Mike Pesca
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.
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In Texas last year, 45,200 student athletes were tested for steroids under a tough new program for high schools. The most frequently tested were football players. Only 19 athletes tested positive. Some say that's proof that the testing deters kids from using drugs, while others say the program is flawed. -
The high-priced star's first year of U.S. Major League Soccer did not work out well for him or his team. Now, he's returning on loan in the middle of the season during the debut of a tell-all book that casts Beckham in an unfavorable light.
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Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff's prison sentence of 150 years delivered a measure of relief to some of his victims. But others realize they are no better off this morning than they were the day before. And other Madoff victims worry that not enough is being done to prevent the next Madoff.
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Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff was sentenced Monday to 150 years for his monumental Ponzi scheme. The judge called Madoff's deeds "extraordinarily evil," and said he needed to send a symbolic message to those who might try to perpetuate a comparable fraud.
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Three baseball books are discussed: A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez by Selena Roberts, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime by the staff of the New York Daily News, and The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci.
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Judge Sonia Sotomayor's road to a U.S. Supreme Court nomination began in a Bronx, N.Y., housing project. President Obama nominated her for the seat of retiring Justice David Souter on Tuesday. Obama said her early life in the housing project was part of the "wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey."
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Both New York baseball teams christen their deluxe new stadiums this week: The Mets on Monday and the Yankees on Thursday. But these high-dollar baseball palaces — designed to be financed in part by luxury suites and swanky seats — are arriving at what may be the worst economic time since Lou Gehrig retired.
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When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals meet Sunday in the Super Bowl, one player to watch is Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. His optometrist grandfather gave Fitzgerald unique vision training that has helped him on the football field.
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The Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals will meet in this Sunday's NFC championship game. It has been an up-and-down year for the Eagles, who are one game away from the Super Bowl. Coach Andy Reid and quarterback Donovan McNabb have been the focus of fan ire.
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US Airways CEO Douglas Parker offered few new details on flight 1549, which crashed into the Hudson River. All the passengers were declared safe, and many were able to walk away once they were rescued.
