Changes to M’s broadcast crew
This has been discussed in the mid-week news thread and we ran the Sims thing a while ago, but here’s the word, from Larry Stone at the Times:
Former Mariners’ infielder Mike Blowers will join the team’s broadcast crew in 2007, along with veteran play-by-play announcer Dave Sims.
…
Blowers replaces former analysts Dave Henderson and Dave Valle, who may appear in more limited roles.
Woo-hoo! Until we get tired of Blowers, that’s great news! At least it’ll be a change. How will this all work? Stone attempts to run down the complicated scenario:
The Mariners’ plan is for Niehaus to begin each game in the TV booth for the first few innings with Blowers, and then move to the radio booth with Rizzs. For most games, Rizzs will work on the radio side only. Sims and Blowers will team up when Niehaus goes to the radio booth.
Except on Tuesdays. On Tuesdays the Moose does color on the radio for innings 1-4, then radio 6-9. In the event of extra-inning games, he’s replaced in the 10th by anyone still in the stands.
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I’m expecially glad to see Valle move on.
I suspect we’ll get tired of Blowers quickly. Seems to me he’s a typical ex-pro athlete who knows the mechanics and attitudes of the game, but doesn’t necessarily know WHY they work and certainly isn’t much into the advanced stats. Probably will beat the Bloomquist drum quite a bit…
I’ve liked Blowers on the post game show for the past couple of seasons. As a color guy, I’m sure he’ll be fine. I’m honestly glad to see Ron go, it got to the point where I couldn’t stand listening to him.
If Blowers can avoid repeating the same 5 phrases over and over he’ll be an improvement over Hendu. From listening to him on the Post-game shows, he does have a little Bloomquist man-crush.
But really, who doesn’t???
[snark]
He was a tremendous athlete who gave tremendous effort on the field which translated to tremendous moments in the booth with a tremedously talented broadcasting crew.
[/snark]
*…tremendously talented…
Personally I wont miss the point in the game were Hendu makes some comment about a pretty girl in the stands. That always gave me the creeps.
I really like Blowers while listening to the radio last year. He’s a straight shooter.
Blowers seemed quite willing to tell the truth as he saw it last year, and wasn’t enslaved by making the team look good. If he can keep being real in this way, he may be entertaining.
I’m probably in the minority, but I will miss Hendu. The awkward exchanges with Niehaus, the blatantly wrong absolute statements, the goofy mangling of English. During those horribly boring games in the latter third of the year, he would always make me chuckle at least once.
Oh, and those suits!
my favorite quote so far was Niehaus on Sims:
“I talked to Dave a couple of weeks ago and he seems like an awfully nice young man”
I like Blow in the post game shows. He calls it like he sees it and isn’t afraid to just tell the truth. Hopefully he gets a voice coach and keeps that attitude during games.
As for Hendu’s comments on women in the stands, as Hendu might put it “There’s a reason why they call it a broadcast.”
Valle was great for exactly one moment of last season. He was the color guy when Josh Barfield barrelled into Johjima at the plate. His detail on how the catcher has to approach a play like that was detailed and genuinely interesting.
That said, I hope that FSN recorded his commentary and can play it on video loop if a similar play happens again this season. Otherwise, I hope Dave enjoys golf.
In other news: Hendu was a bastion of unintentional comedy. But I think we’ll all survive.
And yes, I just said that Valle’s “detail” was “detailed.” I will be handling color commentary for Wednesday day games and alternating Sundays this season.
No more Rizzs on TV? But I liked making fun of Rizzs. Especially the random references to “Little Joey Cora”.
ahem. Li’l Joey Cora.
Rizzs is abysmal. Seriously. He can take his “happy totals” and stick them.
Ron Fairly Obvious was terrible too. I can’t believe he was on so long. He just never said anything interesting and seldom anything that wasn’t pure boosterism.
Given that, I became a huge Hendu fan. During a 3-hour baseball game on TV you need something to laugh about. Sure Hendu wasn’t trying to make me laugh, but he did it anyway.
I’m starting the “Bring Back Hendu” movement right now.
Overall, this is a vast improvement. Valle, Fairly and Hendu for Sims and Blowers? I’d make that trade any day. Better than the other trades this year. That said, Blowers may lull me to sleep with that drone…
18. I’ll counter that with a “Keep Hendu Out” campaign.
Hendu was pretty much only doing West Coast games, right?
I’d have taken Fairly over Hendu, Valle, or Rizzs. Fairly occasionally had great stories from his youth, whch were either remarkably candid or evidence of an incredible dry wit.
Rizzs: Do you still keep in touch with any of the guys from school?
Fairly: Most of them are in jail.
I wonder if they’ll hold onto that odd tradition of having Darnell Coles take over the color duty for the token yearly trip to Tampa Bay. That’s always confused me.
You think Kelley would mention that Sims has won two Emmy’s for play by play – one each in basketball and football. Wikipedia has been known to be wrong, but it will be nice to hear a new, competent voice in the booth.
