SPORTS EAT Mets win at Emmys

by Lloyd Carroll Chronicle Contributor

For the past 66 years, the best in local sports television was honored as a small part of the New York Emmy Award presentation for news and documentaries. This year, local channels finally had their own standalone ceremony.

WABC-TV news correspondent N.J. Burkett, who doubles as head of the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, admitted to the audience at the Paley Center last Monday that attendees were not happy to be leaving the news Emmy Awards the last few years around 1 a.m., and changes had to be made.

In a battle of Queens, Forest Hills native son Ian Eagle, the television voice of the Brooklyn Nets, triumphed over Flushing denizen and longtime Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen for the best play-by-play.

While Cohen did not win, it was a good day for SNY Mets talent. Cohen’s booth mate, Ron Darling, won the Emmy for in-game sports analyst. Former Mets star Todd Zeile won for best studio analyst for his work on the Mets pre- and postgame shows.

One of the nominees in the category Zeile won is SNY’s Connor Rogers, who is part of SNY’s quartet of Jets pre- and postgame personalities, along with Bart Scott, Willie Colon and Steve Gelbs. Rogers never played football, but he is extremely knowledgeable, and reports on what

Bthe Jets did right and wrong in a way that appeals to thinking sports fans. Unlike too many others in the sports media, he is not seeking clicks on social media by saying outrageous things.

Bruce Beck’s understudy at Channel 4, John Chandler, won the Emmy for best sports anchor within a traditional newscast. I have always liked his easygoing delivery. He subtly lets viewers know not to get too euphoric if their favorite team wins, or despondent if they lose. Chandler, like Channel 2’s Steve Overmyer, also goes out in the field on general news stories. Both do fine work reporting on more serious things than the games people play.

Warner Wolf is the most entertaining sports anchor to ever deliver scores and news at the end of every newscast. He is famous for his catchphrase, “Let’s go to the videotape!” as well as having fun with a team that got demolished that night. “If you had the Jets and 50 points, you lost!” he would state with a hearty chuckle.

Wolf received the Governor’s Award for lifetime achievement. At 86, he has not lost any of his wit, as he regaled the audience with anecdotes from his career, including his first job in Pikeville, Ky. He admitted sports anchors had it easier in the era before the internet and ESPN, because most viewers did not know how their favorite teams did until he gave his report. Q

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