June 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Big Ben talks about the Dodgers winning the weekend series against the Yankees in convincing fashion, the idea that Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is on the hot seat, Maller to the Third Degree, Insta-Advice Line, 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
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
A show down weekend baseball style.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Welcome in not beginning of another week of the Ben
Malers Show. We are in the air AmWhere cohorts as
we are the pulse of the people, coast, the coast, border.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Water and beyond on the vast and talkatively powerful microphones
of FSR and monating live from the craft the hand
crafted quality. You can hear unless you can't hear, and
then you're not listing, So who cares? From the Fox
Sports Radio Studios as approved by Nico Enzo and all
(01:21):
the great listeners in Vancouver that came out, had a
wonderful time last week the Mallard Meet and Greet and
spent the weekend there in Vancouver. So big thanks to
Nico who made that happen. We'll have some more stories
throughout them. Hopefully I'll catch up with Nico at some
point on the on the pod and we'll have full
in depth team coverage of the weekend that was around Vancouver.
(01:44):
But our lead this hour. It's all about sporty mixed sport,
and the big game on Sunday, the big weekend showdown,
must see, must see the baseball game as we head
into the month of June. Now the June second show
here as the calendar flipped over the weekend at Chavez Ravine,
(02:07):
the final matchup of the regular season, and they only
played three games, the Bronx Bombers and the Boys in
Blue the Doyers as they wrapped up the weekend series
in Island. Game in Sunday night baseball, and I don't
know if you're watching this or not, maybe not. I
had it on in the background and a former Dodger,
(02:29):
Ryan Yarborough limiting the Dodger offense and we had four
hits against him over six innings and Ben Rice, oh
so nice. He hit a big bomb to center field,
tie breaking two run homer and the Yankees salvage a game.
They got their ass kicked by the Dodgers this weekend,
(02:50):
but they didn't win a game seven to three. They
avoid getting sweeped or swept out of Dodger Stadium. Now
the Dodgers their top pitcher this year, the only one
that's not hurt. Last I checked Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the ace
of the current Dodgers. He got lit up. He had
a clunker against the Yankees in that game. But you
(03:11):
got to look at the big picture. So Yarborough, who
cares about He's not going to pitch any big games
for the Yankees in the playoffs. Let's be honest about that.
So you push that aside. And he pitched fine. He
was a reliever on the Dodgers, so memorable. You didn't
even know he was on the team in twenty twenty
four when they won the World Series. And he got
a ring over the weekend. And so there you go.
(03:32):
But the whole weekend three games. That's it. We have
three games to judge the Dodgers versus the Yankees at
this point. So let us discuss the question what does
this weekend showdown series say about Aaron Boone's Yankees and
(03:52):
how they match up with the Dodgers because they did
lose the series. They might have won the game on Sunday,
but they lost the series. We got atomic high mileage
and moon landings, and we will combine all of these
things together and we are going to make the Baba
Ganoosh is what we're going to make with a side
(04:13):
of poutine. All right, So a now I realize that
it is June. I have been reminded it is June,
and we know people are going to say, ah, it
doesn't mean anything, it's June baseball. But I look at
it like horse racing, and these teams will be much
different by the time we get down to the end
of the regular season in October and all that stuff.
(04:36):
But it's like you're watching the Kentucky Derby and at
the quarter pole mark you look to see who's in
the lead. Now, doesn't mean that that horse who's in
the lead is going to win, but it gives you
a pretty good indication at that point in the race
that horse is doing very well in the race. We
do the show today, right, we do the show today,
(04:58):
and so today, at this moment, the New York Yankees
have some explaining to do. Yeah, they got some catching
off here, and it was a much bigger series. I
think every man, woman and Chili can agree. Much bigger
series for Aaron Judge and the Yankees. And you know
he had some all Munsi, but a much bigger deal
for the Yankees at this point to get a little
(05:22):
bit of payback and just to let everyone know, hey,
whither the Yankees are high for looting team and all
this stuff, and it's not gonna be the same situation
as last year when Aaron Judge futched around in center
field and one of my favorite defensive plays I've ever
seen in posting people talk about Bill Buckner and his
boner at first place for the Red Sox back in
the day, Aaron Judge misplaying a routine ball in cenate
(05:46):
field chef's kiss in my humble analysis, So how did
the series go for the Yankees? So they went on Sunday,
But if you look at the first two games of
the series, instead of payback, a battered roster for the Doyers,
a battle scarred unit that they sent out there, pitching
(06:06):
staff completely flea bitten, the lineup weather bitten as well,
and they outscored the Yankees the first two games of
the series twenty six to seven. They put eighteen runs
on Saturday, and the big one, though, was on Friday.
And that's the one that is a kick to the
(06:27):
nuts for the Yankees. They went out and they lost
Juan Soto and they got Max Freed, and they got
Max Freed for big games against teams like the Dodgers.
And Max Freed had tight took his syndrome against the
Dodgers in that game on Friday, and it was glorious
to see. And it's embarrassing for the Yankees be considered
(06:49):
Mookie Betts. He supposedly hurt himself his TUTSI at his house.
I'm skeptical. I always think there's more to those stories.
When I hear baseball players getting injured like that, I
always say there's something else going on. Was he the
karate kid? Was he kicking something? I don't know. But anyway, overall,
for the Yankees, this was the atomic wedgie for them
(07:14):
to come in here and they had kicked ass. I
think they swept the Angels. They played very well, won
their last couple of series in dominating fashion. And they
go into Dodger State and they were strutting in there
like a peacock. They had their feathers off, and they
just got punched the first two days bludgeoned. And so
Brian Cashman, who's the nerd emeritus, Brian Cashman and his
(07:37):
roster of players handpicked players because of the analytics against
the Dodgers players and their analytics the overall great. Again,
we're looking at the overall grade here, Dodgers and Yankees.
You look at the overall grade here, and you're like, hey,
wait a minute, they've the players were standing around there
and they looked a little bit confused on Friday, and
(07:59):
certainly on Saturday they were gobsmacked, like they just walked
into some kind of algebra exam and they'd forgotten to study.
For most of the weekend they didn't do any studying.
And again, the Max Freed debacle was the big one.
I mean, a Dodger lineup without Mookie Betts, and they
really roughed up Freed in that game. And so then
(08:21):
the Yankee apologists will be, ah, everything's fine, I don't worry
about this. Okay, we'll get him in October. I don't
know about that, but at least you have those VHS
tapes of the Great Yankee dynasty of the nineties. You
can go back and watch those old VHS tapes. Now. Meanwhile,
to Arizona we go a snap, crackle, pop goes, let's
ease and well, not yet, but it's looking that way.
(08:43):
The big free agent pitching move of the offseason not
exactly working out that well right now for the team
that calls themselves the Diamondbacks. If you did not see this,
Corbin Burns, mister Burns of Arizona set for the dreaded
m our eye on his tender elbow. He left to
(09:06):
start on Sunday after seventy pitches. So question, can you
put into context what this Corbin Burns injury means in Arizona.
So I've got I'll keep it simple, right. This is
a not a body blow. It's a gut punch, is
(09:27):
what this is. And the Diamondbacks were in the World
Series a couple of years ago. They still think of
themselves as this darling of October baseball that all they
have to do is get in and then they've got
the kind of team, a bunch of pesky hitters that
they can make this big run. And if you look
at Burns, though, his velocity was down, which is generally
(09:48):
known as a dead way. A dead way, there are
some serious issues. The thing of a jig and the
watch McCall it are not exactly working right there. And Burns,
this is kind of a big deal. He signed a
six year contract for two hundred and ten million this
offseason for the Diamondbacks, and everyone was like, what are
(10:12):
you doing when they signed with that contract. This is
a guy that had shown signs with the orioles of decline.
