Marty's candor
It's pretty simple: Do you want an announcer who patronizes you, or respects your intelligence?
Someone who treats you like a Knotholer or an astute fan?
Someone who speaks phony optimism, or says all the things on 50,000 watts you wish you could say?
A sidelight to this is credit due the Reds. Not many teams, regardless of the sport, would allow an announcer they pay to be as candidly critical as Marty is. The Reds don't like it; but they realize Marty's importance. They realize it so much, they've all but encouraged it, by adding Thom and Jeff Brantley.
I get that passionate fans can be irritated by Marty's straight shooting. But he's not creating the reality. He's merely reflecting it.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 8:27 AM
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Post a Comment*There are certain things about Marty Brenneman that irritate me, but his straight-shooting isn't one of them. He's there to report what he sees, not to lead cheers. If what he sees is bad, then he should say it's bad. He does, and I appreciate that.
You're right, it's to the Reds' credit that they keep Marty in the booth. Look what the Cubs did to Steve Stone, an excellent announcer who was much less critical of his team than Brenneman is of the Reds.
I love Marty's honesty. He is the voice of the fans, not the organization. Cincinnati fans are intelligent baseball fans and we are frustrated with the years of sub-par baseball.
I too am sick and tired of Jerry Narron talking about how we need to do the "little things" and then night after night watch this team fail to bunt, hit and run, play defense, hit the cutoff man.
If Jerry wants his team to do the little things, then he needs to take control of this team and make EVERYONE on the team spend a couple hours a day working on the little things such as bunting, and hitting the cutoff man.
Stop telling me what this team needs and start showing me.
Hey Doc...
I don't mind "straight shootin'," but when Marty exclaims, as he did yesterday, "I don't know why I get upset. If they don't care about it, then I don't either" to express criticism of a missed cutoff man, then you have to start questioning the guy's professionalism (and sanity). I don't mind criticism, but I do worry about unprofessionalism in the booth - a level which Marty and Thom dipped into quite a few times yesterday.
The Reds should be concerned about this because it's borderline un-listenable.
I have to say, the best radio combo is Marty and Brantley. Thom is trying too hard, everything gets treated with the same "voice of doom" weight, and he makes it too much about him by trying to guess the next moves by Narron, or the next pitch by the pitcher. Just call balls and strikes, PLEASE!
Brantley is funny, knowledgeable, easy to listen to...
It's gotten to the point now that when I tune in and it's Marty and Thom, I tune tune and go to the TV.
Three points:
1) If Marty is going to be critical when errors are made, he should point out also when special plays are made. When Josh Hamilton threw the guy out at the plate a couple of plays after he missed the cut off man, the silence from Marty was "deafening." It made Marty look stupid. Thom did point out that it was a great play.
2) You are right when you say the Reds organization should get some credit - everyone keeps mentioning that Marty is a Hall of Fame broadcaster, but he would not be if not for the Reds letting him voice his opinion.
3) Someone on SportsTalk said Marty should be GM and why isn't he - the answer is obvious - its alot easier to voice your opinion on how things should be done than to actually do it. Lets not give Marty too much credit.
The Reds have a really good trio in Marty, Jeff and Thom. Nobody is any better than Marty in calling play by play. But he does go overboard sometimes in harping on the Reds weaknesses. We all know what they are. Legendary broadcasters like Mel Allen, Vin Scully, Red Barber and our own Waite Hoyt described the game but had a lighter touch on the criticism.
Because the Reds play nearly every day there tends to be over-ananysis & over-reaction on a daily basis. Most broadcasters (Marty & Thom) & fans are guilty of this. But because it is such a long season, these knee-jerk over-reactions are really out of place. I realize that much of this is talk radio driven, but baseball requires more patience than football or basketball. After 2 weeks the Reds bullpen looked great, 2 weeks later they look terrible. The truth is somewhere in between. Every season, people get too excited or depressed over stats in April. Its a long season & you can't get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. I'm guess I'm trying to say that while I enjoy the candor that Marty & Thom bring, I would respect their opinions more if they kept things in perspective. The Reds are likely to win about 78-82 games this season, so get used to what you've seen so far & don't over-react to the next winning streak or slump because there are plenty of both up ahead.
