“Looking for the perfect gift this holiday season for the baseball fan in your life? Look no further than NESN’s DVD that chronicles the championship journey of the Red Sox.” — Nancy Marrapese-Burrell, writing in today’s Boston Globe. The Globe, of course, is owned by the New York Times Co., which also owns 13.6 percent (if I’ve done by math right) of NESN.
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I have followed the Red Sox for over 20 years and they have become so shameless since John Henry et al bought the team. It’s almost nauseating.
Well, if this extra revenue can keep us from paying $10 for a beer at the Old Ballpark next year after they sign Santana, I’m all for it. Still can’t believe that it was only 22 years ago, living in Newton Corner, that we could make the last minute call of a movie or bleachers (which were cheaper than the flick).Oh well, my kids will be well acquainted w/ the Brockton Rox; sure can’t justify $400 for one game.
Why is some hack pitching a DVD in the paper John Henry’s fault? He doesn’t own the Globe. The Globe owns him.
I’m no fan of the Globe, but I’d say by now it’s common knowledge to most folks reading Globe Sports that the NYT owns the Globe, the NYT has a stake in the Sox and the Sox have a stake in NESN. Even if someone didn’t know any of that, if Marrapese-Burrell wanted to briefly recommend in her column the NESN DVD as a gift idea–at Christmastime, no less– what would you have her do? Omit what many readers might find as a sincere and helpful tip, or clog the limited column space with another trite disclosure?If you are going to argue that the NYT should sell its stake in the Sox, fine. But until they do, what is a reporter to do? Tiptoe over anything related to one of the most popular sports franchises in the world, that just happens to be located in our city? We’ve all witnessed the Globe’s egregious biases on stories from politics to religion to sports. This wasn’t one of them.
Interesting column by Marrapese-Burrell, especially the part about how a Ch. 5 sportscaster was play-by-play voice for school sports broadcast produced by Kraft productions. Now Lynch has done a lot for kids by using TV time to showcase them, and seems to put in a lot of effort on Thanksgiving when someone of his seniority and stature could be enjoying a post-meal doze like the rest of us. And yes the Krafts did a good thing in giving the kids exposure.But did Lynch draw a paycheck signed by the Krafts?
No, Amused, but Lynchie was on the air straight for 14 hours. Paycheck or no, that deserves recognition. Who cares if Kraft paid him? I hope he got something for his efforts.Important thing, now that they went to the turf field, is that Kraft let the Superbowls back to the stadium and arranged for these games to be on tv (which went above and beyond) using the Pats production facilities. What’s that old bromide? No good deed goes unpunished, at least in Boston…
Want to buy something Sox-related and feel a little less shame about it? Check this dude out – he’s the official artist of the Sox, they get nothing from his sales, and he seems like a halfway decent guy: http://www.markwaitkus.com