Offered without comment, this item from Nationals.com about the return of Bob Carpenter to the broadcast booth.
OK, a little comment: Not a huge fan, not a huge hater. I can live with most any announcer as long as he/she isn't a raging, screaming homer. I prefer the Nats radio crew to the TV crew.
I will comment on one thing in that story (something that I sure hope is fixed soon): If you are going to give a massive hummer to the sideline reporter, spell the name correctly. It took me less than 20 seconds to look it up on MASN's site. It is Debbi, without the e. And where is she known for her great interviews and feature stories on the club? Within the walls of MASN? I have no gripe with Debbi Taylor. She does what sideline reporters are supposed to do and you can argue whether that adds anything to the broadcast (I don't think it does).
What I really hate - and this isn't a knock on Debbi either because she does what she's told - are the silly interviews with sponsors or fans or some such DURING PLAY. I'm listening to some yahoo prattle on about the Marines trash drive while Langerhans hits a double over somebody's head.
I probably had my best broadcasting experience last night. We're in Blacksburg for some street fair my wife likes - HippieFest, my son calls it - and we detour into a hangout for a beer and a sandwich. A bar, as it turns out, with DirecTV. So I was able to watch the debut of the NewNationals without any sound. I didn't feel like I was missing anything.
7 comments:
Agreed re radio. IMO Charlie and Dave are a cut above most broadcast teams in any medium.
You know, it occurs to me that if the Nats would buy Sutton a first-class ticket back to Cooperstown or wherever, and install Johnny Holliday in the color seat, they just might get five-figure viewership.
I know it's sacrilege not to have your TV color person be an ex-star, but what's the harm in trying?
"Marines trash drive"
Funniest thing I'll read all day.
Thank you, thank you. I do what I can.
I so totally agree with sentiment about interruptions by sponsors-- only I have to extend it to radio too.
Thursday nite, as the Nats were en route to their 9th straight loss, I had to endure some guy droning on about Panda Bears.
I swear to God, it was something like-
"Well we at the zoo have the same philosophy as the Nationals- we all can come together like Kumbayah"
"Zimmerman takes ball 2 inside..."
"A female panda has a pretty long gestation"
"Zimmerman pops out to short"
"But we're confident that she's ripe for fertilization..."
"Belliard zaps a liner in the gap!"
"and we're so grateful to the Chinese government for letting us have Tai Shan! Do you know what Tai Shan means in Chinese?! It means 'gullible foreigner'! "
"...and Kearns kills the rally, hitting into his 87th 6-4-3 double play of the year..."
I was going to do a post taking a swipe at some of the doom merchants around here after the young'uns delievred another win tonight, but seeing this piece of news caused me to shout "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Even when I can sit at a TV at work and watch the Nats (which is rare) I still listen to Charlie and Dave and I don't put the Nats on TV. I operate in a No Bob Carpenter zone.
Unrelated to the Nats' crew but related to broadcasting: RIP Skip Caray. I always enjoyed listening to him. Met him a few times and he had no reason to ever remember me. But he always did. Good guy.
How many falsehoods are in that story? Protests from fans? I thought it was because the guy they wanted to replace Carp was still under contract to ESPN and didn't want to leave.
OTOH I like Sutton. He just deserves to be paired with someone competent.
And whoever decrees that extended interviews with players' dads, etc. be played during play-by-play needs to be thrown from the window of the Shirley Povich center.
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