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Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:45 pm
by Not Mike Powell
Mike Francesa's last day on WFAN 660 was today, the end of a tremendous thirty year career. I'll never forget listening to him on drives to and from New Jersey with my dad. I'm very fortunate to get the WFAN signal in some areas of Rhode Island as well. Francesa's one of the best in the business from Mike and the Mad Dog to a successful tenure on his own. Anybody else from #MongoNation out there?

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:38 pm
by ATPTourFan
He's good? I mean, I know he had a huge following, but I've never been impressed listening to him. Was he better many years ago?

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:51 pm
by TruePoint
Most important thing is that Francesca was an institution and a legend. The Sports Pope. I was in grad school in NY for the end of the Mike and the Mad Dog days, and even then he'd lost his fastball but it was the sports talk equivalent of seeing The Rolling Stones in concert in the 1990s. Listening to him now was more humorous than it was informative, but it was cool in that he never really changed his formula to the more modern "hot take" sports talk culture. He stayed talking about the things hardcore sports dudes talked about 30 years ago - betting lines, golf majors, horse racing, college hoops - whatever the big actual sports story of the day is that guys like my dad are into. It was old school until the end. It wasn't necessarily "good" but that kind of wasn't the point.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 6:57 pm
by Not Mike Powell
Francesa and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo revolutionized modern sports radio. They paved the way for other sports talk shows across the country. I highly recommend watching the 30 for 30 on Mike and the Mad Dog to really get a grasp of what they meant to people. While Francesa could come off as pompous and arrogant to the listener, I trusted his knowledge and connections that he cultivated in the New York Sports scene for 30 years. I think many from the tri-state area can agree that WFAN is much better from a content perspective than WEEI or the Sports Hub. To each their own, but I felt Francesa was a true legend and will be missed on the air.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 7:56 pm
by NYGFan_Section208
Hard to explain, but to me, the guy was a doosh and a legend at the same time, but not necessarily a legendary doosh.
He was actually more of a caricature of a doosh....The 30 for 30 is very good, he and Russo together were great entertainment.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 8:07 pm
by UCH21377
I listened to them nearly every day for 10 years while living in NJ, during the wonderful commute in and out I80. They were much better together than apart IMO. They were much better earlier on, as time passed it became stale, not to mention the commercial time which got crazy. You could turn them off for 8-10 minutes and miss nothing.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2017 8:37 am
by ATPTourFan

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 8:56 am
by Rhodymob05
I thought he was hilarious, didn't have a chance to listen to him much, but what a run.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 12:34 pm
by EGram
Yeah i never found Francessa to be super knowledgeable on sports. Buy i do feel he put in good effort watching tons of sports and tried to learn more about things he was ignorant about.

I still feel sorta melancholy hearing this. Another sign of how we are not young anymore.

Save a few years when i lived in England or Hong Kong MIke and the Mad Dog was always on my dads radio even after we moved to RI. Even when i grew up on got my own car with a radio i would occasionally listen and WFAN is my go to station for car trips. End of an Era for sure.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:29 pm
by ElmCityRhody
Mike and the Mad Dog.. and later "Mike's On".. the reason why I started (& still take) a 1pm lunch...

Going to be missed.

His knowledge of all things was second to none.

Good luck Mike.. I will follow you on your next endeavor !

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:50 pm
by NYGFan_Section208
Wait...he was fun to listen to, he did have a lot of knowledge, but..."knowledge of all things was second to none" is a serious stretch...unless you're using his own eval of himself.... Some of the best listens of him were when he was trying to "act like" his knowledge was second to none... ;-)

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Mon May 14, 2018 8:04 pm
by NYGFan_Section208
ElmCityRhody wrote:Mike and the Mad Dog.. and later "Mike's On".. the reason why I started (& still take) a 1pm lunch...

Going to be missed.

His knowledge of all things was second to none.

Good luck Mike.. I will follow you on your next endeavor !
Next endeavor = same as the old endeavor.... :lol:

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 8:50 am
by RF1
Wonder if an Imus return is next? WFAN is desperate to recreate the old days. Trouble is they are long gone and never coming back.

Re: Mike Francesa's Final Day on WFAN 660

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:25 am
by Rhody74
RF1 wrote:Wonder if an Imus return is next? WFAN is desperate to recreate the old days. Trouble is they are long gone and never coming back.
Imus just retired. And he’s older than dirt. I doubt he’s coming back.