You are an idiot. You are bordering perilously close to the Billy Packer-esque level of forcing me mute your call of a game and listen to it via another medium. Do you get that? I would rather endure a 5 second delay between action and verse simply to avoid listening to you spout banal generalities of baseball knowledge and references to your far from stellar playing career.
You and your overly dramatic co-host spent far too much time going over the minutae of Manny Ramirez’ home run walk/trot. So he walked halfway up the baseline. That was the biggest hit of his career in an emotional and tense situation. Perhaps it was a little disrespectful, but given the moment, I won’t fault a guy for acting like a kid on a playground.
In the Cubs series, you spent a couple of minutes talking about the baserunning acumen/baseball knowledge of Kerry Wood because he got a great jump off of second on a possibly catchable single and scored. Of course, in all of your glowing platitudes, you failed to mention that there were two outs and anyone other than an Oakland A’s player would have managed to leave on contact and score.
Those are but two examples of how I loathe you. Spill your coffee tonight while you befoul yet another broadcast of my beloved Cubs. Spill it, electrocute yourself, and spend the remainder of the series not calling games from the comfort of an acute care facility.
[channelling Tim McCarver]For the Cubs to beat the Marlins, they are going to need two key things to happen tonight. First, the Cub’s bats are going to have to produce some runs. Second, their pitching is going to have to get some outs. If these two things happen and the cubs can end the ninth with more runs than the Marlins, I think that the Cubs will take this one. That’s what the key is to this game. If the Cubs are going to have any chance to win this, they are going to have to score more runs than the Florida. If they can do that, they’ll chalk up one in the W column. [/McCarver]
I’m not sure which announcer is which. Is Lyons one of those dingleberry-snackers on FOX? Those guys are just freaking awful. Joe Morgan and the other guy on ESPN were much better.
I watched game 3 of the Yanks/Twins series on FOX. I know McCarver the Moralizer was one of the broadcasters. During the game, his partner stated that both Jeter and Soriano were out stealing even though they were ruled safe. You just could not tell in the replay (bad angles.) And what was up with both broadcasters calling the Twins players by their first names and the Yanks by their last?
Try the SAP button, or failing that, ESPN Radio. Some of their radio announcing teams are okay.
Steve Lyons really, really sucks. He’s distinguishable from McCarver in that he has an extra “really.”
Oh, and the other guy is Thom Brenneman. He’s one of the Young Star play-by-play guys, which means he merely sucks and is not yet senile. (I prefer senile.) Brenneman’s trademark is forcing his voice to sound as deep as possible.
And man, are the Marlins getting their asses kicked in the first or what.
One of the prouder, if more subtle moments of last year’s World Series was at a gathering of several thousand Giants fans watching Game 7 on a big-screen TV at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco. Tim McCarver, who (for some unholy reason) joined the Giants’ regular-season broadcast team, showed up on-screen during the Fox pre-game show. The boos that followed were matched only by Shinjo’s inclusion in the contest.
Of course, with Jon Miller (the aforementioned “other guy”), Duane Kuiper, and Mike Krukow, we in San Francisco have been absolutely spoiled by the best broadcast team in baseball. I was listening to KNBR while watching the muted Fox broadcast.
Ugh… as I type this, the FOX schmucks are bitching about Manny Ramirez, and comparing Moises Alou’s home run tonight. “There’s the pump of the fist, there’s the emotion.” Blech. Here’s to hoping Jon Miller’s on ESPN Radio.
Steve Lyons and Thom Brenneman are the regular season commentators for the AZ Diamondbacks – I listen to these guys all season. Trust me, Jim Traber, AZ’s back-up colour man, makes Steve Lyons sound like Vin Scully…
The Orioles used to have the best broadcast team in the majors…back when we had Jon Miller, Joe Angel, Mel Proctor, and John Lowenstein, and now I am going off to weep quietly, excuse me…
Arrrgh. I hate those fools. Almost as much as I dislike Joe Buck and McCarver.
What is up with all of the irritating morons doing baseball broadcasts with their inane chatter and useless "analysis that a three year old could do?
