Chip Caray and TBS part ways  | ajc.com
Yes, he’s gone from TBS/Peachtree. But that just clears the way for him to sign with Fox and do all the other Braves games. Didn’t anyone think of that?
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Good luck, Mac, we’re all on your side.
Re: Chip
The Chip-related hits that TBS took from the national media during the playoffs were brutal.
(FWIW, after the first Yanks-Twins ALDS game, I had a Yankee fan ask me, “Who is this clown? He’s so bad!” My response: “He’s our clown, just like John Sterling is your clown.”)
Losing Chip certainly has much more to do with his failures on that big stage than any continued annoyances he gave some of us Braves fans. TBS wants to be seen as big-time. By drawing that bad press, Chip kinda blew up that notion.
Curious to see who’s next…
Hope you’re doing well, Mac. Keep on battling.
Re: Chip…please don’t hire him Fox. He should go announce Marlins games, nobody watches them anyway.
Rooting for you, Mac. Hey, have you heard this one?
Schrodinger’s cat walks into a bar,
Or doesn’t…
Aw hell, since it was the unfortunate topic of the day here’s another one…
How do you circumcise a whale?
Send down four skin divers.
Hey Mac, I’m not real familiar about Chip Carey but I’ve heard a lot of bad things about him from you guys. I really don’t remember hearing him call to many games and I’m curious why he is so disliked. Could you clear things up for me? Could you list some things specificly that he did, just so I can be in on the joke too. OK some I’m not as hardcore as you guys but I do love the way you report on the games, thanks.
Hey, jokes.
Word is, the Capitol One people have told Lane Kiffin that they’ll invite UT to their bowl game if the school will allow Janzen Jackson to wear a ski mask and carry a gun in a “What’s in your wallet?” commercial.
LINE DRIVE BASE HIT CAUGHT
I’m not even sure where to start with Chip. I’ll leave it to the professionals. Or we could start a list.
I will miss the Chip Caray drinking game. That’s the real loss in all of this.
@ 5 – You specifically asked for a list. I’ll start.
1.) Fisted.
2.) SWUNG ON AND BELTED
3.) “In Chicago…”
4.) Nepotism.
5.) Depth perception.
I may get verbally accosted for this one, but I didn’t really mind Carey that much. I know I’m pretty much alone on this one, but I like loud, extroverted announcers. I just do. It might be that, in real life, I’m loud and extroverted, and I just like people who are like me. Chip brings an energy to broadcasts that not a whole lot of announcers have. He obviously hasn’t learned the other elements that make someone a good announcer, but he has that going for him.
FWIW, I like “SWUNG ON AND BELTED”. When a ball was crushed to center that Andruw ran down, one of the best parts about it was hearing Chip’s call. “SWUNG ON BELTED, CENTER FIELD DEEP” used to run through my head a lot, and it just sounded cool. Of course, his lack of ability to accurate provide information probably out-weighs this, but his energy is a plus.
For what this is also worth, I’ve never really looked at announcers as a vital part of a game. So with that said, they don’t play a big enough roll in a game to either dramatically enhance it or dramatically ruin it. They’re like stadiums. A good stadium will make a game more fun, and a bad stadium will make a game less enjoyable, but they won’t ruin a good game or make a bad game good. But this is also coming from a person who, for the past 4+ years, has watched a lot of really good baseball being played at the Trop. So what do I know?
@ 9 – As strange as it sounds, I love it when Gus Johnson does play-by-play in March Madness games just because it borders on the absurd. Sometimes he just screams random noises, and his hyperbolic statements are so over the top its laughable. But its one of my favorite parts of march madness. However, I was never able to digest Chip, maybe just because of the blatant factual inaccuracies. And fisted.
I put “swung on and belted” on the list when it refers to lazy pop flies to center.
The best announcers are storytellers. It takes thoughtfulness, nuance and deep insight, into not only baseball, but the human condition, to do it well.
Chip seems like a nice enough guy, but he ain’t got “it”, whatever that is.
i called in to chip’s radio show on one rain delayed afternoon and he was actually suggesting the braves trade for roy halladay. this was last year, ya know, the year we had 6 starting pitchers…
I forgot about the rain delay radio show. Does he still have his radio gig after this?
