In Defense of Rob Dibble

1,278-time Emmy Winner Jimmy "Not Jimy" Williams writes a defense of famous meathead Rob Dibble in today's (yesterday's) Examiner. That's the newspaper that's usually laying on an empty seat on a Metro car that causes you to pause, wondering if you should push it to the floor, or sit on it, eventually causing you to opt to stand for fear of what kinds of fluids some previous passenger may have deposited in its pages.

I won't give it the full FJM treatment, though it richly deserves it.

OK MASN Nationals color analyst Rob Dibble does not see eye to eye with the way the team is handling star pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Some bloggers and message board people are blaming the team or MASN for his two game absence saying that the team does not want to hear the truth.

He then proceeds to say that this couldn't possibly be the truth, since a MASN spokesman explained that it wasn't. Sure, cause a MASN spokesman wouldn't ever spin or protect the team/player/broadcast-partner/peter-angelos. Yep. Spokesmen are the most trustworthy men on earth. Their word is their bond.

Then he goes on a long anecdote about Skip Carey ... or something. I don't remember. I sorta fell asleep there for a bit. Oh, yeah. Going back. What the hell is a "message board people?"

So where is Dibble?
He is not a shy person and he would likely make a comment of some kind but he has said nothing.

Maybe he's a insecure pussy who got punched in the nose and is cowering in fear? Or maybe he'll just go on his show this morning and rip the internet some more for ruining him. Via the twit-machine, he said a bunch of stupid stuff, including that it was disgusting "to have some guy transcribe my words so he can gain fame at my expense."

So the lesson we take from that is that we shouldn't actually pay attention to what he says? He can just run his mouth, shitting out whatever verbal diarrhea spews out, and it's fine. OK, I guess.

I have many times seen talent clash with the teams executives, or network brass over the years. Most of the time people do not need to be told to sit out a game.
Perhaps Dibbs just thought he needed a couple days rest and since today is Bryce Harper day at Natstown he did not want to be a distraction.
I really feel that taking the days off was Dibbs choice and that he was not forced by anyone to do so.

I'm sure he believes all those politicians are taking time off to spend with their families too.

Perhaps he did do it completely voluntarily with absolutely no pressure from anyone else. But ascribing it to him not wanting to be a sideshow? Doesn't that assume a certain level of self-awareness from Dibble that, well, he probably lacks? I mean the dude thinks he's being persecuted by the Internet and that fat, pasty, impotent schlubs like me (or Steinberg) matter a fucking bit.

Doing baseball for a team that is not in contention is a grind and it takes its toll on broadcasters just as much as it does players. So taking a a couple of days off just to get away from the game is a good idea.

Absolutely. And spontaneous vacations can be just as fun! I know I like to just take random mid-week days in August. Wooo!

Other possibility: Dibble just didn't wanna be around Bob Carpenter's 4-game long Cardinals' woody?

I think that the Nationals broadcast crew of Bob Carpenter and Dibble are among the best local announcers in all of baseball period.

I'd agree. They're certainly among the top 30-40 pairs.

(I suspect Mr. Williams is like one of those people who, when ranking mid-90s 1B would declare that 87% of the league was above average.)

I know that this feeling is shared by the vast majority of Nationals fans however there are a small minority of malcontents who find refuge on the message boards and enjoy ripping the MASN duo.

Let's break this down. How does he know that the vast majority agree. Vast majority implies what? 80%? I'd love to see the polling numbers or focus group data he has on that. I'm sure if I don a rubber glove, apply some baby oil, have Mr. Williams bend over, and I reach far enough up his ass, I'll be able to find the survey data.

Do I enjoy ripping the MASN duo? Yep. More than I enjoy listening to 'em. But I'm not sure it's a small minority. Do a twitter search on Dibble after a random game. Ignore the lunkheads like me and Reiss, and it's probably 80/20 against, just from the random people subjected to them.

Are there people who like them? Absolutely. Are there people who like Applebee's? Absolutely. Are there people who like Asian eel porn? Absolutely.

Look I have no problem if a fan does not like Carpenter and or Dibble we certainly are not all going to like the same things but it should be done in a civil manor.

I wish I had a civil manor. Despite like $2,500 in mortgage payments a month, all I have is a 1,900 sq foot condo. :-(

A local broadcast of any sport including Major League Baseball is a three hour infomercial for the team aimed squarely at the fans.

Absolutely. Won't disagree with this.

But if the fans aren't watching. Or they're tuning out. Or they're turning the volume down. Or their announcer's pussily ripping his players at his second job in a way he wouldn't do on that TV, is it really much of an ad?

