YOU LIKE BS, I DON'T. You like gimmicks, I don't. You love being manipulated and lampooned, I care not to be. You love to be treated like a foolish idiot, I don't. This will mark the last time I write about the continued carnival perpetrated by the Giants broadcast crew; when absent in the broadcast booth, Giants announcers have in the past few years toyed with their audience by saying, so and so is "on assignment." If they truly were on assignment, it would be bad enough only in the case of the SF 4, it's some sort of joke, an inside joke that the amen corner is supposed to think is cute and funny; it is not, at least from this neck of the woods.
Ask yourself this: would a Vin Scully have anything to do with this charade? Hell no. Would a Bill King, if he were alive, take part in this endless gimmick? Hell no. Would Hank Greenwald have anything to do with this bullshit; Lon Simmons? Joe Angel? Al Michaels, remember him? He once broadcast Giants games back in the dark days. Michaels would have laughed and ended this crap before it started.
Professional broadcasters don't resort to cheap, lazy tactics. They are quick to describe the game and inject their humor, if it's called for, when necessary and at the right moment. They do it when it makes sense and don't take part in some sort of minor-league amateur act that is at best, corny and stupid, idiotic and pedantic. Foolish and repetitive. A collective mistake of mass proportions.
My critics, many Giants' fans frequent rally cry: "Rich, they've been doing it for years, it's an inside joke, why does this bother you so much?" Because it's utter bullshit and nonsense and doesn't belong in a major-league broadcast and it annoys the hell out of me. It's small-market pedigree. It's an absolute embarrassment and insult to the masses who listen in expecting to hear truth and an account of the game, not some inane "joke" that should have been quashed years ago.
The whole notion that "on assignment" (when they clearly are not) is supposed to be received as humor is balderdash --an assault on the mind. I don't give a damn that in other markets the play-by-play guys are horrible and that because Kruk and Kuip and Miller and Flemming are so wonderful, then they be given a pass. WHY? If anything, they should be hung out to dry further for maintaining such a farce and travesty!
Why do I care about this? Why do I make such a fuss? Because guess what? Other big time announcers feel the same way I do. They don't want to go public because some have a relationship with the Giants' guys. They think this "On Assignment" crap is total BULLSHIT too. But even if they didn't, they'd be wrong. They'd be morons too but fortunately, they all have a brain.
Go Rich! You keep exposing all the media bullshit.
ReplyDeleteOh, and for those of you who listen to KNBR and missed it, the Sharks won Game 6 in double overtime last night. Game 7 will be tomorrow night in San Jose.
.... 10:09, in double over time and SHORT HANDED!!
ReplyDeleteHertl, backin' up the talk! What a game!!!!!!
DeleteI thought we were in big trouble when they called that last penalty! 10:09 is right, some serious focus should be directed on the Sharks right now.
Precisely why the Bay Area needs an actual sports station, and not whateverthehell KNBR is.
DeleteWe aren't "morons", nor do we feel like we are being treated as "foolish idiots". Why? Because we know it is shtick, and frankly don't care.
ReplyDeleteNot this again!!!
ReplyDeleteIs Lieberman having another one of his breakdowns?
For all of their quirks, Greenwald and King were sticklers for detail and a more standards-oriented presentation.
ReplyDeleteBravo! Right on the head. The greats of the past wouldn't even think of "going on assignment" during the season. Those announcers are considered as extended family for many people. They're almost like the players. Their daily presence is required.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, the current lot of Giants babblers isn't that great, sans Dave Flemming. Miller was a name that Giants owners loved because his fat ass was on ESPN for many years. Kuiper needs to care for those stray cats and Krukow needs to worry about his health. They're all bored with the product on the field. You can only sell so many garlic fries and whatever the gimmick of the day is. When Cleveland opened the Jake, it was such an awesome stadium that they sold out for a long time. And then, the thrill of the Tribe went into Lake Erie.
But that's okay. It's all about the event, not the game -- at least in this crappy sports market. Meanwhile, the so-called all-sports station pays no attention to the local NHL team. Embarrassing.
There's no there there with the newspaper, TV news and those all-sports commercial-filled radio stations. Time to read a book or watch a movie. And get out that satellite radio. At least they cover sports in a much more fair and objective manner than the sports radio station who's a partial owner of a baseball team and the newspaper whose editor-in-cahoots kisses the Giants ass on a minute-by-minute basis.
