For someone who can’t seem to go more than a few minutes without referencing a Celtics player from the 60s or 70s (John Havlicek, in particular), you’d think Chris “Mad Dog” Russo would have a little more respect for Boston’s famously devoted fan base. However, in a stunning betrayal, the former WFAN personality snubbed the city of champions, inexplicably leaving Boston off his list of the top five sports fan bases.
Since debuting in 2007, First Take has provided no shortage of mind-numbingly bad opinions, but this has to be one of the most unhinged segments in the show’s 15-year history. Failing to acknowledge Boston as a top-five sports city is the height of blasphemy. Even crazier was Russo picking Cleveland as his top fan base, praising the city for its gritty, blue-collar fans who show up to games rain or shine, even when their teams are struggling.
Citing “loyalty” and “enthusiasm” as his main criteria, Russo said he had to dock Philadelphia (No. 5 on his list) for its poor turnout during the 1982 NBA Playoffs with only 5,800 fans attending Game 7 of the Sixers’ second-round series with Milwaukee.
Stephen A. Smith dismissed Russo’s list as “horrible,” though his wasn’t much better, inexplicably slotting Oakland at No. 4 despite recently losing two of its three teams with the A’s (still slumming it in the laughably outdated Coliseum) already plotting their inevitable escape to Las Vegas. At least, Stephen A., with some prodding from host Molly Qerim (a New England native), gave Boston its props as the most sports-crazed city in America.
“Rabid fan base. That means you are literally out of control for your peeps,” said Smith. “Boston, No. 1.”
“How about when [Bill] Russell was there and they didn’t draw flies?” Russo countered. “If Boston teams don’t win, they don’t care about any other team. All they know are the Boston teams. If this is an NBA Final with Miami and Golden State, nobody [there] would watch.”
So to recap, Russo thinks Boston isn’t a good sports town because A) the Celtics had mediocre attendance in the 60s (a decade before their current coach, Ime Udoka, was even born) and B) because a Heat/Warriors Final wouldn’t get good ratings in Boston? That’s a truly galaxy-brained take, though maybe that’s to be expected in our current sports media landscape, where incoherent shouting too often substitutes for rational analysis.
In retrospect, Stephen A. missed a perfect opportunity to drop his famous catchphrase, “Stay off the weeeed,” which we know Russo is quite fond of, at least in edible form.
Related
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram