Sl. O/T: Fox has to be the WORST way to watch a game

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw 

Their coverage absolutely stinks! One headshot after another, no perspective on the game. Pitcher's face, hitter's face, idiotic looking fan's face, managers' faces, 1 second showing the actual game view and then back to the portraits. It is unwatchable. No wonder kids don't like baseball on tv.

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

Fox also has to be the worst way to listen to a game because Tim McCarver is an egotistical moron.Im suprised he can fit in the small announcers booths with that overinflated head he has.He makes so many mistakes its unreal and hes not a lovable person like Rizzuto or Caray where you would say oh thats just him being him and laugh it off.

Ive heard him make an obvious mistake and then take 2 half innings trying to explain what he was trying to say and he just makes himself sound worse.

Ive also heard him harp on a player for a mistake and carry it out for an inning after it happened and then reference it thru the rest of the game.Like he was some great player when he played.

I could watch that clubhouse scene over and over where Deion Sanders soaks him and McCarver keeps crying Youre a real man you know that,a real man.Now thats good tv

[Archive]

Posted By: bcornell

Ditto on McCarver. He's a loathsome baseball 'intellectual'. He was brutal tonight - "Jacques Jones took the redeye back after his dad died... and that ball just took the redeye, too!" Nice segue, Timmy.

So that was the mighty Johann Santana? Big deal.

Bill

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

Would a little revenge sweeten the championship? For example, Red Sox fans prefer to face the Yankees over the Twins, Braves prefer to meet the Yankees in the World Series...or the Twins. Astros have no natural enemies...

[Archive]

Posted By: bcornell

There is no way I want the Sox going through the Yankees to get to the WS. That may be a copout, but listening to announcers like McCarver recounting the many past failures of the Sox in this rivalry is unbearable. Unless I suddenly go deaf, bring on the Twinkies.

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie

Bad...segue? I never used that word before! Oh joy!

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

...it's simple - I always do it. Just watch the t.v. muted and listen to the radio.

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

There could be lots of good matchup possibilities

basically any team vs Yankees,3 have played them in the w.s. plus Astros signed 2 Yankees pitchers this offseason

Red Sox vs Cardinals is a rematch of 2 w.s. 46 and 67
clemens vs Sox
Braves who started in boston
LA because theyre storied franchises

Angels vs LA of course would be a big story
Twins vs Cardinals/Braves and Dodgers are all world series rematches and in fact Scott thats what you have to look forward to

Twins made the w.s. in 65 for the first time and lost to the Dodgers
Beat the Cardinals in 87 and the Braves in 91 so that only leaves Houston.Its obvious they want to play a different team each time they make the world series,thus eliminating the other 3 teams from winning.

Astros vs Twins world series is a given

[Archive]

Posted By: bcornell

Bad...segue? I never used that word before! Oh joy!

You mean I beat you to the use of an exotic (Italian, actually) word, Julie? Oh, happy day. I was going to write "Segway", but that's how John D. gets to work and I figured he'd get annoyed.

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

The only way I get to work is 5 minutes late and thats even by speeding thru neighborhoods bypassing the traffic on the main road.I stand by my record of being late at least 75 percent of the time and not getting fired

[Archive]

Posted By: bcornell

"I heard they were giving away free Bucs keychains! Step on it!"

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

I would run over my own mother for a free Bucs keychain,hell it could be the Buccaneers and id still probably do it and i dont even watch foosball[If youve seen waterboy,youll know thats the right spelling] and if i had one of those scooters id put a red sox bumper sticker on it and a license plate that says 'Bill rox'

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie

You CAN'T listen to the radio and watch TV! They are not in sinc. The radio gets there first--2 or 3 seconds. You can't make me believe you actually watched a WHOLE GAME that way--it drives you nuts.

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

Julie have you ever listened to McCarver for a whole game,id rather hit the SAP button than listen to him and i barely know any spanish.Hes more annoying than those guys who try to sell cards and memorabilia on tv at 3am

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

Hey now. Leave Ken Goldin and Don West out of this. They are comic relief late night. There is nothing funny about McCarver.

