A line for the ages

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Posted By: jay behrens

"That's what happens when you get your balls low in the strike zone."

Tim McCarver, after Ivan Rodrigez gets hit below the belt with a foul ball.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: John S

I hear that they naturally migrate there as one ages. As for McCarver, he may have taken too many foul balls on the face mask. Sometimes when he opens his mouth I just cringe.

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Posted By: barrysloate

When McCarver first began calling Mets games he was one of the most respected broadcasters in baseball. Over the years his reputation has clearly taken a hit. Don't know why. He is certainly knowledgeable, but he seems to rub people the wrong way. Must be those low balls. Maybe he should switch from boxers to briefs.

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Posted By: Andrew Parks

McCarver is the best. One of the complaints that people say about McCarver is that he dissects plays and replays over and over, but I love that. I certainly have learned a lot of baseball from the man. They also can't stand his mouth and jokes. I don't seem to mind that too much. I have also heard people just plain say he's an idiot and knows nothing about baseball and his commentary is foolish. Well, the man caught in four different decades and that's a tough pill to swallow.

If you haven't already, read his book "Baseball for Brain Surgeons". It's a great look at the inside of the strategies of the game. Great book.

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Andrew i cant stand McCarver for basically the reason youve mentioned but i remember the day i totally stopped listening to a word he said.About 3-4 years ago he made an obvious mistake on air about baseball rules and then he took 2 1/2 innings to explain and defend himself and didnt mention one thing that was happening during the game,and he had them show the replay over and over.There was 2 people over the house watching the game with me and we were just sitting here yelling at the tv for him to shutup and call the game,I hated him long before that but that was just too much.He was so wrong but he wanted to change the way baseball has been played forever just so he would be right in this instance

Ive watched other games when hes announcing during saturdays and ive turned off the volume completely if no other games were on. Ive become pretty good at drowning him out now and didnt even notice him last night,and only when they showed his name or face did i throw up a little in my mouth.I honestly dont know how he stays on the air with how unpopular he is among people ive talked to about him

I remember about 2 years ago he said Scott Rolen was the greatest fielding 3rdbaseman ever then basically told everyone Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt were overrated and werent in the same class as him,and again it was another let me take 2 innings away from announcing to make my point.Its stuff like that nonsense that make people think hes stupid,and while he may be smart, spreading lies because of personal preference in front of a large audience should qualify for making you clinically stupid and therefore people should be able to refer to you this way anytime your name is mentioned

I posted a poll on a Pirates message board a couple years ago,just yes or no,do you like Tim McCarver as an announcer. The result was about 11 no's for every yes....thats about what i expected

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Posted By: Josh Adams

I lost all respect for McCarver during last year's World Series. He was basically rooting for Houston.

Go Go White Sox
2005 World Series Champions!

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Posted By: Jason L

everyone was rooting for Houston.
That's no reason to hate McCarver!

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Posted By: jay behrens

Geez, I didn't mean for this to turn into a McCarver bashing thread. I just thought what he said was absolutley hillarious. It belongs with classic calls like these:

...and Uribe slides into 2nd with a stand up double - Ron Fairly, Giants braodcaster

and a personal favorite:

The ball is hit to deep center field. Winfield is going back. He hits his head on the wall. It's bounced off and is rolling back to 2nd base base. Oh, this a terrible thing for the Padres. - Jerry Coleman, Padres announceer

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Jason L

is there a collection of these sort of quotes somewhere? I could use some lighthearted fare during this combination of earnings & campaign season...
Jason L

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Posted By: t-205

www.shutupmccarver.com i think

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Posted By: jay behrens

There was a paperback book publsihed about 20 years ago with all sorts of great quotes from broadcasters, but I can't remember the name it. You might try an internet search for sports quotes to see what turns up.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Mike Campbell

When you watch baseball, or football for that matter, you hear tons of, what i would guess would be, unintentional references to "balls" "holes" "cracks" etc. etc. My wife just shakes her head. I heard a hilarious one in the recent playoffs, but I can't recall the exact words, but it was something like " He's great at getting his balls through the hole". Something like that. Once again, my wife just smiled. I knew she heard it, even though she wasn't paying much attention to the game.

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Posted By: Cobby33

He was also rooting for Anaheim in the '02 WS.

