Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Three in the booth is too many

The first review from the three-man announcing crew for Sunday Night Baseball is in. And as is the case with most three-man crews, it's too many.
The advantage is Joe Morgan, the master of repetition without saying much to start with, has to quiet down. The disadvantage is the newcomer, Steve Phillips, never met dead air he couldn't fill.
Baseball is one of the rare televised sports that doesn't require an excessive amount of talking. Thirty seconds of quiet gives the fan a chance to play along with the managers of both teams. With three people clamoring to say something – anything – of value, the quiet time is gone. The Dodgers use one at a time and have done that for 70 years.
Two can be irritating. Three is overwhelming.

1 comment:

Just Being Josh said...

Great stuff! And I completely agree. I've always really liked Miller and Morgan but I could not believe it when they introduced Phillips the other night.

I just don't get the point or even see the positive side to the argument.

I'll sit back and listen to Vin Scully do a Dodgers game any day compared to three in the booth for baseball.