Hams on radio

[Fman99]

I feel the need to exclaim this, having listened to some of the Cubs/Brewers game on XM yesterday:

Ron Santo is a stammering, yammering ass of a broadcaster. He brings nothing to the table aside from the status of being a retired Cub. He stinks out loud.

There. I feel better.

[Guest themetfairy]

We caught the Cubs game on WGN when we were driving home from DC last week (it's impressive how far AM radio waves travel at night!). Santo and his partner were homers of the biggest variety, actively rooting for a home run (MiniKnight does a great impression of their call). Plus one of the guys seemed to be drunk, and was slurring his words through the extra inning game.

Whenever I hear crap like that, I'm thankful for the broadcasters we have. Warts and all, they're still much better than most of the crews around the majors.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Metfairy - "...Plus one of the guys seemed to be drunk, and was slurring his words through the extra inning game. "

Apparently upholding the tradition of the much beloved, Chicago icon Harry Caray. As Harry said in one of his old ads, "I'm a Cubs fan and a Bud man."

[bmfc1]

I know that Cubs fans love Santo and he was a great Cub and I'm sorry he lost a leg, but he is a nightmare on the radio. This is Chicago, one of the biggest cities in the country, they have guy that's slurring his words, openly cheering on his team, providing no insights, interrupting the play-by-play guy to exort the ball somewhere. It's unblievable how bad he is.

When the Mets were there last week, admittedly I was in a foul mood while listening, I heard the two talk about how the pre-game soup gave Santo a "toilet issue." Really.

Then the play-by-play guy said that after the game, the Cubs were going to the airport to "set sail" for Colorado. They have boats at the airport?

Now don't get me started on AZ color guy Mark Grace.

[Guest AG/DC]

I don't think the Cubs think of broadcast professionalism as something of value, but rather colorful characters (or whatever) as part of Loveable Loser Cubbie culture.

Obviously Carey didn't set much of a standard for Santo to live up to.

Grace would probably class up the Cubbie booth, and that's saying something.

[Frayed Knot]

NYC (or half of it anyway) not only put up with but embraced Rizzuto as an announcer, complete with all his homerisms, WW's, off tangent stories, dismissals of the entire National League, bad syntax, etc.

I'm sure Chicago's response to criticism is that sure Santo's a train-wreck, but he's OUR train-wreck.

[stevejrogers]

Frayed Knot wrote: NYC (or half of it anyway) not only put up with but embraced Rizzuto as an announcer, complete with all his homerisms, WW's, off tangent stories, dismissals of the entire National League, bad syntax, etc.

Apparently though Rizzuto was more of that caricature during the 80s and 90s as he was getting up there in years, and in his prime he really was a polished announcer.

This actually was one of the "inconsistencies" Yankee fans mentioned about *61, that Crystal had Rizzuto doing his act from the 80s and 90s when he wasn't that way at all in 1961.

FWIW I watched a DVD of Game 5 of the 1977 ALCS that had Rizzuto and White doing the PBP on WPIX and Rizzuto did none of his famous antics. Interestingly also I watched Game 7 of the 1952 World Series off of iTunes, and Mel Allen was doing the national broadcast, and he also put away his usual pro-Yankee shtick.

A better Yanqui example would be John Sterling who has been an egomaniacal Yankee pom-pom waver since he first entered the Yankee broadcast booth 20 years ago.

On the flip side, Murph's "Happy Recap," the fact that EVERY lazy fly ball was a "line drive," the fact that he rarely (if ever) had a bad thing to say about a Met have been grounds to label Bob Murphy a "homer" by non Met fans through the years.

[Guest AG/DC]

I'm going to disagree. Rizzutto was a fool in the seventies and a nightmare after.

And the Rizzuto character from *61 wasn't anything like Rizzuto from the eighties. Which Yankee fans are you talking about?

[metsmarathon]

probably the yankee fans that post on message boards under the moniker stevejrogers...

[stevejrogers]

="AG/DC"]And the Rizzuto character from *61 wasn't anything like Rizzuto from the eighties. Which Yankee fans are you talking about?

