April 18, 2026 • 38 mins
Big Ben talks about Rory McIlroy winning the Masters to go back-back, Dianna Russini resigning from The Athletic and the Mike Vrabel scandal, Maller's Mountain of Money: Lou Bega Edition, and more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
station for the Benmatlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot Com.
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Soar lead.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This hour is from Augusta and the beautiful manicured course
of the final round of the ninetieth Masters on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There were you glued to your TV?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Were you locked in on every single shot by the leaders?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
No? You were not all right?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Perhaps not so Rory McElroy getting her done, becoming the
first golfer to win back to back in belly to
belly Masters Championship since some guy named Tiger Woods before
Tiger forgot how to drive back in one and two,
maybe he never learned how to drive, So that further
pushes up Roy McElroy, the pride of the North, the Irishman,
(01:18):
his legacy there moving on up. So this comes one
year after one year after completing the career Grand Slam
by winning at Augusta National for Roy McElroy. So if
you heard last year's golf monologue about Roy McElroy, we'll
just add a little extra on, Just add a little
bit extra on mclroy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Thirty six.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
He turns thirty seven coming up here in May, so
his birthday is right around the quarter, but thirty six
for right now, and he earns a Master's record four
point five million, not bad for a few days work
futson around the golf course there. His career earnings now
over one hundred and fourteen million for Roy McElroy. He
(01:58):
is just six point three million behind Tiger Woods Scottie Scheffler,
who finished second one shot back at the Masters, and
he is third all time in career earnes. Keep in
mind the prizes have gone up because of the inflation.
The value of the dollar is not what it was.
The money back in the day was better than it
(02:19):
is now because it was worth more. You can get
more bang for your buck back then than you can now.
Anyway's good jumping off, boyd. Let us discuss the headline
here Back to back green jackets for Roy McElroy. So
the question has Roy McElroy rewritten his entire reputation in
the golf world. Now back to back green jackets. So
(02:41):
I've got K pop cover band and Chuck E Cheese
and we'll hear a ding and we'll put all these
together and we will be more bitter and twisted than ever.
Is what we're going to do. So a to answer
the question, has Roy McElroy been able to rewrite his
reputation in the Gulf world. I'm nodding my head. Yes,
(03:04):
I am nodding my head.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
On this like a bobblehead that is glued down to
the dashboard on your cars you're driving on the highway. There,
I will be Benny Brightside in full effect on this
to a point. All right, to a point. I want
we Betty Bryce that well, we are all bracing. I
was bracing. I was texting some friends. I was watching
the end of the tournament. We were all bracing for
(03:28):
the typical Sunday soap opera that we get at Augusta
Nashvill the Total Meltdown. And did we get the Meltdown mixtape? No,
it never dropped. We never got that mixtape of Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
What a Choking Dog? What was he thinking? Didn't that.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Instead, Rory was able to flip the script from can't
close that was the reputation to mister automatica well not quite,
but mister close close, right close, the Hollywood rewrite from
Roy McElroy and in Georgia. Now that's it. I would
(04:09):
like to tap the brakes, tap tap. I want to
tap the brakes before we crown him. Now the landlord
of the Augusta National Golf Club, which some Bleeding Heart
bloggers and social media influencers have determined and based on
these last two years, we now must announce that this
(04:30):
is his personal playground, Roy McElroy at Augustus.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So two green jackets.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You don't all of a sudden, we don't forget everything
that has happened, you know, and all of a sudden
the Tiger Woods two point zero here, So pump the
brakes on that. Gotta pump the brakes on that. Now, Yes,
he has gone though Roy McElroy has gone. K Pop
demon Hunters, he has slayed some demons of the past.
(04:56):
And sitting in this chair over the years and we
usually talk about the masters, and that's kind of a
staple of the way this stuff works, and you talk
about the Masters, and typically it's oh Mac what he
had it? Maclray had a shot and he blew it
all That sixteenth hole killed him. You know, That's how
that goes. And so forget the whole Hey, he's the landlord,
(05:18):
he's not the landlord of Augusta National. And so that's it.
Age thirty six, about to turn thirty seven, and this
is where he flips the light switch on at this
point in his career, and you wonder, like, where was
that a decade ago? Where was this version of McElroy
a decade ago?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It wasn't there.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And so this does at this point, while it is
impressive what he's done the last couple of years, it
does feel more like a late career heater than a
permanent upgrade. You know what I'm saying. This is a
temporary situation. It's not a long term situation. So you
enjoyed the ride, absolutely, and history says that these things
(06:03):
they fade away, these big bursts will fade away. And
so it's a great chapter. It's not the full rewrite,
So let's hold off on that. Now here's Roy McElroy
post tournament yapping about the level of the difficulty that
it takes to win one of those green jackets.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I thought it was so difficult to win last year
because of trying to win the monsters on the Grand Slam,
and then this year I realized it's just really difficult
to win the Masters.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Okay, there we go. Thank you appreciated that. Didn't need
you to tell me that, but you told me so.
I appreciate that. All right, So turning the page here
and keeping the putting game going, if you will. So
the question now is Roy mclroy getting lots of love
from the establishment golf media.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
There is such a thing as the establishment golf media.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And so the question is why is the golf world
and this happens every year you predicted months, I tell
you next year the same thing's gonna happen. But every year,
the same storylines pop up that whoever wins, well this
is it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
They won. There you go.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So why is golf always begging us, begging you, begging
me to pretend that someone is the second coming of
Tiger Woods, the next Tiger Woods when we all know,
every man, woman and child knows that is not the case.
And so the theory is because golf keeps trying to
(07:39):
run the same old playbook. They got one playbook. It worked,
they reached amazing heights, and so they continue to go
with that playbook and the playbook. Unfortunately there's only one.
It's a unicorn. There's one Tiger Woods. That's it, and
everyone knows it. Everyone knows it. So what you're seeing
now is a lot of the the Sport squinting and
(08:03):
hoping that they can convince some of the dumb dums
in the back of the room that this is the
same thing. It's Roy McElroy's magically turned into something that
he's not. But if we can just convince a few people,
the strattlers in the back of.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The room will be in good shape. And this isn't
keep mind, this is not about Rory at all.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's about being stuck the sport, being stuck in this
permanent identity crisis which happens again. It's been happening for
years and years and years, and so they still live
in this shadow. It's like a shadow realm from Tiger
And you know, I guess the better anaog you would
be like, it's like the cover band that plays the
(08:47):
Hits at a half empty, smoke filled casino off the
beaten path, and you're like, well, they used to be
a big deal.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's kind of you know, as a cover band.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
They traveled around, they were with some big bits, but
now they're just these a little crappy casinos, and well,
that what happened. But outside of the majors, Outside of
the majors, most of us treat the golf world as
background noise unless there's some kind of scandal, and then
we'll get engaged.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
In all that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
The urgency is obvious. They need a headliner, right, you
gotta get that headliner. You sold golf as a headliner sport.
You gotta get that Somebody that moves the needle badly,
and Rory is a name. Is somebody that we've heard of.
He's been around for a while, all right, He's been moving.
He just doesn't move the cultural needle. He just kind
(09:35):
of nudges it, just a little nudge. There's really no edge,
there's no danger. I don't think McElroy drives nearly like
a daredevil as Tiger Woods does. There's no gravitational pull
towards Roy McElroy. He's the top option available right now.
