IT’s TV. Anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Last year at this time, TBS made its debut as an MLB postseason network. In doing so, TBS clearly had one goal: Let every viewer know, over and over (and over and over and over and over) that comic Frank Caliendo has a new show coming to TBS.
If an inning passed without a reminder that Caliendo has a new show on TBS, well, it was because you dozed off or otherwise tuned out.
Now, after two days of the 2008 MLB playoff games on TBS, the Caliendo on TBS theme, like a seasonally recurring nightmare, has returned. Twice during Dodgers-Cubs, TBS even got us going and coming, presenting a Caliendo on TBS commercial right after the last pitch of a half-inning and just before the first pitch of the next half-inning.
And the first spot at game’s end was a Caliendo on TBS ad. Yesterday, TBS included in-game promos for Caliendo’s show as well as Calindo show signage atop the backstop.
TBS again has turned the playoffs into that Bugs Bunny cartoon, the one in which Bugs, against the Gas House Gorillas, is announced at all positions: “Catching, Frank Caliendo; left field, Frank Caliendo; right field, Frank Caliendo . . . “
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While we’re on the topic of Warner Bros. cartoons and TBS baseball, several readers have submitted this soundalike: Tony Gwynn and Porky Pig.
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Right up to the last inning of the last game of the Yanks’ season, John Sterling remained New York radio’s longest-running bad joke.
Sunday night, bottom of the 10th inning in Fenway Park, Sterling scolded Jose Veras for not throwing strikes to Alex Cora. The worst Cora could do, Sterling huffed, “is plunk a single in front of someone.” On the next pitch, Cora lined a triple to right-center field. He soon would score the winning run.
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Even with the opportunity to work as a soloist, to re-craft his act to include a dash of humility, Mike Francesa, now truly the one and only, can’t help but remind all that he’s a big shot.
Speaking Wednesday with Rays’ owner Stuart Sternberg, the chat turned to the Tampa area. Francesa might have told his audience and Sternberg that he’s familiar with the Tampa area because his late mother lived there. Instead, Francesa said, “I bought my mother a house down there.” Geez.
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OK, so the Mets need bullpen help. What if, on the blind, you were the general manager and you could land the man who was tied for second in the NL in saves and tied for fourth in the majors, this season, a fellow just 26 years old? Would you jump at the chance?
Well, that fellow would be the Giants’ Brian Wilson, who saved 41 games but allowed 62 hits and 28 walks in 62 innings and had an ERA of 4.62. That’s what the save stat does; it rewards Wilson with the same number of saves as the Phillies’ Brad Lidge, who nearly was untouchable.
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Are these trips really necessary? If the cost of fuel, not to mention the cost of money, is making travel prohibitive for many Americans, some travel priorities remain high, as they should, because they’re made in the name of academic institutions. Colleges, for example, can’t spend enough on football.
Last Saturday, taxpayer supported UC-Davis – the “C” is short for California – lost, 27-10, at Northeastern, a 6,260-mile round-trip. Rain in Boston limited attendance to about 1,000. In two weeks, Iona – yes, the one in New Rochelle – plays at UC-Davis. It’s crazy.
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Gosh, what would have happened if the Cubs make this World Series and Wrigley Field still had no lights? Tape delay telecast starting at 8:45 p.m.?