Mike Francesa Still Believes in the Power of Radio

Simply listen to 'Ideas' on CBC Radio, or Sunday afternoons on Radio-Canada. Also Michael Enright on Sunday mornings at 9 am on CBC Radio.

I have always done a good job separating a celebrity's politics from their work, not for those who support the current resident of the White House. When it comes to Trump anyone who voted for him had know know they were voting for a racist. Us native New Yorkers certainly knew what he was. While I liked to occasionally listen to Francesa when I lived in the NY/NJ area this would be a deal breaker for me today.

You would think with all that money he could afford a decent pair of pants. Is he wearing some bizarre denim slacks with a crease?

But he did leave and then he came back. I enjoyed Mike & the Mad Dog but found Francesca himself too obnoxious. He’s always right and even in Mets good years never gave them their due.

Egomaniacal is the word that best describes Mike, but who wouldn’t be with all the success he has had on the radio. Russo was a nice counterbalance and took the edge off. Mike on his own gets tiresome and I also tuned out when he went political. History will show that he was a great radio star and a lousy voter.

I've listened to the FAN here and there since its inception in the late 80s. I've found Mike to be a great analyst and historian regarding the Yankees, Giants and Knicks which happen to be my teams. With or without Chris his show was entertaining. I thought he was one of the good guys, then came Trump.

There were cellular telephones back when he began his radio days. I had a cell-phone in 1988. It was a big, heavy, tank-radio-like thing powered by a small rechargeable lead-acid battery (like a car battery), with an external whip antenna, all packaged in a fabric over-the-shoulder (strap) "bag" (it was called a bag-phone). It had a phone-like hand-piece that had the touch-tone buttons. The unit was made in the U.S. by General Electric and sold in department stores for around $100.00 (subsidized by the new cellular companies). The cost of air-time was over a dollar per minute and the cellular coverage was limited to areas near major cities. I won a bet with a youngster who claimed that there was no such thing as a bag-phone from so long ago. My unit is stored in the garage.

Big Mike a/k/a The Sports Pope has the old Noo Yawk accent that seems as threatened by modern media homogenization as Kosher delis, yellow cabs or newspaper news-stands. Even the younger personalities on WFAN sound like they're from the Midwest. In the USA, a Southern drawl or Western twang is considered charming, but our NY dialect is frowned on as fatally lower class.

When Mike left the air for a while I was hoping for a great replacement and was giving the new trio a chance when he decided to come back. I now realize that, even through his arrogance, how he famously does not suffer those he perceives as fools, etc, what he brings to the table is not only that he talks sports and not his personal nonsense that so many other sports talk "teams" consider entertainment (like I should care about their softball teams or dating habits) but, much more importantly, he makes whatever he talks about interesting. I care not a whit about horse racing but I can listen to him and his guests pontificate about it for at least my commute home. Giants, Yankees, I am fans of neither but he makes me interested and interesting radio is all I want for that 20 minute drive home.

I found Mr Francesa to be knowledgeable and quite articulate about basketball, baseball and football, and thought his show was a welcome distraction from everyday work and life. I looked forward to his almost comical "New Yawk know-it-all" persona when I was driving on weekday afternoons. The he became an enthusiastic Trump supporter and during the 2016 election often left the sports format which had been so entertaining in the dust and took every opportunity to voice his support for Trump. That's when I turned the channel. I've not gone back. In fact, I thought I'd heard he'd retired.

Although this is about sports radio, I can't help commenting that of all the media I have experienced in my lifetime (1949-now) radio is still by far my favorite. I grew up with The Lone Ranger, the Cisco Kid, Gunsmoke, Paladin, Philo Vance, Johnny Dollar and dozens of other programs on the radio as well as the Metropolitan Opera broadcast every Saturday, plus hours and hours and years and years of great classical music. And speaking of sports, who could forget Dizzie Dean and Pee Wee Reese, Red Barbour, Frank deFord and company? National Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio are completely interwoven into my daily life which has been emeasureably enriched by them.