After the passing of Gil Santos, I was thinking about the state of Boston's broadcast teams. I know things could be much worse and it comforts me that Yankee fans have to listen to some of the most annoying broadcasters in the country.
However, the current collection of broadcast teams are probably the weakest in my lifetime. For those of us that grew up with the likes of Ned Martin, Fred Cusick, Gil Santos, Johnny Most, it's quite a step down. We had it pretty damn good and we'll probably never be blessed with such generational voices across all 4 teams like that again.
A little breakdown of the past 40 years:
RED SOX
Tim Neverett-Joe Castiglione
Dave O'Brien-Jerry Remy
PATRIOTS
Bob Socci-Scott Zolak
BRUINS
Jack Edwards-Andy Brickley
Judd Sirott-Bob Beers
CELTICS
Mike Gorman-Tommy Heinsohn/Brian Scalabrine
Sean Grande-Cedric Maxwell
Compare that to:
RED SOX TV
70s:Ken Coleman-Johnny Pesky
70s Dick Stockton-Harrelson
80s Ned Martin- Montgomery
90s: Sean McDonough/Kurtz-Remy
00s: McDonough/Orsillo-Remy
RED SOX RADIO
70s Ken Coleman/Ned Martin-Jim Woods
80s Ken Coleman- Joe Castiglione
90s-00s Castiglione-Trupiano
PATRIOTS
70s-00s Gil Santos-Gino Cappeletti/Scott Zolak (Some Curt Gowdy, Dale Arnold, Jon Morris)
BRUINS RADIO
70s-80s Bob Wilson-Johnny Bucyk (Some Ordway, Park)
90s Wilson-Bucyk and Bob Neumeier-Bob Beers
00s Dave Goucher-Bob Beers
BRUINS TV
70s-mid 90s Fred Cusick-Johnny Peirson/Derek Sanderson
mid 90s-mid 00s Dale Arnold-Gord Kluzak and Dave Shea/Andy Brickley
CELTICS RADIO
70s-80s Johnny Most- Gil Santos/Glenn Ordway
90s Ordway-Jerry Sichting and Spencer Ross/Howard David- Cedric Maxwell
CELTICS TV
70s Dick Stockton/Len Berman- Bob Cousy
80s Gil Santos-Bob Cousy and Mike Gorman-Tom Heinsohn
90s Gorman-Heinsohn and Heinsohn-Cousy
Castiglione is good but he's definitely lost his fastball. Gorman is still very good and Tommy is what he is at 80. I'm not a fan of Jack and Cedric's shtick .You either love them or hate them. Zo's shtick can be annoying at times but I can tolerate it. Socci and Sirott are pretty much the same guy, nasaly voice, vanilla, too verbose. Neverett is a nothingburger and O'Brien is O'Brien. Still some decent talent there with guys like Grande, Remy and Brickley, but we were pretty damn lucky to have the guys that have been the soundtrack to our sports memories before them.
However, the current collection of broadcast teams are probably the weakest in my lifetime. For those of us that grew up with the likes of Ned Martin, Fred Cusick, Gil Santos, Johnny Most, it's quite a step down. We had it pretty damn good and we'll probably never be blessed with such generational voices across all 4 teams like that again.
A little breakdown of the past 40 years:
RED SOX
Tim Neverett-Joe Castiglione
Dave O'Brien-Jerry Remy
PATRIOTS
Bob Socci-Scott Zolak
BRUINS
Jack Edwards-Andy Brickley
Judd Sirott-Bob Beers
CELTICS
Mike Gorman-Tommy Heinsohn/Brian Scalabrine
Sean Grande-Cedric Maxwell
Compare that to:
RED SOX TV
70s:Ken Coleman-Johnny Pesky
70s Dick Stockton-Harrelson
80s Ned Martin- Montgomery
90s: Sean McDonough/Kurtz-Remy
00s: McDonough/Orsillo-Remy
RED SOX RADIO
70s Ken Coleman/Ned Martin-Jim Woods
80s Ken Coleman- Joe Castiglione
90s-00s Castiglione-Trupiano
PATRIOTS
70s-00s Gil Santos-Gino Cappeletti/Scott Zolak (Some Curt Gowdy, Dale Arnold, Jon Morris)
BRUINS RADIO
70s-80s Bob Wilson-Johnny Bucyk (Some Ordway, Park)
90s Wilson-Bucyk and Bob Neumeier-Bob Beers
00s Dave Goucher-Bob Beers
BRUINS TV
70s-mid 90s Fred Cusick-Johnny Peirson/Derek Sanderson
mid 90s-mid 00s Dale Arnold-Gord Kluzak and Dave Shea/Andy Brickley
CELTICS RADIO
70s-80s Johnny Most- Gil Santos/Glenn Ordway
90s Ordway-Jerry Sichting and Spencer Ross/Howard David- Cedric Maxwell
CELTICS TV
70s Dick Stockton/Len Berman- Bob Cousy
80s Gil Santos-Bob Cousy and Mike Gorman-Tom Heinsohn
90s Gorman-Heinsohn and Heinsohn-Cousy
Castiglione is good but he's definitely lost his fastball. Gorman is still very good and Tommy is what he is at 80. I'm not a fan of Jack and Cedric's shtick .You either love them or hate them. Zo's shtick can be annoying at times but I can tolerate it. Socci and Sirott are pretty much the same guy, nasaly voice, vanilla, too verbose. Neverett is a nothingburger and O'Brien is O'Brien. Still some decent talent there with guys like Grande, Remy and Brickley, but we were pretty damn lucky to have the guys that have been the soundtrack to our sports memories before them.