As you might imagine, yesterday’s front page story in the Boston Globe about the history of Jared Remy is the biggest topic on the radio this morning.
I’ve said this before, but I just don’t see how keeping Jerry Remy on the NESN telecasts is in any way a good idea. Why is he still doing it?
Remy himself has said he doesn’t have a lot of money. Speculation, but based on that article, I’d bet a good chunk of his income over the last decade has gone to Jared’s legal fees.
On WEEI this morning, the ever-sensitive Gerry Callahan actually had the gall to say that Remy’s previous victims were “culpable” in the death of Jennifer Martel. He insisted that despite a history of the court system letting Jared Remy right back out onto the streets, that they should’ve risked their lives and testified against him.
To their credit, Kirk Minihane and John Dennis immediately stepped back from this statement. Callahan though, insisted. From his twitter feed, he appears proud of his stand, retweeting someone who said he’d never come across worse than today.
I mistakenly tweeted yesterday that Jerry Remy was taking the weekend off and that now we knew why. I was confused – it was two upcoming games that he’s going to miss – and Remy was in the booth as usual yesterday. I remain amazed that this is the case.
I’m glad that the Globe wrote this story, but it still seems to me that they handled Jerry Remy with kid gloves throughout it. He is not directly indicted for his responsibility in what Jared turned out to be. What it does however, is allow the reader to connect the dots and realize how much he had actually enabled his son by continually bailing him out and paying his legal fees.
Will NESN viewers find Remy’s continued presence distasteful? It seems clear by this point that Remy is not going to leave on his own. He will be on the broadcasts unless he is removed or convinced to resign.
Either way, this is not going to get any more palatable.
Elsewhere:
Case closed: Red Sox fans not obligated to pay for Jared Remy’s defense – I wish this guy wasn’t nicknamed “Obnoxious Boston Fan” because many times, he’s right on the money. Like today. Jenny Dell is gone from Red Sox broadcasts for her “transgressions”, but Remy remains?
Is Jerry Remy’s broadcasting career finally over? – Dan Kennedy also weighs in on Remy’s future.
Additionally – Jared’s employment at Fenway Park while mentioned, seems somewhat glossed over in all of this.
He soon materialized as a security guard at Fenway Park, three other guards recalled. Instead of assigning him to crowd control at games, the Red Sox placed Remy on quiet day shifts, signing for packages and checking bags of fans touring the ballpark.
By the time the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, Remy had amassed 15 criminal cases and at least nine speeding tickets and five accidents, according to state Registry of Motor Vehicles records. Still, that February, he was assigned to escort the new World Series trophy to the Berkshires for an appearance. He got pulled over doing 92 on the Pike, according to RMV records.
After another beating incident, where Jared actually spent 81 days in jail before the prosecutor decided to give him probation on the plea agreement, we read:
When he got out in January 2006, Remy’s Fenway job would be waiting for him. And it would lead him to the woman he is accused of killing.
He worked for at Fenway for two more years:
As he was about to become a father for the second time, Jared Remy got snared in 2008 in a Major League Baseball steroid investigation that would cost him his job. Aggrieved, he spoke at length at the time with the Globe Spotlight Team.
So with the rapsheet he had, and the things he did while employed there, he only lost his job after a steroid probe. Was anyone at with the Red Sox asked for comment about this? Especially considering the Red Sox and the Globe are owned by the same person. (For once, not mentioned in a column.)
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Callahan said every woman who didn’t testify against Remy “has blood on their hands”. I almost had to stop the car on that one. You can’t even begin on this one. Ask any social worker or woman who has ever been in the situation, no matter their background and resources. It’s not fun. Immediately after, a woman, who was apparently a social worker called, and was calm calling him out, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t a ton more backlash today on that one.
When Jerry Remy did his original–quite chummy–interview with D+C about a month ago, Minihane had mainly stayed silent, given his position was that he should have stepped down originally. However, JD seems to have at least changed his tone and position, and also wanted nothing to do with JC’s position after saying it.
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I am dumbfounded by Callahan on this one.
