Her explanation actually does seem plausible, at least in my opinion.

Good luck getting an apology from Francesca.

Sargent did a hell of a good job on the Dan Patrick show. She seemed to roll with it as best as possible.

She's got two strikes and has to live with the hole she's dug for herself...

That said...Mike Francesa, you are a slimeball. What you and your production team did to the FOX crew and to Sargent are inexcusable.

Heads should roll here...and they should be yours.

And for those cavemen out there that believe women can't do the same job as well as a man...stand upright already.

It's not so much that women can't do the same job they can good one's like Pam Oliver prove it but it's when they stick air heads out there who only have a job because their hot when you have a problem

She interviews Athletes...She sounds like an Athlete. "Like, ya know, like, like, like, ya know."

w_rabb - agreed.

Problem is - you only find out about Sargent (and others) when they screw up. Otherwise, in the industry, it takes years of hard work just to get the small window of opportunity.

Now Sargent has her window - more eyes will be on her (again) - it's up to her to prove her worth as a journalist.

Pam Oliver has earned her position through years of hard work...and she still makes blunders (that she handled well on Sunday).

This was a bad error that should have/would have cost her points INTERNALLY. Mike Francesa and/or his staff exploited that. That's reprehensible. Man or woman, that's classless.

Nice spin. I bet her boyfriend put the stones to her.

This woman consistently shows she is poor at her job, and we're supposed to feel sorry for her?? Nobody feels sorry for me if I screw up at my job. Ms Sargent needs to find a new profession.

Yeah, she screwed up, but who hasn't in their job, anon? She misspoke taping a segment, and they fixed it -- it shouldn't have gone any further than that. It was sleazy of Francesa to air the damn thing.

w_rabb, the same applies to former players -- too many are put on the air because of that and too many of them can't do the job.

Mike Francesca is a retard who knows nothing about sports, as evidenced by his love for Brandon Inge.

Francesca has always been and continues to be a first-class scumbag. This is a jackoff who referred to Franco Harris' immaculate reception as the immaculate conception --- it's OK if it's this doucheface having a slip of the tongue but not somebody he's looking to embarass. What a creep.

Just proves how much these sideline reporters don't know.

rule 1 of TV or radio:
the mike is always hot.

and please, spare me this woman blaming Francesa or anyone else.
SHE SCREWED UP big-time because she didn't know what she was talking about.
period.
if she had a clue about football, there's nothing for Francesa or anyone else to air.

who cares she is hot. ill fuck that all day.

Why feel sorry for her?

She got fired at ESPN for fucking up (literally) and she'll soon be fired at FOX.

Shouldn't she look at new career options?

And why shift the blame to Fatcessa? She's the one who made a horrendous mistake (and didn't even know she did until someone told her) and SHOULD be criticized for it.

She's a horrible announcer and I hope she's never on TV again.

alan...francesa was not supposed to show it you dumb fuck. it wasnt meant to air.

One time I would like a sideline reporter to add something to a game. Just once.

They should take people like Danielle Sargent, put her in a bikini, and have her hold the score up.

Thats her only purpose in television.

"I heard that your mentor Bill Wash....Walsh was one of the first phone calls that you made when you found out that you had the job. What does it mean to you to be head coach of the 49ers?"

Why you keep trying to defend this is beyond me. Clearly this is just spin. If Walsh became his mentor after he joined the 49ers, why would he be one of the first phone calls that Singletary made after getting the job? And why did she just go right into a question about becoming the head coach of the 49ers right after that statement?

The amount of spin that came out of her mouth makes me believe that she'd be much better serving as the mouth piece for either the Obama or McCain campaigns instead of being a sports "reporter."

I blame all of these networks much more than I blame her. It's like making a brain surgeon the foreman on a big time construction site. He's definitely talented, but should not be doing a job that he's not qualified to do. If they're so hell-bent on having sideline "reporters," put people in those spots that actually know what they're talking about.

