Joe Buck's Message If Any Fans Are Upset Over His Enjoyment For Calling Cubs' World Series Win? 'Grow Up'
(CBS) Fox broadcaster Joe Buck understands, as well as anyone in the business, the criticism that comes with his position. You can't please everyone -- or sometimes anyone, it seems -- when you're the lead national play-by-play man for the biggest NFL and MLB games of the season. That's especially true in baseball, where diehard fans become accustomed to their local play-by-play voice for the vast majority of a 162-game regular season, only to find a less familiar figure in the booth for the playoffs.
It's with that in mind that Buck reflected during an interview on 670 The Score on Friday on the feedback he's received in the past several months after calling the Cubs' history World Series win, which he's called a highlight of his career. A native of St. Louis and the son of the late and legendary Cardinals broadcaster Jack Buck, Buck figures there are some fans upset with his approach, tone and general enthusiasm for calling such a historic moment. Certainly, the subtext of that could involve a few Cardinals fans.
And Buck has a message for anyone thinking like that.
"They're going to have to grow up, if that somehow offends them and their sensibilities," Buck said on the Spiegel and Parkins Show. "I think anybody who understands the importance of what the Cubs mean and the Cubs winning to where baseball fits in 2016 and going into next year understands it was a big deal and understands the historical significance of it. I mean, that's what was so incredible. I got to do the Red Sox winning in '04, but they'd been there in '86, and they'd been there in '75 and '67. As we all know by now, the Cubs hadn't. And that's what made it so awesome to be at Wrigley Field and sit in that seat and call those games.
"And then on top of it, when you get a seven-game World Series, that's unreal. When you get 10 innings in Game 7, it's almost unheard of. It worked out perfectly for what turned out to be a huge audience on TV."
Buck also had a theory on where the issue lies.
"Nobody can listen without prejudice, yet I'm the one who's charged with it," Buck said. "It may be on the part of the fans. I'm just throwing that out there, but maybe the blame lies somewhere else."
Listen to Buck's full interview with Spiegel and Parkins below. He also talks about conference championship weekend in the NFL.