A few media related notes that caught my eye:
1) From Keith Olbermann we get word that Vin Scully could have been the Voice of the Yankees. He was offered the position in 1964 when Mel Allen retired, but decided to remain with the Dodgers. Wouldn’t it be nice to replace the revolving door of YES Network announcers with the amazing Scully. What might have been.
2) Speaking of announcers, Phil Mushnick destroys John Sterling in his latest column. Mushnick has long had a problem with Sterling, but this piece is particularly vehement. Personally, I like Sterling. he makes a lot of mistakes, but he is entertaining, and he makes the last three innings of a game as exciting as can be. What do you think about him?
3) Pete Abraham is taking a mandatory week off due to cutbacks by the Gannett Company, who owns the Journal News. This brings into harsh relief the crumbling state of the newspaper business. Joe at RAB recently discussed the issue, and I think he brought up some interesting points. Personally, the law student within me believes that as the incentive to invest money in reporting the news disappears, the laws of intellectual property will evolve so as to bolster that incentive. If the rules regarding linking and blockquoting became significantly more restrictive, news organizations may have a chance to “own” their news for longer and therefore gain more traffic and more revenue. What do you think the outcome of the newspaper crash will be?
4) Jason at IIATMS chimes in with some welcome news. Weeknight World Series and LCS games will begin at 7:58 PM rather than 8:28. This should help keep most games from ending after midnight. It is about time that MLB did this, although I think starting at 7 would ideal. However, being that a 7 start time would cause the games to begin while people on the west coast are still at work, I can understand why MLB is reluctant to move the games any earlier.
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7 Responses to Media Notes: Scully A Yankee? Pete Abe Gone? WS Games Before 8?
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TIQ IQ
I remember when Vince was offered ther job, though Mel Allen was truly a wonderful announcer, Yankees decided to let him go after he lost his voice in the ’63 WS when Koufax and Dodgers beat his beloved YAnkees in 4 straight.
Being Jewish and a closet “Homo” it was surprising Mel lasted as long as he did with that Yankee management.
Great announcer though.He was the first with, “going, going gone” type calls.
He was from Georgia and his “How bout that, ladies and gentleman,” was as smooth as silk.
I can hear his voice now (I was a kid) saying, “And the ball gets away from Yogi, Kaline (or whomever) advances to 3rd.”
Olbermann is a giant Arsehole by the way.Totally unprofessional and a liar too boot.
I disagree with the Sterling hatred. It’s true that he can be unbearable at times, but the answer is not to get rid of him. He has an iconic call (Thaaaaa Yankees Win!) that is part of four Yankee championships and it’s still the go-to call whenever ESPN wants to post highlights of a big Yankee win. He still has a great voice and is capable of making the great calls at times.
The answer is to pair him with a strong color analyst who can balance out Sterling’s eccentricities. You, yourself, said that Sterling makes for countless unintentionally funny moments, so the Yankees need to take advantage of that and make them INTENTIONALLY funny. The old Yankee TV broadcasts were legendary for Seaver, White, Messer and others poking fun at Scooter’s mistakes and crazy statements. The Yanks need to put a strong personality who knows his stuff and has a good, sarcastic sense of humor next to Sterling. That would be the best and funniest broadcast in baseball.
I think the newspaper sportswriters would be doing a lot better if they started writing about sports and quit trying to psychoanalyze everybody they’ve been told to hate (by ESPN, etc)
The constant soap opera can be overcome by ESPN because they’re the only game in town for a lot of people, but newspapers using the Dick Young/Mike Lupica style of telling us what awful people whoever they hate at the moment for paragraphs at a time has gotten very old.
I’m not a fan of Scully, and I wonder if we would have missed out on Rizzuto/White (the best baseball team ever-by a lot) if he’d come here.
Unfortunately, I think the newspapers are already dead. There don’t seem to be any standards at all about what is printed anymore. I’m not sure how it can get much worse, though I guess it will. Theoretically, going through the trouble of actually printing out a newspaper should reduce a lot of the errors.
I hate Sterling. He is a radio announcer, so his main role is to provide people who cannot watch the game with information. He fails miserably at that. I hate his schtick too. He’s so pompous and knows oh so little.
Of course, it’s only made better that he’s paired with Waldman.
I heard Pete on WFAN this weekend, he sounded really good on the air. Much better than his earlier appearances where he sounded more uncomfortable. He could either host a show or be half of a team if the newspaper folds.
1. I was listening to Vince the other day and he’s amazing.
2. Has Phil ever said anything nice about anybody?
3. Who knows?