The injury last night to Franklin Gutierrez, one of our favorite players, provides the perfect opportunity to bring up one of our main critiques of Dave Sims. Sims plays favorites, and Gutierrez is his favorite. It was painfully obvious before last night, and we felt amazingly validated when Sims repeatedly stated that Guti was the Ms' 'best player.' This is clearly not the case, a blatant oversight. How did we come to already know that Guti was Dave's favorite? He just seems to love saying Guti's name, never missing a chance to say Gutierrrez with the exaggerated, (if correct), pronounciation of a spanish speaker, which Dave is not. Example: Oh it's the 2-1 pitch to Gutierrez, and Gutierrez swings, and that was a great pitch to Gutierrez there. And Franklin Guitierrez slips back in the box, Gutierrez waiting here for the next pitch. It's almost as if he's showing off his spanish pronunciation, but he clearly likes Guti a lot.
That's all fine and good, but notice that Sims never does this pronounciation gymnastics with anyone elses names, to the other players with spanish names, not Ryan Langerhans, and certainly not Ichiro - all of which he butchers. It's like Dave truly thinks he has discovered something with his unique, (again, shading towards correct), pronunciation of Guitierrez, and he's trying to seem worldly. Great Dave - now get the rest of the names right you ethnic name nazi! It's bad enough your general shtick is from the mid-Atlantic, but this particular, constant brandishing of pronunciations always leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth. Basically Dave, just stop drawing attention to yourself, and draw it more to the game, and Mike Blowers, who you clearly seem to not be friends in real life with. You are quickly become the most awkward pair since Jim Palmer and Gary Thorne on MASN, (there's certainly a mid-atlantic reference you should be able to relate to.)
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Fire Seattle Mariners TV/Radio Announcer Dave Sims!
What does this blog advocate: it advocates that Dave Sims no longer be a TV commentator for the Seattle Mariners. This blog enjoys watching the Seattle Mariners, respects the importance of commentary to this experience, and would prefer a new voice, whether Sims moves on on his own, or is fired.
Why does this blog advocate that Sims move along?:
Why does this blog advocate that Sims move along?:
- Sims does not fit the mold of the traditional Mariners announcer - a long time West Coaster, a former Mariner, or, Rick Rizzs. (We love you Rick, and we never thought we would, but we do.)
- Sims brings an East Coast bias, a predilection for a national sports view owing to his work in the off season, and his East Coast roots. This isn't enjoyable during the long Seattle summer. If we wanted to watch ESPN's take on the Mariners, (if there was one), we would watch ESPN.
- Sims East Coast accent and personality is at odds with the color commentators assigned to him. Specifically Mike Blowers shrivels up like a flower on the vine in fall when next to Sims who he is apparently intimidated by. We've never loved Mike Blowers, but he's a Seattle native and a Seattle Mariners - and when put along side the like of the amicable Rick Rizzs, (such as when Niehaus went on vacation), he blooms into a great color guy.
- Sims might be a nice guy, even competent, and well suited to the NFL and Big East commentating he does for national organizations the rest of the year, but he is not best suited for the long Mariners summer and the intimate relationship a baseball announcer enjoys with his audience over the long season in. We wish Dave Sims would just move on.
- Note: this blog also must be honest in suggestion Dave Niehaus shoudl also be put out to pasture. Though Niehaus is a hero in these parts and will always have a special place in our hearts, his crankiness and stubbornness in the booth is beyond strange these days. For what it's worth, I would take Dave Henderson and Dave Valle along side Rick Rizzs any day.
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