Another year, another lack of inclusion of Mets appearances on the two biggest New York sports talk shows in the Metropolitan area.
Of course, I am referring to “Mike’s On” with Mike Francesa and “The Michael Kay Show” with Michael Kay and Don LaGreca, which run against each other on WFAN and ESPN Radio, respectively.
There has long been a feud between Francesa and Kay, but should Mets fans have to pay for that? During their 27-year run on WFAN, players, coaches and management would routinely appear on the flagship station for New York sports, but now, all we can hear from the Mets is what Ed Coleman relays, and that in itself is truly disappointing.
Newsday’s Neil Best speculates that the reason the Mets keep their people away from Kay and La Greca is to not play favorites in the ongoing Francesa/Lay feud. I think it’s childish to deprive your fans of the content they so richly deserve.
This is a time where optimism is brewing in Queens, with lots of hope in guys like Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, Michael Cuddyer and more, but we can’t hear from the horse’s mouth. We have to rely on shared SNY clips and Twitter following to hear from our favorite team.
Hell, we even heard straight from Matt Harvey when he gave a first-hand account of his injury, self discovery and recovery on The Player’s Tribune, a website founded by legendary Yankee Derek Jeter.
Now, the Mets are spinning this to make it seem like it’s all about loyalty to WOR and the affiliate stations. Does one person who’s reading this post listen to WOR at any other time than when the Mets are playing? I don’t, mostly because of their terrible reception, which causes me to miss portions of games while I am taking long drives.
Mets management, it’s time to smarten up and put your players where the audience is. Nobody is asking you to love Mike Francesa or Michael Kay. I have my moments with both of them, but any New York sports fan worth his salt knows that they are the two premier places to expose your product.
Until then, keep acting like children and provide a product that’s second rate — that makes sense.
