Yoouch! And I thought Michael the Kay saying that “Angels phenom Casey Kotchman will be manning the hot corner for years”...as he was throwing the ball lefty, was da pits.
If anyone knows anything about the Arizona Diamondbacks’ minor leaguers – HELP! To quote Butch Cassidy: “Who are these guys?”
—Ken Levine, on his blog
More to the point - who the hell is Ken Levine? And with the publicly-announced lack of advance preparation shown above, how exactly did he get a job providing play-by-play for the Diamondbacks-Dodgers game on Tuesday? I don’t know about you, but if I was a part-time announcer, I would make far more effort to research the opposition players - not, as Levine apparent does, simply throw up hands in bemusement at his own ignorance. How does it go? “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
...This ‘deer in headlights’ incompetence was ironic, given another comment on Levine’s blog: “This was so much easier last spring when the Dodgers played the National Team from Korea. No joke – every player on the Korean team was named “Lee”. So you could have the wrong guy in the wrong position batting in the wrong spot and no one would ever know.” Oh, hold my aching sides, I fear they may split. The reality is that 20 of the 28 names on the Korean roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic were not named Lee. But why let facts get in the way of blinkered xenophobia for weak comedic purposes?
...By now, the line-up changes were happening thick and fast, but it was too much to expect Levine to tell us about them - even though he knew, and had already mentioned, that the game was being broadcast nationwide. We got more information from snippets of the PA announcer at Camelback, heard over Levine’s droning, than from the commentator. It led to this entry for the Broadcasting Hall of Shame. “And so, a leadoff double for an unidentified Diamondback.” I’m not kidding. I wish I was. And the obscure, non-roster invitee who baffled Levine? Actually, it was Ryan Roberts,. Y’know, who only played 110 games for Arizona last season.
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1. Cuban X Senators Posted: March 11, 2010 at 03:13 PM (#3477273)Who the hell is Ken Levine? Seriously? He's a writer for Cheers & Frazier who's been broadcasting MLB for nearly 20 years by now.
Since this is apparently Google-free Day, who the hell's McLennan?
He's definitely a contender. When he was working with Jon Miller and Chuck Thompson in Baltimore, it was like watching a movie co-starring Laurence Olivier and Soupy Sales, or watching Steve Carlton on the 1972 Phillies.
Hey now -- DeNiro & Jerry Lewis made The King of Comedy, so don't knock the hustle. (I'm going to pretend that Costner / Dane Cook serial killer drama never, ever, ever happened.)
BBTN and MLB Network suffer from this greatly too.
When you think about all the BS that goes on at a ballpark these days, and when you recall the number of times you read about "A baseball movie you don't have to like baseball to love," you can begin to understand the rationale for hiring the Ken Levines and the Dennis Millers. They figure the "hardcore" fans are going to be hooked no matter what, and so you can spend most of your energy trying to attract the "casual" fan, because that's where the real money is.
The Ryan Roberts thing is pretty bad though.
Boy, I could not disagree more. I thought he was great on that team.
Can't say I'm familiar with Ryan Roberts, but my focus has been more on history lately. Unfortunately, that doesn't really excite the guys at the big sites, but it's what I'm comfortable with.
blogger, been around for years. previous site was "But It's A Dry Heat"
Well, according to my Google-fu, seems I am a Canadian fly-fisherman and/or a Florida tennis professional. Who knew?
it would be pretty easy for him not to be aware of on field changes.
That, I could have forgiven - like you say, it's spring. But the first duty of a commentator is to report, clearly and accurately, what's happening on the field, and Levine was abysmal at that. There's some heinous examples in the full version of the piece, but here's a typical one:
It was the baseball commentary equivlanet of a movie like The Creeping Terror. It went beyond bad, into a realm of surreal near-beauty.
Also, can Doc Emerick replace Joe Buck?
We could only be so lucky. Emerick, Olczyk, and Maguire did some of the best announcing in years during the Olympics.
This is so true though there is a big differential in quality from the national broadcasts on TSN or CBC and the regional broadcasts on sportsnet. The sportsnet guys are morons. ]
If Doc Emerick were Canadian he might be ok though I will say that the quality of versus commentating is better than I expected.
