MIKE AND THE MAD DOG

'''Mike and the Mad Dog''' is an afternoon drive sports radio program on WFAN in New York City. The hosts of the radio program are Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, and the show debuted on September 5, 1989. Currently it is simulcast on the YES Network, WROW in Albany, New York, and WQYK in Tampa, Florida.

History

Before Francesa and Russo were paired, Russo was an overnight/weekend and fill-in host. He caught the attention of Don Imus, who was so impressed with his vibrant personality that he brought Russo onto the ''Imus in the Morning'' show as its sports reporter. The attention Russo received on Imus was enormous.
Meanwhile, Francesa was a midday and weekend host at WFAN, and was known to be knowledgeable but somewhat dry on-air. Like Russo, Francesa got the attention of Imus when he made an on-the-air bet with Francesa that Seton Hall University's basketball team would not make the Final Four in the NCAA tournament. Imus promised Francesa a new Porsche if Seton Hall made the Final Four, which they did. Though Imus found a way around the bet, the dialogue between the two is considered to be among the classic moments in the history of ''Imus in the Morning''.^[1]^[2]
In August 1989, WFAN (which was owned at the time by Emmis Communications) was looking for hosts to replace the controversial Pete Franklin in the afternoon drive time period. Mark Mason, then the program director, floated the idea of teaming Francesa with Russo.^[3] At first the station management thought the idea was crazy because they were no-names at that time. However, because of Francesa and Russo's popularity on the weekends and on ''Imus in the Morning'' individually, the station management decided to pair the two together.^[4]
While Francesa's brand of sports commentating was considered hard-hitting and serious, Russo's was considered lighter, unconventional, and more entertaining. The show was dubbed ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' and debuted on September 5, 1989. The show quickly gained popularity and has been a staple of the New York sports scene ever since.
George Vecsey of ''The New York Times'' once described Russo's voice as "a bizarre mixture of Jerry Lewis, Archie Bunker and Daffy Duck."^[5] His voice is also described as "Donald Duck on steroids."^[6]
Originally it was broadcast weekdays from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Because of its popularity, WFAN extended its starting time twice, first to 2:00 p.m., and then to 1:00 p.m.^[7] The program currently airs from 1:00 to 6:30 p.m. on radio.
In the wake of Imus' firing in April 2007, ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' was also broadcast in the mornings from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. for two weeks between April 16 and April 27, and again on May 21 and May 22, 2007. The afternoon portion of the show ran from 2:00 through 6:30 p.m..^[8]^[9]^[10] The morning portion of the show was nationally syndicated and news-oriented.^[11] While in the morning drive slot, they inherited some of the staff from ''Imus in the Morning'', including news anchor Charles McCord, sports anchor Chris Carlin and engineer Lou Rufino.^[12] On April 18, 2007, it was announced that Rufino would also serve as surpervising engineer for the afternoon show, with the primary responsibility of managed the boardouts. The syndicated broadcast was available to the handful of former ''Imus in the Morning'' affiliates who had not had a chance to pick a new morning show. The afternoon portion of the show was totally sports-oriented. Francesa and Russo have hosted the morning-drive program several times since, either together or taking turns solo, while WFAN searches for a permanent host for the time slot.
According to ''New York'' magazine, Francesa made $1.4 million and Russo made $1.3 million in 2005.^[13]

