Evaluating sports radio recent takes amid Yankees’ skid

I grew up listening to New York sports radio, and the medium deserves much of the credit for why following sports is a part of my daily life. As a sports-obsessed kid, I felt that the hosts on WFAN and ESPN New York were the only people in my life who treated every game and every turn of the season with the same level of urgency as I did. They took sports extremely seriously, but at the same time, they remembered that it was all supposed to be fun, entertaining, and theatrical.

Now as a young adult, my relationship with the content has changed. I now view what hosts say from the vantage point as if I am studying it as a sociologist rather than a fan that takes to heart everything they say. I still find the world fascinating, but from a different lens. It’s a world of grown adults yelling and screaming at each other about sports. Callers will spend half an hour or more on hold to make their voices heard. The hosts find ways to get fired up about sleepy topics and make them come alive. To me, it remains an awesome place.

Like many, I mostly experience sports radio content from pulled clips on social media. Even if I disagree and think the hosts are flat-out wrong in what they are saying, I often find myself respecting how their take was delivered stylistically and how it will elicit reactions from fans listening in. I don’t care what anyone says; with the overwhelming flood of sports takes coming from the internet (hi!), it takes skill and talent to come up with takes that break through. I appreciate the craft for the theatrical performance of it all. I don’t look for the hosts to bring the most measured or statistically thorough analysis. if you accept that going in, for me, there is a lot to enjoy.

With the Yankees collapsing once again in the summer months, the takes are heating up on the AM dial. For content purposes, sports radio is at its best with a team like the 2024 Yankees. They are not hopeless to the point of apathy like the 2023 team, but there are a million things to complain about with this team. When I see a take from a radio personality, I view it from two different angles. The first is from the viewpoint of whether they are doing their job—to be captivating and to act as a spokesperson for the “average” New York sports fan. The second is whether it is actually sound and thoughtful analysis. I gathered three sports takes from the past week and wanted to evaluate these two aspects: is this “good radio” and is this “thoughtful analysis?”

So, let’s whip around some recent takes amidst the team’s meltdown to see how things are going within the sports radio world.

Take 1

WFAN’s Evan & Tiki: Buck Showalter should be the new manager

“There’s a manager sitting at home right now that wants to finish his story,” [producer] Tommy Lugauer said “And his name is … Buck. Showalter. Yankee fans would love it, you know Buck wants to win, he wants to win with the Yankees.” — via Awful Announcing

As a radio take: There is a romanticizing of Showalter from fans that is perfect for a radio host to suggest — even when it no longer makes a ton of sense. For years, Showalter has been the default name to be thrown around when you want a Baseball Guy to come in and set the kids straight. He will give his players tough love in press conferences, make decisions with his gut, and end all shenanigans and lack of effort. However, this is outlandish, even for sports radio. Was this producer trolling Mets fans? Perhaps. In all, it is just a fun, wacky quip the hosts of the show didn’t seem to actually entertain. However, the show clipped it, and the idea was aggregated by multiple websites. So in that way, it was a success.

As informative analysis: I am reluctant to make definitive predictions online, but I feel fully confident in saying that there is no possibility that the Yankees will fire Boone for Showalter. I really don’t think that they would can Boone midseason, and even if they did, they would not bring in Showalter if they did. Even if this was a possibility, Showalter joining this team midseason is not going to be the magic solution. He oversaw a calamity of a Mets team that broke the record for payroll and missed the playoffs. It is an unfair way to measure his performance, but he has a career winning percentage of .509. In his 22 seasons managing he has three division titles, and one playoff series victory. In a vacuum, Showalter might not be a bad hire for a team, but he does not have some secret sauce that would fix the Yankees’ current problems.

