Former Mets pitcher and current SNY broacaster, Ron Darling, sat down the Good Day NY crew to talk about his new book called The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching and Life on the Mound.
I personally love Ron Darling and the insight he brings to the Mets telecast. I think he's arguably one of the most articulate color guys in baseball and has the ability to explain pitchers' mechanics and mentality like few others on TV. Check out this interview he did and you'll see the book highlights the '86 Mets, baseball in general and what are his thoughts on the game he loves.
Showing posts with label ron darling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ron darling. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, July 21, 2008
Be Thankful for Our Broadcasters
I know that we rip on the snooze quality of Wayne Hagin's WFAN broadcasts, but honestly we have some of the best broadcasting teams working for the Mets. Over the weekend I was down at the Jersey shore and listened to parts of the Mets games via XM radio which forces you to listen to the home team's broadcast.
The Reds radio announcers are possibly some of the worst in the business. First off they alternate between two one man teams. So there's no banter, no commentary, just one guy making the calls. There were at least a dozen times I thought XM lost its signal on because there was nothing but dead air coming through the speakers for 30 seconds at a time. All this on top of the fact that you couldn't tell if a guy just hit a home run or into fielder's choice because the inflexion in the announcer's voice was the same for 9 straight painful innings.
Now Hagin is easily the weaker broadcaster on the radio, but the Reds guys make Hagin look like the Vin Scully of radio.
Of course, our SNY team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are a Mets Lifer's dream broadcasting team, but even industry people applaud the way they call a game. Their unbiased and unabased in their commentary and that's what makes them great.
Even Kevin Burkhardt is a great asset to the SNY team. For a young sideline reporter he asks tough questions in the post game interviews and does a great job in the mid-game cutaway segments. Newsday is even following around Kevin to do special piece on him in the upcoming weeks. In fact today our own Kevin Burkhardt speaking at a local sports broadcasting camp run by Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle, talking to kids about the in's and out's of broadcasting. Who knows maybe he's even speaking to one of his future replacements?
So don't take what we have for granted. We easily have the best broadcasting team in New York and I'm sure we outshine much of the other MLB teams as well. Enjoy what we have while it lasts.
And if you're in Cincinnati, don't operate heavy machinery and listen to the Reds game.
The Reds radio announcers are possibly some of the worst in the business. First off they alternate between two one man teams. So there's no banter, no commentary, just one guy making the calls. There were at least a dozen times I thought XM lost its signal on because there was nothing but dead air coming through the speakers for 30 seconds at a time. All this on top of the fact that you couldn't tell if a guy just hit a home run or into fielder's choice because the inflexion in the announcer's voice was the same for 9 straight painful innings.
Now Hagin is easily the weaker broadcaster on the radio, but the Reds guys make Hagin look like the Vin Scully of radio.
Of course, our SNY team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling are a Mets Lifer's dream broadcasting team, but even industry people applaud the way they call a game. Their unbiased and unabased in their commentary and that's what makes them great.
Even Kevin Burkhardt is a great asset to the SNY team. For a young sideline reporter he asks tough questions in the post game interviews and does a great job in the mid-game cutaway segments. Newsday is even following around Kevin to do special piece on him in the upcoming weeks. In fact today our own Kevin Burkhardt speaking at a local sports broadcasting camp run by Bruce Beck and Ian Eagle, talking to kids about the in's and out's of broadcasting. Who knows maybe he's even speaking to one of his future replacements?
So don't take what we have for granted. We easily have the best broadcasting team in New York and I'm sure we outshine much of the other MLB teams as well. Enjoy what we have while it lasts.
And if you're in Cincinnati, don't operate heavy machinery and listen to the Reds game.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Props to Kevin Burkhardt
We all talk about how fortunate are we to have Gary Cohen, Darling and Hernandez doing the games every night but I have to acknowledge the great job that Kevin Burkhardt does on SNY night in, night out. He's insightful, honest, articulate, does fantastic in-game reporting, and best of all, the guy asks a lot of tough questions when he's covering this team pre and post game. He asked good questions at Monday's silly press conference and last night was asking Johan Santana point blank questions about Willie, about being the stopper, and whether or not he's actually brought his best game yet to the National League. Also, before the game last night, while a guest on Loud Mouths, Burkhardt spoke candidly about this team not hitting, about how guys need to step up and start performing the way they're supposed to. While not groundbreaking news here, it is certainly refreshing to get this kind of honesty. I'm not sure how all of you feel, but I for one, think he does a great job and I enjoy his commentary on this team.By the way, Keith Hernandez said he really enjoyed being so close to the field last night, getting a different perspective, while broadcasting from behind home plate. He said he felt like playing again...or maybe...managing? I dunno...but Freddie and Jeff should find out.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Oliver Perez is Like that Crazy Girl You Dated
We are watching the demise of Oliver Perez and it's in blazing HD. Perez was a 15 game winner last year folks. That's right, the guy you saw last night won 15 games last year.
Hard to believe.
Oliver Perez is like that girl you dated in college. You know the one I'm talking about. It's the girl who you thought was attractive. She seemed fun. You had a good time when you went out a couple of times. And then WHAM! She turned into psycho chick. You might have seen this coming but you chose to ignore it.
That's Oliver Perez.
We knew this was coming, but like many a Mets Lifer, I chose to believe that the 15 game winner of last year was the real Oliver Perez. Blinded? Sure. Naive? Possibly. Optimistic? Unfortunately.
The kid has something wrong in his head. Ron Darling put it perfectly the other night when he said that Perez can look like the best left handed pitcher in the NL in one inning, and then the worst in the next.
Rick Peterson needs to try some zen voodoo, hypnosis, acupuncture or whatever. Because if Perez becomes unreliable then we really only have 2 starting pitchers you can count on: Santana & Maine.
That's no good in a power packed NL East.
Hard to believe.
Oliver Perez is like that girl you dated in college. You know the one I'm talking about. It's the girl who you thought was attractive. She seemed fun. You had a good time when you went out a couple of times. And then WHAM! She turned into psycho chick. You might have seen this coming but you chose to ignore it.
That's Oliver Perez.
We knew this was coming, but like many a Mets Lifer, I chose to believe that the 15 game winner of last year was the real Oliver Perez. Blinded? Sure. Naive? Possibly. Optimistic? Unfortunately.
The kid has something wrong in his head. Ron Darling put it perfectly the other night when he said that Perez can look like the best left handed pitcher in the NL in one inning, and then the worst in the next.
Rick Peterson needs to try some zen voodoo, hypnosis, acupuncture or whatever. Because if Perez becomes unreliable then we really only have 2 starting pitchers you can count on: Santana & Maine.
That's no good in a power packed NL East.
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