It was just a soda.
ESPN Radio host Michael Kay opened his new YES Network simulcast on Monday by throwing out a bottle of Diet Coke, the beverage of choice of radio counterpart Mike Francesa, into a garbage can held by co-host Don La Greca.
“It was totally my idea. I just thought it was funny and kind of a changing of the guard, and I meant absolutely no disrespect at all,” Kay told The Post on Thursday.
“I am actually totally amused with some reacting as if I desecrated a religious artifact. I mean, it was not meant that way at all. Mike had been on YES for 12 years and now we are in that spot, it was just a ceremonial passing of the torch. People took it as if I insulted a religious figure.”
Francesa told Newsday it was a “classless, loser move from two guys I have been burying in the ratings for over a decade.”
Kay found irony in those remarks as Francesa has made a habit of degrading Kay’s ratings (currently seventh, with Francesa on top) through the years, particularly since it was known Kay’s mid-day simulcast would replace Francesa’s on YES. Francesa’s contract with the Yankees network ended at the end of January and Kay has taken over the time slot.
“His comment was that it was a classless stunt. I really laughed at that because ever since I started this radio show I have done nothing but been respectful of him and look at his standing in the industry and the ratings,” Kay said.
“And I’ve called him the gold standard of what we do. But, of late, all he does is make comments about ratings, comments like pea shooter, and to me that’s insulting and to me that’s a lack of grace and class. And what I did is something funny, and it wasn’t as if I took a shot at a guy that hasn’t taken a hundred shots at us for every one that we’ve taken at him. So, again, he is not a religious figure, a head of state, he’s a sports radio talk show host and it’s all about having fun and that’s what we did. If people feel they can tweak us then we can certainly tweak him back.”
Despite the backlash from Francesa and some of his loyal Twitter followers, Kay said he has no regrets over the decision to dump the soda.
“A lot of people have asked would I do it again?” Kay said. “I’d absolutely do it a hundred times again. I thought it was hilarious and anybody took it seriously or as an insult or as a desecration or something, that’s their issue, not mine.”
In fact, it seemed to have helped the show’s first-day ratings pull in 0.61 percent of New York homes.
“If I brought eyeballs to the television and attention to the show, then I thought it was a pretty smart idea by me,” Kay said.