So, I do enjoy watching the Blue Jays on TV and I will often catch other games on Rogers SportsNet including the play-offs and of course, the World Series.
One of their “personalities” is Gregg Zaun. He is a former Major League catcher and, if I am not mistaken, before the Jays took him on, he was a back-up catcher his entire career.
Don’t get me wrong, he is a far better baseball player than I or most of the people that I have ever coached could ever be. He made the Majors. He had a long and likely profitable career as a Major League catcher – kudos on that Gregg, you did what only a few (in the grand scheme) can do.
I had no problem with Zaun when he was a player – liked him actually, thought that he did a good job for Toronto. My issues with him started when he started working for SportsNet.
I find his “insight” not very insightful, his comments are useless and he tends to be critical of players who are far better than he could EVER dream of being.
How many post seasons has he been in? Well, it would appear that he was there once, in 1997 (15 years ago) for the Florida Marlins and he had a total of 2 at bats and batted .000 – not bad at all. And he’s critical of current players who play in the World Series? Come on Zaun, get real.
I find him to be cocky, arrogant and ignorant. I don’t like it when he opens his mouth on-screen and for some damn reason, he gets WAY too much TV time. Perhaps some Executive at Rogers likes this guy – I suppose that’s gotta be the case.
I am VERY thankful that he isn’t a commentator for games or a colour man (do they still use that term?) because if he was, I couldn’t watch games any longer.
It’s also pretty bad that he hosts segments like “Hitting with Zaun”. Please – he’s telling us how to hit? A career .252 hitter? That means he was out 3 out of 4 times. Mediocre at best. All of his segments suck, plain and simple.
So, I have followed him on Twitter for a bit, a few weeks or a month or two, who keeps track? Last night, I replied to a few of his Tweets. I figured, with the number of people Tweeting and the fact that he is “working” a game that there is no chance that he would see them, never mind comment.
Well, low and behold, he did see them and he did comment.
Below is a list of the Tweets between him and I last evening:
- Wow, people must be lining up to have dinner with
@greggzaun. I can think of better ways to waste an evening.
@DancesWithZeus not very nice. i am trying to raise money for parkinson’s disease. why are you following me anyway@greggzaun True, very good cause. I follow you because your arrogance amazes me. I love how you critique players who are WAY better than u.@DancesWithZeus i guess i should need to be a hall of famer to have an opinion in your mind@greggzaun, I loved you when you were a Jay, something happened when you retired… You changed, and not for the better…@DancesWithZeus i didn’t change. my job did. i said all the things i say on air and on twitter to the players faces.@greggzaun Well, we can agree to disagree. I hope SportsNet wises up and sends you packing, u make watching painful.@DancesWithZeus sorry you feel that way. you’ll just have to be in pain for the next three years-
@greggzaun And, btw, I do know something about ball myself, coached minor baseball for the past 18 years. Good chatting, hate always !!! 😉
@DancesWithZeus minor what? you don’t know shit@greggzaun See, there’s the arrogance I love. I’ve forgotten more about ball than u know. U were a shit backup player and a worse analyst.@DancesWithZeus dude your a clown. if i was so arrogant i wouldn’t be on twitter allowing idiots like you into my life.
Sort of honoured that
@greggzaun blocked me. Glad I got to him, even for a minute. He claims I got personal, so did he – love it !!!
I have done my best to get the above Tweets in the correct order. I think I got it correct. I was very impressed that he actually replied to a Tweet that I sent and that I got under his skin enough that he has now blocked me on Twitter so I cannot follow him. I can still see his Tweets (I think) and I can still mention him (using @greggzaun) but really, do I care? No. UPDATE – Now, because I have been blocked, there is no longer a record of the above Tweets – that’s too bad.
Anyway, it was interesting last night for sure. A few of his fans (and I can’t imagine that there are many) came to his defense. That was sort of cool as well – for a bit there, I was being bashed on Twitter. Oh well… I didn’t dignify those comments by commenting back – I didn’t need to continue an old-school flame war.
I think I got my point out there. I don’t care if it didn’t mean anything to anyone, I did what I wanted to do. I’m happy.
In the end, Gregg Zaun will continue working for SportsNet and he’ll continue making his asinine statements and people will either love him or they will hate him.
For me, I think you know which side of that fence I am on.
Kevin's Ramblings... 