'Mind-boggling': US sports host rips NFL's decision to play MCG game
Some people prefer to live in the past.
And clearly one of those people is US sports radio host Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo.
Off the back of criticism from San Francisco 49ers coach about playing the NFL opener against the LA Rams at the MCG, Russo jumped on the bandwagon, telling viewers on ESPN nobody in Australia cares about the NFL.
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Kyle Shanahan, 49ers coach, complained about the travel time when asked during the week, telling reporters "I don't see any pros."
"It's cool for the league to play globally. I think that's awesome. But as far as the team doing it, no, there's not much benefit to it. Sometimes it's nice to get a bye week after but doesn't happen in week one."
Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo. ESPN
The match will be played on Thursday US time but will take place at 10.35am on Friday morning in Australia.
The Rams and 49ers likely have 10 days to recover before they play again in the US, yet some in the US believe the trip isn't worth the hassle for the NFL, players and staff.
This despite popularity of the NFL surging Down Under, with over 150,000 registrations of interest for tickets to the MCG clash, and an estimated 1.7 million fans.
However, Russo, referenced a time when he stayed in Sydney's northern beaches in 1980 as proof the decision to send a regular season game to Melbourne is "mind-boggling."
"You know how far it is? It's a 16-hour plane ride from LA or San Francisco to Melbourne!
"It's a long way, and the game is gonna be played at 10 o'clock in the morning so it's on 8.35 at night in America the night before.
"So they're gonna play a game at 10.35am in the morning local time? And then they're gonna fly back to America and play in week two?
"(Ex-tennis player) Patrick McEnroe, you know him, he works for ESPN, he tells me all the time when he covers the Australian Open it takes him six days to get over the jet lag!
"And believe me, this idea that the Australians care about football, I lived in Australia! 1980, I went to school at the University of Sydney.
"Every day of the week, I leave Frenchs Forest - a little town in New South Wales - I take a little bus to Chatswood train station, and I would take the Chatswood train station train to Sydney, over Sydney Harbour, that bridge, where the Sydney Opera House is ... and then I get ready to go to school.
Chris Russo lived in Australia in 1980. Getty Images for SiriusXM
"And every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I buy my Sydney Morning Herald newspaper - you know I love the newspapers - and as a 20-year-old I get that thing, I couldn't find a football score no matter what I did! They don't care about football in Australia for crying out loud!"
Other members of the program reminded Russo a lot has changed in over 40 years, but Russo kept poking.
"If I wanted to see Browns-Chargers on a Monday night game, I couldn't find the score nowhere! There were no scores anywhere!
"I found baseball, hockey, they couldn't care less about the NFL
"Anyway, to make a long story short, so now Shanahan has to 16 hours away, play in Melbourne, Australia ... but nobody in Australia cares about the National Football League, and I can prove it, because I could never get a Sunday score in the Sydney Morning Herald!"
