Canadian Club Has Fans Intoxicated

Why did Otis Nixon bunt? With two out and two on in the bottom of the 11th, and the World Series on the line, is this where the manager takes a holiday and leaves it up to the hitter?

Or is this were all the analysts and sportscasters simply “go off the clock” in some domino effect of stupidity that dictates that if the most burning questions aren’t asked at the time, they can never be asked thereafter?

In a sport where they analyze everything, how and why did sportscasters leave the most important at-bat of the season unsullied by comment, opinion or insight.

I think Tim McCarver did a great job of analysis up until then, when it was finally needed. Which is like saying CBS did a great job broadcasting “Jeopardy!” last season, until it came to the final clue to the final question in the Tournament of Champions, when they went to a commercial and missed it entirely.

Maybe this sloppiness is part of some new kind of journalistic shorthand, but all it does for me is mark the passage into a vacuum where Red Barber once stood.

JACK BENJAMIN

Venice