"I thought it would be a sideline thing for me to do," says Greenberg, who hoped to use the gig as a stepping-stone from a journalism career to a sports anchor position at ESPN.

"It still stuns me," Golic, a former NFL defensive lineman, says when people show up at the duo's live events to listen to two guy's talk about sports. "We're just having conversations. I guess it just shows that people want to be part of the conversation, that people do sit at the corner of the bar talking about sports and life."

The guys known to fans as Greeny and Golic on "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN are arguably the most recognizable sports talk-radio hosts in the country. They'll broadcast their show, heard locally Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m. on 1250-AM ESPN Radio, Thursday from Joseph-Beth Booksellers at the SouthSide Works to promote their new book "Mike and Mike's Rules for Sports and Life," (Ballantine, $26).

In an age when sports talk radio, and talk radio in general, is subject to vitriol and self-aggrandizement, Golic and Greenberg set a strikingly different tone. In the book's foreword, political commentator George Will calls the duo "an island -- perhaps two islands -- of informed civility in a sea of bloviation."

"There was never any agenda," Golic says when asked if he and Greenberg charted a course to stand out from their peers. "We are basically different from each other, but, in our core values, we are both family guys, and both guys that don't put on an act. ... We're family guys and happy to be that way."

"The one thing you could never say about us is we're phony," Greenberg says. "We're doing our show the way we do it because it's the way we are. When the microphones go off, we're exactly the same two people."

That means family issues seep into discussions of games and interviews with players and sports analysts. Air time has been devoted to the birth of Greenberg's children and Golic's sons following in his footsteps to play football at his alma mater, Notre Dame.

"We don't engage in what a lot of other people consider guy talk," Greenberg says. "Our guy talk is the guys we are. I'm coaching Little League baseball, and Golic's schlepping all over the country taking his daughter to swim meets. We're both married guys with kids; that's who we are. It is interesting when I'm at an airport with my family and someone will come up to my wife and say 'Hi Stacy' or refer to my kids by name. It is funny, but I do think it is part of the connection you try to make in the radio business."

Sports, however, is the pair's metier. Here's what they have to say about issues pertaining to Pittsburgh teams:

• What will happen first: The Pirates in the World Series or Golic's hometown Cleveland Browns in the Super Bowl?

Golic: "I like the direction the Pirates are going, but after 17 years of losing, it's just brutal. You look at the way (the team) is being run now and they say they have a plan in place. I chuckled at first when I heard that: You hope they have a plan in place after 17 years. ... I certainly don't see it coming around the corner soon for either team, but given a baseball-football question like that, I'd probably say football because you can turn it around a little quicker than baseball."

• On Ben Roethlisberger's situation after being accused of sexual assault in cases pending in Las Vegas and Milledgeville, Georgia:

Greenberg: "The only thing we can say of him is we know he might have some problems with maturity, at minimum, and we'll see what else there is beneath that."

Golic: "I've said from day one and I'll continue to say it, when he meets with (NFL commissioner Roger Goodell), there's no way he should be suspended right now. People are starting to bring it along racial lines, talking about Pac-Man Jones and Michael Vick getting suspended. But those guys pled guilty, those guys were indicted or arrested, all things that have never happened to Ben Roethlisberger. While Ben has the civil suit going on from Tahoe, he wasn't charged there and wasn't charged (in Milledgeville). From that side of it, I don't think he should be suspended, pending any further investigation or indictment or arrest. ... Since I've gotten out of the league there's so much more media following what you do, and you have to know that. If I hear one more athlete or entertainer saying I want my privacy ... You know what? When you sign on the dotted line, you lose it. That's just the way it is now."