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Tim Kurkjian: It Isn’t Fair To Blame Players For MLB Covid Outbreaks

“My guess is if we have another outbreak, that might be enough to say the schedule is too messed up, the integrity of the game is in question, but most important, the health and safety of all people around the game is in question.”

Ricky Keeler

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As the baseball season goes into its second full week, the presence of COVID-19 continues to make itself known. The Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies will return to the field this week after a week off of games (Phillies had 2 false positive tests). However, the St. Louis Cardinals have not played since Wednesday due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in their own organization. 

With several teams having to put their schedule on hold due to the pandemic, it has led people to believe the chances of a season being completed are falling. On Monday morning, ESPN baseball insider Tim Kurkjian was on The Jake Asman Show on SportsMap Radio and he mentioned he is not confident the season will be completed.

“The game is in turmoil and it should be given what it is up against, a pandemic like we have never seen before,” the ESPN writer said. “My guess is if we have another outbreak, that might be enough to say the schedule is too messed up, the integrity of the game is in question, but most important, the health and safety of all people around the game is in question. The commissioner does not want to make the decision, but he might not have a choice.”

On Friday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred spoke with ESPN’s Karl Ravech about what has gone in the game and Ravech got this response from Manfred: 

Some might be quick to solely blame players for their actions in causing games to not be played. However, Kurkjian said it is not fair to do that.

“We don’t know that much about this disease to say here’s what happened there. I think the bottom line is when this started, we were asking a bunch of young guys in their early 20’s to show discipline and restraint that maybe they have never shown in their whole life. That was a challenge to begin with and obviously some mistakes have been made, but to blame the players for this entirely, I’m just not sure that’s fair either.”

Over the weekend, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Lorenzo Cain and New Cain made a statement on Saturday while Cespedes did not show up to the ballpark and his agent reportedly did not tell the team until the middle of Sunday’s game.

“I think more and more players will get fearful of where this is going, but I don’t see a mass exodus,” Kurkjian told Asman.

Like many in the industry, Kurkjian, who has been covering baseball for 41 years, has had to adjust to calling games remotely while not being at the ballpark due to the pandemic. He mentioned it has been a weird season but adjustments have to be made in an unprecedented time.

“I have done games with Karl Ravech (in Connecticut), Eduardo Perez (in Florida), and I am in Maryland. It is so weird trying to call and analyze a Major League game when you are not at a Major League game. We are all flexible. We all understand this is how it works. These are extraordinary circumstances and everyone has to make an adjustment.”

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Nuggets Radio Voice: When Nikola Jokic is Done, So am I

“It doesn’t get better than that. I’m out.”

Jordan Bondurant

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The Denver Nuggets are in the midst of their first ever appearance in the NBA Finals. It was a surreal moment for many on the team’s staff in addition to the players and coaches when the team hosted the first two games of the series this weekend.

Nuggets radio play-by-play voice Jason Kosmicki has been calling games the last 14 seasons, but has been a part of the team for going on three decades.

He told the Denver Gazette he got plenty of texts in the lead-up to Game 1 at Ball Arena in Denver serving as those sort of “Pinch me” moments.

“You get a lot of that these days,” Kosmicki, who goes by Koz, said. “People appreciate the journey it’s been for our franchise. It’s been a long time. There was a point when I didn’t think we’d ever get here.”

Koz even had to help pinch his broadcast partner Scott Hastings. Typically not one to get nervous before a Nuggets game, Koz said there were definitely butterflies before the tip of Game 1 last Thursday.

“I looked at Hastings: ‘Do we change anything in the Finals?'” he said. “We didn’t. You just keep doing the same thing. It’s just another game, except I’m nervous as hell as it starts.”

Koz has never found it hard to befriend Nuggets players, even though he tried to downplay his list of contacts. He said his friendship with superstar Nikola Jokic is special, and added that he’s putting the future of his career in the young Serbian’s hands.

