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Mike Pesca

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.

  • The Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs 95-to-88 in Game 7 of the series Thursday night in Miami. LeBron James, who was chosen MVP, had 37 points and 12 rebounds.
  • It's Christmas for pro basketball fans — game 7 of the NBA Finals is Thursday night. And, after an epic, draining game 6, the match up between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs has put everyone, from casual observers and the stats geeks, in a tizzy.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Broadcaster Bob Wolff, 92, witnessed many historic moments in sports during his 74-year career. He has donated more than 1,000 hours of his broadcasts to the Library of Congress.
  • Louisville hasn't won the NCAA men's college basketball championship since 1986. They beat Michigan 82-76. Coach Rick Pitino added this title to the one he won at Kentucky in 1996. He's the first coach to win a championship at two schools.
  • Top overall seed Louisville will face Wichita State at the Georgia Dome next Saturday, while Michigan takes on Syracuse in the other national semifinal. The winners advance to the April 8 championship.
  • Go on, pick a favorite in this year's NCAA tournament. We dare you. There's more than a dozen legitimate contenders to pick from. And then there's all those potential Cinderella teams. Mike Pesca talks to Audie Cornish about the upcoming NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament, which is as wide open as it has even been.
  • Big name medal winners in high-profile Olympic sports can count on support from sponsors. But not so for lesser known athletes. That's forced some of them to take an unorthodox approach to fundraising.
  • The latest round of the NFL playoffs didn't disappoint. The Green Bay Packers, the team with the best record in the regular season, lost to the New York Giants. Among the other games, the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos.