This is far from the most serious media story on the planet today. There is a war going on, and the American political system feels in complete chaos.
So in the grand scheme of things, a hyperbolic hot take from a popular sports talk show host feels so insignificant that it borders on being completely silly.
But this story is entertaining, and there are lessons here for all media.
Chris “Mad Dog” Russo is famous in sports circles as a radio and TV host. He became popular for co-hosting a show in New York City with Mike Francesa called “Mike and the Mad Dog.” It ran from 1989 to 2008 and was, arguably, the biggest and most influential sports radio show in the country. The Mad Dog nickname came from Russo’s propensity for getting loud and out of control while passionately making his points.
Russo and Francesa parted ways and Russo became even more popular with his own show and channel on SiriusXM. In addition, he hosts a baseball show on the MLB Network called “High Heat” and makes a well-received weekly appearance across from the equally bombastic Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s “First Take.”
Anyway, this week on his SiriusXM show, Russo was talking about the National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks. At the time, the Diamondbacks trailed the best-of-seven series three games to two. That’s when Russo stepped in it.
Here’s what he said on his show:
“To make a long story short, I’ve been wrong on Arizona from Day One. … I’m stunned they beat Milwaukee; I thought they’d get swept by the Dodgers; I never thought they’d even go back to Philly for a Game 6. I’ll try it one more time. I would not be stunned if they won tonight (Game 6), I would be floored. And I’ll say this right now, and Bob Raissman, write it down: If they win the next two games and win this series in seven games — if they win, I will retire on the spot.”
Of course, you know what happened. The Diamondbacks won the next two games and the series, four games to three.
And you know what didn’t happen. Russo did not retire.
That should not have come as a surprise. No one should have reasonably thought Russo was being serious when he said what he said. It kind of felt like when you say to someone, “I’ll bet you a million dollars …” You don’t actually mean you’re going to bet someone a million dollars.
As Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina wrote, “If you actually thought that an enormously popular and legendary Hall of Fame sports-talk radio host (one who makes millions of dollars, no less) would retire from his job after promising to retire if a team won a game and couldn’t understand that this was a radio bit, then you are just a dumb human being. Plain and simple. There’s really no other way for me to say it.”
It was a radio bit. But it was a really bad radio bit. Worse than that, it was a lazy radio bit. It was way over the top and far beneath Russo. He’s better than this. I’ll repeat the sin: It was lazy. He could’ve come up with so many more inventive and thoughtful wagers that would have made his point and made for more compelling radio than some outrageous dare he knew he was never going to pay off.
In fact, even in real time, Russo knew how preposterous he sounded that he added that line about Bob Raissman writing it down. Raissman is a longtime sports media writer at the New York Daily News and it was almost as if Russo was saying, “I’m serious about this” even though he actually wasn’t. He tried to give credibility to a claim that had no credibility — an example that even Russo knew it was a dumb comment when he made it.
Longtime radio host Howard Stern perfectly explained it, saying on his SiriusXM show, “Mad Dog lost his mind. I’m a radio guy, and so is Mad Dog, and I know when you’re on the air sometimes, you want to please people and make things fun and interesting, but he (expletive) went over the line because he was trying to make things fun and interesting.”
On Wednesday’s “First Take,” Smith scolded Russo, saying, “You went too far! You went too far, Doggy! You went too far. Retire? Really? Really?”
Russo’s baseless promise felt like something out of professional wrestling, like a guy promising to leave town if he loses his next match.
Stern had Russo on his show and said, “You gotta do something so outrageous that they forget about the fact that you said you were gonna retire over a baseball game. What were you thinking though, saying you’re gonna retire if the Diamondbacks win? That’s crazy!”
Eventually, Stern and Russo agreed to a punishment: Russo will wear a Diamondbacks branded bikini and walk down a Manhattan city block holding a sign that says, “I’m a liar and a dope.”
Look, no one is saying Russo must retire. And this isn’t to suggest that Russo’s credibility is now shot because he isn’t retiring. (Although this New York radio host was fired up.)
But there is a lesson here. So much can go sideways when it comes to quick, hot-take opinions in the media — whether it’s about serious things such as politics or less-than-dire topics such as baseball. It’s not that Russo was exposed for being wrong about the Diamondbacks or even backing out of his promise to retire. It was about being so desperate to make a point that he said something outlandish.
At the end of the day, Russo’s name is trending on X and appearing in media and sports columns all over the place. SiriusXM is probably thrilled with all the publicity. Russo, too. He will end up doing his little bikini stunt, maybe raise some money for charity and get as much mileage out of it as possible. He even sat out the first 12 minutes of his show Wednesday, as if maybe he really did retire, only to make a grand entrance.
But this silly story actually is a cautionary tale: When you’re in the media and you say something, people are listening. When you write something, people are reading. So think before you speak or write. Not because you might be proven wrong. But because you might be exposed as being unable to come up with something smarter and more effective than the first dumb thing that pops into your head.
Breaking news
Sadly, there has been another mass shooting, this one Wednesday night at multiple locations in Lewiston, Maine. As of Wednesday night, NBC News was reporting that at least 22 were dead and dozens more, perhaps as many as 60, were injured. My Poynter colleague Al Tompkins wrote about how local TV stations were keeping residents informed Wednesday night, including context about Maine's gun laws and mass shooting data for 2023. We will have more in Friday’s edition of The Poynter Report.
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