I liked Fairly when he was talking about his playing days stories. His last few days in the booth were priceless. Dave and Ron were like listening to Grandpa Simpson for a while. Sure, Ron repeated himself, but I liked hearing about Koufax and those Dodgers. “Like the time we went over to Shelbyville during the war, I wore an onion on my belt….which was the style at the time…you couldnt get those white ones, you could only get those big yellow ones……………..now where was I……..oh yeah, the important thing was I was wearing an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time.”
A lot of teams do stuff like that. Toronto used to haul Tom Candiotti out of mothballs once a year for the trip to Oakland. It was like John Cerutti was banned from Fremont County.
Jed – http://www.doheth.co.uk/lists/abe.shtml
A collection of Abe Simpson’s stories that go nowhere.
Thanks Evan – awesome. Awesome to the max.
Can they get rid of the molestery kids broadcaster inning too?
The kids in the broadcast booth always reminds me of the scene in “Airplane”..
“Say Timmy, ever been in a Turkish Prison?”
#24
I totally agree with the love for Fairly’s ramblings about his Dodgers days. Any time Fairly mentioned Don Drysdale or why Sal Maglie was known as “the Barber,” my brother and I would instantly crack up.
But will Rizzs still do his creepy “junior mariner broadcaster” spots?
Rizzs borrowed the “happy totals” line from Hall Of Fame Broadcaster Jack Brickhouse. He also borrowed the boundless cheeriness and total inability to criticize the home team. This proves again that sequels are never as good as the original.
29 – Absolutely. That bit would always crack me up imagining Evil Rick Rizzs saying “Say Timmy, do you like gladiator movies?”
This thread of comments is full of comedy. Oh there’s so much room for improvement.
I like Blowers, but I wish Buhner wanted to do more radio.. I had heard that he caused a problem by being too outspoken and honest about what he was seeing.
I am greatly relieved that I will no longer have to watch Rizzs as he partakes in his daily “touch the headphones while introducing myself” affectation. What the hell was that, anyway?
I think it’s interesting that no one is talking about the real issue here: replacing Niehaus as he inexorably marches toward senility. I love Niehaus, and will be sad to see him go, but at least this way we get to get used to someone over the next year or so.
#35 – I thought Buhner was just awful. “You know, those guys are just doing their best. Hitting a baseball is a really tough job, and these are great guys just playing their hearts out.”
Uh.
#36.. “Hi again everybody. Rick Rizzs along with Dave ______..”
I think he was holding onto the headphones because they were making his hairpiece slide around.
it has been said that Buhner was a tad too open in sharing his feelings (when he wasn’t cheerleading) but I think his absence is mostly because he’d just rather do other things, like coach the kids. Apparently center-fielder Brielle is “a stud”.
If Rick Rizzs only does radio and you can’t see him, will his toupee still look bad?
Does anybody know who we can contact at the Mariners to thank them for these moves in the broadcast booth—especially getting rid of Valle? I’d also like to tell them that there’s just this (not so little) problem they need to fix—that we will still have to listen to Rizzs in the car. Even so, Sims and Blowers looks to be a huge upgrade on Fairly and Valle.
I liked it when Ricky used to remark that Valle went to take a tinkle, and such, before MLB cut the booth mike during breaks. It was also fun to hear Dave take a meat cleaver to Meche.
One affectation Sims exhibits in FB and BB that he won’t (or shouldn’t) exhibit with the Mariners is his overpluralization of “time out.” He does “Three times out left, two times out remaining” instead of the “three timeouts left, two timeouts remaining” every other sportscaster does. Reminds me of those dorci who insist on describing more than one AG as “the attorneys general.”
Yeah. I hate people who know the plural of “attorney general”.
I actually listened to the Mariners radio network a lot more this past season because I was kind of irritated with FSN’s coverage and Matt Morrison in particular, and for the most part, Mike Blowers seems to do a pretty good job, he’s certainly more articulate than Hendu. And even though he’s a Mariners fan, and it does show on radio, he certainly doesn’t have an “everything is sunny” attitude like Valle and Rizzy. I think he’ll do a fine job.
Of course, the only reason why Blowers has a job in this business is because he was a MLB player and a member of the ’95 Mariners, but that’s another conversation for another day.
Note to self, fix run-on sentences when posting on USSMariner.
Rizzs is bad in a typical baseball announcer way. In other words, he doesn’t bother me that much; he sounds like a prong on occasion, but I can deal with it. Valle and Hendu I can’t deal with at all; as soon as they start talking I start yelling at the TV. Blowers I think is pretty inoffensive.
I’m in the minority here, because I really like Ron Fairly. Is he an insightful sabermetric analyst? No. But his voice sounds like baseball to me: southern and musical, telling stories. Perfect for a summer night on the radio while sitting in the yard with a cold one. I’ll miss him.
