# The ongoing Foxification of sports coverage (and how it's ruining everything) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359 "2007-10-28T19:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/21 "2007-10-29T16:03:18Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] Amen! I don’t know what on earth those two boxes are supposed to represent, because everything they show on that graphic looks like a ball, even when it was a strike down the middle. It’s certainly not an accurate depiction of the pitch, just an approximation. This thing needs to go away. [/QUOTE] This is a relief. I couldn’t understand the two boxes either and no one, not even McCarver would explain them. I think they’re so crapola, too, that the Commissioner’s office told Fox to soften any commentary on missed calls by the umpires. A pitch would be called a strike, you’d get a ball somewhere, anywhere on the grid, and then the overhead replay shows the ball was well off the plate. I think (and hope) we’ve seen the last of this graphic. Then there’s the camera on the pitcher’s mound! What in hell was that supposed to provide, except a weirdo view of the batter that is meaningless to all of us? Gimmickry for it’s own sake. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/22 "2007-10-29T16:12:02Z")
With regard to the ads working their way right into the game, isn’t that the big new deal for advertisers – to become part of the actual game/show, since everyone’s recording and zooming past the ads these days? Supposedly, they want to take it to a whole new level – much, much more than just the product placement stuff of the past. I can’t believe it’ll be a good thing when Fox puts a mike on the QB and insists that some of the audibles be Michelob! Michelob! 52! Michelob Lite! 32! Hut! ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/23 "2007-10-29T16:26:39Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] A pitch would be called a strike, you’d get a ball somewhere, anywhere on the grid, and then the overhead replay shows the ball was well off the plate. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to perpetuate the box, and I don’t want to interfere with the umpires calls, but if they were super concerned with this kind of an idea how hard would it be to install a RFID chip in the ball so there’s no doubt as to exactly where it may have gone? As a matter of fact, I’d like to see how a RFID laced football game would go, with the ball and the players shoes are tagged and there’s no doubt as to ball placement or out of bounds calls. Not that I want oodles of graphics to stem from it, but I think that there might be some tech out there that would actually enhance the game a bit. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/24 "2007-10-29T16:27:01Z")
That 9 foot leadoff zone was odd and spoiled what otherwise was a decent effort by TBS. The strike zone box is misleading since the pitch moves laterally and vertically as it passes through the plate area. They’re trying to represent a line as a point and it doesn’t really show much. I would appreciate less information at the top of the screen in bigger fonts. So often I can’t tell what the score is without moving toward the TV. Is that a 3 or a 6 or an 8 or a 9? They use fonts that make them look quite similar. There are fonts where the curl of the 6 doesn’t come back toward the round part, why not use them? This is the first World Series since the early 1960s where I did not watch one single complete game. Fox thinks it’s more important to have 35 minutes of pregame and longer commercial breaks than it is for eastern first shift workers to watch a game. And the numbskull who thought up that patriotic 7th inning stretch should be sentenced to listen to 24 hours of Rudy Giuliani speeches. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/25 "2007-10-29T16:41:01Z")
The down and distance arrow would be OK if they would _take if off the screen before the play starts_- I have sometimes seen them leave it on while the play is going on and it obscures the players. Also, the blocking of an NFL game that night is pathetic- MLB knows even a 49ers/ Cardinals game would get more viewers than last nights game. What does that say about baseball viewership? Last nights UCF- Souther Miss game probably got close to the baseball game in ratings, and if the Indians had beat the Red Sox… ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/26 "2007-10-29T16:57:06Z")
[QUOTE=Barbarian] What, nothing about how Fox sucks for starting the World Series so late every evening? [/QUOTE] But Fox didn’t start this one either. Game 6 of the 1992 World Series between the Braves and the Blue Jays started at almost 9 and went until well after 1. I was 11 and thought it was the coolest thing in the world to get to stay up to see the end. But it was a struggle. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/27 "2007-10-29T17:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] With regard to the ads working their way right into the game, isn’t that the big new deal for advertisers – to become part of the actual game/show, since everyone’s recording and zooming past the ads these days? Supposedly, they want to take it to a whole new level – much, much more than just the product placement stuff of the past. I can’t believe it’ll be a good thing when Fox puts a mike on the QB and insists that some of the audibles be Michelob! Michelob! 52! Michelob Lite! 32! Hut! [/QUOTE] I don’t think you can trivialize this issue. Why do we get thousands of hours of free entertainment and sports beamed directly into our houses? Because of advertising. If everyone stops watching the ads, no more shows and sporting events. Or at least, a radically different economic model is needed. If your two choices were (a) no football at all, or (b) football with lots of product placements, which would you choose? (I think in an ideal world, you’d have three choices: (1) no football (2) football with lots of product placements (3) football with no product placements, but you pay more money) ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/28 "2007-10-29T17:16:08Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] I don’t think you can trivialize this issue. Why do we get thousands of hours of free entertainment and sports beamed directly into our houses? Because of advertising. If everyone stops watching the ads, no more shows and sporting events. Or at least, a radically different economic model is needed. If your two choices were (a) no football at all, or (b) football with lots of product placements, which would you choose? (I think in an ideal world, you’d have three choices: (1) no football (2) football with lots of product placements (3) football with no product placements, but you pay more money) [/QUOTE] I’d actually rather have the commercials. A man’s gotta take a leak sometime, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/29 "2007-10-29T17:27:00Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] I don’t think you can trivialize this issue. Why do we get thousands of hours of free entertainment and sports beamed directly into our houses? Because of advertising. If everyone stops watching the ads, no more shows and sporting events. Or at least, a radically different economic model is needed. If your two choices were (a) no football at all, or (b) football with lots of product placements, which would you choose? (I think in an ideal world, you’d have three choices: (1) no football (2) football with lots of product placements (3) football with no product placements, but you pay more money) [/QUOTE] I agree we can’t trivialize the issue. And it’s an issue that’s not going away, since pretty soon, nobody will have to watch commercials if they don’t want to. However, when product placement becomes an actual part of the game/shows, it’s a problem to me, and I’d rather they stop and I’ll pay more to see the shows I really want to watch. I don’t ever want to get to the point where once per inning, a pitcher who’s actually in the game turns to a sideline camera, winks and does a quick five-second bit about how he could really take a Snickers break before this tough 3-and-2 pitch. We’re not at that point yet, and I don’t want us to get there. I’ll pay or quit watching before I’ll watch stuff like that. (OT - Didn’t _Mad_ magazine do a “Mad’s Dave Berg Looks at…” on this subject about thirty years ago?) ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/30 "2007-10-29T17:33:14Z")
What I don’t like about Fox sports is when I set my PVR to record Simpsons and Family Guy, and actually get baseball. It has happened two weeks in a row. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/31 "2007-10-29T18:06:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mikemike2] What I don’t like about Fox sports is when I set my PVR to record Simpsons and Family Guy, and actually get baseball. It has happened two weeks in a row. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s a real shame that you set your DVR to record at a time when there were two scheduled baseball games and you got… GASP… two baseball games. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/32 "2007-10-29T18:15:42Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] But Fox didn’t start this one either. Game 6 of the 1992 World Series between the Braves and the Blue Jays started at almost 9 and went until well after 1. I was 11 and thought it was the coolest thing in the world to get to stay up to see the end. But it was a struggle. [/QUOTE] Was that one of the ones which had a late start because of a Presidential debate? ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/33 "2007-10-29T18:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] Yeah, that’s a real shame that you set your DVR to record at a time when there were two scheduled baseball games and you got… GASP… two baseball games. [/QUOTE] Actually I set my PVR to record the TV shows that were scheduled after the baseball game. A subtle but important difference. The shows must have been pre-empted by a game that went too long, because baseball is just that important. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/34 "2007-10-29T18:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=Mikemike2] Actually I set my PVR to record the TV shows that were scheduled after the baseball game. A subtle but important difference. The shows must have been pre-empted by a game that went too long, because baseball is just that important. [/QUOTE] Yes, baseball (and especially the World Series) is much more important than _syndicated reruns_ of any show. To the network and to the majority of the viewers. And I never realized the 92 Series was pushed back a Presidential debate. Even still, games have been starting after 8 for a long time and I (along with most fans) think it’s ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/35 "2007-10-29T19:05:29Z")
[QUOTE=Lunar Saltlick] I can’t believe it’ll be a good thing when Fox puts a mike on the QB and insists that some of the audibles be Michelob! Michelob! 52! Michelob Lite! 32! Hut! [/QUOTE] Hmmm…someone want to check Eli Manning’s books? There might be some payola from Omaha Steaks in there… ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/36 "2007-10-29T19:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Fox thinks it’s more important to have 35 minutes of pregame and longer commercial breaks than it is for eastern first shift workers to watch a game. And the numbskull who thought up that patriotic 7th inning stretch should be sentenced to listen to 24 hours of Rudy Giuliani speeches. [/QUOTE] Amen to that. I went to game 5 of the ALCS and didn’t bother to stand for “God Bless America.” It isn’t the National Anthem, and it wasn’t “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” so I wasn’t standing for it. You probably saw me on TV, up in the right field upper deck, third row from the top of Jacobs Field. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/37 "2007-10-29T20:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=Justin\_Bailey] And I never realized the 92 Series was pushed back a Presidential debate. Even still, games have been starting after 8 for a long time and I (along with most fans) think it’s ridiculous. [/QUOTE] 1992 was a weird year. The debates weren’t scheduled until the last minute. Remember “Chicken George?” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/38 "2007-10-29T20:43:46Z")
I must be the only person in America that isn’t bothered by Tim McCarver, or Joe Buck either for that matter. I know he talks a lot but he does give some pretty good info at times, things I hadn’t considered, about when pitches, steals, outfielder placement or whatever are appropriate or not. It’s almost like a live Books On Tape of G. Will’s _Men at Work_. Scooter though was so damn insulting. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/39 "2007-10-29T21:31:09Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] I know he talks a lot but he does give some pretty good info at times, things I hadn’t considered, about when pitches, steals, outfielder placement or whatever are appropriate or not. [/QUOTE] Well, the thing is, this is like saying I’m a great cyclist because I can make it down the block without falling down. Describing the action and hypothesizing on strategy (“I think we’ll see the runner going in this at-bat”) are the most basic functions of the job. Doing so _well_ is what makes someone stand out. McCarver is flat-out wrong half the time and nonsensical for most of the rest. “And there’s a high fast ball that Jeter was able to lay off of,” he says as the catcher blocks a curveball in the dirt. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359/40 "2007-10-29T22:17:55Z")
Was McCarver the Mets announcer who second guessed the mgr all season long, and mad him look terrible? I always thought his commentary was on the money. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ongoing-foxification-of-sports-coverage-and-how-its-ruining-everything/424359.md?page=3)