Mic'ed Up Players

[wallus]

I just happened to turn on ESPN and they had the Red Sox/Twins Spring Training game on. They had Mookie Betts Mic'ed up and goofing around. I don't really care about either team but it was very entertaining listening to these guys in between pitchers.

 

Now obviously this is Spring Training but I would love to see something like this during the season. MLB should do a PIP and have some of these guys Mic'ed up or maybe have things like this in the dugout (yes they would have to bleep some things out) while commercials are going. As someone that is in Marketing, I would much prefer that as to all of the people that don't pay attention to the commercials or fast forward through them.

 

Player interaction during games would help improve the interest in my opinion.

[wallus]

Ha Buster Olney just talked about how great it was that Betts did this. I agree! There are many guys that have infectious personalities.

[wildcat83]

He was mic'd up for a ESPN game last year during spring too. I remember a double being hit over his head during the inning right when he was talking to them. He gave a hilarious, "Wow, ain't gettin to this one boys", as he was sprinting back on it. Was great entertainment. I don't see any way that MLB would allow it during the regular season, at least not with a mic and ear piece on the player. He was literally answering questions from the booth guys during live play. Just being mic'd up maybe a possibility.

[wallus]

He was mic'd up for a ESPN game last year during spring too. I remember a double being hit over his head during the inning right when he was talking to them. He gave a hilarious, "Wow, ain't gettin to this one boys", as he was sprinting back on it. Was great entertainment. I don't see any way that MLB would allow it during the regular season, at least not with a mic and ear piece on the player. He was literally answering questions from the booth guys during live play. Just being mic'd up maybe a possibility.

 

Yeah I don't think they could do it the way they are doing it now. However, there is enough down time to do something. At the worst, put in a bunch of extra speakers so we can hear the conversations. To me that has the potential to be more interesting than hearing the same cliches from Rock for each broadcast.

[wildcat83]

He was mic'd up for a ESPN game last year during spring too. I remember a double being hit over his head during the inning right when he was talking to them. He gave a hilarious, "Wow, ain't gettin to this one boys", as he was sprinting back on it. Was great entertainment. I don't see any way that MLB would allow it during the regular season, at least not with a mic and ear piece on the player. He was literally answering questions from the booth guys during live play. Just being mic'd up maybe a possibility.

 

Yeah I don't think they could do it the way they are doing it now. However, there is enough down time to do something. At the worst, put in a bunch of extra speakers so we can hear the conversations. To me that has the potential to be more interesting than hearing the same cliches from Rock for each broadcast.

 

I'd love to have 1st basemen or catchers with a mic during games to hear the conversations, although if they know they have a mic I'm sure it would alter what was said.

[3and2Fastball]

This is one of those things that MLB really should be looking into, to make the game more entertaining & appealing to younger generations, not the various ways of altering the game that they've suggested.

 

I would love to be able to hear the manager vs umpire arguments, too. Also: the chatter between umpire, catcher, & batter on just about about every pitch is a huge part of the game, undoubtedly potentially entertaining & something 99% of fans are oblivious to...

 

I'd pay double my cable bill to hear Yadier Molina & Country Joe West "discussing" balls & strikes if it'd mean I'd never have to hear another minute of John Smoltz going on & on about what's wrong with the game....

[MrTPlush]

I am not sure how you mic up a baseball player in a serious game though. With football players it is easy to wire into their equipment and it is impossible to even tell it is there. It would be kinda cool if they could have playbacks that they filter to make sure it is appropriate like they do in football sometimes...but hard to do when baseball players don't have all the pads to hide it in.

 

I am not a huge fan of mic'ed up players though. They just put on a show because they know they have the mic on. Would be cool if the mic up umpires and coaches though. Would be cool to hear those arguments and the rule explanations live. Players, meh, that doesn't provide much.

[stalton]

How quickly do Mic'd NFL players get broadcasted. It feels like whenever we hear some quips, its after production got hands on it and synced it up with video feed and what not. I would think something like that might draw some interest.

[AKCheesehead]

I would settle for hearing the sounds of the game and the stadium. No announcers. I'd pay extra for the option of just hearing the game and the stadium. Probably even moreso for football.

[pitchleague]

I would settle for hearing the sounds of the game and the stadium. No announcers. I'd pay extra for the option of just hearing the game and the stadium. Probably even moreso for football.

 

If you're on a surround sound system, this is easy to accomplish. All you need to do is make sure your receiver is set to a 5.1 array (many programs and sports are broadcast in Dolby 5.1) and then simply unplug the center speaker--I usually just pull the wires, temporarily of course, from the back of that speaker. Voila! Instant surround sound of the stadium sounds only. (Note: Sometimes the subwoofer will make slight reverberations from the PBP guy or color guy, depending on how their sound has been mixed by their audio engineer.) It's pretty great, especially for football.

 

If you're NOT on a surround sound system, well, then I don't have an answer for you.

 

I still remember back when I was a kid that CBS (I believe) experimented with a game using no announcers and just the stadium audio. My wife remembers this, too. We both believe it was the Houston Oilers playing somebody. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Announcerless_game

 

Heh, I found the link AFTER I typed up the above paragraph. But after reading the wiki article, yeah, I remember all of that.

[TURBO]

For me personally, I have no interest in listening to players mic'ed up.

 

If I knew they were 100% not making comments for show, then it might be interesting, but there is no way that you strap a mic to these guys, and they don't ham it up.

 

Some would love this concept, I'd pass...

[Ennder]

For me personally, I have no interest in listening to players mic'ed up.

 

If I knew they were 100% not making comments for show, then it might be interesting, but there is no way that you strap a mic to these guys, and they don't ham it up.

 

Some would love this concept, I'd pass...

 

You may be right here but what I've seen so far is the players being legit in their responses. It is a concern for sure but it hasn't been a reality yet.