Mike Greenberg

Michael James Greenberg
Mike Greenberg at the White House with George W. Bush (cropped out) and Mike Golic (also cropped out).
Born	August 6, 1967 (1967-08-06) (age 44) New York, New York
Show	Mike and Mike in the Morning
Station(s)	ESPN Radio
Time slot	Monday-Friday 6am-10am EST
Show	Duel
Station(s)	ABC
Time slot	Various
Style	Mike and Mike: Sports talk Duel: Game show
Country	United States

Michael James "Mike" Greenberg (born August 6, 1967) is a television anchor, television show host, and radio host for ESPN and ABC. At ESPN, he hosts the weekday evening, most often Monday, SportsCenter and ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning show with Mike Golic. At sister network ABC, he was the host of the now cancelled quiz show Duel. As of 2011, he co-hosts the 6 PM Eastern Monday SportsCenter editions. During the National Football League season, he co-hosts them with Golic.

Early life and career

Greenberg was born to a Jewish^[1] family in New York, New York, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1985. During his junior year, he unsuccessfully petitioned the local school board for permission to bring his cat, Mr. Fluffypants, with him to classes. In 1989, Greenberg graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University^[2], where he joined the Theta Chi Fraternity, and started work as a sports anchor and reporter at WMAQ-AM in Chicago. He left WMAQ in 1992 to work for WSCR-Radio as a reporter (covering events such as the World Series and the Super Bowl) and talk show host. From 1993 to 1995, he also wrote a weekly syndicated column for the California-based Copley News Service. In 1994, he added reporting for SportsChannel Chicago to his résumé. In 1995, he left SportsChannel Chicago to work at CLTV, becoming an anchor, reporter, and host of a live call-in show. He left Chicago for ESPN in September 1996, where he became one of the first hosts^[3] of ESPNEWS when it began broadcasting in November of that year.

ESPN career

In 1999, with ESPN Radio airing in just four markets, Mike Greenberg was approached about returning to radio to be a part of a morning drive-time show with Mike Golic as co-host. Greenberg agreed, with the understanding that he would continue anchoring SportsCenter on a regular basis. On April 26, 2004, the show started a regular simulcast on ESPNEWS.^[4] Because of their continued success, the duo moved to ESPN2 in January 2005.^[5]

One of the most popular segments of the entire year on Mike and Mike in the Morning is the annual "Sheet of Integrity" wager, a bracket wager based on the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and the massive ESPN.com bracket contest. The bet originated after Mike Golic told of how he would enter a massive number of sheets into different pools to win the money involved in the pool. Greenberg, believing picks required a sort of integrity, insisted that any such entrant be required to enter only one "Sheet of Integrity". Golic would select one of his (presumably) dozens of sheets against Greenberg, with the loser having to perform a humiliating stunt, usually on the air. The first year, Greenberg won and Golic had to have an eyebrow wax on the air. The next two years, Golic won, and Greenberg had to wear the Notre Dame University Leprechaun mascot costume on the air, the second time on the Notre Dame campus. In the 2007 competition Greenberg, an admitted die-hard New York Jets' fan, agreed to wear a New England Patriots' jersey to a Jets' game and to milk a cow live on-air. Greenberg received advice about milking a cow from ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney, who grew up on a dairy farm.

Other television

Duel

Greenberg hosted the ABC game show Duel.^[6] The week-long six-episode special premiered on December 17, 2007, and ended on December 23, 2007. The show was renewed, and premiered on April 4, 2008.

Guiding Light

On February 20, 2008, Greenberg appeared, along with his radio partner Mike Golic, on the soap opera Guiding Light^[7] as reported on ESPNradio.com.

Books

On March 7, 2006, Greenberg released his first book entitled Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot, which reached 14th on the New York Times Bestseller list and was nominated in the 2006 Quill Awards for best sports book.^[8]

In April 2010, Greenberg, along with co-host Mike Golic, released a book entitled Mike and Mike's Rules for Sports and Life. Along with the release, the two Mikes embarked on a 15-city book tour that included stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Dallas, Boston, and Tampa.

Personal

Greenberg is a die-hard New York Jets fan. Mike Golic, his colleague on Mike & Mike, frequently refers to Greenberg as "Greeny." ^[9]

References

1. ^ http://www.jewishledger.com/articles/2007/03/28/news/news08.txt
2. ^ http://gameshows.about.com/od/hostprofiles/p/mike_greenberg.htm
3. ^ http://gameshows.about.com/od/hostprofiles/p/mike_greenberg.htm
4. ^ http://www.1450amespn.com/includes/news_items/4/news_items_more.php?id=12&section_id=4
5. ^ http://www.1450amespn.com/includes/news_items/4/news_items_more.php?id=12&section_id=4
6. ^ http://www.faniq.com/blog/Mike-Greenbergs-Game-Show-Duel-Debuts-Tonight-Washington-Posts-Tom-Shales-Is-Not-A-Fan-Blog-5409
7. ^ http://www.tvfanatic.com/2007/12/mike-greenburg-and-mike-golic-to-appear-on-guiding-light/
8. ^ 2006 Quill Awards winners and nominees
9. ^ Mike & Mike in the Morning

External links

• Mike and Mike in the Morning
• Biography on ESPN 103.3 FM
• Off Mikes – An Emmy winning animation series set to the audio of Mike and Mike in the Morning
• Mike Greenberg ESPN Bio

Persondata
Name	Greenberg, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 6, 1967
Place of birth	New York, New York
Date of death
Place of death