WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By Bull Allen. August 15, 2008: New York’s sports therapists are no more. Monday afternoons will never be the same in New York. When the Giants blew another game on Sunday afternoon, you tuned in to Mike and The Mad Dog to round up the usual suspects. When the Knickerbockers had another debacle, you tuned in to hear Francesca and Russo light them up. You delighted in it. When the Metropolitans let another lead slip away, M&TMD made it better as fans listened to their blunt knowledgeable criticism, they made the hurt and the heartbreak go away.
Yankee Stadium, 2003
Being a rat dog dick of a reporter, who loves train wrecks and exposing the fallacies and poor judgments and conspiracies of life, it was more fun when New York had a big sports loss, or a ball club was in trouble, because then Mike and Chris just shown. The negative sports talk that they allowed sportscallers to call in and blast, and let the “professionals” have it, was catharthic.
WFAN announced last night that Mr. Russo would not be returning to the program in September when Mr. Francesca will be soloing alone, pending a new partner, a new format, whatever. But the feel will be different.
I stopped listening a number of years ago, but still the program was unique. It pioneered. It made sports radio. Even ESPN Radio with all its money has never equaled the spontaneity and the feel for what the fans want to talk about.
Often imitated, their format of two guys talking sports was humorous, kept things in perspective, and immensely knowledgeable bringing up parts of sporting events with blunt honesty and drawing out analysis that expanded the average fan’s knowledge of the game. They entertained. They educated. But kept things in perspective for both the sport-obsessed and casual fan.
Francesa when solo is interesting to listen to. So is Russo. But together as so many bereft sportscallers were calling in yesterday, they were special.
Not since Bob and Ray has a radio team been so unique together. We’ll miss them. Like Bob and Ray, who were a humor team, when you stumbled on them on the dial. You could not move past the dial, you had to keep listening to hear in B and R’s case, the gist of the comedy bit.
With M & C, their unique New York-accent voices were compelling unlike the canned, modulated professional announcer sound of most of the nondescript ESPN announcers. Listening to M & C, was like talking sports in a bar to an extent. No other sportstalk show duplicated that. Even the Mike and the Mad Dog clone shows that FAN has put together in desperation cannot hold adjust the clean-up talkers mikes. Imitation of the original is never the same.
I will particularly miss them when the Giants playing a varsity schedule this year suddenly are not so good. No one can light up sports management like Francesa and Russo could as a team.
I will wonder how Chris and Mike would have handled it when the Knickerbockers get run out of every arena in the league this year because they cannot play defense. Running is going to save the Knicks? They’re going to be destroyed by teams will scorers. I will miss that uniquely dismissive way Mike and Chris had of humiliating Knick management on the air after the first month and the Knicks have not won a game.
When postmorteming losses, the mourning was never complete until you got the Mike and the Mad Dog take.
I’ll miss Chris next spring when the Yankees try and sell you on their 2009 changes. Russo and Francesa told it like it was.
Neither was better than the other. Neither tried to dominate the other as many team sportstalkers do.
Francesa and Russo. Mike and The Mad Dog. Perfect together.
You never know when something you count on will go away, and how much you will miss it when it’s gone.
They were Maris and Mantle in the SportsTalk all-time lineup.
