Labor Day Sports Report 2021 Part 3

Continued from Part 2.

 

7-20-21

This week’s MLB Youtube game failed the Bechdel test.  The broadcast coverage featured an all-female crew calling the game, but all they did was talk about men (playing baseball).  I’m completely triggered.  Why weren’t they talking about Wamyn’s issues and ignoring the men?  This was a tremendous opportunity for a group of birthing persons to lecture a mostly male audience about what racists they are, and it was wasted calling a silly male-dominated sport.

 

Okay, I got that off my chest.  I came into the game after it started and the women called the game straight and did a good job.  We got to hear more of Sarah Langs as the analyst.  She was kind of overwhelmed by the three guys she was paired with last time (6-30-21).  (Any fourth person would have been overwhelmed by that group.)  They had the good fortune of calling a fairly close game.  The Rays beat the O’s, 9-3, but the Rays didn’t pull away until the eighth.

 

Unfortunately afterward, I came across some of the fem-hype for this broadcast.  The ladies think that this will make all-female broadcast teams “the norm.”  They’re forgetting that while analysts are nice, listening to former players and their game experiences is going to be more interesting, not to mention their stories about their playing days, on and off the field. 

 

Moreover, I’ve mostly found listening to women doing play-by-play to be grating.  They’re not necessarily doing anything wrong in their calls, but a good male voice will probably sound better for sports (except for Joe Buck, of course).  Just to say it, in this day and age, anytime you’re listening to a woman in the media, you’re always wondering if you’re about to get an off topic lecture on something you don’t agree with.  It’s hard to trust and relax.  (When guys do it, it feels like a betrayal, so it’s not any better.)

        

7-22-21

Another former Aggie marches towards the big leagues.  LJ Hatch came in as a pinch hitter for the Isotopes against the Chihuahuas tonight.  He singled and he scored on a wild pitch.  He also did well the rest of the weekend.  This was great to hear (except when the Chihuahuas were getting beaten).    

 

7-23-21

The Guardians?  Really?  I have to call out the sheer f*cking lameness of this name change for the Indians.  The team is being renamed after a bridge monument in Cleveland.  I’m still calling bullsh*t.  I also heard that the monument was designed by a big racist.  I have not independently confirmed this, but I can only hope it’s true. 

 

This is worse than the New Orleans Baby Cakes Triple-A team.  One, what they were named after are actually called King Cakes.  Two, this terrible name replaced the Zephyrs, a name which was nowhere near as cool as the Indians. Three, a year later New Orleans lost their team altogether to Wichita and were renamed the Wind Surge.  (Is that the best they could do in Kansas?  You guys really are flyover country.)    

 

I wrote about this controversy earlier (1-31-18) concerning Chief Wahoo, so I’m not going to bother recounting the tale of Louis Sockalexis.  The only good news perhaps is that the MLB already shot their wad on Atlanta by ripping the All-Star Game away from them over the state of Georgia wanting do honest elections for a change.  The team is officially mad about that and stated they will not change the Braves’ name.   

 

After I heard this name change news, I tuned to ESPN Radio for their top of the hour newsbreak.  This story wasn’t even mentioned.  What was mentioned that caught my attention was that Texas and Oklahoma are about to jump to the SEC.  I think this is a great idea.  When all of the great university sports programs consolidate into two conferences, they’ll declare independence from the NCAA and tell them to go f*ck themselves.  The new image and likeness rules for income for student-athletes may destroy the NCAA anyway. 

 

7-26-21

I knew what was going to happen . . . up to a point.  I came into the Mariners/Astros MLB.TV free game late with the M’s down 7-0.  (The video was under local blackout.)  They just started a comeback, and I could guess that the Mariners were going to complete it.  I knew this because I’d come into work early, and so I’d have to leave early thus missing the end of the game.  The live video of their win would have been impressive as they went ahead on a grand slam home run in the eighth.  Their ace closer, Kendall Graveman, locked it down in the ninth.

 

What nobody saw coming was the next day, when Graveman was traded . . . to the Astros.  If I were a Mariners fan, right now my nuts would be hurting from that blow.  Tone deaf marketing stupidity from GM Jerry Dipoto.  The team is actually doing well this year.  Helping a division rival is not a winning great strategy.  

 

Meanwhile during a Chihuahuas game, Tim Hagerty got some trade news from unintentionally eavesdropping on some nearby fans.  I think he was in Sugar Land at the time.  (I’m not even sure this was the correct date.  It’s probably not.)  The top row of fans there must be pretty close to the pressbox.  He quickly looked up the news and reported on it.  Gossip is still the fastest means of communication known to man even in this electronic age.   

Continued in Part 4