CLASSIC FRANCESA

WFAN's Mike Francesa likes Detroit Tigers backup thirdbaseman, Brandon Inge. He likes Brandon Inge. A lot.

Mike and the Mad Dog Glossary

(THANKS TO THE MIKE AND THE MAD DOG BLOG)


Be careful: Mike and Chris' way of telling sports fans not to fall in love with a player or team ("Be Careful about falling in love with Pagan")


Let's be fair here: Russo's counter-argument to callers that attack someone ("Let's be fair here. If you are going to knock Rick Peterson, you gotta give him credit for John Maine")

This whole notion: When Francesa or Russo declares something to be fact when in actuality, they are making it up themselves ("This whole notion that Mike D'Antoni is going to make the Knicks a playoff team is a joke")

Pipe Down: Russo's way of telling a player to shut up ("Pipe down there Figueroa")

Tough Spot: This is usually a negative. 'Tough spot. Aaron Heilman. Can't trust him.' They rarely say, "I really like Chauncey Billups in a tough spot." Even though Mike and Dog don't trust a lot of athletes in a tough spot, you can earn your way out of this label. For example, they couldn't trust Eli Manning in a tough spot until the Super Bowl. Now he can basically retire and still be a legend. He proved he can perform in a tough spot. This phrase is used by both Mike and Dog.

Tricky Spot: This really means an awkward position. For example, Ian Eagle running into Marv Albert at the Garden. Or I'm sure that the Giants last game of the 2007 was a tricky spot. "Coughlin wants to get ready for the postseason but you have to try to end the Patriots' undefeated season. Tricky spot, Mike." And for clarification. This phrase is used primarily by Russo.

Timmy: Russo's son. ("I mean, let's be fair here Mike, Timmy can throw harder than Igawa")

Say Something Funny Mike (When Russo can't control himself and breaks out into laughter and tries to egg Francesa on to keep it going. Picture Russo hysterically laughing followed by "Say Something Funny Mike")

First time, long time (this term is announced by a fan calling to the show, who has been a long time listener of the show, but is making his first ever call in - hence, first time (caller), long time (listener)

I can't go too crazy - This is a Mad Dog special. Dog uses this phrase to throw cold water on enthusiastic callers("I can't go too crazy about the D-Rays in May. Talk to me in September.") or admit that he doesn't have strong feelings about a subject("I can't go too crazy about the Olympic torch protesters.").



A-Game - This is Mike's new terminology that he applies to a Yankees win in which the starter goes 7 innings, Joba pitches a perfect 8th and Mariano closes it out. "The Yanks need an A Game tonight."


Bad Job: This is Mad Dog's way of criticizing something. It can be applied to players, coaches, general managers, fans - even networks, as in "That's a bad job out of NBC on the Derby Broadcast."

I'm not a big believer in: This is mainly a Mike comment. It means he doesn't have much confidence in something. And just like other comments, this is mainly used in negative, eg. 'I'm not a big believer in starting someone on 3 days rest.'

The whole bit - Russo's phrase when he is alone and wants to keep the conversation moving along. Without Mike there to add any details, Russo will use 'the whole bit' to sum up a person or issue. 'Selig will make it into the Hall of Fame. Steroids, the whole bit.'

MIKE AND THE MAD DOG

1:04-6:25pm will never be the same.

THE END OF A GREAT ERA

WFAN announced today it has signed a multi-year contract with Mike Francesa making him the sole host of afternoon drive (1:00-6:30PM) on the nation’s first and most listened to all-sports station. Mike began his career at WFAN in 1987 and has been heard in afternoons on the station since Sept. 5, 1989.

At the same time, Mike’s longtime on-air partner, Chris Russo, is leaving the company.

"Mike and Chris pioneered the genre more than 18 years ago and have shaped the sports talk format into what it is today,” said WFAN’s Operations Director Mark Chernoff. "As we embark on this next step in WFAN’s history, we wish Chris nothing but the best and look forward to all that Mike will do in a role in which he has excelled at for years."

