We Love Kevin Burkhardt

Yes. We Mets fans love Kevin Burkhardt. We think he's the best (or "the bomb" in late '90s slang; or maybe "all that" in mid '60s speak). He's funny (his twitter profile says that he's a "certified goofball"). He's personable. He's great with the fans (see below). And he's great at what he does. He gets great insight from players and reports on it during the game along with interviews and features during pre/mid/post game.

Ya, that's me. With Kevin Burkhardt when he crashed my 35th birthday party at Citi Field. Actually, I think I was at his Celiac Awareness event/game in 2013.

And we're losing him. He's leaving SNY at the end of the Mets season (which is rapidly approaching) for a full-time position at FOX Sports. And he has a very high profile position there too. He was hired last season to call NFL games on FOX and impressed everyone there enough to be given an NFL Playoff game assignment (the network only has 1 such assignment that's not for their top broadcast team), and was promoted up to the number 2 announcer for this season. And after a few appearances filling in to call games for MLB on FOX, "KB" as he's known was hired this season to be not a play-by-play man (like he is for the NFL), not a reporter (like he is for SNY), but the primary host of MLB on FOX, including the All Star Game, MLB Playoffs, and World Series. And we hear that he's going to call College Basketball games on FOX. (It should be noted that some of his FOX Sports duties are on the FOX television network and some are on FOX Sports 1 and maybe FOX Sports 2 on cable).

That's a mighty high profile gig. Or as I see look at it, our little Kevin is all grown up.

So the fans over the last couple months of the season have been showing their love to KB, both on twitter and in person (I know of a couple that on separate occasions, fans sought out Kevin to meet up and get a photo with our beloved broadcaster during a Mets west coast road trip by connecting with him on twitter). And with that, for Kevin's last game at Citi Field in front of the home fans (September 17), there is a happening with fans gathering on the Shea Bridge for the game as a way to say goodbye to Kevin in person (and hoping that he obliges the fans and stops by for a few handshakes, hugs, and autographs).

So for what I jokingly refer to as "Kevin Burkhardt Night", I have assembled a list of fake events that we, the fans, will hold in his honor. It goes with the twitter hashtag #FakeKevinBurkhardtNightEvents.

• Kevin will be in the kissing booth for the first 2 innings. Fans are encouraged to come say goodbye in person.
• (SNY fill-in Mets reporter and fan non-favorite) Steve Gelbs will man the dunk tank all night. That event is sponsored by the recent #ALSIceBucketChallenge.
• During the 7th inning stretch, Kevin will run through the "carwash" on the Shea Bridge (the "carwash" has become a thing in the Mets dugout after a Mets player hits a home run or has a productive at bat, with the player being honored running through a sea of white towels held by his teammates). That event is sponsored by the 7 Line.
• In the top of the 9th, the fans on the Shea Bridge will serenade KB with the Boyz II Men hit End of the Road.
• And as Kevin interviews the Mets player of the game on the field for SNY and the fans in the stadium, the entire Mets team will come out and hit Kevin with shaving cream pies (a popular thing usually reserved for the player being interviewed).
• And finally the fans will once again serenade Kevin with another Boyz II Men hit It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday.

Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, KB!


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SNY and the Emmys

Read it here!

Included in the list are programs related to the Mets (remember the field trip to the Pepsi Porch and all 4 TV announcers nominated for the best in their craft) and SNY (which got nominated for things related to another baseball team in New York).

