FRANCESA BACK IN SESSION TODAY

The Mike Francesa summer long vacation is over. Francesa is back in session today. So what does that mean? Will the new jingle be unveiled? The new name of the show? An announcement of some new on-air personalities? There are a lot of pressing questions. But the one I have is this: Will Mike Francesa still a guarantee a playoff appearance this season by the New York Yankees, or will he officially admit that the Yankees season is over? Let's take a look at some of the evidence:

- Before leaving for vacation, Francesa said the Yanks had to win "5 of their next 6" against Baltimore and Boston. Well your honor, the Bombers failed to reach that mark, dropping 2 games vs Boston.

- Mike has repeatedly declared Boston a better team than the Yanks. That better team also happens to have a 7 game lead with just 25 games to play. You do the math...

- As Gman loves to point out, Mike has a habit of referring to the Mets collapse last year as evidence that the Yankees still have hope, but what Mr. Francesa fails to mention is that a collapse of that nature is so rare that it has only happened a couple times in 40 years. So we are expected to believe that it is going to happen again this year, with the Yanks chasing a much better Red Sox team?

- Finally, Mike has consistently held out hope for a complete collapse from the Tampa Bay Rays. During the All-Star break, Mike predicted that Tampa would play "under .500 the 2nd half of the season." Well, at last look, Tampa is 29-12 since the break. When pressed on this issue in August, Mikey said he wasn't handing anything to the Rays, that they still needed to prove it. Well, Tampa is 12 up on the Yanks. Do they still have to prove it Mikey?

What will Mike say about the Yanks? The run starts today?