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If you spent 12 years working at one job, interacting on a daily basis with the same people, you'd probably end up becoming friends with some of them. If you left that job for another one in the same industry, would you stop being friends with those people?

I wouldn't and don't know too many people who would. That makes me and Michael Kay very different people. The Yankee TV announcer and host of his own radio show ripped Joe Torre earlier this week for being in contact with some of his former players with the Yankees.

That's probably surprising to anyone who watched a Yankee game called by Kay. He used to rave about Torre's job handling his players. He also sarcastically referred to him as "St. Joe" while railing about the impropriety of those conversations. Neil Best of Newsday asked him why.


Gosh, what's wrong with people? You rip someone as holier-than-thou after they leave the general vicinity, in the process of creating a mountain out of a molehill, and then they assume that you meant it in a derogatory way.

What Kay leaves out is that Torre used to call him the Rona Barrett of the Yankee clubhouse. For those of you under 60, that's like calling him the TMZ of the clubhouse something that probably rubbed the thin-skinned Kay the wrong way. He also probably didn't like that Torre would only visit with his radio rivals Mike and the Mad Dog who, probably adding to Kay's ill feelings, have their show simulcast on YES.

Does Kay really think Torre was doing something improper when he spoke to Jorge Posada? Or could it be that he was concerned about someone he has a relationship with who is going through a tough time because of injury? I think it's more likely that he wanted to take a whack at someone who he didn't like and just made up the reason.