Show format and discussions

The show starts with its theme song and then with Russo's intro: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnnnnnd good afternoon, everybody! How are you today?"^[14]
The show involves Francesa and Russo talking and arguing with each other or with callers about sports, or rarely, about non-sports. They are also known for their hard-hitting questions in interviews with their guests. Francesa is the more cerebral of the pair and Russo will defer to him in most arguments. Russo is known to make bold statements when hosting the show solo but will back down when Francesa is cohosting. Nevertheless, Russo also exhibits a vast knowledge of sports. One of the show's marketing pitches states: "Some shows report sports scores. We settle them."
The pair sometimes leave their Astoria, Queens studios to do remote broadcasts from the Super Bowl, pre-season football camps, U.S. Open Tennis Championship (typically Russo hosts this show solo because Francesa is not a tennis fan), the Yankees and Mets' spring training sites, and playoff games for various New York teams.
Today, The ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' show primarily concentrates on baseball and football.^[15] In an interview with ''New York Daily News'',^[16] Francesa said,
:"''As far as changes in the city, baseball has now become year-round. We cover baseball every single day of the year...just look at the back pages in November, December, they have screaming baseball headlines. Baseball has become so dominant in what we do.''"
Basketball and golf to a much lesser extent do receive mention, usually because the show has a strong relationship with Jim Nantz, an acclaimed golf and college basketball broadcaster, plus a few noted college coaches and NBA coaches, reporters, and broadcasters. It is well noted that Russo is a big fan of tennis; and tennis does get some play on their show, much to Francesa's chagrin, generally leading into and then during the four majors.
International classics such as the Tour de France get little mention except when there is a scheduled interview or major story. Boxing also has not been talked about much in several years, as both hosts consider the sport not to be what it once was; both used to purchase certain pay-per-view fights. However, ESPN analyst Teddy Atlas was interviewed by Chris Russo in 2006, while Atlas was promoting a book. Although Freddy Adu and a few other soccer celebrities have done interviews on the show, the FIFA World Cup receives little attention except following USA games. Russo said in his first book that he played as a teenager, but was not a big fan of the game.

Incidents and controversies

While ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' is a success, the duo has had their share of problems. Things did not go well at first. Neither of them was happy about the arrangement and each felt that he deserved his own show. Arguments between the two have spilled onto the air and there were backstage debates about such matters as whose name would come first and which of them would get the power seat - the one facing the control room. Each had an entourage of advisers and friends who pushed him to ask for more.^[17] Sometimes Don Imus needled them on his program or walked by them in the hall and said, "You are so much better than [the other guy]." However, Imus did play peacemaker during several of the more public fights.^[4]
Regarding the relationship between Francesa and Russo, Francesa said, "It was an arranged marriage and almost a quickie divorce." Russo admitted that such a proposition of breaking up between the two would have been celebrated in 1992. However, Russo said in an interview, "I think that, in the long term, the station sees us as a tandem and would not want to break the brand up... And to tell you the truth, after almost 20 years together, Mike and I are like a married couple: It would be too hard to leave him. I never thought I would hear myself say this, but it would feel very strange to be on the air without him."^[19]

1991 NCAA Tournament

in 1991, while Francesa was still at CBS Sports hosting the 1991 NCAA Tournament—Russo was very critical of CBS's coverage. The discussion began to gain momentum and soon snowballed over a number of days. CBS was unhappy that Francesa's show was being used as a platform for criticisms of their television coverage, prompting a call from Francesa asking Russo to not discuss the topic. Russo refused and an on-the-air argument followed. While the two have admitted to numerous disagreements, they have always contended that they have been professional and not personal. Francesa would eventually leave CBS Sports and concentrate on his radio career full-time.

Hockey

On the flip side, the duo have always defended each other in the face of adversity. Francesa and Russo have garnered a reputation for being ignorant and not knowledgeable when it comes to hockey, though Russo later claimed in his first book that he has watched regular-season NHL games that even some hockey writers would not. Also, long-time NHL television analysts John Davidson and Pierre McGuire have both been semi-regular guests on the show, and Ed Olczyk has made several appearances since joining NBC. In May 1992, Russo went to a New York Rangers game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.^[20] When Russo arrived at the game, Rangers fans chided him and he eventually left the game. The next day, Francesa went on the air and blasted the Rangers fans for their behavior. They also allegedly had an on-air spat with long-time hockey writer and broadcaster Stan Fischler, who has since never done an interview on their show. In 2006, Jaromir Jagr jokingly made fun of their hockey knowledge, to which the duo said that he had sold them on watching more.

Doggie going solo: ____ and the Mad Dog

In the summer of 1992, while his partner was on vacation at the Breakers, in Palm Beach, Florida, Russo jokingly started the show by saying, "Welcome to....and the Mad Dog," leaving silence where the "Mike" should have been. Francesa was furious, calling several station bigwigs and demanding an apology.^[21] On another occasion, Francesa returned from a vacation a day early, hoping to rejoin Russo on the air; Russo, savoring the solo airtime, accused Francesa of trying to horn in on his time. There was a great deal of shouting, and during a closed-door cool-down meeting with WFAN executives they nearly started throwing punches.^[17]

Anti Jewish Statement

After 9/11, Francesa questioned whether American Jews who support Israel are loyal to the US.^[23] WFAN has refused all requests for tapes of that day's show, claiming that the show is not taped; the YES Network's TV simulcast began in March 2002.

