I spent last weekend in San Francisco so my family and I could beat each other up about which beard was better, Wilson or Motte.
(Wilson won. He's not playing, so I guess he has more time on his hands to tend to his beard).
St. Louis fans have often criticized Buck, because he is the son of legendary Jack Buck, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals. Jack Buck is to the Cardinals what Caray is to the Cubs and Scully is to the Dodgers = legendary. Jack was the radio voice of the Redbirds.
Joe, in the eyes of many St. Louis fans, isn't "homer" enough. Meaning, anytime he is doing the play-by-play for the Cardinals, he's not showing any sign that he's a Cardinals fan.
Joe is not employed by the St. Louis Cardinals. His dad, when doing local radio, was. Joe's first gig was fill in time for his dad and maybe he lucked out in making it big because of that, but...he was ultimately employed by FOX to do NFL and MLB play-by-play. His dad may have helped him get noticed, but his talent and drive is what led him to getting the gig with FOX. Joe had to turn down local radio to do this. Some Cardinals fans hate him for this because they hoped he'd replace elder Buck. Joe chose national media over the opportunity for a home town gig.
On Sunday, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman called the 49'ers-Giants game, and Buck, took a helicopter from Candlestick Park to AT&T Park, they threw out a ladder and...Joe Buck climbed out and jumped onto the field ala James Bond.
Okay, he didn't. But FOX made sure everyone knew what was going on. What Joe did was take a trolley to get to the NLCS game...just in time to call the game with Tim McCarver.
Poor Tim McCarver.
Joe is not "homer" enough for Cardinals fans, but is too much of a "homer" for everyone else. My family feels that in the 2002 NLCS (which the Giants won, BTW) he favored the Cardinals. I remember that series all too well. I remember St. Louis fans tearing UP Joe because he wasn't enough of a Cards fan on air. Even though his job is to maintain as neutral as possible.
He just can't win. But at least he's better than McCarver.
So...NFL!
Calisportsdiva's Top 10 Afterthoughts of the Week
10. GregTheLeg, Legatron, YoungGZ is unable to make a 66 yard field goal for the Rams to tie up the Rams-Miami game at the end of the 4th quarter. Amazing thing? He had the distance, it just went too far left. Rams lose this one despite Sam Bradford throwing for over 300+ yards. Tough loss and Miami improved to 3-3...along with the rest of the AFC East.
9. Seattle bests the Pats. Really. REALLY? Come on man, really? Yes, it's true. The Seattle Seahawks stunned the Pats by overcoming a deficit and coming back to take the lead and ultimately win, 24-23. Perhaps Russell Wilson drank some Cardinals Juice. Baseball Cards, that is.
8. Matt Ryan threw 3 interceptions and Atlanta STILL found a way to win the game and remain undefeated. The Falcons are now the only undefeated team left in the league. They may just be the scariest team to face in the NFL right now.
7. Detroit wins a close one versus Philly. I'm just not sure what to think about either of these teams. I expected Detroit to be better than they have been this year, and Philly too. Just not so sure about these two teams. There's a LOT of talent in the NFC this year. The competition for the wild card is going to be fierce.
6. J-E-T-S! They're back! Sanchez + Tebow = magic! Shonn Green fantasy owners rejoiced as he finally established a running game! Wait a minute, they were playing...The Colts? Look, I heard Rex Ryan all giddy about the win but the truth here is, they beat a team that they should have beat. Andrew Luck's going to be amazing but the Colts right now are still rebuilding and while the 35-9 win was great, the Jets still have a lot of holes to fill. Enjoy the win, but don't for a second think they've got everything figured out.
5. Really Cowboys? Really? Just horrendous time management at the end of the game. Dallas had a good shot at making a field goal to win the game but the clock management was just awful and they had to scramble to get the play off before time ran out. Baltimore may have won, but they lost Ray Lewis for probably the season, so not so sure how that bodes for them. I picked them as my SB pick for the AFC, but now I'm not so sure.
4. The Giants on the road. New York manhandled the 49'ers on Sunday. Just incredible. I don't understand how the Giants can fall apart at home and be so scary good on the road. Big win for the Giants, but fortunately for the 49'ers, they are still at the top of the NFC West. 49'ers aren't going anywhere.
3. The Patriots lose to the Seattle Seahawks. The fact that the Pats lost this game isn't the biggest surprise, it's HOW they did.They had the lead for most of the game...and let the Seahawks stage an amazing comeback win. Fortunately for the Pats the AFC East should still be winnable for them, considering ALL of the team in the division are now 3-3. Tough loss for New England but I still expect them to bounce back and win the division.
2. Rodgers throws 6 TD passes in the MNF game against Houston. Just in case you didn't remember that Aaron Rodgers is amazing. Or that the Green Bay Packers are a good team. Texans got their butts kicked and are no longer undefeated. However, the Texans are still good. Green Bay is also still good. Expect to see them in the postseason.
1. Peyton Comeback Manning. Are we tired of Peyton's comeback wins yet? Hell no! Broncos were down 24-0 at the half. Right where Peyton wanted them. They only came back in the second half to ultimately shut San Diego down and win 35-24. Nothing new, right? We expect this from Peyton. This is why the Broncos are better than what their record says.
That's all for now. Tigers won yesterday so they are headed to the World Series, where they will face either the Giants or the Cardinals. Cardinals are up in the series 3-1, with an important Game 5 tonight.
Tigers-Cardinals rematch from 2006? Sure, I'll take it. Go Redbirds.
I don't quite agree with the Joe Buck debate. I feel he is about where he should/can be with what the situation is. It's certainly not a secret that he's from STL thus you can't expect him to be completely unbiased. However, I think he does a pretty good job being as neutral as possible, especially when calling the Cardinals in the post-season. That's a tall request from someone who literally grew up in the game with this team.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I cannot stand him doing NFL. While he can do better than the D-squad play-by-play team that ultimately gets assigned to the Ram's on a weekly basis he is not the premier p-b-p person in the NFL. Troy clearly carries the team and covers for Joe's deficiency and makes the game worthwhile to listen/watch. Joe should stick to MLB.
Just my $0.02,
John