Mike Francesa's return a pleasant surprise to at least one listener

What we all thought would be Mike Francesa's final show on WFAN aired on Dec. 15. My wife and I had a holiday party in Brooklyn that night. She agreed to drive so that I could be paying attention to Twitter as the show unfolded.

We made good time, much better than we both thought going from the Jersey Shore to Boerum Hill on a Friday night. We parked on Saint Mark's Place as Francesa's wife, Roe, was revealed as the final caller. That was just before 6 p.m. Terrific moment, felt like a fitting end after Francesa took a two-year victory lap.

My wife, bless her patience, was ready to get out of the car. The show wasn't over, so I wasn't. We were early, no worries. I listened, she hung out. At 6:26 p.m., Francesa thanked everyone, told his listeners he loved them, and said goodbye, We got out of the car and stepped into a snowy evening, I spent the block-and-a-half walk thinking about how another piece of adolescence just died.

Francesa returned to WFAN on Tuesday, ending his "retirement" after just four-and-a-half months.

Once news broke, that this was a possibility, things moved quickly. The end result was a Monday-Friday gig from 3-6:30 p.m. His replacements, Chris Carlin, Maggie Gray and Bart Scott, will remain in an afternoon slot from 1-3 p.m.

This situation was much-ballyhooed in the days leading up to his return, but please know that, I, a native New Yorker whose formative years came in the 1990s, love that Francesa is back.

In those days, before Mongo Nation was a thing, before he became something of a circus freak in this social media age, before there were countless options to consume your sports news, Mike and the Mad Dog was an absolute must-listen.

This is the Knicks and Rangers embarking on simultaneous playoff runs in 1994. This is me begging to stay up late to watch Knicks-Bulls Game 5 (The Charles Smith Game) the year before. This is the Core Four Yankees. This is the Jets coughing up a 10-0 third-quarter lead in the '98 AFC Championship game. These things happened, and the next day, you wanted to hear what Francesa and Russo had to say about it.

As I got older, I wasn't listening every day, usually only if something major happened the day before, but I, like a lot of other people, listened for the return.

Staff Writer Josh Newman: jnewman@app.com