mike golic-mike greenberg-mike & mike

Friday truly marked the end of an era for ESPN and ESPN Radio. After 17 overwhelmingly fruitful years together, Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic aired their final episode of “Mike & Mike.” Greenberg will now prepare for his new morning show, “Get Up,” which is set to debut April 2, while Golic will carry on with the radio show, alongside Trey Wingo.

In their final moments on air, Golic and Greenberg summoned their families to the set, then signed off by thanking their viewers.

Greenberg: The most important words I can think of are “thank you.” Thank you to all of you for choosing this all these years.

Golic: Yep, thank you very much. As Greeny said, we’ll be around. I’ve got a week, but I’ll be around, and he’ll be around in a few months, but this is the last time we can sign off together.

Greenberg: Final words, from our families to yours: Thank you.

Golic: Thank you very much. Mike and Mike signing off.

Golic and Greenberg’s final show was somewhat of a monument to their 17 years of partnership. Greeny opened the show by estimating the two had done 14,000 hours of radio together. Later, ESPN president John Skipper joining the final hour to reminisce and announce the construction of a playground in the hosts’ honor.

It was nice to see Golic and Greenberg enjoy a joyous send-off after a series of reports last spring suggested they no longer spoke off air and that the show could end prematurely as a result of their personal discord. The two hosts persistently denied any acrimony and lamented how the story played out publicly, but there was enough smoke that it was fair to worry the show would end unceremoniously.

Instead, one of the most successful radio shows of its era got to celebrate its final episode, a remarkable 17 years after Greeny’s joke about the No. 10 christened the partnership.

As you might expect, numerous current and former ESPN colleagues congratulated Golic and Greenberg on their final show and thanked them for nearly two decades of morning entertainment.

As Golic said in Friday’s close, this is certainly not the end for either he nor his (now former) partner. Greenberg will be on ESPN every morning, alongside Michelle Beadle and Jalen Rose on a talk show built around him, while Golic will take a week off, then team with Wingo beginning on Nov. 27.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.