The Dazzle Man... Not So Dazzling Tonight

[glanzer]

I caught the top of the 7th inning on the radio tonight in the car and my wife and I were both left yelling at Dan Gladden. I love the guy, but he kills me sometimes with his lack of description. The way he handled play-by-play duties were as if he and I were sitting next to each other at the game and he just reacted to things he saw.

 

When Jason Kubel pinch-hit, Gladden said something to the effect of this... "And here's a little pop-up, Braun comes in, Gennett goes out and lunges for it. Wow. And Gomez just standing there with his arms crossed. Braun just gave up on that ball!"

 

What happened? Did Gennett end up catching the ball? Is Kubel on first? How was Gomez involved at all? We never found out! He literally never came back around to tell us what happened! Only after I got home and looked at MLB Gameday did I find out Kubel's pop out was caught by Gennett.

 

Next batter was Danny Santana, and again Gladden very lazily made the call. "A wicked short-hop liner here off the bat of Santana, wow. Hit that ball on the screws, to the right of second base. Watch out. And here comes Dozier to bat."

 

At this point I'm wondering what happened to Santana. Is he out? Did Gennett throw him out at first, or was Kubel on first and forced at second? Did anyone get out? Was it a hit?

 

I get it, Dazzle is a color guy thrown into a few innings of play-by-play to spare Provus or Atteberry, but dude... give me something! I'm not asking for a John Gordon scorecard reading of 4-3 on the putout, but a simple "hit" or "out" would suffice! Only after Dozier walked and then Mauer was retired did we find out how many outs there even were in the inning.

 

I've been listening to games for over 20 years and that was the single worst inning of announcing I can recall.

[stringer bell]

That wasn't all. He had Reynolds struck out on strike two in the bottom of the inning. Every outfielder "puts it away", no description at all of exactly what type of catch is made. Also, some "jam shots" go 350 feet and others don't make it out of the infield.

[howeda7]

He's brutal. This sounds like an average game. Even Provous was bad tonight. I caught the 5th inning and he had Uecker in the booth. They couldn't be interrupted from reminiscing to bother with any play-by-play except Dozier's HR.

 

Herb Carneal and John Gordon both slipped in their final years behind the mike. But they're miles better than what we have now. Truthfully I don't mind Provous normally, but insisting on Gladden doing play-by-play for 3-4 innings ruins it.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I'm a Gladden guy but he sometimes gets so wrapped up in being "Gladden the action hero" that he forgets to do play by play during his innings. Very hard to stomach. Add to that Uecker tonight, who is his own legend and is himself terrible at play by play, and you got the makings of a disaster. Kind of glad I didn't hear it.

 

Like just about everyone else in this org, Gladden needs a "come to Jesus or else" talking to , from someone.

[LaBombo]

He's brutal. This sounds like an average game. Even Provous was bad tonight. I caught the 5th inning and he had Uecker in the booth. They couldn't be interrupted from reminiscing to bother with any play-by-play except Dozier's HR.

 

Herb Carneal and John Gordon both slipped in their final years behind the mike. But they're miles better than what we have now. Truthfully I don't mind Provous normally, but insisting on Gladden doing play-by-play for 3-4 innings ruins it.

 

Extra guy in the video booth usually turns out to be somebody whose input is like someone mumbling out random numbers while you're preparing a tax return. Extra guy in the radio booth is like a passenger screaming at you while you're driving.

 

Anyway, Gladden is a likeable dual championship Twin, which puts him in elite company. There is no other reason why his ramblings about the Twins are broadcast, let alone bought and sold.

[Marta Shearing]

Agreed Gladden drives me crazy. I think he intentionally does it. He wants listeners to figure things out on their own. He routinely leaves me frustrated.

[TheLeviathan]

"Tonight" in this thread title should get replaced with "Always." His play by play is an insult to radio baseball broadcasting.

[LaBombo]

Once drove nearly 30 miles without Gladden mentioning the score. And no, wasn't doing 200 mph.

[D. Hocking]

Once drove nearly 30 miles without Gladden mentioning the score. And no, wasn't doing 200 mph.

