Completely agree on the Sterling points. At one time he and Michael Kay made a decent radio team, but as both have gained in stature the have receded in quality. Seems they have fallen into the Sportscenter anchor trap of playing to the lowest common denominator with catchphrases and quips about "playing the game the right way". It certainly doesn't help that Sterling has a mildly informed Grandmother as his partner. At least Kay has a group of ex-athletes, who are steller at their job compared to their peers working for other teams and networks.

Don't we deserve better? Can't the Yanks steal Boog Sciambi out of south Florida?

I find M&MD's daily review of Sterling radio calls totally out of line. They should listen to their own show on occasion.

Will,

Do you think you we ever fed information to help hype a prospect or player for a trade? or similarly devalue them?

Thanks!

I don't even see Sterling's entertainment value anymore. Where's the entertainment in hearing him say the same thing every single day? There's nothing spontaneous, original, clever, natural, creative or witty. Everything is scripted and rehearsed.

The result is that Sterling makes the game fit his schtick. Different things happen every day, and Sterling responds by saying exactly the same thing. (In three years, did Sheffield ever once hit a home run that was high and far?)

Maybe some of it is entertaining the first time, or the second, or the hundredth. After 18+ years, I'm just sick of it.

The funny thing is, I don't think he's that big a homer. He makes it clear that he'd rather see the Yankees win, which is understandable; but he never calls the team "we," which many other broadcasters do, and he does criticize them. When I hear M&MD make fun of him, it's more for his clownishness than his homerism.

BTW: I must have been away when you asked about announcers, cause Sterling is terrible at his job - describing the action as it happens. Just absurdly terrible. At least once a game he:

1) Launches into a homerun call on a fly ball.
2) Loses track of a ball and verbally fumbles all over the place trying to "find it" and the play
3) Uses fifty words to describe a scene when ten would suffice. Meanwhile the crowd reaction has already told me whether something good or bad has happened.

And Waldman is no help with any of these things. At least Kay, back in the day, could help take over and would challenge him.

Since?

It's the John Sterling Show featuring the NY Yankees.

2 No kidding. Pot, kettle, black. That show is a steaming pile.

As far as Sterling is concerned, I only listen to him when I have to. Certainly, there are many pbp guys that are worse, but the Yankees should hold themselves to a higher standard.

I really dug Singleton and Girardi yesterday. That Orioles trainer story that Singleton had was incredible.

Will, I think you're right. Doing radio is hard; calling baseball play-by-play over the radio is very hard, and its easy to make mistakes. But as you point out, Sterling has seemingly crossed the line from making an accidental mistake to coming off like he's doing a crappy job.

The problem is, outside of writing letters or e-mails to the Yankees, how does one "protest" Sterling? Turning off the radio means you can't listen to the game; so the question is, do you love the Yankees more than you dislike Sterling, and I think that answer is almost always "yes", which means the game stays on.

And that option only works if you live in the greater NYC area; I don't. XM and MLB already have my money, they don't care if I listen or not. Ditto with MLB Audio.

I don't see the Yanks getting rid of Sterling any time soon, so I guess I've resigned myself to having to deal with him. It doesn't help much with the frustration, though.

On a possitive note, at least he's a good spurts announcer.

This may be slightly OT, but since 6 already mentioned him, how did Ken Singleton come to join the YES team? I really enjoy him, but it always struck me as a little strange that he's the only one of the former players who never played for the Yankees. Is there a connection I'm missing?

9 I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not, but Singleton is definitely a New York guy. Born in the city, raised in Mt. Vernon, went to Hofstra.

He used to broadcast for the Expos, but may well wanted to come home, or to work for a good team. As for the Yankees's interest in him, maybe it was because he's good.

6 What was the Orioles trainer story?

Good comments all. As for the questions that have been posed, I'll address them one at a time:

Jim Dean (3), I don't believe I was ever fed information to help hype a prospect. I would assign a Trenton or Staten Island game to be covered so we could interview coaches, etc., and see for ourselves.

Shaun P (7) When 50,000 fans stop mimicking "Theeeeee Yankees win!" when it pops up during the previous night's recap or right after a victory or boo his presence at the stadium, maybe the team will get the hint. Other than that, I don't know.

Peter (9) ... Kenny Singleton worked with Jim Kaat from about 1995 on when the Yankees' telecasts were on MSG. He came to YES in 2002 with Kaat as one of the lead analysts. The additions of Justice, Flaherty, Girardi and Leiter have afforded him the chance to pare his schedule a bit. He used to do more than 100 games. His connection to the team is that he played against the likes of Reggie, Guidry, Willie and the teams of the 1970s, and he's a student of baseball history and brings all that to the table during a broadcast. He was also the first player to hit a home run into the black bleachers in the remodeled stadium.

I like Sterling and all his antics, I don't look at him as a Vin Scully type but more like you said, an entertainer.

He's a homer and I like homers, I like Homer Simpson, Homer Bush, I just like homers.

