Is Cal a former Oriole or Yankee?

[Gurgi]

Sorry for bumping a very old thread, but Cal recently did an interview on WBAL where he gave a little insight to his commentary.

http://www.wbal.com/article/98122/6/template-orioles/Cal-Ripken-Jr-Talks-With-Brett-At-Spring-Training

(You'll have to download the audio from there.)

He says at one point that he probably was overly aware of his hometown bias and went too far the other way. Sorry, I don't know the exact minute mark where he says it, I just heard a snippet on my way in to work this morning.

Now maybe that is just Cal trying to say the right thing to appease the hometown fans, we all know he's good at that, but I did think it was interesting that he acknowledged it. I said at the time that, while I understand what TBS was trying to do, it just wasn't a good decision to bring Cal in to do color on the Orioles.

Cal is wooden and formulaic in his announcing. It isnt natural or smooth. He is thinking too much about stuff. If they wanted a Ripken they should pick Billy.

[Rene88]

I am glad you posted this. During the Spring Training telecast he said he was aware and may have gone too far in the other direction. It sounded like a semi-apology basically implying he wasn' t the best.

I remember being shocked during that series at the things he said.

[Rene88]

My post got cutoff before I could finish:) It seemed very classy and they talked a lot about this book. Bottom line-the man is a class act and I can understand fans being a little upset at some of the things he said, but time to turn the page. He is the iron man after all:)

[Tony-OH]

Sorry for bumping a very old thread, but Cal recently did an interview on WBAL where he gave a little insight to his commentary.

http://www.wbal.com/article/98122/6/template-orioles/Cal-Ripken-Jr-Talks-With-Brett-At-Spring-Training

(You'll have to download the audio from there.)

He says at one point that he probably was overly aware of his hometown bias and went too far the other way. Sorry, I don't know the exact minute mark where he says it, I just heard a snippet on my way in to work this morning.

Now maybe that is just Cal trying to say the right thing to appease the hometown fans, we all know he's good at that, but I did think it was interesting that he acknowledged it. I said at the time that, while I understand what TBS was trying to do, it just wasn't a good decision to bring Cal in to do color on the Orioles.

He kind of addressed it today but it sounded like damage control to me. I was always a big Cal fan, but his anti-Orioles act during the playoffs to a National audience was an embarrassment to himself and to the city he supposedly loves. He wasn't just trying to compensate, he literally was biased towards the Yankees. It was ridiculous and until he literally apologizes, a couple of comments regarding it is not going to be enough. I think Cal hurt himself a lot more then he knows. Brooks would have never had acted that way and would have just come out and said, "Yep, I'm a bit biased towards the Orioles." No one expected Cal to be a homer on TBS, but no one expected him to act like he was part of the YES crew either.

Mr. Orioles is Brooks Robinson, regardless if Brooks was classy enough to try and tell Cal he was. Brooks is the classiest guy around and he doesn't worry about "overcompensating." Many people have said Cal is a bit of a fake if you know him personally. No one ever says that about Brooks. Brooks is a guy I was always respect and think of as Mr. Oriole. Cal was a great Oriole and his comments won't ruin that, but he hurt himself in the eyes of a lot of fans who feel betrayed by his comments and it's going to take more then a few comments that he "overcompensated" before they are going to feel comfortable with Cal again.

[Tony-OH]

My post got cutoff before I could finish:) It seemed very classy and they talked a lot about this book. Bottom line-the man is a class act and I can understand fans being a little upset at some of the things he said, but time to turn the page. He is the iron man after all:)

So he there's to plug his book on MASN and WBAL and he says a few off the cuff comments about maybe "over-compensating" and that makes him "very classy"? Seemed pretty corporate to me honestly. I may take some heat for my views here but I'm pretty big on people being loyal, and Cal comments during the playoffs went right path trying to not be a homer, and straight to acting like a Benedict Arnold.

[waroriole]

He kind of addressed it today but it sound like damage control to me. I was always a big Cal fan, but his anti-Orioles act during the playoffs to a National audience was an embarrassment to himself and to the city he supposedly loves. He wasn't just trying to compensate, he literally was biased towards the Yankees. It was ridiculous and until he literally apologizes, a couple of comments regarding it is not going to be enough. I think Cal hurt himself a lot me then he knows. Brooks would have never had acted that way and would have just come out and said, "Yep, I'm a bit biased towards the Orioles." No one expected Cal to be a homer on TBS, but no one expected him to act like he was part of the YES crew either.

