Jeanne Zelasko got hooked on baseball when she was “a little peanut” writing letters to her father who was working in Asia, trying to impress him by slipping in the name of a major leaguer she had just watched on television.

Any chance she can join him? I would actually rather listen to Sue Waldman than her.

She'll get as much consideration for the job as I would if I called them. And I'm actually a good play-by-play announcer and look good on television, neither of which traits she possesses.

the Dodgers asked her if she ever had done baseball play-by-play - the answer is no - but she had that role for ice-skating and gymnastics competitions.

nice.

is that even legal?

I thought the better (?) half of Waldling was the first woman to do play-by-play. At least I think that’s what she was attempting.

No, Ted Baxter -- er, John Sterling -- does all the innings. Waldman was okay as a beat reporter on WFAN in the late eighties, but I can't imagine her doing play-by-play...although Sterling might be afraid she'd be competent.

I'd rather have the Taco Bell CEO calling every game on the MLB Network.

No, Ted Baxter -- er, John Sterling -- does all the innings. Waldman was okay as a beat reporter on WFAN in the late eighties, but I can't imagine her doing play-by-play...although Sterling might be afraid she'd be competent.

Waldman did play-by-play for television several years ago. It was a big deal at the time, because she was the first woman to do play-by-play.

Waldman did play-by-play for television several years ago. It was a big deal at the time, because she was the first woman to do play-by-play.

Thanks, Larry...that's what I thought.

I believe she went to say that she wasn't cut out to do it (as opposed to what she's doing now...being Baggy Pants Moskowitz's straight woman) and wasn't comfortable with it.

I didn't have anything against Zelasko until this past July when she was on the Fox pre-game
and the following happened.

1. They played a taped interview she did with Ken Griffey, Jr. It was good.

2. After playing the interview, Kevin Kennedy and another host (Dibble I think)
talked about where Griffey might be traded to at the deadline. One mentioned
him going to the Cubs to be reinited with Lou Piniella. The other host said
that he thought Tampa Bay would be a good spot for Griffey, only an hour from
his home in Orlando, etc, etc.

3. Zelasko immediately replied in a snide tone, "You really think he'd go to a non-contender?"

The Rays were in first place in the AL East at the time (about a week before the July 31 trade deadline) and had
been all year but obviously Zelasko didn't know that and apparently thought they were still the sad sack Rays
who'd finished in last the previous few seasons.

That's insane. How much of a baseball fan does she have to be to know that the
Rays had turned things around and were in first place? Considering she has
a job in baseball it's incomprehensible to me that she didn't have a clue.

Suzyn Waldman, on the other hand, actually is a baseball fan. Just say no to
dumb broads like Zelasko getting jobs they don't deserve because they're female
and they're attractive. If I'm a Dodger fan I want to know that the play by play
person cares about the game every bit as much as I do.

#9 - thanks for that. That really smokes it for me, as far as I'm concerned.

The last time I posted my opinion of Zelasko, Dan had to edit my comment. So this time I'll just paraphrase Sam Kinison by saying I would never advocate violence against women, but sometimes I UNDERSTAND IT!!!

"they don't deserve because they're female and they're attractive."

I agree with that sentiment, but what is its relevance in this thread?

I'm still trying to understand what is attractive about Zelasko.

I still remember her being a jerk to Al Kaline at the all-star game in Detroit.

the thing I remember most about Zelasko is how when she handed Miguel Tejada the keys to the corvette he won as All-Star game MVP, she acted like she was Sally Struthers handing a starving kid a sandwich. This was a former MVP making $12 million dollars a year and she acted like him getting a free car was the highlight of his life.

I still remember her being a jerk to Al Kaline at the all-star game in Detroit.

Ernie Harwell, for which she took a deserved pounding. (Although I wonder if it was really her fault; I can easily imagine some idiot director screaming into her earpiece: "Get off the old guy! GET THE F@CK OFF THE OLD GUY!!")

I'm still trying to understand what is attractive about Zelasko.

So am I. She's not terribly attractive, and not all that competent. But she's there now, and apparently FOX wants to keep her there. Whatever.

A woman's voice just doesn't belong in the booth. I'm not a misogynist, it's an aesthetic thing.

A woman's voice just doesn't belong in the booth. I'm not a misogynist, it's an aesthetic thing.

Nawm you're just not used to it. The idea of a woman calling games doesn't bother me. They just need to find a good one. Zelasko ain't it.

Now, I would love it if they let my girlfriend call a game. She both hates baseball and is perplexed by it. They could team her up with Tim McCarver and she could pepper him with questions like she does me. Why do they run so slow? Why are they so fat? Why don't they all show their socks like that one guy? It looks good that way. How many innings are there, again? Not 7? Why can't it be 7? Designated what? Don't the other guys think he's lazy?

So on one medium the Dodgers are going to have Vin Scully- the best announcer in baseball, and on the other- Jeanne Zalasko. We'll at least they are leveling the playing field for all of the other teams. They won't have the best announcers in baseball anymore, they'll be right in the middle.

I'm still trying to understand what is attractive about Zelasko.

I think she's good looking, though her nostrils are very distracting in an unpositive way. Add in her annoying banter and analysis and that should have kept her out of television sports, but...

A woman's voice just doesn't belong in the booth. I'm not a misogynist, it's an aesthetic thing.

I don't notice any kind of difference when I hear Pam Ward doing play-by-play. Of course, there's a case to be made that hers is not a standard woman's voice. But I think she's an example of a woman who's entirely adequate at broadcasting sporting events.

Edit: Just to clarify...by "standard" woman's voice, I mean that Ward's voice is considerably deeper than, say, Erin Andrews.

So on one medium the Dodgers are going to have Vin Scully- the best announcer in baseball, and on the other- Jeanne Zalasko.

No. The reason this came up at all is because the Dodgers had an arrangement that went thusly:

• Games played west of the Rockies (inclusive of Colorado): Vin Scully on TV, Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday on radio.
• All other games: Charlie Steiner and Steve Lyons on TV, Rick Monday and Jerry Reuss on radio.

The Dodgers decided to simplify things on road games east of the Rockies, and have removed Steiner from their TV booth; he and Monday will now call games on radio for 162 games. However, that led to an absence on TV. So Zelasko is angling to call games on TV.

Nawm you're just not used to it.

Pam Ward's been calling games on ESPN2 for years; at what point should I expect the high-pitched whine that accompanies every big play to become bearable?


This complaint isn't exclusive to women, by the way. Whenever he gets excited, Mike Tirico adopts an affectation similar to that of an 8-year-old doing play-by-play in the backyard. If Kornheiser's constant-harping-on-the-'narrative' style of color commentary hadn't already done it, Tirico's play-by-play would've convinced me to go to bed early on Mondays.


edit: I don't notice any kind of difference when I hear Pam Ward doing play-by-play. Of course, there's a case to be made that hers is not a standard woman's voice. But I think she's an example of a woman who's entirely adequate at broadcasting sporting events.

I would agree for, like, 90% of a game. When she's calling a 3-yard run in the first quarter, there's no problem, but when somebody converts 4th-and-7 to keep a game-saving drive going, you absolutely can't help but notice her voice.

at what point should I expect the high-pitched whine that accompanies every big play to become bearable?

Single, huh?

This complaint isn't exclusive to women, by the way. Whenever he gets excited, Mike Tirico adopts an affectation similar to that of an 8-year-old doing play-by-play in the backyard. If Kornheiser's constant-harping-on-the-'narrative' style of color commentary hadn't already done it, Tirico's play-by-play would've convinced me to go to bed early on Mondays.

I haven't watched an ESPN football telecast in years. ESPN has a gift for finding the most annoying announcers possible for the NFL games. It's uncanny.

Replacing Vin Scully with Jeanne Zelasko sounds like some kind of joke on Leno....

Thank God again for the Inventor of the Mute Button and the DVR.

A woman's voice just doesn't belong in the booth. I'm not a misogynist, it's an aesthetic thing.

Leroy, I hate to throw around labels. I don't think you're a misogynist. But I think you're incorrect.

