It sounds like the next Mike and the Mad Dog one-off reunion may already be in the works.
WFAN legend Mike Francesa has interest in hosting Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo, his former partner, on his new BetRivers podcast. The big guy said as much while answering reader emails during his most-recent episode released on Monday.
“Listen, I’ve gone on Dog’s shows a couple of times. I could definitely get Dog as a guest one time,” Francesa said in response to an inquiry from a listener named James (no, it was not us).
“We will do that at an opportune time. Maybe right before the football season or maybe late in the baseball season. When things rev up in the fall, I would definitely have Dog over as a guest and do a whole show with him. I would say you count on that.”
Francesa and Russo are in a good place with their relationship by all accounts. They were last together in March at the Barrett Sports Media conference to commemorate the creation of an award named in their honor that will go to the nation’s top sports talk radio show each year. They have had many reunions since going their separate ways in 2008 across many mediums — film, stage, television, terrestrial and satellite radio — but this would be their first foray into podcasting together.
It would also be quite the coup for Francesa and BetRivers as they build his biweekly podcast up. Russo has enjoyed a career renaissance of sorts since becoming one of Stephen A. Smith’s rotating foils on ESPN First Take in addition to his Sirius/XM and MLB Network gigs. He has become — as crazy as it is to say — a bigger name in 2022. And while Francesa has shown he can still rear back and find his fastball when he wants to, his podcast could use a little more juice. Plus it’s always pure joy to hear them chop it up again. Make it happen.
James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com
