Rob Dibble apparently fired as Nationals’ TV analyst
Posted by Andy on September 2, 2010
According to reports, Rob Dibble has been fired by MASN, the TV network that carries Washington Nationals games. Apparently this is in response to comments Dibble made on satellite radio, questioning Stephen Strasburg's toughness.
Dibble looked like a fool after Strasburg went down with the torn ligament, since it was obviously not inappropriate for the youngster to call out the trainer to the mound when he felt something wrong in his arm.
But why was Dibble fired for this? While I generally feel that criticism should be kept "in the family" and not discussed publicly, I'm not sure this applies to sports analysts. I think toughness is a real issue with baseball players, and Dibble was (in my view at least) in the right to question Strasburg's behavior and suggest that he needs to be tough if he wants to be successful in the majors. Sure Dibble was being overly macho (and ultimately foolish) but I just don't see how this is grounds for firing.
My guess is that there were other infractions before the Strasburg incident.
A strange ending to a story about two guys, Dibble and Strasburg, with an interesting statistical link.
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:39 am
This is vaguely reminiscent of Keith Hernandez's comments when David Wright returned following the concussion he suffered last August. Wright was wearing one of those new helmets that are supposed to provide better protection. Hernandez spent the better part of the game making fun of the way Wright looked, likening to the Great Gazoo on a couple of occasions. This was certainly not the first questionable act or remark that Hernandez has made in the booth.
Granted Hernandez's stature as a Met is greater than Dibble's as a National, but this is illustrative of a larger point. Although teams have always had a role in deciding who would broadcast games (or solely made the decision) many teams now own the station which is broadcasting the game (although I believe Orioles owner Peter Angelos owns MASN). There is greater opportunity for the game broadcasts and the stations built around them to simply become outlets for business propaganda for the various teams.
I would note that from what I have heard of the broadcasts and from what I have heard from SNY (Mets Cable Network) employees speaking through other media outlets, the Mets have given them full freedom to express their views, positive or negative, on the air. And the Mets ownership deserves to be complimented if this is the case.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Yea, there were definitely other incidents. He got into arguments with Ray Knight, a MASN studio analyst, essentially for the same behavior, where he was just being macho for the sake of being macho. But much more recently than that, he made some sexist comments regarding two women who were sitting behind home plate at a Nationals game. I think that is what really accelerated the process, and the Strasburg comments were just the tip of the iceberg.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Rob needs to get the facts before opening his mouth. This was out of Strasburg's hands anyway. Unless he was able to hide it from the team, which is hard if you're grimacing like he was, the Nats were gonna shelve him for the year anyway. Toughness or not, that's a given.
I believe Rob has had issues in the past with the bottle, if I'm not mistaken. Perhaps this was a convenient excuse for the Nats to do what they did.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I think we should probably leave alcoholism out of the conversation, seems like a bit of a low blow.
Having said that, and having watched a few Nationals games, I don't think Dibble was any good at his job anyway. I know local broadcasters will always have a bias toward the team for which they broadcast, but his constant use of the first-person when talking about the Nationals really made it more than clear to anybody listening that he was far less than objective.
The machismo factor just made it even more grating to listen to him.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Let's face it -- in the world of sports announcers, Dibble just didn't quite make it.
As far as alcoholism goes, that really didn't enter into it, more than likely. With a personna like he was showing on the air, I would be worried that whoever it was that hired him might have been a little blitzed when he chose him; I seriously doubt that Rob's job woes were caused by John Barleycorn, though.
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:43 pm
He also made some sexist comments on the air which he "apologized" for afterward.
To be frank, Dibble kinda sucked anyway so maybe this was just an easy way to can him.
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:04 pm
To #6:
I'm Frank; you just be Richard {lol}
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I'm thinking it had something to do with criticizing the Golden Boy (and I don't mean that pejoratively: I live in DC, love the Nats, and Strasburg *IS* the Golden Boy). I would not be at all surprised if Strasburg and Boras let it be known through various channels that they were not happy with Dibble, the Nationals (which co-own MASN) let the network know, and the rest is history.
It's very doubtful that, when free agency rolls around, the Nats will be in a position to compete with the Yankees, Dodgers or Red Sox on a purely financial basis, so I think the organization will do whatever they can do between now and 2017 to keep the kid happy and hope for a hometown discount.
