If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Chris “Mad Dog” Russo over the past 40 years that he’s been in the public space, it’s that he’s never one to mince his words.
Russo stopped by WFAN’s Evan and Tiki on Thursday to check in and see how things have been going for the two.
About midway through the interview, Evan Roberts brought up Russo’s proclamation that he would retire if the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS, which they did.
Russo, who obviously did not retire, immediately turned the tables back on the Diamondbacks.
“The fact that the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies, and then they were screaming ‘Mad Dog’ in the clubhouse after the game is odd. But here’s what I did do. I flew out to Phoenix, I did the three shows, TV and radio, and I sat out in the centerfield bleachers doing the radio program. I was amazed. 85% of fans were good. 15% were nasty. That was a throwaway line that got me in a lot of trouble,” he said.
Tiki Barber pointed out that radio and TV analysis and predictions have started “infiltrating” locker rooms.
“People get offended by these things. It feels like every week, Aaron Rodgers is aggrieved by something someone says. Was it always that way?” Barber asked.
” Never,” Russo responded. “The animosity between media and athlete is terrible, compared to what it was 30 or 40 years ago.”
Russo continued to bash current athletes, saying, “It’s a new breed of athlete; they don’t want criticism. It’s athletes talking to athletes; they all have podcasts. They don’t come on radio or television, so you don’t have a chance to build any camaraderie with them, so it becomes a very difficult medium.”
From locker room camaraderie to Twitter spats, the media-athlete landscape has morphed into something barely recognizable from Russo’s heyday. While nostalgia might paint the past in rosier hues, it’s worth wondering: Can we find a way to bridge the divide, or are we destined to watch from the bleachers as the relationship crumbles?
About Robert O'Neill