You Say Nay to Kay

The response to the Michael Kay poll and post was overwhelming. Nothing close to Gallup or Harris, but 434 respondents was awesome.

By nearly a 2:1 margin you said, give Michael Kay the heave-ho. Only 10% of you were happy with the lead YESman, while 25% of you want him to share the play by play wealth with guys like Ken Singleton.

But a whopping 65% of you wanted to tell Michael Kay, "SEE YA", and have him "driven" from the booth.

If you truly want changes, write your congressmanthe YES Network.

YANKEES ENTERTAINMENT AND SPORTS NETWORK, LLC
The Chrysler Building
405 Lexington Avenue, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10174-3699
Phone: 646-487-3600
Fax: 646-487-3612

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YES, Bobby Murcer is Back

We were greeted with exciting news in today's Star Ledger, Bobby Murcer will be back in the YES broadcast booth tonight and this weekend, and will work out of the studio next week. Bobby was in the Stadium last night, and would have been broadcasting earlier this year if not for a health scare during spring training.

It had been a little over a year since Bobby's surgery for brain cancer, and the results of an MRI had shown the cancer might have returned. But doctors found that it was just scar tissue/residual effect of the surgery and he's doing well. He also spoke last night with Newsday's Anthony Rieber.

He joked about his current treatment regimen -- steroids. I guess I shouldn't say that," he said.

Murcer said he is "cancer-free" after a biopsy in March but added, "I had some setbacks after my biopsy and I'm still not 100 percent."

"I haven't been as strong this year as I was last year," he said. "But everything's all right. Just glad to be here."

In case you have seen it yet, MSG Plus+ is airing an interview with Bobby on their show Halls of Fame. Host Fran Healy has never been a favorite of ours (he may be one of the worst game announcers ever), but he does a good job in this half-hour segment that digs a little deeper than Bobby's boiler plate Yankeeography.

Welcome back Bobby!

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Michael Kay, Yea or Nay?

We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk over the last year. Let's quickly re-phrase that a bit. We've been hearing a lot of anti-Michael Kay talk for years, but it has gotten a lot louder the last year. We're only referring to his work as the lead Yankees broadcaster for the YES Network.

Not his work on Centerstage, which we feel he does very well, or on his radio show, which we could take or leave. There have even been "Fire Michael Kay" blogs started.

Let's review some of our own complaints about Kay as well as a lot of what we've been hearing from others. We won't even bring up his "fivehead". Oops, we just did.

Repetitiveness

Kay definitely has a penchant for repeating himself. We don't mean the kind of repeating that Tim McCarver does, where he's still dissecting a play from three innings ago. We're referring to his constant mentioning of certain things. Some examples:

The size of Kevin Mench's head; Every time the Yankees play the team Mench is on, Kay goes on about how large Mench's melon is. Okay, we get it. It's a throwback to the '70s when Frank Messer couldn't stop talking about how Carlos May had half his thumb blown off.

The repeat use of phrases, especially corny ones. "He's like the girl with the curl. He's either very good or very bad."

The "Martini Glass" defense to describe the shift when Jason Giambi comes up.

Part of this next example is obviously an issue with the YES director and production team. Every time David Cone is in the booth we don't need to see the last out of his perfect game. Kay is only partially duplicitous (we use that word here because he loves to use it) here since he just intros the clip.

Another irritating Kayism has even bothered his fellow broadcasters, though it's usually good natured. That would be Kay's use of $5 words to describe a scene that could be easily stated in a more user friendly manner. Don't get us wrong, education and expanding your vocabulary is great, but this is a baseball game not an English lit class. Some examples:

"His speech was filled with vitriol."

Act your age. We are all for immaturity, but when you're 47-years old trying to sound 20, you just sound stupid.

"Are you guys down with that?"

The corny factor.

"When we come back we'll put a bow on this one." Heck we can't even stand when he thanks us for tuning in.

Asinine gimmickry - "QuanGorMo" to describe the Yankees 7th thru 9th inning was stupid, and "Generation Trey" to lump Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Ian Kennedy together is obnoxious and loathed. What makes the latter worse is David Cone has picked it up. On the bright side, no one else has.

The obvious - Asking John Flaherty about his approach at the plate. Flaherty, except for a year or two, couldn't hit his way out of a paper bag. We don't want to know what his approach is.

The home run call - Coming up with a distinctive home run call is tough. No question about it. But "See ya" is really weak. It's also become the rallying cry for those who want Kay out of the booth. We also hate it because of the guy we played golf with one time who yelled it every time we hit a ball into the woods. We heard it a lot.

Exaggeration - You have to keep things interesting during a broadcast, but Kay overplays many plays. The grounder in the hole at shortstop is a routine play. It shouldn't sound like Brooks Robinson just dove into foul territory, got up, and threw a runner out. Kay is guilty of this all the time. Every ball hit to the outfield is "driven" even if it's a routine fly ball.

To his credit, Kay does a good job of getting the analysts involved in various discussions. But, we have a major issue with the guys in the suits who gave Kay exclusive play-by-play rights. Back in the day we enjoyed the rotation of announcers. At that point they rotated between radio and TV. What makes this worse is that the best play-by-play guy YES has is Kenny Singleton, and he only gets to have that role when Kay doesn't accompany the team to the towns he hates (i.e. Kansas City).

While he probably has a better grasp of the game than John Sterling, he too, like Sterling, seems like he spent his formative years at tap class rather than actually playing the sport. He makes pointless points, that wouldn't be agreed upon by smart baseball people. We also have an issue with Kay kissing ass on YES and then ripping the same people on his radio show (i.e. Joe Torre after his departure).

