When I posted the transcript of Keith Hernandez going off on Jose Reyes last weekend, I did not expect this much of a stir to develop surrounding that subject.
Wow. If I were writing a newspaper column this weekend rather than house training poodles, here is the angle I might have taken:
It's been a generation since newspaper beat reporters stopped traveling with pro sports teams, which is a good thing. It reinforces the fact reporters are not part of the team, and that part of their role is critical objectivity.
Maybe it's time for teams' TV and radio announcers to follow suit. On one hand, we ask analysts such as Keith Hernandez to be opinionated and critical of the home team when warranted.
On the other, we expect Jose Reyes to see Hernandez sitting on a team charter with the players, coaches and manager and not think of him as part of the team.
The system puts both announcers and players in an awkward position. Much as they'd hate to give up the convenience and first-class food, it's time for home-team announcers to suck it up and join the print journalist schlubs in flying commercial.
Sorry, Mex.
Comments (9)
Neil who hates you more, Chris Russo for ripping his book or Keith Hernandez for taking away the one thing he cant live without?? Luxeries!
I'm quite confident Chris hates me more. But if they ever actually did kick the TV analysts off the charter, I guess it would be Keith who hates me more.
Jose needs to focus on not acting like a little leaguer and kicking his team's butt.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/35113-new-york-met-jose-reyes-confronts-keith-hernandez-on-baby-comment
Technically aren't the SNY announcers team employees thus allowed to be on the team charter?
Not even that Hernandez was right about Reyes and Reyes being the baby that he is had to try and show he is a man, at least he's been a better player since that happened and maybe that was what Hernandez was all about.
I'm not debating whether they ARE allowed on the charter, I'm debating whether they SHOULD be on the charter.
If Hernandez were a true journalist, this story wouldn't have taken five days to come out. And he didn't address the subject last night, and even went out of his way to complement Reyes when he spoke about him. In any case, the SNY guys are much closer to journalists than some of the other guys who work telecasts on team-owned networks.
Neil,
When Cablevision owns Newsday, obviously the Knicks and Rangers beat writers won't fly with the team, but the MSG announcers will. So if you write a media item about something that happens on the team plan and you work for . . .
Ah, who cares. What do you know about the A-Rod-Madonna romance?
Make that "team plane"
for a funny joke about Madonna and A-Rod, please see "The Final Score" blog elsewhere on newsday.com by clicking on my name.
Compliments on Jose have been plentiful in the past few days. The point being the owners have created this baby, like him the way he is, and have let it be known they would not allow Willie Randolph to sit the guy down when he needed it. It's the owners who are to blame for this player's actions or lack thereof.