Over the weekend a twitter conversation started and it was one of those rare topics where people weren’t calling me an idiot (I know, right?) so I figured I would flesh it out into a post.
On Saturday I saw a tweet from SNY about some sort of game show something something with deGrom and Gselleman (I think) and I think I was expected to click on a video or something.
So some caveats here…
Importantly, I have no insights into SNY’s metrics. Maybe said video is the most clicked on video in the history of the internet. Maybe they make tons of money off those videos and dating shows. Maybe Jets Magazine (probably has a real title, possible Jets Magazine) is one of the most lucrative shows in all of television. Maybe people really do stick around after Mets Post-Game to hear what someone said in Giants camp. I have no way of knowing any of this.
As a fat guy on the couch, I wonder about the mission, both in perception and execution of SNY’s aspiration to be some sort of ESPN for New York. You see the tweets – Yankees coverage, football coverage. You see the promos for Jets Magazine or whatever. But I think in most of our minds SNY is “MetsChannel.”
Sure here at a site called Mets Police you and I probably over index in our Mets fandom. But how often do you watch SNY when the Mets aren’t on?
I feel like the aspiration to be New York Sports Something has squandered a decade plus of opportunity. As YES has Yankeeography and The Michael Kay Show, SNY could have been accruing a library of what I call The Howie Rose Show.
Strangely, I am starting to see things like Howie Interviewing People showing up on either @mets or @snytv (I am not sure which) and there’s also Rain Delay Theater which is Guys Being Interviewed. Both are pretty cheap to produce.
I wrote about The Howie Rose Show back in 2013. Imagine if SNY had listened and we had banked an hour with Ralph Kiner. Or Tom Seaver. Or Rusty Staub.
What if we started two months ago and grabbed a bunch of 1969 Mets? What if we start today and grab – I will make this super easy so nobody has to spend any money – Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez when they are already in the building. Two stools, black curtain, and talk. It doesn’t need to be fancy.
As the weeks, months and years go by, look for opportunities to grab the people. Famous people from visiting teams – maybe active players, maybe coaches, maybe broadcasters. Maybe one day we’re lucky and Willie Mays is around. I”m pretty confident David Wright will do it next time he’s around.
And please let Howie do it. I’ll leave it there. Have Howie do it.
Imagine if SNY had spent ten years already making these. Instead we get Amazing Finishes With Steve Gelbs. Great. Or we get The Dating Show. Or we get whatever is going on at 5pm now. Or we get Guys Yelling At Each Other. I know I am older than old now but I’d much rather watch Howie and Rusty swap stories – but that can never happen now.
This is not how SNY sees things apparently, so Oh Yeah and the Dating Show it is.
Again, I may be totally wrong here. Maybe SNY knows that the Howie Rose show won’t draw viewers nor sponsors and that Oh Yeah is a cash cow. They know their business better than I do.
