Friday, August 21, 2026

Tea glasses to Trebek: What we learned this week from David Cone

True confession: I love listening to David Cone, the Yankee prefect of pop culture. And nothing inspires Conean epiphanies like a three-game sweep in Baltimore. 

This week, by watching YES, we learned: 

1. As a pregame ritual while with the Mets, Coney watched Jeopardy every night. (It aired at 6 p.m.) It calmed his nerves.

2. Coney has no interest in appearing on the show - not even Sports Jeopardy - because he's no good at it. 

3. Coney once met Alex Trebek; he seemed a nice guy.

4. In a down moment, Coney asked if Michael Kay really uses his eyeglasses to stir coffee, an act of questionable hygiene that boothmate Joe Girardi recently unearthed. 

5. Kay's response was, yes, but it's tea, not coffee; he even showed the eyepiece.  

6. Coney did not comment further, though his facial expression seemed to show either bemusement or repressed horror. 

7. It's hard to imagine this being the end of Tea Gate.

8. Coney referred to dropping curveballs as "Tumbling Dice" and felt compelled to note the Rolling Stones song of that title. Kay, famously dense on the subject of classic rock, responded by joking that his oversized head - a subject of various memes - cannot store such data.

9.  Kay has been wooing broadcast partners with their favorite snacks. Last night, he surprised Coney with Peanut M&Ms. By the 8th inning, Coney had devoured them and flattened the bag. 

10. It's difficult for Kay to bring snacks for Meredith Marakovits, because she's into "health" foods. 

Damn. No space to discuss the game. I need a "human printer." 


23 comments:

Publius said...

Can a team this bad be good?

13bit said...

This was a difficult piece to read, El Duque, and was psychologically fraught for me, not simply as an eyeglass wearer for my entire adult life, but also as someone who has a visceral (bad) reaction to Michael Kay, and also, I might add, as someone who is susceptible to compound, run-on sentence forming at the drop of a hat. Okay....phew....got that out of the way.

As a lifelong Stones fan, I somehow now love Coiney even more. And I could think of analogs for Kay, as well - "All Sold Out" or "West Coast Promo Man," from the early period. And I won't beat this one to death. It's sad that the Stones increasingly look like they may not tour again, not due to explosions or drugs, but it's looking like Keith, the iron man of rock, may be suffering from his arthritis and/or grandparenthood. He was always the one who wanted to trot it out there, but - reading the opaque tea leaves of the Stones universe, it seems like he might have been the reason they did not do the tour this year. Man, I need to drink more coffee and shut up.

News on the tee shirts soon, hopefully.

Der Kaiser said...

Last night I dreamt that the Yankees had traded George Lombard. Everyone here was predictably but resignedly upset. The Gammonites were singing Cashman's praises for somehow sneaking Lombard through waivers and somehow finding a loophole to get the trade done three weeks after the trade deadline. The Cashmaniest part was that the Yankees didn't even receive a veteran DH or injured reliever in return, nor indeed any player at all. Instead the trade allowed them to offload a deferred payment they owed to Carl Pavano.

On the plus side, in my dream there was still some hope for the future because there was a lot of minor league talent in the farm system. Particularly there were a lot of good Yankee prospects playing at their new minor league affiliate in Saltoun in East Lothian. I'd love to catch one of their games!

JM said...

I thought I had strange dreams, but that takes the (Little Debbie Snack) cake, Kaiser.

Speaking of Kaisers, I'm in Berlin this week. Nothing too exciting, just being in a nice hotel in a big city is great on its own. Unfortunately, Sunday evening we head back to our backwater home, where English is less common and restaurants are less good. I'd love to live in Berlin, but that isn't in the cards. Life is far from perfect. Coney, however, is a lot of fun.

AboveAverage said...

Cone.








HoraceClarke66 said...

That's hilarious, Kaiser!

Me, I dreamed I saw Tim Hill last night. Alive as you and me. Says I, "But Tim you're six months dead." "I never died," says he. "Really?" says I. "But no living man can pitch that way."

BTR999 said...

A lighter mood here after a sweep….

So - who goes when Bellinger returns?

el duque said...

Chill Bird Spencer.

AboveAverage said...

Cone.






Doug K. said...

You're probably right but that sucks. Especially if they want him to develop and play center next year in place of Grisham. He's starting to find himself at the plate and might be their best and most versatile defensive outfielder.

Doug K. said...

I like seeing Ryan McBroom after the fact instead of before.

Also, during the broadcast Kay or Cone said, since some cherry picked date going back years, the Yankees lead the league in finishing sweeps. I find that very hard to believe.

Did anyone else catch this?

Doug K. said...

They should keep him up and do a strict platoon with Ramos. Ramos is facing too many righties, which is not why they got him, and he's been the worse for it.

They should really DFA Rosario. But they won't. probably saving that for when Judge returns. So not for a while.

13bit said...

Cone

heh...heh....

HoraceClarke66 said...

I find it hard to believe, too, Doug. And yes, Rosario should go, NOT Jones. Although don't they get to expand the rosters SOMEWHAT in September?

The Hammer of God said...

What they could never kill ... went on to orrr-gan-ize!

The Hammer of God said...

Ain't happenin', Doug. Grisham will the centerfielder for at least the next 7 years.

The Hammer of God said...

Pretty surprised that the Battlin' Bronx Bastards were able to sweep the Orioles. Must've caught them at the right time. Maybe the Boyds were due to fall from their high flyin' ways. Their flight feathers got soaked from torrential downpours, perhaps. Or maybe they had avian flu.

The Hammer of God said...

Now comes the reality check: different birds are here. You know the fucking Blue Jays love to kick Yankee ass. Prepare to get swept by the Blow Jobs.

The Hammer of God said...

Cam Schlittler doesn't seem to pitch well against the BJ's. They hang in there and foul off dozens upon dozens of pitches. I'd be very surprised if the Yankees win tonite.

The Hammer of God said...

Nah, they suck. They just caught the Boyds at the right time.

The Hammer of God said...

Meredith Marokovits: hell, I gotta nail that wench! Yeah, I'd feed her only health foods. Love those athletic girls.

There's another one on WPIX sports news, Simone Eli. Another athletic girl I'd love to nail!

AboveAverage said...


Cone.





edb said...

Duque, do you like when he keeps harping on how much talent, Chisholm has?