Globe article says more about the Globe than it does about WEEI…while the once great radio station seems to have become a shell of its former self (relegating Dale Arnold to mop-up duty and ridding themselves of Sheppard initially and Ordway) featuring the tedious and unentertaining M&M in the 10-2 slot and adding an even more narcissistic afternoon host in Salk…the old 850 stills holds a place in my heart. The Globes’ sophomoric attempt to kick WEEI while it’s down just goes to show how far down the credibility ladder that the liberal rag has fallen…

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  12. Seeing Jon Rish filling in for Jerry Remy on the tv broadcasts made me smile. My hope is that Remy retires for good next season and Rish takes the job permanently.

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