Note to ESPN and Fox
In catching bits and pieces of the ESPN and Fox baseball playoff converage I've been able to put together a wish list.
1) Please limit the number of shots of Joe Torre in the Yankees dugout. It's not like he's going to go Bob Knight or anything. It's been the same shot for the last 10 years.
2) Drop the deification of Ernie Harwell. I can name five better broadcasters than Harwell right now - that would be Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Mel Allen and Red Barber. And that's without even giving it much thought.
3) Was that the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs? I don't know if it was the three-game series or the three straight day games but most of America missed the Twins this year.
1) Please limit the number of shots of Joe Torre in the Yankees dugout. It's not like he's going to go Bob Knight or anything. It's been the same shot for the last 10 years.
2) Drop the deification of Ernie Harwell. I can name five better broadcasters than Harwell right now - that would be Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Harry Caray, Mel Allen and Red Barber. And that's without even giving it much thought.
3) Was that the Minnesota Twins in the playoffs? I don't know if it was the three-game series or the three straight day games but most of America missed the Twins this year.
posted by Scott Ferrell at 7:40 PM
1 Comments:
I can't believe Scott put Harry Caray in the same breath as Jack Buck, Vin Scully, Mel Allen and Red Barber.
Caray's affection from Cubs fans is given solely because he had that everyman quality. "Hey! He's just like us. He likes to drink and watch baseball."
Ever listen Caray do a game in his latter years? He'd get names wrong constantly. Ever listen to Harwell do a game in his latter years? Flawless.
What's the appeal of guys like Buck, Scully and Barber? Most times people say, "Well, they painted such a great picture of the game," or "Their knowledge of the game is unbelievable," or "He tells great stories from the old days."
Harwell did that and better. The only reason Harwell isn't mentioned with the other ones is because he worked in Detroit for decades.
Know that famous call by Russ Hodges of Bobby Thomson's 1951 pennant-winning home run? Ernie Harwell was doing the TV broadcast.
Deification of Ernie Harwell? It's one game! So they show shot after shot of him during one game. It's not like you see billboards of him driving down the street, or commercials of him on TV, or books written about him every summer. It's one freakin' game.
By the way, Harwell went into the Hall of Fame in 1981. Scully went in in 1982. Jack Buck in 1987. Harry Caray in 1989. The only ones to beat Harwell were Allen and Barber who were the first two announcers in 1978. Yeah, Harwell can't be mentioned in the same breath with those guys.
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