Venting

I'm in a very foul mood right now after that loss. Not just the loss, but the way they lost. That dribbler that Pauley didn't come up with... I mean... it was Miguel Cairo! You could just sense that something bad was going to happen after that, although by "bad" I didn't anticipate Rudy freakin' Seanez walking in a run. The inevitable bases-loaded-in-a-one-run-game A-Rod strikeout made me feel better, but that catch by Melky... ugh. Not good times. At least Manny was running hard. Of course, he ran hard right into an out at second base earlier in the game, getting thrown out by someone who throws like a girl.

Grrr... anyway, I'm going to focus my venom tonight on someone unrelated who really deserves it: Hawk Harrelson. I've been watching a lot of games on mlb.tv, and the White Sox broadcasts are, far and away, the worst I've ever heard. "Homer" would be a generous term here. Never mind that he calls all the players Paulie and Freddy and A.J., and he goes to a commercial break with a line like "your score: Tigers 3, the defending world champs 1" - he keeps referring to the team as "we!!!" It confuses me when fans do this - I catch myself doing it sometimes - but for a broadcaster, this is just inexcusable.

It's gotten to the point where I just don't watch the White Sox anymore. If they'd at least sprinkle in some opposing team broadcasts it would be one thing, but every bleeping time I watch the White Sox, it's the Chicago broadcast. I was looking forward to watching some of the Detroit games this week, but it hurts my ears (and I tried it on mute... it's just not the same).

So this is my new rule of thumb for broadcasters: if you refer to the team you're covering as "we" or "us" or "the good guys" or "the Sox (or Jays, Yanks, Nats, Halos... whatever)" or "the defending champs" or something along those lines... you suck. Case closed, game over, I will not argue about this. I haven't heard enough of the new Mets network to form an opinion, but the YES Network, for all of their gushing over the Yankee tradition and everything, is very professional. NESN is good too, except for the sideline reports, which is a whole other rant.

So if you're ever in Chicago and have the chance to watch a White Sox game... don't. I'd rather watch a game with a three-man booth of Chris Berman, Tim McCarver, and Joe Morgan.