A Grip on Sports: Peacock struts its stuff with M’s broadcast but it misses almost as often as the plate umpire
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Being an old fuddy-duddy means you have to use terms like “fuddy-duddy.” It’s in the contract. But it also means you get to shake your fist at that one cloud in the sky and everyone understands. It also means you immediately question anything new – or new-ish.
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• Which brings us to Sunday’s Mariners game. Did you watch?
Well, if you didn’t, we did. For you. As sort of an experiment. An experiment gone wrong, like Frankenstein’s attempt to make a friend, or however Pete Carroll decides on his challenges.
We tried to like the Peacock broadcast of the M’s 7-6 victory in Houston. Really. But we have to report we couldn’t. Why not?
Where to start. The broadcast team was what it was, meaning Dave Sims, Ryan Rowland-Smith and some guy representing the Astros. That was fine, though Sims isn’t our first choice of M’s play-by-play voices. And watching didn’t cost us a cent, if you don’t factor in the ungodly amount of money we pay Comcast for our cable and Internet and, because we are of Social Security age, our landline.
Everything else? Well, how’s this. We have two TV we use to watch sports, especially on a Sunday when there is always more than one big event on. One TV is in the kitchen/dinner table area. That’s where our experiment began yesterday, waiting for the pregame to start after saying “mariners on peacock” into our Comcast voice remote.
That was fine. Getting to the game was no harder than finding it on Root on any other day. But after that it all fell apart.
We stayed in the kitchen for a while, cleaning up after breakfast and watching as Julio Rodriguez continued to sizzle, leading off with a double. The M’s scored twice. And then the half-inning ended. We were pleasantly surprised. No commercials. Just a screen with a message the event would be back soon.
Cool. We left the TV on – Kim was in the dining room, working on a puzzle and wanted to listen – and went downstairs to the big screen. Got the game on. Watched the Astros flail against Emerson Hancock. And was surprised. Commercials. We walked up stairs. No commercials. What the heck? Two different types of cable boxes, maybe? Whatever. Except we noticed the kitchen TV came back to the game a few seconds earlier than the one downstairs. And that gap grew all game long, reaching almost a minute by the time we turned the big screen to golf.
Why did we turn? Why watch when, thanks to the ESPN app on our phone, we knew what had happened? And if the last pitch was a real ball or strike.
That was another gripe. Peacock’s broadcast, on time or not, didn’t consistently have the overlayed strike-zone box that is a requirement in today’s TV world. It almost seemed like a coverup, as home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater was having an awful day – something it didn’t take a white rectangle to discern. But an opinion supported by it whenever it popped in.
At least Peacock’s delay allowed us to voice our frustrations before the folks downstairs saw what had happened. Often. We’re sure that didn’t get annoying for them.
There were other, less bothersome foibles with Peacock’s production, as every broadcast has some small annoyances. However, there is a work-around when the event is on cable. If you are frustrated by Root’s homerism, say, and want to cleanse the palate, a quick punch of the “last” button and, boom, you can watch Viktor Hovland sink another birdie putt. Or Sports Center. Or, heck, a movie on FX. But not with streaming.
It’s the technology’s most-glaring weakness. It’s time-consuming to get in-and-out. We understand the people who run the service want you to stay. To watch their commercials – if you don’t pay extra for the ad-free service. But flying around the channels is an American tradition dating back to before the Civil War. Or something like that. And it’s being lost.
Now we understand why all those Pac-12 CEOs didn’t want to go with Apple+. They wanted the preserve their ability to change to Guy’s Grocery Games when their football team was down three touchdowns in the first quarter. Though, if Apple+ adopts Peacock’s groundbreaking game-delay technology, they might have been able to annoy everyone in their stadium’s presidential suite.
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WSU: A couple weeks. Less, actually. But then the Cougars will be playing football. Who will start for them against Colorado State? Greg Wood puts together an offensive two-deep today for you to argue about. … Nakia Watson has been on the sidelines much of preseason camp. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be a key part of the Washington State attack. Again. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, want depth charts? Here is one for Oregon. … Colorado is dealing with injuries among its tight ends. … The defense is coming along for Arizona. … In basketball news, all-in-all, Arizona enjoyed its Middle East trip and got out of it what it wanted.
Idaho: Like a fine wine or an expensive scotch, the Vandals’ Nick Romano has aged well. Though that doesn’t mean the veteran running back hasn’t had his ups-and-downs during his time in Moscow. Colton Clark has this story as Romano asserts himself again this preseason. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Ed Lamb is ready to lead Northern Colorado. … Weber State is ready to move on to the regular season.
Indians: The ugly (and unhealthy) air caused Spokane and Tri-City to miss their final two games of the season against each other. Dave Nichols explains why Sunday’s games were called off and what it means for the rest of the season.
Mariners: Despite the issues with Peacock, after the M’s had hit three times yesterday, all was right with their world. Up 6-0. Emerson Hancock rolling. And then – poof. Hancock had to leave with a sore shoulder. (And can we say, oh crud?) And Tayler Saucedo didn’t get an out. It was 6-5 in a blink – though downstairs in our house M’s still led by three runs. When the day ended, Seattle had held on for a 7-6 victory, they pulled within a half-game of Houston in the American League West (and three of leading Texas), and solidified their hold on a postseason berth.
Seahawks: Drew Lock says he’s OK. And he left Saturday’s game as a precaution. … Lumen Field is still a jewel. … There is going to be a battle for the cornerback spots.
Storm: No season sweep for the host Lynx. Not on Jewell Loyd’s watch.
Sounders: Coming out of a little break, Seattle was primed to start anew. And never could get the engine to turn over, losing 2-0 to Atlanta at Lumen Field.
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• If you have questions about streaming, we found a lot of answers by using our Consumer Reports subscription and doing a deep dive into the services. We have the Hulu-ESPN-Disney bundle. Paramount+. Apple+. Amazon Prime (but that’s more for the shipping these days). And get Peacock, Max and Showtime as an add-on to our cable subscription. If we ever figure out a dependable, decently priced way to improve our Internet access, we may move on from cable and go even more in depth with streaming. Especially if anyone would bundle what we want. And, yes, that’s a joke. A bad one. Until later …