You never know who might be listening to a ballgame on the radio.On Sunday, as the Reds dropped their fifth straight game by a 14-7 score, David Weathers was one of the Reds on Radio listeners on WLW-AM. Weathers, who was spending his final day on the disabled list, had finished a workout and was driving home.
During Jeff Brantley's call of the game with Marty Brennaman, Weathers heard the following:
"I'm not including everybody but there are some guys on this team ... if they win, great. If they lose, they could care less," Brantley said.
Weathers took umbrage that Brantley implied the Reds were quitters.
"Maybe he knows more about the game than we do," Weathers told TV reporters before the Reds played the Cubs on Monday. "If he does, congratulations, maybe he should come out with a uniform on."
For what it's worth, I think Weathers and I are complaining about different things. I heard that bit from Brantley and didn't really think it was a problem. The announcers should be critical when criticism is warranted, and Brantley's comments didn't come off as particularly acidic or anything. Indeed, he was doing what Reds radio pays him to do, and that's provide some insight into the team's mindset as a former player.
Snark aside, I think Brantley does a pretty good job with that most of the time and avoids the kind of sad bitterness that has seemed to have consumed Brennaman.
2 comments:
I do think Brantley does some good work when he's talking about the art of pitching. However, in other areas, he tends to fall into the traps of clutchity and grit and whatever.
Regardless of whether Brantley's comments were sensible, hysterical, or just plain kooky...if there's one thing I cannot stand (and, realistically, there are plenty) it's athletes who, upon hearing criticism, use the old well-let's-see-if-you-could-do-better saw.
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