New York Mets owner Steven Cohen has scored points with fans for being active on Twitter. Anticipating the blowback he’d get from the Flushing faithful for not trading prospects to acquire American League Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays the way the San Diego Padres did, Cohen tweeted “News flash: The Mets farm system needs to be replenished.”
Cohen was rightfully taking a shot the general manager he fired as soon as he bought the team from the Wilpons, Brodie Van Wagenen, who was fond of trading top prospects for meager returns.
Keep the candor coming, Steve.
“ Jets Postgame Live” on SNY has been needed therapy for frustrated Jets fans thanks to the candid comments of panelists and former Jets players Bart Scott and Chad Cascadden along with anchor Jonas Schwartz who has nicely steered this ship for five years.
As if Jets aficionados haven’t had enough bad news in recent years, SNY has opted not to renew Schwartz’s contract. That’s a shame because Jonas Schwartz has been with SNY since 2008. To his credit he has never insulted the intelligence of his viewers by sugarcoating a team’s poor performance or engaging in meaningless airtime-killing devices as engaging in insipid debates on topics such as “Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James” which have become de rigueur on too many SNY programs.
Another familiar face missing from the New York area sports television scene is longtime Brooklyn Nets analyst Jim Spanarkel. The YES Network has decided to part ways with him and has replaced him with former New York Daily News NBA columnist Frank Isola. Hopefully YES executives will allow Isola to freely use his quick wit the way Nets play-by-play man and Forest Hills High School alum Ian Eagle does.
After years of dormancy, HBO Sports is back in the documentary game. In November it aired “Wild Card” Downfall Of A Radio Loudmouth” about WFAN drivetime air personality Craig Carton. Just before Christmas HBO debuted “Under The Grapefruit Tree” which was the life story recently retired New York Yankees pitcher and certain future Hall of Famer Carsten Charles “CC” Sabathia.
Unlike past HBO Sports docs where actor Liev Schreiber served as a narrator, CC Sabathia himself serves as our guide through his life. What is most surprising about “Under The Grapefruit Tree” is how CC Sabathia was able to hide a severe drinking problem from Yankees players, executives, and the usually crackerjack New York sports media for years. The fact Sabathia was always affable and approachable added to the shock when the public discovered he had to go rehab in order to save his life. We also learn how a cardiac issue detected in late 2018 nearly cost him his life.
The Christmas-New Year’s week is always a slow time for television even for cable news networks Many of them present documentaries as a way of giving talent and behind-the camera personnel time off.
CNN has long been running various documentaries on weekends and off-hours highlighting the entertainment and politics of the Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties and it used this past Christmas week to rerun nearly all of them. Actor Tom Hanks’ Play-Tone production company has put together this series which brings back a lot of memories for those of us who remember those years and it’s a fun learning experience for those who were born after those years.