Mike Francesa Returns To The Air Today And Has A-Rod As His First Guest, So ESPN NY's Michael Kay Obviously Took Shots At Both Of Them
WFAN announced that A-Rod, the new face of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” team, will be on Francesa’s return show at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Francesa’s competition in the afternoon sports-talk landscape is ESPN New York’s 98.7’s “Michael Kay Show.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything more from Alex,” Kay told The Post before moving on to Francesa. “Wouldn’t you want your first guest to be someone who lied to your face? It is perfect for the climate.”
ESPN could still back Kay and tell Rodriguez not to appear with Francesa. As of Monday evening, ESPN was not going to try to stand in the way of A-Rod’s FAN spot. Sources said A-Rod was unaware of ESPN’s policy about major-market rival stations.
Today is a big day in the sports radio world as Mike Francesa, The Pope, returns to the airwaves. For people like myself, KFC, Frankie Borrelli, and Glenny, Mike had been this crazy uncle figure, who always had the sports takes to get us through our days. If you were in your car during the afternoon you were listening to Mike and the Mad Dog or from ’08-’17 just Mike by himself. Now he’s back after comically taking off just a few months. His first guest on today’s show? None other than Alex Rodriguez.
A-Rod and Mike have quite a history, most famously when Alex went on his show back in November 2013 and proclaimed his absolute innocence following being suspended for the upcoming baseball season for steroids.
Alex was on the show for 40 minutes and basically lied the entire time saying he never took any illegal substances and that he shouldn’t have to sit out for a single game. Alex later looked back on the interview and acknowledged he was a fucking idiot during the 40 minutes as he began this image reshaping that has put him in all of our good graces.
“I made mistakes, and then doubled down and became a bigger jerk and then went on sports radio and made an ass of myself,” A-Rod said last year, according to CBS.
Now it’s 2018 and Alex is going to be Mike’s first guest for his returning show. Alex has since been back on the show, as recently as December, to talk about Aaron Boone becoming the Yankees new manager. They’ll probably bring up his new job on Sunday Night Baseball as well as baseball in general so far in season. ESPN has a policy that its on-air talents cannot go on rival stations, but they have not said a peep about A-Rod going on today. I can’t fucking wait for 3:30 to roll around. ESPN New York’s Michael Kay, however, can not.
Kay is as sour as can be about Mike’s return. He said on his own show, that has thrived in the ratings thanks to Mike’s absence, that all of the people that came over to him in the time Mike was gone will not be going back over. Yeah okay buddy. Your show is going to drop in ratings faster than the Hindenburg. Despite being the Yankees play by play guy I don’t really care for Kay at all. I think he’s impossible to listen to and that’s not even including his radio show on ESPN. I refuse to listen to Kay and LaGreca and I imagine many New Yorkers share the same feeling. Kay came out with a quick comment on finding out A-Rod was going on the show.
“I wouldn’t expect anything more from Alex,” Kay told The Post before moving on to Francesa. “Wouldn’t you want your first guest to be someone who lied to your face? It is perfect for the climate.”
Wouldn’t expect anything more from Alex? What’s that supposed to mean? The Kay Francesa New York Radio rivalry is great, but it’s one-sided. There is no rivalry if you have been beaten down by one guy every single time. Francesa is literally coming back to put Kay in his place, contrary to anything else you may think is the reason. Kay’s show with Don Lagreca beat out Chris Carlin, Bart Scott, and Maggie Gray’s new show that no one listened to. That’s why Mike is doing this. Today we’ve got A-Rod, Eli, and Jay Wright. I can only hope Mike gets angry at someone behind the glass and spends five minutes rambling about nothing. The Pope is back.