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Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic Sign Off After 18 Years of 'Mike & Mike' on ESPN Radio

After their finale on Friday, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic deserve praise for their long-running Mike & Mike show on ESPN Radio.

No matter how you felt about their long-running "Mike & Mike" show on ESPN Radio, whether you found Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic milquetoast or enjoyed their suburban affable banter, a near 18-year partnership on the most powerful sports media brand in America is a sensational run.​

The show debuted on Jan. 3, 2000 and the two provided ESPN with hours of tonnage as well as profit. What started as a morning show soon became a television simulcast (they started on ESPNNews in 2004 and the large viewership prompted a move to ESPN2 in 2006) and one of the company’s most successful on-air enterprises. Most impressively, they gave countless ESPN-ers significant opportunities to promote their on-air work, from Jemele Hill to Louis Riddick to Chris Mortensen. They are unquestionably one of most successful sports radio pairings of all-time.

“Through all of it we have sat here, we have done our best and tried to make people a little bit less miserable in their mornings,” Greenberg said during the last segment on Friday. “If we have succeeded in that, then we accomplished everything we needed to.”

Both hosts will move on to new projects. Golic will continue on ESPN Radio starting Nov. 27 with new partner Trey Wingo, who has experience on ESPN Radio and is one of the network’s signature NFL hosts. Mike Golic Jr. will also be part of the show each morning from 6– 7:00 a.m. That show, still based in Bristol, Conn., will be simulcast on ESPN2 before moving in January to its regular slot on ESPNU.

The tense, deteriorating relationship between ESPN Radio's Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic

Greenberg’s next foray is a huge one for ESPN management. He will host a new morning show in New York City on ESPN starting April 3 with co-hosts Michelle Beadle, Jalen Rose and one additional staffer (Damian Woody is a serious possibility). That show enters the most challenging environment in television given competition exists both in sports, politics and cross-over plays such as the Today Show and Good Morning America.

On Friday the radio show ended its run with both men bringing their family on the set. There had been significant tension between the groups, as this Sports Illustrated story detailed last May, but the last few months, according to numerous people at ESPN, much of that tension has receded and the two men are in a better place away from the cameras.  

The show ended with both thanking the audience:

“Final words, from our families to yours, thank you,” said Greenberg.

Added Golic: “Thank you very much. Mike and Mike signing off.”