On Friday, Yankees announcer Michael Kay — after making abundantly clear his genuine affection and respect for Chris “Mad Dog” Russo — could not contain his astonishment.
Earlier in the week, Russo let fly one particular comment during his own coverage of the Tony Clark sitauation, where the former MLBPA head allegedly engaged in an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law.
Russo, apparently, described the Tony Clark situation as something that “happens all the time.”
Kay was floored.
“I mean, the the Tony Clark situation, quote, happens all the time,” Kay said, quoting Russo directly, via YouTube. “What’s going on in the town in Connecticut where where Chris lives? I mean, maybe the the the nickname Mad Dog means something that we don’t even know.”
The segment crackled with disbelief as Kay attempted to process a worldview in which an affair with a sister-in-law is routine enough to casually dismiss. But the more Kay tried to locate the logic in Russo’s comment, the more cosmic his incredulity became.
“But to say it happens all the time. On what universe and what planet, in what solar system does sleeping with, or I shouldn’t say sleeping, having an inappropriate relationship with your sister-in-law happen?” Kay said.
Kay didn’t stop at the absurdity, though. He took time to unpack exactly why the situation is so serious.
Whether it’s a wife’s sister or a brother’s wife, the damage radiates outward in every direction — a marriage shattered, a sibling relationship potentially destroyed forever.
This isn’t a minor social misstep to be casually contextualized. It’s a fundamental betrayal of trust at the most intimate level of family life.
And Kay said it directly.
“Chris, it doesn’t happen all the time,” he stated firmly. “And when it happens, it’s kind of, like, reprehensible.”
