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Did Chris “Mad Dog” Russo Really Take a Gummy Before ‘First Take’?

Russo comes clean about what happened when he told the ‘First Take’ audience he took a gummy before a recent show.

Jimmy Traina

Chris Russo has become known as the Gummy Man.
Chris Russo has become known as the Gummy Man. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. At one point during his appearance on last Wednesday’s First Take, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo told Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Kimberly Martin, “I had a gummy this morning, I’m flying. Oh, I’m flying, I had a gummy. Right before he did the Yankee nonsense, I said let me go gobble one. And I went back with [Jessica] Mendoza and I took a gummy.”

“Don’t drag her into this,” Qerim scolded Russo.

Apparently dragging Mendoza into it did not sit well with ESPN because later in the show, Russo apologized for mentioning Mendoza and tried to clean up the minor mess.

On this week’s SI Media Podcast, I asked Russo if he really took a gummy right before doing a two-hour edition of First Take.

“No, it’s not accurate,” Russo admitted. “And I got in trouble for that. I put Jessica Mendoza in the mix and I shouldn’t have done that. That was a mistake. I indicated that she was in the mix. And that wasn’t the right thing to do so, so I’ll take the hit for that.”

I asked Russo if Mendoza got angry about the whole thing. “I have not heard from her,” Russo said. "But ESPN did,” he added.

When I opined that admitting to take a gummy before doing a show on a Disney-owned television station might not be the best move, he explained the real issue.

“Nobody said anything about that,” said Russo. “They were upset about the whole thing with Mendoza. It wasn’t about me. It was about bringing her into the equation.”

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2. JJ Redick is bringing his First Take energy to the Lakes. After mixing it up with Stephen A. Smith for a couple of years, Redick is now mixing it up with the media.

3. This was good stuff from J.J. Watt about what players go through during the NFL trade deadline when their names are in the mix to possibly get moved.

4. A little late this week, but here is the best weekly segment on all of sports TV: Bad Beats. I was hoping the Duke-Miami game would make the cut since I had a financial interest in that one, and Scott Van Pelt and Stanford Steve did not disappoint.

5. More good stuff here from NFL Films. Patrick Mahomes can basically do whatever he wants on the field, but when Monday’s game against the Bucs went to overtime, the quarterback was adamant that the Chiefs feed Kareem Hunt and run the ball.

6. With the presidential election over, it will be interesting to see if the NFL sees a ratings bump because the league’s ratings have been pretty strong this season.

Sunday’s Lions-Packers game on Fox in the 4:25 p.m. window drew 24.2 million viewers. Meanwhile, ABC/ESPN drew more than 20 million viewers for Monday’s Bucs-Chiefs game.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Yesterday was the anniversary of one of the best Seinfeld episodes of all time.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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