Mike Francesa says on air that WFAN morning show 'stinks'
Mike Francesa engages sports analyst guest host Bill Simmons (off camera) during Francesa's show on at the WFAN studios on May 16, 2016. Credit: Craig Ruttle
Mike Francesa ripped his WFAN morning show colleagues on the air late Wednesday afternoon, saying that the program featuring Gregg Giannotti and Boomer Esiason “stinks” and that Giannotti is “short on ability.”
The shocking rant came when Francesa was talking about listening to the morning show while taking his wife to the airport, and how the hosts had spent too much time discussing the notion of a fight between WFAN midday host Bart Scott and CBS Sports Radio host Pete "Taz" Senerchia. Then Francesa abruptly referenced a recent scuffle outside WFAN’s Soho studios between Giannotti and Scott’s co-host, Chris Carlin.
Francesa spoke about “those two morons rolling around in the street out in front of the station.” He added, “These two clowns, I guess fighting over ratings or something out in the middle of the street punching each other to death, that you could have shown me a video of. I would have looked at that.
“That would be more entertaining than the show, I can tell you that much. And Giannotti, stop with the impersonations of me. I mean, enough already. God, get some new material, please. No wonder your show stinks.
“Geez, Giannotti, I mean, he is short on ability. I’m sorry. I’m sick of the impersonations. I listened to them this morning. They stink . . . Play that tape tomorrow morning.”
Giannotti frequently does impressions of people in sports and media, including Francesa, and the morning show often plays snippets of Francesa audio.
Asked to comment on Francesa's remarks, Esiason said via email, "I'm glad he listens as we listen to him! Never a dull day at the FAN! Fun stuff and good material." Then he added three laughing emojis.
Francesa's comments came two hours after Esiason’s former morning co-host, Craig Carton, who frequently criticized Francesa on the air, was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and wire and securities fraud.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