The again, not the second coming of anything. And so
(09:56):
the media hypes it up and are right here, we
go a little polish on it. Try to sell the illusion,
so you can hypnotize some people. However, you cannot manufacture
the it factor. And Roy McElroy does not have that.
Mystique does not happen. So Tiger had it obviously for
(10:17):
one of the all time greatsiaff like the greatest of
all time. Tiger wits blah blah blah blah blah. Not driving,
of course, golfing, golfing. And so you think Tiger was
like a lightning in a bottle situation, and Roy McElroy
is more like a flashlight now, a good flashlight, not
a bad flashlight, a good solid flashlight. But it's not
the same as a lightning strike. It's a flashlight. It's
(10:40):
not exactly the same, all right. Now, last word, outside
of Rory winning back to back green jackets, Sergio Garcia,
if you watch it, you know exactly where I'm going
with this. So Sergio Garcia found himself as a trending topic.
He went viral during the final round of the Masters.
Is in hot water with the people that have the
(11:03):
stick up there took us in Augusta, Georgia. There After
a very disheartening, discombobulated stretch of golf where there was
some serious skullduggery that took over. The golfer named Sergio
Garcia there in the final round, and he was a
great the former champion who's guaranteed lifetime golf at Augusta
(11:27):
because he won. But Sergio Garcia was given a code
of conduct violation. Uh oh, this after he damaged the
t box. What's in the box, Well, my golf club's
in the box. That's what's in the box on the
second hold. And later he snapped his driver against the cooler, snap, crackle,
(11:49):
not pop. The thing went limp. The driver went limp.
So he did not have he could not play with
that driver the rest. He didn't have a driver the
rest of the tournament. That wasn't that long, but he
didn't have the driver. Question, does the snapping of the
golf club meltdown? Does it hurt Sergio Garcia and his
legacy in the golf world. I saw this being brought
(12:12):
up by some people that also have a you know
what up there took us? So does the snapping of
a golf club against the cooler, breaking his driver somehow
create that your legacy has shifted. Now, please, this is
the legacy as I am about as casual.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
A golf guy as you can get.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I watched the Majors and I look for a scandal,
and that's about it. And Sergio Garcia, who's in his
mid forties at this point, has been around a long
time and is the most predictable, most predictable meltdown artist
at a golf event. And it's not even close. He's
a human volcano and is a very short fuse and
(12:54):
car boom is how that goes. Now, the twenty seventeen Masters,
you know, I think that was the year that he won.
Back in the day, one off looking more and more
like the Doc Rivers Championship doc out in Milwaukee. Finally
at least getting get paid. So it's not like he's
just on his way. He's getting paid a lot of money.
(13:14):
But twenty seventy Masters and the Celtics winning with Doc
Rivers as the coach, biggest stunners. Yeah, so one off
miracle it would appear for Sergio Garcia, and a career
filled with a lot of near miss misery for him
and the very combustible emotion for sure, and so Garcia
(13:39):
has been fighting the buttoned up culture, the golf life.
You know, you have the golf. I played golf every
once in a while. You go out to the golf course.
You gotta have the right clothes, you got to have
all the clubs. You can't just fus around. What's wrong
with you? And so go out there. And Sergio Garcia
has been pushing back against that, and here he is,
(14:01):
yet again on camera caught having a hissy fit, a
complete meltdown like a toddler at Chuck E Cheese.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And he just happened.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I don't know how did toddler get a titanium driver.
I don't know, but he did. And he's just breaking everything.
He broke the claw machine and the ski ball machine,
and he broke everything. I don't understand why at all.
But this is not new behavior. We mentioned. This is
a standard operating procedure. Here it's the greatest hits for
Sergio Garcia. The damage greens check. You've got these snap clubs,
(14:38):
check check and the public sulking check check check.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
So you get all three.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And he is a repeat offender with no off switch,
which is good for what I do. It dresses things
up a little bitter. I wo'd like to address that
because and honestly, it makes golf more enjoyable. Now everyone
can't do it. It's got to be rare appropriate. And when
it is rare and appropriate like this, it's great. It's
(15:04):
a sport that is essentially like going to the library
watching golf.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You gotta be quiet.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Ohiet all that, and at least something happened that was
over the top.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It was absolutely over the top. And that snap driver
by Sergio Garcia.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
There is that not the most relatable moment at Augusta
that has happened in years. I'm not gonna say all time,
because I don't know what happened before I was around
and when I was a kid and I wasn't paying attention,
but the most relatable moment right there in recent years.
And as for the discipline said the reporting said, well,
(15:42):
Sergio Garcia is in some trouble here.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Code of conduct warning.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Oh no, he got a code of conduct warning, he
got a lecture, he got called to the carpet Sergio Garcia.
Does that mean in the back of Butler cabin do
they have like a jail on the back there where
they sent Sergio Garcia to golf jail.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
What would golf jail be like anyway? Who knows?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So the discipline not going to be the discipline. He's
gonna ban Sergio Garcia from the Masters next year.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
No, they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's the Master's version of a parking ticket. You got
a code of conduct warning. It's like a parking ticket
and nothing changes. I don't how many more years Sergio
Garcia is gonna be golfing.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
He's in his mid forties.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
But assuming he continues and in another couple of years here,
we anticipate that they'll have more of these things, and
we'll be here to document all of them.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maler
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
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are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
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Speaker 4 (17:07):
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Speaker 3 (17:13):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Follow up follow up major update on the NFL insider
floozy and the football coach. If you have not heard,
If you have not heard, the eagle has landed. The
eagle has landed, and not a Philadelphi Eagle. Diana Russini,
Bye bye, She's the insider lady caught in a hot
(17:40):
tub with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in Sedona, Arizona,
last month, and she has now quit her job. She
resigned Finizio. Done out of here, Bye bye Athletic, She's
out of there. Russini SI admitted a public letter of
(18:02):
resignation to her now former employer, saying that she had
handled her responsibilities with professionalism and dedication. She did look
dedicated in that hot thumb, she said throughout her career.
She stands by every story featuring her byline. She clearly
earned those scoops. Diana seemingly with a straight face, that
she's leaving not because she did anything wrong. No no, no,
(18:26):
no no, but because of the self feeding speculation that
is simply unmoored from the facts. And so the note continued,
but Wait, there's more, she said, I have no interest
in submitting to any public inquiry that has already caused
(18:46):
far more damage than I am willing to accept.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I wonder if she's holding Varibel's hands while she typed
that with her other hand. Maybe possibly, I don't know.
Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to
step aside now, she claimed, before my current contract expires
on June thirtieth. I do so not, she continued, because
I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode.
(19:14):
But you know what that means, but because I refuse
to lend it further oxygen or to let it define
me or my career. Right, So that's a good jumping
off point. Let us discuss lots to unpack here. And
the question, now that we know the conclusion of this
(19:35):
part of the story here, what's the deal with Diana
Rossini's resignation letter?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
What does it tell you? All right? What does this
tell you?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So? I've got Caesar's Palace, Capitol Hill, and Star Wars,
and we will combine all of these things together and
we're going to make this Mallard monologue one hundred and
ten proof is what we're going to do yes, very strong,
very strong.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
All right.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
So hey, my first thought is the G word gobbledee gook.
That's what I thought of when I read this. Diana
Rossini has given the story, which she claimed has no credibility. Credibility. Congratulations,
abra cadabra.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Rassini said she won't let lend oxygen to this story.