Let's see how the brain dead respond to this. Adios pelota!
Anyone that thinks Dave Fleming is anything other than average, doesn't know or appreciate good sports annoncers....he is technically fine but has zero personality....just a spoiled guy from Stanford.... BORING!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously?!?... I don't get that vibe from Dave Flemming. What does he say or do that makes you feel that way?
DeleteDave Flemming is about to climb up the ranks on ESPN for baseball and college football and college basketball.
He does not add to the broadcast or make you want to listen. I used to hear him on Pawsox games when I lived in Providence and he was ok but bland not note worthy.
DeleteBesides it is really annoying when broadcasters try to find or discover a catch phrase. Good broadcasters don't need it and if they do, it comes across naturally and not forced. Flemming used to shoe-horn catchphrases into fames.
Besides, there have been some rumblings that Flemming has done some behind the scenes scheming to become the prime guy. If true, then that saysca lot about him.
The Giants should call his bluff - if he says he can go to ESPN then let him. Besides when was the last time ESPN actually focused on sports?
It's sad to me that we have devolved to the point where if someone feels differently than you, they must be a moron. I'm not a moron. I just don't see a big deal in a little schtick. I don't find it particularly amusing anymore, it's past it's expiration date, but it's really not a big deal. I don't feel that they are trying to get one over on me or anything. I don't for the life of me understand the preoccupation over this.
ReplyDeletethe Giants have put on an incredible dull team on the field the last three years, and the broadcasters fit right in... miller seems to have lost interest around 2014 after the last w.s. run.. dave fleming is competent but also tedious to listen to..duane kuiper goes long stretches of dead air on radio and feels like he is going through the motions.. there have got to be some younger, fresher, more talented p by p annoucers in the minor leagues that deserve a shot or other more experienced ones in other markets that maybe they could go after..
ReplyDeleteRoss Porter, in 1989, did a Dodger-Expo game that lasted 22 innings alone. Vin Scully went home after working the first two series and Don Drysdale was with his wife who was giving birth to their son. Porter explained the reason for the absence and did the job. No fuss. He just did it.
ReplyDeleteHere is an actual story about Vin Scully from 1989 (when he was a young 62):
ReplyDeleteOn a Friday in June of 1989, Scully did a broadcast of a Dodgers-Astros game. The next morning he flew to St. Louis to do NBC's Game of the Week (Cardinals-Cubs). Here's what happened:
"Instead of flying to St. Louis Friday, he went there Saturday morning, courtesy of a private jet hired by Dodger owner Peter O'Malley.
Scully figured he could fly into St. Louis and be back in Houston in plenty of time to make the start of the night game there.
But things didn't go quite as planned.
First, the game in St. Louis, in which the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-5, went 10 innings and lasted nearly 3 1/2 hours.
Then there was a traffic jam going from Busch Stadium to the airport, and he made it back to the Astrodome in Houston just in the nick of time.
Scully recalled the moment: 'The national anthem was just finishing when I stepped into the booth and said, 'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,' as though I'd been there waiting for an hour.'
Counting Sunday's 13-inning series finale in Houston, Scully called 45 innings of baseball in 29 hours."
Now that's being "on assignment"
(P.S. Thank God for Korach)
Rich, I agree. I was raised a Giants fan, but I cannot listen for more than a couple of innings for what passes as a Giants broadcast today. It's so dispiriting. I've listened to Giants games since Russ, Lon & Bill and in those days it was straight ahead play-by-play and those guys worked all 162 games - there was none of this "on assignment" BS. Thank goodness for Korach & Contraneo - Indeed! I'm not an A's fan, but I am a fan of good radio and I can listen to Korach et al and enjoy the broadcast because they are so damn good at what they do. Another example- I don't know a damn thing about hockey, but I listen to Dan Rusanowsky call Sharks games and I'm into it because he's so damn good at what he does, I marvel at the skill and the professionalism of the broadcast. I just wish the Giants and KNBR would get a clue and clean up their radio broadcasts. The fans deserve better.
ReplyDeleteI know he was not popular here in his short time, but Lindsey Nelson would not have either.
ReplyDelete