Watchdog

Bobby Valentine is close to finalizing a deal with SNY to work 10-15 games as a Mets studio analyst this season, probably including the April 1 opener, said a person familiar with the talks.

Valentine was named athletic director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., last month but evidently would like to keep his hand in sports broadcasting.

NBC Sports Radio announced Tuesday...

Strip away the non-essentials and let’s face it: SNY exists to carry Mets games. Thus it makes sense to squeeze every possible ounce of programming out of them.

Voila: The network this season will add “Mets First Pitch’’ at 6 p.m. for 7 o’clock games, a half-hour before the traditional 6:30 pregame show.

(The debate program “Wheelhouse’’ will be cancelled effective April 1.)

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I am a week behind on this, but I got sidetracked late in 2012 following the Knicks’ wild West road trip, then eating more chicken wings in Buffalo than anyone my age should.

Better late than never: Our sixth annual New York Sports Media Person of the Year Award goes to . . . R.A. Dickey. He was an easy choice, given his accessibility and his dogged insistence on being smart and interesting...

What has it been like watching the Mets’ fast fade from the TV booth?

Better than watching from the field, according to SNY analyst Keith Hernandez.

“They’ve been difficult, but I always keep it in perspective,’’ he said. “Having played for teams that did not perform well and played the season out it is far worse for them to go out in the uniform. They’re the ones out there performing.

“I...

WFAN afternoon host Mike Francesa went off on the Mets after Thursday's game.

We could write up a few highlights, but in this case, the printed word just won't suffice. Just click the embedded video below and have yourself a party.

Newsday's mobile app users can paste this link into their browser to listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgyRKcEXYtI&feature=youtu.be...

These are heady days for Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey, whose unlikely journey to stardom has become a source of fascination inside and outside the sports world. (Look for a possible traffic jam of major-league pitchers on Mount Kilimanjaro next winter in search of Dickey's secret.)

It certainly is a fine time to be Blue Rider Press, publisher of Dickey's well-received autobiography, "Wherever...

“Knuckleball!’’ a film about the world’s most famously quirky pitch, had its premiere – outdoors! – Saturday night as part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, featuring among others R.A. Dickey, Phil Niekro and Newsday’s own Dave Lennon, who never has thrown a knuckleball professionally.

Did I like it? Yes, but not as much as I would have liked to like it. The film does a fine job profiling...

Players come and go — other than Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, of course — but the stars of New York’s local TV baseball crews tend to stay put.

So it is again this year. SNY enters its seventh season with Gary Cohen, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez calling Mets games, while Michael Kay is in his 11th year on Yankees play-by-play for YES, as is Ken Singleton, who does both play-by-play and...

OK, I admit it: I have a soft spot for the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. Thank you to my boss and readers for letting me spend a week every spring goofing off in lower Manhattan attending screenings. You should come, too!

This year’s five-film ESPN slate includes “Benji,” about the ill-fated Chicago prep basketball star of the early ‘80s, Ben Wilson, and “Broke,” about the many sports...