We're ready for another edition of the AA Fan Forum, where our readers write in and talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly of their local MLB announcing teams.  Not only does this feature give you another way to make your voice heard, but it also gives us a way of covering announcers that we normally wouldn't have time to address.  You can check our last edition here.  If you'd like to contribute in the next AA Fan Forum, this is what you need to do...

*Send e-mails to awfulannouncing @ gmail.com
*Include MLB AA Fan Forum in the message subject heading
*Keep your responses between 150-300 words.
*Remember to keep it clean and your submissions may be edited for spelling, grammar, etc.
*If your submission fits these criteria, it will be considered to be published in the AA Fan Forum.

Awesome idea! I love being able to talk about how much I love listening to Scott Frantzke and Larry Anderson of the Phillies. I'm a displaced Phillies fan; I've lived in Indiana or Ohio since 1979. I remember nights in 1980 when I would get in my car, go park it by a cornfield after dark and listen to 50,000-watt KYW as the season wound to a close. Over the years I learned how to position my GE Super Radio just the right way so I could listen to as much Phillies baseball as possible. And then came the dawn of Internet broadcasting. After that came satellite radio! I've paid for MLB radio access via the internet & XM every year they've been offered, including the app on my Droid so I can be just about anywhere (before dark!) and listen to my beloved Phils. And while I've been at it, I've listened to quite a few other teams' broadcasts, too.

The above is to illustrate that I've listened to a lot of baseball on the radio over the last 30+ years and I can tell you that I think Scott & Larry are one of the premiere duos on the radio today. It's clear they get along with one another; they converse about the game and include me, the listener, while they do so. There are plenty of facts and statistics to illustrate what's happening on the field without becoming dry or overblown. They don't take themselves or the game so seriously that they can't have fun while they're working. There are always a few laugh-out-loud moments when those two get going. Sure, they root for the Phillies, but they don't minimize the accomplishments of the other teams. Larry will rant and rave about the umpires and Scott will be the voice of reason. Scott does the play-by-play and Larry's color commentary is complementary to whatever Scott is saying.

They LISTEN to one another (unlike John Sterling who often ignores whatever Susie is saying). Scott's home run calls (That ball is GONE!) are exciting, yet the call doesn't become bigger than the home run (I'm looking at you again, Mr. Sterling). That's pretty much all I have to say about Scott & Larry. I do have to tell you I miss Ron Santo of the Cubs. His histrionics over Cubs' flubs and losses were always entertaining. RIP.

Phyllis

Tiger Woods is strug-g-ling at the PGA Championship.  After starting the tournament near the top of the leaderboard at (-3) through his first few holes, Woods plummeted to his worst first round score ever at (+7).  Currently, Steve Stricker is tied for the lead with Stevie Williams Adam Scott and Scott Verplank at (-5).  But even though Tiger Woods is still (+7) and three shots off the cut, you can bet we'll see every shot of his round as TNT tries to desperately sell us on the "drama" of Tiger's chase to make the cut.  While that may not sound like exciting, compelling television, don't tell that to THIS GUY...



As Tiger was hitting yet another shot from the woods, our blue shirted, husky, collar poppin' friend decided that it was the perfect time to videobomb the PGA Championship.  Phenomenal.  I think I'm going to have nightmares.  The double-thumbed, "this guy" point at himself is just the icing on the cake.  Here's the video...



At least that guy made the most of his two seconds of national television time.  Speaking of Tiger and televised golf, it's time for the TV networks to have a reality check and prepare for the post-Tiger era of golf coverage.  The networks and the game of golf aren't going to be able to build up new stars and help fans become interested in non-Tiger related stories if all of the attention and coverage is still focused on New Tiger.  (By the way, he just hit a greenside bunker shot into the water).  There's only so many times we're going to want to see a guy duff his way around the golf course and shoot in the high 70s. I can go out to the links and do that myself if I was really interested.  I'm not foolish enough to declare the Tiger Woods era finished for good, and any eventual comeback would be an obviously huge story... but let's at least give some levity to the old school all-Tiger-all-the-time way of doing things.