Yet by doing what she did, she's pouring unleaded gasoline
all over it. Burn, baby, burn, if you will, and
leaving before it's it's finished. Wouldn't it be easy? I'm
just asking the question if you were with a bunch
of girls on your girlfriends there on the trip. One
(20:41):
thing I know about women they love taking photos. They
love taking ay, So wouldn't you think there'd be a
bunch of photos of all the girls and her and well, you,
no problem, and you just send that over to the athletic. Okay,
we got your good job by you. Okay, you're good.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Maybe somebody had lead it all her photos? Is that possible?
So how do you square I stand by my work
with I'm leaving before my contract expires. The math the
malor math ain't math on that and so what she's
done here and then the other part of it, which
just rubbed me the wrong way, is she's got her
(21:17):
deck of Caesar's Palace playing cards, and she pulled the
victim hood card from the bottom of the deck right there,
and a master class in avoiding accountability. I am going
to avoid the accountability.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
And so this is damage control dressed up as martyrdom.
She really the victim. I know that's very popular. There's
a cottage industry. You get a lot of that faux sympathy.
Oh victim, tell me more, tell me more.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Uh yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So I looked at it. It's like gas lighting one
oh one, gas lighting one on one, the old misdirection,
misdirection play. If you will, you feed false information. You're
trying to hornswag the public to question what they know
to be true. Like looking at the photographs and the
thing about it, she's claiming she was the victim. When
(22:10):
we are one of literally a handful of shows that
we're talking about this. I was getting message in people
who work in the business. Why are you talking about that?
You know you're never gonna get a daytime show. You talk,
that's why you're on nights you talk about, and these
guys all look like donkeys, every single one of them,
every one of those mainstream daytime guys look like donkeys.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Radio silent.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
You know, we do overnights obviously here at Fox, and
we're not part of the machine. We sneak in, We
commandeer the microphones overnight, the daytime radio and television. They
got a lot of egg on their face on this story,
a lot of egg on their face. The establishment mouthpieces
in the media business did not touch this. They didn't
(22:52):
How about the NFL insider crowd, nothing Buppkus squad, Douche
from Adam Schefter, the rap sheet and all those guys,
they shut it up. They got nothing but scoops. But
I guess they ran out of ice cream on this one.
No scoopage, No scoopage here. And then the other part
of is that Diana Rossini went down to home depot.
(23:13):
I don't know why she'd go there, but she went
down to home depot and she picked up some ballerina nails. Now,
why did she pick up ballerina nails? Because those are
the ones she made her bed with, and the bed of.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Nails and just like a coffin right there. Boom.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
As far as NFL insider, that's it now, keeping it going,
keeping the beat going. So the question now is if
she's if she did nothing wrong, If she did nothing wrong,
why did the now for former Athletic NFL insider Diana
Roussini resign from a really good gig? We are told
she was the highest paid employee at the Athletic, which
(23:50):
blows my mind. But that's what Who knows if that's true.
I read that on the internet. Might not be true,
but I read that, so I believe it because I
read it on the internet, so it must be true.
So why did you were? That's not like, that's the quest.
So giving this one little side eye, it's a little
bit of side I hear. And the question you ask
in these situations is did she jump or was she pushed?
(24:13):
And it is more likely than not, based on all
of the circumstantial evidence and years and years of stories
similar to this in the past, that it's more.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Likely than not that this was a preemitive.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Eject button pressed, let me press the button, Okay, press
the button.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Boom, there you go.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Her deal was up June thirtieth, and this smells yeah.
It smells like the media version of you can't fire me,
I quit. Now, you do understand who your employer is
when you work for the under the umbrella of the
old Gray Lady. When your employer is the old Gray Lady,
(24:56):
all stuffy and all that stuff, The New York Times,
the old great Lady. The optics matter more than oxygen.
I wonder if the editor also got whacked at the Athletic,
the dumbass who came out fully supporting Diana Russini before
getting any information. My god, anyway, So when you work
(25:17):
for The New York Times, you can't.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You can't get away with this. You can't.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
So now, if she worked at Barstool, she'd probably get
a raise, different more money, But not at The New
York Times, not there at all. So on the malord
scale of scandal, the malor scale of scandal's spin, uh,
you know the lines she used, I refuse to lend
this oxygen. That is first ballot Hall of Fame deflection.
(25:46):
It is rubber stamped, rubber stamped by the boys on
Capitol Hill, textbook crisis management. And it's what you resign
early on in the scandal. You control the narrative, You
get your word out, you avoid the public guillotine. Of course,
on this case it's a little rough. Although she did
(26:07):
do something we'll talk about a little bit later that
lend you to believe, lends you to believe that there's
more to the story. But nonetheless, the translation of all
that is you exit stage left before they give you
the gong show treatment and get you off the stage
and all that, and so the athletic quietly as I are, listen,
we're gonna get rid of you, and we're going to
(26:30):
allow you, though, to make it seem like you're the
one leaving, and we're gonna even let you write your
own goodbye poem. Yeah, you know, is it fiction or nonfiction? Well,
this is like reading Harry Potter. That's what it sounds
like to me. You read this note here, and.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
So now let's look at let's circle back. The word.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
One of the words she used was unmoored, and for
those with the lexicon issues, that word means unfettered, essentially
like a goose chase, like there was some kind of
witch hunt, if you will, And so she was attempting
it would appear whoever wrote.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That letter, I don't know she wrote the letter or not,
but some lawyer likely vetted it or.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Wrote most of it fine, because there there could be
some lawsuits. These things usually lead the lawsuits. That being said,
playing scrabble, here's the fun fact. Do you know the word?
I believe I'm correct on this. I play a lot
of scrabble. Do you know the word that has the
highest point value in scrabble? It's a word that I
use a lot on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You don't know what I'm and you can check check
me on this, but I believe I'm right. I looked
this up a while back. The word that has the
highest point total un scrabble is rasmataz. That's the words
worth Yes, it's worth forty eight points by itself. Forty
eight points by itself is ras mataz because it's got
the four z's in it and not the four tops
(28:00):
the four's e. So I believe that is the word
worth the most. So she could have used that, put
a little rasmataz in there. That would have been a
good word. It's onn word we said all the time.
It's great word. You know people smile when they erasmatas.
Razzle dazzle is another fun word, all right, now last
part of this. Now we know it takes two to tango,
and she was in the hot tub with an NFL coach, Hello,
(28:23):
Mike Rabel. Now we circle back and look at what
Mike Vrabel said when the story first came out in
the New York Post, because that reads like comedy gold,
Vrabel said, it was quote laughable to consider the picks
showed anything but an innocent interaction.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Oops.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right, question for the esteem panel. So the question is,
how does coach Mike Rabel walk into the Patriots facility
like nothing happened when the reporter that he was in
the hot tub with just resign from a great job.
So my theory is that Rabel grew up a fan
(29:05):
of Star Wars. He's a big fan of Star Wars.
Say what Yeah, so Rabel trying the Jedi mind trick
and these aren't the droids you're looking for. These aren't
the droids you're looking for. Trying to sell calm, everything's
good here while the building smells like burnt toast, Man
(29:28):
smell that burnt toast. Now he would have gotten away
with it if it weren't for you meddling PI private
investigator whoever ended up taking the story. There'll be some
Netflix docu series on this in about a year and
it'll be really good, and we'll find out how the
photos were taken and who took them and who sold them,
and the whole thing that'll be coming out before you
(29:49):
know it. Yeah, the person you said there's nothing, nothing
hanky panky going on here. The person you were in
the hot tub with resigned in a blaze of glory
from her job. So Diana Rassini might not be on
the NFL payroll. She's not technically, However, she swims in
(30:11):
that ecosystem, and that obviously matters. That's a big part
of it, and canoodling with a vendor slash client is
deemed problematic. I know this because I have graduated every
year for the last ten years or so from iHeart University,
and I have had the extreme training online courses. It's
(30:31):
like going to traffic school. Every years. I tell my bus,
I say, I didn't get a traffic ticket. Why don't
have to go to traffic school?
