John Sterling's Russell Martin Call -- In French! -- Is Highlight of Weekend

Saturday was a good game for the Yankees against the Red Sox, but I hated seeing the old Josh Beckett Sunday, who looked like the Beckett of the 2003 World Series, not the Beckett who the Yanks have killed in recent years. Anyhow, instead of dwell on how puny the Yanks looked last night, I'd like to note that Russell Martin had two homers in one game Saturday, and that John Sterling added a call -- in French! -- to his repertoire:



Now, even though I took French in high school and college, I'm not quite sure what Sterling is saying! But I give him an A for effort here, to try to appeal to Martin's heritage (his mother is French Canadian, and he was born and raised in Ontario.)

I'm really digging Martin so far -- he has replaced Jorge Posada, a Yankee icon, at catcher pretty effortlessly.

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Speaking of broadcasters, what did you think of the new Sunday night crew? I wasn't impressed with Bobby Valentine saying about how nobody predicted that the Jets would beat the Patriots last year. Um, I did!

What do you think? Tell us about it?

Thoughts on John Sterling's "Russell Has Muscle" Home Run Call for Russell Martin

Before it's too late, I want to talk about John Sterling's home run call yesterday for Russell Martin. I missed hearing it live, but ESPN's Andrew Marchand reports that it was "Russell has muscle." Not bad -- it has the requisite Sterling cheesiness/charm, without being too out there (I half-expected a Dean Martin reference or something!). Right now, I would rank "Russell has muscle" with "Robbie Cano, don'tcha know!"

Anyhow, I am kicking myself a little. If I had known the new Yankee starting catcher was going to hit a homer in only the second game of the year, I would have started asking Subway Squawkers readers earlier on what they thought Sterling would use for his home run calls. Come to think of it, we'd better start coming up with thoughts and ideas for Eric Chavez, Andruw Jones, and Gustavo Molina!

When I heard about "Russell has muscle," I asked Squawker Jon to guess what Sterling's home run call was. His first guess? Russell Crows! (Get it?) When Jon couldn't figure it out (I think he was relieved that he found himself unable to think like Sterling), I started giving him hints. I went so far as to spot him the first two letters of the last word ("Russell has mu....") and he still couldn't get it, taking stabs such as:

* Russell has mustard
* Russell has mummies
* Russell has mumps
* Russell has Mummenschanz

Anyhow, Jon finally did get it right. But "Russell has Mummenschanz" does have a catchy ring, doesn't it?

What do you think? Tell us about it!