Fans like me may have enjoyed Nick Swisher last night, but Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay was not pleased by the player's sense of humor in last night's game. Kay had as much an aversion to it as he does to ketchup, and he devoted a big portion of his ESPN 1050 radio show to complaining about Swisher.
Kay repeatedly griped, both on the air last night, and on the radio today, about Swisher rolling the Gabe Kapler strikeout ball towards the dugout, saying it was 'not cool' and worried that the other team would take offense to it. (Yeah, next thing you know, the Rays will bash the Yankees' heads in, and score 15 runs off their pitching or something. Oh, wait.)
The broadcaster agreed with Posada over Swisher because Jorge "has four rings," Kay noted. (Yes, because those 15 at-bats Jorge had in the 1996 season were so crucial.)
Kay suggested that, as I predicted earlier, that Posada and Derek Jeter should have a talk with Swisher about "the Yankee way." Good grief.
What, is this, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," with Swisher as Jack Nicholson's character McMurphy, and Posada as Nurse Ratched? Next thing you know, Johnny Damon will bring out a pillow.
"Think about the championship teams of the past, and tell me who the goofball is on it?" Kay asked on the air. Hmmm, how about the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox (Damon and Millar in 2004, and Manny Ramirez in '04 and '07). Or the 1977 and 1978 Yankees (Sparky Lyle in 1977, Mickey Rivers in 1977 in 1978.) Or the 1998 Yankees, one of the greatest teams ever, with David Wells as a starter.
I mean, really. Can you imagine what a tizzy Kay would have had if he had been broadcasting when Sparky Lyle was sitting naked on birthday cakes, or Phil Linz was playing a harmonica after a loss? Oh my goodness gracious!
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
13 comments:
Now you know the Yankees are the only team that can't win unless they have a stick up their *#&@&.
The Angels, Phillies, Cards, and even the Sox can win a World Series without wearing a suit, tie and carrying a briefcase on the field with them.
I'm all about handling your business and carrying yourself a certain way but damn, you make millions to play a child's game...I'm all for you making your money but honestly, that alone is laughable. Get over yourselves.
And Michael Kay needs to shut up. The only thing less important than playing a sport, is talking about a sport on the radio.
Michael Kay is an absolute embarrassment to the YES network and the Yankees.
Kay doesn't have a clue. Does he remember guys like Mantle, Ruth, Maris? Not exactly the most upstanding citizens either on or off the field. Are they not part of the Yankee way either Mike?
http://www.petitiononline.com/FIREMKAY/petition.html Kay must go...
michael kay is no gary cohen!
km
Swisher is the type of player who will keep things loose in the clubhouse,
Kay has taken this Yankee Way thing way over the top, Also it seems like Jeter and Posada are still throwing tantrums over Joe torre not returning as Manager of the Yankees,
Now saying all of that, Girardi seems to be in over his head, As I have seen suggested by others I think the Yankees should hire Buck Showalter as GM and he should decide on who should be the Manager
and Jeter and Posada need to grow up and remove the pasifier and show real leadership on and off the field.
Kay sucks the big camel dong.
Kay is the King of Uncool!
I've signed the petition too!
C'mon, Michael...lighten up! Concentrate on your own performance. Too much useless banter.
how is Girardi in over his head? that's stupid.
What are Kay's qualifications to be a baseball announcer besides having a famous uncle? I miss the days when you had ex ball players such as Scooter and Bill White telling us stories of the old days, transporting us to another era.
Michael Kay wants to lecture about "The Yankee Way"? This is the guy who had a certain then-shortstop on his "CenterStage" show in 2003 and said, "Having you in Texas is like hanging the Mona Lisa in the bathroom." Can Kay not see that we should have given this then-shortstop, now-third baseman A-Flush?
Can you imagine Kay doing a postgame show after Mel Allen did a "How about that?" after a Yogi Berra home run to get out of a slump? "Slump?" Yogi would say, "I wasn't in no slump, I just wasn't hitting." I can hear Kay now: "It's about time Berra put down those comic books and started thinking about hitting." To which Yogi would have said, "How can you think and hit at the same time?"
Jeff: Roger Maris wasn't an upstanding citizen? Everyone said he was. He had two flaws: He smoked himself to death, and he wasn't particularly good with public relations. But he was still worthy of holding the single-season home run record -- and, as any fan with sense knows, he still does.
KM: No, Kay is no Gary Cohen, but at least he knows how to pronounce "Alfonzo" -- not "Al-FAWWWWN-zo" like Cohen did when the Mets actually, briefly, had a reliable second baseman.
Gazette: Jeter and Posada need to grow up? I haven't heard Jeter say a word about Swisher. He's handling this right, by not handling it at all. Or maybe he should talk to Posada, and say, "Let it go, he's the only guy who got us any pitching that night." Come to think of it, Wade Boggs pitched a scoreless inning against the Angels in a blowout loss in Anaheim in 1997, and used a knuckleball to get a strikeout. Who was the catcher then? Was it Girardi, or Posada? If it was Posada, did he mind? If not, why does he mind now?
Reality Check: Kay's qualifications were that he was a sportswriter who had covered the Yankees. Of course, it was with that Murdoch tabloid, so take that without however much salt as you see fit.
Uncle Mike: Roger Maris also gave fans the bird during a nationally televised game. Not the best display of sportsmanship in my book.
My comment was not meant to bash the great Yankees, but to dissuade this notion of the "Yankee way". People like Kay need to brush up on their Yankee history a bit.
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