Major Announcing Pet Peeve

Watching the Miami/Arizona game on ESPN, I was reminded of one of the things announcers do that annoys me the most: complaining about the length of a game. The game is in its fourth hour, and Karl Ravech (doing play-by-play for some reason) has been bemoaning the fact that the game is taking a while. There is nothing worse than an announcer who makes it pretty clear that he does not want to be at the game that he is doing. It's a pretty exciting game, and there is no reason to complain about how long it is. The one announcer I've ever heard take a stand against something like this was Golf Channel announcer Kelly Tilghman, who responded "Come on, this is exciting stuff" when one of the crew complained about a playoff extending to its fourth hole. I was impressed with her at that point, and then the next day her "lynching" comment was brought to light.

That was an exciting game today. It took a while and a few defensive miscues by the Cleveland outfield to spark the rally, but the Tigers sure made them pay. That is the offense that needs to show up more frequently if this season isn't going to be a lost cause.

My best wishes go out to Jeremy Bonderman. Blood clots are a potentially serious condition, and I'm glad it was nipped in the bud. Some other players who have had similar conditions are David Cone, Aaron Cook, Kenny Rogers, and Hank Blalock. I wish him well in his recovery, but I'm very curious about his recovery and if he can still be the same pitcher after this.

Just as I was getting ready to post this, Ravech says sarcastically "At some point, Sportscenter will begin." We get it. You don't want to be there.