*Official* 2012 Major League Baseball Thread

[TMC1982]

Are We Doomed to a Lifetime with Buck and McCarver?

For some unfathomable reason, Fox has cast its lot with Joe Buck. Not only is he their lead baseball announcer, but he’s their lead football announcer. For awhile he was also the host of the pregame show and the pregame studio crew would travel to the site of the marquee matchup to accommodate Buck’s hosting duties.

I’m sure Howie Long was thrilled about that. Eventually they stopped with that charade.

Yet Buck is still the top billing for football with Troy Aikman and for baseball with McCarver. Why?

He’s smarmy and obnoxious and I rarely if ever see people speak highly of his work in the booth. Fox can’t be blind to this. And that’s the point. Fox is owned by News Corp. Namely Rupert Murdoch. What that means is that content is disconnected from objectivity. Of course Murdoch puts his own agenda into the public consciousness with Fox News, Fox Business, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and his British tabloid empire still reeling from the phone hacking scandal. But he’s a businessman and liking or disliking his personalities is secondary to the amount of attention they receive. If Buck and McCarver are being savaged for their parachuting into the game of the week; doing shoddy research; being arrogant and ignorant; and angering the fanbases of each team, so what? If they’re being talked about, that’s all that counts.

In 2010 Buck signed a new 4-year contract to stay with Fox. In addition to keeping his job as the NFL and MLB frontman, he was planning a Fox reinvention of the atrocity of a variety show Joe Buck Live from HBO in which he was trying to expand from broadcasting to talk shows and skits.
The HBO incarnation didn’t work mostly because people plainly and simply don’t like Joe Buck. Thankfully the relaunch on Fox hasn’t come to pass yet.
McCarver is a different matter. The game has passed him by.

He was deservedly inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame for his work as a broadcaster. There was a time when he was the best analyst in the sport and right up there with John Madden as the best in sports period. He’d expanded to Olympic coverage, acting and his own talk show. In his 70s, he’s slightly out of touch repeating the same old themes over and over again. He makes authoritative statements such as the Mets aren’t going to be able to afford to re-sign David Wright as if he had no clue nor interest that the Bernie Madoff case was settled and the Mets are getting their financial house in order. Wright’s not set to be a free agent until after the 2013 season. How would McCarver know what the Mets are able or willing to do? Is he aware of Wright’s contract situation or is he trying to bluff his way through based on reputation?

It’s not a remote experience to be annoyed by people in the booth. Overall, how many broadcasters are providing anything other than
team/network/selfish shtick? Not many. If Buck and McCarver are gone, we might end up with a worse duo or threesome.

There is that chance though; the chance that Fox will listen to what the people say as ESPN did and make a much-needed infusion of new blood. Perhaps it will be with broadcasters who add something to the broadcast instead of two names that are recognized for the wrong reasons.

Until then we’re stuck with Buck and McCarver.

[The Incredible Hulk]

^ Good read. Article is right, at one time, back in the 80's when he was on the Mets broadcasts, McCarver was actually pretty decent. He's just gotten too old and he's now incoherent, much like what happened to Pat Summerall on the NFL broadcasts. Thankfully Summerall finally got the hint and retired. McCarver is seemingly going to broadcast until he dies, assuming he can, in fact, die.

Joe Buck on the other hand, is a classic case of nepotism. He has an average at best announcer's voice and comes across like an entitled brat with little knowledge of either sport beyond the obvious. Not to mention, he's completely unrelatable. It's a shame because his father, Jack Buck, was a legend up there with the likes of Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, Harry Kalas, etc. and Joe is starting to tarnish the family name.

[Erzengel]

That Super Bowl call from Manning to Tyree tarnished with Buck's unenthusiastic, monotone voice.

[runawayboulder]

Broadcast contracts don't last forever. Don't be shocked if it's back on NBC in a few years.

[The Incredible Hulk]

also there was this in depth gem from Fox on last weekend's broadcast:

[TheOnlyOmega]

That's low

[The Incredible Hulk]

Interesting article on the fight between the Yankees and StubHub. Yankees are the only team that doesnt employ some kind of variable pricing scheme to their tickets, and so it appears the secondary market is doing it for them, and they're not happy with it.

