June 9, 2025 • 41 mins
Big Ben talks about the Pacers getting blown out by the Thunder in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, what's next for Kirk Cousins as the NFL trade market dries up, Maller to the Third Degree, Insta-Advice Line, and much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, it turns out the sequel not quite the ego.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Welcome in not beginning of another night of the Ben
Malor Show, another week of the show, one week after another,
chopping down the late night hours.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
As we are in the air, aywhere constituents, because we
know where the hot sauce is, We know where it
is coast to coast.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Border to border and beyond. On the vast and flashily
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the ringside Chester that's right from the Fox Sports Radio studios,
as approved by Kyrie in okase he had a cheshire
(01:27):
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so our lead this hour, I say, play the Hits.
I don't know if this is playing the hits, but
we do do a sports talk radio, so so plausitibly
we should talk about sports occasionally. And I took one
(02:12):
for the team. I watched the game in the dust bowl.
It's my public service to you to get back to
the community, get back to you so you don't have
to waste your time on this. But there I was
Game two NBA Finals, sitting on my took us as
Tyres Halliburton and the Pacers looking to steal another game
and do the unthinkable against SGA and the Thunder in
(02:35):
a finals that is has been the lowest rated finals
since they've kept track of this stuff. My god, Game one,
that's all we have until Game two. In Game one,
nobody watched. So I don't know if you checked it
out based on the early results. Probably not, and so
we did as we said, a PSA for you. So
(02:56):
Shay jogis Alexander. A big performance by the former Clipper.
That's what former Clippers do. Thirty four points. Alice Caruso,
he's a former Laker. They got rid of him. He's
one of there. They don't need him. There good players.
So Caruso had twenty off the bench and the thunder
(03:17):
get it done. They win, not from pillar to post,
but just about there. They beat the Indiana Pacers one
twenty three to one oh seven the final, and so
now we are squared up. It is a best of
five series. As the Pacers went to Indiana to get
the wins, so they get home court advantage as long
(03:38):
as they don't stub their toe at home. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home, they'll be
all right, so Jalen Williams said nineteen, Aaron Wiggins eighteen
and Chet Holmer with fifteen for the thunder and a
partridge to the pear tree as okay see wins. It
was the first time they've won a finals game since
(03:59):
many many years. Ago, back in twenty twelve. That was
back when guys like Kevin Durant and others were playing
for the Thunder that was against Miami. Game three is
not until Wednesday. Why because load management? Baby, you can't
expect these NBA players to have to have one day off?
Oh my god, No, what do you? What kind of
draconian ahole? Are you? What is wrong with you? The
(04:22):
MB is doing everything they can so no one watches
the finals. This just take a couple of days off
between games, all right, So they're taking two games off
Wednesday in Indianapolis. I can check that out, be the
first finals game since I was there twenty five years
ago when they played the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The better story, though, is in the losing locker room.
And so let us discuss. We know on this show
(04:44):
we love losers, and let's start out there with the
Indiana because they're the big losers. They wear the scarlet
letter the giant L there on their chest. So what
went wrong? What went wrong for Tyrese Halliburton and the
Pacers in Game No. Two? So I've got that was
the wrong one. I talked about y MCA hammer and
(05:07):
dog Whistle and we will combine all of these things
together and we are going to make some delicious, delicious
apple fritters. The perfect donut is the apple fritter. There's
nothing that can quite match the apple fritter. Cinnamon roll
is also a fine donut, but the apple fritter at
(05:29):
the very top. So a when you play the let's
point the fingers game, and I love playing the let's
point the fingers game? What went wrong for the Pacers?
You point a finger over here? Yeah, you point a
finger over there, and you point a finger everywhere? Is
what you do? Why not? Right now? This was an
epic failure by the Indiana basketball team first stretches of
this game now mainly in the second quarter, but really
(05:50):
the first quarters, well, the first half, they were stuck
in sand. The first half of this game. Indiana looked
like they had forgotten how to play basketball all So,
what happens? You spent a couple of extra days in Oklahoma?
You just don't know what you're doing? My god? Uh?
First up, let's start with the headliner, Tyrese Haliburton. Are
(06:10):
you bleeping kidding me? All right? Are you getting this
guy's the engine? Right? True? He's the engine there and
ice water point Guard Captain Clutch. Nobody forget Jalen Runson
right now, four big game winning shots in the playoffs.
Here for Halliburton, he's the guy, and he's gotta be
the guy. You can't be the guy if you're not
(06:31):
the guy. And he wasn't the guy against SGA. If
Andy's gonna keep this series going humming along hum hum
hum hum. No, there were no there was no humming.
It was chop chop, chop chop chop.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
He was out there. And the way he played in
the first half of this game, side by side comparison,
all right, the real talk. I know he didn't call
sho anymore this real time. So the way Halliburton played
in the first half, especially the second quarter, he would
not have been picked at a YMCA pickup game the
way he was performing. Man, where was the aggression? They
(07:06):
takes some sleeping pills prior to the game. Halliburton, Hello,
and the elite playmaking, we've seen it, but it wasn't there,
not in the first half. And you know, listen, Thunder
have a good defensive team. But let's not get carried away.
This is more about what Halliburton didn't do than any
amazing adjustment that the Oklahoma City basketball team did do.
(07:30):
And Haliburton is supposed to be a one percenter, that
he's crossed the rubicon and he's a one percent talent
and you're gonna get it done against everybody anywhere anyhow, anyway,
and that was not happening in this game in the
first half. And the malor report card on this Tyrene
Saliburton picking up an I rating, not an A, not
(07:51):
a B, not a C, not a D, not an iraty.
