The unsung greatness of sports radio icon Mike Francesa is that he can succeed at anything he sets his mind to. Don’t believe it? Just ask him.
The latest example of his versatility came on The Mike Francesa Podcast, when the Sports Pope declared he would make a great host of the NFL RedZone channel. Unfortunately for the former WFAN host, the position will continue to be filled by Scott Hanson. But that shouldn’t prevent Francesa from boasting about his own ability to do the job.
“People got all caught up on the RedZone channel,” Francesa said after calling the NFL Sunday Ticket the greatest invention since the wheel. “I don’t mind the RedZone channel, and I told you before, I would have loved to host the RedZone channel because I would do a great job at handling that in the fourth quarter. Or in the witching hour.
“I’m sure they don’t even know what the witching hour is. But the witching hour, from three o’clock until the final moments of the one o’clock games, that’s the witching hour. I’ve told people through the years, at three o’clock, take a pad and write down the scores of all the games, and then write down the final scores. And see how much things change from 3:00 to 4:15. That’s why, many years ago, I called that the witching hour.”
Francesa previously stated he and Brent Musburger came up with the idea of the “witching hour” when they were hosting The NFL Today for CBS decades ago. Despite Francesa’s lack of faith in Scott Hanson even knowing what the witching hour is, the RedZone host uses it weekly. Not only does Hanson know and use the “witching hour,” but during an interview on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game last year, he even credited Francesa for being the likely founder of the term!
“I head on social media different people saying, ‘We call it the witching hour,’” Hanson told 95.7 The Game regarding where the term came from. “I heard, Mike Francesa, the longtime sports talk radio host in New York City, he said that he and Brent Musburger used to call it the witching hour back in the ‘80s.”
Francesa retired from terrestrial radio in 2020 and resurfaced with a podcast for BetRivers last year. The 69-year-old radio legend claims he’s sticking with the podcast, but that’s not because he lacks the ability to do other things. Francesa has said he would be great at hosting a Manningcast-like alternate broadcast, he’s a self-described “natural actor,” he nearly broke into NFL coaching earlier in his career, and he once stated he could “definitely” manage the Yankees. With such a well-rounded talent, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Francesa would also dominate if given the chance to host the NFL RedZone channel.
[The Mike Francesa Podcast, via Funhouse]