"Baseball For Morons"

[gh]

Columnists rant against "the Foxification of sports"

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 006&sc=333

[DrJay]

I would approach this with the premise that marketers know what works because that's their job and billions and billions of dollars are spent on marketing in this country and they study this sort of thing and do surveys and have focus groups and get surveys and TV ratings results. So.....I'd have to conclude that this is what a substantial portion of the population wants. Not me.

[DrJay]

Baseball=Curt Gowdy.

[EPelle]

.....I'd have to conclude that this is what a substantial portion of the population wants. Not me.

A substatial portion of the population was probably not watching the World Series, hence the flash and dash, spice and sprucing up off the broadcasts. The Foxification, if you will.

[DrJay]

Maybe someday the true baseball fans will be huddled in front of their computers, watching the World Series on the WCSN, while the networks show the first real-life version of Rollerball or Running Man.

[gh]

I would approach this with the premise that marketers know what works because that's their job and billions and billions of dollars are spent on marketing in this country and they study this sort of thing and do surveys and have focus groups and get surveys and TV ratings results. So.....I'd have to conclude that this is what a substantial portion of the population wants. Not me.

Unfortunately, I agree. But try suggesting this with track coverage (or the Olympics in general) and watch how quickly all the track fans of the world think that the marketeers are complete idiots.

[DrJay]

Agree with you 100%. By extension, that portion of the population that must want this sort of entertainment are probably complete idiots as well.

[Honusonthesound]

Sports hasn't been fer fans fer years. Datin' back to when ABC started treatin' the Olympics as a giant soap opera with their endless, godawful, up-close-and-stinko segments in lieu of coverage of actual competions, it's gotten worse 'n worse. Hard core fans're just turned off while casual fans seems to eat it up.

No better example than track and field. I won't watch it on the tube. The usual coverage amounts to multiple re-runs of the sprint races, endless interviews of the winners (or the placers if they are more attractive), a quick clip of " ... and here's the winning discus throw ...", and lots of talking heads. Yuck.

In recent years, I've discovered 2 exceptions. The CBC coverage of various sporting events (including the Olympics) dares to include actual competition maintaining a sense of suspense 'n all that. I watched the recent World Championships on CBC 'n saw all the shot put, discus, 'n hammer - prelims through finals. Pretty much every toss. Same fer the other events. I'm thrilled that they are still so unsophisticated. God bless 'em! And up until this year, OLN's coverage of cycling has been equally superb. 2- 3 hrs/day during the major tours along with equally good coverage of the one day events. But sadly, they've recently become too sophisticated fer that, offering only Tour de France coverage along with very spotty and cheesy coverage of other events. Much better to focus upon re-runs of Survivor 'n such. Too bad. I don't watch it any more.

Bring back those Red, White, and Blue channels of the '92 games!

[skyin' brian]

Joe Buck and Tim McCarver did a horrible job. All they did was try to show up the umpires by showing slow motion replays of each pitch. for a while i tried listening to John and Ed on the radio with the TV muted, but the radio was at least a whole pitch ahead, so that turned to be a silly exercise, so for a while i just watched with the game muted, but you dont get the noise of the crowd or crack of the bat that way.

Any other Sox fans out there that love they way Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson calls the games?

[Daisy]

I won't watch it on the tube. The usual coverage amounts to multiple re-runs of the sprint races, endless interviews of the winners (or the placers if they are more attractive), a quick clip of " ... and here's the winning discus throw ...", and lots of talking heads. Yuck.

Did you subscribe to the WCSN streaming video broadcasts of the world championships? They were excellent and the opposite of what you describe above. Try it out, it is the future of track and field in the US since the networks will never give us competent broadcasts as long as the current crop are marketing to the lowest common denominator.

[wineturtle]

I grew up hearing Mel Allens' 'How about that"and "Going,Going,Gone" think of how sad I feel when I hear todays talking heads.And it,s not a real World series Game unless Jack Shepard announces the line-ups...

[EPelle]

I grew up hearing Mel Allens' 'How about that"and "Going,Going,Gone"...

One announcer I enjoyed listening to in the States was Lon Simmons... One game I listened to on 560 KFSO ended with a Dave Kingman walk-off HR in the ninth against Don Aase and the visiting Orioles.

I recall this as if it were yesterday ... the famous you can tell it goodbye was that which stamped this into memory:

Bottom of the ninth, A:s trail 4-2.
Aase from the stretch, here:s the pitch.
It:s swung on and hit high and deep to left field.
Does it have enough? I don:t know.
Young:s going back...to the fence...looks up...
YOU CAN TELL IT GOODBYE!
Dave Kingman hits a three-run blast here in the bottom of the ninth...

(Edit: Googled "Tell it Goodbye!" and learned this: the initial "Tell it Goodbye!" - Lon:s trademark call - occured when Willie Mays launched one deep into the bleachers off Stan Williams and past Dodger left fielder Duke Snider).

[gh]

LEFT field?

[EPelle]

LEFT field?

Games played by position:
1963: Outfield 106, Right Field 62, Left Field 34, Center Field 13

[wineturtle]

62+34+13=109 so it would seem 3 times he shifted from field to field during the game to get 106 total games.
Multi-positionality seems to be high in the outfield.

[El Toro]

Marketers? These wouldn't be the same guys that keep producing so many loss making big budget movies, would it?