Call me a conspiracy nut or whatever, but I’d love to know how many judges, prosecutors, police officers and other officials were given special tours of Fenway, or really nice tickets/access not too long after Jared wasn’t punished for one of his “indiscretions”.
I was sick to my stomach reading that account this morning and continue to feel worse about it the more that comes to light, or the more I read defenses of the entire Remy family.
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Wondered the same.
I didn’t expect (nor do in the future) anything here from the Globe but figured that someone from the Herald or another publication would push more on this one.
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The biggest thing I keep coming back to is why? I understand a parent trying to do everything they can for their kid (…to a point, but I’m not a parent so I’m not going to go running my mouth on things I’ve not experienced) but all those other folks?
Why did you let him off the hook with no punishment?
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Because it’s easy. It’s easy to grant a continuance, or let him go as long as he lives with his parents- it’s a lot easier than dealing with the hassle of the defense attorney, or the rich parents, or any other friend Jerry has that he can have call the judge on his behalf. The prosecutors are overworked and have bigger fish to fry, and the judge can say well, the victim didn’t testify, and it’s not that serious a charge, and the Red Sox security people can say well Jerry’s SUCH a nice guy, and I feel so badly for him- sure Jared can work here. So much easier than taking a stand and pointing out to Nice-Guy-Jerry that his son is a shitstain who should be in jail.
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Pretty disgusting all around, but do we expect anything less from Gerry Callahan at this point? He’s proved time and time again that it’s impossible for him to empathize with anyone who doesn’t fit into his straight and narrow, black and white worldview- unless they’re his friends, in which case it’s easy for him to explain away every transgression.
And Bruce, inferring from the article, it sounds like Remy’s income didn’t just go to Jared’s legal fees, but his living expenses. It makes you wonder if Remy is supporting his other two children, also.
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OBF hit it on the head, in my opinion.
Callahan is a hateful, spiteful human being. Miserable to the core. The only thing he takes joy from is watching those he dislikes or disagrees with suffer. Another piece of his diatribe this morning was that the Globe went so hard after this because “he’s against gay marriage” (assuming he means Jared). Anything to work in a fascist right wing talking point. Vitriol like this is why Toucher & Rich can lounge back and keep throwing tired bits out while vaguely talking about sports and still whup D & C in the ratings.
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I get that Callahan ham-handedly injects politics into every debate. He just can’t help it. But instead of focusing on the political debate that matters – a corrupt judicial system that favors the wealthy and connected while pissing on the real victims, often poor women – he whines about some imaginary persecution of a gay marriage opponent. He’s left the realm of sanity.
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It also allowed him to get in dig #1,290,786 against the Globe. I get that he has an agenda. Anyone who listens to the show for more than 30 minutes can figure it out. He sticks to it like a fly to flypaper, even in cases like this when decency should give him pause.
The blame here, as I see it, is 60% on Jared, 30% on a system that allowed him to keep committing these acts, and 10% on the Remys who kept enabling him. In Callahan’s mind, the blame is 60% on Jared, 20% on the system, and 20% on the victims who didn’t “stand up” to this monster. It’s the easiest thing in the world to tell someone else to stand up and have the courage of your convictions. No risk to him, and since he cares little for anyone who doesn’t share his beliefs, and if something happens to them when they do stand up, presto! A new talking point to hammer down everyone’s throat and more soap box brow beating about liberal judges and monsters in society.
The system could use some toughening up, I do concede that point. But somewhere along the way, humanity does need to factor in. There is zero humanity in anyone who blames the victims.
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Is supporting Jerry Remy’s restaurants the same as contributing to the Jared Remy defense fund?
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Certainly seems like it. Unless good ol’ Remdog, Residing President of Red Sox Nation, isn’t contributing to his sons defense anymore.
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At what point do you stop putting your son in a position to continuously harm people?
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What “any parent would do?” I’m pretty sure after my third or fourth arrest for beating my girlfriend, my daddy would have stopped paying my rent, phone bills, and car insurance.
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Just go away remy for the sake of all of us. Tired of this story, its disgusting, callahan is a disgrace to humanity. Btw Eck is way better in the booth.
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So many thoughts…not sure one post is enough but let me try.