To quote Judas Priest, Francesa, what goes around comes around. Beautiful women who work hard at their craft have my sympathy, but you've got to have thick skin, even when you work in smalltown radio, like I do.

all of these woman......her, oliver, andrews, nichols. its just tits and ass to me. i dont care about any sideline reporters. gimme the white ones and the black ones.

Get your $hit correct, people. Specifically, those of you calling Francesa "classless" or a "slimeball."

The point of the segment in which Francesa showed this clip was simply to show what a rough debut Singletary had on Sunday -- starting with an encounter with this airhead sideline reporter, then having to send his tight end to the showers during the game, and ending with his feisty post-game press conference.

Francesa NEVER mentioned the reporter by name. Don't you think that if his intent was to embarrass her -- as so many of you have blindly accused him of doing -- he would have mentioned her name? Or played the clip multiple times while harping on her obvious ineptitude? Or said something crass along the lines of "get back in the kitchen?" He did none of those.

Another gaffe like this showing a complete dearth of knowledge in the sport she is covering and Danyelle Sargent will be joining Jemele Hill behind the counter at Sonic.

I called Francesa classless.

I stand behind that.

Regardless of how inept Sargent is/was, this was not meant for the eyes of the public. He and his producers STOLE this video and then BROADCAST it.

That is reprehensible.

The story of Singletary's day could have been told without this video. Alas, that's not good TV. He sold his soul (again) hoping people would look at the train wreck rather than the conductor who caused it. He is the issue here. He is and always will be CLASSLESS.

It's obvious, Mr. 6packed, that you have a bias against Francesa that long preceeds this incident, and that bias completely dilutes any valid points that you made in your prior comments.

Here's the thing:

She can backtrack all she wants. Yes, everybody with a live mic in their hands has made mistakes from time to time.

But I don't think she's terribly effective at her job and you shouldn't be doing OJT on the frigging NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

She's an affirmative action hire. No question.

"alan...francesa was not supposed to show it you dumb fuck. it wasnt meant to air."


That's a seperate issue.

The fact is, this reporter is an idiot. Focus on that. She didn't know one of the greatest coaches in NFL history was dead. Not to mention that she said "What the fuck was that???" on the air!!!

This chick should never work in television again.

big al -

i live in California - I listen to the FAN at night when I go to bed if I get the chance once in a while - I almost never get to hear Frnacesa.

In some ways I like his work - although something (from afar seemed way off about the breakup with Mad Dog).

Here's my bias - I am a retired producer - and when I see a producer do his or her job right and stop a train wreck before it happens - I am proud of them. The team that had that game was probably the lowest on the totem pole with FOX. Every one of them needs to have a great game, a great moment, to build their resume and tape. For this to get out, even if it does show the producer was doing their job properly, could have repercussions against them.

Francesa and his production staff should have known better (Francesa has been around forever and WNBC is the #1 rated market - even if it is the weekend crew). It just seems to be everything is waiting to jump on mistakes - and I would be more than OK with tearing every single person associated with this a new one if it went on air after being taped (if it was live you could only blame Sargent).

No bias against Francesa - just a bias against someone who knows enough to get the full story first. (There is a reason I left TV - this nonsense had a major part in it - I guess that's my bias).

:-)

Way too many typos above as well - bad production work. :-)

I am also a producer, and my only problem with the whole, 'it didn't air, so he shouldn't have used it' argument is this: What if Francesa's show used a clip of Vernon Davis screaming at Singletary that wasn't aired? or a shot of JT OSullivan crying on the bench that wasn't aired? Are those things okay to show?

The fault lies with the game crew. They should have never let this clip hit the satellites. Once it does, its fair game as far as I am concerned.

And to all of you defending Danielle Sargent, just ask yourself if you would hire her if you were the head of a major TV Network.

6packed --

Here's my point.

When you say that Francesa is a "slimeball," that he "sold his soul (again)" and "is and always will be CLASSLESS" -- all verbatim from your posts above -- I would expect you to back them up with specific examples of Francesa being a "slimeball," "classless" or "selling his soul" in the past.

