Phil Mushnick

Phil Mushnick
Occupation	columnist
Website	http://www.nypost.com/sports/columnists/mushnick.htm

Phil Mushnick is a total douchebag who works for the New York Post. His column entitled "Equally Lame" appears three times a week on Sunday, Monday and Friday. He also provides a weekly column on Sunday for the entertainment–TV section of the paper. The columns cover numerous subjects that expose hypocrisy in sports, criticize exploitation of sex and "attitude" in sports programming, advocate on the behalf of ticketholders and expose ignorance and/or inaccuracies perpetrated by broadcasters, and points out what a creepy old fart he is!

Major targets

World Wrestling Entertainment and Vince McMahaon

Throughout the decades, Mr. Mushnick has been extremely critical of the lifestyles portrayed by World Wrestling Entertainment, both in their storylines and the performers' personal lives. In 1997 he criticized WWE chairman Vince McMahon in his column regarding the death of Brian Pillman. He claimed that McMahon's perpetration of steroid use for his performers led to Pillman's early demise. McMahon responded on an episode of WWE Raw that Mushnick was a "stupid, self-righteous, bitter, pathetic, no-good son of a bitch". Not deterred, Mushnick continued to criticize the industry as a "death mill" citing several wrestlers who have died before the age of 45. Although some of the performers, such as Miss Elizabeth and Davey Boy Smith, died while not employed with the WWE, Mushnick attributes their early deaths to the lifestyle that they led while employed for Vince McMahon. Mushnick's claims are backed up by a variety of other media outlets that have provided statistics showing the high number of wrestlers who have died young from heart failure, car crashes, suicide, homicide and other health-related problems.

Mike and the Mad Dog

The Mike and the Mad Dog program on New York City sports radio WFAN has been a popular target of Phil Mushnick. In a March 2008 column he compared Mike Francessa to the Wizard of Oz stating "Francessa's self-importance is so advanced that when the light turns green, he thinks it's because he knows people down at the DOT." . His attacks on Francessa's partner, Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, are more directed at Russo's inability to remember simple sports facts, strategy and information.

ESPN and Stephen A. Smith

No one is beyond the bounds of Mushnick's critique at ESPN, but the person he targets most often at the all-sports network is Stephen A. Smith. "Could it be that Smith’s urban street-hip brotha yak — which he seems able to turn on and off with the drop of a Kangol — is supposed to appeal/pander to young, urban, street-talkin’ sports fans?" . Mushinick is critical of ESPN's coverage of sports in showing more attitude in the athletes they cover and the broadcasters who cover them. He notes how ESPN's Stuart Scott appears more interested in being friends with the athletes than being critical of their performances should they be subpar. He has also made note of ESPN's ESPY Awards as pathetic, their "Who's Now" segment in the summer of 2007 and the fact that they ignore most second-tier sports in their highlights until they sign contracts with ESPN. An example of this is the Arena Football League.

Joe Morgan

Mushnick often points out when sports play by play and color commentators make factual errors or mess up a call on the field. But a column about Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan, who provides color commentary for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, provided extra controversy when Joe Morgan took the attack personally and responded in "An Open Letter to Phil Mushnick and Other Critics of Mine". . Morgan was responding to a July 20, 2007 column of Mushnick's titled "Had Our Phil of Morgan". Morgan had told an in-game story about a game he played in 1964 that had proved to be inaccurate. Mushnick exposed the inaccuracy, but Morgan's counterpoint was that it was not important he had made a mistake in the story, that his job as color commentator was to enhance the game being watched.

Don Imus and Sid Rosenberg

Mushnick was always critical of the Imus in the Morning programing for its off-color humor and shock value and he acknowledged the show as such. However, he felt that Sid Rosenberg often crossed the line between crude humor and total inappropriateness. He prophetically often wrote that Rosenberg would be the downfall of the show and despite being fired from WFAN for inappropriate remarks, continued absenteeism and bad public behavior, Rosenberg was one of the instigators of Don Imus's remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. He criticized the Imus in the Morning program for calling Mother Teresa "a no-good bitch", former WFAN host Len Berman as "Lenny the Jew" and various other "observations" he felt that crossed the line. . In the same column he wondered why people were shocked at Imus' "nappy-headed-ho" comment.

Other stuff

He devotes many columns to defending fans' right to affordable ticket prices and reasonable game times, notably the New York Mets' recent policy of charging higher prices for games against high-profile teams. Each week, he publishes the names of a celebrity and an athlete who look alike (e.g. actor Martin Mull and Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren). The "lookalikes" are submitted by his readers. Also, in one of his articles, Mushnick related to his readers a piece of advice from Jerry Orbach - never be photographed with an alcoholic beverage in your hand.