Not Buck Wild

Why does Joe Buck call baseball games for Fox? He makes it abundantly clear that he isn’t interested in the game – he couldn’t sound more bored. Except for when he is being sarcastic about the players, coaches, umpires, advertisers, and pretty much everything else. So why is Buck there? Do they not pay him enough for football? Does he just not want to go home?

It’s bad enough that when your team makes it to the playoffs, you have to watch the national telecast and lose your local commentators. At least give us excited, knowledgeable pros that are happy to be there!

When the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in ’94, it was the last year that the NHL allowed the Finals games to be broadcast by the local channels. It was so cool listening to two guys, who had struggled through the bad times with all of us, enjoy the moment too. (Listen to the awesome end-of-game call here) I just don’t think the moment would have been as memorable without them.

I understand why they do it – otherwise they are giving away the biggest ratings to the local channels! But it ends up being another price the fans pay. Oh well…