Sad day for me. JD has always been a favorite of mine and even though I hadn't heard every single broadcast team in the league, I have a hard time believing there could be anybody better. As I said in the other thread about this, I just don't get the timing. There has always been talk that he had turned down national jobs to stay with the Astros, so why leave for another local job? I read that his daughter is a law student at Illinois, but it's not like Chicago and Urbana-Champaign are five minutes from each other. Maybe he's bored with being in the same role with the same team for so long. Maybe CSN and the team wanted to start over with a new color guy and pushed him out. Maybe the Cubs threw a ton of money at him. We'll likely never know, but in any event, I'm surprised that he ended up leaving.
Looking for a new color commentator. I know someone available for the home games. Clubbing Baby Seals applies better to baseball anyway
This sucks out loud. I can't even begin to imagine how horrible the Astros games will be without him.
Translation: "I care more about being involved with the Cubs, a team I never played for than the Astros. Further I prefer the city of Chicago more than Houston. Last I prefer Wrigley Field to MMP. Really the association with the Astros for a quarter of a century is not that special." - Jim Deshaies
This sucks more than the Astros going to the AL. He made bad baseball tolerable. Good for him, he's one of the best in the country. Man I feel I don't even know this team.
This is really terrible news. I don't think the average fan realizes how much more enjoyable it is following a team when they've got great announcers. I mean it's a 162 games. And Brownie and JD were some of the BEST in the business. If you don't believe me, try tuning into another team's broadcast. Common thoughts that come to mind with hearing other announcing teams: boring, braggadocios, overly schmaltzy, annoying, full-of-themselves, too talkative, etc. Brownie and JD has some of the best chemistry I've ever heard. Brownie would play it straight with play-by-play and could rip off stats with the best of them but also knew when to shut up and let JD go. Most announcers don't work well because they're always trying to talk over one another. You could tell there was an amazing level of respect with these two guys. Neither was afraid to let the spotlight shine on the other. Brownie and JD could riff about the most random tangents yet they somehow may it interesting and entertaining. Reading between the lines, I think the blame solely rest on Jim Crane's shoulder. I had heard that he wanted to rid himself of anything that was tied to the McLain years (new league, new jersey, new manager, etc) but I never thought he'd be such and idiot to do this. The first sign there was something fishy is when Bill Brown said he was unsure of his plans for next year. Whaaat? Listen to this quote from Brown: "“I’m just going to be really open to whatever happens. It’s difficult to know what plans are. Until somebody expresses interest, there’s nothing I can do. I need about a month to think, and I think that by that time, things will crystallize a little bit. I’ll be fine with whatever happens.” http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2...5th-birthday-contemplates-2013-uncertainties/ When I had heard JD interviewed for the Cubs job, I was surprised. Not because he wasn't qualified, but because he has stated again and again his love for the Astros origination. So why would someone interview with another club when he loves it in Houston? Cause it clearly seems that no one in the front office really wanted him (or Brown) to come back!! Are you serious?!? I know a ton of fans that said the only reason they could stomach watching the Astros the last few years is because of Brownie and JD. And to thank them for this, the Astros front office basically say, thanks for your work, don't call us, we'll call you. I will always support the Astros and love baseball, but this decision to let JD go is flat out idiotic.
Bill Brown is the best play by play man I have ever heard in baseball. I like him the best at least. Deshaies was ok in my opinion. I liked Dierker better.
I love JD because he went to LeMoyne, the closest college to me growing up and he make it to the bigs. I recall him throwing one of the shutouts leading up to the Mike Scott No Hitter to clinch the division. And I recall him striking out the first 8 batters to start a game. Generally a pretty good pitcher for the Stros when we were making some noise.
jd and brownie have been a staple of astros baseball television for so long.. but oh well, the world keeps turning, the games are still played, i care more about the product on the field than the tv crew. let jd enjoy the old stench of wrigley field, the dated concessions, 100 plus years of losing tradition, and those chicago winters..
You are flat out wrong, the Astros did not "let" JD leave, he wanted to leave. This has nothing to do with the Astros owner and everything to do with JD preferring the Cubs and Chicago.
The Astros had not bothered to renew his contract so I think it is very fair to say that the team let him leave.
I have posted here before concerning immediate family members working for the Astros. JD was coming back as far as the Astros are concerned, he choose to move on because he believed the Cubs were a better opportunity. I suppose on paper he is right, I will just point out that as someone living in Chicago, the media will not be as nice, and while the fans are more diehard, they will not have any problem ripping JD like they did Brenly and Chip.
JD will be missed. I still will enjoy hearing him on the WGN broadcasts... and who cares about the Cubs now that we're no longer in the NL. That being said, I wouldn't mind getting a three-man booth of Dierker-Bagwell-Brown. Bags impressed me in his stints he had as a color guy for saturday games two years ago.
This really bums me out. I can see the appeal of the Cubs gig, it's the best job in the biz and a stepping stone to ESPN or Fox.
I don't know about stepping stone... considering that there never has been an announcer that went from WGN to ESPN/FOX. I consider WGN to be a national gig. A lot of people around the nation follow the Cubs. He'll get just as much exposure as they show more games nationally than just the "game of the week" games on fox/espn.
