Is satellite in Chris Russo's future? Sirius ain't sayin'
I thought Chris Russo handled himself well in a tough spot Monday as he addressed my Sunday article about the potential breakup of the "Mike and the Mad Dog" show this summer.
Here is the transcript of what he said, and here is my Tuesday newspaper article updating the situation.
I have been told by readers that after Chris' initial remarks screeners did not allow callers who wanted to talk about my article through, which is understandable in this situation.
Really, the only thing that bothered me about Russo's non-denial denial was his obsession with my negative review of his book two years ago. I thought he and I had talked all that out at the Super Bowl media party!
Click below for more on that.
Chris wondered why I didn't say anything nice about his first book, which Mrs. WatchDog liked but I did not read.
Yo, Chris: I wasn't our media columnist at the time! It would have been a little awkward for a Giants beat writer to start reviewing books out of the blue. I remember talking to Chris about the book at a party at Jim Fassel's house in 2003. Everyone seemed to like it. Mazel tov!
I do admit my 2006 review of his second book was longer and more harsh than any other such story I've done. I originally was going to do a small item on it, but when I saw Chris on the "Today'' show talking about the book and imagined people spending money on it for a Father's Day gift, I thought it became fair game for a longer treatment.
The headline, "Mad Dog's Book Bites," was particularly rough. But remember: We don't write the headlines!
Actually, I gave Chris a big benefit of the doubt when I could have made him look worse. In a paragraph about great sports venues, Chris wrote, "As you know, one of my yardsticks for a great venue is whether you can feel the ghosts. The problem with the NFL is that too many of the stadiums are so new that you don't have that. I felt a little bit of that at RFK Stadium in Washington, but it's gone."
I was not sure whether Chris meant that RFK no longer was used for football, or whether it literally was gone. If it were the latter, the Yankees would have been mightily confused the night my review came out when they showed up for their game against the Nationals and found the stadium missing.
Whatever. I appreciated Chris saying Monday that he likes me and that I'm a good guy and a hard worker. I always have liked Chris, too, and was friendly with him in my pre-media critic days.
One of the most helpful things about this job for me is that I knew many of the people I now cover in a non-media critic context during the 20 years before I had this gig.
That's also one of the worst things. Most sportswriters cover people like Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Stephon Marbury and others with whom they have little in common, certainly not friendship.
I cover and critique friends. Not easy. Not easy at all.
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Comments (10)
Neil's hanging with Russo at parties?????!!!!
Dude, you got to get a grip!
wheres mike? he should of called in. of course you know he will address this on friday giving his side of this scenario.
Neil, You should go on the air with Dog and hash things out.
You listen to his show on a daily basis so if you don't realize Russo is a person who holds grudges against people, you ought to learn. He probably thinks your bad review cost him sales and money instead of the fact the book was worthless and unreadable. So, why would he forgive you?
Sports reporters criticize athletes for being too sensitive to criticism, but they are often just as sensitive. Best and Russo are an example of this. They wonder whether one likes the other, criticized the other, etc.
I'm not sure which is the most monumental waste of time: listening to these two pompous blowhards, writing about them, or writing about listening to them. If you hit the trifecta, you're a three-time loser.
Not sure what talent Russo has that has given him the big WFAN contract, but I do understand why WFAN may be ready to release him. So, let him go to Sirius where few of us will even be able to hear him. He doesn't know much about most sports anyway and has no computer skills either - he's still living in the ;80s.
Do you think you could post the PTI tribute to them?
Rob: don't have it.
You can find the audio to the tribute on my website, MikeFrancesa.com
Neil- handwave to you for not having it and stop calling me on vacation.