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Lou Merloni: Don Orsillo Made Jerry Remy’s Night About Himself

“I love Donny O but he should’ve done what he did last night. Now we are talking about Don Orsillo being snubbed and we are not talking about the event you had for a guy everybody absolutely loves in Jerry Remy.”

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The Red Sox honored the late great Jerry Remy with a touching tribute Wednesday night at Fenway Park. Despite the club remembering Remy, who died in October of last year, a lot of fans were wondering why his longtime play-by-play partner at NESN, Don Orsillo, wasn’t in attendance.

After the Sox 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays, Orsillo, who is now working for the San Diego Padres, sent a message on Twitter claiming that franchise had offered him the opportunity to do a video message for Remy before being notified by the club and NESN that his video would not be needed anymore. He also attached a copy of a script that he planned to used.

Many folks in the media were trying to make sense of why the Red Sox excluded their former broadcaster, including Merloni and Fauria of WEEI who claim that it may have been a miscommunication between the two parties rather than the franchise not wanting Orsillo to have any part of the ceremony.

“It’s almost like the Red Sox did this on purpose because they don’t like Don Orsillo and it really wasn’t done that way at all. I think both sides made a mistake,” Lou Merloni said on-air Thursday. “I think the people that put the event together spent so much time, they were so close to the event itself and they felt like they had it nailed, this is what we’re doing. Then it was like, what about the video and they’re like hey, we aren’t doing those videos. They should’ve sent it and put it up in the second inning.”

While Merloni believes both parties are at fault, he wondered why Orsillo, despite his duties covering the Padres, wouldn’t just take a night off and come to Fenway to honor his friend while also taking issue with Orsillo turning Remy’s night into why he wasn’t in Boston.

“I do wonder, the Padres didn’t play today and I don’t know what Donny O has going on but I was surprised he didn’t take a night off and come to Fenway,” Merloni said. “I love Donny O but he should’ve done what he did last night. Now we are talking about Don Orsillo being snubbed and we are not talking about the event you had for a guy everybody absolutely loves in Jerry Remy. He should’ve sent a statement, he should’ve sent the video, he should’ve maybe came out on Monday and talked about being snubbed. I understand he’s not happy, but he should’ve waited.”

While some fans came to Orsillo’s defense, including former NESN sideline report Hedi Watney, others like current ACC Network director/producer and former NESN producer Russ Keen made it exactly known how he feels about Orsillo’s tweet.

Pam Keen, the club’s vice president of community, alumni and player relations explained the situation in a lengthy tweet, alleging the the franchise had no intent on leaving their former play-by-play man out of the ceremonies.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t come,” Kenn wrote. “As the ceremony was coming together and the pieces were falling into place, we thought video messages might not fit. In retrospect, maybe we should have had him record something to see where it could fall. As time ran out, we did not ask him for a video, and he didn’t record or send one. There was never any intent to leave him out of our tribute.”

After the event, the Sox went into a bit of damage control and had team president Sam Kennedy on The Greg Hill Show to explain the situation.

“At one point, there was discussion early on in the planning about doing some video tributes from people, but as we got into the planning, we pivoted to one all-encompassing — it was pretty moving and emotional video tribute that included his former colleagues and teammates, including Don, of course, and others,” Kennedy said, per WEEI.com. “I thought it was a really well-done video. In person, we had Tom Caron do the MC’ing, he did a great job, and Bob Stanley and Sean McDonough were able to be there in person, and they spoke live and did a great job, and represented the feelings I think we all had and have about Jerry.”

Remy died on Oct. 30, 2021, after a long battle with lung cancer. He was 68.

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Former 670 The Score Host Tommy Williams Has Died

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Photo of Tommy Williams
Courtesy: Lakeshore Public Media

Tommy Williams, who was heard for a decade on 670 The Score, died on Wednesday at the age of 66.

Williams began his broadcasting career in his hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1982 at WLTH before moving on to The Score. In 2003, Williams became the PA Announcer for the Gary Southshore RailCats of the American Association where he had his signature call to get the attention of the fans, “People, People, People.”

A story in The Times of Northwest Indiana said, “The longtime RailCats public address announcer and Lakeshore Public Media sports journalist was known for broadcasting countless games, interviewing countless athletes and covering Region sports at all levels. The Gary native and co-host of “Prep Sports Report,” “Prep Football Report,” and “Lakeshore PBS Scoreboard” often signed off shows saying, “Gary, Indiana, you know I love you.”

“The cadence he had in his voice echoed across the Region in a way we may never see again. He was widely known and widely loved,” Tom Maloney, vice president of radio operations at Lakeshore Public Media told the paper.

“He’d want to be remembered as the voice of Lakeshore sports,” his Regionally Speaking co-host and producer Dee Dotson told The Times. “Most people will remember him for covering prep sports all the way up to semi-pros. He’ll be remembered for treating each of his subjects like they were world champions. His depth of knowledge of sports at all levels is commendable. He was a walking encyclopedia of stats.” 

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Compass Media Networks Promotes Three Members to Oversee Play-by-Play Sports Platform

“It is our pleasure to give these three talented executives their day in the sun, knowing that they will continue to work incredibly hard to carry on this tradition of excellence.”

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Logo for Compass Media Networks

Compass Media Networks has announced the promotions of three long-standing executives, Robert Blum, Tyler Brewer, and Chris Kleiber, who will collectively oversee the content creation, production, and distribution of the company’s play-by-play sports platform.

“For over 16 years, Compass Media Networks has set a standard of excellence for national play-by-play sports with Chris, Rob, and Tyler playing a vital part in our success,” said Peter Kosann, CEO/Founder of Compass Media Networks. “It is our pleasure to give these three talented executives their day in the sun, knowing that they will continue to work incredibly hard to carry on this tradition of excellence.”

Robet Blum has been appointed Vice President & General Manager of Sports and will also continue to serve as Vice President of Affiliate Sales for News-Talk and Sports. Tyler Brewer has been appointed Executive Producer – Sports Programming. And Chris Kleiber has been appointed Senior Producer – Sports Programming.

Compass Media Networks broadcasts annually over 100 play-by-play sporting events involving college men’s basketball and football (including the Big Ten Tournament and the Big Ten Championship Game), NFL 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday Doubleheaders, and complete coverage of the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders. The broadcasts are distributed across hundreds of terrestrial sports, news-talk and music stations as well as digital distribution platforms such as SiriusXM, Verizon Mobile, and the Varsity App.

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Charley Steiner Injured; Tim Neverett to Handle Dodgers Radio Play-by-Play

“This will be the first Opening Day that I will have missed since 1976, when I wore a younger man’s clothes.”

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photo of Charley Steiner
Courtesy: Los Angeles Dodgers

As the Los Angeles Dodgers get set to take on the St. Louis Cardinals in their first home game on Thursday, team play-by-play voice Charley Steiner has revealed he will not be doing games at the beginning of the season due to a severe back injury.

Through the Dodgers, Steiner posted a statement which said, “Over the winter, I landed on the Injured List with three compound fractures in my back. (I don’t recommend it.) With the start of the baseball season upon us, the Dodgers are ready to go – but I’m not. This will be the first Opening Day that I will have missed since 1976, when I wore a younger man’s clothes. I look forward to returning to the mic later this season. In the meantime, go Dodgers!”

TrueBlueLA.com reports Tim Neverett will handle play-by-play duties while Steiner recovers. Neverett called the first two regular season games with Rick Monday as the Dodgers started the season in South Korea. Neverett and Monday did not travel with the team, however, they called those games in a studio back home.

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