Tagged: FOX

October 5, 2010

Why Can’t TBS/FOX Have One Local Voice?

I was getting excited today thinking about the start of the playoffs tomorrow night – planning my game menu, making sure my lucky clothes were clean, vowing not going to panic if things don’t go perfectly (fat chance). And then I remembered that YES wouldn’t be doing the broadcasts for any of the games and I’d be listening to “strangers” for the duration of the postseason. And it bothered me. Why do these generic announcers for networks that don’t cover us on a regular basis have to parachute in every year? OK, I know why. They have contracts. But couldn’t they at the very least include one local guy from each playoff team? Would that really be so difficult? It would certainly improve the quality of my fan experience. And apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way. No sooner did I rant about this to my husband than I read Raissman’s column in today’s Daily News. Seriously, Ernie Johnson, Ron Darling and John Smoltz doing my team’s games? When Bud Selig asks his committee for suggestions about improving baseball, how about somebody mentioning a mistake that’s so easy to correct? Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled that the Yanks are even in the playoffs; Dr. Phil could be calling the games and I’d be fine with it. (Not really, but you know what I’m saying.) I just wish we didn’t have to listen to stories we’ve heard a million times and “analysis” from people who don’t especially care.

Article
Comments (11)

As playoffs begin, Michael Kay and YES broadcast team leave the booth for TBS and Ron Darling

BOB RAISSMAN

Tuesday, October 5th 2010, 4:00 AM

http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2010/10/05/2010-10-05_yank_fans_live__yearn.html&layout=standard&show_faces=false&width=390&action=recommend&colorscheme=light&height=24

New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay is relegated to pre- and postgame duties as a national broadcast team takes control of the play-by-play for the Bombers.

http://icecdn.irv.brandaffinity.net/q/ice/widget.swf

Cunningham/Getty

New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay is relegated to pre- and postgame duties as a national broadcast team takes control o
f the play-by-play for the Bombers.

RELATED NEWS

Near the end of the Yankees‘ loss toBoston Sunday in the regular-season finale, Michael Kay, in a funereal tone, said the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network would be turning postseason coverage of the team over to “the network.”

This was not the first time a YES voice has lamented the fact he would be turned into nothing more than a hood ornament on the Bombers’ playoff sedan. You cannot blame Kay, or any other mouth, for feeling blue.

It’s cold being turned away at the door when the party is about to start.

YES‘ cast of thousands does six months of heavy lifting, then another broadcast team parachutes in, landing on prime playoff real estate. It’s even worse for Yankee voices. Don’t ever forget the regular season is relatively meaningless for the Bombers. The “mission statement,” often repeated on YES (it’s written in blood and locked in a safe), is that anything short of World Series victory is failure.

In April, year after year, it’s presented as a given that the Yankees are guaranteed a postseason berth. Making 15 trips in the last 16 seasons validates the mantra. These cats mean what they say. So now after regular season hors d’oeuvres have been served by YES voices, TBS’ crew comes in to work the banquet. YES mouths do get to sweep up. They are working pre- and postgame shows.

There use to be a time, many moons ago, when a network with postseason TV rights would add a local voice to its broadcast team. Not only would this lend some educated insight, it also would be of great appeal to fans in the market.

That all changed when the money got big. Fox (NLCS/World Series and TBS (LDS/ALCS) are paying Seligula & Co. a combined $3 billion in baseball’s current TV deal that runs through 2013. Both outlets also air regular-season packages but the bulk of the dough is spent on acquiring postseason inventory.

For that kind of cash, TBS and Fox suits (besides praying each series goes the distance) do their own thing. They want their baseball brand to be “pure.” That means using theirvoices, the guys they are totally invested in. Under this philosophy, there is no room for one of the participating team’s voices, even if it might rid the booth of a perception problem.

Not only do fans believe these national crews don’t have intimate knowledge of their squad, they swear they are rooting against them. Of course, this is nonsense. No matter. It happens every year without fail.

As they did last fall, some Yankee fans will be pointing fingers at TBS’ booth. Ron Darling, the Mets‘ SNY analyst and a regular on TBS’ Sunday afternoon baseball cablecasts, will be working Yankees-Twins along with John Smoltz and Ernie Johnson.

July 17, 2010

The A.J. Saga

Oh, my. The day got off to a sour start when I heard that Yogi had fallen and wouldn’t be at Old Timer’s Day. So glad he’s okay, but still. Then I learned I was blacked out by Fox and had to watch Yankees-Rays on Fox’s Spanish station, which would have been fine except that I don’t speak a word of Spanish. And then I switched to the MLB app on my phone and heard John Sterling say that A.J. was coming out of the game because of “lacerations on his hands; that he tripped up the stairs en route from the clubhouse and tried to break his fall on the concrete floor.” Well, Spanish or English, if anyone believed that, I have two words for you: Kevin Brown.

We all get frustrated. We all want to punch something at times. But you’re pitching for the New York Yankees with former Yankee greats in attendance, on a day full of tributes to Steinbrenner and Sheppard, when you’re supposed to be doing your best against the contending Rays, and you slam your hands against plexi-glass doors between innings because you’re feeling “out of whack?” And you thought we’d buy your “I fell” excuse?