That's for the ick factor, because there was a lot
of ick. Right. He's the spirit animal of the Pacers.
He is the spirit animal of the Pacers, and the
animal was taking a nap and when the game was
being decided, and in this game, the game was being
(08:13):
decided in the first half here he was a real clunker.
I don't know how many other ways I can say it.
Got to figure out, got to figure out how to
break through game after game, right, no days off all
that stuff, and break the pressure of Oklahoma City and
not wilt under the pressure, which is what appeared to
be happening here. The Pacers offense was stagnant in the
(08:36):
first half. That's not something we are used to seeing.
This is one of the top offensive teams, if not
the top offensive team in the NBA, and it starts
with Haliburt. It starts with him, and Oklahoma City boxed
him up. The Thunder built up an eighteen point lead
at halftime, and they didn't trail in the entire second
I have Indiana shot less than thirty five percent in
(08:57):
the first half of this game and had just four
one points at halftime, which is not very good. That
played better than second half, but it was all extended
garbage time. Halliburton when the game was decided in the
first half, he was one of five shooting, made one
more basket than you and I made in the first half,
and three assists in twenty four minutes of action. And
(09:18):
the Pacers, listen, they played well in the second half,
but it was a lot of stat stuffing and stat
bandito and whatnot. And we often point out how that
is something we don't give credit to. Garbage time stat
stuffing doesn't really do it for us. And then you
got Rick Carlisle who was holding the game console. He
(09:40):
was he had the joystick and he was moving around
the vomit comet, the Indiana coach there, he had the joystick,
was moving around the vomit comet. The Pacers played like
they were content to win Game one, which they did win.
They won a game. You won a game. Congratulations, you
got it done. On the road way to go all right,
(10:00):
and Carlisle, championship coach, all that stuff, you can kiss
his ass because he's got the championship pedigree. He's supposed
to be one of the top coaches. I mean he
is often, but this was not his night here. He
looked like he drew up the game plan on a
napkin at some dive bar that they went to in
the Greater Indianapolis area in between games on the day
(10:21):
off there as the thunder or. They were playing with
the kind of edge that you would expect expect a
team to play with in this situation, and the Pacers
did not match it. They were not able to match
the running around like a headless chicken activity. So you
got Rick Carlisle too many adjustments here. Not a great
(10:44):
night for the Pacers, and so they lose, and they
lose in a game that wasn't all that close. Here
is Carlisle pointing out the first half was not a masterpiece.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Another bad first half. Obviously it was a big problem
and we just played poorly. A little better than the
second half, but you can't be a team that's reactive
and expect to be successful or half consistency. So we're
gonna feel a lot better on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Can we get him a throat Lazrange. It sounds like
he's got a little throat issue there. Maybe some some
water with salt, garlic. I recommend garlic. That's my go to.
It normally works for me. Now, one of our favorites
and for us, the greatest name in the history of
the NBA, friend Marcel and Brooklyn. Pascal Siakam uh Siakam
had a quiet game. He was three of eleven shooting. Yeah,
(11:34):
he didn't really do much of anything when the game
was in the bounce or even when it wasn't in
the bounce, and hey, Pascal, what the hell happened?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
It was pretty close in the beginning. I mean, I
think just a lot on n set buckets, maybe some
key toneovers that we can take away. But yeah, they
did a good job being being disruptive, and they got
out in transition, and yeah, they made some tough shots.
I mean, they got guys that contributed across the boarding,
They got off the bench, guys made some big shots,
(12:05):
they got rebounds. You know. Yeah, they just did a
little bit of the little things, like more than we did.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I would say more than just the little things. But
we'll move on now on the other side. Page two.
Oklahoma City. So this is what was expected. This was
the analysis when everyone was licking the toes of OKC.
It was this is where they're going to play every
single game. So have Oklahoma City and SGA now regained
(12:32):
complete and total control of the NBA Finals after this
body blow of a win. Have they regained control? So
that would be a premature take, right, That would be
a premature take. All the Thunder did was avoid getting
blown into the tornado, getting blown into the tour. If
(12:52):
they had lost again at home, that would have been
def Con one. If they lose at home back to back,
that's what the knicker Bokers did against the Pacers. They'd
have been on life support if that had happened there.
And so that did not happen, so you don't have
to worry about that. But Oklahoma City, they just again
they played at a different speed, which is a lot
to do with the Pacers more than it is against
(13:14):
in Oklahoma City. You expected them to play with that.
You did not expect Indiana to come out there and lollygag,
which is what they did here and the thunder guy.
They got more rebounds, they had more steals, more fast
break points than the Pacers. The fifty to fifty balls,
I love my fifty to fifty balls. I live for
fifty to fifty balls. Remember Phil Jackson back in the days,
(13:35):
the hands on balls, that was his big mantra. Loved
hands on balls, so all right, loose balls grabbing them.
It seemed like it was like eighty ninety five percent
Oklahoma City on those particular situations. And Oklahoma City plays
regularly diving on the floor to secure loose balls to
extend possessions. Didn't see too much of that, certainly not
(13:56):
as much as we're used to from the Indiana basketball
team in this game. And then you have Chaed Holmer,
who brought the golden hammer. The golden hammer he brought
down there with the timely offense in the first half,
the early damage from skeletor. I mentioned that you're Indiana,
you lost a skeletor. He was big. He was big.
(14:16):
He was called like any he was big. In the
first half he had fifteen points and six rebounds, but
eleven points and four rebounds in the first half, and
that second quarter run when Oklahoma City took control of
the game and never gave up the momentum you idiots
like to talk about. All right, So timing does matter,
Timing doesn't matter, all right? Now, last word, So we
(14:37):
mentioned earlier. Game one was a total dud, My total dud,
the lowest ratings in the modern era, going back to
the eighties, going back to Ronald Reagan as president. Oh
my god, it sucked, and just a few things in life.
