The Worst Thing That Happened Since The Slip Up at My Bris!

[Sammy225]

Some of you disgust me

 

What disgusts me is that you obviously follow him on twitter..... Which means you are a closet Zaun Fan..... BUSTED!

[Governator]

[Boxcar]

 

I'd kill to have Hawk instead of Buck 100%

[TwistedLogic]

 

As much as I ridicule Hawk, if you were a White Sox fan, you would love him at that moment. People appreciate someone who stands up to ********, and that was a totally ******** call. He was voicing the exact feelings that every White Sox fan was probably thinking at that time.

[Boxcar]

White Sox fans love Hawk probably more than any other fan base loves their home announcers.

[Governator]

He's as biased as it gets not to mention he's often nationally broadcasted as well. Horrible.

[Boxcar]

He's as biased as it gets not to mention he's often nationally broadcasted as well. Horrible.

 

That's kinda his appeal to the home crowd...

[KingKat]

He's as biased as it gets not to mention he's often nationally broadcasted as well. Horrible.

 

Most fans are very biased, emotional and frankly childish in the way they react to in game events They like an announcer that legitimizes that. Personally, I much prefer a measured response from my announcers. Hawk was right to question the umpire's call in the clip above but all that "he should go back to school", "he doesn't understand how baseball works" stuff was just over the top, pompous, jack-assery. That kind of stuff gets under my skin a lot more than an umpire making a mistake.

[Boxcar]

Most fans are very biased, emotional and frankly childish in the way they react to in game events They like an announcer that legitimizes that. Personally, I much prefer a measured response from my announcers. Hawk was right to question the umpire's call in the clip above but all that "he should go back to school", "he doesn't understand how baseball works" stuff was just over the top, pompous, jack-assery. That kind of stuff gets under my skin a lot more than an umpire making a mistake.

 

You don't see the hypocrisy in this post?

[Governator]

That's kinda his appeal to the home crowd...

 

not to mention he's often nationally broadcasted as well

[Spanky99]

not to mention he's often nationally broadcasted as well

 

No, no he isn't.

[KingKat]

You don't see the hypocrisy in this post?

 

Do you mean that the way I'm calling out reactionaries is in itself reactionary? We all have different things that set us off. In my case it's "stupid stuff".

[GD]

What disgusts me is that you obviously follow him on twitter..... Which means you are a closet Zaun Fan..... BUSTED!

 

Nope.

[Boxcar]

Do you mean that the way I'm calling out reactionaries is in itself reactionary? We all have different things that set us off. In my case it's "stupid stuff".

 

Just seems a tad pompous to label most fans as childish, that's all. Sports are for recreation, I don't see anything wrong with people getting passionate about their favourite team.

[KingKat]

Just seems a tad pompous to label most fans as childish, that's all. Sports are for recreation, I don't see anything wrong with people getting passionate about their favourite team.

 

I said they were childish in their reactions which I don't think is unfair nor the same as flat out labelling them childish but I suppose it's still kind of a pompous thing to say regardless. I guess my point was more that the kind of fan you are and the kind of fan you identify with, has a lot of bearing on the kind of announcer you like and from my observation, the typical sports fan seems to be a lot like Hawk. As for why Hawk, and to some extent typical fandom puts me off, I think that's something I'd like to go into more detail about at some point but I'm still fleshing it out in my mind. I'd like to get into that in a more lucid, less negative way.

[Dick_Pole]

It's interesting how the broadcast team can illicit more bemoaning than who manages the team because that somehow "doesn't matter" but the broadcast team does. It's as if these people just got out of a DeLorean from 1985 and think there is only one way to watch baseball. If you really hate the broadcast team that much ---> MLB.tv

 

Enough with the Zaun-hating too. The man is treated as if he is some of knuckle-dragging zombie. If any of you youngsters are old enough to remember back to the mid-2000's Zaun basically took his piece of s*** career as a journeyman back up to become mostly the #1 catcher for this team while in his mid-30's, racking up 10.7 WAR in 5 seasons including 3.5 WAR in the one year he exceeded 500 PA. And he did that by playing the game smart and making the best of his abilities with a nearly 1:1 K:BB ratio, good defense and league average OPS which is great for a catcher. Actions speak louder than words imo and the man knows how to play the game right. He just acts like a dumb brute because he likes trolling the hardcore fans and catering to the casuals so Sportsnet signs him to 5-year extensions. The man is a lot smarter than what some people give him credit for.

