On Thom Brennaman

For some reason, I got games on MLB.TV on my PC on Saturday despite FOK$' dictatorship over baseball on Saturdays, and I was able to watch two games at the same time. It was odd because I was blacked out on the laptop.

Anyway, I turned the sound off of the Anaheim Suburb of Los Angeles California Angels of Disneyland against the FOK$ Saturday Game of the Week Red Sox and listened to Thom Brennaman and Joe Girardi call the Phillies-Asstros game. With joy I rooted against the Asstros and Lance Jerkman, my hatred for them nearly equal to my hatred of FOK$. (Although I am not one of the Biggio haters. After all, his favorite band is U2! haha.) To FOK$' credit, they did change Saturday baseball so it started later this year and doesn't preempt earlier games. Kudos to them for listening to fans.

Thom took a lot of criticism from Reds fans during the three game series against the Arizona Desertbax where he spent enough years as broadcaster to turn his hair gray. I've always liked Thom as a broadcaster from his days in Chicago to his FOK$ national broadcasts - he has a good television voice and seems to be excited during the games - so I was thrilled when he signed on as a Reds broadcaster and absolutely love when he does radio broadcasts with Marty. However, I didn't see the Dbax series, as MLB.TV had the DBax feed, and apparently he was pretty cranky, as evident by the creation of the "Thom Brennaman" handle on Red Reporter.

Because it was such a disaster and he and Chris Welsh seemed ready to duke it out in the booth, I decided to ask Diamondbacks bloggers their opinions on Brennaman. Wesley from Dbacks Ramblings and Matt from Arizona Diamondhacks graciously responded.

Wesley said:

1. Did you like having Thom as a broadcaster?

Overall, I'd say yes, all though it really depended on who was doing the color commentary that night.

2. What did you like best about him? What did he do well?

He was easy to listen to and had a very distinctive voice and was an overall classy guy. He always seemed like he was having fun while calling the game, and seemed like he enjoyed his job immensely.

3. What did you not like about him? What grated on your nerves?

Thom wasn't very savvy when it came to the game at times. He'd often ramble on about "first pitch hacking" or relatively meaningless stats like average with runners in scoring position. He'd often attack rookie players for making mistakes, when veteran players were playing poorly. He had very little knowledge when it came to the more "modern" statistics, such as on base percentage. It was the little things like that that a lot of fans hated. He'd often go wildly off topic and not even call the game depending on who he was paired with (especially Mark Grace.)

4. What do you think of his home run calls?

Not very memorable.

5. Did you ever get the impression that he was arrogant? Can you give examples?

Yes. His rants about first pitch hacking, and rookie mistakes.

6. What were some of the irritating things he would say over and over again?

First pitch hacking

7. Did you ever scream shut up at your television?

Most fans would just turn the volume down and turn the radio. But yes, I have. Mostly when he'd veer completely off topic,and go on and on for an inning with out talking about what's going on in the field.

8. Do you think Thom's national broadcasts are different than his local broadcasts?

Yes, he tends to stay more focused on the game, and he tends to not go off on tangents as much.

9. Are you glad to get rid of him?

Yes and No. Thom has been the only constant with this team since the beginning. He was there for all the memorable games in Dbacks history - the 2001 title, Johnson's 20k game, and Johnson's perfect game. Those games are etched in the minds off all Diamondbacks fans. However, with the new direction the team has taken, it was appropriate that Thom left when he did. Unfortunately, a few fans have taken his leaving negatively, and feel that there's some sort of "conspiracy" by the front office that forced him to leave. These are the same fans who hate the new colors and who don't have any clue how good these young guys are.

And finally, who's worse, Tim McCarver or Joe Morgan? (When you talk about bad broadcasters, you have to somehow mention them!)

The only thing that's worse the McCarver and Morgan is if they called games together, luckily, they don't.

Make sure you check out Dbacks Ramblings.

Matt at Arizona Diamondhacks wrote:

The NY Times media critic, Richard Sandomir, wrote a scathing piece on Thom and Steve Lyons in October, that I pretty much agreed with and is worth a read - if you can find it. It's on the NY Times pay site. Here's the money quote:

When you become known for making mistakes, or for your immaturity, it’s hard to wash away the image. If you’re a great announcer, it’s easier to forgive the errors.
But Brennaman is not great. He is mediocre, distinguished mainly by an unmodulated megaphone-like voice that is like a parody of what a sportscaster should sound like. It does not convey a warm welcome, or the promise of excellence, as do Vin Scully or ESPN’s Jon Miller, who was joined for Friday night’s Yankees-Tigers game in Detroit by the retired Ernie Harwell, ever a delightful and welcoming legend.