This is something we expected it to happen to happen.
So I noticed ant of you noticed here. As you know,
(14:58):
I generally tried to avoid Doris Burr because like most people,
I like good broadcasting. She's not good. But for a
few minutes, in a moment of weakness, I had the broadcasting.
I made a mistake. But during that couple of minutes
I had the audio up. I heard Mike Breen, the
play by play announcer, who emphasized that the thunder Pacer
series was great for people who love pure basketball. That
(15:22):
was the line, right, pure basketball? Okay, So what is
your rebuttal to that particular line from the lead voice
of the NBA Finals. So that is a roll your
eyes response? Is what that is? You roll your eyes
when you hear somebody say pure basketball because it's nonsense, right,
It's poppy cock, is what it is. Here, give me
(15:45):
a bleeping break. Pure basketball, my fat ass pure basketball.
You know what else is pure? I'm not a big
drinker of this, but skim milk is pure. You want
to drink skim milk? Knock yourself out, No thanks. And
by the way, last night checked, this is not the
nineteen eighties here where the basketball hardos are sitting there
(16:06):
with their pants down watching the back door cuts getting
all excited. That's not the way this works. It didn't
work then either. By the way it didn't work then either.
That's what's called narrow casting, not broadcasting. And there are
not enough. It is a proven fact there are not
enough basketball hardos to provide a big enough audience for
(16:28):
the NBA Finals. We prove that in Game one. That
will continue to be a place you need the case,
you need to attract the casual. You need to attract
the run of the mill Joe blow fan. That's you
need your track. They don't care about the purity of
the game. It doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter. And
pure basketball is also at dog whistles what it is?
(16:49):
Let me call it like it is. Right. When you
say pure basketball, it's code for there's no stars. Right,
the teams aren't popular. And let me just gaslight you,
the viewer, and shame you. And to think, abou if
you watch you're a pure basketball fan, you're like a
better fan. It's some kind of basketball utopia. Bull crap,
(17:10):
it's not. I mean god, this is the perfect trifecta.
It's the perfect trifecta. No, what is You got no stars,
You've got no compelling storylines and no ratings? Ding ding
ding ding. That's what you got, right. Do you think
the average fan cares about a dribble handoff and gets
all aroused because they see off the ball movement? Come on, like,
(17:33):
what are you doing right? No, they want the personality.
They want that, they want the good guys, the villains.
There's none of that. There's none of that. And it's
like a traveling all star team. The Thunder. I don't
mean that Ni Conway. I mean like an AAU team,
the way they react after games and whatnot. Here and
nobody is going to circle the Thunder and the Pacers
(17:57):
and say, man, I gotta watch it if you're in
Oklahoma or Indiana and but maybe not. You know, even
then you're like, you know, I gotta got some stuff
I've saved up on the streaming. I might need to
watch that, you know so, but I'll watch it for
it again. It's my public service. I'm watching it for you.
I'm a basketball hurdle bit.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okay, I don't don't call. I don't need to hear that.
You're you're you're on an island. So I'm a purist
of basketball. Yeah, I'm sure you are. Eight congratulated. I'll
give you a cookie.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mallor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Unable to leave the nest, Welcome in the beginning of
another hour of The Ben Malor Show. We are in
the air everywhere, just ordinary people. As we got that
magic carpet ride coast to coast, border the border and
(18:55):
beond on the mast. Eh splashly powerful microphone of fs
are emmating live from the circus, the overnight chit chat
circus the Fox Sports radio studios, as approved by the
Green Bay Gobbler. Who knows that this portion of the
(19:15):
Ben Malor show maybe possible in part by our friends
at tire Rack. That's right. For over forty years, it's
a long time, Alf tells me. That's a long time.
Tire Rack has been helping customers find the right tires
for how, what and where they drive fast and free
back by free road hazard protection with convenient installation options
(19:36):
like mobile tire installation, tire rack dot Com, Theoadtire Buying Show.
So our lead this hour is from the A T L.
The atl The dirty birds aren't doing a damn thing.
They're not They're not having If you saw this, you
might know where I'm going with it. Maybe not. You know,
(19:58):
I love talking Atlanta Falcon football. Are we not on
the pulse of the people. Don't answer that we have
a trade rumor update, a trade rumor update. The word
on the street. The word on the street is that
the Falcons have been desperately trying to trade quarterback Kirk Cousins,
(20:18):
or they got him last offseason. They were all excited
about that, and then they drafted another quarterback, so they've
been trying to get rid of him, and now the
quarterback market is bone dry. According to the latest reporting,
Atlanta was eager to say bye bye to Cousins and
until they weren't, and then turned out they didn't really
(20:38):
want to eat the big portion of the contract that
would have been required there. They didn't have enough barbecue
sauce in Atlanta to do that, And so now the
quarterback carousel has begun. Cousins is left searching for a ride.
He's I want on the carousel and the horse is not,
(21:00):
in fact that very odd that a horse on a
carousel would leave the barn, but that appears to be
what happened here, and so supposedly Pittsburgh was the last
best shot for Kirk Cousins until Aaron Rogers knocked on
the door and they opened the door. And that's it.
So long story short, three words. Nobody wants him. Nobody
(21:26):
wants him. So let us discuss the question stuck in Atlanta.
What is the forecast? What is the forecast? For Kirk Cousins'
NFL future at this moment two day. So I've got tumbleweeds,
advanced degree, and dandy dawn, and we will combine all
(21:47):
of these things together and we are going to make
some twisted pizza dough is what we're going to make.
