With contracts up at the end of this season, the voices of Yankees radio, John Sterling and Charley Steiner, said they expect to return.
“I am finishing my 16th year and I would expect to be here at least another 16 years,” Sterling said.
Sterling likely is safer than Steiner. At the end of every Yankees home victory, his likeness appears on the scoreboard and his signature call, “Yankees win! Thu-uuuuh Yankees win!” is blared through the loudspeakers.
Since Steiner’s arrival from ESPN three years ago, he has not meshed with Sterling the way Michael Kay did. Kay, a former newspaper reporter, complemented Sterling’s bombast with information from the clubhouse. Steiner, whose deep voice too closely resembles Sterling’s, often recites statistics instead of offering insight. Still, Steiner said he’s expecting to return
“I’ve been given every indication that they would like to have me back,” Steiner said.
Ultimately, George Steinbrenner will make the call, meaning the quality of the broadcast may not matter as much as the whims of the Boss.
While we had it right in this space last week that Jim Durham will join Snapper Jones on ESPN’s NBA telecasts, Durham is not leaving radio. In fact, he is being promoted to The Finals, replacing Brent Musburger, according to sources. And you will see less, if any, of Musburger on ESPN NBA TV broadcasts. Musburger will do some NBA on ESPN Radio and call college hoops for ESPN … With Mike Patrick recovering from heart surgery, Pat Summerall will continue into the regular season as ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” lead play-by-play man … Lesley Visser underwent hip replacement surgery this week. Bonnie Bernstein will fill-in on the sideline for CBS’ No. 1 NFL team.
Almost always entertaining and informative, NBC’s Teddy Atlas broke down why U.S. Olympic boxers are not winning. They are used to fighting orthodox, mostly right-handed fighters.
“It is like if you were in the 100-yard dash and then two months before they tell you you are going to run a mile,” Atlas said from Greece.
As for the scoring system, Atlas hates it.
“Three judges out of five have to hit a Nintendo keypad within one second,” Atlas said. “It might be good for Nintendo, but I don’t know how good it is for actual fair scoring. They [American boxers] have to deal with that system.”
If Fox Sports Net is going to make a dent in ESPN, it needs more staple programs to complement its regional games. A show like “Head-to-Head with James Brown” could be good, but who will know about it; it is on four times a year
“Would I like to have JB once a month? I’d like to,” said Fox Sports Net executive vice president George Greenberg, who will revisit the idea of a regular show with Brown.
The next “Head-to-Head” is Sunday, Sept. 5.
