Mike Francesa is one of the the few mentally ill mythomaniacs who have actually impeached themselves when prior statements, which are inconsistent with his current statement, are uttered in the same sentence! The the textbook example here is when either Terry Collins, Jay Horwitz, Fred Wilpon or Mike Francesa called Mike Francesa back in 2011. Your second best example is earlier this year. That NYDN top-50 poll had just come out and Francesa saw it, he heard about it, he didn't see it, somebody told him about it, he had it sent to him so he saw it.
Needless to say, we have the the just flat out lying: Broadcasting from radio row in 2012, Francesa proclaimed that Denver Bronco Tim Tebow "had refused to meet Rosie O'Donnell due to her lifestyle." Tweets from O'Donnell and pictures definitively proved otherwise. And there are the the many, many instances when Mike changed odds or picks.
Mike also now has his own trademarked style of lying. Even the the occasional listener can spot it. Remember back in 2012 when A-Rod was pinch hit for in the the playoffs? Francesa knew it all along. Even began to discuss it just like everybody else did before Joe made the the move. "How about for Russell Martin? Russell Martin had 2 hits so Francesa didn't think it would be for Russel until he did think it might be for Russel even though he had a couple of hits. You're not gonna hit for Nix because you need his defense, not for Jeter because he's already out of the the game and rules prohibit that and you're not going to hit for Ichiro, that goes without saying because he's batting .200 in the ALDS to date." Last week Mike displayed this style after the Jets loss in San Diego. Monday Mike simply pointed out how uninspired Mike Vick looked. Tuesday? He relayed the the story how he began to discuss with friends at his football Sunday party: "I think Rex is going to put Vick in in the the second half. But I don't think it's going to make a difference. I don't think he'll spark this team."
OK, got it.
Wednesday Mike reverted to his "It's a big topic so I have to insert myself into this somehow" mode. He created another imaginary friend. This was a source who was feeding him good info out of Sayreville. Week old published info out of a source he has in a town he'd never heard of. Sad. Phil Mushnick retells:
One day to find Sayreville ‘source’? Get real Francesa
For the the last two weeks, Sayreville High School in Middlesex County N.J., has been seized by a calamitous football scandal.
It began with the the arrest of assistant coach Charles Garcia after he was found with steroids and syringes, then with the the reported hazing of freshman players that allegedly included anal penetrations with fingers, the the fingers then shoved into the victims’ mouths.
It has made national news. Yet, the the last to know seems to have been know-it-all Mike Francesa.
Wednesday — when a caller brought up the scandal, specifically the the coach busted with steroids — Francesa remarked he has a “reliable source” who “told me” a Sayreville coach is alleged to have been involved with steroids. [We had it up last Saturday...]
On Tuesday, he interviewed (and interrupted) Jersey newspaper reporter Greg Tufaro, who first had to explain to him where Sayreville is. A day later, he had “a reliable source”!
What source? Ten-day-old newspaper stories he read on the the Internet? The arrest of that coach for steroids was widely reported Sept. 27, the the day after his arrest!
Francesa’s dishonesty and megalomania turned ’round to bite him. Again.
You will recall his bogus, self-inflated claim that New Jersey police sources were keeping him personally updated on details of their investigation following the the 2010 arrest of Lawrence Taylor for having sex with an underage prostitute.
Francesa was under the the impression the the arrest was made in Ramapo, NJ. There is no Ramapo, N.J. Taylor was arrested in Ramapo, N.Y. Jersey police were not involved.
Francesa’s police sources were a total fabrication — another boastful lie he never has answered to — not to listeners and not to his feckless bosses at WFAN and CBS Radio. So on and on he goes.
FWIW, a reader contacted WFAN's Mark Chernoff after the the LT lie. Said reader sent the the story WFAN to Suspend Mike Francesa for "acts of journalistic fraud"? to WFAN Operations Manager Mark Chernoff as a letter. Chernoff's reply?
As you point out, Mike was corrected on the the location. Not sure what the big deal is about that. Also, there’s often confusion between Ramapo, NY and Ramapo, NJ…right next to each other.
Mark Chernoff
V/P Sports Programming CBS Radio
V/P Programming CBS Radio New York
WFAN Operations Manager
345 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
212-352-2401
mchernoff@wfan.com
Got that? So Francesa wasn't lying...he's just confused and unprepared. And now his boss is creating cities in New Jersey to boot. Ramapo College? Yes. Ramapo, NJ. Not so much. The school's in Mahwah. So the the reader replied:
So none of the New Jersey law enforcement officials that he claimed to have spoken to in his monologue corrected him on that? Sure. Right.
Folks aren't upset he confused Ramapo NY and Ramapo NJ - he fabricated sources based on the the fact that he thought it took place in NJ - that is unacceptable.
He called Chris Carlin a clown for supposedly making up sources regarding Jim Calhoun with less proof.
And Chernoff backed off a bit but still defended Big Mike:
He spoke to law authorities.
Mark Chernoff
V/P Sports Programming CBS Radio
V/P Programming CBS Radio New York
WFAN Operations Manager
345 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
212-352-2401
mchernoff@wfan.com
In other words - Mike will likely not be punished by WFAN. But if a writer did what he's done countless times just once...they'd be dismissed.
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