McCarthy and Wheeler are still better then a lot of talent that other teams have, but they do not limbo into a quality team by any stretch. Certainly they will never be Ashburn and Kalas. They both tend to say dumb things and sometimes seem to try to compete with saying the most idiotic thing of the season, of which with TMac's increased mic time, he is sprinting to a lead that might not be able to be made up.

The DBack are are more tragic to listen to with what ever battle is going on in that booth (competent versus boob? sober versus drunk?), the Marlins team spend time apologizing, the Mets are sickening with their uber-homer attitude, the Braves are now homers less so, but but still annoying. And on it goes.

I actually enjoyed listening to the Nationals' announcers last night, LA and StL are tolerable, and Houston is not too bad. (can you tell I have DirecTv?)

I think that there are two things happening here in Philly:

1) How could any team ever compare to Ashburn and Kalas? Kalas + anyone else was still darn good, but was that mostly nostalgia because it has always been Kalas + (in many opinions) a throw away since Ashburn.

2) The team and its broadcast partners has not reconciled a future plan, in my opinion. They seemed horribly inept at succession planning. Lets face it, Harry has not looked good for a while. He had all his mental faculties that mattered, but like taxes... So I think that they are letting things play out until next year.

thephan wrote:1) How could any team ever compare to Ashburn and Kalas? Kalas + anyone else was still darn good, but was that mostly nostalgia because it has always been Kalas + (in many opinions) a throw away since Ashburn.

I'm sorry, but I just disagree with this. I think everyone understands that nobody is going to be Harry & Whitey. Hell, even Harry & Whitey probably weren't Harry & Whitey, if you follow my meaning.

But many, many people do express active enjoyment of LA & Franzke. They are not Harry & Whitey, they are their own thing, but they are very good, and add genuine excitement to moments that deserve them, but also are unafraid to be honest about a player struggling or a call being correct. T-Mac and Wheels simply do not have that chemistry, and this is mostly owing to T-Mac's attempt at dispassionate broadcasting while employed by the Phillies.

People want broadcasters to be with them. I think most people are totally prepared at this point to accept Scott & Larry as the Phillies broadcasters going forward. I don't think this is about Tom McCarthy & Chris Wheeler not living up to an unlivable standard - it's about Tom McCarthy flat sucking at being the PHILLIES broadcaster. He's OK at being a baseball broadcaster, but therein lies the problem.

Brantt wrote:http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/media/video.jsp.content_id=2726840

great series. wertz 3-HRs, barajas, halladay pitching in relief. i'll never forget wheels saying "halladay didnt expect to bat this series"

mozartpc27 wrote:But many, many people do express active enjoyment of LA & Franzke.

I have no frame of reference as an out of market fan. I think they might be on air next year if there is any truth to the words out here in Phillies board land

mozartpc27 wrote:I don't think this is about Tom McCarthy & Chris Wheeler not living up to an unlivable standard - it's about Tom McCarthy flat sucking at being the PHILLIES broadcaster.

I do not think you misunderstood, but none the less, I was not drawing McCarthy and Wheeler's successes or failures against being something that they are not. I am saying that the bar was set awfully high over the last 40 years, and it remained high after it was reset when Whitey passed. We are talking about the sound track of my summers and it is tempered by memory (getting that too). But there has been an expectation of excellence which is not currently being served.

In my exposure to both Wheeler and McCarthy they are sub-par at their profession and would be better suited to be bit players and middle inning stop gap commentators. I would not mind losing both of them so that those rare occasions I do hear them I do not cringe. The McCarthy call, which I experienced on the internet today, was shameful sh!t. Dukes hit a titanic blast, but come on please pick a Phillie or at least someone who did something in CBP for comparison, which I think we all get. If the team was still at the Vet and a shot was comparable, you could go with a Stargell reference to that amazing blast, but... I am afraid that this gaff will be one of many from McCarthy which will need to be endured for the entire season.

Grotewold wrote:but what confuses me is so many of you who hate him for being a Mets fan also hate Wheeler, maybe the world's biggest Phillies fan.

You can say dumb things and still be hugely popular as a broadcaster. See Phil Rizzutto. At first, I didn't like Sarge at all, but I now think he's great. Not because he has great baseball knowledge, but because he has a great on-air personality. T-Mac doesn't have that.

TenuredVulture wrote:You can say dumb things and still be hugely popular as a broadcaster. See Phil Rizzutto. At first, I didn't like Sarge at all, but I now think he's great. Not because he has great baseball knowledge, but because he has a great on-air personality. T-Mac doesn't have that.

""It's Father's Day today at Shea, so to all you fathers out there, Happy Birthday."

Didn't see this posted over here yet. GMAN called the Phillies and talked to Rob Brooks this morning..........here is his report:

GMAN
The Loose Cannon


Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: The Jersey Shore
Posts: 36,989



I just had a 10 minute conversation with Rob Brooks. Here is a quick breakdown:

Franske and LA don't want to do TV. On radio they can just do their thing and talk about whatever thwey want. On Tv they have to work more with the producer as opposed to doing things on the fly.

If they would have listened to fans the first 5 years Harry was here, they would have fired him. You have to give an announcer time to grow his roots.

TMac works so hard and he just needs to find his comfort zone. Before he only had 3 innings to get his stuff in, but with 9 he can now slow down a little.

The game today is just called didfferently and Tmac is part of the new generation of announcer. He also said other teams have their TV guys on for all 9 innings, but Harry wanted an inning to do radio and 2 innings to smoke.

He kept hammering away how fans hated Harry, LA and even Whitey when they first started, but the announcers need time to develop a connection with the fans. He also said he gets email for Scott Graham, yet Graham was a Mets fan to.

He also said he does not notice the lack of emotion from TMac when the Phils do something well, nor does he hear excitement when the other team does something well.

The bottomline is TMac is here for a long time and there is nothing we can do about it.
__________________

Yes but what about the fact that he is terrible and annoying and over modulates his voice

TenuredVulture wrote:You can say dumb things and still be hugely popular as a broadcaster. See Phil Rizzutto. At first, I didn't like Sarge at all, but I now think he's great. Not because he has great baseball knowledge, but because he has a great on-air personality. T-Mac doesn't have that.

This is my feeling exactly. I don't even care about the Mets thing or the Piazza comment. It's just that McCarthy adds NOTHING to the broadcast. He's dull, boring, fake, not funny, has no insight into the game, has NO personality. There's nothing at all to like about him except "He's a nice guy with an ok voice." I can't see how he could ever grow on people.

Remembering what my grandfather told me, there is no way in hell the fans ever hated Whitey. That is a flat-out lie. Whitey Ashburn is the Phillies to an entire generation of fans (many of them now in retirement homes).

By the way, the "T-Mac is here for a long time and there's nothing we can do about it" sentiment just means we have to push harder.

Woody wrote:Yes but what about the fact that he is terrible and annoying and over modulates his voice

"The fans hated Harry in his first 5 years here. The game has changed."

Rev_Beezer wrote:By the way, the "T-Mac is here for a long time and there's nothing we can do about it" sentiment just means we have to push harder.

QFT

What they understand is ratings and ad revenue. Honestly, if you want to move this, it might make more sense to approach the advertisers than the FO.

dajafi wrote:

Rev_Beezer wrote:By the way, the "T-Mac is here for a long time and there's nothing we can do about it" sentiment just means we have to push harder.

QFT

What they understand is ratings and ad revenue. Honestly, if you want to move this, it might make more sense to approach the advertisers than the FO.

What about WB Mason?

I can deal with the synch being off between the radio and tv. Let T-Mac talk all he wants, I'm not listening. If you guys want to start writing to the TV advertisers, I'm game.

I love this poll on Philaphans:
http://www.philaphans.com/forums/showthread.php_t=88558
57 votes, not a single person has said they like Tom McCarthy. Or his broadcasting at least.

kruker wrote:I can deal with the synch being off between the radio and tv. Let T-Mac talk all he wants, I'm not listening. If you guys want to start writing to the TV advertisers, I'm game.

I got this (to deal with the synch), haven't actually tried it yet though
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/radioshark/

I can say with certainty there will be a number of occasions I will turn to the radio this summer. However, it won't happen in innings 4-6, because I think Sarge does bring something to the broadcast: personality. Sadly, T-Mac has none. I don't really care for his fake game show announcer voice, bald head, khakis, crappy reports (thankfully we don't have to deal with this anymore), etc.

We've truly been spoiled here, there's no doubt.

Harry and Whitey were great. Harry and LA were great. Harry and anyone was fantastic listening.

Marc Zumoff: Philly guy, good broadcaster, excitable, does a good job. Did a better job with Mix, but gets along o.k. with Salami.
Jim Jackson: Hard to replace Gene Hart, but JJ does a good job of calling the game. Doesn't stray away from the PBP much for stupid stories, sticks to the point, and does a very good job.
Merrill Reese: Another icon.
Tim Saunders/Tom McGinnis: also do a solid job on the radio.

I just have such a problem with T-Mac and the fact that he can't seem to root for the Phillies at all. JJ even admitted to me that he was a Devils fan growing up, but it really doesn't show on the broadcast. When you have a broadcast in this region or any region, you want it to be called with objectivity, but a sense that the broadcaster is also pulling for your team. I don't feel that way with T-Mac. I'll take Wheels and his enthusiasm seen during the World Series call over T-Mac any day of the week.

Franske and LA don't want to do TV. On radio they can just do their thing and talk about whatever thwey want. On Tv they have to work more with the producer as opposed to doing things on the fly.

As if they don't have a producer for the radio?

Anyway, the producer should adjust to their style, not the other way round.

In any event, if true, this is bad news. Tom McCarthy suck-diddily-ucks, and I predict it won't be five years before he's gone.

Sounds like radio broadcasts for me until further notice.

Rev_Beezer wrote:By the way, the "T-Mac is here for a long time and there's nothing we can do about it" sentiment just means we have to push harder.

Exactly. Didn't Andy Reid say something similar about Mike Mamula?