Dear Eric Byrnes:

dear eric byrnes,
keep being the man

 

The goofiness works, because he adds actual insight as well.

 

So Casty....I take it you kept your hair high and tight in the late 60's early 70's? You didn't have a "Beatle 'do"?

 

My brother sent me a text message during one of Byrnes first appearances on tv, he thought it was odd they were asking for his input on the importance of baserunning in the playoffs. [/Game 3 2003 ALDS]

 

I think Michael Gee said the same thing, but the silliness of Eric Byrnes offering advice on baserunning during the playoffs cannot be pointed out enough for my taste.

 

Byrnes' hair doesn't bother me as much as the awesome wasteland of blandness that is Kevin Kennedy.

Anyone ever heard his XM show with Rob Dibble? Dumbest fucking thing coming out of space since Jar-Jar Binks. Ungodly bad.

 

In Kennedy's defense, Stephen Hawking would have a hard time making intelligent radio with Rob Dibble.

True story: In Cooperstown last year, Dibble and Kennedy are doing their show from Main Street. Torrential rains arrive, complete with thunder and lightning, and Dibble says, sarcastically, "Well, they're telling us we have to go, it's raining a little bit."

No more than 10 seconds later, half a tree falls into the street about 30 feet in front of my car.

I wish Rob had stuck around on the air just a little longer.

 

I don't know about the haircut, but in the pantheon of athletes turned part-time broadcasters, he's pretty f-ing good.

By the way, there's a small school in our coverage area where pretty much every male athlete has that haircut. It's kinda annoying.

 

True that, but Kennedy doesn't help. He's as much as jock-sniffing athlete apologist as El Nasty Boy is, and barely more intelligent.

Hearing those two after Charlie Steiner's excellent MLB Beat show is quite the fall-off.

 

Random Charlie Steiner thought ... Perhaps the best outtake of all time was his reaction to the Carl Lewis national anthem performance. I don't know why, but that makes me laugh and tear up every single time. In fact, I'm heading to YouTube right now...

 

I feel the same way, MC. That Steiner/Lewis bit is hysterical.

"Francis Scott ... Off-Key."

 

The Steiner-Carl Lewis bit is in there as well as a couple other good Steiner breakdowns.

Oh, and Beano Cook is near the end.