Bring back Mario Impemba and Rod Allen!!!
Those words have been uttered by quite a few people since Impemba and Allen were replaced by Matt Shepard, Jack Morris, and Kirk Gibson in the Detroit Tigers broadcast booth following an alleged booth altercation which may or may not have involved an argument over a chair.
Well, Shepard, Morris, and Gibson have not exactly brought any excitement to the booth and according to a recent poll conducted by The Athletic, the Tigers rank dead-last in Major League Baseball when it comes to broadcast teams.
From The Athletic:
30. Detroit Tigers
The broadcast: Fox Sports Detroit: Matt Shepard (play-by-play), Jack Morris and Kirk Gibson (analysts)
The results: The 2019 season was the first with a new crew in the Tigers’ TV booth after the team blew out Mario Impemba and Rod Allen following their 2018 dust-up. And let’s just say the patience level with the new booth is non-existent. “In a town that’s been graced by legends in broadcasting history … it’s embarrassing,” one reader wrote. The Tigers got sub-3.00 marks in play-by-play and color, the lone team to do so. Shepard, a longtime basketball play-by-play guy for the University of Michigan, certainly bears the brunt of fans’ complaints: “He seems like a nice guy but is corny as hell.” Having Tigers’ icons Morris and Gibson in the booth hasn’t helped: “They are far too focused on nostalgia, and they need exciting personalities who can tell pertinent stories about the team. Not former players who wax poetically about their accomplishments.” Still, some see hopes for improvement heading into Year 2? “The new team is getting better,” one reader wrote.
In case you were wondering, the No. 1 ranking goes to the New York Mets.
Nation, what do you think about the Tigers’ current broadcast team? Should they be ranked dead-last?
