Thread: Robby Incmikoski & FSN Coverage

[QUOTE=StormJH1;16626]It's tough for me to answer this question for the reason that I wasn't born here and I've experienced how things are in other markets. Even in Detroit, which is more like the rest of the Midwest than it is like Boston or New York, there is a much more critical spin by all media. It isn't just sports. People here expect to be fed positivity. Turn the 10 o' clock news and the atmosphere is bright and cheery. You might even see a human interest story in the first 5-10 minutes. The evening news in Detroit is "gotchya" journalism - straight-faced telling you the events, but with a flavor of "good guys vs. bad guys", or "look at how awful those people are". It's really hard to explain unless you've experienced both markets for any period of time, but it's a palpable difference.

Interesting, and I share your perspective. I grew up in MN, and work in media and worked in Detroit for a few years. Absolutely agree that it is a much different vibe. And a rougher one than what you see in MN. When I came back to MN to work last year, I felt like I had changed. People expect to be told how awesome things are in the Twin Cities and tune out if you "tell it how it is". In Detroit-- you expect to get the unvarnished truth, and it ain't pretty!

Originally Posted by Montecore

Get Gladden's fire and winning ways in there, now. What's the holdup?

Gladden would make the Boston clubhouse look like a Chucky Cheese birthday party.

Somebody actually figured out why Incmakowski is on these broadcasts? I find him to be basically useless during the game.

I have always felt that the Twins have FAR too many personalities involved in their broadcasts. So many that I usually have to mute the sound. BUT as bad as this team is, the proliferation of personalities may be a good thing this year. At least they can try to find a variety of things to discuss during the game (and ignore the abysmal play). How many things can they think up for Dick Bremer to do during the season to try to keep fan interest? I'm inclined to think that things will get sillier and sillier.

As for Incmakowski taking on bloggers, that's really bad judgment on his part. I thought it was Dustin Morse's job to tweet all those positive stats -- not Robbie's.

I remember watching a Sat. game on FOX with my dad about a year ago (he's now deceased but at the time he was 77) and he said to me, "Who are these yoyos broadcasting the game?" I said, "I don't know, dad, but are you missing Dick and Bert?" And he said YES. Old people like the familiar voices...I think we all do. i enjoy most of the FSN crew, but I do like it when they bring in TK or Roy to fill in for Bert when he's taking a break...a fresh perspective is always fun from time to time.

Most of us read enough repetitive negative crap on the Strib blogs about the Twins--I enjoy these TWINS CENTRIC blogs a lot more because people are not so snarky to each other and tend to be less negative. Let's face it, even for us die hard fans, this is going to be a long, ugly, year. We need to find a few things we can cheer about....Dozier's promotion, Willingham, and the fact that Joe Mauer is in the lineup on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by StormJH1

It's tough for me to answer this question for the reason that I wasn't born here and I've experienced how things are in other markets. Even in Detroit, which is more like the rest of the Midwest than it is like Boston or New York, there is a much more critical spin by all media. It isn't just sports. People here expect to be fed positivity. Turn the 10 o' clock news and the atmosphere is bright and cheery. You might even see a human interest story in the first 5-10 minutes. The evening news in Detroit is "gotchya" journalism - straight-faced telling you the events, but with a flavor of "good guys vs. bad guys", or "look at how awful those people are". It's really hard to explain unless you've experienced both markets for any period of time, but it's a palpable difference.

Minnesotans love to complain about things, but only if they're the ones doing the complaining. With the Twins, I don't think that most fans would respond well to a telecast that talks about how badly this team is underperforming. They'd just assume turn it off.

And I don't have the right to say if that's "right" or "wrong", that's just how I view it. I think that the type of fans who would bother posting their thoughts on message boards (or listening to other critical media outlets) watch sports for reasons other than "enjoying when the team wins". People who do that are true "fans", but only to a certain extent. I like to look at a bad team and figure out why they're the way they are. Having grown up a fan of the Detroit Lions and Tigers, I think there's also a cynical pleasure I get out of seeing "professionals" who are routinely inept. But I do still watch them, and I don't watch any less when they're bad.

That's an interesting perspective. I would much rather have the 'tell like it is' approach, as opossed to being spoon fed mindless positivity that we got here so often. It's frustrating to talk Twins with some friends who want to hear that things will turn around and the Twins will be competetive again in no time. Not wanting to hear that the Twins have little talent, very few good prospects, and that management has made countless blunders both large and small, that have all contibuted to where they are now. Even the Twins themselves have been somewhat full of themselves and pretty quick to pat themselves on the back for all of their success. A self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts...

I think Inci-dinky-do is horrible. Alot like Kevin Gorg, knows how to handle the TV duties but knows nothing about what he's talking about. There is about a laugh a nite at Inky's comments on the air. There isnt a problem with the TV tandem being homers if there was one of the pre/post game announcers who would be more realistic. Gladden isnt a great play by play man....but he absolutely will criticize something that is wrong.

