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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxi!houxm!ihnp4!laidbak!tsmith
From: tsmith@laidbak.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: ABC
Message-ID: <178@laidbak.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 14-Oct-83 02:06:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: laidbak.178
Posted: Fri Oct 14 02:06:36 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Oct-83 05:38:59 EDT
Organization: LAI, Westmont, IL
Lines: 36


The problem with ABC's baseball coverage goes much
deeper than Howard Cosell, I'm afraid. Everyone knows
that Cosell is not very knowledgeable about baseball,
but consider this: he is surrounded by three *excellent*
baseball people. Al Michaels is a first-rate play-by-play
announcer, Reggie Jackson may be a hot dog, but he really
knows the game, and I've heard that Earl Weaver has won a
game or two in his career.

It seems that ABC has made a high-level decision to cover
baseball as if they were a video PEOPLE magazine. By this,
I mean that they pay almost no attention to the game itself,
the pitches, ebb and flow of the action. Rather, we get
incessant chatter about the personalities of the players,
the managers, and even the owners. It is as if ABC has
decided that the average viewer neither knows about the
game nor cares, and will only stay tuned in if a lot
of non-technical noise about PEOPLE is provided. It is
this fundamental disrespect for the game itself that
bothers most baseball fans, I think. Contrast NBC--
whatever you may think about Garagiola's stale jokes and
witticisms, he and Scully do pay attention to the GAME.

The other thing that ABC has not realized is that three
people in the booth just doesn't work. They should let
Al Michaels and Weaver do the play-by-play (and I mean
good old fashioned play-by-play), and use Reggie and
Howard (if they must use him at all), for before and after
"color" stuff.

Please, if you're a baseball fan, write to ABC Sports and
*complain*. Maybe they'll listen......

-Tim Smith (...!laidbak!tsmith)