Watchdog

maybe he could co-host with boomer on his show. or maybe he will replace boomer altogether.

God I hope not. At least not on anything I currently watch. Because I will stop watching it if he goes on it.

Neil, please clarify the following statement:
"The information in this post did not come from a single person directly in a position to know ..."

Or

"The information in this post did come from a single person directly who is not in a position to know ..."

Did this information come from multiple people directly who are not in a position to know?

Neil, you have to be more clear (or clearer, as my grammer check indicates) when you begin stating, “Before I begin, let’s be clear on one thing:”
Is it that difficult to write, “This information in this post is from ….”
That is what happens when you have sources who are off the record.

I want my Manhasset Fats TV!!!!!!!

Francessa in HD--Now that's a scary thought!

What is this, junior high? How about we keep the discussion focused on Mike F.'s professional attributes and minimize the sophomoric personal remarks. Gee whiz. I don't want to censor the comments section, and most importantly I don't have time to censor the comments section, so I'm relying on self-policing.

Seriously, do you think MSG (aka The Dolans) would put up with Francessa's contant bashing of their mis-management of the Knicks? And forget about the Rangers, because Mike doesn't do hockey. Don't forget about the last guy that voiced his opinion on their airwaves, Marv Albert. He's doing games in New Jersey. And before him was Bob Page. As much as I can't stand him, I can't see Francessa becoming a schill for them, like Al Trautwig.

Hey, "Anonymous"

Just thought you'd be interested to know somebody posted those exact MSG/Francesa as schill (sic) comments somewhere else on the internets. With a NAME attached to them.

Not so anonymous, I guess.

I wish Mike would just go away - away out of NY sports.

Maybe he can hook up with the Tuna in Miami.

Except for the Rangers ( who watches the Knicks/Liberty....same thing) who cares about MSG? He is only relevant with Chris....NFL Now is a good show as well. He needs to grow up and make amends and keep the show rolling. Because he will never be as good without Chris.

Neil -

What are the salaries for Francesa, Russo, Esaisson and Carlton?

In my opinion of the four, only Mike and Boomer have any sports knowledge and media smarts. The other two are just stooges and would have a hard time getting any other sports related job.

WFAN makes a mistake in targeting 'Jocks' in their programming and advertising. It's usually Mom who takes the kids to all those practices and teaches them about sports - in fact, it was Derek Jeter's GRANDMOTHER (mother of eleven) who first took him to the Stadium.

Women listen to the station, but not to the utter sexist garbage thrown out by Carlton on the morning show, nor the inane 'patter' offered up in the 1-6:15PM hours. Women also play sports these days in records numbers.

Personally, I find Tony Paige, Richard Neer, Steve Sommers, and the like to be both knowledgeable AND polite. And, let me put in a good word for the Update Guys anyone of whom would make a good host - Bob Heussler, John Minko, Jerry Recco, etc. all are much more literate and sports savvy than Russo or Carlton.

Neil, here is what I believe is the flaw in your premise that one of these guys would leave. Wouldn't you have to believe that WFAN (CBS radio) will do whatever is necessary money wise to keep both of them no matter what as it means so much to their ad revenue, station identity, etc. They are just too valuable to the station.

Francesa is already in HD on YES

Annie Savoy - I don't think Minko is much better than Russo in the literacy department. He stumbles over his words and gets players' names wrong all of the time, like Russo.

Carton definitely does not seem suited to be a morning co-host on a big sports talk radio station with his childish and disgusting remarks, but the show apparantly garners good ratings.

mike should just do yankee play by play with john sterling and suzyn waldman. then the level of professionalism and unbiased journalism at YES would be comparable to gary, keith and ron over at SNY.

*sarcasm*

Neil, have u been able to determine what the exact cause of the tension is between mike and chris? I (still) can't believe it has anything to do with on air, sports-related, arguments. Other than the inclusion of Heyman, there's been no change to the show's structure in years. What exactly is causing the friction? I doubt it's a fight over compensation, or other assignments. I guess i could buy the fact that they could simply be sick of each other, but it seemed to me that they really warmed to each other over the past 5 years or so.

In the back of my mind - if the story is really true and it's not part of some negotiation strategy, there must be some incident or slight that we don't yet know about. Your thoughts?

Francesa does have a history with the Garden- Believe "Live at the Play by Play" was still on when the Dolans took over the Garden and his NFL show with Parcells was HQ'd out of MSG

annie savoy.....you dont listen if you think russo doesnt have sports knowledge. he may be racist and cant say word properly but he definitely has sports knowledge. he watches more than mike and boomer does now. i understand boomer played but he doesnt watch as much as russo. and you know mike doesnt.

Boy, the Cablevision/Dolan mentions sure seem to be popping up all over the place on Newsday lately, eh?

what did we learn from george young a long time ago? answer-when they say it is not about the money,guess what, IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY. they want more than norman. soon you people will see that.

Bruce you keep saying they want more than Norman--give facts--what is Boomer making? We have already established that M&MD pretty much get 2.7 million between them. And don't forget Boomer does a lot more for CBS than these 2 ever do. He does NFL Monday Night, NFL Sunday pre-game plus a weekly national show.
If Mike took his NFL Now show to Sunday morning TV and simulcasts it nationally on radio, like it was once done, that would be a good deal for him, it's a fairly good show.

sandy,norman is at the $3.ooo,ooo a year just for the player and the putz show.m&m became steamed when this came down last year. they have been stewing for months.they now feel it is time to get paid.

