Mike Pesca

Credit David Banks

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.

Pages

6:30am

Fri March 16, 2012
Sports

Iowa State Defeats UConn, VCU Beats Wichita St.

In NCAA men's basketball action Thursday night, Iowa State defeated the the University of Connecticut 77-64. The Huskies were last year's champions. Also, VCU beat Wichita State 62-59 to advance to weekend play.

4:00am

Mon February 6, 2012
Sports

Giants Tower Over Patriots As Super Bowl Champs

The New York Giants came back with a last-minute score to beat the New England Patriots 21-17 Sunday night for New York's fourth Super Bowl title. It was a rematch of the 2008 NFL championship, when Eli Manning led New York past New England to ruin the Patriots' bid for a perfect season.

8:00am

Sun February 5, 2012
Sports

On Defense, Neither Super Bowl Team Wins

In football, defense wins championships, or so the saying goes. That hasn't been true recently. In fact, both teams in Sunday's Super Bowl, the Giants and the Patriots, featured less-than-stout defenses through the season. NPR's Mike Pesca has some possible reasons why.

6:11am

Sun February 5, 2012
Sports

Why Do Laymen Love The Giants? It's All Psychology

Credit Julie Jacobson / AP

The Super Bowl: an annualized marketing event-cum-gambling extravaganza. That they have to play a football game to justify the ads, gambling and Ines Sainz's career is still in the official rule book somewhere, but that rule book is now sponsored by the Gatorade G2 series. Why does Gatorade have more series than Telemundo?

Read more

8:00am

Sat February 4, 2012
Sports

Does Eli Manning Belong Among The Elite?

Tom Brady will lead the New England Patriots into Super Bowl 46 in Indianapolis on Sunday. He´s already won the Super Bowl three times before. Standing in the way of yet another Patriot victory are Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Manning has been superb this season, but is he elite?

4:00am

Mon January 23, 2012
Sports

Giants, Patriots To Meet Again In Super Bowl

Originally published on Mon January 23, 2012 9:25 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Announcers also remembered Joe Paterno during yesterday's pro football games. Those two conference championships on Sunday determined the lineup for the Super Bowl. The New York Giants will play the New England Patriots in a rematch of a Super Bowl from four years ago. Neither team made it to the big game easily. Both have great quarterbacks, but on Sunday, both had to rely on defense. Here's NPR's Mike Pesca.

Read more

2:23pm

Sat December 24, 2011
Sports

An Epic (And Mythic) 2011 NBA Preview

The NBA season opens Christmas Day, and every sports writer worth his tinseled tropes has made a reference to basketball fans being able to unwrap a slate of games under the tree.

Read more

3:00pm

Fri December 16, 2011
Sports

Tebow Mania: Why IS The Quarterback So Popular?

Every so often, an NFL player transcends the game. Think William "Refrigerator" Perry or Bo Jackson.

Tim Tebow, the quarterback who'll lead the Denver Broncos against the powerful New England Patriots on Sunday, has become a household name, thanks to his improbable come-from-behind victories combined with his prominent expressions of faith.

How does he do it? The Bears, Chargers, Chiefs, Dolphins, Jets, Raiders and Vikings would like to know.

Time For A Comeback

Tebow is a proper noun. Tebow is a verb meaning to genuflect.

Read more

11:55am

Fri December 9, 2011
Sports

Larry Kelley: The Life Of The First Heisman Winner

On Saturday, college football's best player will be awarded the Heisman Trophy in New York. This year's front-runners attend Baylor University, Stanford University and University of Alabama; but 75 years ago, the Heisman winner was a Yale man. In 1936, at a time when the Ivy League was a hotbed of football talent, Yale end Larry Kelley was the first to win a Heisman Trophy.

4:00am

Tue October 25, 2011
Sports

Communication Issues For Cardinals In Game 5 Loss

Originally published on Tue October 25, 2011 6:50 am

The Texas Rangers rallied with a two-run double in the eighth inning, winning Monday's game 4-2 and taking a 3-2 lead in the World Series. But they also benefited from a highly unusual communication breakdown on the part of the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis hosts Game 6 on Wednesday.

4:00am

Mon October 24, 2011
Sports

Keys To Rangers' Game 4 Win: 1 Swing, 112 Pitches

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals four to nothing in Arlington, Texas last night. The win evens the series at two games apiece. The keys to the Rangers' victory were a single swing to the bat on offense and 112 pitches from their starter, Derek Holland. NPR's Mike Pesca was at the ballpark and filed this report.

MIKE PESCA: Mike Napoli - Napoli. It's fun to say. Napoli.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Napoli. Napoli. Napoli. Napoli.

Read more

8:00am

Sun October 23, 2011
Sports

Cardinals Take Game 3 With A Bang

Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals gave a performance for the record books Saturday night in Game 3 of the World Series. They beat the Texas Rangers 16 to 7. NPR's Mike Pesca reports.

