The last thing I want to do is delve back into the craziness that went down last week in regards to Joe Buck’s comments about Baseball and Sports, but I feel it’s necessary to post his side of the story. I’m not saying I believe him or feel any different about him but it’s only fair. Here is response via the New York Times….

On Thursday, Buck said in an interview from his home in St. Louis that he was joking about his TV habits — even if neither the host nor the guest sounded amused. He was too flippant, he said. And so, a little verbal damage control.

“To me, baseball is, in some ways, other than my family and wife, my life, and it always will be,” he said.

“Let’s say I didn’t enjoy sports,” he said. “I’d have to do it for my own job’s sake. There’s only so much you can read, so watching is the best way to catch up. I watch ‘Extra Innings’ when my kids go to sleep. My viewing habits are sports first.”

Six years ago, as Joe Buck was about to become Fox’s lead football voice, he said: “I feel like a baseball guy doing football, but I’m enjoying the football more. The baseball ‘Game of the Week’ isn’t what it was. I put a lot of work into those games, but you don’t get the same payoff as you get from a great football game.”

On Thursday, he said: “I caught grief from guys at Fox because obviously, I didn’t express myself well. The challenge then was getting better at calling football.”

He said he still enjoyed baseball more for the time it gives him to express himself.

“I live for baseball,” he said. “That’s how I grew up.”

This really seems like a case of foot in mouth disease but in the end, Buck could have said at any point during his interview on ESPN Radio that, “I love Baseball, but….,” and none of this would be an issue. Just like Buck, I’m a realist and my thoughts on him and his attitude haven’t changed, but at least he recognized that he was out of line by saying what he did.

Buck Makes Waves by Channel Surfing (NY Times)