There were some red flags. We had mentioned them in
previous Mallard monologues about Burns showing some signs of being
a ticking time bomb and tick tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick tick ticking, and well, this is
(10:32):
not officially kaboom. It's down kaboom highway is what it is.
And we'll see Tory Lavello, the manager of the Diamondbacks,
says he's quote more than minimally concerned. Okay, no kidding,
thank you very much. This is not just some kind
(10:53):
of blip on the radar here. This is a potential iceberg.
And you very rarely see icebergs in the Greater Phoenix,
especially as we go into June and July and all
that stuff. But The Diamondbacks are floundering. They're a sub
five hundred team at this point, struggling to stay afloat
in a division with the Doyers and the Padres and
(11:14):
the Giants, who have been okay, not as good as
they were at the beginning of the art. Now, last word,
you know that this show is built on losers. The
Ben mal Show. We love losers, and there is no
bigger loser story than in Colorado. I said in New York.
But this series was in New York or Queen's Flushing,
(11:37):
but involves the Colorado Rockies, the team in Colorado who
got swept by the Metropolitans. Now that's not surprising. What
is surprising. It is now official. It has been rubber stamped.
It is a dune deal. The Rockies have played fifty
nine games and they have lost fifty That is the
(12:01):
worst record in the history of professional baseball since nineteen
oh one. That's one hundred and twenty plus years of baseball,
and no one has reached the level of suckage as
the twenty twenty five Colorado Rockies. This is the era
for teams that blow. You had the White Sox last year.
(12:23):
Now you've got the Rockies. But the Rockies the first
team ever to lose fifty before they won ten. Do
you realize how hard that is to lose fifty before
you win ten? You know, just showing up and going
about as a professional, you're gonna win roughly, as the
(12:44):
old line goes, the great late Tommy Lesorda used to preach,
and I heard this many times from Lasorda, every team's
gonna win fifty games. They're gonna lose fifty or win
sixty and lose sixty. It's what you do with the
other games, that's what matters. Okay, the Rockies have been
swept ten times in twenty series. They've been swept ten times.
(13:05):
That is tied for the most sweeps in twenty series
with the nineteen sixty two Mets and the nineteen seventy
Milwaukee Brewers. Not a team that is very memorable unless
you're I guess in Wisconsin and the nineteen ninety four
what used to be called the Oakland Athletics back when
Oakland had a team, but now they're just a nomad
(13:25):
team that doesn't exist in Sacramento. But you can allow
to say that. So what is the word? What is
the word? That describes the twenty twenty five Rockies. So,
after a thorough review of all possible words, the word
I will use is the ah word helpless. They are
absolutely see. The thing that's wild is you talk to
(13:48):
old school baseball people. They romanticize suck like the Mets,
the nineteen sixty two Mets with Casey Stengel romanticized. This
is a magical thing. They've been books written about, the
documentaries about them. It was a magical bad team. There's
nothing redeeming about the twenty twenty five Rockies. They're not
(14:09):
entertaining in a bad way. They're not entertaining in a
good way. They're just garbage. That's what they are. It's wild.
You'd think you're so bad at nine and fifty that
there's something where you feel empathy for them, But that
nine fifty baseball record, it's like, that's a cry for
(14:31):
an intervention, is what that is. It's like a basketball
record that you're trying to take for the top pick.
I mean, my god, since nineteen oh one, think about this.
Since nineteen oh one, we've had multiple world wars, we've
had moon landings, the Internet has been invented, television and
(14:52):
radio have been invented, and not once since nineteen oh
one has anyone in Major League Baseball been so pathetic
after fifty nine games as the twenty twenty five Colorado
Rockies and spoiler alert, spoiler alert, the the Rockies said, hey,
(15:13):
hold my course life. Of course they said hold my
course light, and then of course they drop it as
they handed it to you, and just another error for
the flotsam and the jetsam here as man like they're
auditioning for some kind of reboot of They're not trying
(15:33):
to leave Colorado Major League maybe bad news baar major League.
They'd be trying to go to somewhere where it's sunny
and get out of Colorado. It's not that, it's just
they're just they're just bad, and they're not really rebuilding.
I don't believe in rebuilding anyway. They're not. They're not
intentionally being bad. They're just bad, which is a special
kind of bad. It's on the spectrum of bad. It's
(15:55):
beyond bad because if you're trying to be bad, like
the White Sox are trying to be bad and they bad,
the Rockies are, they're like somewhere stuck in the middle.
It's very bizarre what's going on? And we somewhere the
owner of the Rockies is sipping a cocktail and you know,
hanging out in some luxury box and we're watching these games,
(16:17):
having a grand time as the team rolls out, Die
die die Alaya on the field, no playing, no vision,
and no reason to go out if you're gonna watch
if you're in Colorado, like, why would you go to
the game. Maybe to see the other team, But there
really needs to be some kind of sustained the boycott.
(16:40):
It does work. If nobody's showing up, that gets people's attention.
Nobody's watching the games on TV, and people aren't going
to the games, you do get attention. The Rockies years
ago actually led baseball in attendance. Of course, I think
at that time they played if I remember, they played
in the old Broncos Stadium, But they led baseball in
attends for years. They had actually entertaining teams. And that
(17:02):
damn Humidor. It's the humidor that ruined it. I blame
the humid or that and an owner who doesn't know
what he's doing. Rich guy, why'd you buy a baseball team?
The whole point of buying a baseball team. Are you
rich guy? I would think would be to flex and
to brag and you make money. But she can make
money doing other stuff. You don't have to own a
sports team, so why would you buy it and then
(17:23):
just have a floundering, pathetic roster not even put any
effort to do.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It's wild to be sure to catch live editions of
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app Gone.
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In a New York minute, Welcome in not beginning of
another hour of the Ben Mahlor Show.
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Way Tire Buying show I'd be so our lead. This
(18:54):
hour is from pro Bouncy Ball Now. Over the weekend,
while we were being oiled at a bougie dinner in Vancouver,
the New York Knickerbockers went cup put see you later,
That's it, and I was being impolite. I was allowed
though our friend Nico allowed me to check my phone.
(19:16):
I was keeping updated on the score. And then I
went back and I had some free time and I
watched on the NBA's website. They actually let you watch
most of these games on their website. So I went
back on and watched it, and the Pacers decommissioned Jalen
Brunson and the Knicks, sending them to Ken Kuhn vacation mode.
(19:37):
There As, Tyrese Halliburton did not win the Most Valuable Player,
much to his surprise, our friend and the greatest drop
in the history of the show, as provided by marcel
In Brooklyn, Pascal Siakam the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. As
Indiana advances and they will take on OKC in the
(19:59):
NBA Finals, we have plenty of time to give them
their flowers, and we'll do some of that. We'll take
our first peak little Peekaboo at the NBA Finals in
a minute. But you know the story here, the better story,
that's right, the better story in the losing locker room.
As our friends from the Big Apple have gone into
full meltdown mode, alarm bells are being sounded. Say it
(20:26):
ain't so all of that because of the way the
Knicks lost. They lost the first two games at home
and they end up losing the series in six games
to Indiana, a series they were heavily favored to win. Now,
Tom Thibodeau is the one getting the brunt of the
anger the range, as a number of fans calling for
(20:49):
his head on a platter. They would like him to
lose his job. Despite being a couple of wins away
from the NBA Finals. The Natives are restless in GoF
So let us discuss the question yay or nay yay
ornay on coach Tom Thibodeau being on the hot seed
(21:10):
as the Knicks are exterminated from the postseason. So I've
got McDonald's allergic reaction and soybeans, and we will combine
all of these things together, and we are gonna make
the Gabba goool. We're gonna make the Gabba goool, is
what we're gonna do. All right, So number, I said number.
