My Hat is in the ring for the Bruins NESN Job, here’s why I shouldn’t be ignored despite probably not having a snowball’s chance in hell of being considered

-Tim Tully

On Friday I sent in my tape and a lengthy cover letter explaining my intention to audition for the Bruins new play by play opening. I understand the absurdity of the situation, having not worked above College or Minor professional levels and to expect a response to my inquiry, but here’s my pitch.

The Bruins have been one of the premier organizations in the NHL for most of the 21st century and will likely receive upwards of 1000 applicants for this position. There’s a chance my email will never get opened and my tape won’t get watched by the powers that be. I’m fine with that but I wanted to give myself the platform here to plead my case.

I've broadcasted 100s of games, and 100s of hockey games within those games on various platforms from Student Radio, Big Ten Network, NESN, and ESPN+. I’ve built templates for Spot Charts that have been shared and utilized by dozens of other broadcasters. I’m a scratch golfer who would immediately add value to the organizations various Scramble golf events. (It’s about the community guys)

I’ve had clips pulled from Broadcasts that have been shared and received tens of thousands of views, and most importantly I have one of the catchiest names that can come across your television, that’s got to mean something.

I had a conversation with my therapist last week about this opportunity, and in all reality, I understand there is probably someone already tabbed for this job and lined up to take over next fall. Going back to my post from last week and thinking about the mantra of “The Secret is the Dirt”, I’ve put the work in the last decade plus to at least earn the opportunity to throw my name in the hat.

Now I understand I’m not a top choice for this role due to my age, and professional experience. But if we’re looking at a body of work, I think I have to be in the top 500.

Out of college I applied for dozens of minor league and professional broadcasting jobs, I heard back from 2, both were friendly acknowledgements of my work and an inquiry about my interest in working for free. Neither ended up being the right choice for me.

Many younger broadcasters have seen great success in their first professional jobs and it’s been an encouraging trend. Noah Eagle, Drew Carter, Joe Davis to name a few, got their starts with little professional experience and have been on the rise towards network jobs, with Eagle even landing the Olympic spot for NBC. If the goal is to engage the next generation of fans, why not try and start with someone who can take the chair and inject some juice into your fan base?

The reel I sent in is typical raw footage from game coverage over the years, you’re advised not to send in highlights of big goals, championships, and touchdowns. It’s not boring by any means, but they want to see how you are during the 95% of the game that isn’t exactly making SportsCenter.

What I’d like to do here in this space is provide the 5%, so that maybe if writing this post about a private job application doesn’t complete tank my already feeble chances, maybe something can spark an interest or maybe there’s another team on the hunt that can stumble upon my work.

Hit play on this, and enjoy my personal Top 10 Clips in no particular order.

Ohio State vs Penn State 2018-

Curtis Samuel Walks it off to send Ohio State to the College Football Playoff vs TTUN

St John’s Prep vs Winchester State Championship Game Winner

Winchester Final Four OT Winner

2023 High School D2 Lacrosse State Championship

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Ohio State-Michigan State B1G Tournament Overtime Winner

Ohio State Michigan Highlight Reel Saves by the bad guys

JT Barrett Breaks the Ohio State All-Time Game Touchdown Record

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Bonus Clips

St John’s Prep legend Andrew Gallahue lasers one in one of my first ever Broadcasts

Early footage Sawyer Billings hits a moonshot at St John’s Prep

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There’s work to do and probably some time before I get the chance to live out my dream calling Pro games, but I truly believe my body of work and my character has put me at least in the top 50% of people who should get a second of their tape considered for such a role, and to be honest, that’s good enough for me.

See you next week.

TT