Your Yankee mileage may vary, but there's no escaping the financial realities of it all:
Of the seven billboards around Atlanta promoting the start of the playoffs, Jeter, the All-Star shortstop who has been with the Yankees since 1995, is on five of them. Around the country, TBS has similar billboards featuring St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Russell Martin. Jeter is on 60 percent of them.Russell Martin? Really? That's the best they could do for L.A.?The Yankees are crucial to getting casual viewers to tune into playoff games in the early rounds, [TBS President David Levy] said . . . "It's essential for them to get higher ratings at those events to get the viewership and advertising revenue they want," [sports consultant Marc Ganis] said. "And no team generates the interest and the eyeballs, particularly in the playoffs, that the Yankees do."
Anyway, the larger point -- explained in extensive financial and television ratings detail in the linked article -- remains: the Yankees draw eyes, and eyes draw dollars. It's still worth discussing whether the networks and media at large focus too much on the big city east coast teams, but any such conversation that doesn't take this business reality into account first isn't an informed conversation.
Can someone ask David Levy why TBS consistently misses the first batter after every commercial break, and if they plan on trying to get it right, or if they need the revenue so bad that they figure the viewers will be happy with replays? Missing the interference call last night was unforgivable.....
The TBS announcers are awful!
I thought it was just me. I thought it was a mistake at first, coming back from commercials in the middle of the action, but then it kept happening. I guess TBS is so focused on "casual" fans they assume no one cares about missing at-bats... To watch commercials... REALLY?
TBS runs six 30 second spots between innings while most other broadcasts run four (I can thank my DVR for that knowledge).
I love listening to playoff announcers. I never knew what a twelve to six curve was until they explained it in detail last night. Yes, that was sarcasm.
I wholeheartedly agree with Jill in that watching, or rather listening to the TBS commentators is torture. Not only are their voices monotone and lifeless but their in-game observations and baseball related stories contain nothing relevant to the viewer and are totally void of any wit, humor or entertainment value. We'd all be better served to simply turn down the sound and watch the game as opposed to having to listen to another tortuous second of their drivel.
Who in baseball is better liked by the whole nation in general more than Derek Jeter? I'd put his poster up too if I was in charge. As for the announcers at least on Yankee games I turn them off and listen to the radio folks who call a much better game. They may hate the Yankee's but do not feel that way about him. He may not be the best baseball player but, he represents all that is good in the game best.
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