Jay

I saw weird stuff in that place last night. Weird, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff. And I want in.

[Archive]

Posted By: three25hits

My first girlfriend's dad had an INTENSE hatred for McCarver. It was in 1988, and we were watching him call a game. As soon as McCarver would talk, the guy would turn red with anger -- physically changing his appearance.

Turns out the guy played with McCarver in little league. McCarver was such a jerk, the guy would still turn violent at the sound of his voice. Apparently the entire team felt the same way.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

I haven't heard Tim McCarer in a long time, but I used to watch a lot of Mets games in the late 80's, and I always remember liking Tim McCarver a lot. Did anyone else listen to him back then? Did something change? Maybe I was younger and didn't notice anything unpleasant? I have fond memories of listening to Tim McCcarver announce Mets games back then - seriously...

[Archive]

Posted By: Rich Klein

1) He did not feel a need to preach to a national audience. So he could be more "relaxed" in a local setting and did not have added pressure

2) He was still a "contemporary" of many of the players of the 1980's as he did not retire until after 1980. If you remember, he even has some 1981 cards

3) So, therefore, just like Chris Berman was in the 1980's he was right for that time but has in some ways become a parody of himself. Berman was great on SportsCenter in the 80's and is a full step past that peak today. McCarver, like Berman is still good -- just not great anymore

Rich

[Archive]

Posted By: Lee Behrens

Bring back Joe G and Tony Kubek, they were the best.

[Archive]

Posted By: Todd (nolemmings)

The guy is so bad on many levels. I swear I sometimes bleed from the ears listening to him make what he actually must believe are witty and poignant remarks. He does carry idiotic thoughts from inning to inning, thinking he's weaving some sort of game story line. He's basically to baseball what Dan Dierdork was in the MNF booth (although he's gotten more tolerable since) and what Joe Theismann is fast becoming.

Todd

P.S. Hey Bill, you may be unimpressed with Santana, but the guy had only B- stuff yesterday (location way off) and not only won, but was not scored upon by a pretty damn good offense at home.

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

There are tons of announcer i like but it just happened the ones i dont like were calling that game on 2 different stations.Charlie Stiener who i used to like on espn and John Sterling are horrible hometown announcers.According to them the Yankees make 20-30 great plays on given nights and theyre always gushing over how great it is to watch them play.

Jon Miller and Joe Morgan to me are the best announcing team out there,you actually learn stuff when you listen to them.For people who dont watch the game often McCarver puts obvious facts in doubt,and for people who do watch all the time he makes them mad at him for being so stupid but still getting to call playoff and world series games.I would pay to hear Vin Scully call a game and i would pay not to hear McCarver.

I took a poll once on a Pirates message board and of the 30 responses to what they thought of McCarver,25 didnt like him and 5 didnt mind him but not one person voted they liked him.How someone that unpopular stays on the air is beyond me

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

to Jim Palmer? Is he still announcing?

Also, Bob Costas can announce pretty much any game in any sport any day as far as I'm concerned - he did a fantastic job at the Olympics IMHO.

[Archive]

Posted By: jamie

palmer still does the 0's

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

The man has class, period.

When the Dodgers won the division, he said he'd always felt that the best way to describe that kind of scene was to let the fans do it, and he SHUT UP and let the viewers enjoy some of the atmosphere.

McCarver is an insufferable idiot but I dislike Joe Morgan even more. What a jerk...

I was actually commenting on the rotten coverage rather than the announcing. Local tv does a much better job of showing the game itself rather than the participants.

[Archive]

Posted By: Gary B.

While I'm not a huge Dodgers fan, I've watched a good few games locally, and Vin Scully is really a great announcer. The people who are knowledgable about the game, the players and can point out subtelties while keeping their ego mostly out of the way are the best. That's what I really like about Bob Costas too...

