Social media and the sports world were captivated by Derek Jeter’s decision to join Twitter this week, but thankfully, we have Chris “Mad Dog” Russo to speak some sense on the topic.
Now that he’s no longer associated with the Miami Marlins, Jeter appears to have more free time on his hands. But after choosing to spend it by making some lame jokes on Twitter, Russo was not having it.
“Oh my gosh, NO!” Russo whined to Stephen A. Smith after Molly Qerim introduced the topic on ESPN’s First Take. “It’s almost beneath him. He’s on Twitter? Why? Stop, he’s not gonna say anything interesting.”
Chris Russo preferred life before Derek Jeter decided to join Twitter pic.twitter.com/RkcFIY5U6i
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) June 1, 2022
There are a lot of similarities between Tom Brady signing a media deal with Fox and Jeter’s decision to join Twitter, aside from the glaring $375 million difference. Elite athletes, transcendent names, pretty faces, squeaky clean off-field images, and both are entering media spaces that don’t fit their personalities because they rarely utter anything interesting.
Brady and Jeter spent decades attempting to avoid saying something newsworthy during their playing careers, and now we’re supposed to expect them to exhibit entertaining personalities with intuitive commentary?
“Derek never said anything for 25 years that we would consider interesting,” Russo lamented on First Take. “He’s gonna bore you to death!”
Smith said he similarly was not into Jeter’s Twitter arrival, but he refused to criticize him, instead blasting Russo for insulting the former Yankees captain.
Continuing to receive pushback from Smith, Russo admitted to having a Twitter account himself, although he clarified that it’s mostly operated by his radio producer. But there is no hypocrisy here, Jeter doesn’t deserve a grand welcoming to Twitter because he never says anything interesting. Russo, however, has made a career out of being interesting, which is why Smith keeps welcoming him back to First Take every Wednesday.
