Who's Ready For The Trainwreck That Will Be TBS Playoff Baseball???

Wednesday, October 03, 2007


First of all let me say that I know it's hard to put a whole playoffs broadcast together not knowing where you are going to be on any given day. Buuuuuut you did have a whole year to plan this thing TBS, and you aren't exactly off to a great start. Don't get me wrong.....there's promise, but Baseball fans (and I) will turn on you in an instant.

Here's a quick rundown on everything TBS Playoff related that I could find. It's October folks.....let's get excited!!!

- Of the “possible 41 postseason games to be played this month, as many as 27 will air on TBS,” with Fox televising the rest. (Atlanta Journal Consitution)

- Triple Header today......Wednesday: Rockies vs. Phillies at 3 p.m. (Orsillo/Simpson), Angels vs. Red Sox at 6:30 p.m. (Robinson/Stone) and Cubs vs. Diamondbacks at 10 p.m. (Stockton/Darling)

- TBS has copied the TNT Basketball Playoff model.

- About 15 percent of U.S. households do not subscribe to cable or satellite TV, however, and will not get the division series or NLCS, even in the participating teams' markets. (Dagger)

- Alyssa Milano will be everywhere.

- HD is a cluster f**k.

And possibly my favorite tidbit of all......

Cal Ripken Jr. is going to be in studio with a bat facing the pitches that have been thrown in the games already. According to TBS, Cal will somehow watch a monitor of pitches with comet-tails displaying the path of the ball and swing at them. What this will show us???? I have no f'ing clue.

Are you ready for a shitshow????? I know I am! Who cares.....it's Playoff Baseball!!!

TBS breaks into the postseason (AJC)

Here's the rest of the Playoff schedule as well (click for larger version).....

Posted by Awful Announcing- at 11:34 AM

19 Comments:

But it's still better than ESPN and Fox. Even if Bill Engvall and Tyler Perry show up unexpectedly in the studio.

I'd rather have this than Chris Berman and Joe Morgan.

And I'd rather have this than Fox's "Yankees in primetime. Everybody else on FX" attitude.

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 12:08:00 PM  

But some team's home fans always get screwed no matter what the format, and this year it's the Phillies.

Their fans wait 15 years for this, and then they can't go to the games if they work for a living. I mean, really work. And then when they go to Colorado, they'll be going to bed when the games begin. They won't be able to watch or attend unless it goes to game 5.

But HEAVEN FORBID the Yankees or Red Sox don't get the big-money slot for one single night.

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 12:16:00 PM  

I love the scheduling logic. Okay, I get the 9:00 Central start time for the Cubs/D-Backs due to the West Coast, and it's late for the Midwesterners, but not too ridiculous. What I don't get is Sunday's game. 12:00PM in the Central, aka 10 in the freakin' morning in Arizona! There's a reason why West Coast games in the NFL are the late games. Probably because people don't want to have make sure they're up at 10am to watch a sporting event. Yeesh.

Also, why can't you just appease the Cubs fans and let Stone do the games? Please?

Mike Maloney said...
Oct 3, 2007, 12:28:00 PM  

That's okay, Mike. They don't care about the D-Backs. And they'll probably throw out the "most people in Phoenix are just transplanted Yankees fans" card in your face to justify giving them the primetime slot.

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 12:38:00 PM  

Deadspin says that any spillover (extra innings, rain delays, etc.) will result in games being moved to TNT.

"Law & Order" fans are going to be pissed.

And after I finish this post, I will go to ESPN.com to find out if this is true. Okay, that's the last one for me.

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 12:56:00 PM  

I wish they'd all move to TNT.

... bitch bitch bitch no tbs HD bitch bitch...

