Rays vs. Phillies? Who Cares?
Oct 21st, 2008 at 9:03 am by Susie
King Kaufman explains why this year’s series will be exciting and different. For one thing, it’s more likely to be a seven-game Series. For another, you should remember that the corporate broadcasters only hype the handful of teams (Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Angels and Cubs) that are the most lucrative advertising markets.
So you can be a good little consumer and skip the Series because “It’ll be boring!” or you can tune in despite your extensive consumer programming. Because I can promise you this, it will be baseball at its finest.
I. Can’t. Wait. Woo hoo!
One thing that made the tv broadcast of the NLCS so hard to watch was just how overtly the Fox crew was pulling for the Dodgers. I bet they’ll be pulling for Rays this time just so they can hype the worst to first aspect even more and we’ll undoubtedly hear just how horrible us Philadelphia fans are because some booed Santa about 40 years ago.
On Sunday I will arrive prepared to boo ANYBODY!
Ugh. The worst thing about the playoffs on Fox was that ridiculously loud music “soundtrack” during any kind of lull in play.
It’s bad enough the sportscasters feel that covering play isn’t enough, that they have to fill the airtime with their inane blather. Now, apparently, even THAT isn’t enough. Every single minute of air time must include Entertaining Noise.
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(A Twins fan, I’m all for the small market/small budget teams. Go Rays!)
Neither of these teams have a “Michael Jordan” type superstar (just a lot of really good players and pitchers) so it will be hard for Fox to promote the series to non/marginal baseball fans.
I am always interested in good baseball and have a hunch that the Rays can pull out a win, but I really like Rollins, Utley, Victorino and Howard.
Go baseball!
King Kaufman explains why this year’s series will be exciting and different. For one thing, it’s more likely to be a seven-game Series.
Kaufman is a terrific sportswriter, but he didn’t convince me that this WS would be exciting. (Different, yes, given the cast of characters.)
And I don’t remember him claiming that this is more likely to be a seven-game series. That sort of thing is unpredictable, because the WS is too short to have real statistical significance. What is the reasoning behind this prediction?
If Fox were smart, it would hype Ryan Howard (the game’s best power hitter over the last three years) and Evan Longoria (a wonderfully accomplished rookie), as well as a few others like Chase Uttley and Brad Lidge.
If any of you are hooked up to Nielsen ratings or get any phone calls about your viewing history, don’t watch the WS on Fox, or admit that you did. Let Ruppert Murdoch take a financial bath.
I’m glad the Phillies made it, just because we’re having some baseball topics in SG as a result.