"ONE TIME!!"

The Monday after Russo's favorite baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, were eliminated from the 2003 postseason by the Florida Marlins he went into his most famous tirade.^[24] He screamed that he was sick of the Giants always losing in the postseason and if they would just win (as he screamed very loudly) "ONE TIME!!" he would give up everything he owned, including his (at the time) three children. YES often replays this clip in promos for the show.

"Enter Sandman"

When New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera enters the game, his entrance song is "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Billy Wagner, Rivera's New York Mets counterpart, also uses "Enter Sandman" as his entrance music. When Wagner entered his first game as a Met against the Washington Nationals at Shea Stadium on April 3, 2006 using Enter Sandman as his entrance music, Francesa, an avid Yankee fan, expressed his anger and discontent, and strongly suggested that Wagner change the song. His argument was that the song belonged to Rivera and Yankee Stadium, and that Wagner was "stealing" the song and should be forbidden from using it and needed to get some originality. Wagner was the one who first used the song earlier in his career.^[25] However, Rivera was not bothered by it.^[26]
After seeing plenty of backlash, Francesa and Russo would try to downplay it as a "tongue in cheek" thing which was never serious. However, Phil Mushnick of the ''New York Post'' blasted the two for "making complete fools of themselves" and for trying to "rewrite unforgettable history to have their audience think that they were just kidding around."^[27]

Joining the Yankees?

With over 40 years of disappointment with the San Francisco Giants, and the lackluster quality of teams in both the American League and National League, Russo started the August 10, 2006 show with a monologue proclaiming his newfound love for the New York Yankees. Right before the 5 p.m. flash update, Russo called for Yankee gear, which he displayed on the YES broadcast. Later in the show, staff member Marc Malusis gave Russo a Yankee hat that he wore for the rest of the show. Fans have had a mixed reaction of Russo's supposed conversion.
On August 16, 2006, Francesa returned to the airwaves coming back from his vacation. Because Arbitron ratings are not conducted during this part of the summer, Russo and Francesa switch weeks doing a solo program while the other is on vacation, except for an annual show at the Jersey Shore. Francesa returned to the airwaves (minus Russo) only to discover this story of Russo and his "epiphany." Francesa noted that this is not the first time that Russo, during the dog days of summer in their 15-plus years of broadcasting together has claimed to see the light and become a Yankee fan. Francesa warned callers that Russo sometimes likes to stir up situations and that this could be another one of his acts. Russo has suggested that his kids will likely end up being Yankee fans, because he does not expect them to stay up late to watch Giants games on television as he often does.
On August 25, 2006, Francesa and Russo were on air together for the first time in two and a half weeks. Within the first fifteen minutes of the program, Francesa first accepted Russo's conversion but then settled the issue once and for all by asking Russo to say (in front of a large crowd at the Jersey Shore) that Mickey Mantle was a better player than Willie Mays. Unable to do it, Russo shouted "We (sic) hate the Yankees" on air, with a loud cheer from the crowd.

Controversy stir-up

Russo has been accused by many for saying controversial things just to elicit responses and get people to call the radio show and debate. At the end of one of these he often will say something like "we killed that last 40 minutes" or whatever time period he wanted to get through.
For example, during the first week of August 2006, Russo called for the firing of Peter Greenberg, a well known and regarded baseball agent of Jose Reyes. Peter Greenberg also represents other well known athletes in baseball, such as Bobby Abreu, Angels pitcher Kelvim Escobar, White Sox pitcher Freddy Garcia, and Twins pitcher and 2004 and 2006 Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana. Russo's basis for his call of firing Greenberg was what he thought was an atrocious deal reached between Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and the Mets organization. Russo felt that Reyes was being vastly undervalued and underpaid as a player through his arbitration and free-agent years.

