Joe Buck Leaves the Cardinals

Friends,

This is a sad day? I don't know. For the first time since 1960, a member of the Buck family will not call Cardinals baseball locally. In fact, I don't see Buck calling a Cardinal game this season unless they get to the World Series because while you sometimes get a Cards/Cubs matchup on Fox on the weekend, those usually come the same time of a Red Sox/Yankee series and that's where Buck will be. I was never a fan of Joe Buck, even when he was calling Cardinal games locally. I suppose when your dad is an institution, it's hard to live up to it...but he's not doing anyone any favors by being so smarmy. It's like he's trying to hard. If he just relaxed a little, I think he'd be okay. Oh, and I supppose he'd have to show a little excitement and personality when calling games instead of the smarm. Like when the Cardinals won the Series in `06? I think it would have been great if he threw out a "And that's a winner!" as a little nod to his roots or something, but nope, he played it antiseptic and corporate if I remember right. He can be a funny guy I gather, but man, it just doesn't translate when he broadcasts. Oh, and then there's this piece of awkwardness:


He is replaced by Ricky Horton who isn't that bad. He's inoffensive, so that's a plus, right? The one knock I have against Ricky Horton, is that every damn game I have heard him call (he's been the substitute person for Mike Shannon and others) he mentions this player named Herky Jerky Horton. Herky Jerky had 11 total MLB at bats in the 19th century. Ricky keeps bringing him up because he thinks it's funny and they share a surname. It was funny once, maybe twice, but in the years since...not too much, though it's not nearly as annoying as that White Sox "He gone" nonsense. Horton's still kind of new to the job and this will be his first everyday gig as an announcer, so he'll probably improve. He doesn't sound irritating like Thom Brennaman (if I'm thinking of the right guy...kind of a toad looking fella with the voice to match...I might have the wrong name here) and he isn't like all those ESPN clowns that can't speak right (Rick Sutcliffe, Orel Hershiser, Orestes Destrade, and Eduardo Perez to name a few) so maybe he'll turn out to be a good one. Good luck to you, Ricky.

viva el mustache