8.08.2006
Thinking before one speaks has never been a prerequisite for gaining employment as a sports radio talkie. In fact, some mouths are encouraged - in the name of ratings or buzz - to flap their yaps with no regard for truth, accuracy, or rationale.
And yet, there are times when a talkie totally loses it. There is never shtick involved when a guy has purchased a one-way ticket to Insaneville. That's the city ESPN-1050's Michael Kay, who also is the TV voice of the Yankees on the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network, visited Friday.
Kay's meltdown (that's being kind) was triggered by the contention that baseball voices can jinx teams they work for. During the discussion, Kay was accused of putting the whammy on Chien-Ming Wang because he once informed viewers Wang was pitching a perfect game.
The notion any announcer could put the kibosh on a no-hitter or perfect game, by alerting viewers to the fact one is in progress, is absurd. Still, it is one of those age-old superstitions some fans still believe in.
Kay was right in taking issue with it. Unfortunately, he went about it the wrong way. And wrong is not nearly a strong enough word to describe the way he went about it.
...Even I'm not presumptuous enough to try explaining how Kay's mind (moving from no-hitters to "baseball etiquette" to slavery to Nazi Germany) was functioning on this occasion.
[bob raissman]
Labels: yanquis
