After a brief timeout, Philly sports-talk veteran has a new ESPN radio gig in NYC, a book about Penn State football and a regular spot on CN8

Professional sports journalist and broadcaster, Mike Missanelli, has run the gamut on the Philly sports scene. From his early career as a sports reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer to his long stint as one of the first on-air personalities on WIP 610 AM sports-talk radio, Missanelli has covered everything related to the contentious but entertaining world of sports-talk radio.  

When WIP gave him a technical foul for a March 2006 confrontation with a co-worker, Missanelli left the station and took a timeout.

“It was an unexpected development,” recalls Missanelli. “But it gave me the idle time I needed to work on my book. It’s one of those things that the end result probably shouldn’t have happened, but you have to move on and take advantage of new opportunities.”

His recently published book,“The Perfect Season: How Penn State Came to Stop a Hurricane and Win a National Football Championship,” details the Nittany Lion’s 1986 undefeated season that culminated in the team’s huge upset of the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

“Most of the guys that played on Penn State’s team, were a bunch of unknowns. Miami’s team had about 14 guys that went into the NFL,” says Missanelli, who interviewed many former players and coaches on both teams. Missanelli says that Miami’s quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner, Vinny Testaverde, and coach, Jimmy Johnson, still do not talk about that game. “It is still the most watched college football game in TV history,” he notes.

In addition to promoting his book, Missanelli has returned to action on radio and television.

He commutes daily to Manhattan from his home in Wynnewood to co-host “The Stephen A. Smith Show” on 1050 AM ESPN radio. During the show’s 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. time slot, he takes calls from equally passionate Yankees and Knicks fans, haggles with the show’s outspoken host known as “Stephen A.,” (another transplanted Philly sports guy) or goads diehard fans from cities around the country in the show’s last hour.

Back in Philly, Missanelli appears frequently weeknights as a panelist or co-host on the Comcast Network’s CN8 “Out of Bounds” program, debating hot-button issues in the sports world. When he’s not on radio or TV, Missanelli teaches sports and entertainment law at St. Joseph’s University.

Can We Talk?

Missanelli hadn’t planned to work in radio. It just happened that way. A local guy, Missanelli grew up in Bristol Borough and graduated from Bristol High School. He played baseball for Penn State, majored in journalism and wrote for Montgomery Newspapers while pursuing a job with the Inquirer. After a few years, he switched gears and applied to law school.

“As soon as I got accepted to law school, the Inquirer offered me a job,” recalls Missanelli. He worked full time for the Philly newspaper while attending Widener University’s Delaware Law School.

“When I got out of law school, I was ready to leave newspapers altogether, but they offered me the college basketball beat job in the Inquirer’s sports department. My first assignment was in Hawaii covering the Maui Classic,” notes Missanelli. “I always loved college basketball and here I was flying around covering Final Fours. The more I did it, the more I liked it. Radio just happened from that.” 

In 1987, WIP radio went all sports, only the second station in the country to switch to this format.  WIP started recruiting several of the Inquirer’s sports reporters who were doing part-time television and radio work. By 1992, Missanelli was hired full time and was WIP’s evening drive talk host for 12 years. He also picked up side jobs during that time in television, cable and publishing including anchoring sports for WB17 News at Ten, co-hosting “The Great Sports Debate” on Prism, hosting a weekly Eagles show on SportsChannel and editing The Fan, a Philadelphia sports magazine.

 “I thought I was going to be this big libel attorney since I worked in newspapers. Somehow I got sidetracked from it,” jokes Missanelli.  “I still keep my license active. I figure when I completely grow up, I’ll practice law on a daily basis.”

Rapping in the Big Apple

Missanelli spent his entire career dissecting Philly sports, but he says the jump to talking sports with New Yorkers and the rest of the country isn’t much different than debating Eagles fans.

“In sports talk radio, you plug into the electric current from wherever it comes from in that city,” Missanelli notes.  “In Philadelphia, that current comes from the Eagles. In New York City, it’s very Yankee oriented and also the Giants and Knicks. The one difference between Philadelphia and New York is that in Philadelphia, you can stay on one subject for five hours and people will milk it. In New York, there’s not enough time to talk about all the things that are going on. In New York, there’s always a story within a story.

 “In sports radio, if you plan it too much, you will stifle yourself. You have to go in with an idea of what you want to talk about, but at any moment, the conversation could go down another avenue. You have to be prepared to drive down that road.”

Talk the Talk in ‘08
So what will the radio buzz be in the topsy-turvy world of sports talk this year? We asked “Mike Miss” for his top eight predictions for ‘08:

1-    Are the New England Patriots a lock to play in Superbowl XLII or will there be an upset for the AFC crown?
Missanelli: The Patriots playing in the Super Bowl is the surest sports bet since a young and less crazy Mike Tyson fought a tomato can named Peter McNeely and sent McNeely back to a minimum wage job. Tom Brady might finish this season being regarded as the best quarterback to ever play the game. There MUST be something about having a Brazilian model at home, waiting for you on a leopard skin comforter.

2-    It's mid-October 2008. Are the Phillies still playing?
Missanelli: Absolutely. It's not as much what the Phillies did in off-season (And I'm not sure why the Phils keep going BACK in time to re-design their uniforms. Don't they know that that old, "Phillies" script represents the losingest franchise in major league baseball history?). The key is whether Brad Lidge can regain his form as a closer and whether that goofball Brett Myers can readjust to being a starter without blowing out his arm.

3-    Will Donovan McNabb be back next season?
Missanelli: I'm stepping out on a limb here because I know, above all, that the Eagles don't like to LOSE money, and fashion themselves as master salary capologists. If they trade Donovan McNabb prior to next season, they will have to take a little bit of a hit on their salary cap. But I think the brass knows that McNabb has mentally checked out as the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles and that it's time to start over with a new quarterback. I don't know if Kevin Kolb can play. But he's probably going to get his chance next season with McNabb playing in either Baltimore or Chicago. I think the Eagles trade him for a second round draft pick, pat him on the back and say, take your Amish beard and parents to another city where you can complain freely about Philly fans booing you at the NFL draft.

4-    Will Briere, Biron and the latest generation of the Broad Street Bullies finally bring back the Stanley Cup to Philly?
Missanelli: Who are Briere and Biron? What's the Stanley Cup? Is hockey a sport?

5-    Will JoePa retire in 2008? Or will he get a raise?
Missanelli: He'll retire later in the evening, get to bed at about, say 9:30 p.m. But he ain't going anywhere as Penn State football coach. If Paterno wants to coach, there is nothing the university can do to eliminate him from the position without looking like facist dictators. It will be a really interesting off-season after next year, though, because his contract is done in 2008 and they will either have to renew it, or force him out. It was just revealed that Joe Paterno makes about $500,000 a year in base salary as head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions, which says to me that he’s too old to know that he’s getting screwed. He’s been at Penn State for about 150 years. What are they giving him a $2 raise a year? Is there any justice in this world when Angelo Cataldi makes more than Joe Paterno?

6-    March Madness 2008 – who is this year's NCAA Champion?
Missanelli: Georgetown. John Thompson III is a better coach than the old man because he actually recruits players who can shoot and score.
 
7-    Will Michael Vick serve more time than a combination of Hilton, Richie, Lohan and Spears?
Missanelli: Yes. His canary buddies who sold him out recently were given sentences of 12 to 18 months. Vick is the big fish in the pond, which means he's probably going to get more time in the slam, I'm guessing a minimum of two years. Two years in jail puts a serious damper on his ability to come back to the NFL as the same player. But think about the possibilities of that prison yard football team that gets Vick. If they could find a way to get Rae Carruth transferred to Mike's prison, that team would be unbeatable. In fact, I'm trying to close a TV deal right now for a reality show. It would be like The Longest Yard, only for real.

8-    Will O.J. finally go to jail in 2008?
Missanelli: O.J. coaches my prison yard team led by Michael Vick and Rae Carruth.

Maryanna S. Phinn is a freelance writer from Washington Crossing, Bucks County.