Friend of the site Howard Megdal recently wrote a piece detailing the dual career of announcer Kevin Burhkardt. The sideline reporter for SNY, Burkhardt is known to Mets fans as the guy who interrupts the flow of announcers Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez to file in-game reports that take too long, offer too little information and should be – at best – part of a pre-game show.
Burkhardt currently is winning raves for his work as an NFL announcer and in his rookie season for Fox, is about to be rewarded with a playoff game. Megdal talks about the tug of war in place for Burkhardt’s services between SNY and Fox, with the implication being he will end up with Fox because he has both a bigger current role plus more room to grow.
Megdal paints Burkhardt as a quality person, one who puts a ton of work into everything he does and a guy who has succeeded because of hard work, not because he was an ex-player or who was born into a family of announcers.
All of that last paragraph sounds wonderful and is normally something that would make me root for the guy. Instead, my reaction is to celebrate the news that he may be gone from Mets’ telecasts next year.
Of course, the Mets will probably replace him with some other equally useless sideline reporter who adds nothing to the broadcast. The question remains: Is a sideline reporter by definition useless or is there someway to revamp the role into something useful?
Celebrity Mets fan Jerry Seinfeld has made appearances in the SNY booth that are generally well-received by the fans. After an appearance by Seinfeld last year, I saw a post on a message board that clarified why Seinfeld was so good as a fourth voice on the telecast while Burkhardt is so annoying in a similar role.
A poster named NYMNYR made the following point:
Darling: serious, former player, specializes in pitching
Hernandez: jokester, former player, specializes in hitting/fielding
Cohen: serious, grew up a fan, encyclopedic knowledge
Seinfeld: jokester, grew up a fan, common fan’s knowledge
They had great chemistry because Seinfeld filled out the void missing from our group – basically someone to be Cohen’s opposite number.
Try as he may, Burkhardt simply cannot compete with Cohen as an announcer. To be useful to the SNY broadcasts, he has to act somehow as a foil to Cohen. While I’m sure he at times tried to be funny – let’s be honest, he’s no Seinfeld.
Also, there was one segment they tried last year where Burkhardt tried to introduce advances statistical concepts to the airwaves. In theory this was a good idea because it’s the one area where Cohen is less than outstanding. Despite being a fan of advanced numbers, the only way for me to describe this segment was to label it as a complete and utter failure.
It was just painful television, one that had me begging for it to stop. It tried to do too much, introducing too many concepts at one time. Nothing was presented properly and the idea of Burkhardt being some kind of professor giving a class on the subject was not anything that helped to advance acceptance of these non Triple Crown numbers.
As hard working and as likeable as Burkhardt may be, he simply cannot be successful when he has to be on air alongside Cohen. And that’s not a knock on Burkhardt. Cohen sets the bar incredibly high. It’s impossible to compete with him on his turf. For a fourth voice to be a complement, rather than a distraction, to the current SNY broadcasters – (s)he has to bring something different to the table.
Seinfeld works because he’s both a Mets fan and a comedian. It can’t be Morning Zoo radio, where a comedian comes on to plug his latest gig at the local comedy club. It has to be someone who has a history with the team.
Another thing in Seinfeld’s favor is that he’s not awe struck by any of the other three stars. That seems like a necessary component, too. While he recognizes they know more about the team than he does, he is comfortable in his fandom. One of my favorite moments with Seinfeld in the booth came a few years ago when Jose Reyes hit a home run and Seinfeld went wild. While enjoying the homer, he also took advantage of the opportunity to tweak Cohen and his reactions to Reyes.
It was great baseball television.
It seems unlikely that Seinfeld would agree to become a permanent member of the booth, even in a five minutes a night role like Burkhardt had. But they should ask. After he politely declines, they should consider an in-house solution.
No, they should not ask a current member of the SNY announcer stable. Instead they should look to ownership. While Fred Wilpon might be an interesting fourth voice, my thought is with one of the minority investors. Like Seinfeld, this guy has a background in stand-up comedy. And he must be a Mets fan to have ponied up $20 million for his share of the club.
The new Mets sideline reporter should be Bill Maher.
Maher would be awesome. But is there a rule about a minority owner being hired by a company owned by the current ownership?
Was that wrong? Should I have not done that? I tell you I gotta plead ignorance on this thing because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing was frowned upon, you know, cause I’ve worked in a lot of offices and I tell you people do that all the time.
You got me all wrong Brian. I’m all in for Maher. His sarcasm and wit would fit in perfectly. I’m just wondering about the legality of having a minority owner as a commentator. It’s your show! And you can do whatever makes you happy!
I’ve never heard the rule you mentioned. Which led me to recall that George bit from Seinfeld that I posted.
