16
2012
It’s Nice To Have Fans As Announcers
An article by 
Howie Rose
Yesterday, WFAN’s Mike Francesa discussed how Mets broadcasters Howie Rose and Gary Cohen were “out of line” during this past weekend’s Subway Series.
Francesa said that it’s great that the Mets have fans as announcers, but that they sometimes take it too far in rooting for their team, especially against the Yankees.
Frankly, I love that Rose and Cohen are as die-hard of Mets fans as I am. Yes, I agree that there should be unbiased announcing if the opposing team wins or hits a home run. However, I love the excitement when we hear “It’s Outta Here!” from Cohen or “Put It in the Books” from Rose.
Is it so bad for a fan of the team to be an announcer?
I could see how a Yankees fan would be upset after listening to the Mets broadcast from the weekend. Rose talked about Nick Swisher’s antics after the back-to-back-to-back home runs, and Cohen was not shy about saying that Russell Martin’s first home run was a cheap Yankee Stadium homer.
Gary Cohen and Kevin Burkhardt
But here’s the thing: If Yankee fans are upset about it, go listen to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on 880. That’s their radio broadcast anyway. Rather than complain about the Mets broadcasters, Yankees fans should have enough to complain about with that interesting duo.
The whole point of radio is to attract an audience. Die-hard Mets fans enjoy Rose and
Cohen because they believe that the announcers are in the same boat. When a Met gets a clutch hit, it’s made that much more special when Rose or Cohen presents the call.Along the same lines, when the Mets blow a save or suffer a heartbreaking defeat—not too uncommon in our team’s history—Rose and Cohen are right their with the fanbase suffering.It’s not like they show up to work, call the game and say goodbye. These guys genuinely care about what they do, and it shows in their passion for the team.
While other teams or fanbases may have a problem with what Rose and Cohen are doing in the booth, they should simply be worried about what Mets fans think. Everyone I know loves them, and I’m sure the vast majority of Mets fans would agree.
About the Author: Jim Mancari
Jim Mancari hails from Massapequa, N.Y. He recently earned a Master's degree in Journalism at Hofstra University. He is a devout Mets fan and takes pride in his team, despite their lack of success over the last few years. Like all Mets fans, Jim has plenty of hope. He also writes as the sports reporter for the Brooklyn Tablet newspaper and the senior editor of metroBASEBALL Magazine. Click my name to view my personal website.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 24 | 18 | .571 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 20 | .535 | 1.5 |
| Phillies | 20 | 23 | .465 | 4.5 |
| Mets | 16 | 24 | .400 | 7.0 |
| Marlins | 11 | 32 | .256 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/18/2013
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I think it’s jealousy that the Yankee radio broadcasters rarely know what is going on or over dramatize a fly ball.
An A Bomb from Aaaaaa Rod.
That’s not being a fan? The Mets broadcasters tell it how it is more so than the Yankees Yes team or radio folks.
All Francesa did was try to add drama to an otherwise lackluster series.
What were they supposed to say “he crushed it.” It was a cheap Yankee Stadium HR. So they cross the line for telling it like it is?
Sterling sucks plain and simple but you have to wonder if he is a Yankee Fan or just a Sterling Fan! LOL
Throw in Michael Kay into that oblivious to what’s going on group. Yankee fans know they have the worst announcers in the business. My Yankee friends constantly complain how unlistenable the broadcasts are.
Its not like they don’t criticize the Mets as well. If someone fouls up, or they view it as a foul up, Rose Cohen and all of them will jump on it.
They are fans, but they aren’t the hyperbolic cheerleaders the Yankees employ. Just try to make it through their broadcasts. They are worse than anything the Braves or Nats announce teams put out.
Francesa…all you need to know. Insufferably bad sports talk radio personality.
I’m sure he had choice things to say about White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson, ’cause he’s one of the best and passionately devoted to his team. Same was true for thse treated to Ron Santo broadcasts on Chicago’s WGN. He was wonderful because of his passion and partisan opinions.
