Official: Roch to MASN

by SC on Jul 30, 2008 2:38 PM EDT

We all knew it, but here's the official, bona fide, certified word from MASN:

Roch Kubatko Joins MASN
Brings popular blog “Roch Around the Clock” to MASNsports.com Friday, August 1

(BALTIMORE, M.D.) – MASN, the local leader in live sports entertainment, has announced that longtime Baltimore sports journalist and personality Roch Kubatko has joined the network as an on-air personality and blogger, bringing his successful Roch Around the Clock blog to MASNsports.com. Roch’s first blog for MASN will appear on Friday, August 1 at www.masnsports.com.

As part of MASN’s All Star talent team, Kubatko will continue to blog about the Orioles and the Ravens. MASNsports.com also plans to feature live chats, online call-in shows, and video blogs featuring Kubatko in the future.

In addition to his presence online, Kubatko will appear on O’s Xtra and Ravens Xtra, the Orioles Hot Stove Show and the Anita Marks show. During baseball season, Kubatko will also co-host selected pre and post game shows for the Orioles Radio network, WHFS.

In twenty-one years with the Baltimore Sun, Kubatko became one of the region’s most talented sportswriters, having won the 2004 Maryland Sports Writer of the Year award from the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association. During his tenure at the Sun he covered nearly every major sporting event in North America, including the NBA, the NFL, NCAA lacrosse, boxing, the World Series, the CFL Grey Cup and the MLB All-Star games. This is his twelfth season covering the Orioles.

In November 2005, Kubatko began writing Roch Around the Clock, a blog which quickly became a central internet destination for sports fans in Baltimore and nationally. Attracting more than 100,000 page views every week, Kubatko’s blog rapidly became the most highly trafficked blog at the Baltimore Sun and was often the most visited sports blog within the Tribune Company of newspapers.

With player and talent blogs, up to the minute video clips, two beat writers, series previews and game statistics, MASNsports.com provides maximum access to the Orioles twenty four hours a day.

So that's that! Works for me. Roch's alleged jokes annoy the crap out of me, but he means well and does a good job covering the O's. I like that he cares.

I don't know about the Sun's coverage sans Roch, y'all. They were passable at best with him. Now what do we have? Zrebiec?

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Ov vey.

Are you trying to get a job with MASN, SC? You know this guy sucks. Quit frontin’!

As for Zrebiec, he is head and shoulders above Roch in terms of his coverage of the team. His reporting is more insightful and more accurate and he has much better understanding of the game than his ex-colleague.

Anyhow, I think YOU SC should try to take Roch’s place at The Sun. I’m not fucking kidding. You’d do a MUCH better job and you have a readership built in on a blog where you cut your teeth. I’ll even write you an email of recommendation where I’ll BCC you and promise to say nothing but nice shit. Promise.

by Jonny Pops on Jul 30, 2008 3:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Uhhhhh....

...nevermind. Looks like Peter Schmuck took the job already.

by Jonny Pops on Jul 30, 2008 3:16 PM EDT up 0 recs

Uh, JP? A second, please?

It is my belief that you are confusing quality for quantity. While I certainly appreciate Jeff Z’s articles at The Sun for the writing clarity, he has NOT proven himself to be a timely source of information. When it came to Adam Loeween’s injuries, roster moves, and developments on the farm system, our source, for quite some time, has been Roch’s blog.

Now, I hated Roch’s God-awful puns as much as the next person. BUT – I didn’t have to wait two days to read The Sun’s agate page to know when a reliever was sent down or the status of a player waiting to go onto or come off of the DL.

This may very well have to do with the assignments given each staff member. But if The Sun is now asking me to depend on the blog stylings of PETER SCHMUCK for my DL updates and roster moves, let’s just say I’m wishing they had kept Roch. He may not offer Jeff’s quality, but I don’t have to wait until the next morning (or the day after) to know the results of Adam Loewen’s latest MRI or the latest changes in the pitching rotation. And I really couldn’t care less about teh Red Lobster at the O’s spring training site.

Roch offered quantity and timeliness, two qualities I believe The Sun will now be sorely lacking.

"I wasn't here for the losing years. But it feels a little like the days with Earl in charge and John Lowenstein smashing birthday cakes in the middle of the clubhouse with a bat." - John "T-Bone" Shelby

by duck on Jul 30, 2008 4:36 PM EDT up 0 recs

I'm not a big Roch fan

But I do think he’s a fine beat reporter.

"Yesterday I was lying, today I am telling the truth." -- Bob Arum

Camden Chat
Bad Left Hook

by SC on Jul 31, 2008 10:46 AM EDT up 0 recs

i will not work for sun under any circumstances

please stop calling.
thank you.

Yes, I should say that, which, I should say that.

by thewaywardO on Jul 30, 2008 4:33 PM EDT 0 recs

I would have

I WISHED they had been calling me around 1992…..I might still be a reporter.

by duck on Jul 30, 2008 4:37 PM EDT up 0 recs

i am a reporter!

however, i like to not report in sports.

i don’t like watching sausage being made.

Yes, I should say that, which, I should say that.

by thewaywardO on Jul 30, 2008 5:31 PM EDT up 0 recs

So what's your beat?

I did county government for almost a year, and those 5 hour city council meetings about extending a water main 500 feet drove me into teaching…

/No lie. Crisfield, MD, 1992. 6:00-11:00 p.m. on a Monday.

by duck on Jul 30, 2008 8:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

i write about legal stuff ... lawsuits, patents, crime, policy, etc.

Yes, I should say that, which, I should say that.

by thewaywardO on Jul 31, 2008 10:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

Whatever floats your boat

That’s the kind of stuff that drove me to teaching, but then again, my wife likes being a CPA, so different things appeal to different people.

by duck on Jul 31, 2008 10:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

random reporters

A good friend of mine covers the Rangers AAA affiliate here in OKC and another covers LSU basketball. so if you guys are ever curious about the Redhawks or Tiger basketball I may have an inside scoop. Oh, another covered Texas Tech women’s basketball which actually sounded like the harder of the three to deal with. He’s out now though.

Always trust your cape. -Guy Clark

by BPinOK on Jul 30, 2008 10:24 PM EDT 0 recs