[jb22]

It's interesting how the broadcast team can illicit more bemoaning than who manages the team because that somehow "doesn't matter" but the broadcast team does. It's as if these people just got out of a DeLorean from 1985 and think there is only one way to watch baseball. If you really hate the broadcast team that much ---> MLB.tv

 

Enough with the Zaun-hating too. The man is treated as if he is some of knuckle-dragging zombie. If any of you youngsters are old enough to remember back to the mid-2000's Zaun basically took his piece of s*** career as a journeyman back up to become mostly the #1 catcher for this team while in his mid-30's, racking up 10.7 WAR in 5 seasons including 3.5 WAR in the one year he exceeded 500 PA. And he did that by playing the game smart and making the best of his abilities with a nearly 1:1 K:BB ratio, good defense and league average OPS which is great for a catcher. Actions speak louder than words imo and the man knows how to play the game right. He just acts like a dumb brute because he likes trolling the hardcore fans and catering to the casuals so Sportsnet signs him to 5-year extensions. The man is a lot smarter than what some people give him credit for.

 

and roids

[KingKat]

 

Enough with the Zaun-hating too. The man is treated as if he is some of knuckle-dragging zombie. If any of you youngsters are old enough to remember back to the mid-2000's Zaun basically took his piece of s*** career as a journeyman back up to become mostly the #1 catcher for this team while in his mid-30's, racking up 10.7 WAR in 5 seasons including 3.5 WAR in the one year he exceeded 500 PA. And he did that by playing the game smart and making the best of his abilities with a nearly 1:1 K:BB ratio, good defense and league average OPS which is great for a catcher. Actions speak louder than words imo and the man knows how to play the game right. He just acts like a dumb brute because he likes trolling the hardcore fans and catering to the casuals so Sportsnet signs him to 5-year extensions. The man is a lot smarter than what some people give him credit for.

 

I have been watching since the 80s. I don't see what difference it makes what he accomplished in his career or that he's just trolling, that doesn't make his shtick any less annoying.

[Deadpool]

It's interesting how the broadcast team can illicit more bemoaning than who manages the team because that somehow "doesn't matter" but the broadcast team does. It's as if these people just got out of a DeLorean from 1985 and think there is only one way to watch baseball. If you really hate the broadcast team that much ---> MLB.tv

 

Enough with the Zaun-hating too. The man is treated as if he is some of knuckle-dragging zombie. If any of you youngsters are old enough to remember back to the mid-2000's Zaun basically took his piece of s*** career as a journeyman back up to become mostly the #1 catcher for this team while in his mid-30's, racking up 10.7 WAR in 5 seasons including 3.5 WAR in the one year he exceeded 500 PA. And he did that by playing the game smart and making the best of his abilities with a nearly 1:1 K:BB ratio, good defense and league average OPS which is great for a catcher. Actions speak louder than words imo and the man knows how to play the game right. He just acts like a dumb brute because he likes trolling the hardcore fans and catering to the casuals so Sportsnet signs him to 5-year extensions. The man is a lot smarter than what some people give him credit for.

 

He's trying to be Baseball Don Cherry. That works for some people, doesn't for others. And I thought he did a tremendous job as a player while with the Jays, for the record.

[saskjayfan]

I can assure all the complainers that whoever ultimately replaces Zaunie, you won't like him either!

[CrackerJack]

If i'm watching a game on Sportsnet, I keep the volume really low so Buck, Tabler & Zaun are pretty much non-entities for me. Radio-wise, Alan Ashby was great and I thought that Joe Siddall did a nice job (particularly for his first year.)

[KingKat]

I can assure all the complainers that whoever ultimately replaces Zaunie, you won't like him either!

 

This implies that people are just natural complainers and would hate any broadcaster and that's just a facile, lazy characterization. Some broadcasters get complained about at lot and some attract very few complaints (Alan Ashby for instance had some detractors but they were few and far between).