– Callahan’s comment’s this morning were dumb. He tried to say “If the victims had testified, then Martel would be alive because Remy would have been in jail”. What he failed to understand and what makes the statement so egregious is context. It is so easy in his well adjusted world to say “The victim should be strong enough to do this” because unlike to the victim there are no consequences to Jerry’s words or actions. He fails to understand how the lack of trust in the legal system that allowed Remy to be on the street time and time again without apparent consequences, colors all of the decisions his victims made. Martel was afraid, she withdrew the restraining order, she in effect gave him what he wanted and she still was killed. The idea these other women, coming from the backgrounds they come from, would have been able to endure taking on the Remy clan is naive.
– With regards to the idea being floated that this article proves that the Globe is able to cover the Sox critically…Meh. Where were the hard hitting questions about why the Sox hired Remy to a $10 perhr job in the first place? Where are the one’s asking how he kept his job after getting pulled over with the WS trophy doing 94 on the Mass Pike? Where were the questions about who authorized holding his job for him while he did 80+ days in prison for a felony? Where were the questions asking directly about the players he came in contact with regularly prior to his being let go after his mention in the Mitchell Report? Where were the questions asking why the Red Sox organization justified the firing/reassignment of Jenny Dell for the crime of falling in love, yet they can’t seem to fire/reassign Remy even though it is clear that would be the better PR move? Where was the question asking do the Remy’s have evidence of a large PED usage ring within the team (that Jared was part of) and was/is keeping Jerry on the air is part of the hush up? The piece went a long way to paint Jared Remy as a bad, bad guy, to distance the Sox from Jared Remy and to indirectly shed a small amount of light on the role Jerry and his wife have played in all this. To read the article the conclusion I am supposed to reach is the Sox fired him once they realized he was a BAD GUY…which is just not true.
– With regards to the right thing to do. If Remy had honor he would have stepped down. He doesn’t so its time for the adults in the room to step up and take the decision out of his hands. Make him an in studio analyst if you have to. Just get him off my TV set.
– Lastly with regards to jurisprudence in the Bay State. Mary Jo Kopechne’s killer never even went to trial. The fact that another sireling of a princeling got special treatment neither surprises me, or makes me feel good about the system. It makes me anxious.
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On your #2nd, I asked the same. I thought the piece, intentionally or not, made sure to steer clear and provide scant details. I really hope someone else digs here but the piece did its job by shedding a ton of bad light on Jared. I’d love to know a bit more about the Sox stuff because not only did he meet Martel there but the steroid stuff seems like there is a mausoleum of dead bodies that the team would like to never be unearthed. Apparently, I read somewhere, it was Curt Schilling that got him fired because of the steroid stuff. Maybe it wasn’t Jerry Remy keeping him around but he was the link for some stuff? That’s usually how it works. Local juice head gets access + a little pay for the risk of being a kite. Every college football player I knew at big schools has said the same, and I can’t think that pro-teams are any different (Biogenesis proved such, as well).
Also, apparently one of Remy’s establishments is on land the Sox own, as well? Nothing on that.
Big story but I think a lot of the intent was to move the focal point of the story away from the team.
Also, any chance that the Ortiz thing today had to be done because of the article? Sounds like standard operating procedure.
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I wish someone should ask Callahan why any victim would testify against Jared when, time and again through Jerry’s resources and interference, Jared walks away from any punishment. Jared boasts about this fact. He intimidates witnesses and gets away with it. If you’re a teen mom or someone who barely graduated HS are you going to go against the Remy family and their high priced attorneys when they always win in these situations? No, and you’d be an idiot to do it.
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It’s been my opinion from the get-go that Remy is partially responsible, morally if not legally, for these crimes via repeatedly enabling his son’s actions. Glad to see the Globe vindicating me.
Go away, Jerry. You and your defective spawn aren’t wanted around here anymore.
p.s. And take Callahan with you.
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Friend of Jennifer Martel spoke with Mutt+Lou on WEEI today:
http://audio.weei.com/a/89253844/kristina-hill-friend-of-jennifer-martel-jenna-remy-texted-martel-i-m-afraid-my-brother-is-going-to-kill-you.htm
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Truly disturbing stuff.
