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Red Sox Fans Spend Saturday Showering Don Orsillo With Praise And Approval

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Baltimore Orioles v Boston Red Sox
Photo by Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

Saturday’s broadcast proved to be a window into not only what was, but also, what should have been.

In a sequence of events that turned out to be an eye opening checkpoint on where the current Red Sox broadcast situation stands, NESN lost control of the right to televise Saturday’s game against the White Sox when Fox picked it up as their game of the week.

This in itself was not unusual. Fox always grabs a handful of Saturday games from NESN every year. What was unusual however is who Fox put on the play by play for this contest: Don Orsillo. Nearly ten years after NESN fired him, Red Sox fans got a brief and delightful reminder of the way things used to sound – And boy did it sound good!

Hours before first pitch, Tyler Milliken foresaw the emotional evening ahead, and posted about it on Twitter.

It would be just the tip of the iceberg on this topic. Once the game got underway, the passion and support for Orsillo started pouring in from all around New England:

And oh boy were we about to be reminded:

Fans were even singing Orsillo’s praises from across the ocean.

Not surprisingly, his call of Tyler O’Neill’s first inning home run was met with widespread praise.

From there, it didn’t take long for the posts of regret and sadness surrounding his departure to roll in.

Along with the melancholy, there was also anger:

And jokes noticing the Boston bats woke up when he arrived in the booth.

And it wasn’t just all reminiscing praise over past events either. Orsillo was dropping a few gems during this broadcast, and clever fans were quick to notice.

And then of course, with a scene like this, the comparisons to Dave O’Brien began.

And naturally, as unrealistic as it may be, the only place you could go from here was people demanding Don’s return.

Even if he’s not coming back and bridges are forever burned, some folks were just thankful to have this one night where everything felt right again for a few hours.

For me personally, it was astounding how good listening to Don Orsillo call a Red Sox win felt. Nostalgic, cathartic, and thrilling all at once! I always knew I missed it, but after experiencing it again tonight, I didn’t realize how much.

Thanks Don!