Cws
 

I see Harold Reynolds is wasting no time misinterpreting rules again in the College World Series. When Harold learns a rule, it will be his first.:)

One thing the seem to be constantly and consistently misunderstanding in this year's CWS is when they appeal a runner not tagging up and the players just throw the ball to the base the announcers say something like, "In College, they don't have to throw it to the pitcher first like they do in the pros."

I've heard this at least 3 or 4 times in the tournament.

Harold said that "the runner can't just plow over the catcher, unless he has the ball."

I said, "huh?"

and then harold said "i get a paycheck whether or not i know the rules, im harold reynolds"

And a handsome paycheck it is...

Reynolds also said the umpires called a balk when the umps were calling for the tarp to be put on the field for the rain delay. Remember, no one was on base. Speaking into a microphone multiplies the definition of "assume" by about ten.

For some reason I find most of Reynolds' faux paus's to be amusing and forgivable. McCarver, on the other hand, seems to combine at least as much rules ignorance as Harold with a thinly veiled hostility towards umpires that I just can't stomach.

You cannot tell me that you guys really expect an announcer to know what they are talking about when it comes to rules do you?

Peace

when ive been blessed with the auditory presence of steve stone for most of my life...you get used to expecting people to know what they are talking about. stoney is regarded as one of the best "baseball men" ever, as im sure most of you know. when he says something, you can take it to the bank. cant say the same for a lot of the other announcers/commentators.

Why not, Jeff? He makes a hell of a lot more money as a commentator then we do as umpires. It's not rocket science for crying out loud.



Tim.

Was it McCarver, during the George Brett incident when they laid the bat across homeplate to measure it, said something like "what they are trying to do is see where the ball would have hit the bat."

Might have been Bobby Mercer, not sure if he was commentating back then...

help?

Some thoughts for your price of admission:

1) Yes, I expect that the person commenting on the game actually understands the nuances, rules and intricacies. Much like I expect the guy who cooks my meal to have washed his hands before touching the prep area. It kind of goes without saying.

2) Reynolds has been doing this for a long time and regularly confuses the rules of LL, OBR and NCAA. That said, it is the only time that my ears actually enjoy listening to him. He is the car crash on the side of the road...you listen just because you know it's bad.

3) To lighten the load on a Saturday night, I recall one of my favorite announcers doing a little rain delay theatre at Wrigley some years back. Harry Carey was wasting time as Arnie Harris panned through the crowd and spied a couple love birds in the upper deck. I have heard it so many times yet I can never recall the exact words. Something akin to: "Ahhh, love at the ol' ball park. He kisses her on the strikes and she kisses him on the balls." He lost it and the giggles that followed make me cry each time I hear it. Reynolds should listen to those old tapes.

Yeah, Harold makes some mistakes now and then.

But I like him. At least he remembers how to play baseball.

If you start disliking any commentator, just watch a game being called by Joe Morgan, and you will appreciate everybody else.

http://firejoemorgan.blogspot.com

If you ever need a side-splitting afternoon, go through the archives here.

Here in Mets fan-dom, we are so spoiled with Howie Rose, Gary Cohen, and we were with the late Bob Murphy. Talk about 3 guys who know the rules, understand what's going on, and often cite specific examples/rules when they are applicable.

I'll never forget Harold in the pre-cellphone days in uniform at old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland talking on a payphone in the concourse!

Well Tim, I have not seen a single announcer that knows the rules in any sport. So why would you expect something of special from Reynolds? We could be talking about Bill Walton, John Madden or Alexei Lawless (sp?) and the result is the same. None of them know the rules like the officials and none of them can explain them either.

Peace

so you really havent seen/heard steve stone?

im not a hockey guy, but isnt barry melrose a pretty good hockey guy? i could be wrong.

Stop being a Cub fan. Steve Stone did not walk on water and he was not always right when it came to rules. He was right about many things, but he was not anymore than a former player that commented on something he never had experience doing.

I am not a big hockey fan and I do not understand hockey rules to even comment on how good Melrose is when it comes to hockey rules. I am sure hockey officials feel the same way about him when he comments on rules.

Peace

Jay Bilas is awesome with basketball. Opposite dickie V for sure.

I'd say the best baseball guy as far as rules would have to be... NOBODY!

None of them know it. My guess is Gammons might know it, but isn't in the color commentator role enough. Some of their baseball tonight guys are probably knowledgable as well.

Certainly not Jeff Brantley.

Jay Bilas? Jay Bilas goes on rants about calls and talks about plays he obviously knows nothing about. I will say he is probably one of the better guys that can talk a rule or two, but he is wrong more often than he ever is right about something. At least Dickie V talks about how hard it is to be an official and gives the guys some credit. Bilas will go on and on about what he thinks is a bad call.

Peace

At least Brantley knew the pitcher didn't need to come to a stop when throwing to first base, which Sean McDunnagh (sp?) thought was the rule.

Bilas backs up officials more often than not, and knows rules. He's honest and not biased towards Duke like Dickie V (and I'm a Duke fan). He tells viewers what is actually happening and does so fairly and unbiasedly, unlike other announcers. And he knows rules.

You must have never really listened to Bilas during the NCAA tournament. He rants about calls he does not understand but the average official clearly understands. He quotes rules but does not understand the complete context in which the rules apply or the other rules that might apply as well. Either you are not a basketball official, or you have never actually listened to Bilas and his rants. He is clueless like the rest of the commentators, he just quotes rules better.

Peace

Sean is the worst of them all. (Aside: Sean is the son of Will McDonaugh (sp?)...the longtime NFL beat writer for the Boston Globe and sideline reporter for NFL on NBC back in the 80's and 90's. Will died 2 years ago.)

Anyways, Sean followed dad into journalism...only as an on-air announcer rather than print journalist. Sean worked his way up to calling Red Sox games as the local TV play-by-play guy. When CBS got the MLB national contract, he was their #1 play-by-play guy....he called the World Series' in the early 90's on CBS.

Sean is awful...it doesn't matter what sport he announces, he will go in a rage about the officiating. (I mean he sounds like he's a coach going ballistic on an official.) It doesn't matter if its hockey, baseball or college basketball he simply can not do a single game without commenting on the poor officiating.

One night, during a Red Sox broadcast, he said (and I'll never forget it): "three of these guys on this crew better be glad that these umpires are tenured, or they'd all be out of a job." Which we (me and other pro umps sitting in the bar watching this game) thought was hilarious because these guys were three of the most respected (by their colleagues) umpires in the game.

He's totally clueless. He's so bad, that my grandfather (who is no umpire...rather he was an American Legion coach for 40+ years) will watch the game on TV, but turn down the volume and listen to the game on the radio.

As an aside, Peter Gammons, another Boston product does not have a lot of love coming his way from the MLB boys.