MIKE AND MAD DOG UPDATE

WHY CAN'T THIS BE ABOUT BENIGNIO INSTEAD?




Mike Francesa on WFAN/YES Friday:

Dog got it in his lap on Monday. I made sure I was near a TV at 1 o’clock when he came on. I thought he handled it well. Everything he said as far as the relationship was true. You know, we’ve been together 19 years. That’s a long time. And in a very visible position for 19 years, so we’ve kind of carried on this relationship in a very public way, so that when there’s been fights they’ve been made public and when there’s been battles they’ve been made public.

Now there haven’t been many in recent years. The last bad one before this was probably about eight years ago. I think it was in 2000 we had a bad one. And I’d say in the last 19 years we’ve probably had four or five bad ones. This one was pretty bad.

He gave you the timetable. I would say we did have a meeting in May where we decided we had maybe carried it onto the air and we were not being very professional so we apologized. He apologized, I apologized, because I thought I had handled myself terribly. I apologized for that. I thought I carried it onto the air and was very unprofessional, which is something I don’t want to ever try to be.

When you do this this long, you are going to have problems. I think we’ve patched it up on the air. Have we patched it up off the air? Not really, to any real extent. I’ll give you an example: We haven’t spoken this week. So that should give you an indication. With everything that’s going on, we haven’t spoken this week. So I think that’s a pretty good indication of where we are right now.

Um, about everything else and all the conjecture, I haven’t spoken to anybody else about that. I haven’t spoken to anybody about the story. I’ve had plenty of requests about it this week. I would just say this: In 20 years of being here – I came to the station in ’87, I’ve been with Dog since ’89 – I have never, not once, discussed my contractual relationship with FAN publicly. Not on the air, not in the newspapers. I’ve never negotiated publicly, I’ve never negotiated on the air, I’ve never negotiated in the newspaper.

I’ve had a great relationship with the station. I’ve never had any contract battle in 20 years. I’ve had four or five contracts. They’ve all been handled very, very well. I’ve never had a bad day with them in 20 years. So I’ve never discussed that and I never will. So I have no interest in discussing my contractual situation and where it is or will I ever do that publicly.

As far as the “Mike and the Mad Dog’’ program and where everybody thinks it may be going, all I will say is this: You know, we’ve done 19 years together, which is a very long time. We’ve had a lot of different things happen in our lives. We’ve had seven kids in recent years. You go through a lot of changes, a lot of things happen, a lot of things are said.

You don’t know everything that’s going to happen day to day. Life’s not that predictable. Nothing is that predictable that you know there are any certainties of what’s going to happen day to day. I would say this: I think our relationship would never be a sole reason that we would ever part. I don’t think it would ever reach that level. I think we could always work well together. I think we’ve worked well together.

I think even our most severe critic would say that we have produced something pretty special over the last 19 years, pretty special and pretty successful and pretty special. It’s something that I’m proud of and I hope he’s proud of.

Where it goes from here, I’m not sure. I think, to be fair with the audience, I think we have reached a crossroad. I think we’re at a crossroad. I think this will play out over the summer and we’ll see what happens. I’m not going to sit here and say something couldn’t change. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. I don’t know that yet. If it does I will be very proud of everything we accomplished here. And if it doesn’t we’ll be back and do hopefully 19 or 20 more years together. I don’t know, you know?

I don’t know how long is long enough, you know? You wait and see how it happens. Would I guarantee anything? No. Would I make any declarations today? No. Eventually all things have to pass. If we’re at that time, I’m not sure. We’ll see what happens. It’ll be an interesting summer. Next, Met baseball.

MIKE AND THE MAD DOG

Now I know alot of people bash these guys and their show, but I for one am a very loyal listener, and would have a huge void in my mid day radio if the pair was to no longer be on WFAN.