[Deadspin]

It's Friday, so it's time for another edition of Screengrab Snafus, where we take the best screwups from the week and gather them together in one place for some laughs.  You can check out last week's edition here (and yes, I'm still trying to find a good name for the series, so send me your creative suggestions, titling things is not my forte!).  This week sees a duo of nasty deuces, but first, the Fox ticker needs to be introduced to Cubs All-Star Starlin Castro.  Starling is a small to medium sized bird in the family Sturnidae according to Wikipedia.  Starlin is a talented player on a crappy team.  Here's the pic from ZoDogg34...

Now for the fun stuff.  Also from Fox Saturday baseball (sense a theme here?) comes perhaps the most peculiar pregame key I've ever seen.  Eric Karros was the analyst in the booth for Phillies/Giants and had to be either playing an inside joke with the Fox producers, or just wanted to see if they would actually use "Drop a Deuce" as a key to the game for Cole Hamels.  "Take a sh*t" must have been too forward.  Of course, he could have just been describing Fox's MLB coverage.  From dhm...

 

And finally from Tim Burke, Mexican forward Omar Arellano took "drop a deuce" a bit too literally during the USA/Mexico friendly on Wednesday night methinks... 



That was your week in screengrab snafus, next time, be careful out there... especially if you can't hold it in...
 

Fox has released their full schedule for FSN, FX and Fox for the upcoming season.  The highlights are the Pac 12 and Big Ten championship games back to back on Friday, December 2 and Saturday, December 3.  Many of the dates and times have games that are to be announced, but some of the known highlights in the early season include such classics as Miami (OH) at Missourah and Kent State at Kansas State.  FX will go head to head with ABC and ESPN with an 8 pm ET Game of the Week with Gus Johnson, Charles Davis, and Tim Brewster in the Siragusa role.  It'll be interesting to see how those ratings hold up and how that trio works together.  The same threesome will also call select NFL games for Fox as well.  

Thursday, September 1
8:00 PM, Mississippi State at Memphis, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, September 3
12:00 PM, Miami (OH) at Missouri, Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, UCLA at Houston, C-USA — FSN
7:00 PM, Louisiana Lafayette at Oklahoma State, Big 12 — FCS
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Tulsa at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX
10:00 PM, Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss, C-USA — FSN

Sunday, September 4
7:30 PM, SMU at Texas A&M, Big 12 — FSN

Saturday, September 10
12:00 PM, Iowa at Iowa St., Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Virginia Tech at East Carolina, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM,  FX Game of the Week: Nevada at Oregon, Pac-12 — FX
7:00 PM, UTEP at SMU, C-USA — FSN
7:00 PM, Northern Illinois at Kansas, Big 12 — FCS

Saturday, September 17
1:30 PM, Colorado St. vs. Colorado (from Invesco Field), Pac-12 — FSN
7:00 PM, Kent State at Kansas State, Big 12 — FCS
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Syracuse at USC, Pac-12 — FX
10:00 PM, Oklahoma St. at Tulsa, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, September 24
12:00 PM, SMU at Memphis, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Missouri at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX

Saturday, October 1
Big 12 – 2 games*
Pac-12 – 3 games*

3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
4:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM,  FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, October 8
12:00 PM, Mississippi State at UAB, C-USA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, Big 12 — FX
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 –FSN

Saturday, October 15
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (UCF at SMU)

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM or 7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Saturday, October 22
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (Tulsa at Rice)
Pac-12 – 2 games*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Thursday, October 27
8:00 PM, Rice at Houston, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, October 29
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (SMU at Tulsa)
Pac-12 – 2 games*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
10:30 PM, Teams TBA, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, November 5
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 1 (UTEP at Rice)
Pac-12 – 1 game*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Saturday, November 12
Big 12 – 1 game*
C-USA – 2 (Marshall at Tulsa, Navy at SMU)
Pac-12 – 1 game*

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Thursday, November 17
8:00 PM, Marshall at Memphis, C-USA — FSN

Saturday, November 19
Big 12 – 2 games*
C-USA – 2 (SMU at Houston, UCF at East Carolina)

12:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
3:30 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
7:00 PM, Teams TBA, TBA — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Teams TBA, TBA — FX

Friday, November 25
12:00 PM, Houston at Tulsa, C-USA == FSN
3:30 PM, Colorado at Utah, Pac-12 — FSN

