The Greatest Schmo on Earth
- Thursday, July 23, 2009 12:35 AM
- Written By: Steve Scafa
Last week, YES announcer Kim Jones and WFAN's own, Adam "The Bull" Gerstenhaber, filled in for Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts to do "The Midday Show" on WFAN. The subject of the Yankees radio broadcasts came up. Jones, acknowledging her relationship with the "Dynamic Duo" of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, of course, liked them and liked their work. What a shock! Following every blown call by Sterling that we are treated to by the various talk show hosts, we are told, "Sure, John's getting old and, sure, he's missing a few calls here and there but he is entertaining, none the less." If Ringling Bros. entertained people like this over the years, they could hardly call their show the greatest on the block, let alone the earth.
Yep, the "talking parrots" who replay Sterling's mistakes the day after a game - and have a good laugh when doing so - are the same ones who refuse to criticize the lack of professionalism, let alone the flat-out missing of calls. I guess they find it entertaining when ...
... he figures everyone who is now tuned into the game has been listening from the first pitch on so, therefore, why bother to give the score. Sterling can literally go ten minutes or so without giving the score. Now, that's entertainment!
... he tells us that a ball "Has been caught. No. He dropped it!" Huh? How could a ball have been caught and, then, dropped? No, John, it was never caught in the first place but if you had waited a second longer, you would have seen that. Now, that's entertainment!
... he tells us that a "Ball is fair. No. They called it foul." Huh? The follow-up to this call is the fact that the ball was hit down the right field line where "the ball disappears from our view." So why wouldn't you just wait to see the umpire's call as opposed to making the call yourself only to then have to make it sound like the umpire overruled your initial call? Now, that's entertainment!
... he fails to tell us that Brett Gardner has come in to pinch-run for Mark Teixeira all the while wondering why the pitcher is paying so much attention to "Teixeira on first?" Now, that's entertainment!
But one of my favorite Sterling stories was a few years ago when erratic reliever, Kyle Farnsworth, was with the Yankees and they were playing the Florida Marlins. Sterling had documented Farnsworth's problems with his control and came to the stunning, and correct, conclusion that his problem was that he just walks too many batters.
While Sterling was pontificating, the Marlins got men on second and third with less than two outs. What does Sterling suggest that the Yankees do to the next Marlins hitter? Why, he suggested that the Yankees walk him, thereby, loading the bases to set up the double-play. That's right, load the bases intentionally for a pitcher that has a problem walking batters. Now, that's entertainment!
