tom grieve= awesome

on all fronts. i hate listening to the white sox and angels’ announcers too.

I have to disagree with you on your general statement that Tom Grieve is “hands down the most even keel calls it like i see it color guy.” Maybe you like him because he calls it like YOU see it, but that doesn’t make him good or “even keel.” Putting aside your grammar issues, Grieve is a total homer, just like the guys you criticize. Now I don’t listen to him regularly, but when I have heard him he makes a big deal when the Rangers are winning and is awfully quiet when they are losing. Instead of giving credit to other teams beating the Rangers, he’ll claim the Rangers aren’t pitching good or hitting good or defending good, but that doesn’t make him even keel. More importantly, the Rangers play by play guy (Josh Lewin or Levin or whatever his name) is a TOTAL homer as much as Steve Physioc or Hawk Harrelson. He practically jumps out of his booth to announce anything good for the Rangers, while minimizing any good for the opposing team. He is in NO WAY “palatable” or “enjoyable.” In fact, I watch the Rangers broadcasts on mute because of him. Seriously.

As much as I hate both the Red Sox, Giants, and Dodgers I have to say the most unbiased play by play and/or commentary is done by the Red sox team (Orsillo & Remy), Jon Miller, and Vin Scully. Outside of them, everyone seems to me to fall into the homer category with varying degrees of “suckiness.”

I also disagree with your statement that the A’s “kicked” Grieve “to the curb.” Is he playing anywhere? Did he go on to a productive career anywhere else? Did the A’s tell everyone else he had a deadly disease? No. He just sucked and the A’s chose to part ways with him just like they parted ways with T-Long, Adam Piatt, and other useless players.

Obviously these are just my opinions and as tv guys go it’s a matter of taste, but those are my two cents.

but I want my guys to be homers … in other words, when I watch an Angels game or White Sox game or Giants game, I expect their announcers to be really happy when they do something good, and really unhappy when the other team succeeds. Isn’t that the point? Now, if it’s a national telecast with “neutral” announcers, then they need to be as unbiased as possible. But if it’s a game broadcast using a particular team’s announcers, then I expect them to be one-sided. (And that includes Oakland)

As far as Sexson is concerned … yeah, a pitch ought to be close to hitting you before you charge the mound … ridiculous. The pitch was over the plate … high, but directly over the plate, nonetheless.

Having MLB Extra Innings, I get to see almost every team’s crew – I’d put Grieve and Lewin in the top 1/3 of announcing teams. Lewin is a bit annoying, like the geek who had no friends in high school but now gets to hang with the jocks because he’s an announcer. I want to puke every time he calls Grieve “TAG”. But, he’s a pretty good PBP guy. Grieve did piss me off during the last Tex-Oak series. He must have said a dozen times that he doesn’t buy the A’s success and expects them to take a nosedive.

I just really like how they call a game, and I feel they’re more than fair to the other side while still clearly being for the Rangers (which is fine with me. They’re paid by the team. I get annoyed with team announcers who show no emotion whatsoever for their guys).

My second favorite team might be Cubs TV guys, Len Kasper and Bob Brenly. Kasper is a young PBP guy who really gets it (he even mentioned 3TO the other day. I died.), and Brenly seems to have a lot of forward-thinking ideas even if he doesn’t know it. He would never say he was a sabermetrics guy, but he doesn’t rely on too many outdated traditional ideas. Plus, he looks like Johnnycakes.

I still say people who think Hawk is the worst (or 2nd worst) aren’t watching enough different teams.

...so that in and of itself doesn’t bother me. Where is judge announcers is their ability to give credit where it’s legitimately due. Be a man and suck it up and give the opposing player kudos for a good play.

The Rangers’ guys are pretty good in that department. I have been quite impressed in the past by them. The White Sox’ guys are the abolute worst, IMHO. That whole “good guys”/”bad guys” thing is simply unprofessional and juvenile and demonstrates perfectly their suckiness.

As a side note: I like that I have been able to experience other team’s broadcasts in the past several years. I find it very interesting to compare ours with what others see and experience on their end.

...when the Twins were in town last month I had to watch a one or two of their broadcasts. Usually, they’re pretty good, but it seemed like every single time a foul ball was hit they’d make some comment about that “great big foul territory” at the Coliseum. Sheesh, guys… the place has been like that for 40 years, everybody knows already.

That’s probably the most annoying about out-of-town and national announcers that don’t normally cover the A’s… the “(foul territory) size fetish”.

...they just seemed to turm it up a notch more than is usual.

I can’t think of a single announcer for another team I even dislike at all.

If the complaint is homerism, I don’t see that anyone else is significantly worse than Fosse. If the complaint is not making very good calls, I don’t see that anyone else is significantly worse than Cotroneo (though he’s getting a little better).

Maybe everyone else sees somethng I don’t, but I’m inclined to think all the passionate criticism of Harrelson, Hudler, and all the rest, is just fan homerism on our side. Sure, I like the local broadcasting team … because they’re our guys and I’m used to them. But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with everyone else’s broadcasting teams.