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"Mike Lupica’s rambling, diva fits forced ESPN to cancel beloved show"
NY Post Page Six ^ | February 14, 2017 | Richard Johnson

Posted on 02/14/2017 8:03:51 AM PST by TakebackGOP

"Mike Lupica is being blamed for the cancellation of “The Sports Reporters” after the show’s run of nearly 30 years on ESPN.

The Daily News columnist was a panelist for many years on the Sunday morning show, on which he and other print reporters such as the Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan and the Detroit Free Press’ Mitch Albom discussed the week’s hot-button issues in sports.

When longtime host John Saunders unexpectedly died at 61 in August, Lupica jumped at the chance to replace him.

“He was a total diva,” one insider said. “He was abusive to people, and mean to the staff.”

But the biggest problem was that Lupica talked too much.

“When you’re a panelist, you are there to give your opinions. When you’re the host, you’re supposed to elicit other people’s opinions. He could never shut up,” said my source.

ESPN announced last month that the show will end in May.

Lupica’s sports talk-radio show on ESPN New York was canceled in 2015, as he was beaten badly in the ratings by Mike Francesa on WFAN, who at the time had roughly triple Lupica’s audience share."


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Sports; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: albom; espn; liberalmedia; lupica; media; mikelupica; sports; sportsreporters; thesportsreporters
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1 posted on 02/14/2017 8:03:51 AM PST by TakebackGOP
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To: TakebackGOP

We used to watch the show religiously when Dick Schaap was the host. Not so much when it was Lupica.


2 posted on 02/14/2017 8:07:43 AM PST by pinkandgreenmom
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To: TakebackGOP

Never liked that big mouth liberal idiot midget.


3 posted on 02/14/2017 8:08:08 AM PST by jpl (Obama lied when Stevens died.)
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To: jpl

“The Sports Reporters” after the show’s run of nearly 30 years on ESPN.”....

Really? Never heard of or watched it.


4 posted on 02/14/2017 8:10:01 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: TakebackGOP
beaten badly in the ratings by Mike Francesa on WFAN

Deservedly so.

5 posted on 02/14/2017 8:18:16 AM PST by MUDDOG
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To: TakebackGOP
"...discussed the week’s hot-button issues in sports...."

There are no hot button issues in sports. Sports are games, appropriate for children.

A fellow FReeper commented once that the infatuation with pro sports is one of the best ways possible to control the thoughts and behaviors of grown white men. Men who should be focusing on more important issues, IMO.

6 posted on 02/14/2017 8:19:07 AM PST by T-Bone Texan (:^¤)
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To: TakebackGOP
“He was a total diva,” one insider said. “He was abusive to people, and mean to the staff.”

Of course he was...he's a liberal.

7 posted on 02/14/2017 8:20:34 AM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: TakebackGOP

Why cancel the show? Just fire the idiot in question.

Not that I’ve ever heard of any of them or watch ESPN.


8 posted on 02/14/2017 8:21:02 AM PST by PLMerite
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To: TakebackGOP
Who?
9 posted on 02/14/2017 8:24:48 AM PST by nikos1121 (We are about to see The Golden Age of Pericles in the new Trump Administration.)
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To: TakebackGOP

Umm no. The ratings have been in the toilet for SR for a long time. Heck they even kicked it off of ESPN for a while putting it on 2 and News only. The simple reality is the show has run its course. Once upon a time it was a chance for print sports reporters to get on TV and showcase their talent, and it was a springboard for half the ESPN talk show hosts. But these days everybody is on TV and radio. I love the show, still think it’s the best, but it probably should have ended when Schaap died, the cracks were already showing.


10 posted on 02/14/2017 8:24:56 AM PST by discostu (There are times when all the world's asleep, the questions run to deep, for such a simple man.)
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To: T-Bone Texan

Agreed


11 posted on 02/14/2017 8:26:22 AM PST by TakebackGOP
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To: TakebackGOP
I use to watch Outside the Lines and The Sports Reporters. All the stories had a liberal bias but it got to where the focus of every other story was about either gays or transgenders and how awful everyone was that didn't embrace the moral decadence du jour.
Glad I dropped directv, don't miss them.
12 posted on 02/14/2017 8:31:29 AM PST by fungoking (Tis a pleasure to live in the 0zarks)
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To: TakebackGOP

I’m not doing any research on Lupica...so I could be wrong. But....

Lupica always seemed to me to be a little weasel bitch who never played a sport in his life.

The few times I ever watched his so-called show.


13 posted on 02/14/2017 8:32:50 AM PST by saleman
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To: saleman

They call themselves Sports reporters, I call them Sport jock sniffers.


14 posted on 02/14/2017 8:36:05 AM PST by ABN 505 (Right is right if nobody is right, and wrong is wrong if everybody is wrong. ~Archbishop Fulton John)
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To: TakebackGOP

Lupica has been a minor league a$$hole as far back as the 1970s when he worked at the Daily News.

He is the epitome of a little dog ankle biter. He always feels he needs to talk loud in order to make up for his 5 foot frame.

The type of wimpish entitled “white” guy that blacks love to punch out.


15 posted on 02/14/2017 8:45:03 AM PST by Flavious_Maximus
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To: TakebackGOP

“Pee-Wee Vermin” as Peter Vecsey used to call him has become more of a stident lib puke as he ages. You can see him rubbing elbows with the common everday folk who have beachfront property on an episode of the Barefoot Contessa...


16 posted on 02/14/2017 9:04:53 AM PST by Phil DiBasquette
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To: TakebackGOP

Lupuca is an idiot


17 posted on 02/14/2017 9:05:12 AM PST by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: Flavious_Maximus
He is the epitome of a little dog ankle biter

Coulda fooled me, I always thought the little dog ankle biter was Joe Buck
18 posted on 02/14/2017 9:05:53 AM PST by ratzoe (damn, I miss Barbara Olson)
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To: pinkandgreenmom

Ditto that. Mr. Schapp was a class act (met him in the Royal Orleans during Packer’s Super Bowl Sunday).


19 posted on 02/14/2017 9:16:25 AM PST by PfromHoGro (Orwell was overly optimistic.)
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To: TakebackGOP

Jason Whitlock on Lupica in 2006 . . .

“Lupica is an insecure, mean-spirited busybody. ... The Little Fella probably won’t let the producer (Joe Valerio) have me back on [”The Sports Reporters”] again. That’s cool. They’re mostly upset that I wouldn’t participate in their Barry Bonds witch hunt and help them single Bonds out as the creator of steroids. Lupica doesn’t like to be disagreed with, and he’s spoken so abusively to that producer for years that the producer probably doesn’t realize people are allowed to disagree with Lupica. I enjoyed my time on the show. But if the price of admission is stepping to Lupica’s drum, I’m more than happy to go without.”


20 posted on 02/14/2017 9:45:32 AM PST by LRoggy (Peter's Son's Business)
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