Tributes from all over the sports media map have been pouring in for Mike Golic Sr since it was announced that his final day on ESPN Radio’s morning show would be this Friday. One voice notably absent from the conversation was Golic’s longtime partner Mike Greenberg. On Wednesday’s edition of Get Up! Greenberg changed that with a two minute dissertation on his former Mike & Mike co-host.
Golic has been in the morning slot on ESPN Radio for 22 years. He and Greenberg were paired together in 2000 and spent the next 18 years as Mike & Mike. The show came to an end in 2017 when Greenberg left to launch Get Up!.
The tribute started in a very personal way with Greenberg crediting Golic for making him a better father, saying that he witnessed first hand that Mike Golic Sr. wasn’t the type of parent that just said “my kids come first.” He lived up to that promise every time he was given the chance.
He said that kind of influence “is more important than all the donuts [Golic] ate, all the presidents we met, all the times we went on Letterman, all of the Halls-of-Fame we are in combined.”
Professionally, Greenberg said his former partner “changed the game” for what was possible for former athletes in the media. According to Greenberg, Golic “didn’t just open a door. He built one” that allowed executives and fans to see former athletes as capable of doing more than just serving as an analyst for the sport they played.
It will be interesting to see if there is a response from Golic. The duo notoriously did not end their partnership on the best of terms. When the coming changes to the ESPN Radio lineup were announced earlier this month, Golic’s wife tweeted that he had offered to partner with Greenberg for a new version of Mike & Mike in mid days only to be rebuffed.
When ESPN Radio’s lineup changes on August 17, Keyshawn Johnson, Jay Williams, and Zubin Mehenti will replace Golic & Wingo in morning drive. Mike Greenberg’s new show will air from noon until 2 pm on the East Coast.