They better talk about their situation on Friday. I'll be there.

They probably wont because they are doing a show at the All-Star game festivities. In any case they are overpaid now and if Boomer is making $3million to do that show, he is waaaay overpaid.
One of the corporate accountants who oversees WFAN's accounts better take a closer look at the books, and see why the rest of the company is in severe financial trouble and FAN is flush with money to spend on no-talents like these? Someone needs to be held accountable.

These guys are smart enough to know neither will do as well seperately as they will together.. If they ever did split Russo would be more successful longterm than Mike counter to conventional wisdom.

These guys are smart enough to know neither will do as well seperately as they will together.. If they ever did split Russo would be more successful longterm than Mike counter to conventional wisdom.

I don't understand how anyone could begrudge Norman his $3M. Doesn't he remind his listeners EVERY DAY that he after he
retired -- he was a QB, remember? -- he wouldn't have health
insurance?!

The poor, spoiled, talentless hack. It's like listening to paint dry.

Good thing they teamed him up with that Mensa member Cartoon. His uninspired, bigoted potty humour is a real tonic.

"Helluva job, Cherny. Helluva job."

$ 65,000,000 a year in ad rev for wfan.sandy, they are fine

my understanding is dog: 1.3 million, Mike 1.4
plus a take from YES. that is fan money only

Outside of Chris and Mike, Benigno is the only other "personality" with talent...God for bid there is any truth to the breakup no doubt Cherny would force an even larger dose of evan Roberts down our throats, oh the pain!!

my son,the future king of all media.

Anyone know if the Bar A remote has been pulled?

the two are as greedy as the athletes they complain about everyday.

I say fire them both and move on.

Nice job Best, you've found another topic to ring up the page views.

re: Bar A

I never thought of the ramifications this would have on Southside Johnny and "Lake Como" (nee South Belmar)

I can't help but think that if either one of them leaves the show that the whole show might go away rather than the remaining host being teamed with a new co-host. WFAN might not have the patience to wait on if or how the chemistry might work with a new voice on the show.

I have no idea if this is even possible, but a pairing along the lines of Dan Patrick - Keith Olbermann would be my thought for a total replacement.

For all these years it wasn't "Mike OR the Mad Dog", it is "Mike AND The Mad Dog". Can you have one without the other??

The Great Mr. Sniffen is not pleased with you Neil.

re: re: Bar A

Just out of curiousity- I checked the Bar Anticipation website- still have M & MD w/ Southside Johnny slated for Friday 22 August

I think its time for these two to branch out - they will definitely be missed.What made them great is the fact they didn't like each other.Mike being the arrogant Yankee fan and Maddog the Giant fan that wants to talk tennis.Mike probably makes more money doing Miked Up and MSG would be a good fit.Russo doesn't work well on TV,I think he is definitely more of a radio guy.Joe Binigno actually does a better job on TV than the few times I've seen Russo (remember how uptight he looked when he hosted that CBS show with John Riggins)he didn't look loosey goosey.There are too many avenues of technology now for these two to stay put doing terrestrial radio.

As usual I get the last word. You're all lost. -handwave- to all you mongoloids.

I'd be stunned if Boomer (who actually makes Francesa seem humble) made $3m per. If that's the case I would understand why M&MD would be peeved, as even in their old age (and they are nowhere as good as they used to be) they completely outclass the morning show. Boomer and Carton are so bad they are driving me to satellite radio.

if mike thinks he'll do better without dog, it must be because all that aspartame has rotted away the common sense portion of his brain.

ps: mike is fat.

I gave the handwave, now stop posting. Jeez you people are lost !

The mornung show definately sucks,, I cant listen . Boomer would be better by himself .. He is more broad minded than the Cartoon buffon .

Imus was perfect , but he lost his mojo in that bad moment , He is just ok on ABC , although the conversation gets interesting from time to time .. I like some of his new guests..

Richard ..Neer would be good in the AM Tony Paige not bad either .. In fact , they should just let Tony Paige be the overnight guy by himself without all the switching..

and you need at least one or two more 'alternative" voices in the regular rotation ..

Olberman and patrick would be intersting in the morning , we would get more intersting convo and substanive sports as well ..

what about more minority writers as well . William Rhoden for example, George King ,, for that matter Joel Sherman or tim marchman . both astute baseball minds.

Raise the bar .. !! They are playing to the lowest commn denominator . and how could there be NO news talk in the morning at all . The biggest story in 40 years is playing out day by day , and Carton is making little boy jokes..

You dont have to be stupid to be a sports fan ..

By the way , I happened to hear John from Philly on CSAN on morning . lol .. he seems to be Republican . lol ..

But that would make intersting radio .. The Willie Randolph situation was an opportunity to analyze the make up of the Mets fan base . Seems much different now than even in 86 , much lees than in the 60's .

whats up with that ? . The Yanks seem to have a more progressive base now, contrary to thier history untill the 70's ..

Rob from Queens

Rob, Rob, ROB !!! You're lost ! I didn't even read your post. -handwave- Now get lost.