Chris “Mad Dog” Russo sympathized with Minnesota Twins fans in a sensational rant on Tuesday’s episode of ‘First Take.’ In a segment that featured the longtime radio voice ranting and raving about how the Kansas City Chiefs have all the breaks right now, Russo talked about the downtrodden luck Twins fans fell on. No, not just because they lost Game 3 to the Houston Astros, but because nobody knew what time they’d play Game 4.
Major League Baseball evidently made the Twins and their fans wait to see what time they would play. The schedule alongside the other American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles had to be hashed out. The Rangers swept the Orioles in three games, earning a victory Monday night to punch their ticket to the American League Championship Series. So, now the Twins will play the Astros shortly later.
But that should have been hashed out long before Midnight, Russo argued.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOYh1qp0u0Y&t=164s&ab_channel=ESPN
“Mad Dog” how only he could, putting everyone in the shoes of a young child from Minneapolis, conveniently referred to as, “Stevie A.”
“Number 3, I want you to put yourself in a situation where little Stevie A. is a young kid. He’s in Minnesota. He was all revved up to go to a day game today, a playoff game when it’s not that cold at Target Field, when the Twins are playing Game 4 against Houston. His daddy got the tickets, he can miss the day of school. It would be a perfect opportunity. So, he goes to bed last night. His Dad says, pats him on the head, ‘Hey, we’ll go have a little breakfast. We’ll go to Target Field, have a little barbecue, and see if the Twins can stay alive against Houston down 2 games to 1.
“He wakes up this morning… and he FINDS OUT… THE GAME IS NOW AT 7 O’CLOCK AT NIGHT AND HE CAN’T GO BECAUSE HE’S GOT AN ALGEBRA QUIZ TWO DAYS LATER! You see what Baseball did? Baseball moved the Twins game to 7 o’clock at night, tonight, because the Orioles lost yesterday. So, in other words, poor little Stevie A. in Minneapolis, little eight-year old kid. He loves Killebrew! And Rod Carew! Look him up, you don’t know who they are! And because the Orioles lost to Texas, they moved the Twin game to primetime and got the game off the 2 o’clock window! So when Stevie A. went to sleep with his Dad, ready to watch the ballgame today he wakes up and Dad says, ‘We can’t go. You’ve got an Algebra quiz in two days.’ YOU CAN’T GO TO THE GAME BECAUSE NOW IT’S AT NIGHT!
I mean how does Baseball… FIVE HOURS, TEN HOURS before the next playoff game tell the Minnesota fans, ‘Hey by the way guys, I know it was supposed to be at 1. We’re gonna move it to 6 because we gotta make sure Fox gets taken care of with the primetime game! That? I understand a couple days! You did it the night before at Midnight once Texas won! THAT. DROVE. ME. NUTS!”
Russo’s painting pictured here got the ‘First Take’ crew to giggle throughout his rant. He does make a pretty sound point though about inconveniencing everybody because of networks and their decisions. Hmm. That sounds like a topical discussion, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.
Anyhow, it is a bit silly that the Twins had a 5+ hour window and that it was decided upon with only a few hours to go. Networks obviously do all the tinkering, and everyone knows that. But it feels like you could, at the very least, provide the answers before Midnight.
In case you’re wondering? This is not the first time that Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has ranted about playoff start times.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022