Saturday, November 26
12:00 PM, Missouri vs. Kansas (at Arrowhead Stadium), Big 12 — FSN
3:30 PM, Texas Tech vs. Baylor (at Cowboys Stadium), Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, FX Game of the Week: Iowa St. at Oklahoma, Big 12 — FX
10:00 PM, UCLA at USC, Pac-12 — FSN
TBA, Rice at SMU, C-USA — FSN

Friday, December 2
8:00 PM, Pac-12 Championship Game, Pac-12 — FOX

Saturday, December 3
12:00 PM, Conference USA Championship Game, C-USA — TBA
12:30 PM, Iowa St. at Kansas St., Big 12 — FSN
8:00 PM, Big Ten Championship Game, Big Ten — FOX

Friday, January 6
8:00 PM, Cotton Bowl Classic (at Cowboys Stadium), Big 12/SEC — FOX

*Teams, networks and times TBD

[Fang's Bites]
 

As you know, NBC and Versus (soon-to-be the NBC Sports Network starting January 2) have been getting busssssy. In their attempt to reconstruct the sports media landscape, Versus has announced that they will be adding a couple programs in September involving NBC's Pro Football Talk blogger Mike Florio and CNBC's Sports Business guy Darren Rovell.

Here's the gist of it [via Variety]: 

[Versus] will go forward with an hourlong NFL roundup show featuring Mike Florio, editor of the popular pigskin website Pro Football Talk. He will offer analysis and assessment on an assortment of games, players and trends. [...]

The still untitled show will air Fridays from 6-7 p.m. throughout the NFL season. It will be followed by a half-hour skein featuring CNBC reporter Darren Rovell, who covers sports for the business cabler.

Rovell, who also has a blog titled "Sports Biz," will look at the off-the-field financial aspects of sports. He has been at the net since 2006, handling sports news on a daily basis for CNBC as well ads anchoring several documentaries.

And get this: Versus is also planning to air an hourlong sports roundup show that will air, yup, you guessed it, 6 p.m., the same time Sportscenter airs. GASP! The doors at the Worldwide Leader are getting chopped down as we speak, all while Colin Cowherd delicately holds a knife and screams helplessly in his little corner ... Here's NBC!

 

Shortly after Razzie Award nominee Shaquille O'Neal joined Turner, reports began to surface that a pending 2008 robbery and kidnapping case involving seven Crips very well could've also involved the new Turner analyst. The obvious speculation taken from the reports was that Shaq may have called in a favor to the Crips to retrieve a sex tape from a man who was allegedly trying to use it to extort The Big Aristotle. The man was a spurned business partner of Shaq's, who also supposely had a fling with Shaq's ex-wife around the time they got divorced.

But that's just baseless speculation and an LA judge decided to dismiss the case altogether today [via the LA Times]:

[The] prosecutor conceded that the alleged victim and star witness had credibility problems.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar de Longoria ordered the case against seven Main Street Crip members dismissed after the prosecutor announced that his office would not proceed with the case.

In some respects, it's too bad because this would've been such a compelling case. It's obviously great news, though, for those who love Shaq as an entertainer; its dismissal means we can just worry about Shaq inevitably competing with Sir Chuck for fan favoritism as a Turner TV analyst instead of his alleged role in a criminal case involving one of the most violent street gangs in the U.S.

Now, please click over to the Create The Caption pic of Shaq and his new pocket-sized girlfriend and leave your best.

 

It's time for our second rendition of the AA Fan Forum.  You can check out our first post here with thoughts on announcers from New York to Oakland.  Throughout the month of August (and maybe even beyond), we'll be giving you the floor at AA to write about your favorite MLB team's local announcers.  Check back this weekend for more thoughts from baseball fans and AA readers from around the country in the AA forum.


Mets fans around the world don't have a whole lot to be proud of these days when it comes to our team and what goes on around it. We have had our moments of glory and of course many moments of despair the past five years, but for 125 games or so, Mets fans do have one thing to be very proud of, win or lose.  I'm talking about our television announcers in the Sportsnet New York booth, Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and the always famous (and the inspiration behind my blog) Keith Hernandez.

