Joe Buck has been the lead broadcaster for Fox's MLB coverage since its inception in 1996.  That's fifteen years of Buck & McCarver as the national voices of baseball.  In that timespan, we've seen Joe Buck go from Jack Buck's kid to the most notable play by play man in sports.  Joe Buck has announced the World Series, the Super Bowl, hosted Fox's NFL Pregame, and even had his memorable, hilarious trainwreck of a late night career.  Yet through it all, Joe Buck has been a baseball guy, getting his start with his father's team, the St. Louis Cardinals.  

Somewhere in those fifteen years though, scores of baseball and sports fans turned against Joe Buck.  Maybe it was his overreaction to Randy Moss, maybe it was admitting that he didn't enjoy baseball anymore, maybe it's his too understated play by play, maybe it's his smug demeanor and failed late night career.  Nevertheless, at some point, Joe Buck was transformed from the bright, young, shining star of sports broadcasting to one of the most disliked announcers in sports.  In fact, it's almost a near certainty that you will find Joe Buck's name trending on Twitter during Saturday's Fox MLB coverage and always because fans are destroying him.  

In this year's season though, something else has been different about Joe Buck... his voice itself.  For several months, Joe Buck has been dealing with a virus in his vocal cords since after the NFL season ended.  The ailment has caused his voice to sound weaker and hoarse.  You can really tell that Buck's voice is struggling in this botched call of a Reed Johnson solo home run in this weekend's broadcast of a Cubs-Yankees game.  Thankfully, the virus isn't painful or causing any damage to Buck's voice (we're not completely heartless and actually wish Joe the best in health), but fans are taking notice of what sounds wrong with Joe and it is hurting the Fox broadcast.  

Simply, Fox needs to sit Joe Buck and his voice and take him off their MLB coverage for the time being.  Not just for the present, but for the overall outlook of MLB on Fox...

Interleague play takes centerstage once again this week with some interesting matchups across the big leagues.  Unfortunately for all you Joe Buck fans, we don't have the Fox assignments at the moment, but Indians-Giants looks like the pick of the weekend matchups as Sunday Night Baseball will be in San Francisco.

Monday, June 20

New York Yankees @ Cincinnati Reds (ESPN 7:00) Sean McDonough, Aaron Boone, Rick Sutcliffe

Tuesday June 21

New York Yankees @ Cincinnati Reds (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Toronto @ Atlanta]
Chicago Cubs @ Chicago White Sox (WGNA 8PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly
Minnesota Twins @ San Francisco Giants (MLBN 10PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Detroit @ LA Dodgers]

Wednesday June 22

Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals (ESPN 8PM) Dave O'Brien, Nomar Garciaparra

Thursday June 23

Seattle Mariners @ Washington Nationals (MLBN 1PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Oakland @ NY Mets]
Philadelphia Phillies @ St. Louis Cardinals (MLBN 8PM) TBA [Alt: Arizona @ Kansas City]

Friday June 24

Oakland Athletics @ Philadelphia Phillies (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Colorado @ NY Yankees]
Chicago Cubs @ Kansas City Royals (WGNA 8PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly

Saturday June 25

New York Mets @ Texas Rangers (FOX 4PM) TBA
Cleveland Indians @ San Francisco Giants (FOX 4PM) TBA
Los Angeles Angels @ Los Angeles Dodgers (FOX 4PM) TBA
Washington Nationals @ Chicago White Sox (FOX 4PM) TBA
Minnesota Twins @ Milwaukee Brewers (MLBN 7PM) Local Broadcast [Alt: Oakland @ Philadelphia]
Chicago Cubs @ Kansas City Royals (WGNA 8PM) Len Kasper, Bob Brenly

Sunday June 26

Colorado Rockies @ New York Yankees (TBS 2PM) Ernie Johnson, John Smoltz
Washington Nationals @ Chicago White Sox (WGNA 2PM) Ken Harrelson, Steve Stone
Cleveland Indians @ San Francisco Giants (ESPN 8PM) Dan Shulman, Orel Hershiser, Bobby Valentine

H/T Sammy!

In a US Open without Tiger Woods, NBC was blessed with anything but your average, Tigerless major championship.  Rory McIlroy rebounded from his Masters meltdown and won his first major in record setting fashion at Congressional, shooting a tournament best 268 (-16) and besting the field by 8 shots.  It was an incomparable performance that captivated a large audience and had golf fans, tv execs, and sports watchers salivating over the next big thing in golf.  NBC should have been reveling in their good fortune of having golf's newest superstar come to life on their network.

Instead, the major story coming out of NBC's coverage of the US Open is their inexplicable decision to cut out the words "under God" from a patriotic opening montage that included the Pledge of Allegiance.  Dan Hicks was then forced to sheepishly apologize later during the broadcast.  Before we break it down, here's the video...



