Interesting ...

So here we are. There will never be another "Mike and the Mad Dog" show on WFAN. Chris "Mad Dog" Russo is leaving the station, as many of you folks might have learned last night.

Today's broadcast just began, and Mike Francesca opened the show by playing a taped Russo doing his trademark "Hello everybody." That was nice of him, since, of course, we know the duo didn't get along very well. One interesting thing is that WFAN has already removed all evidence of Russo from its Web site. His photo is still up in the studio, but I guarantee you it'll be gone the next time Francesca is in the studio.

Anyway, I obviously moved here in the last five years, so I never really heard the show before then, growing up listing to WEEI, a station clearly influenced by WFAN. For the most part, I firmly believe the hosts on WEEI are way more knowledgeable than the ones on the FAN, mostly because EEI uses newspaper writers and columnists, people that are in the locker rooms constantly.

I'll miss "Mike and the Mad Dog" though. I think Francesca has way too much ego and doesn't really know what he's talking about. Heck, he still refuses to acknowledge that Joba Chamberlain should be a starter. And, of course, Russo is a nitwit, an entertaining one, but still a big nitwit.

But the two put on an interesting show, and an enjoyable one. And even though they cut off a lot of folks, they did it far less than the hosts on "The Big Show," for example. It's not going to be the same with Francesca just rambling on about how the Yanks should bring back Bernie Williams or whatever.

Francesca just did a really nice thing by letting Russo on the air, which is something the station did not want. Good for them.

So I guess that's it. I do, however, want to comment on Joe Amarante's new profile photo, the one that's above. It hurts my feelings. It's a low blow from Joe. But I guess that comes with the territory when your Yanks stink, your Knicks are hopeless and your Defending Champion Giants are about to start a season where they come in third in their own division. Poor Joe.