Cleveland Indians @ Cincinnati Reds GameThread, May 17, 2008 3:55 PM EDT

For some reason I thought this game was starting at 3. Damn.

by APV on May 17, 2008 2:52 PM EDT 0 recs

FREE MANNY

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on May 17, 2008 3:00 PM EDT 0 recs

A word of warning: Thom Brennaman will be doing the game.

And at his side, Cleveland’s answer to Tank McNamara, Rick Manning. Ew.

by Fiddlesticks on May 17, 2008 3:02 PM EDT 0 recs

Hmm. I have not heard that much of Thom; more of Marty. What’s the consensus on Thom?

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:12 PM EDT up 0 recs

jhonny will have a day

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on May 17, 2008 3:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

Huh?

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:17 PM EDT up 0 recs

i hate that comment and wish i could delete it. h’s in names was basically the premise.

Sizemore-Shapiro 2008. The Official Red Bull of Let's Go Tribe Game Threads.

by Gradyforpresident on May 17, 2008 3:18 PM EDT up 0 recs

Oh. Any thoughts on Thom as a bhroadcaster?

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Mharty’s bhetter.

by SuddenSam on May 17, 2008 3:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

There should be a moratorium on hiring sons of sportscasters.

by SuddenSam on May 17, 2008 3:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Yeah, nepotism, etc, but what specifically about him sucks?

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

He broadcast Cubs’ games on WGN for a while after Harry Caray croaked. He was younger then, so perhaps he has improved. But he seemed more concerned with his own witticisms than watching the game, and demonstrated less of the knowledge of the game—other teams, situations, etc.—than his father did. Talked too much. I think Steve Stone was his color man.

by odradek on May 17, 2008 3:40 PM EDT up 0 recs

Is there a worse national play-by-play guy than Joe Buck? Amazingly, he has time to piss me off while watching 2 sports.

Also, I’d like to give a groan to Chip Caray for the tbs game back in April.

by pandroid on May 17, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

I must be one of the few who likes Manning. I think he does a great job of analyzing pitch sequences, more often than not, before the pitches are thrown. I can’t speak much to his other insights, but inasmuch as he is there to provide analysis on the actual game at hand, I feel he does his job. He isn’t really there to talk about team building, after all. The pitch sequence strategy is information that isn’t readily available on stathead sites like this one, so I think he provides a useful service.

by William Gerard Nahorodny on May 17, 2008 3:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

One of these days I’ll keep a running diary of Underwood / Manning. It will blow your mind.

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

My problem with Manning isn’t so much what he says (although a large percentage of it is inane), it’s how he says it. He’s the classic example of the fumblemouth ex-jock—hence the Tank McNamara reference.

by Fiddlesticks on May 17, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up 0 recs

He always sounds like he’s doing a John Wayne impression.

by SuddenSam on May 17, 2008 3:50 PM EDT up 0 recs

I like him too.

I think the criticism of sportscasters is quite ridiculous. They have to talk for 3 hours a day while pointing things out as they go along. It’s not easy at all.

The only time people like announcers is when they have some past recollection of a great call or fond memories of a certain announcer. I’ve hear Vin Scully make plenty of stupid comments yet he’s treated as a king.

by gahnki on May 17, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up 0 recs

This is just wrong.

Of course people are bound to say stupid things over long stretches of time. It’s whether or not they recognize what they know or don’t know.

Manning (and Underwood) show little to no interest in learning things that would help them illustrate game situations. They love to guess, i.e. Underwood’s absurd comment that he figured most home runs were hit on 3-2 counts.

When you are paid to speak about sports, it’s actually not that hard to do it intelligently and articulately. Many ex-athletes, however, don’t attempt to improve their knowledge of the game or the team they’re covering. I can only assume that they assume they know enough to get by without such improvement. Manning is a classic example.

He is, however, a gorgeous looking man with an unreal tan.

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

So who exactly do you see as a smart sports commentator?

