I used to listen to Mets games on the radio far more than I do now, owing to the fact that, before the days of SNY, Mets telecasts were helmed by a rotating collection of nauseatingly abject broadcasters. I couldn't bear listening to Fran Healy, Ted Robinson, Matt Loughlin, and so forth, so I would watch the games on Fox Sports New York and flip the radio to WFAN so I could hear Gary Cohen and Howie Rose call the action. It was glorious save for one tiny synchronistic imperfection: the radio broadcast was thirty-odd seconds ahead of the television broadcast, so Gary and Howie would describe a play and a few long moments later I'd see what had happened. I got accustomed to it rather quickly, but Kim had very little patience for it. What we saw on TV was rather like an instant replay of the radio call. It was as close to perfection as I could get at the time, though, and it sure beat the alternative — Fran Healy calling every pop-up a "can of corn."
In 2006, SNY began broadcasting Mets games, and they transposed Gary Cohen from the radio booth to TV land, and in so doing they essentially put an end to my radio involvement with the Mets. Now that Cohen was calling television broadcasts, and he was flanked by Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling to boot, I no longer had to jump through the audio-visual hoops to hear the baseball commentary I wanted paired with the moving pictures I so adored. Now, apart from the occasional car ride which happens to coincide with a Mets game, I scarcely hear the sweet, dulcet tones of Howie Rose anymore.
All of this is a roundabout way of introducing Josh Lewin (@joshlewinstuff) as the Mets' newest radio broadcast partner to Rose. Lewin replaces the nearly universally reviled Wayne Hagin, who himself superseded the unspectacular but decently cromulent Tom McCarthy. Regarding the new WFAN hire, Shannon Shark at Mets Police (@MetsPolice) has what I would consider a near perfect list of suggestions for Lewin. I'll adumbrate them for you here, but please check out the original post for further descriptions of each.
- Describe the plays.
- You are allowed one catch phrase.
- No "we."
- Don't fake it about Mets history, just lean on Howie.
- If the Mets suck be honest.
This is about as comprehensively succinct as you can make it, and it's all you can really ask for in a broadcaster. For those of you who do listen to Mets radio broadcasts with some regularity, what are you looking for from Josh Lewin? Any sagely advice?