It Takes A Lot to Humble Mike Francesa
Media Gossip/Musings, Video April 25th. 2008, 12:00pmRemember how NYC radio guy Chris Russo (and part-time conductor?) got all handsy on Letterman the other night? (Funny critique here.) We didn’t hear the intro, but a tipster mentioned that Letterman made a couple of sly remarks about Russo’s on-air partner, Mike Francesa (he’s the radio equivalent of Lupica), and his reaction - or lack thereof - on Wednesday’s show was priceless. Naturally, there’s video. You be the judge.
15 Responses to “It Takes A Lot to Humble Mike Francesa”
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April 25th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
I’ve heard of these guys, but never heard them. That Russo guy is a caricature of all the worst qualities of sports talk radio. Granted, my only experience with him is watching this clip. Does he know his stuff? I can listen to annoying folks if they know what they are talking about.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Russo has no idea what he is talking about. Trust me.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The critique is pretty much exactly right. Being in Minneapolis, I’m not sure what’s supposed to motivate me to begin to care about either of these two, especially considering the “over-the-top-and-WACKY!” radio schtick was about 400 times more obnoxious and overbearing than entertaining.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
KC, I love these guys. It’s different talk than here in Philly, so that’s part of the reason. I love their candor. And I think they know their shit.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
i’ve been listening to them since they’ve been on the air. they know their shite most of the time. they can be annoying, but they’re basically the pioneers of good sports talk radio. there is no one on espn radio that can hold a candle to them.
for mike’s reaction, there is obviously some sort of rift between him and letterman, and mike decided to leave it at that.
April 25th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
OMG..I hadn’t seen the Letterman clip before. The hands..LMAO.
Francesca is a fat buffoon. The only thing worse are the fans that call in and drinking the Kool-aid.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
these two guys are terrible. I have not listened to them for a couple years now. Whenever a caller catches them off guard, they respond by yelling and screaming over him and hanging up. They forget their predictions on consistently contradict themselves. Morons.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
These two are great, they’re the birth of sports talk radio, so everyone needs to appreciate them to a certain degree.
They know their sports for sure, the only problem is admitting when they’re wrong or just admitting they don’t know something — but Mushnick will always be listening to catch those moments. Their egos, particularly Francesa’s, can get annoying as hell though.
I’d say their hoops knowledge is probably the worst of the major sports, especially Francesa.
And they should never, ever discuss movies under any circumstance.
April 25th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
from mushnick:
By then, those who had resolved to watch anything - anything - other than SportsCenter, might have after the game landed on Mike Francesa’s Sunday night show on Ch. 4. On it, Francesa explained the Yanks New York Yankees ‘ sluggish start as reflective of a tough early schedule; with almost no days off for three weeks the Yanks were disadvantaged.
That’s funny, a couple of years ago, when a caller to WFAN suggested that the Red Sox, burdened by a schedule that provided no days off for month, were at a disadvantage, Francesa abused the poor guy as a know-nothing, a bad excuse artist.
(Shortly after that caller was ridiculed and then dumped, Joe Torre’s regular session with Francesa and Chris Russo began. When Torre volunteered that the Red Sox’s schedule put them at a disadvantage, Francesa said nothing.)
April 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
even as a yankees and giants fan, i cannot stand the guy
April 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
@sparty:
I love Mushnick for stuff like that.
Also, I believe the other day Francesa said the Yankees haven’t had a tough schedule, which his statements even more retarded.
Even better, a caller just accused him of changing his stance on Oliver Perez in a matter of a day, he didn’t explode on the guy but him and Russo got into enough of an exchange that the caller didn’t get a chance to speak again and thus, his point was kind of drowned out.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I am a big fan of these 2 goons as well. I think its part of their show’s strategy to have crazy sports fan persona of Russo and all-knowing persona of Francesa. Many people in NYC metro area like 1 and can’t stand the other, but they all listen.
And as previously mentioned, no one on ESPN radio can match them or their ratings.
April 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I was listening yesterday and a caller asked Mike why he wasn’t on letterman with Russo. He just blew him off fairly quickly, “We don’t do everything together.”
April 25th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
You have to take what Mushnick and Raismann say with a grain of salt. They always rip Fatso and Fruit Loops..not that there’s anything wrong with that.
April 25th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
I do like how Mike walked out of the booth a good 10 seconds before they actually went to commercial…knowing he’s on tv…
They both know a good deal about baseball, for the most part. Mike is on top of football, too. Obviously, from the comments, you love ‘em or hate ‘em. Listen in on their website and you be the judge.
I think they’re quality sports talk - both make mistakes, but it’s rarely boring to listen to.