Cory Lidle

On October 9, 2006, after the sudden exit of the Yankees from the divisional series, Francesa and Russo took many grievances with so called Yankee dissenters, feeling most strongly about alleged comments made by Yankee starter Cory Lidle. Lidle was lambasted on air about comments that were seemingly directed towards Yankees manager Joe Torre. Lidle called into the station, and a 13-minute heated discussion ensued where Francesa and Russo challenged Lidle's credibility over these unofficial statements made to the media.^[28]
Tragically on October 11, 2006, Lidle and his flight instructor crashed a small plane into a 50-story condominium tower on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Francesa and Russo quickly went on the defensive, as they were emotionally disturbed and upset by the tragic loss of Lidle, whom they had scolded on air two days prior. They also refused to take any phone calls for the first couple of days after the crash, which led many to speculate that they were afraid of what their callers would say. In fact, many of the other hosts during their shows received quite a number of phone calls lambasting Francesa and Russo.
After the crash, Francesa said,
:"''If I knew he had two days to live, I would've told him to enjoy himself...But you can't do interviews that way. No one in the world thinks that way...And then to think my last words to him were that I don't think about him very much. You just weigh it very differently now.''"^[29]
Here is another quote from Francesa:
:"''You're not going to make me feel guilty. There have been times when we've been rude, I'd be crazy not to admit that. ... But this was an interview we never thought twice about.''"^[30]
Russo said to ''New York Daily News'' media columnist Bob Raissman,
:"''Do I wish right this second I had a better relationship with Cory Lidle? Yeah, I absolutely do, (but) you got to do what you got to do. I don't know what to tell you. You can make the argument that I look like a heel....I've been ripping him for five or six months. Does that make me a bad guy? I'll let others evaluate that.''"^[31]

Stance on the Imus-Rutgers controversy

Francesa and Russo opened their show on April 10, 2007, by weighing in on the controversy involving Don Imus and the disparaging comments he made the previous Wednesday about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The program began with an airing of statements delivered by team coach C. Vivian Stringer and team captain Essence Carson at a news conference held two hours prior. Mike followed with a monologue, in which he flatly denied rumors of a gag order in effect at WFAN, and confirmed that the decision to air portions of the Rutgers news conference at the top of the show had been made in consultation with program director Mark Chernoff. Francesa went on to clarify that while he had spoken with Imus a few days after the incident in question, his discussions with Imus had no bearing on how he reported the matter on ''Mike and the Mad Dog''.
Picking up from Francesa's opening monologue, Russo criticized Imus for failing to submit a public apology within forty-eight hours of making the offending comments, and found fault with his strategy on both Al Sharpton's radio show and ''The Today Show'' of citing his personal accomplishments in raising money for charitable causes like sickle-cell anemia, children's cancer and the plight of wounded veterans of the Iraq War. In Russo's estimation, this stance was "defensive." Russo suggested that Imus should have focused on atoning for his comments, rather than on burnishing his record of charitable activism.
Both Francesa and Russo were in agreement that Imus, in Francesa's words, "went too far" in his unflattering characterization of the Rutgers women's basketball team. They also agreed with a caller that the statements made by Imus were both "racist and sexist." In their opening comments, they pointed out that Imus had made countless remarks during his nearly thirty-five years on the radio that could be perceived as offensive; Russo cited the specific example of Bernard McGuirk's running parody of New York Catholic Archbishop Edward Cardinal Egan (and prior to this, John Cardinal O'Connor), speculating that many Catholic listeners may have found this gag offensive.
Despite these criticisms, however, both Francesa and Russo balked at the idea that Imus should be fired as host of his nationally syndicated radio program ''Imus in the Morning.'' They disagreed, too, that the then proposed two-week suspension was merely, as one journalist had characterized it, "a slap on the wrist."
On April 12, 2007, Francesa announced in the afternoon that Don Imus had been dismissed by CBS Radio, the parent company of WFAN. This dismissal, which came on the heels of the permanent cancellation of Imus's telecast on MSNBC the previous day, effectively marked the end of Imus's tenure as host of the nationally syndicated radio program, ''Imus in the Morning''.
Both Francesa and Russo criticized both MSNBC and CBS Radio for dismissing Imus in the middle of the annual WFAN radiothon, which supports three prominent children's charities (the Tomorrows Children's Fund, the CJ Foundation for S.I.D.S. and the Imus Ranch).^[32] Since Imus was scheduled to host the radiothon the following morning, the immediate dismissal created a serious scheduling complication. Initially, Francesa reported that both he and Russo would host the radiothon in lieu of Imus; however, this plan was soon amended to allow Imus' wife Deidre Imus, and Charles McCord to host instead. For the next two weeks, Francesa and Russo filled in the morning slot.
When the morning portion of ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' debuted on April 16, Francesa opened the show by saying, "We would hope someone would come to their senses and Don would come back in a couple of weeks...We're not saying that's going to happen. We would hope something like that would happen."^[33] Later on both Francesa and Russo blasted Tim Russert (No. 1 on the list anointed by Russo)³³, Mike Wallace, Christopher Dodd ("The biggest phony" by Russo), Harold Ford, Jr., etc.^[34] for not supporting Imus.

