While many are shocked to see the Arizona Diamondbacks advance to the World Series, none may be more shocked than Chris “Mad Dog” Russo. Russo threatened to retire if the Diamondbacks won when they were down 3-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.
To Russo’s dismay, the Diamondbacks did the improbable and overcame a 3-2 series deficit to punch their ticket to the World Series. While a matchup with the Texas Rangers awaits, Russo is back at work on ESPN despite his wager in front of the public eye that he’d retire.
Russo clarified on ESPN’s First Take that his promise to retire was about his radio career, not his television prospects. First Take co-host Stephen A. Smith challenged Russo’s stance, telling him that he cannot split his career into two for the sake of this argument.
Smith didn’t let Russo off the hook so easily during the show. He dedicated the entire show to the Diamondbacks and how they proved Russo wrong.
“You went too far. You went too far, Doggy… Retire? Really? Really?” Smith told Russo during First Take.
While it was a trending topic that riled up baseball fans (specifically Diamondbacks fans), did anyone ever expect Russo to retire?
He has an incredible gig with both ESPN and SiriusXM. He has a segment on ESPN called What Are You Mad About? Additionally, he has a channel on SiriusXM that has become very popular.
While Russo may have gone overboard with threatening to retire, it was never a realistic option.
