Normally this stuff hit hardest when the local broadcaster either moves away from the microphone or takes the microphone away from him.
Inside a few years within the mid-Nineteen Sixties, the Yankees fired each Mel Allen and Red Barber, the previous because major sponsor Ballantine had grown uninterested in his high salary, and the latter for conscientiously and defiantly reporting that 413 fans were present on the September game between the Yanks and the White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, perhaps not, however the Yankees soon experienced the deepest stretch of bad baseball in a long time.
One thing is indisputable: the fans were furious.
The Knicks fired Marv Albert twice.
The primary was defensible (he had just been through a very public and slightly embarrassing ex-girlfriend scandal) and the second was completely indefensible: he didn’t want to vary his career-long habit of truthfully reporting what he saw to Knicks spectators and what he saw some utterly grotesque basketball.
That also resonates, mostly because James Dolan was petty enough not to repair fences with a true franchise icon.
![Jeff Van Gundy was one of the on-air staffers laid off by ESPN this week.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/jeff-van-gundy-main.jpg?w=1024)
Sometimes it’s just time to recalibrate things.
Phil Rizzuto has retired.
Bob Murphy has retired.
Marty Glickman has retired.
The circumstances don’t matter.
We just get used to a comfortable voice describing what we see or talking to us through our radio shield.
They turn into a part of our families.
This is the great thing about local sports: they’re a part of our day by day lives, identical to sleeping, eating and talking on the table.
nationalists?
Truthfully, they arrive and go.
It was shocking when Brent Musburger was fired on the eve of the 1999 National Championship basketball game, but Jim Nantz effortlessly slid into the chair and didn’t relinquish it for 33 years, and he can be replaced just as easily by Ian Eagle next March.
Eventually, John Madden disappeared.
In any case, Tony Romo will do it.
(The one exception to this rule: let’s all hope Bill Raftery is by some means still 50 or more years old in throwing baskets. Who could say no?)
That is why the response to Jeff Van Gundy’s news hit so hard and so weird on Friday.
The concept of a major NBA game being played and Van Gundy not around to supply his dry, witty and wry observations is, frankly, a little beyond belief after being fired from ESPN.
Perhaps he hits harder here because regardless that it has been almost 22 years since he was the sport coach for the Knicks, he stays a strong link to a great period in Latest York basketball.
Perhaps because his partners even have ties to the Knicks – Mike Breen, the Knicks’ voice within the Hall of Fame for over 30 years, Mark Jackson, the two-time Knick who was the team’s last rookie of the yr 35 years ago – and even when this trio broadcast a with teams from Denver, Phoenix or Boston, by some means it felt like a home broadcast.
![Jeff Van Gundy worked with Mike Breen and Mark Jackson on ESPN's broadcast team.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/van-gundy-inset-4.jpg?w=1024)
More likely: Van Gundy is just that good.
He has a deep respect for the game, but additionally has an innate disrespect for it, cheerfully declaring quirks and foibles.
He condemns himself.
He’s rattling funny.
Sometimes Jackson can spend a couple of minutes in each game floating around in his own world, and that is okay because that is at all times the case when Breen and Van Gundy get into the type of relationship that makes you realize that sometimes they really does it doesn’t matter who the announcers are.
Look, as Van Gundy himself would let you know, it doesn’t quite reach the extent of “tragedy.”
No one’s going to need to host a telethon on his behalf, and it’s hard to imagine he won’t be working somewhere—on one other network, on a different team—terribly fast, assuming he desires to.
![Jeff Van Gundy addresses Latrell Sprewell (left) and Allen Houston (ca.) during a 1999 game as head coach of the Knicks.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/jeff-van-gundy-inset-2.jpg?w=1024)
Many individuals lost their jobs at ESPN on Friday, and no story is roughly sad than some other. Television is a nasty business sometimes.
I’m just going to miss that broadcast crew. I’ll miss Van Gundy talking about crucial games of the yr. Another person will step in someday and we’ll all move on.
Eagle replaces Nantz. Nantz replaced each Musburger and Pat Summerall in two sports. Summerall replaced Ray Scott.
Life really goes on. But yes, I’ll miss him. And I feel I’m not alone.
![Jeff Van Gundy, pictured here in 1999, coached the Knicks for some of their best seasons in the late 1990s.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/jeff-van-gundy-inset-3.jpg?w=1024)
Vac’s strokes
Perhaps the very best tribute to the good Alan Arkin who passed away this week was paid by the wonderful Michael McKean who recalled on Twitter when asked if he preferred to be generally known as a comedy or drama actor, he said: “Which kind is Alan Arkin? ‘ and that silenced them.
God bless you, Shel.
And keep running on serpentines.
SlamBall returns after a 20-year absence, live from Las Vegas on ESPN starting July 21.
Probably the most wanted stars in the sport?
Former Columbia defensive back Bryan Bell-Anderson, who will play for his father Trevor this season.
For those who were slow in “Bear”, like me, do yourself a favor and fix it as soon as possible.
In my experience, Mets fans get up in a significantly better mood for Bobby Bonilla Day and the resulting jokes once they have 18 games over 0.500 (like last yr) versus 10 under.
![Bobby Bonilla (left), pictured in 1993, still receives a check from the Mets on July 1 each year.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/bobby-bonilla-open-mike.jpg?w=1024)
Hit the Vac
Jan Sardelis: Now it’s clear the Mets need an exorcist. No other explanation is smart.
Vacuum cleaner: Perhaps ask Keith Hernandez to return to their bedside and begin chanting, “MEX POWER MAKES YOU!”
Joe Nicoletti: I’m a grumpy old, impatient Yankee fan who recently watched “Patton” for the twenty seventh time. Not once did the good general consider resting as they traversed the brutal terrain of Western Europe. When one soldier wanted to go away due to a toe problem, the good Patton replied, “Hell no, use the opposite nine.”
Vacuum cleaner: This jogs my memory of the good Vince Lombardi who, when a player told him, “Coach, I am unable to play, I broke my leg,” he replied, “Is it a weight bone?”
@TimOShea1: James Harden is Kyrie Irvings’ Russell Westbrook.
@MikeVacc: This is, friends, perfection.
![James Harden, pictured in the 2023 NBA playoffs against the Nets, reportedly wants a trade from Philadelphia.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/07/james-harden-open-mike.jpg?w=1024)
Richard Siegelman: Who would have thought that Isiah Kiner-Falefa could put up a perfect 0.00-ERA innings, including a strikeout, and hit two home runs?! Who in response to IKF is Shohei Ohtani?!
Vacuum cleaner: I’m sure Yankees fans will benefit from the IKF as a consolation prize if Ohtani stays on the West Coast.