Get it before the video gets taken down: here, after the jump, we have “Sweet” Lou Piniella offering his analysis of this winter’s Jays-Marlins deal during the Yankees-Red Sox Grapefruit League game this afternoon, and… as far as inappropriate comparisons go… um… it’s a bit on the rape-y side.
Ugh. If you’re under the age of 45, this is probably not going to come as good news.
According to a tweet from Rogers Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, the Rogers-owned Blue Jays’ Rogers-owned radio broadcaster, Sportsnet 590 The Fan, has finally filled that position they’ve had empty since Alan Ashby departed for Houston, by choosing the man whose name has been most linked to the position all along: Jack Morris.
Cue riffing:
@dustinparkes He’ll announce to the score instead of announcing the actual score.
— Paul Sporer (@sporer) February 5, 2013
Ever wonder how high-end, billion- and multi-million dollar TV and radio networks pull in the high quality talent that makes up the wonderful radio broadcasts of baseball games that criss-cross the airwaves? Why a job posting on their company website, or something called Milkman UnLimited, of course!
hhhhWha?
Yep. So get your resumes in order, those of you with at least four years pro- or semi-pro baseball experience and four years of broadcast experience! And everyone else, get set for monthly web chats and twice weekly articles from your next, all-new, “witty, genuine, self-deprecating, informative, thought-provoking, positive, insightful, observant, curious, well-rounded, instinctive, and opinionated” Rogers personality!
I guess word of mouth only goes so far in any industry. Or… y’know… more likely it’s just protocol to create job postings for all opportunities, no matter how in the bag they are for some preordained candidate. But whatever!
Full text of the posting after the jump…
According to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, there really is something to the rumours that Jack Morris may be on the verge of joining the Jays radio broadcast crew, don’tcha know.
Jays have talked to former Twins broadcaster Jack Morris about replacing Alan Ashby in the booth
— bob elliott (@elliottbaseball) January 10, 2013
I wrote back on Tuesday that, on first blush, I’m not exactly thrilled with the prospect, but since I based that pretty much entirely on my assumption that Morris is supportive of his own Hall of Fame candidacy– and therefore… y’know… one of those– I’m thinking maybe I wasn’t being totally fair, and that a better accounting of Morris’s radio work is in order before anybody goes soiling themselves about it.
Unless it comes by way of Gavin Floyd’s cousin, I’m not generally one to pass along completely baseless innuendo, but I suppose I could make an exception, seeing as there have been some odd rumblings lately about Jack Morris potentially taking over Alan Ashby’s vacant spot in the Jays’ radio booth– or at least being a candidate.
This shouldn’t entirely surprise us, for a couple of reasons, mostly stemming from the fact that back on Friday Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun wrote about the resignation of Alan Ashby, and in doing so threw Morris’s hat in the ring, writing that the future almost-Hall of Famer and Dirk Hayhurst are two names that come to mind regarding the vacancy.
If there’s more to it than a flat-out hunch, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that a reporter has hedged some actual info by using “don’t be surprised if…” or something similar. (*COUGH* anonymous NL scout *COUGH*)
But I wouldn’t be surprised if the various, flimsy rumblings about aren’t entirely traceable back to Elliott’s piece, even if Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell rather confidently proclaimed that his belief is that Morris is, indeed, in the running:
Shitty but unexpected news today for those of us who enjoy the Jays’ radio broadcast, as Bob Elliott (or is that Elloitt?) of the Toronto Sun presciently tweeted this gem early this morning:
He gone @tjhannigan Hey Elloitt – any update on Ashby’s movements?
— bob elliott (@elliottbaseball) January 4, 2013
He followed it up this afternoon with a proper piece on the matter, confirming that Ashby, one half of the club’s main radio broadcast crew, resigned his position on Monday, surely to take a job with the Houston Astros.
A year ago I wrote, while pining for more Gregg Zaun content on Jays broadcasts, that in 2011 he had “provided us with a season of something all too rare for Rogers: refreshingly unvarnished, interesting commentary.” Since then, however, it seems he’s pretty steadily dropped much of the cerebral-yet-relatable nuts and bolts analysis from his act, assuming– from the comfort of bite-sized radio and TV hits– the posture of a no-nonsense, prospect-hating, fiery, respect-demanding clubhouse warden, as likely to rail against the slow dying of some old school aspect of baseball culture as he is to detail gameplanning for a particular matchup.
Zaun Cherry is now in full effect, and as a consequence, I stopped following him on Twitter a while ago. As a consequence of that I occasionally miss out on the odd jaw-dropping tweet– like the one he laid down last night, which was definitely not the kind of “refreshingly unvarnished” commentary I was quite talking about…
