I am really, really glad for the MLB Network

DanoooME

above replacement level
SoSH Member
Mar 16, 2008
19,831
Henderson, NV
My god, they paired up Costas with McCarver.  How they even fit in the same booth with those two egos is beyond me.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,278
DanoooME said:
My god, they paired up Costas with McCarver.  How they even fit in the same booth with those two egos is beyond me.
At this point I would rather have McCarver than HR on fox
 

DanoooME

above replacement level
SoSH Member
Mar 16, 2008
19,831
Henderson, NV
Harold Reynolds sinking to a new level of stupid, saying Donaldson is the pick for AL MVP over Trout because of... RBIs.  100 to 73.  I think Pedro and the host were so stunned they couldn't even make a cohesive counterargument.
 
And then Reynolds says "WAR?  You compare a player to an average minor league player.  Give me a real stat."
 
OMFG   :smithicide:
 

bradcote

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 27, 2005
3,150
Keepin' it real in Maine
If there is a worse onscreen trio of Harold Reynolds, Bill Ripkin, and Greg Amsinger, I dont know of it. They are ridiculously stupid. Harold Reynolds major piece of insight regarding Dallas Keuchel is that "if he wants Houston to start doing better, he needs to start winning games." Really?!? Jesus.
 
Last edited:

Curll

Guest
Jul 13, 2005
9,205
If there is a worse onscreen trio of Harold Reynolds, Bill Ripkin, and Greg Amsinger, I dont know of it. They are 10 pounds of stupid in a 5 gallon bucket.
So...they're not that bad, is what you just said.
 

DanoooME

above replacement level
SoSH Member
Mar 16, 2008
19,831
Henderson, NV
Having Pedro and Harold Reynolds talking on the same show is like having Stephen Hawking and Ryan Lochte talking about anything other than swimming.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
Harold Reynolds and Chris Russo are both total embarrassments who make it impossible to watch this channel, which is a shame because it is increasingly my background default channel all year round.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

has fancy plans, and pants to match
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2001
24,549
I like Harold Reynolds, I think that he seems like a good guy and you can tell he likes baseball -- which is an important thing (he's kind of the Guy Fieri of MLBN, and Fieri has his place). But I agree, I don't think that he raises the level of any discourse on the channel. I'm not sure if sending him out to pasture is a good idea, but I think that minimizing him would be okay.

No opinion on Chris Russo.

The one thing I hate about MLBN is that they either show Ken Burns' "Baseball" or rerun the same five crappy movies. Over and over and over again. Why aren't they rerunning old games? I know that NBATV and the NHL Network do this during the offseason and it's great. When MLBN started up they were doing this, why did they change?
 

cromulence

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 25, 2009
6,707
Harold Reynolds and Chris Russo are both total embarrassments who make it impossible to watch this channel, which is a shame because it is increasingly my background default channel all year round.
Ha, I know exactly what led you to post this. I can deal with HR, despite his idiotic moments. He's got some outdated views, but he seems to love baseball enough that I can overlook that. Russo is terrible, though. I was too young during the heyday of Mike and the Mad Dog, so I don't know whether he's changed over the years, but his shtick is just brutal. If you're going to scream every word you say, at least have a compelling thought every now and then.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
Reynolds isn't quite as bad during the season when he can talk about what is going on on the screen in front of him (although to be clear, he is still awful at that), but there is no way he should be part of the winter meetings coverage. He just makes things up when he doesn't know something, he was the guy on duty when the Stanton deal was being finalized Saturday and his misstatements were free flowing.

I have never had any tolerance for Russo (and Francesa has been unlistenable for decades, he started off so informed and hard-working and now is all blather and ego), but again, the winter meetings is no place for his form of Gilbert Gottfried-tinged empty screeching.
 

Sir Lancelotti

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
284
Boston
I like Harold Reynolds, I think that he seems like a good guy and you can tell he likes baseball -- which is an important thing (he's kind of the Guy Fieri of MLBN, and Fieri has his place). But I agree, I don't think that he raises the level of any discourse on the channel. I'm not sure if sending him out to pasture is a good idea, but I think that minimizing him would be okay.

No opinion on Chris Russo.

The one thing I hate about MLBN is that they either show Ken Burns' "Baseball" or rerun the same five crappy movies. Over and over and over again. Why aren't they rerunning old games? I know that NBATV and the NHL Network do this during the offseason and it's great. When MLBN started up they were doing this, why did they change?
I've noticed this trend as well, especially over the past year or so. There's only so much "Little Big League" a man can tolerate. They do have some quality original content such as "Baseball Seasons" that is basically catnip for baseball history buffs during the hot stove and I wish they would show more of it. Don't know if they own the rights to TWIB, but if they showed classic episodes of TWIB from the 80s or any of the old Home Run Derby episodes I may start working from home a hell of a lot more. Ditto for NESN and unleashing the archives during the offseason. I'd love to just stumble upon old Pedro starts or random classics like the Jeff Stone game.
 

