Random Thoughts

Some thoughts on sports happenings:

• So the NBA has a ref betting on games? Why am I not surprised? David Stern ruined the game of basketball with his "market the stars & major markets" approach in the 80's & 90's. It created a lot of doubt in the credibility of his garbage product among a lot of legitimate, passionate sports fans. Especially those of us who followed teams from smaller markets. Have fun spinning your way out of this mess, commissioner.
• Dave Trembley is making the Orioles interesting again. He's 18-13 and he's only had Miguel Tejada for 2 of those games. There are 2 big differences I see - (1) he's doing a very nice job of managing the bullpen & it's pitching much better and (2) there have been far fewer mental errors. The rest of the season is the real test. The O's have 29 of their last 62 games against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Angels, and they're already down 8-6 in the 8th in one of those games (suspended game in June). If they can continue to play smart baseball and hold their own these last 2 months the O's may have found their man.
  
• Speaking of the O's, I'll be interested in seeing how Jeremy Guthrie pitches these last 2 months. He's been a real steal so far but I keep getting the feeling that his bubble is about to burst.
• Sunday will be a great day - Cal goes into the Hall and the Ravens open training camp. I can't wait!
  

Favorite & Least Favorite Sports Announcers

This is in no particular order except for my least favorite.

Favorites

Play by play

• Al Michaels: just calls the game & is so smooth. When you hear his voice you know it's a big game. I still get chills from "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!!!"
  
• Greg Gumbel: CBS never should have taken him off the #1 NFL team. Solid, funny, and rarely makes a mistake.
  
• Brad Nessler: With Keith Jackson finally retired, he's the best college football announcer in a landslide.
• Marv Albert: "Yes! And it counts!" He almost makes an NBA game watchable. Almost.
  
• Ian Eagle, Dan Schulman, Dave O'Brien: all are understated & let the analysts do their job. They all realize I want to watch the game, not them.
• Kevin Harlan: He used to annoy me but he's kind of grown on my through the years.
  
• Gary Thorne: In the early days of ESPN baseball he got on my nerves. But I really enjoyed he & Bill Clement on ESPN hockey. Now that I listen to him on a regular basis doing O's games, I've become a big fan. He's really good and really honest.
• Jon Miller (on the radio): no one does a better job of painting a picture of what's happening. And he never goes more than 3 minutes without giving the score (he has an hourglass to remind him.) Letting him leave is in the top 3 of Peter Angelos many (& I mean many!) gaffes.
  

Analysts

• Phil Simms: He's insightful, funny, and doesn't take himself too seriously. He's by far the best NFL analyst.
• Troy Aikman: He's incredibly insightful as well. Too bad he has to work with Joe Buck.
• Darryl Johnston: When he teamed up with Aikman and a slightly younger Dick Stockton, they were the second-best NFL team behind Gumbel & Simms.
• Solomon Wilcots: He might be the most underrated analyst out there. I'm usually pleased when he & Ian Eagle have the Ravens.
  
• Jim Palmer: Yes, he has diarrhea of the mouth & a huge ego but he's brutally honest, which is something we don't get a lot out of the Orioles. When he and Thorne do the games together it is a treat.
  
• Jay Bilas: He's about the only college basketball analyst I can take.
• Rick Manning: He's the Cleveland Indians analyst. He's very knowledgeable and objective.
• Chris Welsh: Outstanding Reds analyst. Too bad he works with such extremes in George Grande ("everything is great!") and Marty Brennaman ("I've got to give my (usually negative) opinion on anything & everything!")

Least Favorite

Play by Play

• #1 Chris Berman: All this guy talks about is himself or teams/players that he likes. His baseball nicknames are old and stupid and his Swami act is tired and bad. Please go away. You are the worst thing to happen to TV sports, ever!
• Brent Musberger: The biggest hype-master in a field full of them.
• Bryant Gumbel: Maybe the worst play-by-play announcer ever. Just terrible.
• Joe Buck: It's too bad he's an IU guy - he gives us a bad name. He practically rooted for the Indians in the '97 ALCS, for which I'll never forgive him. He thinks he's so cool, and he's not. He couldn't hold his father's microphone.
• Jim Nantz: Another guy who thinks he's incredibly important and plays favorites.
  
