The Brewers are taking a well-deserved off-day today in Arizona but alas the hard-working radio team is continuing to toil away. I believe Ueck is at a college game today trying to smooth out some problems he's had with his play-by-play this spring, while I am taking a day off from tweaking my delivery to start chipping away at this huge stack of mail which I have been receiving. For those who aren't aware, you can submit a question or comment to me by going into the Brewers' area here on the Sportsbubbler and clicking on the Mailbag. I will answer some of them in my blogs and others on the air. Let's get started:
From: jon fessler of manitowoc, wi
Question: How come bob and you only do part of the game together and then it is only one of you for a while and then you switch off. What are each of you doing during your off time and why do you do that?
JP: Baseball on radio is much different than baseball on television. The trend in broadcasting is toward more constant chatter during games but, especially on radio, Bob and I both feel strongly that you cannot pound your audience with verbiage for all nine innings of one hundred and sixty two games. Calling a baseball game on radio means describing the action, updating the status of the game, recapping earlier action which some in the audience have missed, painting word-pictures of the scene, and, if there is time after all that, discussing the game with your partner. You have to take care of all that and still make sure that you let the game “breathe”. Television is the analyst’s medium while on radio the play-by-play man stays pretty busy all by himself just trying to accomplish all of the above tasks. Ueck and I don’t have a set formula of when we are going to talk together during each game. A lot depends on the game itself.
When we aren’t doing the play-by-play and aren’t involved in a discussion with the play-by-play man, we are usually sitting right there watching the action. I always have a laptop online and am often nosing around looking for interesting things which are occurring elsewhere in baseball. On occasion we are talking with Kent Sommerfeld, our trusty producer/engineer, about upcoming elements which we need to incorporate into the broadcast, or we could possibly be meeting with sponsors or other guests in the booth.
From: Mitch Larson of Madison
Question: Jim:
Does it help or hinder the Brewers that the Cactus League has six teams less than the Grapefruit League? Do you feel it helps Ned Yost's sense of confidence or independence that his mentor Bobby Cox's team is 2000 miles away? Finally, why in the world does MLB schedule the first day of the season in cold-weather cities like Chicago where the likelihood of success is so low? Shouldn't we all start in domes (Toronto, Milwaukee) or play in the south? Thanks and tell Bob we all loved his bolognese sauce recipe.
M
JP: I don’t think the number of teams in each spring circuit really matters unless one league sees its numbers dwindle down to the point that you end up playing the same couple of teams constantly, which is not the case currently. While I’m sure Ned would love to catch up with his Braves’ friends face-to-face I don’t think it makes any difference to him that Atlanta trains in Florida. As to your last question, that is certainly a head-scratcher for all of us. Why the Brewers would play two series in Chicago in the month of April while the domed Miller Park sits idle is a question I would like to hear answered by the people who make the schedule. On the surface it is asinine.
From: scott mueller (miller) of minneapolis, mn
Question: since you were talking about kent's wedding, can you confirm that carb-less burgers were served at the reception?
JP: Ah, a longtime listener. If we had our prize for best email of the week in place I can assure you that you would be our first winner.
From: dustin oconnell of appleton Wi
Question: On the show Bob said that there were 16 grapefruit league teams and 14 cactus league teams, there are really 18 grapefruit and 12 cactus.
JP: If you listened carefully you would have heard him saying that he was counting the two teams which are moving to AZ next year (Cle and LA) as Cactus teams. If you also count the Reds, who seem pretty certain to be moving to Goodyear, AZ, then it is fifteen-apiece.
From: Jordan Mader of Darboy, WI
Question: Jim-
Just a short question. You obviously have the opportunity to talk with Brewers staff on a regular basis, but do you ever check any other Brewers web sites or blogs to hear some other opinions about the Brewers? If so, what sites do you read?
JP: I check many different baseball sites, as you can probably imagine. Some are fan-blog-sites, some are media-blogs, some are just baseball sites with differing perspectives. I love to sample all the opinions…I think of it as eavesdropping at the bubbler. They give me a good sense of what the fans are talking and thinking about. My job is to communicate with the fans, so it seems like a good idea to know what their thinking is. I check out both Brewers’ sites and general baseball sites everyday. My favorite Brewers’ sites for message board perusing include Brewerfan.net, JSOnline.com, Brewers.com, and more recently this new Sportsbubbler site. I believe the message boards at JSOnline and those which are here are going to be merging under the Sportsbubbler flag shortly.
From: Douglas Frey of Beloit, WI
Question: Before you spew any more nonsense about how the Cubs got off easy on the interleague play this year as you did on today's (3/10) radio broadcast, I'd suggest you look at the past years schedules. For example, the Cubs played NY and Boston as well as the eventual World Series champ Chicago White Sox in 2005. In the past 5 seasons of interleague play, the Cubs schedule has been equal to or harder than the Brewers. And that doesn't factor in that the Cubs have to play the White Sox every year.
JP: Garbage in, garbage out. I haven’t made a comment about the Cubs’ or Brewers’ interleague schedules from this season or any other season at all this year. I'm not above spewing nonsense but I think you have beaten me to it.
As you can see we have run out of quality emails for now. Bob and I will be with you on the Brewers Radio Network Thursday night from Surprise, Arizona as the Brewers and Royals meet for an exhibition game. Talk to you then!