Fordham SportsNet

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

(This column is the first in what will be a weekly feature here at Fordham SportsNet, where we will survey newspapers and magazines, radio and television stations, and the internet for news and talk related to Fordham, the media, and beyond. In the first installment, we focus on a Fordham grad, newspaper and blog coverage of the Fordham basketball team, and of course, Alex Rodriguez. Enjoy, and let us know what you think.)

The Yankee Years, by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci. (Book cover image from amazon.com)

A New Low for ESPN Radio

ESPN and 1050 ESPN Radio here in New York continue to be all about gimmicks and agendas, with little regard for listeners. This past week, the sports station hit an all-time low. The release of Joe Torre’s new book, The Yankee Years, this past Tuesday had been anticipated since the story broke on Sunday Jan. 25 that Torre and Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci had written the book that would offer insights into the manager’s 12 years in the Bronx.  Torre had live interviews lined up Tuesday with Chris Russo on Sirius and Mike Francesa on WFAN, in between a book signing at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan and a trip to the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University. That left ESPN’s Michael Kay out of the loop. No surprise really if you consider Kay has done nothing but rip the current Dodgers’ manager since the day he left New York. But what was really insulting, and another example of why 1050 will always finish second to WFAN here in New York, was that the station spent the entire day Tuesday promoting Torre’s 2 p.m. appearance on the Michael Kay show. The 1050 homepage announced that Torre would be appearing on the show to talk about his book. I’m also told that on-air advertisements with the same information were run throughout the day.

In fact, all 1050 did was play clips that Andrew Marchand, along with others in the media, had gotten from Torre’s book signing earlier that afternoon. Shameful. Even more upsetting was the way Torre’s sound bites were presented. Kay would introduce each piece of sound, play the Torre bite, then bash the manager. We already knew that Kay didn’t like Torre. What we learned Tuesday was that he was going to use the radio airwaves to try to discredit a man who managed the Yankees to four World Series titles and 12 playoff appearances in 12 years. All because of a personal vendetta, or so it seemed. I realize he couldn’t get Torre on, but it’s clear that had the former Yankee manager agreed to the interview, Kay wouldn’t have been so quick to trash him. To jump on everything Torre said, without the manager being able to respond, was unfair. Good thing most people were tuned in to WFAN while this happened, preparing for Mike Francesa’s interview and listening to more objective commentary.

Let me be clear. I like Kay. The 1983 Fordham graduate is intelligent and insightful, one of the better all-around broadcasters in the business. As the Yankees’ play-by-play voice on YES, he does a great job calling the games and no broadcaster is better at engaging his colleagues in discussion. In short, he’s a professional with the utmost credibility. That’s why this whole episode was so disturbing.

The front page of Sunday's Daily News. (Image from nydailynews.com)

From A-Rod to A-Fraud to A-Roid

Alex Rodriguez isn’t having a very good past couple of weeks, and things are about to get a whole lot worse once he reports to Tampa next week for the start of spring training. The revelation in Joe Torre’s book that teammates referred to the third baseman as A-Fraud seems trivial now that Sports Illustrated has reported that Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003 while a member of the Texas Rangers. So, I ask the question: Do all the media types, and some fans, who have been blasting Torre for what they consider to be his “airing out the clubhouse laundry” now issue an apology since it’s clear that there was a little more to A-Rod than we previously thought? And to think the Yankees could have broken ties with this guy when he tried to break ties with them 15 months ago.

Catching Up with Blue and Bethel

Great reporting by Sean Brennan at the Daily Newsthis past week in his college basketball blog at nydailynews.com (Basket Case). On Wednesday, Brennan had a story about Trey Blue, two days after we posted a story on Fordham SportsNet about Blue returning home to Chicago to be with his girlfriend and family, after her sister and her sister’s daughter were murdered in their apartment. Brennan caught up with Blue once the freshman guard returned to Rose Hill last Monday and put a very human touch on a tragic story. The next day, Brennan was the first in the print media to break the story about Chris Bethel’s season-ending knee injury. Anyone at the game against Saint Louis last Saturday knew that when Bethel went down in the first half the injury was a serious one. But Brennan spoke to Bethel and the senior confirmed that his college basketball career was over. Good work by Brennan on the two biggest stories at Rose Hill this past week.

Better Late Than Never

For New York City college basketball fans, Tim Sullivan’s City Game column every Saturday in the New York Postis an entertaining and informative read. In fact, it’s a must read for fans of Fordham and other city schools who often times get shortchanged when it comes to coverage from the local papers. Unfortunately, Sullivan was about a month late with yesterday’s article (A-10 Coaches: Fordham Future Bright Despite Dismal Season). You’ll remember back on January 12, one day after Fordham lost at home to nationally-ranked Xavier, Fordham SportsNet ran a story about how Sean Miller, the Muskateers head coach, was impressed with the work Dereck Whittenburg was doing building a program here at Rose Hill (High Praise for Fordham from Xavier’s Sean Miller). Though the comments by Miller, Dayton coach Brian Gregory, and St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt in yesterday’s New York Postwere nice to read, we’ve been telling you for some time now about how much respect coaches in the Atlantic 10 have for the job Whittenburg is doing. Still, for readers who missed our story, or for a nice picture of Freddy ‘Sez,’ the article was a good read and Sullivan deserves credit for the theme.