A WEEK AGO, I asked out loud, why were Jon Miller, Dave Flemming and others ABSENT from the Coliseum broadcast booth, when the Giants played the A's in Oakland?
There were NO Covid restrictions in Alameda County; there are NO MLB restrictions on local broadcasts. Some teams are traveling. Others prefer not to; the overall deal on Miller, Flemming, the Giants' broadcast did NOT make tthe trip across the bay and there is still NO official reason. The excuse put out by who-knows-who, some leakers, some PR guys, that the reason was Covid-related, UTTER BULL! And those in the know either refuse to talk (even off the record) or offer anything. Miller and Giants broadcasters didn't say a word even though their fan base and radio listeners were questioning why they didn't broadcast from Oakland.
All this comes out as news of Greg Papa and Tim Ryan's (and their producer and engineer) given the OK to travel with the team (49ers); I've also learned CAL football broadcasters, Joe Starkey and Mike Pawlaski will also TRAVEL and broadcast home and away Cal football. But Miller and company can't cross the bridge to Oakland?
BS.
I know when the A's played in sf in june, ken korach and vince contereno did the games from sf, but otherwise they too have been restricted from travel as has the A's Tv broadcasters..I don't know the Giants deal, but it does seem odd that baseball announcers have been had these covid restriction espeically if the travelling party have met the vaccine threshold..Im not shocked that papa and ryan and other football broadcasters will travel i would think basketball announcers will get the ok as well later in the year..
ReplyDeleteI think Rich should tell Dave Kaval just to agree to an Oakland deal so he and Mr. Fisher can stick it to Lockstep Larry. That way, the A's stay in Oakland and Kaval can say that all of the A's broadcasters can and will continue to have the freedom to call the games the way they see them, unlike a certain franchise, regardless of best record in MLB.
ReplyDeleteFor the Giants they're still alternating broadcasters between radio and TV. Since they're only doing home games and not traveling that's why they're not doing any road games including Oakland. A lot of it is saving money too
ReplyDeleteRich is running out of things to criticize the Giants about apparantly.
ReplyDeleteIt is strange when Javier Lopez, who was designated as the Eastern Time Zone color analyst -- to save Mike Krukow the challenge of traveling with Inclusion Body Myositis -- is broadcasting an East Coast game from the Phone Booth (Pac Bell, SBC, AT&T) in SF.
ReplyDeleteMy own guess is that these are auditions for the 2022 core team, as the frequency of health issues rears its ugly head.
Flemming has explained it saying that he and John Miller are doing TV and radio. The TV crew is large and not allowed to travel, so the radio broadcast needs to be at the same location as the TV broadcast.
ReplyDeleteYes, but in Oakland when both game feeds come off of NBC Sports feeds (except for a pre & post game booth shots), somehow that explanation feels pretty thin.
Delete$$$ for the support staff to set the equipment up.
ReplyDelete