Sunday Night Baseball Broadcast

[SteveA]

A-Rod won't be on the regular ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast anymore.   He wanted to step back from that weekly responsibility due to his new responsibilities as part owner of the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves.

But here's the funny thing:  ESPN is going to attempt to duplicate the success of the Manning-cast by having an alternate broadcast on ESPN2, 8 Sundays during the season, featuring A-Rod and Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay.   I find this hilarious.

For those who are unaware, the Manning-cast is something that was started this year for about half the Monday Night football games, a secondary broadcast of the game running on ESPN2.   Payton and Eli Manning would sit there watching the game and talk about the game, about football in general, and have guests on during the game, instead of traditional announcers.   The game still took up about 75% of the screen and there would be boxes on the side showing Payton, Eli, and the guest if there was one.   It was very entertaining because both are personable and have a good sense of humor, and they had interesting guests.   Sometimes they would analyze the plays from a QBs point of view, what the QB saw that made him throw that direction, etc.   Other times they would digress to other football topics or even pop culture.  I watched it for a few Monday  Night games and pretty much enjoyed it.   The one issue was they could get away from talking about the game, which is OK with me, but sometimes something critical would come up such as going for it on 4th down or a controversial play review, and they would be in some conversation and not even acknowledge it.   I wouldn't watch a game I cared about, like the Ravens, because it would distract too much from the game.   But it was entertaining to watch a game I otherwise woudln't care that much about.

But the idea that they could duplicate that with A-Rod, of all people?   Whose brilliant idea was that?   The Manning brothers are very likable with a good sense of humor and it makes for an entertaining show.   Does anybody actually LIKE A-Rod?

[orioles119]

A-Rod doesn't like A-Rod, so probably not.