Korach is solid, technically adept, infinitely objective to a point where you think he overdoes it, (but he doesn't) and my favorite: his style of calls rank with some of the finest broadcasters in the game. And even better, and I've repeated this ad nauseum, but its important: Korach consistently gives the score, repeats the score and does so mindful of the fact that many a fans not at the game, want to know what the score is and a majority of pbp guys fail miserably at performing this most necessary of functions.
You might even fault Korach for giving the score too often, but he's only doing what the great ones always do. Lon Simmons once said that "you can never give a score too many times." Korach believes in that mantra.
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While not an A's fan I have caught Korach's broadcasts from time to time and agree that he is a first rate, classy announcer. And I agree completely with you regarding giving the score of the game.
ReplyDeleteThat being said it makes it even sadder that his audience is so small.
From today's Chron (SFGate):
"Not only did the A's have the majors' lowest attendance last year, they had the worst radio rating despite playing in the nation's fourth-largest market. By comparison, the Giants' rating was sixth highest in the majors."
Contraction.
ReplyDeletePut the A's, baseball and their fans out of their misery. Do visiting teams even cover their travel costs when they play in Oakland?
Korach would get another gig, he's good.
seyhey: not funny, not even worthy of a mention, but ok, you got me: The A's are OAKLAND's--not SJ's.
ReplyDeleteThe A's have a great tradition in a city and region that has demonstrated with loyal LOCAL ownership that they can draw.
It is foolhardy to believe that any fans would try to support a carpetbagger like Lew Wolff, crybaby supreme.
He has the gall to complain about the crowds since day one he has OPENLY courted San Jose and tarped off the third deck and in essence, tell Oakland, "screw you."
No fans are going to invest their emotions, let alone their pocketbook for an owner who is trying desperately to dodge.
And Say Hey: one more thing: Your beloved Giants have a beautiful ballpark and exactly ZERO World Series flags, while the A's have 4 WS trophies.
Have a great day.
4 World Series Trophies don't exactly translate to better attendance and a better organization now, do they? It seems the fans could care less about the three rattled off 35 years ago and the 1 for 3 tries 20 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI turned on D-Bruce today and, hey, good news: he's talking Athletics baseball! Opps! Bad news: the Rivercats are outdrawing the Major league team in Oaktown. But...but...don't they know which team has 4 WS trophies?
If it was all about how many trophies you got, we'd all be Yankees fans.
Just think, if they move to San Jose, the World Series wins will be reset to ZERO (No fair using "since they moved to the Bay Area").
I think A's fans need to spend less time hating on the Giants, a team not in their division, and more time competing against the Angels, Mariners, the rest of the AL, and getting their own house in order rather than blaming the team across the Bay.
Rich-I originally came to your blog here to read insight into the Bay Area media that no one else was talking about. The behind the scenes stuff. What is up with KRON? What happened to Bernie Ward? That kind of stuff the big boys were sweeping under their rug. What I've been getting lately are articles slanted toward your personal love/hate biases.
"I love the As. Pump them up! I hate the Giants. Knock them down! Radich & KNBR were not nice to me. Knock them down! Jim Brown came to my event. Puff pieces galore! Savage was nice to me! Puff him up!"
Am I wrong or is it really coming down to Who was nice to you and who wasn't? I mean, how can you praise someone like Rich Walcott who's Niner's post game shows were brown-nosing masterpieces and fights with Jerry Rice's wife on air?
I guess, it is your blog and you get to do what you want. Today, the lines between Journalist and Blogger are being tested and even today's News has a bias slant to their intended audience. If that is how you want to do your journalistic approach, then so be it.
It is possible to like the A's AND the Giants. I know I do but can be critical of both. I have my #1 team but I'm a BAY AREA fan and a Baseball fan. It is possible to like one team without hating on the other. As a friend of mine said recently, "It is possible to talk about liking the Beatles without knocking the Stones."
And yes, Korach is great. He deserves to have more people hear his work. Wolff is killing the franchise and Oakland deserves to still have a team. Lots of great history of baseball from the East Bay.
I'm an occasional reader, truly do appreciate you putting in the effort, but I'm about to move on.
ReplyDeleteI'm with R.R. It's pretty clear that whoever buys you a steak dinner or invites you in the press box or has you on their show is "one of the best in the business." And those that don't want to prop you up as some kind of media star are punished.
