“Mike & Mike” celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, and as popular as the hit ESPN radio show has gotten, it wouldn’t have been possible without Mike Greenberg having ambitions for a different show.
When Greenberg first co-hosted the radio show with Mike Golic, he only did so hoping for more spots hosting “SportsCenter,” he recently told USA Today’s For The Win. He didn’t have much radio experience and didn’t expect to have such immediate chemistry with Golic.
“I accepted the job with the agreement that I would continue to anchor ‘SportsCenter’ and I was anchoring 100 ‘SportsCenters’ a year for the first 11 years we were doing ‘Mike & Mike,’ ” Greenberg told For The Win. “The primary reason I accepted it (was) because I thought maybe the executives at ESPN would hear my work on the radio and like it and it would serve me well in my goal to get a higher-profile position on TV at ESPN.”
Greenberg sort of got his wish. He’s now on TV every day — in a simulcast of the radio show on ESPN2.
As for “SportsCenter,” it’s probably safe to say both the show and Greenberg have done OK for themselves.
Thumbnail photo via David Richard/USA TODAY Sports Images
