Grace Voted Least Popular

Matt...Greetings from the Home of Champions,Chi-town...and welcome back to one of the more original,thought designed,passionate blogs in the system...other than the one I participate in,of course...As to your poll question,I really could not vote one way or the other,but I will comment on the front runners...Little Thommie Brennaman,as I called him during his term on the North Side as the radio/TV apologist for the Cubs,really did not create much of an impact,onlt because he was part of the crew with the late Harry Caray and the even later Ron Santo and Steve Stone...the problem with little Thommie was he was taking way too much time off,in the opinion of WGN,to play national broadcaster with Fox...So,when he contract ran out,little Thommie did likewise,out to the desert...And,as I rarely hear him anymore,I really can't judge him...
As to Gracie...when he was playing on the North Side,he never met a microphone or a TV camera that he didn't like...As a matter of fact,when he left the Cubs,I suggested to my TV producer friend that all the radio/TV producers get together and but him two presents...1)A lifetime supply of eyeblack for under his eyes and 2)a tailormade podium,replete with phony stick mics,with call letter flags emblazoned on them,that he could stand up anywhere he was and give us his thoughts...Getting back to HIS problem,he was a part of the Sammy Sosa Warrior/Gladiator Circus at its height...And,in Sammy's mind,there was no room for one more superstar,so...Bye-bye Gracie...he then went off and all he did was win a World Series ring with the D-Backs,then move upstairs to the cushy position he now holds...unless he is as bad as your polls seems to think he is....

Welcome back TQ! I was beginning to think it was something I said ;-)

It wasn't that,Matt(rhymes,doesn't it?)...t was something that I did NOT see during the off season,and the spring training schedule...I looked for your blog but,like the Chicago Cubs chances...I couldn't see them.....
Any comment from you on my comments on little Thommie and Gracie? Also,what about the radio side? Does Greg Schulte(I don't know if I misspelled his last name or not)get a pass because of less visibility? Here on the South Side,in the Land Of Champions(in case you have't heard),our main radio voice for 18 years,John Rooney,left because the new radio rights holder wouldn't pay him what he deserved...So instead we got a former player only a few months retired from active duty named Chris Singleton as the new color commentator...He does one inning of play-by-play per game and,to sum up his first few weeks...one adjective comes to mind...BRUTAL!!!

So,you could have it worse than what you do have,even if you do have Joe Garagiola standing by at the tender age of 81 for little Thommie to go and play national/regional broadcaster for FOX starting next week.....

For the record, Diamondhacks 'disappearance' last year was not my idea - I'll just leave it at that for now.

Your charge that Grace was a publicity hound sounds reasonable. I see him around town now and again and he's an outgoing, center of attention sort of guy. On air, the Marlboros have destroyed Mark's voice so that it cracks like a pubescent's.

Thom's more prepared, of course, but his painstakingly fabricated baritone and faux enthusiasm become evident before long. Maybe that's why he bounces around so much.

I voted for Brenneman, and he just gave me an example of why I don't like him.

I'm watching SD and AZ and they were so busy with the darned graphics defense that they barely got back in time for the first pitch to Byrnes; TB did not say whether it was a ball or a strike, and then Byrnes flied to center, there was mention of the guy who caught the fly, but not the guy who hit it. And this guy is a home team announcer?

Sheesh!...plus he's Gracie's straight man, that in itself is bad.

But at least Gracie enthuses about Byrnesie's style of play.

Kellia

http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com

Kellia,you should be here in Chi-town,with the TV announcers for the team on the other side of town(the Cubs,for those of you uninitiated with sarcasm...)They are EXACTLY what the management of the Cubs want...Hear no evil,see no evil and speak no evil...And there is a lot evil going on with those sad sacks now...as you folks out there may have witnessed in their only visit to Chase Field in'06....

Brenneman and Williams are on TV today and they don't know what they **** they are talking about. They said Eric Byrnes was not a natural CF. He is in fact a natural CF. Came up to Oakland that way, and got pushed to left field because they had Dye, Damon, and later Kotsay. But one of the reasons he signed with the D'Backs was for the chance to go back to CF.

GRRRR!

Kellia

http://byrnesblog.mlblogs.com

Thom should know better, but we'll cut Gracie some slack on this - after all, he's not a "natural" broadcaster ;- )

Diamondhacks