(21:32):
Why so I am in the nay category. Now, I
do realize that coaches are expendable. They are like plastic forks.
You use them and then throw them away. They're not
meant to be used more than one time. I got that. However,
I like the way that Tom Thibodeaux teams play guilty
(21:55):
as charged your honor, I do. I like the way
his teams play. And you can fire Tom Thibodeau and
bring in some other jibbroni and all that. But I
don't know how you do that when you've already celebrated
your championship. Remember the New York Nick fan base had
their championship. They beat the Boston Celtics in the second
(22:16):
round and tea champions. We are the champions of the world.
They had to celebration. I think they had the parade
through the Canyon of Heroes. I can't confirm that or not.
I wasn't there. There were rumors that were going to
do that. They were throwing trash at Pacer fans, the
vermin in Manhattan. So and also Brian Winhorse got attacked
(22:38):
by some of these geniuses there. So you celebrate your championship.
You're not supposed to play another game after you win
your championship. When you win the Super Bowl, you don't
have to play again. When you win the NBA Championship
and beat the Celtics like the Knicks did, you're not
supposed to have to play again. So that's the problem here.
And so the little celebration, the Canyon of Heroes and
congratulations on these are the same fans. Though after that
(23:01):
moment where they beat the Celtics, they were ready to
rip apart some subway car, some MTA subway medal off
the cars there and they were gonna rip those off
and build a statue out of that metal from some
disowned subway car for Thibodeau. And since they lost to
(23:22):
the Pacers, now it's like you got to get out
of here, you know. Since the Pacers zoom past them,
that's it. It's over. And when you break it down
the Knicks actually overachieved. Who are you talking about? Okay,
they did, now they beat this out. Now, I'm not
gonna say they beat the Cellies because of Jason Tatum
getting hurt, because they were ahead in that series even
(23:43):
when Tatum got hurt. They had a choke hold on
that series. So that's not it. But if you look
at Nick Ross, you've got Jalen Brunson, who's verified good,
Karl Anthony Towns who spotty but talented, and aside from
that Tom Thibodau. You look at the rest of the
Knicks roster there and it's not totally patchwork. There's some gritty,
(24:10):
blue collar players and all that, which is what Tom
Thibodeau generally likes to put out in the court. They
got about where they should have gone Eastern Conference Finals,
that's about where the talent would lead them to be. Well, Indiana,
it wasn't their time. Well it was their time because
they played better than expected, so it was the time.
But to think this franchise, it's wild to me that
(24:33):
that franchise in the biggest media market in America has
not won a title since Richard Nixon was in office
before the Watergate scandal. It's crazy to me. And they
get close. They have a little taste, just a little nibbles.
They going to Costco getting a sample, got a little
nibble there, and then poof, they don't win the whole thing.
(24:56):
They thought they won. They didn't win. The Nick fan said,
we beat the Celtics, that's our championship. They didn't get
the championship trophy. They're all upset. They have a temper
tantum like a toddler that went to McDonald's and had
a conniption fit because they didn't get their LITLD championship,
ringing their happy meal. That's the Nick fan right there.
(25:18):
That's it. That's the Nick fan. Go throw some trash
on somebody else, you classy Nick fans, all right now, Paytree.
So it's not just the coaching shrapnel, as Tom Thibodeau
feeling the heat. There, the Nick players and coaches collectively
putting their venom towards one person in particular. Who would
that person be? I'll give you a clue. Kitty, Kitty, Kitty,
(25:43):
that's right. Karl Anthony Towns. Karl Anthony Towns and several
several detailed accounts documenting the defensive issues of Carl Anthony Towns,
longtime Minnesota timber wolf who came to the Knicks in
the offseason. So give me your reaction to multiple reports
(26:05):
pointing the finger of shame and blame at Karl Anthony Town's.
So my reaction is Stutner with a capital S Stutterer, Right,
who could not have seen that one coming?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Wait, anyone that's been paying attention to Karl Anthony Towns
during his NBA career, nicknamed Kitty Kat the feline of fun,
Karl Anthony Towns. And so I think I'm correct in saying,
what do I know? I just do the Overnight Show.
I think that is how Karl Anthony Towns has played
his entire career and finally the Minnesota and that there
(26:42):
were some financial reasons Minnesota got rid of him. However,
part of it also was the maddening way that he plays,
and if you look at his body work, he was
the number one overall pick because of his offensive ability,
and he's a big guy, can shoot from the outside
(27:03):
and make a lot of big baskets for you and
all that stuff. He's got a nice touch around the
rim and so those are all really cool things. And
people love that stuff, and he does vanish at times
in big games. However, on the other end of the court. Now,
by no means are we defensive savants, but we do
know just from paying attention, having to watch these games
on a daily basis, you might as well with Karl
(27:25):
Anthony Towns for about thirty to forty percent of the game,
you might as well go out there and put in
Instead of putting a nick jersey, you just put an
orange traffic cone out there and that's it. And you
can put a jersey on it if you want, But
you just put an orange traffic cone out there, and
at least the cone will stay in its position you
(27:47):
put it there, You put the cone down, The cone's
not going to move unless someone kicks the cone. The cone,
the orange traffic cone's going to stay there. And so
Carl Any Towns, he has a allergic reaction to defense
and being in the right place is supposed to be.
And there's a bit of poetry in motion. When you
(28:07):
play defense in basketball, you're counting on your teammates being
where they're supposed to be and then it all works
together and all that stuff. And it is ironic that
the coach had him. Tibbs had him in Minnesota, knew
what he was getting. They pick up Carl Anthony Towns
and a coach that is all about defense, keep hearing
(28:30):
a defensive guy and all that stuff. He wants gritty players.
And they went out and traded to get Karl Anthony Towns.
And so he doesn't play any defense for thirty or
forty percent of the game, and all of a sudden,
it's like, what are we doing here? And so the
next dude, you think they're gonna get rid of Carl Anthony. No,
they're not going to trade him, not this year, not
this offseason. That would be a stunner. They got to
(28:52):
figure out a way to cover up that blind spot.
And if they can't figure it out, then eventually they
will get rid of him after this upcome season. But
they know going in that Carl Anthony Towns is a
defensive liability. And if you're the other team and you're
going against the Knicks, you can take advantage of Carl
Anthony Towns as a soft spot. You can attack all
(29:14):
right now, final point, turning the page. It's NBA Finals time.
Now we've got copy later in the hour for pick
six from draftings. This was a matchup designed for that. Okay,
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I'm like, oh
you should. I don't work for the NBA. You should
(29:35):
be a cheerleader. I don't. I don't care. I mean,
I got a show to do, so I'm gonna watch
and that's fine. And there's a couple of things I'm into,
but other than that, not so much. So First Peak,
litt peak aboo, First peak NBA Finals matchup, which starts
later this week. What is your level of excitement? Level
of excitement for the Pacers and the Thunder Small mar
(30:00):
USA in the NBA Finals on the showcase Showdown, So
what is your level of excitement for the Pacers versus
the Thunder. So, after a minutes long Malard deliberation, taking
in all factors, all the details, all of it, we
determined on a scale of one to ten, with ten
(30:21):
being must see TV, must see TV. That's like, you know,
Kobe back in the day, Michael Jordan back in the
must see TV. Not even Lebron is man person, I'm
going wait before that. So this matchup gets a toe.
I am at a two for the NBA Finals matchup.
(30:43):
And the only reason I'm giving it a two is
because we have a member of the Clippers Alumni Association
SGA who won the MVP this year now can cap
it all off by winning a championship. Other than that,
Other than that, looking around here, this is a a
matchup that should be on NBA TV. Am I wrong
(31:06):
on that? You know how they put like the worst
games on NBA TV during the opening round of the playoffs,
they put the top games on Network TV, and then
they put the crap on NBA TV. This should be
on NBA TV. In fact, this could even be like
on a podcast that no one listens to, which is
most podcasts that no one listens to, so they can
put it on a podcast. Unless you're in I don't know, Carmel, Indiana,
(31:27):
or Tulsa, Oklahoma, or somewhere in that radius right around there.