Category	Program	Network
SPORTS COVERAGE: SPORTSCAST/SERIES	SportsNite: Jeter Hits 3000. July 9, 2011	SNY
	SportsNite: Subway Series. May 20, 2011	SNY
SPORTS PROGRAMMING: REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM	Summer of ’86 – Part 3. March 3, 2011 (Roman Gackowski, Producer/Director)	MSG
SPORTS PROGRAMMING: PROGRAM SERIES	Summer of ’86 – Series Composite. March 1, 2011 (Roman Gackowski, Producer/Director)	MSG
SPORTS PROGRAMMING: PROGRAM FEATURE/SEGMENT	R.A. Dickey. December 22, 2010	SNY
SPORTS PROGRAMMING: PROGRAM SERIES	Jets Nation: Extra Point. September 9, 2010	SNY
SPORTS PROGRAMMING: SPECIAL	Brooklyn Cyclones: Baseball on the Boardwalk. August 24, 2011	SNY
	Jets Nation: Draft Day 2011. April 28, 2011	SNY
LIVE SPORTS EVENT: PROGRAM/SPECIAL	Mets “Pepsi Porch” Broadcast. July 20, 2011	SNY
INTERVIEW/DISCUSSION	The Wheelhouse. December 10, 2010	SNY
PROMOTION: NEWS PROMO – SINGLE SPOT/CAMPAIGN	Summer of ’86 Launch Spot. February 16, 2011 (Doug Field, VP/Creative Director)	MSG
PROMOTION: NEWS PROMO – SPECIAL/IMAGE	Summer of ’86 Launch Spot. February 16, 2011	MSG
PROMOTION: PROGRAM PROMO - SPORTS	Mets Subway Series Pop Up. May 15, 2011 (John Zeigler, VP/Creative Director)	WPIX
	Subway Series Speech. May 21, 2011 (John Zeigler, VP/Creative Director)	WPIX
COMMERCIAL: SINGLE SPOT/CAMPAIGN	More Sports, More Testosterone. May 9, 2011 (Marie DeParis, Vice President of Marketing)	SNY
ON-CAMERA TALENT: REPORTER -SPORTS	Kevin Burkhardt	SNY/WPIX
ON-CAMERA TALENT: PERFORMER/NARRATOR	Robert A. Frahm. August 24, 2011	SNY
ON-CAMERA TALENT: SPORTS PLAY-BY-PLAY	Gary Cohen	SNY/WPIX
	Howie Rose	MSG+ (Islanders)
ON-CAMERA TALENT: SPORTS ANALYST	Keith Hernandez	SNY/WPIX
	Ron Darling	SNY/WPIX
	Ray Lucas	SNY (Jets)
DIRECTOR: POST-PRODUCTION	Roman Gackowski. March 1, 2011	MSG
WRITER: SPORTS	Ricky Recchia. April 28, 2011	SNY
PHOTOGRAPHER: SPORTS	Andrew Johnston. July 11, 2011	SNY
EDITOR: PROGRAM	Lee Umphred. March 1, 2011 (“Summer Of ’86”)	MSG
EDITOR: SHORT FORM	Brett Hauze. December 30, 2010	SNY
GRAPHICS: NEWS/PROGRAM	Mark Rusciano. January 16, 2011 ("SNY's Sportsnite: Jets 2011 Playoff Special”)	SNY
GRAPHICS: SPORTS	John Zeigler. April 10, 2011 (“Mets Pop Up”)	WPIX
	Mark Rusciano. May 20, 2011 (“Mets on SNY: 2011 Subway Showdown”)	SNY

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Can I audition for the vacant Mets radio gig?

Let me start by saying that Wayne Hagin is a nice guy. I met him during Spring Training 2008, at the very beginning of his Mets broadcasting career. He did nothing wrong during his 4 seasons in Flushing. He was himself. He was a solid #2 guy in the Mets radio booth.

I use past tense because the reports strongly indicate that WFAN is not going to renew his contract in 2012. I've seen a wide list of actual candidates and fan suggestions. Let me throw out some opinions about these guys and the job in general.

Howie Rose is your #1 radio announcer. There is no replacing that. In the 50 year history of the New York Mets, they have always had a rotation of at least 2 play-by-play announcers (a list that includes ex-player and HOFer Ralph Kiner as a play-by-play man). Two of the announcers auditioning are basically analysts. That would be an interesting shift, though some fans would welcome having Howie Rose call all 9 innings.

Let me throw this out there. SNY is not going to allow the team of Gary (Cohen), Keith (Hernandez), Ron (Darling), and Kevin (Burkhardt) get broken up. So we're not going to see the reunion of Howie and Gary. And as much as I would like this pairing, I don't think we're going to see Howie Rose with Kevin Burkhardt together.

