LugerForum Discussion Forums - View Single Post

sheepherder · 10-11-2019, 06:26 PM

I always feel sad this time of year, partly because it's the end of baseball season. Where I live, only the Yankees and Mets are telecast with any regularity. Despite the fact that both Cleveland and Toronto are closer, those two teams are the only ones broadcast with home town announcers.

Back in the 80's, when cable first came into vogue, Ted Turner owned the Braves and TBS and TBS broadcast their games. They had a really great announcing crew, Skip Carey, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, and Joe Carpenter (I think it was Joe). Two (a play-by-play and a color commentator) of them would broadcast on radio and the other two on TV. What made it outstanding was that at the 4 1/2th inning, they would swap places. So over a 9 inning game we got the stories, stats, comments, anecdotes, and opinions of all four without them talking all over each other. The Yankees have one regular play-by-play guy and they have 'guest' color commentators but none all season. The Mets have three regulars but not all season; sometimes they have only two. Cost cutting, I think. Both NY teams own TV rights and they have their own stations. We get a lot of NY baseball but not other teams.

Some time ago, Major League Baseball began telecasting out-of-region games on their own station, MLBTV. But they don't carry the local teams announcers, the ones who actually know the team and usually have a local retired player as color commentator. Instead they have P-B-P and color guys seemingly picked at random. They have no depth of knowledge of teams in their given area. And MLB doesn't follow any particular team, they broadcast teams randomly. We can't follow our favorite out-of-region teams.

I'm not regionalistic. I'm not even nationalistic. I like teams outside my region. Yankees and Mets are not my favorites, and some years I follow different teams.

But despite not being a Yankees/Astros/Nationals/Cardinals fan, I would rather watch the home team announcers for those teams than the playoff announcers that are chosen by the networks to call the playoff games. Those clowns know nothing about the teams playing. They read stats from the baseball almanac, repeat news reports (i.e. rumors), and offer useless opinions on players/teams they don't even follow. Mistakes are common.

MLB should change this policy of network nepotism. It just makes the playoffs and World Series that much less enjoyable.

And don't get me started about airheaded broads thrown in for player sound bites...

/rant

10-11-2019, 06:26 PM	#13
sheepherder Lifer Lifetime Forum Patron Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: ...on the 'ol Erie Canal... Posts: 8,197 Thanks: 1,416 Thanked 4,462 Times in 2,336 Posts	I always feel sad this time of year, partly because it's the end of baseball season. Where I live, only the Yankees and Mets are telecast with any regularity. Despite the fact that both Cleveland and Toronto are closer, those two teams are the only ones broadcast with home town announcers. Back in the 80's, when cable first came into vogue, Ted Turner owned the Braves and TBS and TBS broadcast their games. They had a really great announcing crew, Skip Carey, Pete Van Wieren, Don Sutton, and Joe Carpenter (I think it was Joe). Two (a play-by-play and a color commentator) of them would broadcast on radio and the other two on TV. What made it outstanding was that at the 4 1/2th inning, they would swap places. So over a 9 inning game we got the stories, stats, comments, anecdotes, and opinions of all four without them talking all over each other. The Yankees have one regular play-by-play guy and they have 'guest' color commentators but none all season. The Mets have three regulars but not all season; sometimes they have only two. Cost cutting, I think. Both NY teams own TV rights and they have their own stations. We get a lot of NY baseball but not other teams. Some time ago, Major League Baseball began telecasting out-of-region games on their own station, MLBTV. But they don't carry the local teams announcers, the ones who actually know the team and usually have a local retired player as color commentator. Instead they have P-B-P and color guys seemingly picked at random. They have no depth of knowledge of teams in their given area. And MLB doesn't follow any particular team, they broadcast teams randomly. We can't follow our favorite out-of-region teams. I'm not regionalistic. I'm not even nationalistic. I like teams outside my region. Yankees and Mets are not my favorites, and some years I follow different teams. But despite not being a Yankees/Astros/Nationals/Cardinals fan, I would rather watch the home team announcers for those teams than the playoff announcers that are chosen by the networks to call the playoff games. Those clowns know nothing about the teams playing. They read stats from the baseball almanac, repeat news reports (i.e. rumors), and offer useless opinions on players/teams they don't even follow. Mistakes are common. MLB should change this policy of network nepotism. It just makes the playoffs and World Series that much less enjoyable. And don't get me started about airheaded broads thrown in for player sound bites... /rant __________________ I like my coffee the way I like my women... ...Cold and bitter...