Friday, July 18, 2008

(4) Comments

Mets Announcers

osh41

Mets Police mentioned how mind numbingly bad the Reds announcers were last night. Made me think of how lucky we are as Met fans to have high quality announcers on TV and radio.

TV
Gary Cohen was probably one of the best radio play by play guys in the business before he moved to TV for SNY. Is a total pro, gets fired up when both teams make great plays yet can absolutely hammer the Mets when they eff up even though we know he wants them to win every night. PLUS - he went over a live mic on air and ripped Victor Zambrano a few years back. He only apologized for saying something over the air that wasn't meant to be heard - he didn't apologize to Zambrano. Zambrano sucked, we all knew it and Gary voiced what we all wanted to hear. Here's a transcript http://miraclemets.net/?p=172

And he absoultely nuked Roberto Alomar when he was traded calling him a disgrace. Go Gary go.

Darling and Hernandez - do a good job breaking the pitching and hitting down. They know what they are talking about and tell you what is happening without being condescending (see McCarver). Plus the 2 of them absolutely regret having to wear cheeseball Mets road and home uniforms from the 1980's. They have both gone on air with their gripes about the 1987 script 'New York' disaster. Don't know what their position is on the black hats and trim but the both of them seem to be tradition minded so they should be blue supporters.

Radio

Howie Rose is great - a face made for radio if there ever was one but Howie is a worthy successor to Bob Murphy. He hates when the Mets lose, will rip them if they deserve it and HATES the Yankees. Plus the guy has the Mets history book memorized. If a 1978 Bruce Boisclair reference is needed Howie is the man to deliver it.

Wayne Hagin - new guy, is growing on me. Little bit folksy, little bit wordy but he knows the game. He has to be from somewhere in the midwest. He sounds like a genuinely polite and nice person and loves his job, it carries over on the air. Did a little google on him, he followed Jack Buck in St. Louis (no win situation) and was replaced by John Rooney who is no slouch - no shame in that. His primary work has been with the Rockies - he put Todd Helton and steroids in a sentence together and caught some heat for that and had to apologize but it probably was true so I can't fault him for that.

Eddie Coleman - Eddie - the man. Pre and post game shows plus subs in for the guys when they take some time off. I think Eddie must have ticked off someone in Mets management because he didn't get the radio job for the 2 most recent openings (Tom McCarthy and Hagin). If anyone could be a bit bitter it's Eddie but he doesn't bring that on the air. Plus he also hates the Yankees as he is from New England which rocks.

To sum up - Mets fans have a good thing going. There is no contest comparing the Mets crew with the crap the Yanks throw out there each night. Sterling and Kay are an embarassment and are all about putting themselves above the broadcast. YES analysts are ok.

'The Giambino', and 'A-Bomb for A-Rod', 'Cano don't you know', etc. are painful to hear and no fun to even type. It's so forced, so contrived.

And Susan??? Woman is a pioneer in the business and has taken a lot of crap but I don't think she brings that much to the broadcast. Let her do some PBP - being an alayst for 9 innings per night has to be tough. Let Sterling sit there and break some stuff down.

Entirely too long of a post so MOSFU if you don't like it. Mets Police needs guest writers.
4 Responses to "Mets Announcers"
Anonymous said :
July 18, 2008 at 10:47 PM
Still miss Murph. His voice was golden and is the reason I became a fan of listening to the games. Still would rather listen on WFAN than watch most of the time. Still need to have the walkman when @ Shea for a game!
Anonymous said :
July 19, 2008 at 2:23 PM
Living outside of NY, I only get to listen to WFAN on mlb.com and, for the most part, I'm happy with their play by play.

On a side note. It aggravates me when an announcer discusses other sports, politics, or anything that has nothing to do with the game at hand. A few months ago while visiting LA, I got to watch/listen to Vin Scully announce a game between the Mets and Dodgers. Scully kept things simple and articulate, only discussing the game at hand and his thoughts on the players in the game. He is the gold standard for announcers.
god googler said :
July 20, 2008 at 10:36 AM
Accurate about the Met announcers.

Scully is still my favorite.

Other out of towners I've liked:

Tom Cheek in Toronto was awesome before he died.

Jon Miller on radio is great with the SF Giants.

On the CBS Game of the Week, Jim Hunter is always solid. Never gets flustered and just does his job without all that flash.

Sterling is an ass.

I don't mind Michael Key for some reason although that Center Stage show he does on YES is unwatchable.

Suzyn Waldman is not a play by play person and she knows it. So they let her be the analyst to cover her weakness. She's not any good at that either. What Suzyn is good at is "covering" a team. When she covered the locker room there was nobody better and she got all kinds of stories that other writers and broadcasters didn't get. She made a slew of contacts who trusted her. To top it all off she received millions of sexist commments from people about her work--on how she probably slept with Steinbrenner or a player. Also she'd get the anti-semitism comments too. Tough woman that she is, she fought through it all and gained a lot of people's respect. I love her and she was a great mentor to me when I was in the radio business. At the same time--she should go back to covering the team. Perhaps YES should let her do the pre and post?
SS said :
July 22, 2008 at 9:26 PM
Scully is the best.

Don't judge Jon Miller by ESPN. He's great on the radio.

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