Mike and the Mad Dog
Andrew H. Walker | Getty Images

Mike Francesa was asked a good questions by a listener on his latest BetRivers podcast: Does he listen to WFAN?

Francesa said he really does not listen to his old station. But that is not an indictment on the station. He just tends to listen to music when he is driving. And Francesa’s answer led to this short, but great, anecdote about the old days with Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo.

When you’re on the air as much as I was — I was on the air five and a half hours a day, every day, for 35 years. When I got out of there at night, I wanted to hear something else.

If Dog and I were in the car, if we were going to an event together — which we often did — when we would get in the car together, there were two things. One, if there was a ballgame on, we would put that on. Otherwise we would put music on. And No. 2, we never talked. Because we had just talked for five and a half hours.

We just wanted to just hear the silence. And just take it easy for a few minutes as we got ready to go to whatever appearance we were going to that night. When you do a show that long, when you’re on that much, you want to get away from it a little bit.

That makes complete sense. “Hear the silence” is up there with “Can’t fight nature” as  an all-time Francesa wisdom nugget. And I cannot get the scene out of my head.

Mike and Dog, rolling over to Hofstra because Jay Wright was hosting a gala, silently listening to Fleetwood Mac.

Legends.

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James Kratch can be reached at [email protected]

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.