So number on the forecast. And we're never wrong about
these things because we have the power of the bully pulpit,
the power of the microphone, the power of the headphones,
the tools of ignorance. So the forecast for kirk Cousins
(22:09):
NFL future, looking at the long term weather modules, right,
looking at all the models and modules and all that stuff.
The Doppler radar left behind by Roberto who quit radio
to live his dream as a bus driver. So the
Doppler radar shows here that the Falcons are experiencing what's
(22:30):
known as climate whiplash. It's a relatively new term climate whiplash,
but the rapid shift between posing weather extremes opposing weather extremes,
from a flooding to drought, from flooding to drought trout.
So we are talking about a desolate desert devoid of
(22:50):
any precipitation, a desolate desert devoid of any precipitation and
a market that is the only thing you can see
moving around is tumbleweeds. It's a lot of tumbleweeds blowing around.
That's an invasive speeches that came to America from Russia
and stuck there. His cousins on the dance floor. Now
(23:11):
he is on the dance floor. That's the good news.
He's doing the dance move, the limbo, how low can
you go? How low can you go? And no trades. Really,
what he's waiting for is breakfast. Kirk Cousins is waiting
for breakfast because he knows at one point in the
upcoming month and then the next two months actually because
(23:31):
you know, we're doing the show in early June, and
you've got the rest of this month and then most
of July before training camp opens up. Somewhere between now
an early part of training camp, a quarterback in the NFL,
a starting quarterback will go out and have a big
bowl of rice crispies and they'll have a little milk,
and then they'll take the spoon and they'll put the
(23:52):
spoon in and then they'll have snap, crackle, pop. And
at that point when you have the snap crackle and pop.
That means you need another quarterback now. Is that Mahomes
hurting his ankle? Is that Josh Allen going a little
too heavy on his honeymoon and having a groin injury.
I don't know. Is that Lamar Jackson having a knee problem?
Who knows? But Boom goes to Dynamite and that is
(24:15):
when the portal will open up again for Kirk Cousins.
And the Saints are the only team, the only one
that does not have a quarterback in the NFL. They're
not even trying the fact that they're not even trying
in the Orleans woul lead you to believe that they're
just tanking and they're one of the teams is going
to try to get Arch Manning for marketing reasons and
do the whole Manning family connection thing and all that stuff.
(24:37):
And so that's it. Now Atlanta does have to act
relatively fast. And the reason they have to act relatively
fast is because they're banking on Raheem Morris, who somehow
has a head coaching job in the NFL game. Raheem
Morris and the Falcons are banking on the second year
jumpity jump for Michael Pennex Junior that he's gonna jump
(24:59):
on a trampoline and to the moon, to the moon,
to the moon, to the moon. And so you gotta
clear the runway, gotta get rid of the things on
the room. Wane Cousins. Right now is some debris that's
clearing the possible takeoff of Michael Pennix. You and your
now page two. We did have a pending pending roster
(25:20):
move over the weekend. What is the pending roster move?
Nick Chubb a loblub formerly known as Nick Chubb. Nick
Chubb a lovelob, the former I say, former Cleveland Browns
running back coming off back to back seasons with massive
career altering injuries. Well, Nick Chubb has reportedly agreed to
(25:43):
a deal with a new team. He is taking his
talents to the Texans, pending a physical. That's a big
pending a physical addendum, So are you giving this move
a thumbs up or a thumb's down? Nick Chubb going
to Houston after a thorough review, a minutes long, minutes
(26:06):
long deliberation, with our copious amounts of research, we are
giving this a full thumbs up. Now, not two thumbs up,
but one full solid thumbs up the thumb, standing high
and proud. It is smart football. It is smart football
because it's it's a short term deal. It's a power play,
power play by the Texas. So Houston is not betting
(26:30):
the family jewels. Right, that's a one year low risk
if the reports are Accurate's one year low risk contract
is that it's a flyer. You know, when you park
your car and at like a sporting event or a
concert and you come out and there's a flyer on
the windshield wiper. That's all this is. It's a flyer.
They put that out. Maybe one out of two thousand
(26:50):
people will actually buy the product. But you're just doing that, right.
He's a guy who was on a dog food Cleveland team,
a spark play Nick Chubb so went healthy and that
is a massive, massive win. That's any ifs and butts
were candy and nuts, you'd celebrate every day, but you don't. Right,
(27:14):
And when he's right, he's got the breakaway ability or
had the breakaway ability of a top five running back
in the NFL. Explosive efficient powerful a nightmare for opposing
defensive players here, and the problem is his doppelganger has
been Humpty dumpty, and when your doppelganger is Humpty Dumpty,
(27:36):
it does not go well. Right. Forget the spaghetti and
meatballs because he left the spaghetti out. What Nick Chubb
has been doing the last couple of years is adding
meat ball surgery after meatball surgery. He's twenty nine and
Chubb has not played a full game since what Week
fourteen last season, and then the year before he got
(27:58):
hurt and I think it was a week two. I
believe it was week two of the regular season. So
it's been a while since he played all the games.
And he's a crash test dummy, is what he is.
