Usually, to see bias so vividly displayed on the international stage, you need Hugo Chavez addressing the United Nations.
Now, we’ve got Fox Sports.
Last night, everybody in baseball saw what Tim McCarver refused to acknowledge: the umps getting a call right for a change. As usual, he only saw the Yankees getting away with something.
Let's turn up the Wayback: Eleventh inning. Angels shortstop Aybar sidesteps second base, missing the bag on a routine double play ball, so the ump calls the runner safe.
McCarver nearly spits his teeth. At various moments, he claims that:
1. Aybar touched second.
2. Aybar hasn’t touched second base all night, so the umps are wrong to start calling it.
3. Nobody ever touches second, so the umps shouldn't call it.
4. His foot grazed second, inconclusive on replay.
5. OK, replays show he missed the bag, but the runner should still be out, based on a the Unwritten Rule of the Game.
6. If umps start calling this, shortstops and secondbasemen will face needless injuries.
7. On a night like this, it's especially wrong for an ump to make that call. Someone could be hurt.
8. The game will be forever disputed if the Yankees win on this play.
9. The Angels were wronged, and everybody in the world will agree on this.
10. (Later, after the inning is over.) Thank God that call didn’t influence the outcome. It would have wrecked a great game.
Insert sigh here.
Folks, this is madness. This is "The-earth-is-flat-and-I-can-prove-it-with-these-photos" insanity. Is McCarver a birther? Does he have any 9-11 conspiracies he should be sharing?
NOTE: Later, he says the video crew checked and found Aybar always touching the bag on other DP plays in the game. He he never apologizes to an ump that got it right.
Listen: We all know what Fox is doing. With the Yankees and Angels playing, they automatically have the two largest TV markets in America on speed-dial. But to gin up interest elsewhere, they need a villain. So everything is geared to: Hey, everybody, let's watch the big bad Yankees lose!
OK, fine. But McCarver is getting to be like Sterling's analysis of Teixeira: Every game, he does something to amaze. Is there no other announcer out there who can talk about players not changing underwear in winning streaks? This guy is watching on a different channel.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
THE WHOLE WORLD'S WATCHING! THE WHOLE WORLD'S WATCHING! THE WHOLE WORLD'S WATCHING. Except for Tim McCarver
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18 comments:
Thanks for the rundown. I only heard #10, which was bad enough. Was on mute the rest of the time. At first I thought Aybar had touched the bag, but better angles showed that he clearly didn't. I was proud of the ump for getting the call right. A lot of times they don't, particularly when the first baseman gets "pulled off" the base by an errant throw.
I feel like the entire media is against the Yankees. Fox Sports, the MLB Network were all seemed so upset that the Yankees had won. It only makes each victory sweeter.
Needs more Artie Lange in the booth!
I agree with Knobby - had to watch most of the game muted because Joe Buck never shuts the @#$% up. And McCarver is so biased it became annoying.
I also agree with Earl - winning is sweeter because every one is predicting a Yankee falling. The pregame show was pathetic and they all said there was no way AJ and the Yanks could win this.
Sometimes you just want to be a little kid and go....Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!
The only regret I have about this game is that the yanks didn't end up scoring that runner so these clowns could make up a story about how the umpires influenced the game, and people would see a correct, observant call get some attention. Finally an alert call is made after the Jeter call earlier and all those other mistakes, and I have to listen to this guy rant about it. I almost flipped when he brought it up again and said it was a relief that it didn't end up making a difference
Thank God I do the mute thing with the TV while listening to the One True Prophet on the AM radio.
The McCarver - Buck tandem usually brings me to a frothing boil of insane anger before the game can hit the second hour. I'm glad I missed this one.
Oh, and thank God we didn't have to play Detroit in the opening round. If I had to listen to Wall Street vs Main Street analogies surrounding my games from the TBS announcers, I would have shot someone.
The dramatization that all these guys think they need to inject into these games is ludicrous. I can't believe we haven't been subjected to multi-hour long Nick Adenhart tributes yet along with deep analysis on how this Angels team is playing with a special chip on its shoulder. Fuck that noise.
You know what else is upsetting? EVEN JOHN STERLING thought this good call was a bad call.
They're saving the Adenhart exploitation till the series shifts to Los Angles, Anaheim, California, Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy.
Again, I understand the "in the neighborhood" thing. But the replays showed he was so far out of "the neighborhood" that's he'd need a frickin' GPS to find the address. If you're going to not touch the bag, fine, but at least look like you're trying to touch it.
Buck is bad enough. But if McCarver and Chip Carey ever got in the same booth, the heads of baseball fans across the country would simultaneously explode.
The "in the neighborhood" thing, along with a "past ball strike 3 run to first thing" are the stupidest rules in baseball. There is a written rule that you have to touch the base to get a force out. Just because it is easier or "less dangerous?" does not mean you should just be able to straddle the bag. I'd like to take a look at the replays though to see if Aybar touched second during the other DPs.
I also loved how McCarver refused to acknowledge Jeter was safe at first on the double play in the middle of the game, even after replays showed the umps made the wrong call.
he later said he was wrong...i guess u missed that part.
I didnt hear him say he was wrong. Thats for sure. Prove it you Anonymous douchebag.
McCarver did acknowledge he was wrong. An inning or so later, he said the video guys at Fox looked at the other DPs the Angels had turned and Izturis' foot had in fact hit the bag on each one. Though that didn't stop him and Buck from continuing to harp on the correctly called "missed" play.
That was Buck that said that. Not McCarver.
i wonder what joe morgan thought of this call...
Joe Morgan would be talking about how his team would never make that play or that call because they were the best ever.
I have to say, McCarver was being a bit ironic is saying he was glad that call didn't decide the game. Because if it had we would have had to listen to him bitch about it the rest of the playoffs, not just this round.
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