MONDAY would have been a great night for Michael Kay to have shown up on YES with his realities reversed.
Instead of performing as the everything’s-coming-up-Yankees TV voice of Pinstripe Pride, Kay could’ve shown up as the tough-talking voice of the abused fan, the fellow he often portrays on his 1050 ESPN show.
Monday, after a 2-hour, 20-minute rain delay — and although it was still raining — Kay prefaced the first pitch of Red Sox-Yankees with a sunny, “Phil Hughes is ready — let’s do it in The Bronx!”
But the bold, outspoken sports-talk radio host Kay might’ve sounded like this:
“It’s 9:25 p.m.; it’s 52 degrees; it’s raining. It has been raining all day; more is expected. The first games in this new, $1.5 billion, taxpayer-funded stadium have been played to thousands of empty seats, even on nice weekend afternoons, because the tickets are obscenely overpriced.
“And now, after a 2-hour, 20-minute delay on a Monday night, they’re going to start a game that should have been postponed this afternoon, before anyone had to choose whether to risk their time, money and safety to travel here.
“Greed continues to turn big-league sports in this town into something no logical person can indulge. I’m embarrassed for Bud Selig and Major League Baseball, for the New York Yankees and for every fan who bought a ticket to this game, regardless of whether they chose to be here, for allowing themselves to serve, once again, as baseball’s biggest suckers.”
Or, given that his hands were tied, Kay could have provided some nods and winks that playing ball, this night, was an idiot’s delight, easiest suffered by those remaining few who could afford to be an idiot.
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On WFAN, this week, Boomer Esiason’s first question to Alex Rodriguez biographer Selena Roberts was, “Other than making the money that you’re making off of the book, what is the purpose of writing a book about A-Rod?”
Look who’s asking.
Other than money, Boomer, what is the purpose of you partnering on the radio, five mornings a week, with a professional pig such as Craig Carton? And, other than money, Craig, what is the purpose of a career as a low-life, five mornings a week on radio?
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I referred to Eric Karros as Alex, as in Alex Karas, in this space, Monday. …
Keys To The Game Tout of the Week: With Boston up, 1-0, in the first and in the rain, Monday, YES’s Ken Singleton said, “Because of the weather conditions, you don’t want to give up too many runs early in the game.” Yup, you save that for a nice day.
After 50 years in college basketball as a ref and then Supervisor of Officials for the Atlantic 10 and finally for the Ivy and Patriot Leagues, Mickey Crowley is switching from stripes to solids. They’re throwing a retirement bash for him, May 17 at Savannah’s in East Meadow. For details, 1-800-390-6510.
Recent obits and tributes to the contrary, Jack Kemp never starred in the NFL. In 1957, he was a sub QB in four games for the Steelers, but, starting in 1960, played the rest of his career in the AFL. . . . Incidentally, what the NFL is calling “Legacy Games” — the former AFL teams will wear their AFL-era uniforms — of course has less to do with legacies than with selling jerseys. …
Matt Millen has joined ESPN as an NFL and college studio analyst. …
Three Questions: Shall we credit Manny Ramirez with another “walk-off”? . . . If New York has the most knowledgeable fans, how come when the visiting pitcher throws over to keep the runner close, 10,000 people boo? . . . So what happens when Tiger Woods, who TV folks tell us has “grown the game,” hangs it up, and golf on TV is left with fewer viewers than before Woods?
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Reader Gary Cicio, NYC podiatrist, did the research, and asks us to choose one of the two options to see a Mariners-Yankees game this season, and from the very best seats:
Option 1: Two tickets to Tuesday night, June 30, Mariners at Yanks, cost for just the tickets, $5,000.
Option 2: Two round-trip airline tickets to Seattle, Friday, Aug. 14, return Sunday the 16th, rental car for three days, two-night double occupancy stay in four-star hotel, two top tickets to both the Saturday and Sunday Yanks-Mariners games, two best-restaurant-in-town dinners for two. Total cost, $2,800. Plus-frequent flyer miles.