Relax, New York. The "Sports Pope" is still very much with us.
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Mike Francesa popped back onto his podcast this week after a two-week disappearance that had the internet doing what it does best: Speculating wildly. And yes, that included people wondering if something serious had happened.
Turns out, nothing dramatic. Just a knee procedure.
Francesa opened his show by clearing the air in classic fashion, calling out the rumors head-on and with a little humor.
"I'd like to say hello and clear up a couple of things," he said. "All you crazies on the internet who came up with every possible reason, including my death... it was planned."
The 72-year-old said the procedure required only a short hospital stay, though the recovery kept him off the mic a bit longer than expected.
Still, that didn't stop the rumor mill. Francesa said friends were sending him everything from talk of disputes with sponsors to, yes, reports that he had passed away.
"Guys were sending me things about me having died," he said, laughing. "I'm like, 'Hey, I had a good run. I had a nice life.'"
Maybe the most surprising part of all this is that nobody actually leaked the real story. Francesa said plenty of people knew about the procedure ahead of time, from his inner circle to business partners.
Instead, they let the internet run wild.
And now he's back, sounding like himself, which is probably all his listeners really needed to hear.
