This is from the Onion, right?

FML.

presented annually for excellence

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Wow

It could have been worse...imagine John Sterling as a Ford Frick award winner. (As Count Floyd would say, "that's scary, kiddies.")

and boom goes the dynamite.

I gotta say - in the history of television, McCarver and Kubek? That's it?

I actually find this really, really depressing for some reason.

It could have been worse...imagine John Sterling as a Ford Frick award winner.

Does anyone here really think that this will never happen? Mrs. Swishilicious hasn't missed a game since the 1981-82 basketball season, a streak that I doubt even V. M. "Iron Butt" Molotov could have equaled, and you know damn well that this is the sort of thing that impresses voters. Just give it time.

presented annually for excellence

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Misspelled excrement.

He's slipped over the years as we all do but I still think McCarver has been one of the better color men out there. Maybe the bar is just set low but I find that McCarver gives more to a broadcast than just about any other announcer I hear and I like the fact that he will tell you what he thinks before a play happens rather than second guessing for the sake of criticism.

I guess this means there is no hope for Bill King. That makes me very sad.

I agree with Jose here. But any list of television announcers that consists entirely of Kubek and McCarver is not a "best of" list that I can support.

But any list of television announcers that consists entirely of Kubek and McCarver is not a "best of" list that I can support.

no--he meant color men vs play-by-play guys
EDIT: and what other color men would you nominate?

EDIT: and what other color men would you nominate?

None.

It's like giving the gold glove to a LF when the OF positions were grouped together.

EDIT: and what other color men would you nominate?

Seems like Ralph Kiner might have been honored at some point. Bob Uecker?

There don't seem to be a lot of long-time color analysts. I wonder why.

Hey, guys, I just read the damnedest thing on the sidebar.


Wait, what?

There don't seem to be a lot of long-time color analysts. I wonder why.

When did the role of color man come into vogue? Is Mccarver an early practitioner from his time in the 80s? My recollection as a kid in the 70s was the announcers followed more of the radio model of doing an an inning or half inning of play by play themselves then the other guy did an inning. The "off announcer" was there to add to the broadcast during his partners inning but it wasn't the true play by play/color split we have today.

Pee Wee was a full-time color guy with Gowdy on NBC's game of the week in the 60s. And when ABC started Monday night baseball in 1976, Uecker only did color while Bob Prince and then Al Michaels did the PBP

Thankfully, I'll be dead and in the ground by the time Joe Buck is selected.

Quite the joke. They ask fans to vote, then ignore it year in, year out.
Fans voted for...
2012: Mike Shannon, Tom Cheek and Jacques Doucet this year (McCarver wins)
2011: Tom Cheek, Bill King and Jacques Doucet (Dave Van Horne wins)
2010: Bill King, Tom Cheek and Jacques Doucet last year (Jon Miller wins)
2009: Joe Nuxhall, Jacques Doucet and Tom Cheek (Tony Kubek wins)
2008: Joe Nuxhall, Bill King and Joe Morgan (Dave Niehaus wins)
2007: Ken Harrelson, Bill King, and Joe Nuxhall (Denny Matthews wins)
2006: Bill King, Dave Niehaus, and Jacques Doucet (Gene Elston wins)
2005: Dave Niehaus, Tom Cheek and Ron Santo (Jerry Coleman wins)
2004: Joe Nuxhall, Dave Niehaus and Lon Simmons (Lon Simmons wins)

So only once has someone the fans put on the ballot - Lon Simmons - actually won that year (2004, the first year balloting was done). Others who were voted in that won are Dave Niehaus (voted for 3 times, but won 2 years after last time voted in). That's it.

Guys voted for who are still waiting and times picked by fans as a top 3 candidate...

Tom Cheek (5)
Jacques Doucet (5)
Bill King (5)
Joe Nuxhall (4)
Mike Shannon (1)
Ken Harrelson (1)
Joe Morgan (1 - already there as a player)
Ron Santo (1 - in for playing skills now)

Dave Niehaus was picked 3 times by fans, Lon Simmons once.

Seems like the best way to get in is to NOT be voted for by the fans. Sad.

It could have been worse...imagine John Sterling as a Ford Frick award winner.

Does anyone here really think that this will never happen? Mrs. Swishilicious hasn't missed a game since the 1981-82 basketball season, a streak that I doubt even V.M. "Iron Butt" Molotov could have equaled, and you know damn well that this is the sort of thing that impresses voters. Just give it time.

It would be like honoring a D student on having a perfect attendance record. Or, in a sitcom universe, inducting Kenny Bania into a comedians' hall of fame before Jerry Seinfeld (the character, though I suppose as a standup comic, sitcom Jerry is every bit as funny as his real-life counterpart).

