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Playoff Coverage on TBS

TransMonk Oct 04 2007 10:31 PM

I'd have to say I've been pleasantly surprised with their coverage. I expected the worst when I heard that the Braves network was going to show two-thirds of the year's playoff games on their channel. They've done a good job of separating it from the normal Braves broadcasts. I think the graphics are a bit FOX-ish. I could do with out the shadows and the outlines on the score bar. But I think they've put together fairly watchable (and listen-able) announcing crews and their production pieces have been decent. Thoughts? Comments?

G-Fafif Oct 04 2007 10:53 PM

Not overbearing at all. After a decade-plus of Fox and ESPN, that's the highest compliment I can pay.

metirish Oct 05 2007 04:54 AM

Noithing terrible and nothing great either, Chip Carey is terrible and I think Tony Gwynn brings nothing, Bob Brenly is someone I have liked in the past doing games, Dick Stockton is a football announcer( to me at least ), thankfully Ron Darling is there to help him. Ernie Johnson back in the studio doesn't seem comfortable at all talking baseball, he's a basketball guy for TBS and I think Ripken shold be in a booth. Those graphics showing how many feet the player at first is taking in his lead of the bag are very FOX like, no need to show them every time a runner gets on.

Farmer Ted Oct 05 2007 06:43 AM

A agree with the graphics, the first base "9 feet" do-hickey can certainly go. The best part of the the TBS coverage is the 6 or 6:30 east coast starting time. TBS doesn't have to worry about network and local programming. They just take it over.

metirish Oct 05 2007 07:02 AM

Lets not forget this tool on the right.

Frayed Knot Oct 05 2007 07:21 AM

Overall they're doing fine IMO * The starting times thing is a big deal and one that a network like FOX would be less willing to manipulate and you always get the idea that baseball isn't ESPN's top priority. To those networks baseball is just another piece of programming to be slotted where needed. TBS is featuring them to build themselves into a national player and, as mentioned above, are willing to put them wherever they work best. * They've been doing that 'runner's lead' graphic on selected Braves game for a while now. I agree that it's pretty much worthless, but I guess they feel it's their "innovation plus, overall, they're using mercifully fewer than the FOX/ESPN crews would. * As long as an announcer isn't totally annoying I generally don't care who's doing the game. They're only using one or two holdovers from their Braves crew anyway with the rest coming from the usual suspects that anyone would use; Brenly, Stockton, etc. * I don't care who's doing studio shows since I usually ignore those. Ditto for roving reporters. TBS, btw, is now out of the Braves broadcasting business. They had been doing fewer and fewer over the last couple of years as more games leaked over to cable (TBS is a local over-the-air channel in Atlanta). Starting next season all games will be on the area equivelent of FSNY and the days of Braves games coast to coast will be gone. I'll miss them.

Johnny Dickshot Oct 05 2007 07:33 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 05 2007 07:37 AM

Raissman apppears to have torn TBS a new buttcrack today though I only glanced at the article. His angle was that were boring. Give me boring if it means less flash -- I've had zero trouble with the shows so far and LOVE that starting times. Baseball all day!

TransMonk Oct 05 2007 07:36 AM

I have mixed feelings about not being able to watch the Braves. I'll miss the convenience, but won't really miss the broadcasts. I believe TBS setup to start doing a regular national Game of the Week starting next season on Sundays.

Farmer Ted Oct 05 2007 07:44 AM

I must admit, David Aldridge, a basketball guy, looked totally lost doing sideline work.

Frayed Knot Oct 05 2007 07:49 AM

]I believe TBS setup to start doing a regular national Game of the Week starting next season on Sundays. Yup, a nationally broadcast Sunday afternoon game. They're not going to get the exclusivity window that FOX gets for Saturday games so these will be in addition to your local game rather than instead of. ]I have mixed feelings about not being able to watch the Braves. I'll miss the convenience, but won't really miss the broadcasts. The TBS/Braves crew never bothered me. Sure the announcers were given to saying "we" when referring to the home team and other stuff that that we here in New York tend to feel like we're above - but I never got the idea that they were trying to skew the truth. For the most part they were solid baseball guys and the nuts & bolts of their announcing always sounded as down the middle as one could hope, all wrapped in an unhuried kind of southern style.