It doesn’t matter who it is. Nobody can replace Skip and Pete.
Rob Cope, board contrarian.
Chip Caray sucks ass. He absolutely affected the enjoyment of games for me. I was lucky enough to have Extra Innings and would opt to listen to the out of town yahoos over Chip.
Chip always reminded me of the annoying little guy on your ball team who you’d have to bail out when he pissed off the wrong guy…except you did because you knew that past all his issues he was a good guy.
I really hope he doesn’t get the Braves FOX gig, but I wish him the best (if for no other reason than his dad had such a big impact on my life growing up)
I feel bad for Chip, because it seems like he’s a legitimately nice guy, but it just doesn’t seem like he ever does any preparation.
1. He knows nothing about statistics and makes a lot of factual errors, and talks convincingly about these errors while making them like he is the authority of the topic.
2. He gets really excited, yelling at the top of his lungs, over what he thinks are home runs that turn out to be shallow pop-ups. This usually happens several times a game.
3. He talks incessantly about the Cubs during Braves broadcasts.
4. He exaggerates his excitement during routine plays. It gets old quickly.
5. He brings up topics for discussion that nobody cares about and gives his uninformed opinions for a couple of innings.
6. He uses the word “fisted” on broken bat bloopers.
Oh, and his most famous screw-up:
Chip Caray out at Turner Sports | ajc.com
Read the updated story and tell me he isn’t angling for the vacated PBP job on the Fox broadcasts.
Oh sweet merciful God, please tell me there will be no more Chip Caray doing major league baseball games.
I think I liked the Bob Rathbun rumors more.
Chip Caray done at TBS, critics not unhappy
@19
You’re exactly right. Sounds exactly if a PR firm wrote it for him with that job in mind. If for no other reason than the regard most of the fan base has for his family name, I’ll now be shocked if they don’t give it to him.
Fits too well together…except for the talent part.
#20
Somewhat amusing how the writer, in attempting to illustrate Chip Caray’s factual errors, referred to a bit written by the NY Times’ media critic, “Ralph Sandomir.”
Um, it’s Richard Sandomir.
dob just reported that the corey hart/lowe rumors that were shot down last week were actually quite true.
“Today on SIRIUS XM Radio’s MLB Home Plate channel, Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin was on with hosts Jeff Joyce and Jim Bowden, and commented on the Derek Lowe-for-Hart trade rumors:
Melvin: “On Corey Hart and [Derek] Lowe, there was discussions in that. I’m pretty close to trying to hold those things in house but I think that everyone has known that, you know, if you look we need pitching and they (Atlanta) are asking for a young right handed outfielder so, you know, they do make some sense. So some of those discussions had taken place but I don’t see them coming to fruition.”
would ya do that? i guess if i were the braves i would take what i could get for lowe but corey hart hasnt been very good offensively or defensively for 2 years.
I like Boog. I hope he comes back
Bowman basically says the Braves are going to offer arbitration to Soriano, Gonzalez, and LaRoche tomorrow. I hope he’s right.
Sciambi covered the Old Spice “Classic” basketball tournament for ESPN, so at least I got to hear him call some Alabama games.
No way Fox doesn’t offer Chip.
The drinking game will be back!
Wait, doesn’t that mean even more Chip?
@23
That’s a stupid trade. Lowe might be overpaid, but Hart just sucks.
Id do Lowe for Hart
Don’t think of it as Lowe for Hart. Think of it as Lowe for Hart and $30 million.
exactly
True. Yeah, in that light, I’d do it too. I didn’t even think about salaries. Corey Hart is just so overrated I think of him as Frenchy 2.0…well, maybe not that bad, but not nearly worth what he’ll make next year.
In any case, I doubt Milwaukee would do it without us paying a fair amount of Lowe’s contract. I just hope Wren shares my view of Hart as a player and doesn’t eat 10 MM of Lowe’s contract for us to get him.
Nothing better happen to Redman. JPW against an NFL defense? That would be UGLY.
