Courtesy Boston Globe

(August 20, 2010) The blunt-force message arrived from the @greshandzo Twitter account at 9:34 a.m. Saturday. It required 16 words, used 83 of Twitter’s allotted 140 characters, covered two topics, included two words that would probably garner a PG-13 rating, and left absolutely no room for interpretation regarding Andy Gresh’s opinion of Jacoby Ellsbury:

“Front and back MRI this time Jacoby. You [expletive]. Feel bad for Ty Warren. That sucks.’’ The tweet, sent by Gresh, the co-host along with Scott Zolak of 98.5 The Sports Hub’s 10 a.m.-2 p.m. weekday program, was a reaction to a pair of stories that broke Friday night. Warren, the Patriots’ stout defensive end, would miss the season with a hip injury. Meanwhile, Ellsbury, the Red Sox’ enigmatic and injury-prone outfielder, had suffered another injury to his ribs in a collision with Rangers pitcher Tommy Hunter.

The comment created a minor firestorm among Red Sox fans and in various media outlets. The 35-year-old Gresh, who is proudly brash even at the risk of teetering toward boorish, has been a vocal critic of Ellsbury, whose toughness has come into question despite the seriousness of the injuries that have limited him to 18 games this season.

Gresh said the tweet is nothing he hasn’t said before on the show.

“I even quoted the tweet on the air,’’ Gresh said. “Some of the verbiage we wouldn’t use consistently, and with Twitter you can take your liberties. From my perspective, it’s consistent with things we’ve said about Ellsbury for months. To some it might have seemed a little harsh, but . . . oh, well.’’

Mike Thomas, the program director at The Sports Hub who has seen midday ratings rise since Gresh replaced original co-host Gary Tanguay in April, essentially said the same thing.

“The tweet wasn’t anything different than what they have been saying on air,’’ said Thomas via e-mail. “It was blunt, but that is Gresh. That’s why he is on our midday show.’’

One of those to whom the comment was apparently more than a little harsh was Sox manager Terry Francona, who indirectly acknowledged it during his weekly interview on Wednesday with WEEI’s “The Dale and Holley Show’’ — which happens to be Gresh and Zolak’s competition in the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. slot.

Asked about the perception of some that Ellsbury is “soft,’’ Francona responded with a high hard one that certainly seemed aimed in Gresh’s direction.

“No,’’ Francona said. “And for anyone to ever say that, especially for a radio host, is very disrespectful. Talking tough on the radio is a lot different than running into a wall or getting hit with a pitch. It’s easy to be a tough guy when you get away from the field. But if you ever walk down to the field for a minute and feel how hard that baseball is. I mean, come on, this guy’s getting beat up.’’

The day after his tweet, Gresh responded to the criticism with a hint of defiance, writing, “Apparently having an opinion is a bad thing now. Sorry . . . saying what people are afraid to say is taken as harsh commentary these days.’’ Certain hosts at The Sports Hub, which last week celebrated its remarkable first year in the all-sports format, tend to test the boundaries when it comes to “harsh commentary’’ more than their counterparts at WEEI. Gresh and drive-time co-host Michael Felger in particular are more likely to throw haymakers than pull punches.

Gresh said he doesn’t worry about crossing the line from wise-guy commentary to saying — or tweeting — something tactless enough that it could get him in trouble.

“People are going to be [angry] and take you to task when you’re blunt or critical about something they like or someone they root for, but it’s nothing I worry about,’’ Gresh said. “It comes with being in this business and having the nerve to say what you think.

“I lose sleep if my fiancée has a problem, of if it’s something with my family. But I don’t worry about this. I’ve been in this business almost 14 years. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t just throw it out there. I always think about what I’m saying. But the criticism, hey, it’s the nature of the business.

“I was a big fan of Bernie Mac, and I always go back to what he said in ‘The Kings of Comedy.’ He says, ‘I say the things you think but are afraid to say.’ I think there’s a little bit of that going on.’’

Purple people meters

At this point, griping about ESPN’s relentless and fawning coverage of Brett Favre’s hemming and hawing over whether to play for the Vikings or retire is as redundant as, well, ESPN’s coverage of Brett Favre’s hemming and hawing.

But if you’re wondering why ESPN continues to give blanket coverage to every twist in perhaps the most annoying never-ending story ever told, the justification can be found in the Nielsen numbers.

When news broke Tuesday afternoon that three of Favre’s erstwhile Vikings teammates were visiting the “retired’’ quarterback at his home to persuade him either to play or make up his mind (depending upon which version you believe) and that he had decided to fly to Minnesota, ESPN cleared its afternoon programming slate to provide constant Favre coverage, with “Around The Horn’’ being bumped for a “SportsCenter’’ special at 5 p.m.

The all-Favre, all-the-time strategy worked. ESPN’s Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon ratings were higher than usual. (Favre’s press conference in Minnesota in which he announced that he would play a 20th NFL season aired Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.)

If there was any blessing in this for viewers who have had their fill of Favre, it’s that this time around, there was at least one voice on the network criticizing Favre and the Vikings.

And it was a familiar one to New England football fans.

“If you went down there and you had to beg Brett Favre to come back to be a part of this team, I’ve lost respect for this team,’’ said Tedy Bruschi, the former Patriot linebacker now in his second year as an ESPN analyst.

“To go down there and beg, that means Brett Favre might have had some doubt in his mind,’’ Bruschi added. “Maybe that ankle’s not good. But if it took three teammates to go down and try to convince him? I don’t like what I’m hearing.’’

For once during the latest suspenseless installment of Brett Favre Self-Aggrandizing Theatre, the same couldn’t be said by ESPN viewers.

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