I don’t want to say Mike Francesa is behind the times, but based on his rant about Twitter yesterday, I’m betting he still uses dial-up to access the Internet.

During his show on WFAN in New York, the afternoon host railed on about the evils of Twitter, saying it “should be against the law” for anybody with name recognition to be tweeting – specifically “broadcasters, media people and athletes.”

He said:

“Nobody needs to hear from any one of them,” Francesa ranted on WFAN/New York as well as on television via YES Network. “Including me, because you’re never going to catch me tweeting. It’ll never happen. I promise you, never.”

Well, it turns out Francesa is on Twitter. At least, his show is.

MediaRantz writes:

Meanwhile, YES Network operates a Twitter account dedicated to Francesa’s program. And once Francesa was off and running about his “Twitter should be illegal” rant, YES Network staffer Anthony Griek informed all 11,000+ followers of the account that the purpose of the @MikeFrancesaYES account is “to promote news about the show”, usually guests that Francesa is scheduled to interview on his show that day. With that, Griek also made a point to write, “For those asking, Mike does not tweet here.”

Like YES Network, WFAN has its own way of keeping listeners updated with upcoming guests. The station’s parent company, CBS, calls it the “Audio Roadshow.” Among the other features of the app, specifically designed for Francesa’s program, are a convenient WFAN audio stream, a “spot poll,” and on most days, the first thing you’ll see when you open up the app is… a sports comment written by none other than Mike Francesa? We’ve archived one from mid-February about how Francesa “saw Lin in person last night” at the Garden – as in Jeremy Lin… remember him? – on what would be the first game the Knicks would lose with Lin being a starter. (This, of course, led to unsavory headlines that got a bunch of ESPN personnel in hot water.)

C’mon Mike, it’s 2012, not 1912. Time to get up to speed in more ways than one.

Nothing moves the sports talk radio meter like a heavy dose of controversy. KNBR in San Francisco has a good one within its own walls.

Ralph Barbieri had been a fixture at KNBR for 28 years before he was fired last week. The veteran sports talk host worked an afternoon shift with former NBA player Tom Tolbert.

Barbieri is 66 and suffers from Parkinson’s disease. His attorney, Angela Alioto claims he was unfairly terminated.

A San Francisco Examiner story reports:

While station managers reportedly told Barbieri he was being fired for  tardiness, Alioto said that the termination was motivated by age and disability  discrimination, because Barbieri, 66, suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Though  the condition is apparently slow-developing, Alioto said he takes dozens of  pills a day to control it.

“They told him he’s not peppy and energetic,” she said. “He goes to work  every day, it’s just that he’s not as perky as he used to be.”

Alioto told the San Jose Mercury-News:

“The whole tardiness issue is just a cover-up to get rid of someone who is sick,” Alioto said by phone, noting that Barbieri was likely to rack up huge medical bills in future years.

KNBR VP Bill Bungeroth refuted the claims.

“It is disappointing that Ralph’s lawyers have issued a press release filled  with inaccurate statements and baseless accusations,” Bungeroth said. “The  simple fact is that Ralph refused to honor some of the most basic terms of his  contract.”

Looks like this one will land in the courts, and not a basketball court.