As you can tell from my handle, I do not have a great amount of respect for the radio work of a certain Mr. Dan Gladden. Over the last few years, my circle of friends and I have had countless discussions over what he does/doesn't bring to the broadcasts, and why on Earth the Twins continue to keep him in the booth. Quite frankly, I do not know why he is still there. Anybody who listens to the games hears the same things I do:

- Going off on tangents while there is action going on. Somehow it will go from 1-1 count, 0 outs, nobody on, to 0-2 count with a runner on first and one out while he is talking about the chicken he had at the restaurant last night.

- Poor descriptions of the plays. Example: Revere hits a fly ball to right field, the centerfielder Smith runs over to make the play, and Revere will end up at third base with a triple. Ugh.

- Extended moments.....................................................................of...............................................dead air.

I understand that the Twins want a well-known ex-player handling their color commentary. It is a common practice among many teams designed to bring an "insiders" point-of-view to the broadcast that others could not give. The problem is that the also let him handle the play-by-play which he is unquestionably unqualified to do. Some PBP guys are Homers (Paul Allen), obnoxious (Hawk Harrelson) or legends nationally (Vin Scully) or locally (Bob Uecker). Dan Gladden is just not very good.

Having Dan Gladden handle play-by-play is a poor representation of the Twins the excellence they work so hard to project on the field. Everyone talks about the "Twins Way" and the focus on the right way to do things: fundamentals, execution, error-free baseball. It's egregious that they can't hold their radio booth to the same standards.

I'll tell you some things I've observed from good baseball broadcasters. First of all, sometimes when you call a play, you might anticipate a possible catch and then the runner is all the sudden is able to make it into third base because the fielder missed the ball. Tangents are a good thing when there's not much action going on. You might think that Dan Gladden has missed something. Really, you don't need to call every single pitch but most of them. ,You might think that Gladden has missed an out, but it could be that you maybe weren't listening at the time and missed something. The only time where I can see this happening is when they've some guest in the booth which I'm not a big fan of unless it's a former player. As for dead air, that can be a good thing in a baseball game. Gives you an idea of what the ball park sounds like. And the most important thing of all, Dan Gladden's commentary represents the Twins way. He will criticize when a play's not done fundamentally sound.

With all due respect, this is what I am talking about.The select few that do not hate Gladden provide excuses for him: It's my fault for not listening, he is learning the ropes and is getting better, people like Minnesota bumpkinism...

I really wouldn't have a problem if he stuck to the color, but when he does PBP I have to turn the radio off. He has not improved in this area in all the time he has been here, yet they give him 3+ innings per game. It's a travesty.