New York Yankees announcer Michael Kay continues feud with WFAN’s Mike Francesa by taking shots at him.
Michael Kay isn’t just the New York Yankees announcer for the YES Network. He also has a show on ESPN Radio and he is tired of all of the “Numbah One” talk.
In a Q&A with Bob Klapisch of NorthJersey.com, Kay compared his show to Mike Francesa’s show and took shots at Francesa. The Yankees announcer even said that his show is definitely better than Francesa’s.
“Our show is quantifiably better than Mike’s,” Kay said. “It’s funny, not one guy bloviating. It’s three guys laughing, having a good time. We don’t dread it and that comes across to our listeners. We’ve made unbelievable inroads. People are noticing.”
He added, “I used to listen to ‘Mike and Mad Dog’ all the time. It was innovative and fun; you had to listen. But I defy anyone who listens to our show to say it’s not better.”
According to Zach Braziller of the New York Post, the Yankees announcer said that his show has been doing better in the ratings lately and that his show has beaten Francesa’s in ratings on a week to week basis a few times recently. He also said that his show has been in the top 10 for years.
“One thing that’s angered me is the No. 1 stuff [in the ratings] that Mike always talks about,” he said. “I was told in radio, turnaround is like turning around a cruise ship. It’s never hairpin. Also, ratings are bogus. If you watched Leno and Letterman head-to-head, Leno always beat him, but Letterman had the better show. There’s no way that if Mike started today, he would be No. 1 in the market.”
The Yankees announcer doesn’t know Francesa personally and doesn’t think that they are feuding. They might not be feuding yet, but wait until Francesa responds and they will be feuding. Kay felt disrespected when the YES Network put his show on.
“I don’t think of myself as feuding with him, but what bothered me was the first time YES took our (ESPN Radio) broadcast (on simulcast). Francesa said it was because YES wanted someone they could control. I thought that was so disrespectful” he said. Mike was probably upset that he was no longer on, so he put it on me. The first time I was on YES, I proceeded to dump a Diet Coke (Francesa’s favorite drink) in the garbage can. You would’ve thought I’d desecrated something in the Vatican. I was shocked by the reaction. Some people said, “you have to show respect.” But respect is a two-way street.”
The question is, how will Francesa respond to Kay’s comments?