David Cone is a beaut, but after last night…he’s got a better chance of explaining the Parmagorean Theorem to Michael the Kay.
Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network suits rotate six different analysts in their Bombers booth. If they put a premium on chemistry and overall performance they would use only two — Paul O’Neill and David Cone.
Their work together during the recent Texas-Yankees series again showed their ability to make each other better. They make it hard to bail — even during a Yankees blowout. This kind of chemical balance can’t be taught. It doesn’t come from a micromanaging producer. And it isn’t the result of being led around by a play-by-play voice.
This all comes naturally for O’Neill and Cone. For example, O’Neill often plays the fool when he goes solo with Michael Kay. O’Neill’s forced persona, a shticky substance, takes precedence over his edge as an analyst. When teamed with Cone, O’Neill’s sense of humor flows naturally and doesn’t dominate.
The two analysts make Kay better, too. He sticks to his role as third wheel giving his partners room to maneuver.
Cone is most effective playing off O’Neill, counter analyzing. They don’t often debate, but see the game from two different perspectives. Cone, who also talks about the business of baseball, is a smart guy (at least when it comes to baseball), but he never talks down to viewers. He’s got plenty of wise guy in him. When it collides with O’Neill’s bumpkinish approach it produces a very unique insight into the game.
Repoz
Posted: August 18, 2012 at 06:23 PM |
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1. Ray (RDP)Kind of an odd parenthetical.
Don't know about that, but Singleton, O'Neill, and Cone are all damn good, and Lou's also got his moments. Sure beats the hell out of the radio crew. (smile)
I love Singleton and Cone and think YES is top-notch.
That being said, I do not think it is crazy homerism that would have me give your "absolutely" a real Spock eyebrow ORLY? with Darling, Hernandez, and Cohen less than 5 miles away.
I suppose the morticians who populate the Red Sox booth are the Gold Standard here in Bosox Central, but Kay stays on top of the action and his homerism is kept to a minimum as announcers go.
This. Can Kay, or send him back to radio to replace Waldling. Make Singleton fulltime PBP, and Cone full-time. Maybe add a third with O'Neill or some others occasionally.
The YES booth ranges from one of the best in baseball when it's Singleton + Cone to one of the worst when it's Kay + Flaherty or someone like that.
Yes, that part where Mikael was heaping praise on the Yanks' 2-5 men reads like the work of a true Red Sox homer.
I'm all for it.
I would kill for morticians in the Red Sox booth. Right now we've got a pair of cruise ship stand-ups who consider each other the second coming of George Carlin.
The person defending Michael Kay is accusing other people of fanboyism? Up is down, dogs and cats. Jesus.
Tell me, since when is "mortician" a code word for "fanboy"?
I don't even know the name of the non-Remy you've got up there**, but he calls a bases loaded triple as if it were a ground ball to short. It's like he's reading a foreign language from a teleprompter.
But then "mortician" might not be the word I was looking for. "Corpse" is more like it. Orsillo seems to have taken his cues from the late Sherm Feller, but that sort of dentureless minimalism is much better suited to a PA announcer than it is to a play-by-play man.
**Don Orsillo, but I had to look it up.
Or do I need more of "A Beautiful Mind" style pattern-seeking plan?
And will listening to Michael Kay bring on various types of mental illness?
And as I said, the problem with the Red Sox announcers isn't that Orsillo doesn't get up for the big moment - he's nothing special, but you're wrong he doesn't get excited. The problem is that Orsillo and Remy no longer call the game, because they're too busy with their dire giggle brothers comedy routine. It's unbearable. As I said, I'd kill for a boring announcer who doesn't get excited, but does pay attention to the baseball game.
The fact that Remy and Orsillo are terrible doesn't have any bearing the fact that Michael Kay is an execrable sub-human.
I think Singleton is very good. I don't think he wants to do the 3.5 hour commute from Maryland, where he lives.
Cone and O'Neill are a good listen. Their promotion of Kaat for the HoF the other night was over-the-top, though Cone did admit to not being objective.
Whuh? You brought up "Bosox Central" out of nowhere. The only way that makes any sense is if you were saying that I was being blinded by my Red Sox fandom in failing to judge Michael Kay to be a good announcer.
Just forget it. My only point about Kay was that "Kay stays on top of the action and his homerism is kept to a minimum as announcers go." (See # 10 above) What you think of Kay beyond that is between you and him, but it's hard to see what basis there is for that "exerable sub-human" comment beyond a certain amount of partisan hyperbole that I don't generally associate with you.
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