Why does everybody hate FOX MLB coverage?

Question

FOX loves the Red Sux. Not the Yankees.

Answer 1

2 words - Joe Buck

Answer 2

Fox does a better job with baseball than CBS did because Fox was committed to baseball. CBS would do a couple of games, then a golf tournament and you wouldn't see them again until late June.

Personally, I like Joe Buck and I thought his dad and Skip Caray's dad Harry could walk on water. It's some of the other announcers that I can take or leave. And before you even consider bustiing Tim McCarver, it helps to have someone that played the game. It's called insight.

Answer 3

Announcers are distracted and distracting, never shut up, and simply do not enhance the game-viewing experience.

Laser-blast sound FX for EVERYTHING.

Dismal shot selection. Producers are incompetent.

EXTREME CLOSEUPS for every player (except Ezequiel Astacio). Really, we don't need to count their whiskers. (And why do this? Fox doesn't know how to cover a game as an ongoing event, so it tries to make it emotional for the viewers by giving these insane closeups; lookit the sweat, the grit, the determination -- feh. Reducing events to idiotic, emotional drool is how Fox treats everything. Baseball does not need this. The game, the player performances, are more than enough, though Fox never shows this except by mistake.)

Too many commercials jammed in.

Worthless cutaways of minor celebrities in the stands (invariably "starring in a new Fox show, this fall!").

Fox does nothing but DISservice to the games it broadcasts.

The obsession with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Mets doesn't help matters, but at least that is a purely tv-ratings driven policy, and so, perfectly understandable for Fox, which ultimately cares about nothing BUT ratings (and concomitant ad rates == money).

Answer 4

Tim McCarver is a blow-hard... and often wrong. He'll take a position and if he turns out to be wrong, you'll never hear about it. If he turns out to be right, you'll hear about it for the rest of the game. Why does he need to boost his ego on national TV?

You remember a few years ago when the Angels dismantled the Yanks in the playoffs? In game 1 Jeter reached down and golfed a low pitch for a home run. Tim was saying stuff like "He raises his game in the post season.. He's got a tremendous eye. blah blah blah."

When the Angels came up to bat, Benji Molina did the same thing. Tim described it as "Off balance. Lucky he didn't fall over. Did he even have his eyes open?" It was absurd.

Answer 5

I just don't like the fact that Fox is sooooo biased toward the Yanks. It sickens me that, even if the Yanks aren't even playing in the televised game, they'll start spouting off stuff about the Yanks that has nothing to do with the game.

Why are people saying they hate Joe Buck...It's Tim McCarver you should hate. McCarver has never added to any broadcast commentary besides repeating something that's already been said or just plain stating the painfully obvious facts. I can't wait til he says something racist so Fox has to kick him off the air for good.

Answer 6

It is actually pretty good. CBS was worse. There isn't a channel that could do better. For those of you that weren't alive from 1990-1993, CBS was much worse than Fox. Most people hate Fox because of McCarver. However, they forget that McCarver did announcing for CBS, and ABC. CBS was worse because CBS would broadcast baseball games every other week or even two weeks. CBS covered baseball games less than Fox. CBS even showed an episode of Rescue 911 while the 1990 All-Star Game was on a rain delay. Marv Albert once said about CBS, "You wouldn't watch it for a month, then you wouldn't know it was on." Mike Lupica said that "It was the Vietnam of sports television." That was referring to MLB on CBS. Someone else said, "The announcers need to have a reunion before the telecast." Fox isn't nearly as bad as CBS. Trust me.

Answer 7

Most baseball fans have a rather immature idea that if the announcer isn't openly cheering for their team that they are bad. Buck is mediocre, not bad, and the coverage in general is rather objective. The Yankees are big business and even Cub fans can't shut up about them (everyone compares themselves to them) so can you blame Fox for covering them? Do you know that news ratings go up when Paris Spears or Britney Hilton are covered? God almighty, reading Yahoo.answers on baseball is like listening to an ex-wife!! It's b***h b***h b***h or it's gossip this gossip that. If you don't like 'em, don't listen. Let's talk baseball.

Answer 8

I think it is hero worship of the Yankees and inept broadcasters. Most of them are such a snore and just tell stories of what they did when they played. Hate, however, is not the word I would use. Ignore is better. I watch the game on TV and listen to the commentary on the radio with the TV muted.

Answer 9

Two things: Kevin Kennedy and Eric Byrnes

Answer 10

Buck, McCarver and top heavy special effects.