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Why you got do what? Ever?
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Here?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I said, But I didn't get a ticket, but you
got to do the thing. So I've learned over the years.
You know, these vendors. You can't, you can't fool around,
can't do it. That's HR one oh one, page forty
five of the HR Handbook in bold print, unless, of course,
you've got a force field of football privilege. So there's
a big push now to see Mike Vrabel punished by
(30:59):
the Patriots and to have something happen to Vrabel that
he is culpable here because he was doing the doing
the naughty whatever that means. We went in the bedroom,
but certainly seems like the way they were holding hands
it was more than just reporter coach relationship. So either way, Uh,
the reason it's next is there the odds of Rabel
(31:21):
getting any in any real trouble are less than five percent,
less than five percent.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
And the reason.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Is because he's got the anti person. He's got, not
old spies, not he's got w spice is what he's got.
Because in the NFL, winning is the most amazing deodorant.
And if this was Gerard Mayo or some Jabbroni coaching
the Patriots, and they have had some before, Belishick, there
were many Jibbronis, although Gerard Mayo was the last one.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
He was one and done in gior BRONI.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
If you bring somebody like that in, that person would
have been escorted out of the Patriots facility already in
a timely manner with a cardboard box holding their half
eaten bag of skittles from their office. That's how that
would have gone down. Coach of the Year, You're in
the super Bowl. Okay, we can look the other way.
It's all good here, it's all We're all good.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Rabel's got some things he's got an answer to at
his house. I would think, who knows what's going on?
And they got the wild swing lifestyle. I don't know,
but otherwise they got some.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Explaining to do.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It is the ben malor show your thoughts on what
is for now? The conclusion of this story, also, where
does Diana Russini end up?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I know our guy.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
I guess somebody send me an email saying Stu Gott's
offered her job here at this company.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Really, Okay, I didn't know you had that kind of money.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Is that a joke?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
I don't know. I thought he was joy. Don't somebody
so many your guys Stu Gotts offered her job.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
You're gonna have to be working with he us First
of all, even if she got a job here, she'd
worked during the day and I would never see her.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
I would love to meet her.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I would never see her in my idol. Now you
might be your hero.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, And she definitely went above and beyond the call
due to get scoops Anyway, apparently, what.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Do I know?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. I bet she
gets you know, she'll do a podcast. Everyone nobody listens
to most of these podcasts. She'll do a podcast, or
she'll work at Barsto Hello, Hello, the Hot Top, the
Sedona podcast, she could call it.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, anyway, I'm sure she'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And she she's now infamous, and in some ways she's
more famous now than she's ever Actually, most of the
way she's more famous now she ever would have been
just being a regular run of the mill like seventh
or eighth most popular NFL Insider. She didn't reach the
upper echelon of NFL Insider. Despite going to great lengths
to try to go in the upper echelon, she did
(33:45):
not reach that level. Now she has in terms of infamy.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. Now
Mailor's mountain of money, lad what it takes to get
to the top? Probably not?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
All right, here we go, time to play the game.
We have Chris in Syracuse. He's waiting for the gym
to open, and Coach Russell is taking somebody to the
airport and he's going to start his day in the
Orlando area. And let's get started. I am up with
Chris in Syracuse. You picked Mommy is hot. Mommy is hot?
Speaker 5 (34:25):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Okay, these athletes are all are you there, by the way, Chris, Yes,
all right, these athletes are all said to have hot mamas.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Are you ready? We need first and last name. Chris?
You got it all right? Forty five seconds on the clock.
We're on our way.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Go splash, brother, but not Clay Thompson. Up Curry, Yeah,
quarterback for.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
The New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
He was a rookie last year. Yes, Giants, wide receiver
legend years ago. He's kind of hanging around trying to
get back in the NFL this year. What's this We'll take? Yes,
defensive star for the Detroit Lions. White guy, dominant defensive Yeah,
(35:09):
look at you. Quarterback for the Jets. He was a
bust out of b Yu. I believe he's bounced around
the NFL last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Was a number all.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Right, wide receiver for the Chiefs. He keeps getting in
legal trouble. Wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes been arrested. No,
you got one hundred points, Tree Hill, No, can keep going.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Savior Worthy it was. I don't know if he's gotten
in trouble though.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
No, I thought you got in some trouble. No, Mayor,
I'm wrong.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Alright, Uh, Coach, you and I have mambo number five.
It's a good song.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Right.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
These athletes all wore the number five jersey. All right,
I need the first and last name. Are you ready, coach?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I'm going to get yet.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
All right, let's begin. He is the current star on
the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (36:03):
This guy is the current coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
One of the best point guards of all time. Yes,
this guy was a quarterback for the Eagles for a
long time.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
Yes, this guy was one of the best running backs
in college football history.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
He wore this number with the with USC.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Read you book.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Uh, this guy played for the Kansas City Royals. He
freaked out because Pine Tar he got on his bat
or yes, uh, this guy's son, Cameron is on duke
right now, right there, Carlos Boozer.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
All right, we will now beat you and I'm gonna
milk the clock here.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
All right, Chris, do you want baby keep smiling? Or
King of my castle?
Speaker 4 (36:58):
King?
Speaker 3 (36:59):
All right? All right.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Athletes are consider the best of their respective sports families.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Are you ready?
Speaker 5 (37:04):
Christopher?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
You got all right? Forty five seconds We're on our way.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Go.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Quarterback a longtime Indianapolis colt and Denver Bronco.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Quarterback one Super Bowl Hitton Manner.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yes, the money Man boxer nicknamed money maywe Yes, tight
end for the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
He's on Fox now. Tom Brady's goat. Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yankee star back of the day, Jolton, Yankee star in
nineteen fifties. No, all right, catcher for Sant Louis Cardinals
in the nineties, in the two thousand, two thousands.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Actually, yes, manager Aaron Yankee manager. Aaron's dad Yankee manager,
Aaron his dad Boom.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
No, his dad two twenty total Bob boone was his dad?
Speaker 6 (37:56):
There?
Speaker 5 (37:57):
All right?
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Cochjo Deemaggio.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
We have a chance here. Baby keeps smiling. These athletes
were all known for their for their constant grin. Don't
show Coop all right, forty five seconds, let's begin quarterback
for the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
He was an MVP, but he stinks now he's not.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
This guy was the best point guard of all time
for the Lakers.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
This guy is struggling right now for the Mets. He
came from the Indians. This guy's got the fastest fastest
man of all time from Jamaica.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Oh not gonna make it.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
We wait, say it, say it.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Shut.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
You have a great workout, Chris
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
station for the Benmatlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot Com.
