The baseball season is coming to an end, which means the end of one of the more bizarre aspects of Dominican life. I don’t really understand baseball, as it seems far to simplistic – there is really only one type of pitch and one type of batting action – the pitcher throws the ball as hard as possible, and the batsman tries to hit it as hard as possible. It lacks the nuances and tactical variation of football, cricket and even tiddlywinks, yet somehow the Dominicans remain rabid about it. Like with cockfighting, the other Dominican obsession, it is always far more entertaining to watch the crowd than to watch the action.
However, there is an altogether more interesting part to baseball, and that is the dialogue in the commentary. With its runs and pitches, it is a sport that naturally lends itself to statistical analysis, and like Test Match Special, the pauses in the action are punctuated by chat about statistical analysis. Although TMS compliments this with talk of cake and buses, Dominican baseball coverage punctuates this with advertising.
I don’t know if there is some sort of financial crisis in the Dominican broadcasting sector (there probably is, as everything else here is in financial crisis), but they seem determined to cram in as much advertising as possible. Not content with billboards, sponsorship and adverts in the breaks in play, as is present in every other sport, the advertising permeates the commentary, as the TV announcers are paid to read out commercial messages as they describe the action. What makes this even more bizarre is firstly the variety of messages, as household products are endorsed in the same sentence as presidential candidates, but also the way that the commentators don’t draw breath between describing the action and describing the new, improved variety of ketchup.
A section of play might be go as such:
“Well Jose, here comes Fernandez up to the plate in the 4th innings. Buy Rica milk, for quality and value. He has a good average against the Tigers, of 0.324. The all new 2007 model
“Yes, that’s right. Remember, don’t drink and drive, it’s not just your life you are playing with. Of course, his career average is 0.267, although this season he has been batting at nearer 0.3. Vote Danilo 2007, a better life for everybody.”
“And here comes the pitch. Oh, and it is a strike. Ask for new formula whiten toothpaste from your local corner shop. He was miles from hitting that.”
“Presidente beer, ask for your cold one. He hit that great home run in the 2nd innings, he just needs to get that kind of rhythm going. Miguel Vargas, a president for everyone. The interesting thing is that 64% of his runs come in the first 4 innings, so he starts well and fades. Tropicala paint, brighten up your life”
And so on, advert nauseum
Can’t see that on Match of the Day for quite some time.
1 comment:
Now now, my husband would string you up for saying there's only one kind of pitch! There's the fast ball, change up, breaking ball, blah blah blah. Really, what's sad is that most boys in the public school system here only learn statistics by watching and keeping track of baseball.
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