Idiots Write About Sports

Your Fox broadcast team for this afternoon’s A’s-Angels tilt — the very under-rated Mel Proctor and the unspeakably abysmal Rex Hudler. Hudler’s regular gig is as the color commentator on Angels telecasts in Southern California, so you can bet he’s approaching today’s regional broadcast with the impartiality and professionalism the task requires.

Whoa — nearly made it through typing that sentence with a straight face.

Bad enough that he’s using the Fox airwaves to once again say what a wonderful owner Arte Moreno is. (That’d be the Arte Moreno who signs Hud’s paychecks.) Even worse that he’s referring to Angels by their nicknames (“Ersty’s up next!”). But it’s unforgiveable that he’s barely able to conceal his allegiances during the game itself.

Top of the fourth, one on, one out, Dye at the plate against Jared Washburn. What keen insight does Hud have to offer? “What I’d like… what Washburn wants here is for Dye to ground into a double play.” Yes, he was pulling for a double-play until he remember that he’s not supposed to do that.

I figure by the seventh inning, Hudler will just drop all pretense and start openly cheering in the press box.

(Indeed, as I write this, Hudler is giving his assessment of why the Angels are such a hot ticket: “It’s an exciting baseball team. They have a lot of good festy [sic] hitters, fiesty hitters, good pitching. We’ve got a good defense.” Yup. We. Way to good, Hud — you beat my estimate by three innings.)

Why does Fox insist on doing this? Surely, this game is being broadcast up in the Bay Area, too. Does Fox think the A’s fans in the audience are going to appreciate tuning in to hear one-half of the broadcast team blubber his love for the home team? Whatever insight a local yokel broadcaster adds to the telecast — and in Hudler’s case, the contribution could not be more minimal — it’s completely negated if he just might as well be wearing a home jersey and leading the fans in The Wave.

And the shame of it is, Fox had someone competent at their disposal. A few weeks ago, the network aired an Angels game and teamed up Mel Procter with Jose Mota, the roving reporter and Spanish-language broadcaster for the Angels. (Maybe Hud was busy washing Arte Moreno’s car that weekend.) Mota was professional, insightful and composed — at no point during the game would you have gotten the impression that he cared who won or lost.

Fox could have tapped Mota for today’s game. Instead, we’ve got Hudler… and the makings of Excedrin headache no. 42.

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