‘Twas a study in broadcasting contrasts at Chez CSTB Wednesday evening. In between Carlos Delgado bombs, SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt continued his interviews with Citi Field construction worker Danny Sessna who’s become such a favorite in the Mets TV booth, Ron Darling only half jokingly advised his employer to dump Chris Carlin in favor of the union carpenter. At roughly the same time, NESN’s Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy were joined midway through Tampa Bay’s stunning 5-4 defeat of the Red Sox (the biggest win the history of the Rays?) by Berkshire Hathaway CEO and Chairman Warren Buffet — not merely the World’s Richest Man, but one of history’s bigger philantropists as well.
In other words, so what? Twice, Orsillo told Buffet it was “an honor” to be granted such an audience. And what might the Nebraska native’s connection to the Red Sox be? Other than, y’know, having more money than God and thus being the ultimate role model for Larry Luchinno?
Simple. Berkshire Hathaway owns Jordan’s Furniture, a longtime Red Sox sponsor. But if you’re waiting for Orsillo to treat a meet & greet with the owner of Giant Glass with the gravity of a papal visit, don’t hold your breath. The NESN announcer did everything short of climb into Buffet’s arms and ask to be adopted.
I realize a certain amount of smoochiness with the sponsors is to be expected, but who was actually entertained by Buffet and his sickening chum Jack Welch cavorting around the Fenway diamond prior to the game? Berkshire Hathaway’s Geico Insurance buys plenty of time during Major League Baseball broadcasts, but if the Red Sox tried to have the Geico Caveman call an inning or two alongside Orsillo and Remy, we’d never hear the end of it.
Nothing beats the night Dennis Leary and Lenny Clarke joined Orsillo and the RemDawg in the booth but what I’m waiting for is the guy with the fly away white hair from Sullivan Tires (pronounced TEY-IS) to get his due in the booth
[i]Twice, Orsillo told Buffet it was “an honor†to granted (to be granted?) such an audience.[/i]
To be fair to Dapper Don, he tends to repeat himself, or repeat what Remy just said, no less than 10 times a night. That is, when he’s not reading verbatim from the notes for the game. Or giggling like he fell lung-first into the Stonder Twins’ stash.
In addition to the Leary / Clarke visit (which was definitely something), the night Rene Russo visited the booth (for fuck knows) was all sorts of awkward. I mean awesome.
the Leary / Clarke / youkilis-fest was very very funny. Much funnier than a TV show about a NYC fireman with a Boston accent. However, the Buffet thing wasn’t just awkward. It was fucked up. W.B. seemed pleasant enough, but he’s not a former player, broadcaster, funny comedian that ripped off Bill Hicks or even a celeb super-fan (this was his 2nd visit to Fenway). He’s simply the richest motherfucker on planet earth, one who irrespective of his other attributes, brought absolutely nothing of interest to his half inning visit. Should the NESN booth be open to all of ownership’s wealthy cronies? Or just the wealthiest?
What I don’t think the Red Sox current owners really understand — and please, I’m not for a second suggesting that Boston would be better off with Frank McCourt or James Dolan’s dad owning the club —- is while they possess Fenway-the-building, NESN-the-network and the assorted Red Sox trademarks…they’re merely caretakers of the ballclub. Albeit caretakers who profit wildly from it, but the team means something to people who packed the joint long before Henry/Lucchino/Werner arrived, and will continue caring long after that trio have cashed out. We all know ownership are committed to earning every penny possible, but can they at least show a little more respect for the fans that don’t own private jets? A visit from Buffet might seem innocent enough, but it was a dumb distraction (during a rather important game).
’m waiting for is the guy with the fly away white hair from Sullivan Tires (pronounced TEY-IS)
that would be BOB SULLIVAN!
the only thing better than his pronunciation of Sull’van Tie-yez was Jaw-din Maahsh Cah Cay-yuh Cen’nuz (at shawpuz whirl on root nien).