I have the direcTV baseball package and follow everything Pittsburgh related down here in DelaWHERE?. For the most part I watch the FSNP feed and think our announcers are pretty fair about what they say about the other teams(except for the no good brew crew).

      Unfortunately  I live in the Philly tv market  and don't  get any Phillies or Orioles games and have to watch MASN when we play the Gnats( damn you comcast! ). Now too the point of this post, are more of the announce teams fair to the opposing team like ours,or more like the idiots on MASN who have done nothing but bash us about things they have NOOOO clue  as of which they speak.

    The following is just a taste of the BS Rob Dibble and his partner were spewing for all to see. Notice how their mood changes as we start pounding them into the ground.

                TOP 1 WAS 2-0

       ---  On the  ball that dead pull hitter A Dunn hit down leftfield line that Edge could't get too because he was playing in left-center  Dibble " THATS  WHY WE TRADED  YA!!" . he said the exact same thing yesterday on the ball that he dove for (maybe wrong situation to try it but he was hustling to try and make a play)

                TOP 2  WAS 2-1

         --- " In the last 14 mo. the pirates have traded away 15 P?, 5 OF, 2 C, 2 SS, 1 1B, 1 2B and 1 3B but they kept their mascot and manager." haha. Dibble " Raise the jolly roger on that one." haha.

         --- On the high chopper up the middle that Nyjer hit.  Dibble" thats just bad baseball"     huh? Even if :(edeno gets to that ball he isn't throwing out Nyjmo.

        --- on Lastings     Dibble " needs smarts to go along with the talent"       In your case Dibs you got neither , bro

                 TOP 3  WAS 2-1

         --- Praising Dukes  as young talent  right before he swings at the first pitch against a struggling pitcher and GIDP to end the inning.

                BOTTOM 3  WAS 2-1

        --- comparing Cutch to Nyjer   " McCutchen is 7 years younger than Morgan"

               BOTTOM 3  PIT 3-2

       --- After Edge hit the 2 rbi double    Dibs "you can maybe be the least talented major leaguer and hit pitches right down the middle.  This is a lineup (Pirates) you should be mowing down."         REALLY? OK

       --- After the play on GJ's fly out to right center. " Dukes playing like Morgan in  center. One of the most talented young men in the game today."     

                TOP 4 PIT 3-2

       --- " The Pirates are rebuilding while we are building to win. We have alot of great talent on this Gnats team we just need to start showing it.The guys that are here should be pounding the Pirates. They have traded away nearly a 40 man roster. We are going against the worst team with their worst pitcher on the mound."

               BOTTOM 4  PIT 5-2

       --- "What I see is a hungry young team( Bucs). "    praise for us?

       --- Dibs  " careful with the change up to righties. It will go down and in (as Cutch hits his 2nd dinger) and gone. gosh darn it!"

        --- " I don't see Clemente , Stargell, or Oliver on the lineup card but I see they have a bunch of hits." " If you don't make good pitches they are still dangerous hitters. They may be not be high in the stock of ML players but they are still ML players. We are finding out quickly who these youngsters are"

              TOP 5 PIT 7-2

       --- " need  an intelligent at bat from Dukes" as  he swings at 1st pitch after we walked last batter on 4 pitches.  "hard to believe." Then Dibs with best line of day.  "stay positive"

              TOP 6  PIT 7-3

       ---  " GREAT bunt by Nyjer if it gets down."         i didn't know greatness needs a qualifier

       --- " A Dunn, hitting with 2 strikes is his specialty."  Right before he K'd for the second time.      Is this because he is good at it or just gets to do it alot?

                BOTTOM 6 PIT 8-4

       --- " Instead of letting these guys beat you on your 3rd best pitch, make them hit your best  pitch. Pound in with fastballs when you  throw in mid 90's. Show me you can hit  my best pitch." " If your nervous about this young guy hitting, what are you going to do when facing a  real hitter." Next pitch 94mph fastball in and Cutch deposits it in the seats for # 3. "unbelieveable"   "this is their leadoff hitter"    

       --- " most of these guys in the(Bucs) lineup would be 3 or 4 on the depth chart of most ML teams."

       --- " Can't say the Gnats aren't trying to better themselves, they have brought 28 pitchers thru AAA and ML which is a huge turnover of TALENT."

              TOP 7 PIT 11-4

       --- " You have a beautiful view  until the scoreboard comes into view. Then it looks like a steelers game."    So now  your gonna start bashing  the park. nice

                THE REST OF THE GAME they start to change their tune

        --- talking about the trades "Talking to people in Pittsburgh they said they understand the Morgan move because McCutchen was on his way, and he's pretty good. and the players they traded were both arbitration eligble."

        ---  after Cutch hit  into the DP " The people are clapping because they want the game to be over."       NO, they are clapping because we appreciate great baseball and our players effort.

        --- and Ray Knight on postgame said" You see why they traded McClouth and we have Morgan. That kid can play."      Could'nt have said it better myself.

This is just an example of some of the garbage they were spewing. I understand supporting your players but bashing on other teams when you are 40 GAMES UNDER .500 doesn't quite make sense. Since I don't watch alot of other announce teams is this the norm or are they (gnats)just bitter.

      This is my first post and would appreciate any feedback you might have. I have enjoyed finding a place where people actually have knowledge of what they are talking about and back it up with FACTS and stats. Charlie, I hope I put this in the right place. Now that I got that out of my system GO BUCS!!!!!