The Red Sox and NESN embarrassed themselves yesterday

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - AUGUST 29: NESN sports commentator Tom Caron throws a ceremonial pitch before a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on August 29, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Fenway Sports Group has already drawn ire in recent years for, amongst other things on a very non exhaustive list: caring more about profits than winning, selling the most expensive “experience” in baseball rather than a winning team, caring more about profits than the culture of the team, shipping away homegrown leaders to save a few dollars, and caring more about profits than any results at all. That frustration often extends to the network the group owns as part of their… ugh… portfolio: New England Sports Network.

For starters, long-timer Tom Caron often sounds like mouthpiece for the team’s PR department. Then there’s Dave O’Brien, who, while a seemingly lovely guy, just isn’t that interesting to listen to. Most of the same can be said with the color commentary following the passing of Jerry Remy. Maybe we were spoiled with him and Don Orsillo for years, but fielding a team that barely contends and pairing it with a commentary team that’s just up to snuff signifies so much about this organization.

Beyond the on-air talent, the broadcast alone has its own problems. There are connectivity issues, the app is incredibly buggy, and, to boot, it costs an outrageous $30 a month. So there was even more understandable frustration when, during yesterday’s game, fans were treated to this view for much of the first inning.

That view would be awesome if I was a bird on the field getting a look at the game for free, or if the Red Sox added me as the last member of their infield platoon. But this isn’t what you want to see on your TV, and that wasn’t the end of the issues.

Later, interruptions cut into a Ceddanne Rafaela at-bat. The camera again gave out directly before Brayan Bello let up another home run to Jordan Walker, leaving us to just look at Bello’s incredulous shoulder toss of agony. The reaction was two-fold in Sox Nation.

Eventually, NESN gave up and used the St. Louis feed, admitting their inferiority to another network. But don’t worry… they were still advertising NESN360 on the top right of the screen despite not even being able to use their own feed.

Dave O’Brien quickly quipped “it won’t affect your life.” This is a microcosm of the coping mechanism the team has been feeding the fanbase for years while Mookie Betts, Xander Boegarts, Rafael Devers, and others have departed because $ of $ internal $ issues $. This is a microcosm of how the team operates: we’re not going to invest where needed, and it’s your fault if you get upset that we’re not meeting standards.

And listen: I operate a camera for a living and it was a pivot from the previous work I was doing. As a result, I’m more sympathetic than most for the technical mishaps. There are all kinds of understandable reasons why they might have had issues yesterday: St. Louis isn’t NESN’s home; maybe something was carried over from FOX’s broadcast on Saturday night; they might have new operators. But the network is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, taken from the wallets of fans who have already been frustrated enough when they turn on the game and see an inability to drive in runs, allergies to holding leads for more than an inning, and managerial curiosities (to put it diplomatically). NESN was once a beacon in regional sports, and now we have to deal with this:

So, after that humorous note, I once again raise the question: why exactly are we all giving more money to this company that’s showed time and time again that it doesn’t care about the product it gives back to the fans? And why are we, as a fanbase, fine with a guy who posts celebratory cigar pictures after doing what he should be doing every season: spending money on his team?

Over and over again, FSG has told us exactly who they are, with the roster, with the network, with the price tag. That the Sox won the game in a rout yesterday does not forgive the fact that the broadcast laid an egg. Until we tell them with our wallet that it’s not acceptable, expect more of the same.