This is the Finals equivalent to sitting outside your home
and you're looking around and your neighbors decided to paint
their home, and not even their home, just a fence
(31:48):
near your home. So it's a defence that divides your
home in their own. So they've said, Okay, I'm gonna
paint the fence and You're sitting there watching this and
they've decided to paint it a nice shade of beige,
and you sit there watch it because you have nothing
else to do, and so you watch it. Whoobie, that's
what you do. And I get that for some people,
(32:08):
it's unique. And this is by far the worst matchup
in NBA Finals history in terms of juice. There is
no juice. It's it's adorable for some people, and they
love it, and they're the people that will say it's great.
People are gonna watch. These are the same people during
the NCAA basketball tournament get excited when nowhere you wins
(32:31):
on the opening a couple of days of the tournament.
So you get a bunch of crap teams that win
and then it turns out, well, people don't like to
watch those teams, and it's it's a problem. But the
small markets, this is their moment, right, this is your
big moment in the sun. The NBA changed all the
rules to accommodate the mid size to small markets, and
so you got teams. These are good basketball towns. Indianapolis.
(32:54):
I was the last time the Pacers were in the finals.
I was there and it was wonderful. It was a
great The town was buzz. It was a lot of fun.
The Pacers played the Lakers, the Shaq Kobe Lakers, and
I got to go to those games in Indianapolis. I
have great memories of that. And so Oklahoma City. I've
been to Oklahoma City. Not a lot going on, but
you got your basketball team. You look around. So it's
(33:15):
like apple beans versus Golden Corral. It's porking eggs from
Oklahoma versus what cornfields and soybeans in Indianapolis in Indiana
in that area there, And where's the sizzle? Is there
any sizzle? Probably not like the star Power. What about Halliburton,
(33:39):
Well you got the every pes. Say jogis Alexander, that's
your meal ticket. That's the sizzle. Really, that's like cooking
in an air fryer. You know what I'm saying. I
mean air friar's good. Suppose he's healthier for you. I
use the air fryer. It tastes better when you put
in a deep fryer. There's no deep fryer. It's an
(34:01):
air fryer. That's what this is. I mean. These guys
are nice players, and for some it's a good story
and I, however, does not move the needle nactually, And
then again, this is not my problem. This is an
NBA problem. And if you love shot in Freuda, if
you want to get back at the NBA and ESPN ABC,
then this is wonderful. This is the ultimate fu to
(34:24):
ESPN ABC to put these teams in the NBA Finals
because they're going to have to make so many make goods.
Is there any man, woman, or child who's a casual
observer of a sport in places like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
the major metropolis is of America, Dallas that is going
to watch this matchup. If you're a gambler, I get it.
(34:47):
If you're you got know somebody on the team, okay,
fair enough. If you're from those areas, that's fine. But
outside of that, what is the reason to watch? What
is the reason to watch? And yeah, you got your
hard old people that will tune in no matter what,
and that's fine, And again not our issue. This is
(35:08):
an Adam Silver problem. We'll watch because we have a
nightly show show to do. But my goodness, holy crap,
like what is going on here? Well, we'll see, we'll
see what watches and all that and it's and we
do broadcasting, not narrow casting. That would appear to be
(35:28):
a narrow audience for the NBA Finals, be.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
There we go, It's Mallard. How about that? To the
third degree?
Speaker 2 (35:43):
This is one gets hard.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Late last week, Jason Kelsey suggested on his podcast that
a team representing the NFL and a team representing flag
football players. So you know, I guess professional flag football
players have a game to determine who the twenty twenty
eight US Olympic team will be. Ben, what do you
think of this idea.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
It's a terrible idea because the NFL players would lose
and that would be embarrassing. And the NFL wants their
players in the game. So no, that's a terrible idea.
These people play flag football all the time. They're good
at it. The NFL players aren't. They play tackle football.
It's a different sport. The NFL is good. They want
their players in the Olympics, and that's a bad idea.
Speaker 6 (36:21):
Next, John Harbaugh recently spoke with the media and said
that he wants to see tight end Isaiah likely be
an All Pro next season and that he is very
capable of doing it.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Ben, do you think likely can be an All Pro
tight end? So the Chargers coach thinks one of his
players should be an All Pro? Shouldn't they all be
All Pro? Shouldn't you want everyone to be shouldn't you?
I mean, if you're the Ravens, rather wouldn't want everyone
to be an All Pro? Yes? Lamar Jackson loves tight ends,
so yes, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
Next, Kirby Smart said over the weekend that he thinks
the biggest issue with college football is the timing or
the transfer portal windows. Right now there are two when
in December one and April. Smart says that should only
be one and that other coaches unanimously agree. Ben, is
he right about it being the biggest issue. But it's
a giant problem. It's not the it's one of the
biggest issues. Let's put it that when they got to
fix that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
How do we know he passes theresday and put it
on the board. Let me again.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Hey you sports figure guy? Or here here were you
talking to so he or some intertent advice Hold that thut.
No one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds,
and if you don't like it, you get away. We
Goo it's the ins advice line on the Streen radio.
The safety it is off. Who needs our advice in
(37:50):
the wacky world of sports? Who hoo hoo? Well, rather obvious.
The NBA is a multi billion dollar industry and they
are going to try to get people that don't really
care about basketball to watch Oklahoma City in Indiana. So
any marketing advice, marketing advice to get people to watch
(38:12):
the NBA Finals, which start later this week and appear
to be a ratings armageddon for television. You're live on
the air. When you hear my voice at eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello, Line one, you're on
the air advice to the NBA on how to sell
the finals. You sound prudy. What a bunch of fucking
all right? Thank you for that. We knew that was coming.
(38:33):
That's Tony the Bay. Hello, you're on the air. Caller two,
you're on the air advice to the NBA Marketing department.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Ill know, this is that a party unless you got.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Okay, thank you for that. The nuts are out. Line
number five, Hello, line five, get the Raptors Toronto.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
That country is a sesspoint.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
How dare you I had to go to a Raptors game?
That would be fun. Hello, Line line six, you're on
the airline six. Hello, good morning time.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
Let him play on ice.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
That's a great idea. Yeah, that's a wonderful idea. Why
it works for hockey? Put the basketball players on ice?
Put them on skates. Let's go back to you on
line five. You're on the airline five. Advice to the
NBA Marketing Department. Line five. Line five's not there. We'll
go to you your next advice to the NBA marketing
on the NBA Finals matchup. This is Robert Kraft and.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
The Knickerbucker should have paid the officials for money.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
All right, there he is our buddy from Maine. Al Right,
he's back line number six. You're on the airline six. Hello,
give me liberty. Okay, I think we know what's when
you're getting there. It sounds like you're close to the
other one. Line six, Hello, line six no commercials stripperts okay,
no Hello. Line one, you're on the Airline one. Okay,
(39:54):
there's a cat right there. Line too hello, Line two
yeah too slow. Hurry up, cool piggot, hurry up. Last
one six, Line six you're on there goe sex sash
line sas bad job by line sex. You gotta talk.
