Our new radio pal Josh Lewin has good manners!
So far I like Josh because of his nice reply and that he in on twitter. I guess I should warn him that I’ll bug him during games.
Anyways here’s some friendly suggestions for Josh.
1. Describe the plays. I know – basic, right? Well, some other radio announcers not named Howie would sometimes kinda sorta call the play and then catch up later and tell me what happened. Howie has a knack for describing the play with his intonations. He will speed up if a ball is going to drop. That sort of thing. But I’ll settle for telling me where the runners are.
2. You are allowed one catch phrase. You can have your own Put It In The Books or That Ball Is Outta Here or whatever your thing is. If you want to have 75 different ones then hop the 4 train to the wrong side of 161st where the Fake Stadium is.
3. No “we.” You are not on the Mets. I hope you are emotionally invested and make some friends in the organization but “we” will never need a hit here. The Mets might.
4. Don’t fake it about Mets history, just lean on Howie. Don’t try to bluff if you don’t know who Danny Heep is or Ray Sadecki or what “The Terry Pendleton Game” was. If you know, great. If you don’t – that’s fine. Just know more about the 2012 Mets than I do.
5. If the Mets suck be honest. No rah-rah. Call a fair season. If it’s a disaster we’ll all know it. Don’t tell us some 3-19 pitcher is battling. Again, Howie is a master of letting us know what he thinks with his intonations. He’ll slow down and drop his voice and say something like “Pelfrey is reallly taking his time out there.” We get Howie’s gist when he does that. (And as I told your producer in Dallas..I loved how Howie made buh-lac-kuh a three syllable word when expressing disdain for the Mets choice of shirts.)
That’s it. You already kissed Howie’s ring. Howie is the second best (to Vin Scully). All you need to do is keep him company during 10-2 blowouts and all will be fine. Mets fans are not a demanding bunch. Just call the game. Simple.
Welcome..I look forward to listening!
on #4, not all Mets know that stuff either. And every year there are new fans (yes, even 2012). So it’s not even bad if Josh doesn’t know that stuff because it’s a perfect way for Howie to retell a story.