He received an overwhelming chrous of "BOO's" from 40,000-plus in Game 3 when they came back to SF.

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Posted By: robfouch

Not a sports announcer, but somewhat sports-related:

I remember on one of those blooper shows, they had one from a local newscast where they were reporting on a story about a bunch of bowling balls rolling out of the back of a truck and through a car wash. The anchor, in one of those ridiculous asides after a report, said to his female co-anchor:

"I'll bet that guy had the cleanest balls in town."

Both looked horrified, of course, and could hardly make it through the rest of the news.

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Posted By: Mike

Josh, October 25 2006, 10:22 AM

everyone was rooting for Houston.
That's no reason to hate McCarver!

Yeah, and how'd that work out for everyone?

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Posted By: howard

In the NLCS (game 7, I think) a slow roller was hit to Scott Rolen with a man on first. Rolen fielded it easily but then air mailed over Pujols' head. McCarver immediately and emphatically said that Rolen threw it away because he looked to second base before throwing to first. A replay clearly showed that Rolen never looked at second. It seemed that Rolen had merely non-chalanted the throw. Instead of admitting his mistake McCarver actually said that you could not see it from that replay and then let it drop without showing any replays from other angles. What an ego!

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Posted By: Jeff Drum

As a youngster growing up just south of St. Louis I loved McCarver as the catcher of three World Series teams (64/67/68). In fact I think (I think) he is still the only catcher to steal home in a WS game.

However as a Color Man - he's dreadful. I watch the Series games and listen to a real broadcast on XM Radio (greatest invention since prewar cards).

He's was however, a good foil for Deion Sanders' bucket of ice water during a post game locker room celebration. "You're a real man, Deion!"

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Posted By: Chris Counts

Everybody rooted for Houston? I don't know a soul who was rooting for Houston. But I live in California, where it's customary to root against Texas teams (remember the energy crisis here a few years back?Texas hasn't lived that down yet around here) ...

As for Tim McCarver, I actually have trouble remebering what he sounds like. I've been so appalled by the heavy-handed and over-the-top production of modern televised baseball games in recent years that I simply turn the sound off and play music. It's hard enough watching all the stupid graphic gimmicks that constantly flash across the tv screen. That last thing I want to hear is explosions, hip-hop music and all that nonsense. Just give me the roar of the crowd, an old-time organist and the voice of Vin Scully. Now that's baseball ...

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Posted By: T206Collector

...but he is getting more cringe-worthy as he ages. (Aren't we all?)

I did see and hear the call on the slow roller to Scott Rolen with a man on first. McCarver did immediately say that Rolen threw it away because he looked to second base before throwing to first. And a replay clearly showed that Rolen never looked at second. But he said, you can't see it on that replay. But the replay wasn't from some strang angle. It was a full shot of Rolen from fielding to throw, with nary a look to second.

Joe Buck responded to this, however, by saying, maybe he was actually thinking of Endy Chavez' robbing his 2-run homer the previous inning. That is probably why McCarver shut up afterwards, because he knew he was wrong.

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Posted By: Andrew Parks

John -

One mistake two or three years ago and a poll you took on a Pirates board has drawn this hatred for Mccarver? Remind me never to get on your bad side...wow.

Also - I never watch baseball hardly at all anymore. I hear people say these things about McCarver and whenever I watch the play-offs I listen for things that these people say with respect to him. One thing people say is that he never admits he is wrong, as some of you just either said or implied.

Well, I was watching Game one of the World Series this year and fifteen minutes into the broadcast, McCarver APOLOGIZED FOR MAKING A MISTAKE!

And that just kinda shot down that theory.

Also if you read his book you will read where he explains why broadcasters make certain mistakes in the booth. He says it is very difficult to see in the booth because they do not have the TV screen that we have and they basically have to call the action as they see it on the field.

McCarver is the most knowledgable broadcaster I have ever heard. I love it when he calls a game.

