Although I am a loyal follower and rabid Orioles fan, I will watch the Washington Nationals when they're on television or when the Orioles aren't playing. They're not a very good club, but I won't even pick on the team. No, today I am picking on their color analyst from MASN Rob Dibble. The "Nasty Boy" himself.
Dibble joined the Nationals broadcast team starting in 2009, and has been leaving his mark ever since. For a guy who never played for the Montreal Expos or Washington Nationals, he is one of the biggest homers I've ever listened to on television. The guy constantly defends the team or berates other teams or umpires during broadcasts. When his partner Bob Carpenter (don't even get me started on him) asked him if he'd ever heard of an athlete with a thyroid condition in reference to Jose Reyes, Dibble said something to the effect of "if he goes to Canada for blood running." Basically, he accused Reyes of using PED's on a baseball broadcast. Are you kidding me? That's so unprofessional I can't even comprehend how he mentioned that.
Dibble is also famous for berating umpires and making excuses for his pitchers by blaming the umpires. "We" as he refers to the Nationals like he, too, plays for them, never get any calls. He'll explain that a pitch is a strike, then the MASN camera will show the strike box with the ball clearly outside of it by a few inches, and Dibble will still ask how the call wasn't made. Yet, when the teams are reversed he'll completely defend it. The guy is so totally in the tank for the team, but he has never even played for them. This isn't Jim Palmer with the Orioles or Keith Hernandez with the Mets. This is Rob Dibble with the Washington Nationals.
Dibble actually clapped on the broadcast and said, "Yes!!!" during a triple by Willy Taveras. Really? Clapping? Cheering? Game five of a 162 game season during the second inning. He must think they only get a triple once or twice a season. Okay, they get about ten per year, but that's beside the point. Dibble's "That'a boy!" and "Take it and Like it!" chants during games are so unprofessional it leads me to conclude that he must think he needs to be the biggest homer in the game to keep his job. Maybe the Lerners (Nats owners) and Stan Kasten are telling him he needs to spin a beautiful tale to a horrific product on the team. I find it to be embarrassing that Dibble does this because it's completely, and utterly unprofessional.
Dibble needs to understand that he is a journalist now. He's not a player or fan. He needs to be objective because that's his job. When you become irrational, how does anybody know when things are going well? Making excuses for a team, cheering, and berating the other team sounds very fourth grade. He also sounds like a parent. Is he? Maybe, but not of a guy on the team. Come on, Dibs, you were a very good closer in your day; but it's time to put on the suit and become the objective journalist you have chosen to become.
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