I always loved how Celtic fans loved Johnny Most, and Sterling was cut from the same cloth as Most - probably with slightly less embellishment.

Most would scream that Lambieer murdered Parrish, and when you looked at the foul on television he was hardly murdered. But that's what homers do, they make you feel at ease and try and spin stuff to make you feel better about you and your team.

Maybe some of us like to be lied to. I don't like to be lied to in real life, but if the score is 6 - 0 in the 3rd inning then I like to hear stuff like, "the Yankees can get back into this game if they can just one run this inning". A 6 - 1 game is hardly getting back into it, but it makes me feel better about their chances cause he believes it too.

John Sterling is dead to me.

Michael Kay's best attribute is his "CenterStage" work.

For entertainment/announcing hybrids, I'll take Bob Uecker.

I don't get the objection to 'homers'. I'm perfectly content listening to Joe Castiglione, for example; his homerism for the team I most loathe doesn't bother me in the slightest (and it's positively delightful when the Sox are losing). Why would anyone expect or want a team's broadcaster to be neutral?

15 Exactly!!! I sure don't.

10 12 Thanks.

14 There's one thing that Michael Kay does well on the YES broadcasts, and that's to elicit good information from the other commentators. He's able to ask good questions of the ex-players, and then get out of the way while they answer. That genuinely improves the commentary.

Unfortunately, he also engages them far too often in irrelevant banter - golf games, O'Neill's free shoes, little jokes at the players' expense (they generously do not reply in kind). And Singleton does far better PBP.

13 15 For me it has nothing to do with homerism. It has to do with doing his job of telling me what's happening. And at that, he's terrible.

As a radio listener, I shouldn't have trouble trying to figure out what's going on. Nor should i have to use the crowd reaction as an indicator of good or bad.

And it's not like these things happen every once in a while. They happen every night. I should know - I'm trying to listen and comprehend every night.

Meanwhile, there's just so little preparation it ridiculous. He adds few insights he didn't already bring with him. To him, Shelly Duncan and Billy Butler are only and ever DH's (besides what their pasts say). At first, Hughes wasn't going to be a savior. I mean it's just non-stop bullshit.

Anyone one know if firejohnsterling.com is available?

19 Agreed. On TV, it's enough for an announcer to say what happened and then go to the commentary. But on radio, the announcer's job is to describe the game in far greater detail. Tell me about the batter's stance, the pitcher's motion, where the fielders are positioned, what that swing looked like. Tell me if the homer is high and far, or if it's a pop fly that curves inside the foul pole - and do it first, not after you've said high, far, gone, Jorgie juiced one, and so on.

Scully is the best at that, or course, but I don't expect anyone else to be Scully. (Jon Miller is the second best of the current announcers I've heard.) But come on, Sterling doesn't even try.

Hey, speaking of trade rumors, how about this one from ESPN?

"A Bronx farewell?
Jul 26 - The Yankees have been calling a few teams to see if they'd be interested in taking center fielder Johnny Damon off their hands, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. One of those teams is believed to be the Braves. Their answer? They liked Damon, "but not at that price."

Damon is signed through 2009 at $13 million per season. If the Yankees were to trade him, which they technically could if they believe Jason Giambi is coming back soon from his foot injury, they'd probably have to chip in a good chunk of that salary. The money and Damon's limited no-trade clause make for a tough sell, but the Yanks still are looking into the possiblity."

Another one is that the Tigers might want Farnsworth back. Talk about a poison pill!

I think Sterling is a rip when he's interviewed on Mike and the Dog. Has anyone ever heard those sessions? Mike and Chris will call Sterling during the middle of the day. Sterling will be at home and he starts singing old show tunes, tinking away on his baby grand piano. It's pure schmaltz, like a William Shatner routine.

But I think Sterling is very difficult to take during the games. As was already mentioned his knack to announce that every fly ball is "high and far..." is just inexcusable. It's one thing for it to happen occasionally, but Sterling shows that he's got no regard for his listeners. Ideally, you'd like a questionable fly ball to sound circumspect. Then if it goes out you end on a high note. But Sterling starts with the exclamation point. It's so irritating.

We hashed the merits of John and Suzyn in the previous discussion Will alluded to. No need to dig it up again. There are a variety of opinions, all of them valid. We each want different things from a Yankee radio broadcast.

GIven that, what M&MD do re: Sterling and Waldman is simply unconsionable.

19 I guess we disagree with what we come to expect from a radio broadcast of the Yankees.

I think all his quirks, mistakes, etc, are what make him enjoyable to me, as well as his homerism. I hate everything when the Yanks are losing, and love everything when the Yanks are winning. When the Yanks are winning then I enjoy Sterling more, I just feel that everything is right in Yankee land when the Yanks win.

When I hear his "Thaaa Yankees Win", that never gets old for me and I guess hearing that at the end of final out of the game is partly why I find him so enjoyable. It just reinforces how great hearing those three words makes me feel.

