He has been the face of New York sports talk television for 10 years, your down-to-earth host of “Sports On 1,” serving as a sounding board and voice of reason for callers and emailers, and now tweeters. You turn to Time Warner Cable News NY1’s Tom McDonald for the pulse of the town, for how New York feels about its sports heroes and villains.
Here are some of his thoughts:
Alex Rodriguez: “I would say 80 percent of the people that talk about him is in a negative way.”
Carmelo Anthony: “Sixty percent like him, 40 percent believes he hogs the ball.”
Tim Tebow: “I thought [him signing with the Jets in 2012] was 30 percent positive and the rest negative. A lot of people thought he was a sideshow, and in the end, they were right.”
Jeremy Lin: “I would call him a melting-pot guy. He was the most mercurial athlete for the short time he was here. A Harvard guy, born in Taiwan, played basketball for the New York Knicks — that’s a steep hill to climb. And he climbed it. There was very little negativity about him. It shows what kind of city we live in.”
Rex Ryan: “It’s live-or-die with him. When he’s winning, he’s the greatest. When they started to be do-so, they’d say he boasts too much. He’d be 60-40 on the plus side.”
Tom Coughlin: “Of all the people, he’s the one that gets the least amount of criticism. It’s amazing.”
The Wilpons: “The Mets get hammered. The things they say about the Wilpons — won’t spend a dime, won’t do this, won’t do that.”
Derek Jeter: “In the eyes of at least my show, can do no wrong. Jeter is Captain America. Lin is worldwide Jeremy Lin.”
James Dolan: “They get their licks in on him, but nowhere near what the Wilpons get. Not even close.”
Isiah Thomas: “Universally disliked. I can’t imagine how many phone calls and emails we took — ‘What a loser.’ ”
Matt Harvey: “He wasn’t as big as I thought he would be.”
And here’s what McDonald likes best about his show: “It’s totally New York, and then audience participation. Audience feedback to me dictates what’s going to be the lead story.”
He grew up in Long Island City, a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Baltimore Colts (“Go figure.”). He has covered sports for 42 years, including a stint at FOX 5 News, when he hosted “Sports Extra” on Sunday nights and anchored the 10 o’clock news program. But he’s recognized more for his popular call-in and studio interview show that airs live each night from 11:30-12:30 a.m. and is replayed at 4.
“I walk down the street and people will say, ‘New York 1,’ ” McDonald said with a chuckle.
His favorite players to deal with as a reporter were Don Mattingly and Bernie Williams.
“I was thinking about retiring. The thought came into my mind a couple of times,” McDonald said. “But there’s nothing like when they go, ‘5,4,3,2,1,’ and point at you on the air. Nothing in my life tops that feeling.”
Irish Miracles on the diamond
The Baseball Miracles group — led by White Sox scout John Tumminia and former MLB pitcher Rob Bell — is shipping more than 1,000 pounds of donated baseball equipment to children in Ireland.
“Sometimes, we Americans take baseball for granted,” Tumminia said. “Kids are playing the game all over the world, but it isn’t always easy for them to find and purchase the necessary equipment. Kids need bats, balls, gloves and protective equipment in order to play the game, and that’s what we are providing, thanks to many generous donations.”
In addition, the Baseball Miracles group will hold baseball clinics in Limerick and Dublin Jan. 18-19. The project is being coordinated with the help of the New York-based Baseball United Foundation.
“The importance of this trip to the development of baseball in Ireland cannot be understated,” Baseball United Foundation founder John Fitzgerald said. “Kids are going to receive much — baseball equipment and professional baseball instruction. The positive impact of the Baseball Miracles trip to Ireland will be felt for years to come.”
Baseball Miracles is a group of baseball players, coaches and scouts who hold instructional baseball clinics in areas where baseball is not traditionally played.
For more information, visit www.BaseballMiracles.org