[Archive]

Posted By: qualitycards

If everyone hates McCarver as an announcer, why is he on the #1 Fox team and not announcing games for the Winston Salem Warthogs?

[Archive]

Posted By: Bill Cornell

If everyone hates McCarver as an announcer, why is he on the #1 Fox team

Jay, my guess is that it's because of his NY focus. Everything in MLB revolves around the Yankees and McCarver promotes them to no end.

Bill

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

If everyone hates McCarver as an announcer, why is he on the #1 Fox team and not announcing games for the Winston Salem Warthogs?

I would love to know the answer to this as well and id be happy as a warthog in mud if he did announce for winston-salem instead of on national tv.In fact if they want to hire him id be willing to help pay a small part of his salary to not hear him.

I think the real answer is hes gotten much worse over the years but hes put in his time.I dont watch basketball often anymore but when i did i hated Bill Walton,he fits into that McCarver mold,but hes Bill Walton so they let him announce big games.Hes very unpopular too among people ive asked but there he is announcing important games all the time.

Adam,i did notice right before the last out they had to show everyones face on the ny bench like it was a big dramatic moment.Yes the Yankees were about to lose a playoff game,but it was game 1 and i dont think they were giving up all hope.

I thought they did a good job during the Cardinals game as far as video and commentary,and i only saw bits and pieces of the Red Sox game,mostly listened to that one on espn radio so i cant comment much.

[Archive]

Posted By: jay behrens

OMG, Walton is 100 times worse than McCarver. And how does a former Celtic become a puppet for the Lakers? Even before his son got drafted by them, Walton couldn't shut about the Lakers. He is proof positive that smoking too much weed is not good for the brain. And on a parallel to another thread, Walton has no business in the HOF. College, yes. Pro, no.

Jay

I saw weird stuff in that place last night. Weird, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff. And I want in.

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie

I have sat and "listened" to McCarver, and never been...much...bothered. Once in a while, I get a mental feeling like a had a burr in my shoe, but after a while, it goes away. I don't really listen to games, unless something really important is going on.

[Archive]

Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I am neither a McCarver basher nor supporter, but with all the crap being dumped on him here I thought it was great for comparison purposes to see how Joe Morgan did his job one night later. My personal opinion is that I've seen him better (but even on his best nights he's not the second coming of Vin Scully).

Joe had a couple of brain farts last night (he once called Torre Stottlemyre and also referred to Mel as Todd). Even given that, Joe is less obnoxious than McCarver simply because he doesn't feel the need to talk as much as Tim does.

[Archive]

Posted By: runscott

just below listening to the meaningless dribble of cute blondes on the sidelines at football games...at least they're fun to look at...the blondes that is.

[Archive]

Posted By: Kevin Cummings

Scott:

Deion Sanders dumping water on Tim McCarver's head a couple of years ago was a lot of fun to look at, too!

Kevin

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie

I thought he was really good. I agree, Morgan was NOT so hot last night--maybe he's getting old (I wrote my previous post before I heard him in the Twins-Yankees game).

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

Their camera work was just so much better than Fox and whoever does the play by play with Morgan, first rate.

I did enjoy hearing Tony Gwynn. Sure has gotten fat(ter) though; guess it happens to us all...sigh...

I have to admit, my tape from the Dodgers-Giants game is awesome. I shot it the way I think a game should be shot, showing all the stuff going on out there with minimal commentary. I don't really even need to edit the sucker.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian Weisner

Hi Guys, and Julie
I can't stand McCarver either, but don't threaten to send him to Winston-Salem. We are quite happy with our current Warthogs announcer Alan York, and don't need "little timmy" overanalyzing every Beer poured on "Thirsty Thursday". Besides Ernie Shore field only seats about 8000, so I doubt McCarvers ego would fit inside. Send him to Buffalo, the Bisons have plenty of room in there stadium, and they will drown Tim in the lake if he gets out of line. Be well Brian

[Archive]

Posted By: Kevin O

And it certainly isn't getting any better.

