Was infinitely better both with Russo, and before a lot of the online media really took off.
When Russo first left he openly talked about auditioning and eventually hiring another partner, or at least a side-kick. That never came to happen and was a big mistake for him and the show.
Best name I heard mentioned at the time was Max Kellerman. Would've made an excellent wingman.
What makes Mike so obnxious is he fails to recognize his good fortune. He came a long at a time when sports talk was a bout to take off, and he was lucky enough to have been Brent's sidekick for awhile. He lucked into his role at wfan, and the station became one of the most listened to in the country. But he never acknowledges that he's lucky enough to talk about sports for a living.
Mike doesn't have any play by play skills, doesn't have the personality for tv, and from what I can tell... can't write for sh^t. If WFAN had picked Gumbel, Jim Lampley or somebody else to host with Russo.... what exactly would Francesca do? He'd probably be another bum at the otb and still running numbers in LB from what I've heard....