I watched the Phillies/Rockies series (hubby is a big Phillies fan). Maybe, I'm looking for a little "Charles Barkley" type atmosphere, but I agree the studio hosts did not have a whole lot of chemistry. Cal was ok, not great.

Look at the markets of the teams involved. LA (2 teams), Boston, NY, Philadephia along with a passionate fan-base in St Louis. (Plus smaller market Denver and Minneapolis)

That, and a not having weekday games in the afternoon is the increase in past seasons. It also helped TBS that the usual top cable network, USA, had very little going on in new programming.

As for Ripken, he did a nice job for someone not in front of the camera on a normal basis.

Z., it does appear that pro baseball and football (including college games) T.V. viewing numbers do rise exponentially as the national unemployment picture becomes gloomier and gloomier. (Basically, the essence of your "working hypothesis.)

Many folks struggling to get back into the workforce seem to gravitate to viewing pro sports, movies, and T.V. in general, as vicarious escapes from the drudgery and angst generated by their search for gainful employment, and dealing w/ ever-dwindling finances.

On a decidedly downer note, I would be curious as to how much the national domestic violence thresh-hold has been pushed, of late, in homes where families have been stretched to their fiscal and emotional limits, and savings-accounts and nerves are frayed to the max.

It's been a sad reality that incidents have been reported in the media of husbands, or boyfriends (thankfully a minority) having physically, or emotionally abused their spouses, or girlfriends, respectively, while, or after, watching the Super Bowl, or other adrenaline/ testosterone-charged telecasted sporting events, usually w/ alcohol consumption, or betting thrown into the mix. With the dire economic numbers putting a strain on folks out there, I think peoples' emotional boiling points may have dropped appreciably. Purely speculating here.

Hopefully most stressed-out families find mutual comfort, excitement and pure escape-value in sharing the drama, competition, and spectacle of watching televised sports. For most American households, I imagine T.V. sports viewing would be a positive outlet, and diversion, in times of economic hurt.

As far as perennial American League All-Star, Oriole "Ironman", Cal Ripken Jr., I haven't caught him in his latest on-air gig, as part of TBS's studio broadcast team, but plan to do so in coming weeks.

Proven excellence on the professional playing field doesn't necessarily translate to the broadcast booth. But I would think Ripken would be an excellent T.V. reporter/ analyst, as I've heard (and seen) interviews w/ him going back some years now, and I seem to recall that he was, in the main, well-spoken, articulate, witty and naturally, extremely baseball-savvy. He projected a strong T.V. presence; kind of a telegenic gentle giant at 6' 4" and 225lbs. in his glory years. (As a big, strapping guy, Ripken kind of changed the long-held perception and belief that a big-league shortstop had to be short in stature, extra quick, and scrappy to play that key position. His stellar play at 'short' kind of opened the door for the likes of Alex Rodriguez and his ilk to excel at short-stop, as a big, rangy, but still very athletic players. Of course, after roughly a decade excelling at 'short', Ripken played out his illustrious career at third-base, a life-long Oriole.)

I'm sure his legions of loyal fans from Baltimore, and across the country are just tickled to see their man Cal in the T.V. broadcast studio, commentating and opining on this year's exciting playoff action.

Rarely, if ever, have I heard a discouraging, disparaging or harsh word reported by the media, directed toward the all-time Ironman of pro baseball. Ripken undoubtedly played hurt, or in pain during many of those games in his unmatched consecutive game streak, but his true grit and abiding team loyalty trumped everything---- a baseball icon on and off the diamond, and hopefully a budding, and future presence in sports' broadcasting.

We wish him well.

Go rip it, Rip!

ALEX

The last game I watched was the Dodgers and the Cardinals. I would like to watch the Dodgers play again in the Nationals.

I like Cal Ripen. I caught an interview in YouTube. He seems to be particularly interested in sending the baseball message out to young people. He wants to make it an international game.

I am a bit surprised by the numbers. I simply cannot watch MLB playoffs at all given the inequities that favour the large market teams. Once St. Louis and the Twins fell...lights out for me. I never WILL watch even the Orioles play the Red Sox or the Yanks or Dodgers on principle. MLB is broken..fix it with a real salary cap and fix the draft so the best do not end with the Yankees.

Hi Z!

Interesting comments...I thought Boomer Wells did quite well, and I am a life long Yankee hater, believe me. Cal, on the other hand, just seemed to need more practice. He looked like he didn't have the natural, "at home" feeling just shooting the breeze like the others in front of the live audience.

Also, when the games were so quickly decided, what is there to say? The Red Sox collapse was so total...bang! That series over with, and then the Dodgers, again,,,over!

Just remember,,,pitchers and catchers report in a little less than 4 months. This is what keeps me going every year!

Yes, and we have some pitchers and one promising catcher -- so hope springs eternal. Still, I hope to get caught up in at least one of the playoff series yet -- maybe Yankees-Angels if they don't freeze or drown in NYC. But you are right about the R$ed Sox series...bang! Z