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Curbstone Coaches have lunch with Munch
By Greg Gulas
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
Cleveland native Mark “Munch” Bishop has been a fixture in his hometown for 39 years with sports talk show.
Bishop said he appreciates the many fans who listen to his daily three-hour afternoon program on iHeart Radio. He credited his father with cultivating his love for sports.
“I was born and raised in the Slavic Village area of Cleveland and my dad just loved his sports,” said Bishop, who is a 1970 graduate of Solon High School and Ohio State University. “He’d eat his cereal in the morning, drink his coffee and always leave the paper opened to the box scores for me to read. He’s the reason why I love and have always been enamored with sports.”
Bishop will celebrate his 40th year on the air on Aug. 19, 2019. He was in law school at Capital University in 1979 when he first went on the air.
“I was working at Bernie’s Bagels and Deli, earning money to put myself through law school when the program director at Q96 [WLVQ] came in. He said he was impressed with my sports knowledge and that they were a rock station, looking for someone knowledgeable to do a couple of morning reports.
“They paid $70 a week for two daily morning reports from Monday through Friday. The program director then told me their phone rang off the hook after my trial run, so they added me to their afternoon news reports with a $25 raise. I never completed law school.”
Bishop played football, competed in track in the low hurdles, ran cross country and played basketball for the Comets.
Being shorter than most of his basketball teammates, his nickname was derived and shortened from munchkin. It’s a moniker that he has fully embraced.
Bishop thinks his Indians have one more good World Series run.
“I expect one of their pitchers, either Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer, to be moved but not both,” Bishop said. “To get either one of them a team will have to give up two position players that can start right now, a reliever who can jump in immediately and a pitcher currently at the Class AAA level.”
Bishop also believes the Cavaliers can turn things around.
“I like what I am seeing right now and believe that they can become a play-off team, perhaps as early as next season,” he said.
He also believes the Browns are headed in the right direction.
“General manager John Dorsey has a plan,” Bishop said. “At the beginning of the season he had a list of names and Gregg Williams wasn’t on that list as a possible head coach. We saw yesterday against the Texans that they are still a work in progress.”
He felt that since Green Bay let go of Mike McCarthy yesterday, his name would be one that surfaces during Dorsey’s search.
“In addition to Mike McCarthy, if you want to go the offensive coordinator route then I’m hearing Eric Bieniemy of the Chiefs and a name that might be in the mix,” he said. “Those that I have had on my show, from coaches to players to writers at his last three stops in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Arizona, all love Bruce Arians. They all say that he relates to players better than some of the younger coaches in the league. Also, if John Harbaugh is let go in Baltimore, then add his name to the list of candidates. Heck, why not call Tony Dungy? The worst he can do is say no.”