Missing Dibble

During the baseball season, there is one place to catch a Nats game if you're not at the Park, and that's on MASN, or its affiliate network MASN2. (According to Mac, this is one of the things he is thankful for, but I digress.) If you're committed to watching it on TV, you're stuck with MASN.

Starting in 2009, MASN signed an interesting guy to be Bob Carpenter's partner on the Nationals TV broadcasts: Rob Dibble. I have to admit, I loved it from the beginning. To me, the two were a great duo. Carpenter was the soft-spoken voice of logic and reason; Dibble was the loud-mouth, cocky former player. They're both clearly homers. As offensive and in-your-face as Dibble can be, he truly cared about the success of the Nationals and its players. What's more, I think the few weeks where fans had to listen to Ray Knight toward the end of the 2010 season showed just what the viewers lost when Dibble was fired from MASN.

You have to admit, there were some interesting events toward the end of the year, namely the Nyjer Morgan vs. Chris Volstad fight, where many people were left saying, "Man, I wonder what Dibble would be saying right now?" I was one of them. That's what made him great. People tuned in just because of the hype: "What will Dibble say next?"

I know many of you that read this blog, and many other Nats bloggers, take a very different tone than I do on Dibs. I was one who found Dibble charming in his lack of tact and blatant cheering for the Nats. Maybe that's because I'm the same way, a no-tact Nats fan. Let's be honest, when it's as quiet as it was on a weekday at the Park, someone had to get excited.

Rob Dibble undoubtedly said things that were offensive during his tenure, and dramatic steps needed to be taken to rectify them. A suspension was not out of line for his comments about the women behind home plate. An on-air apology to Stephen Strasburg after telling him to "suck it up" would have been warranted. But to be canned for that? I understand that it was a snowballing situation that finally reached its limits with the Strasburg comments, but it seems like there were many just looking for an excuse to can Dibs at that point.

We don't yet know who Bob Carpenter's partner will be to start the 2011 season on MASN. One thing I do know: They'll have one heck of a time getting a guy that was as passionate about the success of the Nationals and that knows as much about pitching as Rob Dibble. I'm going to keep listening to MLB Network Radio every morning on the way to work to get my Dibble fix.

Rob Dibble vs Ray Knight: The Saga Continues

Many of you know my thoughts on Rob Dibble and Ray Knight. For those tha don't, in summary, typically I really dislike Ray and like Rob for his antics and ability to just say what's on his mind. Because, well, its pretty hard to watch Nats games sometimes. Even as much as I love the sport and watching the home team. You need to get some weird comments from time to time.

However, it's become increasingly apparent that they both have the maturity of a 16 year old. It started this year with the on air fight between them after a Nats game. It developed into a pissing contest with who was more valuable to his team when their (insert team here) won the World Series. Both want to be and feel important. Fact of the matter is, Rob Dibble had a few good years in a short career as a crazy person. Ray Knight is known for one hit in the 1986 World Series. I'm oversimplifying, but you get the point.

But as much as I tend to favor Dibble, because I appreciate his offensive style and his willingness to call out the Nats poor play despite being a complete homer. Ray Knight is soft and almost never has insightful comments. He mostly says Joe Morgan comments like "This kid has... uhm... potential." Really? You think that may be why he's playing Major League Baseball?

But the immaturity of Dibble reached a fever pitch, and he was obviously asked to take a few days to cool off. And Ray Knight stood in. Meanwhile, Dibble still has a radio show to continue spouting his anger and frustration about Strasburg, pitchers, Ray Knight, women, or whatever was making him angry that day.

I'm not sure what Dibble's contract looks like with MASN, or for that matter who would actually want to replace him to be the color guy for the Nationals, but Dibble seems to be grasping at straws to keep his job/take out the remainder of his anger on those that have wronged him. Those two don't really work together.

But the situation continues to get uglier with Rob, from his sexist comments to his inability to let any situation go. I am one who believes that Dibble's comments about Strasburg ("Suck it up") were blown entirely out of proportion, even though I do think the Nats should shut him down for the year, but Dibble is using MASN and XM to call out people and be petty, and it's time for that to stop, or for him to go. And it's time for Ray to go to, but mostly just because he's a really, really bad commentator.

Final Comments On Dibble

(Photo courtesy Dan Steinberg/DC Sports Bog)

Since I was out of town for Rob Dibble's infamous comments about the women talking behind home plate, I thought I would join the masses and add a few comments of my own, considering there will be no Bryce Harper news until 11:59:59:59 pm this evening.

I am one of those who enjoys Rob Dibble on the broadcasts. Yes, he's a homer. Yes, he's abrasive. Yes, he can be offensive. But I like those things about him. He brings a hometown voice to the broadcasts, despite the fact that he has no ties to the organization, and he certainly can't be any worse than Ray Knight.

That said, Dibble's comments were out of line. He absolutely wouldn't have made the same comments about two men behind home plate at the game. He would automatically assume that the men were talking about baseball. That automatically makes his comments sexist. There are many, many women who watch, write, photograph, and care passionately about the Nats and baseball (see: Cheryl Nichols at Nats News Network and Jenn and Rachel over at Nationals Fangirls just to name a select few).

One must remember while watching Dibble, though, that this is the exact reason that MASN/the Nats give him a pay check. He has the ability to get people talking about the Nats, even if it's not about the on-field product. Let's be honest, the only time the Nats get 5 seconds on a national network is when Strasburg is involved, although Harper may make that 10 seconds soon enough.

While Rob Dibble's comments were out of line and his apologies were less than stellar, I'm not convinced that he truly thinks that women don't care about baseball, or that all they care about is shoes/shopping. His comments were an inappropriate result of an off-handed comment during a boring part of a game with boring/irrelevant teams going head to head.

Perhaps some people find themselves calling for Dibble's head because they don't like his style on the air and this was an excuse to get him out for good. Maybe people were truly this outraged to be talking about the incident days later. One thing is for sure, Dibble apologized and it's time to move on.