“When Joker’s done, I’m done. That’s it,” he said. “It doesn’t get better than that. I’m out.”

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Chase McCabe Named Director of Operations & Sports Programming at Cromwell

“Our owner, Bud Walters, opened the door for me almost 12 years ago as an intern and I’m honored to continue to be a key member of the Nashville leadership team.”

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Congratulations are in order for Chase McCabe. He is adding a new title to his already full plate at Cromwell Media in Nashville. He has been promoted to Director of Operations & Sports Programming at the company.

“I’m very fortunate to have been to be able to grow into this opportunity under one roof,” McCabe said in a press release. “Our owner, Bud Walters, opened the door for me almost 12 years ago as an intern and I’m honored to continue to be a key member of the Nashville leadership team. I am forever grateful, but none of this could have happened without the great group of people we have here at Cromwell Media.”

McCabe has spent his whole career with 102.5 The Game and its sister station, now called 94.9 The Fan. He was named Program Director and Brand Manager of the stations in January of last year. He has maintained an on-air presence as well. He hosts Chase & Michelle weekdays at 9 AM on The Game.

In his new role, Chase McCabe becomes the number two man in Cromwell’s Nashville building. Shawn Fort was recently named the cluster’s general manager.

“Chase and I have developed a great working relationship in the two and half years since I’ve joined Cromwell Media,” Fort said. “We share similar visions on how to create compelling sports programming all while driving revenue growth. I’m excited to have Chase as my right-hand man as we move forward together with this new chapter of leadership at Cromwell Media Nashville.”

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Mark Schlereth: People Outside of Denver Aren’t Paying Attention to NBA Finals

“There was not one group of people – they’re all in there together – that was paying attention to the NBA Finals.”

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The Denver Nuggets took to the National Basketball Association’s largest stage on Thursday night as they defeated the Miami Heat for the organization’s first-ever NBA Finals victory. Early reports reveal that the game had a 2.21 demographic rating between people ages 18-49, attracting a total of 7.62 million viewers on ABC. The figure is considerably lower than the audience for Game 1 between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors last year – which averaged 11.9 million figures across ABC and ESPN2. Ratings for the alternate NBA in Stephen A’s World broadcast Thursday night on ESPN2 have not yet been released by Nielsen Media Research.

Sports fans in the Denver market have felt as if the play of the Nuggets was largely being neglected by the national media throughout these playoffs. Now that the team is the last one standing in the Western Conference, there is no one else to focus on and their play is beginning to be realized by basketball fans throughout the country. It is a narrative that Denver Sports 104.3 The Fan’s Mark Schlereth and Mike Evans felt was especially obvious by watching the press conferences after the game. The duo was able to deduce as such through the questions posed to Nuggets players and head coach Michael Malone by members of the media cohort.

“The national media – it’s like, ‘Oh, wow. We’re just kind of becoming aware of how these guys play,’ and they keep asking the Nuggets about their unselfishness and how everybody is willing to share the ball,” Evans said. “Nikola Jokić [is] being asked about not taking a lot of shots, and they’re all just kind of shrugging their shoulders like, ‘Yeah, this is who we are. We’ve been doing this for a long time.’

Schlereth was curious to find out the ratings from the game last night because he watched the game from a sports bar in Chicago. He is away from Denver, Colo. to help his son’s family move there for the summer and surmises there were about 50 people in the bar with him. What he noticed was that their interest was fixated elsewhere.

“I’m the only person that was watching the Nuggets,” Schlereth said. “There was not one group of people – they’re all in there together – that was paying attention to the NBA Finals.”

“Their loss,” Evans pithily replied.

Denver ranks 19th on Nielsen Media Research’s metropolitan market size list, but the Nuggets have been a contending team for the last five seasons. Most media analysts expect diminished ratings for the NBA Finals this year because of the lack of a storied franchise, even with the Miami Heat as the team’s opponent.

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