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I caught some of this and had to turn it off. That’s not journalism, it’s voyeurism.
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Just FYI… someone purporting to be Kristina Hill posted on the Deadspin thread about this.
http://deadspin.com/the-issue-is-in-his-conduct-as-a-human-being-my-husban-1550361749
“The issue is in his conduct as a human being. My husband and I paid for Jennifer Martel’s funeral after trying to stop Jared stabbing our best friend that night. The Remys never offered to pay for the funeral or reimburse us and they used their lawyer to threaten me when I contacted Jared’s son, whom Jen loved, to tell him that I would be happy to give him a ride to the funeral. They have never once reached out to me to apologize for what I went through. – Kristina Hill”
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Wonder why she wouldn’t have mentioned it on the interview? From the interview, it sounds like she took some measures to ‘anonymize’ herself, and said she moved away from the area 6 weeks after it.
Gotta question the truth of these things.. Even F+M were getting calls from ‘friends of Jared’. They had to stop when some guy said he was a Sox employee and they just cut him off.
Goes to my point above that I bet there is a ton more here but you won’t find digging from certain areas of the BBWAA.
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So what kind of a sweetheart, insider deal did Remy get on his liquor licenses?
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Don’t you love how Gerry pumps up his working class credentials on days like this, when it’s extremely useful, but otherwise will you tell you that class differences are meaningless in the US? Yes Gerry the millionaire, tell us more about how you know exactly what it’s like for a working class person to get by in 2014…
If this story was about a non-famous black people, Gerry (among some of other mediots) would undoubtedly spend hours upon hours talking about “their culture”, hip hop music and bad parenting. And hundreds of callers and tweeters would chime in to agree.
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So, what kind of friendship and business relationship do Gerry and Jerry enjoy?
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Any doubts that Karen Guergian was soaking wet when she hit the tweet button today?
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Ick, and no.
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Dale had a gem of his own today on WEEI, invoking OJ Simpson in the process: “If Jerry Remy is guilty of anything, it’s loving his son too much.” Made me want to throw up.
There was no shortage of local sports media members–those on WEEI in particular–tripping over themselves today in an effort to circle the wagons around Jerry Remy, but Dale was the most disingenuous, pathetic apologist of the bunch. According to Dale, the Remys persuading Jennifer Martel into not obtaining an emergency restraining order the day before she was killed is a non-story, claiming “she would have wound up dead that night regardless of whether it was filed or not” (paraphrasing). Really Dale? And we know that how? Something tells me Dale would be singing a different tune if one of his daughters had been dating Jared Remy.
Equally annoying was Dale’s straw man argument that those who no longer want Remy in the booth are really just demanding that Jerry’s livelihood be taken from him as punishment for Jared’s transgressions. The Red Sox & NESN are a business, not a charity foundation run to benefit the Remy family defense fund (although the Red Sox are certainly complicit in the enabling of the scumbag Remy clan and the propagation of the “RemDawg” cult of personality).
I’m shocked that NESN is keeping him on the air, but with all the Boston sports media sycophants and the re-energized pink hat constituency bending over backward to defend Remy, they may be thinking Jerry can weather the storm. I say there’s no way he makes it through the summer – gotta expect even more sordid tales of the Remy family once the custody battle over Remy & Martel’s daughter starts to heat up.
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The myth of the Remys as good parents should be completely debunked by now. How many affluent families living in the suburbs with both parents have three children all of whom have been arrested for serious, violent crimes? This isn’t just the case of one bad seed.
Jerry should be fired for the following: Jerry Remy has built an empire being the face of the Red Sox. His connections (and almost certainly some pressure/persuasion from dad) landed his miscreant son a job with the Red Sox. His son kept said job after being arrested (and stewing in jail) for brutally beating his girlfriend. Given this reprieve from being fired (for which anyone else would not have been spared), Jared met Jennifer Martel through his job with the Red Sox. Jared then (allegedly!) murdered Jennifer Martel with knife outside the apartment they shared with their toddler daughter. If the Red Sox had done the right thing and fired Jared after (yet another) domestic assault, Jennifer Martel would not have died at the hands of Jared Remy. Jerry Remy, an employee of Red Sox/NESN, is responsible for the Red Sox hiring a domestic abusers and, later, a murderer. Seems like a fire-able offense to me.
