World Series is impossible to watch on FOX

[PCIntern]

Extreme close ups of the players make it impossible to see defensive shifts or base runners prepare for the pitch. Multiple shots of players on deck or in the dugout during a single at-bat are distracting. Players who spit or scratch a lot are given special attention.

But all of this pales to the constant jabbering of Buck (a member of the lucky-sperm club) and McCarver has evolved into a petty mess. Clearly there are pet themes and words for each game which need to be delivered X many times per fifteen minutes. And the intonation: a player hits a double with one out and you'd think he was Bobby Thomson. And more which doesn't merit repeating.

Yuck-and-a-half.

[JaneyVee]

1. Baseball needs more Keith Olbermann.

[msanthrope]

22. I remember him calling a few of the Yankees' Old Timer's Games. They were awesome. nt

[JeffHead]

2. Yeah Right. Like we need to see Clay Bucholtz blowing snot rockets between pitches?

[PCIntern]

3. "Realism".

How about all the discussion about the beards. You'd think Gilette was still a big sponsor.

[longship]

33. Gillette would never sponsor ANY World Series with the 2013 BoSox. nt

[Hippo_Tron]

4. It's kind of a guilty pleasure for me to watch football on Fox

The commentators are basically parodies of football commentators and they provide no useful information whatsoever. But as far as entertainment value, the entire package is absolute tops right down to that absurdly catchy theme song.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. Or having dugout interviews while live plays are being missed

[PCIntern]

7. But but but

Is your team hongry enough, Coach??

(With thanks to Edwin Newman)

[Tansy_Gold]

26. Some kinda player. . . . .

I miss Edwin.

[stuckinodi]

6. I always watch any game Joe Buck announces with the mute button on n/t

[ChazII]

10. I enjoy watching the World Series with the mute button

on and listen on the radio. I started that back in 2001 and the lousy announcing in that series.

[adirondacker]

19. Good Idea. The dude likes to hear himself babble. nt

[joeglow3]

8. Fuck, not everything is political

It is baseball.

[PCIntern]

9. Who was talking politics?

I was talking competence.

"Fuck"? Really?

[rufus dog]

11. It isn't a political statement

About ten years ago Fox decided it would be cool to have multiple cameras and extreme close ups. They also switch cameras at an amazingly alarming rate. (Although this has been reduced it is still horrible in late inning situations, think batter, pitcher, random fan shot, batter, manager, batter, pitcher all in the time to have one pitch thrown)

This is not nearly as common when watching others broadcast games.

As I am watching the Sox has a runner on second, now he is no threat to steal, but there was never a shot to show how far he was off the bag, only multiple pitcher and batter close ups and one close up of the base runner so you wouldn't know if he was three feet off second or halfway to third.

[MADem]

35. Nothing more irritating than a close up of the ball skipping along green grass....

Ya have no idea where the hell it is and who's going after it!

[jmowreader]

42. These are the same idiots who decided hanging a camera over a racetrack was a good idea

They put this camera-on-a-cable thing over Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600...one of the cables holding it up broke, hit the track, injured 10 spectators and damaged four cars.

[KamaAina]

62. Not to mention the radioactive hockey puck

during their mercifully brief flirtation with the NHL, the puck was surrounded by Day-Glo orange and even had an orange streak trailing it, like the blue one the baseball has when they replay a pitch.

[Cali_Democrat]

12. How is the OP political?

[adirondacker]

17. It's that Phillies avatar that indicates a rogue independant in this game.

[longship]

34. I am sorry that you never heard Ernie Harwell call a game on TV or radio.

Then, you'd know the difference. All the rest pale in comparison.

[Elwood P Dowd]

39. Or Mel Allen

Or Red Barber

Or Bob Elson

Or Jack Buck

Each and every one of them blow away the current crop.

[longship]

43. Yup! You have the idea. nt

[MANative]

13. I happen to be a Sox fan, and would probably

Be watching the series regardless, but I totally agree with you on the immense crappiness of Fox game call. It's excruciating!

[sarcasmo]

14. McCarver being a long time Cardinal player, should not be allowed

to do World Series games that feature the Cardinals. The Fox coverage is Terrible, fans need to be given the choice of home town announcers during these big games.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

15. I listen to the radio coverage

don't even have it on the TV. Just the radio and it's WONDERFUL!

[gopiscrap]

16. Tend to agree

[pintobean]

18. No problems here

[Logical]

20. Baseball is really really a slow game.....

The wind up, the pitch ball 1, etc.
Then after 5 minutes, count at 3-2, he grounds out to 1st base.

Boring as hell!

[dmr]

41. No, there is a lot happening. Each pitch; each swing; each movement on the field -

balls; strikes; who's on deck; who's warming up in the bullpen; who's injured; pitching rotation .....

If you love the game. If you truly understand the game, you would see that there is so much activity that there is no time to be bored.

One of the things the OP was trying to explain was how awful the camera work is on Fox. So much happening on the field, and the fans at home miss out because Fox, their producers, and their announcers don't understand or appreciate the game themselves.

I'm an old lady who grew up in the 60s wanting to be a major league umpire.

Tiger fan, sending love to Boston.

[groundloop]

45. Nobody's forcing anyone to watch it.

And the OP point is that the coverage of the series is missing most of what's going on is absolutely correct. There's so much more to it than the pitcher throwing to the batter, yet that's all that they show.

[Logical]

48. Maybe because their research shows most viewers don't giveaway crap. Nt

[msanthrope]

21. The Series isn't the same without Bob Costas. nt

[truebrit71]

23. I refuse to watch games called by Joe Schmuck...

...his intonation and delivery drives me up the wall....he's another obnoxious trust-fund kid that was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple...

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. I am getting tired of these two....

each trying to out-do the other with brilliant comments and analysis.

