Taking a break from his tired F.F. Proctor’s Pleasure Palace act…Baggypants Moskowitz speaks!
The most frequent complaint is his anticipating of plays, often wrongly. There even is a blog dedicated to him under the banner, “It is high, it is far, it is . . . caught.’‘
Valid criticism? “Yes, very much so,’’ Sterling said. Yet he made no apologies.
“I always want to be ahead,’’ he said. “When I did the Islanders [in the 1970s], if you hear any tapes, I said, ‘Nystrom shoots, goal! Islander goal!’ And I’d hit ‘goal’ before the crowd went nuts.
“So I do try to be out in front. I’ll tell you how I learned that: From Phil Rizzuto. He was always out in front, especially when he began.’’ (Rizzuto as a broadcasting role model? Holy cow!)
“There are people who broadcast play-by-play who do it behind, so they’re never wrong,’’ Sterling said. “If that’s a knock, that I try to be ahead of the play, well, maybe it’s like ‘A-bomb from A-Rod.’ I can find a hundred people who hate it, then I can find a thousand people who like it.’‘
At times, though, Sterling misjudges so spectacularly that it appears he is having trouble seeing the ball. Is his eyesight an issue? “No, no,’’ he said.
...So how long does he plan to do this?
“The rest of my life,’’ he said. “I guess I have great stamina, energy and a very good immune system, my wife tells me. And I love what I do.’‘
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1. Weekly Journalist_ Posted: August 14, 2009 at 03:17 PM (#3292332)"The rest of my life,''
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The old time Nats broadcaster Arch McDonald had an even more sublime signature call:
"Here it comes...AND THERE IT GOES!!!!....Foul, over the screen...."
Is this true? Are there people who actually love him? Other than "Susan Mullen," whose existence as anything other than a Jack Keefe-esque BTF alter ego I doubt highly, I've never heard anyone express genuine affection for or admiration of Sterling. "Well, he's the announcer of my favorite team and he's been around a long time, so I find him amusing in the same fashion as a crazy but ultimately harmless uncle" is about the highest praise I've ever seen.
well, you might put me in that camp: I have a soft spot for Sterling because, growing up in western Massachusetts, the radio broadcasts were vital to me. In fairness, once you get past the cheesy catchphrase calls and almost self-parodying basso profundo, he's a fine broadcaster. He clearly understands that dead air is dead air, and you need to keep a dialogue (or monologue) going to fill the gaps in the game action. He was at his best when Michael Kay was his booth partner, since they kept up the conversation very well (probably because Kay is the only man on earth who comes close to Sterling in voice self-love). I mean, he's not Vin Scully, but there are worse broadcasters.
Rizzuto would be a fine role model for his anecdotes, folksy charm, etc. He was, IMHO, a great broadcaster, when paired with a good play-by-play guy and straight-man like Bill White, and was beloved by Yankee fans.
But his greatness had absolutely nothing to do with his play-by-play "skills". Actually his lack of skills were paradoxically part of his greatness.
I listened to a bunch of Yankee games in those days and they did seem to mesh well. But since they broke up, I don't carte for either.
But all in all, "crazy but harmless uncle" tends to be my stance on him. In a two-person booth where the other person was good at play-by-play, and they shared the game, he'd be perfectly fine. Announcing 1-9 himself, with a mostly clueless analyst, he's a bit much.
Waldman's worse. How do you let that voice on radio?
Here's an even better thought: A Red Sox fan trapped in the Yankee Stadium bleachers, being forced to listen to an endless loop of "Game over!! Yankees win!!! THHHUUUUUUUHHH YankeesWin!!!!" in one ear, and Sinatra's New York, New York in the other.
She has a face for radio and a voice for sitting at home watching in her living room like the rest of us.
What's the difference between Yankee haters and fans from rival teams? You like Sterling because Jays fans don't like him?
sterling is a jackass. but he's no more of a jackass than the other announcers. i honestly don't know why it's so hard to find an announcer who can do what vin scully does, but apparently it is difficult in the extreme. i just watch games with the mute button on anyway.
He's also a cancer who brings his partner down to his level:
-His first partner was Jay Johnstone. Has Johnstone worked in baseball since?
-His second partner was Michael Kay, a perfectly adequate sportswriter before joining with Sterling. He was horrible with Sterling. Now he has his own radio show and is perfectly adequate again.
-His third partner was Charley Steiner, who was great on ESPN pre-Sterling, and has been great post-Sterling on XM 175 and doing Dodger games. But he was bad when he was with Sterling.
-His current partner is Susan Waldman, who was really good years ago as a correspondent on WFAN. Now she's just a joke.
At least on XM I'm only forced to listen to Sterling half the time.
I heard Michael Kay do the play-by-play for Sunday night's Red Sox/Yankees game for ESPN Radio, and he was fantastic. He filled the dead time with details on the field, the way you would hope a broadcaster would. He described the uniforms, the batting stances, facial expressions, postures, everything you could want to visualize what was going on.
I'm a Red Sox fan, but count me as one who basically *enjoys* that Sterling uses that particular call because it strikes me as so mind-blowingly stupid to draw out the word "the" that way.
I mean, if it was "Yankees Win! The Neeeeew Yoooork YANKEES WIN!!" it would make some sense.
