Mike'd Up: The Mike Francesa Show
- Thread starter cheekydave
- Start date
The Parcells/Belichick record thing was something that gained traction during the early 00's. I never really thought it was fair. That being said, I can guarantee Mike is aware of this narrative that diminishes his husbro's accomplishments.
Also, listening to him belittle callers for thinking that everything that is new is the best while he overly romanticizes the past is great.
Also, listening to him belittle callers for thinking that everything that is new is the best while he overly romanticizes the past is great.
Lombardi's playbook was no thicker than a comic book so that made him great.
Brady in the SB doesn't change his opinion about him, it was what you would expect from him. Some good, some bad, but always tenacious. They were prepared with the 2-point plays. Very impressed by that. Brady did not play great in all the SB games, his win percentages don't do anything for me, Brady was around longer than Montana. Tom has been in more games, his longevity is his greatest legacy.
Brady in the SB doesn't change his opinion about him, it was what you would expect from him. Some good, some bad, but always tenacious. They were prepared with the 2-point plays. Very impressed by that. Brady did not play great in all the SB games, his win percentages don't do anything for me, Brady was around longer than Montana. Tom has been in more games, his longevity is his greatest legacy.
He knows BB's #s in Cleveland but never mentions that he took over a 3-13 team that got better every year, and made the post-season, and then the Modell Baltimore shit-show blew things up.
Francesa is a disngenuous fuck..
Caller started to bring up BB as assistant coach and Mike shut it down immediately. We can't judge what assistants do, only head coaches. Another caller asked what if Brady wins 2 or 3 more, would he be the best then? Mike has no time for what ifs.
Yep, stats. Quite a bit better actually.
But to go back to another point - yeah, while the NFC was loaded, and so getting to the Super Bowl was harder, actually *winning* the Super Bowl was easier. Of their 5 wins, the Patriots had to face the #1 scoring offense twice, and the #1 scoring defense once, and they also beat a team (Philly) that had been to the NFC Championship game like three times in a row.
Plus get by Peyton Manning (2 SB titles) and Ben Roethlisberger (2 SB titles) just to get out of the AFC.
That's no small task.
He also conveniently forgets that BB is 19-17 as Pats HC without Brady, and 14-6 w/o the GOAT since 2001.
I put it on about 540...just insufferable repeating of the same bs. Turned it off after 5 minutes.
Tells some anti-Pats yahoo that he's not going to bring up the alleged Rams videotaped walkthrough or hold it against them because he has no proof. But of course immediately follows it up with "But a lot of the Rams I've talked to think the Pats taped their walkthrough, including Mike Martz". And "Do I think they did something shady to win that Super Bowl? Absolutely I do." But he's not going to bring it up or anything like that because he has no proof.
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Question: Not trying to troll here or anything but why does anyone care what a local NY guy who is going off the air in 10 months thinks? I just don't get the amount of effort spent transcribing his every slight against the Patriots. The Shank hate I can understand since he is local and there is a "biting the hand that feeds you" slant to it.
Maybe if I were a Pats fan I would understand, but is there really any doubt at how good the Patriots have been over the past 17 years. And if doubt is raised you all can go "scoreboard" to quash it pretty quickly. Really, who can argue and make a legitimate point that the Pats have been anything less than great for nearly 20 years?
Maybe if I were a Pats fan I would understand, but is there really any doubt at how good the Patriots have been over the past 17 years. And if doubt is raised you all can go "scoreboard" to quash it pretty quickly. Really, who can argue and make a legitimate point that the Pats have been anything less than great for nearly 20 years?
I think there are three things in play here
1. Francesa (especially when he was with Russo) just dominated the northeast sports talk consciousness. It was always the listen, moreso than any Boston area station. Like Flounder, he's a legacy
2. Francesa gives voice to that segment of national sports fans who will always think of the Patriots as cheaters and will always diminish their accomplishments because of that belief. Arguing against him, in essence, argues against all of them.
3. Some Patriots fans will never feel complete satisfaction until every foe is vanquished and every negative voice is silenced and the cheater stigma goes away. It will never happen, but it won't keep this segment of Pats fans from tilting at every windmill. And no one circulates more hot air than Francesa
Agreed with the above.
Also, it's like saying Mike Lupica is merely a NY sportswriter or Tom Bowell is merely a Wash DC sportswriter. There are certain influential thought leaders in the sports business and Mike, mostly when he was with Russo, qualifies as one of those people. Ask Theo Epstein who he would rather listen to in 1995 on sports radio. The answer was obvious. I was the same way. Rarely listened to the Boston guys because they weren't as even close to being as good.