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On the ride in today WEEI was discussing Remy again and the conversation seemed to have changed slightly. The discussion centered on whether or not the outcome would have been the same had Remy abandoned his child earlier. I am not usually that critical of Gerry Callahan because I don’t usually find him that offensive. However today his position is completely indefensible. The logical extension of his position is that because the Remy’s tried to do things (not necessarily the right things), they are absolved of liability. This in turn means that Jerry Remy should not suffer professionally.
There are several flaws in this logic:
– We do not know if the Remy’s tried to do all they could for their son. Did they try to send him out of state, into a different environment to get more extreme counseling or to detoxify. Was Jerry Remy’s job a 6 month a year escape that allowed him to wash his hands of all three of his kids issues?
– Rightly or wrongly Jerry Remy makes a living being famous. His image is licensed to t-shirts, bobble heads and host of other chazerei. When his son uses that fame to manipulate the system, “I never lose”, then Remy needs to take responsibility for the monster he created. Not only that but it does effect Jerry Remy professionally. It makes fans like me angry that this guy puts joking about the away press food spread over being home making sure none of his three delinquent children don’t misbehave.
– Because of the uniqueness of Remy’s job, standard rules of privacy, perceptions of character and a need for the broadcast to make people feel warm and fuzzy all should be considered when the decision of Remy’s future on the broadcast is decided. Callahan seems to disagree because in his mind enabling is not offensive. So he can call for Marv Albert to lose his job but Jerry Remy should be safe. Marlon Brando basically retired from public life when his son killed someone. But Callahan thinks Remy should stay put.
-There are solutions other than firing Remy outright which are not at all being discussed. Jenny Dell was reassigned. I don’t see why making Remy a twice a week in studio analyst for the next year or two does not solve the problem. To hear Callahan discuss it, Remy is entitled to his job as an analyst.
Lastly, WEEI has to be careful when they frame the conversation. To make Remy into a martyr is just dumb. People are smart. We know the Remy’s spent money on helping their son and at the same time to enable him. What we don’t want is to be reminded of that situation each time we listen to a broadcast and hear Remy’s voice. NESN might not want to eat the money owed…great…find something else for him to do…act like an adult and get him off the broadcasts
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Someone else pointed this out but isn’t it funny that when the person they’re discussing isn’t a friend-of-the-show, like the Tsarnaev’s, he’s all about the parents being responsible?
This is why you don’t go in that direction. Bias shown and exposed pretty quickly. I don’t even want to go here but it’s pretty obvious that there’s some bias at work here with certain media members.
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On the rules: it’s not just that, his resturant that bears his name leases space from the Sox. Much of its success and popularity is due to his name. If his name, for whatever reason, is in bad standing, would you still go? That’s the “standard” you’re held to if you chose to affix your image to something like it. To me, if you don’t like it, change the name, abandon ties, and live a private life. Interesting point on Brando.
They also, this morning, confirmed that he had “four years left”, assuming that means he’s under contract until the end of 2017. I would think he makes between 250-500k a year for broadcasts, besides much of his expenses paid for the half year he’s on the road. Are they so cheap they can’t just buy him out or negotiate a settlement? I still think it goes back to PR. They don’t want to be framed as the bad guys. I also wonder if they don’t want to fire him because it’d leave a bad taste on his mind, causing him to possibly open up about some things they don’t want getting out there (hazard pay).
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The Brando analogy was the only one I could come up with that is even close to this one. The facts of the two cases are pretty similar and how the famous parent handled the aftermath are very different.
As how the relationship ends…I think NESN would have a difficult time straight out firing him. He legally has done nothing wrong. I think a buy out is an option or as I have been saying…reassign him. Let him do in studio stuff for the next 2 years and then see which way the wind is blowing.
