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Interview with ESPN’s Mike Greenberg

Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism; home to the title of one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the nation, as well as home to the emergence of ESPN radio host and anchor; Mike Greenberg.

Before joining ESPN in 1996, Greenberg worked for CLTV in Chicago covering all local Chicago sports, anchoring sportscasts and hosting a Sunday night program called SportsPage. He also added to his television and radio career by working for Chicago radio station’s WSCR and WMAQ, where he was able to cover events such as the Super Bowl and World Series.

This New York Jet crazed radio host now works alongside Mike Golic, a former NFL lineman, in hosting one of the most talked about shows on ESPN and ESPN radio; Mike &  Mike in the Morning. His show attracts over three million listeners and brings in over 90 million viewers. 

This success brought about opportunities such as being part of the lead broadcast team for the Arena Football League and broadcasting the second game of Monday Night Football’s week one doubleheader.

What follows is a collection of questions and answers of a 25 minute long interview given to Planet Blacksburg on what truly makes “Greenieâ€, “Greenie.â€

 

Q: While you attended the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, what kind of student media were you involved in?

Greenberg: I was not nearly involved as I wish I had been in different activities. Now, when I was in school there was a mandated internship program and so I did an internship at the Jackson City Patriot which was a newspaper in Jackson, Mich. But that was it. I did not work for the student radio station or the student paper and I regret both of those enormously.

Q: Can you describe a typical work day in the life of Mike Greenberg?

Greenberg: Well, today for example. I started at 3:45 a.m. with my alarm going off. I got up and came to work a little after 5 a.m. and Mike and I and our staff sat and went over a couple of ideas. Then there were a few things we had to pre-record both for radio and TV. After that, we did the show 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and then I had a SportsCenter meeting which I just came out of now. We met to discuss what we were going to do on SportsCenter this evening. And then I will spend the rest of the day writing before I anchor SportsCenter this evening from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. So I’ll leave here about 7 o’clock and go try and grab myself about six hours of sleep to be back here tomorrow.

Q: How much work is involved in running a single show of “Mike & Mike in the Morning�

Greenberg: That’s tough to say. I think a good talk show is never ending. Most listeners know that Mike and I will not only cover sports but we will discuss often events that take place in our daily lives. So, in some ways you can say my entire life is show prep. It certainly takes being aware of things. My work is constituted mainly of things most people would do anyways. You know, watching games, watching SportsCenter, getting on the Internet and keeping up with the news of the day, and listening on the radio. I think a good talk show is always on the lookout for new material, and it really is, in some ways, a 24/7 kind of job.

Q: What is your favorite topic to cover in sports?

Greenberg: Well, the National Football League is overwhelmingly the most popular sport in America and the one that the biggest number of people are interested in and passionate about. So, it almost doesn’t make any difference what my personal favorite sport to cover is. But I happen to be an avid golfer and a golf fan; so if it was up to me, I would be happy to talk about golf.

Q: You clown around with former NFL lineman and Notre Dame grad Mike Golic every day on your show, but over the past several years, what have you truly learned from your counterpart?

Greenberg: Mike’s kids are older than mine, and when we started our show, Mike was a dad three times over than I, and I had not yet had either of my children. Both of my kids had been born since we started doing our show. What I have learned from Mike more than anything is that he is a really dedicated father. There are a lot of people who will say they put their families first, but he actually does it. I mean he walks that walk. I admire that greatly. And as a consequence of that, I have learned to do that and to appreciate why that is the right way to go about things. We have turned down a lot of opportunities that might have been good for us because of family obligations that one of us had, and we always understand that. So that is overwhelmingly the most important thing I have learned from Mike. It doesn’t have anything to do with the show necessarily, but I think it’s a good lesson for all people that you can’t just say you want to have a work-life balance but you have to actually have one. I’ve learned that for sure.

Q: How do you handle all of the criticism you receive?

Greenberg: It may sound ridiculous to say, but you really just become immune to it. There is little criticism out there of us or of me that I think is completely unfair. We work in a very objective business, so one persons opinion may very well be that our show today stunk. My opinion is that our show today was very good. Now, the person who thinks our show stunk isn’t necessarily wrong, it’s just his or her opinion. And so as long as people are giving opinions on us that I think are fair, which just means things like “I think these guys stinkâ€, then nobody bothers me. Now, if anyone were to write in the newspaper that I was unprepared, that I wasn’t working hard, or we weren’t trying, then that would really bother me. That would be stating a fact that I think is patently untrue. I think we work as hard on our show as anyone out there in our business. There are certain people out there who don’t like your approach and don’t like your style. It’s never fun to read that, but it does come with the territory; and it most certainly isn’t the end of the world. A lot of it can be educational. You read something and it says, “You know, I hate it when these guys do this,†and you will read it and think to yourself, well maybe this guy has a point. And once in awhile you will make adjustments on things you do on the air based upon other people’s criticism. So, in that way criticism can be very valuable.

