YES Network's Michael Kay Goes to Blows on Twitter with College Student

[caption id="attachment_61615" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Courtesy: web.yesnetwork.com"][/caption] Yankees announcer Michael Kay got into a war of words on Twitter. The flap took place early Monday when Kay tweeted followers for their choice of lead topic on his ESPN/98.7 FM radio show the next afternoon. He got into the "virtual" shouting match with 21-year-old Joey Hendler. Hendler shot the first salvo tweeting, "I'll b listening 2 [Mike] francesa like every1 else." "I just happened to be laying in my bed at 1 o'clock in the morning," Hendler tells FishbowlNY. "...He responded with a quick remark. Then I responded back. [Kay] was delivering heavy blows, and I was firing them back." One of the blows that Hendler fired back took their Twitter fight into an online street brawl. Hendler wrote on the social media site: "look at you responding to a random person like that. Just shows your insecurity. Go cry yourself to sleep with your ugly wife." Hendler realizes that may have crossed the line, ripping Kay's famous spouse. "I shouldn't have said that comment at the end," Hendler admits. That "ugly wife" remark is the one line for which Hendler is willing to offer an apology to Kay, but everything else tweeted he stands behind. Likely in defense of his wife, WPIX anchor Jodi Applegate, Kay chose to answer-yet again. "LOL. what a punk. Twitter tough. Enjoy your miserable, ugly, insecure existence." "I think I deserve an apology for that," Hendler tells FishbowlNY. The only thing that was "ugly" was their exchanges for the world to see. Hendler, a Mets fan, and Westchester native, clearly has no love lost Kay. "I'm going to bed," he tweets. "Thanks for the entertainment tnite. Just keep in mind next time on your show, and on YES that your a hack." At one point, Kay concluded of his Twitter foe, "your maturity is only surpassed by your stupidity. Keep trying. I love going at you using half my brain. Check that, a quarter." Hendler takes his share of the blame, but says Kay's high-profile presence with the Yankees, YES Network and ESPN should put him in special regard. "I'm a 21-year-old kid, just being an immature kid on Twitter," Hendler says. "Who am I? I'm a nobody." One of Hendler's favorite exchanges was: Kay: "Joe, stop trying. You're embarrassing yourself in front of twitter nation. this fight has been stopped. #mercy" Hendler: "ok let's see who's embarrassing themselves. Me a senior in college, or you a broadcaster arguing with a senior in college." By all calculations, Kay responded 15 times to Hendler's taunts. Certainly not a career-high point for the Yankee broadcaster. "If he called and wanted to apologize to me, I would apologize to him for the wife comment," Hendler says. "I would tell him, 'I don't think you're a good broadcaster and that would be the end of it.'" Many on the blogosphere are calling for Kay's head. Regardless of his feelings for Kay professionally, Hendler is more contrite. "I think that would be a really severe reaction to this whole thing," Hendler says. FishbowlNY attempted to reach Kay for comment, fittingly, via Twitter.

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YES Network's Michael Kay Goes to Blows on Twitter with College Student

Jerry Barmash

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Jerry Barmash