Pro Sports Media Minute: Home Run Derby
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes.
That was my reaction after finishing up the near three-hour Home Run Derby last night on ESPN. Usually more fun to watch at times than the All-Star Game itself, the HRD is a chance for some of baseball's stars to wow the crowd with tape-measure blasts off the arms of coaches throwing hard enough for t-ball players to get good wood on a shot.
Some quick thoughts on last night's event...
-Can we officially retire the announcing team of Chris Berman and Joe Morgan yet? We get it: back, back, back, back, back, gone! Every once in a while, I don't mind this call but not 100 times in a night. The list of announcing offenses against Morgan are long and last night was no different. When asked if it made a difference that Matt Holliday hits so often in San Fran because of Colorado's divisional rivalry with the Giants, Morgan's response (paraphrasing) was, "Nawwwwwww, I don't think so. He's not here, for, you know, the view." What?
-What was up with that guy in the airbrushed 'Jordan' shirt rushing up to every player and toweling them off at random intervals? Some may have seen this as funny, but I saw this as amateurish.
-With the game having such a Latino influence, why are we subjected to the Counting Crows singing "Suddenly In Love"? This helped add to one of my favorite moments: the players not paying attention to the musicians during the pre-game ceremonies.
-Any reason why they Willie McCovey couldn't get a better seat? Jeepers, it was almost like he was sitting by himself the whole time. A seat next to the players was too much to ask?
-Two of the game's youngest stars and sluggers, Philly's Ryan Howard and Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, have 50 combined bombs this season. Last night, they didn't make it out of the first round with a combined SIX. Yikes.
-Star power was definitely lacking as it seemed more players turned down the opportunity than accepted, most notably Barry Bonds. (C'mon, Barry. You can suck it up for one night. Put on that other 'clear' called FlexAll.) For MLB, there can't be anything worse than putting out players that are relatively unkowns (Alex Rios) and having them excel past your AL MVP, 2006 Derby Champ and a guy that shouldn't even be there (Mags Ordonez).
-The freakin' event lasted almost three hours! A way to cut back? Cut the contestants down to six and have two rounds. You'll get everything done in two hours and not burn out your audience. In addition, that's two less players you have to beg to get in.
-Is it just me or do athletes hate doing these skills competitions now? I just think of how back the NBA's Slam Dunk contest has got and that Lebron James balked at participating in their Skills competition this year. Shouldn't this be fun or isn't it?
-And because it's ok to laugh at some really wrong stuff, click here for a view on the kids out in the outfield during the HRD. (Thanks to Deadspin.)
Great blog!
Posted by: Wayne Gretsky | July 11, 2007 at 02:14 PM