2009 NCAA College Football Polls and Rankings for Week 14 – ESPN
I’m no Tech fan, but how can GT be ranked behind VPI, a team (A) from their own conference whom (B) they finished ahead of and (C) beat head-to-head and (D) has a worse record?
This is just a weird college football year all around. Texas may be as talented, but based on the schedules played, the SEC title game will be the real national championship.
Part of me wants Nebraska to beat Texas next week to shake things up, but the other part doesn’t want to have to watch a TCU team get destroyed by FLA/BAMA in the “title” game.
Ugh…the BCS sucks.
it’s not a stupid trade. it’s a trade that immediately puts cash in the braves pocket to sign, well..basically whoever they want. hart will probably make 5 million next year, which will put the braves $ committment at about 57-60 million dollars. think of the what the braves could do with 35-38 million dollars to spend.
here’s the breakdown:
Hudson 8
Chipper 13
Kawakami 7.33
Mccann 5.67
Mclouth 5
Infante 1.85
Ross 1.6
Diaz 3
Jurrjens .75
Escobar .75
Prado 0.75
Moylan 1.4
Medlen 0.5
Hanson 0.5
Heyward 0.5
O’Flaherty 0.5
Hart 5-6 mil
56-58 million (depending on arb. eligible players)
we could be a really good baseball team. hell, put hart in right and platoon him with heyward, sign laroche for 2/16, and spend 30 million dollars on gary sheffield, takashi saito, billy wagner, and jj putz. cleanup hitter? who the hell cares?
Wow, Saints.
oh man, i bothced that post @37. vazquez’s 11.5 million is not in there. well, it would still be a lot of money to spend in the offseason (67.5-69.5 committed if the braves pulled off the hart/lowe trade). man, i need to shutup. WHO DAT!
also, check this out. i figured all of the mac follower’s would enjoy this so i will pass it along. props to zeus12888 for the research:
http://tinyurl.com/yjy39o3
That would be a helluva game to be at.
I would much, much rather take a B-minus prospect for Lowe than take Corey Hart.
How about this. Trade Lowe to the Brewers for Cory Hart. Non-tender Cory Hart. Everybody’s happy!
Doubt the Brewers would do it anyway, they don’t seem to have the cash.
if you trade for a player, can you non-tender him a contract? that doesnt sound right.
@42
If you’re going to do that, why wouldn’t you just put Lowe on waivers?
43,
Yes. Unless the previous club has already offered him arbitration.
Because nobody would claim him.
If’s that’s the case, why would anyone trade for him then?
Because they think that the Braves will kick in some money.
But Lowe wasn’t bad. At what point does the deal not become worth it because you’re giving up the value of Derek Lowe and cash and while getting nothing back other than payroll flexibility?
I mean, I know it’s not perfect, but Fangraphs did have Lowe as being worth 12 MM last year. And even though he’s getting older, his career has been unique enough that while I’d probably expect a little more regression, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him have a substantially better season next year.
35 – Someone told the voters about the whiskey bottle throwing incident.
Anybody interested in my Braves season tickets for this year? Let me know.
Very serious about this.
2010 season tickets.
nugget from peanut:
“Can the Braves move Chipper Jones to first base and maybe look for a third baseman?
— Edward G., Santiago, Dominican Republic
Chipper has said numerous times that he’d accept a move to the other corner if the Braves had a better third-base option. While they don’t currently have a better option in their system, they could be tempted to make this move if they were to grab Chone Figgins, Adrian Beltre or Pedro Feliz off the free-agent market.
But with the strong possibility that Freddie Freeman could be ready to assume his role as the everyday first baseman by the start of the 2011 season, where would you then play Chipper during the final two years of his contract?
It’s something to think about, and there is reason to believe this move could have a benefit next season. But when you look at the big picture, it seems the Braves can only hope that Chipper’s defensive struggles at third base this past summer weren’t a sign of things to come over the next three years.”
i thought chipper was very clear about not wanting to play first base. i didnt realize that was even an option. is peanut talking out of his ass?
Chip Caray signing with Fox could hardly make me hate Fox more. I’ll just have to turn the sound off and drink till the voices in my head start doing color commentary.
