TWH (This Week's Hacks)
- Despite making four miscues in Webb's start, the Dbacks swept Colorado, recapturing some mojo and baseball's best record, at 26-15. The NL Champion Rockies are 11 back. Arizona's expected W/L, based on runs scored and allowed, is the major's second best, behind the Cubs.
- Last week it was a pleasure watching the Dbacks on WGN. Len Kasper and Bob Brenly do a terrific job balancing banter while calling the game and both exude a natural, easygoing charm largely absent in the histrionic Phoenix booth. We all like to moan about announcers we hate, but I guess one of the tests for me is asking, "Would I enjoy sitting next to this guy at the ballpark?" Assume he's not a celebrity, just a regular guy conversing as he does on the broadcast. Would he be fun or informative to sit next to? Would he invite discussion or dominate the conversation? I could be totally wrong, but I feel like Brenly or Kasper would be enjoyable company, whereas Grace and Sutton might have some high points but would wear out their welcome sooner, craving the center of attention.
- The boy graduated 8th grade today with a dozen classmates. The teachers hosted a well scripted, funny 90 minute production roasting the grads and performing skits for the parents. Most of the kids have been there a long time, my son since the first grade. There are, I suppose, many good ways to evaluate the merits of a school. Test scores. High school placements and so on. At this event, all the parents showed up and laughed with the kids as teachers portrayed each child's endearing warts with laser precision. Then the slide show progressing across the years, set to that damn Seinfeld song, "I Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life". Then it was over, the boys became suddenly quiet and the girls cried. All six of them. That's good enough for me.
3 comments:
Chicks dig the di-o-rama!
Congrats on getting 'the boy' this far, Matt. Based on your blogging and your 'tagging' and your propensity to give away free stuff, you're setting a fine example.
As much as I hate the Cubs, it's hard not to like Len and Bob. Last year after that Rockies/Cubs game when some idiot charged the field trying to kill Bob Howry, a buddy of mine and I stuck around behind home plate and waited for Len and Bob to finish their post-game show. Once they wrapped up, we hollered at them from below the press box and we had a nice chat about what local bands we should check out in the area. No baseball talk. No star-struck-ness. Just plain old guy talk. It was really cool. I walked away thinking, "Wow. That guy (Brenly) managed a World Series championship team and we just talked about garage bands".
Very cool.
When I was in the UK, because of the time difference and the Cub's propensity to play day games, I saw quite a bit of WGN and I have to agree that Len and Bob do a fine job.They are pro-Cubs without being grating and just "good compny". I think part of the problem with Daron and Mark is that that they don't complement each other as commentators. Daron needs somebody (or something) to calm him down, and Mark needs someone who knows how to reign him in on occasion.
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