Mike Francesa Seems To Have Some Issues With The NY Media

Wednesday, September 17, 2008


I'm was getting about as sick of this feud as you all were, but yesterday it took an awesome turn. Mike Francesa decided to go on a twenty plus minute rant about his former partner and goings on in the media and somehow Neil Best of Newsday transcribed the whole ordeal. Here is a small piece of the explosion....

"Frankly, I have taken a beating here for a month. And I said I never was going to say a word, not one, until the whole cycle was complete, and now the cycle is complete, because the promotional tour is over and Dog has begun his show, and the best to him. No ill feeling. I hope he does well. But as I said, not one time did anybody ask me my opinion of the breakup, just his. My opinion of the show or what happened or anything else, and frankly, I took the worst of it, which is fine. But really the worst of it.

"When the thing started in the summertime it was depicted that I was leaving and that I was the guy who was an ingrate and the guy who was bailing out on FAN after all these years when things weren’t going well and going to do TV and then that didn’t turn out to be the case. No one even asked me if I was leaving. Then it didn’t turn out to be the case. And then the story was that I ran him out. So it went from me being a guy who was an ingrate because I was leaving to me being the bad guy because I ran him out, neither of which was the truth.

"I wasn’t leaving, and I didn’t run him out. Never did. Dog chose to leave, which was fine. He wanted to leave, and again, he has every right to do that. The way it was depicted was ridiculous. I sat here and watched the interviews that went on and commentary and things I read. I read that I was jealous about how much money Dog made, which was never the truth. It mentioned what my salary was and what Dog’s new salary was and how irate I was when no one knew what Dog’s salary was or had any idea.

"You learn a lesson, folks. I hope you don’t get your information from the newspapers, because the stuff that has been written during this time about me has been so wrong. It has never been even remotely accurate, I mean not even in the ballpark accurate.
And that's really just the tip of the iceberg. Francesa goes on to call out just about every media member in New York City and even said that Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News has an agenda. Now I could really care less how this whole thing ends, but if you are the one getting "hammered" in the press, and then you go and complain about it on-air, you're not ever going to get people to come over to your side.

For Francesa's sake I hope he just drops the whole thing because the more he comments on it, the more people are going to think he's just whining about Russo becoming more famous.

Mike Francesa gets quite a few things off his chest (Newsday)

18 Comments:

At keast Tank [Francesa] got the Raissman stuff right.
The little mustachioed guy is the joke of the NY sports scene.
Not to be taken seriously.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 9:45:00 AM  

I take umbrage at the length of that rant ok? Alright? Ok? Never happened before, never happened, that someone wrote out something that long, that long, and had the stones to put it in print, ok? Ok? It's just comical, alright?That guy is an ingrate, ok? I said it, he's an ingrate.

You learn a lesson folks. What do you think would be said when Mike and Mike break up, will it be like this, where Dog chose to leave, and I have no problem with that, alright? [ESPN's Mike]Greenberg can do what he wants. Ok?

E Buzz said...
Sep 17, 2008, 9:46:00 AM  

I seem to recall Francesa being asked those questions one night over the summer when he was reached by phone and he chose not to comment. He can't say he was never asked.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 9:51:00 AM  

Who gives a f-ck? I am a westerner and could give 2 shits about a radio duo breaking up in NYC. get over this story please. I am so glad i was not raised nor chose to live in the northeast. just a crapper. the lizard king was right on: the west is the best.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 10:01:00 AM  

It's no secret that most of the NYC area likes Mad Dog much more than Fatcessa - almost everyone I know finds the latter arrogant, clueless, and difficult to listen to for more than 5 minutes. Fatcessa's whole attitude, shown here in this diatribe, is that he is above and superior to the rest of the NY Media. The reality is, while some people listen, the show sucks without Mad Dog. It was much more entertaining with the two of them even if they knew jack $hit sometimes.

Brian said...
Sep 17, 2008, 10:24:00 AM  

Why not focus your attentions on something that matters...killing Michael Kay.

GMoney said...
Sep 17, 2008, 10:53:00 AM  

"..., which was fine."