I saw a ranking a while ago online of the best and worst broadcasters and ranked the team of Gary, Keith and Ron as second in baseball only behind Vin Scully, and that couldn’t have been more spot on. The three of them and the tandem of Howie Rose and Josh Lewin are some of the best baseball has to offer.
I prefer to have fans as the broadcasters because they have been with the team their entire lives. They understand what it’s like to sit in the grandstands of Shea and root for their team, because they’ve been there. When something significant happens in a game, the excitement in their voice is so genuine, it adds to the experience of watching Mets baseball.
Notice how when the Mets hit a walkoff home run or Santana’s no-hitter all the clips the next day on MLB network and ESPN featured audio from both Cohen and Rose? That’s because they are both two fantastic broadcasters who should be, and I think one day will, be ranked among baseball’s all-time sportscasters.
Fangraphs has that ranking.
I like Mike Krukow of the San Francisco Giants. His technical knowledge and low keyed manner are a good antidote for the screamers who occupy many broadcasting booths. He pitched in the bigs for 14 years. Vince Scully is good by most folks standard, but the best ever? I don’t think so.
P.S.: I’m iffy on our new radio guy, Josh Lewin,
I’ve never heard the Giants announcers so can’t offer an opinion on that one.
Iffy on Lewin? I’ve only heard him a couple of times as I’m normally watching SNY but I’m ready to say he’s better than Hagin was. Of course, no one beats Howie on the radio, IMO.
“Put it in the books!!”
Well said!
Suzyn Waldman and Michael Kay are terrible hacks. They make our guys look like world class announcers.
Has Francesa ever watched a game that Sterling is calling? He doesn’t even get the call on the field correct! I’d honestly rather get a little bit of ‘homer-ism’ and get accurate play by play than get what those yaznokes call in the Bronx…
And the Mets pay their paychecks (hopefully
) – when the National broadcasters are homers, that ticks me off a bit (ahem, Tim McCarver…). But when its the hometown broadcasters, regardless of the team, I don’t give the guys any flack for being a bit biased. It’s their team for cripes sake. Of course they’re going to be biased!
Francesa just irks me sometimes…
The funny part is he didn’t even hear what he was ranting about. He was going by what his interns told him they heard “some people saying”. Turns out, no one officially connected with the Mets said anything about Swisher. It was just some fans complaining.
Then he calls them out and tears them down live on the radio. Because he couldn’t be bothered to make sure the story was accurate.
Here’s some world class, impartial sports broadcasting for you
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFYQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFdtn0Z4o8cM&ei=QgPaT-CGEcn_6QH0ra3RAg&usg=AFQjCNH-wtaPo-aGae1On0w9CZBMavOLJg
Always a classic Donal!
1. Mike Francesa is the LAST person to talk about being “out of line” and taking it too far in rooting for their fan. How many times the last few years alone him and/or Heyman has taken cheap shots at the Mets?
2. What was so wrong about Cohen saying Martin’s HR was cheap? IT WAS! Most, if not, all of those 8 HRs last weekend were cheap. In a real park, they would be near-warning track outs.
Francesca should shut his pie-hole. What would he prefer? Announcers that hate the team they announce for, a-la Joe Buck??
Rose, Cohen, Cone and Hernandez no the goods, the stats, the history, the highlights and the suffering- why would I, as a die-hard, life-long, God-made METS FAN want to hear a peep out of anyone that isn’t as excited about the METS as I am???
Suck it Francesca. WFAN should fire YOU for that comment.
The Yankees are always supposed to be about “tradition” and “class”…BS!
A team that buys and sells wins is about tradition??
Players that gloat arrogantly are about class???
A bunch of gebroni’s is all.
Guys like since when has Francesca ever been qualified to say what is a good broadcaster or not?
He is Sterling only without the high profile job! It’s all about Mike just as Sterling is all about Sterling!
In my professional broadcast opinion, The guys we have strike the perfect balance for a group charged with announcing for one team. It’s no secret they want to team to do well but if things are not well they sure pull no punches!
