switching it over to AM, searching for a truer sound
Listening to the Mets on the radio is a crystalline connection to the old, weird New York, and not simply because it was something I did when I was a kid. It is filled with advertisements for steak houses (“just over the left field fence in Astoria!”) and camera stores (B & H, closed for Shabbos, though the voiceover dude is obviously goyim, and just says “Friday evenings and Saturdays”), of annoying pitchmen and annoying pitches. The Mets’ announcers still shill for sponsors, and often interrupt themselves mid-commentary to do so. It is a world where hipsters don’t exist, and Dwight Eisenhower might as well still be President, or even Calvin Coolidge. Ballgames — and, I assume, other sporting events — are one of the few things that traditional radio still does extraordinarily well. Web 2.0? Whatever. I’ll take pure AM gold from Shea.
On the other hand, WPIX’s broadcasts have Keith Hernandez. Acting kind of like a joke about Keith Hernandez.
Yeah, though sadly he’s only on PIX on weekends. It’s cable the rest of the time for Keith & Ronnie Darling, and I ain’t got that. But, yeah, Keith makes a great caricature.
The Sunday of the ’86 reunion weekend, I suspect he was extraordinarily hungover. Sample commentary: Gary Cohen: “Keith, you haven’t said anything all inning. You okay there, big guy?” Keith: (grunts something). Cohen: “Alright, we’ll get back to you next inning.”
Great observations on Keith from Metsblog:
http://tinyurl.com/g2bes