As a lifelong Yankee fan, SU has listened to John Sterling for over 30 years. For a time, it was John Sterling and Michael Kay back in the 1990s, and then he picked up Suzyn Waldman as his booth mate. John Sterling is a good guy and it’s easy to wish him well in whatever the future holds for him.

However, for the past 10+ years, he has been unlistenable for SU. And rest assured, I can listen to anyone – with the exception of Dick Vitale in recent years who I actually have to mute on the television. SU is fine with Sterling being a homer for the Yankees – heck, we had Phil Rizzuto and no-one was more of a homer than him. For me, it was a few things with Sterilng:

1. Soooooo inaccurate on the home run calls. He was so excited to make the call on the home run and he did not seem to ever watch the TV monitor right in front of him. As his eye sight diminished, these calls became: “It is high, it is far, it is….caught 30 feet in front of the warning track.” As a fan, you started to listen more to the crowd noise in the background on these calls to figure out if it was actually going to be a home run. Brutal…. and super annoying.
2. He stopped giving the score of the game. You know: you get in your car, the games is on and you just want to hear the score. If the game was in progress, and no inning break in sight, you could wait a ridiculously long time to get the score. I finally started to check the score on my phone first because of that before turning on the game. Again….. annoying.
3. Working with Suzyn Waldman. SU has said this before: Suzyn was great when she did the post-game interviews in the clubhouse. Really excellent. As a radio analyst? Not so much value add there. I know many enjoy her with Sterling but I always felt it was a tough listening experience.

I like the Yankee television broadcasts. Kay, Paul O’Neill, David Cone, now Joe Girardi. All good. A different story on the radio and honestly, I stopped listening completely for the past couple of years for the reasons above. Unenjoyable. Nothing against him personally. Wish him all the best but looking forward to the new regime.

The Yankees are off to a great start but the cracks are starting to show a bit. The loss of Loaisiga in the bullpen is big as he was slated in for 2 innings at a time. Their ERA is excellent so far but you can see it coming. Over use as the starters don’t go much past 5 innings, and if you keep winning, there will be problems. Something is wrong with Anthony Rizzo in the field. Dropping throws at first, not scooping up balls in the dirt and last night, just missed a pop foul near the Yankee dugout. One wonders if the PTSD he suffered last year is totally gone.

Gleyber is not hitting but he will come around. The offense is more varied and once the weather warms up, they will be a tough out. They really need Gerrit Cole though to bolster the rotation. Truth be told, the AL is not all that good this year but the roster will need some tweaks going forward. I know: Yankee fans are spoiled. I prefer to think we have higher standards.

SU is excited about the Knicks’ playoffs coming up. They are an over-achieving team and fun to root for. A match-up with the Sixers will be very tough though – that is a team that may be built for the playoffs if Embid can stay healthy. But no matter what happens in the post-season, a great year for the Knicks.