Friday, October 17, 2008

Totally Banal Sportscasting

I was pretty thrilled about the Sox turning it around and coming back to win Game 5 of the ALCS for a lot of obvious reasons. But I was also pretty happy because it meant the announcers would have to change their repeating loop of commentary on how Papi is 0-for-682 or how the Red Sox have never lost three consecutive games in the playoffs at Fenway Park or how B.J. Upton is so friggin’ great.

Unfortunately, they've just switched tracks and are now playing a different repetitive loop: How Boston came from behind the Yankees 3-0, and last year they came back against the Indians 3-1, and how much Papi has done, and how great Drew was in June… these are repetitions that I very much prefer to the earlier variety, but you’d think they could come up with something a little more insightful.

I used to listen to the postseason games on the radio. I don’t like not being able to see the action – I didn’t see Jacoby Ellsbury run until last winter when I got to see clips of his playoff speed on playoff DVDs and the like. I don’t want to miss any more of that. I like seeing the managers send out signs and watching the movement of the pitches and reading the lips of the players in the clubhouse. But I miss the bias of the broadcasters and the more obscure stats that they share with the fans.

And I was pretty thrown off by one of their closing lines, "Do you believe in miracles... because the Red Sox believe tonight".

Because the Red Sox always believe.

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