Saturday, August 08, 2009

Broadcast Thoughts

Random thoughts while watching the FOX broadcast of this afternoon's Yankees-Red Sox game:

1. Tim McCarver is a buffoon. This hardly needs to be said.

2. Sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal is a clown. This would be more tolerable -- but just -- if he didn't seem to fancy himself his generation's Edward R. Murrow.

3. I appreciate the NFL getting C-listers like Denis Leary and LL Cool J to yell at football fans in a series of ads, and blame them for missing great games because they don't have DirecTV and therefore also don't have the NFL's network. And when I say I appreciate it, I mean the NFL can take a flying leap.

6 Comments:

Blogger Spender said...

My dislike of McCarver is legendary among fellow baseball fans. I often find myself shouting at the screen such bon mots as "Thank you for the INSIGHT, Timmy. Please shut the f**c UP, now." (Yes, he does bring out the Algonquinian wit in me.)
It's also hard to listen to Joe Buck, as I truly loved his dad's calls of Cardinals' games on KMOX and his stellar work for NBC. I don't believe that Buck, the younger, even likes baseball, based on his lackluster work for Fox.
I actually like Rosenthal as a print journalist. He's knowledgeable and articulate but is just intolerable on tv.
As much as I dislike Fox, they do at least provide a game of the week for those of us without cable.
Good thoughts, sir.

11:25 PM  
Blogger JMW said...

You're right about the game of the week. I don't have cable either, and it's nice.

You're also right about Buck. I don't think to criticize him sometimes, because he's like the broken toe, and McCarver is the kitchen knife to the head that makes you forget all about the broken toe.

3:17 PM  
Blogger ANCIANT said...

Who's worse, McCarver, or Joe Morgan?

2:05 AM  
Blogger JMW said...

Oh, don't make me choose!

I'd say McCarver is worse. His ignorance is more aggressive, and his tone is more annoying. If you're watching a Morgan-announced game, you can kind of zone out and his voice becomes wallpaper. McCarver can't be ignored.

11:07 AM  
Blogger ANCIANT said...

I don't watch much baseball (really only the World Series and a few playoff games) but I remember reading an article a few years back about how smart McCarver was, about his analysis was always so much deeper and more penetrating than any other baseball commentator. I assume you disagree?

4:12 PM  
Blogger JMW said...

Tim McCarver is a gasbag. Baseball is not nuclear science, though there are announcers who can offer some insight along the way: I remember Al Leiter being like this. He was good. But with McCarver, it's all about him sounding faux-profound, and he utters some completely nonsensical thing every couple of innings or so.

http://www.shutuptimmccarver.com/gems.htm

4:43 PM  

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