Originally Posted by ltwedt

Meh - Truthfully - ANYBODY but Anthony LaPanta is good with me.

Agreed. He's ruined Gopher hockey telecasts, and now he is doing the same with the Twins.

I have always wondered how Incmitoski got his gig. I would think there would be 100+ Applicants for a sideline job.
His Interviews and comments really add nothing to the Broadcast.
Someone such as Lindsay Guentzel is far more talented. She would make a great sideline reporter for someone.

Originally Posted by Highabove

I have always wondered how Mastroianni got his gig. I would think there would be 100+ Applicants for a sideline job.
His Interviews and comments really add nothing to the Broadcast.
Someone such as Lindsay Guentzel is far more talented. She would make a great sideline reporter for someone.

1. You meant Incmikoski, not Mastroianni.
2. After being in the Fan Cave, it's very likely that Lindsay will get a solid job from someone.

I don't mind Robby at all. I don't feel that he's exceptionally good or terrible, but he does an adequate job. Yes, some of his questions have been poor (I'll always remember him asking Bert during an instructional, "Why do they call (a sinker) a sinker?") but all sideline reporters have terrible questions. It's like a rule that you can't make the player think too much.

As for this debacle, I wasn't even aware that this happened, so I suppose I really don't care.

Finally, Jim Souhan had an article about FSN refusing to let their on-air personalities be too critical of the teams they covered. This isn't it, but here he talks about Tom Kelly educating viewers instead of spewing mindless positivity. Kelly could be a little less monotone, but I appreciate that he's willing to criticize the team when necessary, and it's a shame that more FSN broadcasters don't do the same.

What makes seasons like this year so frustrating is that us fans were fed that this was going to be a decent Twins team. Instead, they are the worst in baseball. It's like Joe Posnanski's system for rating movies: Instead of rating on how it was, rate it on how it was compared to your expectations before watching it. Basically, if we knew the Twins were going to be bad, we'd just shrug our shoulders. But we were told that this team would be just fine, so this start to the season has been exceptionally painful to watch.

Some people may not be able to handle it, but I think I'd appreciate some honesty from the team and FSN instead of false, manufactured hope.

Originally Posted by Andrew Bryz-Gornia

I don't mind Robby at all. I don't feel that he's exceptionally good or terrible, but he does an adequate job. Yes, some of his questions have been poor (I'll always remember him asking Bert during an instructional, "Why do they call (a sinker) a sinker?") but all sideline reporters have terrible questions. It's like a rule that you can't make the player think too much.

As for this debacle, I wasn't even aware that this happened, so I suppose I really don't care.

Finally, Jim Souhan had an article about FSN refusing to let their on-air personalities be too critical of the teams they covered. This isn't it, but here he talks about Tom Kelly educating viewers instead of spewing mindless positivity. Kelly could be a little less monotone, but I appreciate that he's willing to criticize the team when necessary, and it's a shame that more FSN broadcasters don't do the same.

What makes seasons like this year so frustrating is that us fans were fed that this was going to be a decent Twins team. Instead, they are the worst in baseball. It's like Joe Posnanski's system for rating movies: Instead of rating on how it was, rate it on how it was compared to your expectations before watching it. Basically, if we knew the Twins were going to be bad, we'd just shrug our shoulders. But we were told that this team would be just fine, so this start to the season has been exceptionally painful to watch.

Some people may not be able to handle it, but I think I'd appreciate some honesty from the team and FSN instead of false, manufactured hope.

When it comes to the Twins:

1. Outside of Willingham... The Twins lack Power.
2. Despite having some speed with a couple of players they fail to utilize it.
3. Over Half of the starting lineup are not hitting line drives consistently enough.
4. The lineup typically fails to advance runners at the appropiate times.
5. The Defense rarely gets dirty and is generally uninspiring.
6. The Defense makes high school like bonehead defensive efforts at time.
7. The Starting Pitching is getting knocked around like nothing we've seen in decades.
8. The Starting Pitching doesn't strike out hitters which has horrible synergy with the uninspired defense.
9. Capps has only had one season as a decent closer.
10. The Bullpen has been overworked
11. The Bullpen lacks any arm with a MLB track record of success.
12. AAA and AA lack top notch talent to move up
13. Drew Butera
14. Single A talent has a ways to go before it gets here.
15. There is absolutely no depth to provide decent replacement for injury or depth
16. The Front Office can't seem to make up it's mind what direction they are going for the past 5 years.
17. An Impression weather accurate or not is that the team seems to lack a true leader or inspiration.
18. The team is exceptional at collecting a wide variety of injuries.
19. The Broadcast team talent, honesty and and has impartial question marks.

