On Wednesday, I braced myself to have to listen to Tim McCarver on the Fox broadcast of the World Series’ Game 1. For years, McCarver has made me want to throw a brick through the screen.
Why? Because he didn’t know when … to … shut … up! Although he is a former catcher who should understand the value of changing speeds and delivery, he tends to make the most mundane play sound as monumental as the game’s decisive moment.
But I came away from watching (and listening to) Fox’s telecast of the Red Sox’s rout of the Rockies with the assumption – or the hope – that someone got in McCarver’s ear since his most aggravating years at the microphone, and convinced him to tone it down.
If so, whoever that someone is deserves America’s gratitude.
McCarver and play-by-play man Joe Buck turned in a smooth, solid and professional effort that was head and shoulders above the haphazard work Rockies fans – and the nation – had to put up with during the TBS broadcasts of the National League playoffs.
I have to break in with a confession: These sort of morning-after critiques – newspaper folks evaluating television sportscasters and the broadcasts themselves – always have struck me as presumptuous. They too often feature the kind of nit-picking that is the product of professional jealousy, rather than fair comment.
Unlike print journalism, live sports broadcasting has no delete or backspace keys, and no copy editors to catch the inexcusable, yet inevitable, errors. Even those of us who moonlight in broadcasting rarely do it live and also frequently display why we shouldn’t quit our day jobs.
In this case, though, there wasn’t much to nitpick.
The Fox broadcast seemed to reflect top-to-bottom preparation and teamwork. Fox hadn’t carried any of the Rockies’ postseason games. Buck and McCarver knew that the ratings for the TBS National League bracket were abysmal, and that they had to be conscious of trying to introduce the Rockies and tell their remarkable story to an audience that at this time of year goes far beyond “Baseball Tonight” devotees.
They did a good job of that, without being condescending or insulting.
Yes, I know that many Coloradans will be whining today that the crew showed “no respect for the Rockies” or was “prejudiced for the Red Sox,” but the fact is, that’s inevitable in all major events – and it usually happens in both markets, with the phrasing and accusations reversed. And it’s hard not to sound “prejudiced” while describing a rout, which is what Game 1 turned out to be.
Yes, I did quibble with a few things Buck and McCarver said, but they were minor.
Most galling? Fox’s cross-promotion gets absurd at times, and you could almost hear Buck’s embarrassment as he read a plug for the “People Magazine Sexiest Fan Alive” contest.
Other than that, on a night the Rockies ran head-on into the wall, Fox didn’t … or at least not before we switched over after six innings, to a show with some suspense.
“CSI: NY.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
