I don't know how hygiene issues affect the lot of you here, so hopefully this one isn't too gross for the morning. I did put up a broken testicle last week though, so this shouldn't be nearly as bad. Apparently Yanks Broadcaster John Sterling was spotted in press dining room at Yankee Stadium doing a little taste testing....

YANKEES radio announcer John Sterling is being called out for foul behavior in the stadium's press dining room. "Sterling has made a habit of walking over to the dessert table and dipping his finger into the ice cream barrel," one stadium worker told us, adding that the play-by-play vet has also used the same tablespoon to repeatedly take samples. During the Boston series, "He wandered over to the cake and pie section, broke off a piece of a cake slice, ate it and wiped his grimy hands on the linen tablecloth, leaving the remainder of the slice for someone else to eat - which indeed happened," our spy continued. A rep for WCBS Radio declined to comment, and a team spokesman said the Yankees "know nothing about it."

I can't imagine what the CBS Rep thought when he got that call (if he actually did). He probably thought it was just a prank call and moved on. Anyway, that's downright nasty if true and having visited a few press boxes in my day...not all that surprising.

Finger Dipping Play By Play (Page Six)

Everyone knows about my love for WCBS Announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Well John Sterling is at it again my friends and this one will crack you up. Via the XMFan.com forum....

Can you tell Robinson Cano and Jose Molina apart? Apparently John "I Am Legend" Sterling cannot. In the midst of the eighth inning rally today, he started with his "Robbie Cano, don't you know" and "a ribbie from Robbie" bullshit when the Yanks scored the go ahead run. The only trouble was that Jose Molina was the hero with his two out double.

Too bad we have an announcer more concerned with his self-made legacy than with calling a good game. What a dick.

Oh you don't believe the submitter? How about some audio and video???

The best part of the whole thing is not only that he mentioned Molina two seconds before the pitch, but that he freaked out the at-bat before when Cano hit the sacrifice fly to tie the game. I can understand getting lost during a game but to add a homertastic freak out on top of it is just unbelievable. Too funny.

(Many thanks to J from Vegas Watch for the tip.)

I understand that Fans get upset when "their" team loses, and sometime cry. But a broadcaster live on-air? I think that's unprecedented. Well that's exactly what Yankees radio announcer Suzyn Waldman did during the postgame show on WFAN last night. Here's the audio.

WCBS 880 Audio

“No I was okay actually until I went into the clubhouse and the coaches are sitting in Torre’s office and they are watching this. And the tears you hear in my voice are coming down the faces of the coaches in that coach's room.”- Suzyn Waldman
"Well Suzyn, in life all good things come to an end.”- John Sterling

God schadenfreude is so rich sometime(s). But in all seriousness there is NEVER an instance when a broadcaster should cry live on air. I understand her allegiance to the team and the emotions tied to working for them, but even John Sterling sounded shocked that she was tearing up.

You can also relive Suzyn's greatest moment ever when Roger Clemens came back earlier in the year if you'd like. I'm trying my hardest not to pile on here....trust me.

(P.S.- Thanks to the anonymous tipster for that clip.)

UPDATE: There was a good opinion in the comments that I wanted to share.....

I don't agree 100%. There are acceptable times for a broadcaster to cry on air, but never over wins or losses.

It would have been acceptable, to me at least, if a broadcaster had cried over Mike Coolbaugh that night or something along those lines. Not that you want to or that you'd be trying to. When the Memphis Grizzlies' pbp guy passed away on a road trip 2-3 years ago, his replacement couldn't keep it together in the postgame show when he talked about what had happened...and that was extremely moving, especially because the game was that night.- Anon

Point taken, and by me saying never that was in reference to wins and losses. Death and real life issues like that are the exception.

Update: Just wanted to mention in this space that I've deleted some of the hateful comments in the comments section, and I apologize if anyone was offended. You have to understand I'm only one person running this site (and have a separate full time job)...I can't immediately delete things as they come through.

Let's keep the name calling to minimum please. Thanks for your understanding.

BP- Awful Announcing

For all I know, Yankees broadcaster John Sterling is a perfectly nice man who reads to children, paints church pews in his spare time and helps little old ladies across the street. I still do not like him.

My reasoning is simple. Five words, ninety-three syllables: "Yankees win, tha-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Yankees win!" Just thinking about it makes me so angry...I refuse to post a YouTube video example of this atrocity. And if you've seen my work anywhere, you know I love me some embedded YouTube.

Thanks to SPORTSbyBROOKS, there is now another reason to either dislike Sterling or, at the very least, question his decision-making ability. When Alex Rodriguez hit a walk-off homerun to beat the Indians last night, Sterling referred to the blast as "an A-Bomb for A-Rod". I saw the highlight on ESPN after the game and heard the call, but immediately dove for the mute button for fear of the dreaded phrase you see above. It struck me as an odd choice of words, but nothing malicious.

Maybe so, but Brooks and Sporting News Radio host Dave Smith made an interesting point: what if the walk-off had come against Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Sterling had called it the same way? What type of backlash would we see? I like Brooks' analysis:

"Maybe it's just me, but knowing Sterling, I'm guessing he just thought the call was clever and didn't attach a potential ulterior meaning to it. And if Dice-K had been pitching, I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd let it slip out. The fact that he used it now (and people are now bringing up the Japanese connection) probably will save him from making the mistake in the future. "

Seriously, can't we all picture Sterling waking up at three in the morning, scrambling for a piece of paper and pencil, and chuckling at his own wittiness as he jots down this gem of a homerun call? I can.

Two points: one, this isn't the first time Sterling had busted out the "A-bomb for A-Rod" phrase (he actually seems to use it fairly commonly when Rodriguez goes deep), and two, I was more offended when he said, "Alex Rodriguez is having the greatest month of his or any other life," because it's not true. Either part. A little hyperbole goes a long, long way.

YANKS "A-BOMB" RADIO CALL ROLLS DICE WITH PC POLICE (SPORTSbyBROOKS)