It took nearly six months, but WFAN’s Mike Francesa finally has a date and location set for his “One Bite” pizza review with Barstool’s Dave Portnoy. Friday, October 18th at 1pm, The Pope and The Prez will score a slice from Justin Pizza in the Bronx, down the street from Yankee Stadium.
Last week, ready to set a date, Francesa had Portnoy call his show to discuss their schedules and the two decided on October 18th. At first, Portnoy, a die-hard Red Sox fan, scoffed at the idea of doing a pizza review near Yankee Stadium, so they picked Friday, an off-day for the ALCS.
With Wednesday’s ALCS rainout forcing a game to be played Friday, the weather almost delayed the “One Bite” review. Francesa will broadcast from Yankee Stadium for both Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS Thursday and Friday, making him unavailable to be in Manhattan for the review.
Luckily, Portnoy is willing to visit Yankee Stadium for some pizza and an hour after Francesa announced they needed to reschedule, the review was back on.
It took phone calls, tweets and meetings in Saratoga, but it seems like Francesa and Portnoy will finally eat pizza together. The discussion dates back to April, when a caller asked Francesa if he would consider scoring a slice with Portnoy. Seemingly unaware of what the caller was talking about and possibly concerned it was a prank call attempt, Mike snarkily asked, “how do you know I eat pizza?” A few days later Portnoy called Francesa to invite him for a review.
Although Francesa keeps referring to the “One Bite” review as the “pizza challenge,” the iconic sports radio host does not need to take more than one bite to score a slice. It’s not the first pizza related feat for a notable WFAN host as Maggie Gray ate an entire 18” pie during one show last summer.
Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here.