Rays TV dropped the ball tonight because it took its eyes off the ball. The big story going into tonight's game was Josh Hamilton playing his first game at Tropicana Field. Obviously, when the Rays drafted him in 1999, we all thought Hamilton would be wearing a Rays uniform when he made his Trop debut. Then when he went through his well-chronicled drug problems, it seemed terribly unlikely he would ever play in the majors at all. But he survived, cleaned himself up and arrived in town Monday leading the majors in RBIs. What a story.
The interesting part about tonight was seeing what kind of reaction he was going to get from the Rays fans. In fact, Hamilton even asked in a Marc Topkin story Sunday if he was going to get booed. But as Hamilton was walking from the on-deck circle to the batter's box and his name was being announced, Rays TV was showing a slo-mo replay of Scott Kazmir's delivery while analyst Joe Magrane was talking about Kazmir.
That couldn't have waited? Instead of seeing shots of the crowd, hearing the crowd and seeing Hamilton's reaction, we saw a replay of Kazmir. For the record, Hamilton got a nice ovation. It would've been nice if we had seen it.
Tom Jones doesn't sing "It's Not Unusual'' or shake his hips (well, unless you're willing to pay cash), but he does have plenty to say about sports. If it's funny, crazy, weird, irreverent or worth arguing, Tom has his opinions. So pull up a chair and get his two cents -- and give him your two cents, as well.
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>>>Rays TV dropped the ball tonight because it took its eyes off the ball. The big story going into tonight's game was Josh Hamilton playing his first game at Tropicana Field.game broadcast was the game. hamilton is not the game. most people tune into a game broadcast to watch -- surprise! -- the game.
whatever hamilton's return meant should be for pregame/postgame ca-ca or feature stories on the 11 p.m. news or crock riley's baysludge 9 tripe... or even mlb.tv's expanded and updated video packages.
kudos to "rays tv(?)" for keeping its eye on the ball which was the game.
Posted by: joe hillman | May 27, 2008 at 10:04 AM
(maybe this post will work?)
uh, no. you'be been watching too much bspn tom.
the "big story" of the game broadcast was the game. hamilton is not the game. most people tune into a game broadcast to watch -- surprise! -- the game.
whatever hamilton's return meant should be for pregame/postgame ca-ca or feature stories on the 11 p.m. news or crock riley's baysludge 9 tripe... or even mlb.tv's expanded and updated video packages.
kudos to "rays tv(?)" for keeping its eye on the ball which was the game.
Posted by: joe hillman | May 27, 2008 at 10:06 AM
I agree with Joe. Kaz is a Rays player, Hamilton isn't. If you want a "feel good" story, have him do a Lifetime special.
Posted by: | May 27, 2008 at 04:32 PM
All I'm saying is we couldn't have seen Hamilton come to the plate and what the reaction -- good or bad -- was? The Kazmir replay couldn't have waited, oh, 20 seconds?
Posted by: Tom Jones | May 27, 2008 at 07:29 PM