During one point he was rattling off some birthday wishes, to which the Mel Allen character told him that no one cares, or something to that effect.

I've seen it listed in several places as a major anachronism of the movie as Rizzuto wouldn't be the "Rizzuto" Yankee fans love for some time down the road.

[stevejrogers]

AG/DC wrote: I'm going to disagree. Rizzutto was a fool in the seventies and a nightmare after.

Well whenever IT happened, Rizzuto was at one time actually a pretty decent announcer, but because of his linkage with the Yankee history, and in some respects his age, he was allowed to stay in the Yankee booth untill he announced his retirement.

[soupcan]

I have a vivid memory of Rizzuto in the '70s (could have been early '80s - maybe vivid is not the right word) getting drunk during a rain delay and acting quite the fool on camera.

It was funny as hell and Bill White could barely contain himself.

[G-Fafif]

SteveJRogers wrote: On the flip side, Murph's "Happy Recap," the fact that EVERY lazy fly ball was a "line drive," the fact that he rarely (if ever) had a bad thing to say about a Met have been grounds to label Bob Murphy a "homer" by non Met fans through the years.

Except that Murph didn't call lazy fly balls line drives.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Of course he didn't.

Where'd THAT come from?

[Guest AG/DC]

And if it was true (and it's certainly not), how would that support the notion that he was a homer?

[stevejrogers]

Just that he was just as guilty as Gary Cohen is when he puts JUST as little more into "ITS OUTTA HERE" when calling a Met home run than an opponent's.

As well as the fact that Murph just plain wanted to accentuate the positives of Met players. Sure he wasn't a negative person, but that can be taken as homerism by non fans.

The guy sure wasn't a Caray, or a Rizzuto, or a Sterling or a Hawk Harrelson, but one could sense that Murph indeed was a fan of the team he called games for.

[Guest AG/DC]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Where'd THAT come from?

[Willets Point]

AG/DC wrote: ="Benjamin Grimm"]Where'd THAT come from?

[seawolf17]

Willets Point wrote: ="AG/DC"] ="Benjamin Grimm"]Where'd THAT come from?

[metirish]

seawolf17 wrote: ="Willets Point"] ="AG/DC"] ="Benjamin Grimm"]Where'd THAT come from?

[G-Fafif]

SteveJRogers wrote: Just that he was just as guilty as Gary Cohen is when he puts JUST as little more into "ITS OUTTA HERE" when calling a Met home run than an opponent's. As well as the fact that Murph just plain wanted to accentuate the positives of Met players. Sure he wasn't a negative person, but that can be taken as homerism by non fans. The guy sure wasn't a Caray, or a Rizzuto, or a Sterling or a Hawk Harrelson, but one could sense that Murph indeed was a fan of the team he called games for.

Listen sometime, if you can find it, to Murph's call of Terry Pendleton's home run off Roger McDowell from September 11, 1987. As Howie Rose has put it in appraising the beauty of Bob Murphy's broadcasting, you couldn't tell if the call came from the Cardinal feed or the Met feed. It was typical of Murph's work. You spend decades with one team, you're going to have an inflection betray your affiliation from time to time, but the good ones give you the action and let you figure out your emotions for yourself. Murph did that. Cohen does, too.

You've got to stop creating vague straw men to make your points, Steve. "That can be taken"... "one could sense"... "have been grounds"... these framing devices are beneath someone who's as much a student of broadcasting as you are. If somebody's accusing Bob Murphy of homerism (and in 2008, I can't imagine it's coming up very often), state who said what. Otherwise I don't put much stock in the "some people are saying..." school of reportage. It smacks of Walter Winchell at his red-baiting worst.

[Frayed Knot]

="SteveJRogers"]Apparently though Rizzuto was more of that caricature during the 80s and 90s as he was getting up there in years, and in his prime he really was a polished announcer.

Rizzuto was less of a character when he was younger (remember he basically moved directly from the field to the booth) but he was never what one would call a polished announcer.

="bmfc1"]Now don't get me started on AZ color guy Mark Grace

And lookie who we get on FOX for today's game!