Edgy DC Oct 05 2007 08:09 AM

Don't be too much of homer is maybe tentth on the list of what you don't want in an announcer. 1) Don't be drunk or high. 2) Deliver the story. Don't think you're the show. 3) Don't be a bigot. 4) Don't brand the thing with your shtick. 5) You don't have to like both teams equally, but tell both their stories. 6) Don't get caught up in old-school wisdom and recycle the same ideas. Think on the spot occasionally. 7) Don't fall in love with your voice. 8) Respect guys who think differently from you. 9) Don't talk when you don't have to. 10) Dont be too much of a homer. That said, Keith breaks two or three of these things per broadcast, but I love just how fucking reckless he is.

A Boy Named Seo Oct 05 2007 08:50 AM

Agreed with pretty much every already said. It's kinda strange how they just plugged the NBA playoffs guys in. I keep looking for Charles Barkley when I hear Ernie Johnson and Criag Sager. The batting lead-off distance meter is pointless. Ron Darling has to put 1.5 seconds (I think) into our consciousness as a cut-off number for speed of a pitcher's delivery. I don't know of any such magic number for lead-offs at first base, so it just seems an arbitrary thing and a chance to throw up a lame graphic. I still get pissed at the shitty looking CGI adverts behind home plate. They particularly look bad when they're a black background. Not like TBS is the first or worst offender, but I don't know why ten years or so into this technology, it still looks so shitty. It's distracting to me. Agreed with Irish that Ripken is great. Would like to hear him in the booth. Frank Thomas just kinda slumps over and recites every baseball cliche he can think of, but gets me all psyched to see this guy for the Yankees named Misteek who's apparently some unstoppable player come postseason. I think he's a middle reliever or something, but he's good.

Centerfield Oct 05 2007 08:55 AM

No. The Yankees middle relievers are named Mistake. You must be thinking of someone else.

metirish Oct 05 2007 09:03 AM

Richard Sandomir in the NY Times thinks Gwynn should be in the studio with Ripken as they have good chemistry, which is one reason why I'd like to have Ripken in the booth, like FK I don't really care about the studio but it's part of the package so I thought I would watch and comment. And do we really need to vote for the sexiest fan and to be reminded every inning?

Gwreck Oct 05 2007 12:48 PM

Edgy DC wrote: Don't be too much of homer is maybe tentth on the list of what you don't want in an announcer. 1) Don't be drunk or high. 2) Deliver the story. Don't think you're the show. 3) Don't be a bigot. 4) Don't brand the thing with your shtick. 5) You don't have to like both teams equally, but tell both their stories. 6) Don't get caught up in old-school wisdom and recycle the same ideas. Think on the spot occasionally. 7) Don't fall in love with your voice. 8) Respect guys who think differently from you. 9) Don't talk when you don't have to. 10) Dont be too much of a homer. That said, Keith breaks two or three of these things per broadcast, but I love just how fucking reckless he is. 2, 4, 7 and 9 -- at least -- for Keith

Frayed Knot Oct 05 2007 12:48 PM

]Keith breaks two or three of these things per broadcast, but I love just how fucking reckless he is. 1) Don't be drunk or high. -- He has been accused of it ... 2) Deliver the story. Don't think you're the show. -- Not guilty 3) Don't be a bigot. -- Only with female training staff members in SD on cammo night 4) Don't brand the thing with your shtick. -- Not guilty 5) You don't have to like both teams equally, but tell both their stories. --Doesn't always bring the best knowledge 6) Don't get caught up in old-school wisdom and recycle the same ideas. Think on the spot occasionally. -- Occasionally guilty, but probably no more so than the average broadcaster 7) Don't fall in love with your voice. -- Not guilty 8) Respect guys who think differently from you. -- Not guilty 9) Don't talk when you don't have to. -- Not guilty 10) Dont be too much of a homer. -- Reasonably OK

