Tiger's color commentators

[BBFCFM]

Why do the Tiger's have multiple color commentators?

[gehringer_2]

11 minutes ago, BBFCFM said:

Why do the Tiger's have multiple color commentators?

None of them are good enough to commit to full-time? 

Plus in Gibson's case he may not be up to working every game.

[BBFCFM]

Just now, gehringer_2 said:

None of them are good enough to commit to full-time? 

Plus in Gibson's case he may not be up to working every game.

I get it with Gibby.  But it is just so strange to me that they have a rotation.  Just bizarre.  I have been away from the game for many, many years.  I miss Mario and Rod.  And of course Dan and Jim.  

[gehringer_2]

11 minutes ago, BBFCFM said:

I get it with Gibby.  But it is just so strange to me that they have a rotation.  Just bizarre.  I have been away from the game for many, many years.  I miss Mario and Rod.  And of course Dan and Jim.  

IIRC, whenMorris started out with the Tigs he only did selected games because he was still doubling on the Twins broadcasts as well. I don't think he's still with them, but maybe he doesn't want to work them all.

[BBFCFM]

4 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

IIRC, whenMorris started out with the Tigs he only did selected games because he was still doubling on the Twins broadcasts as well. I don't think he's still with them, but maybe he doesn't want to work them all.

He was doing Tigers and Twins games in the same season?  Weird.  

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

IIRC, whenMorris started out with the Tigs he only did selected games because he was still doubling on the Twins broadcasts as well. I don't think he's still with them, but maybe he doesn't want to work them all.

How about he doesn't work any of them.  

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, BBFCFM said:

I get it with Gibby.  But it is just so strange to me that they have a rotation.  Just bizarre.  I have been away from the game for many, many years.  I miss Mario and Rod.  And of course Dan and Jim.  

I didn't care for Impemba and Allen, but they were better than what they have now.  It's amazing that Dickeron is so good, the best in the game I think, and nobody else with the Tigers is even close.  

[gehringer_2]

Just now, Tiger337 said:

I didn't care for Impemba and Allen, but they were better than what they have now.  It's amazing that Dickeron is so good, the best in the game I think, and nobody else with the Tigers is even close.  

It's because they aren't trying. They have a mindset that they don't really care about professionalism or production values, they want a 'homey' telecast where the viewers feel like they 'know' everybody. So "it's a feature, not a bug" applies I think.

I think that Shepherd has improved some. He is still waay too much a homer and too smarmy by a ton, but he is bringing in his own comments now without trying to bounce every single idea off his ex-pro idol. His research on the other team is also getting a little better, though still hardly great.

[BBFCFM]

I miss Kaline, Kell and Harwell.  

Edited May 6, 2022 by BBFCFM

[Useful Idiot]

It's kinda corny I'll admit, but I actually find the segments where Dan Petry demonstrates pitching grips to be entertaining.

 

I respect Kirk Gibson, but he seems to get lost in the details. So I try to be forgiving.

Morris reaches WAYYY too far to find something positive to say about garbage.

C-Moe is C-Moe....tolerable except when he gets giggly

 

Don't miss Mario or Rod one bit. Mario was a ham, and Rod was neurotic.

[Biff Mayhem]

Mario was a professional and extremely milquetoast. I was proud of him that he finally had enough of Rod and had the balls to expose him. It's too bad he lost his job because of it.

Rod was a clown who rode the coattails of his two weeks on the Tigers in 1984 and the color of his skin on the tail of the Garner hiring fallout from MLB.

[casimir]

12 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Mario was a professional and extremely milquetoast. I was proud of him that he finally had enough of Rod and had the balls to expose him. It's too bad he lost his job because of it.

Rod was a clown who rode the coattails of his two weeks on the Tigers in 1984 and the color of his skin on the tail of the Garner hiring fallout from MLB.

Exposed by a special chair?

[mtutiger]

Mentioned this in the broadcast yesterday, but comparing other broadcast teams to ours, it's always night and day.

The Astros broadcast, when there is dead air, generally settles on baseball talk (I watch a decent amount of other team broadcasts and find this to be the case as well)... they had a nice discussion at one point about how runs are down across the league and how, for the first time since 2014, no team is averaging more than 5 runs per game at this point. Interesting, didn't know that! With the Tigers team, regardless of which color commentator, you get talk about their golf games and stuff like that.

On an individual level, you can tell Shepard is trying to get better, he's somewhat more insightful than in past years. But the broadcast team will always be flawed or poorly ranked against their peers without a more settled situation with the color commentator.

In regards to how to handle the color commentator situation, Petry and Monroe seem like their best options. Petry is actually fairly good at the job, seems to be more restrained to chime in when he has insight etc. Monroe's also knows the game well and the excitement, despite being annoying when the Tigers are playing like they currently are, can be an asset to the broadcast.

Regarding others, Jack has wore me out at this point... talks too much and always pivots back to the good old days. I do like Gibby more, but obviously there's other issues at play there.

Edited May 6, 2022 by mtutiger

[mtutiger]

20 minutes ago, Biff Mayhem said:

Mario was a professional and extremely milquetoast. I was proud of him that he finally had enough of Rod and had the balls to expose him. It's too bad he lost his job because of it.