Line six. You screwed up the whole bit. Line sa
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 Benmathers 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 1 (00:33):
A show down weekend baseball style.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Welcome in not beginning of another week of the Ben
Malers Show. We are in the air AmWhere cohorts as
we are the pulse of the people, coast, the coast, border.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Water and beyond on the vast and talkatively powerful microphones
of FSR and monating live from the craft the hand
crafted quality. You can hear unless you can't hear, and
then you're not listing, So who cares? From the Fox
Sports Radio Studios as approved by Nico Enzo and all
(01:21):
the great listeners in Vancouver that came out, had a
wonderful time last week the Mallard Meet and Greet and
spent the weekend there in Vancouver. So big thanks to
Nico who made that happen. We'll have some more stories
throughout them. Hopefully I'll catch up with Nico at some
point on the on the pod and we'll have full
in depth team coverage of the weekend that was around Vancouver.
(01:44):
But our lead this hour. It's all about sporty mixed sport,
and the big game on Sunday, the big weekend showdown,
must see, must see the baseball game as we head
into the month of June. Now the June second show
here as the calendar flipped over the weekend at Chavez Ravine,
(02:07):
the final matchup of the regular season, and they only
played three games, the Bronx Bombers and the Boys in
Blue the Doyers as they wrapped up the weekend series
in Island. Game in Sunday night baseball, and I don't
know if you're watching this or not, maybe not. I
had it on in the background and a former Dodger,
(02:29):
Ryan Yarborough limiting the Dodger offense and we had four
hits against him over six innings and Ben Rice, oh
so nice. He hit a big bomb to center field,
tie breaking two run homer and the Yankees salvage a game.
They got their ass kicked by the Dodgers this weekend,
(02:50):
but they didn't win a game seven to three. They
avoid getting sweeped or swept out of Dodger Stadium. Now
the Dodgers their top pitcher this year, the only one
that's not hurt. Last I checked Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the ace
of the current Dodgers. He got lit up. He had
a clunker against the Yankees in that game. But you
(03:11):
got to look at the big picture. So Yarborough, who
cares about He's not going to pitch any big games
for the Yankees in the playoffs. Let's be honest about that.
So you push that aside. And he pitched fine. He
was a reliever on the Dodgers, so memorable. You didn't
even know he was on the team in twenty twenty
four when they won the World Series. And he got
a ring over the weekend. And so there you go.
(03:32):
But the whole weekend three games. That's it. We have
three games to judge the Dodgers versus the Yankees at
this point. So let us discuss the question what does
this weekend showdown series say about Aaron Boone's Yankees and
(03:52):
how they match up with the Dodgers because they did
lose the series. They might have won the game on Sunday,
but they lost the series. We got atomic high mileage
and moon landings, and we will combine all of these
things together and we are going to make the Baba
Ganoosh is what we're going to make with a side
(04:13):
of poutine. All right, So a now I realize that
it is June. I have been reminded it is June,
and we know people are going to say, ah, it
doesn't mean anything, it's June baseball. But I look at
it like horse racing, and these teams will be much
different by the time we get down to the end
of the regular season in October and all that stuff.
(04:36):
But it's like you're watching the Kentucky Derby and at
the quarter pole mark you look to see who's in
the lead. Now, doesn't mean that that horse who's in
the lead is going to win, but it gives you
a pretty good indication at that point in the race
that horse is doing very well in the race. We
do the show today, right, we do the show today,
(04:58):
and so today, at this moment, the New York Yankees
have some explaining to do. Yeah, they got some catching
off here, and it was a much bigger series. I
think every man, woman and Chili can agree. Much bigger
series for Aaron Judge and the Yankees. And you know
he had some all Munsi, but a much bigger deal
for the Yankees at this point to get a little
(05:22):
bit of payback and just to let everyone know, hey,
whither the Yankees are high for looting team and all
this stuff, and it's not gonna be the same situation
as last year when Aaron Judge futched around in center
field and one of my favorite defensive plays I've ever
seen in posting people talk about Bill Buckner and his
boner at first place for the Red Sox back in
the day, Aaron Judge misplaying a routine ball in cenate
(05:46):
field chef's kiss in my humble analysis, So how did
the series go for the Yankees? So they went on Sunday,
But if you look at the first two games of
the series, instead of payback, a battered roster for the Doyers,
a battle scarred unit that they sent out there, pitching
(06:06):
staff completely flea bitten, the lineup weather bitten as well,
and they outscored the Yankees the first two games of
the series twenty six to seven. They put eighteen runs
on Saturday, and the big one, though, was on Friday.
And that's the one that is a kick to the
(06:27):
nuts for the Yankees. They went out and they lost
Juan Soto and they got Max Freed, and they got
Max Freed for big games against teams like the Dodgers.
And Max Freed had tight took his syndrome against the
Dodgers in that game on Friday, and it was glorious
to see. And it's embarrassing for the Yankees be considered
(06:49):
Mookie Betts. He supposedly hurt himself his TUTSI at his house.
I'm skeptical. I always think there's more to those stories.
When I hear baseball players getting injured like that, I
always say there's something else going on. Was he the
karate kid? Was he kicking something? I don't know. But anyway, overall,
for the Yankees, this was the atomic wedgie for them
(07:14):
to come in here and they had kicked ass. I
think they swept the Angels. They played very well, won
their last couple of series in dominating fashion. And they
go into Dodger State and they were strutting in there
like a peacock. They had their feathers off, and they
just got punched the first two days bludgeoned. And so
Brian Cashman, who's the nerd emeritus, Brian Cashman and his
(07:37):
roster of players handpicked players because of the analytics against
the Dodgers players and their analytics the overall great. Again,
we're looking at the overall grade here, Dodgers and Yankees.
You look at the overall grade here, and you're like, hey,
wait a minute, they've the players were standing around there
and they looked a little bit confused on Friday, and
(07:59):
certainly on Saturday they were gobsmacked, like they just walked
into some kind of algebra exam and they'd forgotten to study.
For most of the weekend they didn't do any studying.
And again, the Max Freed debacle was the big one.
I mean, a Dodger lineup without Mookie Betts, and they
really roughed up Freed in that game. And so then
(08:21):
the Yankee apologists will be, ah, everything's fine, I don't worry
about this. Okay, we'll get him in October. I don't
know about that, but at least you have those VHS
tapes of the Great Yankee dynasty of the nineties. You
can go back and watch those old VHS tapes. Now. Meanwhile,
to Arizona we go a snap, crackle, pop goes, let's
ease and well, not yet, but it's looking that way.
(08:43):
The big free agent pitching move of the offseason not
exactly working out that well right now for the team
that calls themselves the Diamondbacks. If you did not see this,
Corbin Burns, mister Burns of Arizona set for the dreaded
m our eye on his tender elbow. He left to
(09:06):
start on Sunday after seventy pitches. So question, can you
put into context what this Corbin Burns injury means in Arizona.
So I've got I'll keep it simple, right. This is
a not a body blow. It's a gut punch, is
(09:27):
what this is. And the Diamondbacks were in the World
Series a couple of years ago. They still think of
themselves as this darling of October baseball that all they
have to do is get in and then they've got
the kind of team, a bunch of pesky hitters that
they can make this big run. And if you look
at Burns, though, his velocity was down, which is generally
(09:48):
known as a dead way. A dead way, there are
some serious issues. The thing of a jig and the
watch McCall it are not exactly working right there. And Burns,
this is kind of a big deal. He signed a
six year contract for two hundred and ten million this
offseason for the Diamondbacks, and everyone was like, what are
(10:12):
you doing when they signed with that contract. This is
a guy that had shown signs with the orioles of decline.
There were some red flags. We had mentioned them in
previous Mallard monologues about Burns showing some signs of being
a ticking time bomb and tick tick tick tick tick
tick tick tick tick tick ticking, and well, this is
(10:32):
not officially kaboom. It's down kaboom highway is what it is.
And we'll see Tory Lavello, the manager of the Diamondbacks,
says he's quote more than minimally concerned. Okay, no kidding,
thank you very much. This is not just some kind
(10:53):
of blip on the radar here. This is a potential iceberg.