Wouldn't a misogynist make a post just like yours above?

Pam Ward's been calling games on ESPN2 for years; at what point should I expect the high-pitched whine that accompanies every big play to become bearable?

When the high-pitched whine is a common occurrence, not a rare exception. I think we're all surprisingly conservative in our preferences in sports coverage - people in the TV industry talk about the fact that they can't try anything different because they get thousands of angry letters when a single, comforting event in the coverage is different. Think about how you feel when the entity covering an MLB game - by mistake or on purpose - doesn't use the center-field camera for a single pitch. I have friends who complain that NESN doesn't put the scoreboard in the upper left-hand corner nearly enough. I think baseball, in particular, thrives on that "comfortable old shoe" feeling that it can inspire. It's tough for new anythings - new ideas, new people - to break into it and do something different.

Would you really argue that random woman #1 is not as potentially good as Michael Kay?

FWIW, Dana Jacobson could probably do a quality job in the booth. She has a good voice and, while attractive, isn't an airhead on the air and is very competent. Don't know if she cares for baseball to the point that she could it effectively, however.

And the Dodgers aren't going to hire someone who went on a drunken rant about Notre Dame and the Catholic church in a public setting either.

I think this is a steppingstone for Jeanne. She is already poised for the Vice Presedential spot in 2012.

I think Jacobson is an incompetent airhead, but for the purposes of the show she's on and the image they want to give her on said show, her teleprompter is not an incompetent airhead.

If I remember my Bill James correctly, didn't the Kansas City Athletics once try a woman in the booth?

Is there any chance her TB comment was a failed attempt at sarcasm? I haven't enjoyed her work, but that sounds too awful to be true?

No, it wasn't sarcasm. Kennedy and Dibble just sat there in shock at her stupidity, knowing that
it would be inappropriate to say "Oh honey, I guess you haven't noticed the Rays are contenders
this year. You must have too busy fixing your makeup."

Dibble just sat there in shock at her stupidity

It's not often Dibble gets to sit there in shock at someone else's stupidity. Good for him!

I think Jacobson is an incompetent airhead, but for the purposes of the show she's on and the image they want to give her on said show, her teleprompter is not an incompetent airhead.

That may be true, Justin. I don't watch her show that frequently to say you're right or wrong.

I hate her. I have nothing against her going for the job, it's a free country, but I hate her, she is a arrogant ##### who cuts off people far more knowledgeable of the game than her (Ernie Harwell, etc.)

Replacing Vin Scully with Jeanne Zelasko sounds like some kind of joke on Leno....

*Kevin Eubanks laughs regardless*

FWIW, Dana Jacobson could probably do a quality job in the booth. She has a good voice and, while attractive, isn't an airhead on the air and is very competent.

Wah! Why does everyone think she's attractive? Do I have this completely wrong?

Wah! Why does everyone think she's attractive? Do I have this completely wrong?

I just googled her. I think I can walk into just about any Starbuck's in Manhattan right this second and see a better looking woman.

I live in more or less constant fear that she'll go berserk and tear my arms off my body.

I've mentioned this about five dozen times, but I think that women who do traditionally "male" stuff like sports announcing or mythbusting are zanily overrated in attractiveness.

If Dana Jacobson is going to be doing PBP, someone better slip her some vodka before the first inning.

I just googled her. I think I can walk into just about any Starbuck's in Manhattan right this second and see a better looking woman.

I didn't say she was movie-star beautiful or that she was a head turner. I just think she's above the average line, that's all.

I don't understand why so many people feel compelled to comment on Zelasko's attractiveness or lack thereof. We've never had a thread where everyone talked about what a handsome dude Len Kasper is.

Gary Cohen is as handsome as Jon Hamm.

Discuss.

Dana Jacobson and Jay Leno in the same thread.

Chin music indeed.

#44 -- Women have to be beautiful in addition to being competent. There is simply no way Sarah Palin finagles a VP nod without the beauty queen thing.

I don't understand why so many people feel compelled to comment on Zelasko's attractiveness or lack thereof.

