The reported suspension of Baltimore Orioles television play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown for what is being perceived as a relatively innocuous remark continued through Tuesday. During the Orioles’ matchup against the Houston Astros, the crowd at Oriole Park at Camden Yards erupted into a chant of “Free Kevin Brown,” expressing their displeasure at what team owner John Angelos and management has seemingly facilitated.
While Brown is supposed to return to the broadcast booth on Friday, media members around the major leagues are taking note of the team’s apparent suppression of commentary portraying them in a negative light. In his case though, Brown was simply using the Orioles’ recent struggles at Tropicana Field to make the point that the team was improving, citing statistics obtained by the team’s public relations department and placed in the game notes. Nonetheless, Angelos and the team deemed it was adverse to be highlighted on the broadcast and punished him for simply doing his job.
“You have to be so thin-skinned as an owner where you’re going, ‘Wait, he’s saying that we used to be bad,’” Dan Patrick said on Tuesday’s edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, The Dan Patrick Show. “Yeah, you did. That makes it even more special what you’re doing this year – instead of, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re harping on how bad we are.’ No, you’re good this year.”
Show executive producer Paul Pabst chimed in the conversation and expressed how the program reached out to the Orioles for comment, which the team decided not to return. Patrick “Seton” O’Connor believes the suspension for what he said is hard to believe superficially, instead surmising that the ordeal could probe deeper.
“The only reason is there has to be more to the story than just those comments,” O’Connell said. “I was even listening to it being like, ‘Well, maybe it’s a little heavy-handed. Do we have to point out all of the different times?’”
Patrick, however, did not feel the comment was made to denigrate the team, instead viewing it as providing the proper context to viewers of the game. He also mentioned how since the statement was made during the broadcast’s open, there were many other people involved in its approval and interpolation into the dialogue. MASN even created a graphic that was placed on the screen outlining what was being discussed, evidence of producers and directors signing off on the script. Even so, his temporary removal from the television broadcasts accentuates a larger issue related to the latitude broadcasters and other media members have when working for a team.
“You’ve got to be a broadcaster who at least is able to be a broadcaster – not a puppet,” Patrick articulated. “You’ve got to have somebody who’s going to be able to say what he feels or what he thinks, understanding what the parameters are [and] being professional; being the local broadcaster [and] being paid by the team that you might be critical of. You build that up; you build up some house credit there where now, your voice means something more.”
Todd Fritz, the show’s other executive producer, wonders whether or not he was pulled aside or warned before the suspension. Patrick agreed that the conventional protocol would have been to tell Brown he was straying towards a negative depiction of the team and to refine his approach.
Shortly thereafter, Pabst wondered if Brown could sue the Orioles for defamation of character, as Brown is a young broadcaster with assignments at ESPN and additional endeavors. If Brown decided to file a lawsuit, Pabst affirms that the team could not fire him during his time – evidenced by Sage Steele’s ongoing free speech lawsuit against ESPN and The Walt Disney Company. Front Office Sports reported that the incident has elevated Brown’s profile to where he will likely receive more coveted assignments from the “Worldwide Leader,” and broadcasters around the league conveyed his talent and seem to unanimously be in his corner regarding this incident.
“If I’m an owner of another team, do I want somebody who has filed a lawsuit against ownership because of what was said?,” Patrick replied. “I’d be nervous about that.”
