Mad Dog Radio With Chris Russo on Sirius XM

sox sufferer

Banned
Aug 5, 2012
34
"Weeded out the weak." What is that moron talking about. The weak link was his sorry self and I feel bad for those kids who have to deal with the moron who rides in on his bicycle. Russo must have thought Valentine was delusional.
 

Cousin Walter

New Member
Jun 26, 2006
168
Basement
Does anyone listen to Mad Dog's show?

All week it's been a soap opera about the swapping out of the channel's midday host with a guy from the NFL channel. Is the listener supposed to care? Is that supposed to make for good radio?
 

Dan Murfman

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,186
Pawcatuck
Well it took him two hours but we got 15 good minutes on Timmy Russo's basketball game. He missed his first 3 shots and a front end of a one & one. Tough way to end the season. Darien was better but they had their chances.
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
I listen. Dog is the same as always, usual nonsense and entertainment. Hiring Adam Schein is awful. The guy is so grating and so uninformed...its painful. But the Pidto midday show was a zero. Its good as now when i listen to NFL radio at lunch time I don't have to listen to Schein
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
Wanna give Russo a little credit for something he said today. He was providing an overview of the NFL rule changes and stopped in mid-sentence after mentioning the elimination of the Tuck Rule.

To paraphrase: "... And I do NOT want to hear ANYTHING from Oakland fans about losing out on a trip to the Super Bowl because of the Tuck Rule. You canNOT comment on this game when barely 10 years earlier you benefitted from one of the WORST. CALLS. IN. FOOTBALL. HISTORY. A fourth-and-forever against the Patriots with a potential trip to the Super Bowl on the line and Ben DREITH throws one of the worst penalty flags in NFL history! So pipe down, Oakland... I don't want to hear from ANY of you."

So he was off by 25 or so years... You get the point.

Approve.
 

Dan Murfman

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,186
Pawcatuck
Mad Dog going absolutely nuts. He is ranting about how the president of Rutgers isn't being fired. Going off on Christie. Classic
 

ifmanis5

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2007
63,743
Rotten Apple
Dan Murfman said:
Mad Dog going absolutely nuts. He is ranting about how the president of Rutgers isn't being fired. Going off on Christie. Classic
Sounds good.
 
And today we also have why there is no Mike and the Mad Dog anymore. Mike wants to spend all day ballwashing Saint Andy but Chris isn't going to sit through that noise. Wish he was still at the 'Fan, tho.
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
Bumped from p. 3.

Vtred reports the following:

Tony Russo, Mad Dog's father passed away. Tony was a great caller into the show when Mike/Chris were together...RIP
Tony was also quite funny/eccentric on Mad Dog's show as well.

Chris' contract was up with Sirius (5yrs/$15M) last week. He vowed not to return until something was signed. Now this. Unfortunate.
 

JBill

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 17, 2001
2,028
RIP Tony.
 
Tony calling in to talk to Mike after Mike and Dog break up:
 
"Mike, can I still call you anytime?"
 
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFNLTIVOytQ[/media]
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
That sucks. tony's bits were always funny and fun.
 
I haven't heard an update on what Dog will be doing re: SiriusXM. He hinted that the channel might not be called "Mad Dog Radio" anymore.
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
So mad dog re-upped with Sirius. New station called MAs Dog Sports Radio and he will go on at 3:00pm. Starting in 2014 he will do an hour on baseball that will be simulcast on the MLB network.
 

Cousin Walter

New Member
Jun 26, 2006
168
Basement
The network bears his namesake and all he can do is a measly three hours? He does zero advance prep and the channel wastes about 20-plus minutes out of every hour on commercials and updates to tell us for the umpteenth time who won last night's Dodgers game. How can you cover anything in any kind of depth in three hours? The guy is mailing it in.
 

bschase2

Member
SoSH Member
He needs someone with him. He was on with the morning show a few weeks ago and went at it with Evan Cohen over the Pats and Hernandez. It was awesome. Reminded me of the Fan days. On his own he has little passion, but when gets riled up??? Brilliant.
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
He engages with Torre and Zimmerman each day, at least during the last two hours.  Don't know if he needs a partner, but he does have some foils that tend to wind him up, which I agree is great.
 
I thought trimming the show to 3 hours was a bit of a bummer as well, but then again I don't get to listen to the front part of the show anyway, so whatever.  He's adding his MLB show, so I'm not sure that his total time on air will go down too much.  I'm sure his compensation has been adjusted accordingly.
 

Montana Fan

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 18, 2000
8,880
Twin Bridges, Mt.
I'd love to see him paired with Scott Wetzel. Wetzel's a knowledgeable guy and Maddog is best at asking questions since as Cousin Walter mentions, he does minimal pre-show prep. He asks interesting questions and is a real good interviewer IMO. It'll be interesting to hear his MLB show as I assume it's going to filled with guests.

As for the commercials, the Maddog station does half as many commercials as ESPN Radio. Maddog station gives 15-20 minute show blocks which allows the hosts to get into a topic and discussion. F'n ESPN goes to commercial every 5 minutes and that's if Greenie isn't pimping something during the 5 minutes of airtime. As soon as they start talking about something interesting it's time to go to a break.
 