Since you have not -- possibly an indictment that you cannot? -- I can only assume that despite your claim to the contrary, you have a unmitigated bias towards Francesa. That makes everything else in your posts sound like Charlie Brown's teacher in the old Peanuts cartoons. "mwa mwa mwa mwa..."

You want EXAMPLES of Mike Fransesa being a slimeball low class dirbag?

ARE YOU SERIOUS? You would have to start a whole blog just to start listing examples.

And if you KNOW you he is and STILL think you need EXAMPLES, you obviously would never accept them.

Mike.....is that you?? Because that cannot be a serious request.

But

She got her job because shes a woman. ANd if you don't believe that than you believe OJ is innocent.

So, MF, for once, did something I applaud.

Am I'M NOT a producer.

ANd she's sucked in the past, and she sucks now and doesn't deserve a spot. But, in all honesty, ALL those sideline annoucers bite balls.

I can NOT wait for the day when one of these morons, male or female, since we are ALL EQUAL, runs up to a coach at half time, a pissed off, on the edge of losing it coach, and asks a stupid, useless annoying question.....and the coach lands a haymaker. THAT would be a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL thing.

I live in the NY metro area, listen to Francesa AND I watched the Giants-Steelers game. Anyone watching Pam Oliver's "Senior Moment", as dubbed by Troy Aikman (available on YouTube) can find it plausible that Francesa thought embarrassingly bad sideline reporting could go out live. As arrogant as he is, I don't believe he did this on purpose, though someone at the show should have known.

HIS error was saying Walsh couldn't have been a mentor, which is bad (pointing out someone else's error, YOU'D BETTER be right). Still, the error doesn't compare at all to a football reporter (male or female) not knowing a legendary figure died in the past 2 years. Inexcusable, and her focusing on Francesa is either shooting the messenger or desperation. Take your pick.

I wonder how anyone can listen to her cover up and not think it's a lie (I first read it in a story by Linda Pacin). She can say all she wants about putting her hand up to end the interview, and implying she knew she'd made a mistake right away. Anyone who saw it knows she was told something and still didn't know what was wrong at that point.

As someone posted earlier, in a very fair question, would you hire her? Of course not.

Oh Frnacesa, this is great good luck finding a new job. If you screw up on air once dont you think you would learn? That is a big mistake and the network should take action. Any one in sports know these things.

Yes, gabagool, I would like examples of Francesa being a "classless" "slimeball" who has "sold his soul."

And yes, if you come up with some valid examples, I will certainly accept them.

I love the fact that you went through your entire rant without citing one example. I mean, if you can fill a blog with such examples, you couldn't give me one right there?

My thinking is that you will throw out things like constant namedropping (e.g. Parcells, Nantz) or interrupting and patronizing callers. I would define those as arrogant -- which Francesa would even admit he can be -- significantly less egregious than classless or being a slimeball.

A classless slimeball tells the press that his teenager daughter was the reason that paramedics were called to his house, when all published reports point to it having been him.

Unless you know something I don't, Francesa has never done anything along those lines.

Well said, Big Al. No one will appeal to all, and it's not a big deal if someone doesn't like Francesa. The internet also gives little accountability to people who want to throw names or unsupported statements out there.

Classless and slimeball? Like him or not, Francesa doesn't do anything classless the way zoo morning shows would eagerly do for ratings. He has 3 shows rated #1 in the NY market, including an excellent NFL show with regular guests like Phil Simms.

Arrogant? I'd agree. The rest is silly. Tune in during a hungerthon, and see how much money is being generated for people who need it. Classless slimeball is definitely more geared to former Knick execs alluded to here.

So I imagine no one here has never made a mistake they regret; never made a mistake they asked to be forgiven for. People mess up, her mistake is highlighted because she is a media personality. So what, live and let learn. Why wish bad on someone? That's just stupid for those of you who think that way. She must have made some kind of impact because we are all here blogging about her... hmmm.