Wouldn't it be great to bring together a few different pairs of proven announcers who don't induce vomit? How great would it be to listen to the Playoffs and Series in the words of Ernie Harwell and Vin Scully, or Herb Carneal or Marty Brennaman or Bob Uecker.

Short of that, why not schedule a few steel-cage-to-the- death matches with a few of the current lame announcers who don't understand that the game isn't about them? Who wouldn't tune in to watch a Tim McCarver-Bill Walton blood bath? I'd shell out for pay-per-view

[Archive]

Posted By: qualitycards

BRIAN - is the manager over there still RAZOR SHINES? One of the all time great baseball names.

Regarding McCarver... It was nice to hear Jon Miller & Joe Morgan tonight, they seem to compliment each other. With McCarver & Buck they try to 1-up each other. Although Joe Buck is a good announcer, the flow isn't there all the time.

[Archive]

Posted By: nickinvegas

While I enjoy Jon and Joe (I am a big Red’s Fan) If I had to choose an announcer for my final game before dying it would undoubtedly be Vin Scully. Not to sound soft, but Vin gives a game romance. He gives the story behind the story. There is (in my opinion) no one better at telling the story of a 9 inning baseball game.

Nick

[Archive]

Posted By: Max Weder

I didn't hear the statement, but apparently Tim McCarver made a comment about cold summer nights and moose wandering around in Justin Morneau's home town of New Westminster BC (a suburb of Vancouver). (Jeff O: how about Seattle 120 miles down the road? Many moose coming to your door?) Tim's knowledge of Canadian geography and its animal habitats is a little deficient.

Here's a 1958 aerial shot of New Westminister, with its baseball park. More malls today.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian Weisner

I'm sorry to say that Razor Shines left the Warthogs at the end of 2003 and is currently managing the Birmingham Barons. The funny thing about the name is that it's his real name. He was named Anthony Razor Shines, after his grandfather who sir name was Razor. Be well Brian

[Archive]

Posted By: Chemenka

I like the Fox baseball and love their commercials. I sat next to McCarver at a coffee shop last year and he was telling a joke about St. Peter at the gates of heaven on his cell phone, so I like his broadcasting. Thank You,
Chemenka Jounu

[Archive]

Posted By: Nickinvegas

I had the pleasure of meeting Razor when I worked for the old Minor League club in Denver. Razor would come in with the Indianoplis Indians(Montreal AAA). He was always very nice. I have one of his game bats around here some where if there are any hard core Razor fans who wish to buy it...


Nick

[Archive]

Posted By: John/z28jd

I have a game used major league bat of someone with a better name[at least i think] than Razor Shines,and that would be Shooty Babbitt who played briefly for the 1981 A's

Unlike Razor's bat tho,its not for sale

[Archive]

Posted By: Lee Behrens

Tim McCarver got bonus points with me when he used the word "diskombobulate" (I'm sure it has to be spelled that way because it can't be in the dictionary). Maybe he is trying to be the John Madden of baseball.

[Archive]

Posted By: Jeff S

is in the dictionary:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=discombobulate

I've always suspected ballplayers-turned-announcers go on self-improvement kicks a few times a year and crack open a dictionary to expand their vocab a bit; within weeks they are misusing irrelevant polysyllabic words.

I like Tony Gwynn, though...

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

Coco Crisp
Cookie Rojas
Puddin' Head Jones
Chicken Stanley

[Archive]

Posted By: warshawlaw

Last night I muted it and put on some music. The game is sooo much better without the inane commentary. Or, you can do what my friends and I like, which is talk back at McBozo and the other Fox clowns, a la Mystery Science Theater 3000.

[Archive]

Posted By: Scott Forrest

"That was a sinker that sank 378 feet...into the stands.....not into home plate."

Edited to correct spelling.

[Archive]

Posted By: Robert {Bigb13}

Someone should really shut up these two announcers. If the World Series is on fox I am not watching. I would rather sit in my can and listen to different announcers on the radio. These guys never stop talking. Rob