Silence > Matt Shepard?

[DAC]

I watched a few innings of Sunday's (7/3/2022) Tigers gimmick broadcast on Peacock. I hate gimmicks, so I wasn't looking forward to the "no commentary" game, as I remember back to the stunting that NBC did back in the 80s with this concept that was a complete failure. Now, I was raised on the holy trinity of Ernie Harwell, Paul Carey, and George Kell, so I love some good play by play. However today's game made me realize just how annoying the Tigers broadcasts on Balley Sports are with Shepard at the helm. Yes, there was the expected clowning with Craig Monroe and whoever the other guy was as they went through the crowd at Comerica Park talking to fans, vendors, etc. But most of the innings I watched just had silence during the action on the field. It was an improvement. How sad is this?

Clearly, the opinion of fans has not ever mattered to the Tigers brass when it comes to announcers (see Price, Jim, who has been shoved down our throats basically since Ilitch bought the team), so I expect we will be stuck with Shep for a long time, and have to listen to him grovel at the feet of whatever former Tigers player he's paired with on any given day. (Welcome! I'm Matt Shepard along with my partner AND FRIEND Kirk Gibson!). I don't give a fuck if they are friends. I didn't care that Mario and Rod were not friends. Just give me a good broadcast. Truthfully, given the bad relationship between Mario and Rod, I think they did an excellent job of not letting that show on the air, at least until Rod clobbered Mario with a chair and threw him from the booth.

Did any of you watch the Peacock game?

[craig11152]

I didn't watch. Tigers aren't good enough to earn my time.
But to your post
1. The guys in the booth aren't all that important to me. They all more or less sound the same and they are sort of like pizza. Some are better than others but none are bad. Just my opinion.
2. As to no broadcast in the booth that's like going to a game live. It would annoy the crap out of people if they did PBP at the ball park.

[Realist]

Considering that Shep signed A 10 YEAR CONTRACT to do play by play (FSD / Bally were idiots in doing that), he unfortunately isn’t going anywhere. I still think that they need to shift him to the pre and post game shows and bring Mario back.

[MWmetalhead]

I think Mr. Shepard does a decent job in the play-by-play booth, and I actually prefer him to Mario. I also miss his work in the radio booth for U-M basketball games.

If it's true he received a massively long contract, that was probably necessary for two reasons. (1) it is obvious no one of national prominence wanted to enter into a multi-year deal to call games for a shitty team with an uncertain future (contrary to what that senile and extremely clueless geezer, Lynn Henning, repeatedly wrote), and (2) it was probably necessary to pry him away from his radio gig with U-M.

I do spend extremely little time watching the Tigers on TV, though, since the product on the field is terrible.

Craig Monroe is the worst part of the broadcasts; sleepy Kirk Gibson is the second worst part.

The attendance for a typical game at CoPa is probably lower than the semi-pro soccer team that plays in Hamtramck.

[Willie108]

I think Gibson is good...along with Morris & Petry. They give you a no BS view of the game. Sheppard on the other hand, is nothing but a cheerleader. What really irks me is the interviews they're doing in the booth while the game goes on. I really noticed this with Avila and Cecil Fielder. They get so hung up on the interview, they forget what they're there for.....to call the game!!!! On another note, Monroe is GOD awful. And you wanna know who is really BAD??? Dickerson. His constant screaming is horrible. To me, he makes Price sound good believe it or not.

[krupper]

Matt Shepard isn't going anywhere. He's been part of Fox Sports/Bally Sports for 24 years.

Like him or not, Shepard is a good soldier and a competent broadcaster at BSD for a long time. Love him, hate him, or otherwise, he does a decent job.

With all the other personalities involved, I think Shepard does a good job as a traffic cop moving between everyone else that goes on during a typical BSD broadcast. Play-by-play is secondary at times. Jack Morris, Dan Petry, Kirk Gibson, and the recent award-winning Craig Monroe are all different personalities.

There was a time in the early 1960s that Ernie Harwell was considered dull, not very exciting, He was not considered an icon. How many readers of this website remember that? My guess is not many people.

[MWmetalhead]

What award did Craig Monroe win?

[krupper]

@MWmetalhead, please scroll down:

https://www.ballysports.com/detroit/new ... s-20-emmys

[MWmetalhead]

Thanks for the info.

Those awards were handed out by the Michigan chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Who the heck other than FSD / BSD was submitting entries for live game telecasts? My guess would be operations with far smaller budgets.

Monroe's personality and voice are off-putting. I don't doubt his analytical abilities are decent, but that is only one element of what's required to be a successful broadcaster in that role, in my opinion.

[krupper]

No matter. Craig Monroe won an award. if nothing else, it shows up on his resume.

He is getting more air-time on BSD, IMO, and he was one of the roving reporters on Peacock Sunday's broadcast. Peacock/NBC could have chosen someone else. Related note: Have you noticed that Jack Morris provides analysis on an occasional Fox National baseball broadcast?

Like him or not, Monroe is getting more reps and is improving, IMO. Who's to say he doesn't move into the high school sports that BSD covers?

Monroe will receive more work as time goes by if he decides to stick with broadcasting. I think he would rather be a coach for an MLB team.

[MWmetalhead]

I like Jack Morris's on-air work, generally speaking. Far better broadcaster than Monroe, in my opinion.

[CurlyHoward]

Morris is too much of the "I hate this because it's different from when I played" ex-jock, but he's 10000 times better than Gibson. I liked Mario better than Shepard but Shepard's not unlistenable or anything. Gibson is the problem with the broadcasts.

Well, that and the team sucks and is boring. Ernie Harwell of 1971 couldn't make them interesting.

[moldyoldie]

I liked the absence of play-by-play on Peacock yesterday. I also recall liking the same on the NFL game back in the '80s.

Something I tend to bring up here from time to time is that play-by-play and analysis are a great benefit to novice and young fans. I'd often complain of former analyst Rod Allen always stating the obvious after the fact, but to the novice fan it wouldn't necessarily be so obvious.

I have no complaint with Matt Shepherd or Dan Dickerson. In fact, I consider Dickerson to be one of the best. He was great when subbing on the TV games...was it last year or the year before? In any case, he's a keeper in my book. Shepherd will certainly gain a following with a winning team to cover, you can bet on it.

[MWmetalhead]

Dickerson is terrific calling college hockey and high school football games on TV. I've seen him do both. He does a great job on the MHSAA championship telecasts.

Keeping people interested in a baseball broadcast where there are numerous pauses between game action is tough work. Having dead weight called Jim Price as a broadcast partner makes a tough job even tougher. Then, on top of that, add the fact the Tigers blow.

[krupper]

Since you are mentioning other broadcasters, I can turn a phrase as well and have done so for 35 years:

https://youtu.be/mkT4hocMYqc

https://youtu.be/4ILgbKlq6hc