You can find it there or stream us live every
night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Soar lead.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This hour is from Augusta and the beautiful manicured course
of the final round of the ninetieth Masters on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
There were you glued to your TV?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Were you locked in on every single shot by the leaders?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
No? You were not all right?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Perhaps not so Rory McElroy getting her done, becoming the
first golfer to win back to back in belly to
belly Masters Championship since some guy named Tiger Woods before
Tiger forgot how to drive back in one and two,
maybe he never learned how to drive, So that further
pushes up Roy McElroy, the pride of the North, the Irishman,
(01:18):
his legacy there moving on up. So this comes one
year after one year after completing the career Grand Slam
by winning at Augusta National for Roy McElroy. So if
you heard last year's golf monologue about Roy McElroy, we'll
just add a little extra on, Just add a little
bit extra on mclroy.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Thirty six.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
He turns thirty seven coming up here in May, so
his birthday is right around the quarter, but thirty six
for right now, and he earns a Master's record four
point five million, not bad for a few days work
futson around the golf course there. His career earnings now
over one hundred and fourteen million for Roy McElroy. He
(01:58):
is just six point three million behind Tiger Woods Scottie Scheffler,
who finished second one shot back at the Masters, and
he is third all time in career earnes. Keep in
mind the prizes have gone up because of the inflation.
The value of the dollar is not what it was.
The money back in the day was better than it
(02:19):
is now because it was worth more. You can get
more bang for your buck back then than you can now.
Anyway's good jumping off, boyd. Let us discuss the headline
here Back to back green jackets for Roy McElroy. So
the question has Roy McElroy rewritten his entire reputation in
the golf world. Now back to back green jackets. So
(02:41):
I've got K pop cover band and Chuck E Cheese
and we'll hear a ding and we'll put all these
together and we will be more bitter and twisted than ever.
Is what we're going to do. So a to answer
the question, has Roy McElroy been able to rewrite his
reputation in the Gulf world. I'm nodding my head. Yes,
(03:04):
I am nodding my head.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
On this like a bobblehead that is glued down to
the dashboard on your cars you're driving on the highway. There,
I will be Benny Brightside in full effect on this
to a point. All right, to a point. I want
we Betty Bryce that well, we are all bracing. I
was bracing. I was texting some friends. I was watching
the end of the tournament. We were all bracing for
(03:28):
the typical Sunday soap opera that we get at Augusta
Nashvill the Total Meltdown. And did we get the Meltdown mixtape? No,
it never dropped. We never got that mixtape of Oh.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
What a Choking Dog? What was he thinking? Didn't that.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Instead, Rory was able to flip the script from can't
close that was the reputation to mister automatica well not quite,
but mister close close, right close, the Hollywood rewrite from
Roy McElroy and in Georgia. Now that's it. I would
(04:09):
like to tap the brakes, tap tap. I want to
tap the brakes before we crown him. Now the landlord
of the Augusta National Golf Club, which some Bleeding Heart
bloggers and social media influencers have determined and based on
these last two years, we now must announce that this
(04:30):
is his personal playground, Roy McElroy at Augustus.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
So two green jackets.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
You don't all of a sudden, we don't forget everything
that has happened, you know, and all of a sudden
the Tiger Woods two point zero here, So pump the
brakes on that. Gotta pump the brakes on that. Now, Yes,
he has gone though Roy McElroy has gone. K Pop
demon Hunters, he has slayed some demons of the past.
(04:56):
And sitting in this chair over the years and we
usually talk about the masters, and that's kind of a
staple of the way this stuff works, and you talk
about the Masters, and typically it's oh Mac what he
had it? Maclray had a shot and he blew it
all That sixteenth hole killed him. You know, That's how
that goes. And so forget the whole Hey, he's the landlord,
(05:18):
he's not the landlord of Augusta National. And so that's it.
Age thirty six, about to turn thirty seven, and this
is where he flips the light switch on at this
point in his career, and you wonder, like, where was
that a decade ago? Where was this version of McElroy
a decade ago?
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It wasn't there.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And so this does at this point, while it is
impressive what he's done the last couple of years, it
does feel more like a late career heater than a
permanent upgrade. You know what I'm saying. This is a
temporary situation. It's not a long term situation. So you
enjoyed the ride, absolutely, and history says that these things
(06:03):
they fade away, these big bursts will fade away. And
so it's a great chapter. It's not the full rewrite,
So let's hold off on that. Now here's Roy McElroy
post tournament yapping about the level of the difficulty that
it takes to win one of those green jackets.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
I thought it was so difficult to win last year
because of trying to win the monsters on the Grand Slam,
and then this year I realized it's just really difficult
to win the Masters.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Okay, there we go. Thank you appreciated that. Didn't need
you to tell me that, but you told me so.
I appreciate that. All right, So turning the page here
and keeping the putting game going, if you will. So
the question now is Roy mclroy getting lots of love
from the establishment golf media.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
There is such a thing as the establishment golf media.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And so the question is why is the golf world
and this happens every year you predicted months, I tell
you next year the same thing's gonna happen. But every year,
the same storylines pop up that whoever wins, well this
is it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
They won. There you go.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So why is golf always begging us, begging you, begging
me to pretend that someone is the second coming of
Tiger Woods, the next Tiger Woods when we all know,
every man, woman and child knows that is not the case.
And so the theory is because golf keeps trying to
(07:39):
run the same old playbook. They got one playbook. It worked,
they reached amazing heights, and so they continue to go
with that playbook and the playbook. Unfortunately there's only one.
It's a unicorn. There's one Tiger Woods. That's it, and
everyone knows it. Everyone knows it. So what you're seeing
now is a lot of the the Sport squinting and
(08:03):
hoping that they can convince some of the dumb dums
in the back of the room that this is the
same thing. It's Roy McElroy's magically turned into something that
he's not. But if we can just convince a few people,
the strattlers in the back of.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
The room will be in good shape. And this isn't
keep mind, this is not about Rory at all.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's about being stuck the sport, being stuck in this
permanent identity crisis which happens again. It's been happening for
years and years and years, and so they still live
in this shadow. It's like a shadow realm from Tiger
And you know, I guess the better anaog you would
be like, it's like the cover band that plays the
(08:47):
Hits at a half empty, smoke filled casino off the
beaten path, and you're like, well, they used to be
a big deal.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That's kind of you know, as a cover band.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
They traveled around, they were with some big bits, but
now they're just these a little crappy casinos, and well,
that what happened. But outside of the majors, Outside of
the majors, most of us treat the golf world as
background noise unless there's some kind of scandal, and then
we'll get engaged.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
In all that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
The urgency is obvious. They need a headliner, right, you
gotta get that headliner. You sold golf as a headliner sport.
You gotta get that Somebody that moves the needle badly,
and Rory is a name. Is somebody that we've heard of.
He's been around for a while, all right, He's been moving.
He just doesn't move the cultural needle. He just kind
(09:35):
of nudges it, just a little nudge. There's really no edge,
there's no danger. I don't think McElroy drives nearly like
a daredevil as Tiger Woods does. There's no gravitational pull
towards Roy McElroy. He's the top option available right now.
The again, not the second coming of anything. And so
(09:56):
the media hypes it up and are right here, we
go a little polish on it. Try to sell the illusion,
so you can hypnotize some people. However, you cannot manufacture
the it factor. And Roy McElroy does not have that.
Mystique does not happen. So Tiger had it obviously for
(10:17):
one of the all time greatsiaff like the greatest of
all time. Tiger wits blah blah blah blah blah. Not driving,
of course, golfing, golfing. And so you think Tiger was
like a lightning in a bottle situation, and Roy McElroy
is more like a flashlight now, a good flashlight, not
a bad flashlight, a good solid flashlight. But it's not
the same as a lightning strike. It's a flashlight. It's
(10:40):
not exactly the same, all right. Now, last word, outside
of Rory winning back to back green jackets, Sergio Garcia,
if you watch it, you know exactly where I'm going
with this. So Sergio Garcia found himself as a trending topic.
