Wednesday, May 26, 2010

The Rules for New York Broadcasters

One of the subtle joys of living in the New York market is being subjected to their world-class sports announcers.  Whether it's listening to Walt Frazier of the Knicks' using (and often misusing) the biggest words that he is able to pronounce, or drying tears while listening to what the Yankees' Suzyn Waldman has to say, New York broadcasters are notoriously bad.  Typically, the least of my concerns are the stars of Mets TV games on SNY.

However, with the start of the Phillies-Mets series this week, I have been forced by blackout restrictions to listen to them babble incoherently over my baseball game. Along side of play-by-play guy Gary Cohen are two former Mets, who also happen to be some of the least-informed commentators of all time--Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Now as I mentioned, normally I leave SNY alone because it is the least of my concerns when ridiculing New York sports. But in last night's game, the trio along with their network, laid a spectacular egg. Less than a year earlier, Big League Stew anointed them as one of the best groups in the business. Remarkable. But it got me to thinking, what are the rules for New York Broadcasters? I'll go through the highlights of Tuesday night's performance to give an example of each:

1. Exaggerate Facts - Every good New Yorker knows stats don't tell the whole story unless they are skewed in favor of New York. Case in point, on Tuesday's broadcast, Gary Cohen tossed up this gem about Raul Ibanez: "He's got two and a half more years left on his contract." (In reality, Ibanez has just over a year and half remaining on his current deal). Later in the game, he compared Luis Castillo to Jerry Rice on a catch.

2. Pretend it's Game Seven - If not for the millions of fans in the New York area, who would tune in to games? In order to make sure that fans stay interested, Cohen and his crew are notorious for saying things like "here comes the tying run to the plate for a showdown" in the second inning of games. But they suffer from the same syndrome as Chip Caray; if every play is called like a game winning play, then what happens when there actually is a dramatic moment?

3. Keep the Fans Coming Back - I was in the middle of making this list when a perfect example was handed to me for fan engagement. Keeping in mind that this is a three game series, a commercial in the middle of the sixth inning for the Mets said "Tomorrow night the Mets go for the series win against the Phillies!" Granted the Mets were leading at the time, the game was hardly a forgone conclusion. But why else would Mets fans tune in?

4. Ignore Statistical Accuracy - This one is not directed towards the broadcast team and is a little rarer.  But in Tuesday's game, SNY was guilty of blatantly showing inaccurate stats on the game, for several minutes. Below is a screen grab during Jose Reyes' at bat in the sixth inning. At the time, the score was 5-0, there was one out, and it was actually the bottom of the sixth. However, SNY displayed 8-0, no one out, and the top of the seventh for the entire at bat.


There are certainly more rules that New York commentators adhere to that are absolutely ridiculous. They all came together in a medley of disgraceful broadcasting on Tuesday night. For such a big market, it's surprising that New York teams (even the Mets) cannot afford higher quality media representatives. As Meech would say, LOLMETS!

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