THE OPENING LINE

By Mike Trask (contact)

Monday, Aug. 6, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

A couple of stories have been written recently about the greatness of Vin Scully, the legendary Dodgers announcer famous for his smooth voice and literary references.

Scully is 80.

The guys who wrote those gushing stories aren't much younger.

They grew up in an era of transistor radios and listening to ballgames while they fell asleep.

Fifty-seven years later Scully's talking people to sleep for all the wrong reasons. Or at least making them turn the channel. It's sad listening to an old man talking to himself, telling stories about the old days.

Russell Martin, who may prove to be the best catcher of the decade, is at bat and Scully's in the booth pondering the legacy of Carl Furillo or whoever. It's not charming and it's not nostalgic. It's just plain boring.

Scully has called some of the game's great historic moments: the Dodgers winning the 1955 World Series, then falling victim to Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956; Sandy Koufax's perfect game and the scoreless streaks pitched by Don Drysdale and Orel Hershiser; Hank Aaron's 715th homer and Kirk Gibson's limping trip around the bases in the '88 Series.

Wonderful. Now it's time to sign off. This is not 1950 Brooklyn and The Boys of Summer. The game has changed and broadcasting has changed.

There are the negatives to this: Fox Network graphics. And positives: giving the announcer someone to talk to for three hours.

Juan Pierre is one the best base stealers of this generation. Yet when he's stealing bases, Scully's often trying to recreate a scene from "King Lear" while invoking the ghost of should-be Hall of Famer Gil Hodges.

The literary references are great. But if I wanted to ponder Socrates or the iambic pentameter of a John Donne sonnet, I'd switch off FSN Prime Ticket.

Thankfully, Scully is signed only through 2008. He'll get $3 million again next year to tug on the heartstrings of Baby Boomers. Meanwhile, men in suits will wonder why young people are tuning out.

Alas, there is one guy worse during a baseball broadcast than Vin Scully: Chris Berman.

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