I Had To Turn It Off When

Taking a look back at the MLB playoffs and the World Series, we see that the same topic that dominates the sports talk show circuit whenever the Yankees are involved dominated again this time around. No, it wasn't Joe Girardi's endless pitching moves nor was it Ryan Howard's 57 strikeouts. It wasn't even whether Alex Rodriguez would still be considered a choke artist for following up his great postseason with a skimpy World Series. Nope. The topic that every fan wanted to discuss was whether or not Tim McCarver and Joe Buck root against the New York Yankees.

Whenever a fan calls one of the aforementioned talk shows and gripes about the coverage, the calm, cool and collected host of the show acts as if we, the fans, hear what we want to hear; don't know what we are talking about; have potatoes in our ears; are considered crazy; and we are always asked to provide proof/evidence of McCarver and Buck's bias.

From this author's viewpoint, I did notice that the inflection in McCarver's voice was obvious when opposing teams made stupid mistakes against the Yankees. Now, did his voice reach a fever pitch because he was upset at the mistake itself or was it the fact that it was committed against the 'Evil Empire?' That is the $64,000 question. I have written on my blog about a couple of times where I thought McCarver showed his bias. Suffice is to say that I could have written about it a lot more.

Buck, I thought, was either very fair to the Yankees or just hid his disdain very well. For the most part, I thought he reached maximum excitement levels for both teams, not seeming to favor either one during his calls. However, we might have gotten a peek into Buck's soul when he described a play made by Mark Teixeira.

When Teixeira made a diving stop of a ground ball that led to a force out, Buck said,"That's what the Yankees bought over the offseason." He added,"They bought a guy who lead the American League in home runs and RBIs ..." Hmmm. Bought? Was this a Freudian slip or did Buck want it to sound just the way it did?

I submit that a Yankees announcer or an announcer that didn't have some kind of ill feeling towards them would have used the word "signed" or the term "signed as a free agent" in the offseason. Not only did Buck say the word 'bought' to begin with but he repeated it!

Ya see, the evidence is right there for the viewing audience to hear and see. The bias may not blatantly come flushing out of the TV, rather, it may come out more like a drip, slow and subtle. We don't even need Horatio Caine's overacting to help us solve this case. It's a shame we fans can't remain calm, cool and collected like our favorite sports talk show host who apparently neither sees no evil nor hears it.

The next time you're asked by one of these hosts to provide some 'evidence' for your beliefs, mention the above example and see what they say. Ask them how they would have handled the Teixeira/Yankees situation. If they don't hang up on you, I would love to hear their answer.

Read more of Steve Scafa at the original "I Had To Turn It Off When" blog.

In the bottom of the 6th inning of Saturday night's Marlins-Yankees game, Florida was leading 1-0 with one out and Hanley Ramirez on first. First baseman Jorge Cantu hit a line drive to left field which Johnny Damon dropped. By the time center fielder Melky Cabrera retrieved the ball and threw it in, Ramirez scored from first base with the eventual winning run in a Marlins 2-1 victory. The line drive by Cantu was clearly an error by Damon but was originally scored a double and an RBI by the official scorer. That decision, thank goodness, was later changed to what it could only have been scored, an error. This play ignited a series of comical guesses/assumptions by the entire YES Network about why Damon dropped the ball. WARNING! Take two aspirin BEFORE reading this post.

When Damon first dropped the ball, lead announcer Michael Kay declared that Damon, "couldn't see the ball." Huh? How do you know, Mike? In a split second, an outfielder drops a ball and you assume it's because he couldn't see it? Wow. Unfortunately, analyst Paul O'Neill, who I happen to think is excellent, disappointed. During a replay, O'Neill said, "Damon got to a spot and I guarantee because of this lighting he kinda lost this ball." Ken Singleton finally added a little bit of sanity to the discussion as he added that "Only Johnny Damon knows if he lost the ball in the lights or not." That's right, Ken. Thank you.

A further discussion ensued about whether a dropped ball caused by the "lighting" should be scored a "team error." Cue laugh track. The funny thing is that replays from all angles showed that Damon didn't so much as squint let alone shield his eyes in any way. It was obvious to this observer that he DID NOT lose it in the lights. ( While this all went down, I was on the phone with my brother-in-law telling, uh, guaranteeing him that Damon would say that he did not lose it in the lights). What the boys in the booth couldn't get past was the fact that Damon barely laid a glove on the ball. Haven't they been watching professional baseball lately with all the dropped pop-ups?

The game might have ended but the YES Network was just getting started. Studio host Nancy Newman during the post game wrap-up with boys in the booth, naturally, brought up the subject of the lighting in the stadium. Of course, it had to have played a part in Damon's drop, right? Reporter Kim Jones in the locker room asked starter, and loser, A.J. Burnett, if he figured Damon lost the ball in the lights. Burnett, a former Marlin, assumed he did. After all, it's a tough stadium to play in because of the "lighting," isn't it? Whew! I'm tired. I wish someone would just ask Damon if he did, in fact, lose the ball in the lights.

Well, what do you know? Jones, finally makes her way over to Damon's locker and asks the $64,000 question. Damon's answer was an emphatic no! "No, I had a good read on the ball. I knew what the ball was doing. He kinda inside outed the ball and I knew the ball was going to center and I wound up missing it by a foot. It's totally unacceptable," said Damon. Jones then asked, "What about the fluttering in your eyes? Did that contribute?" Damon reiterated that he "saw that ball all the way. Missed it by a foot."

How could this be, Johnny? What about the lighting? How is it possible that a NEW YORK YANKEE just flat out dropped a fly ball? Never in the eyes of the YES team of announcers could this happen. As if we didn't already know why it's not a good idea to assume anything at anytime, these guys reminded us of that fact as they had NO business assuming anything until they had spoken to Damon. Besides, it's not as if Damon hasn't had trouble with fly balls before - Toronto last year, Boston this year - so what's the big surprise?

I told you to take two aspirin before reading this, didn't I?