I’m not really looking for genius analysis from a broadcaster. Keep me informed, let the game itself fill the spaces, and if you’re going to say stupid things, at least try to say them nice and smoothly. It’s an art, not a science. And it’s harder than you might think to fill three-plus hours a night, 162 nights a year, without repeating yourself or rambling a bit.
My favorite Hendu moment: about a month into last season, he and Niehaus are running down the AL, and the Royals, as usual, have lost 18 consecutive games or something equally atrocious. Paraphrased:
Niehaus: Boy, you’ve just got to feel bad for those Royals, don’t you?
Hendu: No! This is when you’ve got to really take advantage of them! The best time to kick a man is when he’s down, that’s when he’s closest to your foot.
Except for that, these new guys will be much, much better.
I’m in the minority here, because I really like Ron Fairly.
I didn’t like everything about his broadcasting, but he was really nice to listen to talking with Dave (Niehaus). I would gladly listen to him any day over any of the other options we had then.
I still am curious to know what the Moose is occupied with during the 5th.
You do have to admit, Fairly’s IQ is probably greater than Valle, Hendu, and Matt Morrison’s combined.
Oh and I forgot Angie Mentink on that list, sorry.
My favorite Mariners broadcasting moment from last season though was when Brad Adam was on FSN Live in August, the team was in Oakland in the middle of that horrendous losing streak and we were 10 games out of first. And he and Eduardo Perez rambled on and on about how the team was still in the race and there was still a chance we could get back in it like the ’95 team.
lol, ya. . .
The funny thing I’ve met a couple of these FSN people, namely Bill Krueger and Mickey York, and they are actually smarter than you think. I even remember someone even remark once how Mike Hargrove was boring, lol. The problem is their network, the Mariners, or both, have sucked these people into being puppets and have a “everything is sunny” attitude regardless of how the team is doing, which is kinda stupid.
And it was pretty obvious this year that Brad Adam’s observation of the Mariners being in the pennant race while 10 games out in the West didn’t conjure up any extra fan support for this team. In fact, it only made FSN and the Mariners more of a laughing stock to people with common sense.
But whatever, it’s not my problem, right?
The first pitch is at 7:05, not 6:30, which is why I don’t really wish to partake in a little FSN Live action.
For those of us who always seem to be driving home at the start of the game, the best thing about this approach is that we don’t have to listen to Rizzs tell a story on radio and then tell the same story when he moves to TV.
And if it means more Dave on the radio, that’s even better. He’s at his best when he spinning stories on the radio.
I’ll miss the part as A-Rod comes to bat when Valle, his voice dropping low and extra sensual, would marvel at the size of A-Rod’s hands: “Wow. Just look at those hands . . . *long uncomfortable silence* . . . look at the way he grips that bat with those tremendous hands of his. The sheer power. I wonder . . . . . .”
Rizzs interupts: “Well there’s no question his hands allowed him to turn on that Washburn fastball back in the 3rd inning. Say friends! Aflack Insur-”
Valle: “Yeah, but look at ‘em. If you were to axe me who has the biggest hands in the league, I would have to say it’s Alex, hands down. Tremendous. I wonder . . .”
Rizzs interupts again: “Say friends!”
I like it how DMZ never comments when it wanders to this point.
Yes, but if we get beyond this point, he’ll start commenting.
Like if I asked if Rizzs likes the traffic in McCall Idaho.
That said, these should be some neat changes. Yay changes that are good!
Well, there’s no chance of a “Doyle” showing up in the in-game ticker this year, so we need some relief.
Count me among the group that has liked Blower’s aftergame comments this past couple of years. However — and correct me if I’m wrong — wasn’t he being employed in that role by the radio station, and not by the Mariners? And once he is on the M’s payroll, can we expect him to be quite so insightful? I often wonder if the repetitive and braindead nature of so many of the color men is just the result of their employer not allowing them to say what they really think.
The plural of Mike Blowers is Mikes Blowerses.
#54: there’s a term I have been using for several years to describe exact situation — “rizz-sawed” … akin to whipsawed.
#55– djever notice that when Alex wears his white batting gloves it is kinda like seeing Mickey Mouse up at bat?
#63 – I don’t see Mickey Mouse. I see the Hamburger Helper guy, one on the end of each wrist. Who swatted that ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove? Hamburger Helper guy. Who made 24 errors last season? Hamburger Helper guy. Who gives Jeter the best post-game rubdowns? Hamburger Helper guy.
I can’t take these changes as anything but positive. Virtually all commentators in these situations are apologists for their team to one degree or another. But maybe what we see and hear now will stop being so sickeningly sweet.
#18:
“He can take his ‘happy totals’ and stick them.”
What’s wrong with that phrase? Aren’t you happy when the M’s win?
I thought Fairly was the best play-by-play guy on the broadcast team. Great voice, and he was the one you felt was actually watching the game, which Niehaus hasn’t done for years, and Rizzs is unable to describe because of his overblown excitement.
I’ll miss Red. I wonder if my wife will continue to “channel” him…
I’m sure the Blowers drone will just put me to sleep.