Phil Mushnick
Encyclopedia
Phil Mushnick is a sports writer who works for the New York Post
. His column "Equal Time" concentrates on the sports media and appears three times a week on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. He also provides a weekly column on the media in general on Sundays for the entertainment section of the paper. The columns—written in a highly personal, muckraking style—cover numerous subjects that attempt to expose hypocrisy in sports, criticize exploitation of sex and "attitude" in sports programming, advocate on the behalf of ticketholders, and expose ignorance and/or inaccuracies perpetrated by broadcasters.
, both in their storylines and the performers' personal lives. In 1997 he implied that WWE chairman Vince McMahon
's perpetration of steroid
use for his performers led to wrestler Brian Pillman
's early demise. McMahon responded (on an episode of WWE Raw
) that Mushnick was a "self-righteous, egotistical, miserable son of a bitch." Mushnick then criticized the industry as a "death mill," citing several wrestlers who had died before the age of 45. Although the majority of the performers (including Miss Elizabeth
and Davey Boy Smith
) died after retiring from the WWE, Mushnick attributed their early deaths to their lifestyle while employed by Vince McMahon. Other media outlets have likewise provided statistics showing the high number of wrestlers who have died young from car crashes, suicide
, homicide
, heart failure and steroid-related health problems.
's Mike and the Mad Dog
, the #1 radio talk show in New York City
for most of the 1990s. Mushnick has acknowledged an initially close friendship with Mike Francesa
, championing him to have his own show, but that the relationship soured when Francesa began exploiting him. In a March 2008 column, he compared Mike Francesa
to the Wizard of Oz
stating "Francesa's self-importance is so advanced that when the [traffic] light turns green, he thinks it's because he knows people down at the [Department of Transportation]." He often criticized Francesa's partner, Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, for his frequent malapropisms, mispronunciations, and grammatical errors, and his perceived inability to accurately recall sports facts and scenarios.
, accusing their coverage of sports of promoting and permeating a mean-spirited attitude in the athletes they cover and the broadcasters who cover them. He singles out ESPN's Stuart Scott
for appearing more interested in being friends with athletes than being critical of their subpar performances. He has specifically labeled ESPN's ESPY Awards
and their "Who's Now" segment in the summer of 2007 as "pathetic" self-promotions, and accused it of ignoring second-tier sports in their highlights—such as the Arena Football League—until they are broadcast by ESPN. He often targets Stephen A. Smith
, writing: "Could it be that Smith’s urban street-hip brotha yak—which he seems able to turn on and off with the drop of a Kangol
—is supposed to appeal / pander to young, urban, street-talkin’ sports fans?—a description that was felt to have racist overtones.
s when they commit factual errors or miscall a play. Particularly controversial was a July 2007 column ("Had Our Phil of Morgan") that criticized Major League Baseball
Hall of Famer Joe Morgan
, color commentator for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball
, for inaccurately recalling a game he played in 1964. Soon thereafter "An Open Letter to Phil Mushnick and Other Critics of Mine" was posted on the Internet
decrying Mushnick's interpretation, curiously positing that Morgan's mis-recollection was less important than his ability to enhance the game for the viewing audience. The controversy quelled when it was revealed the post originated from a website
well-known for parody
.
program for its off-color humor
and shock jock
mentality, citing its cast calling Mother Teresa
"a no-good bitch" and sportscaster
and former WFAN host Len Berman
as "Lenny the Jew" among other examples. He accused staff members Bernard McGuirk
and Sid Rosenberg
in particular of persistently crossing the line between crude humor and total inappropriateness. He insisted that if Rosenberg—often fired from WFAN for inappropriate remarks, continued absenteeism and bad public behavior—continued on the program, it would ultimately lead to the show's downfall. Prophetically, it was McGuirk and Rosenberg who were the main instigators of Don Imus
's remarks about the Rutgers University
women's basketball
team that eventually resulted in WFAN's parent, CBS Corp, canceling Imus in the Morning. in retrospect, Mushnick wondered rhetorically why people were surprised by Imus' "nappy-headed-ho" comment.
