Mike & Mike
Mike and Mike in the Morning is a sports talk radio show hosted by Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg (aka "Greeny") and broadcast on ESPN Radio. The show is also simulcast on ESPN2, with cameras inside the show's studio. The show is broadcast from 6:00 am ET to 10:00 am ET, Monday through Friday. The ESPN Radio SportsCenter update anchors for the show are Bob Picozzi and Christine Lisi. The show's motto for all commercials on radio and television is: "What makes them different, makes them great."
Design
The show centers on an Odd Couple relationship between its hosts, and how it relates to their views on sports. Mike Greenberg is portrayed as a stereotypical nerd. Conversely, Mike Golic is set up in the role of the tough and boisterous man's man, a former pro athlete who will "tell it like it is."
Despite Golic's insistence that his co-host knows little about sports, Mike Greenberg has been a sports journalist for 16 years. And though Greenberg has proof that Golic is a slow-witted Neanderthal, he graduated from the prestigious University of Notre Dame, and worked as a color analyst for college football for ABC for several years after his professional football career ended.
The usual substitute for either host is Erik Kuselias, who is also the host of The SportsBash on ESPN Radio. The show also incorporates some sports alumni to add color and depth as weekly guests, including Mark Schlereth, Sean Salisbury, Buster Olney, Peter Gammons, Bill Curry, and Dick Vitale.
Events
Tuesdays on the show have been deemed "Just Shut Up Tuesday", a reference to the McDonald's Just Shut Up Award, an honor bestowed on the sports-related figure of the past week voted by listeners as the person who most needs to just shut up. Past winners (and examples of the types of actions that could induce a nomination) include Bode Miller bragging about partying in Torino, Terrell Owens fighting with his teammates, and Latrell Sprewell turning down a multi-million dollar contract extension and asking for more money, claiming "I've got a family to feed."
In January 2006, Mike and Mike revealed an event known as "Mike and Mike's Marriage Madness," a contest in which engaged couples would compete to earn the right to be married at ESPN headquarters, live on the radio and on ESPN2 and ESPN2 HD. After an initial selection process, the field was pared down to 16 and placed into a NCAA tournament style bracket, in which listeners could go online and vote to determine who would advance [1]. The wedding occurred on Friday, May 26, 2006.
In 2005, ESPN and Animax Entertainment began producing two to three minute cartoons of Mike and Mike in the Morning with Greeny and Golic, called Off Mikes. They take live conversations and arguments of the two from the show and make animations for them. Most of the episodes have nothing to do with sports like arguing if you've ever peed in your pants during a football game, if fishing is a real sport and Golic and Greeny taking the metrosexual quiz. Off Mikes can be found on ESPN Motion and ESPN 360 both on ESPN.com. The cartoons won an Emmy award and are animated by Animax Entertainment.