Starting Wednesday, Feb. 16, there should be plenty of eventful debates on First Take when Chris “Mad Dog” Russo joins Stephen A. Smith during the show each Wednesday.
On Friday’s edition of The Michael Kay Show, Russo joined Kay, Don LaGreca, and Peter Rosenberg on the program and Kay asked him about the process of agreeing to do some appearances on First Take after he was a guest on ESPN last month.
“I went down to do the Bonds and Clemens and the Hall of Fame stuff. He [Stephen A.] texted me a day or so prior asking if I wanted to come in,” Russo explained. “I came in two Wednesdays ago. I did the two segments. I think we did one on Rodgers and Brady and the Hall of Fame prior. I ran to do the High Heat… went home to do radio. The next day, Stephen A. called me and said are you interested? I said, you want to put something together, I’m all for it.
“ESPN gave me a deal to do these Wednesday shows. Steve picked the day. I will do 40 for the year. Got to be excited by that. Stephen A. is a great guy and he knows how to get his points across. I’ll see if I can hang in with him.”
La Greca asked Russo what he thinks makes a good debater, to which he brought up three characteristics. But besides being a good debater, Russo said he has to be cognizant of the fact that First Take is Smith’s show and not to take away the focus from there.
“You got to be a good salesman. You’ve got to be able to sell your point even if it’s out there in left field, you still got to be able to sell it,” said Russo.
“If you can sell your point with confidence and with some personality, that goes a long way. The second thing is you have to be loud… I learned this because at times I was too noisy and too much of a bully. I think to be fair about it, you have to give the other guy a chance to talk. I have to keep that in mind when I do this. It’s his show. Stephen’s show and he invited me on. I may not come out guns a-blazin’ right away, I have to get my feet wet, but I will get into it as I go along.”
As Russo prepares to debate Smith on a weekly basis, he told Rosenberg that the NBA and a big boxing match are two sports that he will have to dive into a little bit more to put up a good debate:
“NBA regular season. I follow the NBA regular season and I know what’s going on… I have a good feel of it, but I’m not sitting there watching necessarily in January and February non-stop NBA regular season games,” Russo said.
“I think that’s one thing I’m going to have to be a little more adept at. I think the second thing probably is when we get a big boxing event, I’m going to have to be into that because I know Stephen A. loves boxing. Those two would be the things I will have to be on top of.”
These debates between Russo and Smith should be must-see TV on a weekly basis and provide a lot of noise, energy, and information to the debate desk.
