It’s typical Fraud-cesa
Even by Mike Francesa’s noxious standard, he has been on an extraordinary roll. Only commercials have lately provided a break from his sagacious delivery of inside misinformation, bogus claims, total recall of never-happened episodes and revisionist portrayals of what he said and how he said it.
Those few remaining callers still inclined to voice dissent or, heaven forbid, correct him, have, of course, been ridiculed and shouted down — a maneuver we have come to often know as Francesa’s way of saying, “Ya got me.”
Wednesday, Francesa actually spread himself beyond his usual boundaries, granting an audience to Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on their WFAN show. Of course, he took over. After Roberts asked Francesa why he has given the Jets such meager credit, Francesa erupted, questioning Roberts’ broadcast professionalism for being a rabid, in-your-ear Jets fan.
“What’s with the ‘We’ pom-poms?” Francesa scolded. “You don’t work for the team. You’re not ‘We,’ you’re a spostscaster! You can’t say, ‘We!’ ”
Friday, he also mocked a caller for referring to the Jets as “We.”
Gadzooks! During the Bill Parcells Jets’ years, 1997-99, Francesa not only referred to the Jets on the air as “We,” he wore a Jets’ team jacket!
Later Wednesday, while interviewing Jets’ general manager Mike Tannenbaum — “Mr. T.” as Francesa chummily called him — Francesa seemed to drift toward the delusional. He began to speak with Tannenbaum as if he were a fellow NFL general manager.
Francesa actually prefaced a question with, “Listen, you were brought up in a completely different system, a system that I also learned under.”
Nurse! Nurse!
Serena’s fine not all that harsh
The Australian Open has led to continued suggestions that Serena Williams’ $92,000 fine for her verbal abuse of a courtside official at the last U.S. Open is unprecedented, for its severity, in modern tennis. But such suggestions seem to discount or ignore the 1995 Jeff Tarango episode at Wimbledon.
The U.S. player was fined $63,000 for verbal abuse and was banned from the next two Grand Slam events. And part of that punishment was clearly aimed at his wife, who twice slapped a referee.
It seems clear that Serena didn’t suffer exclusion from subsequent Grand Slam events because, unlike Tarango, she’s among the very best, an attendance and TV draw. And if Serena ever were to be sanctioned based on the misconduct of a close relation, say, her hate-spewing father, 92 grand would be a down payment.
The Tarango chapter also produced some farcical fallout. In explaining his behavior, Tarango credited John McEnroe as his inspiration. McEnroe took great offense, claiming he didn’t know what Tarango was talking about. And McEnroe sounded serious.
So, now Woody’s a great guy?!
It took the Jets exactly two playoff wins, after a 9-7 season, for Woody Johnson to go from seven years of being another greedy, clueless team owner to being a great guy
But will you love me tomorrow? So you’re stuck with, oh, four Jets or Giants PSLs at, say, $80,000 — and that’s before ticket costs — and in 2011 there’s an NFL lockout? Enjoy! . . . By the way, the Jets’ PSL sales have been “very close,” “almost,” “nearly” and “on the verge” of selling out for very close to, almost, nearly and on the verge of a year.
* Billy Andrade, always a good interview, made his debut as a Golf Channel commentator during the Bob Hope Classic. At 45, he will continue to play some Tour events. . . . Joe Namath narrates the open to today’s CBS pregame at 2 p.m. . . . Now that Disney has completed its acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, how long before The Hulk and Spider-Man show up on SportsCenter?
* If MSG’s Steve Cangialosi were given six hours to prepare for anything, from drag racing to ice dancing, he would show up cool, concise and credible. . . . John Minko, WFAN original and the radio voice of Army football, is expected to be out, for a while, taking care of some health issues. . . . Fans and promoters of Mixed Martial Arts — cage fighting — want their sport to be taken seriously, and then Strikeforce, the MMA operation hooked up with CBS and Showtime, signs 47-year-old Herschel Walker.
* Someday, perhaps — but not today — TV networks will return to paying more attention to well-played football as opposed to the post-play demonstrations of showoffs. Accomplished players who don’t behave in such a manner often are relegated to obscurity. That’s why, among tight ends, America knew Jeremy Shockey well before Jason Witten.
* Though this might come as a shock to the system, one of those “look at me now!” men who appeared (over and over and over) in those Giuseppe Franco/Procede hair replacement commercials, has confessed that he always had a nice full head of hair — and he regrets his role in the scam. In this town, that scam, for more than two years, was aimed at viewers of local baseball telecasts. WFAN once stuck Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts with Giuseppe as their special guest.


