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Mike Missanelli Spent the First 20 Minutes of his Show Explaining Why He Doesn’t Talk About the Flyers
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The Flyers finished 6th in the draft lottery on Monday night, around the same time it was announced that Matvei Michkov was not a finalist for the Calder trophy. Not the greatest hockey news, but news nonetheless, which you think would be a good topic for rights holder 97.5 the Fanatic on Tuesday. While the other shows discussed the Flyers, Mike Missanelli spent the first 20 minutes of his show once again explaining why he doesn’t talk about hockey or care about it:
Mike: “I love the fact we have so many nerds in this office. So many hockey nerds. (John) Kincade is a hockey nerd. You’re (Bill Colarulo) a hockey nerd. The young’uns that are out there are hockey people. And the way I look at sports talk radio, there’s only so many hours in a day that I have. Right? Now I gotta concentrate on the hours that are going to generate a majority conversation, instead of something else. That’s the way I’ve always looked at it. And I could be wrong. That gets me the hockey hate, but really there’s a sensible business reason for why I don’t pay attention to hockey.”
What’s funny to me is that nobody is out here asking Mike, or John Kincade, or anybody at the Fanatic to talk four hours of hockey every day, five days a week. Nobody is asking for three hours or two hour or one hour. Nobody is naive enough to think that the Flyers are going to be the main topic ahead of the Eagles, Phillies, or Sixers.
But this was Tuesday, May 6th. There was no Phillies game the previous night. The Sixers season is over. The only thing the Eagles were doing was attending the Met Gala. So if there was any day in which you could justify a little bit of hockey talk on the radio, it was Tuesday. Did the Flyers get screwed in the lottery? Who is available for them to pick at #6 overall? Can you make a compelling case that Michkov deserved a finalist spot over one of Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, or Dustin Wolf? Seems like a good topic to me! Hell, you could have gotten a hockey guy on the Comcast Business Line to get their opinion on it.
How much do you think the Flyers cringe when the most well-known host at their radio partner says he doesn’t care about hockey and won’t talk about it? It’s gotta bug them to no end.
The other thing that makes me laugh is that 97.5 is currently getting obliterated in the ratings. So whatever “sensible business decisions” are being made, maybe they should try the exact opposite. I can only speak for myself, but knowing that WIP won’t talk hockey outside of Brodes (EDIT – and the weekend guys, like Rob Ellis, Mike Sielski), I would be more inclined to listen to 97.5 during the spring if the Flyers got a consistent 30 minutes here and there. And not esoteric, nothing burger stuff, like “what does a Noah Cates contract extension look like?” Mike claimed earlier in the show that hockey isn’t “talkable,” but that’s only partially true. You can discuss the big topics. Trade deadline, coaching search, Scotty Laughton trade, the rebuild and how it compares to the Sixers’ process. Blah blah, etc. You’re on the air 20 hours a week, or maybe 18 when you consider all of the commercials. Talking about one of the four major teams in Philadelphia a little bit here and there isn’t gonna kill you. And it’s kind of funny how he talks about generating a “majority conversation” when the phone lines still don’t work over there in Bala.
To be honest, this isn’t strictly some anti-Mike thing. Everybody at WIP is the same way in regard to hockey. But the difference is that the WIP guys don’t make it a point to come out on a regular basis to do this condescending routine. They just ignore it without needling the people in the region who really like the Flyers and care about hockey.
EDIT – just want to add that Mike has been doing this for years now. he’s basically a hockey troll. but radio bit or actual belief, it’s still corny
“It’s too much horse shit! D zone coverage, soft down low. Out to the point, casual strides!” –
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com