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At this point, if they issued a statement about him taking time off to ‘spend more time with the family’, they’d get minimal blowback, no? There’s still a ton of people who want him on the air. If he prepared and issued it, there would be some uproar, but not as much if there was the usual 9pm on a Friday wire, “we’re going different directions”.
Back to the analogy: It makes me think about what if someone, who has a similar situation, were where Remy was. The closest I could think would be someone like Fred Smerlas (more fame via playing than broadcasting). He’s not as big in the media world, owing most of that to Glenn Ordway, but he does have the restaurant. If it were one of his kids, same thing, wouldn’t Glenn want to distance himself if in the same situation? And, the manager of the restaurant want to strip affiliation?
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I think you are making a mistake in equating the licensing of a name and image for a restaurant and hearing Jerry Remy call games. In the restaurant…if the food is good, the alcohol reasonably priced and the service attentive then the theme does not really matter as long as Remy himself did not kill someone. I doubt people will stop going to the Logan airport restaurant because of its affiliation with the father of a murderer.
The problem with the broadcast, as I see it, is that innocent or innocuous comments take on a completely different meaning within the context of Jerry’s family problems. The actual product suffers in the eyes of the consumer because we will find it hard to believe or even hypocritical if Jerry Remy appears to be enjoying himself. As such after two days of hand wringing and more to come, NESN needs to get out in front of this and pull the guy from the broadcasts.
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It is interesting to compare the legal troubles of the Remy family with those of the Belichick family. Belichick’s two sons were arrested for doing things that many (nearly all?) teenagers do: one was busted for having booze, the other for weed. These minor transgressions were dutifully covered by the Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/05/coach_belichick.html
According to the police, in both cases Belichick kids did not resist arrest (were even polite) and took their punishment. Stephen got six months probation for a first offense of simple pot possession. This was, after all, a victimless crime. Jared Remy received similar sentences for repeat violent attacks on women. So what’s the difference? Could Bill Belichick have gone to the mat and gotten Stephen a lesser sentence or even removed the charge from his record through fancy legal maneuverings by a high-priced lawyer? I would guess yes. But the kid served what seemed, by comparison to Remy, pretty harsh. Notice, the Belichick boys have not been in trouble with the law since (and his daughter never did).
Then there’s the lovely Jenna Remy, who famously broke into her ex-boyfriend’ apartment and then fought with police (one cop got sprayed w pepper spray when they were trying to subdue her). This was not a victimless crime and was far more violent. But she also received probation. Interestingly, the Globe chose not to cover her arrest at the time, even after the Somerville News, Barstool and others did (I am basing this on a fairly extensive search of google and Globe archives, but could have missed something). So this is another example of both Remy’s influence over the judicial system and his protection by the local media.
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One would have to think so, right?
Yeah, it seems like there’s a vast gap coverage among transgressions. Once I saw most of the BBWAA going to bat for him upon the initial stuff, you knew it’d slew that way and continue to. Unfortunately, this isn’t any different than other situations. The best we (us here) can do is just call it out. It’s the same reason I immediately wondered the intent of the big Sunday article.
When he did one interview where he foreshadowed, “more to come out”, that makes me think that we’ve just hit the tip on this. It also makes me wonder if anyone else (non-BBWAA, non-FSG employees) will touch the story or details around it.
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Gerry Callahan sure is putting a lot of effort in to defend the reputation of his friend and business partner, Jerry Remy. The train of thought that we heard over and over again today, is that, it’s not that Jerry didn’t want to be less lenient with his son, it was Phoebe.
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It all seems so provinicial. There is right and wrong.
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If we’re going to tie an anchor around Remy’s leg and toss hm overboard, is there a way that insufferable Tom Caron can go along for the ride? His voice is ‘made for Microsoft Word.’ Seriously, I’m torn about Jerry Remy. On the one hand, he’s a nice and funny guy who ought not be treated like an accomplice to murder. On the other hand, all THREE of his kids are utter miscreants of the worst kind. And his push to get the little girl is sickening. There cannot be enough distance put between that girl and the ‘Remy’ name, and here Jerry is…trying to rein her in.
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The only part he’d stated before was wanting to remain neutral. The rest of his comment details why he no longer can.
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