I think Marty has become more critical since Thom’s arrival; it’s almost as if sometimes they are trying to out do each other with criticism.
Memo to Thom: Most of us know that if it’s 3-0 or 3-1 Edwin should be looking for "1 pitch" in "1 zone." Those who didn’t know that do now. Please stop saying he should do that. I’m tired of hearing you say it and then spend the next 5 minutes harping about how Edwin doesn’t do that.
Also sometimes pitchers give up a hit with 2 strikes. It happens. It is not the end of the world. Lohse had 15 strike outs and gave up a hit with 2 strikes and you would have thought he just walked in the winning run.
The thing that annoys me about the criticism is that they have crossed the line of commenting (commentary) on the game and gone into critical analysis of each and every pitch or at bat. They cannot change the way the team plays from the booth. I expect some critical comments and the broadcast would be less if they cut it all together however I think they need to tone it down.
That said Marty is still the best.
brantley is easy to listen too????????????????????????
I can't stand listening to him.
I turn off the radio and follow the games on the internet when Brantly is doing the play by play.
He comes across as very arrogant
I am insulted that so many people are either offended by or disagree with a man being honest and not being afraid to express that honesty. Even if it means pointing out blatant errors, as the old corny adage goes, "honesty is the best policy".
Who wants to listen to a boring man call the game, then move onto the next play without at least a LITTLE bit of commentary in between? Sure, there is a fine line between being honesty and attempting to entertain. It appears to me that Marty isn't there to entertain. He is just explaining what he sees, then sharing his opinion.
Plenty of "fans" sit at home or in a sports bar screaming and shouting during or after certain plays. Marty has the opportunity to provide the baseball wisdom he has obtained over the years to those "fans".
I think it's obvious that I agree with the Reds keeping such an intelligent man in the booth. For every one person that doesn't enjoy Marty being the man to put the pictures of the game into his or her mind, there are 5 that appreciate him.
It sounds to me that the criticism spirals out of control when it's Marty and Thom, with Thom apparently thinking that he's got a free ticket to go off the deep end since his dad is critical too. Marty's seen this for decades now, Thom as the new guy should bring more to the table than just joining his dad's chorus. Broadcasting combos are good because the two people balance each other, seems to me that Thom is trying to just ape his HOF-dad. Nothing wrong with the criticism in and of itself, but I agree that they need to make sure they don't overdo it, and they should acknowledge good plays more than they do now. To start whining about bad plays every game, in the early innings, everytime a Red messes up is too much. But like Marty says, "they are what they are". The Brennamans pretty much will have a free ride here in Cinci forever.
Marty's always annoyed me with his arrogance, but he usually does a good job calling the games. These past couple of years he's become incredibly critical without counterbalancing it with praise when it's deserved. Yeah, he still has his moments - his call of Dunn's walk off grand slam last year gave me goosebumps - but for the most part he's way to one-sided.
To TARP7:
Just because he honestly believes it, that doesn't make it correct or tolerable. People honestly believe a lot of things that I don't want to hear, particularly old curmudgeons. Just like I don't want to hear those fans at bars yelling at the screen, I don't want to hear Marty's constant ravings.
I like the candor that Marty & Thom bring to the game, but Wednesday night's commentary was down right brutal. I was very close to turning off the radio because I had enough of hearing them complain. There is a line between commentary and obnoxious...and they're getting very close to it.
I think the feeling among a lot of fans is similar.
We love Marty's call of the game. He's the best I've ever heard.
But his negativity has gotten notably worse over the past 4-5 years it seems.
I love his honesty and that he is willing to call out players at times. But it's just way overdone at times also. You get an uneasy feeling when he becomes overly critical during games.
Like others, I want to turn Marty off at times now. It's not that he is wrong in his analysis, but when you listen to another broadcast, Cardinals or Brewersfor instance, you realize that you don't need the negativity every time the Reds do something fundamentally wrong from their announcers.
