Long National Nightmare Over: McCarver to Retire

[Strikes Out Looking]

It appears our long national nightmare is almost over as Tim McCarver will be stepping down next year from baseball coverage. Now, if we can get Buck to follow....http://sports.yahoo.com/news/tim-mcc...1913--mlb.html

[TSJ55]

As much as I value the opinion of former players, TM is far and away my least favorite to listen to. So much so that I don't have the energy to dislike anyone else. Once he's gone I'll see where my attention shifts.

[MikeThierry]

Maybe Joe Buck will be better because of this. I think one of the reasons for national angst against Buck is because McCarver is so bad.

[RadfordVA]

I would rejoice but I am sure the replacement will be among the same level. I do not enjoy any of the national television guys. I don't believe baseball lends itself to guys coming in and doing one game. Much better listening to the regional guys who follow the team day in and day out. Love the Giants and Mets television guys amongst others much more than ESPN and Fox guys.

[Kc61]

I think McCarver is a very fine announcer. I've been listening to him since his days with the Mets in the '80s and '90s. I particularly remember some of his commentary in the Reds' 1990 playoff run, which I enjoyed although occasionally disagreed.

But these guys get overexposed, they are on too long. When you listen to the same voice over and over again, it becomes tougher to enjoy. McCarver has been doing the big network games for so long.

There are some exceptions. Guys you can listen to forever. IMO Scully. Marv Albert. Madden was great to listen to for many years. A few lesser known guys who I've enjoyed forever.

I'm sure the networks have tested this and many people like the continuity. Not me, in most cases I like some change.

[bucksfan2]

Maybe Joe Buck will be better because of this. I think one of the reasons for national angst against Buck is because McCarver is so bad.

Joe Buck is the most smug, arrogant, obnoxious, sanctimonious man behind the mike in today's broadcasting game. I would rather listen to nails screeching across a chalk board than Joe Buck. TM was a pleasant break from when Buck was talking.

Now that may be a little harsh but I would much rather listen to the national guys who are climbing up the ladder than the ones who have risen to the top. Once they get to the top they get stale and aren't replaced quick enough. The two top dogs that I am ok listening to are Michales and Costas.

[MikeThierry]

I would rejoice but I am sure the replacement will be among the same level. I do not enjoy any of the national television guys. I don't believe baseball lends itself to guys coming in and doing one game. Much better listening to the regional guys who follow the team day in and day out. Love the Giants and Mets television guys amongst others much more than ESPN and Fox guys.

I disagree to a certain extent. The MLB Network has some quality guys there. Bob Costas with John Smoltz is about as good as you can get on a national level. Smoltz, in my opinion, has quickly become one of the best color guys in the business.

[malcontent]

Good to hear.

Now if only Vin Scully would follow suit.

<ducks>

[WrongVerb]

Joe Buck is the most smug, arrogant, obnoxious, sanctimonious man behind the mike in today's broadcasting game. I would rather listen to nails screeching across a chalk board than Joe Buck. TM was a pleasant break from when Buck was talking.

Now that may be a little harsh but I would much rather listen to the national guys who are climbing up the ladder than the ones who have risen to the top. Once they get to the top they get stale and aren't replaced quick enough. The two top dogs that I am ok listening to are Michales and Costas.

I'd add Vin Scully to that "listenable top dog" list too. Music to the ears is that man.

[westofyou]

Good to hear.

Now if only Vin Scully would follow suit.

<ducks>

Vin just does Home Dodger games, he's easily avoidable... I usually move on by the 3rd game of a series as he begins to repeat notes.

