Dan Patrick, en fuego, hits NY

It has been 3½ years since Dan Patrick left ESPN, a career move many thought he would come to regret. Nope. Not yet, anyway.

Since 2007 he happily has gone about his post-Bristol business, developing a syndicated radio show that evolved into a TV simulcast, writing for Sports Illustrated and hosting NBC’s NFL studio show.

“I refuse to go away,’’ he joked Thursday.

One glaringly large piece has been missing from his media portfolio, though: New York.

The radio show is on satellite radio, and the TV version has been on DirecTV since 2009. But Monday the majority of area residents will have access to him for the first time when MSG Plus begins to carry the simulcast from 9 a.m. to noon.

(He still won't be on terrestrial radio here. WFAN is all local, and 1050 ESPN is owned by, um, ESPN.)

“MSG was something I thought was important,’’ Patrick said. “I like to be in the New York market, but I wanted it to be the right time and the right place and the right people.’’

The fact the show has a national focus should minimize the awkward reality of a one-hour overlap with MSG’s simulcast of WFAN’s morning show.

“I’m friends with Boomer [Esiason] and [Craig] Carton,’’ he said. “Hopefully, I complement what they do maybe in a different way.’’

Patrick’s interviews often have made news – such as Tony Dungy calling out Rex Ryan for his “Hard Knocks’’ language. It’s a bonus when that news finds itself on his old show, “SportsCenter.’’

Not that Patrick has any hard feelings toward the network he still calls The Mother Ship.

“I don’t hold any grudges,’’ he said. “I left for the right reasons.’’