I have done well over a 1,000 live broadcasts and I know Dibble is called a homer.

Worst. Appeal. To. Authority. EVAR!

Runners up, Same Category:

I have won over 14,000 emmies and I know that George Washington is our first president.

I have bedded over 3 women and I know that Oscar Meyer makes delicious bologna.

I once ran a mile in under 14 minutes and I know that my prostate is swollen.

He is the perfect homer. He is openly happy when things go right and clearly upset when things go wrong

I've often thought that the attacks on him for being a homer are a bit unfair. Lots of people do like that approach. Where the homerism gets me is the "GET UP GET UP!" crap. And the bitching. Oh, the bitching.

Ted Leitner in San Diego calls the team he broadcasts “My Padres.” In Chicago Ron Santo openly cheers from the booth for the Cubs, and "Get up! Get up! Get outta here! Gone!"is Bob Uecker's signature call of a Brewers home run. These are just a few examples of the homers in baseball.
All of these men are local legends and long time fan favorites for doing what they are paid to do making the team they broadcast their own in a way the listener can identify with and enjoy.


Ron Santo played for about 100 seasons for the Cubs. He's been part of the organization since Tinkers fed the ball to Evers. If he's a homer, it's because he's fucking earned it.

And we're comparing him to Bob Uecker? Brewers fans don't like Ueck because he's a homer. They like him because he's kick-ass funny, and because he's been doing games since before Bud Selig sold his first used Model-T. (Did you ever see clips of Uecker on Carson? Do it. I haven't watched this one, but I'm already vouching for it.) Dibble's, at his heart, a humorless prick. These guys are beloved because they've earned it. Dibble? Blah.

Oh, and Ted Leitner? Ugh. Have you heard him? He's Ted Baxter come to life. Smarm-o-riffic.

Carpenter and Dibble’s job are to get fans to like the players on the team, to know them and most of all to want come out to Nationals Park to see them play.

It is. And is Dibble doing that job when he's telling fans that the only pitcher on the team worth caring about is a pussy for not pitching through pain like a man?

They spend 200 days a year with these players, more time then they spend with their families. You become emotionally invested in the team so if Dibble says come on “dig, dig, dig” when Ryan Zimmerman runs to first it is because he cares.

Question: Does this mean that the 100 or so other announcers who don't grunt, bleat, and rant over the play don't care? Gosh, he stomps all over the plays cause he just cares too darn much! Fiddlesticks!

Broadcasting a team that is coming off a 100 loss season and showing signs of getting better is a challenge. Some nights is a joy to do the games while other nights the announcers are just as angry and frustrated as the fans when a bone head play is made but Carpenter and Dibble are always entertaining and that is not as easy as they make it look.

Absolutely. It's a job that I could never do. Especially night after night after night. But does that mean that they're free from criticism? Are we only allowed to complain about something if we, ourselves, have done it? I can't complain about the bus driver who lurches in traffic? I can't complain about the President because I've never held office? It's a lame argument, no matter how it's used; it's typically the jock argument that people like Dibble make.

Yes, it's a hard job. But that's why they make good money. And that's why (hypothetically) they've fought off all the other competition to get one of what's a relatively few number of jobs.

And it's why singling out one particular comment in isolation isn't really a fair attack. When you talk as much as Dibble has to for his job, he's going to say stupid things. But when those stupid things keep happening, and you see patterns, then it's fair game. The grunts are a pattern. The whining about umpires (fair and unfair) are a pattern. The bone-headed women/Strasburg comments are a bit of a pattern.

And it's those patterns that make people not like Dibble.

Maybe it's a small minority of internet malcontents, as Mr. Williams (agreeing with Dibble) alleges. But it doesn't seem that way.

_____

A few seasons ago, it looked like the Nats were going to dump Bob Carpenter. After failing to lure Dan Schulman to the job, they brought back Bob Carpenter, claiming that lots of support for him influenced their decision to bring him back. A few people have asked me what they could do to let MASN know how they feel about Dibble. That one's easy. They have an email comment form here. If you like Dibble, there's your place to say you want him back. If you hope they float him out to see on a flaming pyre, there's your chance, too. If you're going the latter route, though, I'd recommend that you be more respectful than I typically am. If you're the kind of person who watches fewer games because of the announcer, or who typically has to turn down the volume because of him (thereby depriving the team's few advertisers of their full commercial sponsorship dollars) the network may want to know. Just sayin'.