No more awkward video conferencing for Paul O’Neill. He will be back at Yankee Stadium this season and in the booth alongside his YES Network colleagues.
O’Neill had been working remotely. Last season, the team mandated that everyone in the broadcast booth be vaccinated against COVID-19. Paul O’Neill did not comply, but the network was willing to make accommodations.
Neil Best asked YES Network representatives what changed. They would not say if the network’s mandate has been loosened or if O’Neill received the vaccine.
Best later confirmed via Twitter that network restrictions had been loosened, making O’Neill’s status irrelevant.
Paul O’Neill is a longtime favorite of Yankees fans. He won four World Series with the team, playing in right field from 1993 until 2001. The following season, he immediately began his broadcasting career with the YES Network. The team retired his number 21 last season.
CNN’s embattled morning anchor Don Lemon has “been under attack all weekend” after his comments on 2024 Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley, and Fox News host Brian Kilmeade wonders if there’s an ulterior motive at play.
Lemon has been absent from CNN This Morning since he said the 51-year-old Haley is “past her prime” last Thursday, but the network has claimed he had a previously scheduled vacation Friday and was off on Monday due to President’s Day.
During The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News Radio Monday, the Fox & Friends host openly questioned if Lemon is trying to get fired.
“He’s done so many crazy things — early — with his co-hosts you think he wants to get fired,” Kilmeade said. “It’s almost as if he wants off the show. He doesn’t seem upset. Obviously, photographers showing up and he’s hanging out on the beach as if to say ‘I don’t sweat this’. That’s not the concern look you want from someone who wants to keep his job. That’s insane.”
Lemon has apologized both publicly and privately to CNN staffers for his comments last week.
The Daily Beast has reported that Lemon’s future with the network could be viewed as cloudy. Reports last year indicated new CNN CEO Chris Licht was interested in removing “partisan” hosts from CNN, which Lemon could be viewed as.
Every weekday morning during the MLB Season, fans turn on MLB Central on MLB Network and watch Mark DeRosa break down the previous night’s baseball action along with Robert Flores and Lauren Shehadi. As with any show that is watched in professional clubhouses, the right word choices to describe a player’s performance are key, but DeRosa doesn’t have to worry about that.
DeRosa — the Team USA manager for the upcoming World Baseball Classic — was a guest on The Chris Rose Rotation podcast on Monday and Rose asked him if he has ever received criticism from any player for the comments he makes on MLB Central.
“Not really. I know how hard it is. I know how hard it was for me. I do everything in my power not to go to negative town with anything that I see on a nightly basis unless it’s to do with ripping a GM for a trade he makes that I know is going to impact the clubhouse or a manager making a silly move to go to a bullpen piece. Those are the things I go after.”
DeRosa is getting his opportunity to manage in the WBC, but he has interviewed for MLB managerial jobs in the past. However, he mentioned to Rose that if he was going to leave TV to go be a manager, it has to be the perfect opportunity in part because he wants to see his son play baseball. Rose asked DeRosa if there was a part of him that he thinks he might be missing out on an opportunity if his name doesn’t come up in managerial openings five years from now for example.
“I have thought about that and I weigh the pros and cons of it. I hate to say this but it’s the truth and I only know one way to be true. “The network pays me really handsomely to do what I do. I want someone to knock my freakin’ socks off to get me to not do this. I work 6 months out of the year. The minute the last out of the World Series is made, I’m home. I’m taking my kid to school, I’m playing golf with my buddies, I’m living a normal life….I don’t want to give this up just to scratch an itch. I want somebody to force me to wake up every morning and not think of anything else.”
DeRosa told Rose that he is a fan of analytics in baseball because it gives him the answers to the test and how he can use them. Plus, while he’s at MLB Network, he loves having the back-and-forth arguments with the people in research.
“I love those conversations. I love going back to research at MLB Network and getting into it with those guys back there. They are passionate at what they do.”
Don Lemon continues to be slammed after his comments that 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley “is past her prime”, with OutKick’s Tomi Lahren joining the fray.
During her Fox News Commentary, Lahren had harsh criticism for the CNN This Morning host, calling his comments “blatant sexism, ageism, and completely tone-deaf.”
Lahren added that the criticism would be levied even harder against a conservative political voice if the same comments were made.
“Can ya’ll imagine if a conservative male anchor said this of Kamala Harris? Or any female for that matter?” questioned Lahren.
The conservative pundit then called Lemon’s apology “half-baked” before adding “You put your foot in your mouth and offended pretty much every woman in America, but we don’t worry. We won’t cancel you.”
Lemon hasn’t returned to CNN This Morning since his comments last Thursday. He had a scheduled vacation day on Friday but was reportedly “benched” for Monday’s show. However, CNN has pushed back on that insinuation, claiming Lemon was simply off on Monday due to President’s Day.
ESPN SportsCenter anchor Randy Scott has defended himself against accusations of misogyny for a comment he made during a recent show.
Scott said “let’s get back to the actual basketball in Ann Arbor” while transitioning between highlights from the Michigan/Michigan State women’s basketball game to those from the same two schools playing in men’s basketball.
The clip of Scott — which has seen several million views on Twitter — has been taken out of context, which Scott attempted to combat on Twitter, saying that the entire segment needed to be viewed to understand his comment.
The highlight package began with video of the moment of silence held by the University of Michigan after three Michigan State students were murdered in an on-campus shooting last week. SportsCenter then showed highlights from the women’s basketball game between the schools held in East Lansing, so when Scott said “let’s get back to the actual basketball in Ann Arbor”, he wasn’t denigrating women’s basketball, he was returning the highlights back to the University of Michigan campus, after previously showing the moment of silence.