I really hope A.J. learns from this experience and that his teammates express their displeasure but then move on. There’s a division to conquer and today represented a setback. It wasn’t all A.J.’s fault either. It was nice to see Jeter finally get a hit, but where’s he been? And when will we have an effective bullpen? I tip my cap to the Rays for outperforming us today, but giving up 10 runs is pretty lame.

February 23, 2010

If This Isn’t a Beautiful Sight, I Don’t Know What Is

(Courtesy of Bronx Bombers Beat blog)

Yankees 2010 Spring Training Broadcast Schedule

Posted by Josh Stumpek in NY Yankees on February 23rd, 2010 | no responses

The Yankees have a total of 18 spring training games slated to be broadcast on TV. MLB Network has not officially released their spring training broadcast schedule yet, but I did some digging around on the site on their day-to-day TV schedule and found the games that they are broadcasting.

The games in bold are games that are being played earlier that day and being broadcast later that night by MLB Network. The teams that are underlined are teams that are playing with a split squad for that game.

Wed, Mar 3^rd 1:00 p.m. Pittsburgh @ NY Yankees MLB Network/ YES

Thu, Mar 4^th 7:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Philadelphia MLB Network

Fri, Mar 5^th 1:00 p.m. Tampa Bay @ NY Yankees MLB Network/ YES

Sat, Mar 6^th 1:00 p.m. Toronto @ NY Yankees MLB Network

Mon, Mar 8^th 1:00 p.m. Philadelphia @NY Yankees YES

Tues, Mar 9^th 1:00 p.m. Pittsburgh @ NY Yankees YES

Thu, Mar 11^th 7:00 p.m. Atlanta @ NY Yankees MLB Network/ YES

Fri, Mar 12^th 1:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Washington MLB Network

Sun, Mar 14^th 9:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Pittsburgh MLB Network

Thu, Mar 18^th 7:00 p.m. Tampa Bay @ NY Yankees MLB Network/ YES

Fri, Mar 19^th 1:00 p.m. Detroit @ NY Yankees YES

Fri, Mar 19^th 7:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Tampa Bay MLB Network

Sun, Mar 21^st 1:00 p.m. Detroit @ NY Yankees YES

Mon, Mar 22^nd 1:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Philadelphia ESPN/ YES

Sun, Mar 28^th 1:00 p.m. NY Yankees @ Detroit &
nbsp; YES

Tue, Mar 30^th 7:00 p.m. Toronto @ NY Yankees YES

Wed, Mar 31^st 1:00 p.m. Minnesota @ NY Yankees ESPN/ YES

Fri, Apr 2^nd 1:00 p.m. Baltimore @ NY Yankees ESPN/ YES

Think about it! March 3rd, the first televised game on this schedule, is in ONE WEEK! I feel like someone who’s been stuck in the desert without water and suddenly stumbles on this.

It’s a good thing I’ll be in Florida for Yanks-Astros on the 16th and Yanks-Phillies on the 17th. Neither game is being televised, apparently, but it’ll be even better to see them in person. And speaking of television, I’m sure everyone’s read that Aaron Boone has retired and joined the ESPN crew. Yankee fans hold Boone in high esteem, so I wish him luck in his new endeavor. In honor of Boone….

I would have posted actual footage of the home run, but FOX continues to disable it on YouTube. Isn’t it time for them to let fans be able to share the memory? I mean, come on.

December 18, 2009

How To Improve Baseball

In a previous post, I offered a few ideas for Bud Selig’s advisory committee, which is meeting in January to discuss ways to improve the sport. Tonight one of our regular commenters, John (aka carrollj27), served up a few ideas of his own. I thought they were so sensible they deserved the spotlight.

Here they are:

* No weird off days during the playoffs – my own suggestion is that we

go back to 2-3-2 for 7 game series and 2-2-1 for 5 game series, with

the off days being where the dashes appear.

* No charge for MLB.TV since it never works right anyway – AMEN!!!! I

actually am on the road a lot – to the West Coast in fact – for

business and if I don’t pay for FOX at home, why the heck should I need

to pay to watch the Yanks on FOX on my computer??? If they’re on YES,

lemme log in and verify that I am a subscriber…

* No red caps on Yankees – not on Memorial Day, July 4th or any other

day. OMG YES!!!!! Do we put blue caps on the Concinnati Reds? I

THINK NOT! Case closed…

* Fox/TBS required to broadcast pre-game ceremonies during playoffs.

Absolutely. Since I was 7 yrs old this is still one of the best parts!

Come on people, get with it!!!!

*Have at least one and optimally two World Series games during the day

again. These should be weekend games as I understand that it wouldn’t

make financial sense during the week. However, it bugs the heck outta

me that today’s 10 year olds can never see the end of an epic (or most

any other) WS game…we are turning the next gen of fans into “casual

fans”…

*Re: instant replay – starting with ALL postseason games, have an extra

ump in the booth who can look at replays that we all see and buzz down

to the crew chief when he needs to converse with the crew/overturn a

call. Doesnt have to take long. For the atrocious calls we saw this

past postseason, most of us laypeople could figure out within 2-3

minutes what went wrong. A pro ump wouldnt need even that long.

