Francesa feeling good about things

June 25, 2009

It wasn't a matter of self-doubt. Mike Francesa is not the self-doubt type.

Recent columns

• Glover wasn't Open champion NBC or fans wanted

  June 22, 2009

  Lucas Glover is a heck of a polite fellow, a Yankees fan and an avid reader, all of which NBC dutifully told America Monday about its new national golf champion.

• Maltbie prefers walking the track to the tower

  June 21, 2009

  The well-lubricated rowdies at the 10th had been heckling U.S. Open golfers for a good hour Saturday evening when Roger Maltbie appeared and walked across the tee box to get into position.

• NBC's Maltbie gaining fame in New York

  June 21, 2009

  The well-lubricated rowdies at the 10th had been heckling U.S. Open golfers for a good hour Saturday evening when Roger Maltbie appeared and walked across the tee box to get into position.

• For Johnny Miller, honesty pays

  June 17, 2009

  Johnny Miller sought out Phil Mickelson on the 11th fairway of Bethpage Black yesterday, where they spent several minutes discussing everything from his swing to Amy Mickelson's cancer diagnosis.

• ESPN's Berman gets back in swing at Open

  June 15, 2009

  It was a prospective culture clash so jarring it echoed from the anarchic blogosphere to genteel Augusta National:

• Chris Berman ready to call the U.S. Open

  June 15, 2009

  It was a prospective culture clash so jarring it echoed from the anarchic blogosphere to genteel Augusta National:

• Buck jumps into new HBO show

  June 12, 2009

  "Joe Buck Live,'' debuts Monday on HBO on the theme "Sports and Celebrity, '' with scheduled visits by Michael Irvin, Chad Ocho Cinco and Paul Rudd and a taped piece in which Buck hangs out with David Wright in Manhattan.

• Not sure if Mets mastered art of choke

  June 11, 2009

  Cole Hamels was long gone by the time his words echoed around Citi Field in the worst way possible last night, but there was no ignoring them.

• Tiger gets the buzz going early at Bethpage

  June 9, 2009

  Tiger Woods arrived at Bethpage Black Monday, and naturally, Newsday gave his practice round a full 21st century local mega-story treatment - blog, video, pictures, Web updates, newspaper articles.

• NBC will keep eye on fans at Bethpage Black

  June 4, 2009

  The U.S. Open is less than two weeks away now, so it should be about time for NBC's preparations to get serious, right?

• Jeff Van Gundy aware of objectivity concerns

  May 31, 2009

  Jeff Van Gundy promised he will "try to be as objective as possible" during the NBA Finals, but on one key point, he admits to having no objectivity at all.

• Long Islander fits the Bill for sports spelling

  May 30, 2009

  Long Islander fits the Bill for sports betting

• Long Islander fits the Bill for sports spelling

  May 29, 2009

  A laurel and hearty handshake to Dan Sulzer, 33, of Long Beach, who Thursday became the second consecutive Long Islander to take top honors at the ESPN Zone Sports Spelling Bee in Times Square.

• On camera angles and the unpredictability of baseball

  May 28, 2009

  The mission statement has not changed for the people behind the cameras and in the production trucks during Major League Baseball games.

• A heavy LI presence in lacrosse title game

  May 25, 2009

  Two stadium workers wheeled out a box on which someone had written, "If win, Cornell''; it was the one full of championship hats and shirts the Big Red never would wear.

• Kornheiser-for-Madden swap?

  May 23, 2009

  Kornheiser-for-Madden swap

• A-Rod finally learning how to handle media

  May 21, 2009

  It is the quote of the year thus far in New York sports. Behold, Alex

• Kornheiser's Monday Night Football journey ends

  May 18, 2009

  It was the last week of March, and Tony Kornheiser was jazzed after recently getting word of "Monday Night Football's'' 2009 opener - featuring T.O.'s Bills at Tom Brady's Patriots.

• '4th and Long for Irvin, Cowboys wannabes

  May 15, 2009

  At first it sounded silly at best, disrespectful to the game at worst, and pure Cowboys all the way:

• Chris Russo misses local slant, but likes new life

  May 14, 2009

  For most New York sports radio listeners, Chris Russo's trademark cackle is but a memory - other than in those spot-on imitations by WFAN's Craig Carton.

• Virtual ticket sites are the real deal

  May 11, 2009

  The numbers have been seared into the consciousness of New York baseball fans this season as surely as their favorite players' batting averages and home run totals:

• Girardi balks at balk rule

  May 9, 2009

  Girardi balks at balk rule

• Girardi balks at balk rule

  May 8, 2009

  While talking to Joe Girardi Wednesday about his media relations efforts, I asked him about his most peculiar media moment of 2009 - when he expressed bafflement last Sunday about why anyone would want to write a book such as the one Selena Roberts wrote about Alex Rodriguez.

• Dealing with media: Girardi starting to catch on

  May 7, 2009

  It is a ritual for on-the-hot seat managers going back decades, intensified by sports talk radio and later the Internet.

