Mark Grace??

Not much posting going on so I want to take this time to vent my
opionion on Mark Grace as
Dback commentator..Live in Arizona and never miss a game..As a player,
Mark Grace, was one of my favorites...good first baseman and
seemed to be there for all his fellow team mates with a smile and
encouragement...

Now, as the Dbacks commentator he is perhaps the worst in MLB...His
"Good ole boy" approach to the game is acceptable as he has Thom there
to maintain the professionalism needed in the booth...but MY GOD...
Grace gushes over every move each Dback makes..
if it is a good play, he blows it way out of proportion...if a player
makes an error Grace has at least 5 reasons why the error was made and
it boils down to ..hey, it was the other team's fault... In my opinion,
Grace , should be
in another capacity with the Diamondback team..perhaps coaching or at
some form of management level...Grace is way too close to
his buddies on the field to be on open mike in that booth..I know he is
an ex-player and paid by the Dbacks to be the commentator but at some
point he should acknowledge there is another team on the field and
mention them
once in awhile...As I said...Just my opinion...but
he would be so much better right down there with the Dbacks giving them
his expert advise and help on how to win games...

G. Allen, Arizona

One of the most obvious positives to come from Jerry Colangelo's
"retirement" from the levers of organizational power is that he will no
longer be there to give Mark Grace jobs for which he is obviously
unqualified. Suddenly, that cushy managerial posting he'd been waiting for
seems so very, very far away....

Anyhoo, it's one thing to be a broadcasting homer if you're entertaining,
lively, informative and, above all, interesting (see: Harrelson, Ken); it's
quite another to be a a self-promoting dullard exhibiting obvious cognitive
dissonance between play on the field and calls in the booth. Guys who don't
hit for average, get on base, hit for power =or= field their positions with
particular elan are not, I repeat, =not= "guys who do the little things" or
"guys who just know how to win"; they are guys who =make you lose games=.
Guys who are left out on the mound to get hammered long after their
effectiveness is shot are not "learning how to pitch through adversity";
they're learning that =their stuff isn't good enough= (even if, in raw
ability, it =is=).

I realize that he still fully expects to be managing this club in March, and
I'm sure that an awful lot of his dishonesty stems from a) the desire not to
want people to see him shooting Pedrique in the back from his porch up top,
and b) wanting to walk into the position with every player in the
organization feeling good about him, but at some point someone in the
organization in a policymaking position needs to recognize that Grace's act
is harming the organization's credibility far more severely than is the
club's play on the field. We expect some level of inexperience from
inexperienced players; what we absolutely do =not= deserve is outright
dishonesty in analyzing that play.

Where have you gone, Jim Traber? (Rhetorical question; I know "where"....)

"Ava May" <Avamay- DeleteThis @webtv.net> wrote in message
news:19100-413B6872-105@storefull-3136.bay.webtv.net...
>
> Not much posting going on so I want to take this time to vent my
> opionion on Mark Grace as
> Dback commentator..Live in Arizona and never miss a game..As a player,
> Mark Grace, was one of my favorites...good first baseman and
> seemed to be there for all his fellow team mates with a smile and
> encouragement...
>
> Now, as the Dbacks commentator he is perhaps the worst in MLB...His
> "Good ole boy" approach to the game is acceptable as he has Thom there
> to maintain the professionalism needed in the booth...but MY GOD...
> Grace gushes over every move each Dback makes..
> if it is a good play, he blows it way out of proportion...if a player
> makes an error Grace has at least 5 reasons why the error was made and
> it boils down to ..hey, it was the other team's fault... In my opinion,
> Grace , should be
> in another capacity with the Diamondback team..perhaps coaching or at
> some form of management level...Grace is way too close to
> his buddies on the field to be on open mike in that booth..I know he is
> an ex-player and paid by the Dbacks to be the commentator but at some
> point he should acknowledge there is another team on the field and
> mention them
> once in awhile...As I said...Just my opinion...but
> he would be so much better right down there with the Dbacks giving them
> his expert advise and help on how to win games...
>
> G. Allen, Arizona
>