I don't look for any profound comments from Sterling, the same way I don't look for any leadership skills from our president.

It's all relative. Maybe you should listen to him in my same "state of mind". Unless they don't let you do that in hell? Just kidding!!!! :-)

21 Interesting. The question I'd pose is: how much do people see a Damon deal as simply addition by subtraction? I'd tend to see it that way - which means being willing to pick up some salary and get nothing much in return, just to clear the spot.

When he first joined WABC in 1989 I think (just kidding, Will, I looked it up), John Sterling, aka Harold Moskowitz, was terrific. In addition to having great pipes, he was alert, informative and fun (the perfect straight man to Jay Johnstone's clown ...see below for some fond memories). After a few down years with Joe Angel (mostly because they reportedly hated each other), Sterling and Kay worked well as a team, each's ego seemingly keeping the other's in check. Since the pair split, Sterling has gotten worse each year. He now completely ignores game action, fabricates excitement and allows his frustration to show very easily. Having said that, I'm still glad he is there...with nearly 20 years at the mic, he is a link to the lean years and a time when I relied on the radio for most of my games.

As for the memories, does anyone remember listening to "John and Jay with the Yankees play by play" and hearing the following:

1) Sterling, "Well, that will close the book on Hawkins"....then, in the background, Johnstone would slam a book shut.

2) Sterling, "This game is brought to you by Snapple, makers of fine iced tea flavors, like Kiwi, Peach Melba"...Johnstone, "Peach Melba...didn't you date her back in high school?"

20 I can not recall the last time time he indicated fielder positioning except on something weird like a Papi overshift. Batter's stance? Never. Pitcher's motion? They're different?

And the homer calls are what really kill me - night after night.

Maybe it's just me, but as a kid I was always sneaking the radio into bed and listening well past my bedtime. It felt a story was being read to me and I could "see" the game.

Now?

It's a fucking highlight show where Sterling makes up the highlights as he goes along.

5 Hey...that's my line! And it's the John Sterling Show with special guests, the New York Yankees. The John Sterling Show features only John Sterling.

By the way, anyone unhappy with Suze and John wont like the link below. If correct, they will both be around for quite a while.

http://tinyurl.com/3bpwbq

I just don't agree with that, Alex. I listen to Sterling a lot, in the car and sometimes in my office. He commonly calls a fly like this: "Swung on, and hit into left, not deep..."

Sure, he also launches prematurely into homerunish calls and then has to admit that the ball is caught two steps in front of the track. Maybe my evaluation is colored by the fact that at the ballpark practically every fly ball out of the infield looks exciting to me, but I wouldn't say the mistakes are particularly common.

But, oh, 23, sorry!

11 I wouldn't do it justice. It's during the top of the 8th a little after the Matsui HR if you have access to the YES replay.

I think I'd be a lot happier watching or listening to a game with Dimelo than with most of the rest of you. Funny, I wouldn't have realized that without the Sterling & Waldman discussion.

With occasional and momentary exceptions, I'm not listening to or even watching a game with 100% of my attention. There are 162+ of them, my cup runneth over, I don't need to catch every drop. Hearing the same story I heard in April just makes me feel like I'm listening to my dad: right, no great insights, but a homey feeling, comfortable, unthreatening.

It's not footballl.

13 15 I've been struggling to put this into words, so figure me if it doesn't quite come out right.

What bugs me when an announcer is a homer is the falseness. A homer talks up everyone on their team, no matter the situation, and no matter the player's level of ability or skill. They show no objectivity, which means anyone listening to them learns very little about their team. Worse, a homer often shows little or no appreciation for anyone on the other team. So, listeners learn nothing about the other guys either. That seems dishonest, fake, and very unsatisfying to me.

Here's the best way I can describe it. We all know the subset of Yankee fans who believe Derek Jeter is the greatest player ever, can do no wrong, and heaven forbid you criticize him in any way. Now, imagine one of those fans calling the game. And treating every Yankee player (and Torre and the coaches) like Derek Jeter. That would get very old for me, very quickly.

30 Those are the pop-ups - the ones an infielder could run out and get if they really tried.

Anything that the OF's have to move back on gets the homerun call. Unless it's a line drive, and then he's really confused. Usually he muffs the homerun call and so he has to go back and repeat it and misses any description of what happens as anyone rounds the bases. This is especially irritating on balls that hit the wall and runners are coming around to score. He catches up on those plays very late.

32 I don't listen to games with all my attention, either - whic, to me, makes it that much more useful to hear actual information when I do listen.

I also understand the virtues of hominess, having listened to Phil Rizzuto for several decades. If Sterling had a tenth of Rizzuto's energy, his spontaneity, and his completely natural quality, I wouldn't mind any of the rest so much.

Also, there was always someone there to rein Scooter in a bit, help focus him on the game a bit more. That's what's been missing since Kay left.