I’ll be honest, when the opportunity came across my desk to interview Mike Greenberg, I became as wide-eyed as a kid in a candy store. I listen to Mike & Mike every morning, enjoying, in equal parts, the dynamic banter between Golic and Greeny and the variety of guests brought into the studio. It’s not easy to do a four-hour simulcast sports talk radio show, let alone be consistently entertaining throughout. Greeny and Golic recently celebrated their 15-year anniversary of co-hosting Mike & Mike, with such highlights as going on Letterman, meeting presidents, and singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at Wrigley Field.
An accomplished journalist, well-liked talk show personality, and published author, Mike Greenberg is also a devoted father, husband, and son. We sat down with the effervescent Greeny to talk storylines surrounding Super Bowl XLIX, shooting a commercial with Dove Men+Care, and just how far Mike & Mike has come.
Interview by Adam Silvers (@silversurfer103)
I didn’t want to lead off with this, but Deflategate, #Shrinkage, what is your reaction now that you’ve had some time to process it?
I think it’s just incredible that an event like this, you’re talking about the Super Bowl, which is literally the biggest event that we have in the sports world. And even well beyond obviously, I’ve noted with interest that even the general news programs are all not only covering it, but leading with it. I think that certainly by the time we get to the game, people will be focused on the more traditional parts of the Super Bowl, like, the game, and the commercials, and everything else people are fascinated by.
What should the punishment be for Bill Belichick and the Patriots?
I hate to cop out on an answer like that, but Peter King made an excellent point on our show, and that is at this stage we really have no idea what happened. And it’s almost impossible, in the absence of knowing what happened, to know what the appropriate reaction is going to be.
What are you most looking forward to heading into Super Bowl XLIX?
This is an extraordinarily special Super Bowl for me because it’s the first time I’m directly involved-my voice at least is involved-in a Super Bowl commercial, which has always been a dream of mine. The commercials have become almost as part of the show as the game itself, and this one for me is really special because it goes so perfectly with the philosophies I’ve had. Many years ago I wrote a book called Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot, which is a funny title, but the basic theme of it is, that as the role of women in our society has evolved over the generations, so has the role of men in our society evolved. And I was able to capture that writing it, but I’ve never imagined being able to capture it as well as Dove Men+Care captured it in this commercial.
It literally made my wife cry, even before my voice was attached to it. It’s about dads, and how real men, real strength comes from caring and about taking care of your responsibilities. And there’s no more important responsibility than being a dad. It really hits all the right chords. It’s exactly about how being a dad can be so many different things, and ultimately all of those things combined are what real strength is.
How do you think the Seahawks matchup with the Patriots?
I think it’s a fascinating matchup. I think regardless of which way it goes, history is going to be made. If the Seahawks, in an offense slanted, offense dominated era, can win back to back championships, beating Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in consecutive years, then I think they stake a claim to being one of the great defenses of all time. And conversely, if Brady wins his fourth, which of course is a magic number, and does so by beating this defense, then I think he stakes a claim to being the greatest of all time. What I find so fabulous about the matchup itself, is that not only do you have two great teams playing each other, but you have enormous historical ramifications, regardless of which way it goes. As far as how does the Seattle defense directly matchup with the Patriots? Look, I think they matchup favorably with anyone. They are the best defense in the NFL. I do believe they are one of the best of all time. And while I could see this game going in any number of directions, I would pick Seattle to win.
What’s the final score?
This is the first time I am giving my official score, so this is a scoop, to whatever degree it’s worthy of being a scoop. I will say Seattle, 23-16...Let me write that down so I say the same thing to everyone else. That’s my first official prediction and I am officially sticking to it.
Hopefully, with the awareness that has been raised because of these scandals, that it will actually make a difference, and that the NFL can be a leader in seeing that difference get made over the course of time.
After a slow start for both New England and Seattle, was there a moment where they turned it on during the course of the year?
I think that more than ever, the NFL has changed to a point where, because of the limitations on practice time, the limitations on the amount they can do during preseason, OTAs and during training camp, I think you’re going to see more and more teams starting slowly and turning it around. And I think the best coached teams understand that. Look at the NBA for example. They’ve come to understand that the significance is at the end of the season and not at the beginning. Look at Ohio State winning the championship the way they did. At the beginning of the year they were nowhere near the best team, and at the end they were clearly the best team. I think that is sort of the new model, and that’s the direction both these teams took.
It’s been a pretty bad year for the NFL. Is this the worst year, from a PR standpoint, that you can remember?
It probably is. I can’t image a year that could be worse, I can’t imagine a situation that could be worse. You hope that from all bad situations can come good things. Hopefully, with the awareness that has been raised because of these scandals, that it will actually make a difference, and that the NFL can be a leader in seeing that difference get made over the course of time.
Do you think Marshawn Lynch is obligated to answer postgame questions?
My personal feeling is no. I know that as a member of the media that’s sort of going opposite with what you might expect me to say, because there was a time when I made my living out there in the field, interviewing players, and that’s part of the job. But the reality of it is, particularly a guy like Marshawn Lynch, he clearly has some sort of real issue with it. It’s not something he just doesn’t feel like doing. I don’t want to speculate on what it is, but to me it seems like it’s something beyond that. I don’t think anyone’s interest is being served by forcing him to do something that he so clearly doesn’t want to do, and is not engaging in a way that is meaningful to anyone.
Do you think Lynch takes more flack than, say, Greg Popovich or Bill Belichick, as far as directly not answering the media’s questions?
At the end of the day, Popovich and others, they do answer the question. They may not answer them in any extraordinary insight, they may not be giving away any trade secrets, but they’re not obligated to do that. They’re obligated to merely sit there and entertain the questions in any way they see fit. I do see the difference there, but I think that’s a little different situation and I think it should be treated a little differently.
My dad is 82-I talk to him every single day-my son is 12, and I can’t imagine a relationship being more meaningful to me than that one is.
Do you think social media plays into that at all? The fact that athletes can pretty much be their own broadcast network.
I do think so. I’ve been in the business long enough to see so many changes. I remember I sort of got into the business at the very beginning of talk radio, sports talk radio, and I remember people saying to us when we began, ‘you’re not just going to let people call up and say whatever they want, are you?’ I said, “yes we are.” Now, that is obviously commonplace, and there have been any number of other evolutions in the industry. If you’re not willing to evolve with the industry, you get left behind.
You have a book out now, My Father’s Wives. Can you tell me a little about that?
It’s about the importance of the relationship between fathers and sons, which dovetails perfectly with the work I’m doing with Dove Men+Care. I am both a father and a son, and the book details the relationship between a man, whose extraordinarily close to his kids and has no relationship with his father. And events take place that make him feel that once and for all he needs to go and find out who his father was. The message of that is that you are you father’s son, regardless of whether you’re close to him or not. My dad is 82-I talk to him every single day-my son is 12, and I can’t imagine a relationship being more meaningful to me than that one is.
The first episode of Mike & Mike aired October 12, 1998. Did you ever think you guys would blow up like this?
Absolutely not. When it actually aired in October of ‘98 I wasn’t even involved; Mike [Golic] started the show with someone else. Mike and I started together on January 2, 2000, and we just celebrated our 15th anniversary as a team. And would I have ever guessed it would get to this point? Most certainly not. I was rooting for the best, but in all honesty, if you had told me we were going to get a really good two or three years out of it, I would’ve been grateful and almost pleasantly surprised. The notion that we’ve been doing it this long, and we’ve been given the opportunity to do some of the things we’ve been able to do, it’s beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined.
