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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Controversy is heating up over the selection of Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022. Soccer's governing body is deciding whether to move the series from summer to winter because of the high temperatures during Qatar's summer months.
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The International Olympic committee (IOC) has elected a new president, Thomas Bach of Germany. He assumes leadership of an organization that faces criticism over politics, costs and what some view as its insular approach to which sports are offered during the games. The new president succeeds Jacques Rogge, who lead the IOC for 12 years.
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Clint Dempsey has returned to Major League Soccer, playing his first game for his new home team the Seattle Sounders over the weekend. Dempsey was very successful playing in the English Premier League — and is not worried that his skill will fall off playing in the U.S.
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By the standard of normal golfing mortals, Tiger Woods has had an incredible summer. He's won multiple tournaments and millions of dollars in prize money. What he didn't do was win any of golf's four major championships. And those major wins are his measure of success. -
Jason Dufner has won his first major golf title with a two-stroke victory over Jim Furyk at the PGA Championship. Dufner bogeyed the final two holes Sunday for a 2-under 68 that was good enough to hold off the 2003 U.S. Open champion. The winning score was 10-under 270.
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Monday was a historic one for Major League Baseball after 13 players were suspended for violating the league's drug policy. It's the largest group of players ever sanctioned at one time in an anti-doping action. Is baseball hoping the scope of this sends a message?
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On Monday, Major League Baseball dropped the hammer on more than a dozen players for using performance-enhancing drugs. Twelve have accepted 50 game suspensions. Alex Rodriguez was suspended through 2014, pending appeal.
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Major League Baseball is expected to hand down suspensions to several players implicated in performance enhancing drug use. New York Yankees all star Alex Rodriguez is the most prominent name on the list, and he also faces the longest suspension.
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The New York Jets are one of many teams with a quarterback controversy headed into the new season. But in New York, it seems that controversy attaches itself to everything the Jets do. Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath reflects on the difficulties of leading the Jets.
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The New York Yankees and their star slugger Alex Rodriguez are embroiled in a very public dispute over his future. The Yankees want him gone, but Rodriguez says he's ready to play.