And you very rarely see icebergs in the Greater Phoenix,
especially as we go into June and July and all
that stuff. But The Diamondbacks are floundering. They're a sub
five hundred team at this point, struggling to stay afloat
in a division with the Doyers and the Padres and
(11:14):
the Giants, who have been okay, not as good as
they were at the beginning of the art. Now, last word,
you know that this show is built on losers. The
Ben mal Show. We love losers, and there is no
bigger loser story than in Colorado. I said in New York.
But this series was in New York or Queen's Flushing,
(11:37):
but involves the Colorado Rockies, the team in Colorado who
got swept by the Metropolitans. Now that's not surprising. What
is surprising. It is now official. It has been rubber stamped.
It is a dune deal. The Rockies have played fifty
nine games and they have lost fifty That is the
(12:01):
worst record in the history of professional baseball since nineteen
oh one. That's one hundred and twenty plus years of baseball,
and no one has reached the level of suckage as
the twenty twenty five Colorado Rockies. This is the era
for teams that blow. You had the White Sox last year.
(12:23):
Now you've got the Rockies. But the Rockies the first
team ever to lose fifty before they won ten. Do
you realize how hard that is to lose fifty before
you win ten? You know, just showing up and going
about as a professional, you're gonna win roughly, as the
(12:44):
old line goes, the great late Tommy Lesorda used to preach,
and I heard this many times from Lasorda, every team's
gonna win fifty games. They're gonna lose fifty or win
sixty and lose sixty. It's what you do with the
other games, that's what matters. Okay, the Rockies have been
swept ten times in twenty series. They've been swept ten times.
(13:05):
That is tied for the most sweeps in twenty series
with the nineteen sixty two Mets and the nineteen seventy
Milwaukee Brewers. Not a team that is very memorable unless
you're I guess in Wisconsin and the nineteen ninety four
what used to be called the Oakland Athletics back when
Oakland had a team, but now they're just a nomad
(13:25):
team that doesn't exist in Sacramento. But you can allow
to say that. So what is the word? What is
the word? That describes the twenty twenty five Rockies. So,
after a thorough review of all possible words, the word
I will use is the ah word helpless. They are
absolutely see. The thing that's wild is you talk to
(13:48):
old school baseball people. They romanticize suck like the Mets,
the nineteen sixty two Mets with Casey Stengel romanticized. This
is a magical thing. They've been books written about, the
documentaries about them. It was a magical bad team. There's
nothing redeeming about the twenty twenty five Rockies. They're not
(14:09):
entertaining in a bad way. They're not entertaining in a
good way. They're just garbage. That's what they are. It's wild.
You'd think you're so bad at nine and fifty that
there's something where you feel empathy for them, But that
nine fifty baseball record, it's like, that's a cry for
(14:31):
an intervention, is what that is. It's like a basketball
record that you're trying to take for the top pick.
I mean, my god, since nineteen oh one, think about this.
Since nineteen oh one, we've had multiple world wars, we've
had moon landings, the Internet has been invented, television and
(14:52):
radio have been invented, and not once since nineteen oh
one has anyone in Major League Baseball been so pathetic
after fifty nine games as the twenty twenty five Colorado
Rockies and spoiler alert, spoiler alert, the the Rockies said, hey,
(15:13):
hold my course life. Of course they said hold my
course light, and then of course they drop it as
they handed it to you, and just another error for
the flotsam and the jetsam here as man like they're
auditioning for some kind of reboot of They're not trying
(15:33):
to leave Colorado Major League maybe bad news baar major League.
They'd be trying to go to somewhere where it's sunny
and get out of Colorado. It's not that, it's just
they're just they're just bad, and they're not really rebuilding.
I don't believe in rebuilding anyway. They're not. They're not
intentionally being bad. They're just bad, which is a special
kind of bad. It's on the spectrum of bad. It's
(15:55):
beyond bad because if you're trying to be bad, like
the White Sox are trying to be bad and they bad,
the Rockies are, they're like somewhere stuck in the middle.
It's very bizarre what's going on? And we somewhere the
owner of the Rockies is sipping a cocktail and you know,
hanging out in some luxury box and we're watching these games,
(16:17):
having a grand time as the team rolls out, Die
die die Alaya on the field, no playing, no vision,
and no reason to go out if you're gonna watch
if you're in Colorado, like, why would you go to
the game. Maybe to see the other team, But there
really needs to be some kind of sustained the boycott.
(16:40):
It does work. If nobody's showing up, that gets people's attention.
Nobody's watching the games on TV, and people aren't going
to the games, you do get attention. The Rockies years
ago actually led baseball in attendance. Of course, I think
at that time they played if I remember, they played
in the old Broncos Stadium, But they led baseball in
attends for years. They had actually entertaining teams. And that
(17:02):
damn Humidor. It's the humidor that ruined it. I blame
the humid or that and an owner who doesn't know
what he's doing. Rich guy, why'd you buy a baseball team?
The whole point of buying a baseball team. Are you
rich guy? I would think would be to flex and
to brag and you make money. But she can make
money doing other stuff. You don't have to own a
sports team, so why would you buy it and then
(17:23):
just have a floundering, pathetic roster not even put any
effort to do.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It's wild to be sure to catch live editions of
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app Gone.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
In a New York minute, Welcome in not beginning of
another hour of the Ben Mahlor Show.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
We are in the air amywhere audio blokes as we
are us like you like it.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The sports takes are on point unless they're not unless
they missed the bullseye coast to coast border, the motor
and beyond on the mass and rowdily powerful microphones of fs.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Are eminating live from the Fade the Fade Away Jumper
from the Fox Sports Radio studios, as approved by Hoosier,
Bill and Parrizo, who know that this portion of the
Ben Maler Show made possible in part by.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Our friends at tire Rack. That's right. For forty years,
tire Rack has been helping customers find the right tires
for how, what and where they drive, ship fast and
free back by free road hazard protection with convenient installation
options like mobile tire installation, tire ract dot Com, The
Way Tire Buying show I'd be so our lead. This
(18:54):
hour is from pro Bouncy Ball Now. Over the weekend,
while we were being oiled at a bougie dinner in Vancouver,
the New York Knickerbockers went cup put see you later,
That's it, and I was being impolite. I was allowed
though our friend Nico allowed me to check my phone.
(19:16):
I was keeping updated on the score. And then I
went back and I had some free time and I
watched on the NBA's website. They actually let you watch
most of these games on their website. So I went
back on and watched it, and the Pacers decommissioned Jalen
Brunson and the Knicks, sending them to Ken Kuhn vacation mode.
(19:37):
There As, Tyrese Halliburton did not win the Most Valuable Player,
much to his surprise, our friend and the greatest drop
in the history of the show, as provided by marcel
In Brooklyn, Pascal Siakam the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. As
Indiana advances and they will take on OKC in the
(19:59):
NBA Finals, we have plenty of time to give them
their flowers, and we'll do some of that. We'll take
our first peak little Peekaboo at the NBA Finals in
a minute. But you know the story here, the better story,
that's right, the better story in the losing locker room.
As our friends from the Big Apple have gone into
full meltdown mode, alarm bells are being sounded. Say it
(20:26):
ain't so all of that because of the way the
Knicks lost. They lost the first two games at home
and they end up losing the series in six games
to Indiana, a series they were heavily favored to win. Now,
Tom Thibodeau is the one getting the brunt of the
anger the range, as a number of fans calling for
(20:49):
his head on a platter. They would like him to
lose his job. Despite being a couple of wins away
from the NBA Finals. The Natives are restless in GoF
So let us discuss the question yay or nay yay
ornay on coach Tom Thibodeau being on the hot seed
(21:10):
as the Knicks are exterminated from the postseason. So I've
got McDonald's allergic reaction and soybeans, and we will combine
all of these things together, and we are gonna make
the Gabba goool. We're gonna make the Gabba goool, is
what we're gonna do. All right, So number, I said number.