He's really not too bad at calling the action, if you ignore the fact that he uses the same phrases over and over again, but I can see how his open rooting for the White Sox can get on one's nerves, particularly if you're not a White Sox fan.
The thing that bugs me the most about Ken Harrelson is how much time he spends griping about the umpiring. Every time a close call goes against the White Sox, we hear about it for the next two innings at least. Steve Stone has sort of reined him in a bit on this, though, by pointing out when the umpire is right and Harrelson wrong.
Harrelson will occasionally pull out a good anecdote, like the other night when he talked about how Ted Williams used to bug Wade Boggs about trying to hit for more power. Williams apparently hated that Boggs would content himself with singles the other way, rather than using Williams's "take-and-rake" approach.
That's the funny thing about Kay: he might be better suited for radio because it allows him to go over all that minutae, which I think he really likes. When he was doing the regular broadcasts with Sterling, once every game he would describe the uniforms in great detail. I always got a kick when when he went over the Yankees uniform for the umpteenth time and always ended with "no name on the back, of course."
The home run call almost always tells you where it's hit. "Swung on, and THERE IT GOES TO DEEP LEFT! It is high! It is far! It is... gone! An A-Bomb from A-Rod!"
Annoying, yes. But you know where the ball was hit.
Did the cap have the interlocking N and Y?
That's actually a pretty neat story, but it'd be even neater if Sterling didn't do it after every single win and saved it for special occasions (or at least had an intern or something -- a paint mixer? -- actually shake him so it sounded more natural).
That's nice, but the gimmick is still stupid and annoying.
I can't stomach announcers who think it's about them instead of the game.
Also one of Kay's pet peeves is when fans wear a home shirt with a name on the back. He just rails on it.
That and mustard.
That's a nice story, and I suppose it's as good a story as any. Too bad Paul Harvey or Bill Stern aren't alive to pass it on.
IIRC, the reference was to an "interlocking NY" without the "and", but it is possible this small detail is no longer burned into my memory.
I'm a Red Sox fan, but count me as one who basically *enjoys* that Sterling uses that particular call because it strikes me as so mind-blowingly stupid to draw out the word "the" that way.
I mean, if it was "Yankees Win! The Neeeeew Yoooork YANKEES WIN!!" it would make some sense.
What Joey said (#31). "Neeeeew Yooooork" might be about the Yankees. "Thuuuuuuuuhhhh" is Sterling the opera singer warbling "me, me, meeeee."
Why? How does this enrich the broadcast for the fan listening on the radio?
I also liked when after Scott Downs had like 20 saves for the Jays they were discussing how they didn't know who the Jays closer was, but they guessed it was Accardo. I mean, this is not computer stuff, this is media guide stuff.
I love when they play the Mets and I can listen to their radio (and tv) guys.
I also liked when after Scott Downs had like 20 saves for the Jays they were discussing how they didn't know who the Jays closer was, but they guessed it was Accardo. I mean, this is not computer stuff, this is media guide stuff.
Combining a celebration of ignorance with a myopic stupor. Quite impressive.
Natives getting restless now
Mutiny in the air
What's hilarious about this is that all one would need to do is sit down for an hour sifting through b-r and something like Baseball Prospectus (or whatever) to have a working knowledge of which players of note are in the system. But these alleged experts on all things Yankees can't even be bothered do that.
An hour? Try five minutes.
And as you say, it's one thing for a Yankees' fan to be blissfully ignorant about who's on their AAA team, and/or who's the closer for a division rival. Fans have no accountability to anything except their own enjoyment.
But these people are paid to describe and discuss the Yankees. This isn't their hobby, it's their job.
Just amazing.
Sterling..."Suzyn, you know how I feel about stats...open the window and throw them all in the East River."
Waldman..."Ummm"
Sterling..."Here's The Captain, Derek Jeter...with 14 HR's on the season. Isn't that AMAZING, Suzyn? I mean just AMAZING"
Waldman..."Ummmmmmmm"
Suzyn, you're absolutely right, that's what makes baseball great.
Combining a celebration of ignorance with a myopic stupor. Quite impressive.
Sounds like those people who parade around with signs demanding "Keep the Government out of my Medicare."
I had no idea who was batting.
Fair enough. But even now he's still leading the team in saves by almost 100% after 2 DL stints!
And Suzyn had one about a foul ball back into the booth where she explained, "I always know when it's time to go under the table."
In these economic times, I appreciate the humorous moments, I guess..
"And an easy fly out to right field ... is gone! ... Foul!"
On TV you could easily see it had been caught by the right fielder in shallow RF.
That's baseball.
I enjoy walking around the city yelling "RUTH" and "MANTLE" and "BERRA" at these types. People probably think I'm crazy, but it makes me happy.
I am a very bad person.
Yesterday I turned the radio on and it took more than 5 or 6 minutes to get a score from these bozos, and that came only when the score changed.
Why would I want to listen to somebody I hate? There are plenty of media options out there nowadays. It's not like I'm going to show up at work tomorrow and be unprepared for water-cooler conversation because I didn't hear Jim Rome's opinion on Chad Ocho Cinco or the Victor Martinez trade or the objectified pole-vaulting teenage girl controversy.
Let's see...something about Joe Frazier, for Frasor? Or for Downs, being smothered in a down pillow? Down syndrome? No, that would set the wrong tone. Or..."The Yankees are Down for the count! Scott Downs for the count, that is."
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