So let me get this straight: an MMA import by the name of Mike Goldberg – doing games ONLY because of a temporary MLB baseball induced shortage of the usual Fox voices – has been canned and replaced by Tim Brando for this weekend?
Why? Because he was bad? Unfamiliar with certain rules. Poor on establishing down and distance? Confused as to which players played on which team?
No. Not really. He was canned because of Twitter.
Chalk up yet another lucrative job thrown on the sacrificial fire of that stupid social media site in a fit of anger.
(Ahem… we interrupt for an important announcement: “Follow me at @czabe on Twitter. Please send me your constructive criticism of my work, appearance, and opinions. All are welcome and will be duly considered! Thank you very much! I promise not to attack you back for attacking me….. er… I hope…)
Gilbert Gottfried lost a very sweet gig as the Aflac Duck after cracking wise on Twitter following the Japanese Tsunami.
A low level radio producer was fired for bitching about a Delta Airlines flight while sitting on the tarmac. Low and behold, Delta was a major advertiser on the radio station.
And there are countless other examples, but why bother with that. Let’s examine why in the hell Dick Stockton hasn’t been sent out to pasture yet?
The mistakes Stockton made in the Redskins-Cardinals were myriad and fundamental in nature. They didn’t exactly “ruin” the broadcast, but Stockton no longer brings enough worthwhile juice to a broadcast anymore to warrant the occasional slip up.
And yet.. he endures. Why, I have no idea. He surely must be expensive – or at least more expensive than younger, hungrier, no-name play-by-play men. With pressures on budgets, I have no idea why a network would NOT want to get younger in the booth, whenever possible.
I won’t even get into the rather exorbitant salaries of the “star” play by play men either – although, “hello, friends”… you know who they are. While they may be good at calling a game, not a single sports fan makes or breaks their decision to watch a game based on those guys.
Not one.
Yet, these guys can make $3 million or more per year, for just a handful of game.
Oh, I’m just jealous, you say?
Goddamn right I am! Don’t I have the right to be? 🙂
I had to include that silly emoticon just to let everyone know that I don’t exactly lose sleep at night at what Al Michaels takes down per year doing 15 football games for NBC, nor do I seethe with rage over Jim Nantz’s incredible sporting life (NFL, NCAA tournament, The Masters… then see you in the fall? Crikes! What a life!)
Besides, Nantz and Michaels are at least “sharp” when it comes to calling the games, and knowing what the hell is going on, and providing us viewers with critical info while setting up their color men for analysis.
Dick Stockton is a dull butter knife. The Fox network turns a willfully blind eye toward their own product quality when they run ol’ Tricky Dick “I Was Big On the NBA In the 80’s With Tommy Heinsohn” Stockon. I wonder if they do any kind of weekly internal review of announcers and issue grades? Some tips from executive producers: “DIck, I need more down and distance. You missed explaining who the penalty was on. Why can’t you freaking add?”
Things like that?
Nah. Just don’t angrily tweet things at listeners who bash you on social media like Goldberg did, and you might just have a job for life.
8 Comments
Tick Tock
there are so many poor announcers its incredible.
what I despise the most is when there is an obvious horrendous penalty and they go look at it on replay and the two dip shit announcers don’t have the balls to call out the obvious poor call and instead just sit there in silence and then conveniently just move on to the next play.
gruden actually called out a refereeing crew this Monday night for a horrendous; call first time I ever heard it.
AlbertInTucson
Sorry, Czabe, even without Dick Stockton, watching the Redkins is going to be a chore.
brad schimke
I’ve felt that way about Dick Stockton for years. As a Vikes fan (I know that’s a sign of some sort of personality flaw) I’ve gotten to/had to listen to Stockton for years on the 4th most important Fox game. He’s horrible. Yet, I’ve always had a built of “respect for your elders” guilt because he was a “living legend” yada yada yada….
Stockton is terrible. Only hope is that TNT fires him from NBA games next. If possible, he’s worse doing NBA than NFL in my opinion.
And as a Vikes fan who had to listen to Mike Goldberg do the Vikes/Lions game on Sunday, he deserved to be fired. It was fingernails on the chalkboard bad. He was on KFAN sports radio out of Mpls on Thursday the 9th stating he was scheduled to do this game solely as a “practice game” because it’s been so long since doing an NFL game. He was scheduled to do the upcoming Vikes/Bills game this Sunday and was going to do the Lions game just as practice and not be broadcast. But then said the brass at Fox told him he might as well do both games on TV. So he did it, was terrible, and they let him go. Maybe they should’ve let him do the practice game after all.
He’s a former voice of the Mn Wild and has some Mpls ties. He was on with Paul Allen, who’s the radio play by play voice of the Vikes, when he was talking about all of this. On Allen’s daily 9-noon show.
Tom
Maybe Tim Murray should get a shot?
Dave
As a Pistons fan I have hated Dick Stockton forever. He and his wife were utter shills for the Celtics during the Bad Boy years, routinely “missing” what was happening on the floor when it contradicted his narrative. Even without the bias he always seemed kind of dim and clueless — two beats slow when reacting to something unexpected, prone to lots of verbal gaffes, very poor vision for what was happening on the court.
And that was A QUARTER-CENTURY AGO. Retire already, Dick, and quick banking millions you don’t have enough time left to spend.
Shelly Holt
Dick Stockton shows bias as an announcer, is flat and has limited vision. He even shows fan based bias while announcing games. Very irritating. Unacceptable.
Joe
There was a nationally aired NFL game 20 some years ago that had no announcers. The network announced before the game that it was an experiment. On television, you heard what the fans in the stands heard. I loved it. I actually had to follow the game with my eyes, and There were no announcer distractions.
There was a technical error with the announcers for a motorcycle road race in Europe a few months ago, all the television viewers got to hear was the actual sound of the motorcycles changing gears, engines revving up to 17,000 RPMs,spinning up the rear tire, tires squealing from cornering loads and braking loads. Oh how I wish they would do away with announcers for those motorcycle road racing events and just let us hear what’s really going on , The modern onboard cameras and microphones and technology today make you feel as though you are on the motorcycle in the race, it seems that announcers feel obligated to open their mouth even when they have nothing to say that pertains to the event at times.
It’s painful to try to watch a preseason football game. The announcers talk about the New season, new players, and then they go off and start talking about vacations, or that their children got an autograph from some player, or that they went to high school with the coachs sister-in-law ,all the while, athletes are in a life-changing event if they make it, yet the announcers at times go far off topic, completely ignoring the titanic struggles taking place that they are there to convey to the audience.. I cringe every time someone visits “the booth “that means a visiting celebrity will be there pushing his own agenda talking over what’s really taking place usually without mention of the event i tuned in to watch.
A few years ago, I began watching sporting events with the sound off. I actually get into the game, into the pitch count, into the down and distance, into the time.. i’m sure that the companies that buy advertising space during these events will not be happy to hear that there are other people out there like me they turn the sound completely off.
Dick Stockton is one of those announcers that I would never turn the sound off because he talks about what’s going on and when I tuned in to see..
I will be watching Monday night football with the sound off, because they’re pushing a woman into the announcers booth. I’m sure she’s good, I’m sure she knows her stuff, but I am as uncomfortable with it as having a man in a dress be able to use the same bathroom as my granddaughter.there’s a line there that they can cross, but should they, just because they can?
mike
just turn the sound off people…i’ve been doing it for decades…or set it very low to the point where you hear the announcers but can’t understand what they’re saying….