Good news, sorta. There are still a few TV and radio folks who can distinguish clear right from clear wrong, then clearly say so, regardless of accusations that they’re buzz-killers, cranky old men or women, or hopelessly out of touch with the modern world. There are still a few unwilling to pander to the low end of popular culture.
There were two out in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, the Mets down a run, David Wright at bat when, on WFAN, Howie Rose described what he called “a Norman Rockwell moment” in the stands down in front of him:
A kid had his arm draped around his father’s shoulder; together, they were enjoying a baseball game to the final out.
“This,” said Rose, “is what makes me so uncomfortable with David Ortiz’s choice of words in Boston today.”
By then, many already knew that in a nationally televised ceremony from Fenway, Ortiz took the field microphone and, in front of a ballpark packed with families, went the crude “populist” route, bringing a great cheer in declaring his solidarity with Boston: “This is our f—–g city!” he hollered.
Even those moments intended to be right and righteous are now left compromised and diminished by “attitude” and crudity, short of being as good as they could have and should have been.
As Rose spoke his mild but unmistakable condemnation of Ortiz, T- shirt pushers no doubt were busy stamping out “ ‘This is our f—–g city!’ – Big Papi, Fenway Park, 4/20/13” — no editing included.
Reader Jason Jurgens wondered, given last week’s latest national calamity in Boston, whether fans in Fenway and Yankee Stadium will ever return to chanting, “Boston/New York sucks!”
Well, as we know by now, such sober, “our thoughts and prayers,” tragedy-attached “perspectives” tend to last about five minutes or one six-pack, whichever comes first.
Anyway, on Saturday, New York 1 news anchor Vivian Lee reported Ortiz had delivered “a colorful speech.” Maybe she meant “vulgar,” but maybe not.
ESPN’s Breen is always a breath of fresh air
The Best thing about Mike Breen calling an NBA game on ABC/ESPN — he did Celtics-Knicks on Saturday, and Lakers-Spurs yesterday — is that you don’t feel as if you’re listening to or watching ESPN.
Breen works shtick-less, with no self-promotional “signature” gimmickry, and manages to avoid the transparent, repetitive hard-sells of everything Disney, ESPN and ABC (my favorite is when ESPN’s play-by-players and in-game analysts tell us they’re all gassed up for the weekend’s NASCAR something or other).
Breen’s sidekick, Jeff Van Gundy, was at times tough to take on Saturday, be it his silly bit on traveling violations — they shouldn’t be called because “who wants to see travelling calls?” — or his late-game description that the Knicks defense has Boston, ugh, “absolutely in complete lockdown.”
* During the Yankees-Jays game on Saturday, in just two consecutive outs — a few moments — we got this from Yankees radio:
After Jayson Nix lined out to shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, John Sterling went into his haughty, know-all, see-all, smarter-than-you, condescending laugh. “Hah, hah, hah.” Kawasaki, he concluded, “plays with such sparkle and enthusiasm.”
Did Sterling, 22 years the Yankees radio voice, explain beyond that? Of course not.
Suzyn Waldman read the scoreboard, noting that in the Cards-Phils game it would be Lance Lynn against Cliff Lee. “Both are 2-0; one won’t be when the day is over.” How she knew that, she didn’t say.
Then she spoke of the Nats-Mets starting at an odd time, 3 p.m. Waldman and Sterling definitively stated that it couldn’t be a Fox game. It was a Fox game. In just two outs.
* What seemed a ridiculous pursuit — NFL Network expert analysts on Thursday went through this year’s schedule, giving the winners and losers of every game — actually had a practical purpose. There’s now no need to play the games, which should eliminate concussions altogether.
* Since spring training, Mike “Let’s Be Honest” Francesa has been giving himself full credit for being the very first to recognize Matt Harvey was special. That led, last week, to Francesa-monitors circulating his crazed on-air spew from last Aug. 23, when Let’s Be Honest trashed Harvey as the latest bust in the Mets’ hype machine.
NBC suffers TKO in bout against sanity
DEPT. of Can’t Make This Stuff Up: During a boxing telecast on Saturday, NBC presented an on-camera, split-screen interview with trainer Andre Rozier. No, not between rounds, during the fight! Yeah, why watch the fight when you can watch someone talking about it?
* Hey, MSG: Please enlarge the score/time box on NHL telecasts. Why show it if we can’t read it?
* Tim McCarver, on Fox’s Nats-Mets on Saturday, said he was very impressed Bryce Harper, after pulling a homer, would next double to the opposite field. OK, but it was worth a mention Harper, a lefty batter, homered off a righty (Jeremy Hefner) and doubled off a lefty (Aaron Laffey).
* Talk about old habits, I still think the Mets are on Channel 9, the Yanks on Channel 11. It has been vice versa the last 15 years!
* Odd moment in MSG’s Isles-Jets on Saturday: Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien was called for running/skating over goalie Evgeni Nabokov with less than a second left in OT. Thus, there was no punishment for what was called a penalty — and looked like an intentionally dirty play.
* If Craig Carton and/or Boomer Esiason got hold of a recording of a TV or radio personality referring to IEDs (improvised explosive devices) as IUDs — as Esiason did — they’d play that tape five times an hour, mocking and ridiculing the person until they were laughed dry. You know it, I know it — and they know it.
* Jimmy Dolan is again demanding Rangers customers float him an interest-free loan by paying for playoff tickets to the maximum number of games — including those that can’t possibly be played at home. Hey, if Gary Bettman doesn’t mind, why should Dolan?
* One of the great mysteries of modern life is why attention-starved, scene-stealing, excessively self-entitled, overtly overly indulged Spike Lee became — and remains — sports TV’s idea of the ultimate cool-cat fan.
* Stat of the Week: The Knicks won on Saturday, despite the Celtics shooting 19-for-19 from the free-throw line.
* Normally disinclined to celebrate family events, here, excuse this exception: Happy 100th birthday, Aunt Adele Mushnick. Think it’s hard to shop for a gift for a 100-year-old? Not Aunt Adele; she’s far from done. We got her a 30-year treasury bond.