Doesn't sound so fine.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 11:24:00 AM  

i really used to think that Francessa was the more knowledgeable of the two and that Mad Dog was just a blowhard...but in the last 4-5 years you can tell that Mike just doen't watch as much sports as he used to. He did have 2 kids and maybe that has changed his priorities and that is fine, but his knowledge of what is going (outside of the NFL) is absolutely next to nothing.

The Professor said...
Sep 17, 2008, 12:36:00 PM  

this is my favorite part of the rant on his ratings:

"A perfect example is Raissman, who is Dog’s guy. I’ve got him pounding me here since this whole thing started about how, 'Oh, FAN’s business is going to go down the drain and Francesa can’t carry a show by myself.' I can’t carry a show by myself? I’ve done a show on Sunday morning for 21 years by myself that has never finished behind a conventional station in 21 years. I’ve finished behind a few of those church stations, those religious stations that do gospel music on Sunday morning or sermons on Sunday morning, especially the Spanish-speaking ones, which do astronomical ratings. I’ve finished behind a couple of those.

"For someone to sit there and say I can’t do a show by myself, while Dog can, look at the numbers. Folks, in this town, and again, if I don’t say it, no one will, there are only three shows that are No. 1 in sports. I have all three. ‘Mike’d Up’ is No. 1. ‘The NFL Now’ is No. 1. ‘Mike and the Mad Dog’ has been No. 1 for 20 years. That’s it. No one else has a show. Dog had half of one. I have three. That’s it. No one else comes close. There’s not one person. Now, that makes me an egomaniac for saying that, but you know what, that’s fact. You could look it up. Those are facts. So that’s why it’s laughable that anyone is going to be jealous of their salary, because my salary is much higher than anybody else’s in this town, by a lot. But it’s because I have three No. 1 shows. I’ve earned that. I’ve been doing this for 22, 23 years."

and it doesn't end there. he goes on about how great his ratings are.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 12:40:00 PM  

I listened to Dog's show for about 20 minutes yesterday and I had never noticed before how old all his references were. I appreciate people who are not just "IN THE NOW" like the four letter, but man, dropping Otto Graham and Lance Alworth is just going to turn off the 18-34 demo.

odessasteps said...
Sep 17, 2008, 1:39:00 PM  

I was watching this on YES yesterday, and all I can say is that Mike had every right to do this; the media have been flogging him for long enough, and anytime you go after Raissman, it's a plus. He's a nothing and a pipsqueak.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 2:08:00 PM  

Don't the New York media fear that Francessa will break free and eat them?

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 6:27:00 PM  

Tom Cruise, I mean Mike Francesa, forgot about Phil Mushnicks love for him.

Anonymous said...
Sep 17, 2008, 6:52:00 PM  

Dog, Mike the Butterball, Raissman, Mushnick --- who's gives a rat's ass about any of these creeps?
Move on, AA, move on, for God's sake.

Anonymous said...
Sep 18, 2008, 1:57:00 AM  

Mike is a bitter person who clings to his Diet Coke and Steaks. His bloated salary brings the station down when you consider there was very little else at WFAN besides their show (Schmoozer is alright but he knows very little about what is now and Boomer & Carton have grown on me). He can say he has been working but honestly he takes more summer vacation than most schoolchildren.

Mad Dog has more appeal since he is not as arrogant, admits to not seeing games or caring about a certain sport, was an easy balance to the show as a major Yankee-hater, and gave callers more autonomy to talk when he did shows solo.

Anonymous said...
Sep 18, 2008, 5:53:00 PM  

Mike was back at it yesterday.

http://njfrogman.blogspot.com/2008/09/wfans-mike-blabbering-francesa-mets.html

Enjoy.

Anonymous said...
Sep 27, 2008, 4:57:00 AM  

You know what bugs me about Mike? He leaves these gaps in all his sentences like he is either trying to be constantly dramatic, or he is imagining in his head what Dog would say before he keeps going.

Anonymous said...
Feb 13, 2009, 5:05:00 PM  

http://njfrogman.blogspot.com/2009/03/mike-francesa-chuck-norris-twins.html

BobsBlitz.com said...
Mar 21, 2009, 9:12:00 AM  

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