I understand that kind of thing worked for Herb Caen 30 years ago, but he was one-of-a-kind, had an incredible way with words, and that was before blogging changed the playing field. Now it's both obvious and a cliche when someone is playing the quid pro quo journalism game, and you lose credibility.
It's clear you're willing to put the time in, and there's definitely a need for this kind of media coverage. But you also need to give your audience credit. It's pretty easy to read between the lines and see what's going on after the umpteenth nearly identical Savage puff piece/Radnich takedown.
RR and "annon": You guys said a lot there and I don't have the time to go fully indepth.
ReplyDeleteTruth is I praise and rip at equal pace.
I'm not a fan of may "shows" and personalities, but try not to make it personal.
I have a lot of issues with Walcoff and have said as much, but we get along.
I've been hard on KGO even though several of my friends work there. I wrote very nicely of Ronn Owens, but think his "Sleeptrain" schtick is stupid. Is that "brown nosing?"
This blog is a "Media" blog, but I have opinions and once and a while when there isn't a story to post, I'll provide commentary.
You can't please everyone. I try to do my best.
I take my readers seriously so I'm trying to respond and make an effort to appease you.
Savage? Yes, I like him and his work. He makes me laugh. Occasionally, his political rants make me laugh nervously, but its a show, most of it. When he makes news--good or bad--I'll be on it and have posts both ways.
Korach? Never given me a penny and believe me, I could use a buck, but I don't go there.
The Jim Brown affair? All mine, but JB isn't a media figure and if he was, I'd not write about him b/c it would be a direct conflict.
Finally...the A's/Giants thing? My only "homerism"--I'm an Athletics diehard, but I've been very openly critical of Lew Wolff, the A's owner.
And I PAY for my meals at any press box. They charge these days--there's really no such thing as a free lunch.
I hope I've cleared up some of the schmutz on the floor.
I think Korach is the best radio broadcaster in the Bay Area outside of Jon Miller. And he's up there with Miller, Hank Greenwald, Bill King, and Lon Simmons, as the best I've heard in this market in 30-years of listening to baseball on the radio. (I rememeber the days when Wayne Hagen was doing A's games, and Lindsey Nelson was doing Giants games.)
ReplyDeleteKorach always credits Bill King for having taught him so much and it shows in his broadcasts. He demonstrates enthusiasm for plays on both sides -- like Bill King would do because he was a pro first -- and he just has a great sense of when to introduce the score, when to give the listener more information, etc.
I've been critical of Kruk and Kuip, and this is where I think Korach has it all over them: Ken is a professional broadcaster, trained in the lower levels of professional sports (in his case, the minor leagues) until he honed his craft. That is how Bill King came up as well, and Lon Simmons too. The other guys (Kruk and Kuip) are ex-jocks who were rent-a-friends to Giants management and subsequently brown-nosed their way in to their jobs. Korach's training, his chops, and his professionalism, always come through in the broadcast. The same goes for Vin Scully, who has a cadence when he broadcasts a game that is almost musical. Korach is just a joy to listen to. I like his partner Vince Controneo, but he's not in Korach's league, and I would not rate him very high among the other talent in this market. Dave Flemming, who has the potential to be another Korach some day (if he doesn't sell his soul to Larry Baer first) is already a better play-by-play guy than Controneo.
The A's attendance is suffering by design. Wolff and Fisher want to create the worst possible attendance situation so that they can make a case to their fellow owners that the outlook in Oakland is hopeless and they HAVE to move. How do you do this? Tarp the popular upper deck, put the team on a radio station that is hard to find, slash the marketing budget, use your frat-brother friend (Commisioner Selig) to repeatedly say that putting the team in Oakland was a horrible mistake in the first place, and also ask the league to schedule those series with high-draw potential for mid-week night games. How is it that for several years running, the Yankees series runs midweek and not on a weekend? Because the league is in cahoots with Wolff to help keep attendance down. That's not an accident. MLB is a partner with Wolff/Fisher in the de-valuation of the Oakland market.
ReplyDeleteThe bad news for Wolff is that he will likely NOT get clearance to move to San Jose, and there is no ready-made baseball market that needs a team, or has the money to build him a new stadium. He'll probably end up selling the team before too long. Good riddance to him.
If Korach should do the A's TV broadcasts instead of Kuiper. Korach is excellent.
ReplyDeleteKuiper only tells me what I can already see on the screen - my 7-year old can do that.