The sports coverage and announcing thread

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

"Three seconds. Jordan. Over Ehlo. The Bulls win."

 

"Greer to inbound the ball. STOLEN. And the Celtics will hang on to win this game."

 

"0 and 1 the count on Thomson. Branca sets. The pitch. ... Hit. DEEP. And the Giants are going to the World Series to face the Yankees."

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

"Our executive producer is Bill Webb...."

[treble 0]

The worst part of Fox games is the way that Tim McCarver just kind of pops in after Buck introduces him. I also like how Buck always mentions that McCarver will be joining him shortly, like everyone is going to be worried that he's not there, or something.

[Vampiro69 0]

Glad to see that the Joe Buck hatred continues. What is everybody's thoughts on Matt Vasgerian? The man seems horrible at calling a game.

[Damaramu 0]

Did anyone see Maurice Jones Drew on NFL Live? He looked pretty nervous the whole time and he stumbled over some of his words at first. Wonder why he was being put on the show though? Do these guys that get on these shows while still playing have broadcast degrees or something?

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

The worst part of Fox games is the way that Tim McCarver just kind of pops in after Buck introduces him.

Speaking of popping in, from a White Sox game this weekend:

 

When Deej says something like "haha, when you played, that was like in the 1920s, haha," Hawk gets pissed and leaves the booth for an inning or so, leaving Deej to call the game solo. Poorly. No home run call.

 

So someone (I think it was Konerko) homers, and Deej says something like "high and deep and there's a three-run homer!" but at about "ho--" Hawk rejoins the booth and just yells "EEEEYYYESSS!!" like he's hurrying to get back into position. I just have this great mental picture of him racing back to his mic just to get his catchphrase off.

[Mik 0]

Two interesting pieces of media related information:

 

1) Bill Simmons podcast guest this week was actually going to be Barack Obama! ESPN, for some unknown reason, scrapped it and wouldn't allow Simmons to have Obama. ESPN made some BS reason as to why that doesn't necessarily make sense. Read about it here:

http://deadspin.com/380323/espn-nixes-bill...k-obama-podcast

 

2) The greatest studio "expert" (former player department) in Baseball Tonight history, Harold Reynolds settled his lawsuit with ESPN. Dude never should have gotten fired. Baseball Tonight has gone so far downhill the past few years - it's sad.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I agree with Deadspin's take. It's probably the result of someone higher up getting antsy that (relatively) lowly Bill Simmons landed Obama for an interview. It's ridiculous to think fans will get upset that they will get coverage they don't want on a podcast. You know how easy it is to change the channel? It's 100x as easy not to download.

 

(BTW, please keep this discussion on topic. We don't need an argument over Obama's relative merits as a politician in this folder. If you feel like talking about that aspect, take it over to CE.)

[Guest Teal-y Dan]

The Booyah Network shouldn't be interviewing any of the three candidates, if you ask me. Get back to covering sports.

[Mik 0]

I have a feeling though that Bill would have kept it lighthearted and talked about sports alot. And also "The Wire", because he has mentioned a few times how he likes Barack so much because he likes to play basketball and has professed his love for some of Bill's favorite TV shows.

[King Kamala 0]

And it isn't like it'd take up any time on the actual network. I actually kind of like Simmons' podcasts so boo on ESPN.

[Guest I swallowed a Q-Tip.]

Sportscenter:

"How will the recent accusations, AND THEY ARE JUST THAT, ACCUSATIONS, affect Roger Clemens?"

 

This is certainly out of line. Or should I say out of lime? The entire hour is sponsored by Bud Light Lime beer.

[Red Baron 0]

I really hope that this year is Bob Cole's last year in broadcasting.

[Fartsauce 0]

Is it known that Bob Cole is doing the finals again this year? I would really like to hear Hughson get the "main event" slot for the Stanley Cup.

[Red Baron 0]

Hughston should do the finals. Best commentator in sports today. It's not even close.

[Fartsauce 0]

And while i'm here, i'll give my mini-review on some of the Canadian broadcasters currently out there.

 

Bob Cole- Started sucking 10 years ago. Is usually 5 seconds behind the play. I started feeling embarassed for him and cbc back in 2006 when he couldn't get anyone's names right in the Oilers/Canes final. He needs to retire, or at the very least, just bring him back for Montreal/Toronto games as a bit of a nostalgia treat.

 

Rod Black. Last summer in the thread I had stated my hatred for the guy, although I can't really find a good enough reason to. I guess he seems a little cocky behind the microphone.

 

Chris Cuthburt- Totally getting the shaft from TSN. While I like Gord Miller's enthusiasm, Cuthburt totally blows him out of the water and should be the lead pbp guy for the hockey coverage. Has a voice that many Canadians can identify with back in his cbc days.

 

Pierre Mac- Everyone seems to rag on him and i'm not sure why. He is extremely knowledgable about the game but gets way too excited over something little. Might also need to tone his Phaneuf ass kissing down a notch as well.

 

Jamie Campbell- I thought he was improving but the fact of the matter is that he still sucks. I hate how he always has to describe the position numbers ("that was a 6-3 putout") Listening to him and Rance Mulliniks (sp?) do a Jays game is absolute horror.

[Guest I swallowed a Q-Tip.]

Um, using position numbers is pretty standard, is it not? It's useful, especially on double plays that aren't 6-4-3. What would you prefer?

