Mike Francesa Yelled at His Mom for Making Him See Judy Garland, Then Enjoyed Concert Immensely

Mike Francesa joined Good Morning Football on NFL Network for two segments today. After doing some boilerplate football talk — he thinks Mike Tomlin has been a bad coach for a couple years, and still maintains that Montana > Brady — they did some pop culture and history talk.

At around the 11:50-mark of the video above, Francesa was asked who was a bigger superstar in her prime, Madonna or Judy Garland, and gave a quintessential Francesa answer.

“Judy Garland’s more talented,” he said. “I actually saw Judy Garland perform in person. My mother was a member of the Westbury Music Fair. She used to go every week. And she dragged me off a field — I didn’t have a dad — she said, ‘Go home and get dressed.’ I said, ‘Ma, I’ve got a game tonight.'”

“It was an August night, 1967, and I yelled at her the whole way in the car that she took me off the field to do this,” Francesa continued. “I still talk about that night today. It was one of the most amazing things I ever saw in my life. Liza Minnelli showed up. Peter Allen played the piano for her on the stage that night. Judy Garland was 20 minutes late so everybody said she wasn’t gonna show up. She came out, she got a standing ovation after every song.”

Nevertheless, Francesa concluded, Julie Andrews was the most talented performer he’s ever seen.