Hour 2: Mike Lupica

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Here's your report.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:01)
Oh, thanks, Jane.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:02)
I wish I could hire someone just like you.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
Try LinkedIn HiringPro. It's more than a job board. It's like the recruiter you always wished you had. HiringPro uses real-time insights to match your role to LinkedIn's unique network of professionals and delivers a short list of best fit candidates. You'll spend less time sorting applicants and more time talking to the right people.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:20)
Let's do it.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:21)
You're irreplaceable, Jane, but another you would be great.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:24)
Hire right the first time. Post your job for free on LinkedIn today at linkedin.com/quality.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:31)
This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I gotta get more Kay.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:35)
Listen live weekdays at one on the Espn New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:41)
Welcome back to The Michael Kay Show, everybody. Hour two of our two hour radio program, fastest moving two hours in sports talk radio. Let's be honest. It starts at one and ends at three. It's in an eye blink and it's over. So good stuff from Buster Only and good stuff from our good friend Rich Semini as well. Now, it's amazing when you do a game on television. The things that resonate, that actually get traction, that you don't even plan for. I mean, there are a lot of things, a lot of elements during a broadcast of the Yankee games that we really work hard on and people really would like this, a graphic, a roll in, name that Yankee, all that stuff. And sometimes it gets traction, sometimes it doesn't. Or you're working with an analyst and the analyst could really nail something and you go, well, people would really take notice of that and it doesn't get the traction that you think. Or you could make what you think is a pretty decent call and it's subjective, so some people will like it and some people will hate it. But you can never plan for something to go viral. I mean, there are people that like influencers that certainly know what they're doing to get people to notice, but we're broadcasting a game. So yesterday we're doing the Yankees game and it's three, two, it's me and Joe Giorardi and Meredith and my throat was getting a little bit scratchy.
Not that I'm getting sick, just a little scratchy and when my throat gets scratchy, I usually like to get some hot tea and it does work.
Or I'll put some Manuka honey on a spoon and to swallow it. I didn't have Manuka honey with me, so I asked our stage manager, a young lady named Jennifer, if she could get me some hot tea with one pack of Splenda. So she does, really nice of her to do.
And she gives me the tea, she gives me the tea bag. Well, she gives me hot water in a cup, a tea bag and a pack of Splenda. You know, that's the yellow stuff.
And she doesn't give me a star. Now, I'm not blaming her for not giving me a star, so I'm on the air when she gives me this. And you know, Joe's analyzing the game. And so I put the tea bag in, let it seat for a little bit. And then I put in the Splenda.
And I didn't have a stirrer.
And I didn't want to stir it with a pen because I felt like if I stir it with a pen, sometimes that kills the pen. I don't know why, but it does. So I have these glasses that I wear, which are progressive lenses. And sometimes I wear them for the game. Or these glasses, which I'm holding up. And if you're watching us on the YouTube channel, thanks to the Perishman Firm, you could see. And I wasn't using these. I was using the progressives, which I keep on.
And I got creative.
I was like MacGyver. And I put the Splenda in and I open up the glasses and use the arm of the glass, the glasses to stir the Splenda in. Anyway, I see a face that Joe makes. But we're in the middle of a big spot in the game. So he doesn't say anything. We go to commercial at the end of the inning. And he says to me, what did you just do? And I told him.
He goes, yeah, I saw, I can't believe you did that. I said, yeah, well, I got to start somehow. He said, can I bring this up on the air? And I'm not one of these, I don't care if you make fun of me. I'm self-deprecating. And if I do something that you think is dumb, bring it up. If it's good content, go for it. And he brings it up, and we have this long discussion about how disgusting it is, and blah, blah, blah, and you have to stir the Splendor when you really do. You just can't put it into the tea and think it's going to dissolve the right way. And so we had some fun with it. And you think that that's it. And Bryant Gumbel, who watches a lot of the games, texted me, goes, every morning, I stir my coffee with the arm of my eyeglasses. He said, so you're not that weird. Anyway, Joe thought it was really weird. And it's amazing to me. It is something that has, like, taken on a role that I can't even understand on social media. It's on fire about how I stirred my tea with the eyeglasses. People think it's disgusting. Other people think, well, you know what, it's pretty smart. But just, again, what I'm trying to say is the things that you plan for, that you put a lot of work into, like if you write a tease, and the people behind the scenes put together great video to go along with the words, and nobody even, like, says a word about it. And then Joe Girardi makes fun of me for stirring my tea with my eyeglass arm, and it's like taking the world by storm. It's so odd. And it shows you, you know, things are going to click if they click. You can't really, you can't plan for them. And if it's something that, you know, resonates with people, oh, I can see myself doing that, or Kay's an animal, somehow it works. Somehow it works. Also, Pops, the trading card company, they had me sign some cards during this off season. And the cards are like two-sided cards. And this one card was the call of Aaron Judge's first home run. And I was on the mic for that. And so the card commemorates Aaron Judge's first home run of the big leagues. And on one side is Aaron Judge's signature. And on another side is my signature.