Steve Stone NOT leaving

[The Ultimate Champion]

Singleton has done a very good job on the national broadcasts.

I disagree. He's better than he was here, but he's still bad.

 

Funny enough, I actually tried listening to a couple innings of the All-Star game on the radio this year (I just missed baseball, that's all) and ESPN, typically given their commitment to quality sports coverage, had John Rooney as the lowly roving interviewer speaking to players in the clubhouses while Singleton called the game. And I say that's funny because going from Rooney to Singleton on the radio was about as large a downgrade as you'll ever see made anywhere. Ever.

Edited October 9, 2012 by The Ultimate Champion

[Soxfest]

I disagree. He's better than he was here, but he's still bad.

 

Funny enough, I actually tried listening to a couple innings of the All-Star game on the radio this year (I just missed baseball, that's all) and ESPN, typically given their commitment to quality sports coverage, had John Rooney as the lowly roving interviewer speaking to players in the clubhouses while Singleton called the game. And I say that's funny because going from Rooney to Singleton on the radio was about as large a downgrade as you'll ever see made anywhere. Ever.

Singleton is horrid...................he could not carry Rooney's lunch.

[Big Daddy Kool]

Singleton got much better once he left. Heard him and ironically Rooney call an ESPN game this year and he was really good.

 

Singleton is horrid...................he could not carry Rooney's lunch.

 

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

Singleton is horrid...................he could not carry Rooney's lunch.

 

Vastly improved by the end of '06 and throughout '07, and better yet since. After hearing them during spring training in '06, I was pretty resigned to sticking with Hawk and DJ on tv- and I probably would have, had it not been for work. Fortunately, I was driving from either Naperville or Wheaton to St. Charles in traffic around the 7 o'clock hour, so unless I was going to the game, it was either Gameday (or whatever variant ESPN has)on a 3G phone while driving, or listen to Singleton stammering for the first few innings. I chose the latter, and you could hear the improvement almost week to week.

 

Of course, Stone came aboard in 2008, and while it wasn't quite as good as when Rooney was there, it wasn't off by much.

[Brian]

When Farmer took over for Rooney, he had a real sense of entitlement on air. Acted as if he was some HOF pitcher and I feel that wasn't a good fit for Chris who was just starting in the booth.

 

I honestly feel its hard for any color guy to be good with Ed who just talks over them most of the time.

[The Ultimate Champion]

When Farmer took over for Rooney, he had a real sense of entitlement on air. Acted as if he was some HOF pitcher and I feel that wasn't a good fit for Chris who was just starting in the booth.

 

I honestly feel its hard for any color guy to be good with Ed who just talks over them most of the time.

This how Farmio always is. And truthfully, Singleton was so abysmal that he *deserved* to be corrected and coached on the air for all to hear. Chris was like an 800lb woman on an airplane, ie there is no fit.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Vastly improved by the end of '06 and throughout '07, and better yet since. After hearing them during spring training in '06, I was pretty resigned to sticking with Hawk and DJ on tv- and I probably would have, had it not been for work. Fortunately, I was driving from either Naperville or Wheaton to St. Charles in traffic around the 7 o'clock hour, so unless I was going to the game, it was either Gameday (or whatever variant ESPN has)on a 3G phone while driving, or listen to Singleton stammering for the first few innings. I chose the latter, and you could hear the improvement almost week to week.

 

Of course, Stone came aboard in 2008, and while it wasn't quite as good as when Rooney was there, it wasn't off by much.

Yes, he has improved vastly. He's now a mediocre color man who adds next to nothing unless you're strickly a casual fan. He's basically exactly what ESPN hired him to be. Congrats to him.

 

Barry Rozner knows 100x more about baseball than Singleton does (at least as far as what trickles down to the fan) and as far as I know Barry never even played it. The Sox & Bulls unfortunately have a long, storied history of intermittently hiring bums to fill large roles in/around the organization. Thankfully Stoney is 100% legit and is 100% coming back.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

Yes, he has improved vastly. He's now a mediocre color man who adds next to nothing unless you're strictly a casual fan. He's basically exactly what ESPN hired him to be. Congrats to him.

 

Nowhere in my post did I call him Vin Scully.

 

For what it's worth, I think he's right at about DJ's level.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Nowhere in my post did I call him Vin Scully.

 

For what it's worth, I think he's right at about DJ's level.

Right.