Not to mention, Dibble was already controversial and frequently made dumb statements in the past. I personally liked his style, but he was not, to me anyway, by any means an essential part of the organization or the network. It's not like if Brooks Robinson had said something dumb about Ben McDonald and the O's had to make a choice (this never happened, I'm just using it as a hypothetical).
In sum, it was a tough call but I think the team did the right thing, supported Strasburg by getting rid of a guy that didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
September 2nd, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I kinda figured (as a long-time Reds fan, goin' back to 1969) that Dibble was a little discombobulated, especially in a game v. the Cubs ca. 1990 when he plugged Doug Dascenzo in the butt on a sacrifice bunt. And we're not talking about getting hit by the pitch, either. Dibble throws, Dascenzo lays down a bunt, Dibble fields...BING! Right in the gluteus acheyus. And Dascenzo was about 40 feet from 1st base, too, so it wasn't an accident, either. When Dibble was on, he was on, but when things went bad, he was like the snakes-in-the-peanut-can.
Not that that has anything to do with Strasburg, but I just like to tell the story.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I would think whether or not a broadcaster gets fired for comments like these has a lot to do with how fans react as well as how the team/owners feel. If MASN had been getting a ton of complaints about Dibble, they probably felt it would be in their best interests to fire him in order to retain their viewership. I think something like this may have happened in Philadelphia, resulting in the hilarious but perpetually grouchy Larry Andersen being exiled to the radio booth. The difference is, when LA gets angry, 99% of the time he's right.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:11 pm
I will never understand the decisions the Phillies have made regarding broadcasters since Ashburn died. Andersen, beyond his antics, is one of the best around. Wheeler is terrible. They have forced out a lot of good guys while retaining some really bad ones...
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
A ballplayer making "sexist" comments? Who woulda thunk it? 🙂
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Yeah seriously. Next thing you'll be saying is that some of them are homophobic and like to go hunting. And chew tobacco.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
@4, As someone who recently moved to chicago, I have noticed that Hawk Harrelson refers to the White Sox in the first person all the time. He also calls them the "good guys" and the other team is the "bad guys." It has gotten to the point that I am unable to watch sox games anymore because of his blatant homerism (I mute the tv when they play my hometown tigers). The crazy part in all this is that he is worshipped by sox fans for his numerous catchphrases ("he gone", "pick to click", etc.) but it all sounds like gimmicky gibberish to me. Nats fans are lucky Dibble was such a jerk, they only had to deal with him for a short time. There is no end in sight for Hawk's homerism in chicago.
September 2nd, 2010 at 3:10 pm
@ 11 very, very true
It's ridiculous that the radio team is 10 times better than the TV crew. I like Sarge but it's really not saying much when he's your best TV announcer. I miss LA being on TV. He always, always makes me laugh.
September 2nd, 2010 at 3:37 pm
As someone who lives in the DC area, I can tell you that this was just a good excuse to fire him. Nobody around here likes him as an announcer and he's being constantly criticized for saying stupid things and being an unabashed homer.
@14: No announcing team can ever (EVER!) be as bad as those two clowns the White Sox have in the booth. Even putting aside the blatant homerism and annoying and overly repeated gimmick lines, they're just plain bad announcers. They constantly screw up names, stats, and basic information. They barely even call the actual game while it's going on. Most innings when the opposing team is at bat, they'll just start having a random conversation with each other, usually about how baseball was so much better in the 70's. It's like they took two random season ticket holders and said "Here, you're now officially announcers". These guys must really be loved in Chicago otherwise they would've been replaced a long time ago.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:02 pm
@16: From what I've heard of them, the Marlins announcers are one of the worst crews in the business. I saw a replay sometime this year of a ground ball down the third base line, and the ump missed the call. Then they just went nuts and started yelling and saying that they couldn't believe how he missed the call; it was very unprofessional and almost funny how they were making fools of themselves.
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:40 pm
12 and 13-
I'm not sure I'd put being "sexist" and "homophobic" in the same categories as hunting and using chew. While I suppose there are moral questions surrounding the latter, it's pretty obvious that bigotry, in any form, is abhorrent. I realize you were making off-handed jokes, but just because something is likely to be true (such as sexism in athletic clubhouses) does not make it acceptable. I will now step down from my soapbox.