First of all, well wishes go out to Mac. I hope all goes well.
Secondly, words cannot describe how pissed I am at Peanut for bringing that up. Thank God we’re not actually in-season. That would start an endless volley of BS about how we should move Chipper.
Also, not only should you think of the proposed Lowe-for-Hart trade as Lowe for Hart plus $30 million, but you should also think of it as Lowe for Hart plus $30 million and the ability to keep Vazquez.
And finally, @34, after Ryan was out of the game and Redman was in, and the TV cameras flashed to Wilson, the horrifying thought came to mind that we were one hit away from having John Parker freaking Wilson as the QB of the Falcons. The thought caused temporary paralysis. And given the look on his face in that camera shot, he was thinking the same thing.
FOX???…………how about Chip and McCarver jabbering mindlessly at each other for three hours? that might lead to the FCC banning all baseball announcers.
bad timing and bad decisions for Dunlap, Im sure Meyer will still let him play…
UF’s Dunlap charged
By Chase Goodbread
Published: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 7:16 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 7:16 a.m.
TUSCALOOSA | Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlap, one of the top performers on the Gators defense that will face the University of Alabama in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Championship Game, was arrested early Tuesday morning and charged with DUI, The Gainesville Sun is reporting.
Dunlap, 20, was found asleep at the wheel and arrested at 3:25 after refusing a breath test. Dunlap was the defensive MVP in last year’s national championship game. How the arrest might affect Dunlap’s status for Saturday’s game remains unclear.
Re: Chip Carey. How about him making every home run sound as if it’s the first one he has ever seen.
Or, another during the Tiger/Twin playoff game (I must admit, I missed the “line drive base hit-caught” call; that’s a classic.) The Tigers had second and third one out and didn’t score; Chip made it sound as if it was the first time in the history of baseball that a team didn’t score in that situation.
He is absolutely the worst announcer I have ever heard (Morgan is an analyst-so called). Aside from his bonehead mistakes, I can’t stand his need to express an opinion (usually wrong) on every subject, such as when he felt the need to mock people that criticized Francouer.
People complain about Joe Buck (I like him actually) but he is about a zillion times better than Chip. If Chip had been doing the US-USSR hockey game, he probably would have mistakenly said the USSR won.
I was just about to post that. That really sucks. What an awful two days. First Bobby Bowden is retiring, then Mark Ingram will definitely play, now our star defensive end will probably not play for being stupid. Great.
I say send Chip to Afghanistan–the Taliban would certainly give up if they had to endure listening to Chip.
Rob…..if i were a gator fan, i’d feel bad about Bowden retiring too.
25 – Thanks for the news. I actually came here looking for that info.
I hope Bowman is right about the arb offers, too.
Well, at least Dunlap didn’t take the test. He has that going for him.
I, too, would imagine that Meyer (in honor of Bobby Bowden’s win-at-all-cost legacy) would allow Dunlap to play on Saturday.
Here’s to a Bama-TCU BCS championship game.
Analysts are reporting that if Bama wins, it may not even matter if Texas beats Nebraska. Florida is so far ahead in the rankings that a close loss to a #2 Bama team could just set up a rematch. Im sure Texas, TCU, Boise, and Cincy wont be happy. Possible Bama SEC champ and FLA National champ? no chance
Please. If Texas wins against Nebraska, they will not screwed out of the Nat championship game for the second year in a row. Fla/Bama is a semifinal game.
In stupid moves by NL East rivals, the Phillies have given Brian Schnider a two-year deal and the Mets have signed Alex Cora and Chris Coste. I love this sentence from MLB Trade Rumors: “The Mets are poised to add Henry Blanco and Chris Coste as backup options, but Davidoff says their top free agent target is Bengie Molina.” OHHH, Bengie Molina!
Met-fan caller: The Yankees are talking about getting Roy Halladay & we go out and get Alex Cora… Unbelievable.
WFAN host: What? You’re not excited about signing Chris Coste?!
Met-fan caller: Are you kidding? When I think of Coste, I think of soap.
