Wall Street Journal: How biased are your announcers?

Is homer the same as a "company guy?" Dick / Bert are company guys. It makes sense to me. They toe the line. The guys on the radio have license to be more honest because you don't tune into a radio game unless you are a real fan. I do get tired of hearing Dick use the term "Bouncer" to describe a ground ball, and at times it seems like if you took, "dropped the barrel of the bat" away from Bert that he would be lost. And then.....Eric Karros comes to town for a national game. He renews my appreciation for Dick/Bert.

Dick and Bert both have been picked to do national broadcasts for FOX. Neither have shown discernable biases while working those games from what I could tell. Mitch Williams on the other hand...

Am I wrong or aren't most of the tv broadcasters actually employees of their respective ball clubs? If that is the case, this whole idea of being biased doesn't really matter. They would be expected to show their favoritism for their employers wouldn't they? If I was the CEO of Target, I wouldn't want my employees telling guests that they think Wal-Mart is just as good.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nicksaviking

Dick and Bert both have been picked to do national broadcasts for FOX. Neither have shown discernable biases while working those games from what I could tell. Mitch Williams on the other hand...

---

I like Bert the national broadcaster quite a bit more than Bert the Twins broadcaster.

I saw a reader comment for that article saying:

"In other news, the sun will come up tomorrow"

I have listened to many other local announcers for MLB games. I expect the home team guys to have a certain level of homerism, it comes with the territory. Hawk's problem is that he thinks everybody watches the game to hear him announce. The best announcers give you the game without being a huge part of the action. I still believe the Ted Robinson/Jim Kaat team was the best TV team we have had (which is why they both moved on to national arenas).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when a team is on the National broadcast, doesn't one of the Home team's broadcast crew help call the game? Being picked to call a national game for your team isn't that big a deal.

I do agree that Bert tones it down a bit on those broadcasts.

I don't mind a little cheer leading from the hometown crew, as long as it doesn't affect their honesty when it comes to how players are performing. It's embarrassing when an announcer sees the pitch graphic reveal a ball, and he still says it was a strike. It's also embarrassing to hear an announcer make excuses for poor fielding or a bad approach at the plate.

Dick and Bert are pretty good about keeping the perception bias to a minimum.

I don't mind Hawk all that much, although I imagine it would get tiresome after a while.

Thats my problem with DickBert...a little homerism is fine, but the endless repeats of the same old tired lines gets old quickly.

http://www.csnchicago.com/pages/soundboard