If you’ve ever listened to the afternoon drive show on 950 ESPN Radio with Mike Missanelli, you know that nothing upsets him more than when a member of the out-of-town media refers to Philly’s reputation as a town of tough, mean, rude fans. If you listen to his show, you also know that Missanelli, unlike many other radio personalities, does not hide behind the mike, but will confront those people he has issue with head on. He has recently taken on various members of the national media, from Yahoo sports to his own ESPN, including the oft controversial Collin Cowherd. This is why I have an immense amount of respect for Missanelli and in the spirit of full disclosure, I am an avid listener to his show.

That being said, it came as no surprise that Missanelli took particular issue with comments made on ESPN’s First Take on Monday by Skip Bayless. Bayless was discussing the actions of Dallas Maverick fans during a recent playoff game, and likened it to “Philly-style rude, crude, dangerous” behavior. Missanelli then invited Bayless to join him during Tuesday’s show to explain his choice of words.

Here is the transcript of the interview, nicely compiled by www.sportsradiointerviews.com:

It’s real easy for journalists who live outside Philadelphia to throw these barbs when you really don’t have any information at all:

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.  Did you say I have no information at all?

Yeah, I’m asking you for the information.  I’m asking you to produce it.  In the last ten years, what have you heard about this rude, crude dangerous behavior in the stands?

“Well, ok I’m going to have to go back to my 18 years of going to the Vet.”

(Missanelli interrupts) Oh, so let’s go back to the Vet.  So we’re never going to live that down in Philadelphia because of nitwits like you who rip us and make it a modern day thing:

“Ok, if you’re going to insult me I’m going to hang up.”

Do you want to hang up or do you wan t to spar? I’m not like these lightweights you spar with on First Take.   Let’s get into a little sparring here if you’ve got information.

“Ok, I’m gonna make my statement and then I’m going to hang up.”

Ahh, don’t hang up. don’t cry.  Come on Skip.   Don’t cry.  Let’s have a debate.

After this, they start talking over one another so forgive me if my transcripts may be a bit off.

“I don’t insult anybody on First and Ten when I debate with them”

Yes you do, you do it all the time.

“You’re the lightweight.  I don’t even know who you are.  What’s your last name?  Seriously, who am I talking to?

Google me, you’ll find out.  Let’s have a legimitate argument about this.

“Say your name cause I don’t know your name.”

It doesn’t matter.  I’m Mr. X as far as your concerned.

“No seriously, I’m serious, I don’t know who you are.  Just say your name so I know who I’m talking to.”

My name is Mike Missanelli.  Mike Missanelli.  I was a journalist for for many years with the Philadelphia Inquirer when you were with Dallas so we don’t have to go over resumes right now.  I’m just asking you a simple question.

“I’m giving you my simple answer.  For 18 straight years I went to the Vet for at least one game a year and occasionally for two because of playoff games and I knew the women who ran the tour groups for Cowboy fans who went on the trips with the Cowboys. Of all the stadiums we went to which was, year after year, every stadium in the NFL, there was only one stadium where she had a rule that you cannot wear Cowboy garb – no hats, no jerseys, nothing to identify yourself as a Cowboy because it’s too dangerous. That’s the image that was set at the Vet for your city of Philadelphia and like it or not, it’s still out there because there was case after case, incident after incident to back it up…If you ask anybody outside the city of Philadelphia about whose city has the worst reputation for fans, it’s Philly. That’s the image that Philadelphia fans earned year after year…Year after year, I went there and I would look down in horror at the fights in the stands…I saw people fight, I saw them every year. I was scared to go there as a journalist because if they found out I was from Dallas, I was taking my life in my own hands.”

SRL: I’m sure you get the gist of the interview and it continues to get better after this.  Missanelli keeps asking Skip to give evidence from the last ten years and Skip keeps talking in circles.  Skip calls him a “shock jock” which is a bit ironic.  I’m real curious to see if Missanelli faces any on-air suspension after this.  I don’t think he should as he defended Philly and it made for entertaining radio, but ESPN is very protective of their personalitites and the station in Philadelphia is an ESPN affiliate.

For the audio of the full transcript, go here.

To say that the interview was combative would be putting it lightly. Since the interview aired Tuesday afternoon, Missanelli has been criticized for being rude and playing into the perceptions of people like Bayless. I do not think Missanelli was rude and I think he gave Bayless ample opportunity to make his point, but he is too pompous to let someone stand up to him like Missanelli does. That being said, I do think Missanelli did himself a disservice by calling Bayless a nitwit, but I think that’s the only fault you should find with the interview, even though Bayless is a nitwit and much more.

The fact of the matter is that Missanelli has been saying what he said to Bayless for years. I have heard him call several out-of-town members of the media lazy, including a Yahoo sports columnist from Detroit, in that they use the crutch of this town’s reputation without doing any of their own research on the issue and he’s right. We, as Philly fans, have to constantly listen to references of throwing snowballs at Santa, booing Michael Irvin, and booing Donovan McNabb on draft day, the most recent of which occurred in 1999. The booing of Santa Claus happened before I was even born, and yet I’m tarnished with that stain. Even though Missanelli pressed him several times, Bayless was unable to come up with examples of that “Philly-style, rude, crude, dangerous” behavior.

I give Missanelli credit and commend him for a job well done. I wish more journalists, especially from ESPN, were as honest and had as solid a spine as Missanelli.