Best advice to mainstream broadcasters of baseball games

[Javier]

http://baseballmusings.com/?p=34571

Cover the Game by Dave Pinto via Baseball Musings

Cover the Game

FOX is looking to get more people watching their baseball broadcasts. My advice: cover the game more and the big stories less. This is true for ESPN Sunday night broadcasts as well. The big game of the week is not a soap box on which to pontificate about the state of the game, or the latest scandal, or anything else. That remains the province of studio shows, newspaper columns, and today, the internet. Talk about the game. Don’t spend an inning talking about steroids, with the pitches incidental to the discussion. Don’t interview a guest while a rally is underway. Leave that to Baseball Tonight and Ken Rosenthal’s columns. I don’t want to hear from the managers, I don’t want a special guest in the booth, I want the game covered. I want to know the pitch, the count, the result of the play.

I like all the analysis, what pitch to throw in what counts, why the shortstop covered second on a steal, why the defense failed to execute a cutoff play. Teach me something about the game, that’s why a former player is in the booth.

FOX is based in Los Angeles. Listen to Vin Scully call a Dodger game. Ask why he’s so good. If nothing else, Vin loves the game. Bring that out in the booth and people will want to listen.

[Chamillitary Click]

sounds good to me; that's the way it should be.

a little off topic, but Shaq was talking on ESPN the other day & him & T.O. were doing this class for announcing & Shaq said that when he & T.O.'s careers are over he wants to have a talkshow with him.

that would be such a funny show.

[herpes]

I agree 100 %.  I have heard other teams booths and the mainstream guys like ESPN and Fox and I am so thankful for the Mets have in the booth.  That is one thing that organization has got right with Gary Cohen one of the best PBP guys in the industry and Ron Darling one of the best color guys in the industry.  And Keith Hernandez who is worth listening to because he is Keith Hernandez.

[J.D. Wykid, Esq.]

Vin Scully tells stories all the time.

Are you implying that Vin Scully..the GOAT, is doing something wrong?? 

[Javier]

"FOX is based in Los Angeles. Listen to Vin Scully call a Dodger game. Ask why he’s so good. If nothing else, Vin loves the game. Bring that out in the booth and people will want to listen."

That's from the article.  The difference between Scully's stories and all the other networks stories are that Vin Scully never interrupts what's happening on the field during his storytelling.  Plus, the commentators on FOX or ESPN start rambling about random crap, while Scully actually has meaningful stories that either relate to the player that is on screen or about the game. 

[Javier]

Here's the perfect example on Vin Scully's greatness

""Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant Thursday evening to you, wherever you may be. The Dodgers and the city of Los Angeles and all of California and for that matter, all of baseball, still shocked and stunned over the suspension of Manny Ramirez. We'll have more to say about that a little bit later on -- but no one man stops baseball ...""

He didn't continue to talk about how Manny has done X,Y,Z to the game blah blah blah blah.  It was just a poetic line, "No one man stops baseball"

[Tay]

This couldn't be more correct. I just watched the Giants-Braves through Atlanta's broadcast and these guys were pretty bad, trying to be too hip and telling stories that didn't matter. The difference in good storytelling is that you can pause it to describe what's going on in the game and get back to it. It also depends on how close the game is, but the game comes first. If people wanted opinions, they would go somewhere else. One of the worst examples I saw was on ESPN's Sunday Night broadcast of the Giants-Mets a few weeks ago, Steve Phillips made Joe Morgan look like a genius, as they spent a whole weekend talking about how Carlos Beltran isn't a winner, and Jon Miller barely got any words in for the play-by-play. I wouldn't recommend trying to be Vin Scully because you can't come close, but take notes from the simplicity and the timing of what he says.

[J.D. Wykid, Esq.]

"FOX is based in Los Angeles. Listen to Vin Scully call a Dodger game. Ask why he’s so good. If nothing else, Vin loves the game. Bring that out in the booth and people will want to listen."

That's from the article.  The difference between Scully's stories and all the other networks stories are that Vin Scully never interrupts what's happening on the field during his storytelling.  Plus, the commentators on FOX or ESPN start rambling about random crap, while Scully actually has meaningful stories that either relate to the player that is on screen or about the game. 

Well it all comes down to personal preference.  Most baseball fans will agree that Mr. Scully is the GOAT, but some people out there dont like him.  And Im sure some people out there enjoy Joe Buck () and the rest of the FOX and ESPN stooges.

Just listen to Scully calling Koufax's perfect game.. http://www.vinscullybook.com/  (at the bottom).   

As Dodger fans, we are VERY spoiled.   

[herpes]

"FOX is based in Los Angeles. Listen to Vin Scully call a Dodger game. Ask why he’s so good. If nothing else, Vin loves the game. Bring that out in the booth and people will want to listen."

That's from the article.  The difference between Scully's stories and all the other networks stories are that Vin Scully never interrupts what's happening on the field during his storytelling.  Plus, the commentators on FOX or ESPN start rambling about random crap, while Scully actually has meaningful stories that either relate to the player that is on screen or about the game. 

Well it all comes down to personal preference.  Most baseball fans will agree that Mr. Scully is the GOAT, but some people out there dont like him.  And Im sure people out there enjoy Joe Buck () and the rest of the FOX and ESPN stooges.

Just listen to Scully calling Koufax's perfect game.. http://www.vinscullybook.com/  (at the bottom).   

As Dodger fans, we are VERY spoiled.   

Anyone who prefers Joe Schmuck over Vin Scully doesn't deserve to watch baseball.

[J.D. Wykid, Esq.]

these clowns take it to a new level...

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=4845069

 

the motherfucker laughing at the end sounds like a retarded count von count or some shit.

[white Boy]

yea the local broadcazst>>>>> national, even thou kalas died, rip

[Twentytwofifty]

Right now on the Jays game they are interviewing fucking Avril Lavigne in the top of the 3rd.   

[Javier]

Right now on the Jays game they are interviewing fucking Avril Lavigne in the top of the 3rd.   

lmao wtf

[J.D. Wykid, Esq.]

Right now on the Jays game they are interviewing fucking Avril Lavigne in the top of the 3rd.   

lmao wtf

when the dodgers were in AZ earlier this year, the dbags announcers were interviewing Anil Kapoor (the "Who wants to be a millionaire" host in Slumdog).  i was forced  to watch their broadcast cause i was watching online. 

it just makes you appreciate the greats even more.

[Twentytwofifty]

Right now on the Jays game they are interviewing fucking Avril Lavigne in the top of the 3rd.   

lmao wtf

No shit, I was getting dumber just listening to it, had to reach that mute button quick.  It was ridiculous.