Chris "Mad Dog" Russo Didn't Show Much Emotion This Morning

It is difficult to describe in words the excitement, mirth, and mania audible in Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s voice today as he squawked, “Good Morning, Donnie!” then added, “Don—The San Francisco Giants are three wins away!” and laughed like a lunatic.
 
Phoning in from San Francisco, where he has been broadcasting his Sirius XM Radio show Mad Dog Unleashed since Monday, Russo was, to say the least, feeling good about his Giants, who took Game One of the World Series from the Texas Rangers last night.
 
“They’ve had a tremendous last month-and-a-half,” he said of the Giants. “Every now and then, a franchise gets on one of these rolls—think ’69 Mets, ’88 Dodgers. The Giants are sort of a ragamuffin team, with very good pitching.”
 
Russo had just one regret about his team’s success. “I miss being on the air right now with Mike,” he said, referring to his longtime on-air partner and rabid New York Yankees fan Mike Francesa. “I could really tweak him!”
 
Russo brushed off criticism of Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, who was caught with marijuana in his possession last November. “He can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned,” said Russo, calling his team “a weird group of guys.”
 
Though he grew up in New York with a Yankees fan for a father, Russo has been passionate about the San Francisco Giants, who have not won a World Series since they moved out west in 1958, since he was eight years old.
 
“My father never gave the Giants any credit this post-season, never thought they’d make it, thought they’d lose to Atlanta,” Russo said. He added, thoughtfully, “Sometimes God plays in the games, Don.”
 
Ridiculed for sounding like, well, a psychopath, Russo retorted, “Let me enjoy this! Don’t spoil it!”
 
But Imus tried anyway, declaring his support for the Texas Rangers. “You, of all people?” Russo crowed. “One of the great sports fans we’ve seen in this country in 60 years, now you’re rooting for the Texas Rangers? You’re a California kid!”
 
The two saw eye-to-eye in their delight over the Yankees’ defeat, with Russo noting, “Phil Hughes urinated on himself in that freakin’ series” with the Rangers. “What an awful job,” he added. “If you’re a baseball fan, you have no problem with the Yankees being knocked out.”
 
Russo was high, however, on two other New York franchises, the football Giants and the Jets, and even predicted the two teams could face each other in the Superbowl.  “It’s not out of the question,” he said.
 
Should the San Francisco Giants win their first World Series in 56 years, Russo has just one request of Charles, a St. Louis Cardinals fan.
 
“I want a ‘thank you’ card written in St. Louis, on Cardinals stationary!” Russo said. “When I win a championship!”
 
-Julie Kanfer