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Saturday, Nov 22, 2008
If only the network bringing us the World Series could get over Roger Clemens' meltdown, maybe it could focus on the basics: Sound and pictures.
Oct 26, 2000 | The World Series announcers on Fox TV are pretty sure of one thing: It's a damn shame that everybody keeps talking about that Roger Clemens bat throwing incident. Keith Olbermann, Steve Lyons, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver spent the better part of Tuesday night talking about what a shame it is that this World Series will be remembered for the bat incident, what a shame it is that Clemens' eight shutout innings were overshadowed by the Bat Incident, what a shame it is that the media keeps fanning the flames of the BAT INCIDENT.
That is, when they weren't actually replaying the
What I'm wondering is why it's a shame. While it's a bad thing that Clemens, that big wuss, picked up a broken bat and threw it toward Mike Piazza of the Mets, it won't be a bad thing if that's how this World Series is remembered. It'll just be the way it is.
The 1941 World Series is remembered for a single passed ball. Does anybody remember the Yankees' great pitching in that Series, or that goat Mickey Owen was an All-Star four years in a row, starting that year? The '86 Series -- in fact, the entire career of Bill Buckner -- lives in most people's minds only as a single error. The batting title, the 102 RBIs that year, the 2,715 hits -- 50th best all time -- all "overshadowed" by that grounder going through his legs.
Clemens throwing that bat was one of those moments that writes itself indelibly onto baseball's memory. I don't see why it's a tragedy that that moment will live on in history and a very good but basically routine eight-inning pitching performance might not. That's what baseball memory is: a succession of strange, inexplicable moments. Get over it, Fox.
Having said that, I have to say I'm thinking nicer thoughts about the Fox announcers than certain friends of mine who are e-mailing me at all hours to say that Tim McCarver must die. I kind of like McCarver. He's smart and he knows baseball. I find myself learning things from him, particularly about the ins and outs of a single at-bat, from the point of view of both the hitter and the pitcher, or, actually, since McCarver is an old backstop, the catcher.
McCarver does have an annoying way of talking too loud and r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y, as though we were all idiots, which, to be fair, a frightening number of us are. (Not you, reader, and not me either. But you know.) And every time he wins points by saying something insightful, he loses them again by repeating it 40 times.
And I wish he'd stop doing that thing where he takes some phrase that's been batted around, or some cliché, and makes a bad pun on it by way of analyzing the proceedings. An example from Game 4: Derek Jeter leads off the game with a homer and McCarver says, "Right after the rockets red glare, another rocket red glare." I think he thinks of it as a kind of trademark, but it's contrived and annoying.
Joe Buck, the lead announcer, is solid, dull and inoffensive. He'll never be the classy voice his father, Jack Buck, is. I still remember the elder Buck's call from Game 6 of the '91 Series as Kirby Puckett's winning home run disappeared into the stands, forcing a Game 7: "We'll see ya tomorrow night!" Joe's just not going to come up with an off-the-cuff gem for the ages like that, but he is knowledgeable and does keep his head in the game. Bob Brenly, another former catcher, is excellent -- smooth, funny, smart -- but he can't get a word in edgewise and, perhaps content to think about the managing job that's likely in his near future, doesn't seem to mind.
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