Cubs Announcers: Friends or Foes?

Let me start this off by saying we could be a lot worse off. Anyone remember the Dave Otto Project? How about the Joe Carter Debacle? Clearly, I should be in no position to complain. And to be truthful, for the most part, I get along fine with Len and Johnny Cakes Bob.

But....let's go back to Monday night's game against the Giants. For the first time in awhile, our Cubs looked a bit flat, and we were tied up with the Giants. Will Ohman is pitching and the ump seems to be squeezing him a bit. On at least two occasions Ohman hit Kendall's mit right where he held it, yet the ump called them both balls. Len chimes in with, "That was another close pitch from Ohman." My thoughts exactly. It doesn't make a difference, but when we're watching the game on Comcast, what wrong with a little "homer" talk from our announcers. So what does Brenly (the color analyst nonetheless) chime in with? "You know, catchers can frame pitches and hold their gloves to try and convince the umpires that pitches are strikes." Gee, thanks for the support, Bob! Would it kill them to say "that pitch could easily have been called a strike"?

I realize that no one wants to hear someone as biased as the Sox's Hawk Harrelson, and I'm no different. All I want to know is that they have the team's back. They are, afterall, part of the Cub organization. You travel with the team, work in the same buildings, and interact with them all on a daily basis. A little goes a long way.

It appears that Len is starting to come around a bit. Much like Chip Caray, I despised him at first but he kind of grew on me. He's a bit goofy, but he is easily excitable, he has a decent wit about him and he can get you through a long and boring inning. Brenly, on the other hand, is exactly what I feared he would be: bland and impartial. Maybe it's because of his national announcing experience or perhaps (hopefully) he wants to get another managing job and needs to stay in good graces with the blues. Shit, maybe it was because we were playing his old team, I don't know. If he does move on, we definitely need to make a push for a quality, top-notch color guy. Maybe someone with the nickname of "Amazing"?