August 20, 2010 – Michael Kay does the flagship ESPN radio show in New York, but he’s more famous for his work on YES, as the Yankees play-by-play man. Kay makes no bones about being Bronx-reared and therefore, Yankee cheered. Trouble is, every time you want to compliment him for doing a professional job, he reinforces his cheerleading by restating one of his biased opinions, or going to the stat boy in his ear for some negative trend. It’s a tough job, filling the air, but Kay tends to repeat himself.

With the Tigers visiting, Kay seems to go out of his way to make the Yankee’s trade of Austin Jackson to Detroit look like a good one. Every time Jackson steps up to hit, Kay reminds us of his penchant to strikeout. Kay accurately called Jackson’s first at bat in the series, a strikeout. There’s no mention of his speed, youth, his .300 batting average as a rookie regular, or Jackson’s ability to field and throw. When he opened Wednesday night’s game with a first-pitch homer off C.C. Sabathia, Kay continued to find it hard to compliment the rookie. He also kept citing former Tiger, Curtis Granderson’s hitting swoon stats, while the Yankee centerfielder continued to field and hit his way like an All Star. At the end of the opener to the series, Kay was first to say Brett Gardner’s slide into Tiger second baseman Carlos Guillen “was clean” (which it was) before telling viewers that the game was over on Derek Jeter’s GIDP, which Guillen masterly turned, despite Gardner going for his knee. Guillen missed the next game, and one wonders what Kay would have said if Jeter had been the victim of such a slide.

What’s worse, David Letterman showing reruns while he takes summer vacation, or Bob Ryan and Dan LeBetard subbing for Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on “Pardon The Interruption?” The answer resides with Ryan on PTI. Known as a great guy and a hall-of-fame Boston basketball writer, Ryan isn’t easy to criticize. It’s just that he’s so tongue-tied, stammering and bumbling that he makes Shannon Sharpe sound articulate. Ryan’s false sense of trying to be “Kornheiser-like” rings hollow throughout the show. From his curmugeon imitation right down to waving the Canadian flag, Ryan shows no signs of originality. At least LeBetard has carved his own niche as a worthy sub. For most of Ryan’s responses you get the blathering of a guy whose brain is two steps ahead of his tongue. You’d think the boys club at ESPN would have a better option and more respect for one of sportswriting’s greats.

While we are on the subject, here’s hoping that Michael Wilbon’s vacation brings him back to earth. Wilbo who makes no bones about hanging with Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan must be taking ego lessons from them. Like the Jamaican portrayed by Keenan Ivory Wayans on “In Living Color,” Wilbon has four jobs that we can count, which have inflated his bald head and removed him from the ranks as one of TVs best spontaneous opinions. On top of his daily PTI duties, Wilbon writes books (Barkley’s Bio), writes for The Washington Post, and is a basketball analyst for ESPN/ABC. The exposure has knocked him out of whack.

Lately Wilbon has taken positions away from his usual pandering Chicago soap box where anything Chicago or Northwestern rules, to designate Alabama’s Nick Saban as a “hypocrit,” Floyd Mayweather and Lane Kiffin as “cowards,” Terrell Owens as “more disliked” than LeBron James and New York City as “overrated.” He’s also leaning into the “post racial” debates brought on by the election of fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama, to become a voice for African American injustice everywhere.

Wilbon is a Cubs fan who, when convenient, roots for the White Sox. He claims after the Black Hawks brought the Stanley Cup to Chicago this year to be a long-time fan, regularly going to games as a kid with his dad, probably being the only black people at Chicago Stadium. His bias against anything Michigan comes from years of Northwestern dominance and lately he’s screaming ‘that New York thinks its so much better than it is, right down to the restaurants.’ As more privilege has been bestowed him over the past few years, he has abandoned what got him there–a sensible point of view, unbiased reasoning and the ability to articulate spontaneously. Now all we get are his grumpy takes on everything with his second-rate Chicago spin.

While we are on the topic of grumpy spin, Tedy Bruschi the former Patriot and now ESPN NFL ‘insider,’ is over-the-top about Brett Favre’s return and Rex Ryan’s Jets. Bruschi couldn’t see any integrity in three Viking players going to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to “beg” Brett back. He also couldn’t see any integrity in Brad Childress enabling this drama and critically compared him to Bill Belinchek, who wouldn’t put up with it for a minute. Following the Giants 31 to 16 win over the Jets last Friday, Bruschi practically screamed that the Jets had won the battle and that the Giants had so much further to go to be competitive. Any fan can see that preseason games can be interpreted favorably for the homer team when factoring in injuries, holdouts, substitutions, first teams against fourth teams and so on. Nothing like getting Bruschi’s “expert opinion” that doesn’t make any sense.

And finally, here’s a jeer to two of ESPN’s lead color men, Sunday Night Baseball’s, Joe Morgan, and Monday Night Football’s Ron Jaworski. There’s nothing like watching the Yankees every game and then getting Joe Morgan for a Yankee game on Sunday night. Master of the know-it-all, and restating the obvious, Morgan comes into town, does a quick study, then spouts trends about players that only he can see. Morgan will tell you that ‘Jeter is looking for something to pull’ when we all know Jeter swings inside out and and tends to go to right. That Alex Rodriguez is looking for something to get his arms extended, or that Robinson Cano is a “good hitter” and Mark Texiera is a “good fielder.” It’s enough to make you go and tune in Michael Kay.

Ron Jaworski talks too much. Here’s another good guy, but someone who has taken his residing in proximity to NFL Films to new heights in film study. Couple this with the sing-song, beginning-middle-and-end, soundbites and it gets old quickly. Because Jaworski is well-liked, he has reign from the producers to monopolize the booth. The trouble is it’s too much like film study. Every play the quarterback makes seems to have Jaworski’s comment; (Part one, the beginning) Jaworski: “The square out is a very difficult pass for the quarterback to throw.” (Part two, the middle) Jaworski: “You have to have a very strong arm and be in synch with your receiver.” And, (part three, the end) Jaworski: “You have to be accurate and put the ball where only the reciever can catch it.” Back to you Jon and Mike.