Baseball Telecasts

The World Series is over and done. Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals and shame on the Detroit Tigers and Kenny "The Cheat" Rogers. Once again the World Series had a record low tv rating. Why is that? Well, here's my humble opinion.

I grew up in the early to mid 80's watching NBC's game of the week on Saturday afternoons. I listened to one of the best broadcast teams ever in Joe Garagiola and Vin Scully. Throw in Tony Kubek every once in awhile and that's all you needed. The telecasts were a lot smarter back then. I don't need all the whistles and bangs, and feeble attempts at humor by the loathable Joe Buck. I want the announcer to fill in the blanks for me. Tell me where the infielders and outfielders are playing. This I cannot see from my living room. This is what makes baseball a great game and a beautiful thing to watch when you're at the park. The announcers to me, really add next to nothing. I can watch games without the sound and still understand all I need to. I think that is one of the main reasons that baseball is losing grounds to other major sports.

The next major thing is the games start too late for east coasters. If you add in a probably October rain delay (insert Cold November Rain by Guns 'n Roses), and you have a recipe for a game that won't end until well after midnight on the east coast. It's tough enough for me to stay up that late. What about the CHILDREN?!?!?! You're losing young fans.

McCarver and Buck are not fun to listen to. Neither is the proverbial windbag that is Chris Berman on ESPN. I'm not sure how he got that gig. Baseball needs to simplify the telecasts and get real baseball people in the booth. Baseball is losing the common fan. The game is being done a disservice. It is a beautiful game that needs to be preserved and understood better by the casual fan. This needs to be done---for the love of the national past time.