Scott explained why he said what he did on Twitter, before adding “Nice try, though?” to a user who has since deleted the tweet directed at the SportsCenter anchor.
This is a day many Philadelphians never thought they would see. February 20 is the first day in 33 years that the City of Brotherly Love has not started its day with the voice of Angelo Cataldi. Now, it is Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie leading the WIP Morning Show.
The duo started their new show on Monday by acknowledging that they are indeed taking over for a legend.
“We will certainly look to honor the legacy of Angelo with how we look to do the show for many years to come,” DeCamara told the audience to open the new show.
Joe DeCamara says he knows this is a big change for some listeners. He hopes they can find enough familiarity with the new show that makes them want to stick around.
“Sure, it will be very different in certain ways, but Angelo had a very high standard of excellence,” he said. “We’re looking to do the best show for the audience and we shall strive to do a similar thing.”
Some pieces from the previous show are joining DeCamara and Richie on the new show. Rhea Hughes will stay on as a co-host. Joe Weachter is still the morning show producer.
2023 will be the final season for Arizona Diamondbacks radio play-by-play announcer Greg Schulte.
The 72-year-old has spent the past 25 seasons with the club, and will step aside at the conclusion of his 26th with the franchise. In total, Schulte — nicknamed “The Gub’nuh” — will have called just under 4,000 games for the franchise during his career.
“I had no idea it would develop into something like this,” Schulte told MLB.com. “I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some great partners over the years. I can’t say enough good things about the way the Diamondbacks have treated me. They have been so supportive over the years. I’m very thankful for that.”
Schulte missed several games during the 2022 campaign after being diagnosed with cancer for a second time. He originally battled the disease in 1992. As a result of the radiation and chemotherapy, he has lost some feeling in his right foot, which made traveling difficult.
In 2023, Schulte will continue to call most home games for the club and will broadcast select road games.
He’s the only radio voice the franchise has ever known, with team executives believing he should someday be enshrined in Cooperstown.
“Greg has been the voice of the D-backs since our inception and has been the standard for a team play-by-play broadcaster,” team President and CEO Derrick Hall said. “He is enthusiastic every day he arrives at the ballpark and has a true passion for getting in the booth and putting on the headset. He is a true example of longevity and professionalism, and I have consistently said he belongs in the broadcast wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.”
First Take has gotten into the reunion business after pairing Mike Francesa and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo together earlier this month. However, don’t expect to see Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless reunited.
During an appearance on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show, Smith was asked by former First Take host Jay Crawford if we’ll ever see he and Bayless paired up again.
“I don’t believe so,” Smith said. “I love Skip. I’m incredibly grateful to him, but I don’t think that will ever happen. I think we’re just going in separate directions. I have aspirations outside the world of sports. If he interviews me for his podcast or I do it for my podcast, that would be different. But on screen together, working together on-screen in a debate format? That’s not something that I think is going to happen.
“I think both of us have moved beyond that and I don’t see that happening. I don’t think he’ll be back at ESPN. If I’m doing sports, I’ll probably be here, and if I’m doing more than sports — which I definitely plan on doing — that’s not his lane. Skip cares about sports all day, every day, and very little else. So I don’t see that happening.”
Is a Skip Bayless/Stephen A. Smith reunion in the works?
While promoting his book “Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes“, Smith has openly discussed his admiration for Skip Bayless, and defended the FS1 host after his controversial tweet during the Damar Hamlin incident received plenty of backlash.
Los Angeles Kings television play-by-play announcer Alex Faust is reportedly joining Apple TV+ as one of the streaming platform’s Friday Night Baseball voices.
The 34-year-old Faust will be paired with Colorado Rockies analyst Ryan Spilborghs as Apple’s second broadcast crew, according to a report from The New York Post.
After joining the Kings’ television crew after the retirement of the legendary Bob Miller, Faust has sporadically announced baseball for FOX Sports and NESN. He has also worked as a college football and basketball announcer for FOX Sports.
Faust notably rose to national prominence after former Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek listed him as one of two potential successors as host during a 2018 interview with TMZ.
The news of Faust serving as the second play-by-play voice for Friday Night Baseball comes on the heels of the revelation that analyst Katie Nolan and play-by-play announcer Melanie Newman wouldn’t return to the broadcast booths in 2023 for Apple.
Apple reportedly has tabbed Wayne Randazzo to serve as its primary game caller in 2023, after he departed the New York Mets radio booth for a position with the Los Angeles Angeles television broadcast. He is slated to be joined by Dontrelle Willis.
Late Sunday, a report from The Daily Beast claimed Don Lemon was “benched” by CNN after his recent comments about 2024 Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley came under fire.
However, the network has denied that Lemon’s future is in doubt, and added that he simply was observing President’s Day.
“He is taking the holiday,” a CNN spokesperson told Mediaite. “He’s been chased by paparazzi all weekend. He’s been under attack. He’s not ready to go back on air.”
Lemon’s comments came on Thursday of last week, where he said that the 51-year-old Haley was “past her prime”, before co-anchor Poppy Harlow pushed back on his comments. Harlow reportedly left the set in anger during a commercial break, which was refuted as a “well-timed bathroom break”.
After the comments, Lemon has since apologized to both CNN employees and the public, calling his statement “inartful” and “irrelevant”.
Lemon also did not co-host the show on Friday, however, he had previously announced he would miss that day’s show before he came under fire.
CNN This Morning was anchored by Harlow and Sara Sidner from New York Monday morning, while Kaitlan Collins appeared in Poland covering the trip made by President Joe Biden.
