RADIO
The MLB network’s “High Heat” starring Sirius XM Radio’s Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo is hands-down the most entertaining daily baseball show on television. It airs live five days per week at 1:00 PM ET and is a must-watch for all baseball fans.
The “Mad Dog” has been a radio fixture in the greater New York City area since the late 1980s, and he is known for his one-of-a-kind brand of broadcasting. With “High Heat”, Russo has successfully taken his distinctive radio broadcasting style and transferred it into must-see TV.
From the moment that he greets you with his trademark “Aaaaaaannnnnddddd good afternoon everybody!!” you’ve got a front row seat in the first car of a wild roller coaster ride that feels as if it’s been launched from a powerful 100 MPH catapult.
Mad Dog begins the show with the opening monologue, known as “The Brushback.” With arms flailing and his voice screaming at a fever pitch, Russo gives you his take on recent events in the world of baseball. He gives credit where credit is due, but if there is an issue that he has a problem with… well, let’s just say you’ll know when he’s got a problem with a particular issue. At the height of his monologue, he looks and screams directly into the camera, and although it’s not the case, you can swear that one of his eyes is looking northward and the other eye is looking eastward. He is truly reminiscent of a mad dog greeting you at the door, jumping up and down with his tail wagging 1000 miles per minute, and he cannot wait to tell you all the exciting things that are on his mind.
Doggie is so passionate about his on-air rants that he sometimes speaks so fast and so loud that he can’t wait to get the words out, and he actually sounds like he is about to lose his breath. His fanatical sermon about the world of balls and strikes is replete with mispronunciations of names, like “Josh Collmenter or whatever his name is,” and references to athletes that have long since passed away, like Waite Hoyte and Sonny Liston. If an athlete is not swift of foot then “he’s not exactly Jesse Owens” in Doggie’s book. Here is a clip of classic Russo delivery as he reacts to Mike Schmidt’s push for umpires not having to call balls and strikes anymore:
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Once Doggie is done with “The Brushback” it’s time for Bruce Schein, his producer and the voice of reason on the show, to interject his opinion on what the Dog just talked about. Even though he doesn’t always agree with Russo, he’s a calming influence, and when Schein is on the air it seems that Doggie figuratively lays on his back and waits for a treat or a belly rub as a reward for a good monologue. Schein keeps Doggie honest and corrects him when he has to, like when he recently noted that Phil Hughes “was 5-0 in his last six starts, not 5-1.”
Every beast needs a beauty and Kristina Fitzpatrick fits that bill quite nicely. Although she is easy on the eyes, Fitzpatrick obviously knows her stuff, contributing “Turn Back Time” segments that recently featured footage from a classic Yankee-Red Sox brawl from May 20, 1976. Fitzpatrick has contributed several other interesting baseball interest stories, as well, including video from Don Mattingly and Robinson Cano visits to “The Tonight Show.” She also presides over the “Man Bites Dog” portion of the program, where viewers call into the show and record their responses to some of Russo’s comments, and also the “Turn Up The Heat” segment, in which Kristina peppers the Dog with some hard-hitting questions about some of baseball’s current issues.
The remainder of the show is filled with a myriad of guest spots, ranging from baseball royalty like Joe Torre and Tony Larussa to team sideline reporters. One of the liveliest guest spots yet occurred when fellow MLB host Brian Kenny, a lover of sabermetrics, joined Russo, who thinks that people who use stats like Wins Above Replacement are ruining the game and are too “wrapped up with the dopey computers” and “saberstuff.” Check out this video of Kenny on Doggie’s show. It starts off as a bit of a love fest but a little over a minute into the clip, things get a bit animated (be sure to watch at least four minutes of this video).
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Russo ends his Friday broadcast with an exclamation point by featuring the best and the worst from the week in baseball in his “Good job, Bad job” segment. It’s kind of like the Dog's version of Santa’s naughty and nice list, and for your sake, you'd better hope you're on his “good job” list.
How would I best describe the “High Heat” program? It is animated, controlled chaos. What makes watching the Mad Dog such a trip is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. He owns up to the fact that he will mispronounce some words– he almost wears his mistakes like a badge of honor. Bruce Schein once told Russo that “with you every day is April Fool’s Day.” It was a good-natured comment, but make no mistake about it: the Dog is no fool. Watch the show and you will definitely learn something about the game of baseball, and you’ll have a good time doing so. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo loves the game of baseball as much as you do, and it shows.