Take 2

ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay Show: Yankees look “small” during Fourth of July anthem staredown

“It makes the Yankees look small. They’re doing a stare-off like they’re in Williamsport? Like it’s the Little League World Series? The New York Yankees, you’re wearing pinstripes, baby. You don’t do stuff like that. And you’ve been losing and playing poorly, and this is what you resort to? Come on, guys, you’re better than that.”
“I gotta be honest, I’m not one of these people. I hate it, by the way: What would (late owner) George (Steinbrenner) do? They might have been released if George was alive. Well, again, I mean that. And the manager would have been read the riot act to let it happen. The New York Yankees. You’re wearing pinstripes.” — via NJ.com

As a radio take: Last week, Cody Poteet, Ian Hamilton, and Reds pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers got into a staring showdown on their respective lines after the National Anthem ended. I personally did not make any grand conclusions from the moment, but what I enjoy about Michael Kay is that unexpected things will rile him up. The previous week, there was a personal gripe he had about a radio promo that ran on his show that called the Mets broadcast team being the best booth in baseball. Kay is full of surprises of what will tick him off. Seeing the voice of the Yankees critical of the team’s maturity is naturally compelling. However, I am not sure if this situation warranted the “respect the pinstripes” type of talk, even in the sports radio setting.

Kay pulled out a lot of the classic clichés for this take. “If George was alive” is the ultimate card to pull out when you are really upset about a situation — Kay even acknowledged it! Soon, an entire science-fiction-level universe will be created from New York radio hosts imagining what the world would be like if The Boss discovered the secret of immortality (even today, he would be 94 years old and highly unlikely to be making relevant decisions). Would George actually cut or trade two productive Yankees pitchers? A lot of the time, when someone imagines what George would do in a situation, they are simply yearning for a different era of organizational management that is not coming back.

As informative analysis: There is a lot of hyperbolic language for a moment that most fans have already forgotten. I suppose it’s a fair point that it was a bit childish, but making a grander point about it being beneath the pinstripes they are wearing is a little much. It was not as egregious as Kay makes it out to be. I would like to know which generation of the Yankees displayed the level of maturity that Kay is picturing when he says it is “beneath this franchise.”

Take 3

WFAN’s Brandon Tierney & Sal Licata: Everything is wrong with the Yankees/Aaron Boone is not the right fit

“Aaron Boone allows this stuff to go on with no consequences. Whether it’s center fielders kicking baseballs, loafing after it. Whether it’s Gleyber Torres on autopilot for the last three and half years. Volpe not knowing the situation. DJ LeMahieu not knowing what to do between first and second base. Empty at-bats, quick strikeouts, bullpens [blowing leads]. They need a colossal kick in the {expletive].” — via Audacy

As a radio take: Nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but it’s just a classic state of the union: this team stinks. It is cathartic as fans to hear it laid out even if we knew everything that the host said. There is passion here from Tierney that is earnest and needed during this dire time. He didn’t pull any punches but kept things fair with his criticism. We also got a classic all-caps voice: “This is the New York Yankees, wake up.” This feels like a line that, sadly, should probably be dropped from the discourse, as the franchise’s time of being viewed as the Evil Empire is gone.

As informative analysis: Tierney overstates things, sure. They do not need an “entirely new roster” outside of four people (it’s probably more like 10 players!). That said, he does a good job diagnosing the big-picture issues with Boone, the roster construction, and the team’s lack of zeal during this stretch.

The thing that stuck out to me most was four minutes where Sal Licata suggests that Boone should get credit for moving Ben Rice to the leadoff spot and moving Anthony Volpe. Tierney had a great response: “I will give a manager credit when a team overachieves, when a team plays hard, and when a team plays consistent baseball. 0-for-1, 0-for-2, 0-for-3.” Since we do not see much of the managers’ work behind the scenes, I struggle with how to fairly evaluate managers. I found that to be a good set of criteria to use when evaluating Boone. Overall, it was a strong rant encapsulating the Yankees’ struggles.

Despite the changing media landscape, sports radio institutions still hold a precious place in the New York sports discourse. Whenever I am in New York City radio range, I am definitely not above tuning in and reliving the nostalgia of my love for impassioned hot takes and the occasional yelling.