Burkhardt a Rising Star

Those of you who read this site know that Dave and I are big fans of the work that Kevin Burkhardt does on SNY. Simply put, he's quickly becoming one of the best broadcasters in the biz, and his future looks bright.

Check out this article on Burkhardt from Neil Best at Newsday.

The Mets should lock him up for a long time; either doing what he's doing now, or as a replacement for Wayne Hagin on the radio broadcast. This is New York, and we need to have the best talent. Kevin Burkardt, is the next star in baseball broadcasting.

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 Next Mets Radio Guy

I've got to admit I'm not crazy about the new Mets radio announcer, Wayne Hagin. He just doesn't sound right especially after all the years of Gary Cohen and his sound-alike Tom McCarthy.

Maybe our next broadcaster will be a grad of this great camp I came across and have actually had the privilege of witnessing. Bruce Beck, of WNBC, and Ian Eagle, who does the Nets & CBSSports, are in their 7th year running a broadcasting camp for teens.

The kids do mock interviews, prepare scripts and even do play-by-play of the Sussex Skyhawks. The highlight of the week is a press conference with Yogi Berra since the camp is hosted at the Yogi Berra Museum.

The Mets old sideline guy Matt Loughlin even coaches the kids. If you know of anyone who might be interested, check it out at www.sportsbroadcastingcamp.com.