Mr. Orioles is Brooks Robinson, regardless if Brooks was classy enough to try and tell Cal he was. Brooks is the classiest guy around and he doesn't worry about "overcompensating." Many people have said Cal is a bit of a fake if you know him personally. No one ever says that about Brooks. Brooks is a guy I was always respect and think of as Mr. Oriole. Cal was a great Oriole and his comments won't ruin that, but he hurt himself in the eyes of a lot of fans who feel betrayed by his comments and it's going to take more then a few comments that he "overcompensated" before they are going to feel comfortable with Cal again.

Measuring up to Brooks' personality is like measuring up to Micro Machine Guy's speed talking ability.

[ShaneDawg85]

It was a non-issue to me then, it's a non-issue to me now. It's clear to me that people wanted him to be a slobbering O's fan on national TV, and anyone who says otherwise isn't being truthful, and the fact that he wasn't clearly rubbed people the wrong way. People have had almost 30 years to get to know Cal Ripken Jr., and if you don't know that Cal is a brand, a business, and a baseball diplomat who is never going to put himself out in a certain kind of way, then you clearly haven't followed Cal.

[Tony-OH]

It was a non-issue to me then, it's a non-issue to me now. It's clear to me that people wanted him to be a slobbering O's fan on national TV, and anyone who says otherwise isn't being truthful, and the fact that he wasn't clearly rubbed people the wrong way. People have had almost 30 years to get to know Cal Ripken Jr., and if you don't know that Cal is a brand, a business, and a baseball diplomat who is never going to put himself out in a certain kind of way, then you clearly haven't followed Cal.

Then you either didn't listen or didn't care what he said because clearly this is not what most people expected. Cal is a brand, no doubt. He's a corporate brand that's all about Cal. We all see that very clearly because Cal was more worried about being liked by more people in New York then in little old Baltimore. Cal sees him himself as a national guy, and that's fine. But don't expect us to have that Baltimore love for him any longer. He wants to be a National guy who takes on an anti-Baltimore stance when it's convenient, so be it.

[Dipper9]

He kind of addressed it today but it sounded like damage control to me. I was always a big Cal fan, but his anti-Orioles act during the playoffs to a National audience was an embarrassment to himself and to the city he supposedly loves. He wasn't just trying to compensate, he literally was biased towards the Yankees. It was ridiculous and until he literally apologizes, a couple of comments regarding it is not going to be enough. I think Cal hurt himself a lot more then he knows. Brooks would have never had acted that way and would have just come out and said, "Yep, I'm a bit biased towards the Orioles." No one expected Cal to be a homer on TBS, but no one expected him to act like he was part of the YES crew either.

Mr. Orioles is Brooks Robinson, regardless if Brooks was classy enough to try and tell Cal he was. Brooks is the classiest guy around and he doesn't worry about "overcompensating." Many people have said Cal is a bit of a fake if you know him personally. No one ever says that about Brooks. Brooks is a guy I was always respect and think of as Mr. Oriole. Cal was a great Oriole and his comments won't ruin that, but he hurt himself in the eyes of a lot of fans who feel betrayed by his comments and it's going to take more then a few comments that he "overcompensated" before they are going to feel comfortable with Cal again.

I agree with ALL of this, specifically the fake comment. Anyone who has to "think" that hard about what to say and not say, is not speaking from the heart. Brooks doesn't have to think hard about his words hurting anyone, because his words come from the heart and are real. Cal has always been a PR darling, but it does in fact come across as not being heartfelt. I love Cal, don't get me wrong. I was way to young to ever remember Brooks playing. But as men, there is no comparison....Brooks Robinson is Mr. Oriole.

[ShaneDawg85]

Then you either didn't listen or didn't care what he said because clearly this is not what most people expected. Cal is a brand, no doubt. He's a corporate brand that's all about Cal. We all see that very clearly because Cal was more worried about being liked by more people in New York then in little old Baltimore. Cal sees him himself as a national guy, and that's fine. But don't expect us to have that Baltimore love for him any longer. He wants to be a National guy who takes on an anti-Baltimore stance when it's convenient, so be it.

