Inside The Phillies

Controversial MLB Host Backtracks on Ridiculous Retirement Claim

Legendary radio host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo was supposed to retire after the Philadelphia Phillies lost Game 7 of the NLCS. Now, he backtracks on that statement as expected.
Brad Wakai|
Controversial MLB Host Backtracks on Ridiculous Retirement Claim
Controversial MLB Host Backtracks on Ridiculous Retirement Claim

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Philadelphia Phillies

While the Philadelphia Phillies were figuring out what to do next following their Game 7 defeat in the National League Championship Series, it looked like another person would have to do the same.

Legendary radio host Chris "Mad Dog" Russo stated that he would retire if the Arizona Diamondbacks came back and beat the Phillies in the NLCS.

Once that happened, it looked like the controversial talking head would actually hold up his end of that promise.

But, as everyone expected, Russo backtracked on his ridiculous claim that he would retire from his radio and was back on the air.

Russo originally walked back his statement after it caught the attention of Diamondbacks' manager Torey Lovullo.

The controversial host clarified saying that he would only retire from his radio show on SiriusXM, not the televisions shows he appears on like ESPN's First Take and MLB Network's High Heat.

Now, Russo has done a complete reversal and will continue to do his radio show.

Of course, this was always going to be the outcome of this situation.

There was no way that he was going to step away after generating more attention to himself because a prediction backfired.

And there was no way that the radio executives were going to let him walk away without some sort of contractual conversations taking place beforehand.

So, once again, a talking head is left looking foolish after proclaiming something absurd on air and not facing any real consequence.

Russo will certainly take heat from people after going back on his promise, but in reality, that just brings him more attention, which is a win for his show.

The situation was ridiculous to begin with and it's ridiculous now.

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Brad Wakai
BRAD WAKAI

Brad Wakai graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. While an undergrad, he did work at the student radio station covering different Penn State athletic programs like football, basketball, volleyball, soccer and other sports. Brad currently is the Lead Contributor for Nittany Lions Wire of Gannett Media where he continues to cover Penn State athletics. He is also a contributor at FanSided, writing about the Philadelphia 76ers for The Sixers Sense. Brad is the host of the sports podcast I Said What I Said, discussing topics across the NFL, College Football, the NBA and other sports. You can follow him on Twitter: @bwakai

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