And that's why it is funny to hear Mike go on his extreme logic twists and wishcasting excursions with the Pats; he just can't get past his personal grudges. He'll spend the entire week spanking Dan Quinn for not running like he spent the entire week begrudging Pete Carroll for not running Lynch. He'll never give it up.
Also, it's like saying Mike Lupica is merely a NY sportswriter or Tom Bowell is merely a Wash DC sportswriter. There are certain influential thought leaders in the sports business and Mike, mostly when he was with Russo, qualifies as one of those people. Ask Theo Epstein who he would rather listen to in 1995 on sports radio. The answer was obvious. I was the same way. Rarely listened to the Boston guys because they weren't as even close to being as good.
And that's why it is funny to hear Mike go on his extreme logic twists and wishcasting excursions with the Pats; he just can't get past his personal grudges. He'll spend the entire week spanking Dan Quinn for not running like he spent the entire week begrudging Pete Carroll for not running Lynch. He'll never give it up.
4 Some of us live in metro NYC and hear Francesa's arguments repackaged by the locals.
And you can argue with the locals over drinks, which I have for the past couple of days (and for years).
fwiw, he used to be close to intolerable before the Sox won in '04 (he's a huge MFY fan). But since then he clings something fierce to the Giants 2 wins over the Pats, his BB hate, and anything he can use to diminish the Pats.
He touched on Jimmy G again, and said (paraphrase) he's seen enough that he woluld trade either the Browns 1 or 49ers 1 (the first two picks) for him."
He's seen as much as we have, which is to say not much, but i suspect his network of contacts, is feeding him league wide insight/intelligence.
He's seen as much as we have, which is to say not much, but i suspect his network of contacts, is feeding him league wide insight/intelligence.
Mike still harping on the dink and dunk offense of the Patriots and how they need a long time to score. Wish someone would counter with the fact that they went 91 yards on 10 plays in 2:33 to tie the game. What a dumbass.
I'm not much of a football fan, but I made a point to listen to Francesa on Monday (and a little on Tuesday) for the joy of hearing him twist himself in knots to try to stop the horror of anybody on this earth thinking for even one second that Brady (or Belichick) is the GOAT. He's kind of a proxy for all the obnoxious Yankees fans that have annoyed me over the years.
Today Mike admits BB has pulled ahead of Parcells on the all time list due to longevity. BB is better as a tactician and game planner while Parcells is better at picking players and motivating. "BB has won more so he's pulled ahead, it's only fair." That's a big admission for Mike.
It doesn't legitimize his inane gripe, but that same drive in a non-hurry up offense would eat up maybe 8-9 minutes on the game clock.
It's a hysterical argument, and I don't mean that in the sense that it's funny. Top 5 in yards/attempt and yards/game, top 10 in 20+ yard pass plays. Dink and dunk is an embarrassing way to describe a passing attack that feasts on precision 8-15 yard routes when the league is filled with guys like Alex Smith who won't even look downfield and an abundance of guys who have no accuracy beyond 5 yards.
It's akin to the "system" argument that people use because they can't accept a coach/GM who understands so perfectly how to find players who fit the scheme, as well as the argument that the Patriots are somehow doing this with little real talent on the roster. As if great route-running, excellent hands, legit football IQ, and the ability to consistently break tackles are just some accident that keeps happening with players the Patriots acquire. The whole thing is seen as a manipulative scheme because the offense isn't based on sending 4 guys on go patterns all game regardless of what the defense is showing, or that it's somehow dishonorable to throw to the open man if he's within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. In Mike's fat and lazy mind, anything the Patriots do on offense is already patently unfair because of audibles (which of course ignores the fact that Eli is one of the few QBs in the league who manipulates the pre-snap goings-on to a similar degree as Brady).
Any time he talks about the Pats it's a giant game of Calvinball that requires him to ignore previous arguments he's made about other teams and players numerous times while constantly shifting the goalposts anytime new information is added that hurts his case. It KILLS him to have to give credit to the Patriots and he'll do anything to deflect. Guaranteed, if the Pats won in a blowout he would have similarly given them as little credit as possible by saying the opponent wasn't competitive. He's a bitter, bitter old man. And I love it.
The "caller" who IDed himself as a Pats fan said that in relation to the "BB best ever" debate he would put both Parcells and Harbaugh ahead of BB as a team architect. And Francesa answered as you noted.
IMO the guy was probably a planted call.
No way any Pats fan think Harbaugh is better than BB in any respect.
