I just watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Mike and the Mad Dog.”<\/p>\n
Forty minutes (commercial free) into the show, Robert Thompson, media expert, says: “There are a couple of stories in the Mike and the Mad Dog story that are uncomfortable.”<\/p>\n
Nick Paumgarten of The New Yorker: “On September 12, the show after 9\/11, they were talking about the relationship between the terrorist attack and the United States relationship with Israel.”<\/p>\n
Mike: “We got a call the day after 9\/11. It was about whether or not people should be supportive of their own country whether or not they have roots to other countries.”<\/p>\n
Ellie in Brooklyn: “If you would ask the Jews, 90% of the Jews would go support Israel.”<\/p>\n
Mike: “Now wait a second. Are you American or not?”<\/p>\n
Ellie: “I’m American but it has nothing to do with that.”<\/p>\n
Mike: “Which country would you protect first?”<\/p>\n
Ellie: “Israel. Without a question.”<\/p>\n
Mike: “Israel over the United States?”<\/p>\n
Ellie: “That’s correct.”<\/p>\n
Mike: “I have a problem with that.”<\/p>\n
So then there were headlines like “Controversy Over Loyalty Oath For Jews.”<\/p>\n
Nick Paumgarten: “According to a columnist for the New York Post, they suggested that American Jews should recite an oath of allegiance to the United States.”<\/p>\n
Russo: “There was a firestorm. Because of the headlines, everyone thought we said that Jewish people in America were more loyal to Israel than to America.”<\/p>\n
Some American Jews are more loyal to the Jewish people and the Jewish state than they are to America and many American Jews are more loyal to America than to Israel. I’d say most Americans Jews identify more with America than with Israel.<\/p>\n
Many Mexican-Americans are more loyal to Mexico than to America and many Christians are more loyal to Christianity than to America. <\/p>\n
I suspect there was only an hysterical reaction to the show’s reasonable comments because they touched on something painfully true and inconvenient — that different groups have different interests. <\/p>\n
Deadspin<\/a>: <\/p>\n That broadcast, and the broadcasts on the days that followed, entered into a shadowy sports-radio infamy because of what was supposedly said. The Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter<\/a> to WFAN program director Mark Chernoff denouncing how Francesa and Russo spoke about Jews and Israel, New York Post <\/em>columnist Phil Mushnick wrote a number of critical columns about the duo\u2019s 9\/11 takes, and Francesa and Russo even addressed it for an upcoming 30 for 30<\/em> documentary.<\/p>\n >The tapes are alternately revealing, intriguing (in a historical sense), and insulting, but ultimately, the show, which ran commercial-free from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., was not quite the Jew-bashing trainwreck that New York Post <\/em>columnist Phil Mushnick described when he penned<\/a> \u201cMike & Mad Dog Exposed As Frauds\u201d:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sitting there, a third-generation American, my late father a Naval lieutenant who served in two theaters during WW II, four people I know, including a fireman, are missing and presumed dead, and Francesa and Russo are inviting me to take a loyalty test designed for American Jews to prove their virtue to two sports-talk knowit-alls.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Having listened to the afternoon\u2019s full slate, we can say definitively that at no time during the broadcast did either Francesa or Russo discuss loyalty tests. (To be clear, we were only able to listen to one afternoon\u2019s show, while both the ADL and Mushnick took issue with several Mike and the Mad Dog<\/em> broadcasts, not just the Sept. 12 edition.) The pair did, though, frequently approach the line where nationalism turns into something much darker. <\/p>\n hey first approached said line around 3 p.m., a couple hours into their shift. Francesa and Russo were detailing their shock at how the United States national defense system could not proactively catch and prevent such an attack, a common theme throughout the day\u2019s show. In an incredible back-and-forth that can only be described as unintentional self-parody (a real-life version of that Stephen A. Smith Holocaust tweet<\/a>) the pair discuss how the freedom of American citizens is the real culprit:<\/p>\n Mike Francesa:<\/strong> Here\u2019s the problem, Dog, and there\u2019s not much you can do about it: We live in a free society. We let anybody come into this country, and we let in people who are obviously supporters. And they house them and they help them.<\/p>\n \u201cMad Dog\u201d Chris Russo:<\/strong> Democracy gets you in trouble there.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> There\u2019s nothing we can do because we let anybody in and you don\u2019t know if the guy who\u2019s running a business next door, or a local business in your town, if he happens to be a Bin Laden supporter, how would you know the difference. You don\u2019t know the difference between a guy who\u2019s a hard-working person from the Middle East and the guy who came here to cause destruction. How do you differentiate in a country where we believe in everybody being free?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Russo followed this by expressing a flash of empathy for the Arab-American population unrelated to the attacks\u2014the 99.99 percent, he said\u2014which is when Francesa regaled the audience with his tale of comforting a gas station worker.<\/p>\n It was the first of two times on the broadcast they explicitly questioned the loyalties of American citizens. The second came during one of the few caller segments. (The phone lines were opened only toward the end of the show\u2019s six hours.) While it\u2019s still a mystery as to why listeners chose to tune in to WFAN the day after the most devastating terrorist attack in American history, it was thanks to Brian in Yonkers, who called in around 5:45 p.m., that Francesa and Russo veered onto the topic of Israel.<\/p>\n Russo: <\/strong>Let\u2019s go to Brian in Yonkers.