[Red Baron 0]

No, Campbell will use a 6-3, 6-4, 1-9-3 out almost every reference. It's not like say, Rolen, Adams to Overbay for the 5-4-3 double play. He'll use the five, four, three double play, nearly everytime.

[Guest I swallowed a Q-Tip.]

Hmm. Sometimes when the Cubs ground into double plays, Len Kasper just goes "Six. Four. Three." really flat, and I don't care for that, but hey, what are you supposed to say when your team just fucked up?

 

Isn't the 6-4-3 much more common than the 5-4-3, though? And isn't everything more common than pitcher to right field to first base?

[the max 0]

Some people are scoring at home. For practice, you know.

 

Nobody is worse about double plays then the Tampa FSN guys. The Red Sox hit into a few over the weekend and you would have thought they were throwing around a grenade about to explode.

 

"BARTLETT!!! AKI!!!!! DOUBLE PLAYYYY!!!!"

[treble 0]

Using position numbers is the last thing I'd get on Campbell's case about, he's just not very good overall. It's kind of hard to explain, I think it has to do with the tone of his voice or something, and the way he changes it. And sometimes he seems to put on this fake voice, it's weird. You'd have to listen to him call a few games to pick up on it, I think.

 

But I do like watching him call games with Mulliniks, because you can tell Rance really doesn't like him. My favourite came a few weeks ago, when Marco Scutaro took a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded that walked in a run. Campbell started talking about how brave it was to take that pitch in that situation, while Rance takes one look at the replay and shoots him down by going, 'that really wasn't that close'.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Some people are scoring at home. For practice, you know.

 

Nobody is worse about double plays then the Tampa FSN guys. The Red Sox hit into a few over the weekend and you would have thought they were throwing around a grenade about to explode.

 

"BARTLETT!!! AKI!!!!! DOUBLE PLAYYYY!!!!"

Isn't Todd Kalas one of the TB television announcers?

[the max 0]

Some people are scoring at home. For practice, you know.

 

Nobody is worse about double plays then the Tampa FSN guys. The Red Sox hit into a few over the weekend and you would have thought they were throwing around a grenade about to explode.

 

"BARTLETT!!! AKI!!!!! DOUBLE PLAYYYY!!!!"

Isn't Todd Kalas one of the TB television announcers?

 

Dewayne Staats and Joe Magrane are the FSN tv guys. Kalas is the pregame and in-game guy. He's pretty good as far as that shitty gig goes.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Today on XM Radio, Kevin Kennedy extolled Joba Chamberlain's virtues in the bullpen by mentioning that the Yankees are 25-4 when Joba pitches. Great stat, right? Chamberlain only pitches when his team is winning in the first place! Of those 29 games, Joba came in with the lead 22 times. Only twice has Chamberlain entered a game with his team trailing, and just five tie games. Of course the Yankees are going to win when he pitches.

[strummer 0]

Buzz Bissinger apparently made a fool of himself on "Costas on Sports" tonight on HBO. He was ranting and raving against bloggers and internet sites with the typical rhetoric.

 

Chris Russo was on and suprise came off as a retarded goof (well he is one)

 

Michael "Ken Tremenous" Schur was also on.

 

I don't get HBO anymore so I missed out.

 

Anyone see this?

[Bored 0]

I caught the very end of the blog discussion to see Bissinger and Costas gang up on Will Leitch, to no surprise. Then I saw that Joe Buck was going to be in the next segment and had to tune out.

 

What the hell was Braylon Edwards doing there?

[Darthtiki 0]

Vin Scully.

 

He could be in the final throes of alzheimers and babbling incoherently and he would still be the greatest

 

As for the worst besides Joe Buck, I nominate Joel Myers and Stu Lantz who do the Laker games. Talk about robotic boring announcing.

[Guest I swallowed a Q-Tip.]

A few of my treasured gems from really local sports broadcasting (as in my high school)

 

"We're here in Kenosha, on the shores of Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes. Of course, they're all great lakes, but this might be the greatest of the great lakes. Not that the other great lakes aren't great."

 

"There are fans thronging at the gates!"

I don't know why this cracks me up, but it does. I wasn't even sure "throng" could be a verb until I ascertained this like ten seconds ago. I suppose as a crowd of people is capable of crowding, so is a throng capable of thronging. It's just funny to paint a picture over the radio of rabid fans pressed up against a gate for varsity girls' basketball. It was Lake Geneva. The gym was probably half full.

[C Dubya 04 0]

 

I caught the very end of the blog discussion to see Bissinger and Costas gang up on Will Leitch, to no surprise. Then I saw that Joe Buck was going to be in the next segment and had to tune out.

 

What the hell was Braylon Edwards doing there?

 

Braylon Edwards was there questioning his agent's judgment.

 

 

I think that Leitch did a good job (especially for someone who lives in his mom's basement (msm LOL)). Basically the whole segment showed how desparate and afraid of change Bissinger is (and really mass media as a whole). Newspapers aren't failing because there are blogs that swear on them. Newspapers are failing because they haven't adapted yet. When Leitch said only people over 50 check the newspaper to get the scores, he couldn't have been more accurate.

 

Really, the best sports writing I've read over the past year has all been from blogs. To pretend that they are all just dick and fart jokes is so far off base. But the dick and fart jokes are fun too.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Good post from FireJoeMorgan on the subject.

 

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/2008/04/few-w...n-internet.html