2017 MLB All-Star Game: Great Game, Awful Broadcast

The 2017 MLB All-Star Game has just concluded and was one of the very best. The AL won its fifth consecutive game, but it took 10 innings. In the first extra inning affair since 2008, Seattle Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano led off with a home run off Chicago Cubs closer Wade Davis to give the AL a 2-1 win. The AL and NL are now even in All-Star Game wins.

But what an absolutely awful broadcast by FOX.

I couldn't stand it when Alex Rodriguez interviewed Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart on the diamond in between innings.

I couldn't stand it when Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci each asked questions of Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve and Colorado Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon as they went up to the plate. I told my Dad, "Maybe they'll talk to them in between pitches during their at bat."

Well, it didn't quite happen like that, but it happened. During the fourth inning, Joe Buck spoke with Houston Astros left fielder George Springer and Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper as they played the outfield. I wish someone had told Buck to stop.

But the Buck doesn't stop. With that interview, FOX eliminated the boundary between the broadcast and the game. The actual game on the field in secondary to the show on the air. It's kind of like what Johnny Carson's nephew Jeff Sotzing told me recently in the context of today's late night talk shows. There's so much pressure to get ratings every second there is no room to be natural, spontaneous or, heaven forbid, quiet.

FOX, with MLB's blessing, is basically telling us the game isn't interesting enough on its own so we must have non-stop bells and whistles. I just want FOX (and for that matter ESPN) just to get out of the way and let us enjoy the game in peace. Vin Scully knew how to do it. If MLB, FOX and ESPN are willing to pay homage to Scully then why not take a few pages from the book he wrote so well?

Unfortunately, those lessons won't be learned and I suspect FOX will repeat these shenanigans during the World Series and next year's All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. God help us and God help the U.S.A.