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AA’s Matt Yoder feels Fox should ditch the local announcers on its MLB broadcasts.
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TMC
Jul 25, 2012, 8:36:30 PM7/25/12
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http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-should-rethink-local-announcers.html
This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
theirs.
Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
Saturday MLB coverage.
Fox has been using local announcers for their national broadcasts for
quite some time now. A home team's analyst may be paired with a
national play by play man like Kenny Albert, or vice versa, or one
representative from each team's announcing pair may be present.
With Fox broadcasting so many games a week and the nature of baseball
rights, it's somewhat understandable. The TV announcers can't work
those Fox games on local TV anyways, so why not bring them in to do
the job since they're already there? The wide majority of the time
this has not been an issue as the local announcers are not merely
working a syndicated feed, but working for Fox. This means it has to
be a straight-down-the-middle call with no favoritism.
The last two weeks though, this hasn't been so simple.
First Billy Ripken, who isn't even an Orioles broadcaster but an MLB
Network employee, was roundly criticized for his perceived favortism
last week in an O's-Tigers game. Ripken has called 3 Fox games this
season, all involving Baltimore for whom he played most of his MLB
career. Many saw Ripken's analysis and presence in the booth as
heavily pro-Balitmore, including actor Jeff Daniels. (How's that for a
random drop-in?)
Then on Saturday current Phillies play by play man Tom McCarthy and
former Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams called the Philadelphia-San
Francisco game. Listen to these two calls below and judge for yourself
whether or not there is a major difference. First, Giants P Matt Cain
homers off Cole Hamels in the top of the 3rd before Hamels returns the
favor in the bottom half of the inning.
Are you serious? The first call might as well be Hawk Harrelson
depressingly calling a White Sox walk off loss. The first words from
McCarthy and Williams are "uh oh" and "no way." Yikes. On the Hamels
home run, both McCarthy and Williams are much more excited and clearly
much happier. Williams even throws in a "payback!" for good measure.
If I was a Giants fan or even a neutral observer, I'd be incredibly
disappointed in the effort from the booth.
Unlike NBA TV though, the onus here is on the network and the
announcers who know they're working a national feed. McCarthy has to
do a better job of finding some sense of balance and unbiasedness and
Fox certainly needs to rethink this practice if it can't get straight-
laced calls free of homerism. It's not like the feat is impossible,
just take a look at Brewers announcer Brian Anderson calling the
Milwaukee-St. Louis NLCS for TBS last year.
If Fox gets more calls like the ones above on its national Saturday
telecasts, it will have to follow NBA TV's lead and exclusively hire
national broadcasters for their games. Those baseball fans that happen
to be outside a team's home market deserve better.
This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
theirs.
Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
Saturday MLB coverage.
Fox has been using local announcers for their national broadcasts for
quite some time now. A home team's analyst may be paired with a
national play by play man like Kenny Albert, or vice versa, or one
representative from each team's announcing pair may be present.
With Fox broadcasting so many games a week and the nature of baseball
rights, it's somewhat understandable. The TV announcers can't work
those Fox games on local TV anyways, so why not bring them in to do
the job since they're already there? The wide majority of the time
this has not been an issue as the local announcers are not merely
working a syndicated feed, but working for Fox. This means it has to
be a straight-down-the-middle call with no favoritism.
The last two weeks though, this hasn't been so simple.
First Billy Ripken, who isn't even an Orioles broadcaster but an MLB
Network employee, was roundly criticized for his perceived favortism
last week in an O's-Tigers game. Ripken has called 3 Fox games this
season, all involving Baltimore for whom he played most of his MLB
career. Many saw Ripken's analysis and presence in the booth as
heavily pro-Balitmore, including actor Jeff Daniels. (How's that for a
random drop-in?)
Then on Saturday current Phillies play by play man Tom McCarthy and
former Phillies pitcher Mitch Williams called the Philadelphia-San
Francisco game. Listen to these two calls below and judge for yourself
whether or not there is a major difference. First, Giants P Matt Cain
homers off Cole Hamels in the top of the 3rd before Hamels returns the
favor in the bottom half of the inning.
Are you serious? The first call might as well be Hawk Harrelson
depressingly calling a White Sox walk off loss. The first words from
McCarthy and Williams are "uh oh" and "no way." Yikes. On the Hamels
home run, both McCarthy and Williams are much more excited and clearly
much happier. Williams even throws in a "payback!" for good measure.
If I was a Giants fan or even a neutral observer, I'd be incredibly
disappointed in the effort from the booth.
Unlike NBA TV though, the onus here is on the network and the
announcers who know they're working a national feed. McCarthy has to
do a better job of finding some sense of balance and unbiasedness and
Fox certainly needs to rethink this practice if it can't get straight-
laced calls free of homerism. It's not like the feat is impossible,
just take a look at Brewers announcer Brian Anderson calling the
Milwaukee-St. Louis NLCS for TBS last year.
If Fox gets more calls like the ones above on its national Saturday
telecasts, it will have to follow NBA TV's lead and exclusively hire
national broadcasters for their games. Those baseball fans that happen
to be outside a team's home market deserve better.
Richard R. Hershberger
Jul 26, 2012, 12:30:22 PM7/26/12
to
On Jul 25, 8:36 pm, TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-shou...
All national baseball broadcasts suck. FOX is the worst, but none of
them are good. I live out of market, and subscribe to the MLB cable
package. Sometimes I get my team's feed; sometimes the other
team's. The other team's broadcast might suck, too, but this is
honest incompetence. I don't mind honest homerism within reason, and
having a point of view about the game is far from a bad thing.