Gary Cohen is considered the best baseball announcer in the game today behind the legendary Vin Scully and was able to move from the radio booth in 2006 to television without missing a beat. His signature home run call "Its Outta Here" is simple and not over the top. He is a fair broadcaster who does not shy away from the big issues surrounding the team and has no problem voicing an opinion that is not team friendly. He has an amazing knowledge of team history and also knows when to speak and when to let the game breathe before being able to again explain the action perfectly.

Ron Darling is one of the best analysts in the game today and you all may know him from his work nationally for TBS during the playoffs since the 2007 season. He has a great knowledge of the game and is the perfect compliment to Keith who focuses on the hitting side while Ron does the pitching part. Darling is the best analyst in New York, and even Yankee fans can agree with that.

Finally, we have the man, the myth and the legend, Keith Hernandez. A former MVP and 2 time world champion, he is able to bring not only great knowledge to the game, but also some funny moments which works perfectly with the straight man attitude that Darling and Cohen bring to the broadcast. Keith is very much an old school announcer and does a great job of relating what he did in his playing days as compared to what he sees during the game. He is also not afraid to rip any and all players, although has his moments as a "homer." It's comparable more to Ron Santo's lovable style and not Hawk Harrelsson's moronic style.

Like I said, Mets Fans don't have much going in our favor, but since 2006, we have the best announcers in the game today and when Vin Scully retires, our booth will be the best. We don't win much in Queens, but in this case, it's not even close.

Matthew Falkenbury
Daily Stache
Twitter: DailyStache

***Matthew was also the originator of the famous Vin Scully World Series petition.  We're still counting on you to make that happen, Fox!

As a lifelong Dodger fan, I am spoiled.  Vin Scully has lost a little bit, although part of it may be due to trying to serve TV and radio when he simulcasts, but he is still better than anybody else on the air now.  Charley Steiner and Rick Monday are fine on radio -- Steiner is less descriptive than I like in radio pbp and Monday doesn't add much, but he doesn't talk too much, which is a refreshing change from most color commentators.  When Scully misses a telecast -- he doesn't travel east of Denver -- Eric Collins and Steve Lyons fill in.  Alice Roosevelt Longworth said if you can't say something nice about someone, sit by me.  She'd love hearing about these two.  Collins tries.  Lyons tries my patience.

Michael Green
Las Vegas, Nevada

We were lucky enough to nab an interview with ESPN's Ian Darke, who Matt labeled the "hottest announcer in the country," before yesterday's big USA-Mexico friendly on ESPN2.  From there it was all downhill as ESPN's soccer coverage trudged through a very long day.

The first setback occurred when it was announced that NBC/NBC Sports Network has procured a very significant soccer package starting in 2012. The bulk of games will be on NBC Sports Network (currently Versus), with select games airing on NBC, which will also include some national team games.  ESPN already has their soccer package and it's considered the top package, but the long term implications are a bit ominous.

ESPN was pretty comfortable with the sports tier channel, Fox Soccer, as both their partner and competitor in soccer coverage. That's not a slight to Fox Soccer but just a tip of the hat to NBC/NBC Sports Network who is well known to be the only real possible threat to the ESPN empire. The folks who continues to clamor for a true ESPN competitor need to realize it's probably going to take a full decade to materialize and that progress will be slow.  The addition of the soccer package to NBC Sports is a very nice win for them and a smart bet.

Things only got worse for ESPN as a Little League World Series game, well, actually a regional semifinal or something, ran long and interrupted the broadcast of the soccer match.  Not the biggest deal in the world as most folks were able to flip over to ESPN News, but a lot of people were surprised and maybe even offended by the decision to stick with the baseball game. SI's Grant Wahl certainly took note:

• Come on, ESPN. It was strange: ESPN sure treated USA-Mexico like a big game before it started. The SportsNation crew was here today with Michelle Beadle, and a cavalry of a half-dozen ESPN broadcasters was also on-hand, causing me to think the network was sort of overhyping this friendly. But the Worldwide Leader undermined everything by shunting the first 20 minutes of the game over to ESPNews so that a Little League World Series *qualifier* could finish on ESPN2. The network may have policies that call for such measures, but it sure came off as a statement that this game didn't mean much at all.