Q: How did you enjoy covering sports in the Windy City?

Greenberg: I loved it. I love Chicago. It’s a great city and it’s a great sports city. But it’s much more than that. I enjoyed living there, and the most significant thing that ever happened to me; my wife happened there. I loved covering sports. I was there at a great time. I mean I was covering Chicago sports when Mike Ditka was coaching the Bears and Michael Jordan was playing for the Bulls. I covered the Bears when they had really good teams, and I covered the Bulls when they won six championships. It was a great place to work and a great experience. There’s no question that covering those teams over those years was the single biggest reason that I am able to do what I do for a living today.

Q: In your book, “Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot,†you say that getting the revenge on Jack McDowell is one of the highlights of your career. Can you describe one other moment that sits alongside that moment?

Greenberg: The opportunity to broadcast a Monday Night Football game. That was a thrill. I would also say the opportunity to do some things that have been away from the norm; broadcasting the Arena Football games. Even though I had somewhat of a small role, I had a good time being a part of the coverage of the spelling bee. That was something so totally different from what I’m accustomed to doing. It is nice, when you do the same thing everyday, to get a chance to do some things that are different and challenging in different ways.

Q: “Don’t sweat it, kid. They never yell unless they know you’re right.â€

Greenberg: Dave Wannstedt yelled at me over something I had said on the air, and I was really certain that I was right. It was one of the first times that anyone that I covered ever got really mad at me, and he yelled at me right in front of a lot of other reporters. I felt very humiliated and very bad. I sort of limped [laughing], not literally but figuratively, into the media room, and a writer from the Chicago Tribune said that to me. It certainly gave me a different feeling about the relationship, and not to just feel because he’s the football coach and I’m a reporter that he is, by definition, smarter than me, or better than me, or more significant than me. I remember that day very vividly, and I wrote about it in my book. It was a good day for me.

Q: If you had the opportunity to go back and change one thing in your life, what would it be?

Greenberg: Professionally speaking, if I could go back I think I would have done a lot more work growing up. I had a really great childhood but I wish I had done more to get me ready for the business when I was growing up. I wish I had done more internships. I wish I had written for the newspaper. I wish I had worked at the radio station. I wish I had found ways to get more experience early on. And the other thing I would say is that I wish I had more fun sometimes when I was younger. I think I spent too much of my life worrying about whether or not I would get the chance to do what I want to do. In my personal life I really don’t regret anything. I mean I have an incredible life and I’m incredibly fortunate; so honestly I don’t think I would change anything.

Q: You’re a family man Mr. Greenberg. How important has the support from your family been throughout your career?

Greenberg: Exceptionally. First of all, my parents were extremely supportive of my decision to go into this very unusual and very uncertain business. That was great of them because it certainly wasn’t what was expected of me when I was a kid, and they have always been very supportive of it. And then my wife. I’ve always said to anyone who wants to get into this business that you have to get married to someone who is willing to put up with a lot of the stuff. Long before I had a show with my name on it, I was working every weekend, late night, and every holiday. You have to be willing to make those kinds of sacrifices in this business. It’s not a nine-to-five, five-day-week kind of job. My wife’s support has been invaluable. You have to be married to somebody who understands the sacrifice and is willing to make the sacrifice because, otherwise, one of two things is going to have to go; either the marriage or the career. They cannot co-exist. So, in that way I would say the support of my family has been invaluable.

Q: From politics to sports?

Greenberg: I had always thought that I was going to be a journalist. I wound up getting sent out to cover a story that I was not emotionally equipped to cover. I could not do it. And that was a time of real soul searching because there I had always known what I wanted to do; I wanted to be Peter Jennings or one of those guys. I wanted to be a really serious television journalist. And from that experience I learned that I can’t do this. A guidance counselor said to me, “Well you love sports, you follow sports religiously, and you know a lot about sports. Maybe you can do sports?†And the rest, as they say, is history. But that was certainly a jarring experience for me, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who cover hard news.

Q: What advice would you give to a current student in getting the interview that everyone else wants?

Greenberg: The biggest mistake we have made in the journalism business in this era of internet reporting is massive rush to be first. The objective of journalism has never been to get a story first, it has always been to get a story right. And I think that we have far too many people that are far too concerned about rushing things onto the air or rushing things into print and not making one-hundred percent sure that they have done the legitimate homework. I feel there is so much less accountability now in an era where there is all this internet stuff; you can log onto a website and think you’re reading what should have been news and that is just being written by someone who has total control and has absolutely no accountability to anyone. We are not being well-served by the media business today from a journalistic standpoint. And my advice to all people who are interested in the business and interested in making a real contribution to the business would be to learn the basics of journalism and use them, and not to get caught up in some of the garbage that passes for journalism that you see on cable television today.

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