If you Listen to a yankee game when there is some controversy you will not hear a peep about it and it will be ignored as if it didn’t exist! The mets announcers will spend an entire inning or two on it!
This Impartiality announcing crap is only relevant in a Network game broadcast where each week you are calling games from a different cities, calling it for both fans of the teams that are playing because they are the only venue to watch the game and the last thing you want to do is alienate the fans of one side because you showed bias.
That said being OVERLY homeristic does get annoying. One thing to call it as you see it but quite another to try and paint it in the most favorable organizational light the way the yankee announcers do!
I think the guys we have are some of the best we have ever had. Even better than when McCarver was here who did his best work when Kiner was there to take up some of the air time leaving less for McCarver to pontificate over how much he knows.
The only group I put ahead of these guys are the originals. Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy!
Well said.
Lindsey, Ralph and Bob…memories from my youth. When I hear clips from those three or one of those three today, it just takes me back.
Thankfully we have the Mets Classics on SNY to get a fix now and again of those days…Now if only I could find a case of Reingold Beer to complete the memory! LOL
Francesa is the biggest homer for his teams. His teams never do any wrong and the “other” teams can never get anything right. I swear he’s offended that the Mets (and Jets) play in the same city as his teams.
The only team Francesca is a Homer for is TEAM FRANCESCA!
It’s all about him and his PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS as if sticking a mike in someone’s face and them taking a call from a media guy every now and then when he calls constitutes a deep personal friendship!
Why does this guy still have a show? I really gotta wonder about WFAN and people in NY for supporting this guy…especially when there is a ton of better sports radio out there.
So far I like Lewin, he’ll never measure up to what Gary and Mr. Murphy were able to do in the booth.
There are a few things I really like about our announcers…
1. They are fans of the team and understand what it is to be Mets Fans
2. Even though they are fans, they aren’t blind homers who see everything through blue and orange glasses. They call the game fair no matter what happens, plus they have no problem criticizing Ownership, Management or players because you can tell it’s there honest opinion.
3. They always seem very knowledgeable of the game and of the other teams and players. This is something you don’t always hear from other announcers and it’s especially disappointing when I hear national announcers (especially Buck and McCarver) have no idea about the teams they covering, especially with the resources Fox has to prepare for the couple of games a week they do.
Speaking of McCarver, did anyone hear his theory a little bit back about how he feels that there are more home runs because of thinner air caused by global warming? WTF? Thankfully to SNY, I learned that thinner air will actually cause the ball to NOT travel as far…plus I’d think that Global Warming would cause more humidity in the air which would make the air thicker (just my theory)…I don’t want to start a “does Global Warming really exist” argument…either you believe it’s true or you don’t, I don’t see anyone changing their opinions, so it’s not worth the argument.
Francesa is a blowhard, Yankee Homer. I love our radio and television announcers!!
This is the pot calling the kettle black!
There are quite a few Nats, Marlins, Braves, Yanks, Rays, among a few that are not just hometown announcers but make themselves part of the occasion when something great happens or whine when something goes wrong against there team; notice Rays announcers going on and on about check swing to end game as though that is why they lose.
I understand that hometown announcers are paid by team and bring a hometown flavor to their broadcasts along with local stories involving players, etc as do KGR, our announcers are quick to point out bad plays by our team, Keith especially, and don’t sugar coat it as some teams do.
Listening to Yankee broadcast back when Phil Rizzuto and Bill White do games is quite different than the self promotion of many announcers today to get their calls on Sportscenter.
I think this is a mistake. I listen to Francesa everyday and I don’t recall him saying the Mets broadcasters took anything too far. In fact he always speaks well of the Mets broadcasting team and has had Darling and Hernandez on the show with Hernandez regularly appearing.
He did take exception to Gary Cohen calling Martin’s HR “cheap” and had fun with that and yes he did take his assistant’s word for it. When Francesa asked his assistant for more details and he failed to do so at the beginning yes Francesa did take the kid to task on the air which i don’t blame him. He’s the number one radio show in NYC and the people who work for you have to do their job properly and if one of the technician’s jobs is to provide Francesa with pertinent info during the show and he’s wrong he should take him to task. It’s Mike’s butt on the line not the assistant.