He went viral during the final round of the Masters.
Is in hot water with the people that have the
(11:03):
stick up there took us in Augusta, Georgia. There After
a very disheartening, discombobulated stretch of golf where there was
some serious skullduggery that took over. The golfer named Sergio
Garcia there in the final round, and he was a
great the former champion who's guaranteed lifetime golf at Augusta
(11:27):
because he won. But Sergio Garcia was given a code
of conduct violation. Uh oh, this after he damaged the
t box. What's in the box, Well, my golf club's
in the box. That's what's in the box on the
second hold. And later he snapped his driver against the cooler, snap, crackle,
(11:49):
not pop. The thing went limp. The driver went limp.
So he did not have he could not play with
that driver the rest. He didn't have a driver the
rest of the tournament. That wasn't that long, but he
didn't have the driver. Question, does the snapping of the
golf club meltdown? Does it hurt Sergio Garcia and his
legacy in the golf world. I saw this being brought
(12:12):
up by some people that also have a you know
what up there took us? So does the snapping of
a golf club against the cooler, breaking his driver somehow
create that your legacy has shifted. Now, please, this is
the legacy as I am about as casual.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
A golf guy as you can get.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I watched the Majors and I look for a scandal,
and that's about it. And Sergio Garcia, who's in his
mid forties at this point, has been around a long
time and is the most predictable, most predictable meltdown artist
at a golf event. And it's not even close. He's
a human volcano and is a very short fuse and
(12:54):
car boom is how that goes. Now, the twenty seventeen Masters,
you know, I think that was the year that he won.
Back in the day, one off looking more and more
like the Doc Rivers Championship doc out in Milwaukee. Finally
at least getting get paid. So it's not like he's
just on his way. He's getting paid a lot of money.
(13:14):
But twenty seventy Masters and the Celtics winning with Doc
Rivers as the coach, biggest stunners. Yeah, so one off
miracle it would appear for Sergio Garcia, and a career
filled with a lot of near miss misery for him
and the very combustible emotion for sure, and so Garcia
(13:39):
has been fighting the buttoned up culture, the golf life.
You know, you have the golf. I played golf every
once in a while. You go out to the golf course.
You gotta have the right clothes, you got to have
all the clubs. You can't just fus around. What's wrong
with you? And so go out there. And Sergio Garcia
has been pushing back against that, and here he is,
(14:01):
yet again on camera caught having a hissy fit, a
complete meltdown like a toddler at Chuck E Cheese.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
And he just happened.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I don't know how did toddler get a titanium driver.
I don't know, but he did. And he's just breaking everything.
He broke the claw machine and the ski ball machine,
and he broke everything. I don't understand why at all.
But this is not new behavior. We mentioned. This is
a standard operating procedure. Here it's the greatest hits for
Sergio Garcia. The damage greens check. You've got these snap clubs,
(14:38):
check check and the public sulking check check check.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
So you get all three.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And he is a repeat offender with no off switch,
which is good for what I do. It dresses things
up a little bitter. I wo'd like to address that
because and honestly, it makes golf more enjoyable. Now everyone
can't do it. It's got to be rare appropriate. And when
it is rare and appropriate like this, it's great. It's
(15:04):
a sport that is essentially like going to the library
watching golf.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
You gotta be quiet.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Ohiet all that, and at least something happened that was
over the top.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
It was absolutely over the top. And that snap driver
by Sergio Garcia.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
There is that not the most relatable moment at Augusta
that has happened in years. I'm not gonna say all time,
because I don't know what happened before I was around
and when I was a kid and I wasn't paying attention,
but the most relatable moment right there in recent years.
And as for the discipline said the reporting said, well,
(15:42):
Sergio Garcia is in some trouble here.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Code of conduct warning.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Oh no, he got a code of conduct warning, he
got a lecture, he got called to the carpet Sergio Garcia.
Does that mean in the back of Butler cabin do
they have like a jail on the back there where
they sent Sergio Garcia to golf jail.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
What would golf jail be like anyway? Who knows?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So the discipline not going to be the discipline. He's
gonna ban Sergio Garcia from the Masters next year.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
No, they're not.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
It's the Master's version of a parking ticket. You got
a code of conduct warning. It's like a parking ticket
and nothing changes. I don't how many more years Sergio
Garcia is gonna be golfing.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
He's in his mid forties.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
But assuming he continues and in another couple of years here,
we anticipate that they'll have more of these things, and
we'll be here to document all of them.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maler
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
And in addition to hearing us live week nights from
seven to ten pm Eastern on Fox Sports Radio, we
are excited to announce brand new YouTube channel for the show.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
That's right, you can now watch The Odd Couple live
on YouTube every day.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
Oh you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube just search Odd Couple FSR.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribe.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Follow up follow up major update on the NFL insider
floozy and the football coach. If you have not heard,
If you have not heard, the eagle has landed. The
eagle has landed, and not a Philadelphi Eagle. Diana Russini,
Bye bye, She's the insider lady caught in a hot
(17:40):
tub with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in Sedona, Arizona,
last month, and she has now quit her job. She
resigned Finizio. Done out of here, Bye bye Athletic, She's
out of there. Russini SI admitted a public letter of
(18:02):
resignation to her now former employer, saying that she had
handled her responsibilities with professionalism and dedication. She did look
dedicated in that hot thumb, she said throughout her career.
She stands by every story featuring her byline. She clearly
earned those scoops. Diana seemingly with a straight face, that
she's leaving not because she did anything wrong. No no, no,
(18:26):
no no, but because of the self feeding speculation that
is simply unmoored from the facts. And so the note continued,
but Wait, there's more, she said, I have no interest
in submitting to any public inquiry that has already caused
(18:46):
far more damage than I am willing to accept.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
I wonder if she's holding Varibel's hands while she typed
that with her other hand. Maybe possibly, I don't know.
Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to
step aside now, she claimed, before my current contract expires
on June thirtieth. I do so not, she continued, because
I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode.
(19:14):
But you know what that means, but because I refuse
to lend it further oxygen or to let it define
me or my career. Right, So that's a good jumping
off point. Let us discuss lots to unpack here. And
the question, now that we know the conclusion of this
(19:35):
part of the story here, what's the deal with Diana
Rossini's resignation letter?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
What does it tell you? All right? What does this
tell you?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
So? I've got Caesar's Palace, Capitol Hill, and Star Wars,
and we will combine all of these things together and
we're going to make this Mallard monologue one hundred and
ten proof is what we're going to do yes, very strong,
very strong.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
All right.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
So hey, my first thought is the G word gobbledee gook.
That's what I thought of when I read this. Diana
Rossini has given the story, which she claimed has no credibility. Credibility. Congratulations,
abra cadabra.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Rassini said she won't let lend oxygen to this story.
Yet by doing what she did, she's pouring unleaded gasoline
all over it. Burn, baby, burn, if you will, and
leaving before it's it's finished. Wouldn't it be easy? I'm
just asking the question if you were with a bunch
of girls on your girlfriends there on the trip. One
(20:41):
thing I know about women they love taking photos. They
love taking ay, So wouldn't you think there'd be a
bunch of photos of all the girls and her and well, you,
no problem, and you just send that over to the athletic. Okay,
we got your good job by you. Okay, you're good.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
What happened?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Maybe somebody had lead it all her photos? Is that possible?
