As if Stephen A. Smith isn’t enough of a formidable debate opponent, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had to spar with broken glasses and the confines of modern technology.
During this week’s edition of Mad Dog on First Take, Smith and Russo were yelling about something. But the nature of their debate was pushed to the background when Russo whipped out his glasses in search of information to enhance his argument.
At some point during the show, or maybe on his train ride into the city for First Take, Russo must have sat on his glasses, breaking one of the temples off his frame. No big deal, they were still perfect enough for Russo to wear on national television.
As he sat there with the eyeglasses dangling off his face, Smith implored Russo to “fix your glasses.”
“Ah my glasses are broke anyway,” Russo said. “Can I show you the stat line for Draymond Green? If my dopey phone can connect.”
Draymond Green! That’s who they were debating about while I was briefly blinded by the broken glasses. Like a great TV commercial that finishes, and you have no idea what was being advertised, I completely missed what Dog was even arguing about the first time I watched him work through a debate while struggling with his glasses and phone.
It took Russo nearly a full minute to pull up Green’s stat line from Game 5 of the NBA Finals as the glasses desperately clung to his face by one arm and he repeatedly tapped his phone in an attempt to make it “connect.” And although it wasn’t by design, he managed to make great entertainment out of an otherwise empty minute of television.
For those who were only recently introduced to Russo during his rise to national TV on First Take, you might not be aware that this goofy scene is a perfect depiction of the kind of sports host he is. If sports talk became a children’s cartoon, Russo’s personality could fill the lead.
[ESPN]
