Author Topic: The Bleachers  (Read 112944 times)

Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3825 on: August 18, 2022, 10:31:02 am »
https://cubsinsider.com/2022/03/05/ranking-cubs-broadcast-teams-of-last-4-decades-from-worst-to-first/

My only major disagreement is with their two worst choices.  They have Thom Brennamen as worst followed by Chip Caray.  I'd reverse them.

JeffH

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3826 on: August 18, 2022, 10:38:07 am »
My favorite JD story is about the three game stretch in September of 1986.  Deshaies pitched a complete game 2-hit shutout, striking out 10, setting the record (at the time) for the most consecutive strikeouts to begin a ballgame.

The next night, Nolan Ryan went eight scoreless, striking out 12.  The next day, Mike Scott pitched a no-hitter, striking out 13 to clinch the division.

He's funny talking about how his memorable accomplishment was completely washed away in less than 48 hours.

JR

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3827 on: August 18, 2022, 12:15:02 pm »
I like Deshaies, but I liked the Kasper/Brenly booth better.

The Pat Hughes/Ron Coomer booth should never be ranked ahead of Hughes/Santo.

Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3828 on: August 18, 2022, 12:21:21 pm »
My favorite JD story was the time a foul ball went towards a ball dude who was sitting in front of a security guard down the line in right.  JD called them the San Francisco luge team which broke Len up.

Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3829 on: August 18, 2022, 12:49:32 pm »
There are a lot of good Ron Santo stories.  Not long ago, I told the one about Ronnie calling the trainload of oranges above the Crawford boxes at Minute Maid Park in Houston a bunch of pumpkins.

My favorite is when the Cubs played the Giants at AT&T right after they'd move there from Candlestick.  Every game was a sellout with the same number being announced each time.   Pat Hughes won their "guess the attendance" contest the first day with a number that was right on the money.  The next day, Hughes said something like "It looks like about the same number of fans as yesterday so I'll go with the same guess".  When he was exactly right again, Santo finally realized there was something going on.

davep

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3830 on: August 18, 2022, 03:54:56 pm »
My favorite was when they had a soft ice cream in the booth and when Santo tried to use it it broke and wouldn't turn off.  When Pat came into the booth, Santo was screaming for help, with ice cream all over the floor.

Santo and Carey had two things in common.  First, they were both a lot of fun to listen to.  Second, you never learned anything from either of them about the technical parts of baseball.

The single best announcer of the entire group is Pat Hughes.  He not only knows and can explain the game of baseball, but his is a lot of fun to listen to.  He was Santo's perfect foil.

CurtOne

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3831 on: August 18, 2022, 04:08:08 pm »
When I think of Santo, I just remember him wailing when Brant Brown dropped the ball in Milwaukee.  Priceless.

guest405

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3832 on: August 18, 2022, 06:02:34 pm »
Harry Caray made me a Cub fan 100% no question.

Reb

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3833 on: August 18, 2022, 08:35:18 pm »
Think that most folks realize that Harry's prime was with the Cardinals doing radio.  One summer in Chicago, I listened to Harry a lot on radio when he did the White Sox games and he was fabulous.  Later, of course, he had the stroke and was a different level of broadcaster than earlier.  But, like many, Harry shined on the radio pre-stroke.

Bill James was a big fan of Harry.  This excerpt is from the 1985 Bill James Baseball Abstract:

"I love Harry Caray. You have to understand what Harry Caray was to the Midwest in my childhood. In the years when baseball stopped at the Mississippi, KMOX radio built a network of stations across the Midwest and into the Far West that brought major league baseball into every little burb across the landscape. Harry’s remarkable talents and enthusiasm were the spearhead of their efforts.....This effect covers a huge area and encompasses millions of people, many times as many people as live in New York. A Harry Caray-for-the-Hall-of-Fame debate is in progress. To us, to hear New Yorkers or Californians suggest that Harry Caray might not be worthy of the honors given to Mel Allen or Vince Scully is a) almost comically ignorant, sort of like hearing a Midwesterner suggest that the Statue of Liberty was never of any real national significance and should be turned into scrap metal, and b) personally offensive...

