Somehow, New York sports radio titan Mike Francesa got to debating the merits of college basketball coaches on Wednesday. The Yankees must have had a rain out the night before. Anyway, Francesa was discussing how he believed Kentucky head coach John Calipari is a great recruiter, a great motivator, and an average tactician.
Francesa then went to the phones, where - lo and behold - John Calipari was waiting to debate him. The exchange then devolved into sports radio banter you hear in every market in America, and then Francessa dropped John from Kentucky like he was no different than Jimmy from Long Island. And then he went back to talking about Calipari's mediocre ability as an Xs and Os coach, took another call and moved on like the most high-profile college basketball coach in the country hadn't just randomly called in and tried to disguise his voice.
Zach's take: Calipari doesn't even redirect Francesa's talking points. Francesa's mind isn't changed at all. Francesa goes right back to talking about Cal's perceived deficiencies like nothing ever happened. I don't like this at all.
Scott's take: I love that Calipari called in to speak up for himself. Clearly he and Francesa have some rapport and Cal had recently been on the show. I love when coaches speak up for themselves and don't act like they don't hear the public voices on radio, TV, the internet...and even in the local papers. Cal's a master at this stuff. The fact that Francesa just hung up on him is pure radio gold. Amazing radio interaction.
(HT Sporting News)