And so he's got he had the sprained ankle, and
he had the ligament messed up in his knee and
is a complete just everything was shredded, shred tred tred tred,
(28:19):
shred tred t red. And so he had the heel,
the ACL that was the bugaboo, and then he had
the broken foot this past season, and now he is
I understand it if he does pass the physical, which
is very hard not to pass if the team wants
he it's very hard not to pass the physical. And
(28:40):
they brought Chubb in and so I would assume Houston
wants him. Why else would they do that. They could
just you know, go out and sign mister irrigation to
play running back. But anyway, nonetheless, so Nick Chobb will
not be asked to be the bell cow back. It's
going to be an ensemble backfield because you're gonna have
Nick Chubb back there and Joe mix it. So that's
the one two punch, which means Nick Chubb would be
(29:03):
what he would be the goal line, goal line kind
of closer. That type of running back does not have
to be Superman and leap tall buildings in a single
you know what. And as Larry David will say, that
would be pretty pretty good if you can mix and
match and intertwine Joe Mixon and Nick Chubb, right, and
(29:25):
if you're getting seventy or eighty percent of what Nick
Chubb had been back in the day, Okay, as a
part time player, that's not a bad situation, being all
right now. Final points, speaking of disheveled running backs. Disheveled
running backs dateline buffalo store that has been percolating over
the last couple of days in Upstate New York. The
(29:49):
team that fancies themselves a super Bowl contender, but always
finds a way to screw things up in the playoffs.
The Buffalo of Bells James Cook, the lead running back
in Buffalo James Cook. Let's just say that he is
not planning on showing up to Buffalo. He wants nothing
to do with Buffalo. He wants no part of that
(30:14):
city or that region at all. The Bills running back
and not close to a new deal. In fact, the
team's pretty much said we're not giving you a new deal.
And he has put his house on the market. That
was originally an internet rumor. Apparently it's been confirmed and
has some recent commentary that he's already looking around for
(30:37):
his new team and all that stuff. So what does
all this tell you? What if it doesn't hit you
right right in the schnaz, what does this tell you?
So it tells me everything I need to know. The
classic tune from a different era in the NFL, bringing
Dandy Dawn, Don Meredith, turn out the lots the parties
over a sealer. It's business, It's more than that though,
(31:02):
it's not just business personal right, this person Cook is cooked.
He is cooked in a Bill's uniform. He gone, He
is mentally checked out, and once a player has mentally
checked out, that's it. Go to HR, fill out the paperwork.
You're done. You're done. You're disconnected. He is disconnected from
(31:25):
the organization. And James Cook is not just skipping workouts, said, well,
who cares, it's June. He's not just skipping workouts. He's
essentially skipping zip codes. He's like, I'm out, and you
don't list your house for sale like that. Remember Tom
Brady before he left the Patriots, he put his house
(31:45):
on the market and there were people like, well, that
doesn't mean anything. He was like, oh, generally, it's a
pain in the ass to move, even when you're rich.
I know, when you're rich, you can have a bunch
of people move your crap. But it's still a pain
in the butt to take everything in your DMV, your
driver's license address, change, everything has to be changed. It's
(32:08):
a pain in the book. So you only do that
when you have to do it right. And so the
fact that James Cook is proactively getting rid of where
he lives, that is a dead giveaway. You've got a
contract squabble. The team's pretty much said you're not that important,
and really that's what that that This gets down to you.
James Cook put up solid numbers in Buffalo last year.
(32:31):
Is a yin to the yang into the yang of
Josh Allen. And this is not hey, I just want
a little more money or a couple of bonuses tossed
into the contract. This is not that. It's more than that, right,
This is a James Cook bird is the word. He's
given the bird to the organization. And he's already thinking
(32:52):
about where do I want to be in September? Do
I want to be Miami? Do I want to be
Where do I want to be a Chargers? Where would
I like to go? Pick your team man? Not in Buffalo,
not in Bubble, somewhere else. He would like to be
somewhere else. He's ghosting New York. And it's kind of
like go back to the pandemic a couple of years back,
and many of us found out whether we were essential
(33:15):
employees or non essential employees, like, for example, you would
think overnight talk radio not essential. I found out during
the pandemic very essential. In fact, they gave us cards
if they had martial law, which I maybe they'll have
here in LA with what's going on these days. But
they gave us a card. We're allowed to work because
(33:35):
the people need sports takes no matter what. So we
are essential employees doing overnight talk radio. But if you're
a running back for the Buffalo Bills, you are non essential.
You are non essential. You are not part of the
critical infrastructure that is that football team, clearly, and I
don't disagree with that by the Bills front office. He's
(33:55):
not a one percent running back, James Cook, But you
can find somebody else. Josh Allen will open things up,
and you have a decent offensive line, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
How about that to the third degree?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
This is one big then gets grilled cool.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
Earlier this year, former Colts coach Chuck Pagano came out
of retirement to join the Ravens as their secondary coach.
He was recently asked if he aspires to be a
head coach again, and he said emphatically no, he's had
enough of head coaching.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Do you believe him? Yeah, I do believe. It's been
almost ten years since he was a head coach. He
coached the Colts. I love Pagano is a great sound
by he's almost sixty five. I think he's just tired
of the bull crap and he just wants to coach
and it's fun being a position coach and he can
play grab ass with everyone on this Generally, I think
most of these guys are lying when they say they
(34:56):
don't want to be head coach. But in this case, no,
I believe McConnell's being one hundred percent reel and he
knows he's not gonna be a head coach, and he's
like he's happy just kind of hanging out and being
part of the Ravens coaching chef.
Speaker 7 (35:08):
Next, the Steelers have not had a losing record since
the two thousand and three season under Bill Kauer. That's
a twenty one straight years of finishing five hundred or better.
As the Street continue with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yes, because they've proven they've had suck quarterbacks in Pittsburgh
since even in the end of Roethlisberger, they were pretty bad.
And so the Steelers defense is good enough to win
by itself seven games, let's say, right, so they'll win
seven because of the defense, and then the offense will
win at least two or three, So they'll get to
that nine or ten win mark and Tomlin is a
(35:42):
good regular season coach. He hasn't been a good playoff coach.
