Ever consider whether game announcers return home after games to review their recorded worđťk? Given that announcers rarely change their overallđ approach, most must be well satisfied with their work, right?
In other words, is it possible that Michael Kay enjoys his superfluous verbal presence on Yankees telecasts? Say, the way he adds to moments with âHereâs the 2-2 pitch … fouled back. Count remains 2-2.â
What a perfect time to have remained silent.
Monday, as Cleveland and the Yankees were in extra innings, Kay noted the âYankees lost an extra innings game Sunday in Williamsport, [Pa.], but are trying to take this one here iđ n The Bronx.â
Who knew?
Then there are Kayâs tired, played out, forceꌿd and ill-considered signature phrases, starting with the first pitch â âLetâs do it!â â and extending to âFree baseball!â should the 10th inning arrive.
Does KayęŚ , if and when he reviews his work, glâąoat that such self-attachments never grow old or that they elevate him from the pedestrian?
Signature calls, such as Marv Albertâs âYes! And it countsâ werđ e cherished because they blended style with substance, thus were meaningful. They held juice, not gas.
Over at Fox, does John Smoltz â now in his 10th year oę§ f sedating audiences with his pitch-by-pitch diagnostics, emphasis on spin rates â ever give himself a fair postgame hearing?
After đ¸all, Foxâs shot-callers are incapable of distinguishing bad from awful â and no network has shown that it possesses a credible broadcasting coach â thus the John Smoltz Era plods on.
Does NBCâs Cris Collinswđorth review recordings to finally recognize that heâs a condescending, âYou could see that coming!â know-it-all who never tells us what he saw coming uântil after it occurred?
Obviously NBC has no idea that Collinswoth is so transparent and has made himself so unpopular đŚthat NBC granted him an annual raise from $4 million to $12.5 million, never considering that viewers watch NFL games on NBC in spite of him.
And NBC has allowed his sidekick, Mikeđ Tirico, to become such a grinning, obedient, shallow network shill. For crying out loud, he repeatedly called last seasonâs money-defeats-fans-again Dolphins-Cđ ˇhiefs playoff game shown exclusively on pay-walled Peacock âan historic telecastâ that shouldnât be missed! â thus earning our continued mistrust.
Do CBS/TNTâs Kevin Harlan and Foxâs Gus Jŕ˛ohnson ever review their football and basketball work to conclude what we canât miss: Theyâre obviously engaged to scream and holler at everything, anything and absolutely nothing. Not that their bosses would know or care if they became hysterical over nothing, as diâ¨m-witted viewers might confuse that with significant action.
Itâs a perversion of the Latin ars gratia artis, as televised art is destroyed for the sake of destructiđŹon, a form of vandalism.
Or do Fox NFL analysts Greg Olson and â for 23 years! â Daryl âMooseâ Johnston wrap up their Sundays by reviewing recordings of themselves twice analyzing the previous play before the next snap while endlessly talking, causing sensory deprivaŕ´tion among viewers until they surrender to the mute button?
Now Fox has former Cardinals pitching standout Adam Wainwright as oâne of its MLB analysts. I strongly advocated the hiring of Wainwright by any network that covers baseball. He was, as a pro, an engaging, personabę§le, giving and clever speaker of baseball and of life.
But since joining Fox, he has been heard as a pitch-by-pitch near copy of Smoltđz, unable to become what he đ¤Şwas hired to remain. He, too, could use what doesnât exist: a good firm, know-the-audience broadcasting coach to convince him to relax and just be himself.
Or, as Winston Churchill said, âIt is wonderđłful how well men can keep secrets they have not been told.â
Skip-less FS1 lineup still easy to skip
The problem with Fox đSports 1âs newly named weekday tę§alk show lineup is that it seems like the previous, easđŽily ignored one, thus thereâs little reason to tune in to discover whatâs new.
Itâs as if the departure of Skip Bayless is a cataclysmic event that needed to be overcome as opposed to easily duplicated. How hard is it to find a host who generates forced, foolish debates and arguments over who will win Sundayâs game or be tâhe starting point guard?
Thus FS1 will simply shuffle its existing deck, add a couple of so-whats and sustađźin a sports network fully predicated on fooling all of the people all of the time.
Collect âem all! Trade âem with youཧr friends! Keyshawn Johnson, Craig Carton, Mark Schlereth, Paul Pierce, LeSean McCoy and rotten guesswork artist and personal history revisionist Colin Cowherd, for starters.
Been there, heard them, moved along.
Reader Bill Guterding senses TVâs and MLBâs furtŕŚher detachment from baseball fans can be found in the form of new-age stats that mirroꌿr analytics:
âSo now ESPN leadsđź with OPS (calculatedđ as the sum of a playerâs on-base percentage and slugging percentage, plus habeas corpus) and not his batting average when a new batter comes up. Most fans I know couldnât care less about OPS.
âIâm not embarrassed to say I donât even know what a good OPS is, but I do know tâ¨hat a .300 batting average is pretty darn good.â
âThe Louâ down on Cardinals jerseys
Many devoted St. Louis Cardinals fans arđłe livid with the new, on-sale-now MLB/ Nike âCity Connectâ uniforms that identify St. Louis as âThe Lou.â
âThe Louâ has become a nickname for St. Louis as per the vulgar, N-word enriched, women-degrading, backward-pointed lyrics ofđ St. Louis rapper Nelly, who last week was arrested in a casino for possession of ecstasy pills.
But thatęŚâs just fine with MęŚLB and Nike. Heck, Nike is likely thrilled and Team Manfred has blissfully allowed MLB to rot.
That may become Rob Manfredâs lađ´sting legacy. He took and followed Nikeâs orders for every nickel they were worth, every wonderful baseball traditioâŚn it abandoned.
Does it strike anyone in ESPNâs truck that the one time you may not want tđo distract LLWS parents with a live interview is when their kid is at bat?
Nah, not ESPN. This is the network that in consecutiveđš years had the coaches of Spanish-speaking LLWඣS teams miked, but failed to include an interpreter!
If we didnât know that ESPN hires and fires based on everything except abiltiy and knowledge â politics, religion, race, gender, bogus tweets count â¤most â weâd surmise that football analyst Robert Griffin III was let go because he so clearly wasnât a good football analyst.
Somewhere Phil Simms is awaiting a call to make đťNFL telecasts better, the way he did before CBS threw him in the studio to wasđ te his time and ours.
University of Miami tight end Cam McCormick, 26, soon will make history, playing his ninth season of college ball. Reader John Busacca: âNine years of college? We usually calđl such people âdoctorsâ!â
ESPNâs LLWS coverage Sunday will include a feađture showđing Disney characters visiting Williamsport, Pa., General Hospital to spend time with 11-year-old LLWS pitchers who have undergone Tommy John surgery.