ESPN has done an excellent job in their soccer coverage and today was another solid effort, but to the trained eye there were a couple of modest missteps that stood out as uncharacteristic. The first came in the seconds leading up to the climatic moment of the game when the US tied the game with a slick goal, the first of the Klinsmann era. Unfortunately, though, the majority of the setup work was not shown live as ESPN was showing replay of the previous attack.

That's not a big deal and is more just bad luck as opposed to sloppy production. Still, the moment was cheapened a bit as you were left wondering "how did they set that up?"  Nothing else really stuck out as abnormal during the rest of the game, but in the Sportscenter following the game there was some type of miscommunication/production snafu as Bristol went to Bob Ley live while he seemed to be in the dark on that:

Ley is a pro and ESPN's soccer coverage has been superb. Still, this odd moment with the missed setup of the goal, the ESPN News kickoff, and NBC's foray into soccer all combine for a pretty rough day for a network that has had nothing but high marks over the last year or so broadcasting the world's most popular sport. This got me thinking........ Is this the start of the Matt Yoder AA podcast curse? 

The first new sports entity to join the expanding NBC Sports empire is officially Major League Soccer (including Eddie Gaven of my hometown Columbus Crew, pictured above).  Reports today indicate MLS has inked a very favorable deal with the NBC/Comcast/NBC Sports Channel conglomerate.  The best sports media writers in the biz have been all over the story today, so you can read Deitsch or Ourand for all of the details.  In short, the league will have exposure on broadcast television with 4 MLS games (2 regular and 2 post-season) and 2 U.S. Men's National Team games appearing on NBC.  Meanwhile, 45 MLS games and 4 USMNT games will appear on the artist formerly known as Versus, the NBC Sports Network.

In essence, MLS has kept their partnership with ESPN (who will still carry plenty of MLS and USMNT games, including the MLS Cup) and has exchanged their package with FOX Soccer for the new NBC/NBC Sports venture.  At first glance, the move has several advantages for the growth of MLS as a league and the continued growth of soccer in the United States.  So, just who are the winners and losers of this potential rights deal...

Winner: MLS And Soccer's Growth In The USA

Yes, yes, I know, you've heard it a hundred times before.  Soccer is going to take over the USA! Blah blah blah!  But, if our podcast today with Ian Darke should tell you anything, it's that people in the soccer community believe in the potential of MLS to grow the game domestically.  Yes, we'll always flock to the best the sport has to offer, hence the success of the EPL on ESPN.  But, the domestic league has lacked a television partner who is equally invested in the growth of the league.  Heck, even FOX Soccer treated the MLS as an afterthought compared to more talented leagues around the world like Serie A and La Liga.  It's not like ESPN treats the league any better.  Ask yourself when was the last time you saw the league standings on SportsCenter?  The MLS on NBC and NBC Sports Channel will be able to reach more homes than FOX Soccer while gaining more attention than it does on ESPN...

In the newest edition of the AA Podcast, perhaps the most popular announcer in America joins us, the brilliant Ian Darke of ESPN. Darke has been at the center of ESPN's soccer revolution as lead play by play voice of the EPL and this summer's Women's World Cup in Germany.  Darke became a cult phenomenon with his call of Landon Donovan's goal against Algeria at the 2010 World Cup and has quickly become one of the most popular announcers anywhere.  In the podcast, Ian talks with AA about...

-His popularity amongst American soccer fans 
-The memorable USA/Brazil Women's World Cup Quarterfinal 
-The challenges facing the growth of MLS 
-Wednesday night's USA-Mexico friendly and the debut of Jurgen Klinsmann
-The upcoming EPL season and his picks to win the league
-The next steps for the growth of soccer 

Many thanks to Ian for taking some time away from his matchday preparation in Philadelphia for joining us on the AA Podcast.  This is a must listen for any soccer fan or fan of great broadcasting.  You can catch Ian in the booth with John Harkes for the USA-Mexico friendly in Philly at 9 PM ET on ESPN2 Wednesday night.  Saturday, Darke will be back in England as the EPL season begins at 10 AM ET on ESPN2 with coverage of Tottenham Hotspur vs Everton.

You can download all of the AA Podcasts at ITunes.