It was twenty years ago today ...

[Frayed Knot]

that Billy Buckner couldn't make the play
He had to beat Mookie to the base
but he wasn't gonna win the race
So let this be a sign to you
'bout the game you've known for all these years ...

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Hmmph! According to the so-called Ultimate Mets Database, nothing much happened today, except for a notable birthday.

This Date in Mets History Today is October 25 Pedro Martinez (1971) Transactions: New York Mets claimed Bill Spiers on waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers on October 25, 1994. Kevin McReynolds granted free agency on October 25, 1994.

[Guest cooby]

Happy birthday to Pedro.

I suppose


Edit: Sorry, the phone rang.

I suppose some people would say that Kevin McReynolds departure would be noteworthy

[Guest Edgy DC]

OK, I'll bite.

Frayed Knot wrote: It was twenty years ago today That Billy Buckner couldn't make the play He had to beat Mookie to the base But he wasn't gonna win the race So let this be a sign to you 'Bout the game you've known for all these years ...

And the Red Sock with the Cubs glove on his hand!

[HahnSolo]

True story: I sat in upper deck Section 3 for that game. In the top of the 10th, after the Sox had scored 2, Mets fans were leaving! Leaving! Then someone in the section next to mine yelled out, "youse'll be sorry when dey score 3 in da bottom of da inning to win it."
Then, in the bottom of the inning, about four Sox fans moved out of their seats and were standing down by the tunnel. They were cheering their team on, nothing obnoxious or anything, but nothing a Met fan really wanted to see, either. I swear the Mookie ball had not stopped rolling and all four of them were gone, through the tunnel never to be seen again.

Jeremy Schaap had a feature about Buckner and Mookie on SportsCenter this morning. No real new story here, but they did show video of the play that I had not seen before. Looked like it was shot from a hand held camera at the far end of the dugout. You got to see Knight score, and the camera followed Mookie from the field down the tunnel. The tunnel scene is funny in itself, as all these cops are congratulating the Mets

[MFS62]

In case you want to relive the happy moment again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7Z8GcP2QM&mode=related&search=

Suggestion, play it a second time and just listen. How good were Vin and Joe when you compare them to Joe and Tim?

Later

[Guest cooby]

Terrific, thanks 62, I'm listening to it right now!

[Guest cooby]

Fabulous. The last two minutes was no commentating at all. Some announcers know when to let the moment just happen.


I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face

[metirish]

] Fabulous. The last two minutes was no commentating at all. Some announcers know when to let the moment just happen

That's what I was thinking,and the colour guy hardly spoke during the 10 minutes.

[Elster88]

cooby wrote: Fabulous. The last two minutes was no commentating at all. Some announcers know when to let the moment just happen.

.

Arguably not as a good a practice on radio

[RealityChuck]

cooby wrote: Fabulous. The last two minutes was no commentating at all. Some announcers know when to let the moment just happen.

Thank the New York Jets.

In 1979, NBC experimented with broadcasting the final Jets-Dolphins game without announcers. I actually thought it was interesting, but they never repeated the experiment. However, they did learn that you did not have to talk all the time, and that it was much better for announcers to say nothing after a particularly exciting play (especially if it benefits the home team). It started out in football, but I'm sure Scully knew about it by 1986, and certainly the director in the booth told him to wait a bit before talking.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm not sure I'd make too much of a one-time only experiment from seven years earlier. Besides, it was the second guy who virtually disappeared.

Scully is just an economical guy. He's used to calling games on his own, and perhaps he's a play-by-play guy who thought color was extra gravy for slow moments. If you hear him do the color on his broadcasts, it's usually just biographical details about the players that close followers already know. He's never been an analyst.

I think it was good taste as much as anything that allowed the crew to back off.

[MFS62]

Agreed. If there was a director in the booth telling Scully anything about how to call a ballgame, the next day there'd probably be a duly chastized director. Vin is too much of a gentleman to mention it, but I'm sure someone in the booth would have said something to the powers that be.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

The 'announcer-less' football game was nothing more than an experiment from producer Don Ohlmeyer. He wanted to check out some things with crowd and other ambient noises so he took an otherwise-nothing game towards the end of the season and ran his trial w/o having to deal with any voices getting in the way and, in turn, generated a ton of publicity for himself and the network. It was never meant to be any kind of trend-setting statement.