I was watching ESPN Classic the other day and was treated to Al Michaels calling a game. It was like heaven. Why can’t someone kidnap Michaels and make him call the postseason games? Imagine! Actual play-by-play. As opposed to listening to this tool on Fox babble for three pitches about how Florida has no quit in them in the top of the 11th. GAH!
Al Leiter was in the booth for tonight’s NLCS Game 1.
In this one game, Leiter, who to the best of my knowledge has no broadcasting experience, provided about ten times more valuable input than Steve Lyons has in his entire career.
I’m not sure what that says about Al Leiter, but I know what it says about Steve Lyons.
But it’s not as bad as when they let Bob Costas announce a few years ago…baseball, basketball and gymnastics…clueless as the day is long. Yes, Lyons is irritating, but the past has been worse, much worse.
Jon Miller used to be great when he worked in Boston. He MAY be great when he does local stuff now in SF. But he’s completely intolerable, along with Joe Morgan, on ESPN.
By FAR the best regular season team in baseball is Sean McDonough and Jerry Remy, in Boston, followed distantly by the 2 guys in Seattle, whose names I can’t think of right now.
Flymaster – I must agree with you about the NESN team! In the Boods household, all summer long, it’s doubleheaders with the Red Sox (cos I like Jerry Remy) and then Arizona…
The flights of fancy they get up to with the grouchy Jerry Remy & his pal Wally would make me homicidal with any other broadcast team, I think…
And as much as I despise the Dodgers, sometimes, late nights, I will put on their games just to listen to Vin Scully…
I am, in fact, an Orioles’ supporter – my birthright, I must admit – but since the Angelos Regime, the broadcasters have been horrid – if I remember correctly, one reason all the good ones left was Angelos’ dictum that they had to speak nicely at all times about the Orioles, no matter what sort of boneheaded things they got up to, and John Lowenstein refused to cave in…Michael Reghi is horrific. I can’t think of another word to describe him. That fake little laugh…in fact, the last game I listened to, he was driving even Jim Palmer up the wall…
As for another terrific commentator, I must submit Harry Kalas of Philadelphia, the voice of my childhood…
No no no! Costas is an excellent baseball announcer. Back when NBC had the Game of Week on Saturday he and Tony Kubeck were a great team. McCarver and Lyons should have their mouths taped shut but Costas is ok. Really.
I feel like turning this into a general inane announcer thread. That’s “inane announcer” thread, not inane “announcer thread.”
Joe Buck: “And you can see that high pressure system is very far south of us. Or it might be a low pressure system. I don’t know. Those clouds down there.”
Thanks Joe. Too bad your father didn’t pass on the talent genes.
And of course, “Anytime you hit a knuckleball down that first base line, you know it’s always going to bounce fair.”
To be strictly accurate, McDonough is only the friday night guy in Boston now. Every other night is Don Orsillo, who is also spectacular. However, he isn’t on the same level as McDonough, when it comes to inane chatter with Remy.
Jerry is at his best when it’s the 178th inning, 3am, against the Tigers, and you can almost hear him muttering “I would kill my own mother for a cigarette right now” in the non-smoking Fenway Park. When Sean let him do the play-by-play for the 15th inning in one marathon 2 or so years ago and he began to berate a 4 year old kid in the luxury box for crying…It was classic Jerry.
(They eventually sent him over a free media guide and various other goodies, so it wasn’t at all mean-spirited…just funny as hell)
Finally, if someone could just go into the booth right now and cockpunch Tim McCarver, I’d be forever in their debt.)
Joe: If the score in the Cubs game is still that lopsided, I think Prior will be taken out a bit early, especially if they are planning on using him on short rest later in the series.
Boone: Actually, knowing Dusty and Wrigley Field, I think that Prior will stay in the game as long as his manager thinks he needs to in order to win the game. They can’t take any chance of going down 2-0 and then going to Florida.
Joe: Well, whatever.
Again, Joe, shut the holy hell up. Even though you were right in the first place.
