Chris “Mad Dog” Russo ripped his former radio partner Mike Francesa for the way the “Sports Pope” has been coddling Alex Rodriguez on-air.
Francesa had an exclusive interview with A-Rod on Wednesday after the New York Yankees 3B/DH stormed out of his arbitration hearing and headed over to the WFAN studios to talk with Francesa. Francesa gave A-Rod a platform and allowed the Yankee to share his side of the story without challenging him on many points.
Early in the interview, Francesa rattled off these questions in rapid fire:
“Were you guilty of any of these charges?
“Did you do anything wrong?
“Did you do any PEDs?
“Did you obstruct anybody, any witnesses, anything they’re accusing you of doing?”
Rodriguez answered “no” to all the questions, and Francesa hardly put up a fight. He didn’t bother mentioning how A-Rod’s credibility is lacking ever since he lied to Katie Couric about using PEDs. He didn’t bother asking about the report that A-Rod tested positive for a stimulant in 2006. He didn’t ask about reports that A-Rod’s legal team paid supporters to protest outside his hearing. It wasn’t until about 20 minutes in that he asked about reports saying A-Rod’s team paid for Biogenesis documents and threatened witnesses. He let A-Rod off easily. Mad Dog says that’s B.S.
“I can’t understand. Mike is smarter than this, to be duped by A-Rod and fall into this trap,” Russo told the New York Daily News’ Bob Raissman. “This is the guy you’re going to defend — A-Rod? He knows A-Rod did steroids. What do you think, Mike’s stupid? He knows.”
Russo continued to say that Francesa knows A-Rod cheated.
“I know Mike is down on baseball. (He calls) Selig a used car salesman. Fair point. Fair opinion. I don’t have a problem with that,” Russo said. “But for Mike to go down this path constantly with A-Rod when he knows deep down A-Rod is a cheat — he knows it.”
Rodriguez rarely gives exclusive interviews, but he has a good relationship with Francesa, who has defended him on-air. In 2006, A-Rod did an exclusive interview with Francesa back when Mike was together with Dog. They grilled Rodriguez then. Things are different now.
Francesa told Newsday that he felt he asked all the proper questions.
“I felt like I asked him every hard question you could possibly ask him,” Francesa told Newsday Wednesday. “I don’t think there’s anything I could ask him about that wasn’t asked.”
I agree that the 211-game suspension of Rodriguez is arbitrary, but I’d like to see the evidence MLB has against him before deciding whether that amount is fair or not. I do agree that he deserves a fair hearing, but for anyone to view or treat him as a victim is laughable.
