I love SNY

the Mets broadcast team for SportsNet New York is, in my completely biased opinion, fantastic. Gary Cohen does fine play by play, but for me the fun is in the color commentary by Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling, heroes of the '86 World Championship team. Darling just won a New York Area Emmy award for sports commentary (who knew such a thing existed?!), and I think it's entirely deserved. The rapport between the three of them is great, but the camaraderie between Keith and Ron, the way they talk about the game and playing it together is such a particular treat for a woman who idolized both of them in her pre-teen years.

Beyond the great relationship, though, I like the insight these players who had such success with the Mets bring to the commentary. Last year, Keith talked a lot about what a powerful influence Paul LoDuca was on the team's success, both on the field and in the clubhouse. This doesn't put him in a class by himself, of course-- by the end of the season, most of those who care to comments on these things were recognizing LoDuca's important contributions. But Keith was talking about it-- and reminiscing about Gary Carter having had a similar influence on the '86 team with Darling-- much earlier in the season than anyone else. A small thing, but the kind of small thing that makes me a big fan.

I know it's not objective, but I prefer the games broadcast on SNY to those on ESPN or (Gd forbid) FOX. Sure, there are perks to FOX (Tim McCarver is the main advantage that FOX has over it's competitors), but I often feel like they show seventeen different angles of every play, making it difficult to actually follow the ball across the field. Saturday's game is on FOX, so we'll see if they annoy me any more or less than I remember being annoyed by their coverage last year.