Don Orsillo being laid off

I wonder if Remy will retire

Yeah that's basically what I was trying to say. A good announce team will explain what is going on and why in ways that viewers will enjoy and understand. When I put it in terms of someone who will appeal to my mother - my mother already watches a lot of the games, so I don't know that I'd describe her as a casual fan. But she's definitely someone who doesn't necessarily understand all of the intricacies of the strategy, rules, etc. Having announcers who are excellent at the basics is the most important thing.

They could always bring back the Hawk. haha

The silver lining in this is that it looks like Dave O'Brien will be taking over for Orsillo. I don't listen to the Sox on the radio often, but when I have, I've liked O'Brien. I think he's a solid play-by-play guy.

Doesn't he do (or did) the Wednesday Night ESPN games? I always thought he was excellent.

I'm someone who watches other teams and their announcers. The amount of time the NESN cameras spend in the booth is way over the top. In the later innings it seems like it's half the time. That's absurd. I have no idea why that is but it often has me flipping the sound off, or simply switching to other broadcasts.

Orsillo is very good at play-by-play, but the mindless chatter and the endless focus on the announcers and not the players is useless to me. It also gives my wife plenty of ammunition. She loves to hammer away at the old idea that women talk a lot given that stream of trivial chatter.

All of the players - and there are a lot more of them than there are announcers - have stories too. The human interest side could easily be informed by those narratives. The Balitmore announcers are probably the best at that, but the Dodgers with Vin Scully are right there also. The Seattle broadcasters have a long string of promotional pitches during all of their home games, yet they still make the actual game interesting. Or just listen to the Sox radio announcers. They mix casual asides with a lot of game and player information. It's an art and they've got it down.

I reject the idea that Remy and Orsillo are at the center of the Red Sox game-watching universe, and I have no idea why they were put there. What I do know is that they miss out on a lot of good angles either because they have been told that it's not relevant, or they haven't informed themselves. Either way, they haven't brought enough to the booth to make them indispensable.

Orsillo will get himself another job, he's very good when his focus is on the field and the players. For whatever reason, that hasn't been near enough the case with the Sox.

He does radio.

sigh.  i know.

I agree with James Dunne above. Baseball has a timeless quality about it. For 95% of fandom it's an easy listen with a gentle cadence during a summer afternoon or evening. It's part of the every day fabric...like a favorite well-worn shirt. Announcers cater (and should) to that larger audience not those armed with arcane data factoring algorithms during the game. The average fan doesn't give a duck snort for that stuff....(average not being a value judgment). That's what this site is for and I hope that doesn't change for both groups.

Every announcer (excepting Vin Scully) has an expiration date. Perhaps Jerry & Don have reached it.

But please give me another announcing team that you would like us to have or emulate....If I remember correctly Hawk had a stint in Boston. For me he was not very articulate or easy to listen to and the "he gone" etc. calls got just as wearing for me as I think Eck would long term...funny and entertaining initially but the same stuff over and over became a dreg.

(As I posted this I saw that OregonNorm expressed in the interim similar sentiments with which I agree)

As a DC resident, I can honestly say that I find the Baltimore broadcasts to be dull and boring. It is like listening to two monotone voices for three+ hours. Sure what they have to say may be interesting, but it is so dry in delivery. Maybe I am bias because I do not like the Os, but I find ESPN broadcasts better as well because the announcers have some character and personality. As for rejecting the idea that Remy-Orsillo are the center of the sox watching universe, look no further than the Remy Report and Remy's Bar and Grill to see how he has capitalized off of his popularity in the area. People on this site hate him, but a majority or people love him. Announcers last longer than players, so people grow up with them and have a certain attachment. Players come and go constantly.

I don't think they really mean it.  I think it's misdirected anger at the way the season's gone.  Even Remy to a lesser degree; there are better, but there are also worse.