Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account
  • entries
    15
  • comments
    51
  • views
    29,214

Follow up rant to the 'insanity' thread

Hosken Bombo Disco

Entry posted by Hosken Bombo Disco ·

2,279 views

 Share

Twins Video

In the spirit of putting stream-of-conscious rants in the blogs section, where nobody will ever see them or have to look at them, I submit this frustrated piece of work in response to the insanity thread poster Shane Wahl started. You have been warned!

 

Another angle I come at this insanity from is the public messaging; in other words, the people who cover this team for the public.

 

Let's start with the television guys, the guys with the most reach.

 

I didn't see any of the broadcasts Jack Morris worked this spring when Dozier was slumping, but reading through the game threads you get the impression Morris's criticism of Dozier was bordering on abuse. Not sure what the purpose of it was. Then you have Dick in the other chair praising whatever the front office does. Yes, Dick, Robbie Grossman was a nice waiver wire find. But Fangraphs also has him ranked 87 out of 88 in UZR150 for outfielders with 550 innings, so maybe Cleveland isn't pulling hair and gnashing teeth about losing him, after all.

 

Another example. On the radio, after each game, the producers and broadcasters (usually Kris Atteberry and Dan Gladden) rehash the biggest moments of the game, conversation style. It's entertaining and smart.

 

Last night, however, the big play was Polanco's sac fly in the fifth, when Buxton scored but Dozier was thrown out trying to advance to third base. Hey wait a minute: Dozier didn't even make the first or third out of the inning! But according to Atteberry, that was the turning point of the game somehow.

 

I like Atteberry and it's obvious he's an extremely hard worker and good at his job but he is way off base much of the time. There were two other plays last night--occuring later in the game-- that had a higher impact on the win expectancy than Dozier being thrown out at third. The liner Schafer misjudged in the sixth (didn't see it) that would have been the third out was the difference maker by far, and the low throw behind the runner by Wimmers after the sac bunt that Plouffe should have caught but didn't. That was in the eight and it was a one run game. It was a tough play but very makeable and I feel like Mauer with his experience, stretches forward to make that catch. (I could be wrong and welcome input from experienced first baseman who have read this far.) However, the camera did show Molitor glaring out to first base at the conclusion of the play. Atteberry didn't even mention that play in the post game.

 

I also detect a very strong pro-Plouffe bias in Atteberry, which I don't really care for, and practically all the broadcasters and journalists on all broadcast outlets pin as much blame to Rosario whenever possible, which I also don't care for. I'd go to war with Rosario. There's a lot of energy there that will contribute to a championship if harnessed correctly. Of course, I also said that about Arcia once.

 

Then there's LaVelle. Enough said. One of the first things I would do as a GM/POBO is suspend his press privileges. I am also worried about Phil Miller slipping to the dark side. Please don't!

 

The last thing this front office needs is for their broadcasters and journalists to keep telling them how smart and right they are about everything. I assume that's what's happening. That's how it looks from the outside. I assume it began as a benign effort to keep everyone cheered up, but has evolved, or devolved, into a performance art. "How well can we spin this poor turn of events" has become the name of the game. Fun for a while, and anyone who has worked politically will recognize it, but it's no way to go through life, year after year.

 

And you never hear anything in the media, from anyone, ever, about how or why Danny Santana plays full time, or about all the base running blunders he regularly makes.

 

Think about how the fans turn against this team's best players. At least that's what I'm seeing. Think about "bilateral leg weakness" and how many people in this market genuinely dislike Mauer. Think about the dislike for Gardy (I plead guilty). It would have been better for everyone and a really obvious, non-controversial move to part ways with Gardenhire after 2013, but they let him linger on. Then you had Morris attacking Dozier earlier in the season, causing many fans to become enraged by Dozier's long slumps. And now, the weight jokes about Sano are of course great sport for the LaVelle and Reusse types--black pots and kettles if there ever were any. The work ethic and weight gain whispering campaign against Sano in the media has taken the desired effect, and many fans have now taken the sport up themselves. Or maybe this is how the media and the fans are. I just don't know.

 

I don't get it. I don't get any of it.

 

Rant over.

 

I agree completely--it's insanity!

 Share

8 Comments

Recommended Comments

Platoon

I put out one of my usual thoughtful and concise spot on posts, and it disappeared into thin air. Bottom line, I agree. Is the announcing crew, parroting the coaching staff, i.e. Rosario. Plouffe completely blew that catch at 1B, most high school kids catch that because they don't stretch too early. He goes unmentioned. There are more examples, but anyway, there seems a correlation between the media comments, and the pronouncements from the coaching staff.

Link to comment
Rosterman

Well, part of your broadcasters job is to try and spin the game in favor of the organization. You do want people to come out and support the game. That said, making a star from the the other team the player of the game afterwards is not what I tune into the game to watch.

 

It's the press, or the press that have "columnist" credentials that can be a bit bitter and take a bite out of things. Often it is just to get readership to the thing you write (as a columnist, you are a personality now). 

 

For for the beat guys, and in some ways even the staff broadcasters, taking subjects like "Plouffe and his future with the team, pros and cons" would be a nice article for the nite, or"Schafer the journeyman and what it means to the Twins future" or "Meyer is doing good for the Angels, reflections by coaches in the minors on how he got there."

 

Even here in Twins Daily land, we want tohe Twins to succeed, we want people to not forget about them (which can happen as the frustrations grow) and we often pepper our downright damnation with a bit of fluff and searching for that one good spot (Dozier showed up at the Stadium swinging a bat...something will happen).

Link to comment
jokin
In the spirit of putting stream-of-conscious rants in the blogs section, where nobody will ever see them or have to look at them, I submit this frustrated piece of work in response to the insanity threadposter Shane Wahl started.

 

 

Nice Part Deux to Shane's Part One opus.

 

It's unfortunate that such good and impassioned writing and interesting subject matter has been relegated to blogger purgatory where virtually nobody gets the chance to read it.

Link to comment
Squirrel
Nice Part Deux to Shane's Part One opus.

 

It's unfortunate that such good and impassioned writing and interesting subject matter has been relegated to blogger purgatory where virtually nobody gets the chance to read it.

 

Really, 370 views is nobody?

 

So, based on what you said, you want to rant all over everything for the sole purpose of being seen by the most number of people?

 

Lots of people do read the blogs. They might not comment as much but they do read them.

Link to comment
Hosken Bombo Disco
Nice Part Deux to Shane's Part One opus.

 

It's unfortunate that such good and impassioned writing and interesting subject matter has been relegated to blogger purgatory where virtually nobody gets the chance to read it.

Thanks jokin! I'm guessing a lot of the clicks are from people who already commented on a thread. After commenting on another person's blog, I have clicked there dozens of times afterward just to keep up with the discussion. (Maybe not dozens but a lot.)

 

I was posting the above in the forum thread but it started to feel and look like complaining, so I took ChiTowns advice and moved it to a blog--and made it longer :)

Link to comment
Squirrel

 

Thanks jokin! I'm guessing a lot of the clicks are from people who already commented on a thread. After commenting on another person's blog, I have clicked there dozens of times afterward just to keep up with the discussion. (Maybe not dozens but a lot.) I was posting the above in the forum thread but it started to feel and look like complaining, so I took ChiTowns advice and moved it to a blog--and made it longer :)

Actually, no ... the page views don't change when you click into an article to check for new comments. It changes when there is new content to view. I can come back to check this blog several times, and the view only changes if there is a new comment to see. So ... while it now says 415 views, you still have a lot more views than what you are claiming.

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
×
  • Create New...