With that little omission, the internet was thrown up in arms and NBC was caught in the middle of political, social, and religious crossfire, and all of it totally unnecessary...

Nowadays, even I'm beginning to feel just a bit of sympathy for LeBron James.  Now that it's become fashionable to hate on LeBron, everybody under the sun has had to get in their jabs at the Miami Heat superstar.  I'm sure you've all heard the dollar jokes amongst countless others by now a thousand times.  Making fun of LeBron has even reached crossover appeal to other sports - Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo was saddled with the nickname "LeBrongo" for his lack of clutchability (imagine that in the realm of possibilities when The Decision happened last summer).  I'm no fan of LeBron James, and I couldn't be happier that he and the Heat got so close to the NBA title only to choke mercilessly and be denied by Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs.  But, maybe with this clip below, dissing LeBron James has officially jumped the shark, at least for the time being.  Listen as Hollywood Park track announcer Vic Stauffer takes his swing at James during a recent race...



H/T Darren Rovell 
 

Say what you will about the pros and cons of interleague play, but it made for a nice moment this weekend when Derek Jeter chalked up his 3,000th hit in the Yankees 3-2 victory over the Cubs didn't play due to a calf strain. And because the future Hall of Famer crossed that coveted baseball milestone in Chicago, kicked back and enjoyed a few hot dogs while watching the game in his mansion, we were treated to this little number by Ryan Dempster, who paid tribute both to Jeter and the late Harry Caray. 

I don't know who this Caray fella is, but Ryan Demptser sure does a solid Will Ferrell impression.

In today's Cubs-Yankees game at Wrigley Field, the Cubs (who I am a diehard fan of, unfortunately) were trailing 4-2 as they entered the bottom of the ninth inning. Then, Reed Johnson led off the ninth inning with a home run off of future Hall of Famer, Mariano Rivera, to cut the Yankees' lead to 4-3.

But, Joe Buck, the play-by-play announcer today for the Fox broadcast, thought Johnson's home run tied the game. And thankfully, I had my Flip camera handy to get video of his gigantic fail of a home run call.

Check it out:

Seriously, how does the play-by-play announcer not know the score in that situation? As a Cubs fan, if I walked into a room without knowing the score and heard Buck's call, I would be furious. 

I'm in amazement that we've only just now found this announcing clip, which could be in the running for the call of the year.  This video is from the MIAA high school lacrosse playoffs in Maryland from back in May and the teams featured are the Boys' Latin School (which you can send your child to for his HS education for the low, low price of $90,080 for four years) and McDonogh (which you can also have your child attend for the incredibly cheap price of $93,480 for four years... sorry if I sound bitter about those numbers, but it's hard to relate to private school kids playing lacrosse when you grow up in a poor public school and go to class in auxiliary trailers every morning).  This play by play fella's name is Booker Corrigan and our research department tells me that he does lacrosse pbp for Kudda.com and coached lacrosse previously at the McDonogh School.  One lacrosse website calls him "catch-phrase happy and exhuberant." (sic)  You'll see why in just a second.

In this clip, as Boys' Latin scores a goal, Booker channels his inner B.I.G., ripping off a few lines from "Big Poppa" for his goal call.  An adult high school lacrosse broadcaster quoting Biggie lyrics may be one of the greatest announcing feats I've ever seen...



Wow.  Speechless.  That takes some major stones to even attempt.  I'm usually not one for going too far overboard in the schtick department, but a play by play guy quoting rap lyrics for boys high school lacrosse is fine by me.  The extra oomph on "layaz" is just the icing on the cake.  I'm just disappointed his analyst didn't provide the beat for him!  If only guys like Joe Buck could sound like they're having this much fun announcing, then they wouldn't be trending every Saturday on Twitter.  

Now, if Corrigan can quote Will Ferrell doing Robert Goulet doing Biggie next time, then I'd say ESPN needs to sign him up for next year's NCAA lacrosse Tournament.



H/T Bob's Blitz 

Now that the weekend is upon us, we are thankfully finished with Chris Berman announcing the US Open for another year.  It's probably a good thing that Berman doesn't get on the internet or have much knowledge of Twitter, or else he may have this reaction to our Real Tweets compilation...