But besides that, the man is really good. His unflagging enthusiasm, his love of the game, and his intense focus and involvement in every detail of the contest make every inning enjoyable, no matter what the score or the pace of the game. His humor, his affection for language and his vibrant images are the tools of a craftsman...He is criticized for not being objective, which is preposterous; he is the most objective baseball announcer I’ve ever witnessed. He is criticized for being “critical” of the players, when in fact Harry will bend over backwards to avoid saying something negative about a player or a manager. But Harry also knows that he does the fans no service when he closes his eyes and pretends not to see things. A player misses the cut-off man, Harry says that he missed the cut-off man."
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brs2

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3834 on: August 18, 2022, 09:24:57 pm »
Beyond the Midwest. As a child in South Florida, I could hear KMOX’s 50,000 watt signal (with a lot of white noise). Couldn’t hear WGN (local station blocked it out). I listened to a lot of Cardinals broadcasts (especially when they played the Cubs). Harry was very good.

Think that most folks realize that Harry's prime was with the Cardinals doing radio.  One summer in Chicago, I listened to Harry a lot on radio when he did the White Sox games and he was fabulous.  Later, of course, he had the stroke and was a different level of broadcaster than earlier.  But, like many, Harry shined on the radio pre-stroke.

Bill James was a big fan of Harry.  This excerpt is from the 1985 Bill James Baseball Abstract:

"I love Harry Caray. You have to understand what Harry Caray was to the Midwest in my childhood. In the years when baseball stopped at the Mississippi, KMOX radio built a network of stations across the Midwest and into the Far West that brought major league baseball into every little burb across the landscape. Harry’s remarkable talents and enthusiasm were the spearhead of their efforts.....This effect covers a huge area and encompasses millions of people, many times as many people as live in New York. A Harry Caray-for-the-Hall-of-Fame debate is in progress. To us, to hear New Yorkers or Californians suggest that Harry Caray might not be worthy of the honors given to Mel Allen or Vince Scully is a) almost comically ignorant, sort of like hearing a Midwesterner suggest that the Statue of Liberty was never of any real national significance and should be turned into scrap metal, and b) personally offensive...

But besides that, the man is really good. His unflagging enthusiasm, his love of the game, and his intense focus and involvement in every detail of the contest make every inning enjoyable, no matter what the score or the pace of the game. His humor, his affection for language and his vibrant images are the tools of a craftsman...He is criticized for not being objective, which is preposterous; he is the most objective baseball announcer I’ve ever witnessed. He is criticized for being “critical” of the players, when in fact Harry will bend over backwards to avoid saying something negative about a player or a manager. But Harry also knows that he does the fans no service when he closes his eyes and pretends not to see things. A player misses the cut-off man, Harry says that he missed the cut-off man."

Scoop

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3835 on: August 20, 2022, 08:40:33 pm »
Well, that was an interesting conversation about announcers that I missed. Why didn't anyone tell me?

davep

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3836 on: August 20, 2022, 10:26:42 pm »
It was announced.

Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3837 on: August 24, 2022, 12:57:23 pm »
Jesse Rogers  @JesseRogersESPN  44m

The 2023 MLB schedule is out:
-Teams will play 13 games in their own division
-A home AND road series (3 or 4 gms)outside their division but in their own league
-Every team will host OR play a 3 game interleague series except every team plays 4 games against their 'natural rival'







Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3838 on: August 25, 2022, 10:21:54 am »
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Bennett

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Re: The Bleachers
« Reply #3839 on: September 08, 2022, 09:01:45 am »
If you go to https://www.bleachernation.com/ this morning you will see six promotions for online sports betting.
 
This article now appears in many newspapers around the country:
 
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/wins-losses-pile-up-with-sped-up-sports-betting/article_aedd5f75-2fdb-5746-af0b-a86cff999589.html
 
Quote
This year’s games will become the focus of the most intense scrutiny yet by gamblers.

This is due to the rapid rise of so-called microbetting, the ability to place wagers on outcomes as narrowly targeted as whether the next play will be a run or a pass, how many yards will it gain, or whether the drive results in a punt, a touchdown, a turnover or something else.

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“We’re going to have more markets like betting on the next play, who’s going to carry the ball, how many yards it will gain,” he said. “We’ve found that those are equally as popular as who’s going to win the game or the total amount scored.”
Miami-based Betr is going beyond that. It launched its microbetting app on Sept. 1 and minces no words about what it soon will offer the gambling public: “Instant gratification.”

In baseball, its app lets users wager on each pitch: How fast it will be, whether it’s a ball or a strike; or whether it gets put into play.
As the article implies  “this will create new problems for gamblers or worsen the addiction of those who already have a problem.”
 
I wonder how long it took them to figure that out?