 

Agreed.

 

Stoney's back. Very good.

 

Okay so when's baseball getting started again? These threads all suck now. How long til opening day? What about the Winter Meetings? Free Agency? The GM Meetings?

 

Please, for the love of GOD, somebody tell me the names of all the middling prospects we need to fear losing in the Rule-5. I'm not scared yet, somebody needs to make me scared.

 

When can Kenny make a trade?

 

f***.

 

 

[southsider2k5]

Good ol Bruce, always a week late. The interesting thing here is the salaries being talked about.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...k-stone-pairing

 

Changes inevitable in Hawk-Stone pairing?

October, 10, 2012

Oct 10

4:17

PM CT

By Bruce Levine | ESPNChicago.com

 

The icy relationship between Chicago White Sox broadcasters Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and color commentator Steve Stone has some believing that changes down the road are inevitable.

 

The on-air disconnect between the two partners, who have been broadcasting Sox baseball for four years, has led to some less than stellar broadcasts.

 

The bridge between the two veteran announcers became most apparent to viewers when Harrelson periodically shared the booth with former broadcast partner Tom Paciorek, who sat in for Stone on predetermined days off. Paciorek and Harrelson were broadcast partners from 1991-1999.

 

It was evident that Harrelson had more in-game discourse with Paciorek than he had most of the time with Stone during their broadcasts. At the end of the eighth telecast between the two former partners on Sept. 17, Harrelson said, "Well Wimpy, you were nothing but good luck for us this year. We were 7-1 when you were here." That comment, although innocent in nature, was a red flag to some listeners. It showed Harrelson not only enjoyed his broadcasts with Paciorek but that he was keeping track of his former broadcast partner's appearances.

 

Stone, who has been considered one of the top analysts in the game for the past 30 years, was matter of fact in his response to ESPNChicago.com questions about his role in the future.

 

 

"I have two years and an option left on my contract," is the only thing Stone would say on the record.

 

Harrelson, whose contract is up in 2015, will be entering his 29th season in the TV booth in 2013. When contacted, he said he had nothing to contribute to the subject matter in this story.

 

Sources told ESPNChicago.com that both broadcasters have met with Sox officials about putting out a better combined broadcast in the future. With the Sox in first place for most of the season, ratings were up on Comcast (2.3 rating in 2012 and 1.8 in 2011) and on WGN (2.4 and in 2.3).

 

If the White Sox were to give Stone an option to leave, it is unknown if he would seek employment elsewhere. The Arizona Diamondbacks will replace play-by-play broadcaster Daryl Sutton and color man Mark Grace for 2013. Stone has lived in the Phoenix area for over 30 years.

 

The chance to go back and broadcast Chicago Cubs games might be of interest to Stone if Bob Brenly leaves for another job. Industry sources insist Brenly is negotiating a new long-term deal with WGN Television, which negotiates the contracts for both Brenly and play-by-play man Len Kasper.

 

Brenly would also be a popular choice in Arizona, having managed the Diamondbacks to their only World Series championship in 2001. The former major league catcher, who works for TBS during the postseason, could also be in line for a national broadcasting job.

 

Brenly ($900,000) and Stone ($600,000) are two of the highest paid local color commentators in baseball, according to industry sources.

[Jerksticks]

Good ol Bruce, always a week late. The interesting thing here is the salaries being talked about.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/white-sox/...k-stone-pairing

 

Bob Brenly and Len Kasper are everything that is wrong with broadcasting. They have no insight into the thought processes going on inside players' heads. That is something completely unique to a Hawk broadcast. Don't believe me? Get MLB.tv.

 

The only things that bother me are the over-repeatings of advice to youngsters, specifically the "plenty of guys in Cooperstown who couldn't hit a curve, you just gotta cover the fastball" type offerings. Even though that is probably the best advice a young, aspiring hitter can ever hear, it still annoys me because I've heard it a hundred times. But shame on me because some kid somewhere is taking it to heart at that same moment of my petty annoyance.

 

The day hawk hangs it up will be one of the saddest days of my life, I can guarantee that.

 

Shame on any of you who don't love him, I just don't understand where you are coming from as Sox fans.

[The Ultimate Champion]

Bob Brenly and Len Kasper are everything that is wrong with broadcasting. They have no insight into the thought processes going on inside players' heads. That is something completely unique to a Hawk broadcast. Don't believe me? Get MLB.tv.

