Tuesday, March 10, 2009

My kindred sports-watching spirit

Jason Snell over at TVbarn.com or TVB seems to think a lot like myself when it comes to digesting the sports world via television. In his analysis of what MLB Network means to him, Snell manages to put the aging, "rosy glow" baseball fans and Bob Costas in the correct boxes:
Many baseball fans, most of them aging, are obsessed with the rosy glow of the 20th Century (is it too soon to refer to the 20th as old news?), when baseball was truly the national sport. This is the constituency of Ken Burns' epic documentary, "Baseball," which is airing weekly on MLB Network -- the series' first appearance off of PBS.

It's also the provenance of Bob Costas, who has always professed to be an enormous baseball fan and has now proven it by switching his cable home from HBO to MLB Network. It's hard to think of Costas, who is eternally youthful in a Dick Clark kind of way, as a representative of Baseball's Olden Days. But when MLB Network plays back an NBC Game of the Week broadcast from 25 years ago -- and the network's time slots are currently filled with replays of classic baseball games of yore -- there's Costas, his voice sounding no different than it did when he anchored the Beijing Olympics last summer, calling a Cubs-Cardinals game with Tony Kubek by his side.

I've always liked Costas, but as my colleague Philip Michaels points out, he is someone who tends to speak in a tone best summed up as "the voice of the common fan and guardian of the game." It's a tone that's loved by the national-pastime crowd, but even someone who has sat through the umpteen hours of Ken Burns' documentary can probably admit that Bobby C can get a bit ponderous.
I used to like Costas, but then I watched him call the 1996 postseason. That was the end for me.

Snell also manages to dissect ESPN and its baseball shows for what they truly have become:
Know this about me: I'm not a big fan of "SportsCenter," or "Baseball Tonight," or ESPN in general. I know this puts me in the minority when it comes to sports fans, but I've long since grown tired of the catch-phrase-spewing anchor schtick and the ex-jocks whose "analysis" of games is often laughably unsupported by reality, just so they can be provocative and get in faux argumentes with other ex-jock analysts.

If you like that sort of thing, I suspect you will like MLB Network's coverage of the news, which seems to essentially be following the premise, "What if ESPN could only cover baseball?" The off-season version of MLB Network's news show, "Hot Stove," is nothing more than ESPN's "Baseball Tonight," only with more time to fill. It's even got the same neon-and-plasma-screen set design, the kind that screams "Live! From an alien spaceship!"
Snell hits it on the head, asking for more stats- or reality-oriented coverage over ex-jock talk. Agreed! Let's get intelligent, MLB Network. Find the right blend and we'll watch you forever.

World Baseball Classic Predictions - Tuesday, 3/10/09

With Pool A completed, sending South Korea and Japan to Pool 1 in as the first- and second-place seeds, respecitively, the World Baseball Classic continues Tuesday with just three games in the remaining three first-round pools.

Pool C - Toronto, Ontario - 5 pm EST
Italy (1-1) vs. Venezuela (1-1)
*The loser goes home while the winner moves on to face the USA for seeding in Pool 2

Pool D - San Juan, Puerto Rico - 6:30 pm EST
Dominican Republic (1-1) vs. The Netherlands (1-1)
*Another elimination game as NED meets a DR team in search of revenge. Duck!

Pool B - Mexico City - 8 pm EST
Cuba (1-0) vs. Australia (1-0)
*The loser lives to fight another day, but the winner gets through in minimal games.

I'm picking Venezuela, The Dominican Republic and Cuba to all advance. I know, not very sexy picks, but these are some of the most obvious matchups so far in the tournament.

WBC Monday roundup

A good day of baseball in WBC action. I only got half of my four predictions correct. I guess I'm batting .500. Not bad.

In Pool A, the South Koreans defeated Japan 1-0 to clinch the top seed for Pool 1 in the second round. I've already documented that I'm feeling for the Japanese in that matter.

In Pool C, Italy defeated Canada, 6-2, knocking the host Canadians out of the tournament on their home turf! Ouch! This a major disappointment for Canada, which had a stellar lineup but suspect pitching. Neither came through in the loss. Italy now takes a stab at even better competition as they face Venezuela in a qualifier for Pool 2 and a right to face the USA for top seed in the group.

In Pool D, a good win for Puerto Rico, coming back with three runs in the 8th to upend another Dutch upset bid, 3-1. The Netherlands mustered just five hits and just one of them for extra bases. That's often recipe for few runs. Puerto Rico advances while the dutch must now go through a revenge-minded Dominican Republic team to qualify for Pool 2.

In Pool B, Mexico eliminates South Africa, 14-3 and awaits the winner between Cuba and Australia for another elimination/advancement game.