Larry Brown Sports

Sunday was a day to remember for FOX announcer Joe Buck who lived out most sports fans’ dreams by getting to call a premier NFL game and MLB playoff game back-to-back.

Buck was at Candlestick Park in San Francisco for a 1:25 PM PT kickoff between the 49ers and New York Giants. After announcing the game for FOX, he traveled across the city to AT&T Park for Game 1 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.

Buck took a cable car/trolley and had the help of a police escort to travel the approximate 7-mile trip. He made it to the park in about 30 minutes and arrived in time for the first pitch.

Here’s a look at how far he had to go:

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There comes a time when every parent has to learn to let go.  You can’t defend your baby forever.  You can hold your youngest child’s hand through the NFL draft and force a trade that results in him playing in the city you want him to play in, but that’s where it should stop.  Yet, Archie Manning still feels the need to stick up for Eli Manning when people are being meanies to his son.

On Monday, Archie told ESPN.com that he thinks the announcing tandem of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman can be too hard on Eli.

“I don’t always listen to Troy and Joe,” Archie said. “They’re kind of hard on Eli. Joe’s always been really tough on Eli, and it seems this year Troy is too. But that’s OK. Sometimes I just mute them.”

What a strange complaint.  First of all, when I think about Eli Manning the first thing that pops into my head is Joe Buck’s voice screaming, “What a throw by Eli MANNING!”  Maybe I’m imagining that, but regardless I don’t see them as being any harder on Eli than anyone else.  I know Tom Coughlin does his best to place Eli among the top quarterbacks in the game and Eli himself thinks he’s elite, but who cares what Buck and Aikman say?  It seems like everyone is doing their best to stroke Eli’s ego this year, and I’ve yet to figure out why.

H/T to NESN for passing along the story.

Sometimes announcers try to turn themselves into something bigger than the game they’re covering. It’s a bad strategy because the game is almost always more important than the people describing it. Joe Buck recognized that on Thursday night, and nailed the call to end Game 6 of the World Series. Not only did he employ a play-by-play technique called “laying out,” which is where you shut up and let the action speak for itself, but he also duplicated his father’s awesome call to end Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.

Here is a video of Jack Buck’s call of Kirby Puckett’s walk-off home run to win Game 6 in 1991:

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FOX MLB announcer Joe Buck was providing commentary during the All-Star Game about several players skipping the Midsummer Classic. Buck was obviously dissatisfied that so many players elected not to partake in the game, so he cited a quote from Willie Mays that would seem to disparage the absent players.

“You talk about Stan Musial being a 24-time All-Star. He is tied with Willie Mays for the top spot, and Hank Aaron,” Buck prefaced before diving into the story.

“Willie Mays had some interesting quotes today in the Wall Street Journal with regard to guys not showing up for this All-Star Game. He said ‘I was rewarded 24 times as an All-Star, and I went 24 times. It’s not jury duty, guys should show up.’”

Those were some pretty powerful words from Mays, and something I hadn’t heard all day. First, I was wondering how I hadn’t heard about this quote earlier in the day. Secondly, I thought to myself “since when does the Wall Street Journal score MLB interviews with Hall of Famers?” And third, I went to find the story so I could write about it here at LBS.

One problem.

When I found the article and actually read it, I knew why I hadn’t heard about the “quotes” much less the “interview.” It’s because Willie Mays was not interviewed and he never made those remarks. Follow me here.

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FOX invited comedian Sarah Silverman into the booth during Saturday evening’s Yankees-Red Sox game, and she did not disappoint. Not only did she say she disproved of steroids in the game, but she also encouraged the use of LSD by pitchers since it worked so well for Dock Ellis. She also referenced the people of New England by calling them “Massholes” on two occasions, which resulted in FOX dumping the audio. Here’s a short clip of Silverman’s appearance in the booth:

[audio:http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarah-silverman.mp3|titles=sarah-silverman]

UPDATE: We now have video of the entire exchange …

When he’s not in the middle of an A-Rod injury issue, apparently Joe Buck is fawning over Tom Brady. It’s actually difficult to tell if Buck was joking or being serious when he called Brady “dreamy” during Thursday’s preseason telecast of the Patriots and Falcons game. Here’s the video of Joe Buck calling Brady dreamy for you to decide if this was genuine swooning or sarcasm:

This wasn’t anything near what Thom Brennaman did praising Tim Tebow during the national championship game, but it certainly raised eyebrows. I’m chalking it up as somewhere in between genuine admiration of Brady and sarcasm over his superhero status. Gotta love Joe Buck keeping us on our toes! Who knows, maybe this was part of a bet.

Video Credit: YouTube user notohous

If Joe Buck’s announcing didn’t already ruin the game for Yankees fans used to their beloved Michael Kay calling games, then Buck did his best to screw things up earlier in the day. The Yankees beat the Red Sox Saturday 5-2 despite not having A-Rod in the lineup. Alex got hurt during batting practice when a ball Lance Berkman hit caught A-Rod in the leg and knocked him down. It hurt Rodriguez so badly (either that or you can conclude he’s a pansy) that he missed the game. Here’s a video of A-Rod getting hit in BP in case you missed it:

Naturally you’re wondering where Buck comes in at this point. As D.J. Short points out at HardballTalk, A-Rod was distracted because he was waving to say “hi” to Buck. We’re not sure how much time he’s going to miss (if anything at all). We do know that if he were on the Joe Buck schedule he’d have a full week off to rest. I’m guessing A-Rod doesn’t miss a game. Luckily the Yankees didn’t miss him on Saturday.

UPDATE: Joe Buck says he didn’t initiate the contact

Sources:
X-rays negative on A-Rod, Joe Buck takes responsibility [HardballTalk]
Video Credit: YouTube user JamesPatrickRadio