 

The only things that bother me are the over-repeatings of advice to youngsters, specifically the "plenty of guys in Cooperstown who couldn't hit a curve, you just gotta cover the fastball" type offerings. Even though that is probably the best advice a young, aspiring hitter can ever hear, it still annoys me because I've heard it a hundred times. But shame on me because some kid somewhere is taking it to heart at that same moment of my petty annoyance.

 

The day hawk hangs it up will be one of the saddest days of my life, I can guarantee that.

 

Shame on any of you who don't love him, I just don't understand where you are coming from as Sox fans.

This is a great post.

 

Hawk's knowledge of the game is consistently under appreciated and it's funny how often he out-manages the manager. Same with Farmio & Stoney.

 

I think most if not all diehard Sox fans have their "Oh for f***s sake STFU!" moments with Hawk. For me it's the focus on blown calls affecting the run total while we're making errors/getting hurt on bad pitches/stranding runners/consistently failing to score in innings where the lead-off man reaches/etc. Other things are annoying too. But I really love the way he regularly points out that's it a game of pitching and defense based around mistakes, where good pitchers make good pitches if they have to and good hitters stay in the AB long enough to force a mistake. So much of baseball fandom is centered around the value of offense and how you break that down, but that's the wrong way to look at the game and I like how Hawk explains that. Stoney is exactly the same way.

[soxsoxsoxsox]

Bob Brenly not returning to the Cubs.

[Jake]

I wonder how much coin we're giving Hawk. On one hand I feel like the money doesn't mean much to him, but on the other I think he would want the distinction of making a lot of money.

[LittleHurt05]

Bob Brenly not returning to the Cubs.

 

Can we trade Bob Brenly for Hawk? Please??????????

[black jack]

I still love Hawk.

I love most of his cliches and spout them off to my wife and kids.

I don't like the double 'YES'.

 

I could care less about his grumpiness because I'm usually turning the game off when they turn ugly.

 

[southsider2k5]

I wonder how much coin we're giving Hawk. On one hand I feel like the money doesn't mean much to him, but on the other I think he would want the distinction of making a lot of money.

 

If Stone is in the half a million range, Hawk has to be around a million.

[Dick Allen]

If Stone is in the half a million range, Hawk has to be around a million.

Its a nice gig. I don't blame him for never wanting to quit.

[southsider2k5]

Its a nice gig. I don't blame him for never wanting to quit.

 

I get to do games for my local high school team. It is pretty awesome behind the mic for your hometeam. Getting paid assloads of money on top of it? Yeah, outside of playing the game for pay, there isn't anything better.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

I still love Hawk.

I love most of his cliches and spout them off to my wife and kids.

I don't like the double 'YES'.

 

I could care less about his grumpiness because I'm usually turning the game off when they turn ugly.

 

I imagine I'm in the minority, but my biggest issue with Hawk are the parrots that he attracts. I'm not directing this at you, it's just a general observation that the second sentence of your post broached. There is nothing wrong with a well placed line here or there, but there are those who insist on applying his gibberish to every facet of life (which is weird, because there are only like 8 "Hawk-isms" that I can think of off the top of my head). It's bad enough to hear Animal House, Will Ferrell movies, Entourage (especially Entourage ), and Family Guy everywhere.

 

The White Sox are keenly aware of this:

- The grimace and frown I had on my face anytime that commercial aired was so pronounced that I'll probably start getting lines on my face years earlier than I would have otherwise.

 

It's probably just the joyless and bitter side of me talking, though- I know I'm in the minority and most people get a kick out of it.

[southsider2k5]

I imagine I'm in the minority, but my biggest issue with Hawk are the parrots that he attracts. I'm not directing this at you, it's just a general observation that the second sentence of your post broached. There is nothing wrong with a well placed line here or there, but there are those who insist on applying his gibberish to every facet of life (which is weird, because there are only like 8 "Hawk-isms" that I can think of off the top of my head). It's bad enough to hear Animal House, Will Ferrell movies, Entourage (especially Entourage ), and Family Guy everywhere.

 

The White Sox are keenly aware of this:

- The grimace and frown I had on my face anytime that commercial aired was so pronounced that I'll probably start getting lines on my face years earlier than I would have otherwise.

 

It's probably just the joyless and bitter side of me talking, though- I know I'm in the minority and most people get a kick out of it.

 

Right size, wrong shape.