Unless I’m on the road spending a couple nights in strange lands, I’m less excited by nationally televised Saturday and Sunday night baseball. Given the choice I prefer local radio and television broadcasts and not because I believe the nationally crews always slight the Cubs. Since Joe Buck quit calling MLB games I don’t think anyone has it in for the Cubs. Chicago baseball and football fans do believe the city and our teams are always getting short shrift from the national guys-whether they mispronounce a local icon or focus on the same favorite foods and landmarks.
92 times out of 100, FOX will call the Saturday night game and ESPN has the Sunday evening game. Sometimes things will get screwy of FOX has two games on Saturday. However, for the most part, fans get an opportunity to compare the two networks. Having just heard from a friend that Jason Benetti and John Schmaltz will be on the call tonight instead of Anyone and AJ Pierzynski is a little disappointing. Despite playing for the wrong teams (White Sox and Cards), I much prefer AJ to Schmaltz. However, he’ll probably wear on me in a few years. I also prefer Benetti to Joe Davis.
In fairness to the bland ESPN trio, the FOX pregame show is insufferable with three of the bigger east coast egomaniacs talking about themselves. I know Cub fans and local media are excited about seeing the Cubs-Cardinals on national TV this weekend, believing Pete Crow-Armstrong will be mic ‘ed up and share some witty bon mots. Again, I’m in the minority on this gimmick. Other than the clever scripting, there is nothing useful to come from these distractions. Managers got to manage and players gotta play.
One of the things neither network does especially well is capture the scene inside and outside the ballpark. Like the fresh and hew Gallagher Way (outside of Wrigley), Busch has Ballpark Village. Usually it’s a vibrant part of the game even more so when the Cubs come to town. When I was in STL for Cubs-Cards in June, the attendance was surprisingly sparse-especially among Cub fans. Nobody has explored this story and I’m curious as to why the crowds were so small.
I neither watched nor listened to last night’s debacle because I was under the weather, but the 33,453 attendance for a Friday night in August seems a little thin considering the 44,383-seating capacity.
I’m curious as to how folks not rooting for either team will view the teams and the coverage. If I can guarantee Pat Hughes will be on the radio call both nights, I know how I’ll consume most of the games.
