When it comes to a reunion between Mike Golic Sr. and Mike Greenberg, “never say never,” Golic Sr. suggested this week as he returned to the ESPN Radio airwaves for his new show with his son Mike Golic Jr, appropriately titled “The Golics.”
Golic Sr. and Greenberg had been one of the most recognizable duos on sports talk radio, co-hosting “Mike & Mike” for 17 years before they split as Greenberg went on to host “Get Up” in 2017.
“One thing I’ve learned over the years is you never say never, right? You never know what can come about,” Golic Sr. told The Post this week.
“I would imagine while it’s a big company, it’s a small company as far as people are concerned. You never know when paths are going to cross and this is so early in the process here. Mike [Golic Jr.] and I are still trying to get off the ground, but like I said, the term I would use for pretty much anything is you never say never.”
Golic Sr. added that “nothing has been talked about or in the works.”
Golic Sr.’s return to ESPN was a surprise in itself, allowing him to leave the door open to “see what happens down the road” while cautioning his new show is not even a week old.
When ESPN opted not to bring him back when his contract ran out in 2021, Golic Sr. was blunt in how he described the ending: “They didn’t feel I had worth to their team, so they cut me.”
Not exactly words that portend a warm and fuzzy reunion.
The return even caught his son by surprise.
“I’d say it was definitely surprising,” Golic Jr. said, before reflecting on the chance to work with his dad at the network again. “I think, as much as anything, the emotion behind it was, ‘what a cool chance to come back and help add to that.’
“Help continue what he had built at ESPN Radio, you know, him and [Greenberg] for so long. To now get to play a small part in helping him add to that and going back again.”
Golic Sr. and Golic Jr.’s new show on ESPN Radio comes months after a show they had been doing for FanDuel Sports Network was cancelled amid financial struggles for the network’s parent company, Main Street Sports Group, back in March.
The two have worked together before as well, including during their time at ESPN previously, when Golic Jr. would join his dad on air when Golic Sr. was teamed with Trey Wingo after the split with Greenberg in 2017. And Golic Sr. told The Post that the plan was not to “reinvent the wheel.
“We’re just looking to be kind of that comfortable blanket that people can listen to and say, ‘okay, they’re going to talk sports, they’re going to have fun, they’re going to talk about food, they’re going to rip each other. We’re going to laugh a bit a little,’” Golic Sr. said.
Golic Jr. added that one of the best bits of feedback that they had gotten was when his dad left ESPN and they would hear from people who enjoyed listening to the father-son dynamic.
They heard countless people say, “Oh, we saw some of our relationship in you guys and the way that you interacted in the loving moments and the moments where there’s intergenerational frustration [and] all the things that people know about having a relationship with their parents or kids,” Golic Jr. explained.
“It’s what makes us unique in this and so people simultaneously get to feel like they’re a part of our family,” he added.