Rod was a clown who rode the coattails of his two weeks on the Tigers in 1984 and the color of his skin on the tail of the Garner hiring fallout from MLB.

It won't happen, but Mario coming back would be a plus.

[Biff Mayhem]

Just now, mtutiger said:

It won't happen, but Mario coming back would be a plus.

I actually was going to add that we will see Mario back in a couple of years if not sooner. People have short term memories and there will be the short term "I miss Rod" from the casual fans but if they can bring in the right 2nd person, they'll quickly become acclimated.

[Sports_Freak]

8 hours ago, Useful Idiot said:

It's kinda corny I'll admit, but I actually find the segments where Dan Petry demonstrates pitching grips to be entertaining.

 

I respect Kirk Gibson, but he seems to get lost in the details. So I try to be forgiving.

Morris reaches WAYYY too far to find something positive to say about garbage.

C-Moe is C-Moe....tolerable except when he gets giggly

 

Don't miss Mario or Rod one bit. Mario was a ham, and Rod was neurotic.

I can't listen to Monroe. The guy reminds me of Don Cherry.

Petry and Morris talk nonsense over the action on the field. Who cares what Wade Boggs said to Jack in 1983 while the Tigers are currently in the middle of a play? Morris makes it all about him. Petry is fine as long as he allows plays to be called as they happen.

At least Rod and Mario called the action as it happened. They were fine for TV, IMO. All these other guys sound like they're just filling in for a few days. Totally unprofessional. 

[Edman85]

A lot of teams are now going with rotations of analysts... In the Tigers' case it makes sense.

Gibby can't commit full-time for health reasons. Price is over 80, has fought his own health problems, and has an adult special needs son... home only makes sense for him. It seems like Austin Jackson works a select few games when they are in Texas?

Petry is the best of the bunch, and I am glad he is getting more and more run.

[Edman85]

What drives me nuts is I have heard interviews with both Len Kasper and Joe Davis saying they grew up Tigers fans and were inspired by Ernie Harwell.

 

And I've decided on what makes Shep so bad is that his lack of knowledge of baseball is exposed in numerous ways. The production truck feeds him a fact that he treats as the most remarkable thing in the world, that any semblance of baseball knowledge would have added some calm.  Case in point, last night: "Austin Meadows and Robbie Grossman can both play left and right field!!!!" That kinda thing is common, you don't need to shout that from the rooftops.

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Petry is actually fairly good at the job, seems to be more restrained to chime in when he has insight etc.

Dan is the best of '84 team lot but he could be a lot better pretty easily. The thing that holds Dan back is a little work on his verbal tics, which isn't even that hard to overcome for most people. Just ditch the 'you knows' and he'd be more than 1/2 way home.

The other thing to consider is that Gibson, Morris and probably even Petry ($6M career earnings) don't need the job. 81 games on the road is a grind and none of this current group may even want to do it full time - and of course as noted Gibson probably can't.

Edited May 6, 2022 by gehringer_2

[gehringer_2]

9 minutes ago, Edman85 said:

And I've decided on what makes Shep so bad is that his lack of knowledge of baseball is exposed in numerous ways.

Very possibly, but I'm not sure whether it's only that or that he still too paranoid about showing up the guy next to him. On the few occasions when I've heard Shep work without an ex-player he suddenly seems to know more. But regardless of why, between that and being too much of a booster about the home team's talent he could certainly be a lot better. 

We also need to accept that there may be a conscious decision to keep the telecast to lowest common denominator baseball tech. 

Edited May 6, 2022 by gehringer_2

[mtutiger]

29 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Very possibly, but I'm not sure whether it's only that or that he still too paranoid about showing up the guy next to him. On the few occasions when I've heard Shep work without an ex-player he suddenly seems to know more. But regardless of why, between that and being too much of a booster about the home team's talent he could certainly be a lot better. 

The caveat being that DD makes everyone around him sound better, but the game that DD/Shep did during the Spring Training was probably the most I've enjoyed a broadcast involving Shep.

Edited May 6, 2022 by mtutiger

[Dave Christian]

It's got to be hard to be an announcer for one of the worst teams in MLB.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear, but they do the best that they can.

[RandyMarsh]

I wouldn't mind Alex Chief Avila to take over next year. From the small sample I saw of him on MLB Network I liked him, plus it would be nice to get a younger guy who was part of the most recent good Tigers team instead of all these old timers. 

[lordstanley]

4 hours ago, mtutiger said:

Mentioned this in the broadcast yesterday, but comparing other broadcast teams to ours, it's always night and day.

The Astros broadcast, when there is dead air, generally settles on baseball talk (I watch a decent amount of other team broadcasts and find this to be the case as well)... they had a nice discussion at one point about how runs are down across the league and how, for the first time since 2014, no team is averaging more than 5 runs per game at this point. Interesting, didn't know that! With the Tigers team, regardless of which color commentator, you get talk about their golf games and stuff like that.

On an individual level, you can tell Shepard is trying to get better, he's somewhat more insightful than in past years.

And here's a great example of the Dodgers broadcasters telling a neat Miggy story. The Tigers announcers in the next booth were probably goofing off at the time.

 

 

 

[lordstanley]

Jim Price is sounding especially weak this year too.  I think it is time for him to go. He is 80 years old, give him a nice send off.