Hey, Nats Fans: Think the MASN announcing team was too stodgy? Looking for someone more IN YOUR FACE!!!!? Then you're in luck!
MASN -- the rarely watched creation of Peter Angelos which broadcasts Nats games to a small cadre of dedicated fans -- has replaced all-class Hall of FamerDon Sutton with Rob Dibble. Out goes the old guy perm. In comes a rockin' goatee. And ATTITUDE! Lots of attitude -- 2 the Xtreme.
If you're sick of that old pitcher dude methodically breaking down the one-on-one battle between batter and pitcher, and are longing for buzz and high-energy shoutings from someone who knows what it's like to play a man's game, then you win!
If you thought that the Nats were missing their full compliment of former Reds with the firing of batting coach Lenny Harris, then you win! (This one's at least got a World Series ring.)
And if you're looking for erudite discussions of foreign policy, you're a big winner, too.
The word most used to describe Dibble's style is "outspoken." It's a style he doesn't plan on changing, as he said in a conference call Tuesday night. He continued, "I won't rip on a guy because he's making $20 million." (That's unlikely to be a problem here.)
He said he's never going to hold back his opinion on a player, which could make for an interesting dynamic if the losses mount again this season. He's already on the record with at least one of the Nats' stars. When asked about how Tampa Bay improved so much last season, he told the NY Post, "The guys that they got rid of, like Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes, didn't play the right kind of baseball."
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Time will tell how well it'll work, but with a three-year contract, awful or sensational, he'll slow the revolving door that's been the Nats broadcast booth.