(21:32):
Why so I am in the nay category. Now, I
do realize that coaches are expendable. They are like plastic forks.
You use them and then throw them away. They're not
meant to be used more than one time. I got that. However,
I like the way that Tom Thibodeaux teams play guilty
(21:55):
as charged your honor, I do. I like the way
his teams play. And you can fire Tom Thibodeau and
bring in some other jibbroni and all that. But I
don't know how you do that when you've already celebrated
your championship. Remember the New York Nick fan base had
their championship. They beat the Boston Celtics in the second
(22:16):
round and tea champions. We are the champions of the world.
They had to celebration. I think they had the parade
through the Canyon of Heroes. I can't confirm that or not.
I wasn't there. There were rumors that were going to
do that. They were throwing trash at Pacer fans, the
vermin in Manhattan. So and also Brian Winhorse got attacked
(22:38):
by some of these geniuses there. So you celebrate your championship.
You're not supposed to play another game after you win
your championship. When you win the Super Bowl, you don't
have to play again. When you win the NBA Championship
and beat the Celtics like the Knicks did, you're not
supposed to have to play again. So that's the problem here.
And so the little celebration, the Canyon of Heroes and
congratulations on these are the same fans. Though after that
(23:01):
moment where they beat the Celtics, they were ready to
rip apart some subway car, some MTA subway medal off
the cars there and they were gonna rip those off
and build a statue out of that metal from some
disowned subway car for Thibodeau. And since they lost to
(23:22):
the Pacers, now it's like you got to get out
of here, you know. Since the Pacers zoom past them,
that's it. It's over. And when you break it down
the Knicks actually overachieved. Who are you talking about? Okay,
they did, now they beat this out. Now, I'm not
gonna say they beat the Cellies because of Jason Tatum
getting hurt, because they were ahead in that series even
(23:43):
when Tatum got hurt. They had a choke hold on
that series. So that's not it. But if you look
at Nick Ross, you've got Jalen Brunson, who's verified good,
Karl Anthony Towns who spotty but talented, and aside from
that Tom Thibodau. You look at the rest of the
Knicks roster there and it's not totally patchwork. There's some gritty,
(24:10):
blue collar players and all that, which is what Tom
Thibodeau generally likes to put out in the court. They
got about where they should have gone Eastern Conference Finals,
that's about where the talent would lead them to be. Well, Indiana,
it wasn't their time. Well it was their time because
they played better than expected, so it was the time.
But to think this franchise, it's wild to me that
(24:33):
that franchise in the biggest media market in America has
not won a title since Richard Nixon was in office
before the Watergate scandal. It's crazy to me. And they
get close. They have a little taste, just a little nibbles.
They going to Costco getting a sample, got a little
nibble there, and then poof, they don't win the whole thing.
(24:56):
They thought they won. They didn't win. The Nick fan said,
we beat the Celtics, that's our championship. They didn't get
the championship trophy. They're all upset. They have a temper
tantum like a toddler that went to McDonald's and had
a conniption fit because they didn't get their LITLD championship,
ringing their happy meal. That's the Nick fan right there.
(25:18):
That's it. That's the Nick fan. Go throw some trash
on somebody else, you classy Nick fans, all right now, Paytree.
So it's not just the coaching shrapnel, as Tom Thibodeau
feeling the heat. There, the Nick players and coaches collectively
putting their venom towards one person in particular. Who would
that person be? I'll give you a clue. Kitty, Kitty, Kitty,
(25:43):
that's right. Karl Anthony Towns. Karl Anthony Towns and several
several detailed accounts documenting the defensive issues of Carl Anthony Towns,
longtime Minnesota timber wolf who came to the Knicks in
the offseason. So give me your reaction to multiple reports
(26:05):
pointing the finger of shame and blame at Karl Anthony Town's.
So my reaction is Stutner with a capital S Stutterer, Right,
who could not have seen that one coming?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Right? Oh?
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Wait, anyone that's been paying attention to Karl Anthony Towns
during his NBA career, nicknamed Kitty Kat the feline of fun,
Karl Anthony Towns. And so I think I'm correct in saying,
what do I know? I just do the Overnight Show.
I think that is how Karl Anthony Towns has played
his entire career and finally the Minnesota and that there
(26:42):
were some financial reasons Minnesota got rid of him. However,
part of it also was the maddening way that he plays,
and if you look at his body work, he was
the number one overall pick because of his offensive ability,
and he's a big guy, can shoot from the outside
(27:03):
and make a lot of big baskets for you and
all that stuff. He's got a nice touch around the
rim and so those are all really cool things. And
people love that stuff, and he does vanish at times
in big games. However, on the other end of the court. Now,
by no means are we defensive savants, but we do
know just from paying attention, having to watch these games
on a daily basis, you might as well with Karl
(27:25):
Anthony Towns for about thirty to forty percent of the game,
you might as well go out there and put in
Instead of putting a nick jersey, you just put an
orange traffic cone out there and that's it. And you
can put a jersey on it if you want, But
you just put an orange traffic cone out there, and
at least the cone will stay in its position you
(27:47):
put it there, You put the cone down, The cone's
not going to move unless someone kicks the cone. The cone,
the orange traffic cone's going to stay there. And so
Carl Any Towns, he has a allergic reaction to defense
and being in the right place is supposed to be.
And there's a bit of poetry in motion. When you
(28:07):
play defense in basketball, you're counting on your teammates being
where they're supposed to be and then it all works
together and all that stuff. And it is ironic that
the coach had him. Tibbs had him in Minnesota, knew
what he was getting. They pick up Carl Anthony Towns
and a coach that is all about defense, keep hearing
(28:30):
a defensive guy and all that stuff. He wants gritty players.
And they went out and traded to get Karl Anthony Towns.
And so he doesn't play any defense for thirty or
forty percent of the game, and all of a sudden,
it's like, what are we doing here? And so the
next dude, you think they're gonna get rid of Carl Anthony. No,
they're not going to trade him, not this year, not
this offseason. That would be a stunner. They got to
(28:52):
figure out a way to cover up that blind spot.
And if they can't figure it out, then eventually they
will get rid of him after this upcome season. But
they know going in that Carl Anthony Towns is a
defensive liability. And if you're the other team and you're
going against the Knicks, you can take advantage of Carl
Anthony Towns as a soft spot. You can attack all
(29:14):
right now, final point, turning the page. It's NBA Finals time.
Now we've got copy later in the hour for pick
six from draftings. This was a matchup designed for that. Okay,
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend I'm like, oh
you should. I don't work for the NBA. You should
(29:35):
be a cheerleader. I don't. I don't care. I mean,
I got a show to do, so I'm gonna watch
and that's fine. And there's a couple of things I'm into,
but other than that, not so much. So First Peak,
litt peak aboo, First peak NBA Finals matchup, which starts
later this week. What is your level of excitement? Level
of excitement for the Pacers and the Thunder Small mar
(30:00):
USA in the NBA Finals on the showcase Showdown, So
what is your level of excitement for the Pacers versus
the Thunder. So, after a minutes long Malard deliberation, taking
in all factors, all the details, all of it, we
determined on a scale of one to ten, with ten
(30:21):
being must see TV, must see TV. That's like, you know,
Kobe back in the day, Michael Jordan back in the
must see TV. Not even Lebron is man person, I'm
going wait before that. So this matchup gets a toe.
I am at a two for the NBA Finals matchup.
