It’s one thing to watch the Giants and Jets play non-competitive, bland, games. Yet it’s quite another to actually hang around to see how each coach answers questions during his post-game press conference.
As someone who follows this tedious viewing pattern, we often ask the following question of ourselves: Masochist or moron? We will go with the latter.
On SNY’s Jets postgame session, soft-speaking Robert Saleh tries keeping hope alive and spreading whatever gospel there is about rookie quarterback Zach Wilson’s progress. Sad Sack Saleh often looks drained and drawn. He has little to smile about. At least his answers are realistic.
Then there’s Joe Judge. The Giants coach has often stated he wants his team to represent and respect the blue-collar masses of this region.
No matter the type of loss, Judge is still energized, definitive and in control. Judge talks a good game until he slips into what appears to be scripted delusion. Or maybe his eyes are just more educated than the rest of us tuning in.
Like after Sunday’s Sominex Serenade in Miami. No use recapping the Giants’ 20-9 loss to the Dolphins. We don’t like falling asleep while writing. Judge, wide awake, saw things differently. At least that what he said during his televised post-game session on MSG.
“There was a lot of things that I saw in the way we played, a lot of things that are moving in the right direction,” Judge (actually) said.
Judge might as well have been Eli Manning shooting double-birds at the camera.
If Judge delivered delusion to protect his players, so be it. If he wanted to make himself look a bit wiser, that’s cool too. If he was trying to con the assembled notebooks and cameras, well that’s part of the game that everyone is getting paid to play.
What’s egregious here is Blue Collar Joe deciding to treat his beloved “constituency” like idiots. He showed them no respect. They watched — at least as much as they could stomach — the Giants mail it in and later the coach is talking about “moving in the right direction?” Judge has often said he doesn’t call out players publicly. That’s no excuse for not presenting a realistic take on what happened on the field Sunday.
Kudos to those in the media who pushed back after Judge delivered his Miami Malarkey. No doubt they will be closely watching if the Giants lose to the Chargers Sunday. Will Judge, talking like he knows he’s coming back next season, down-shift into another delusional spin-job?
Or will he look to protect what’s left of his credibility by playing it straight?
That’s his choice. Nonetheless, Judge should know this: He isn’t fooling anybody.
‘WAKE THE HELL UP’
Stephen A. Smith put his Knicks pom-poms in storage last week and tore Tom (Do No Wrong) Thibodeau’s club to shreds.
Smith, not distracted by Obi Toppin’s between the legs dunk, took his shots after smashing a Knicks cap on the set of ESPN’s “First Take.”
“Wake the hell up,” SAS bellowed. “You’re a below average team.”
SAS could have added another element to his hit-list. The team’s style of play, or lack thereof, is not inspiring enough of the 565,000 Comcast subscribers in New Jersey and Connecticut to lobby the cable giant to restore MSG Network, TV home of the Knicks, to its system.
Comcast dropped MSG in September. In terms of the MSG/Comcast dispute, the Knicks brand of play is not exactly must-see TV.
Subscriber demand to see a player or a team can sometimes solve cable carriage disputes. In 2012, during the height of Jeremy Lin and “Linsanity,” MSG Network had been thrown off Time Warner Cable and in the middle of a carriage dispute. Subscriber demand was so high for Knicks hoops and “Linsanity,” MSG/TWC were forced to sit down at the negotiating table. The two sides eventually agreed to a multi-year deal ending the blackout.
IN THE TANK FOR BUCK
Judging by its enthusiasm, the local baseball media, and anyone else paid to bloviate about sports, is urging the Mets to hire Buck Showalter. Heck, they might as well be lobbyists for the Showalter Corporation.
Showalter’s candidacy comes at a time when the Hot Stove is on ice due to the lockout, the two football teams are in the toilet, and basketball/hockey are not producing massive amounts of sizzle. There is plenty of space, air, and ozone to hype Showalter and try to convince the Mets to hire him.
Nothing wrong with that unless — as ESPN-98.7′s Michael Kay pointed out — Mets boss Steve Cohen and/or his head of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson, decide they don’t want to be seen as being influenced by the media, perceived as two executives who made decisions based on the opinions of columnists or radio Gasbags.
The flip side of that theory is the fact it’s hard to get the sports media here to agree on anything. When it comes to Showalter they have marched in lockstep. So, if Cohen/Alderson hire someone other than Showalter, there will be big backlash. Maybe Cohen sees himself as an against-the-grain guy who would not care about any static, but any new Mets manager not named Showalter would have a major media hill to climb before he even gets started.
ANOTHER HALL SHOULD FOLLOW
Jim Kaat waited many moons to have his ticket punched to Cooperstown by the Golden Days Era Committee. Kitty will be inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in July.
Now, he shouldn’t have to wait much longer to gain entrance to another wing of the Hall.
Those who make the call should do what it takes to honor Kaat with the Ford Frick Award and finally recognize him as one of the greatest baseball voices in the history of the game. While we don’t excuse his “Get a 40-acre field full of them,” remark he made during an October game, on many levels Kaat deserves broadcasting enshrinement. Besides his ability to analyze or tell a story, Kaat just didn’t give lip-service to putting viewers first.
He actually put viewers first.
When he worked Yankees telecasts here on MSG and YES (1995-2006), Kaat was encumbered by George Steinbrenner’s micro-managing elements of the broadcasts on YES. When Steinbrenner had a beef with Don Zimmer, and ordered YES’ cameras not to shoot the bench coach sitting next to Joe Torre in the dugout, it was Kaat who revealed Steinbrenner’s edict in 2003. He didn’t have to call out Steinbrenner, but it was the right thing to do.
Kaat was fearless, righteous and always likeable. His love and respect for the game came crackling out of all the microphones he worked and still works.
AROUND THE DIAL
How soon before VOS Gasbags begin talking NFL Draft? As it stands, the Jets have picks 4 and 5 in the first round and the Giants 6 and 7. Will those four picks be sponsored by FanDuel?…
CBS’ Tony Romo badgered Jim Nantz, again, during a dramatic point of Steelers-Ravens. With Baltimore setting up to deliver a last ditch on-side kick attempt, Romo started asking Nantz if the Ravens could pull it off. Romo “accentuated” those remarks with some unintelligible jive and away we go. For viewers, Romo is becoming a nuisance…..
SNY “Baseball Night in New York” crew is demonstrating how to do a compelling half-hour show during a lockout. If you need a fix of current baseball news (there is some with player video) tune in…
Despite the annoying critiques of his hair by Kay and Peter Rosenberg, Glad to see Don La Greca continues letting his Freak Flag fly.
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DUDE OF THE WEEK: BOB ARUM
For surviving and thriving in the boxing business. The legendary promoter turned 90 on Wednesday. His acerbic style still works. His company, Top Rank, continues representing premier fighters. Arum boosted the careers of legends Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Oscar de la Hoya and others. He also created the classic line: “Yesterday I was lying. Today I’m telling the truth.”
DWEEB OF THE WEEK: JETS/GIANTS
Bring professional football back to New York! (Forget about Buffalo for a moment.) The two teams who share a stadium go into Sunday’s games (Saints-Jets, Giants-Chargers) with a combined 7-17 record. The ineptitude is only surpassed by a sleep-inducing style of play. Not to worry, they will be selling hope and season tickets in 2022.
DOUBLE TALK
What Zach Wilson said: “We’re working toward something bigger than just this right now.”
What Zach Wilson meant to say: “I’m taking a mulligan on this season.”