• Book fleshes out A-Rod but ultimately comes up thin

  May 5, 2009

  'I am complicated," Alex Rodriguez tells Selena Roberts on page 3 of "A-Rod," the latter's book about the former, which hit stores Monday after the customary pre-release leaks and back-page headlines.

• Jets hear ka-ching, ka-ching with Sanchez

  April 28, 2009

  Mark Sanchez "loves the green and white," is "having a blast," "loves this city," worked out Monday at Columbia and toured Citi Field, finding the facilities "unbelievable.''

• MLB Network covers all the bases

  April 23, 2009

  'This is the funnest night of the show,'' Harold Reynolds said cheerfully just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, an assertion that was in the eye of the beholder.

• The thrill most definitely is not gone for Rosen

  April 20, 2009

  Sam Rosen was sitting on a battered couch in a cluttered hallway deep inside Madison Square Garden last night, awaiting the start of yet another in a quarter-century-long parade of Rangers games.

• New Yankee Stadium not TV friendly

  April 16, 2009

  New Yankee Stadium has been praised widely for its beauty, majesty and sight lines - except, of course, for those infamous $5 bleacher seats with the sports bar in the way.

• This time, WFAN's Rose gets to mark Mets history

  April 13, 2009

  It took 45 years, but Howie Rose finally got over the measles last night.

• Stadium excellent, but not for the light of wallet

  April 4, 2009

  The iconic photo of Opening Day at the first Yankee Stadium shows Model Ts stuck in traffic, bunting over the entrance and people shuffling in, surely imagining what wonders they soon would see inside.

• Ojeda to bring passion to SNY studio show

  April 3, 2009

  Bob Ojeda grew up in California, but he long since has come to consider the New York area home, from his memorable late-1980s stay with the Mets to marrying a Staten Islander to spending the past 15 years in Rumson, N.J.

• Summing up Citi Field: This place is amazin'!

  March 30, 2009

  Hubbubs over tax-free bonds, naming rights, chop shops, ticket prices and plans, partially obstructed views and other matters, large and small, past and future - each deserves our attention in the ongoing sagas of New York's two new baseball stadiums.

• So far, SNY closed to captioning

  March 27, 2009

  Carl DeStefanis is deaf, and thus doesn't bother with TV shows that do not offer closed captions.

• No cheap seats left at new Yankee Stadium

  March 25, 2009

  So far 2009 has been the Year of Plenty of Good Seats Available, with high-priced tickets across North America that once would have been snapped up eagerly instead going unsold and unloved.

• Giants fans get chance of a lifetime

  March 10, 2009

  For years, it has been among the most formidable fortresses in fandom:

• No end in sight to A-Rod coverage

  March 6, 2009

  After carrying Media City through the dog days of mid-winter, it initially appeared yesterday that the Primobolanbino finally had dropped us, like a pop-up between him and Derek Jeter.

• Francesa, Wright clear the air

  March 3, 2009

  Mets union rep J.J. Putz was in Arizona, where his wife was about to give birth, so after union boss Donald Fehr visited the team last week, reporters sought out alternate rep Mike Pelfrey for comment.

• SNY's Darling has spring in his step

  February 27, 2009

  Ron Darling was back on your television yesterday, a harbinger of spring, and the last place he expected to be when he looked into his future in 1982.

• NYC media makes best of limitations

  February 18, 2009

  At its core, the curious case of Alex Rodriguez is that there is no there there.

• Press will finally get their shot at A-Rod

  February 17, 2009

  Alex Rodriguez's arrival in Tampa today would have been a big story no matter what.

• Rodriguez makes it easy for Gammons

  February 10, 2009

  Landing the first interview with Alex Rodriguez since he morphed overnight from A-Fraud to A-Roid was a coup for ESPN, which predictably spent yesterday taking full, multi-platform use of it.

• 'Wow!' for Fox's booth, too

  February 4, 2008

  Across the continent, from Long Island to Fox's vast compound outside University of Phoenix Stadium, what likely will be the largest TV audience in the history of American sports was losing its collective head.

• Mitchell Report gives baseball center stage

  December 14, 2007

  Alex Rodriguez is nearly as fascinating a media figure as he is a baseball player, but yesterday he outdid himself with this trick:

• Mex on Mustache title: A great honor

  July 13, 2007

  Eleven Gold Gloves? Nice.

• "Freeview" a preview of things to come

  December 31, 2006

  The Sunday editor had no interest in a sports media Year in Review. He said to look ahead.

• Francesa feels haunted by Lidle interview

  October 12, 2006

  Mike Francesa understands as well as anyone the rough-and-tumble reality of sports talk radio, where arguments often are just for fun and ratings, and quickly disappear into the ether.

• Will Giants' song be: "Is that all there is’’?

  December 24, 2005

  Will Allen stood on the greenish sand of FedEx Field Saturday, trying to explain what went wrong on one of the most dismal days of his career. Just to rub it in, "Hail to the Redskins'' blared from the stands as he spoke, nearly drowning him out.