For Friday’s broadcast of the White Sox game vs. the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati on Comcast Sports net Steve Stone was the only broadcaster. Steve Stone is usually the Color commentator and is the best in the business. Usually his partner and the play by play announcer for the White Sox is Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. It is very unusual to see only one broadcaster alone on TV. Sometimes we even see three broadcasters on ESPN and other networks. I guess one of Hawk’s relatives was sick so he couldn’t make it. I wonder why they didn’t get a substitute. The game was on Comcast so they could have found any reporter they have to fill in. It shouldn’t be hard to find a decent play by play announcer. I am sure most of there reporters would love the opportunity to call a ball game, even if it is just for one game. If Hawk didn’t give them enough notice they could of had one of the radio announcer’s to fill in. This is because television. usually takes precedent over radio. One announcer on radio isn’t as weird of having one announcer on t.v.
I watched a few minutes of this Sox game and found it amusing to watch Steve Stone do both the play by play and the analysis of the game. He barley seemed to come up for air, but it seemed to flow pretty well. I actually thought this broadcast was the best the White Sox have had in the past 19 years! They would be better-off with just Steve Stone in the booth than having Hawk Harrelson join him.
Showing posts with label Steve Stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Stone. Show all posts
Baseball Trigonometry
Amidst all the baseball stats that we here at GOI throw out ad nauseum, it is easy to forget just how geometric the game of baseball really is. A round ball being hit by a round bat. 90 feet between each base. 60' 6'' from the mound to the plate with a 10'' elevation. The list goes on and on. But as Hawk Harrelson has been known to do, he has invented a new trigonometric property that has gone overlooked for nearly 130 years. After a close play at the plate that resulted in the force out of Chris Getz, Hawk and Stoney reviewed the play several times on replay to see if indeed the runner was out on the bang bang play. Stone commented that from his vantage point, Getz was barely out on the play. Hawk put in his two cents by stating that he has a different angle to the plate than his broadcast partner and thought the throw just beat the runner.
Although Hawk's claim that he has a different view of the plate is valid, it may not have any relevance when it comes to deciphering a play at the plate. Hence, I decided to do a little trigonometry and see what Hawk actually meant by "a different angle".
I'm going to make several assumptions, seeing as how I dont have access to the blueprints of Miller Park. I'll make a rough estimate that the announcing box is about 200 feet away from home plate. Seeing as how this is Hawk and Stone's first year together, I'll assume they're still trying to get that intimacy, so I will give them a 7 foot cushion between their eyes. We'll also disregard any curvature to the upper deck or anything like that since the effect is miniscule. All that's left is the math.
From my calculations, it appears that the angle separating Hawk and Stone's view of home plate is 2 degrees. Surely baseball is a game of inches, but how big a difference is 2 degrees from 200 feet away in the eyes of a 67 year old man? Maybe he should also claim that the light from home plate arrived to his eyes about 12 nanoseconds before it did to Steve's eyes.
If umpires cant get calls right from 5 feet away there is really no point of trying to do so from 200. Prime example today when the home plate ump mistook a foul tip by Ryan Braun for getting hit in the head. I get those confused too.
Although Hawk's claim that he has a different view of the plate is valid, it may not have any relevance when it comes to deciphering a play at the plate. Hence, I decided to do a little trigonometry and see what Hawk actually meant by "a different angle".
I'm going to make several assumptions, seeing as how I dont have access to the blueprints of Miller Park. I'll make a rough estimate that the announcing box is about 200 feet away from home plate. Seeing as how this is Hawk and Stone's first year together, I'll assume they're still trying to get that intimacy, so I will give them a 7 foot cushion between their eyes. We'll also disregard any curvature to the upper deck or anything like that since the effect is miniscule. All that's left is the math.
From my calculations, it appears that the angle separating Hawk and Stone's view of home plate is 2 degrees. Surely baseball is a game of inches, but how big a difference is 2 degrees from 200 feet away in the eyes of a 67 year old man? Maybe he should also claim that the light from home plate arrived to his eyes about 12 nanoseconds before it did to Steve's eyes.
If umpires cant get calls right from 5 feet away there is really no point of trying to do so from 200. Prime example today when the home plate ump mistook a foul tip by Ryan Braun for getting hit in the head. I get those confused too.
Steve Stone and Farmio Reunited... In The Past
So I was looking up who the former great Royals 3B (because I'm stupid and don't know sports prior to 2005- and the answer is George Brett) and I came across the roster for the 1980 All-Star. In it there were five pitchers for the A.L. (seems really low right?). One of the pitchers was Tommy John (He had success prior to people copying his surgery. huh?!).
Anyway, two other pitchers on the roster was Steve Stone and Ed Farmer. This was also the year Steve Stone was the Cy Young award. Also, also, Steve Stone is Jewish. Sweet, a Chicago pitcher who's Jewish, a Cy Young winner, and a great analyst. Haha, take that LA and New York!
I don't know, I think it's interesting that 27 years before being in the broadcast booth together, they were teammates in the 1980 All Star team
Anyway, two other pitchers on the roster was Steve Stone and Ed Farmer. This was also the year Steve Stone was the Cy Young award. Also, also, Steve Stone is Jewish. Sweet, a Chicago pitcher who's Jewish, a Cy Young winner, and a great analyst. Haha, take that LA and New York!
I don't know, I think it's interesting that 27 years before being in the broadcast booth together, they were teammates in the 1980 All Star team
The White Sox Announcer Swap
Last year, it was really tough watching White Sox games. The team was above average last year and made the playoffs. But what made them so hard to watch was actually the announcing (so I guess it was hard to listen to Sox games while watching them???). Anyway, the TV announcers were Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson (a man who's more useful as a center for drinking games than he is for announcing) and Darrin "DJ" Jackson (a man who is so boring that I'd rather watch a chick flick than listen to). If I could, I would turn the TV on mute and listen 670 The Score with Steve Stone and Ed "Farmio" Farmer. Two guys who really know their shit about baseball and had such a good rapport that it made games fun to listen to. After the White Sox lost in the playoffs, the team fired DJ. And they replaced him with the radio 'Color Guy', Steve Stone. With an open vacancy next to Farmio, who does 670 hire? That's right Darrin Jackson.
Now I don't know how to feel about this swap. Now I love Steve Stone and he's one of my favorite baseball analysts but he's now seated beside Hawk, a man who's the play-by-play announcer yet often doesn't speak and when he does, it's about how excited he is that the Sox are doing well or he's pissed at a bad call. And I can't really turn to the radio because I'll have a great play-by-play guy in Farmio and a boring mo fo in DJ. The radio had two A's and TV had two C's. Now each has one A and C. What to do!
Hopefully Farmio and Hawk can switch soon.
Although, I don't think this is going to matter this year because the Sox are gonna suck next year. Shit.
Now I don't know how to feel about this swap. Now I love Steve Stone and he's one of my favorite baseball analysts but he's now seated beside Hawk, a man who's the play-by-play announcer yet often doesn't speak and when he does, it's about how excited he is that the Sox are doing well or he's pissed at a bad call. And I can't really turn to the radio because I'll have a great play-by-play guy in Farmio and a boring mo fo in DJ. The radio had two A's and TV had two C's. Now each has one A and C. What to do!
Hopefully Farmio and Hawk can switch soon.
Although, I don't think this is going to matter this year because the Sox are gonna suck next year. Shit.