<\/p>\n Brian:<\/strong> I lived in Israel for three years, so you mention that Israelis have very good defense, but they\u2019d be left holding the bag. America made Israel stop when they had an opportunity in Lebanon to stop the PLO and their whole military capabilities. And America stopped Israel from being able to take care of a situation. And at the same time, America stopped itself from attacking in Iraq and finishing the job.<\/p>\n Russo:<\/strong> Oh we\u2019ve said that already. America always wants peace there, but it\u2019s not possible to have peace on that West Bank.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> America has spent 50 years\u2014more than 50 years\u2014<\/p>\n Russo:<\/strong> 1948, right?<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Late \u201840s. Trying to figure out how to cause anything positive in that area.<\/p>\n Russo: <\/strong>And it never works!<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> History can be a great guide. There\u2019s never going to peace the way that place is set up.<\/p>\n Russo: <\/strong>They both feel they have the right to the land.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> There\u2019s never going to peace in that region. It\u2019s never going to happen. You can take it to the bank. It hasn\u2019t happened in 50-plus years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Neither Francesa nor Russo ever asserted that American Jews should be subjected to loyalty tests. They did, however, intensely question the following caller, Ellie in Brooklyn, and his decision to rank his religion above his country when suggesting that he and other Jewish Americans would be partial to Israel should they ever have to choose between defending the United States or Israel.<\/p>\n Russo:<\/strong> All right, we\u2019ve got Ellie in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n Caller (Ellie in Brooklyn):<\/strong> I think the majority of the problem has to do with the immigration process. Seven percent, I don\u2019t want to be frank, seven percent of the immigrants are Muslims. It has to do about belief. Just as if you were to ask the Jews, say in New York City to choose between Israel and the US\u2014it\u2019s at a point where it\u2019s just not safe to live anywhere anymore. Ninety percent of the Jews would go support Israel. <\/p>\n Francesa: <\/strong>Now wait a second. Are you American, or not?<\/p>\n Caller: <\/strong>I\u2019m American, but it has nothing to do with that.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Why not? Do you protect one country? Which country would you protect first?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> Israel, without a question.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Israel over the United States? <\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> That\u2019s correct.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> I have a problem with that. I mean, do you live in the United States? <\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Are you a United States citizen?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Are you an Israeli citizen?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> No.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Then how can you tell me you\u2019d protect Israel rather than the United States? <\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> The basis of our lives is our beliefs.<\/p>\n Russo:<\/strong> Stop.<\/p>\n Francesa: <\/strong>Then you know what, you shouldn\u2019t live in the United States. <\/p>\n Russo: <\/strong>Go live in Israel, Ellie.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> How come you don\u2019t live in Israel?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> That\u2019s a practical question, but\u2014<\/p>\n Russo: <\/strong>Well, it\u2019s not fair. You, you gonna live in a country you don\u2019t\u2014<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> People don\u2019t live their lives on an ideological wavelength.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> You can live it on any level you want\u2014religious, ideological, anyway you want, I would not tell you how to live\u2014but I would think you have to protect the country that you live in. They have to come first, the country that you live and you\u2019re a citizen of and you were born in. It would seem to me that\u2019s the country you have to protect.<\/p>\n Caller: <\/strong>Don\u2019t get me wrong, that doesn\u2019t mean I wouldn\u2019t be interested at all about protecting the United States\u2014<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> But not at all costs?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> Right, but\u2014<\/p>\n Francesa: <\/strong>If it came down to sacrificing the United States or Israel, you\u2019d sacrifice the United States?<\/p>\n Caller:<\/strong> Right, but thank God it\u2019s not at that level.<\/p>\n Francesa:<\/strong> Well, you know what, sometime, hopefully it never comes to that, but to me, I understand your religion, but if you\u2019re an American, you\u2019re an American. I understand if you\u2019re gonna say, \u201cI\u2019m a Jew before I\u2019m an American,\u201d I understand that. But now you\u2019re dividing the line between religion\u2014okay, that\u2019s like me saying I\u2019m going to protect the Vatican before I protect New York. Sorry, not happening. Maybe I\u2019m a bad Catholic, but I\u2019m gonna protect my homeland before I protect the Vatican.<\/p>\n Russo:<\/strong> Totally agree. You shouldn\u2019t do that. Here\u2019s Eddie in Washington Heights.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n During the rest of the show, Francesa and Russo conversed about a variety of subjects, ranging from what they perceived as lax airport security (\u201cDo what the Israelis do\u2014put federal marshals on every plane!\u201d), the forthcoming search for Osama Bin Laden (\u201cThey can get all the side guys they want. Get the quarterback!\u201d), and the SEC\u2019s decision to play football that coming weekend (\u201cThe SEC should not be playing football this weekend, Mike!\u201d).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I just watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “Mike and the Mad Dog.” Forty minutes (commercial free) into the show, Robert Thompson, media expert, says: “There are a couple of stories in the Mike and the Mad Dog story … Continue reading \n
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