New York State of Mind

I was in New York the past couple of days. I drove out to Syracuse taking the back roads of Route 20 most of the way. It was just one of those things. I had a bunch of phone calls to make and I preferred taking my time.

One of the consequences of this was that I was in my car for the first inning of Tuesday's Red Sox / Yankees game. I must say that for a team that has almost limitless resources - the Yankees have perhaps the worst radio announcer in baseball. Suzyn Waldman is just awful. She described Jon Lester the following way, "He throws strikes. He's a strike thrower." Well duh! It was almost enough to make my ears bleed. I don't know how Yankee fans put up with it.

Not that Michael Kay on TV is any better. I got to my hotel room in time to hear him declare that he's a Phil Collins fan (NTTAWWT). Yeeash.

I came away thankful for the radio and TV talent that the Red Sox provide for their fans. The disparity is great enough to make me wonder (kiddingly) if Waldman and Kay are some sort of punishment from the Commissioner's Office. Sort of a Luxury Talent Tax.

While I'm typing away - let me address two other items.

First - David Ortiz. Some sports writers (and sports talk radio personalities) in Boston are nothing more than professional shit-stirrers. I've learned over the years to differentiate those who bring information and interesting opinions from those who just do things to stir the pot. When you listen to (or read) Ortiz's expletive laced tirade it is clear that he's talking about the latter. It saddens me that many out of market people view the shit-stirrers as representative of the fans view. For the real fans the truth couldn't be more removed from that perception.

Second - Chan Ho Park. I heard Joe Girardi saying before last night's game that Chan Ho Park was not available Tuesday due to the flu but then he came out and pitched last night. Have you ever heard of a one-day flu? I have to wonder if this was perhaps the Saki-bomb flu.