Baseball. Blogging. Whenever.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Notable Comment


I sometimes pick up comments from threads that are a couple of days old and give them their own post so more people can see them. I don't have a name for this little featurette, however. "Comment of the Day" is kind of bland and often not accurate given that the comment may have happened yesterday or the day before. If anyone has any good ideas, fire away.

Anyway, here's a notable comment from reader Bob Rittner re: the first day or two of the MLB Network (note: I don't get it where I live, so I'm taking his assessment at face value). After commenting on Costas, Bob writes:

Unfortunately, the rest of what I have seen on the new network has been less satisfactory appealing again to the lowest common denominator rather than using its platform to raise the level of discussion. The “in the moments” pieces are typical fluff, more hagiography than history and with no real effort at analysis.

And the “hot stove” segment is aping similar football shows with lots of sophomoric humor and cliched analyses. I think Leiter is an excellent color man and Larkin seems articulate, but Reynolds is just another ESPN personality and the conversation seems to break down into sound bites and people yelling over each other.

I don’t so much object to the lack of creativity in the programming or the typically lightweight features, but given that it is a 24/7 baseball network, couldn’t there be some room for more serious and more progressive analysts to stimulate thinking in new ways? Even if they put them on at 3:00 am, just to appease those who are looking for something more than blazers and blonds.

Clearly the network if entitled to a lot more time before judgment can be passed. Still, the point about "blazers and blonds" is worth thinking about. Obviously the MLB Network wants to run programming that the masses will like. I do hope, however, that they find a little room for something a bit different and maybe more challenging.

Posted by Craig Calcaterra at 10:15am (15) Comments