We would like to see Kay go...back to radio. We were annoyed at first by the Sterling-Kay extravaganza, but they grew on us. Since Suzyn Waldman is horrible on the radio broadcast, it would be a natural fit.

Michael Kay, SEE YA.

Now please fill out our poll and tell us what you think.

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Lets Go to the Video Tape

The YES Network has produced several spring training reports and here they are (until they tell Youtube to take them down):

Joba Chamberlain


Johnny Damon


Brian Bruney


Ian Kennedy


Phil Hughes


Shelley Duncan

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The Daily Yankeeland

Peter Abraham of the Journal News informed us that reporters will be getting a sneak peek of the new Stadium today. He will be posting some pics this afternoon and will also be trying to answer some of the questions that readers have sent him.

David Cone was introduced as a new YES Network announcer yesterday. In speaking with reporters, Cone took some of the blame for the rampant use of steroids in the game today. Cone was one of the players negotiating for the new collective bargaining agreement that was struck after the 1994 strike. The players' association rejected a proposal for P.E.D. testing.

"Certainly in retrospect, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Certainly I share some of that blame as being involved with the players' association at that time," Cone said yesterday. "It's something I'm not proud of. It's humbling. It's embarrassing."

Yesterday was the 113th anniversary of Babe Ruth's birth. He is remembered fondly by his 90-year old daughter, Ruth Stevens. She's still amazed at how her Dad is admired with such great reverance.

“I think daddy’s just one of a kind,” said Ruth Stevens, (seen between her mother Claire and her famous Dad in the photo to the left), 90, from her Arizona home. “It’s just wonderful that 60 years after he died people are so interested in learning about and remembering him. My family does the best they can to keep daddy’s name out there.”

Ruth's buried in his native Baltimore and now a local attorney is spearheading a campaign to purchase a headstone for Ruth's mother. Catherine Ruth died of tuberculosis at age 38 and was buried in an unmarked grave.

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But You Still Don't Have a Dance Coney

David Cone has made peace with the Bronx Bombers and will be joining the YES Network's broadcast of about 50 Yankees' games. King George had been annoyed by Cone's return to baseball with the Mets in 2002 (and probably his deal with the Red Sox in '01), but it's all water under the bridge.

Coney will replace Joe Girardi in the booth and David Justice as host of the kid-oriented "Yankees on Deck".

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No Justice for YES

The Yankees will be looking for a new studio analyst to join Bob Lorenz during the YES network's Yankees telecasts. David Justice is stepping down to spend more time coaching his sons and to help rebuild his southern California home that was destroyed during last year's San Diego wildfires.

“I don’t want my wife to go through the strain of the building process alone,” Justice told the NY Times in a phone interview.

While we understand his decision, we have to wonder about the timing of it. Was the decision made solely by Justice or was he asked to step down by the Yankees because of his name being mentioned in the Mitchell Report. Both Justice and the network deny that had anything to do with Justice's decision.

Eric Handler, a YES spokesman, said Justice requested that his role be cut earlier this month. “We understand his decision,” said Handler, who added that YES “had no reason to doubt” Justice’s denial of the allegations in the Mitchell report.

Justice has stated he never met Kirk Radomski, who claimed he sold Justice 2 or 3 HGH kits, but Justice did admit to having a conversation with Brian McNamee about HGH, though he never used them.


photo courtesy of the YES Network

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Stove Goes Cold for Verducci

Tom Verducci is one of the most respected and knowledgeable sportswriters in the business. He's also a friend and ally of Joe Torre, and that has made him persona non-grata in Yankeeville.

Verducci wrote scathing commentary about the Steinbrenner boys and Randy Levine after Joe Torre turned down their "disrespectful" contract offer. Word then came last week that Torre was writing his memoirs covering his "Yankee" period. And the "real" writer on the book? Yep, Tom Verducci. So Verducci, a regular panelist on the Yankees Hot Stove show on YES, was told to take a walk, and was replaced by Jon Heyman. It's been a busy week for Heyman who joined the Mike and the Mad Dog show this past week.

It's unfortunate, but we do understanding the feeling among the Yankees brass. And Heyman is good...plus he knocked Torre's take on his contract. In other words, the perfect replacement.

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Levine Comes out Firing

First we had Hank Steinbrenner stepping in front of the moving freight train in his defense of Daddy. Now Mr. Politico, Randy Levine, has come out with both one barrel firing at his critics. He does not address all criticism, only that which came from people who he feels have a conflict of interest.

First he attacked Mike and the Mad Dog, because Levine has been openly critical about spending money to air their show on YES, and they have a new negotiation coming up.

Then he attacked Tom Verducci, one of the most respected men in the business, because he once collaborated on a book with Joe Torre.

And finally, John Kruk, of all people, because he and Torre share an agent.

Levine had no problem though calling up a NY Times reporter, Richard Sandomir, whom he once did a major favor for, so he could be heard.

This is NOT getting any better.

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Programming Alert - Yankees Classic

Maybe classic isn't the right word, more like sadly memorable. On Monday, the YES Network will show the Yankees-Orioles game from August 6, 1979. 28 years from the day that the Yankees took the field after burying their Captain, Thurman Munson.

It was an incredibly emotional game to watch back then, and I'm sure will be this time too. The show will air at 9 p.m. EDT.

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YES Network for Sale

Fortune Magazine has learned that the Yankees are putting the YES Network up for sale. Have $5 billion laying around?

Here's the report from CNN

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