Department of Tangled Webs: A common sin among radio hosts is the lifting of info and thought from newspapers, content spoken as original info and thought. Print folks would be fired for what some radio folks do daily. To that end, this appeared in my May 23 column:
“How can Dave Winfield as an ESPN studio panel analyst be so bad, yet, this past Thursday with Michael Kay on 1050 ESPN, be so good? That’s the problem when you’re part of a panel and you get only two or three shots to be heard; the pressure to sound good can make a mess of you.”
Four days later, following his next session with Winfield, Kay piped that Winfield is so much better on radio than TV, then explained why — for the same reason I had.
Not only was Kay’s thought the same, the order of how he presented it corresponded to what I’d written.
Remarkable coincidence? Not a chance.
So in Friday’s column, in a brief jab — Kay is far better than most at crediting sources — I reminded him that failure to source is dishonest. I didn’t write particulars because I didn’t want it to seem self-serving, nor was it worth wasting much space on — space I’m now forced to waste.
Friday on 1050, Kay responded — and here I’ll provide him the benefit of the doubt — as if he were doing an imitation of a psychopath.
He spewed wild-headed hatred, made “I’ve got stuff on you” threats, threw in self-serving claims that I only attack popular people — he cited John Sterling — made an ironic claim that all critics are “thin skinned,” and another that they’re all “parasites.”
I don’t parlez-vous French, but when’s the last time Kay’s show wasn’t loaded with criticism?
To quote the late Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!”
Kay spewed something about “punching him [me] in the face,” yet landed a somewhat accurate shot with, “You don’t get off your couch in your living room.” How would Kay cover TV and radio, standing up? In the woods?
Then this: “When I die, more people are going to be sad than happy, but when you die it’s going to be the opposite.” Fine, just as long as we can find out in alphabetical order.
But Kay also publicly called me out to provide proof that he lifted something from a column. He insisted that I give specifics. So, I did — the specifics written above. To his credit, Kay responded that he would provide the tape.
But 1050 VP/GM Dave Roberts, in a phone call, Saturday evening, said he was satisfied that Kay’s identical take on Winfield was a matter of pure coincidence, thus no tape would be provided. I protested that once Kay publicly demanded that I put up or shut up — er, before dropping dead — the public should judge.
“I’m certain Michael Kay is willing to provide copies of this segment,” said Roberts, “but in this case I don’t feel that’s necessary.”
In this case, I couldn’t disagree more. I’m not the one who threw a five-minute fit on 1050, then demanded proof.
A vintage look back at Wooden
John Wooden’s passing made interesting weekend TV.
ESPN Classic scored fast, big, replacing scheduled Saturday programming with NBC’s telecast of Wooden’s last game, the 1975 Kentucky-UCLA championship, won by UCLA, 92-85. Great stuff.
From mostly deep, UK’s Kevin Grevey had 34 — no 3-pointers then. Richard Washington starred for UCLA, Curt Gowdy for NBC.
Also, Saturday, NBC Sports’ sadly self-interested update show saluted Wooden as college hoops’ best. Yet, because NBC no longer has college basketball, that same update show ignores college basketball. But it does go heavy on Olympic prep ski-race results from Kitzbuhel.
But among all the stats attached to Wooden, this mostly unknown one grabs: In 1973, Wooden had a heart attack. Heart attack at 63, and he lived to be 99.
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With Michael Kay given the weekend off, YES pregame host Bob Lorenz was Yankees’ play-by-player. Not bad. Good voice, attention to nuts-and-bolts info. With John Flaherty, Lorenz played it straight — no forced attempts to dazzle — and he kept it short, allowing TV to be TV.
Of all people, how can John Sterling rip Jim Joyce for blowing a call? How many of Sterling’s calls, just as a matter of self-promotion, have been wrong?
As Ron Darling yesterday hinted, Hanley Ramirez is one of those stars whose indifference makes rooting for him tough.
The Mets’ telecast yesterday caught David Wright flipping a ball to a kid — a flip intercepted by a man who handed the ball to his kid. Boo! Audio/video pressure exerted by Darling, Gary Cohen, Ralph Kiner and director Bill Webb saw to it that both kids got a ball.
When Ken Griffey Jr. is inducted, which of his teams’ caps will he choose to wear backward?
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As seen, heard and ignored, yesterday on CBS, Tiger Woods’ vow to respect the game — starting with his behavior after bad shots — has not yet been met. Not that anyone was supposed to notice or care, but without Woods in the hunt, the Memorial still was loaded with great golf and drama.
Belmont’s barnyard stench
The longest, sweetest traditions cannot survive the genius of new-age strategists.
For decades — for as long as anyone alive can recall — the call to post for the Belmont Stakes was accompanied by the singing/playing of “Sidewalks of New York.”
Sure, it was corny, but that was part of the fun, the ritual, like the seventh-inning stretch and sitting next to Uncle Jake at Thanksgiving.
But in 1997, “Sidewalks” was out and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” deemed more “with it,” was in. Not that anyone asked for the change.
Saturday, Sinatra was out, Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” was in — not the crude, boast-filled, N-word version, but a sanitized one.
On Disney’s ABC/ESPN, it was sung by teen Jasmine Villegas, a Disney TV/movie regular. Ahh, that familiar stench of the modern sell.
For now, the other Triple Crown races will stick with tradition — “Maryland, My Maryland” before the Preakness, “My Old Kentucky Home” before the Derby. But if Fitty ever raps a self-smitten, vulgar ode that includes a reference to either state, that could change.
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ESPN/ABC’s Belmont was like NBC’s Triple Crown coverage — the odds only occasionally appeared.
A racing audience should steadily see the odds in a crawl. Yet, at the same time on ESPN a crawl gave French Open doubles results, half a day old, over, and over, and over, and …
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Boxing promoter Don Elbaum: “I had the winner in the Belmont.”
Me: “Really?”
Elbaum: “Yeah, finished fifth.”
(Phil Mushnick’s “Equal Time” returns June 18. His TV Week “Prime Time” column returns Sunday.)