xil357
07-16-2003, 08:19 AM
First of all, hats off to MLB and the AL and the Chicago White Sox.
From watching the game on Dallas' FOX-4, it looked to be an orderly and safe atmosphere at the Cell. The park looked great. It was nice seeing Sox logos all over the place, in the dugout, but always burning into the minds of national viewers. That kind of positive media saturation cannot be undervalued. Good weather -- not like the two rain delays at the Urinal in 1990.
The game was exciting, won in the last at-bat by the home team which mounted a strong comeback from a pretty big deficit. It was back and forth and competitive. It had something for everyone -- good defensive gems, some long homers, lots of good pitching and the tension built toward the end. No showboating other than the first base coach miscue in the first inning that was played for some laughs and Posada's kid (my wife liked that touch). It was a short game (2:38?) and hopefully the Nielsen ratings will reflect that quick competitive games keep viewer interest.
It was good that McCarver at least twice had to eat crow -- first when his pre-game prediction of a high scoring game (especially from the NL because there were so many first-time AL pitchers) was denied, and then when his prediction that it would be a "six inning game" because "The Great Dusty Baker" chose three lock-down closers was proven wrong. The game was good fodder for the argument that the AL is stronger and tougher than the NL.
And who served up the game winning homer -- to a first-time All Star who this time one year ago was in AAA Oklahoma City? That's right, the supposedly all-world closer from the NL team owned by ... News Corporation (FOX parent company) and Rupert Murdoch!
And Mark Prior didn't get to pitch, denying a slobbering sideline reporter from gushing about him and the Cubs ad infinitum.
Kudos to Fox for the blues and Chicago-themed music going into commercial breaks.
All in all, it doesn't get much better than this, and perhaps it will shut up some of the critics of the concept of tying WS home-field advantage to the league that won the AS game.
Of course as a Sox fan I wanted Frank there, and I wanted Sox hitters to perform better, but I can't argue with Loaiza's performance. KW and the Sox have to come out smelling like a rose for picking him up off the scrap heap. It is these small victories that make an otherwise bitterly disappointing Sox season just a bit sweeter.
If the media was fair and balanced, they would HAVE TO ADMIT that the White Sox organization did a terrific job and represented themselves well on an international stage.
:)
Now for some beefs:
MLB/FOX: How about selecting Chicagoans to sign the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America? How about showing the Canadian National Anthem on TV? Call it cheesy, but one of the parts I like best about the AS game is hearing Oh Canada, which from a purely musical perspective is much more stirring and dramatic than the Star Spangled Banner. Maybe with Rupert Murdoch's FOX running things, they didn't want to piss off the warmongering "America: Love it or Leave it" Crowd. Please tell me that Wayne Messmer sang Oh Canada, he is first class at that.
FOX: The crowd noise was almost absent during the game. I know that it had to have been MUCH louder at the game than it seemed on TV. Fox must have mixed it really, really low, because from the telecast one had to struggle to hear the boos of Baker, Wood, Prior and Manuel, and the cheers for Maggs and E. Lo. It really detracted from the atmosphere. It's not like they had to make room in the mix for Buck and McCarver during the introduction, after all. And the ooh-eee-ooh-Magg-lio chant was barely audible. Too bad Maggs' at bats were not longer to where the chant could have built up more to overcome FOX's crappy production. It is a very original chant that more viewers would have enjoyed hearing. Oh well, at least it wasn't on cable and I could watch from home.
FOX: Too many cheesy sound effects when going to replays or information graphics.
MLB / Richard M. Daley / U.S. Navy: OK, this beef is a bit ridiculous -- but isn't the jet flyover getting a bit routine? I don't have any problem with saluting our men and women in arms, but let's spice it up a little. I know that stunts are a bit unsafe (although the Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds are the best and safest in the world) How about having the Blue Angles fly in formation SUPERSONIC!!! Sure, a lot of windows would be broken (nothing that some duct tape to residents and businesses in a 10-mile radious wouldn't cure), but it has been done before (in South America during the Cold War). Better yet, how about an SR-71 Blackbird flying over at it's top speed -- Mach III. Talk about putting on a SHOW and leaving the crowd BREATHLESS! If Daley won't agree to allow a supersonic flyover, then how about a squadron of massive B-52 Bombers escorted by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds? Or have the Blue Angels fly in slow, then rapidly LIGHT THE AFTERBURNERS AND GO FULL THROTTLE and pull up to fly straight up into the sky right above the field to about 30,000 feet and then disperse? All I am asking for is to have my jaw drop to the floor in amazement.