 

I think he has gotten a little better with that - but that has driven me crazy when I have turned the game on after it has started-- commercial breaks have come and gone -- innings have ended and started and no score given... I have driven all the way home without any idea of what the score is.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

The next time I have the time to do it, I'm going to try to do a "literal" scorecard based on the radio play-by-play. I think it will look hilarious. I'll scan and post the results.

[woolywoolhouse]

Last year 96.3 K-TWIN started posting the inning, score, and a few details ("Two On, Two Out") via the car's radio dial screen. This year it hasn't been that detailed, as it usually just says the inning and a reminder of which two teams are playing. I'm not saying that has everything or even anything to do with the lack of score-updating... but maybe it's a tiny piece?

[Otto von Ballpark]

Also, some "jam shots" go 350 feet and others don't make it out of the infield.

 

This makes an awesome drinking game. Particularly if you call the drink a "jam shot". Just don't make it very strong or you will die of alcohol poisoning after just an inning or two.

[nicksaviking]

Gladden isn't the best but I think he has improved over the last couple of years. Though there are still some brutal moments. Too many brutal moments I suppose.

 

What gets me is how much Provous gets out of his way. He's supposed to be the pro and I swear there are ten minute stretches when he is supposedly in the booth where he doesn't say a word. The color/play-by-play dynamic is severely blurred here sometimes.

[boney]

I don't want to take this off track, but man I miss sitting on the lake at dusk and listening to Herb Carneal call a game, and Ray Christensen calling Gopher sports as well while I'm at it. I even miss little moments of down time where you were allowed to hear the buzz of the crowd in the background.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

This makes an awesome drinking game. Particularly if you call the drink a "jam shot". Just don't make it very strong or you will die of alcohol poisoning after just an inning or two.

 

something like this?

http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/jam-cocktail-recipes/

[huhguy]

Once drove nearly 30 miles without Gladden mentioning the score. And no, wasn't doing 200 mph.

 

I can not understand why Chris wasnt chosen instead of Corey Provus..but Gladden might as well be broacasting a garden growing...

Who else cringes when Provus proclaims with TWINS GREAT Dan Gladden?

[TheLeviathan]

I can not understand why Chris wasnt chosen instead of Corey Provus..but Gladden might as well be broacasting a garden growing...

Who else cringes when Provus proclaims with TWINS GREAT Dan Gladden?

 

I don't cringe at that nearly as hard as when I hear: "And now for the play by play....the Dazzle Man Dan Gladden!"

[Brock Beauchamp]

Maybe it's just me but I don't mind Provus.

 

Then again, my expectations for announcers are pretty low. I consider most to be pretty bad at their jobs, excepting the greats like Scully.

[cmathewson]

I like him as a color guy, but why do they insist on using him for play-by-play? He was bad at it from the get go. And he learned from a guy who never let the game get in the way of a good story (Gordon). When they were both in the booth, it was like listening to two guys at a bar who happened to have the game on in the background, but the topic was their golf games or their motorcycle outings or whatever. About half the time, they mentioned the game, but rarely the count, the score, number of outs, or who was batting. And Gordon was wrong about those facts as often as he was right.

 

Provus has been a godsend, keeping Danny on track and filling in the gaps where he can. But the reason they have Gladden doing play-by-play is to give Provus a break. Why not have Provus and Attebarry trade off on play-by-play and keep Gladden to color? I suppose it's a travel thing. They'd rather have Chris in the producer's chair back home. Three-person teams are pretty rare. I just wish Gladden took the play-by-play job more seriously, recognizing that people need the basics (count, score, outs, etc.) to track games while doing other things (driving, puttering in the garage, etc.).

[TheLeviathan]

Maybe it's just me but I don't mind Provus.

 

Then again, my expectations for announcers are pretty low. I consider most to be pretty bad at their jobs, excepting the greats like Scully.

 

Provus is great. The problem is the frequency at which he is relieved by Gladden's god awful attempt at PBP.

[zenser]

Maybe it's just me but I don't mind Provus.

 

Then again, my expectations for announcers are pretty low. I consider most to be pretty bad at their jobs, excepting the greats like Scully.

 

I agree with you on this. Provus does a nice job. I think he describes the action much like Pat Hughes does from the Cubs. That does make sense since Provus did work with the Cubs.