• Gus Johnson: He wasn't bad at ESPN but now he's awful doing NFL games at CBS. He insults my intelligence by overhyping bad players & teams. Last year he made Andrew Walter the 2nd coming of Joe Montana and the Cleveland Browns a Super Bowl contender. Please go away.

Analysts

• Dick Vitale: "Dukie V" is loud, obnoxious, uninformed, and cheerleader of whoever is winning (or Duke). And like Berman, he's created a generation of terrible analysts. Last year I finally turned the sound down on him & listened to the IU-MSU game on XM with the MSU announcers. Not surprisingly, they were far more pleasant to listen to.
  
• Billy Packer: A right-wing kook who shouldn't be on TV.
• Clark Kellogg: His analysis is actually good but he tries to be way too cute and he hates IU.
• Tim McCarver: He was OK about 20 years ago. But he's too full of himself and beats a dead horse forever. He and Joe Buck together are awful. I think I'll watch the World Series with the sound down and listen to Jon Miller call it on the radio.
• Joe Morgan: He's usually insightful but 18 years of hearing how great National League baseball is and how important it is to steal bases & hit and run gets VERY old.
• Any Fox NFL analyst other than Aikman, Johnston, & Siragusa: Why do they all try to sound like John Madden?
  

Some things I need to get off my chest

So here goes:

• The more I see of Dave Trembley, the more I like. I'm not ready to endorse him as the "permanent" manager, but the O's look like a completely different team. In his 11 games as skipper, they've gone 6-5 against the Padres, D-backs, Yankees, and Angels. They've played 9 of those games without their best player. They're playing with energy and purpose. And I've been very impressed with Trembley in his press conferences. While you can't put too much stock in press conferences, I always enjoy listening to really good coaches/managers talk. Earl Weaver, Brian Billick, Bob Knight, and Kelvin Sampson were or are very interesting and insightful. Mike Davis ("we just couldn't hit our shots") and Ted Marchibroda ("we didn't forget to fight!") come across as the idiot coaches they are.
• I know Camden Yards is lauded for starting the trend of these great ballparks that have been built over the past 15 years but as an Orioles fan I have some big issues with it. First, who was the moron who decided that the seats down the left-field line should point directly at the centerfielder? Second, who decided to make it a freakin' bandbox? Jeremy Guthrie gave up 2 HR's that landed in the front row today. How can you be a franchise built on pitching and build a joke of a hitters' park? Third, replace the stupid rubberized warning track. Yes, it looks nice, but it takes a lot of excitement out of the game with too many ground rule doubles and too many fielders afraid to dive on it.
  
• Vin Scully is incredibly annoying! He never shuts up and his stories are worthless. (He spent 10 minutes today telling some story about Bud Black hiring a former catcher as his bench coach. Who cares!) And enough of the flowery language already. Just tell me what's happening and why. I want to watch a baseball game, not listen to a poetry recital!
• The idiotic "experts" in the media never cease to amaze me. Everyone wants to talk about how the 3 top teams in football will be the same as last year - Indy, New England, and San Diego. Hello, you morons! The Ravens had a better record than 2 of them and beat the other in their only meeting. They lost one key player and addressed their main weakness - the running game - in the draft and through a trade. And Steve McNair will have more than 6 weeks in the offense come Opening Night. One idiot had Denver ahead of the Ravens. The same Denver team that hasn't won a playoff game since El-whine was the QB. I'm not saying that they should be picking the Ravens to win the Super Bowl this year - just mention them as a serious contender. They deserve at least that after last season and the moves they made.
  
• Golf is no longer a sport. Any event where the "champion" can win while smoking a pack of cigs DURING the event is NOT a sport.
• I got my new Prius this weekend. I love it! On my drive home from the dealership I got 54 miles/gallon. Last night driving back from cat-sitting I got 61 MPG! I was a little disappointed today to "only" get 49 MPG on a couple of short trips. I've attached a few pictures.