But alas, with the nightmarish combination of Berman and the US Open behind us, my mind got to wandering... what would be the worst possible marriage of announcer and sporting event?  Boomer at one of golf's majors is certainly near the top of the list in terms of awful, random, and bizarre matches... but what are some other announcing assignments that would equal or surpass what we've seen and heard the last two days?  Like we did with our fantasy Spelling Bee announce teams earlier this month, we reached out to our tweeps for some creative and inspired choices and as always, you delivered.  Dick Vitale at the Masters, John Clayton at the World's Strongest Man, and Vin Scully calling a UFC fight are only a few of the imaginative selections sent to the AA Twitter inbox.  As always, these are Real Tweets from Real People...

psicher John Clayton hosting Worlds Strongest Man 
Baroque97 Don Cherry and a cheerleading competition.
JimPap Doc Emrick & tennis
NOTSportsCenter Gus Johnson & The World Series of Poker
djstevem John Sterling calling the Little League World Series "...and Jaaaapaaan wins.."
courtgolf Dick Vitale at Wimbledon
sdavis1980 Mark Jackson at the World Series of Poker
highwayman394 Bill Maas and tractor racing.

RoneFace Marv Albert and figure skating.
Dascenzo Scott Hamilton and March Madness.
GeneInMalvern That soccer guy who screams "goooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal" announcing the Masters
JagsFan93 Pierre McGuire and Horse Racing
JimMckaySaidSo brace yourself for this one: bill walton for Isner Mahut rematch.
BravesAndBirds Dick Vitale calling the Masters. The only way that Hootie Johnson would be sympathetic.
philiptang77 pam ward doing autoracing she would be about 3 laps behind

AHubb71 john madden and the ncaa volleyball final four
grantjess Jenn Sterger and anything. Or John Madden and World Series of Poker
mr_anderson_99 joe theismann and olympic curling
Ramblin1963 - Jack Edwards and UFC: "Mine eyes have seen the gory!"
mhfight Charles Barkley - Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
matt_08 Hawk Harrelson and softball. SHE GAWN!
psicher Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless hosting the World Chess Championships
sportthink  Vin Scully and UFC

And then, there were tweets sent into us that weren't fantasy announcer/sporting event pairings, but actually ones that are quite real.  Yes, meaning the worst possible announcing assignments imaginable are indeed reality.  With some of these reminders, I might have to agree...

jon_ard Chris Berman and anything ever broadcasted
brianhowie Matt Millen and the NFL Draft. Oh, wait...
Dascenzo Chris Myers (or Rose) NFL.
mr_anderson_99 pam ward and anything she does.
odonnelltw emmitt smith and, well, just about anything where the audience has an IQ > a rock.
robrosson Mike Greenberg calling the NFL or Chris Berman doing baseball
marksaenz3 Pam Ward and college football...oh wait...
Aaron_Torres Tim McCarver and Baseball
JamieDupler mark may. Period

And finally, you knew there just had to be a section entirely devoted to Joe Buck...

tcopain Joe Buck and overtime playoff hockey.
JPGuerette Joe Buck/Tim McCarver and anything. Literally- anything.
Jearly84 Joe Buck and ANYTHING.
Curtos07 Joe Buck: Baseball and Football.
tvsportsratings Joe Buck and the World Series....oh, wait
polychester Joe Buck announcing first round games of March Madness
JimPap Joe Buck & World's Strongest Man

What are your nightmare announcing scenarios that our tweeps might have missed?  Pam Ward calling the Super Bowl?  Dick Enberg and Dick Stockton at the Running of the Bulls?  Harry Caray announcing the World Cup?  Let us know your choices in the comments below! 

So the MoneyBall trailer has been released featuring Brad Pitt as Oakland A's GM Billy Beane.  Apparently the full story of Beane's time in charge of the Athletics won't be told until Hollywood is allowed its take.  The entire MoneyBall era (which has still brought ZERO championships by the way to Oakland while other smaller market teams have found similar if not greater success) seems like more myth than reality at this point.  The sabermetric debate seems so tired in 2011 with the only interested parties being the most hardcore of stat geeks and the most stubborn of traditionalist dinasours (see Joe Morgan). Will the release of Moneyball: The Movie only stir the debate again?  Hopefully not.

Here's also hoping Hollywood doesn't take too much of a dramatic license by giving the A's some sort of dramatic World Series victory in Game 7 with an infield single by Eric Chavez.  Unfortunately, the trailer looks headed for an overly dramatic resolution.  The movie already looks like it wants to combine the comedy of Major League, the underdog story of Hoosiers, and the genius of A Beautiful Mind.  Having lived through the real thing, forgive me if I'm not reserving my seat at the local cinema.  For a true understanding of how Billy Beane has truly influenced the way teams are built in today's MLB, stick to the outstanding book by Michael Lewis.  For an overdone drama presenting Beane as baseball's revolutionary, witty, handsome, and courageous messiah, by all means check out the movie later this year. 

By the way, Billy Beane's Oakland A's currently sit in last place in the AL West 10 games below .500.