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Tony Massarotti certainly knows what's on the thoughts and minds of New England sports fans. He does, after all, spend four hours a day being yelled at by them.
Massarotti, at this point, is best known for his work on the highly successful "Felger and Mazz" show on 98.5 The Sports Hub where his polarizing takes make him a lightning rod for angry callers. Some days (most days?) his perpetual pessimism makes him a high-pitched pin cushion for the Danny in Quincy's of the world.
But there's a method to the madness, of course, and it's that sort of connection to the local sports fan that makes him a fascinating addition to the Red Sox broadcast team on NESN this season. Baseball is his specialty, and he grew up in the shadow of the city following the sport closely. He parlayed that passion into a life in the sports media industry that has taken him to pretty impressive heights.
He certainly has his own style, and one of the more interesting things this season will be watching and listening to how Massarotti is able to weave his own style into the broadcast. We can expect him to be critical at times. That criticism, Massarotti says, comes from the high expectations he puts on the ballclub, something with which he believes fans can relate.
"There's this idea that somehow the local sports fan has to be positive all the time," he said. "When they lose, you support them, and when they win, you support them -- and to a certain degree, that's true. But I also think part of the relationship is like any relationship you have with another human being which is sometimes you get mad at them because you expect more and sometimes you get irritated because you think they're not paying attention.
"I think that's all part of the relationship, and you should be able to say it, you should be able to feel it without the other person feeling completely offended. That's part of the deal: speaking from the heart."
Massarotti intends to do that without too much of a filter -- his ability to speak from the heart about the Red Sox and baseball is why he got the job in the first place -- but he does expect to approach this a little differently than his day job.
"My hope is I'll be able to pretty much say and do everything I want, and I say that with the caveat of, within reason," he said. "I'm not looking to come in here and stand on my head for three hours. ... I'm just gonna try to keep doing it generally the way I do it.
"I recognize the audience is different, the medium is different, and let's face it: the game is different. When you're driving in the car and you're listening to talk radio for 20 minutes, which is basically the average time of the listener, that's totally different than sitting there as a pitcher is standing there on the mound for an at-bat that might take 3 or 4 minutes just by itself. ... The whole pace is going to be different. The question is how you work within that pace and at the same time, offer something that can enhance and spice up the broadcast a little bit."
No matter what, it's a safe bet Massarotti's unique position as someone who interacts with the most devoted sports fans on a daily basis is sure to offer an interesting element to Red Sox broadcasts in 2022.
