Question for Our World Series Historians

REMINDER: "ANONYMOUS" POSTS WILL BE DELETED.

Rare Weird Tense Moment on the Musers

Usually the tension pops up between Bob and Dan, Mike and Corby, Norm and  caller.  The Musers are gentle.

But there was a surpassing strange moment early this morning.

I think it was the throw-away 3-minute segment before the 6 AM ads/Stick It (welcome back, Becca!)/Ticker.

Craig was talking about Robin Williams's children throwing out the first ball at the World Series last night.  Billy Crystal introduced them.  There was apparently also a nice video.  Craig said it was very touching.

Then George said -- and I wish I could transcribe the whole weird exchange, but I'll have to approximate -- "Goes to show you shouldn't do yourself in.  Could have been you out there, showing out the first pitch.  Robin Williams, big Giants fan."

Craig initially seemed to think that maybe George was making a point about not being able to see one's children do something like that, but no.  Craig, smooth operator that he is, didn't miss a beat.  But he missed a fraction of a beat, just enough to create that frisson of anticipation as to how he would react.

He said, just before going to break, "So that was the theme of the World Series last night, don't do yourself in."

George missed the sarcasm.  "Yup," he said.

OPEN THREAD: World Series Wrap-Up

I tried to listen to as much Ticket as I could Friday and this weekend, didn't catch as much as I would have liked.  A little Diamond Talk, a little Orphanage, a little Soul Patch.  I'm liking the Soul Patch, Matt McClearin is growing more comfortable by the week.  I'm also finding that I like listening to Danny Balis talk sports on those too-rare occasions when he turns his attention that way.  I didn't listen to much Diamond Talk this year -- bedtime -- but I may have to make that effort next season.  Good stuff, and I didn't notice some of the Newberry mannerisms that have gotten some adverse commentary here. 

In general, I thought the coverage was about where I hoped it would come out -- informed, calm, non-accusatory, balanced, big-picture.  Put responsibility about where it probably belonged (mostly pitching) without going ballistic. 

I especially liked the commentary from the likes of Mike R that we had focused on the Rangers' "story" to the near-total exclusion of the Cardinals' "story," and that had been our mistake.

So I gots nothing too profound here.  Feel free to offer sportsy baseball commentary as well as Ticket commentary, and if you have a thought on the TV coverage, that would also be welcome.  Here's a very mild one:  I've never thought much of Tim McCarver, going back a long time.  His observations have always seemed generic and obvious to me, but I guess we could have worse color guys.  Contrary to some of the Ticket hosts, I thought A.J. Pierzynski gave the Fox presentation a needed jolt.  Yeah, he looks kind of spiky, and I hear he has been voted putz-of-the-year or something by MLB players, but I thought his observations were fresh.

We haven't heard any of The Ticket's regular programming apres-Series as of this posting, so please return and post your thoughts on what our weekday warriors have had to say as the broadcast week gets underway. 

Me, I'm getting ready for The Ticket's "unofficial" Cowboys pre-game show.  (They've started to call it that on promos -- I wonder if The Fan complained to someone about that.)

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[PS:  There seems to be some controversy over whether Danny B has received some kind of formal appointment as "weekend program director."  Anon D says no, it's a bit; a couple of other commenters seem fairly certain that it has happened.  Can anyone shed any light on this?]

Hits way way up the last few weeks.  My gratitude to the Nation.  The party's only getting started.

As always, don't worry about jacking the thread.  If you've got something else on your mind, let us hear from you.  You can also email me at ThePlainsman1310@gmail.com.  I am not case-sensitive.

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Follow Your Plainsman on Twitter:  @Plainsman1310

World Series Quick Hits

(1)  The Hardline has been brilliant the last few days.  Mike says it truly:  There is nothing more to say about this game, time to play.  Yet Mike, Corby, and Danny manage to be extremely entertaining for the entire show.   The passion and anguish of the fan.   The crosstalk with Diamond Talk has been great.  

This is Mike Rhyner at his absolute best.  When he's interested and engaged, there is simply no more listenable broadcaster in the metro.  This puts Corby in his natural position, with Danny lubricating the whole thing. 

We've heard that the CTO and Mike have a mutual loathing society going.  The past couple of weeks is good evidence of why they will come to terms.  The Ticket needs Mike Rhyner, and Mike Rhyner needs The Ticket.  I don't care what either side says. 

(2)  Did Bob Sturm really hijack Diamond Talk the other night, or were the accounts on the other shows exaggerated?  Witnesses?  I like Bob and in the past I've been inclined to dismiss charges that he's the Sports Bully, but that would qualify.  Unless, of course, it were 30 minutes of unrelieved brilliance, which is entirely possible.  But 30 minutes of droning qualifiers and subordinate clauses would be a bit much.

(3)  Been disappointed with the quality of the Ticket tweets tonight (Game 6).  Too many nothingburger interjections with no content or cleverness.  A few gems, mostly retweets.

(4) If The Ticket had not sent any shows to St. Louis for either segment of the Series there, would we have noted a significant difference?   I did not hear any of the Joe Buck encounters -- maybe that added some local color.  The Ticket didn't bother to send The Hardline the second time around.  I guess the station gets some PR benefit about saying that they sent some showgrams and the other stations didn't.  Hey, I don't mind them going, it certainly doesn't make their broadcasts any worse (technical issues aside).  But since Our Heroes aren't really news guys -- with the exception of Gordon, who gets some local sound from time to time -- no one is really covering the sports scene.  Their presence in St. Louis (or Detroit, or Florida) hasn't much for me one way or t'other.  Not unlike the playoffs and Series last year.