You could not be more wrong. And short sighted speaking of the job Kevin Burkhardt does on Mets telecast. You seem to pit Burkhart vs. Gary Cohen when is ridiculous. I can tell you fro first hand expience that there is amazing comrodiry and chemistry between all the broadcasters. Also it was KB’s work as play by play man in Cohen’s absence that attracted FOX to Burkhardt . As for his sideline work on SNY name anyone who handles that role better? You can’t
I do not mean to imply that there is any kind of competition/animosity among the four SNY broadcasters. They all appear to get along quite well.
I see where I used the phrase, “It’s impossible to compete with him on his turf,” so I see where the confusion comes in. I should have used a better phrase.
Nor have I. I was wondering if one did exist?
I’m sure that Kevin Burkhardt took the job with the Mets to gain exposure. The job is a hopeful stepping stone to a bigger gig. Burkhardt has the ability and ambition to become a prominent sports announcer, not just a sideline attraction.
“Burkhardt is known to Mets fans as the guy who interrupts the flow …”
Really? Didn’t know that. I think he does a good job.
Hire Bill Maher and I’d be forced to watch the game with the TV on mute
while listening to Howie Rose on the radio.
If listening to Maher comes with watching a Met game it will be a lot less enjoyable. Maher’s ego will demand center stage and rather have silence than him.
How about a looker? Find a young thing that wants to be the next Erin Andrews. Some of those boring no score games could use a cute young thing.
Because it’s 2013 and things like that are on the way out. If they’re going to hire a woman (or anyone for that matter) she’s going to be hired because she’s a good sports reporter, not because she’s pretty to look at. And that’s the way it should be.
Amazin, if you’re more interested in a looker and a hot young thing than watching baseball, turn the channel or find it online. If not, then by default, she should be paired with a stud, hot male model, gay or straight to appeal to female and gay Mets fans. How ’bout that. Get my point?
It may be that the sideline reporter is generally a useless and dumb concept in baseball broadcasting. But i gotta say that Burkhardt is really good at it compared with the clowns you see on most other local broadcasts. Interestingly, I don’t care for his play-by-play on Mets broadcasts even though his football play-by-play chops seem excellent. He’s a talented dude.
I generally agree, but with a few caveats. The sideline reporter is not useless and a dumb concept if utilized properly. They can provide good interviews and feature pieces that can run during the broadcast to help the fans at home learn more about a notable person, the stadium, the city, whatever. Also if something happens during the game (think back to when Gary Kubiak had a stroke on the sideline a few weeks ago) they can be on top of those things and provide important information. I agree with your evaluation that he is really good at the sideline stuff, and that he is much better at football than baseball. But with that you have to remember that for the past 7 years, he’s done very little baseball PBP and has been doing Dallas Cowboys games and College Football on the radio during that time (before joining FOX), so all those extra reps mean that his football is further along in the development curve than his baseball is.
One thing that I’ve found true in my experience broadcasting is that the more reps you get on the mic, the better you are going to be. When you’re not broadcasting a lot, you A. get rusty and it takes a few games to get back in the swing of things, and B. you’re not getting the experience of doing things “wrong” so you don’t know what to improve on. I think that if Burkhardt is hired by another team (or maybe even replaces Josh Lewin as Howie Rose’s partner at some point) I think after a little while he’ll be terrific at baseball too.
I think Kevin Burkhardt had a very difficult job. Especially since Gary, Keith and Ron have such a good rapport with each other. His job literally was to interrupt, and often with a bad team there isn’t much good to interrupt with. I wish him the best on Fox. I certainly wouldn’t mind having a female presence during the game. Maybe the Mets could pry Lauren Shehadi away from MLB Network since they barely use her talents their anyway. Also, these pretzels are making me thirsty.
The replacement will probably be Eamon Mcananey, who will be fine. However, after hearing Burkhardt do FOX games, its clear to see his strength is play-by-play for football. He’s terrific!!
Oh and Bill Maher…please No!!! The last thing the national pastime’s romance with fans needs is an Uber-cynic. He fits well with politics. Dennis Miller’s stint on MNF, should be enough of a warning. Its bad enough ESPN lets Keith Olbermann speak on TV.
I like Burkhardt but I despise sideline reports in all sports.I rather just have the 3 man booth,if they want KB to do pre and post game interviews that’s fine.Seinfeld would be great but it’s not happening.
To heck with Bill Maher. Teams shouldn’t be hiring comedians to be sideline reporters, they should be hiring sportscasters. There are plenty of guys out there who are hungry, talented, have been cutting their teeth in the minor leagues and deserve a shot to get in at the Major League level so that they can get their shot like KB has, Chris Cotter before him, and Matt Loughlin (who now does radio for the NJ Devils) back in the 90s and early 2000s. There are plenty of broadcasters who can play the opposite number to Gary and do a great job. Like Sean mentioned, the front-runner has to be Eamon McAnaney, who is a good broadcaster and certainly deserves a shot. To put Maher, Seinfeld, Chris Rock, or any other comedian/Mets fan in the role over an actual broadcaster turns the position into a joke and takes away a job from a deserving sportscaster and gives to a famous person who doesn’t have sports reporting chops.
