Why Would Anybody Let Joe Benigno Make the Rules?

One of WFAN’s all-time greats, Joe Benigno, wrote a book (with some help) called Rules for New York Sports Fans, and his pal “I” breaks every one of them.

“I love you, I, you know that,” Joe told Imus. “But you are the classic frontrunner.”

Sports fans don’t come much more diehard than Joe, who got his start in radio by winning a Fan Appreciation Day contest on WFAN back in 1994, after years of calling in regularly as “Joe from Saddle River” on the Mike and the Mad Dog show.

“I went to the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, and while I was doing that, I bought air time on this small station in Elizabeth, NJ,” Joe explained. He eventually had Mike Francesa and Mad Dog Russo on his show as guests, and Mike sang Joe’s praises during the entire interview.

“He’s saying, ‘Steve Somers is leaving the overnight, maybe you’ll get the overnight gig,’ and I’m laughing at him,” Joe recalled. “A couple of days later, I got a call.”

That call came from WFAN’s Program Director Mark Chernoff, who, along with Francesa, Joe credits with getting him where he is today, hosting the 10am-1pm show on the station with his partner Evan Roberts.

Like Joe himself, Rules for New York Sports Fans is fun. “It’s the dos and don’ts of being a fan,” he said.  “Not just in New York, but really everywhere.”

One of Joe’s hard and fast rules is that one cannot root simultaneously for the Mets and Yankees. “That drives me crazy,” he said, adding, “If you’re rooting for both teams, you’re really not a fan of either team.”

Some rules, however, are Joe-specific. “I only wear Jets jerseys,” he told Imus, referring to his favorte football team. Also, “The only time I will wear the jersey is on game day.”

Asked why he feels compelled to dress up like the team, Joe replied, “I’m not going in there with shoulder pads and a helmet on. I’m not wearing a cup to the game.”

Don’t even get him started on people who, for instance, wear a Miami Dolphins jersey to a Mets-Phillies game. “If you’re not a fan of either team, don’t wear anything!” he cried.

Then, Joe briefly wandered away from book-talk and into crazy town, telling Imus what he’d do to ensure LeBron James, who becomes a free agent on July 1, signs with the New York Knicks.

“I will personally go out and sit in his driveway at a quarter to 12 on that night, June 30 into July 1, to try to bring him here to New York,” he said. Even thought the Knicks are, as he put it, “a disaster,” Joe believes LeBron’s presence “makes them an instant playoff team, and he would be a god in this town.”

A few more things: Joe can’t stand Brett Favre; has little interest in cycling; and even less interest in NASCAR. “That’s your thing,” he told Imus. And it’s abundantly clear that Joe’s thing is New York sports.

-Julie Kanfer