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Monday, October 25, 2004

I was sent the link to Fox's feedback part of their website. In about 10 minutes I was able to whip up quite the list of things that have bothered me about their coverage of the World Series. You may, or may not agree with me. But, if you do, I encourage you to send your feedback to Fox and MLB. Below is what I sent:

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Dear Fox:

My comments pertain to the baseball coverage you have provided to the American public over the past couple of weeks. Below is a list of things, in no particular order, I'd like to see changed:

Tim McCarver. It is time to find another broadcast partner for Joe Buck. He is not getting it done. He is unable to remember the correct names of players. He makes claims without explaining them. He often confuses what actually happens in a play. He states the absolute obvious as though it's some great discovery. Generally, he just isn't very sharp anymore.

In-between innings. The fact you come back to the action mid-commercial as a pitch is getting thrown is a tragedy. You're #1 job is to show the game. In coming back to the action as it is happening, you are failing. I understand Fox is broadcasting these games as to make money for the network but you have to understand you are upsetting countless fans with your lack of consideration for the product at hand.


Number of commercials. Not that I want to hear more "analysis" from McCarver but the flow of the game is really being interrupted with the number of commercials you play between innings. It's a little easier on the eye if you come back to the action 15-20 seconds before the next pitch is thrown.

Scooter. Maybe you have since I have not seen him lately but Scooter needs to stop. Having Al Leiter demonstrate how to throw a change-up is much more effective than having an animated ball with a squeaky voice do it. This is baseball, not Saturday morning cartoons.

Production. I understand you're trying to spice the game up by showing a bunch of quick cutaways but you really need to stop. In cutting away from the action so much, you're missing what is happening at the plate. You're coming back to the pitcher in mid-windup just about every other pitch. I can't fully explain to you how this ruins the game. If you want to do the occasional cutaway when there is no action, fine. But let's remember where the action happens.

Fan shots. Please, Please stop showing so many fans. I mean really. We can only take it so much. The occasional shot of a fan is nice but it's starting to get troubling. We don't really need to see every fans reaction after every possible action on the field. This is overkill at its absolute worst.


The Yankees. Please have someone objective go back and listen to the Twins/NY and Boston/NY series and listen to the slanted coverage you give the Yankees. Your production and announcer team slant every possible situation to the Yankee angle. The Twins/NY series was really troubling. I mean, I don't think anyone noticed there was another team the Yankees were playing. I understand the NY market is much bigger than the Twin cities and to a certain effect that is going to slant your coverage. I'm OK with a slight favoritism in that regard. But that series was about 85% - 15%.

Derek Jeter. I know he is the face of the most popular team in the country but lets calm the "I love Jeter" angle a bit. It's actually a little creepy the way the broadcast team heaps praise on him for ANYTHING he does. As well as make excuses for him if he makes any kind of error.

In-game commercials. As if they countless number of commercials isn't bad enough, dropping all these "hidden" commercials during play is really hard to stomach. Budweiser, Chevy, WebMD. It's a dilution of the product. It's eliciting more anger than brand-loyalty.


Managerial Interviews. Well, thanks for not doing them live during the game anymore. I can't believe managers actually agreed to do that. Anyway, these are just another tool to pull the viewers attention away from the game on the field. Two rushed questions to a manager who is going to give the shortest possible answer is not what I call insight. With all of the media available now, isn't an interview during the game overkill? It's something I'd expect from the XFL.

Joe Buck. I'm not sure if this is Joe or the direction he's been given but there are very, very few times he's actually explaining the action ON the field. Most of the time Joe and Tim are talking about some other aspect of the game as pitch after pitch is thrown. Now, I can see things like this happening during the regular season, for say, the Brewers in game #124 of a last place season. But, during the playoffs, I expect the announcers to focus a lot more on the action at the plate vs some random other conversation. Also, Joe needs to stop pining on about curses and clutch and stuff during high-stress parts of the game. A perfect example of this is last year in game #7 of Boston/NY. As opposed to breaking down what was going on the last couple of innings he pinned on about history and Yankee lore an so forth. That doesn't get the viewer any more into the game. I'm willing to bet 90% of your viewers are aware of the size of a given situation. We don't need it crammed down our throats over and over again.

Chris Myers. We don't need a guy running into the stands to interview random fans to get their opinions. Again, this is overkill. It's another thing that takes the attention away from the game at hand. He should be there to get a scoop in the case of an injury or something. Not, to interview Tom Hanks and talk about his new movie as the game is going on. Think about that. The Sox are in the WS for the first time in like 80 years and your network is interviewing an actor about a new movie with a talking train. Would you show an interview with Tim Wakefield during an episode of the OC?

Cutaways to famous people. Please stop doing this. I will admit this year is now as bad as years in the past where Billy Crystal was shown every time something happened to the Yankees or Ben Affleck was shown every time something happened to the Sox. Again, like anything else, 1-2 shots a game of a famous fan who is a huge supporter (not some front-runner who has come out to get on TV) of their team is OK.

The radar gun flame. In yet another attempt to distract people from the action on the field can you please eliminate the flame that come up on the radar gun reading and especially the "whosh!!" sound when a pitcher touches a high number. I think having the radar gun reading is great as it allows the viewer to really appreciate how hard a guy is throwing or how he is able to change speeds. But, checking the radar gun should be something the viewer does. Not, some kind of attention grabber ushered in by the network.

In conclusion, I'm not sure if you realize how many people listen to the radio or watch the game with mute on. I live in CT with lots of Boston and NY fans. It's not good when I spend more time complaining about the broadcast than actually talking about the action on the field. Your production of the game is detracting from the game, I hope you realize this.