ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike ended its 18 year run last Friday when Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg joined each other in the morning drive spot for the final time. The news of the end of Mike & Mike first leaked out back in May and shortly after the two hosts addressed the end of their show officially.
The split was far from amicable, as there were numerous reports that the show’s ending had caused a rift between Golic and Greenberg. While both have denied there being a serious issue between them and say everything is good now, Golic has been honest about his feelings towards the end of the show and how he felt blindsided by the move and considered retiring once it was over.
Greenberg will launch a new morning TV show on ESPN that will broadcast from New York in 2018 and Golic will stay on the radio with Trey Wingo and his son Mike Golic Jr. Greenberg has insisted it wasn’t his decision to end Mike & Mike, but the optics of him leaving Golic behind for a TV show certainly didn’t look great, especially to his co-host.
In any case, Golic and Greenberg both have new morning shows, with Greeny heading to TV and Golic staying with radio. The latter recently spoke with the Coloradoan about their split and what his reaction was when ESPN first told him about the show getting ended.
With such popularity, what was your feeling when you learned you were going to break up?
Anger. Disappointment. I had no clue. Zero. When I went into see the bosses, I thought it was to talk about the next deal since our contracts were ending. We had talked the previous year about moving the show to New York and I thought maybe it was about that. Instead, they told me the show was going to end and that Greenie was going to do a show in New York and I was going to do a show with my son.
What was your response?
I was like why are you ending the show? They said we wanted to be in New York. That’s not my pay grade to understand but I couldn’t understand a show in New York when our show was national. When I told them I thought it was a huge mistake and didn’t understand why they were taking something so successful and breaking it up, their thought was both shows would be successful. I almost feel liking you are splitting face cards at a blackjack table. You have a winning hand, why are you risking that?
Golic’s frustration is understandable, as their 18-year partnership had been wildly successful, and many fans of the show felt the same way. However, ESPN is banking on both personalities being able to be a draw for different audiences (TV and radio) to expand their reach. As for the blackjack reference, I’m very glad Golic spoke out against the travesty that is watching someone split face cards at a table.
I’ve only ever seen it once in my life and I audibly gasped and asked “what are you doing?” from two seats down. He lost both hands to a 19 and I was glad even though I also lost the hand. He had to learn that lesson. Don’t split face cards, please.
