Mike Pesca

Credit David Banks

Mike Pesca first reached the airwaves as a 10-year-old caller to a New York Jets-themed radio show and has since been able to parlay his interests in sports coverage as a National Desk correspondent  for NPR based in New York City.

Pesca enjoys training his microphone on anything that occurs at a track, arena, stadium, park, fronton, velodrome or air strip (i.e. the plane drag during the World's Strongest Man competition). He has reported from Los Angeles, Cleveland and Gary. He has also interviewed former Los Angeles Ram Cleveland Gary. Pesca is a panelist on the weekly Slate podcast “Hang up and Listen”.

In 1997, Pesca began his work in radio as a producer at WNYC. He worked on the NPR and WNYC program On The Media. Later he became the New York correspondent for NPR's midday newsmagazine Day to Day, a job that has brought him to the campaign trail, political conventions, hurricane zones and the Manolo Blahnik shoe sale. Pesca was the first NPR reporter to have his own podcast, a weekly look at gambling cleverly titled “On Gambling with Mike Pesca.”

Pesca, whose writing has appeared in Slate and The Washington Post, is the winner of two Edward R. Murrow awards for radio reporting and, in1993, was named Emory University Softball Official of the Year.

He lives in Manhattan with his wife Robin, sons Milo and Emmett and their dog Rumsfeld. A believer in full disclosure, Pesca rates his favorite teams as the Jets, Mets, St. Johns Red Storm and Knicks, teams he has covered fairly and without favor despite the fact that they have given him a combined one championship during his lifetime as a fully cognizant human.

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5:27am

Wed June 19, 2013
Sports

Miami Heat Force Game 7 In NBA Finals

Originally published on Wed June 19, 2013 6:12 am

The Miami Heat avoided elimination Tuesday night by beating the San Antonio Spurs in overtime, 103 to 100. LeBron James shrugged off a poor start to get 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Ray Allen hit a 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds to play to force overtime.

5:03pm

Mon June 17, 2013
Sports

San Antonio Spurs One Game From Winning Fifth NBA Title

Originally published on Mon June 17, 2013 5:45 pm

Every time you think you got a handle on this year's NBA Finals, you realize, you have no idea what's going to happen next. Case in point: Before last night's game five against the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was slumping and supposedly washed up. Instead he put on a vintage performance and led the Spurs to a ten-point victory over the defending champs.

4:30am

Mon June 10, 2013
Sports

Heat Breaks Away From Spurs To Win Game 2

Originally published on Mon June 10, 2013 7:08 am

The series is tied at one game a piece. The Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs Sunday night 103-84. Last week, the Spurs beat the Heat in the opener.

6:01pm

Fri June 7, 2013
Sports

What Sports Stats Can't Predict

Originally published on Fri June 7, 2013 8:29 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Finally this hour, a more popular sporting event, the National Basketball Association Finals. In Miami last night, the San Antonio Spurs went up one game to zero against the Heat. It was a very close game, 92-88 and as NPR's Mike Pesca says, the other numbers that stood out were rebounds and turnovers.

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5:23pm

Tue June 4, 2013
Sports

Heat, Spurs Prepare For NBA Finals Showdown

Originally published on Tue June 4, 2013 6:22 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And I'm Robert Siegel. The NBA Finals are set. For a third straight year, the Miami Heat will be playing for the championship. The Heat won last year and they'll defend their title against the San Antonio Spurs. Tip-off for the championship series is Thursday, and now here to talk about the Heat, Spurs and about grace under pressure is NPR's Mike Pesca. Hi, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.

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5:41am

Tue June 4, 2013
Sports

After Game 7: Pacers Go Home, Heat Face Spurs

Originally published on Tue June 4, 2013 8:10 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The Miami Heat were dominant last night as they beat the Indiana Pacers to win Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals. NPR's Mike Pesca reports that Miami's LeBron James led all scorers with 32 points and his team to another berth in the Finals.

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5:54am

Mon June 3, 2013
Sports

3 Fresh Faces Usher In New WNBA Season

Originally published on Mon June 3, 2013 10:23 am

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The women's pro basketball season is underway, and this year the WBNA features three former college stars. These standout players are being marketed as the Three To See. They are Elena Della Donne, Brittney Griner, and Skylar Diggins. NPR's Mike Pesca saw two of the three to see play each other last night. He has this report.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Skylar Diggins can still get the crowd to go wild.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERS)

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6:27am

Thu May 30, 2013
Sports

Blackhawks Beat Wings, Will Meet Kings In NHL Conference Final

Originally published on Thu May 30, 2013 8:18 am

The Chicago Blackhawks were on the verge of elimination from the National Hockey League playoffs. But in overtime Wednesday night, they came back to beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7 of their second-round playoff series.

5:41am

Sun May 19, 2013
Sports

Sports: Rallying For Wrestling

Originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 2:11 pm

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

You're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. And it's time for sports.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEME MUSIC)

MARTIN: NPR's Mike Pesca is on the line from New York. Good morning, Mike.

MIKE PESCA: Hey.

MARTIN: There's a little wrestling news to talk about this morning. There was this big landmark wrestling match last week between Iran and the U.S. that took place in Grand Central Station, right?

PESCA: Grand Central, yeah. I was there. The Russians were involved, too, quite exciting.

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5:05am

Thu May 16, 2013
Sports

Wrestlers Grapple To Save Sport From Olympic Chopping Block

Originally published on Thu May 16, 2013 2:11 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

How often do you find Iran, Russia and the United States united behind a single message? Well, representatives from all three countries were in New York City yesterday rallying support for the sport of wrestling, which could be excluded from the upcoming Olympic Games. It was quite a show of sportsmanship and diplomacy. Of course, there was time for some conflict among the wrestlers. It took place at New York's Grand Central Terminal, that's why they called it the Rumble on the Rails.

Here's NPR's Mike Pesca.

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