On the Yankees beat

Allow me to move away from the Yankees for a brief second or two, if you will.

While I was in the clubhouse postgame, I noticed one of the cameramen had a Survivor t-shirt on, and the front of it said it small letters, "Crew." No way, I thought. So I asked him about it, and sure enough he has shot five or six seasons, including the most recent, which debuts on television in the middle of next month. He is required by law to be tight lipped about the show, but he did give me a few tidbits:

-- He said this coming season the show's producers really mixed it up with how they do things (I take that to mean more tribes, different rules, another Exile island) and he said the end result was very interesting and entertaining season.

-- He only shoots tribal councils and challenges, so he is not ever present at their camps. He is not allowed to speak to castaways. Only Jeff Probst is. But sometimes the people try to speak to him. He also insisted everything we see is real, and that they don't ever stop challenges to move people around for camera angles, etc.

-- Rest assured, he told me the crew always sleeps well and eats well at their camp. I never really envisioned them fighting over how much rice they had left or whose turn it was to go fetch some more wood for the fire, anyway.

New Survivor cast, details announced