Listening to games on the radio

I sorta remember when I first really started to follow the Yankees, probably in the summer after 7th grade. I had gotten home from a month long trip to Thailand, and I had missed baseball so much. I had followed scores in the international newspapers when I could get one, but obviously it wasn't the same. I had been collecting baseball cards all the year before, so I knew a lot of the opposing players and stats and stuff, making it more interesting.

I loved to watch games on the TV, but not having cable, I only got to see the Yanks when they were on either NBC or Ch.11. I loved listening to Scooter and Bill White, then Bobby Murcer talk about the game, and the hilarious antics of Scooter. Discovering Yankee games on the radio when I couldn't watch was like a gift from heaven. It was weird at first, not being able to see the plays, but having to imagine them from the descriptions given by the commentators. I have to be honest and say I couldn't tell you who were the announcers at the time, but I really started to get even more into the games with the broadcast team of John Sterling and Michael Kay. I thought Sterling at the time was just great, descriptive in his telling of the game. And in the 7th inning, Michael Kay would do an inning or 2 of the play-by-play, and every game would have his trademark description of the uniforms of the Yankees. Midnight blue, interlocking NY, "no name, of course." I could never get enough of it.

I didn't cable until I went to to college, and was able to watch Yankee games my senior year in Binghamton. It was weird to me to watch games, with different announcers than I was used to though. I was always relieved when I came home and could listen on the radio like I was used to. Even with the TV on, I would just put it on mute, and turn on the radio. It would be off by a few seconds, but it was worth it to listen to my 2 favorite announcers. Anything is better than listening to Tim McCarver blather on about rubbish, who fortuantely only lasted 2 years with the Yanks. One of the main reasons I hated the Mets as a kid was because I would listen to McCarver talk and just get annoyed.

When Michael Kay went to YES, I suffered through that year of Charley Steiner. I loved Charley on ESPN, but his talents there did not translate to the broadcast booth. The innumerable gaffs and the awkwardness between Sterling and Steiner made me listen to the TV more, and I really got to appreciate Ken Singleton and Jim Kaat (who should be in the HOF). I was very excited when they decided to bring Suzyn Waldman on, since I was a big fan of her radio work with the FAN for the Knicks and Yanks. I even took the time to write a letter to her about how much I enjoyed her work, while countless Yankee fans were signing petitions online and clamoring for her firing.

But the radio broadcasts have really gotten worse and worse as each year passes. As the Yankees have won less and less, the cynicism in the radio broadcasts has gotten to become unbearable. I just turned off the Yankee game for the second day in a row, just because I couldn't listen to it anymore. Sterling has pretty much just gotten out of control, taking over with just brute force. Poor Suzyn can barely get in a word in edgewise, and when she does, unfortuanately she often just adds on to the nonsense Sterling is spouting on at the moment. Most people who are listening on the radio know how bad a play is when it happens. It really doesn't need to be rehashed 50 times over and over. And the miscalls just happen way too much to be acceptable. "It is high, it is far, it is , um, caught." Would it kill Sterling to just shut up for 5 seconds so that Suzyn can actually add some intelligent commentary or facts to the broadcast? And the worst is the "Yankees Win!"call. He used to do it only for really great games or playoff stuff, which was cool. But every game? Really not necessary. I have actually been falling asleep during Yankee radio broadcasts for a lot of this year, which never used to happen.

Some suggestions for Mr. Sterling:

1. Tone it down a little. The bombastic crap is just annoying now.
2. You do have someone else in the booth with you. Would it kill you to let her call an inning or two? Or at least even talk?
3. I don't want a homer calling the games I listen to, but I also don't need the announcer cheering every great play the other team makes, and then making a snide comment about how the Yanks never do it. I clap when there is a great play regardless of the team too. But there is that thing called overkill...
4. Would it hurt to call what the pitch is every once in a while? I know the booths are a little far up, but you do have monitors right in there.
5. To sorta echo the last thought, would it hurt to call the GAME once in a while? I sometimes feel that the game is almost an afterthought, in between the musings of Sterling and Broadway show tunes.
6. Listen to a few of your old broadcasts, when you were GOOD.
7. Save the "Yankees Win!"thing for when it's a great game. The insincerity when you do it after every win is so evident nowadays.

For Suzyn, I would say don't let John bully you around in the booth, since that's what it really seems like now. You know better than anyone else how hard you worked to get to where you are today, and to let your announcing time be basically being a "Yes-person"to John is beneath you.

I shouldn't have to say "When John Sterling was a good announcer" and it saddens me to see what was a cherished time in my life become what it has today. I'd like to be able to listen to the Yanks on the radio and not have to wonder what inning I'll have to turn it off, or shout "shut up"after getting so fed up with the broadcast.

One last thought: last Yankee game is an ESPN game, so Joe Morgan and Jon Miller may be doing the last call ever at the Stadium. I can deal with Miller, but Morgan? You gotta be kidding. Here's an article about it:

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/BLS-poll-Who-should-have-the-final-call-at-Yank?urn=mlb,98890&poll_id=38013&wv=1#poll.38013

Comments are always appreciated. Seeya.