Potpourri
Three more small items of note:
1. Corey Brock’s piece in the TNT about Japanese players with the potential to come to the majors this season goes well with John Hickey’s P-I story about Kenji Jojima. To regular readers of this blog, there’s not much new information, but these are fair summaries of where the Mariners are at as regards Jojima et. al.
2. Larry Stone’s story in the Seattle Times about Eddie Guardado informs us that the pranktacular closer and his agent are seeking a two-year deal from the club. If also affords us the opportunity to engage in a little language pedantry. Scroll down to number three if you have no patience for this.
If Guardado declines his option, he then becomes a free agent. But Guardado’s camp is considering jump-starting the process by filing right away for free agency on a conditional basis. That tact has been taken in the past by other players who have options.
This is a common error. It’s not tact, but tack. As Johnny Depp might say: nautical term. Tact is the quality you use to convince the drunken navigator to steer away from the oncoming storm; a tack is the course he sets to avoid the deluge itself.
3. Also from Stone:
Announcer Dave Niehaus is again under consideration for the Ford C. Frick Award, the top honor in baseball broadcasting.
The first component of the award is fan balloting that begins today online at www.baseballhalloffame.org, and continues throughout November. The top three fan vote-getters will be on the final 10-person ballot that will go to the Frick electorate. The winner will be announced Dec. 5.
You know what to do.
Comments
68 Responses to “Potpourri”
Lets face it, the M’s probably dont have a chance to be competitive until at least 2008. Why not throw a little money at a cast off like Branden Looper while grooming Soriano in leiu of wasting serious money on a guy like Hoffman? Closers are wasted resources on last place teams.
I say we break the long standing tradition of only playing catchers who can’t hit, which was instituted after Scott Bradley tapered off about 15 years ago and sign this Pacific Rim import!!
For about 95 mill, lets try to put out a team that DOESN’T suck for a change, k?
DMZ….that being said, why would he be worthy of an award? Any monkey can pump sunshine ……
#44 – I must’ve misread the article. I stand corrected, sir.
And while I’d probably lean towards Hoffman for two years at $6M per over Eddie, I’m still not particularly thrilled with either idea. But at least I can understand the thought process now.
Um, no, they can’t. But forget monkeys for a second.
My point is not that he does or doesn’t deserve an award. It’s that if someone’s complaint with Niehaus is that he’s too positive, that’s a complaint about the broadcast and the philosophy of the team. It’s not a reflection on his talent.
And if you want to argue that you can’t make a fair judgement of his talent because of that restraint, I’d understand.
JoJo – I completely disagree. Any election to any HOF should be based on an entire body of work, not just a single year.
I heard most of the broadcasts this year and I am not sure what you mean by: Clearly his commentary had more to do with branding and selling seats than reality or substance.
I clearly sensed frustration in the broadcast over the last half of the season. I am pretty sure that publicly undermining the organization and berating the front office is not the proper way to keep this city (region) interested in mediocre baseball. Nor is it a good way to keep your job.
I suspect you haven’t been in Seattle listening to Dave since 1977. I suspect that many of the visitors to this site, like me, joyfully suffered though unimpressive seasons by listening to Dave N. He was a big part in my connection with this team. I bet others will say the same thing.
#53, If a monkey can pump sunshine, why is it that any other Ms broadcaster not named Niehaus is damn near intolerable to listen to?
Yes, Niehaus is a bit of a homer, as are all home broadcasters. It’s a given. However some can do the job in a fashion that is fun to listen to and informative at times. I’ve heard plenty of praise from Niehaus about our competition. He has many a time, in each game, given credit for good play when it’s due, regardless of the name on the jersey. He has also blasted bad play regardless of the color of uniform.
All in all, I’ll take Niehaus over anything else we got, any day of the week. He has a silky voice and a mannerism that takes one right into the game. He knows when to shut up, how to use a pause to build effect and delivers the outcome in a way that let’s one see the game in way that few can match.
He’s already got my vote.
