LAST CALL? NO SHOT
Sterling & Suzyn have no plan to hang up Yank mics
AGPS is useless when trying to navigate the world of Ma and Pa Pinstripe. The device won’t bring us any closer to the reality Suzyn Waldman and John Sterling share while working together in the Yankees Radio Network booth.
Recently two different interviewers (Bryant Gumbel profiled Pa for HBO’s “Real Sports” while Jimmy Traina talked to both Ma and Pa for SI’s media podcast) found Waldman and Sterling’s reality is not singular, but it now converges at a point most important to them.
Their future.
While Gumbel painted a portrait of Sterling as a man living in his own world, he also revealed a guy with no thoughts of the end. He doesn’t even see it. With Traina, both Ma, 72, and Pa, 81, reacted almost defiantly when looking down the road. Waldman equated retirement with death. And at the end of the SI interview, Sterling, without even be asked, said: “I will tell you this. We have no plans to retire. We have plans to do this for a long time.”
Sterling’s unsolicited comment reflects his own reality. It was a powerful statement of self-preservation. Why did he feel compelled to make it? After taking a few days off to deal with an illness, which remains unspecified, did Sterling want to send a message that everything is cool? Was he also alerting the Free World that his age is meaningless and he has plenty left in the tank? Was saying “we have no plans…” Sterling’s way of telling Entercom suits they should not even consider breaking up the band?
Sterling left the impression it will be he and Waldman who will make the call as to whether they will continue on in the Yankees radio booth. That’s his reality. Nonetheless it will be management’s decision whether Ma and Pa are offered new contracts. And there will be more than a few circumstances the suits will have to consider.
Obviously, performance will play a role. Since management has already bought into Ma/ Pa’s shtick, geared for the local audience, that shouldn’t be a problem.
While age should not matter, it will in terms of whether the duo can handle the grind of a 162-game season and a possible playoff run.
Since Sterling’s health issue is still a mystery, it, at some
point, may be a consideration.
On the flip side, replacing Ma/Pa would create a huge backlash. Like other voices who enjoyed long careers, Sterling/Waldman, for better or worse, have become part of the Yankees’ brand. Bringing in a new team — cold turkey — would be accompanied by controversy.
The suits could elect to cut the number of games Ma and Pa work and ease in other voices. WFAN recently used Ryan Ruocco and Chris Carrino when Sterling took a couple of games off and the world did not spin off its axis.
THE RATINGS GAME
Cable operators who pay top dollar to carry the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network and SportsNet New York probably were paying attention to what the Mets and Bombers did or did not do at the trade deadline.
Cable companies are always negotiating with YES and SNY over carriage fees. And there is always the possibility of a carrier dumping a regional sports network if they can’t cut a deal. That’s why winning, which usually leads to healthy ratings, is so important if a network is looking for more moola-dee.
Right now, neither YES or SNY is in a position to glom more dough. As previously reported here, for a variety of reasons, Yankees ratings on YES are down 26% from last season. The Mets on SNY are down 12%.
The Yankees could stroll to the AL East title. Will that scenario bring more eyeballs to YES? If the Mets continue winning, the excitement level should bring more viewers to SNY’s Mets telecasts. If winning doesn’t work, what will? If the ratings don’t increase, these cable affiliates will use it to their advantage at the negotiating table.
In 2017, Comcast booted YES off its local systems, leaving 900,000 subscribers in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania without Bombers baseball. Comcast claimed 90% of those subscribers were not watching the games “even while the Yankees were in the hunt for a playoff berth.”
But if winning leads to ratings, which it does most of the time, the next two months of the season are critical to SNY and YES. Unless, of course, the suits enjoy these “negotiations” when cable providers tell them to “fix baseball, it’s boring.”
SHINE A LIGHT ON BELL
It didn’t take Le’Veon Bell long to find the spotlight.
His soliloquy apologizing for letting down fantasy players last season followed by another spiel explaining why he apologized, demonstrated this is a cat who deserves a weekly spot preaching on a local radio show.
Bell’s Monday appearance on ESPN-98.7 was very strange. Not so much on Bell’s end, but from the microphone of Don (Mr. Warmth) La Greca. DLG decided it was a great idea to give Bell advice on how to deal with critics on Twitter. Then, in a stunning revelation, La Greca pumpedup Bell telling the running back how Jets fans “already love his presence.”
Ira From Staten Island couldn’t have done a better job.
Still, we have concluded La Greca and Bell should do a weekly segment together.
DON’T RUSH BACK
It would not be surprising, at least to us, if Michael Kay misses the rest of the Yankees regular season.
Looking at the history of his throat/vocal cord condition reveals it went from not being a big deal to a large enough one that has left him on the shelf. Then, Kay was supposed to return to the YES booth Friday, but that was pushed back 10 days (it will probably be more like two weeks) to give him more recovery time.
And judging by what has gone down, taking it slow and easy is the way to go.
Anyway, what’s the rush? There’s no deadline. The radio and TV gigs are not going away. A full recovery is what is needed. Kay should take as much time is needed for that to happen.