Cousin Walter

New Member
Jun 26, 2006
168
Basement
ESPN Radio has been unlistenable for years but it's primarily a terrestrial radio network, so they don't have much of a choice but to have commercials.
 
Anyone who listens to Mad Dog Radio, however, is paying for the privilege, so commercials need to be kept to a minimum. I have also felt like constant score updates take a great deal of value away from the listening experience. A classic case was back in June when the host would be talking about Game 6 of the Heat-Spurts NBA Finals constantly only to have someone cut in every 20 minutes to say, "Guess what? The Heat beat the Spurs last night." As if anyone listening didn't already know. In 1999 it might be a nice value to turn on the radio after leaving a movie to hear how the Sox did that night but times have changed.
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
During the 4:00 hour I happened to catch Mad Dog interviewing Rico Petrocelli in studio.

I think Russo is an underrated interviewer; he's really good and got Rico into an excitable story-telling mode.

I had forgotten how much I loved Petrocelli. Yaz was always #1 in my book, but Rico was in that next tier for me until Rice and Lynn came along.

Rico was absolutely hysterical spinning yarns from the Impossible Dream team. Had some great stories about the great chemistry on that team, and how young vets like Yaz, Lonborg, and him integrated rookies like Boomer and Reggie Smith. He all said they got along well, and were united in their hatred for Dick Williams.

Also spoke in agonizing terms about the '72 season and the last series in Detroit where Aparicio tripped going around third.

They were both very, very entertaining and Rico sounded great.
 

southbay

New Member
Oct 31, 2013
3
I was in the car today driving out of town and had MLBN radio on.  Russso was hosting a show from 10:00 a.m. pacific time, first time I had heard him on MLB radio.  He was discussing free agents and QO's and he asks the question "What is the qualifying offer for Stephen Drew?" When he came back from break he notes that his staff informed him that "the QO for Drew is 14 million".  Now if you are going to do a segment on free agents and QO's shouldn't you do enough research to know that ALL QO's are for 14.1 million this year? I don't listen to Russo, but is this indicative of the kind of research he puts into his topics?
 

Vinho Tinto

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 9, 2003
7,047
Auburn, MA
"High Heat with Christopher Russo" starts Opening Day on MLB Network. Between this and Tank's Fox show, you can watch both on TV again. 
 
I've been listening to his show over the past week and Mad Dog has been very good with his baseball and NCAA talk. Great mix of guests and his callers aren't all mongos. One nice thing about Sirius is the On Demand feature, so I've been catching his show the morning after. 
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
I really enjoy Russo... I listen 'live' in the afternoons when I get a chance.
 
He's a nut, and his malapropisms are predictable and hilarious, but I think he's a pretty good interviewer, he works hard to try and cover a pretty broad/national set of sports, and he has pretty good recall.
 
I would say he's a mile wide and three inches deep.  I can understand how some are frustrated that he doesn't look really deeply at any one player/team, but he plays to a national audience, unlike Francesa who is parochial, petty, shallow, and much less informed than he thinks he is.  Russo will also admit when he's wrong and express appreciation for the correction.
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
I still enjoy Mad Dog whenever i can listen to him. i haven't listened to Mike in ages. Dog is great on baseball and isn't afraid to have people on in sports where he is far from an expert. and his spring training torn is always great. I look forward to the MLB show
 

Merkle's Boner

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 24, 2011
3,756
Growing up I love listening to Mad Dog, along with Mike, on this day each year.  Before we had every game on TV, those guys would spin around every first round game and do play by play and make it seem like the most exciting event. I know most sports radio shows seem to disdain March Madness but those guys did it well.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Vinho Tinto said:
His live reads for restaurants are still laugh out loud funny. Pronunciation remains his arch enemy. 
 
All of his live reads are an event.
 
I listen to him whenever I can. He is always enjoyable. I had a really long drive on Sunday night, so I got to catch Russo's entire March Madness coverage. It was a really good show, interesting, with good guests and some tough questions for one of the dudes on the selection committee.  And he's funny and his laugh is phenomenal, as enjoyable as the live reads.
 
I simply cannot listen to Fat Man. He is terrible, a jerk and a blowhard and a know it all. I cannot believe he is still popular. But Russo is excellent. A great listen, each and every time.
 

Zupcic Fan

loves 8 inch long meat
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,708
Norwalk, Connecticut
I agree with everything Johnmd just said, but in my opinion, all of the other hosts on the mad dog station are just terrible. You either find Mad Dog or you're sunk.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Zupcic Fan said:
I agree with everything Johnmd just said, but in my opinion, all of the other hosts on the mad dog station are just terrible. You either find Mad Dog or you're sunk.
 
