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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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.
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The U.S. men's soccer team will face a tough road in next year's World Cup. They'll face Ghana, Portugal and Germany in the first round.
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This week's Thursday Night Football features two teams that are as far from great as you can get. The Houston Texas face the Jacksonville Jaguars. It may just be the worst matchup of the year.
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Football, turkey and pumpkin pie. The holiday tradition continues with this year's matchups, including two division rivalries. Green Bay takes on Detroit, the Raiders battle the Cowboys, and the Steelers take on defending champions, the Ravens.
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Writer Nicholas Dawidoff spent a year living with the New York Jets and came away with a respect for players and coaches that not all fans will like. NPR's Mike Pesca says Dawidoff's new book, Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL Football, demystifies the game as it entrances.
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The NFL is investigating allegations of hazing by a Miami Dolphins player against his teammate. Many in the league believe better performance can be achieved through peer-led actions that will "toughen up" perceived weaker members of the team. Do these methods work and what's considered crossing the line?