There are three obvious snark options here. The Onion and Inigo Montoya both got references in the first couple posts, so I'll go for analogies.

This is like inducting Nickelback into the Rock and Roll HOF. It's like giving the Nobel Peace Price to Bashar Assad. It's like awarding a Michelin Star to the cafeteria at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. It's like giving the MVP award to Juan Gonzalez. It's like giving a Congressional Medal of Honor to Bernie Madoff.

It's like putting Jim Rice in the Hall

.....and still no Bill King.....truly a ####### joke

This will help me remember that Ford Frick winners are not members of the Hall of Fame.

Wut

Maybe it's Opposite Day. Does anybody know?

No question the fans (who actually, you know, listen to these guys on a daily basis) want to see Tom Cheek, Jacques Doucet, Bill King, and Joe Nuxhall win it. Sadly, those on the panel want to prove they know more than the masses.

It could have been worse...imagine John Sterling as a Ford Frick award winner.

Does anyone here really think that this will never happen? Mrs. Swishilicious hasn't missed a game since the 1981-82 basketball season, a streak that I doubt even V.M. "Iron Butt" Molotov could have equaled, and you know damn well that this is the sort of thing that impresses voters. Just give it time.

It would be like honoring a D student on having a perfect attendance record. Or, in a sitcom universe, inducting Kenny Bania into a comedians' hall of fame before Jerry Seinfeld (the character, though I suppose as a standup comic, sitcom Jerry is every bit as funny as his real-life counterpart).

True and true, but there are a lot of Costanzas out there who laugh at the Banias, and a lot of Tomeis out there who think that George's manure riff is "quirky".

IOW Sterling's eventual induction, or whatever you want to call it just to avoid using the term, sure as hell could happen.

simultaneously shined as part of broadcast teams with four big league clubs

His 600-game per year workload might explain some things.

This is a sad day for baseball.

Maybe it's Opposite Day. Does anybody know?

No, it's not.

No, it's not.

Which means it is, presumably.

.....and still no Bill King.....truly a ####### joke

No Skip Caray for that matter.

Kenny Bania

He's got some pretty good bits-I like stuff you don't have to think too hard about.

Tim McCarver is the least offensive part of Fox Sports' baseball coverage, and by a wide margin. In view of his overall career, it's a decent selection, if not necessarily the "best not in" selection.

Tim McCarver is the least offensive part of Fox Sports' baseball coverage,

I do believe that is called "damning with faint praise."

Tim McCarver is the least offensive part of Fox Sports' baseball coverage, and by a wide margin.

And dog pee doesn't smell nearly as bad as cat pee, but I don't see homeowners racing out to buy air freshener with that dachshund-urine sent.

Edit: Coke to Alex Vila.

Let me know when he wins the annual Montgomery Burns award for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence.

If we're doing Simpsons, then McCarver is currently cromulent. And he used to be more embiggened. Again, he's a decent choice, and I doubt he'd be inspiring this reaction if postseason coverage still rotated among the networks. Save your fury for 2019, when Joe Buck goes in.

Save your fury for 2019, when Joe Buck goes in.

Word.

Blago gets 14 years and McCarver gets honored for meritorious service?

There's no justice left.

Save your fury for 2019, when Joe Buck goes in.

I'm sorry, Charlie O.

Color men should not be eligible for this award. It was long established as a play-by-play award, and analysis is a different job. But now that Kubek and McCarver have won it, with numerous deserving candidates yet to be honored (among them King, Caray, and Cheek, probably in that order, along with Niehaus*), the award has lost whatever meaning it may have had.

* I say probably in that order because as much as I love Bill King, I have a nagging feeling that a lot of his case is as a great sports broadcaster, including his Warriors and Raiders work. He was the number two broadcaster for the A's for half the time he was there, and only did MLB for 25 years of a 40+ year career. And Skip Caray is possibly the most underrated broadcaster of all time, due, I suppose, to his unorthodox style and the fact that his team was terrible for much of his career. They're pretty much tied in my book. But I would select King first.

EDIT: and what other color men would you nominate?

Bert Blyleven?

This is like inducting Nickelback into the Rock and Roll HOF.

Watch out, Nickelback may read your post and zing you on Twitter.

Oh for frick's sake...

I gotta say - in the history of television, McCarver and Kubek? That's it?

That's it for primary television analysts. Jon Miller is in, but he's primarily been a radio guy, and not an analyst. Many of the honorees have done a fair amount of TV work, but even those were doing so as play-by-play men.

with numerous deserving candidates yet to be honored (among them King, Caray, and Cheek, probably in that order, along with Niehaus)

Niehaus has won it.