Mike & The Mad Dog were once the titans of sports talk radio.  A partnership forged at WFAN in New York that set the foundation for every drivetime radio duo that would follow across the country.  Without Mike & The Mad Dog, there would be no Mike & Mike or any other successful sports talk radio show.  Chris Russo and Mike Francesa were instrumental in the medium becoming what it is today.

But after the relationship between Russo and Francesa deteriorated, the show was consigned to the history books in August 2008 after a near 20 year run.  Mike & The Mad Dog went their separate ways.  Francesa would remain at WFAN for a solo show that has produced one viral hit after another and given rise to Mongo Nation.  Russo would travel to SiriusXM to start his own sports channel as well.  Apart, neither of them are quite as good as what they were together.

Alas, now both have entered television and the former partners are competitors once again.  Francesa’s radio show is now simulcast to a nationwide audience on Fox Sports 1 & 2.  Russo is the host of the new hour-long MLB Network daily show High Heat at Noon ET.

Longtime fans of Russo and Francesa might wonder which one is winning the duel at the moment and drawing a larger audience.  Thankfully, we now have the data to answer that question.

In its first week on MLB Network, High Heat with Christopher Russo averaged 83,600 viewers from March 31-April 4, hitting a high total of 112,000 viewers last Tuesday.

In its first week on Fox Sports 1 (March 24-28), The Mike Francesa Show averaged a mere 29,250 viewers from Monday-Thursday.  Francesa’s high during his debut week was just 32,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1.  On Fox Sports 2, Francesa’s peak viewership during his debut week was 20,000 viewers.  The lack of distribution on FS2 has been a sore spot for Francesa and his legions of fans already, as has his preemption on FS1 for Champions League soccer.

The comparison isn’t quite apples to apples.  Francesa goes for 3 hours on Fox Sports 1 and Dog is only on the air for 1.  Russo hosts an MLB talk show on MLB Network and has a built-in audience.  Francesa is hosting a New York talk show for a national audience.  And of course, if you included radio numbers it would be a different story.

However, even with those factors in mind, Russo is almost tripling Francesa in terms of average television viewership, making it a blowout victory in his favor.

Let’s check in on the reaction of the sports pope as he’s losing to his former partner on national television…

[Viewership data via Son of the Bronx]