MFS62 Oct 05 2007 01:31 PM

But the real number 1 rule they teach announcers is: Always speak like the microphone is on, whether you think it is or not. Later

bmfc1 Oct 05 2007 03:24 PM

Any telecast with a Carey involved is a lousy telecast.

metirish Oct 05 2007 05:24 PM

Could Tony Gwynn please speak up.

Rockin' Doc Oct 05 2007 10:03 PM

Irish, it's difficult to be loud with that girlie voice. That said, I always liked Tony Gwynn as a player. I think it would have been facinating to hear him discuss hitting with Ted Williams.

Benjamin Grimm Oct 06 2007 05:34 AM

It's still possible Doc. We just have to get them to defrost Ted's head.

metirish Oct 09 2007 08:11 PM

Richard Sandomir on Waldman and the state of the broadcasting. ] TV Sports Yes, There Is Crying in Baseball (and It’s O.K.) By RICHARD SANDOMIR Published: October 10, 2007 Suzyn Waldman was unapologetic yesterday for choking up and sobbing briefly in her report Monday night on WCBS-AM after the Indians knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs. “That’s who I am,” she said by telephone. “It’s unusual, but not for me. I am emotional. I’m a conduit between the players and the fans, and everyone was crying.” She added: “That’s what I felt. I am who I am. I’m emotional. A lot of people like it, a lot of people don’t. I didn’t do it in a game, and I recovered.” It would be easy to condemn Waldman for losing her composure, demonstrating her feelings for Manager Joe Torre and shedding her professional stance. But Waldman is not a standard analyst. She can get away with reacting in a way that a male counterpart might be ridiculed for. (“I cry at ‘Cinderella,’ ” she said in the moments before she sobbed.) She is an empathetic personality — her clubhouse demeanor is as much reporter as mother-confessor — so her catch-in-her-voice weeping about Torre’s probable departure was not surprising. “There are a lot worse things than crying on the air,” she said. Waldman’s response to Torre’s possible farewell to pinstripes came about 90 seconds into her conversation with John Sterling. She was summarizing Torre’s remarks to the news media and said through sniffles, “I was O.K. until I went into the clubhouse and the coaches are sitting in Torre’s office and they’re watching this and the tears that you hear in my voice are coming down the faces of the coaches in that coaches’ room.” It is not stunning that she wept. She has been connected to the Yankees by reporting about them or calling their games on WFAN, the MSG Network, Channels 5 and 11, the YES Network and WCBS for 20 years. She brokered Yogi Berra’s return to Yankee Stadium by eliciting an apology from George Steinbrenner for the way he fired him. She has established a clear and sentimental connection to the Yankees even if she must endure a nickname like “Georgy Girl” that no other Yankees voice has. And her Torre tears created a bookend to the Yankees’ ultimately disappointing season. On May 6, she went far over the top in describing the scene at Yankee Stadium when Roger Clemens announced his return. In a more extreme version of her Game 4 lamentation, she shouted that afternoon with untrammelled joy: “Roger Clemens is in George’s box and Roger Clemens is comin’ back. Oh my goodness gracious, of all the dramatic things — of all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen, Roger Clemens is standing right in George Steinbrenner’s box announcing he is back.” To me, it is worse to be a clueless announcer than one who is emotional in a sport where crying is prohibited by the cinematic manager Tom Hanks. But Torre cries, so maybe it’s good for all of us to get out our hankies. Chip Caray of TBS can set aside the hanky for a copy of a Manhattan map, access to mlb.com and a Yankees media guide. I won’t go on at length about Caray’s miscues during the Yankees-Indians division series as I did yesterday. But during Game 4, he wrongly situated the Chrysler Building in downtown Manhattan during a blimp shot; falsely named Kei Igawa as a product of the Yankees’ farm system; incorrectly said the Indians were on an “unbelievable hot streak”; clumsily described Indians starter Paul Byrd’s effective five-inning stint as “magnificent” and fumbled over the history of Mike Mussina’s relief appearances. When Johnny Damon’s sixth-inning single moved Shelley Duncan to third, Caray uttered, “The crowd is up for grabs.” I have no idea what he meant. In the eighth, he said, “Barring another run by Cleveland, it sets up Joe Borowski in the ninth.” Don’t try parsing that one; your hair will fall out. • Here is my prescription for fixing TBS’s baseball announcing woes. First, don’t let Caray continue to the National League Championship Series. Rush right now and hire the Mets’ SNY voice, Gary Cohen. Two, restore the old practice of adding local announcers from the two teams in a series to add greater knowledge of the players. For the World Series, NBC brought in the Mets’ Lindsey Nelson in 1969, the Tigers’ George Kell in 1968, the Red Sox’ Ned Martin in 1975 and the Reds’ Marty Brennaman in 1976. Three, never load up a crew of National League-related voices as TBS did with Caray, Tony Gwynn and Bob Brenly, for an American League series. Four, don’t interview Jon Bon Jovi or any other entertainer as pitching change filler as Craig Sager did Monday in the sixth inning. Five, subject all new announcers, like Gwynn, to auditions that require them to tell stories and demonstrate an audible voice. Heck, is Ernie Harwell available? Getting Cohen would be great but it would never happen I think. E-mail: sportsbiz@nytimes.com Next Article in Sports (9 of 16) »