But with TJ. Watt and Patrick Queen and what they
have on defense and Hayward and those guys, they'll win
at least nine games next.
Speaker 7 (35:54):
The Celtics are widely expected to be active on the
trade market this summer. In recent recording, says rival teams
are operating as if Boston will have a little something
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, then what Boston players do you expect to be
gone next year? Well, definitely Holiday, Drew Holiday is going
to be traded, Porzingis will likely be gone. The big
one is do they trade Jalen Brown? But at least
two of the rotation guys Wire can be gone? How
do we know you pass? The second? Is that? The
way foot it on the bard.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
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. Hey you sports figure, guy or girl?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Who here were you talking to? So here's some instant advice.
Hold that thought. No one's paid attention to me for
ten whole seconds and if you don't like it anyway
we go. It's time now for the insta advice line,
unscreened or radio sports on the show Made Possible by Tire.
For over forty years, ty Iraq has been helping customers
find the right tires for how, what and where they drive,
(37:05):
ship fast and freeback by free road hazard protection with
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Com The Way Tire Buying Show be So, who needs
our advice? Hmmm? Who needs our advice? Does? Some of
you sent suggestions in nothing really all that great? So
(37:26):
we will give advice now on I think we've did
this last week. I think we will give more advice
now the NBA Game one. Nobody watched the NBA Finals
compared to years past, So any tips now we've seen
two games of the NBA Finals, So any advice to
the NBA to get people joned up to actually watch
the Pacers and the Thunder Because side by Side No.
(37:49):
One was eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. You're
on the air. When you hear my voice, we'll start
out with you online number one. Hello, Line one, your
advice to get people jones up to watch the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Wait a minute in morning time, look at here alert.
I saw the movie center. It's about tennis and.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
It was long.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Okay, thank you for that line too. You're on that's
a great record. Marderland line too. You're on the air.
We're giving advice here to the NBA to try to
get people to watch the finals, which no one seems
to be into. At eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, Hello,
line two.
Speaker 5 (38:21):
I don't know what's the rundown?
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I don't know, all right. Line three, you're on the air.
Hello line three, Okay, I don't know. I don't know.
Coop doesn't want to take your calls. I guess Line four, Hello,
line four, Hey man, I'm at the la Ryant. Want
me to lose something for you at TV stereo? Maybe yeah,
dr yeah, just throw some rocks like all those other losers.
(38:44):
Let's go to you. Line one, you're on the air. Hello,
line one, my life. Okay, thank you. You sound like
you're you're about to lose your life. Line too, Hello,
you're on the air, line too.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
It's a better story to lose the locking room.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yes right, hot hot Pacer talk that's Sean the hood guy.
Line three. You're on the airline three. Hello, okay, thank you,
go go away a line number. Let's go line for Hello,
line four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Man, the the series would have great ratings if we
read all of Simone miles transphobic tweets.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Sure ahead, so we need to do thank you. There's
our friend beer drinking, you know or not the beer
drinking take drinking Steve. Hello, you're on the air line one. Hello,
line one, Mine one is not there. We'll go to
line two. At eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox, Hello,
line two. We always wipe front to back. If that's
(39:40):
technically the way. I mean, some people go back to front.
I'm not sure. Let's go to you. Line three. You're
on the airline three. Hello, okay, thank you for that.
We'll go to line number four. Hello, line for. We're
giving advice to the NBA trying to get people to
watch The Finest Boy. What a great advice we are
giving here. These are the screen calls at eight seven
(40:01):
seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello, line four, they should
do what the NHL does. Wasn't get outside games. Okay,
I didn't understand what you said. But Line six you're
on the airline six. Hello, Hello, line six, Hello, Hello,
line six. We're gonna line one. Line number one, Hello,
line one, you're on the airline one. Oh, that's the
(40:23):
famous Tukus took Us took us man, a hero of
the Instant Advice line, one of the great callers on
the Instant Advice line. Line number two, Hello, line two. Okay,
we've checked that box on your Bingo card. We'll go
to line number three. Hello, line three. Alright, I'm sure
(40:47):
they'll work on that right now. Hello, they got other
issues they're dealing with. Line number six. Hello, line six,
you're on the air on screen.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Radio line Scott sucks and I'm just gratefully's blind?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
All right, that's very mean. And how dare you? Line
number two, Hello, line two, Scott's the best caller of
all time. All right, but that kind of sounded like
blind Scott. I don't know if that was a line
number one. Hello, Line one.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Write a check to the officials and get a hand.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
There you go, go to the orchids of Asia Baseball.
We'll do one more of us good. I'll take credit
or not coop pick the final call. Hurry up, please,
Line four, Line four you're on the air line for Go.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I believe there is. It's a book by Tim Donahey
that could help you.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
There you go, Tim done, he booked there. That's a
supermarket Steve gut In there somehow, I don't know how
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 1 (00:35):
Well, it turns out the sequel not quite the ego.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Welcome in not beginning of another night of the Ben
Malor Show, another week of the show, one week after another,
chopping down the late night hours.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
As we are in the air, aywhere constituents, because we
know where the hot sauce is, We know where it
is coast to coast.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Border to border and beyond. On the vast and flashily
powerful microphones of fs are emunating live from the side
the ringside Chester that's right from the Fox Sports Radio studios,
as approved by Kyrie in okase he had a cheshire
(01:27):
cat smile. We'll get to why he had a chesshire
cat smile in a minute. This portion of the Ben
Maler Show made possible in part by our friends at
tire Ract. That's right. For over forty years, that's a
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they drive, ship fast and free back by free road
(01:49):
hazard protection, with convenient installation options like mobile tire installation,
tire rac dot com, The Way Tire Buying Show be
so our lead this hour, I say, play the Hits.
