tsmith@laidbak.UUCP (10/14/83)
The problem with ABC's baseball coverage goes much deeper than Howard Cosell, I'm afraid. Everyone knows that Cosell is not very knowledgeable about baseball, but consider this: he is surrounded by three *excellent* baseball people. Al Michaels is a first-rate play-by-play announcer, Reggie Jackson may be a hot dog, but he really knows the game, and I've heard that Earl Weaver has won a game or two in his career. It seems that ABC has made a high-level decision to cover baseball as if they were a video PEOPLE magazine. By this, I mean that they pay almost no attention to the game itself, the pitches, ebb and flow of the action. Rather, we get incessant chatter about the personalities of the players, the managers, and even the owners. It is as if ABC has decided that the average viewer neither knows about the game nor cares, and will only stay tuned in if a lot of non-technical noise about PEOPLE is provided. It is this fundamental disrespect for the game itself that bothers most baseball fans, I think. Contrast NBC-- whatever you may think about Garagiola's stale jokes and witticisms, he and Scully do pay attention to the GAME. The other thing that ABC has not realized is that three people in the booth just doesn't work. They should let Al Michaels and Weaver do the play-by-play (and I mean good old fashioned play-by-play), and use Reggie and Howard (if they must use him at all), for before and after "color" stuff. Please, if you're a baseball fan, write to ABC Sports and *complain*. Maybe they'll listen...... -Tim Smith (...!laidbak!tsmith)
russ@mit-vax.UUCP (Russ Finn) (10/18/83)
I couldn't agree more with the comparison between ABC's World Series coverage and People magazine. Two things that stand out in my mind about the first game (the only one I was able to watch) were: - during the final innings, instead of showing the action on the field (which, considering the closeness of the score, was certainly exciting enough), we kept seeing pictures of the ballplayers' wives. (And only of the Phillies' wives! Weren't there any Oriole wives at Memorial Stadium?) - between innings, seeing the last two faces I wanted to see on the screen at the same time (Humble Howard and Ronnie Raygun) was enough to make me leave the room -- and by the time I got back, McGregor had given up the game-winning home run. * sigh * It's a shame that the intelligent commentary of Earl Weaver had to be overshadowed in this way. (Incidentally, I'm quite pleased by the way the series turned out.) -- Russell Finn ..!mit-eddie!mit-vax!russ
smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steven Bellovin) (10/18/83)
Some of the best coverage I've heard of any baseball games has been by Steve Zabriskie (sp?) and Tim McCarver, who do the TV coverage for the NY Mets. They spend a fair amount of time explaining some of the more obscure strategic decisions, and are willing to call a mistake a mistake, even if it's committed by the Mets. Of course, they sometimes get so wrapped up in what they're saying that they forget to do the play-by-play, but it's on TV, so you can see for yourself....