Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo Says Pat McAfee is Too Sensitive: 'You Can't Come Out Swinging and Bury Everybody'

Pat McAfee has been the main character of the media world for a week now, and the discourse does not seem to be on the verge of fading. ESPN's highly-paid personality was the enabler, and then stoker, of a massive firestorm that started with Aaron Rodgers invoking Jimmy Kimmel's name along with the Epstein list on the Pat McAfee Show. A few days later, McAfee called ESPN executive Norby Williamson a "rat" while on-air. Statements were made by the company claiming they'd handle it internally before it was business as usual on Tuesday. Rodgers showed up for his weekly spot, denied he accused Kimmel of being a pedophile, called out ESPN senior VP Mike Foss, and then ranted about conspiracies for nearly an hour.

So, yeah. Quite the week. And everyone has an opinion on it, including McAfee's fellow ESPN contractor Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. Russo was a guest on Wednesday's episode of The Marchand and Ourand podcast and said McAfee has to stop being so sensitive if he's to survive in this industry. From the 5:10 mark of the pod:

"Listen, Mac does a great job in a lot of ways, but you can't be that sensitive. He is so sensitive. You and him, of course, have gotten into it somewhat. He's mad at you, he's mad at other writers. Let it go! You're making $85 million or whatever you're making. You can't get that wrapped up when somebody writes something that is not so much in your corner. You can't come out swinging and bury everybody. Norby's a good man. I don't know Burt Magnus, but Norby's a good man. Why would you go out there and throw gauntlets at him?

And remember, the one thing you can say about McAfee, he's gotta prove that he can last a long time with a network. Whether it's Barstool, whether it's SiriusXM, whether it's FanDuel, he hasn't proved yet that he can stay five, 10 years. He'll probably kill me for saying this but it's true. You gotta stay a little longer here. He hasn't shown yet the ability to be a little long-lasting. This is a case here that ESPN had a rough week and the guy's only been there for four months. It's not like he's been there for five years. A little odd. And he's been so successful, his model is superb, why is he getting that worked up about what a rating might say? There's a lot of different ways to interpret it.... Let it go. It's not that important."

Regardless of where you may fall on the Rodgers thing, this is a great point. McAfee has developed a habit of taking any criticsm to heart and then taking his grievances on-air. Calling an ESPN executive a rat is obviously the most extreme example we have now but even before that he constantly complained about people who didn't like his show.

You just can't really do that if you're going to be a public figure to the degree McAfee has become. A thick skin is required in that gig, especially in the sort of niche he's carved out as a bodacious commentator who isn't afraid to say what's what. That makes him a magnet for negative attention and being able to cope with that negative attention without it affecting the job is a key component of why McAfee is paid so handsomely. There are few who understand this better than Russo, a man who made a career out of staking his claim on one side of an argument and loudly berating the other side on the radio every single day for decades. He'd never have time to talk sports if he dedicated time to taking shots at his haters.

If McAfee isn't careful he's going to start sounding a lot Rodgers-- spending time every day complaining about how the world is out to get him and how "they" don't want him to succeed. If he hasn't gotten there already.