A report surfaced yesterday linking former WFAN afternoon host Mike Francesa to a reunion with former partner Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on First Take. On The Mike Francesa Podcast Tuesday, he admitted there’s truth to that rumor.
“I know there was a story written yesterday. The story had a lot of — I wouldn’t say it was 100% accurate, but it had a lot of truth to it. I’m gonna tell you exactly what happened,” Francesa began. “They called me last year and wanted me to surprised Dog and Stephen A. on First Take. Dog has been doing the show once a week with Stephen A. They wanted me to surprise them and go on. I was a little leery of surprising anyone. I felt better if they knew about it.
Francesa then claimed a nasty cold kept him from participating in the show.
“We went back and forth trying to find a date. We agreed on a date and I had a bad cold…so I passed on that day. Think it was in March. Said we’d get back to ’em. We never got back to each other again, and that’s where it’s been.”
He added there’s a chance in the next couple of months he could make an appearance on the show.
“I don’t know how it got out,” Francesa said. “It didn’t get out from me. But it is true that there was conversations. They did ask me to do it. They did not talk to me about any offer to do it on a permanent basis or anything like that. It was — as far as I knew — a one time thing. That was my understanding at the time. We haven’t discussed it since last April, maybe May.”
He concluded by saying he hadn’t hear from the folks at First Take in awhile, but when the discussions ended, they wanted him to be apart of a show.