Also later on he did produce info that said that a couple of the Mets did have an issue with Nick Swisher.
But the storyline of your post Jim is that Francesa was calling the Mets announcers homers and he did not do that at all. I heard the show.
If ever there was a case of the pot calling the kettle black…here it is! First off, despite his ‘knowledge” Mike Francessa is and has been a typical Yankee fan, pompous,arrogant and under the impression that it is the birthright of all Yankee fans to accept nothing but a World’s Championship. Alongside of this he knocks almost everything about the Mets.
Everyone knows that the original Yankee Stadium was built for left handed power hitters with that short porch in right field. Of course there was also Death Valley in center, but the new stadium is without a doubt “a bandbox” from foul pole to foul pole. For Francessa to call out our announcers as being “homers” is the most ridiculous idea. Yes, they root for our guys but between John Sterling, Michael Kaye and Suzyn Waldman you could get nauseous with their calls, and opinions.
At least our announcers are able to be truthful when we play poorly and understand the fans during bad times too.
I no longer live in NY and have to be subjected at times to listening to the broadcasters of our opponents when MLB TV doesn’t give me the satellite feed of our announcers. Many of those announcers are either boring or even worse are such rooters that they practically try to “wish” for possibilities for their teams. Some of them in comparison make Tim McCarver seem to be shy to tell us what he knew. Marc Grace who does color for the D’Backs here in Arizona is a joke to listen to. He has great knowledge no doubt but not only is he boring but he is so one sided that it is annoying.
I didn’t hear Francessa’s comments but I did see Nick Swishers’s antics in the dugout after his homer and thought it was beyond celebrating and leaned more towards “gloating”, I can see where Met players could have been annoyed. The three game sweep in Yankee Stadium was tough to watch but you have to admit…we went to Tampa and kicked some “butt”, Truthfully, I was originally more concerned with the Tampa series feeling that there could have been a letdown after the games with the Yankees.
MIKE FRANCESSA……can kishin my tuchas! LOL
The great thing is Brooklyn will now also have a fan calling the plays…
Who is he kidding. Guess he doesn’t listen to Sterling & Waldman, the ultimate Stankee Kiss A__.Franchesca is nothing but a joke on radio. He should be a shame of himself for being critical of anyone else. SNY broadcast does a hell of a better job than does morans at the YES network.
Thank you for writing about this!!!! When I tuned in the Franny and heard him bashing Howie, I was furious…. Not just bc I am tired of hearing someone who hates the Mets hijack the Mets station day in and day out BUT BECAUSE THEY SWEPT US…. And that wasn’t enough for Franny… He needed to make it clear that they REALLY beat us and it was a disgrace to not bow down to their awesomeness. I was stuck in my car and listening on XM so I was listening to the Yankees broadcast and I was treated to cheap homerun calls described as bombs! And while John did compliment David Wright several times, I also heard J & S make comments and joke about “people actually wearing Duda shirts” among other small jabs regarding Mets bad luck… But of course they quickly reminded everyone that the Yanks bad luck was worse than anyone’s ever. I don’t understand why the Yankees fans are so obsessed with keeping Mets and Mets fans in their place. Meanwhile, Gary, Howie, etc are very gracious while still sharing elation and despair with us!
First of all, Francesa is a Yankee fan & a bigtime JACKASS! National announcers should be unbiased, but not local announcers. They do all 162 games, every year, so why shouldn’t they be fans? And, us fans enjoy listening to announcers & commentators that favor our team. Francesa was listening to the Mets broadcasts because he knows the Yankee announcers suck!
The Yankees will sweep the mutts again, this time at shitty field. Let’s put the mutts back where they belong, in the gutter!
Hi Skankoffs Troll. Can’t wait to welcome you to Citi.
Be sure to come on here next week, and tell us about your Skanks…:)