Benjamin Grimm Oct 10 2007 07:33 AM

I can understand the Chrysler Building error. In most cities "downtown" means the heart of the city. Only in New York does "downtown" have a different, more specific meaning. A non-New Yorker standing in Times Square, or at Rockefeller Center, or on Lexington or Madison Avenues, would certainly think that they were "downtown."

sharpie Oct 10 2007 07:38 AM

The Chrysler Building mistake is the only one that is acceptable. The baseball errors and things like "the crowd is up for grabs" are inexcusable. Gwynn added nothing.

soupcan Oct 10 2007 07:43 AM

Sandomir had a good article yesterday as well... ]October 9, 2007 Tv Sports An Error-Plagued Game, but From the Broadcast Booth By RICHARD SANDOMIR No announcer is perfect. A mistake now and then is expected. The best ones realize that they’ve made errors and often do their best to fix them quickly. Then there is Chip Caray, TBS’s lead baseball announcer, who has been calling the Yankees-Indians division series and will work deeper into the postseason on the National League Championship Series. His play-by-play of the Yankees’ 8-4 win in Game 3 on Sunday night was packed with errors and silly strategy, enough to give me agita. Caray’s skein of faux pas in Game 3, as well as during Game 2, befogged his announcing like the insects that swarmed Joba Chamberlain on Friday night. He stated that Derek Jeter was playing in his 49th postseason game — “No. 1 of all time.” Truth: it was his 49th division series game, out of 122 postseason games. He likened the “dynamic duo” of Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera to the Rivera-John Wetteland bullpen pairing in “those great early years of Joe Torre,” when they were dominating the World Series. Truth: Rivera and Wetteland were Yankee teammates for two seasons, and Torre managed them only in 1996. He said the “Yankees led the world” in home runs this season with 201. He liked saying it so much he said it again. Truth: The Brewers led the majors with 231, followed by the Phillies with 213 and the Reds at 204. The Yankees and Marlins were tied at 201. He extolled Alex Rodriguez’s “offensive heroics in the first two months of the season” for keeping the Yankees in the race. Truth: A-Rod had a sensational April, but he slumped in May to a .235 batting average with 5 home runs and 11 runs batted in. He introduced Indians reliever Joe Borowski in Game 3 as having played for the Brewers and the Reds. Truth: He never played for Milwaukee, and while he once signed with the Reds, he never made it out of spring training. Caray also noted his hometown, Bayonne, N.J., but pronounced it as if it were part of the Louisiana bayou. The error bug also hit the reporter Craig Sager, who reflected on the absence of Bob Sheppard, the Yankee Stadium public address announcer, and said that his first game in 1951 was between the Giants and the Yankees. Truth: The Red Sox were in town. Caray does not distinguish a go-ahead run from a winning run. In Cleveland on Friday, he said the Indians had the winning run on second base in the bottom of the eighth, and he put the Yankees in the same position in the top of the ninth. Wrong. He also believes that a runner on