So how do you square I stand by my work
with I'm leaving before my contract expires. The math the
malor math ain't math on that and so what she's
done here and then the other part of it, which
just rubbed me the wrong way, is she's got her
(21:17):
deck of Caesar's Palace playing cards, and she pulled the
victim hood card from the bottom of the deck right there,
and a master class in avoiding accountability. I am going
to avoid the accountability.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
And so this is damage control dressed up as martyrdom.
She really the victim. I know that's very popular. There's
a cottage industry. You get a lot of that faux sympathy.
Oh victim, tell me more, tell me more.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
Uh yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So I looked at it. It's like gas lighting one
oh one, gas lighting one on one, the old misdirection,
misdirection play. If you will, you feed false information. You're
trying to hornswag the public to question what they know
to be true. Like looking at the photographs and the
thing about it, she's claiming she was the victim. When
(22:10):
we are one of literally a handful of shows that
we're talking about this. I was getting message in people
who work in the business. Why are you talking about that?
You know you're never gonna get a daytime show. You talk,
that's why you're on nights you talk about, and these
guys all look like donkeys, every single one of them,
every one of those mainstream daytime guys look like donkeys.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Radio silent.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
You know, we do overnights obviously here at Fox, and
we're not part of the machine. We sneak in, We
commandeer the microphones overnight, the daytime radio and television. They
got a lot of egg on their face on this story,
a lot of egg on their face. The establishment mouthpieces
in the media business did not touch this. They didn't
(22:52):
How about the NFL insider crowd, nothing Buppkus squad, Douche
from Adam Schefter, the rap sheet and all those guys,
they shut it up. They got nothing but scoops. But
I guess they ran out of ice cream on this one.
No scoopage, No scoopage here. And then the other part
of is that Diana Rossini went down to home depot.
(23:13):
I don't know why she'd go there, but she went
down to home depot and she picked up some ballerina nails. Now,
why did she pick up ballerina nails? Because those are
the ones she made her bed with, and the bed of.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Nails and just like a coffin right there. Boom.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
As far as NFL insider, that's it now, keeping it going,
keeping the beat going. So the question now is if
she's if she did nothing wrong, If she did nothing wrong,
why did the now for former Athletic NFL insider Diana
Roussini resign from a really good gig? We are told
she was the highest paid employee at the Athletic, which
(23:50):
blows my mind. But that's what Who knows if that's true.
I read that on the internet. Might not be true,
but I read that, so I believe it because I
read it on the internet, so it must be true.
So why did you were? That's not like, that's the quest.
So giving this one little side eye, it's a little
bit of side I hear. And the question you ask
in these situations is did she jump or was she pushed?
(24:13):
And it is more likely than not, based on all
of the circumstantial evidence and years and years of stories
similar to this in the past, that it's more.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Likely than not that this was a preemitive.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Eject button pressed, let me press the button, Okay, press
the button.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Boom, there you go.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
Her deal was up June thirtieth, and this smells yeah.
It smells like the media version of you can't fire me,
I quit. Now, you do understand who your employer is
when you work for the under the umbrella of the
old Gray Lady. When your employer is the old Gray Lady,
(24:56):
all stuffy and all that stuff, The New York Times,
the old great Lady. The optics matter more than oxygen.
I wonder if the editor also got whacked at the Athletic,
the dumbass who came out fully supporting Diana Russini before
getting any information. My god, anyway, So when you work
(25:17):
for The New York Times, you can't.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You can't get away with this. You can't.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
So now, if she worked at Barstool, she'd probably get
a raise, different more money, But not at The New
York Times, not there at all. So on the malord
scale of scandal, the malor scale of scandal's spin, uh,
you know the lines she used, I refuse to lend
this oxygen. That is first ballot Hall of Fame deflection.
(25:46):
It is rubber stamped, rubber stamped by the boys on
Capitol Hill, textbook crisis management. And it's what you resign
early on in the scandal. You control the narrative, You
get your word out, you avoid the public guillotine. Of course,
on this case it's a little rough. Although she did
(26:07):
do something we'll talk about a little bit later that
lend you to believe, lends you to believe that there's
more to the story. But nonetheless, the translation of all
that is you exit stage left before they give you
the gong show treatment and get you off the stage
and all that, and so the athletic quietly as I are, listen,
we're gonna get rid of you, and we're going to
(26:30):
allow you, though, to make it seem like you're the
one leaving, and we're gonna even let you write your
own goodbye poem. Yeah, you know, is it fiction or nonfiction? Well,
this is like reading Harry Potter. That's what it sounds
like to me. You read this note here, and.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
So now let's look at let's circle back. The word.
Speaker 1 (26:52):
One of the words she used was unmoored, and for
those with the lexicon issues, that word means unfettered, essentially
like a goose chase, like there was some kind of
witch hunt, if you will, And so she was attempting
it would appear whoever wrote.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
That letter, I don't know she wrote the letter or not,
but some lawyer likely vetted it or.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Wrote most of it fine, because there there could be
some lawsuits. These things usually lead the lawsuits. That being said,
playing scrabble, here's the fun fact. Do you know the word?
I believe I'm correct on this. I play a lot
of scrabble. Do you know the word that has the
highest point value in scrabble? It's a word that I
use a lot on the show.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You don't know what I'm and you can check check
me on this, but I believe I'm right. I looked
this up a while back. The word that has the
highest point total un scrabble is rasmataz. That's the words
worth Yes, it's worth forty eight points by itself. Forty
eight points by itself is ras mataz because it's got
the four z's in it and not the four tops
(28:00):
the four's e. So I believe that is the word
worth the most. So she could have used that, put
a little rasmataz in there. That would have been a
good word. It's onn word we said all the time.
It's great word. You know people smile when they erasmatas.
Razzle dazzle is another fun word, all right, now last
part of this. Now we know it takes two to tango,
and she was in the hot tub with an NFL coach, Hello,
(28:23):
Mike Rabel. Now we circle back and look at what
Mike Vrabel said when the story first came out in
the New York Post, because that reads like comedy gold,
Vrabel said, it was quote laughable to consider the picks
showed anything but an innocent interaction.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Oops.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
All right, question for the esteem panel. So the question is,
how does coach Mike Rabel walk into the Patriots facility
like nothing happened when the reporter that he was in
the hot tub with just resign from a great job.
So my theory is that Rabel grew up a fan
(29:05):
of Star Wars. He's a big fan of Star Wars.
Say what Yeah, so Rabel trying the Jedi mind trick
and these aren't the droids you're looking for. These aren't
the droids you're looking for. Trying to sell calm, everything's
good here while the building smells like burnt toast, Man
(29:28):
smell that burnt toast. Now he would have gotten away
with it if it weren't for you meddling PI private
investigator whoever ended up taking the story. There'll be some
Netflix docu series on this in about a year and
it'll be really good, and we'll find out how the
photos were taken and who took them and who sold them,
and the whole thing that'll be coming out before you
(29:49):
know it. Yeah, the person you said there's nothing, nothing
hanky panky going on here. The person you were in
the hot tub with resigned in a blaze of glory
from her job. So Diana Rassini might not be on
the NFL payroll. She's not technically, However, she swims in
(30:11):
that ecosystem, and that obviously matters. That's a big part
of it, and canoodling with a vendor slash client is
deemed problematic. I know this because I have graduated every
year for the last ten years or so from iHeart University,
and I have had the extreme training online courses. It's
(30:31):
like going to traffic school. Every years. I tell my bus,
I say, I didn't get a traffic ticket. Why don't
have to go to traffic school?
