DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com Sunday, March 29, 2020 75
W
hen it ’s “safe” for
baseball to return
from coronavirus ex-
ile, there is the dis-
tinct possibility the
game will be played in empty
stadiums.
Initially, the powers that be
could want to limit those al-
lowed in to essential personnel
only.
What impact will this have on
the broadcasters and their tele-
casts?
For safety sake, and as a pre-
caution, Major League Baseball
may want to limit the broadcast
crews working games. This
would mean home team TV
voices, and their technical
squad, would be permitted to
broadcast the game from the
stadium but visiting team voices
would not.
Yankees Entertainment &
Sports Network Bombers ana-
lyst Ken Singleton, on a recent
edition of WFAN’s “Moose &
Maggie Show,” said several sce-
narios have been discussed, in-
cluding one where fans in the
visiting team market would only
get the hometown feed of base-
ball games. For example, YES
voices would not travel to Chi-
cago to work a Yankees-White
Sox game. They would work the
game from the YES studio.
“When you’re watching a
home town feed their cameras
and directors are going to con-
centrate on their team,” Single-
ton said on FAN. “What’s going
to happen also is our (YES) guys
are going to be back in the studio
talking over the pictures from
the other team’s production
crew.”
John J. Filippelli, YES’ presi-
dent of production/program-
ming said any discussion of
plans moving forward is “pre-
mature” and “speculative.”
“We need to see how this all
unfolds. Right now, it’s hard to
project,” Filippelli said. “When
the time comes to make a deci-
sion, it will center on, and always
take into consideration, the
health and safety of all our peo-
ple. It’s all about a safe environ-
ment.”
AS p o r t s N e t N e w Yo r k
spokesperson declined to com-
ment on whether any future
Mets TV production plans have
been discussed.
Singleton said he has experi-
ence working games from the
studio off a visiting team feed.
He said it was not easy. “Espe-
cially when you want to talk
about a player on your own team
to show there are actually two
teams on the field,” Singleton
said. “It could be a little tricky
but it could be done that way
(from the studio).”With all broadcasters keeping
their proper distance, of course.ROUGH CUTS AT WFAN
Just wondering how much
money Entercom, WFAN’s par-
ent company, is actually saving
by dumping weekend fixtures
Ri c h a r d Ne e r a n d C h r i s
Moore?
It can’t be much. Gasbags
who yak on Saturday and Sun-
day, even ones with strong fol-
lowings like Neer and Moore,
are not breaking the bank.
Entercom (it is replacing
Neer and Moore with some of
its daily contract players) has
made similar moves at other sta-
tions it owns.
Perhaps the total cuts add up
to a tangible savings.
Still, Entercom suits, like
many other media companies,don’t know how deep in the hole
the financial ramifications of the
coronavirus pandemic will put
them. No, it doesn’t take a
weatherman to see which way
the wind is blowing here. An-
other shoe could fall.
Don’t be surprised if the suits
start cutting the salaries of your
favorite Gasbag. Especially
when Mike (Sports Pope)
Francesa goes on the air and
admits: “Let’s be honest, they
(Entercom) are not selling a lot
of ads right now. This is a way of
cutting back expenses.”
Will the Pope be so rational
and benevolent when Entercom
asks him to take a pay cut?CAN’T KNOCK THESE JETS
Wednesday marked the 10th
anniversary of HBO Sports/
NFL Films selecting the Jets tostar in “Hard Knocks.”
It’s significant in a couple of
ways. Gang Green captivated
fans in the summer of 2010, re-
cording the highest viewership
ever for “Hard Knocks.” It has
held the top spot for a decade.
The cast of the Jets in “Hard
Knocks” produced a number of
personalities who eventually
went into broadcasting. They in-
clude: Rex Ryan, Mike Tan-
nenbaum, Mark Sanchez,
LaDainian Tomlinson, Bart
Scott andDamien Woody.
And there was the most
memorable moment, with Ryan
angrily addressing his team and
ending the fiery soliloquy saying:
“Let’s go eat a goddamn snack!”BRAVO BRADSHAW
While he was ripped after
criticizing Tom Brady over
dumping New England for
Tampa Bay, Terry Bradshaw
again proved why the longevity
he has enjoyed as a high-profile
NFL analyst is well deserved.
Bradshaw, who has been
with Fox (before that CBS) since
the network got into football in
1 994, told The Athletic, among
other things, that Brady’s move
was ego driven, done to spite
Bill Belichick. One of Brad-
shaw’s critics — Ken Laird, a
producer at WEEI in Boston —
said Bradshaw’s beef with Brady
“is dumb even by Hollywood
Henderson’sstandards.”
Nice line. Bradshaw can in-
spire that kind of brilliance. Un-
like his brethren who occupy
those very expensive seats on
NFL pregame shows, Bradshaw
has made a habit (it’s really more
like a tradition) of ticking people
off. The “established” analysts
on shows like CBS’ “The NFL
Today,” NBC’s “Football Night in
America” or even Bradshaw’s
home base, Fox’s “NFL Sunday,”
will only go to a certain point.
They usually add doses of
honey to their rare acid attacks.
They measure their words.
Bradshaw just spits his out with
passion, conviction and twang.
Even in the controlled — “wrap
it ”— world of the pregame
shows Bradshaw is allowed to
walk the high wire sans net. It’s
one of the big reasons we still
watch “NFL Sunday.”
Bradshaw doesn’t know or
care where the line is. He has
never acted like he’s worried
where his next contract is com-
ing from. Unlike some of his
peers, he is not beholden to any-
body in the NFL, not even Brady,
who will one day join him in
Canton. So, to all who disagreed,
just admit Bradshaw’s take on
Brady was a masterpiece.
After all, it brought the best
out of you.IT’S A
TOUGH
CALL
Visiting broadcast teams
could be benched by virus
Michael Kay and
Ken Singleton
could be forced to
sit out Yankee
road games once
baseball is back
from the
coronavirus
shutdown.APDUDE OF
THEWEEK
JOEL EMBIID
For reaching out. When
some team owners tried
slashing employee pay, the
76ers star offered to make
up part of the difference. In
the end, Embiid gave half a
million to coronavirus relief
effort. Strong gesture by
the big man.IOC
No applause for the
Morons of Money, also
known as the International
Olympic Committee, for
finally postponing the
Summer Games. Their
indifference to recognizing
the worldwide pandemic
was shocking.DWEEB OF
THEWEEK
DOUBLE
TALK
What Tom Brady said:“I
don’t want to talk about
the past because that’s
not relevant to what’s
important in my future.”
What Tom Brady meant
to say: “The details of my
relationship with (Bill)
Belichick are none of your
business.”BOB RAISSMAN
MEDIA