Oh joy, Major League Baseball has extended their TV contract with FOX for another seven years. How many more distracting visuals and audio clips will FOX have incorporated into the telecast by then to totally obfuscate the game itself? I swear the head of FOX sports must hate baseball. Why else would they have employed so many gimmicks and sound effects during the game? Do they honestly think that more people will tune into the game if appears more like a video game?
Baseball is a balance of athleticism and strategy. The game has its exciting moments bound together with fundamental play that often gets confused with being boring. The point is real baseball fans understand this; it’s what draws us to the game. FOX on the other hand thinks they have a better approach by constantly bombarding us with endless graphics and annoying sound effects. And what’s with the cameras buried in the grass. I do not need to know what a baseball game looks like from the vantage point of an ant. Seriously, how does this camera angle enhance the experience of watching a baseball game? Where’s the innovation here? Please just show me the game!
During the All Star game on Tuesday evening FOX decided to interview Brad Penny while David Wright made his first ever at bat as an All Star. Do I really care what Penny’s feelings are after he finished his outing? No, I don’t. As a Mets fan I wanted to see David Wright’s first ever All Star at bat. I wanted to see him walk up to the plate, adjust his batting gloves, step into the box and take his warm up swings. Is that too much to ask? As the interview continued, the picture switched to the game just as the first pitch was delivered which Wright promptly sent over the left field fence. Nice job FOX, even Joe Buck sounded upset as he pointed out while the interview was going on Wright just tied the game. Buck didn’t even get to make the call! Once again, show me the game! Leave the interviews for after the game please.
We now live in a society where information is everywhere. We can’t go anywhere or do anything without being blasted by media informing us what’s going on, where it’s happening, how we should look, what we should say, what breath mint to use, etc. And it all happens in sound bites and video clips that are no longer than 2 to 3 seconds in length one right after the other. Baseball is a respite from this nonsense. FOX should just stop it’s over the top broadcasts and get back to giving us the basic baseball game.
The special effects used during the telecast should enhance the baseball presentation not be the focus of it. For example, I’m not a Hockey fan. I did not start getting into Hockey because FOX began to illuminate the puck during broadcasts. I still felt apathetic toward the sport. Why would kids who crave video games and MTV as their main source of entertainment suddenly become die hard baseball fans because FOX tries to make the ball game look like something from an Xbox? By adding all this garbage to the telecast, the baseball producers at FOX are basically saying they think baseball is boring and it needs this stuff to jazz it up. If that’s true then why did they bid on the new contract anyway? I get the impression that the FOX execs like having baseball but they certainly have the wrong people producing it. More importantly why doesn’t MLB hook up with a network that will show the sport the way it was intended? That’s an easy answer. That has to do with money, something Major League Baseball can never say no to.
Extra innings: I wish the critics, especially one Christopher Russo, would stop saying that the Mets will cruise into the playoffs. I think Russo does this just to try and jinx the Mets. He would love to see them blow this lead. Look, I don’t believe in jinxes, curses, and am not superstitious. But I do believe the Mets are young and many of them have never been in this position before. I hope Willie can keep them focused and they stop reading the newspapers. The Mets should focus on winning a minimum of 95 games, one at a time of course. If they could win that many, it would take a tremendous comeback by any of their division rivals to beat them. The Mets would only have to go 42 and 31 the rest of the way to reach that goal. In reality they probably don’t even need to win that many. The one team that scares me though is the Braves. I know they are 13 games back but I don’t trust them. I won’t feel comfortable till
The Mets get an extra day of rest on this All Star break. The have a mandatory work out today at Wrigley but no, we are not invited.
According to a recent article, the Mets have lost 800 parking spaces in center field as construction crews begin to prepare. By the end of August, 2000 spaces will be removed. Think about rail transit if you are going to Shea.