One rumor is that Chris Carlin of SNY is in the mix. Personally, I don't like him on TV, and I won't like him on the radio (though it would get him off of Mets pre/post game shows). But, he does have radio play-by-play experience calling Rutgers Football and Men's Basketball (I've never actually listened to him, so I have no idea if he's any good). I do think we're better off leaving him at SNY.

Billy Sample is in the mix. He had a short playing career, and has had a long resume as a broadcaster/writer (according to Wikipedia). I vaguely remember him on Atlanta Braves broadcasts on TBS and I know he's been with MLB.com. As good as he may be, I'm not sure how well he would fit in on Mets broadcasts.

WFAN's Ed Coleman is another candidate. I can live with him as a fill-in on the radio broadcasts, but he's much better suited to be WFAN's Mets beat reporter.

Jim Duquette is another candidate. This is an interesting choice, and the one I think is most likely to happen (based on no real information). He's an ex-GM. He's an ex-Met GM. He traded Scott Kazmir. After that, I stopped reading his bio. But to be fair, I think he was a lame-duck GM after Steve Phillips was fired and before Omar Minaya came in. He currently co-hosts a show on an MLB satellite radio channel (to which, I don't subscribe). He has no known playing career, but I've never thought an analyst serves much purpose on the radio because you don't have replay (ok, they can "spot trends"). There's a reason why a lot of baseball teams have gone with 2 play-by-play men on the radio. I think bringing him in would be an interesting change in direction for Mets radio. Imagine the stories of the Mets front office that he could tell.

I wonder if one of the SNY kid-casters is now old enough to take the job. No matter what, Mets radio broadcasts will be different in year 51.


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It was a Beautiful Day for Gary, Keith, and Ron

I've been posting more on the Facebook page for this blog than I have on the actual blog. And I did it again last night, and again today with photos.

For those that don't follow the site on facebook, you should. In any event, here are my photos from the day. I couldn't see a way to embed a Facebook photo album as a slideshow on a webpage, but Webshots can do it.



Just to recap briefly. The weather was beautiful. The Mets won. And in between, I got to see some of the friends I've made over the past 2 seasons through the self-sustained social network of Mets fans known as blogging.

• Gary Cohen and Ron Darling came out to sign autographs for the group. Mets catcher Josh Thole also came down to sign.
• The GKR group had t-shirts, sweatshirts, and even sweatpants for sale (among a few other things), where I purchased two different shirts of the new neon GKR design (really cool - one in Mets blue and one in black with long sleeves).
• They had their big raffle for a chance to win one of 100 gift baskets. I didn't win one this year, but I did last year and they're all pretty nice.
• They had scratch off tickets where every ticket gives you something. I played several times and game home with things like a Seton Hall Men's Basketball prize pack (which is good because it went to a long time Seton Hall fan - and if you didn't know, Gary Cohen calls play-by-play for Seton Hall on the radio) and a key chain of the Shea Scoreboard Skyline (one of my favorite items from Shea). I also won a GKR cookbook.
• We got to go onto the warning track for the National Anthem. That's always cool. I'd say I saw myself on the video screen except that it was hard to see it looking high up when you're that close (I was standing pretty close to CF).
• Kevin Burkhardt was hanging around the party area, posing for pictures and signing a few autographs. His son celebrated a birthday by joining the group on the warning track and he's at the age where he can run around the party area and it looks cute. He even sold me on buying one more scratch off ticket. Lynn Cohen (the group's organizer) brought out a cake for him to the CF seats and had those of us in the area sing to him.

And this recap wouldn't be right if I didn't do these two things. First, go to GaryKeithAndRon.com or PitchInForAGoodCause.org, not only to see their recap, video and/or photos (which I'm sure will be there soon) from the day, but to take a look at what they do and buy merchandise. The other is to say a big THANK YOU to Lynn Cohen and the GKR elves (lots of helpers - that's what they're called on their t-shirts) for putting this together. Everything on Saturday was great. It's such a great way to end the season as a group. These are all Mets fans doing something good.


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