Considering I was at two of the games and exiled myself for most of Game 4 for fear of the worst, I didn't hear a lot of what he said, and even what I did hear and having read what from people on here what he said, I don't care what he said. If he had said happy sunshine things about Brooks, which is what really started the whole thing, people wouldn't have half the animosity that they do. I never saw Brooks play, only replays, heard stories, and looked at the numbers, which all tell me he's the greatest defensive 3rd baseman of all time, and at the very least is in the conversation. If Cal believes someone is better than Brooks that's his view, and I and anyone else can disagree with it if they want.

My question for those who didn't like the way he covered the Yankees series: What did you want him to say, how did you want him to call it? Serious question. We get on guys like Hawk Harrelson and Rick Dempsey for being complete and utter homers who add little substance to the broadcast and openly root for the teams they played for or call games for, with no objectivity and seeing everything through tinted glasses. Clearly many fans have established that they don't like that from broadcasters, and that's just on a localized team based level, not nationally. So what was Cal to do, say, that he didn't during the Yankees series? Because right now, Brooks comment aside, I'm reading it as he wasn't pimping for the Orioles and showing an Orioles preference, which is exactly what some don't like in other broadcasters.

[The Wedge]

It was a non-issue to me then, it's a non-issue to me now. It's clear to me that people wanted him to be a slobbering O's fan on national TV, and anyone who says otherwise isn't being truthful, and the fact that he wasn't clearly rubbed people the wrong way. People have had almost 30 years to get to know Cal Ripken Jr., and if you don't know that Cal is a brand, a business, and a baseball diplomat who is never going to put himself out in a certain kind of way, then you clearly haven't followed Cal.

1) Don't pigeonhole other peoples opinions as "this way or not being truthful."

2) Thinking back to the playoffs, I feel it's clear that it wasn't that people wanted him to "slobber" all over the O's. It's that he was slobbering all over the Yankees at the expense of the O's. I wouldn't have even gave it a moment's thought had his praise been somewhat evenly distributed. But for every compliment or praise put on the O's there was at least 5 to the Yankees. He was so worried about appearing to be a homer for the Orioles that he forgot he was supposed to be somewhat neutral and became a Yankee homer in compensation.

The only reason why I have basically shrugged it off past the initial hurt reaction is that, without even taking that in to account, he was a HORRIBLE broadcaster. Hopefully he'll never get that kind of opportunity again. Keep him in studio, don't ask him to do live analysis.

[glenn__davis]

I personally think Cal's rooting interests are absolutely for the Orioles, but I also agree that Cal is a corporate guy first and foremost. He wants to be professional in everything he does. I think the silly thing is, people totally would have understood if he did allow himself to root for the Orioles a little bit. Maybe a few knuckleheads in NY would have cared, but even they would have understood where he was coming from.

I still put most of the blame on TBS for putting him in the spot in the first place. Maybe in a few years they'll ask Jeter to do an O's game and he'll spend the whole time praising his good buddies Manny and Jonesy:)

[The Wedge]

My question for those who didn't like the way he covered the Yankees series: What did you want him to say, how did you want him to call it? Serious question. We get on guys like Hawk Harrelson and Rick Dempsey for being complete and utter homers who add little substance to the broadcast and openly root for the teams they played for or call games for, with no objectivity and seeing everything through tinted glasses. Clearly many fans have established that they don't like that from broadcasters, and that's just on a localized team based level, not nationally. So what was Cal to do, say, that he didn't during the Yankees series? Because right now, Brooks comment aside, I'm reading it as he wasn't pimping for the Orioles and showing an Orioles preference, which is exactly what some don't like in other broadcasters.

I wanted neutral, like a national broadcast team should be. I would never expect him to have been a homer either way because he's not paid by the teams, he's paid by TBS.

[The Wedge]

Also, it's not like Oriole fans were super-sensitive about it. I have friends who are fans of other teams, pretty much all other teams are represented. A LOT of them were like "what the hell is Ripken doing?"

[ShaneDawg85]

I wanted neutral, like a national broadcast team should be. I would never expect him to have been a homer either way because he's not paid by the teams, he's paid by TBS.

But when you're Cal Ripken Jr., is that even possible? It's easy as fans to sit here and say it is, but really, in that persons shoes, is it really possible? When you're that associated with one team, anything you say is going to be interpreted hometown bias.