second will automatically score on a single. Not always. He also has an annoying air of certitude. With the bases loaded Sunday, and the Yankees leading, 5-3, thanks to Johnny Damon’s three-run homer, Caray said, “This is a spot where they have to score another run to win the game.” Does he also read palms? That attitude led him on Sunday, after Rodriguez’s first hit of the series, to say, “And here come the Yankees!” A-Rod went back to the bench on Jorge Posada’s double play. After Damon’s run-scoring single in the third, he said, “And here they come!” No, they didn’t: Jeter promptly grounded into a double play. I’m sure that Caray believed his own words when he said, about the Andy Pettitte-Fausto Carmona Game 2 matchup, that “you can’t get better postseason pitching than we’ve seen tonight.” But there had been better, like that perfect game at Yankee Stadium in 1956 when the 42-year-old Chip’s legendary grandfather, Harry, was only 42. Had the frequently (and ridiculously) loud Caray stayed on mute throughout the series, the analysis of his partners, Tony Gwynn and, to a greater degree, Bob Brenly, would have been worth three or four hours of my time. But a stronger play-by-play voice, like TBS’s other division series announcers, Don Orsillo, Ted Robinson or Dick Stockton, would have made Brenly and Gwynn better. TBS knows how to fix what’s wrong. Yesterday it added SNY’s Ron Darling to its studio program, providing experience that neophytes like Frank Thomas and Cal Ripken lack. Here are some questions to ponder through the rest of Caray’s work this postseason. Why isn’t he better prepared? If his producer, Jeff Gowen, is listening to what he is saying, why isn’t Caray improving? And why should I have to keep rushing to MLB.com to fact-check his facts? Notes Through Sunday’s games, TBS’s division series average viewership of 5.4 million is up impressively from 4.5 million last year on ESPN, ESPN2 and Fox. ...The NHL Network, with 50 live games and other programming, announced deals to be carried by Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, DirecTV and Dish. It will most likely be available largely on digital sports tiers.

Nymr83 Oct 10 2007 10:06 AM

]In the eighth, he said, “Barring another run by Cleveland, it sets up Joe Borowski in the ninth.” Don’t try parsing that one; your hair will fall out. he means it sets him up for the save, and cleveland shouldn't score any more runs because that would take away the save opportunity, which is of course the goal of every game.

Edgy DC Oct 10 2007 10:13 AM

Nymr spontaneously goes glabrous.

Vic Sage Oct 10 2007 10:28 AM

anybody who writes about a "skein of faux pas" has no right quibbling with another person's turn of phrase.

metsguyinmichigan Oct 10 2007 02:27 PM

As bad as Caray is -- and he is awful -- it's still better than Tim McCarver, who makes me want to scream by the bottom of the second inning.

metirish Oct 10 2007 02:32 PM

Probably fairer to compare Carey to Buck and not McCarver, and if I was to compare TM to the lead color guy on TBS there is no comparison , TM is a lot better than Gwynn. For a great hitter Gwynn offers nothing about the art except for using uncanny a lot to describe good hitting.