Mike Greenberg came up in Chicago as an old-fashioned host, anchor and writer covering sports locally. Despite many years as one of ESPN’s biggest personalities, Greenberg only recently fully embraced his New York Jets fandom.
After mentioning his love for the Jets here and there on Mike & Mike or wearing a celebratory green tie on the set of SportsCenter, Greenberg over time realized the audience remained loyal in spite of his more open fandom, he recently told The New York Post. The fear of bias or preferential treatment faded as he settled into his a role as an opinionist and voice of the fan.
“There have been times where Jets fans think I’m being to critical of the team, but frankly I’ve just been honest about my thoughts,” he said.
“I don’t purport to speak for anybody but myself. I don’t speak for all Jets fans. I don’t know how all Jets fans feel, but we’ve been through a lot of really bad teams and we’ve seen the team make a lot of really bad decisions in recent years. And I felt I needed to say it because I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.”
Personalities like Stephen A. Smith and Bill Simmons leaned into their allegiances a long time ago. Better late than never for Greenberg.
Lately, Greenberg has been a fount of content unto himself during a tumultuous start to the Jets’ season. After positive attention around their Hard Knocks appearance, quarterback Aaron Rodgers went down in Week One and backup Zach Wilson played terribly the following two weeks.
Broadcasting from the heart of New York City amid the biggest Jets season in years, Greenberg is finally opening up.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.