Humor=
Mushnick intermittently injects levity into his otherwise serious writing. Occasionally he publishes from reader submissions the photographs of a celebrity and an athlete who look alike (e.g. actor Martin Mull
and Cleveland Browns
president Mike Holmgren
). In one of his columns, Mushnick related to his readers a piece of advice from actor Jerry Orbach
: "Never be photographed with an alcoholic beverage in your hand."
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
. His column "Equal Time" concentrates on the sports media and appears three times a week on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. He also provides a weekly column on the media in general on Sundays for the entertainment section of the paper. The columns—written in a highly personal, muckraking style—cover numerous subjects that attempt to expose hypocrisy in sports, criticize exploitation of sex and "attitude" in sports programming, advocate on the behalf of ticketholders, and expose ignorance and/or inaccuracies perpetrated by broadcasters.
World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince
Mushnick has criticized the lifestyles portrayed by World Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
, both in their storylines and the performers' personal lives. In 1997 he implied that WWE chairman Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
's perpetration of steroid
Steroid
A steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...
use for his performers led to wrestler Brian Pillman
Brian Pillman
Brian William Pillman was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling....
's early demise. McMahon responded (on an episode of WWE Raw
WWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
) that Mushnick was a "self-righteous, egotistical, miserable son of a bitch." Mushnick then criticized the industry as a "death mill," citing several wrestlers who had died before the age of 45. Although the majority of the performers (including Miss Elizabeth
Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette , best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to the late...
and Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith was a British professional wrestler, better known as "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, who was born in Golborne in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling...
) died after retiring from the WWE, Mushnick attributed their early deaths to their lifestyle while employed by Vince McMahon. Other media outlets have likewise provided statistics showing the high number of wrestlers who have died young from car crashes, suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
, heart failure and steroid-related health problems.
Mike and the Mad Dog
Mushnick often criticized the hosts of WFANWFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
's Mike and the Mad Dog
Mike and the Mad Dog
Mike and the Mad Dog was an afternoon drive sports radio program based out of WFAN in New York City that featured Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo talking sports and taking phone calls from listeners. From 2002 onwards the show was simulcasted on the YES Network...
, the #1 radio talk show in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
for most of the 1990s. Mushnick has acknowledged an initially close friendship with Mike Francesa
Mike Francesa
Michael Patrick "Mike" Francesa, Jr. is an American radio talk show host and television commentator. He is primarily known in his former role co-hosting the popular Mike and the Mad Dog show on WFAN in New York City...
, championing him to have his own show, but that the relationship soured when Francesa began exploiting him. In a March 2008 column, he compared Mike Francesa
Mike Francesa
Michael Patrick "Mike" Francesa, Jr. is an American radio talk show host and television commentator. He is primarily known in his former role co-hosting the popular Mike and the Mad Dog show on WFAN in New York City...
to the Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
stating "Francesa's self-importance is so advanced that when the [traffic] light turns green, he thinks it's because he knows people down at the [Department of Transportation]." He often criticized Francesa's partner, Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, for his frequent malapropisms, mispronunciations, and grammatical errors, and his perceived inability to accurately recall sports facts and scenarios.
ESPN and Stephen A. Smith
Mushnick frequently criticizes the sports network ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, accusing their coverage of sports of promoting and permeating a mean-spirited attitude in the athletes they cover and the broadcasters who cover them. He singles out ESPN's Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott
Stuart Scott is a sportscaster and anchor on ESPN's SportsCenter.-Early life and career:Scott attended Richard J. Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and went to college at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity...
for appearing more interested in being friends with athletes than being critical of their subpar performances. He has specifically labeled ESPN's ESPY Awards
ESPY Awards
An ESPY Award is an accolade presented by the American cable television network ESPN to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony. The first ESPYs were awarded in 1993...
and their "Who's Now" segment in the summer of 2007 as "pathetic" self-promotions, and accused it of ignoring second-tier sports in their highlights—such as the Arena Football League—until they are broadcast by ESPN. He often targets Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith
-Early years:Smith was raised in the Hollis neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. He lived with his parents and four older sisters.He attended Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina...