It anything, the 'letting the scene speak for itself' method school of announcing with its blessed stretches of silence has decreased since then having been lost to a bunch of post-Cosell era wankers who think of themselves, rather than the game, as the main attraction and would rather give up their padded expense accounts than let 5 seconds go by without their "imprint" being plastered on a scene to be preserved in perpetual highlight reel eternity.

Current sports announcers who realize - at least on occasion - that less is more are a rare breed deserving of protection from the 'Endangered Species Act'.

[RealityChuck]

Frayed Knot wrote: The 'announcer-less' football game was nothing more than an experiment from producer Don Ohlmeyer. He wanted to check out some things with crowd and other ambient noises so he took an otherwise-nothing game towards the end of the season and ran his trial w/o having to deal with any voices getting in the way and, in turn, generated a ton of publicity for himself and the network. It was never meant to be any kind of trend-setting statement.

But NBC afterwards said that they learned a lot from the game and started using silence more effectively. They often pointed to the game as influencing how they had people call the game, and I'm sure others in the announcing field made note of it.

The "describe everything" school was due to the fact that sports started out on radio, where it was necessary. It took a long time before TV announcers (many of whom started in radio), learned that there were times when saying nothing was the best way to go.

[Frayed Knot]

Boxing great Don Dunphy, in particular, had a tough time adjusting to TV as he said he felt kinda stupid saying; 'left jab', when he knew everyone could see it was a left jab.

I think it did take a while for announcers to learn that occasional silence can indeed be golden ... and then a short time to forget those lessons.

[seawolf17]

Even on the replay; Vin and Joe just let the crowd tell the story. Fucking brilliant. Tim McCarver would be flapping his gums like a nervous fifteen-year-old girl.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I think there were moments of silence from the booth during Game 6 in the Astrodome that year.

Of course, it's possible that Al Michaels had his hand clamped over Timmy's mouth to ensure that silence.

[Guest cooby]

Not to mention Fox would have shown it 25 times instead of the players' reactions

[Willets Point]

McCarver was sent down to the Mets clubhouse late in the game. I think he was working with Keith Jackson.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sorry, who was Scully's mostly silent partner?

[metirish]

Tim someone....

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I thought it was Mulder.

[Guest Iubitul]

Edgy DC wrote: Sorry, who was Scully's mostly silent partner?

Joe Garagiola. Tim worked with Keith Jackson on the NLCS

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Keith Jackson! I think you're right.

I thought it was Al Michaels.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Iubitul wrote: ="Edgy DC"]Sorry, who was Scully's mostly silent partner? Joe Garagiola. Tim worked with Keith Jackson on the NLCS

Cool. In my memory, I tend to think of both of them as PbP men. I guess they didn't have any veteran player slumming in the booth that year.

[Frayed Knot]

ABC had the LCS that year (both of them) and NBC the WS

Al Michaels worked the ALCS with ??
Jackson & McCarver did the NLCS
Scully & Garagiola did the NBC coverage of the WS

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Jim Palmer?

[Guest Iubitul]

Edgy DC wrote: ="Iubitul"] Edgy DC wrote: Sorry, who was Scully's mostly silent partner? Joe Garagiola. Tim worked with Keith Jackson on the NLCS Cool. In my memory, I tend to think of both of them as PbP men. I guess they didn't have any veteran player slumming in the booth that year.

Well, Garagiola was a retired veteran player...

Unfortunately, that video didn't include Scully's brilliant ending comment. After those two minutes of silence, he says, "If a picture paints a thousand words, you have just seen a million of them".

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

[stevejrogers]

Gee I thought Scully and Garagiola were "rooting" for the Red Sox

Actually I wouldn't blame them. Sox were the "Darlings" of that postseason no doubt, even the Mets didn't have the Sox Karma of getting in after being on the brink. Plus the fact that only Met fans were actually rooting for the Mets that year, geez NO ONE like us then