John Sterling: If You Can't Watch, You Don't Know If He Messes Up

Last week I downgraded my cable, which means I no longer get the YES Network. The only Yankee games I'll be able to watch for the time being are the ones that are on FOX and My9. As for the other games? I'll be getting re-acquainted with John Sterling:

I used to listen to Sterling do the games on radio years ago when Michael Kay was his sidekick. They were a great team. I continued to listen to them when I first got cable, over ten years ago. Like many other fans I would mute the TV and turn up Sterling and Kay. 

Now Suzyn Waldman is Sterling's sidekick. Not such a great team. I wouldn't turn the TV sound off for them. But, they're not terrible. Not horrendous as a lot of fans and many in the media business would have you think.

Sterling, and to a lesser degree, Suzyn Waldman, get crucified by local sportstalk radio and on one fan blog or another almost daily. He is criticized for his melodramatic calls and for making himself more important than the game.

His calls are melodramatic and he does try to make himself more important than the game.

So, what?

For all his faults, he still deserves to be respected as a broadcaster. Why? BECASUE IT'S RADIO!!

As long as he tells you what happens, who's doing it and what the score and inning are, what difference does it make? You can't see it unless you're watching TV as you listen. And, if you're doing that, you're one of two things: A media critic or a person with too much time on your hands.

On second thought, a media critic is a person with too much time on his/her hands.