, writing: "Could it be that Smith’s urban street-hip brotha yak—which he seems able to turn on and off with the drop of a Kangol
Kangol
Kangol is a British clothing company famous for its headwear.Founded in Cleator, Cumbria, England in 1938 by Jaques Spreiregen, Kangol produced hats for workers, golfers, and especially soldiers...
—is supposed to appeal / pander to young, urban, street-talkin’ sports fans?—a description that was felt to have racist overtones.
Joe Morgan
Mushnick often singles out sports play by play announcers and color commentatorColor commentator
A color commentator is a sports commentator who assists the play-by-play announcer, often by filling in any time when play is not in progress. The color analyst and main commentator will often exchange comments freely throughout the broadcast, when the play-by-play announcer is not describing the...
s when they commit factual errors or miscall a play. Particularly controversial was a July 2007 column ("Had Our Phil of Morgan") that criticized Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
Hall of Famer Joe Morgan
Joe Morgan
Joe Leonard Morgan is a former Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics from 1963 to 1984. He won two World Series championships with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was also named the...
, color commentator for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball is the Major League Baseball exclusive game of the week that is televised Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN during the regular season...
, for inaccurately recalling a game he played in 1964. Soon thereafter "An Open Letter to Phil Mushnick and Other Critics of Mine" was posted on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
decrying Mushnick's interpretation, curiously positing that Morgan's mis-recollection was less important than his ability to enhance the game for the viewing audience. The controversy quelled when it was revealed the post originated from a website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
well-known for parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
.
Don Imus and Sid Rosenberg
Mushnick frequently criticized WFAN's popular Imus in the MorningImus in the Morning
Imus in the Morning is an American radio show hosted by Don Imus on Cumulus Media Networks , and simulcast for television on Fox Business Network....
program for its off-color humor
Off-color humor
The term off-color humor is an Americanism used to describe jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult comedy, cringe comedy and skits that deal with topics that are considered to be in poor taste or overly vulgar by the prevailing morality of a culture...
and shock jock
Shock jock
Shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of any radio broadcaster who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms,...
mentality, citing its cast calling Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa , born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu , was a Roman Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship, who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, in 1950...
"a no-good bitch" and sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
and former WFAN host Len Berman
Len Berman
Len Berman is the former weekday evening sports anchor on WNBC-TV. Berman was with WNBC/NBC from 1982-2009. He was previously with WCBS-TV from 1979–1982, and before that at WBZ-TV in Boston from 1973–1978.-Early life:...
as "Lenny the Jew" among other examples. He accused staff members Bernard McGuirk
Bernard McGuirk
* Bulleted list itemBernard J. McGuirk is the executive producer of the Imus in the Morning radio program. He was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York, where he also worked in his younger years as a taxicab driver...
and Sid Rosenberg
Sid Rosenberg
Sidney Arthur Rosenberg is an American radio personality currently heard weekday mornings on 1010 WINS in New York City, and afternoons on WQAM in Miami, Florida....
in particular of persistently crossing the line between crude humor and total inappropriateness. He insisted that if Rosenberg—often fired from WFAN for inappropriate remarks, continued absenteeism and bad public behavior—continued on the program, it would ultimately lead to the show's downfall. Prophetically, it was McGuirk and Rosenberg who were the main instigators of Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
's remarks about the Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team that eventually resulted in WFAN's parent, CBS Corp, canceling Imus in the Morning. in retrospect, Mushnick wondered rhetorically why people were surprised by Imus' "nappy-headed-ho" comment.
Humor=
Mushnick intermittently injects levity into his otherwise serious writing. Occasionally he publishes from reader submissions the photographs of a celebrity and an athlete who look alike (e.g. actor Martin Mull
Martin Mull
Martin Mull is an American actor who has starred in his own television sitcom and acted in prominent films. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist...
and Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
president Mike Holmgren
Mike Holmgren
Michael George Holmgren is a former professional football coach and current President of the Cleveland Browns. He served as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 1998, and the Seattle Seahawks from 1999 to 2008...
). In one of his columns, Mushnick related to his readers a piece of advice from actor Jerry Orbach
Jerry Orbach
Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach was an American actor and singer. He was well known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the Law & Order television series and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As well, Orbach was a noted musical theatre star...
: "Never be photographed with an alcoholic beverage in your hand."