Mike Pesca
Mike Pesca first reached the airwaves as a 10-year-old caller to a New York Jets-themed radio show and has since been able to parlay his interests in sports coverage as a National Desk correspondent for NPR based in New York City.
Pesca enjoys training his microphone on anything that occurs at a track, arena, stadium, park, fronton, velodrome or air strip (i.e. the plane drag during the World's Strongest Man competition). He has reported from Los Angeles, Cleveland and Gary. He has also interviewed former Los Angeles Ram Cleveland Gary. Pesca is a panelist on the weekly Slate podcast "Hang up and Listen".
In 1997, Pesca began his work in radio as a producer at WNYC. He worked on the NPR and WNYC program On The Media. Later he became the New York correspondent for NPR's midday newsmagazine Day to Day, a job that has brought him to the campaign trail, political conventions, hurricane zones and the Manolo Blahnik shoe sale. Pesca was the first NPR reporter to have his own podcast, a weekly look at gambling cleverly titled "On Gambling with Mike Pesca."
Pesca, whose writing has appeared in Slate and The Washington Post, is the winner of two Edward R. Murrow awards for radio reporting and, in1993, was named Emory University Softball Official of the Year.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife Robin, sons Milo and Emmett and their dog Rumsfeld. A believer in full disclosure, Pesca rates his favorite teams as the Jets, Mets, St. Johns Red Storm and Knicks, teams he has covered fairly and without favor despite the fact that they have given him a combined one championship during his lifetime as a fully cognizant human.
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To get to the championship game, the Denver Broncos beat the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game 26-16. The NFC championship game was close but the Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers 23-17.
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A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a preliminary settlement between the National Football League and retired players and their families over concussion-related injuries. The judge doubted that the $765 million settlement would adequately cover all of the retired players potentially eligible to be paid.
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Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas are the Baseball Hall of Fame's newest inductees. Last year, baseball writers pointedly left some of the biggest stars off the list due to links with performance-enhancing drugs, and this year has been no different. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were again denied induction.
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More than 4,000 former NFL players and their families have taken the next step in an historic legal settlement with the pro football league. A new agreement, subject to a judge's approval, spells out how much money different players will get based on their age and impairments.
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The NFL playoffs start this weekend with two games each on Saturday and Sunday. The weather may be a big factor in games in Green Bay, Cincinnati and Philadelphia.
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The NFL playoffs start this weekend. Four wild card teams face four teams that won their divisions — and there are some very interesting storylines to follow.
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A lot of sports fans will be glued to their televisions this New Year's Day. There are a number of big college football bowl games on Wednesday, including the 100th Rose Bowl.
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The climax of the college football bowl season is here and with it the usual display of trick plays and risk-taking by college coaches. They have extra time to prepare for a game that, with the exception of the major bowls, really doesn't mean that much — so they often get creative.
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The NFL playoffs are set. We'll find out who the favorites are going into the postseason.
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The NFL regular season wraps up this weekend. Usually that means it's time for teams to recuperate and strategize. But this year, the playoff picture is in upheaval and teams are fighting for their postseason lives.