I was going to work this into the recap somehow, but I figured it's something we've been able to say so rarely that it's worth a post of its own.
Because I don't like tuning into ST games, I wasn't sure what to expect from Sims and Blowers today. I've never heard Sims before, and since I don't live in Seattle I have very limited experience with Blowers as a post-game guy, so I was basically going into the broadcast blind and hoping for the best.
And it was good. Or at least, it wasn't offensively bad, like it was with Valle, Hendu, and Rizzs. The primary complaints about the old crew (Niehaus is excluded from this entire discussion) were twofold: (1) they said a lot of stupid bullshit, and (2) they frequently had to force their enthusiasm, so they came off sounding like they didn't enjoy what they did. By comparison, today was like ten freaking breaths of fresh air. Not only was there a stunning lack of ignorance and blatant stupidity, but there was also a lot of genuine energy and excitement, particularly with Sims. Maybe it's just because he's new to the gig, but he sounded interested, honest, and energetic. While the typical cadence and textbook voice aren't there, he's neither dull nor exceedingly over-the-top. It was...it was pleasant, even with the generic former ballplayer saying a lot of the generic former ballplayer color commentary on the side.
One thing I'll give Hendu and (to a lesser degree) Valle is that they were occasionally able to share some keen insight, the sort of stuff that I don't think Blowers or Sims bring to the table, but when you look at the overall picture it's totally worth the tradeoff. In contrast to the old guys, the new team is both easy to listen to and easy to block out, so as long as you're not relying on them to make you smarter, they're more than suitable. If nothing else, at least they don't actively make you more stupid. Given a lot of today's team broadcasts, that's probably something to celebrate.
Seriously, did anything go wrong today at all? Because I don't think so.