Stoney, Y'all: A Cubs Post

Stoney, Y'all!: A Cubs Post

The good thing about starting your work day early is that it ends earlier. Usually.

It did end early today. But after last night's bout with insomnia, I didn't have much energy to do anything after work. I was flipping through the channels, and somehow decided that it a documentary on gasoline on the History Channel was some good TV.

I dozed for a while, woke back up, and started flipping through the channels, and saw that ESPN2 was showing a little spring training baseball. Angels and White Sox.

I missed the initial introductions, and I'm kinda groggy, trying to read on the interweb when I realize that one of the announcers on the ESPN broadcast is none other than Steve Stone his own self.

I haven't commented much on Stoney's departure from the Cubs' broadcast team last year. I did do think his leaving is a shame on a couple of counts.

On the first count, Steve's voice is one I just associate with baseball. I really got caught up in the game in the mid 80's on WGN, when it was Steve Stone and Harry Caray (with Dewayne Staats [or was it Stantz] taking Harry's place in the booth in the fourth through sixth innings). It's just one of those constants.

I'll admit that I got a little tired of his style which, to be fair, occasionally borders on pedantic. And, I didn't like at all how he and Chip Caray meshed after Chip took over in the broadcast booth after Harry's death. But I quickly found out just how good Steve Stone was when Joe "Hey! I'm the Dumbest Man Alive" Carter took the color spot in the WGN booth. I was happy when Stoney came back.

I'm sorry that he left on the basis of continuity. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. His is just one of those voices that I've come to associate with baseball. Not that others' voices don't work, or do even better. But his is one I came to know first. That I don't get to hear that on a game-to-game basis sucks just a bit.

Stoney's departure sucks on a whole other level, too. I didn't get to watch much WGN baseball last year. No cable for a while, and no satellite until recently. I had to hear of Stoney's tussles and arguments with certain players on the Cubs team second and third hand.

I think his leaving is a shame here, in that all the nastiness that arose surrounding Steve Stone was the perfect opportunity for a team leader to step up and do anything...either defend his teammates to Stoney and the media, or tell Moises and Mercker to shut the hell up and play ball. Nobody did that.

That...or Dusty Baker could have, you know, done his job and made his team get over distractions (even distractions that aren't making themselves distractions) like what the announce team says. Guide them through the season, instead of letting them wander aimlessly like a 25 headed monster with a chip on its shoulder that says "I deserve to win the Series without even trying..."

All the rigamarole that arose surrounding Stoney arose from Stoney doing his job, in my mind, like he always had. Somebody should have stepped up on the other end of the conversation.

If I'm wrong, correct me. I just feel like Stoney got a bad deal last year, and I think it's a shame that he felt like he needed to leave after the season.

Anyway.

There's not a lot of action so far in today's game. It's a spring training game. It's good to watch on an afternoon home from work. Beats the hell out of doing chores.

Stoney'll do a good job. Haven't heard if and where he's going to turn up this season. ESPN could do a lot worse than to have him on staff. I'll take Steve Stone before Joe Morgan any day of the week, for those ESPN broadcasts. I haven't been paying all that much attention, though. I think I'll go look that up.