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Mushnick hits another home run

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by casty33, May 18, 2009.

  1. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I agree. Sterling is brutal. When Michael Kay was still in the mix and they switched him to TV and Sterling to radio in the early 2000s, I thought it was a huge mistake. I know TV gets priority and Kay is better than Sterling, but you could hide Sterling better on TV because you could at least see what was going on. And Kay's problem is that he overexplains every detail, which actually works better on radio than on TV. So they naturally each belonged on the medium they weren't doing -- if you were going to insist on keeping them.

    The flip side is that Kay doesn't have an announcer's voice, and there is just something about him -- even when his descriptions are good -- that doesn't work for me (and unlike a lot of people on here, I like him personally). Nowadays, they have this weird rotation of announcers on YES! that includes Ken Singleton (who I like a lot, too) doing a lot of the play by play. They rotate David Cone, Paul O'Neill, John Flaherty and Al Leiter as color analysts, and they all sound like the same boring person to me. It's pretty bad when they stick two of them in the booth with whomever is doing play by play. Just too many people talking over each other. I have the game on right now and it is just Singleton and Cone and Cone was just talking about the white clam pizza at some place in New Haven. Somehow it wasn't very Rizzutoesque.
     
  2. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I don't think too many Yankee fans like Sterling. I'm embarrassed when I here a clip of him on ESPN -- An A-Bomb for A-Rod -- or somewhere else.

    My dad was just complaining about him the other day. Said he had to turn the game off.

    When I moved to Tampa, I was psyched because most of the Yankees' games were carried on local radio. I had been out of NYC for five years and looked forward to listening to the games, but I soon grew tired of Sterling. He's just so annoying. And as Mushnick writes, he doesn't describe what's actually happening on the field.
     
  3. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    The most important trait for a Yankee radio announcer is a belief in the infallibility of the team. Waldman is bad and Stirling is worse. You learn nothing from them.
     
  4. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Rizzuto was the best. Rizzuto teamed with White and Messer (alternating innings between TV and radio) will forever be my favorite announcing team.

    Does anyone remember the year Mantle did a bunch of games on SportsChannel? I enjoyed him as well.

    I recently ordered the MLB extra innings package. I find Cone to be pretty good.

    Friday night was pretty funny. Both Cone and O'Neill were doing the game with Kay. Tino Martinez stopped by the booth for an inning and the three former teammates told some funny stories.

    But then after Gardener hit the inside the park HR and it came out that a girl in the hospital had asked him to hit one, well, it sounded just like the Seinfeld episode -- starring Paul O'Neill.
     
  5. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    What are you talking about - Sterling never did Yankee TV games.
     
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I'm guessing that he meant to say, "when they switched Kay instead of Sterling."

    I don't believe Sterling ever did Yankee TV either.
     
  7. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    This seems pretty clear that he thought Sterling was on TV:

    "Sterling is brutal. When Michael Kay was still in the mix and they switched him to TV and Sterling to radio in the early 2000s, I thought it was a huge mistake. I know TV gets priority and Kay is better than Sterling, but you could hide Sterling better on TV because you could at least see what was going on."
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    And YankeeFan is actually wrong about "hiding" Sterling on TV because the viewer CAN see what's going on and Sterling's problem is he can not see clearly anymore.
    The only way he'd be effective on TV would be to shut up for nine innings because he'd be calling home runs on balls viewers could see were being caught on the warning track.
     
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I just screwed it up, when I typed it. Kay and Sterling were partners on the radio--probably for about 10 years. And then sometime in the early 2000s, they moved Kay to TV. I remember thinking at the time they should have kept Kay and his "paid by the word" play by play on the radio and stick Sterling on TV, where you could at least see what was going on.
     
  10. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I said it, not YankeesFan. I don't think Sterling would be any less annoying on TV. His voice drives me nuts. But at least you can see the action on TV. It's why Rizzuto could go three innings talking about his golf game and cannolis while guys were circling the bases like a merry-go-round, and it was actually kind of cool. Sterling wouldn't be fun like Rizzuto was, but on TV, I often just watch and mentally drown out the guys talking. I just watched tonight's game and was zoned out to the announcers for most of it.
     
  11. Herbert Anchovy

    Herbert Anchovy Active Member

    Singleton is very good, daresay soothing. Al Leiter did some work earlier this season and was good as well. Kay is crap -- can't stand his voice, his humor or his shallow understanding of what's happening around him.
     
  12. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    Good word for him. Dignified would be another. Listening to him is like sitting in the stands and talking baseball with a knowledgeable, easygoing friend.

    As for Sterling, baseball writers make their share of mistakes and have more time to get it right. I'm just not going to hold broadcast people to a very high standard or let their personalities/pratfalls ruin my enjoyment of a baseball game. You'll pretty much rupture something by the third inning if you do, no matter who's calling the play-by-play.
     
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