A clip of Michael Kay saying the New York Rangers would be the city’s next championship winning franchise on ESPN’s First Take went viral yesterday after Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim said hockey “doesn’t count”. Critics were angry that one of the NHL’s media partners would say such a thing. Meanwhile, WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti wondered why Kay was there in the first place.
During Boomer & Gio Friday, update anchor Chris Lopresti played the clip that went viral. He scoffed at the idea that hockey “doesn’t count” saying “No disrespect. Sorry, we’re not going to count the hockey team that sells out the building and has people paying hundreds of dollars to get into.”
“I’ve never seen a sport that is so unbelievable get so disrespected,” Jerry Recco, who was filling in for the vacationing Boomer Esiason, said.
However, Giannotti’s point of contention was with Michael Kay’s appearance on the show, deducing that the recent visit from Mike Francesa alongside usual Wednesday guest Chris “Mad Dog” Russo likely led to Kay requesting to be on the program.
“So now that Mike and Chris were on there, Michael Kay’s gotta be on First Take now?” questioned Giannotti. “So that has to be a complaint, right? He was probably like ‘How do you let those guys on when I’m on ESPN?’ That’s definitely how that happened.”
In addition to his work as the television voice of the New York Yankees on YES Network, Kay has announced select baseball broadcasts for ESPN, and also hosts the Kay Rod Cast, an alternate Sunday Night Baseball broadcast for the network. Kay also hosts the afternoon show on WFAN competitor 98.7 ESPN New York.
