A Moment for the Mets

I grew up a Mets fan, and 1986 remains one of my favorite years (the NY Rangers also won the Patrick Division that year, and of course the great Phil Simms Giants went all the way - all the teams that sucked as I grew up winning at once). My sister gives me shit because the Pirates have become #1 in my heart, but hey, I've been going to a bunch of their games every summer for 12 years now - I'm lucky to hit Shea every other year. That said, this season was very exciting for the Mets, and watching Pedro shut down the Bucs was amazing.

Now the Mets have started a new network, Sportsnet NY[can't find a link], the announcement of which the NYTimes gives a pretty bleak writeup. Apparently they're not branding it strongly as a Mets network - no orange, no serif'd NY, no catchy name. All too familiar an approach for longtime Mets fans. But the best part of the article is:

SportsNet New York can take a stand for quality sportscasting by not taking on Fran Healy, whose longevity on Mets telecasts for 22 years shows him to be a survivor despite a voice that is best muted and a fanny pack full of mediocre insights.

Back when I was in high school in NJ and hardly missed a game, the Mets had the great TV trio of Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver (before he became a serial dead horse abuser), and Steve Zabriskie. Insightful, witty, smart. Great to listen to on WOR-9. Then came the insidious Sportschannel, sucking up more and more games into pay-TV hell. It was OK, cause we got cable, but it was the principle of the thing, and I knew it couldn't be good to hide baseball from fans. The worst, however, was the arrival of Fran Healy. No connection to the Mets - I have no idea why he was ever hired, and I can't believe he's still there (and they're all gone). So here's hoping that the Times is right, and that Healy hits the road. Good riddance.