Notable moments

Marconi Award

Francesa and Russo won the 2000 Marconi Award for Major Market Personality of the Year.^[35] The announcement was made on September 23 at the 2000 National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Radio Awards Dinner and Show in San Francisco, CA. They were the first sports-talk hosts ever to win the award.

Fifteenth anniversary

On December 15, 2004, Francesa and Russo celebrated their fifteenth anniversary on the air from 2 to 7 p.m. This anniversary special was preceded by a special preshow from 1 to 2 p.m. featuring highlights of the past 15 years of ''Mike and the Mad Dog''.^[36]

Twenty-five hour broadcast

Between June 30, 2005 and July 1, 2005, Francesa and Russo broadcasted live for 25 straight hours for the first time ever to raise money for various charities.^[37]^[38] It started after the completion of the New York Mets game (approximately 5 p.m.) and continued through the next day at 6:30 p.m. The show was broadcasted from the Summer Garden at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Notable guests included Tiki Barber and Mark Messier. Through WFAN's one or two radiothons per year, they have also helped raise money for World Hunger Year and the CJ Foundation For SIDS, among other charities.

Live play-by-play

On May 25, 2006, Francesa and Russo broadcast a Major League Baseball game at Shea Stadium between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets on radio for local charities.^[39] Russo did the play-by-play and Francesa did the color analysis except that they reversed the roles during the third and seventh innings. Their broadcasting performance was evaluated later on by Ed Coleman, Howie Rose, and Mets senior management. WFAN and the Mets claimed to raise over $40,000 from the event. During the game, when the two were shown on the scoreboard, they were loudly booed by the audience in Shea Stadium.^[40]. It was believed that the boos stemmed from the fact that neither Mike nor Chris are Met fans. Mike is an avid Yankee fan and Chris is a life long fan of the San Francisco Giants.
Before Russo and Francesa entered the booth to be broadcasters for the day, Russo mentioned that he was unsure how to correctly score a swinging strike three or a pitch taken called strike three. Russo and Francesa aired on the radio waves, whereas Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez were the television play-by-play broadcasters. Keith Hernandez jokingly (on May 25th, day of broadcast on TV) poked fun at Russo concerning his play scoring abilities on television where Russo, on the day before had reservations about the event; in the light that he was unsure about the quality of play-by-play that Francesa and Russo would give the audience. Days beforehand, it was entirely possible that Pedro Martinez was going to pitch, but was given the extra day off. On air (Francesa's and Russo's radio program) joked and jeered about the play-by-play calls which they practiced and intended to use regardless of Martinez's eventual non-start.
Prior to this event, Francesa and Russo had broadcast several college basketball games for charities.

YES simulcast

The simulcast on YES opens with a sports report from Chris Shearn, who also serves as producer for the simulcast (and who is also a favorite with Francesa and Russo), and usually plays music to block the advertising that is sold on WFAN (YES often returns from commercial before WFAN does). When Francesa and Russo are out of the studio, these outside shows are also recorded live by YES. Beginning in 2007, some of the outside shows have aired in high definition as YES launched a full-time HD channel.
During WFAN's ''20/20 Sports Flash'' reports, a selection of sports news is on the screen. Notably, the lead story onscreen (but not always in the actual report), is usually the Yankees or Nets game that will be airing on YES or WWOR-TV later that evening. YES then broadcasts the traffic report during rush-hour, but does not have a graphic to illustrate the report.
Since the broadcast on YES is a simulcast, there have been times when the show has been delayed or pre-empted on WFAN, usually due to New York Mets baseball. Francesa and Russo have never done a show specifically for YES, so the network usually shows reruns of its original programming like ''Yankees Classics'', ''Yankeeography'' or ''CenterStage'' in its place.
When both Francesa and Russo have the day off, YES does not broadcast the show, although other WFAN hosts, usually led by Joe Benigno, replace Francesa and Russo as the hosts of the ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' show, complete with theme music. This is apparently because Francesa and Russo are paid additional salary by YES for the show, while other WFAN hosts are not. YES did simulcast with the substitute hosts in its first couple of years.
WFAN's recent contract with YES to simulcast Mike and the Mad Dog ended at the end of 2006. Despite the Cory Lidle controversy and some negative things that Russo said about the Yankee organization in the summer of 2006 (including a heated on-air discussion with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman), the contract was renewed as part of the Yankees' radio deal with WCBS which, like WFAN, is owned by CBS Radio.^[41] It should also be noted that there have been a few occasions where YES has ended a simulcast in progress due to comments that may have been too critical of YES or the Yankees management. The two sometimes joke about the incidents when they get started talking about YES producers on the show or poke fun at team owner George Steinbrenner's feud with former Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer. Still, Francesa and Russo say that YES does not censor them on-air. Both they and YES officials have commented that the simulcast likely would have been canceled quickly if YES forced them to not criticize Yankees or Nets management.

