Sports TV remains bereft of dignity and common sense

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Im a self-tortured soul. Since those two Boeing Starliner astronauts have had their return delayed, Ive pictured their baggage going round and round for weeks on a luggage carousel at Newark Airport.  Yes, Ive become a grumpy old man. But what made me grumpy at 32 makes me grumpy at 72. Theres just now a lot more stuff to make me grumpy.  I could hop on the Happy Fertilizer Truck with the rest of the obedient and compliant, ignoring indisputable truths. Multi-millionaires cant bother to run to first; succe sful big-price-tag college sports are now predicated on buying illiterate young men at auction; sports promote sucker gambling before, after and during games; and the lowest acts  a Draymond Green, Megan Rapinoe and Snoop Dogg  are the very special guests. But I used to be sent to my room for lying.  You want bad-is-good pandering? Fool held out the ball before cro sing the goal line then performed a how-great-I-art touchdown dance with his team down 24, so play blind and stupid? Sorry, I wouldnt do that to either of us.  More From  Phil Mushnick  Having been a signed to cover broadcast sports in 1982, I have never experienced a time more bereft of dignity, credibility, honesty, decency and common sense than today, with tomorrows promise to grow worse.  SUNDAY EXHIBIT A:  The simple lifelong matter of watching, let alone enjoying, a Yankees telecast as a diminished sport with diminished TV audiences  an all-time low for last seasons World Series, for crying out loud!  has gone neglected and untreated.  Arrogant greed has unilaterally forced 20 percent of Yankees games to disappear behind paywalls as good seats remain empty at obscenely priced Yankee Stadium, and subject to even independent media silence.  A fan holds a sign mimicking a political campaign poster for Aaron Judge #99 and Juan Soto #22 of the New York Yankees in the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on August 26, 2024 in Washington, DC.  Getty Images  And its not just a  Aaron Holiday Jersey matter of unquenchable avarice, but of quality. Yankees telecasts have, far more often than not, become a matter of abandoned standards and repetitive bad decisions by those annually incapable of making good ones.  Sundays Yankees-Rockies on YES wasnt an inning old when Juan Soto lined a foul down the third-base line. Michael Kay described it as just that. Paul ONeill mightve allowed the view and Kays description to stand on their own but had the need to add, Soto hit it hard but was not able to keep it fair.  We already knew and saw that. OK, not much, nothing to launch you from your La-Z-Boy, yet the harbinger of what would have to be endured over 2:55.  In the bottom of the fifth, Giancarlo Stantons bat snapped at the handle, the fat part connecting with the , who was so stunned he tried to follow the play before falling to his knees in distre s.  Home plate umpire Nick Mahrley (48) is checked on after getting hit by a broken bat in the fifth inning during the game between Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con  Home plate umpire Nick Mahrley (48) is carted off the field after getting hit by a broken bat in the fifth inning during the game between Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con  During the first replay, Kay and ONeill captured it well with gasping Wows! and Oohs!  The rest was well and fully covered by YES cameras.  But as Mahrley was being treated until he was removed by a cart, Kay enhanced the scene with a collection of mawkish, banal and insulting words  his version of NFL announcers solemn, This puts everything into perspective spiel:  You know, you see the concern on the faces of the players, and obviously theres sometimes arguments between players and umpires, but there arent too many people on that field who arent in that fraternity, and theres a certain feeling that they all feel toward each other.  They travel the same way, theyre on the road a lot, theyre away from their families a lot, so nobody wants to see somebody hurt.  Michael Kay and John Sterling pose for a photo before the game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium on April 20, 2024, in New York, New York.  Getty Images  Thus, Kays YES audience  and the players, coaches and managers  were populated by those who enjoyed watching an umpire struck in the neck by a broken bat? So many that Kay was moved to preach that it was no laughing matter? Without Kays help, who knew?  As Mahrley, now out with a concu sion, was wheeled off, more from Kay: And everyone will have Nick Mahrley on their mind and hope that everything is as good as it can be.  Thank goodne s, too, that Kays pancake slather sermon straightened out all those viewers who were overjoyed to see Mahrley go down and stay down.  SUNDAY, EXHIBIT B:  Then, with the Little League World Series final on ABC/ESPN, the chosen sounds and scenes grew worse, as ESPN continued to reduce sports to a carca s that would starve vultures.  The telecast opened with ESPNs hosts lining up the U.S. team to demonstrate their immodest,  with one awkward and borderline obese 12-year-old serving as front man. Though this kid would soon ground into a bases-loaded double play then strikeout with men on, ESPN selected him as its Star of the Game  before it began.  DeMarcos Mieses, right, celebrates next to Taiwans Peng Yi-Yen (18) as he stands on second base after driving in the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning at the Little League World Series Championship game in South Williamsport, Pa.  AP  Why it would make a predetermined fool of the kid and present game as another opportunity to emulate the me-first self-destruction of our national pastime as exploited by self-smitten, fundamentals-bereft big leaguers is just another good question to which there is no good answer.  Play-by-play man Karl Ravech, with no sense or feel of a game being played by children, called the game as if it were Game 7 of MLBs World Series. Of course he did.  The LLWS under ESPN has become warped, starting years ago when a despondent pitcher, knocked out of the game early, was shown sobbing in the corner of his teams dugout  a clip that was mirthfully later shown on SportsCenter to ensure the kids further humiliation.  Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #27 of the Toronto Blue Jays talks with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Prez from ESPN Baseball Tonight after the T-Mobile Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park on Monday, July 10, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.  MLB Photos via Getty Images  Sunday, ESPN even included clips from the LLWS Home Run Derby.  See Also  equal time  And throughout the game, gambling odds scrolled  WNBA, preseason NFL and MLB betting lines. ESPN couldnt have suspended the appearance of sports gambling info for even two hours? Hey, Dad, what does it mean by Cards, plus-3, against the Broncos?  But in keeping with ESPNs twisted habit of emphasizing acts of self-aggrandizement, no matter the score, during team contests, ESPN remains in need of psychological treatment, perhaps starting with child psychiatrists.  Tuesday, two days after the LLWS, I received an email from a trusted reader and friend of the head of an Upstate umpires a sociation:  He had to refund the pre-pays for 125 out of 600 games this year because of the umpire shortage, as umps have become disgusted by the misbehavior [of players, coaches and spectators]. So many trained umps have quit that he has had to resort to playing on two different days in order to have enough umps to accommodate each game.  And Rob Manfred claims  and TV increasingly demonstrates  that the best way to attract kids  future parents  is to show big leaguers flipping their bats, pounding their chests, posing at home plate and acting like boastful creeps.  And kids, as long as you run to first base and dont practice touchdown dances, youre more than welcome to play on my lawn.  T.J. McConnell Jersey
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