I don't know if this is playing the hits, but
we do do a sports talk radio, so so plausitibly
we should talk about sports occasionally. And I took one
(02:12):
for the team. I watched the game in the dust bowl.
It's my public service to you to get back to
the community, get back to you so you don't have
to waste your time on this. But there I was
Game two NBA Finals, sitting on my took us as
Tyres Halliburton and the Pacers looking to steal another game
and do the unthinkable against SGA and the Thunder in
(02:35):
a finals that is has been the lowest rated finals
since they've kept track of this stuff. My god, Game one,
that's all we have until Game two. In Game one,
nobody watched. So I don't know if you checked it
out based on the early results. Probably not, and so
we did as we said, a PSA for you. So
(02:56):
Shay jogis Alexander. A big performance by the former Clipper.
That's what former Clippers do. Thirty four points. Alice Caruso,
he's a former Laker. They got rid of him. He's
one of there. They don't need him. There good players.
So Caruso had twenty off the bench and the thunder
(03:17):
get it done. They win, not from pillar to post,
but just about there. They beat the Indiana Pacers one
twenty three to one oh seven the final, and so
now we are squared up. It is a best of
five series. As the Pacers went to Indiana to get
the wins, so they get home court advantage as long
(03:38):
as they don't stub their toe at home. As long
as they don't stub their toe at home, they'll be
all right, so Jalen Williams said nineteen, Aaron Wiggins eighteen
and Chet Holmer with fifteen for the thunder and a
partridge to the pear tree as okay see wins. It
was the first time they've won a finals game since
(03:59):
many many years. Ago, back in twenty twelve. That was
back when guys like Kevin Durant and others were playing
for the Thunder that was against Miami. Game three is
not until Wednesday. Why because load management? Baby, you can't
expect these NBA players to have to have one day off?
Oh my god, No, what do you? What kind of
draconian ahole? Are you? What is wrong with you? The
(04:22):
MB is doing everything they can so no one watches
the finals. This just take a couple of days off
between games, all right, So they're taking two games off
Wednesday in Indianapolis. I can check that out, be the
first finals game since I was there twenty five years
ago when they played the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
The better story, though, is in the losing locker room.
And so let us discuss. We know on this show
(04:44):
we love losers, and let's start out there with the
Indiana because they're the big losers. They wear the scarlet
letter the giant L there on their chest. So what
went wrong? What went wrong for Tyrese Halliburton and the
Pacers in Game No. Two? So I've got that was
the wrong one. I talked about y MCA hammer and
(05:07):
dog Whistle and we will combine all of these things
together and we are going to make some delicious, delicious
apple fritters. The perfect donut is the apple fritter. There's
nothing that can quite match the apple fritter. Cinnamon roll
is also a fine donut, but the apple fritter at
(05:29):
the very top. So a when you play the let's
point the fingers game, and I love playing the let's
point the fingers game? What went wrong for the Pacers?
You point a finger over here? Yeah, you point a
finger over there, and you point a finger everywhere? Is
what you do? Why not? Right now? This was an
epic failure by the Indiana basketball team first stretches of
this game now mainly in the second quarter, but really
(05:50):
the first quarters, well, the first half, they were stuck
in sand. The first half of this game. Indiana looked
like they had forgotten how to play basketball all So,
what happens? You spent a couple of extra days in Oklahoma?
You just don't know what you're doing? My god? Uh?
First up, let's start with the headliner, Tyrese Haliburton. Are
(06:10):
you bleeping kidding me? All right? Are you getting this
guy's the engine? Right? True? He's the engine there and
ice water point Guard Captain Clutch. Nobody forget Jalen Runson
right now, four big game winning shots in the playoffs.
Here for Halliburton, he's the guy, and he's gotta be
the guy. You can't be the guy if you're not
(06:31):
the guy. And he wasn't the guy against SGA. If
Andy's gonna keep this series going humming along hum hum
hum hum. No, there were no there was no humming.
It was chop chop, chop chop chop.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
He was out there. And the way he played in
the first half of this game, side by side comparison,
all right, the real talk. I know he didn't call
sho anymore this real time. So the way Halliburton played
in the first half, especially the second quarter, he would
not have been picked at a YMCA pickup game the
way he was performing. Man, where was the aggression? They
(07:06):
takes some sleeping pills prior to the game. Halliburton, Hello,
and the elite playmaking, we've seen it, but it wasn't there,
not in the first half. And you know, listen, Thunder
have a good defensive team. But let's not get carried away.
This is more about what Halliburton didn't do than any
amazing adjustment that the Oklahoma City basketball team did do.
(07:30):
And Haliburton is supposed to be a one percenter, that
he's crossed the rubicon and he's a one percent talent
and you're gonna get it done against everybody anywhere anyhow, anyway,
and that was not happening in this game in the
first half. And the malor report card on this Tyrene
Saliburton picking up an I rating, not an A, not
(07:51):
a B, not a C, not a D, not an iraty.
That's for the ick factor, because there was a lot
of ick. Right. He's the spirit animal of the Pacers.
He is the spirit animal of the Pacers, and the
animal was taking a nap and when the game was
being decided, and in this game, the game was being
(08:13):
decided in the first half here he was a real clunker.
I don't know how many other ways I can say it.
