ESPN Wants To Reunite Mad Dog And Francesa On 'First Take'

ESPN reportedly wants to reunite sports radio legends Chris "Mad Dog" Russo and Mike Francesa on First Take.

Wait... is ESPN kicking around an idea that makes sense?

According to The New York Post, adding Russo to the First Take lineup alongside Stephen A. Smith has boosted the show with his regular Wednesday appearances.

Russo started making appearances in February and sources say there were talks to bring Francesa into the fold back in March.

The idea back then was apparently to surprise Stephen A. and Mad Dog with the man who put the "Mike" in Mike & The Mad Dog. That just sounds like it'd be kind of awkward, and perhaps that's why it never happened. Although there were surely a multitude of more likely reasons.

This isn't the first time ESPN has reunited the sports radio duo who were on-air partners from 1989 to 2008 when Russo left the program. They were the subject of a 30 For 30 documentary called Mike And The Mad Dog (why waste too much time thinking of a title?).

ESPN Knows Reunions Rake In Ratings And Money

ESPN is demonstrating that it understands one simple principle: Reunions = Big ratings. Big Rating = Money. Therefore, using the Transitive Property of Equality, Reunions = Money.

Ask HBO Max how this works. They did a Friends reunion and a Harry Potter reunion over the last few years and they were both huge news.

People were apparently itching to see the cast of an okay-at-best sitcom get back together.

They definitely wanted to see a bunch of unappreciative actors — who later dumped on the woman who practically gave them their careers — talk about their glory days at Hogwarts.

It's probably safe to say that sports fans would at least want to take a peek at a Mike & The Mad Dog reunion.

I know I would. Especially if they let Francesa take phone calls.

No one gets victimized by prank calls like Mike Francesa.

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