Dan Le Batard Went In Hard On Mike Francesa, Will It Escalate? [UPDATE, Yes]
" Dan Le Batard calls Mike Francesa “an enormous, ego-soaked gasbag.”@LeBatardShow @Stugotz790 @MichaelRyanRuizhttps://t.co/hr5cjLU8uV — I Nevah Said That! (@RNs_Funhouse) May 5, 2016 "
Dan Le Batard caught wind of Mike Francesa’s screed against former Islander goalie turned New York sports talker Rick DiPietro, in which the sports pope cited an 8-1 ratings advantage and concluded, “You’re you, and I’m Gordie Howe.”
Le Batard called Francesa an “enormous, ego-soaked gasbag,” and said that even though Mike and the Mad Dog essentially created sports talk radio – it was around before them, but they made it into an artform – that it’s a silly thing to have an ego about because the genre is trivial. Furthermore, he added that the first association that pops into his mind when he thinks of Francesa is the time he fell asleep on-air.
While Le Batard has some points about the silliness of sports talk – and I recognize it’s even sillier that I’m paid to talk about people who talk about sports – Francesa was returning fire after DiPietro called him a fatso. That aggression would not stand.
Beyond that, Francesa would likely be the first to admit his ego is the size of the Pacific Ocean. That’s not just a byproduct of the sustained success he’s had, but probably also a prerequisite for it. Over the last few years, though, he’s developed some more self-awareness about it. The turning point may have been when he showed up at Francesacon last year, and embraced the weirdness. At the end of the day, he’d be a lot less interesting without the bravado. I hope it never goes away.
Anyways, there’s no real moral to the story, except for the hopes that Francesa gives us a juicy soundbite in response. As we enter the barren blog months of summer, we need some hard-hitting media feuds to tide us over before the Olympics and NFL keep us contented.
UPDATE: A caller already brought this up with Francesa, who responded in true Pope form:
" Mike Francesa isn’t too concerned about “desperate” @LeBatardShow calling him an enormous, ego-soaked gasbag, okay?https://t.co/vd3bbMmsTf — I Nevah Said That! (@RNs_Funhouse) May 5, 2016 "