FSD/Tigers Season 2019

Dear Forum Correspondents, Regarding the current professional baseball season in Detroit and the TV broadcasts in particular, I have been waxing and waning about Matt Shephard and his host of broadcast booth color men all season. Matt Shephard, great guy, hard worker, true professional, good husband and father, salt of the earth/ Matt Shephard, goody-two-shoes, way over the moon about this crop of young Tigers, apologist for the entire organization, company man to a fault, way to enthusiastic and loud in his play-by-play - or Matt Shephard, somewhere in between? YOU BE THE JUDGE...

Gibby: full of baseball knowledge and a sly sense of humor, but he is often times too exacting and exasperating in his dissections of the games. Still a pure baseball mind. Got to give it to him. And somewhere on his body he has a Sparky Anderson tat.

Peaches: Stays within himself, and uses just enough and not too many words to express his thoughts. And Peaches, I appreciate the way you grip that pill: So that's how you throw a breaking ball!

C Mo': As much of an apologist as Shephard. Yes, I know you played the game [[as you keep reminding us). I understand that you can sense how the fellas are feeling in the dugout and clubhouse, and yes, you swing a mean stick in your cake walking attire. But C Mo' it's okay - especially for you - to be a bit more critical of the fellas, don't you think?

Jack: As honest as FSD and Shephard will allow him to be. He probably has the least ties to the organization among his broadcast peers, and that makes him a bit of a lone wolf. [[In the inner sanctum the suits speculate, is he a Tiger or a Twin at heart???)

Again - YOU BE THE JUDGE

I think the broadcasters of any MLB team are going to be total homers. They are basically employees of the Tigers. If the broadcast team was honest, they'd drive away the handful of faithful viewers, because the gloomy reality of a 5+ year rebuild ain't good for ratings.

My biggest problem with Matt Shephard is that every Tiger outfield fly appears to him to be a looming homerun.

I like Jack, but I'm surprised he's lasted the season. Sometimes his negative attitude gets the best of him, even when being truthful. I keep waiting for that Northrup moment.

Can't really fault any of them though. It's a lot easier to call the games of a winning team than a losing one. I'm sure they mentally struggle with watching this team day in and day out, just like we do.

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Originally Posted by Bong-Man

My biggest problem with Matt Shephard is that every Tiger outfield fly appears to him to be a looming homerun.

I like Jack, but I'm surprised he's lasted the season. Sometimes his negative attitude gets the best of him, even when being truthful. I keep waiting for that Northrup moment.

Can't really fault any of them though. It's a lot easier to call the games of a winning team than a losing one. I'm sure they mentally struggle with watching this team day in and day out, just like we do.

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You most certainly can fault these guys. They are absolutely terrible. Shepherd would be fired immediately if they surveyed fan opinion. I've been on many sports sites and have yet to hear anyone who can stand him.
"What do you think about that?" "How does that make you feel?" "Explain why that is?" "Is that something you have to practice or is it natural?" "He spit on that one." "There's a drive to deep left. He comes in a step and camps under it."

As someone who lives out of market and gets the road crews for half the broadcasts on MLB Extra Innings I can tell you there are some annoying guys out there but nobody comes remotely close to Shepherd. I have watched all home games with the mute button on since mid-August. This season is tough enough without having to put up with him.

I have listened to a sizable majority of the Tigers games on the radio and watched the occasional game on TV my entire life.......until the last four or seasons. By the middle of the Brad Ausmus era, I'd had it. I knew they had missed their window, and swear up and down that Max Sherzer left because of Brad.

And I thought the Randy Smith era was bad...this is atrocious. Dan Dickerson does what he can, and as much as I'm tired of Jim Price, he'll let you know that a play should have been made, or more frequently "you just can't do that". And I know this thread was created for responses relating to the TV crew.....but I haven't watched a game all year. In the past, I know that people aren't really a fan of Gibby but his analysis is pretty much pure baseball. Can't say I've heard much of Morris over the last two/three seasons since they started platooning him with Gibby. So I got nothing.

Hey Chris Ilitch, you readin' this? 45 year Loyal fan here. Your product sucks. It's unwatchable. It's unlistenable. I haven't as much as watched TV, yet alone a Tigers game since the Stanley Cup Playoffs wrapped. Which reminds me, your other team sucks too. Just make Larkin the captain already; four alternate captains sounds desperate and silly, and oh, we have no goaltender. [[I secretly feel sorry for fans in Edmonton now that Ken Holland is there).

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Dan Dickerson does what he can

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Dan Dickerson is too much of a screamer for my tastes, especially after a Tiger hits a HR. Act like it's happened before, Dan....

All "yes men" & "high five" rear-end kissers for the worst MLB team, this motivational pom-pom jabber is just ZZZzzzzz.....as mentioned, "mute" is the best listening & viewing option.

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Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

I have listened to a sizable majority of the Tigers games on the radio and watched the occasional game on TV my entire life.......until the last four or seasons. By the middle of the Brad Ausmus era, I'd had it. I knew they had missed their window, and swear up and down that Max Sherzer left because of Brad.

And I thought the Randy Smith era was bad...this is atrocious. Dan Dickerson does what he can, and as much as I'm tired of Jim Price, he'll let you know that a play should have been made, or more frequently "you just can't do that". And I know this thread was created for responses relating to the TV crew.....but I haven't watched a game all year. In the past, I know that people aren't really a fan of Gibby but his analysis is pretty much pure baseball. Can't say I've heard much of Morris over the last two/three seasons since they started platooning him with Gibby. So I got nothing.

Hey Chris Ilitch, you readin' this? 45 year Loyal fan here. Your product sucks. It's unwatchable. It's unlistenable. I haven't as much as watched TV, yet alone a Tigers game since the Stanley Cup Playoffs wrapped. Which reminds me, your other team sucks too. Just make Larkin the captain already; four alternate captains sounds desperate and silly, and oh, we have no goaltender. [[I secretly feel sorry for fans in Edmonton now that Ken Holland is there).

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I agree with all of the above except this being worse then the Randy Smith experiment. That seemed like it went on forever. As of now, it’s still kind of recent in my mind that the Tigers were relevant

I like this crew now more than the Mario-Rod combo that was before it. Were we spoiled by George Kell, Ernie Harwell, etc on television? Probably. One thing to remember though, in the olden days, not every game was televised like it is now. The broadcasters had more time to prepare to call a game. They had more time to research the players, not just their stats. They came up with anecdotal, color stories about the players early careers in school & the minors to fill in between pitches in addition to talking stats. They had time to put together a quality broadcast compared to now when broadcasters are scrambling to throw anything together to compliment stats.