Mike and The Mad Dog... ESPN 30-for-30...

[billyjack]

https://youtu.be/Eft3Q_zO6NE

Sample of typical discussion, with youtube link, just above.

ESPN is running out of 30-for-30 topics. A couple of weeks ago they covered the "Mike and the Mad Dog Show". Francesca was known outside of NY from studio work during March Madness in the late 80's. Not sure what Chris Russo was up to prior to the show.

Anyway, back in the 90's, in my 30 minute evening commutes home in my 1989 VW Jetta i had limited radio choices... crappy local music stations with tons of commercials, or sucky local sports talk i think out of Boston, plus a really low level sports station out of Providence.

Anyway, luckily i could pick up AM 660 out of NYC (came in clear, possibly cuz I'm near the south coast so the signal flew up Long Island Sound?), so i would tune into the FAN... no problem sitting thru meaningless (to me) traffic reports about the Holland Tunnel and Throgs Neck Bridge in order to get strings of entertaining discussion from Francesca and Russo. I thought Mike was a know it all blowhard a typical Yankee fan from my perspective. I looked at things more from Dog's point of view, younger and anti-Yankee.

Anyway in the context of 90's radio, it was a fun show. They sounded like typical Rhode Islanders, or family members, with familiar voices and argument points. Really fun rants and banter, a good sports knowledge. Some hilarious arguments. Call-ins were great, as M & MD would have short leases on some guys.

Nowadays, Francesca to me is unlistenable being solo in the booth. I fact, WEEI in Boston often plays ridiculous clips of Francesca, either eating a sandwich as he's taking calls, or contradicting himself within the same sentence. His lack of hockey knowledge was legendary, and his interviews with the GM's of the Rangers and Islanders were laughable... the Devils won a couple-few Stanley Cups but were non-existent to him, and he couldn't name 3 players on the team. I do always appreciate his love of the Big East, his alma mater St John's, and his admiration for the old classic Friars teams.

Russo i think does well on the MLB Network. High intensity, pretty knowledgeable, likes his work it seems... was great on the All-Star roundtable discussions with Verducci, Costas, Darling, etc... hilarious when discussing things like Billy Wagner's value ("big game, World Series, bottom ninth, up one, who do you want to hand the ball to? Fingers, Sutter, Gossage, or Billy Wagner? I mean, c'mon, Wagner hasn't closed out a big game in his life!..") Anyway, i can watch High Heat in small doses.

Anyway, i was wondering if anyone else had interesting thoughts on Mike and The Mad Dog? New Yorkers?

[billyjack]

I remember the day after a typical obnoxious dugout tirade by Paul O'Neil, Mad Dog had a long hilarious rant about how O'Neil needs to sit down and shut up.

[MullinMayhem]

Being on the younger side, I only caught the last few years of them together, so I'm more familiar with Francesa. He's huge in the NY sports scene. Not sure how he used to be, but listening to him take callers is cringe-worthy. People wait for 45 minutes if not longer just to get through for 30 seconds and he is very dismissive and outright rude to most callers. You'd think a guy making millions doing what most guys do at bars/around the water cooler would be thrilled and loving life, but he is very bitter most of the time I listen to him. I prefer guys like Boomer and Carton, because at least they have a sense of humor and understand self-deprecation. Whenever someone makes fun of Francesa, he takes it so seriously which in turn invites more people to mess with him. With that being said, he's no doubt a legend in NY sports media and one of SJU's own. I wish he would cover SJ much more closely but I can already hear him defending himself, saying the reason is because we haven't done much on the national scene lately.