Speaker 3 (30:36):
Why you got do what? Ever?
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Here?
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I said, But I didn't get a ticket, but you
got to do the thing. So I've learned over the years.
You know, these vendors. You can't, you can't fool around,
can't do it. That's HR one oh one, page forty
five of the HR Handbook in bold print, unless, of course,
you've got a force field of football privilege. So there's
a big push now to see Mike Vrabel punished by
(30:59):
the Patriots and to have something happen to Vrabel that
he is culpable here because he was doing the doing
the naughty whatever that means. We went in the bedroom,
but certainly seems like the way they were holding hands
it was more than just reporter coach relationship. So either way, Uh,
the reason it's next is there the odds of Rabel
(31:21):
getting any in any real trouble are less than five percent,
less than five percent.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
And the reason.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Is because he's got the anti person. He's got, not
old spies, not he's got w spice is what he's got.
Because in the NFL, winning is the most amazing deodorant.
And if this was Gerard Mayo or some Jabbroni coaching
the Patriots, and they have had some before, Belishick, there
were many Jibbronis, although Gerard Mayo was the last one.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
He was one and done in gior BRONI.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
If you bring somebody like that in, that person would
have been escorted out of the Patriots facility already in
a timely manner with a cardboard box holding their half
eaten bag of skittles from their office. That's how that
would have gone down. Coach of the Year, You're in
the super Bowl. Okay, we can look the other way.
It's all good here, it's all We're all good.
Speaker 4 (32:14):
Now.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Rabel's got some things he's got an answer to at
his house. I would think, who knows what's going on?
And they got the wild swing lifestyle. I don't know,
but otherwise they got some.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Explaining to do.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It is the ben malor show your thoughts on what
is for now? The conclusion of this story, also, where
does Diana Russini end up?
Speaker 3 (32:37):
I know our guy.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
I guess somebody send me an email saying Stu Gott's
offered her job here at this company.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Really, Okay, I didn't know you had that kind of money.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
Is that a joke?
Speaker 3 (32:46):
I don't know. I thought he was joy. Don't somebody
so many your guys Stu Gotts offered her job.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
You're gonna have to be working with he us First
of all, even if she got a job here, she'd
worked during the day and I would never see her.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
I would love to meet her.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I would never see her in my idol. Now you
might be your hero.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, And she definitely went above and beyond the call
due to get scoops Anyway, apparently, what.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Do I know?
Speaker 1 (33:06):
Eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. I bet she
gets you know, she'll do a podcast. Everyone nobody listens
to most of these podcasts. She'll do a podcast, or
she'll work at Barsto Hello, Hello, the Hot Top, the
Sedona podcast, she could call it.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
Yeah, anyway, I'm sure she'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
And she she's now infamous, and in some ways she's
more famous now than she's ever Actually, most of the
way she's more famous now she ever would have been
just being a regular run of the mill like seventh
or eighth most popular NFL Insider. She didn't reach the
upper echelon of NFL Insider. Despite going to great lengths
to try to go in the upper echelon, she did
(33:45):
not reach that level. Now she has in terms of infamy.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. Now
Mailor's mountain of money, lad what it takes to get
to the top? Probably not?
Speaker 1 (34:05):
All right, here we go, time to play the game.
We have Chris in Syracuse. He's waiting for the gym
to open, and Coach Russell is taking somebody to the
airport and he's going to start his day in the
Orlando area. And let's get started. I am up with
Chris in Syracuse. You picked Mommy is hot. Mommy is hot?
Speaker 5 (34:25):
Thank you?
Speaker 1 (34:26):
Okay, these athletes are all are you there, by the way, Chris, Yes,
all right, these athletes are all said to have hot mamas.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Are you ready? We need first and last name. Chris?
You got it all right? Forty five seconds on the clock.
We're on our way.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Go splash, brother, but not Clay Thompson. Up Curry, Yeah,
quarterback for.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
The New York Giants.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
He was a rookie last year. Yes, Giants, wide receiver
legend years ago. He's kind of hanging around trying to
get back in the NFL this year. What's this We'll take? Yes,
defensive star for the Detroit Lions. White guy, dominant defensive Yeah,
(35:09):
look at you. Quarterback for the Jets. He was a
bust out of b Yu. I believe he's bounced around
the NFL last couple of years.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Was a number all.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Right, wide receiver for the Chiefs. He keeps getting in
legal trouble. Wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes been arrested. No,
you got one hundred points, Tree Hill, No, can keep going.
Speaker 5 (35:33):
Savior Worthy it was. I don't know if he's gotten
in trouble though.
Speaker 3 (35:37):
No, I thought you got in some trouble. No, Mayor,
I'm wrong.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
Alright, Uh, Coach, you and I have mambo number five.
It's a good song.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Right.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
These athletes all wore the number five jersey. All right,
I need the first and last name. Are you ready, coach?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I'm going to get yet.
Speaker 6 (35:54):
All right, let's begin. He is the current star on
the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (36:03):
This guy is the current coach of the Dallas Mavericks.
One of the best point guards of all time. Yes,
this guy was a quarterback for the Eagles for a
long time.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
Yes, this guy was one of the best running backs
in college football history.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
He wore this number with the with USC.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Read you book.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (36:23):
Uh, this guy played for the Kansas City Royals. He
freaked out because Pine Tar he got on his bat
or yes, uh, this guy's son, Cameron is on duke
right now, right there, Carlos Boozer.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
All right, we will now beat you and I'm gonna
milk the clock here.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
All right, Chris, do you want baby keep smiling? Or
King of my castle?
Speaker 4 (36:58):
King?
Speaker 3 (36:59):
All right? All right.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Athletes are consider the best of their respective sports families.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
Are you ready?
Speaker 5 (37:04):
Christopher?
Speaker 3 (37:05):
You got all right? Forty five seconds We're on our way.
Speaker 4 (37:07):
Go.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Quarterback a longtime Indianapolis colt and Denver Bronco.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Quarterback one Super Bowl Hitton Manner.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Yes, the money Man boxer nicknamed money maywe Yes, tight
end for the Patriots.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
He's on Fox now. Tom Brady's goat. Yes.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Yankee star back of the day, Jolton, Yankee star in
nineteen fifties. No, all right, catcher for Sant Louis Cardinals
in the nineties, in the two thousand, two thousands.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Actually, yes, manager Aaron Yankee manager. Aaron's dad Yankee manager,
Aaron his dad Boom.
Speaker 5 (37:51):
No, his dad two twenty total Bob boone was his dad?
Speaker 6 (37:56):
There?
Speaker 5 (37:57):
All right?
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Cochjo Deemaggio.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
We have a chance here. Baby keeps smiling. These athletes
were all known for their for their constant grin. Don't
show Coop all right, forty five seconds, let's begin quarterback
for the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
He was an MVP, but he stinks now he's not.
Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
This guy was the best point guard of all time
for the Lakers.
Speaker 6 (38:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Yes.
Speaker 6 (38:21):
This guy is struggling right now for the Mets. He
came from the Indians. This guy's got the fastest fastest
man of all time from Jamaica.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
Oh not gonna make it.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
We wait, say it, say it.
Speaker 1 (38:39):
Shut.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
You have a great workout, Chris
Host
Ben Maller
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