Great to be invited by Wes McElroy back to The Fan in Richmond (910 AM, 105.1 FM) to chat about sports media. We talked a little bit about the next ESPN “30 for 30” film, Long Gone Summer, but I haven’t seen it yet so couldn’t offer much other than my own personal experiences watching the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
But with the NBA and NHL returning soon (we still don’t know if MLB is coming back), Wes and I discussed what those telecasts might sound and look like with the broadcasters likely to work off-site from remote studios.
The 2015 New York Mets season will represent the 10th year together for SNY’s (SportsNet New York) broadcast trio of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez. It’s an impressive run, one not typically seen on regional team broadcasts. The success is even more notable, considering how rare three-man booths are on sports television these days.
But the SNY team makes it look easy, with a smooth chemistry and refreshing candor that’s made it extremely popular among Mets fans and considered by many to be the best broadcast booth in MLB. So what has been the key to the trio’s success? How has it worked so well over the past nine years?
“I think the thing that works best for us — and it really is rare in television, especially when you have two players who had great careers — is that we have a very low-ego booth,” said Cohen, who had called Mets games on radio for 17 years before moving to TV.
“What I mean by that is, nobody needs to be the star. You hear it sometimes in other broadcasts, where there’s almost a competition for the microphone, and that’s never the case on our broadcast, even when we have three in the booth.”
Ian Casselberry 