A new voice subbed for DP the past two days. I thought Patrick McEnroe did an OK job. He wasn’t the relaxed conversationalist that I’ve come to expect from DP, but perhaps he was a bit nervous. Although he did his homework on a variety of topics he did not sound sure of himself. Or perhaps it was because I am used to hearing him talk about tennis, not baseball and basketball. At least he wasn’t a typical SCREAMING SPORTS GUY, nor did he lecture condescendingly (as Doug Gottlieb is wont to do, especially on basketball). I wish he had spent more time talking tennis with his brother John, and perhaps gotten some other tennis people on like Mary Carillo, who is an outstanding analyst. But talking tennis on ESPN is probably a good way to kill your ratings. The theme songs in honor of PacMan Jones “making it rain” got old, but props to Ric Bucher for citing Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs:
I mentioned in previous post that I thought KO would be on when Michael Kay subbed for DP, as Kay is one of the New York Yankee broadcasters and that would be a hook to get Keith to make an appearance even though DP was absent. But I watched the Mets-Yankees broadcast on MLB.TV last week Friday and was completely unimpressed with Kay. At one point, after Al Leiter (former major league pitcher for the Yanks and the Mets) commented on how Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson kept a detailed pitching chart on each pitcher’s performance, Kay chimed in with a loud, nasally “WHY DOES HE DO THAT? WHY DOES HE DO THAT?” I felt like yelling back “Well, what do you think, Brain Trust?” Like, Peterson gets paid to coach the pitchers. Wouldn’t it be a good idea for him to take a few notes? Sheesh! And looking back, it wasn’t the first time that Kay questioned observations made by Leiter, or the other YES Network analyst Ken Singleton (also a former MLB player, who knows a thing or two about the game). A couple of times during the game I thought about how good Leiter and Singleton were and that they really didn’t need Kay in the booth. So now I think I know why Keith wasn’t on the radio when Kay subbed for DP. KO doesn’t seem to be someone who will suffer fools gladly, and while I haven’t listened to Kay enough to say that he is a fool he certainly doesn’t strike me as a Baseball Guy. He’s certainly no Gary Cohen, who does the Mets broadcasts.
I wonder if KO would appear if Cohen were subbing for DP. Earlier this season Cohen mentioned how he had to catch the midnight rebroadcast of “Countdown” after getting home following a very long Mets game. So while Keith might not be a Cohen fan, we know that Gary’s a KO fan.
I think my favorite DP sub is Bob Valvano. He’s informed, relaxed, and while he’ll get worked up and emotional on certain topics he never descends into SCREAMING SPORTS GUY Mode, nor does he get into LECTURING Mode. Lecturing Mode is where the Omniscient Sportscaster tells us, the Humble Listeners, what we’re supposed to think. Gottlieb has become more of a Lecturer since leaving the tag-team environment of Sports Night and getting his own show, The Pulse. He’s still good, but for me has dropped from B+ to B. I still sort of like John Kincade, but he achieved a Lecturing Mode low when he criticized KO and Peter Gammons a ways back. I believe it was on a Saturday ESPN Radio show; he ridiculed them and others who continue to be concerned with the steroids/performance-enhancing drugs issue in baseball. For Kincade, it’s water under the bridge and people like Olbermann and Gammons need to get past it, “get a life,” or “get a girlfriend.” (Not sure how Gammons’ wife, Gloria, feels about that last suggestion.) Hey, I’m a baseball fan and I care about the game. If you don’t care about it, fine. Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to think.
Erik Kuselias was the classic SCREAMING SPORTS GUY we loved to hate, but since he left The Sports Bash he seems to have toned down his act. He doesn’t sub for DP much anymore. He was on subbing for Greeny yesterday on Mike and Mike and sounded like a normal person. Colin Cowherd has never, to my knowledge, subbed for DP. Although he comes up with some perceptive insights at times, I have to say he’s a biathlonic combo of SCREAMING SPORTS GUY and LECTURING SPORTS GUY. Not a pretty thing. I still put his show on in the morning, but more often than not I will turn it off when he goes into a rant. It just gets to be a bit much and a real distraction when I’m trying to get work done. And his complaint about KO being on Sunday Night Football was just plain dumb. But props to him for standing up to the numerous listeners who email and call in to declare that that dog fighting is no big deal and to get off Michael Vick’s back. (Cowherd has put dog fighting one step above pederasty in regards to heinousness.) And he really does come up with some interesting points. I’ll cut him slack, too, because he and his wife are divorcing and I think this has given his on-air demeanor a bitter edge lately.
Other DP subs:
- Josh Elliott and Scott van Pelt — They were on only once or twice, but I thought they were pretty good.
- Jeff Rickard — He hasn’t subbed for DP in quite some time, but when he did KO came on the show with him. They seemed to hit it off.
- Max Kellerman — OK, but nothing to write home about.
I wonder if KO could sub for DP. I guess his contract wouldn’t allow it (he’s a hot commodity at NBC these days, hence the High Muckety-Mucks using him for the football show this coming season) and I don’t know if his relationship with ESPN is good enough for them to allow him a three-hour slot. But I think he’d be able to fill three hours and do a good job of it. It might be all on baseball, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’d love for Michael Wilbon, Peter Gammons, or Rick Reilly to get a three-hour gig subbing for DP. But like KO, these guys are all A-listers and their main jobs might not allow them to get away for three hours. Maybe they could have an all-star line up with Wilbon for the first hour, KO and the Dalai Lama on for The Big Baseball Show in the second hour, and Reills on for the third.
En fuego!
