http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/10/tbs-playoff-coverage-much-...roved-i
Monday, October 20, 2008
It can't be easy to throw together a random collection of people for a
two week period (which has multiple games a night), but TBS definitely
benefited from having a year under their belt. For the most part, the
network pulled off a great Postseason, and should be praised for
vastly improving over last year. There were a few hiccups, which I'll
get into, but they completely outdid FOX his Playoff season. I'm
almost sad to see them turn it over to the national network. Let's get
into things as a whole with the positives/negatives and then we'll
look at the winners/losers as well as final grades.
Negatives
The thing about airing a ton of games over a short period is that
there will always be mistakes, but in the end it only matters how a
network limits or handles those errors. The biggest transgression was
obviously the delay of coverage at the start of Game Six. Two circuit
breakers went out before the game, which caused the feed to go out and
viewers to not see the game until the Bottom of the first.
Obviously this was a freak accident, but thousands of events are aired
on networks across the Country and I can't remember that happening in
recent memory. Every single precaution should have been taken to make
sure that didn't happen, so TBS does need to shoulder some of the
blame.
The biggest negative to me continues to be the biases of some of the
announcing teams. I really don't know why the A-Team latched on to the
Rays the way they did, but at times the hyperbole was borderline
unbearable. Even as someone who's not a fan of the team, I could
understand why Red Sox thought that Chip Caray and Co. were pro-Rays
for most of the Series. It's hard to juggle two storylines, especially
with one being a "Cinderella Story", but you have to give it a better
shot than that team did.
Other than that, the list of negatives is pretty short. The Frank TV
thing has been commented on ad nauseum but they really need to rethink
that marketing strategy for next season. Hopefully the show will be
long gone by then though.
Positives
First and foremost, the new people, that the network worked into the
booths and studio show, almost all worked out. Using the Inside the
NBA formula, the network put together an amazing pre and postgame show
in Inside MLB. If you're comparing it to FOX, or even Baseball
Tonight, it blows them both out of the water. I still think they could
do with out Cal Ripken, but even he seemed to improve over the course
of another season. Eck, Granderson and Harold Reynolds worked great
with EJ, and each other, and I actually looked forward to watching
them following each game.
The network also addressed some of the huge negatives from year one
including perhaps the biggest one, graphics. Everything was much
cleaner and again, if we're comparing it to FOX's production, about a
thousand times less distracting.
Winners
We've already touched on the studio show, but as far as the announcers
went, I think most teams in the early rounds (outside of one...see
below) worked well together. Brian Anderson and Joe Simpson had a
perfect balance of play-by-play and analysis, and with the added
inside info from John Smoltz, created one of the best trios I've heard
in quite some time. Having Anderson call the Brewers series was a bit
skeptical at first, but didn't turn out nearly as bad as I thought it
would.
Orsillo and Harold Reynolds were also stellar and even Chip Caray and
Buck Martinez worked well in the Division Series. Ron Darling had a
tough time working with his first round partners (see below), but he
impressed me in the ALCS.
Losers
I don't know how many times that I can say this, but it's seriously
time to phase Dick Stockton out of all broadcasts. I know the guy is a
legend, but he just can't keep up with the pace of any Sport at this
point in his life. Having Tony Gwynn as an analyst didn't help either,
and Ron Darling was left picking up the pieces. I hadn't really
enjoyed Darling up until these Playoffs, but as I mentioned above, he
was the only thing keeping those broadcasts afloat.
Grading
- Studio Show Personalities:
Ernie Johnson - A (Best in the business)
Dennis Eckersley - B (Got made fun of a lot but took it in stride and
provided great analysis)
Harold Reynolds - B- (Made the transition from the booth flawlessly.
He's actually better in this format)
Cal Ripken - C (Still don't think he works as an analyst)
Curtis Granderson - B (Great showing by the rookie in the opening
round)
- Division Series Teams:
Brian Anderson, Joe Simpson and John Smoltz (MIL-PHI) - B+ (The only
three-man team that disproves my theory that a third man is useless)
Dick Stockton, Ron Darling and Tony Gwynn (LAD-CHC) - D (Stockton and
Gwynn need to go)
Chip Caray and Buck Martinez (BOS-LAA) - B- (Didn't become annoying
until the ALCS)
Don Orsillo and Harold Reynolds (CHW-TB) - B+ (Just a great team from
the jump)
- ALCS:
Chip Caray, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling - C+ (Would have been good
if it wasn't for the Rays bias, the plus sign is all Darling)
Overall
I was extremely impressed with TBS' second year. It takes networks
years of different announcing combos, and production elements, and TBS
is almost "up to speed" after two attempts. I said it before, but I
think if people had to choose between TBS and FOX, the majority would
be picking the cable network after only two attempts. I think that
speaks volumes to the progress they've made.
Final Grade - B
FAQ
Search
Profile
Private Messages
Log in