Radio affiliates outside of New York City

In 2004, radio station WROW in Albany, New York, began simulcasting the show. The simulcast is unique in that, unlike most syndication, it is a straight pickup of what airs over WFAN's air, including jingles and the occasional inadvertent advertisement. WROW airs the show from 2:00 until 6:00 p.m.. Whenever it is either delayed or pre-empted, the station airs a montage of interviews, known as ''The Best of Mike and the Mad Dog'', or alternate news-talk programming such as Dennis Prager.
On July 16, 2007, WQYK in Tampa, Florida, became the second radio affiliate of the program, and broadcasts the show during the 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. time slot. WQYK also broadcasts select New York Yankees games which do not conflict with home Tampa Bay Devil Rays games. Tampa is the permanent residence of George Steinbrenner, as well as the spring training home of the Yankees, and the location of the Class-A Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League. WQYK, like WFAN, is owned by CBS Radio.
In welcoming the Tampa station, Francesa commented that WFAN is working on adding at least two more ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' affiliates. Though he did not reveal locations, he said the stations could be on-line with the program by September 2007.

Theme song

Each program starts with a theme song jingle produced by JAM Creative Productions. The jingle package has been used since the program's debut, and it is the only WFAN show not to use the station's standard jingle package. Lyrics below:
''Mike and the Mad Dog...Sports Radio 66, W-F-A-N''
''They're talkin' sports, goin' at it as hard as they can,''
''It's Mike and the Mad Dog on the FAN''
''Nothing can get by 'em''
''Turn it on and try 'em''
''Mike and the Mad Dog''
''W-F-A-N''

Trivia

Nicknames of Francesa and Russo

★ 'Fatso and Fruit Loops' by nationally syndicated morning talk show host Don Imus.^[17]

★ 'Mike and the Angry Puppy' by fellow WFAN host Steve Somers.

★ 'FranDog' by ''New York Daily News'' sports media columnist Bob Raissman.^[17]

★ 'Know It All and the Village Idiot' by ''New York Post'' sports media columnist Phil Mushnick.^[44]

★ 'Pope and the Dope' by Mushnick's reader Tony Virga.^[45]

Mike and the Marquis

On the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, the show has a trivia contest called 'Mike and the Marquis', where Russo's alter ego "The Marquis", a send up of the late-18th Century French Aristocrat, the Marquis de Sade, makes a yearly visit to deliver five trips to the Super Bowl. Players must get four very difficult questions correctly from several different categories (all picked by the Marquis).
"The Marquis" is called such because Russo believes only a true sadist (hence the selection of the Marquis de Sade character) could come up with the difficult questions through the years.
For the first several years the character had only existed in the mind of Russo, but with the advent of YES television cameras in the studio since 2002, Russo has done the contest segments in full 18th century French Aristocrat costume, including a wig that may have been used in ''Amadeus'', which Russo considers a favorite movie.
In 2007 Russo added a new character, former United States President Richard M. Nixon. For the bit Russo donned a Nixon mask for the segment.

References and notes

External links

★ Mike Francesa and Chris Russo bios on WFAN

★ Mike and the Mad Dog interview audios

★ The Unauthorized Mike and the Mad Dog Radio Show Blog with message board and daily blog

★ Mike and The Mad Dog Theme Note: Click on ''Demo Download'' on the Home Page, and under the News, Sports, and Talk Packages, the WFAN package is called "New York Fan". Click on the mp3 audio section. The opening to Mike and the Mad Dog is Cut #19.

★ Long Island History: Mike Francesa and Chris Russo

★ Mike and the Mad Dog video clips at youtube.com.

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