“Mercifully, the season is over” didn’t sound like ‘pumping sunshine’ to me…
*heads over to vote for Dave*
Dave in PA:
garnish, v. to serve notice to attach money belonging to a debtor
garnishee, v. to attach or arrest a debtor’s money
The misuse has become so common that Webster accepts it. Since I continue to assert that Webster is a crappy dictionary (I’m an OED fanboi), I’m going with garnishee.
FWIW, what team’s home broadcasters aren’t there to ‘pump sunshine’?? The broadcasters are *paid* by the team. Think of what happened to Steve Stone when he ventured a contrary opinion or two….
I’ve heard a fair number of local broadcasters and Dave Niehaus, by far, is less of a homer than anyone else, and that’s why I like him so much. He shows a bit of disgust in the tone of his voice when warranted, and does not broadcast as though the other team does not exist. I’ve heard broadcasters actively downplay anything the other team does, as though it does not count. Dave deserves whatever kudos he gets.
For the 10 years before the arrival of Edgar, Junior, the Big Unit and Bone, the only reason to listen to an M’s game at all was Dave Niehaus. He basically kept this franchise afloat during those dark years (with tv/radio ratings that were per capita higher than other markets, especially markets with bad teams.)
The M’s ownership recognizes how important Dave is too. There’s a reason he threw out the very first pitch at Safeco. (Can you imagine anybody else.) And there’s a reason he makes up half of the current M’s Hall of Fame.
Maybe I’m the one who’s being a homer now, but I don’t think there’s anybody more deserving in all of baseball for the Frick honor, and I’d even argue that this citation is overdue.
Jojo, before bashing Dave for being too much of a home-town guy, you need to listen to Rex Hudler announce. That’ll help put things in perspective.
Evan,
Strolling over to dictionary.com (a good bookmark to have, BTW), “garnishee” and “garnish” are listed as synonym verbs in a few sources, “garnishee” is listed as a noun by most.
It’s clear that the linguistic community is in utter disarray over the terms. Someone needs to restore order.
As I said, I’m an OED fanboi.
http://www.oed.com/
The use of garnish in this sense is clearly an historical error. That it is now common enough to get displayed in lesser dictionaries makes it no less imprecise.
Black’s Law Dictionary:
garnish, vb. [Old French garnir “to warn”; “to prepare”] 1. Hist. To serve an heir with notice (i.e., to warn) of certain debts that must be paid before the person is entitled to receive property as an heir. 2. To subject (property) to garnishment; to attach (property held by a third party) in order to satisfy a debt. 3. To notify (a person, bank, etc.) that a garnishment proceeding has been undertaken and that the one receiving notice may be liable as stakeholder or custodian of the defendant’s property. — Also termed garnishee; (in senses 2 & 3)
garnishee (gahr-ni-shee), n. A person or institution (such as a bank) that is indebted to or is bailee for another whose property has been subjected to garnishment. — Also termed garnishee-defendant (as opposed to the “principal defendant,” i.e., the primary debtor
garnishee (gahr-ni-shee), vb. See GARNISH.
I have looked at a few cases and the vast majority of courts use “garnish” as a verb meaning to attach the property of another, and use “garnishee” as a noun meaning the person whose property is garnished.
NIEHAUS FOR HOF HONOREE – About twenty posts on the subject, and none of them mention the two Dave Niehauses–maybe you haven’t noticed– one before the heart attack, and one after the heart attack.
I had a brain injury some twenty years ago, and I realize that I’m not the same person now that I was before the injury. Neither is Dave the same person now that he was before his injury. He doesn’t seem to realize this. That’s O.K. But it does seem that you people should realize it.
He doesn’t deserve my vote for his total output, but he deserves my vote for the outstanding work he used to do.
Right, because Harry Caray was sharp as a tack by the time he was pushing 80.
Look, Niehaus isn’t great on flyballs any more and he nixes up a name now and then- but he still has a tone poem voice on play-by-play like very few people do.