It took ESPN years to build a successful morning team with Mike & Mike. In just a matter of months, ESPN has managed to turn a success into failure in an epic way as the network’s very expensive new morning show featuring Mike Greenberg called “Get Up!” is losing a host next week along with an hour of programming time.
After nearly 18 years of success together, the team of ex-sportswriter Mike Greenberg and former professional football defensive tackle, Mike Golic, eventually soured and became toxic. By the end of 2017, the team was split-up as the hosts went in different directions.
The “Mike & Mike” show combined a unique blend of two personalities and their perspectives on current events in sports. To the audience, Greenberg played the educated sports nerd while Golic was the “Been there, done that” sports legend who could quickly agree with or tear down some of Greenberg’s unique angles on a story. Most of the time, their on-air work was friendly and cooperative, but, toward the end, fans of the show could feel the relationship turning quite icy.
ESPN seemed to be betting that Greenberg had the most upside and lifted him into an expensive new venture which, ironically, competes for viewers against his former partner, Golic. ESPN’s new morning show is called “Get Up!” (I think the show’s name itself was the first big mistake) and has attempted to blend an affable retired NBA player in Jalen Rose with another ESPN studio show host named Michelle Beadle along with Greenberg’s primary host duties.
“Get Up,” Greenberg told reporters, “is something we’ve never done before. This is uncharted waters for the company, but I think we’re a good bet.”
I can hear Mike Golic laughing out loud right now about that last comment.
“Get Up!” began in April on ESPN. Ratings and viewership (300,000 on average) have been dismal from the start and and now the show is jettisoning Michelle Beadle starting next week.
In my opinion, Beadle’s talent was overestimated from the start and was likely politically-correct ESPN’s way of making sure that their female audience was being represented.
Epic fail.
If Beadle wasn’t already a question mark for most viewers, she torched her own sports credibility this week by stating that she doesn’t plan to watch either college or professional football this season. She’s quite miffed about Ohio State’s handling of the Urban Meyer situation (he was suspended for three games), doesn’t like the bickering about knee-wars in the NFL, and plans to spend her weekends doing other things than keeping up with football.
Beadle’s comments about abandoning football are like hearing Rush Limbaugh tell his radio audience that he isn’t planning to cover the upcoming mid-term elections. Whether or not she knew it at the time, Michelle Beadle shot herself in the foot and effectively sunk her career battleship.
Rather than fire her, though, ESPN cleverly announced that they are moving Beadle back into her prior assignment to get ready to cover the NBA again this fall. She keeps the extra money (she is being paid a reported $5 million/year) and is now saved from a sinking morning show.
Along with that move, ESPN also announced that “Get Up!” was being trimmed from three hours to two in favor of another hour of SportsCenter (which was, ironically, the show ESPN was replacing in the first place).
Go figure.
Meanwhile, Mike Golic’s new show on ESPN Radio and ESPNews (“Golic and Wingo”) continues to quietly soldier on. Though Golic and co-host, Trey Wingo, were friends for several years prior to their new venture, “Golic and Wingo” still lack the spark and spontaneity that Mike and Mike brought to the table.
Chemistry can be that way. If you tamper with a good formula by changing any of the ingredients, your prior success may turn toxic in a flash.
Right, ESPN?