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 1:14:00 PM  

AA.....Why all the hate for TBS? If Mondays' game was any indication of the rest of the telecasts, I'm fairly pleased with the presentation. The announcers were smooth, intelligent and let the game speak for itself. It reminds me of when Jacksonville hosted the super bowl. Just because it wasn't in the big 3 (Miami, New Orleans, or a SoCal city), writers couldn't wait to take pot shots. I'm so sick & tired of the "self-promoting", "We are God" ESPN & Fox, I welcome a change.

keveekev said...
Oct 3, 2007, 2:04:00 PM  

Sorry if I confused anyone....I don't hate TBS at all. The point I was trying to make was that there's so much going on that there's bound to be mistakes. I'm not blaming them for that at all, but just pointing out the pitfalls.

I welcome the change as well, but I have to disagree with the Announcing on Monday Night. One of the most exciting games ever was called like it was a knitting contest. I just need that excitement in my life.

Oct 3, 2007, 2:07:00 PM  

Interestingly enough...the Directv feed of TBSHD went down this morning and in talking to their business plan folks...they weren't sure it would be back up in time for the games (I haven't checked my restaurant tvs in a bit..)..but what a bad bad thing to have happen.

Matt said...
Oct 3, 2007, 2:17:00 PM  

HD in NY is in full effect (thankfully).

This is the most amazing thing I've read all day:

"Cal Ripken Jr. is going to be in studio with a bat facing the pitches that have been thrown in the games already. According to TBS, Cal will somehow watch a monitor of pitches with comet-tails displaying the path of the ball and swing at them. What this will show us???? I have no f'ing clue."

How is that not a joke??

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 2:37:00 PM  

I would take TBS showing Cal Ripken Jr. eating out Ernie Johnson in a dumpster full of dead cats as long as it means one less series with Buck and McCarver.

GMoney said...
Oct 3, 2007, 4:01:00 PM  

gmoney..............funny....I don't know if I would go...quite that far...but WTF....I feel your pain. In watching the Philly-Colorado game, (while I'm fully awake) I have to agree with AA....These guys need to pump up the volumn...We here in the south kind of got used to Joe simpson's calling Braves games. It's a difference when it's 90+ meaningless games and then calling the Play-offs. Much too subdued.

keveekev said...
Oct 3, 2007, 5:53:00 PM  

I disagree that you need "energy" to make a game interesting. You need credibility and integrity.

But then again, I'm the guy who hates Gus Johnson.

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 6:38:00 PM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nyjer Please said...
Oct 3, 2007, 6:59:00 PM  

Ron Darling = Best Analyst in baseball

Nyjer Please said...
Oct 3, 2007, 6:59:00 PM  

TBSHD was added to our lineup quietly last week--I was excited enough about seeing Tyler Perry's House of Payne in stunning hi-def, but baseball, too? Actually, it looked great and the coverage was pretty solid. Except the little digital scoreboard thing really makes pitches from lefties look really funny.

MookieFL said...
Oct 3, 2007, 9:50:00 PM  

I love October baseball! I'm a Braves fan so I've watched tbs my whole life. Thank God it's over! I didn't really consider it that bad until now.

I'm very upset at TBS for one not having HD. The announcing is horrible. The studio is even worse. I love Cal and Hurt playing baseball but not announcing. The icons on the screen are 80's. It's ruining my October! I was not surprised at finding this site when I googled tbs playoffs.

They Suck!!!

Anonymous said...
Oct 3, 2007, 10:48:00 PM  

What is the over/under on how many players Alyssa bangs during the ALDS and NLDS?

Anonymous said...
Oct 4, 2007, 9:17:00 AM  

TBS annoucers for the red sox - angels game are the worst I have heard in a long time. We are spoiled with Don Orsillo and jery Remy but I would much rather have Joe Buck, Jon Miller, Joe Morgan...the latter of the two I can't stand. They are not good and the playoffs should be about GREAT announcers. Joe Buck is the man. Fox covergae is much better as a whole too. The yanks/clevekand have a good lineup. And Simpson /Orsillo sound great for Phills/Rockies. As a red sox fan I am being totured with these two idiots.

Anonymous said...
Oct 4, 2007, 7:42:00 PM  

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