Two Words: King Cotton

[G-Fafif]

For the question, click here:

[youtube:1mktdmyu]t7isyklX2Jk[/youtube:1mktdmyu]

[seawolf17]

This guy slays me. "Are you a slave? How do you know they want to be free?"

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yes, as in the other video, he doesn't get the voice or the look perfect, but the mannerisms are dead-on and he says exactly what Mike would say.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I haven't heard Francesa in years, but that was really good. (I loved the part about the Underground Railroad.)

What's with the white gloves?

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I haven't heard Francesa in years, but that was really good. (I loved the part about the Underground Railroad.) What's with the white gloves?

Dressed like a proper Confederate officer.

Barstool Sports, with which this guy is now affiliated, provides a handy cheat sheet for those who might not catch every nuance.

[Frayed Knot]

Mike Zaun ... Dred from Scottsville ...

That's gold Jerry, GOLD!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I haven't heard Francesa in years, but that was really good. (I loved the part about the Underground Railroad.) What's with the white gloves? Dressed like a proper Confederate officer. Barstool Sports, with which this guy is now affiliated, provides a handy cheat sheet for those who might not catch every nuance.

Oh good. Another otherwise good thing nestled with revolting "bro" culture hangout.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Hey, it does take a lot of fertilizer to produce prize orchids, right?

Barstool affiliation or no, this is superb.

[G-Fafif]

Civil War bit topped 80 years later.

[youtube:1z2ft7s7]eJBde7b41xI[/youtube:1z2ft7s7]

[Lefty Specialist]

"Ehhh....FDR, he's a compiler."

I lost it right there.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I like the Dog guy. This one had moments but overall not progressing. Something about the director.

[Frayed Knot]

That 'Just let me win ONE' rant is a satire of an actual MadDog rant from back before his SF Giants won their first WS.
I was ready for Francesa to tell Mussolini how they're on the same side on account of being paisans, but I guess we'll have to wait for the Benigno parody for that one.

[HahnSolo]

Frayed Knot wrote: That 'Just let me win ONE' rant is a satire of an actual MadDog rant from back before his SF Giants won their first WS. I was ready for Francesa to tell Mussolini how they're on the same side on account of being paisans, but I guess we'll have to wait for the Benigno parody for that one.

And the Captain America "true story?" thing comes from an actual Mad Dog question when Mike was talking about the movie Daredevil. I wish I was making that up.

[metirish]

"Get rid of him, not doing Jews today, we'll do the Jew problem tomorrow"..

hilarious , pretty funny overall, as much as anything it is the mannerisms .

[MFS62]

metirish wrote: "Get rid of him, not doing Jews today, we'll do the Jew problem tomorrow".. hilarious , pretty funny overall, as much as anything it is the mannerisms .

It wasn't funny when Mike questioned the patriotism of American Jews on 9/11.
Really.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

Michael Kay's ESPN radio show started simulcasting today over the YES airwaves after Francesa/FAN's contract with that outlet ran out at the end of January*. So to kick off his first show, Kay and side-kick Don LaGreca staged, without explanation but with a symbolism easily familiar to most NYC area sports-talk listeners/watchers, a tossing of a Diet Coke bottle into a nearby garbage can.
Francesa responded, via Newsday's Neil Best, with: "Classless, loser move from two guys I have been burying in the ratings for over a decade."

Nothing like a good drama queen war between two plus-size divas.




* Although the FAN/YES arrangement involving Francesa's show was said to be fracturing before hand, Francesa has hinted that his steadfast backing of ARod to the dismay of YES was part of the reason for the split. He expects to be back on some yet-unnamed simulcast outlet--probably MSG--by April 1st

[metirish]

Here's the video....looked rather silly ....

[youtube:3tkc5jrq]yJRTTLvDM7I[/youtube:3tkc5jrq]

[Ceetar]

nevermind not getting the appeal of these shows, any appeal they have is the captive audience/listening in the car/workspace stuff. I can't imagine why we need them on TV. That said, when Sports Bars have them on I can't figure out why they don't put on closed captioning.

[Frayed Knot]

Kay & LaGreca not exactly being subtle with that Coke bottle, were they?