(30:43):
And the only reason I'm giving it a two is
because we have a member of the Clippers Alumni Association
SGA who won the MVP this year now can cap
it all off by winning a championship. Other than that,
Other than that, looking around here, this is a a
matchup that should be on NBA TV. Am I wrong
(31:06):
on that? You know how they put like the worst
games on NBA TV during the opening round of the playoffs,
they put the top games on Network TV, and then
they put the crap on NBA TV. This should be
on NBA TV. In fact, this could even be like
on a podcast that no one listens to, which is
most podcasts that no one listens to, so they can
put it on a podcast. Unless you're in I don't know, Carmel, Indiana,
(31:27):
or Tulsa, Oklahoma, or somewhere in that radius right around there.
This is the Finals equivalent to sitting outside your home
and you're looking around and your neighbors decided to paint
their home, and not even their home, just a fence
(31:48):
near your home. So it's a defence that divides your
home in their own. So they've said, Okay, I'm gonna
paint the fence and You're sitting there watching this and
they've decided to paint it a nice shade of beige,
and you sit there watch it because you have nothing
else to do, and so you watch it. Whoobie, that's
what you do. And I get that for some people,
(32:08):
it's unique. And this is by far the worst matchup
in NBA Finals history in terms of juice. There is
no juice. It's it's adorable for some people, and they
love it, and they're the people that will say it's great.
People are gonna watch. These are the same people during
the NCAA basketball tournament get excited when nowhere you wins
(32:31):
on the opening a couple of days of the tournament.
So you get a bunch of crap teams that win
and then it turns out, well, people don't like to
watch those teams, and it's it's a problem. But the
small markets, this is their moment, right, this is your
big moment in the sun. The NBA changed all the
rules to accommodate the mid size to small markets, and
so you got teams. These are good basketball towns. Indianapolis.
(32:54):
I was the last time the Pacers were in the finals.
I was there and it was wonderful. It was a
great The town was buzz. It was a lot of fun.
The Pacers played the Lakers, the Shaq Kobe Lakers, and
I got to go to those games in Indianapolis. I
have great memories of that. And so Oklahoma City. I've
been to Oklahoma City. Not a lot going on, but
you got your basketball team. You look around. So it's
(33:15):
like apple beans versus Golden Corral. It's porking eggs from
Oklahoma versus what cornfields and soybeans in Indianapolis in Indiana
in that area there, And where's the sizzle? Is there
any sizzle? Probably not like the star Power. What about Halliburton,
(33:39):
Well you got the every pes. Say jogis Alexander, that's
your meal ticket. That's the sizzle. Really, that's like cooking
in an air fryer. You know what I'm saying. I
mean air friar's good. Suppose he's healthier for you. I
use the air fryer. It tastes better when you put
in a deep fryer. There's no deep fryer. It's an
(34:01):
air fryer. That's what this is. I mean. These guys
are nice players, and for some it's a good story
and I, however, does not move the needle nactually, And
then again, this is not my problem. This is an
NBA problem. And if you love shot in Freuda, if
you want to get back at the NBA and ESPN ABC,
then this is wonderful. This is the ultimate fu to
(34:24):
ESPN ABC to put these teams in the NBA Finals
because they're going to have to make so many make goods.
Is there any man, woman, or child who's a casual
observer of a sport in places like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
the major metropolis is of America, Dallas that is going
to watch this matchup. If you're a gambler, I get it.
(34:47):
If you're you got know somebody on the team, okay,
fair enough. If you're from those areas, that's fine. But
outside of that, what is the reason to watch? What
is the reason to watch? And yeah, you got your
hard old people that will tune in no matter what,
and that's fine, And again not our issue. This is
(35:08):
an Adam Silver problem. We'll watch because we have a
nightly show show to do. But my goodness, holy crap,
like what is going on here? Well, we'll see, we'll
see what watches and all that and it's and we
do broadcasting, not narrow casting. That would appear to be
(35:28):
a narrow audience for the NBA Finals, be.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
There we go, It's Mallard. How about that? To the
third degree?
Speaker 2 (35:43):
This is one gets hard.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Late last week, Jason Kelsey suggested on his podcast that
a team representing the NFL and a team representing flag
football players. So you know, I guess professional flag football
players have a game to determine who the twenty twenty
eight US Olympic team will be. Ben, what do you
think of this idea.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
It's a terrible idea because the NFL players would lose
and that would be embarrassing. And the NFL wants their
players in the game. So no, that's a terrible idea.
These people play flag football all the time. They're good
at it. The NFL players aren't. They play tackle football.
It's a different sport. The NFL is good. They want
their players in the Olympics, and that's a bad idea.
Speaker 6 (36:21):
Next, John Harbaugh recently spoke with the media and said
that he wants to see tight end Isaiah likely be
an All Pro next season and that he is very
capable of doing it.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
Ben, do you think likely can be an All Pro
tight end? So the Chargers coach thinks one of his
players should be an All Pro? Shouldn't they all be
All Pro? Shouldn't you want everyone to be shouldn't you?
I mean, if you're the Ravens, rather wouldn't want everyone
to be an All Pro? Yes? Lamar Jackson loves tight ends,
so yes, absolutely.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
Next, Kirby Smart said over the weekend that he thinks
the biggest issue with college football is the timing or
the transfer portal windows. Right now there are two when
in December one and April. Smart says that should only
be one and that other coaches unanimously agree. Ben, is
he right about it being the biggest issue. But it's
a giant problem. It's not the it's one of the
biggest issues. Let's put it that when they got to
fix that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
How do we know he passes theresday and put it
on the board. Let me again.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Hey you sports figure guy? Or here here were you
talking to so he or some intertent advice Hold that thut.
No one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds,
and if you don't like it, you get away. We
Goo it's the ins advice line on the Streen radio.
The safety it is off. Who needs our advice in
(37:50):
the wacky world of sports? Who hoo hoo? Well, rather obvious.
The NBA is a multi billion dollar industry and they
are going to try to get people that don't really
care about basketball to watch Oklahoma City in Indiana. So
any marketing advice, marketing advice to get people to watch
(38:12):
the NBA Finals, which start later this week and appear
to be a ratings armageddon for television. You're live on
the air. When you hear my voice at eight seven,
seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello, Line one, you're on
the air advice to the NBA on how to sell
the finals. You sound prudy. What a bunch of fucking
all right? Thank you for that. We knew that was coming.
(38:33):
That's Tony the Bay. Hello, you're on the air. Caller two,
you're on the air advice to the NBA Marketing department.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Ill know, this is that a party unless you got.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Okay, thank you for that. The nuts are out. Line
number five, Hello, line five, get the Raptors Toronto.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
That country is a sesspoint.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
How dare you I had to go to a Raptors game?
That would be fun. Hello, Line line six, you're on
the airline six. Hello, good morning time.
Speaker 6 (39:03):
Let him play on ice.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
That's a great idea. Yeah, that's a wonderful idea. Why
it works for hockey? Put the basketball players on ice?
Put them on skates. Let's go back to you on
line five. You're on the airline five. Advice to the
NBA Marketing Department. Line five. Line five's not there. We'll
go to you your next advice to the NBA marketing
on the NBA Finals matchup. This is Robert Kraft and.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
The Knickerbucker should have paid the officials for money.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
All right, there he is our buddy from Maine. Al Right,
he's back line number six. You're on the airline six. Hello,
give me liberty. Okay, I think we know what's when
you're getting there. It sounds like you're close to the
other one. Line six, Hello, line six no commercials stripperts okay,
no Hello. Line one, you're on the Airline one. Okay,
(39:54):
there's a cat right there. Line too hello, Line two
yeah too slow. Hurry up, cool piggot, hurry up. Last
one six, Line six you're on there goe sex sash
line sas bad job by line sex. You gotta talk.
Line six. You screwed up the whole bit. Line sa
Host
Ben Maller
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