Evan and Phillips are ok. Certainly not great but better than Boomer and Carton and way better than the debacle that is Mike and Mike.(in the running for duo most likely to make me want to kill myself)
 
But Schein on Sports is a calamity of everything that is wrong with sports radio. Loud, obnoxious, always taking the *extreme* position, berating callers, getting defensive. Schein is terrible and impossible to listen to. It's like he took all the the bad habits of the fat man and added screaming to the equation.
 

ifmanis5

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2007
63,743
Rotten Apple
The old M&MD shows during the tournament were epic. Great energy, great analysis and ripping CBS to shreds with their idiotic switching and poor market decisions. Looking back on it now, it was mostly Russo carrying the day. Mike's analysis was good but that's all he had (Seton Hall bet with Imus aside, which was great). Russo had everything else.
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
johnmd20 said:
 
Evan and Phillips are ok. Certainly not great but better than Boomer and Carton and way better than the debacle that is Mike and Mike.(in the running for duo most likely to make me want to kill myself)
 
But Schein on Sports is a calamity of everything that is wrong with sports radio. Loud, obnoxious, always taking the *extreme* position, berating callers, getting defensive. Schein is terrible and impossible to listen to. It's like he took all the the bad habits of the fat man and added screaming to the equation.
Schein is embarrassingly bad. I literally cannot listen. Same with Herd
 

Zupcic Fan

loves 8 inch long meat
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,708
Norwalk, Connecticut
Johnmd:  I don't think much of Evan and Phillips----they are very bland to me and never really interesting----but I agree with you that they are miles better than Boomer and Carton and Mike and Mike.  And I have nothing against Boomer, really, but I find it hard to understand how anyone could not be consistently annoyed by Craig Carton or by the perpetual silliness on Mike and Mike, with their endless shows devoted to things like how much one of them can eat at a  pancake chow down, and similar idiocies.  and I agree completely on Adam Schein, and on the other guy who seems more intent about establishing his Fox News type credentials then discussing sports ( sorry, never can remember his name)
 
I can't stand Francesa but would rather listen to his show than any of those other shows for some reason---I have to admit that my knowledge of most sports is not that great, but all the guys on WEEI or Carton and Boomer, or Mike and Mike, or all the other guys on mad Dog radio almost never tell me stuff I didn't already know.
Francesa does that all the time, so I listen to him when I get tired of Howard 100 or Howard 101!
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
He was talking to Jim Calhoun today and could not pronounce Niels Giffey's name. I thought he was joking until he abruptly stopped, exasperated, and said, "How do you pronounce that kid's name? I can't say his name!"

It was embarrassing, even by his standards.
 

Zupcic Fan

loves 8 inch long meat
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,708
Norwalk, Connecticut
Mad Dog never fails to entertain:  I had a long ride home, and there was a lull in Howard, so I put the Mad Dog on for a few minutes.  He's railing about the NBA not acting earlier on Donald Sterling, and he says "  Come on. The guy was a slumlord. He refused to let blacks into his apartments because they "brought with them rats and Vernan"  Then he realiizes that it's not the right word, and quickly changes it to Varnan!
 

twibnotes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
20,232
Zupcic Fan said:
Mad Dog never fails to entertain:  I had a long ride home, and there was a lull in Howard, so I put the Mad Dog on for a few minutes.  He's railing about the NBA not acting earlier on Donald Sterling, and he says "  Come on. The guy was a slumlord. He refused to let blacks into his apartments because they "brought with them rats and Vernan"  Then he realiizes that it's not the right word, and quickly changes it to Varnan!
It was fantastic bc he said "vernan" a few times and even at one point said, "how do you pronounce that word!?"

Really was classic mad dog
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
mad dog is replacing dan patrick (who is on like 100 different channels) with...Stephen A smith. huh? Smith will have his own show from 1-3 after Adam Schein (ugh) from 10-1. morning crew gets an extra hour
 

Granite Sox

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 6, 2003
5,055
The Granite State
I saw that... I'm okay with that.  MDR is trying to bring in hosts who have a unique/controversial style.  The station has gone through a lot of guys trying to hit on this premise.
 
If nothing, SAS will be provocative, and I think he's better on radio without being tied/associated with that idiot Bayless (although SAS has made himself a cariacture in his own right).
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Schein and SAS back to back is truly a sign that the apocalypse is upon us. Provocative for the sake of being provocative isn't provocative, it's just bluster and phoniness. That is 5 hours of garbage from 10 to 3 on Mad Dog's channel.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681
Sports fans in Syracuse were afflicted with Schein's pomposity when he was at SU and just getting his career started.  I couldn't stand his schtick then but I knew he'd go far. 
 

Dan Murfman

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 21, 2001
4,186
Pawcatuck
I was listening yesterday and he had someone from The Ringer on to talk about Cristine McVie. They started talking about her working with John McVie after they split up. The guy says well they were able to talk just music and get the job done. He then says it's like not liking a coworker. Finishes by saying to Chris you must have a fellow coworker you didn't like but you would still work with him. He chuckled and said yeah I think thats happened with me.
 

Buck Showalter

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 26, 2002
6,652
Citifield - Queens, NY
I met Russo this past weekend in San Diego on two different (albeit short) occasions.

Brought up baseball, Long Island New York, and his dad Tony (who was a laugh-riot when he would call M&MD on WFAN).

He couldn't have been nicer...what a friggin' gem of a guy.