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.