Manning played the game at a higher level than anyone here and he knows what it is like. He may not make many statistical contributions but he still has valuable things to say.

Constantly complaining about announcing gets old after a while. There are no announcers who don’t make mistakes. There are some blatantly bad announcers but I never see anyone talk about a great announcer.

I’m very interested in who you think is a good announcer. I would love to listen to them if possible.

by gahnki on May 17, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Orel is very good when he sticks to pitching

by Roger Dorn on May 17, 2008 4:02 PM EDT up 0 recs

Curtis Granderson might instantly become the best announcer in the game if he retired today.

Paul O’Neill is almost always interesting and insightful.

Jon Miller is a pleasure, generally.

Kudos to Joe Buck, who, during the last postseason, allowed the big moments to play out without any announcer cluttering the sound of a delirious crowd.

Those are just examples. There are many. As a fan, I have every right to complain when the team I follow willfully employs a pair of guys who not only spout constant cliches or poor catchphrases, but their lack of understanding often takes away from an average fan’s knowledge of the game.

You probably hear people complain a lot becaus we’re saddled with a dreadful TV booth. The radio booth is a joy, and you also hear people praise Hammy.

Here’s the secret: broadcasting is not that hard. But it does involve studying and catching up on the other team’s roster. Just about every game you’ll hear a broadcaster make a completely inaccurate comment about a player on another team, simply because they didn’t give a damn enough to do some homework.

But if you’re fine with this, cool.

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 4:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’ve been listening to Jon Miller fairly often this year (doing Giants games on KNBR via XM), and I have to admit I’ve gotten pretty tired of him. He has a mellifluous voice, and used to be a very good play-by-play man, but nowadays he tends to just gab about whatever comes to mind. Not what you want in your game caller; as Curt Gowdy used to say, “just describe the ball.”

That said, among radio teams, I like those in Seattle, Oakland, Denver, Kansas City, Chicago Cubs (funny if not effective), Tampa, Toronto, Los Angeles (both Dodgers and Angels), Milwaukee (Uecker is funny but also pretty good), and of course Cleveland.

by Fiddlesticks on May 17, 2008 4:15 PM EDT up 0 recs

It’s funny since I’ve heard complaints ON LGT about Buck, Miller, and even Hammy.

The Buck complaining during the playoffs last year was ceaseless, and anytime we are on ESPN there are complaints about Miller.

To me, it seems as if people just want something to complain about.

I agree that announcers should always take the time to learn about the other team. That is an unforgivable excuse.

But I’ve heard complaints about every announcer in the game here and elsewhere. It jut gets tedious after awhile.

by gahnki on May 17, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up 0 recs

excuse = error

by gahnki on May 17, 2008 4:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

Great announcers—e.g., Ernie Harwell and Jack Buck—know (or knew) when to shut up. They tell truly funny stories. They have au understanding of the game. Harry Caray, for all his buffoonish qualities, knew instantly when a ball left the bat it was going to the gap. He knew instantly when someone was picked off first base.

by odradek on May 17, 2008 4:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

He is, however, a gorgeous looking man with an unreal tan.

So, really, Rick Manning is the Zonker Harris of professional sportscasters.

Free Andy Marte!

Pronk Needs You

by woodsmeister on May 17, 2008 4:13 PM EDT up 0 recs

I agree.

I take gahnki’s point that not everyone can do the “essential” parts of the job well, i.e., being a reasonably enjoyable presence while talking over a game for three hours. That is true, and you could make a similar defense of myopic writers in the print media as well.

That said, tabler84’s point is that we shouldn’t excuse them from being more ignorant of the way baseball actually works than literally thousands of fans. When your job is to talk about baseball, shouldn’t you at least be in the top 2% in terms of understanding the game?

And I don’t just mean the parts of the game he knows from having been a major leaguer. Of course he knows those parts. I mean the other parts, too — and responding to William Gerard above, who says he’s not supposed to know anything about team-building? Would it kill him to take ten minutes to understand any of this stuff?

by Jay on May 17, 2008 4:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

Stupid Fox. Sox Brewers, there’s a compelling matchup. Poop.

by NickFantana on May 17, 2008 3:08 PM EDT 0 recs

/jamming out to Jethro Tull…

I rock!

Let’s Go Tribe!

by APV on May 17, 2008 3:24 PM EDT 0 recs

Put the Guitar Hero down…

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:25 PM EDT up 0 recs

my Guitar Hero’s in my head (less hand/wrist injuries that way)

by APV on May 17, 2008 3:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ahh, so GH corresponds to married sex life?

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:28 PM EDT up 0 recs

I’ll leave that one alone…

...besides, the next song in the queue was Stevie Ray Vaughan, so I’m still rocking out

by APV on May 17, 2008 3:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

I was mostly kidding.

I might see Bruce Hornsby this summer. But I can’t say I’m exactly “rocking out” to him.

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:35 PM EDT up 0 recs

MFer. No Tribe on TV in the Tabs house today. Mmph. No Hammy, either, as I don’t think there are free links (I’m not fishing for a link to an illicit site; just saying that I really don’t know of any free links).

by tabler84 on May 17, 2008 3:24 PM EDT 0 recs

GameDay Audio is, like, 15 bucks for the whole season. Well worth it even for just a handful of games.

by Jay on May 17, 2008 4:22 PM EDT up 0 recs

yeah, day games at work. these blackouts. when you’re away from home. you get the money’s worth in a month easy.

by Brick. on May 17, 2008 4:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Shap coming up on radio.

by SuddenSam on May 17, 2008 3:31 PM EDT 0 recs

Not much to say:
- Recent pitching success was “historic.”
- It’s up to Wedge what to do with Aubrey.
- Nobody’s hitting and we don’t know what to do about it.
- Doesn’t like inter-league play, except with Reds

by SuddenSam on May 17, 2008 3:38 PM EDT up 0 recs

Hopefully he’s just holding his cards close to the vest with “and we don’t know what to do about it”.

I must say, Shapiro has lost just a little bit of his edge with his usual mostly boring, but semi-interesting commentary where you can sometimes read between the lines to assess club direction. He seemed totally lost when put on the spot with Marte’s playing time, alluded to in the big piece from Jay last week.

by cheech99 on May 17, 2008 3:41 PM EDT up 0 recs

What’s up with all this “that’s Eric’s decision” B.S. I thought Shapiro and Wedge were locked in a jedi mind-meld?...

by APV on May 17, 2008 3:47 PM EDT up 0 recs

Otter: Jedi?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.

by Fiddlesticks on May 17, 2008 3:54 PM EDT up 3 recs

rec

by Jay on May 17, 2008 4:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Justin on to close for the Yankees, let’s see how he reacts when he finishes it out

by Roger Dorn on May 17, 2008 3:52 PM EDT 0 recs

NM, Yankees are losing in the 9th, the dual NY’s were confusing me

by Roger Dorn on May 17, 2008 3:53 PM EDT up 0 recs

Ah crap. My TV’s all fuzzy. Hammy’s doing the audio for me, though, so it’s all good.

by Voltaire on May 17, 2008 3:55 PM EDT 0 recs

Mines OK

One day I'll get over to watch the Tribe play

by new zealand tribe fan on May 17, 2008 3:56 PM EDT up 0 recs

Put your eyeglasses on.

by Fiddlesticks on May 17, 2008 3:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

just remind yourself this is the best of all possible worlds

by APV on May 17, 2008 3:57 PM EDT up 0 recs

yeah, i remember when mlb.tv had a glitch last year for a few innings where hammy was the audio for the mlb.tv for a few innings. best few innings i’ve enjoyed over the internet.

by Brick. on May 17, 2008 3:59 PM EDT up 0 recs