Bob Raissman is hardly the only viewer exasperated with Fox’s MLB playoff coverage, but he’s the only one being paid by the New York Daily News to write about it.
Take Dodgers-Mets NLDS Game No. 2 Thursday at Shea. Jose Reyes at the plate and Fox’s Thom Brennaman said: “There were some in this town who called this player soft . . . This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of town.”
If Brennaman was an artist his style would be abstract. See, it’s hard figuring out the “some” he was referring to. Is there just one “some” or a few of them. Sam Some? Son of Some? Brennaman did not name names because there are no names to name.
These culprits are ghosts existing only in his mind. No one – not even “some” – ever called Reyes “soft.” At one point in his career Reyes was injury prone – even brittle – but no one ever doubted his heart or willingness to play – even hurt.
It was the Mets organization that came under fire for not providing its phenom shortstop with better trainers, training techniques, and competent doctors.
At least Brennaman was talking baseball. The same cannot be said for Fox’s in-house icon Joe Buck. This guy wears so many hats (baseball/football play-by-play, NFL pregame host, commercial pitchman) that he actually seems confused as to what sport he is working.
During the fifth inning of Tigers-Yankees ALDS Game No. 1 Tuesday night, up popped a promo for today’s Cowboys-Eagles game. When he finished reading it, Buck, prompted by Tim McCarver (Buck may have mistaken T-Mac for Terry Bradshaw), began rapping about Fox’s football pregame show before analyzing other NFL East matchups.
Why stop there? The Foxies should bring in Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson to work with Buck.