Watching Korean baseball is like watching Korean barbecue. You can stare at it, but even as the meat heats up, nothing seems to be happening. The American announcers treat the game as if it's a lab experiment, and - yeah - it is. That's because they are calling the games from their homes. They are reacting to the same visuals as we are. At times, that means being just as oblivious to the action as we are. And in a strange way - just as Korean ribs can be quite tasty - it's sorta neat.
A Lions player got hit by a pitch in the dirt. But it wasn't clear what happened, until he jogged to first. Without an instant replay - the announcers couldn't call for one, because they were using the direct feed from Korea - they just rattled to fill time. Finally, a trainer waddled out to spray pain-killer on the player's injured foot. The mystery was solved. We learned it together.
During the game, the announcers interviewed an American player. They chatted about life. They chatted about Korea. The key word here: "chat." They might as well have been sitting in a bar in Toledo, Ohio. If something happened, they mentioned it. But without a stadium full of boisterous fans, without having to shout over the noise of a wild crowd, the announcers didn't have to gobble to get attention. They simply spoke to each other.
If MLB plays games this year without crowds - as is the current plan - it's going to spawn an entirely new form of TV play-by-play and commentary. (The Korean game uses a sound track to create a pretend crowd, but it's not effective.) In this new reality, announcers never need to shout, or raise their voices, or bellow signature lines over the roar of spectators. In the booth, it's going to be a whole new ballgame.
I wonder how the YES Network dynamics - kingpin Michael Kay with his supplicant ex-jock personalities - will translate into the new reality. It might liberate Paul O'Neill and Dave Cone to run off on even wilder tangents than they already do. That could be fun. That could be awful. I dunno. Most of all, though, I worry that John Sterling - without the crowd to amp him full of juice - will sound really weird, shouting his homer-hollers and Win-Warbles. Why shout, when there's nothing to shout over?
Every morning, Andrew Cuomo tells us we must rebuild a better, smarter world than before. Well, television and radio games will give American sports a rare opportunity to improve its traditional product - which really hasn't changed in 50 years. There is no reason why guest announcers - comics, celebrities, bloggers, twitter feeds, regular fans, players, anybody, even you! - cannot join in-game discussions. Zoom has created a new world. And without crowd noise, there is a lot of silence to fill.
I prefer listening to John and Suzyn because they're okay with not speaking when nothing is happening and, it being radio, they don't chatter inanely as pitches are thrown and balls are hit. More chatter is more annoying to me. Also, not a Michael Kay fan though I like the rest of the gang.
ReplyDeleteThere will be plenty of cheering and loud booing in my household to make up for the silence of the fans (to coin a phrase).
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