[TheHurl]

For me the actual announcers mean nothing to me. I often don't listen or pay attention anyway. However, I still have to listen to my misinformed friends who still learn everything they know from the announcers. For some reason they still haven't figured out that I really do know more than these guys...of course most don't believe that I know more than the front office too.

[saskjayfan]

This implies that people are just natural complainers and would hate any broadcaster and that's just a facile, lazy characterization. Some broadcasters get complained about at lot and some attract very few complaints (Alan Ashby for instance had some detractors but they were few and far between).

 

how is it a lazy characterization to suggest that some people are overly critical by nature, due to an intense belief that their wealth of knowledge of the complex nature of baseball is so vastly superior to almost any personality that sportsnet would put on TV. It's like Zaun, who played 15+ years at the most involved position in the game, has zero to offer. The people complaining about one's arrogance are generally arrogant people themselves lol. There's nothing wrong with self assurance. It makes for lively board discussion. I think Zaun offers insights at times, and the other times not so much. I take in the good and ignore what I deem irrelevant or off the rails. I like Zaun's personality. He makes me laugh at times. I'm far less likely to complain about Zaun, or people in general, because I don't expect perfection. All the power to you for having such high standards, I'm just more easy going.

[KingKat]

how is it a lazy characterization to suggest that some people are overly critical by nature, due to an intense belief that their wealth of knowledge of the complex nature of baseball is so vastly superior to almost any personality that sportsnet would put on TV.

 

FFS, you don't have to think like that to dislike Zaun. That is absolutely a lazy characterization but since you seemed determined to hold on to it, I don't really know what else to tell you. We're all a bunch of *******s and I guess we're just not decent normal human beings like you.

[Dick_Pole]

I have been watching since the 80s. I don't see what difference it makes what he accomplished in his career or that he's just trolling, that doesn't make his shtick any less annoying.

 

See, that's different. You find him annoying. Catering to a entire population of viewers, there's bound to be a few who don't like him. There's nothing to debate between yourself and people who don't mind Zaun because he just gets under your skin which is a fair opinion to have. The people who are calling him dumb are the ones who I'm referencing. There's some proof to show that he's not dumb, at least when it comes to baseball:

 

1. His career, particularly with the Jays was productive beyond his actual talent.

2. Whatever he has done as a broadcaster/commentator, it was pleasing enough to get a 5-year extension so he's smart enough to figure out the majority of his audience/what the Sportsnet bigwigs are looking for.

[Dick_Pole]

and roids

 

All those extra muscles sure helped his pitch selection while at the plate. Maybe the roids gave him eagle-like vision.

[KingKat]

See, that's different. You find him annoying. Catering to a entire population of viewers, there's bound to be a few who don't like him. There's nothing to debate between yourself and people who don't mind Zaun because he just gets under your skin which is a fair opinion to have. The people who are calling him dumb are the ones who I'm referencing. There's some proof to show that he's not dumb, at least when it comes to baseball:

 

1. His career, particularly with the Jays was productive beyond his actual talent.

2. Whatever he has done as a broadcaster/commentator, it was pleasing enough to get a 5-year extension so he's smart enough to figure out the majority of his audience/what the Sportsnet bigwigs are looking for.

 

Zaun has genuine insights into the game but no not even the smartest baseball mind can be insightful all the time. My problem is with what he does to fill the rest of the time.

[Zaun of the Dead]

I am a big fan of Zaun. I think he's hilarious and I think he does have decent insight into the game. I always tune in early on sundays for the Morning Roast. He's an entertaining dude and he has interesting things to say about the Jays and Baseball in general. He's pretty perfect for the role, to be honest. What would be the alternative? Jeff Blair babbling on about BABIP and UZR? Kevin Barker rambling about nothing with that insufferable accent? No thank you.

[Governator]

Zaun has genuine insights into the game but no not even the smartest baseball mind can be insightful all the time. My problem is with what he does to fill the rest of the time.

 

 

Nothing fills time like watching Zaun show us proper pitch grips while ensuring the studio lights reflect off his World Series ring just right.