I think this is one of the reasons. Most of the hockey commentators live and breathe hockey. They can tell you where the number three prospect in any given organization played their midget hockey.
Correct. Hockey play-by-play is very challenging with the continuous action and players jumping on and off the ice. Plus hockey has just an incredible range of names to deal with.
Legendary play-by-play man Bob Miller is down right now for the Kings, so they moved the radio guy (who is good) up to TV and brought in some guy to do radio (didn't catch his name). The guy was clearly overwhelmed, struggling to identify players, get the names out properly and keep up with the action. I kind of felt bad for him and you could tell the color guy did too.
If Doc Emerick were Canadian he might be ok though I will say that the quality of versus commentating is better than I expected.
And they can almost all throw in most players' junior team and hometown on the fly ("Dumped out by the former Windsor Spitfire") -- a nice touch. Hockey Night in Canada is, on the SugarBear Blanks list, the best-produced sports broadcast in North America and has been for many years (though Hughson is obviously no Bob Cole).
You're right about Hockey Night in Canada. The reason more Americans don't love hockey is because they don't get to see Hockey Night in Canada.
Let me Google that for you.
Can't say I've ever heard Levine, but after reading the comments I'd still rather sit through an entire Ken Levine tripleheader than endure one half-inning of Ken Harrelson.
See: every major decision of Gary Bettman's tenure as NHL boss.
Let me Google that for you.
Except for the part where the games aren't on tv.
HNIC is pretty good most of the time but for the star players they can sometimes fawn over them for ages which can get annoying.
I can see this from a grump like you, but I was under the impression Miller is generally seen as a good announcer. And, no, I'm not just saying this because I think he's a good announcer. I did think that's the prevailing opinion, even here amongst the EVERYONE SUCKS crowd. No?
EDIT: Oh, I see. No, I didn't mean "Miller makes people look good in comparison to him." I mean, "Miller makes people around him better."
Actually, I read David's comment as saying Miller is so good he lifts up his associates' games, as it were.
Yeah, I read it wrong, sorry about that. Funny how language works like that.
The finest logo in all of sports.
There's never been a better duo in Baltimore than when they teamed Miller and Angel. That's a HOFer and a just-miss HOFer in the booth at the same time. They worked incredibly well together, too.
Even the teams who do send their big guys to spring training don't do a straight broadcast. They fill up the latter stages of the game with fluff, tripe, and blather, and you're extremely likely to miss a play or blow a name -- the same gaffes described here.
If the Dodgers wanted a more engaged commentator for spring training games than Ken, they should've hired a hot young broadcaster who lives and breathes baseball, and is anxious to do a kick-ass job. But in a world with Colletti and Torre and Scully in charge, that's not the Dodger Way: youth is overrated and stability is prized.
Disclosure: I enjoy Levine's blog. I have not heard him on "Dodger Talk," or on PBP except for the time a couple of years ago he filled in for the M's announcer. As others above have noted, he's had PBP experience in Baltimore, San Diego, and Seattle. He is very lucky to have toes in both the sports and the entertainment world and keeps them both in perspective. I heard the game described above via MLB.com audio on simulcast, and honestly didn't care about his casualness -- perhaps because I was partially attentive myself.
The WORST commentator of all time (spring training edition) is not Ken, but the bozos who consituted the Kansas City Royals TV team in 2009. They took the opportunity in their ST broadcast to do a nonstop plug-a-thon for upcoming KCR regular-season promotions, not even bothering to mention their own players, much less the opponents as the action unfolded. Since their feed was also picked up by MLB Network, all of America got to watch them fail. That was offensive than anything Ken said regarding "Who are these guys?"
You should check the full article: [/shamelessplug]; it wasn't just obscure roster names, but basic stuff like whether one run or two scored on a play, and even ball/strikes calls, seemed capable of befuddling Levine.
Hawk Harrelson's incredibly entertaining! Try listening to a Yankee's radio broadcast with John Sterling. At least Hawk knows what's going on in the game (yes, he's a giant homer and he seems to think he's on the team).
John Sterling just stupid homerun calls and pining for Jeter. He barely pays attention to the game.
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