Yes, that part was fishy but interesting to hear Mike finally put BB above Parcells.
The game tying drive? The first four completions on the drive went for 16, 11, 23 and 20 yards, so they went 70 of the 91 necessary yards in four plays (not counting incompletions which obviously take very little time off the clock). The drive would obviously have taken longer if they weren't in the hurry up because they probably would have run some running plays, but that's true of any 2-minute drive ever.
Bingo.
This is so true.
The locals just take Mike's talking points and regurgitate them.
By Monday evening I was hearing the same schtick from the knuckleheads that wish to hate on the Pats.
So Fatcessa's radio antics are kinda' like a dress rehearsal for those that live in the NYC area.
I wish someone would have told him he was right about this and then called them a dink and dunk and dank and denk and donk team
"Reminds me of da day da Pats cleared the field to kick da winning FG against da Dolphins. Shula awlways told me dats da day he started thinking da Pats were cheaters.
Snow Bowl game. Same ting. Never on the up-and-up."
Snow Bowl game. Same ting. Never on the up-and-up."
Mike is so deep in Dolan's back pocket. He's defending the Knicks, Dolan and Knicks security and railing against Oakley. It's comical.
Caller who was 2 rows behind Oakley is on with Tank
Giving him play by play and sounds very credible. Tank trying to blow holes in the story and failing.
Said McEnroe was next to Dolan and saw it all and asked why Oakley was being ejected.
Tank: "Then why isn't McEnroe quoted anywhere if he saw it all?"
CAller: "I dont know. Why dont you contact him, you know everyone"
Tank: "If it was the guard's spot for blocking his view twice during timeouts, what is his name?"
Caller: "his name?"
Tank: "Yes. You said you are a ticket holder and know all the guards, so what is his name? Tell me"
CAller: "I dont know their names. I am not a big shot like you"
Tank: "Don't be abusive. Dont abuse me!" lol
"If you were there and want to tell your story, you have to give me your full name and seat # or you aren't getting on"
This would be the Don Shula who left the tarp off the Orange Bowl field during a rainstorm the night before the January 23, 1983 AFC championship game against the Jets, a team that had a lot more speed than his Dolphins?
This is the Don Shula who's complaining about cheating to gain an edge in field conditions?
For what its worth, Boomer and Carton, Beningo and Roberts all made it very clear TB and BB and the Pats are the greatest and if you even try to argue it now, it reveals you're a moron. Also Steven Smith Donovan Mcnabb, MAX KELLERMAN are converts. Deon and Irvin already were strongly Pro Brady. There are only a handful of morons left. Ladanian., Keyshawn, Chris Carter. Hell I even think Merryl Hodge stands behind them now. The transformation has been staggering.
I had to turn off Mike, it was fun for a while listening to him make a fool out of misself, then it just got pointless. Maybe he will reture early?
And dont forget this..... When Shula replaced Wilson at Miami the Colts charged the Dolphins with tampering in their hiring of Shula, costing the Dolphins their first round draft pick in 1971
Ah, the Limbaugh Effect.
I wondered when reading this thread why more posters hadn't made that choice.
Unfortunately Mike is doing a remote show today. Otherwise he would be getting inundated with Dolan calls. Too bad. Mike has already started to backtrack in a way that was reminiscent of the Sean Taylor incident.
Thing is, since I moved to this area in 1999, I had the two of them on every day. In those days there was no internet streaming of out of town sports radio. They used to be a great listen, specially during the Yanks Sox wars.....Then Mad Dog left. I tried listening to EEI and the other place, but they really suck. So Mike it was. Now? After this week, I cannot imagine turning him back on, as I do not trust him anymore. He is an abusive, angry, bitter old man. I feel bad for his kids.
Too funny. Watch what happens when you get older., I have EVERYTHING intact from about 67 to 2010ish, then my memory is kinda shot. The old stuff stays forever. Frank Howard hitting an 0-2 pitch over the wall near the triangle at fenway, Reggie Smith throwing with both hands from the centerfield wall in practise, and on and on...by the way, where is my car? Really...
There are at least five members who can give you more details about this than I can, but your brain stores old memories differently than new ones.
My mom had a great command of her WW2 years long after she was deep into dementia.
So replace Francessa with Christie at WFAN and then have Francessa replace Christie as New Jersey governor, and it would be like nothing has changed.
Isn't Christie a big Cowboys fan? What a troll job that would be - and not necessarily a successful one unless he was paired up with a local-teams-first guy. Mike's a tough listen but I think his hardcore audience likes that he's on "their" side.