Why are shows like these simulcast? -- because there are more sports networks then there are programs to fill them so duplicating a radio show is a cheap and easy way to fill the daytime hours when actual sporting events are rarely being played. I think there are fewer shows NOT being televised than ones that are.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: Kay & LaGreca not exactly being subtle with that Coke bottle, were they? Why are shows like these simulcast? -- because there are more sports networks then there are programs to fill them so duplicating a radio show is a cheap and easy way to fill the daytime hours when actual sporting events are rarely being played. I think there are fewer shows NOT being televised than ones that are.

yeah, lots of dead time. I meant more from a "why do we care?" I guess if you're working at home or not working it's easier to flip on the TV than the radio these days. I know it's nice sometimes that they can play highlights and such, but most of the time I don't really want to look at Michael Kay or Francesa while/if I'm listening to them.

[Edgy MD]

I've got to think cheap but original programming can be so do-able with an iota of creativity.

But we don't demand it. We watch SNY or YES or MSG out of brand loyalty. And they are dubious that ratings would spike if they put something better on than the fiftieth evergreen interview with the guy who knows where to stand to catch homers during batting practice, or the 99th rebroadcast of the Matt Franco game.

Seriously, how expensive could JCL's notion of rebroadcasting old games with MST3000 commentary be? Not a lot, but who cares?

I could fill out a 24-hour schedule in 10 minutes, but if the non-game-broadcast programming costs more than it takes to keep the lights on, I doubt they'd be interested. I'm not sure the current culture suggests they should. But someday, one of these networks is going to outflank the competition and put on an innovative low-budget thing, and it'll be a big hit despite being only kind of good and stay a hit after it quickly grows tired.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Not that Mike Francessa needs me defending him but that is really small of Kay.

Thing is, I can't see how being a part of the garbage-time simulcast on a local cable channel is even prestigous to begin with. I mean, whatever channel Fatcessa ends up on (MSG, or SNY or whoever) couldn't be any worse, and having seen Kay on MFY games and as a Centerstage host I can't believe YES thinks we want any more of him.

Plus, during baseball season Kay's not on set half the time, so I guess we'll get a still headshot.

[Ceetar]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Not that Mike Francessa needs me defending him but that is really small of Kay. Thing is, I can't see how being a part of the garbage-time simulcast on a local cable channel is even prestigous to begin with. I mean, whatever channel Fatcessa ends up on (MSG, or SNY or whoever) couldn't be any worse, and having seen Kay on MFY games and as a Centerstage host I can't believe YES thinks we want any more of him. Plus, during baseball season Kay's not on set half the time, so I guess we'll get a still headshot.

right, exactly. It's not like Yankee fans are like "well, it's 4pm on a Tuesday, I wonder if there is a game on? No..but I guess I'll watch Kay now that I've turned it on"

But yeah, it's easy enough to fill the garbage time, but I just don't think stations like SNY or YES really care about that time, since so much of the actual ratings come from the game. But yeah, I'd love to MST3K a game with fun things like "This was Eric Valent's only home run this season" and such. I don't know that I would make a point to record and watch it though.

[Frayed Knot]

... I guess if you're working at home or not working it's easier to flip on the TV than the radio these days.

Yup. I'd bet a lot of households now have more TVs in more rooms than they do radios. Plus TVs all have remotes making them especially convenient for dropping in and out of wallpaper-type programming.


As far as original programming goes, the problem is that it's not cheap and that to fill the daytime hours (essentially 10AM to 5PM is when most of these simulcasts occur) on your typical sports stations you're generally reaching an audience of dozens so there's not a lot of way of getting your money back.
Is having one of these shows 'prestigious'? Probably not, but it's beats running infomercials.

[Frayed Knot]

Word has it that Francesa's show will soon start being simulcast on the 'Fox Sports 1' channel - giving that fledgling outlet a foot in the door in the NYC market even if just in the minor slot of daytime programming. That channel seems to currently have some original programming in the late afternoon hours and there are no specifics yet as to where & when they'll carry the big man's show.
Ironically this puts Francesa in the same corporate family as Michael Kay's simulcast partner seeing as how YES is now owned by FOX. That means there could be some serious Diet Coke flinging going on at some future company outing.

[Frayed Knot]

Great line from Mushnick today: Horrible dream last night. All 2015 cars came with Mike Francesa�s voice and directions on navigation systems. They weren�t optional.



Francesa's WFAN show starts simulcasting Monday on 'Fox Sports 1' with the later hours (I think starting at 4PM) moving to 'Fox Sports 2'
Meanwhile his old partner begins a show on MLBN the following week.