If you have ever been around us in the orange confines that is The New Paltz Oracle office, you know just how much we enjoy quoting Mike Francesa.
From dropping our voices to an overly “New Yawk” pitch, to saying “Uh-kay,” “Wait a second,” or “Yeah, what’s up,” at any given moment, Francesa holds a special place in our hearts.
After 30 years of being on the air for the No. 1 sports radio station in the country at WFAN New York, Francesa is set for his final show on Friday, Dec.15. Since we have been avid listeners of WFAN for years, we’ve decided to compile a countdown of the best rants and moments from Francesa to honor the one and only “Sports Pope.” But for now, we’ll hang up and listen.
(Disclaimer: These moments are from Francesa’s time hosting solo, which is from 2008-2017).
“Jobber to the ‘pen”/”Andy Pettitte is a starting pitcher!” May, 2009
Alex from Bedminster called Francesa to discuss the role of New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain. Alex was a supporter for Chamberlain to be a starter, while Francesa wanted to put him back in the bullpen. Francesa didn’t want to hear it from Alex in this call, claiming that he was “out of his mind.” Alex decided to bring up starting pitcher Andy Pettitte at one point in the phone call which led to an enraged Francesa yelling “Andy Pettitte’s a starting pitcher!” Francesa proceeded to hang up on Alex and said “Give me the Joba stats, I’ll teach Alex a lesson here!” Still a memorable rant eight years later that has been often quoted by us this semester.
Mets/Terry Collins rant, Aug. 23, 2012
This was when the Mets were still being broadcasted on WFAN. Francesa came on after the Mets lost an afternoon game to the lowly Colorado Rockies at home for the fourth straight day. At this point in the season, the Rockies entered Citi Field with a record of “46-73!” as Francesa so eloquently put it. At one point in the game, then-Met Mike Baxter got forced out at second base in a ball that was hit in front of him to which Francesa replied “If I saw that in a little league game I’d be upset!” Francesa was also sympathetic to the fans in the crowd that day by yelling “The eight people who were there today, give them their money back!” Francesa puts the icing on the cake was this rant near the end by emphatically yelling “They stink!”
Rob’s personal favorite quote from this rant is when Francesa makes fun of Terry Collins, saying “Well we had a few good at-bats.” “Why, because Ronny Cedeno fouled off a couple pitches?!”
Rant on Eli Manning being benched, Nov. 28, 2017
Perhaps Francesa’s final great rant on the WFAN airwaves. The New York Giants egregiously benched two time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, who has regularly appeared on Francesa’s show every Monday at 5 p.m. during the football season. Francesa had harsh criticism for then-Giants general manager Jerry Reese by saying “Jerry Reese’s career has been built on Eli Manning!” Francesa also had harsh words for then-Giants head coach Ben McAdoo when he said “You can’t run this clown out of town fast enough!” Francesa also said about the former Giants coach that “Maybe on your way out you can take a look at Eli’s rings, that’s the closest you’ll ever get to one.” Reese and McAdoo were fired just a week after this rant.
Will from Queens, Oct. 11, 2015
This was directly after Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley fractured New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada’s fibula on a slide at second base in Game 2 of the 2015 National League Division Series. An emotional Will from Queens called Francesa the next day on his Sunday football show to tell Francesa that “[Matt] Harvey better step up tomorrow night (in Game 3 of the NLDS).” Francesa could hear that Will was choked up when talking and without hesitation replied “Will, are you crying? I think Will was crying over this.”
He went on to say that you shouldn’t “go to a game with Will because it will be a bad time.”
“The horse from Schenectady,” May, 2015
Ryan from Eastchester called into to Francesa to chat him up about the Belmont Stakes and proceeded to ask if the No. 18 horse was from Schenectady.
The only problem is, the Belmont Stakes hadn’t even ran yet. A perplexed Francesa couldn’t make heads or tails of the questions Ryan was asking, especially when he kept saying the horse was from “Schenectady, New York.”
Mike concluded the call by hanging up on Ryan, saying “Do me a favor, when you get back from Mars, give us a call.”