Murderer's Crow

Dragon Wangler 216
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
23,482
Garden City
Russo was really insufferable today. He spent the better part of his Stanton coverage saying the Yankees are a disaster because they didn’t need Stanton.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2005
16,667
Mid-surburbia
I've noticed this trend as well, especially over the past year or so. There's only so much "Little Big League" a man can tolerate. They do have some quality original content such as "Baseball Seasons" that is basically catnip for baseball history buffs during the hot stove and I wish they would show more of it. Don't know if they own the rights to TWIB, but if they showed classic episodes of TWIB from the 80s or any of the old Home Run Derby episodes I may start working from home a hell of a lot more. Ditto for NESN and unleashing the archives during the offseason. I'd love to just stumble upon old Pedro starts or random classics like the Jeff Stone game.
A lot of this becomes much more noticeable in the offseason, they're pretty much running every piece of content they have into the ground on a daily basis. Regarding the movies, generally they're licensed to networks on a time-limited basis, so it's understandable for MLBN to want to get their money's worth from Little Big League or Bull Durham. The reality is that they're probably getting better ratings in those timeslots by grabbing channel-surfing couples than they'd get by targeting hardcore fans for an extra two hours.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

has fancy plans, and pants to match
Dope
SoSH Member
Apr 12, 2001
24,549
I've noticed this trend as well, especially over the past year or so. There's only so much "Little Big League" a man can tolerate. They do have some quality original content such as "Baseball Seasons" that is basically catnip for baseball history buffs during the hot stove and I wish they would show more of it. Don't know if they own the rights to TWIB, but if they showed classic episodes of TWIB from the 80s or any of the old Home Run Derby episodes I may start working from home a hell of a lot more. Ditto for NESN and unleashing the archives during the offseason. I'd love to just stumble upon old Pedro starts or random classics like the Jeff Stone game.
I think that those "Baseball Seasons" shows are like five years old by now. They're nicely done, as is the MLB Network Presents (I think that's what it's called) shows that they do; but like JBS9 said, they run them into the ground.

Old TWiB or Home Run Derby episodes would be awesome, but I'm not holding my breath for them.

It just doesn't make sense to me how the NFL Network can rerun their entire season's playoffs in February, but MLB can't rerun their postseason. Especially last year, are you telling me that Cubs or Indians fans didn't want to watch their teams' march to the World Series? This year's would be great too.

And NESN is a god damn dumpster fire. I don't know who owns the rights to their older games (MLB or NHL) but they used to show Winter Warmers or Summer Coolers (Sox and B's respectively) all the time. Even recently, how many times did they show the Mother's Day Miracle game? But keep running out the Mad Fisherman. That dude is what everyone wants.
 

Sir Lancelotti

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
284
Boston
I'm an NBA junkie and NBA.TV is just as good in the offseason as it is during. Always showing classic Celtic - Lakers games and mixing in plenty of documentaries, including the ESPN 30 for 30s and HBO docs. MLB seems invested in the network as a vehicle to promote the brand, they are capable of better content. Hell just give Brian Kenny an hour each day to vent on every topic he sees fit and I'd tune in for that.
 

santadevil

wears depends
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
6,473
Saskatchestan
I just caught a bunch of recap's of the All-Start games, going from 1988 to 1998 (can't believe there wasn't a 1999 one).
Those was really good and broken down into 30 minute chunks, but I'm through those already too.

I agree about the historical games or TWIB, both would be great.

Even the reruns of the "Play Ball" episodes would be good, because they do end up with a lot of good baseball stuff in there, with the players.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
They did do a bunch of postseason games a few weeks ago, I saw some ALCS games and some World Series ones.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
Sorry, I meant they showed games from this year's postseason a few weeks ago, and it did seem like they were on constantly.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
There have to be 10,000 people in this country who could do Harold Reynolds' job better than him. He just did a segment on Bregman in the first two games of the ALCS starting with how Boston is "attacking him" (by not attacking him) and after showing walk after walk, ending with "he has to swing the bat if he wants to get on base".
 

Red(s)HawksFan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 23, 2009
20,680
Maine
There have to be 10,000 people in this country who could do Harold Reynolds' job better than him. He just did a segment on Bregman in the first two games of the ALCS starting with how Boston is "attacking him" (by not attacking him) and after showing walk after walk, ending with "he has to swing the bat if he wants to get on base".
MLB Network is usually a staple for me, especially in the mornings when Quick Pitch is on loop. It's been trying to say the least to follow the usual pattern now that it is MLB Tonight on repeat instead, primarily because of Reynolds omnipresence. Feels like the hosts and the second analyst chair rotates but Reynolds is on every night. It's baffling how elevated he is relative to the rest of the ex-player/ex-manager analysts on the network.
 

Plantiers Wart

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 16, 2002
4,092
west hartford
This one bugs me. MLB Tonight, Harold Reynolds In discussing the fading Rangers, says they’ve been playing “over their skis” in June. No big deal but I read that exact same description earlier today on ML BTrade Rumors site. Plagiarizing bastard
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2005
16,667
Mid-surburbia
This one bugs me. MLB Tonight, Harold Reynolds In discussing the fading Rangers, says they’ve been playing “over their skis” in June. No big deal but I read that exact same description earlier today on ML BTrade Rumors site. Plagiarizing bastard
Re-using a turn of phrase one just heard/read is:

A) a common, proven, phenomenon
B) not plagiarism
C) all of the above

So, like, chillax bro.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
SoSH Member
Nov 1, 2005
16,667
Mid-surburbia
Or, in other words, I'm 99% sure Harold is just saying the words that come out of his brain (in order, if we're lucky).
 

8slim

has trust issues
SoSH Member
Nov 6, 2001
24,840
Unreal America
This one bugs me. MLB Tonight, Harold Reynolds In discussing the fading Rangers, says they’ve been playing “over their skis” in June. No big deal but I read that exact same description earlier today on ML BTrade Rumors site. Plagiarizing bastard
It's not even the correct use of the term, at least as I've always understood it. At work, "over your skis" means someone is opining on something that's far from their area of expertise. For example, "8slim pours sodas at the banana stand, so he's way over his skis talking about governmental fiscal policy.". I don't even understand what it means for a baseball team playing poorly.
 

DanoooME

above replacement level
SoSH Member
Mar 16, 2008
19,831
Henderson, NV
Maybe the best possible panel for MLB Tonight on right now - Brian Kenny, Ryan Dempster, Kevin Millar, Pedro Martinez. At least for Red Sox fans.