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Dick Allen

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    QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 10:44 AM)
    I think he is signed through next season.

    Are you sure about that? My recollection is he signed a six year deal after the '08 season. That would take him through to the end of this season. I could be wrong, but I thought it was a six year contract starting in '09. Maybe he subsequently added another year, I don't know.

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    People hear what they want to hear when it comes to Hawk. For one thing, the TWTW stuff. If it is sabermetrics that values working counts and getting walks, guess who has been humming that since way before sabermetrics was even a word?

     

    White Sox fans have learned more about baseball listening to Hawk then Cubs fans have listening to good ole' Len. But Len does tell you what you need to put on your IPod.

     

    There are a lot of things about the game that people don't even think twice about, call things certain things, look for certain things, that even the Hawk haters don't even realize and probably will never admit, they got from him.

     

    The problem is, I want to "learn more about baseball" from my analyst. I want my PBP guy to be a professional broadcaster. I have nothing against Hawk. I have something against the Sox for insisting on using people who are best suited for the analyst role in PBP, on both the TV and radio sides.

     

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    QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 10:40 AM)
    People hear what they want to hear when it comes to Hawk. For one thing, the TWTW stuff. If it is sabermetrics that values working counts and getting walks, guess who has been humming that since way before sabermetrics was even a word?

     

    White Sox fans have learned more about baseball listening to Hawk then Cubs fans have listening to good ole' Len. But Len does tell you what you need to put on your IPod.

     

    There are a lot of things about the game that people don't even think twice about, call things certain things, look for certain things, that even the Hawk haters don't even realize and probably will never admit, they got from him.

    I hear what comes through my television speakers. And this year it's been nonsense to a level it has never reached previously.

     

    He may have taught a lot of stuff before, now he's just a crazy man who wants to turn everything into some grandiose proclamation that doesn't make any sense. But yes, Hawk was the first one in baseball who thought the walk was a good idea.

     

    That's the point. It's not that people didn't like Hawk before, but the time has come to move forward.

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    QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 11:04 AM)
    The problem is, I want to "learn more about baseball" from my analyst. I want my PBP guy to be a professional broadcaster. I have nothing against Hawk. I have something against the Sox for insisting on using people who are best suited for the analyst role in PBP, on both the TV and radio sides.

     

    Speaking from a broadcasting point of view, that responsibility falls to the color guy. The PBP guy is supposed to bring you the game, the images, sights, etc. The color guy is supposed to supplement that with explanations, breakdowns, in depth detail, etc.

     

    Really until this year where it feels like Hawks eye's are really failing him, I have always felt he was one of the best in the game at painting a picture of what was going on, complete with the emotions that accompanied it. I think that the second part is what is missing from most pro sports broadcasts. They take "neutral" to mean they can't portray any of the emotions of a game or play for fear of being "biased".

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    Hawk is a funny bird he actually articulated a well known tenet of the saber way to managing / team building by saying "it's only a bad or good decision before the act". Yes, you are correct Hawk! You can have a bad process with a good result and you can have a good process with a bad result.

     

    That he's able to grasp things like this thinks it's just more being old than willfully ignorant. Still, you can't ignore the fact that he is very old, and increasingly has a hard time getting the basics of the play by play right. Throw in the occasional ludicrously dumb comment (like the skirt thing) that gets picked up nationally and makes the Sox a laughingstock and it's very much time to put the old man out to pasture.

     

    Like Flavum I grew up on Hawk (guessing I'm about a decade behind flavum as I was born in 84 started on hawk in the early 90s) but it's time for him to go.

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    Anything to hear less of him is good. Just a terrible announcer. Vascillating between inane stories with no relation to the game, losing track of what is going on, denying the existence of anything he'd prefer not to learn, long silences that put people to sleep... I really hope the guy just retires.

     

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    QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 10:19 AM)
    Any time I think Hawk is terrible, all I need to do is surf around my MLB audio subscription. That just makes me want to stab my ears out.

     

    Honestly, we are really, really luck with the TV and radio crews that we have in all sports. Chicago has some incredible talent broadcasting their local teams. It is a great time to be consuming Chicago sports in terms of the crews giving us the games.

     

    except stacy king

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    QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 12:28 PM)
    Anything to hear less of him is good. Just a terrible announcer. Vascillating between inane stories with no relation to the game, losing track of what is going on, denying the existence of anything he'd prefer not to learn, long silences that put people to sleep... I really hope the guy just retires.

     

    He talks over Stone so often it's embarrassing. Stone is actually a good broadcaster when Hawk was talking during Avi's last AB about how a 3-1 pitch on the black is "unlucky to the hitter" I kinda just wanted Stone to interject and say "well Hawk that's why they pay the Pitchers too". It's not unlucky it's just a pro pitcher making a good pitch, happens dozens of times a game.

     

     

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    Steve Stone is a very smart baseball guy, and when he's not being talked over by Hawk he tells the viewers some pretty interesting stuff. It's annoying when Hawk will ask Stone a question about pitching, and then as Stone answers Hawk will go off on a tangent.

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    QUOTE (flavum @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 04:10 PM)
    I meant as far as cutting back his schedule. And Hawk was entertaining. Now he's unbearable. I really can't believe how many people who seemingly have listened to him for 20+ years (30 years for me), think he's still fun to listen to, or think he's on his game. That's your opinion, and that's fine. But I think he's terrible now.

    My opinion is the opposite of yours. He's excellent.

     

    QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 04:19 PM)
    Any time I think Hawk is terrible, all I need to do is surf around my MLB audio subscription. That just makes me want to stab my ears out.

     

    Honestly, we are really, really luck with the TV and radio crews that we have in all sports. Chicago has some incredible talent broadcasting their local teams. It is a great time to be consuming Chicago sports in terms of the crews giving us the games.

    Amen. Chicagoans are spoiled. Try to listen to these announcers who are paid to only praise the team. It's torture. Steve Physioc of the Royals ... I defy anybody to be able to listen more than an inning without turning down the volume.

    These plastic announcers enunciate like Wink Martendale and are horrific.

    Hawk forever!

    That said, Stoney and Wimpy are great, too so if Hawk wants to take off road trips, go for it. Time marches on. He's over 70. Getting up there.

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    QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 29, 2014 -> 06:31 PM)
    He talks over Stone so often it's embarrassing. Stone is actually a good broadcaster when Hawk was talking during Avi's last AB about how a 3-1 pitch on the black is "unlucky to the hitter" I kinda just wanted Stone to interject and say "well Hawk that's why they pay the Pitchers too". It's not unlucky it's just a pro pitcher making a good pitch, happens dozens of times a game.

     

    It's also interesting banter. Hawk probably will be way better if he does take some games off. You can tell at times he's whiny. Probably a bit of burnout even though he loves baseball. He should pull a Royals' Denny Matthews and just skip a trip to Cleveland or Minnesota or KC here and there.

    Baseball has set up the schedule to where it is incessantly boring playing teams in your own division so many times.

    Hawk should pass on all trips to Cleveland, some to Detroit and KC and Minnie. BORING! And he becomes crabby.

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    I always felt like Hawk kept me company during games. He says some stupid s***, but so would I. I would rather have someone that feels like another fan in the booth that makes some mistakes than someone that drones on listlessly.

     

    White Sox baseball will be less fun for me without him - there's no doubt about it.

     

    With that said, and I don't know who the guy is, but I listened to the Cleveland radio broadcast of a game of theirs against us earlier this summer. Whoever their PBP radio guy is was awesome - a ton of fun.

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    QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 3, 2014 -> 08:19 AM)

     

    The runner leaving third was actually a good bit of broadcasting, seeing as that was not in the TV shot, and if it wasn't mentioned, no one would have known that the go ahead run was mere feet from scoring because of the defense.

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