According to Newsday the guys have done their last show together and:

Francesa and Russo are believed to have other job opportunities, but to take advantage in the short term, either would have to buy out his deal. Russo's, with a non-compete clause, runs to October 2009.

It is not clear when Francesa's deal expires, but he is not known to have signed beyond this year. An industry source Monday said satellite radio is the likeliest destination for Russo.

Steve Cohen, Sirius' VP of sports programming and a former longtime WFAN staffer, did not return calls. Neither did Patrick Reilly, the company's senior VP for communications.

If Francesa leaves, he could draw interest from TV in addition to radio, perhaps NBC, where he has a local show on Sunday nights.

WFAN staffers have said for months that the relationship .between co-hosts is strained, but neither discussed that publicly until Monday.

The dog seemed genuinely surprised on Monday addressing the report and confirmed on WFAN that he and co-host Mike Francesa feuded for much of the spring, but he insisted their relationship since has improved.

As for me, I know the show gets repetitive, and at times arrogant and condescending at times, but just as I still listen to Stern I will always listen to Mike and the Mad Dog. I grew up listening to them everyday, and there is no place else to go to listen to baseball and football in this country and get some honest, knowledgeable sports views.

They've fought before, hopefully this will pass and they'll be back on the radio together angering all the Met and Yankee fans.

WEDNESDAY’S WEEKLY WILLIE (randolph) WATCH

The Mets are 17–0 when leading after the seventh inning, they are just 1–16 when trailing after the seventh inning.

hmm...does this tell us that once the Mets are down and out they are done and they don't have much fight left in them, or is that the norm around baseball? Sure they are years where a team will have one of those seasons and have 40 come from behind wins (this year the Mets have 5)but this team is not one of those teams so far this year. Is that the manager's fault? Or do we give Willie credit that he has managed the bullpen and the team so well in the 17 games we are ahead and hasn't blown any of those games?

I don't have the answer, I do know Brian Schneider said yesterday on Mike and the Mad Dog with regards to the clubhouse;

“I’ve been in a few and this is a great one. Everyone is loose. We had a great road trip, faced some top teams. Everyone enjoys each other. This is one of the best clubhouses I’ve been a part of.”

Now I know alot of what these guys say on the radio has to be taken with a grain of salt and I am sure Schneider isn't giving us all the facts, but in truth the one thing over the years we have not heard about Willie's clubhouse is any back stabbing or bickering. While he may not be the best in game manager in the league, and again we've said it 1,000 times, he gives his vets way to much rope, he seems to have a good control over the guys.

Still, this teams needs to win, they need to fight and they need to battle. That's Willie's job, to put the best players he has in situations that yield positive results.

Alot has been said about Castillo and Delgado, and while Castillo is banged up all the time he really is the best option at 2B. Easley can hit, but he is an awful, awful fielder. Castillo is fine as a number 8 hitter giving us solid defense, and Delgado has started to come around and I think will be fine in the number 6 hole.

I fully understand that Willie likes to give all his players some ABs, but I really don't want to see Marlon Anderson in LF, there is no reason to give both Church and Alou the same game off (game 2 on Saturday). But again these are nit picks and after a respectable west coast trip (3-3 vs. Ariz and LA) and a 2-1 series win over Cincy they are only 2 games out and showing some life.

He's finally moved Heilman out of the 8th inning role, but Heilman has always been a strong 2nd half pitcher


Pre-All Star 202.2 4.66 1.28 .252
Post-All Star 193.0 3.45 1.29 .232

so I believe he will have an important role with this team. Barring any total collapse by this team over the next month, Willie's job is safe and the evaluations will continue.

Courtesy of Matthew Cerrone:

Last season at this time, the Mets had nine come-from-behind wins and were 17–1 when leading after the seventh inning, and 3–11 when trailing after seven.

In 2006, at this time of the season, the Mets had eight come-from-behind wins and were 18–1 when leading after seven, and 1–10 when trailing after the seventh.


WILLIES WEEKLY SCORE - 61