I'm a little dissapointed in Thom. I knew he was critical also, but I thought he'd be a little more lighthearted. Instead, like someone else mentioned, he's joined in the chorus with Marty.
i've been watching the games down here at school in north carolina, and i've got to say whenever they are actually on tv i pray that it's george grande calling the game. even with his "hit pretty good" grammar, i just prefer the way he calls the game. he's a really good broadcaster, and i don't understand why thom has to do any of the televised games. i'm fine with him on radio, but if castellini is trying to preserve tradition, then george is the man on tv. he and chris welsh have been together for 12 or 13 years, and those are the voices my generation has grown to know and love on reds telecasts.
as for the criticism, anyone who is a real baseball fan knows the reds faults. the continuous bashing is stating the obvious, and quite frankly i feel like marty and thom tend to be kicking a dead horse.
that being said, i really wish narron would do something about the reds chronic offensive problems. what's the "right way," jerry? whiffing away an opportunity with a runner on second and no outs? what about a bunt and a sac fly to manufacture a run? there's no such thing as an eight run home run. i don't care if dunn is up, he's either going to strike out or hit a bomb. a solo shot in the ninth does nothing. have him, or anyone else for that matter, drop a bunt and start a rally. heck, a soft ground ball to third base would be a base hit with the shift they put on dunn. the reds could easily chip away at a defecit if they would play baseball instead of home run derby. hit and run, steal a base, do something. stranding 9 runners a game is just pathetic.
i know i just kicked the horse again, but if the "right way" isn't working, then the reds need to try the real right way and win some darn ballgames.
It isn't Marty's fault they are miserable. I'm glad he calls em how he sees em.
I think you're all geeks. Relax you nerds...Read the Metro section, or some of the "A" section for chrissakes.
Two words...social life.
I find it sad and typical that some Cincinnati "fans" are threatened by the Brennamen's honesty. Light is the best disinectant and I applaud the Brennamens for pointing out the stench. The Reds havent been to the World Series in a generation. Thom Brennamen has spent the last 10 or so years broadcasting them. He knows buffoonery when he sees it. He identifies it. Cincinnatians enable it. Crawl out from your dark hole and quit tolerating bad baseball. The Reds havent won more games than they lost in 7 years!!!!
These are same people that cheered Lindner for flushing $27 million down the Barry Larkin toilet.
The same people that show up at 5:30 on Adam Dunn Bobblehead nite and are hawking them at home on EBAY by the second inning.
The same people that stand for 36 hours in the cold in March so they could say they went to Opening Day.
4.) The same Bengals' fans that call in wondering why Carson couldnt hit Chad in the 4th quarter of their 35-31 loss, yet year in year out, the defense finishes in the bottom 5 of the NFL
People that don't like the Brennamens are examples of the dumbing down of the average Cincinnati fan. There's been some bad baseball played at GABP and Riverfront the last decade. Go ahead and enable loserdom if you wish, but I applaud the Brennamen's ,Castellini, and Krivsky for demanding accountability.
Mary and Thom are over the top in criticism. They seem to be competing with each other to be the most negative. The best teams in baseball will lose 65-70 games over a season. One loss or a 4 game losing streak is not the end of the world. Players often swing and miss on a 3-1 pitch. This is a " mortal sin" to Marty and Thom. For some unexplainable reason Thom's voice and inflection makes a foul pop out sound like the clash of civilizations. Marty is always criticizing the players for mistakes but rarely does he admit his own. Often he gets teams wrong when he gives scores. In a recent game he credited Freel with a catch when it should have been Gonzalez. I love the call when both Thom and Marty say it is a high fly ball to center...and it keeps going about 450 feet with the comment "I did not think it would go that far". If Marty and Thom can't describe it can you imagine these 2 guys trying to catch it. In my opinion it is really hard to listen to these guys and enjoy the game. In one word they are unbearable.
Pretty much agree with the sentiment here. Joe kept Marty a bit grounded. With Mini-me in the booth, he's gone beyond criticism and into personal bias and being unprofessional. It isn't hard to hear the personal disdain has for Adam Dunn over the airwaves. His calls have become extreme.
Of course, the local media and sportstalk heads line up behind Marty because they fear the same thing all of us are tired of hearing from him - his criticism.
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