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March 20, 2013

Remy: "I Just Don’t Mail Games In"

NESN's Jerry Remy addressed WEEI's Kirk Minihane's criticisms of Remy's work in the booth:
You wrote something like I mail my games in, and I didn't take well to that ... I started this job with no experience. I've been through cancer. I've been through depression a couple of times. I just don't mail games in. That's kind of like challenging my work ethic. ... Being criticized for being a bad analyst, that's fair game, but to criticize somebody's work ethic, I found that very disappointing because I haven't mailed a day in in my life ...
As I wrote last August, both Remy and Don Orsillo have become parodies of themselves. Remy has been a solid analyst in the past, but it appears as though he no longer has any desire to do so. He has boasted at how little preparation he does before games and his on-air analysis shows that those boasts were not meant as self-deprication. For at least the last two seasons, Remy has done little more than echo Orsillo's play-by-play calls, simply describing what viewers are seeing on replay. (I gave several examples of this in the above link.) It adds absolutely nothing to the broadcast.

The issues of cancer and depression are completely irrelevant. What matters is whether Remy is willing to do his job - and I have seen little evidence in recent years of that. We'll find out on April 1 if his work ethic has changed.

8 comments:

  1. fwiw, I think cancer and depression are relevant--to the extent that Remy is willing address the issue and not just say "these personal problems make my lack of performance OK."

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  2. "I started this job with no experience. I've been through cancer. I've been through depression a couple of times."

    This really pisses me off. I agree that it's irrelevant. Or it's worse than irrelevant, it's an excuse. IMO Remy has been phoning in his job for years - before and after cancer.

    As far as starting with no experience, what could that possibly have to do with being such a lazy announcer now?

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  3. And PS, that's an insult to everyone who has had cancer and depression and whatever other issues and, when they were able to work, still did their jobs to the best of their abilities.

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  4. I have never had cancer or depression, so I can not speak on that. But Remy does echo Orsillo alot. Do I care? No not really. I still like the 2 of them.

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  5. Remy's laziness goes way beyond just echoing Don. I care.

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  6. Not that it matters, at least the NESN Bruins anncrs are top notch.

    And Don/Jerry aren't that bad relatively speaking...don't know how much of an accomplishment it is to be the least worst pair of announcers, but hey! It's something...right?

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  7. To the extent they can influence the announcer, and I'm sure they can, the Sox will not want to make a change until they're solidly a winning team again. They won't want a further break in continuity for the fan anytime soon.

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  8. We know from Tito's book that the Red Sox have done extensive marketing surveys, so NESN must be showing what most people actually want: bland announcers with a tired comedy routine, an analyst that doesn't analyze, booth and clubhouse tours that are shown instead of the actual game. If the team does poorly and ratings suffer, I imagine the gimmicks will only increase.

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