AS long as I can watch the Braves games (I have mlb.com) I really don’t care if Daffy Duck does the play-by-play. Actually, ‘That’s despictable’ summed up our season pretty well before we dumped Frenchy.
I understand the Chip dislike, really. But you know, you can watch baseball games on mute too.
Also, I’m told that Dunlap attempted to gouge out the arresting officer’s eye, so he might sit for a quarter against Vandy…
I had hoped I wouldn’t see any more references to VU Football until next Fall. It’s apparently going to be a recurring nightmare. I just hope we keep most of what would be our best-ever recruiting class.
I always thought that Chip might be one pre-game Xanax away from being a decent announcer.
He’s got a good heart, good pipes and a last name I can’t ignore – hope he just mellows out a bit.
The more like Vin Scully a play-by-play announcer can be, the better.
There is actually a rumor (out of Knoxville) that the Outback will take UK over UT despite our usual self-destruction. (UT then to the Peach.)
Orange-colored bat guano? Now that would be a sight …
I detest Chip Caray. He has a good voice quality, but it became grating with the inane things he said.
Auburn is in the Outback (already decided)
http://blog.al.com/goldmine/2009/12/auburn_set_to_play_in_outback.html
Im hearing that Tenn will go to the Liberty
well earlier it was official, now it just waiting on the official announcement
MLBTR has that the Phils are asking about Smoltz.
If Clemson spits the bit this weekend, a UGA-Clemson matchup in the Peach/Chik Bowl could be fun. That was once a really bitter rivalry. It would give the Dome some juice.
Nothing against Va. Tech, but we played them relatively recently.
Mizzou plays Vandy tomorrow in BBall. Should be a good game.
If we don’t win by double-digits, I’ll be a little surprised and disappointed. But, we’ve already shown up to play half-asleep twice already this year, so I’m prepared for anything.
New York Jets bring in New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi to teach quarterback Mark Sanchez to slide – ESPN
In a related story, the Falcons have brought in Bobby Cox to show John Parker Wilson how to sleep and stay upright.
UT vs. Va Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2009/dec/01/source-ut-vs-virginia-tech-chick-fil–bowl/
I’d say you’re favored. We did win the Big 12 tourney last year, went to the Elite 8, and won 30 games. And, if I recall correctly, no SEC team even made the Sweet 16. But we’re too perimeter oriented and lack guys who break down a defense off the dribble.
We do go 11 deep though and full court press for 40 minutes can catch a team off guard if they’re not ready for it.
We go 11-deep, too. Last year, you would have crushed us, but you lost DeMarre Carroll (maybe others?), whereas we lost our 8th man and replaced him with the 15th-ranked recruit in the country (in addition to getting a starter back from injury). The press doesn’t really concern me, given our senior PG and other personnel.
And, of course, we’re playing at Memorial. We absolutely should win, but we should’ve won the Maui, and that didn’t happen, so like I said, I’m prepared for anything.
As a Tennessee fan, I like the UT-Va Tech matchup better than I would’ve liked being in the Outback Bowl against Wisconsin or whoever. This is pretty much a best-case scenario for us, I think, although I’m sure some people will be upset we’re not playing on New Year’s Day or whatever crap.
Stu, I love your confidence, though years of being a Vandy fan make it tough to share it.
Go, ‘Dores!
I don’t know that I’d call it confidence. That we’re supremely talented is inarguable for anyone who’s paying attention—and that still doesn’t convince me that we’ll win the games we should.
As always, though, I’ll be in attendance.
Per DOB, in a bit of a surprise, the Braves didn’t offer arbitration to LaRoche. They did to both Type-A relievers, though.
Yeah, to be honest, I am as well. I hope it’s a good game, but I think you’re right in that anything could happen
Weird with LaRoche. The only thing I can think of is that they’re still feeling the burn from the Maddux decision a few years ago and don’t want to risk having to pay LaRoche 10+ MM…especially if they can’t get rid of Lowe
So Again, we’re back where we were before the Tex trade…..who is gonna play 1B? Is Scott Thorman still available? /endsarcasm
Thorman is — of course — with the Royals.
New post.