Thank you Colorado. No, not for booting the Diamondbacks out of the playoffs, but thank you for getting TBS' coverage of the playoffs off the air ASAP. Feel like there is something missing in the MLB playoffs this season? No, it's not the Cardinals. No, it's not the Mets. No, it's not even the fact that out of the four teams that made the league championship series you can't name more than 10 players.
What's missing? How about Chris Berman? How about Thom Brennaman? What about the lack of Joe Buck?
Remember Baseball Tonight? It was still on, but we were stuck with Ernie Johnson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Frank Thomas for pre- and post-game shows on TBS.
We're stuck with no ESPN, a lot less FOX and way too much TBS. We're stuck with the feeling that the NLCS wasn't really part of the playoffs.
Come on. You haven't had that feeling yet? You know, the feeling when you turn on the Rockies-Diamondbacks game at 10 p.m. and wonder why you are suddenly getting the MLB Extra Innings package for free. Is it April already? Who are these players?
It certainly didn't help that the Rockies were playing the Diamondbacks and that the games ended at about 4 a.m., but playoff baseball on TBS just wasn't the same as playoff baseball on ESPN and FOX.
You might hate Chris Berman - I know, there could not be a more annoying person announcing the home run derby every year. The ball lands in the first row of the bleachers and Berman always has it tagged for the nearest body of water or the closest interstate. But it just didn't feel like the first round of the playoffs when I didn't hear his voice. And it wasn't the same without Joe Buck in the first round. Thank goodness he is back for the ALCS because I was actually going through a little Buck withdrawal.
Meanwhile, TBS' announcers were terrible. I swear the two guys who did the Rockies-Padres play-in game were pulled off the street an hour before the first pitch. And Chip Carey is your No. 1 guy? I never had a problem with Carey when he was in Chicago doing Cubs games, but again, it just doesn't sound right.
You know what also doesn't sound right? Tony Gwynn's voice. In the words of Ricky Bobby, does Gwynn have peanut butter stuck on the roof of his mouth?
Then there was the studio show with Johnson, Ripken and Thomas. Johnson is actually a fine host, but Ripken and Thomas didn't make one controversial statement the entire playoffs. I can't figure out if TBS was paying those two or if their paycheck was coming straight from Bud Selig's office.
Couldn't someone have gotten Charles Barkley in there?
It's not just the talent though. FOX is playoff baseball. They have 100 more cameras than they need and 100 more microphones than they need. But that's what makes a game on FOX unique. The crowd is louder, the sound of the ball hitting the inside of the catcher's mitt is louder and the cracking of the bat is louder. Everything is more intense, and that's how it should be.
In a shock to absolutely nobody, Charter does not carry TBS HD. This certainly does not help, but I was able to watch a game on TBS HD in Chicago and it wasn't much better. The biggest insect attack since the Bible looked pretty cool in HD, but the production was just like any other HD baseball game.
FOX just gets the job done. Unfortunately, the ALCS and World Series are the only series that actually seem like the playoffs this year. But on the bright side, thanks to an outbreak of sweeps, TBS only got to broadcast one more game than the absolute minimum possible for them.
The baseball gods might not have been able to stop the TBS-MLB television deal, but I think they had something to do with the Canadian Solider invasion in Cleveland, the amazing run of the Rockies and yes, even the clinching of the Cubs 100th season without a World Series title. Thanks to the gods, TBS is done and the playoffs can really get going on FOX.
If you also love the sweet, soothing voice of Joe Buck, email Adam at hoge@wisc.edu.
