About Me

I'm one of the hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe, a show that's on so early I can't bring myself to write it here. Let's just say my alarm goes off before last call at the bar around the corner. I've been working in TV for 10 years. The last job I held outside of television was as the driver of the delivery truck at Wine and Spirit World in Ho Ho Kus, New Jersey. If you enjoy wine or spirits or both, there's really no finer place to shop. The 10% per-case discount is only the beginning.

I was born just outside Chicago and raised just outside New York City. Those are, of course, two of America's five greatest cities. That list, in order: New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, and San Francisco. Also receiving votes: Nashville, Boston, and Seattle (I've never been there, but it looked cool on The Real World). I don't include Las Vegas on the list because a) it's really more of a universe than a city, and b) it's so much greater than all other cities combined, it's unfair to bring it into the conversation.

I grew up playing and following baseball, basketball, and football. My 6th grade little league team, Renato's Pizza, is considered by most baseball historians the best to ever play in Ridgewood, New Jersey. My dad wrote a best-selling book called Little League Confidential about coaching me and my sister. I was the captain of my high school basketball and football teams. I was taught from a very young age that soccer is a sport played by freedom-hating, godless communists who can't muster the patriotism (or the hand-eye coordination) to pick up a baseball glove and play the national pastime of this great country. I forgot to mention that my father is Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI).

My pro teams are the Yankees (26-time World Champions), the Giants (current World Champions), and the Knicks (they're doing some great work in the community). I'm not much of a hockey fan, but my buddy is a big star for the Ottawa Senators so I guess that's my squad. My college teams are Vanderbilt (I went to school there) and Illinois (my parents met there and raised me on the Illini). I've also always had a soft spot for UNLV and Miami (FL) because they never hid the fact that their 19-year-old players drove Lamborghinis. I respect that.

Oh, one more thing: I was the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture under Gerald Ford.

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