Watching other team's feeds gives an interesting perspective. What
makes national coverage so hideous is the tendency to have three
prepared talking points, regardless of what happens on the field, with
these three talking points cycled through about three times over the
course of the game, with the gaps between talking points filled with
mindless blather. I find this literally unwatchable. If my team has
a national broadcast, I will listen to the radio feed on the computer
instead.
Richard R. Hershberger
> http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-shou...
them are good. I live out of market, and subscribe to the MLB cable
package. Sometimes I get my team's feed; sometimes the other
team's. The other team's broadcast might suck, too, but this is
honest incompetence. I don't mind honest homerism within reason, and
having a point of view about the game is far from a bad thing.
Watching other team's feeds gives an interesting perspective. What
makes national coverage so hideous is the tendency to have three
prepared talking points, regardless of what happens on the field, with
these three talking points cycled through about three times over the
course of the game, with the gaps between talking points filled with
mindless blather. I find this literally unwatchable. If my team has
a national broadcast, I will listen to the radio feed on the computer
instead.
Richard R. Hershberger
MS
Jul 26, 2012, 10:12:26 PM7/26/12
to
their last names and Phillies players by their first names!
Remysun
Jul 27, 2012, 1:23:34 AM7/27/12
to
> First Billy Ripken, who isn't even an Orioles broadcaster but an MLB
> Network employee, was roundly criticized for his perceived favortism
> last week in an O's-Tigers game. Ripken has called 3 Fox games this
> season, all involving Baltimore for whom he played most of his MLB
> career. Many saw Ripken's analysis and presence in the booth as
> heavily pro-Balitmore, including actor Jeff Daniels. (How's that for a
> random drop-in?)
Was he? Because the Tiger fans at mlb.com really enjoyed him.
> Network employee, was roundly criticized for his perceived favortism
> last week in an O's-Tigers game. Ripken has called 3 Fox games this
> season, all involving Baltimore for whom he played most of his MLB
> career. Many saw Ripken's analysis and presence in the booth as
> heavily pro-Balitmore, including actor Jeff Daniels. (How's that for a
> random drop-in?)
Mason Barge
Jul 27, 2012, 9:45:53 AM7/27/12
to
On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:36:30 -0700 (PDT), TMC <tmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-should-rethink-local-announcers.html
>
>This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
>Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
>to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
>significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
>from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
>Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
>playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
>
>That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
>first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
>season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
>local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
>theirs.
>
>Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
>Saturday MLB coverage.
I'd really rather see them drop the Fox Sports analysts and give the
>http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-should-rethink-local-announcers.html
>
>This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
>Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
>to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
>significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
>from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
>Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
>playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
>
>That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
>first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
>season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
>local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
>theirs.
>
>Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
>Saturday MLB coverage.
entire broadcast to the local guys. They tend to be appreciably better.
Richard R. Hershberger
Jul 27, 2012, 10:52:54 AM7/27/12
to
On Jul 27, 9:45 am, Mason Barge <masonba...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:36:30 -0700 (PDT), TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-shou...
This was when they went through a phase of stupid camera angles
(remember the camera in the pitcher's mound?) and a greater-than-usual
tendency to desperately show anything rather than the actual game: a
celebrity in the crowd was golden, but if there were none than random
fans would do. This while the game was actually in progress. Since
then I have actively avoided baseball on FOX, and will listen to the
radio feed instead. This isn't an anti-FOX rant: they do a terrific
job with football. But they actively seek out ways to suck at
baseball.
> On Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:36:30 -0700 (PDT), TMC <tmc1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2012-articles/july/like-nbatv-fox-shou...
>
> >This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
> >Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
> >to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
> >significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
> >from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
> >Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
> >playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
>
> >That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
> >first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
> >season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
> >local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
> >theirs.
>
> >Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
> >Saturday MLB coverage.
>
> I'd really rather see them drop the Fox Sports analysts and give the
> entire broadcast to the local guys. They tend to be appreciably better.
I concluded years ago that FOX Sports actively dislikes baseball.
> >This year, NBA TV changed course for its NBA Playoffs coverage.
> >Instead of syndicating local feeds, the network hired national teams
> >to cover games. While it seems like a small detail, it was a
> >significant improvement for fans. Instead of hearing homerized calls
> >from either the road or home announce team, National Basketball
> >Association fans were treated to a proper broadcast deserving of the
> >playoff stage with pros like Ian Eagle and Kevin Calabro on the call.
>
> >That's not to completely bemoan the job of local announcers. Their
> >first priority was to serve their home markets as they had done all
> >season, not the syndicated national audience. The onus wasn't on the
> >local announcers to change their approach, it was on NBA TV to change
> >theirs.
>
> >Now Fox is beginning to be asked the same question for its national
> >Saturday MLB coverage.
>
> I'd really rather see them drop the Fox Sports analysts and give the
> entire broadcast to the local guys. They tend to be appreciably better.
This was when they went through a phase of stupid camera angles
(remember the camera in the pitcher's mound?) and a greater-than-usual
tendency to desperately show anything rather than the actual game: a
celebrity in the crowd was golden, but if there were none than random
fans would do. This while the game was actually in progress. Since
then I have actively avoided baseball on FOX, and will listen to the
radio feed instead. This isn't an anti-FOX rant: they do a terrific
job with football. But they actively seek out ways to suck at
baseball.
SkippyPB
Jul 27, 2012, 12:12:21 PM7/27/12
to
audience is showing its disdain and hate for MLB by punishing its
listeners. People in the markets of the teams can turn off the TV
sound and listen to their local guys on radio. The rest of us have to
either watch with mute on or endure endless, meaningless prattle.
Regards,
--
////
(o o)
-oOO--(_)--OOo-
Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he
just whipped out a quarter?
-- Steven Wright
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