Joe, to piggyback on your point too. Chris Cotter was great in his one year with SNY too. Now he is a studio anchor on ESPN.
Also full disclosure, I’m trying to be a sportscaster, so I am a little biased, but I know how difficult it is to even make it to the level the Burkhardt has and I feel that just giving the position away to someone who hasn’t paid their dues in sportscasting would be insulting.
kevin cotter was better in my opinion but hey who am I. should get a chick like marokovitz on the other team
I think you are way off base on Kevin Burkhardt and his role with the Mets. The Mets have an outstanding announcing team with Gary, Ron, and Keith, probably the best in the business. However, Kevin Burkhardt has consistently added a different dimension to the broadcasts with insight from the locker room, interesting tidbits about the opposing team or just his general commentary on the Mets. Watching the Mets lately can be a challenge and having a fresh voice roaming the stadium has been an added bonus to the already great broadcasts. If Burkhardt departs it will be a loss to SNY coverage of the Mets.
Burkhardt is fabulous at what he does, very talented. His departure, if it does occur, would be great loss. He’s under contract with SNY for one more season.
And no offense intended, but any suggestion to replace him with a comedian, or otherwise add a comedian, makes me want to puke. I tune to SNY to watch baseball and listen to the best 4-team crew in the business. I absolutely do not want nor need any addition whose claim to fame is to come up with a contrived joke every 5-seconds. I can’t stand listening to a Seinfeld invite even once a year. Gary, Keith and Ron are perfectly interesting and entertaining naturally, not contrived. Leave well enough alone. Absolutely! Any replacement for Burkhardt, should come from sports broadcasting wing, not comedy central.
I did not know he was being replaced. Is this your wish?
I think he does a great job and hope he continues and eventually does our games.
Maher and Seinfeld are comedians, not broadcasters, so that is not going to happen.
I actually enjoy Burkhardt’s work on SNY. He may state the obvious for certain things but at this point the players are probably comfortable talking to him about different aspects of their game.
Brian – I’ve liked and respected many of your previous articles, but I think you are completely off base on Burkhardt. He doesn’t compete with Gary, nor does he duplicate any of the other broadcasters. Rather, he adds to and amplifies the discussions with his personal obsrevations and insights gained from the relationships he has developed with the players and coaches. I find most of his commentary useful and enjoyable. His reporting style is warm, yet professional. In some ways, he reminds me of a young Vin Scully. (And I say that from my personal recollections of Scully when he first joined Red Barber and Connie Desmond in the Brooklyn Dodgers broadcast booth.)
It would be naive to expect Kevin to remain a member of the Mets broadcast team for the long term. As a sideline reporter, he plays a secondary role to Gary, Kieth and Ron. His skills, however, will likely lead him to a primary role somewhere, sometime. Meanwhile I hope we get to enjoy Kevin’s sideline reporting as long as he will stay with SNY.
Regarding Bill Maher, there is absolutely no way he would, or could, replace Kevin Burkhardt as a regular on Mets broadcasts. The only logical role Maher could play is the same one Jerry Seinfeld plays – that of occasional celebrity participant. It would add immeasurably to the enjoyment of Mets broadcasts if we were treated to occasional visits from both Seinfeld and Maher. Perhaps the Wilpons could prevail upon Bill Maher to occasionally visit in order to improve the ratings of SNY. It would probably be a difficult sell, however, because unlike Jerry, who seems to be in semi retirement since he closed shop on The Seinfeld Show, Maher is extremely active.
bill marred is a vile, ultra left-wing piece of garbage.
I’ll answer that with this: I forget what year it was – sometime in the late ‘70’s I’d say. It was the Jets last game in a season they were going nowhere.
The network decided to “experiment” by not having any announcers. Imagine that! All you heard was the crowd, the PA announcer, the whistles, the wind blowing.
Best game I ever watched.
No offense to K. Burkhardt who seems like a nice kid.
I remember that, too.
You know, it’s time to try that experiment again. With all of the graphics they can put up now that weren’t available back then, it would be an idea worth doing once more.
Heck, all you have to do is mute your tv. I do it when I’m on the phone or talking to my wife (actually she’s talking and I’m sort of listening). With graphics and instant replay you really don’t need the announcers most of the time. Fortunately, the give and take with
GKR makes good listening, but some of the other teams’ announcers make the mute button my best friend.
Often times I watch non-Mets games with the sound off and music on. But muting the game does not equal one without announcers. There’s a lot of ambient game noise that would be great to hear. Among things that would be nice would be the crack of the bat, the ball hitting the glove and fans going crazy — whether over a good play or a blown call.
I think Burkhardt does a good job. His pre-game articles are better than in-game, but I do not find him annoying in anyway. I think the Mets have the best broadcast booth team I have ever listened to. Leave Seinfeld as an occasional guest. I watch baseball games to watch baseball games. It’s not a comedy show.