In any case, hopefully the Sox can parlay this AS game success into some positive press, although I am not optimistic about that.
From watching the game on Dallas' FOX-4, it looked to be an orderly and safe atmosphere at the Cell. The park looked great. It was nice seeing Sox logos all over the place, in the dugout, but always burning into the minds of national viewers. That kind of positive media saturation cannot be undervalued. Good weather -- not like the two rain delays at the Urinal in 1990.
The game was exciting, won in the last at-bat by the home team which mounted a strong comeback from a pretty big deficit. It was back and forth and competitive. It had something for everyone -- good defensive gems, some long homers, lots of good pitching and the tension built toward the end. No showboating other than the first base coach miscue in the first inning that was played for some laughs and Posada's kid (my wife liked that touch). It was a short game (2:38?) and hopefully the Nielsen ratings will reflect that quick competitive games keep viewer interest.
It was good that McCarver at least twice had to eat crow -- first when his pre-game prediction of a high scoring game (especially from the NL because there were so many first-time AL pitchers) was denied, and then when his prediction that it would be a "six inning game" because "The Great Dusty Baker" chose three lock-down closers was proven wrong. The game was good fodder for the argument that the AL is stronger and tougher than the NL.
And who served up the game winning homer -- to a first-time All Star who this time one year ago was in AAA Oklahoma City? That's right, the supposedly all-world closer from the NL team owned by ... News Corporation (FOX parent company) and Rupert Murdoch!
And Mark Prior didn't get to pitch, denying a slobbering sideline reporter from gushing about him and the Cubs ad infinitum.
Kudos to Fox for the blues and Chicago-themed music going into commercial breaks.
All in all, it doesn't get much better than this, and perhaps it will shut up some of the critics of the concept of tying WS home-field advantage to the league that won the AS game.
Of course as a Sox fan I wanted Frank there, and I wanted Sox hitters to perform better, but I can't argue with Loaiza's performance. KW and the Sox have to come out smelling like a rose for picking him up off the scrap heap. It is these small victories that make an otherwise bitterly disappointing Sox season just a bit sweeter.
If the media was fair and balanced, they would HAVE TO ADMIT that the White Sox organization did a terrific job and represented themselves well on an international stage.
:)
Now for some beefs:
MLB/FOX: How about selecting Chicagoans to sign the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America? How about showing the Canadian National Anthem on TV? Call it cheesy, but one of the parts I like best about the AS game is hearing Oh Canada, which from a purely musical perspective is much more stirring and dramatic than the Star Spangled Banner. Maybe with Rupert Murdoch's FOX running things, they didn't want to piss off the warmongering "America: Love it or Leave it" Crowd. Please tell me that Wayne Messmer sang Oh Canada, he is first class at that.
FOX: The crowd noise was almost absent during the game. I know that it had to have been MUCH louder at the game than it seemed on TV. Fox must have mixed it really, really low, because from the telecast one had to struggle to hear the boos of Baker, Wood, Prior and Manuel, and the cheers for Maggs and E. Lo. It really detracted from the atmosphere. It's not like they had to make room in the mix for Buck and McCarver during the introduction, after all. And the ooh-eee-ooh-Magg-lio chant was barely audible. Too bad Maggs' at bats were not longer to where the chant could have built up more to overcome FOX's crappy production. It is a very original chant that more viewers would have enjoyed hearing. Oh well, at least it wasn't on cable and I could watch from home.
FOX: Too many cheesy sound effects when going to replays or information graphics.
MLB / Richard M. Daley / U.S. Navy: OK, this beef is a bit ridiculous -- but isn't the jet flyover getting a bit routine? I don't have any problem with saluting our men and women in arms, but let's spice it up a little. I know that stunts are a bit unsafe (although the Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds are the best and safest in the world) How about having the Blue Angles fly in formation SUPERSONIC!!! Sure, a lot of windows would be broken (nothing that some duct tape to residents and businesses in a 10-mile radious wouldn't cure), but it has been done before (in South America during the Cold War). Better yet, how about an SR-71 Blackbird flying over at it's top speed -- Mach III. Talk about putting on a SHOW and leaving the crowd BREATHLESS! If Daley won't agree to allow a supersonic flyover, then how about a squadron of massive B-52 Bombers escorted by the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds? Or have the Blue Angels fly in slow, then rapidly LIGHT THE AFTERBURNERS AND GO FULL THROTTLE and pull up to fly straight up into the sky right above the field to about 30,000 feet and then disperse? All I am asking for is to have my jaw drop to the floor in amazement.
In any case, hopefully the Sox can parlay this AS game success into some positive press, although I am not optimistic about that.