Robby Incmikoski & FSN Coverage

[Riverbrian]

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.

[Andrew Bryz-Gornia]

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?"

[JB_Iowa]

...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.

[Riverbrian]

...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?

[Highabove]

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

[Fire Dan Gladden]

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.

[twinsnorth49]

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

[John Bonnes]

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.

[Steve Lein]

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

[Bojangles]

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

Quoted for truth.

[Thrylos]

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

Telly Hughes is in Milwaukee. On the other hand, I'd rather see Marney Gellner than Robbie I. any day of the week.

[Steve Lein]

Telly Hughes is in Milwaukee.

Not sure what this has to do with what I was getting at, you do remember him with the Twins, right?! But I do agree 1000% with your Marney Gellner assessment!

[lecroy24fan]

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

Or have Anthony LaPanta call 150 games?

[fittdogg]

Reusse wrote an article back in January about the subject. I think he nailed it.

 

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/137359463.html

[StormJH1]

@fittdogg - Good link, I did not see that article, possibly because it was 01/15/2012 (offseason), or possibly because I refuse to pay the Strib 99 cents or whatever it is to read more than 15 articles on coverage that's done better by Gleeman, sites like this, and various other outfits. But Reusse is one of my favorites of the local "mainstream" guys. Souhan, however, seems to just enjoy being negative and I do not like most of his stuff...so it isn't just pure unfounded criticism that I'm looking for.

 

@John Bonnes - Thanks for your opinions on the topic. They are well-reasoned. The reason I'm trying not to swing too far in this job is that if I had Anthony LaPanta or Robby I's job, (a) I would think I had the best job ever; and ( If sugar-coating the material a little bit was necessary to keep my job over the dozens of boobs they could throw on TV in my place, I have no doubt I would do the same thing, at least to some degree.

 

Your comments also went deeper into the overall "quality" of the FSN broadcast. I'm mixed on this one as well. I think it's pretty clear that the broadcast is designed to appeal broadly to kids and many casual fans. I don't think Ron Coomer is really out to teach my 30-something ass how to cover 1st base on a bunt in the post-game

 

But in a 162-game season where we could be realistically "out of it" by June, it would be nice to see them try some different things to educate people about the game and look to the future of the club. To be fair, FSN (as a network) does that already with the sped-up Rochester Red Wings games. Today's game against the Indians wasn't even televised, so there are obvious limits to how much minor league content we can expect to see on the air.