Ron Darling Blasts Mets on Air After Getting Fed Up With Their Futility

1. Local announcers across the board are homers. Some many deny it, but all local announcers want their hometown team to win. And fans love that our local announcers are homers. That’s part of the fun in sports.

So when a local announcer drops the hammer, it means something, because they just don’t do it that often, if at all.

With the Mets sitting at 22–33, 15 games out of first place in the NL East, and in the middle of losing their fifth game in a row (despite having a $334,129,958 payroll), Ron Darling dropped the hammer Tuesday night.

With New York losing to the Reds, 6–0, in the sixth inning, Darling couldn’t take it anymore.

“I don’t understand it,” said Darling after Mets pitcher David Peterson failed to back up on a play. “It really tells me the coaches don’t have as much influence with the players that they think they have because someone should rip someone at some point, but they don’t because they don’t want to upset anyone.

“You have to back up bases every single time.”

SNY play-by-play voice Gary Cohen then asked Darling, “You don’t think that’ll be addressed after the game? At all?”

That’s when Darling really unloaded. “It might be, but not addressed the way it should be addressed because if it was addressed, Gary, it would not happen. It happens every game. We just don’t point it out.”

It’s gotten to the point where one of the classiest booths in baseball is openly ripping the manager

It’s almost like everyone in the world can see this guy is over his head except for Boy Genius who’s saving Mendoza to be the scapegoat after the season is over pic.twitter.com/HoyJCWBDfs
— Unbiased Mets Fan (@TheMetsX) May 27, 2026

That is as harsh a takedown as you’ll ever hear on a local telecast. Good for Darling for keeping things real and giving us a great television moment.

2. The Sports Emmys took place Tuesday night while the Spurs were playing the Thunder. NBC’s Mike Tirico won the award for Outstanding Sports Personality: Play-By-Play, but didn’t know until his analyst, Reggie Miller, broke the news to him live on in the air in what ended up being a very cool moment.

Mike Tirico learns that he's won an Emmy during the Spurs-Thunder Game 5 broadcast on NBC. 🎙️🏆 pic.twitter.com/BQv4Z9WbF4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 27, 2026

Here is the full list of Sports Emmy winners.

3. Speaking of the Sports Emmys, you have to love the Daily Mail trying to generate come clicks and content with this post about Greg Olsen winning Outstanding Sports Personality: Event Analyst.

Humiliation for Tom Brady as NFL commentator he kicked out of Fox booth beats him to Sports Emmy win https://t.co/jlelRD6W0i
— Daily Mail US (@Daily_MailUS) May 27, 2026

4. We told you in Tuesday’s Traina Thoughts that Bryce Harper revealed that he applies his toothpaste in a truly maniacal way. With the Phillies playing in San Diego on Tuesday, the Padres decided to weigh in on Harper’s bizarre bathroom habit.

New fun fact about Bryce Harper from the Padres. pic.twitter.com/pcgaRfZ7Bq
— Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert) May 27, 2026

5. If you want to jump on your NBA Finals wager before the matchup is set, here are the odds, via Draft Kings:

Thunder -280 vs. Knicks +225
Spurs -225 vs. Knicks +185

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Inside the NBA’s Charles Barkley.

Barkley defends Inside the NBA’s first season on ESPN, calls out the NBA for its playoff scheduling, reacts to his recent dustup with Draymond Green and expresses his excitement for Inside the NBA to work the NBA Finals for the first time ever.

In addition, Barkley weighs in on ESPN’s Shams Charania spoiling the MVP announcement, LeBron James’s future, the NCAA tournament expanding to a field of 76 teams, patching things up with Michael Jordan, why he loves Sean McDonough, his plans for the offseason and much more.

Following Barkley, Sal Licata, from SNY TV and The Sal Licata Show, joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include the NBA playoffs, NFL schedule thoughts, the podcast’s opening jingle, Sal getting ratio'd on Twitter, my experience buying concert tickets, Auntie Anne’s prices and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: I’ve listened to this song every day since the video came up on my feed last week. What a tribute to ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson!

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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