1-
With regards to your comments about the Mets' (or SNY's) policy on their employees on other outlets, I think it's worth noting that a certain four-letter "leader" forbids its employees from appearing on any unaffiliated outlets. They can do free stuff on their own (Keith Law keeps a blog, for instance) or if it is contractually negotiated, but you'll never see them randomly interviewed by other outlets. Interesting to see how varied the handling of these situations is.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm
BSK, I understand your interpretation but I certainly wasn't trying to equate those various qualities in any way other than being pretty common among MLB players.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Gotcha, Andy, my bad. As I noted, I jumped on my soap box pretty quickly.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
I also harped on that element of the comments more than the latter point, which was really more my point. Even if sexism was ubiquitous in MLB clubhouses, I don't think we should give Dibble a pass on that. That was more a reference to the previous poster than you.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Agreed on not giving passes. One of the saddest thing about MLB for me is that I feel if I knew the character of the average player, I suspect I would be so disgusted that I'd stop being a baseball fan immediately. Honestly I try not to think about it, and also make sure to tell the children in my life not to look up to pro athletes.
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
I live in DC and have watched many Nationals games on MASN over the past 2 years while Rob Dibble has been the color commentator. I'm really disappointed that they fired him, and I'm not alone. The comments on washingtonpost.com's article about his firing are overwhelmingly in favor of Dibble. Yeah, he's said some dumb things on air. But give the guy a break, he's on air for 3 hours every night, anyone is bound to say some pretty dumb things! He's way more entertaining and interesting to listen to than their previous color commentator, Don Sutton, and certainly better than Ray Knight who's doing color commentary until they find a replacement for Dibble.
Regarding the sexist comments. There were two women sitting behind home plate who were chatting with each other the entire game, not watching the game at all. He pointed them out on the screen and said there must be a big sale going on somewhere, or something to that effect. Yeah, pretty stupid and inappropriate. But he did apologize about it on air a few days later.
And as far as the Strasburg comments. He was on the XM/Sirius show First Pitch that he's the co-host of when he made the comments, it wasn't even during a Nationals game! He started off with a good point, that guys aren't tough enough. He wasn't just talking about when Strasburg actually injured himself, but was also talking about the time Strasburg came out of the game and went on the 15 day DL earlier in the season when there wasn't anything really wrong with him.
It's a complete embarrassment that the Nationals would fire their color commentator for making a few dumb comments, meanwhile they leave Nyjer Morgan on the team and put him out to play every day. By the way, Dibble was very critical of Morgan earlier in the season when he threw temper tantrums in the outfield causing the opposing team to get at least one extra base (in one case an inside the park home run), while everyone else with the Nationals didn't say a thing, and didn't discipline him at all.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:39 pm
BSK @18
The interview I was referring to actually took place on the Mets' lead radio affiliate, though I believe that SNY does not have any kind of restrictions on its employees the way ESPN does with its employees. The more general point is that the announcers are able to criticize the team when appropriate without being concerned about being disciplined. I tend to be fairly critical of broadcasts, but I give the production and broadcasts teams for the Mets very high marks, both on the TV and the radio. It is unfortunate that the games aren't more interesting than they have been of late, but I have never had a problem listening to the commentary, even as a fan of the opposing team.
Ari @14
I've had the misfortune of hearing some of Hawk's calls over the MLBNetwork simulcasts, WGN and the MLBNetwork recap shows which seem quite enamored with him. Of all the annoying call that he makes, yelling "stretch" at the baseball every time a fly ball is hit that isn't well short of the warning track or about 100 feet over the fence has to be the most annoying. Although the post home run call is pretty bad too.
---
To end this on a more positive note, hearing Vin Scully on the MLBNetwork simulcasts has shown me how well-deserved his great reputation is.
September 2nd, 2010 at 10:02 pm
I agree with Kelly #8. You don't trash the "franchise". Most teams accept some criticism and some cold honesty from their announcers but they won't tolerate for long announcers that make the franchise look bad. Remember Steve Stone got fired by the Cubs for being overly critical of the Cubs to the point that it was making the franchise look bad.
