Think before you speak
Today's gripe isn't about Duke letting at least 4 of the first 9 batters he faced in August 5ths game against the Cubs go right up the middle, nor the bullpen for failing to hold the Cubs when it was evident the offense was chipping away at the lead. It's not even about just losing, period, to the Cubs (my least favorite team in all of baseball).
It's about two guys who are in the booth. One everyday, the other every road game.
I marvel at how Greg Brown keeps his job all these years. This is the first year in a while that I've been able to listen to Pirate games regularly on the radio. Check out this gem that has just came over the airwaves during August 6th's game at Wrigley (paraphrasing ahead):
GB: All fans will receive a Homestead Grays Cap. One of the great Negro Leagues of all time.
Huh? The word "team" clearly belonged here. I'm being picky? Did any of you catch the July 30th radio cast vs. the Giants?
Jose Hernandez rips game-winning single up the left field line, plating Jack Wilson.
GB (seemingly disintersted): Line drive, base hit, Pirates are gonna win it. (Suddenly realizes what's really going on) LINE DRIVE, BASE HIT, PIRATES ARE GONNA WIN IT!
That's right. He repeated himself, as though no one would notice.
Was it just because he'd been at the ballpark so long (due to a 2hr, 5min rain delay + 10th inning in addition to his regular stuff)?
In general, he's the antithesis of Lanny Fraterre. He is verbose. He repeats himself. He talks bunches and often says nothing. Anyone else agree?
Now to John Wehner. Always nice to have a homer in the booth. He's not as savvy as either Brown or Fraterre, but that's because he's an ex-ballplayer, not a "broadcaster" in the pure sense of the word. However, he does have his own segment in the pregame show called "The Other Side" where he interviews a player, coach, someone associated with the opponent. Today's interview was with Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs.
I've never heard so much hemming and hawing, taking 40 seconds to ask a question that should only take 10 to 15, and not playing off Zambrano's answers. The second question almost started with an "Ok, so, um," as though he didn't understand a word (granted CZ is pretty difficult to understand sometimes).
It's to the point where I pray for Fraterre and either Walk or Blass as the color guy when I come to work to run the Pirate games at either WMBS or WJPA.
**
Side note: Another call is reversed against the Pirates as Jason Bay just made an incredible catch against Ronny Cedeño (originally ruled a catch, then changed to a trap). I think those may be the only two calls I've EVER seen reversed in major league action, and both result in a run scored against the Bucs. You'd figure they'd have reversed the A.J. Pierzynski "strikeout" against the Angels last year in game 2 of the ALCS, too. Nah. I guess they'll just save those kinds of things for the bottom feeders.
And just before the fated reversal, GB had announced that there would be a pause for affiliate station ID tags "after the Cedeño strikeout". Seems like a curse of "He hasn't thrown an interception in 130 pass attempts" variety.
It's about two guys who are in the booth. One everyday, the other every road game.
I marvel at how Greg Brown keeps his job all these years. This is the first year in a while that I've been able to listen to Pirate games regularly on the radio. Check out this gem that has just came over the airwaves during August 6th's game at Wrigley (paraphrasing ahead):
GB: All fans will receive a Homestead Grays Cap. One of the great Negro Leagues of all time.
Huh? The word "team" clearly belonged here. I'm being picky? Did any of you catch the July 30th radio cast vs. the Giants?
Jose Hernandez rips game-winning single up the left field line, plating Jack Wilson.
GB (seemingly disintersted): Line drive, base hit, Pirates are gonna win it. (Suddenly realizes what's really going on) LINE DRIVE, BASE HIT, PIRATES ARE GONNA WIN IT!
That's right. He repeated himself, as though no one would notice.
Was it just because he'd been at the ballpark so long (due to a 2hr, 5min rain delay + 10th inning in addition to his regular stuff)?
In general, he's the antithesis of Lanny Fraterre. He is verbose. He repeats himself. He talks bunches and often says nothing. Anyone else agree?
Now to John Wehner. Always nice to have a homer in the booth. He's not as savvy as either Brown or Fraterre, but that's because he's an ex-ballplayer, not a "broadcaster" in the pure sense of the word. However, he does have his own segment in the pregame show called "The Other Side" where he interviews a player, coach, someone associated with the opponent. Today's interview was with Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs.
I've never heard so much hemming and hawing, taking 40 seconds to ask a question that should only take 10 to 15, and not playing off Zambrano's answers. The second question almost started with an "Ok, so, um," as though he didn't understand a word (granted CZ is pretty difficult to understand sometimes).
It's to the point where I pray for Fraterre and either Walk or Blass as the color guy when I come to work to run the Pirate games at either WMBS or WJPA.
**
Side note: Another call is reversed against the Pirates as Jason Bay just made an incredible catch against Ronny Cedeño (originally ruled a catch, then changed to a trap). I think those may be the only two calls I've EVER seen reversed in major league action, and both result in a run scored against the Bucs. You'd figure they'd have reversed the A.J. Pierzynski "strikeout" against the Angels last year in game 2 of the ALCS, too. Nah. I guess they'll just save those kinds of things for the bottom feeders.
And just before the fated reversal, GB had announced that there would be a pause for affiliate station ID tags "after the Cedeño strikeout". Seems like a curse of "He hasn't thrown an interception in 130 pass attempts" variety.
posted by Steeltown Mike at 2:38 PM
1 Comments:
I like Bob Walk- he had a cool story today about being let inside the Wrigley scoreboard during a game.
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