Thom is certainly not the worst of the play by play men. He's versatile, hard working and reasonably well prepared and professional. His delivery, which to me reeks of 'masculine artifice', works better in a football environment, but football diehards don't seem to like him much either, I think, because he doesn't really understand the games as much as he pretends to.

Daron Sutton, our new play by play guy and former minor leaguer, is regularly more insightful than Thom, better understands baseball is predicated on a great deal of failure, and is, of course, more cheerful. Thom just kind of generically rants about stuff he knows little about, like batters who swing at the first pitch or pitchers who don't throw strikes, as if hitting and pitching are easy job tasks, like booting up your computer and pouring the morning coffee.

Diamondhacks has several posts about Thom, or as some people called him, Thommie. Here is a poignant quote characterizing Thom's careerism, which has been a criticism about him for a long time:

Schulte may not be the most dynamic radio man around, but his interest in baseball is authentic in the same way Thom Brennaman's is towards college football and careerism.

From October 12:

This appears to be Gonzo's first shot at broadcasting, and although he sounds understandably stiff, it's already clear that he and Byrnes both are easier on the ears than Brennaman typically is. Unlike their more experienced, professional counterpart, Byrnes and Gonzalez are informed commensurate with their position, refreshingly honest and, frankly, likeable.

From Oct 8

It started with a nice little tribute to the late Buck O'Neil. They put his picture Oneilburns on the screen, said he was a fine man and a great ambassador of the game. Well deserved, but as Diamondbacks observers, we've heard enough of Thom Brennaman to figure it wouldn't stop there.

It didn't.

The fact Brennaman felt compelled to reopen the Hall of Fame "controversy" isnt too big a deal, in and of itself. Most interested fans, including me, were genuinely surprised that Mr O'Neil, by far the most visible candidate, fell short of induction in the recent special election focused on long forgotten Negro League greats. Perhaps the newly hired Reds announcer felt he was doing the O'Neil family a favor by publicly standing in their corner at this difficult time.

The problem is the way Thom goes about it. He could have simply said, as some MLBloggers have , that O'Neil belongs in Cooperstown, or that it was a shame, on a personal level, that the nonagerian just missed the cut. Instead, Brennaman bellowed that it was "unfathomable" how a group of baseball historians far more educated than he on the issues at hand could possibly make the "mistake" of excluding the former first baseman.

Seems Mark Grace is less popular than Thom, as those of us who watched the Dbax feed last week came to understand.

Raspy voiced, foul mouthed Mark Grace narrowly edged his more polished partner, pontificator Thom Brennaman in this week's just concluded Diamondhacks Poll, which asked "Who is your least favorite Diamondbacks TV broadcaster?".

Then there was this mysterious post:

Whether we like it or not, sermonizer Thom Brennaman will return to the Chase Field broadcast booth on Sunday June 25th, after a mysterious extended absence. The Diamondbacks could use a preacher, following another blowout loss tonight.

Diamondhacks sincerely hopes things are okay with Thom's family, but did we miss the press conference detailing his hiatus? Doesnt the club's summer vacation policy apply to all employees, including mouthpieces?

Few have attended Dbacks games as religiously as Thom Brennaman, who is paid for his service and who previously only abandoned his local calling for the mega-congregation over at Fox's Game o' the Week. Lack of religion may help explain the Diamondbacks decline, but at least their fans havent been subjected to Thom's faux baritone** during this fall from grace.

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** Our favorite line about Thom's famously practiced delivery comes from Dodger fan John Weibe:

"I do wonder if Thom Brennaman uses the same voice to ask his wife to pass the salt and pepper as he uses to describe a grounder to short."

Wasn't that about the same time Marty just disappeared for a week last year?

It appears that Dbax fans had their criticisms of Thom and that we can expect more of the same. We should take it with a grain of salt. Personally, I think his radio broadcasting thus far has been great, and I have only heard him a couple of times on television - last night he did a good job and I was not bothered once by anything he said. But it's a long season. At least we have six guys doing broadcasts, enough rotation to maintain some sanity, I think!

I'll be watching the game with the sound turned off tonight and listening to Marty and Joe - we'll never have it any better than that!
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