3:00pm

Wed October 19, 2011
Sports

Cardinals, Rangers Face Off In World Series

This year's World Series match-up puts the St. Louis Cardinals against the Texas Rangers. If history is any guide, there's only a small chance the series will go to seven games.

4:00am

Thu September 22, 2011
Sports

'Moneyball' Is More Than Just Baseball Stats

The movie Moneyball opens Friday. Based on the Michael Lewis book, it focuses on the rise of advanced statistical analysis in Major League Baseball.

6:44am

Thu August 18, 2011
Sports

Good Guys, Bad Boys Loved By Fans When They Win

Let's examine our mixed feelings about athletes and their public personas. Fans tend to like it when nice guys do well but they don't really mind when bad guys succeed. When it comes down to it, we just like winners.

4:00am

Mon July 18, 2011
Sports

World Cup: U.S. Loses To Japan On Penalty Kicks

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Some other news. The World Cup Soccer final brought a portion of America to a halt yesterday. People watched at home and in bars.

MARY LOUISE KELLY, host:

They howled as the U.S. Women's team just missed some early shots.

INSKEEP: They cheered as the U.S. twice pulled ahead.

KELLY: And then many fell silent as Japan came back and finally made more of the penalty kicks that decided a tie game.

INSKEEP: NPR's Mike Pesca was in Frankfort, Germany for the contest.

Read more

8:00am

Sun July 17, 2011
Sports

Guts, Goals And Luck Will Win The World Cup

The United States plays in the finals of the women's World Cup soccer championship against Japan Sunday afternoon. As thrilling as the ride has been so far, the women on the team know that a great journey needs a great ending.

A short while before the World Cup tournament began, U.S. striker Abby Wambach was asked what it takes to win the World Cup. The 5'11 striker with more than 150 goals in international competition listed what the team will need.

"It's gonna take some guts," she said. "It's gonna take some luck, it's gonna take some skill, some goals, some defending."

Read more

4:32pm

Tue July 12, 2011
The Two-Way

Sports Loses Its Escapist Gleam In A Summer Of Court Dates

Sport is a contract. Of course, sports are replete with contracts, from the billions of dollars that the NBA and NFL are currently at an impasse over, to the tiny print on the back of a ticket to a ballgame.

Read more

9:14pm

Mon June 13, 2011
Sports

LeBron Chokes On Court; Media Choke On His Words

"LeBron Lashes Out," read the words on ESPN's screen, part of its scroll of headlines that fall like droplets from an icicle, reassuring sports fans that highlights of a game they care about is no more than three or four drip, drip, drips away.

Read more

4:00am

Mon June 13, 2011
Sports

Mavericks Cool Heat Down, Win NBA Championship

The Dallas Mavericks have won their first NBA championship. They beat the Miami Heat 105-95 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals Sunday night in Miami.

4:00am

Fri June 3, 2011
Sports

NBA Final Series: Dallas Ties Miami 1-1 In Game 2

The Dallas Mavericks staged a late comeback to take Game 2 of the NBA Finals over the Miami Heat Thursday night. Dirk Nowitski scored the Maverick's last nine points, including a lay-up to give them the lead with three seconds left.

4:00am

Wed June 1, 2011
Sports

NBA's Miami Heat Win Game 1 Over Dallas Mavericks

The Miami Heat won Game 1 of the NBA championship series Tuesday night. The Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks 92-84 in Miami to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

4:00am

Tue May 31, 2011
Sports

5 Years Later: Heat, Mavericks Meet Again In NBA Finals

Renee Montagne talks with NPR's Mike Pesca about the NBA Finals, which start Tuesday night. The Miami Heat takes on the Dallas Mavericks.

3:00pm

Thu May 26, 2011
Space

A Correlation Between Age, Winning NBA Games?

The Dallas Mavericks are headed to the NBA Finals, thanks to their 4-1 series victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Throughout the series, the Thunder were young and athletic — the Mavs, old and ultimately successful.

12:01am

Thu May 19, 2011
Money Counts: Young Adults And Financial Literacy

For Some Athletes, A Short-Lived Financial Success

In this era of home foreclosures and high unemployment, it's hard to sympathize with the professional athlete laid low by the high life. It seems almost impossible that an athlete making $5 million, $10 million, or, in the case of Derrick Coleman, $90 million over a career could lose all his money. Of course, many a now-bankrupt athlete also thought it impossible.

Read more

4:00am

Thu May 12, 2011
Sports

NBA Playoffs Will Go On Without Boston's Celtics

First the Lakers, now the Boston Celtics — the traditional powers are dropping like flies in this year's NBA playoffs. The Celtics fell to the Miami Heat Wednesday night, losing by 10. The Heat won the series 4-1.

4:00am

Mon April 18, 2011
Sports

Unprecedented Upsets The Talk Of NBA Playoffs

The NBA playoffs got underway over the weekend. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeded teams in the West both lost their opening games. That hasn't happened since the NBA went to the current playoff format.

Pages