On Tuesday, news began to trickle out early in the day that NESN would be replacing long-time Boston Red Sox play by play announcer Don Orsillo with radio voice (and ESPN broadcaster) Dave O’Brien. Red Sox fans responded to NESN in a calm, reasonable manner.
Or not. Red Sox Nation was understandably furious, not just about Orsillo’s ouster but also the matter in which he was replaced (a press release in the middle of a game he was calling).
As always, these are real tweets from real people… and they aren’t happy.
So the dude who fired Orsillo made his Twitter account private today after word got out. What a coward.
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) August 25, 2015
@GlobeChadFinn I hope the outrage reaches those "executives" that think they know everything. They need to know that this is a travesty.
— Jeremy Lewis (@utahutes24) August 25, 2015
https://twitter.com/CraigPushard/status/636326409489772544
https://twitter.com/toeingtherubber/status/636329768821084160
https://twitter.com/boondagger/status/636336579825504256
https://twitter.com/StudioCityCat/status/636336385620770816
@NESN Nothing against Dave, but whoever made this decision is a complete ass. I've watched baseball over 40 yrs and he is the best IMO
— E (@BostonSprtsNut) August 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/JusBrockway/status/636390157252493312
@NESN finger on the pulse of your fan base with this one. #DonOrsillo
— Jason (@jaylandry86) August 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/imscottjames/status/636388868682420224
@NESN how about an article about how many bad decisions NESN has made? The latest would be right at the top of the list.
— Ryan Foley (@Foley885) August 26, 2015
@awfulannouncing Don is so good. He makes the broadcast funny. Which is necessary the last few seasons.
— Brian Edwards (@briano29) August 26, 2015
It looks like NESN really midjudged the fan backlash here.