Mike Francesa Heading To ESPN?
Are we about to get a Mike and the Mad Dog reunion? Except this time at ESPN!?! Yes, you are reading that correctly. The show that became so popular that ESPN had to make a 30 for 30 about it might get brought back from the dead.
On Monday, Andrew Marchand reported that ESPN brass sought to recruit Mike Francesa. Since that time, Francesa has now confirmed that there is some truth to the rumors.
“I know there was a story written yesterday. The story had a lot of — I wouldn’t say it was 100% accurate, but it had a lot of truth to it. I’m gonna tell you exactly what happened,” Francesa said, as covered by Barrett Sports Media. “They called me last year and wanted me to surprised Dog and Stephen A. on ‘First Take’. Dog has been doing the show once a week with Stephen A. They wanted me to surprise them and go on. I was a little leery of surprising anyone. I felt better if they knew about it.”
“I don’t know how it got out,” he said. “It didn’t get out from me. But it is true that there was conversations. They did ask me to do it. They did not talk to me about any offer to do it on a permanent basis or anything like that. It was — as far as I knew — a one time thing. That was my understanding at the time. We haven’t discussed it since last April, maybe May.”
Of course, if you go back and read that earlier report by Marchand, it sounds like ESPN is very interested in picking those talks back up. They want this reunion to happen. It’s a matter of if they can get it done. It’s hard to blame ESPN for trying. The ratings on it would be banana land. ESPN has also been looking for a shake up since moving on from Max Kellerman. Getting the dream team of Mike and the Mad Dog back together on First take would do exactly that.