 

If you think Gladden is bad, try listening to a Braves game and listen to Mark Lemke mumble (which I am currently doing).

[ScottyB]

I have to admit, I rarely listen on the radio any more. I was driving home from work during the Kubel at-bat and had the exact same reaction as Glanzer. In fact, I had to wait until I saw the box score to figure out what happened because I got home before the end of the inning.

 

I've never been a big Provus guy, I still wish they had signed Ryan Lefevre. He was more in the mold of Herb. Gladden is not a play-by-play guy, and not much of a color guy either. I'm hoping that when Cuddy retires he takes over for Bert on TV. I know he wants to be in the booth. I think Smalley has done a decent job. TK is interesting on his insight, but his voice will put you to sleep. There have to be other options out there. Let's get them back on WCCO and have Chad Hartman do the play-by-play and find a decent color guy instead of Gladden, like bring back Kitty.

[tharasix]

I listen to the radio broadcasts a lot, and I like them both. I know what to expect, and that keeps it from getting on my nerves. Provus is quite good a PBP, and Gladden is Gladden. The big plays will be described enough to know what happened. I don't need to know if the outfield catch was at the knees or over his head. Hell, it's not hard to infer a lot of the things Gladden misses.

 

Also, I have no idea why people had an issue with Uecker in the booth. He would frequently pause to let Provus throw in a quick PBP update, and the conversations were entertaining. Hell of a lot better than having somebody who barely knows what a microphone is talking about breast cancer awareness or whatever.

 

I don't know. I don't get the rage. Maybe I'm just not Internetting right today.

[scottz]

I heard the plays described in the OP, too. It was pretty awful, but no where near the worst play-by-play call I have heard from Gladden (who I don't mind as a color guy). The worst came (I think) last year when something like this happened...obviously paraphrased:

 

"And there goes the runner, the throw to second base, and...he's into short left field. He's going to come all the way around to score."

[ScottyB]

I don't need to know if the outfield catch was at the knees or over his head.

 

I didn't need to know if the catch was at the knees or over the head, but it would have been nice to know that the catch was made. A simple - "Well, that's one down", could have clarified that.

[Twins33]

Provus is great. The problem is the frequency at which he is relieved by Gladden's god awful attempt at PBP.

Yeah, I hate when they switch. I don't listen to the radio very often because I'm usually watching it on tv but Provus is a nice addition and Gladden is still...Gladden unfortunately.

[ashbury]

Different sport, but I always loved Ray Christensen when he did Gophers football on radio. I remember one play from scrimmage deep in their own territory, where there was a handoff to the running back who was making a good gain, and about 10 or 15 yards into the play Ray threw in "no flags, he's at the...". I thought "no flags?" Then I realized, "NO FLAGS!" The runner had broken away and saw nothing but daylight, and Ray got that across so efficiently since so often a play like that gets called back.

[DJL44]

Worst color guy ever - Ron Santo. Don't know if he could even see at the end and there was frequent dead air like he was confused by what happened.

 

Ted Robinson filling in a couple years back was absolutely fantastic.

[zenser]

It was a few years ago on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN radio, Patrick and Ron Dibble were playing Harry Carey clips. This was absolutely hilarious. The clip that sticks out in my mind is when, during game action, Harry was trying to spell and pronounce a name backwards. It was a Latin American player. Just listening to him was hilarious. During his spelling and attempted pronunciation, you could here the crowd cheer. Finally there was a break in Harry's dialog and the color guy (Steve Stone possibly?) piped in and filled the audience in. He quickly announced that there was a strike out, a walk, and the cheering was a two run homer.

[golfboy1]

Once drove nearly 30 miles without Gladden mentioning the score. And no, wasn't doing 200 mph.

 

I try very hard to not have to listen to Gladden but that was my #1 pet peeve. You could get into the car & have no idea who was winning for a very long time.

 

Another was he missed a fair share of pitches. The count could be 1-0 & the next time he mentions anything is "swing & a miss for strike 3."

 

Gladden likes to tell you what he did last night more than game information. Herb Carneal was the best but Gordon was pretty good also.