Thursday, October 30, 2014

I SHOULD HAVE WATCHED MORE OF THE SERIES

I didn't realize all the best performances that happened in the series. I listened to Harold Reynolds, Tom Verducci and the irrepressible Joe Buck talk about the great performances we were watching. Harold Reynolds said, in describing Madison Bumgarner success, "We have never seen anything like this before."   And we haven't. I mean, imagine throwing three shutouts in one world series...no, wait, that was Christy Mathewson. Well, "That was in the 'dead ball' era."  True, they didn't have hitters like they do today. Well, except for Ty Cobb.  Bumgarner did have 2 wins and a save. That's never been done before... except in 1958 when Bob Turley did it in the last three games of that series. How about Lew Burdette notching three wins in one series. He pitched 27 innings and gave up a total of 2 runs.
Pablo Sandoval had a marvelous series -12 hits, a .429 average and was a vacuum cleaner at third. A great performance, but not the best ever. 3 other players had 13 hits and two players had .500 averages in a 7-game series.

My point is this: These two guys were terrific in the series, but they weren't the best performances ever, and to say that diminishes the feats of others. Annie-O says they were just trying to build interest in the games and were just doing their jobs. Maybe so, but it's insulting to those who know  - and watched - better performances in the past to have those feats ignored by their zeal in praising Bumgarner and Sandoval.

But, it's the Fox Network, so what do you expect? A newspaperman once said, "Why let the facts get in the way of a good story?"

In a related story, while Joe Buck and cohorts were shooting themselves in the foot with their excessive praises, Jose Canseco was shooting himself in the finger. Couldn't even get the "foot" thing right, eh, Jose?

***THEY SAID IT***
"Federal agents raided a lingerie shop in Kansas City that was selling unlicensed Kansas City Royals underwear."Throw out your contraband teddies and garter belts, and come out with your hands in the air."  -- Brad Dickson
" The NBA season started Tuesday night. The Philadelphia 76ers will be eliminated from playoff contention tomorrow."  -- Janice Hough
"Two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash is out for the season with nerve damage. It’s a shame the Lakers couldn’t sign Carmelo Anthony; I hear he’s got a lot of nerve."  -- RJ Currie
"In the movie ‘Ouija,’ they use the board to contact the dead. In the opening scene, they’re talking to the Jets."  -- David Letterman
"Beleaguered Florida football coach Will Muschamp is saying he’s adopting a bunker mentality: “Which one, Archie or Edith?”  -- Bill Littlejohn
"Titans running back Shonn Green has been charged with resisting stop/halt/frisk, suspended license, reckless driving and illegal parking after police in Franklin, Tenn., say he tried to avoid a ticket for parking in a handicapped space. In keeping with the theme, police replaced the Miranda rights with a two-minute warning."  -- Dwight Perry
"After scoring 82 points against Texas Tech, TCU ran out of celebratory fireworks. "Take a knee. We're out of bottle rockets. We can't score any more points."  -- Brad Dickson
"Harold Reynolds last night during the World Series telecast called Bud Selig “the greatest (MLB) commissioner of all time.” Hard to imagine but someone did it. Proved they could be worse about baseball than Joe Buck,"  -- Janice Hough
"At the WTA Finals, Eugenie Bouchard lost in straight sets to Ana Ivanovic. Roughly 2,000 people attended the Bouchard-Ivanovic match — 8,000 if you include photographers."  -- RJ Currie

CP-














 

No comments: