New Feature: What We Learned Friday....

What We Learned Friday is going to be a new weekly feature on TDD. Each week, I'll recap what I've learned in my own clever and witty style. These could be witticisms, phrases, or just plain old thoughts that wouldn't make sense to be their own post. Call them postettes if you like.

Have your own thoughts about what happened this week? Drop me a line at mark.delfranco@gmail.com. If I like it, I'll post it. I shall now commence with my inaugural weekly learnings. What I learned this week:

--I'd listen to Bob Costas call a grocery list. He's good, perhaps the best studio guy in the business.

--A certain blonde two-year old little boy will save us all.

--Good ratings for the Olympics? Who knew?

-- People change but blogs are forever.

--Triple AAA Plus is worth every cent even if they did send out a 60-year-old to change my tire.

--It's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is permission.

Russo Out at WFAN

Whoa! After 19 years, Russo is out leaving Francesa to go it alone. The Beatles broke up! That was just one of several analogies yesterday. The media coverage was considerable. Surprisingly, Francesa had Russo on the program at the top of the show today. Russo cried when he began recalling the duo's history. Touching.

Mike without the Maddog is like cookies without the cream, bacon without eggs. (Any reference to food when dealing with Francesa is purely coincidental). You get the idea. They were inseparable. And a big part of my life for 19 years.

But where do we go now? In truth, I think the wrong partner left. With Russo, you got a person who tolerated the callers and injected some personality into the show. We're left with Francesa...for better or worse. He hates the callers and can be a little dry and can be a know-it-all.

And that laugh. I'll miss Russo. Speculation has it he's going to work for XM/Sirius and Mel Karmazin. But Bob Raissman of the NY Daily News made a great point yesterday: If Howard Stern didn't crush terrestrial radio when he left neither will Chris Russo.


And one more thing: Say goodbye to any coverage of hockey and tennis in the afternoons on the FAN.

Questioning the Questioner...

WFAN's Joe Benigno this afternoon set interviewing back about 50 years in subsequent interviews with Mets catcher Brian Schneider and former Olympian Jackie Joyner Kersee. It seems like asking a legitimate question is no longer required. Benigno's staple question is "How bout that?" which he no doubt learned from the Chris Russo School of interviewing. Questions typically go like this:

Benigno: "The Mets bullpen, Brian, how about that?" I'm sorry, but is there a question in there? Very strange and it sets the interview subject (Schneider) awkwardly trying to answer legitimately.

Completing the daily double, Benigno also committed another sin: the preamble leading up to the question. Seemingly afraid of silence, broadcasters such as Benigno, ramble on leaving this listener to scream, "Just ask the question!"

(Remember the time when Daryl Strawberry hung up the phone on WFAN's Steve Somers
during the Schmoozer's overnight gig? )

I guess it's too much to ask.

Newsflash: Kay can be critical on YES

Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay is in rare form tonight. Maybe it's on marching orders from the YES Network or maybe it's because the Yankees have lost 10 out of 15 but he's been surprisingly critical during telecasts. In tonight's game, he questioned the route that second baseman Robinson Cano took to get Chone Figgins' (what seemed like a ) 27-hopper in Sunday's loss to Anaheim. "I was surprised. I mean that's the winning run," Kay says. "He's (Cano) gotta lay out for that ball. I mean it's the winning run."

Then when the Twins manufactured yet another run (compared to the Yankee approach of waiting for a three-run homer), Kay went into critique mode yet again: "It's a little thing but sometimes a flyball can win you a game."

And tonight wasn't the first time. Last week, Kay criticized A-Rod for the third baseman's paucity of key hits this season.

Good for Kay. Sometimes he comes across as Chief Pom Pom. And I say more of it. Of course, it was probably YES who ordered Kay to be more critical. After all, these are the same folks who fed Kim Jones strategy questions designed to annoy Joe Torre in 2006. Stay tuned.