September 13, 2017
@gonzoCSN/Twitter
Comcast SportsNet's John Gonzalez announced on Twitter he's leaving Philadelphia for California.
If you're the kind of miserable sports fan stuck in traffic who actually enjoys radio hosts sniping at each other, then the absence of Josh Innes from the Philadelphia airwaves has probably been a bit deflating for your afternoon drives. A more civil competition has since gradually settled in between SportsRadio 94 WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic.
This is still Philly, though. At some point, someone can always be counted on to get riled up.
John Gonzalez, former host of CSN's "The 700 Level" and longtime Inquirer columnist, left Philadelphia last summer to join his wife, NFL Network analyst Colleen Wolfe, in sunny California. The move did not take the Philly out of Gonzo ("bye" is never the same as "goodbye"). He still tweets often on Philly sports topics and in June brought us the great story of the electrician who scrawled Sam Hinkie messages all over the Sixers' new practice facility in Camden.
That's how we come to a recent exchange between 97.5 afternoon host Mike Missanelli and midday show producer Andrew Salciunas. The two were discussing Beth Mowins, who called the second game of ESPN's week one doubleheader on Monday night between the Broncos and Chargers. She was the first woman to do so since Gayle Sierens in 1987.
In a screen-grabbed transcription, tweeted by Gonzalez on Wednesday, Missanelli floats the argument that women shouldn't handle play-by-play duties because they never played football. He said he's fine with skilled NFL analysts like ESPN's Jessica Mendoza, but doesn't get the "need" to have a woman call an NFL game.
Whaaaaat? Philly radio host previously outed for having fake black caller & using homophobic language in emails is also misogynist? Crazy. pic.twitter.com/gcWPSjMSGM
— John Gonzalez (@_JohnGonz) September 13, 2017
It's pretty obvious Missanelli knew what he was stepping in with this take. He called his own rationale "hinky" — and yet still pressed forward with the question.
It looks like Gonzo answered it for him.
The “you didn’t play the sport” argument is the lamest and laziest mouth breather argument possible.
— John Gonzalez (@_JohnGonz) September 13, 2017
If you’ve never been in a band, you can’t listen to music? Never run for office, can’t have a political opinion?
— John Gonzalez (@_JohnGonz) September 13, 2017
Smart is smart. Informed is informed. On opposite end, plenty of slow-witted assholes who played sports & have jobs in media but shouldn’t
— John Gonzalez (@_JohnGonz) September 13, 2017
BTW: Remind me where Mikey Mouthbreather played? Was he Bo Jackson double-dipping for the Phillies & Eagles and we missed it or something?
— John Gonzalez (@_JohnGonz) September 13, 2017