I worry about points 1 thru 18 a whole lot more then Point #19.

Originally Posted by Riverbrian

I worry about points 1 thru 18 a whole lot more then Point #19.

...and this is a thread titled "Robby Incmikoski & FSN Coverage," not "What's wrong with the Twins?"

Originally Posted by Andrew Bryz-Gornia

...and this is a thread titled "Robby Incmikoski & FSN Coverage," not "What's wrong with the Twins?"

Actually, he kind of makes the point. There is a lot for the FSN crew to be talking about .... instead of just drivelling on in positivity.

Originally Posted by Andrew Bryz-Gornia

...and this is a thread titled "Robby Incmikoski & FSN Coverage," not "What's wrong with the Twins?"

My Apologies... You are Right... I shouldn't have read the thread. I don't have the strength to add the perception of Bad TV Coverage to the list.

On the subject directly. It's a broadcast team and the format of the broadcast is set by Fox from a national template. Rob doesn't have much of a chance to be anything other than what he is. I'd just as soon have one of the Fox Sports Girls dressed in a bikini doing the interviews but they are reserved for saying a segue line to and from commercials and not dressed in Bikini while doing so.

As for the Texting... Rob is being instructed to text by his bosses because Social Media is the now and the future. If He's going to be instructed to text it doesn't make any sense to text that Jason Marquis sucks because he has gotten to know Jason and getting to know Jason is part of his job. He also won't be asked to text by The Twins and Fox Corporate if he loses his job because he has failed to build relationships because his text's and tweets are too nasty.

Is that a more appropiate response for the context of this thread?

I think the Radio Broadcast does a very good job of being the home town broadcast but providing objectivity when needed.

The Twins hit the bullseye with Corey Provus

Originally Posted by Montecore

Being in L.A. since '87, so I've never actually heard Gladden, but always appreciated his fire and winning ways and from what I've read of his comments the past two years - it's obvious he gives a damn. What's it gonna take to send Gardenhire packing and start afresh with Gladden at the helm?

Why not hire the "Where's the beef" lady from the Wendy's commercial? She always showed a lot of fire.

Oh wait, she's dead. Still a better hire than Gladden.

Misery loves company, obviously there are a lot of lonely people here.

I've given this some thought the last couple of days. I've dealt with this issue a lot: as a blogger, as a publisher, and we deal with it on TwinsDaily, too.

These debates often turn into a debate on being positive or negative. I think that's the wrong focus. There is plenty of room for both, and I opposed labeling any place along that continuum "the truth." One can find infinite positive facts and stats about a team and infinite negative facts about a team, and infinite interpretations of those facts. My experience is that where one falls on that continuum has as much to do with nebulous internal and personal traits as it does with performance or facts.

The right focus is being open to the areas that you want to explore and those that others want to explore. There are things we can learn (and actually enjoy) from those with different attitudes towards the same subject. The right focus is being HONEST about one's views and attitudes.

So I rarely condemn announcers (or media) for what some would consider overly positive spins. I personally think there is a trickier and maybe more effective way to care, but it's harder too. I'm less tolerant of shallow coverage. There's just so much beauty in baseball if one is willing to go a little beneath the surface, and I don't know why you wouldn't want to do that if you cover it, other than just weariness or laziness.

To FSN's credit, I think they've tried to do that, with mixed results. They're certainly expanded their coverage FAR beyond what it used to be. Their attempts at demonstrating "inside strategy" with announcers on the field before and after the game isn't a bad thought. They cover the manager's post game and pre game talks. They have the announcers break down aspects of the game afterwards, going back to a specific at bat. Those are all really good things.

Personally, I think there are some things they could do that might raise it to another level. I'm sure they've thought of most of these, but they include:
Minor league coverage - mabye some video of prospects, analyzing some performances and what it means to the future, or covering general subjects like how important age is. Or even a 10 prospect countdown.
Stats or Big Picture Stuff - How about some comparisons of the upcoming free free agents and how things balance out. Or have each of their announcers fill out a GM cheat sheet of how they would construct the Twins for the next season? Or a quick graphic showing how the upcoming opposing team is doing relative to the Twins in basic categories, like Runs scored, or runs against, or defenasive metrics. My favorite idea is creating some 5-minute pieces that show the science behind something like Runs Created or Pythagorean Theorme in the style of Bill Nye The Science Guy. That could be run pretty regularly and reused.

Back to Robby - I have no problem with him choosing to provide a positive spin. I especially like that he's honest about it - that he declares that's what he's going to be because that's how he's wired (and probably because it makes his job a lot more pleasant.) If he's honest about what he presents, that's great. If he's critical of others for their attitude, that's disappointing.

All I have to say is, would you rather go back to Telly Hughes?!

Originally Posted by Steve Lein

All I have to say is, would you rather go back to Telly Hughes?!

Quoted for truth.