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Posted By: ramram

Thanks Jay. Those quotes had me rolling. I had to go try to find some more but only had limited success:

1. Weight-lifting commentator at the Olympic Snatch and Jerk Event:
>"This is Gregoriava from Bulgaria. I saw her snatch this morning during
>her warm up and it was amazing."
>
>2. Ted Walsh - Horse Racing Commentator: "This is really a lovely horse
>and I speak from personal experience since I once mounted her mother."
>
>3. Grand Prix Race Announcer: "The lead car is absolutely, truly
>unique, except for the one behind it which is exactly identical to the
>one in front of the similar one in back."
>
>4. Greg Norman, Pro Golfer: "I owe a lot to my parents, especially my
>mother and father."
>
>5. Ringside Boxing Analyst: "Sure there have been injuries and even
>some deaths in boxing - but none of them really that serious."
>
>6. Baseball announcer: "If history repeats itself, I should think we
>can expect the same thing again."
>
>7. Basketball analyst: "He dribbles a lot and the opposition doesn't
>like it. In fact you can see it all over their faces."
>
>8. At a trophy ceremony BBC TV Boat Race 1988: "Ah, isn't that nice,
>the wife of the Cambridge president is hugging the cox of the Oxford
>crew."
>
>9. Metro Radio, College Football: "Julian Dicks is everywhere. It's
>like they've got eleven Dicks on the field."
>
>10. US Open TV Commentator: "One of the reasons Arnie Palmer is playing
>so well is that, before each final round, his wife takes out his balls
>and kisses them. Oh my God, what have I just said?"

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Andrew,if McCarver made 1 mistake a couple years ago id have no problem with him but that was just an extreme example.I dont have time to list all his mistakes and long diatribes that made no sense,and i have alot of free time.The Pirates poll just proves its a popular opinion,and i started the poll after a thread that was bashing him already had started with only one person out of about 20 responses defending him.

I have xmradio,extra innings package and easily watched or listened to part or all of over 1000 games each of the last 2 years, so ive heard every announcer numerous times.The only others who ive turned off because of dislike are the Yankmes radio announcers who spend too much time butt-kissing to properly call a baseball game.

McCarver might know alot,but his ego wont allow him to say when hes wrong and that 2 1/2 innings of stupidity was the perfect example.....but thats all it was,an example that just happened to be the last straw with him.Obviously that means there was ALOT before that because it takes alot to get me to turn off someone calling a baseball game

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Posted By: jay behrens

Numbers 1, 8 and 10 all urban myths that never occured.Number 8 usually has hugging replaced by kissing. I think a few others might be urban legends too. I'd have to go look at snopes.com to make sure. Basic rule of thumb with any quote like that is, if it can't be attributed to a particular source, then it probably didn't happen that way.

I forget what show it was that I was watching that showed the original ARnaold Palmer quote. It was taken from an appearnce on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Can't remember exactly what he said, but over the years got twisted to the oft heard quote you posted.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: David McDonald

From the web: Once Carson asked Arnold Palmer why his wife always went to tournaments with him. He replied, "She brings me luck." Carson asked his wife what she did to bring her husband luck and she innocently replied, "I kiss his balls." Carson deadpanned his reaction while the audience went wild with laughter and Mrs. Palmer flushed red. When the laughter died down Carson said, still deadpan, "I guess that must straighten out his putz."



Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

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Posted By: andy becker

i like mccarver. i think he does a nice job. all anouncers make errors.....no question.

i was watching the game when he reffered to rolen "looking" at second base....the camera clearly showed that rolen did not look. but, mccarver played the game....and i think his intention was that the runner, advancing from first to second, was in rolen's mind when he made the throw. i agree with that. i don't think rolen would have launched the ball into the third row with the bases empty.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Here is the link from Snopes.com. They explain the whole "kissing him on the balls" myth which is traced all the way back to Dizzy Dean.

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/kissballs.asp

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Jeff Drum

I think that this is simply a matter of; "You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to." I happen to like Joe Morgan as a commentator but often find myself in the minority when that subject coms up. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder.

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Posted By: howard

During a slam dunk competition years ago Barry blurted out a line he must have rehearsed the night before: "That was a Chinese dunk! He came in on a slant!"

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Posted By: Mike

Principal Skinner: "That's it Nibbles, now chew through my ball sack".

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Posted By: howard

When I was an apartment building handyman and I was fixing a mouse hole in a girl's apartment:

Her on the phone with a friend: "Howie's filling my hole"

Obviously it was a full service building : )

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Posted By: warshawlaw

No offense...

I liked Groucho's comment to the man with 11 kids: I love my cigar but I take it out sometimes.