Chris "Mad Dog" Russo Thinks Mike Francesa Was "Duped" By A-Rod

If it is indeed impossible for long-time WFAN partners Mike and the Mad Dog to yell directly at each other about A-Rod and Bud Selig and Mike Francesa's role in the whole thing, then posturing back and forth on their own respective shows, and through the media, is going to have to do.

The wheels were set in motion on Mad Dog's radio channel yesterday (if you have any audio of this, we'll trade some valuable Internet cred for it), and continued in the New York Daily News in the form of some pretty scathing quotes.

“I can’t understand. Mike is smarter than this, to be duped by A-Rod and fall into this trap,” Dog told the 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.”

Would A-Rod have dared show up to WFAN studios if Russo, who's now on Sirius and recently joined MLB Network, were still around to shout follow-up questions at him?

“He would have never wanted to come on. Mike and I would have been debating this for months,” Mad Dog continued. “Mike would have taken A-Rod’s stance. I would have taken MLB’s stance. We would have gone at it. A-Rod wouldn’t have had the stomach to get in the middle of our fight.”

target="_blank">If dog wants wah, he'll get a wah, okay?

Update: From @WFANAudio via The Big Lead, here's the audio from Russo's show:

[youtube  href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/raissman-russo-dares-dog-mike-a-rod-issue-article-1.1525407" target="_blank">New York Daily News]