Chris “Mad Dog” Russo decided to take aim at his own ESPN colleagues during this Wednesday’s edition of his “What Are You Mad About” segment on First Take.
On Tuesday’s episode, analysts floated the idea of competitive eater Joey Chestnut being an “all-time athlete” due to his dominance in Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. It led to a debate on the proper way to define an athlete, and some of them argued that Chestnut fits the bill.
Important debates on ESPN platforms today: “Is Joey Chestnut an all-time athlete? How do we define a sport?” pic.twitter.com/OiTVcOFa8s
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 4, 2023
Russo couldn’t wait to finally give his take on the matter.
“Does anybody care about Joey Chestnut eating a hot dog?” Russo said. “This is ridiculous. And now we’re gonna debate whether Joey’s an athlete? I mean, are we serious here? I wouldn’t watch that if it was in my backyard. I’d draw the blinds. That is the biggest waste of time.
“I can’t believe this wonderful network put me on, on July 4th … Enough of eating hot dogs! Sixty-two of them! And then we’re gonna sit there and we’re gonna claim, ‘Is this a sport or not?’ It is not a sport! And it’s disgusting to look at, him shoving hot dogs in.”
ESPN wasn’t the only guilty party. During the broadcast of the hot dog eating contest, one of the announcers made the bold decision to compare Joey Chestnut to Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell.
You can feel the moment when he realizes comparing Joey Chestnut to Bill Russell isn’t going to go well… pic.twitter.com/ZogHXksevi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 4, 2023
Watch above via ESPN2.
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