Mike Lupica: Long Time, Long Time

Mike Lupica, a sports and politics columnist for the New York Daily News, appears weekly on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters alongside other sports know-it-alls like John Saunders, Bob Ryan, and “that guy with the funny ears,” as Imus calls Mitch Albom for the purpose of annoying Lupica.
 
Phoning in from Dallas, Texas this morning, where he’s covering the Superbowl, Lupica reported that the big game on Sunday will be played with the roof of the stadium closed due to a spate of unseasonably cold weather.
 
“That is so weak,” Imus said. “I want to see it like the Packers and the Giants in ’67. Or whoever played in that game.” Referring to the so-called “Icebowl,” Lupica told Imus that the game had actually been between the Packers and the Cowboys. Like it matters.
 
Imus in the Morning sportscaster Warner Wolf thinks the Green Bay Packers will defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Superbowl, and Lupica agreed, but he thinks the score will be higher than Warner’s call of 24-17.
 
Then talk turned to Andy Pettitte, the longtime New York Yankees pitcher who yesterday announced he plans to retire. “I thought he was going to come back, I think the Yankees thought he was going to come back,” Lupica said. “They thought all winter they were going to get Cliff Lee, and when they didn’t get Cliff Lee, I thought Pettitte’s bargaining position had improved exponentially.”
 
Another way of looking at it would be to simply say that Lupica was wrong.
 
He was correct, however, when he complimented Rob Bartlett’s impersonation of House Speaker John Boehner on this program, even though Imus thinks Rob and fellow comedian Tony Powell are only funny “most of the time.”
 
Lupica pointed out that sometimes, like in baseball, being successful at something only 35 percent of the time still gets you into the Hall of Fame. “Let me tell you who’s not running those teams,” Imus said. “Farid Suleman and Roger Ailes.”
 
Asked to provide his “left-wing, commie view” of the latest developments in Egypt, where protesters continue to demand President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate departure after 30 years, Lupica noted the difficulty in transitioning the government.
 
“At some point Mubarak’s going to be out, and at some point the law says they have to have an election within 60 days,” he said. “But I don’t see how anybody thinks they can get it together to have that kind of election in 60 days, even if he’s out of there.”
 
Speaking of authoritarian regimes, Lupica added, “I would think that Rob and Tony know a little something about what it’s like to work for, well, a dictator.”
 
And Lupica knows a whole lot more about being friends with one.
 
-Julie Kanfer