Promo-psycho

I have to say this season I really haven’t been able to actually sit down and watch a complete Red Sox game from start to finish with the volume up. But tonight, I started to notice something very strange and rather annoying.

What is up with all of the promotions that NESN announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy have to say throughout the game?

I mean, I’m used to hearing about the Dunkin’ Dugout and CVS Pharmacy donating $500 for every save or game that goes into extra innings, but what the hell is all of this?

• Acura Key matchup
• Ford’s Call to the bullpen
• New York Life
• Home Depot: Doing More on Defense
• Coors Light Freeze
• Cam Jordan’s Furniture, blah, blah, blah
• Cumberland Farms Chill Zone
• Amica Pitch Zone
• Twisted Tea Hard Iced Tea: Twisted but true
• NESN.com Question of the Day powered by kgb
• I know I’m missing at least 5 more…
• Wait does Scotts have a promo?
• Holy, Taco Bell…???

What the frick. Taco Bell? Since when is Taco Bell connected with the Sox? The closest one in the Fenway Park radius is on Commonwealth Avenue.

And I know this is three months late, but what happened to the Aflac Trivia Question? Now all of a sudden it’s AT&T with a blackberry texting graphic.

It seems like every other play Orsillo or Remy have to say one of these. How annoying that must be for them. There was none is this 10 years ago, except for maybe the trivia question alone by why so much in 2010?

Is this pure greed? These companies obviously have to pay for the spots and are shelling out a lot money. So who’s exactly profiting from this? NESN? The Red Sox? I can understand if they are raising money for charity or just a worthy cause like the Dunkin’ Dugout, but that’s not the case with Jordan’s Furniture.

Replay making umpires less confident?

A home run or not a home run? That was the six + minute question during tonight’s Red Sox/Orioles game. In the top of the ninth inning with two outs, Jake Fox took Robert Manuel (what an awful mugshot) deep off the Green Monster, but the umpires weren’t sure if the baseball hit over the yellow line before falling back on the field.

First it appeared they were only going to give Fox the double, but with the new replay rule for home runs, they went to review it.

Remy knew right off the bat it was a homer. The first angle they showed wasn’t a great look, but the ricochet couldn’t have said it better.

So after trying to kill on air time, the umpires walked back out, delayed for a second, then signaled the home run. And what if there wasn’t replay? Well, Orioles manager Juan Samuel already got ejected. So maybe the entire coaching staff would have initiated a massive argument and perhaps a bench clearing brawl?

Yeah that’s a little bit too far, but it seems that umpires might be relying more on replay for home run calls. Even for calls that it’s clear it’s out, it hit above the yellow line, but we just want to triple check it’s the right call. And people want to have more instant replay?

Nope. Not happening.

Amanda Bruno is a freelance sportswriter for The Springfield Republican and also writes weekly features for the Plus Papers on Wednesdays. She also writes over at Batter-up with Bruno where she shares her thoughts about the Boston Red Sox and the Boston sports media. You can follow her on Twitter @batterupbruno and can reach Amanda through email at brunosportshawk[at]gmail.com.

Storrs, Conn. (July 2, 2010)- The University of Connecticut announced Friday the hiring of Kevin Ollie to the position of Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach and Glen Miller to the position of Director of Men’s Basketball Administration.

“I am thrilled to be able to welcome Kevin and Glen back to UConn,” said head coach Jim Calhoun. “They both bring incredible experience to our staff and tremendous values that our players will benefit from. Kevin’s years in the NBA have clearly prepared him for this. He has been a coach on the floor and has served as a mentor to many, many young NBA players. Glen brings over 20 years of coaching expertise to the staff and with his 17 years as a head coach he brings familiarity with budgeting, compliance, student-athlete welfare and many other administrative areas that he will deal with on a day-to-day basis here for us.”

Ollie is a graduate of UConn who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association, completing his career this season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played for 11 different franchises in his NBA career, playing in 662 career contests. He was a two-time team captain at UConn and helped lead the Huskies to the BIG EAST Regular Season Championship in 1993-94 and 1994-95, advancing to the NCAA Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in those respective seasons. Ollie was an All-BIG EAST Third Team selection as a senior in 1994-95 and was named to the UConn Basketball All-Century Team in 2001. He stands No. 3 all-time at UConn in assists and No. 1 at UConn in assists in BIG EAST contests.

Kevin and his wife, Stephanie, have a son, Jalen, and daughter, Cheyenne. Born December 27, 1972, Ollie is a native of Los Angeles where he attended Crenshaw High School.

Miller is a graduate of UConn, former basketball letterwinner (at UConn and Northeastern) and former assistant coach under Jim Calhoun at UConn and has spent the past 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach, 11 years in the Ivy League at the Division I level.

He played two seasons at UConn and then two seasons for Jim Calhoun at Northeastern. He joined the coaching staff at Connecticut under Calhoun in 1986 and spent seven seasons on the Husky staff. He was named the head coach at Connecticut College in 1993 and spent six seasons in New London. He led Connecticut College to unprecedented success, culminating in a 28-1 campaign in 1998-99, advancing to the NCAA Division III Final Four and No. 3 final national ranking. He left to become the head coach at Brown University in the Ivy League, spending seven seasons in Providence (1999-2006). He was named the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006, leading the Quakers to the Ivy League Championship and the NCAA Tournament in 2006-07 and spent three full seasons and part of a fourth at Penn (2006-2009). Miller compiled a record of 233-209 in his 17 seasons as a head coach.

Glen and his wife Yvonne have four children: Tony, Genelle, Jillian and Emma. Born August 20, 1961, Miller is a native of Groton, Conn., where he attended Fitch High School.

With all of the Boston Red Sox players getting hurt as of late and during this 2010 season, I’m just wondering something. Should they wrap themselves in bubble wrap before taking the field?

I wonder if Bud Selig and MLB would approve of this:

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Boston Red Sox, this happens.

According to Dan Roche of WBZ-TV in Boston, Jason Varitek will be placed on the 15-day disabled list with a broken foot.

A major league source tells WBZ-TV’s Dan Roche Thursday night that Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek could miss 4-6 weeks due to a leg injury. It’s believed that it may be a broken foot.

I must say this. After posting, the original link from Rochie on my Facebook, Kim Campbell told me that she saw Varitek at his putt-putt tournament tonight and looked fine.

At this point, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein needs to find a large quantity of bubble wrap and mandate that the players wrap themselves with it so they can’t get hurt anymore.

Update 11:15 p.m.: The injury to Varitek has also been confirmed by Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

Update 11:40 p.m.: The injury to Varitek has now also been confirmed by Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. via his Twitter.

Update 11:50 p.m.: Here’s more from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

And now, I think this video from Queen is appropriate at this time: