Johnson's historic K

by dahlian on Jun 6, 2007 4:40 AM EDT

I'm sure by now we've all seen the highlights of tonight's games. The one thing that bothered me and my friend about tonight's game is how poor a job they did of hyping the achievement. I'm sure there's a bit of a buzkill from the fact that Clemens will soon be returning to the majors that has led to this not receiving the coverage it otherwise would. Nevertheless,I consider myself to be a pretty knowledgeable, I read a few blogs, check out most hot topics at BTF and watch virtually every telecast and it wasn't until the billboard lit up marking the occasion that I realized that it was finally tonight that he had broke Clemens' mark. A few inning earlier I had even made the comment to my friend that it was a bummer that they no longer had the RJ strikeout scoreboard up in left because I knew that he was coming up on a milestone. I just had no idea he was that close.

Was I just grossly ignorant in this instance or was there an almost negligent downplaying of this historic event by the team and local sports media?

P.S. Don't even get me started on the refusal of the stadium people to show a replay of Lyon's tag at third. Thankfully, our tickets were about 20 rows up right by third base we got to see it as it was happening. It just would have been nice had they given the fans the opportunity to see such an instrumental (and unusual) play a second time. They didn't even give it defensive play of the game honors during their post game video recap.

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Comments

K mark

I do think it was somewhat underplayed, but I don't blame the media for that... it's just a matter of the fact that he and Clemens will be going back and forth on the mark this year. You can't make a big deal every time one of them jumps past the other.

On the stadium thing -- no baseball stadiums replay close plays. I understand why they do it (don't want to stoke the fires of fan anger) -- but it is, without a doubt, incredibly frustrating.

by johngordonma on Jun 6, 2007 9:27 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, it's a bit of a surprise...

I knew about it, but you're right, there wasn't much coverage before the game. Guess they can't really make a big thing of it: Clemens starts Saturday and will likely re-take second place...until Johnson's next start on Sunday, when he'll probably overtake Clemens again. Could be a few starts until Johnson goes ahead to stay. I imagine it'll probably be honored at that time, perhaps with something similar to the Gonzalez 500 doubles thing.

jgma is right about the replays. I suspect it's likely something demanded by the umpires union, and it's understandable: would you like to be shown up as incompetent, in front of 40,000 people and on a 60-foot high screen? :-)

by Jim McLennan on Jun 6, 2007 11:07 AM EDT reply actions

Replays

I understand not showing a replay if it shows the umpires to be incompetents, but once I heard from people watching on t.v. that said it was the correct call I figured they would show.

by dahlian on Jun 6, 2007 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions

umpires

I understand why the leagues (MLB, NBA, etc) don't want their announcers, stadiums, etc to be focused on the failures of the umpires/referees as they want to focus on the product... but do we protect our players like that? If Drew punts a ball at short, they'll replay it. If Tracy goes down on strikes with the bases juiced, you'll see that again.

Why the protection of the umpires? Just because they don't earn as much? No, I think it is because above all every sport wants to make it appear that the umpires/referees are merely part of the scenery and don't influence the result. As everyone knows, that is quite a farce. I immediately think of game 7 in the 1997 WS where the home plate umpire decided to create a home plate twice as large for Livan and the Marlins than for the Indians... I had no betting interest in the game either way, but even to me, an unbiased observer, that 97 WS was handed to the Marlins.

by johngordonma on Jun 6, 2007 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions