There are three acceptable ways to watch when this unfortunate event happens:
2: See #1
3: all of the above
Kay and O’Neill have been in the Yankees booth forever, and it is forever too damn long. These two are boring and lifeless – like listening to robots drone on and on. Their voices are dull, yet grating, unexciting and devoid of feeling. Kay and O’Neill are strikingly tedious and dreary.
Not only that, but they are blissfully unaware that any other teams and cities exist in Major League baseball. These guys constantly tout the Yankees and New York as elite – typical unfounded East Coast bias. It is an extension of Major League Baseball’s long time - long time - bias toward the New York Yankees. They have long been the favored team in the Commissioner’s office, and among every national television network that airs baseball. Kay and O’Neill are fully aware of that bias, and they clearly believe to their core that New York and the Yankees are the pinnacle of not just baseball, but all of sports.
They are wrong, and I am not the only baseball fan who thinks that Kay and O’Neill are awful.
Joe Lucia on Awful Announcing wrote in July 2024, “Not only are the Yankees announcers not graded as the best in the league, but they’re not the best in the city of New York or even the American League East.”
Kay freaked out when the Met’s SNY station ran an advertisement on his radio show and called the Met’s broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez as not just the best in the city of New York, but “the best booth in baseball.” (Newsweek, June 2024.) Note to Kay and O’Neill: the Mets broadcasters are better. And it’s not close.
It’s not just the Mets announcers who beat out Kay and O’Neill. At least half of the MLB teams have far better broadcast crews than the Yankees duo. In no particular order, these crews are miles better:
- Astros, Todd Kalas and Geoff Blum
- White Sox, Jason Benetti and Steve Stone (Benetti has since moved on)
- Cardinals, Chip Caray and Jim Edmonds
- Angels, Wayne Randazzo and Mark Gubicza
Kay, 63, has been the Yankees television play by play announcer since 2002. O’Neill, 61 and a former Yankee and Reds outfielder, is one of Kay’s broadcast partners in the Yankees booth and has been there just as long. Unfortunately, listening to Kay and O’Neill is about as pleasant as hearing fingernails drag across a chalkboard.
Kay’s idiotic “See ya!” home run call is simply bush league; his droning style is enough to make any baseball fan smash that mute button or change the channel. The guy is just a terrible announcer. As for O’Neill, as a player he threw helmets and broke bat racks, and his announcing style is just as abrasive. The two together with their irritating voices can make for a long, unpleasant experience.
Hence the three suggestions given above.
Just listen to a Mets game and the pleasant experience of Gary, Ron, and Keith. These guys are professional, lively, interesting, funny when the situation calls for it, and extremely knowledgeable. Every Mets game is entertaining, whether they win or lose, because the Met’s announcers are so damn good. Kay and O’Neill are exactly the opposite in every possible category.
Unfortunately, unless you subscribe to MLB.TV, you are stuck with Kay and O’Neill if you must watch the Yankees. It should be noted that the best thing about MLB.TV is that the viewer gets to choose which team’s broadcast you see. Baseball has so many better announcing crews – men and women who are far more enjoyable to listen to when calling a baseball game. When I have such a choice, I never choose Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill. I would much rather listen to the nails on the chalkboard for nine innings.
Me putting the tv on mute because of Michael Kay. pic.twitter.com/REho4xeixI
— Morty (@EvilMortyD69) August 24, 2024
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Larry Manch is an author, teacher, guitar player, freelance writer, and columnist. He has written 24 books; available in paperback and e-book on Amazon.com.
Follow @LTM_Author
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