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Analyze this!

Are these the two most hated men in the country right now?

Seriously, is there anyone a close second? At least in the circles that I run in, whether at work or in everday life, I keep hearing from people who wish these two guys would go away. And on the Internet? Woo-boy. He doesn't like them, and they aren't too fond of them, and although I can't find any particular related posts at this late hour, I do know that he and he and he don't like the guy on the right at all. And for the sake of full disclosure, I'm not crazy about him either.

So my question is, what in particular don't you like about Buck or McCarver? Or about Buckmccarver? I've seen general complaints, but I'm curious to see if there are one or two major common complaints about these two. So, please, I'd very interested in what you have to say. Let loose! What bugs you the most about them?

It'll be a nice, cathartic release before you have to sit through them all over again Saturday night in Game 3 (if there's no deluge, that is).

But I don't want to be totally negative either. So, who are your favorite baseball announcers? Who calls a really good game? Or who gets the analysis right but doesn't over analyze? Who should be included in a grassroots campaign to overthrow the evil Fox broadcasting despot? Who is the anti-Buckmccarver?

Comments

Anonymous said…
My biggest complaint about Buck/McCarver (and really, any of the network announcers) is that they're basically clueless.

They show up a few hours before the game (maybe the day before if we're lucky) and try to find out enough about the two teams to get through the broadcast. It usually doesn't work very well, and we get to hear them harp on the same themes over and over again. (I'm sure Rocco Baldelli is a great guy, and I admire people that overcome adversity... but I really don't want to hear about his mitochondrial disease again tonight.)

My solution to the annoying network announcer problem would be to use the home team broadcasters instead. I know there are teams that employ broadcasters that aren't exactly impartial, but I still think it would be less aggravating.

My favorite tv announcers are Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. There's a nice chemistry between them and they usually manage to analyze without over-analyzing. My favorite all-time broadcaster is the late Bob Murphy.
madding said…
I was never much of a fan of Joe Buck's, but then I saw another side of him when he would do the occasional Cardinals game for FSN Midwest, which I finally got to see thanks to the MLB Extra Innings package. He was engaging and funny and liked to poke fun at a lot of things about baseball that are usually taken way too seriously. But this season, since he "big timed" the Cardinals and stopped doing the local games and also publicly admitted he doesn't really watch baseball and doesn't seem to even like it, it made him unlikeable again.

Vin Scully is probably the best announcer. I also enjoyed Al Michaels doing games for ABC in the 80s. As for analysts, I think I prefer the former players who can offer some insight into the game that others might not be able to, but don't pretend to know everything there is to know about baseball and avoid using tiresome cliches. (Maybe I just described someone who doesn't exist.)
Dinged Corners said…
McCarver makes vapid points in the tone of an officious "expert." Plus, he fawns about certain players and plays; his tone always induces eye-rolls.

Kiner/Nelson/Murphy were the best team in our experience. Your post about them was excellent. Knowledgable, great voices, gracious and respectful but not 'oh-this-player-is-god's-gift.'
dayf said…
Joe Buck is the leader of the new wave of bland, boring, soulless play by play guys. Very vanilla, no real personality, always toes the line and like Madding said, doesn't even appear to care about what he's watching.

Tim McCarver is the hateful abomination of the lowest, slimiest, most full-of-themselves pits of hell. No, that's being unfair. He's not demonic spawn. He's worse. Helldaemons understand that the game they are announcing isn't all about them.

Unfortunately, my two favorite announcers died and retired this year. There was no one better than Skip and Pete.