Mike Francesa broadcasts from Saratoga
SARATOGA, N.Y. » For the past 39 years, sports radio host Mike Francesa has made the pilgrimage from New York City to Saratoga and its historic race course. He’s only missed it once in the time, in 1994. The Spa is ingrained in the summer experience for the renowned “Sports Pope.”
Friday, though, marked the first time he’s ever broadcast from the historic course. Moments after he went into his track-side broadcast box for the Mike Francesa Show, fans were circling around, telling him how they were big fans and taking photos.
“This place means a lot to me,” Francesa said before his show on Friday. “I love Saratoga. It’s like no other place. If I didn’t spend part of my summer here, I’d feel like I’d really missed something. I love horse racing.”
Broadcasting from Saratoga is all part of a farewell tour for the WFAN legend. He’ll be leaving his sports talk show in December, and he told The Saratogian how it’s starting to feel close. He said he
associates Saratoga season with the beginning of football season, which marks the beginning of the end at WFAN.
In the meantime, though, he’s been showered with love from his listeners. An ESPN 30-for-30 documentary was made about his partnership with Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. And on Wednesday, his horse, Mongo Nation, will race at Saratoga.
“I think he’s going to run really well, as long as the turf stays hard,” Francesa said. “If the turf gets soft, we’re dead. If it stays like it is now, he’s been training great. But he hates it soft. I’m just praying we don’t get a lot of rain.”
Francesa rents a home in Saratoga and has a personal box at the track. He’ll come down most days that he’s here to take pictures with fans.
He estimates he’s up here about two weeks of the season — usually coming up and down several times. He was in Saratoga for four days last week. The crowds follow him wherever he goes. Famous in New York for his sports takes. Famous around the country for starting a brand of talk radio that’s expanded around the country.
“We hit the sports world at the right time,” Francesa said of old show ‘ Mike and the Mad Dog’ And we were trailblazers. We were at the right time and the right place. We were lucky enough to be pioneers. And when you’re pioneers, they remember you.”
It’s one of the best kept secrets, what Francesa will do next. He’s been on the air for decades, and it’s not clear how long it’ll be before he comes back — and in what capacity.
Moments after Francesa sat down on Friday, a woman stared at him star- struck.
“I’m a longtime listener,” she said, and he thanked her.
She congratulated himon his retirement.
“I’m not retiring,” the 63-year-old said.
Those are questions for another day. Friday was about taking in a lifelong home for the Sports Pope.
“It never changes,” Francesa said. “I know they always add stuff and there’s more to buy and everything else. But it still has the same charm. It’s got a unique quality. Just like a Fenway Park, it just never never loses that charm that it has. One of the great landmark sporting places in America.”