No tears from me. Dibble impressed me as someone more inciteful than insightful.
September 3rd, 2010 at 1:22 am
Probably would have looked better if they just fired him later, and not in response to criticism of a player or of the team. Now it looks like the team just wants "yes men" in the booth. (No pun intended towards my Yankees' announcers, although that pun could work there).
September 3rd, 2010 at 7:18 am
Being a Phillies fan its not the easiest thing in the world to admit this, but I think the Mets' announcers are the best I've heard among the current crop (but nobody will ever beat Harry and Whitey!).
@23, I don't know why people should be very upset about Dibble being fired. Yes, everyone does make mistakes, but its the frequency thereof that determines whether you're good or not, and Dibble was not good.
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:06 pm
@14
Ari, as far away as Canada, where I live, on all-sports stations they air sound bite highlights of White Sox games where Harrelson's homerism is obvious. Usually, the announcer makes fun of the commentary afterwards. To a distant observer, his comments sound "clownish". How can he be revered in Ozzie Guillen's market?
September 3rd, 2010 at 4:17 pm
@23
Brent, amen to your last paragraph about Nyjer Morgan. Well said! Will MLB have the guts to issue a decent suspension?
September 4th, 2010 at 10:36 am
Well, after reading what Brent said about the alleged "sexist" comments, they don't sound like much of anything to get bothered about. Frankly, it doesn't bother me a bit if ballplayers make sexist comments or say nasty things about homosexuals. I just enjoy watching them play and don't anticipate having a conversation with any of them about Kutuzov's flanking maneuver at Austerlitz or the use of chlorine gas at the Second Battle of Ypres or even whether the moon is made of cheese. If people stopped looking for reasons to be offended all the time the world would be a better place.
As for Dibble, I've always thought he was a bit of a dope. I don't have an opinion on whether he should have been fired other than to say it's a shame that saying a couple of dumb things here and there can mean the end of one's career. It creates a blandness that makes listening to the broadcasts much less enjoyable. But I guess it makes the grievance industry happy.
September 4th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Regarding Hawk Harrelson, he is a buffoon for sure. I know several White Sox fans that can't stand him, but they don't make the decisions regarding broadcasters. He's always highly complimentary of my team (the Yankees), so it's not a matter of that kind of bias. But of all the things he does that are annoying, whether yelling "He gone!" or "Grab some bench!" or "You can put it on the board, yes!" or "He just missed it" (according to which Paul Konerko has "just missed" hitting about 300 HRs this year), his constant whining about the home plate umpire's strike-and-ball calls is the most annoying. Hawk whines about every close pitch that goes against the White Sox, but never acknowledges the ones that go in their favor.
September 4th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Todd although I somewhat agree with your general sentiment, I cannot tolerate public figures like ballplayers engaging in bashing of any group of people. They are entitled to their beliefs but are not entitled to force their baseball-unrelated beliefs on anybody.
September 4th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Andy, I don't think broadcasters should bash groups of people on the air, although the comment by Dibble about the two women sounded more like a swipe at their inattentiveness toward the game. But if a ballplayer (who isn't a broadcaster) decides he wants to bash a group of people, I'm fine with it. As it is, there is already a double standard when it comes to sports figures on controversial issues. For example, several ballplayers and teams criticized the Arizona law on immigration without any fanfare, but I can only imagine the controversy if one of them instead spoke out in favor of it. Why should athletes give up their right to freedom of expression simply because they are ballplayers?
September 4th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
Todd, I'm all for freedom of expression. I'm just not going to tolerate bashing. If some ballplayers wants to bash, go right ahead. I'm just going to have no respect for that player. This is why I hate Todd Jones, because of his bashing of homosexuality. Do I think he's the only homophobe who has played baseball? No, not by a longshot. But he's one of the few to be dumb enough to go on record with his feelings. Ignorant jackass (Jones, I mean, not you)
September 4th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Andy, no offense taken, even if you were referring to me as the jackass. My wife called me much worse this morning at breakfast. 🙂
September 4th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Perhaps Rob Dibble should get the "Charles Barkley baseball announcer" award!
Do temper-prone, ex-players make good media analysts?