Ultimately expand to reg season games as well. Would be a great job

for recently retired umps…

*Have a 15-20-25 (whatever the right time is) second clock between

pitches. Exceeding it would be a balk. the amt of time between

pitches is ridiculous.

*Go back to just home and away uniforms. If you wanna have a different

BP jersey that’s fine. However, it bothers me when I turn on the TV

and cant figure out who I’m watching fairly immediately. I understand

that SOME people buy those obscure fifth jerseys that look like an

undeveloped negative of the real uniform…but again I think that for

short-term gain we are losing some basic identification with our teams.

If I were a Met fan, I’d expect to be able to describe what their

uniforms look like…I defy any Met fan to do so today for all

combinations.

*Somehow, some way, reduce ticket prices!!!!! Esp in today’s economy,

we are pricing tomorrow’s fans out of the game. Sure, the “suits” go

to games on the company dime, but half of em arent paying attention

anyway. And the notion that I’m gonna pay a grand to see a Yankee reg

season game, even if I am sitting in a recliner 20 ft from the field,

being waited on, being fed grapes and having my feet massaged between

innings and God knows what other “amenities”, it’s just not worth it.

I’d love to hear reactions to John’s ideas – especially the suggestion about day games. Even though they’d start at 10 o’clock in the morning here on the East Coast, I’d still be in favor of them. It’s ridiculous that kids have to stay up past midnight to watch America’s pastime.

Apropos of nothing, has anyone seen “The Hangover?” My husband and I rented the DVD last night and thought it was really dumb…and boring….and long. The tiger part was sort of funny, but that was about it. What a waste of time. We should have watched the DVD of the 2009 World Series.

P.S. To all those in the path of the snowstorm, stay warm and be safe!

October 30, 2009

World Series Game 2: AJ Handcuffs Phillies

The above photo is of Ryan Howard after AJ struck him out three times tonight. OK, no it isn’t, but I’m sure that’s how Howard felt – especially after Mo struck him out too, making him eligible for this.

Everybody was so nervous (including me) about AJ and whether he’d be able to control his emotions, avoid the wildness that’s plagued him in the past and perform on the big stage.

Obviously, he performed so well that the Yankees beat the Phillies 3-1.

He wasn’t just good. He was masterful, working seven innings and only giving up a run on four hits. After the game, he told the media: “It’s the funnest I’ve ever had on a baseball field.” So what if “funnest” is not an actual word. It was AJ’s night and if he wanted to say “funnest,” then “funnest” it was!

Pedro was keeping the Yanks off balance in the early innings, and when the Phillies jumped out to a 1-0 lead I thought, Please don’t let this be a repeat of Game 1. But Tex came to the rescue with a solo shot in the fourth to tie the score and break out of his slumber.

After Matsui put the Yanks ahead with his own blast into the seats, I decided it was safe to eat dinner. The “lucky” turkey club sandwich had lost its effectiveness during the ALCS, so I turned to the only food that was deliverable to my house at that hour.

The pizza was delicious, but then – after Posada knocked in Gardner in the seventh for 3-1 – the umps made that questionable ruling on Damon’s “double play ball” and I needed some of these.

Not to beat a dead horse, but is the umpiring bad or what? Seriously. These guys….

…were reminding me of these guys.

With AJ done after seven, Girardi went right to Mo for the six-out save and got it – Mo’s 38th career postseason save. It’s staggering how many times Yankee fans have witnessed this scene over the years.

Other plays of note:

Molina’s pickoff of Werth in the fourth.

Singles by Hairston and Melky in the seventh.

Jeter getting the Clemente award and Fox not showing it.

Ditto for Paul O’Neill’s first pitch.

Alicia Keys’ purple boots.

Oh, and Pedro’s post-game press conference during which he wore a dark pinstriped version of this.

“If I was on the Yankees, I’d probably be like a king over here,” he told the media.

The man is never dull. And he can still pitch. But AJ was better, and the Yanks evened the series at 1-1. Now they’re off to Philly by train. All aboard, boys.

July 15, 2009

10 Quick Thoughts About The All-Star Game

1) The American League won again. (Duh)

2) Obama looked cool in his White Sox jacket but threw like a girl, complete with an overbite.

3) The Fox camera crew forgot to show us where the throw landed, so we were forced to guess.

4) No celebrity is more ubiquitous than Sheryl Crow. (Yes, I know she’s from Missouri.)

5) Roy Halladay gave up three runs and has a higher ERA than Kei Igawa, confirming that an even-up trade is not out of the question.

6) Tim Lincecum’s hair is distracting.

7) He earned my eternal wrath by hitting Jeter with a pitch.

8) Carl Crawford can play for my team any day.

9) Curtis Granderson talks as fast as he runs.

10) Since the first run of the night was scored by Jeter, it was only fitting that the last out was notched by Mo.

After the festivities were over, it dawned on me that there are no Yankees games until Friday. That’s two whole days/nights during which I’ll have too much time on my hands. Never a good thing.