Fucking Breslow just got the hook, I'm going to bed.

[adirondacker]

25. I'm waiting for a camera to appear out of the cup of the catcher. Seriously,

how many fucked up angles do they have to show?

[MADem]

36. That would be horribly hilarious!

It actually wouldn't surprise me if they find a way to embed one in the chest protector!

[adirondacker]

57. The Catcher's Cup Cam.

Think of the wild pitches you could obtain with that

I'm not a total luddite when it comes to tech, but the game is liking watching and hearing a severe case of ADD.

BTW...

GO Boston!

[Loudly]

27. I think what you need is

C-SPAN covering sports playoffs live.

[Elwood P Dowd]

28. They just missed the pickoff play that won the game for Boston. How bad is that? nm

[gristy]

29. After they missed the pickoff at first that ended the game, I thought of your comments yesterday.

At least I think it was you. At the time I didn't know if I agreed. Now I am certainly starting to.

Criminy, we were looking at a closeup of a pensive fan in the stand while the baserunner's getting picked off! To end the game!

[BlueStreak]

30. I will be more likely to watch when this beard thing passes

I admire a nice, well-groomed beard or mustache. But only some men look good with facial hair. And most of these guys -- especially the Boston ones, just look like hillbillies.

It is like the difference between a really artistic tattoo and something a person gets when they were drunk on shore leave.

Baseball shouldn't be a reality teevee show.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

31. "Baseball shouldn't be a reality teevee show"

And yet your entire complaint about this series is about the way the players look.........

the irony.

[BlueStreak]

32. Not ironic in the least.

The only reason I would watch a baseball game is to see a baseball game. I don't want to watch guys yanking on each others' beards. If I want to see a bunch of morons looking and acting like hillbillies, I will go watch Duck Dynasty.

[MADem]

37. If the beards irritate you, then they are working. They want their opponents discombobulated,

not pleased with their appearance.

Who's more dangerous, the nice, well groomed ones, or the wild looking hillbillies?

[BlueStreak]

51. I get that. But if I want to see a freak show

there are so many better options on teevee.

[MADem]

60. Well, change the channel, then--no one is forcing you to watch the series.

I like the beards and scruffiness--it means we're in the post season, and we are still alive....but I'm from Boston, so I'm supportive of the team. People who don't like the team are more invested in disparagement.

[The2ndWheel]

54. More of a reality TV show than reality TV

It's been a pretty unscripted series so far.

The beard thing is probably more of a team thing, not for anyone outside their locker room. Everyone shaves their head, everyone wears high socks, everyone grows a beard and doesn't shave it, etc. It's about camaraderie, not about what they look like.

[Lugnut]

38. McCarver is retiring this year.

I wish he'd take Joe Buck with him along with Fox's production crew.

[The Straight Story]

40. Prefer ball games on the radio over tv

I am, of course, a tad biased when it comes to radio. But even when I wasn't doing a show I would listen to the Reds here locally. Hard to beat a good announcer not to mention you can get more done while listening than watching.

[malaise]

44. We watched on ESPN last night n/t

[groundloop]

46. Those guys need to learn more about the rules also

Last night they blabbered on and on about the obstruction call that ended the game Saturday. Then they blabbered on about how that rule needs to be reviewed, I suppose trying to create a bit of controversy. But they failed to understand (or explain) that an obstruction call's only purpose is to put a baserunner where he would have been had he not been obstructed. It's not that difficult.

[PCIntern]

47. I agree:

that pair of assholes, however, are emblematic of what's wrong in this county: we plan for the last event which occurred. No better example than the airline issues following 9/11 wherein certain things needed to be done, but it has become overkill in the worst way.

That being said, whether you intend or don't intend to trip the baserunner, you obstructed him and he gets the next base. Both umpires knew that instantaneously and there was no question in any objective viewer's mind that they got that call right if you've watched baseball for 56 years as I have.

[zipplewrath]

50. Which base?

I agree, if you obstruct, the runner gets the base. But since the 3rd basemen was lying on the 2-3rd base line, which base would you award? The problem was created by the runner. I think the call got made because it appears that the 3rd basemen was trying to use his legs to obstruct. I'm not particularly sure that he actually was. But either way, he was in no position to obstruct the runners path to home plate. The runner screwed up, but then he got the call too so maybe this is a bit like "taking a charge" in basketball or something.

[LibertyLover]

49. Fox sucks for football games too

so I feel your pain.

[hatrack]

52. It's taken "battery hypnosis" and made it even worse . . .

You hardly ever see how the fielding shifts, or anything beyond the view over the pitcher's shoulder.

Except when you're looking up the pitcher's or batter's nose, that is.

[MineralMan]

53. Baseball is best heard on the radio.

Watching it on television is a boring process. Baseball is made for radio.

[4Q2u2]

55. Fox makes the Game unwatchable

Myself and young sons are Sox fans. I cannot stand to listen to Buck drone on and on, makes my ears bleed.
The other half is that the games are on soooooooooo f-ing late that my kids barely get to watch any of it. Hey MLB way to breed the next generation of fans. As to how long the games take. Lots of people are talking about how it needs to be sped up but do you really think TV and the Owners want it sped up. How many more commercials to the get to cram in. How many more hot dogs and beer are sold in a 4 hour game vice a 2.5 hr game. They are killing the Golden Goose.

[panader0]

56. I disagree--Joe Buck is not a member of the lucky sperm club!

[PCIntern]

59. Ummm. he's Jack Buck's son. nt

[Blue_Tires]

58. Not that it's much better, BUT

one of my longtime traditions has been to mute the TV and listen to the radio -- I actually do this for most big sporting events when I can...Radio calls 90% of the time are just better...

[KamaAina]

61. Our long national nightmare is over this week

McCarver's retiring!!