Sportsnet New York

[Edgy MD]

Is Gary back tonight or do we get the Scott Braun show again? Frustrating that with two real pros in the radio booth they look past the JV and draw from the freshman team when Gary is out. Borrow Howie or Wayne from WOR and let Braun sit in on the radio broadcast.

The absence of Gary was, as it is the few times he's away, jarring, and a familiar replacement might have helped. Possibly more jarring was Darling not sounding like Darling at all, like he was on a blind date and didn't want to tip his hand until he had an idea what kind of stranger he was working with. Even by the end, he never did seem comfortable. Add to that the alien way last night's game played out and the whole thing was just kind of a disturbing passage. Like you see your cousin at a cookout, and you've known him your whole life, but suddenly he only speaks Zulu, and you're supposed to just engage with him like nothing's off.

[G-Fafif]

Gary and Howie both off tonight. They negotiated the right and somebody signed off on it, but they are always, always missed. Back in Atlanta. (As they creep up in age -- Howie is 63, Gary 59 -- I don't mind preserving their respective batteries, at least in concept.)

That said, I thought Braun was fine, or way better than Apple, who is insufferable even in the role he's comfortable in. Scott did a couple of Spring Training games last year, so he didn't seem fully foreign. Not a ton of chemistry, but I've heard worse.

In the Fran Healy days, "I've heard worse" was the gold standard.

[Centerfield]

Thank god you guys brought this up. I was thinking I was the only that was distracted by how attractive the new weekend anchor Taylor Rooks is.

Glad I'm not the only one.

[Frayed Knot]

It's a logical series to blow off, he winds up with essentially 4+ days of vacay with the bookended off-days while missing just two games.
Plus he gets out of two nights in Arlington, Texas and a 4-hour plane ride.

[Fman99]

He sucked. Gary has off all winter. Might as well bring on the Gusher and Granny Panties from Al Yanqzeera.

[Frayed Knot]

I don't seem to get as bent out of shape over announcers as many fans do.
Oh I have a few on either end of the spectrum that I find either great or grating, but the rest are just sort of white noise in between and whatsisname in there last night barely registered.

Or maybe I was just too pissed off at the way the team played to even notice.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

G-Fafif wrote: Gary and Howie both off tonight. They negotiated the right and somebody signed off on it, but they are always, always missed. Back in Atlanta. (As they creep up in age -- Howie is 63, Gary 59 -- I don't mind preserving their respective batteries, at least in concept.) That said, I thought Braun was fine, or way better than Apple, who is insufferable even in the role he's comfortable in. Scott did a couple of Spring Training games last year, so he didn't seem fully foreign. Not a ton of chemistry, but I've heard worse. In the Fran Healy days, "I've heard worse" was the gold standard.

Boy are you right on Gary Apple. He actually reminds me a lot of Fran in that I believe he means well and tries, but probably doesn't even belong in this industry.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Fman99 wrote: He sucked. Gary has off all winter.

Well, he is the voice of Seton Hall basketball still I think.