Over 65% of Yankees tickets sold are going for under face value.

http://deadspin.com/5916635/the-mark...han-we-thought

So Yankees tickets are cheap. That's great news for the fans buying them from the secondary market, but not so great for the Yankees or for season ticket holders. The team is being undersold for its own product, while the season ticket resellers, the ones who re-upped their ticket packages with the intent of selling unused seats, are taking a bath. That'll make them less likely to buy another package next season, so the Yankees lose again.
The Yankees want StubHub to set a minimum price on seats, but the fact remains that the Yankees severely misestimated the market, and are falling victim to it. Flaherty writes,

The one lever that the Yankees do have full control in is their box office pricing, and they've done virtually nothing to align their pricing with market demand. Virtually all MLB teams apart from the Yankees employ some degree of variable pricing (e.g., a higher price tier for weekend games versus mid-week games), and 17 of the 30 teams in the league employ full-on dynamic pricing, meaning that price changes are made daily in accordance with demand factors (e.g., opponent, day of week, weather, etc).
The Yankees, meanwhile, have an essentially flat price for each and every game — whether it's a Saturday day game against the Sox or a Wednesday night against the Royals. Their only price variation for single-game sales — a higher price for tickets bought on gameday — could even be seen as foolhardy in the sense that tickets prices on secondary market sites virtually always decline 20-25% within the last 24 hours before a game or event.
That rigid pricing, of course, means the Yankees can't adapt prices to match demand. Much to the team's chagrin, the secondary market is doing that job for them.

[Liam_H]

Congrats to the Mariners on a no-hitter by committee.

[ih8nyy]

Originally Posted by Liam_H

Congrats to the Mariners on a no-hitter by committee.

I tell ya what. That's gotta be one PIA to be the next pitcher in that situation.

[cyborg ninja 14]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=1Eksrw4QSSs

Kenyan children reenacting the Buckner play

[Liam_H]

Congrats to Cain for throwing a Perfect Game.

[Duke]

Originally Posted by Liam_H

Congrats to Cain for throwing a Perfect Game.

Matt Cain for throwing the perfect game=

[Poeman]

Cain threw the WS clincher and a perfect game.

Livin the dream

[cyborg ninja 14]

Pretty amazing performance

[Duke]

What is wrong with Lincecum?? He just lost again making his record 2-8.

[Rowsdower!]

Another impressive performance by AJ Burnett, and finally Pirates did some damage at the plate. Don't know if it will last, but I still have my fingers crossed. I'm not even hoping for the playoffs. Just get us to a winning season, Buccos. I know you can do it.


Maybe.


I think.

[runawayboulder]

Friggin Yanks are on a tear - 9 straight now and they haven't lost a series yet in June.

[Liam_H]

Keeps fueling the notion that the AL is better than NL.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Rowsdower!

Another impressive performance by AJ Burnett, and finally Pirates did some damage at the plate. Don't know if it will last, but I still have my fingers crossed. I'm not even hoping for the playoffs. Just get us to a winning season, Buccos. I know you can do it.


Maybe.


I think.

The Orioles series showed the Pirates for just what they are, the best of the mediocre teams who still can't compete with good teams. They are winning by the same reason that they did in the first half of last season...an easy early schedule.

[cyborg ninja 14]

Originally Posted by Liam_H

Keeps fueling the notion that the AL is better than NL.

a notion you say

[Spidey-Bat]

Originally Posted by Liam_H

Keeps fueling the notion that the AL is better than NL.

The AL is just top heavy. The AL East has remained competitive but Boston will likely come around at some point when the Blue Jays and Orioles return to earth. The Central is the worst division in baseball, the White Sox and Indians are above 500, the latter barely. The other 3 are below. The AL West only has 2 good teams and 2 terrible teams.

BTW, the best team in the AL the last 2 years has blown back to back World Series. And the NL has won the last 2 All-Star games.

[KalMart]

Clemens found not-guilty.....


http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/80...-perjury-trial

[KalMart]

Originally Posted by runawayboulder

Friggin Yanks are on a tear - 9 straight now and they haven't lost a series yet in June.

[Erzengel]

It's funny if Clemens would have kept his mouth shut in the beginning, he would have never of had to testify in front of Congress and probably on his way into the HOF this year.

Now even acquitted, the specter of PEDs surrounds him and he's not getting in.

[Spidey-Bat]

He can thank that weasel Andy Pettitte for bailing him out.