Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has made a pretty nice living for himself by being a stiff gas bag on sports talk radio for decades.
He’s wild, of course. But that “wild” version of him is kind of scripted. It’s a character. It shows up to work every day with the same outlandish takes that are really only meant to shock you and get you up out of your seat in the middle of the day.
But, for whatever reason, Mad Dog told everybody on ESPN’s First Take about his weekend plans for watching the Colorado vs. Oregon game and, y’all, let me tell you. It did NOT go how you expected it to go.
Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina dropped the clip on Twitter and it’s just wild hearing it. There’s not even really anything I can say to properly prepare you for the clip you’re about to watch. Just…watch it. You’ll see.
This is tremendous television. @MadDogUnleashed explains how he’s gonna drink, take gummies and bet $10,000 on Colorado this weekend, leading to pricess reactions from @mspears96. pic.twitter.com/8hz2WDWpXs
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 20, 2023
No, you did not mishear that. This man said he was pouring himself a cocktail, taking half a gummy and dropping 10 racks on the Colorado game.
That, right there, folks, is a WEEKEND.
“I am going to get a run in. I’ll take the dogs, Bo and Riley, for a walk. At about 12 o’clock, I’ll sit down. I’ll make a cocktail. Cut a gummy in half. Cut a gummy in half. We’ve got Florida State-Clemson. I like the Florida State quarterback. I see something there.”
Folks, he was not done. Now, he’s talking about when he’s “sauced.”
“At about 3:25 when I’m sauced … I’ll put the call into Fat Rob … ‘Rob, you know what? What the hell. I can’t root for Oregon. Alright, I’ll pretend on TV. Put 10 dimes on Colorado and Deion.”
This is the only appropriate reaction to everything that was just said.
Like…yo. Did he really just say that? On live television? On ESPN!?!? This is wild. So wild. But, also, kind of relatable? Well, except for the $10,000 part. I ain’t got that to spare.
I cannot tell if Mad Dog is serious or if he’s just doing this for TV, but, uh, either way, this is fantastic content. This man sounds like he’s about to have a, uh, saucy weekend.
Everyone was so confused. But, also, there were jokes. Lots of jokes.