Despite all of the lies, Mike Francesa is still an enohmous fan of Alex Rodriguez.
Francesa took in the Yankees’ Opening Day loss to the Blue Jays from prime front-row seats — with Rodriguez’s family. Francesa was photographed sitting two seats down from Rodriguez’s half-brother, Joe Dunand, as the pariah slugger went 1-for-2 with a walk in the Yankees’ 6-1 setback.
Francesa and Rodriguez have been allies for a while. In November 2013, an incensed Rodriguez stormed out of the MLB arbitration hearing and into the WFAN studios, where he loudly proclaimed on Francesa’s show he was being railroaded in the Biogenesis case.
Just two months later, in testimony with the Drug Enforcement Agency, Rodriguez admitted he took performance-enhancing drugs.
“All I could do was ask him the question,” Francesa said of his softball interview. “That’s all I ever did. I never knew if A-Rod was telling the truth or lying. Did I think there was a good chance he was lying? Anyone knows about me, you know I’m not someone who hasn’t been around the block, OK?
“Did I know there was a very strong chance A-Rod wasn’t telling the truth? Absolutely. … What I said was, baseball was doing exactly what they were accusing A-Rod of doing, they were down in the dirt breaking the law and baseball shouldn’t be there, that’s not where they belong. All I can do is ask the questions. What was I supposed to do? I asked him five times to answer the same question.”
Francesa’s interview with Rodriguez later spawned a dispute between Francesa and ESPN New York radio host Michael Kay.
Francesa said the A-Rod-friendly (and by extension, anti-Yankees) interview was not the reason why his simulcast moved off the YES Network, instead saying YES wanted control over his content. Kay resented the implication YES was controlling his show, which replaced Francesa’s, and took aim at the Diet Coke-swilling dean of New York sports radio.