Because the perception is that the only reason Zelasko has her job or could even talk about wanting the PBP job is because she is an attractive woman.

That perception leads to two basic lines of discussion: is she actually any good at her job (see the Ernie Harwell and Rays stories) and is she even that attractive in the first place. I think that people feel that if someone is going to be doing a job for which her only apparent qualification is physical beauty, she should be more beautiful than that.

#44 -- Women have to be beautiful in addition to being competent. There is simply no way Sarah Palin finagles a VP nod without the beauty queen thing.

Is Hillary Clinton beautiful? How about Margaret Thatcher? My contention is that some women have the "beautiful" without the "competent".

I would amend that statement by saying that an incompetent unconnected woman still has a decent chance of getting somewhere if she's good-looking.

Fox, meanwhile, canceled the baseball pregame show she hosted with Kevin Kennedy due to the loss of advertising revenue.

Hallelujah

If it took a recession for this to happen, it just goes to show God works in mysterious ways.

Zelasko is an idiot, but no more so than 80% of sports broadcasters I've heard. Chances are if she doesn't get the job, somebody just as intolerable would. Only they'd have a shlong.

I'm sure Zelasko looks good to guys who think Ann Coulter resembles a woman.

I think that women who do traditionally "male" stuff like sports announcing or mythbusting are zanily overrated in attractiveness.

Cary or Cara or whatever her name is isn't all that physically attractive, but she does have an appealing on-camera persona. But that biker chick from the first season was just flat-out scary.

Zelasko is an idiot, but no more so than 80% of sports broadcasters I've heard.

It's not saying much, but I would take Zelasko over Thom Brenemman.

Nawm you're just not used to it. The idea of a woman calling games doesn't bother me. They just need to find a good one. Zelasko ain't it.

Unfortunately I am familiar - I'm a Yankee fan.

Is Pam Ward the woman that does college football on ESPN? Whoever it is, it's unwatchable.

Leroy, I hate to throw around labels. I don't think you're a misogynist. But I think you're incorrect.

Wouldn't a misogynist make a post just like yours above?

They'd might. But that's got nothing to do with me. To me, the most important aspect of being a sports broadcaster (at least the 2 sports I care about) is a good voice - a man's voice. Is it misogynist to think a feminine voice wouldn't be right for Darth Vader?

error in posting....

I think that this lady would do well in the broadcast booth. She has also been upheld as a paragon of beauty here at BTF.

Is Hillary Clinton beautiful? How about Margaret Thatcher? My contention is that some women have the "beautiful" without the "competent".

True that. So maybe it should be amended that being beautiful makes up for some combination of incurious and/or blind stupid.

#58 - heh. I wonder how Christina Kahrl would do? I say that with the understanding that being knowledgeable isn't enough to be a good broadcaster; that job comes with a lot of intangibles.

I don't understand why so many people feel compelled to comment on Zelasko's attractiveness or lack thereof. We've never had a thread where everyone talked about what a handsome dude Len Kasper is.

That's because 98% of us are straight men.

And I bet if we started a thread on Grady Sizemore we'd get at least one post talking about his looks.

Or David Wright.

Or that Brad Ausmus--

But...she's a girl.

AJM Welcomes Our New K-Rod Overlord Posted: December 26, 2008 at 09:44 PM (#3038711)

And I bet if we started a thread on Grady Sizemore we'd get at least one post talking about his looks.

- oh honey you most DEFINITELY would
because that boy look good enough to eat
or at least nibble on


Madison Obamagarner (Flynn) Posted: December 26, 2008 at 09:54 PM (#3038715)

Or David Wright.

- shrug
whatever


Sidney Ponson's Sweaty Nipple-Boner Posted: December 26, 2008 at 10:11 PM (#3038725)

Or that Brad Ausmus--

- oh yesss
YESSSSSSSS
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!
that boy is so incredibly smoking hot i would watch him if he was doing play by play on something unspeakably boring like golf or soccer or nascar or NFL. he could talk too and that would be ok


regfairfield Posted: December 26, 2008 at 10:36 PM (#3038732)

But...she's a girl.

- and how