The Place To Be

this is the place

I'm not sure what to make of the Sox TV announcers, so much seems to be said about them by Sox fans. You love em or hate em, I guess. One thing I don't like about Hawk and DJ, and the broader TV coverage of the home games, is their lack of connection to the crowd at the park. They don't seem like a part of the event.

I was never a fan of Harry Caray. But whether he was paired with Jimmy Piersall at old Comiskey Park, or Steve Stone at Wrigley Field, Harry made the game sound like the place to be. A lot of that probably had to do with the TV direction of the late great Arnie Harris. I can't speak too much for his work with the Sox in the 1970s, but at Cub games, Harry and Steve were always talking about the crowd ("Hey, Steve. Look at the kid in the sombero.") and reacting to fan/crowd shots from Arnie (especially of hot girls).

None of that with Hawk and DJ at new Comiskey. Sure, they read the promos about upcoming events, but don't even seem to try to hard to be enthuasitic about it. Last night looked like a sold out good time, but other than the very brief montage of crowd shots at the 7th inning, you'd never know it.

Like I said, I don't think I can blame Hawk and DJ entirely, but someone needs to pump some life into those broadcasts.