1. Wednesday morning, ESPN sent out a press release announcing that SiriusXM radio host and New York legend Chris “Mad Dog” Russo will join Stephen A. Smith on First Take every Wednesday. The duo will have its first debate on next Wednesday’s show. Russo’s permanent Wednesday appearances will begin March 1.
“Usually at 62 years of age, they are throwing you out of this business,” Russo told me. “I’m thrilled to be getting new opportunities. SiriusXM, MLB Network and now ESPN, I’m having a lot of fun.” Russo also told me he will still be doing his daily High Heat show on MLB Network in addition to the First Take gig.
If you read Traina Thoughts and follow me on Twitter, you know I’m a huge Russo fan. He’s been on the SI Media Podcast a few times and I regularly tweet funny clips from his show.
So because I’m a big fan, I tweeted the news to my followers and was completely blown away by the reaction.
I have a decent number of Russo fans who follow me, but I was not expecting to get bombarded with replies to the tweet.
So I’d like to address some of the tweets that I got.
Before I do that, let’s be clear about one thing when it comes to both Russo and Stephen A.: Either you get them or you don’t. Either you sit back and enjoy the performance or you get worked up because they shout. Either you enjoy the art of the debate or you get angry because they got a stat wrong.
Because of this, the initial reaction to the news was a combination of excitement, shock and we need to protect our ears at all costs.
Now I’d like to address some specific tweets.
• This is what I’m most looking forward to. Dog pretty much mispronounces every athlete’s name and about 50% of words in the English language incorrectly. How will Stephen A. react? Will this throw off Stephen A. during a heated debate?
• This is a 100% accurate representation of what will happen on the show.
• Dog is obsessed with Major League Baseball pre-1960 so these things will definitely happen.
• Imagine thinking a sports hot take show is supposed to be journalism.
• I don’t want to watch grown men argue about sports, either. But I do want to watch two incredible performance artists work together.
• There isn’t anybody in sports who has a memory like Dog’s. And this is why the name mispronunciations are hilarious. He knows what Ty Cobb batted in 1927, but struggles with basic names.
• This person gets it. At the end of the day, this is what it’s all about for ESPN.
2. This two-minute clip from Pardon My Take of Chris Berman explaining the origin of his famous WHOOP sound effect while calling NFL highlights is so good.
3. The Kentucky Wildcats last night were –11 or –10.5 against South Carolina, depending on where you bet the game. This was how the game ended. If you're a degenerate gambler, this clip is NSFW.
4. Really nice story here about a 12-year-old Bengals fan getting surprised at school with Super Bowl tickets.
5. Good read here for my fellow New Yorkers who participate in legalized sports betting.
6. The latest SI Media Podcast features a conversation with Bryan Curtis of The Ringer.
We covered all the latest sports media news including the entire saga of Tom Brady's retirement announcement and news break, Tony Romo's rough day in the booth for the AFC title game between the Bengals and Chiefs, why Troy Aikman has become the best NFL analyst on television, Al Michaels’s future, the ridiculousness of Radio Row and much more.
You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.
You can also watch the SI Media Podcast on YouTube.
