the players, and fans like me, hate their announcers.
the chicago sun-times yesterday ran a little timeline of the drama on the northside
Here is a rundown of the feud between the Cubs and their television announcing team of Chip Caray and Steve Stone:
July 22: After a 13-2 win over Cincinnati, Moises Alou said Caray and Stone overemphasized the value of the team’s pitchers at the expense of the hitters. ”Sometimes it gets kind of old,” Alou said. ”This team is so much pitching-oriented that sometimes it [ticks] you off. What about the rest of the game? They don’t give the offense any credit.” Stone responded: ”I don’t know how much TV Moises watches during the game. But if he is watching during games, I assume that’s not a good thing. We talk about hitters and their statistics every time they come to bat. We do happen to have superlative pitching. I don’t know if he’s noticed that.”
July 23: Stone, who admitted he has been negative on occasion, elaborated: ”I have said some things that haven’t gone well. On the other side of the coin, I have been exceptionally positive. I have had one player — Joe Borowski — come up to me and say, ‘I really appreciate what you said in some very trying times.’ I said, ‘Well, thanks.’ I have had just one — knowing that I say about 90 to 95 percent really good things about players, manager and staff.” Stone then said he hadn’t talked to Alou about the matter. ”I don’t think it’s my place to do that. The team should be in pursuit of one goal. Anything that diverts from that is not in the best interests of the team, and it surprises me.” Dusty Baker seemed to side with his players: ”Sometimes you can get annoyed by what the announcers say. You’re not worried about it, but you’re annoyed by it. We all think we’re on the same side.”
Aug. 27: During a contentious game against the Astros, Kent Mercker (right) called the press box to complain that Stone had been too flattering about Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt. ”I said on the air that Oswalt had done a good job for eight innings in 85-degree heat, which he did,” Stone said. “[Mercker] disagreed is all. It was just a difference of opinion. Everything is fine with us.”
Aug. 29: Baker weighed in indirectly with his perspective of the growing feud, allowing that there could be some merit to the players’ complaints: ”I don’t think I have a team that’s going to complain unjustifiably. At times it appears it’s more focused on what we haven’t done than what we’re doing.”
Aug. 30: When Mike Remlinger left the dugout to shout at Houston players after Derrek Lee was hit by a pitch, Stone pointed out that none of Remlinger’s teammates rushed out to grab Remlinger. Baker took exception to the observation. ”Our guys ain’t on their own, bro, so don’t listen to TV. Just watch it.” Some Cubs were unhappy that Mercker’s call to the press box had been leaked to the media.
if you remember, a little more than a year ago i expressed my own annoyance of the broadcastig team, also asking for their termination
Monday, July 07, 2003
why i would fire cubs tv announcer, chip caray, who claims to be the grandson of the finest baseball announcer of all time, harry caray.
reason number one: he sucks.
july seventh, two thousand and three, wrigley field, chicago.
cubs up 6-3 over the marlins, bottom of the eigth, bases loaded with cubs.
eric karros at bat.
chip caray: “had a great time visiting with eric karros and his wife, mark grudzielanek and his girlfriend last night at the house of blues.
“hootie and the blowfish put on a great concert.
“jim sonnenfeld, one of the members of that terrific rock n roll outfit, kind enough to have us out to that concert last evening.
“let’s see if eric can rock this house with a big hit in the 8th to put it out of reach.”
its bad enough that we have to be cubfans.
but then they make us listen to that.
i kept thinking, what if my kids heard that.
the court says that i dont have any kids anymore, which is a relief because i would point alot and say, be like that, or dont be like that.
or sometimes i would just point and say bad.
i just switched over to the dodgers padres and theres our buddy vin scully showing guys like caray every damn day how its done if you want to play it straight and perfect.
hell, his dad skip is pretty good at playing it straight.
but i think the problem with chip is that either hes possesed by a demon, or he just plain sucks.
and someone who sucks, you cant really do anything about.
chip caray will never bust with the
had a great time with mark pryor and kyle farnsworth as we checked out the black flag reunion show at the caberet metro across the street last night after the game.
rollins said our names were on the list but thats a show i didnt mind paying real money for.
they totally rocked family man, steve.
and you might say, but thats not fair, tony, chip caray would never in a million years say anything like that.
and id say exactly and fire him, because his grampa would have never seen hootie and the blowfish with eric karros.
and if he did he would have been ashamed, and wouldnta outted grudz or karros either.
harry caray wouldnta been anywhere near hootie and the damn blowfish.
he woulda said blowfish? i might be a drunk but im no perv.
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