That said the man is a great announcer and this story from 49 years ago lays out why he's so popular too.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...5897/index.htm

In the six years that he has been in California, Scully has become as much a part of the Los Angeles scene as the freeways and the smog. His voice reporting the play-by-play action of the 162 games the Dodgers play during the regular season, plus the few dozen extra in spring training, plus playoff games (the Dodgers have been in two postseason playoffs in six years), plus World Series games, floods southern California from March until October. He is seen as well as heard on television a few times a year (the Dodgers usually telecast only the nine games the team plays against the Giants in San Francisco). "Everybody" probably is not a mathematically precise description of the number of people who listen to Scully's broadcasts, but it is close enough. When a game is on the air the physical presence of his voice is overwhelming. His pleasantly nasal baritone comes out of radios on the back counters of orange juice stands, from transistors held by people sitting under trees, in barber shops and bars, and from cars everywhere—parked cars, cars waiting for red lights to turn green, cars passing you at 65 on the freeways, cars edging along next to you in rush-hour traffic jams.

Even during the off season, when baseball is wrapped up and put away until spring, Scully's personality infiltrates Los Angeles. He does a 15-minute afternoon sport show five days a week, and he is a frequent guest on television. This past winter he was a regular irregular on a TV panel show called First Impression; he was on for a couple of weeks, off for a couple of weeks. Because of his appearances on First Impression he is becoming a familiar TV face and personality as well as a radio voice, and several people have approached him with ideas for new TV programs that would use him as master of ceremonies.

Vin Scully's voice is better known to most Los Angelenos than their next-door neighbor's is. He has become a celebrity. He is stared at in the street. Kids hound him for autographs. Out-of-town visitors at ball games in Dodger Stadium have Scully pointed out to them—as though he were the Empire State Building—as he sits in his broadcasting booth describing a game, his left hand lightly touching his temple in a characteristic pose that his followers dote on and which, for them, has come to be his trademark.

[Tom Servo]

It's true that other than calling the action Vin just reads the same notes about the same players over and over, but damn if I don't still like hearing it.

[bounty37h]

I think McCarver is a very fine announcer. I've been listening to him since his days with the Mets in the '80s and '90s. I particularly remember some of his commentary in the Reds' 1990 playoff run, which I enjoyed although occasionally disagreed.

But these guys get overexposed, they are on too long. When you listen to the same voice over and over again, it becomes tougher to enjoy. McCarver has been doing the big network games for so long.

There are some exceptions. Guys you can listen to forever. IMO Scully. Marv Albert. Madden was great to listen to for many years. A few lesser known guys who I've enjoyed forever.

I'm sure the networks have tested this and many people like the continuity. Not me, in most cases I like some change.

Man, listening to Marv Albert this past weekend doing the NCAA tourney was one of the most painful thngs I have ever sat through, horrible doesnt do it justice. Cant pronounce "North" Carolina, and forget the players name on Kansas, but it sounded like he was calling him "fart" the entire game when saying his name.

[jhiller21]

Well it looks like McCarver is retiring, which means he won't be announcing baseball games anymore.

[bucksfan2]

Man, listening to Marv Albert this past weekend doing the NCAA tourney was one of the most painful thngs I have ever sat through, horrible doesnt do it justice. Cant pronounce "North" Carolina, and forget the players name on Kansas, but it sounded like he was calling him "fart" the entire game when saying his name.

Some people love Marv Albert, I do not. Something about his voice I don't quite like. I also don't care for the NBA so I don't really like hearing those guys do college games. I don't know if it was Marv but there was a game in which one team got an offensive rebound and the announcer said, he just got another 24 seconds. Grrrr.

Can'r really comment on Vin Scully. He was out of the national picture before I really started watching baseball and I can hardly stay up for a West Coast Reds game let alone a non Reds game.

[SunDeck]

It hardly ever occurs to me to care whether I like or dislike a play by play guy or a color man, except maybe with the exception that Dick Vitale is very annoying to listen to because he screams the entire time. His voice grates like an approaching subway train.
If anything makes a difference to me, it's probably cadence, which McCarver does have, although it's less important for the color guy. So, I don't mind listening to him because his voice doesn't get in the way. And it may explain why Scully is still easy on the ears, even if he's mailing in the background work. His voice, pacing and rhythm are masterful. Of course, Buck is not his dad, which is a shame.