Have a little assignment for ya while watching Sunday’s NFL and MLB games: Note how many times the leagues’ partner networks focus on players acting like self-smitten me-first show-offs — replaying shots of posing, preening, trash-talking and excessively uncivil professionals rather than showing them doing something skillful as it relates to winning team games. And … Read more
Tom Brady had ups and downs in his highly anticipated Fox Sports announcing debut. Fox signed Brady to a 10-year deal worth a total of $375 million more than two years ago, and the sports world has been waiting with bated breath to see how he’d perform in the booth. The game wound up being … Read more
Ever consider whether game announcers return home after games to review their recorded work? Given that announcers rarely change their overall approach, most must be well satisfied with their work, right? In other words, is it possible that Michael Kay enjoys his superfluous verbal presence on Yankees telecasts? Say, the way he adds to moments … Read more
Longtime Ch. 4 broadcaster Bruce Beck, a New York sports institution, talks a lifetime of memories with Post columnist Steve Serby: Q: If you could cover any baseball game in MLB history? A: 1951, The Shot Heard ’Round the World. ’Cause I loved [Ralph] Branca, I loved [Bobby] Thomson. Q: I’m guessing you would go … Read more
Imagine … Imagine if MLB players spent as much time practicing winning fundamentals — say, bunting — as they do practicing and perfecting elaborate home run celebrations. Imagine if late in close games in anticipation of a 10th inning with automatic runners on second, prospective leadoff batters were sent inside to the batting cage to … Read more
The FS1 lineup continues to evolve this summer. Michelle Beadle is in serious talks to join former WFAN broadcaster Craig Carton’s morning show as a daily co-host, The Post has learned. A deal has not been finalized, according to sources. Michelle Beadle is in serious talks to join FS1. Getty Images A Fox Sports spokesperson … Read more
The buzzer could be sounding in the distance for “Around the Horn”. The daily ESPN sports talk show, which debuted in 2002, is facing an uncertain longterm future, The Post has learned. Several sources believe that the show will come to an end on ESPN before the 2025 football season. ESPN’s ‘Around the Horn’ has … Read more
It’s not surprising that there will be no testimonials for the 1974 Yankees this year. When you are a franchise that’s won 27 championships, that’s been in 40 World Series — that’s one out of every three ever played — it’s not necessarily on brand to honor a team that finished in second place, which, … Read more
Roughly 60 years ago, Mad Magazine, published for kids with a bent toward satire before they graduated to the National Lampoon, invented a game called 43-Man Squamish. Mad included play diagrams depicting 43 players running in 43 different directions, a comical absurdity that perhaps inspired StatCast graphics that networks purchase then seriously present to show … Read more
Dianna Russini grappled with whether she was ready to assume the responsibility of being the top dog. Russini, the ebullient NFL reporter, left ESPN for The Athletic, the sports outlet owned by the New York Times, last offseason — and arguably increased her visibility in the process. On a video call with The Post earlier … Read more
Try this one on. Free alterations. The Wall Street Journal this week reported that several of the commercially conspicuous league and network-attached sports betting operations — including Bet MGM, ESPN Bet and Caesars, their ads endlessly seen on TV to convince their clients to lose their money — have a hard time suffering those fortunate … Read more
It’s one of those ear-worm songs, so even if it wasn’t something you were going to hear at the ballpark all summer, it would find a way to bore into your head and stay there awhile. But, of course, “OMG” isn’t just a catchy song that the Mets have adopted. It’s a catchy song that … Read more
Lots of notes to share. And with recycling day approaching, we’re mindful of the pre-Revolutionary War flags — when George Washington worked for the Brits — that declared years before the Fourth of July, “Don’t shred on me!” No refunds. Blackout restrictions apply. Here goes: One of the hard-earned benefits this messed up country has … Read more
First, to meet this month’s journalistic requirement. Here goes: Bronny James, Bronny James, Bronny James. There. That should do it. The son of the almighty, enriched by Nike’s Communist China partners and Fourth World laborers despite his chosen omnipresence as a social and racial activist, the son without portfolio, yet drafted in the second round … Read more
Tuesday from ESPN’s on-site Stanley Cup Final, studio host Steve Levy delivered the news that Willie Mays had died: “The Say Hey Kid, is gone. Too soon. Willie Mays has passed away tonight at the age of 93.” Too soon? Perhaps Levy had the over 94 in a BetESPN parlay. Not that I’ve ever been … Read more
For the third time in a year, ESPN must figure out what to do with its top NBA announcing team. Instead of opting for a flashy name, the network should select Tim Legler to work alongside venerable play-by-play man Mike Breen and trailblazer Doris Burke. After laying off Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson last … Read more
Good things come to those who wait. At least to those who wait it out. MLB on Friday night was forced to show the Dodgers-Yankees to the nation’s two largest TV markets on both YES and L.A.’s cable network, as well as on a previously exclusive paywalled streaming service, because Rob Manfred and Associates bit … Read more
I still remember the theater: the Green Acres Triplex in Valley Stream. I remember it was a matinee and I did have to look that up — 4:35, because I’d have been in school for the 2 o’clock showing. And I remember the day — Thursday, June 7, 1984 — because the very next day … Read more
Geez, spring intrasquad college football is now all over afternoon TV. And smack in the midst of finals! How do these scholar athletes manage it all!? Now that making bail is no longer essential for big city criminals, I’d like to commit several breaking-and-entering capers, just to leave my mark in the renewed spirit of … Read more
Mike Breen knows the feeling, believe that. He knows what it’s like to follow a giant, and he’s done it with the kind of grace and excellence that’s allowed him to somehow turn Marv Albert’s old job into his own. You never know how that’s going to turn out. For Breen, it’s been something plucked … Read more