Got to figure out, got to figure out how to
break through game after game, right, no days off all
that stuff, and break the pressure of Oklahoma City and
not wilt under the pressure, which is what appeared to
be happening here. The Pacers offense was stagnant in the
(08:36):
first half. That's not something we are used to seeing.
This is one of the top offensive teams, if not
the top offensive team in the NBA, and it starts
with Haliburt. It starts with him, and Oklahoma City boxed
him up. The Thunder built up an eighteen point lead
at halftime, and they didn't trail in the entire second
I have Indiana shot less than thirty five percent in
(08:57):
the first half of this game and had just four
one points at halftime, which is not very good. That
played better than second half, but it was all extended
garbage time. Halliburton when the game was decided in the
first half, he was one of five shooting, made one
more basket than you and I made in the first half,
and three assists in twenty four minutes of action. And
(09:18):
the Pacers, listen, they played well in the second half,
but it was a lot of stat stuffing and stat
bandito and whatnot. And we often point out how that
is something we don't give credit to. Garbage time stat
stuffing doesn't really do it for us. And then you
got Rick Carlisle who was holding the game console. He
(09:40):
was he had the joystick and he was moving around
the vomit comet, the Indiana coach there, he had the joystick,
was moving around the vomit comet. The Pacers played like
they were content to win Game one, which they did win.
They won a game. You won a game. Congratulations, you
got it done. On the road way to go all right,
(10:00):
and Carlisle, championship coach, all that stuff, you can kiss
his ass because he's got the championship pedigree. He's supposed
to be one of the top coaches. I mean he
is often, but this was not his night here. He
looked like he drew up the game plan on a
napkin at some dive bar that they went to in
the Greater Indianapolis area in between games on the day
(10:21):
off there as the thunder or. They were playing with
the kind of edge that you would expect expect a
team to play with in this situation, and the Pacers
did not match it. They were not able to match
the running around like a headless chicken activity. So you
got Rick Carlisle too many adjustments here. Not a great
(10:44):
night for the Pacers, and so they lose, and they
lose in a game that wasn't all that close. Here
is Carlisle pointing out the first half was not a masterpiece.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Another bad first half. Obviously it was a big problem
and we just played poorly. A little better than the
second half, but you can't be a team that's reactive
and expect to be successful or half consistency. So we're
gonna feel a lot better on Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Can we get him a throat Lazrange. It sounds like
he's got a little throat issue there. Maybe some some
water with salt, garlic. I recommend garlic. That's my go to.
It normally works for me. Now, one of our favorites
and for us, the greatest name in the history of
the NBA, friend Marcel and Brooklyn. Pascal Siakam uh Siakam
had a quiet game. He was three of eleven shooting. Yeah,
(11:34):
he didn't really do much of anything when the game
was in the bounce or even when it wasn't in
the bounce, and hey, Pascal, what the hell happened?
Speaker 5 (11:42):
It was pretty close in the beginning. I mean, I
think just a lot on n set buckets, maybe some
key toneovers that we can take away. But yeah, they
did a good job being being disruptive, and they got
out in transition, and yeah, they made some tough shots.
I mean, they got guys that contributed across the boarding,
They got off the bench, guys made some big shots,
(12:05):
they got rebounds. You know. Yeah, they just did a
little bit of the little things, like more than we did.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I would say more than just the little things. But
we'll move on now on the other side. Page two.
Oklahoma City. So this is what was expected. This was
the analysis when everyone was licking the toes of OKC.
It was this is where they're going to play every
single game. So have Oklahoma City and SGA now regained
(12:32):
complete and total control of the NBA Finals after this
body blow of a win. Have they regained control? So
that would be a premature take, right, That would be
a premature take. All the Thunder did was avoid getting
blown into the tornado, getting blown into the tour. If
(12:52):
they had lost again at home, that would have been
def Con one. If they lose at home back to back,
that's what the knicker Bokers did against the Pacers. They'd
have been on life support if that had happened there.
And so that did not happen, so you don't have
to worry about that. But Oklahoma City, they just again
they played at a different speed, which is a lot
to do with the Pacers more than it is against
(13:14):
in Oklahoma City. You expected them to play with that.
You did not expect Indiana to come out there and lollygag,
which is what they did here and the thunder guy.
They got more rebounds, they had more steals, more fast
break points than the Pacers. The fifty to fifty balls,
I love my fifty to fifty balls. I live for
fifty to fifty balls. Remember Phil Jackson back in the days,
(13:35):
the hands on balls, that was his big mantra. Loved
hands on balls, so all right, loose balls grabbing them.
It seemed like it was like eighty ninety five percent
Oklahoma City on those particular situations. And Oklahoma City plays
regularly diving on the floor to secure loose balls to
extend possessions. Didn't see too much of that, certainly not
(13:56):
as much as we're used to from the Indiana basketball
team in this game. And then you have Chaed Holmer,
who brought the golden hammer. The golden hammer he brought
down there with the timely offense in the first half,
the early damage from skeletor. I mentioned that you're Indiana,
you lost a skeletor. He was big. He was big.
(14:16):
He was called like any he was big. In the
first half he had fifteen points and six rebounds, but
eleven points and four rebounds in the first half, and
that second quarter run when Oklahoma City took control of
the game and never gave up the momentum you idiots
like to talk about. All right, So timing does matter,
Timing doesn't matter, all right? Now, last word, So we
(14:37):
mentioned earlier. Game one was a total dud, My total dud,
the lowest ratings in the modern era, going back to
the eighties, going back to Ronald Reagan as president. Oh
my god, it sucked, and just a few things in life.
This is something we expected it to happen to happen.
So I noticed ant of you noticed here. As you know,
(14:58):
I generally tried to avoid Doris Burr because like most people,
I like good broadcasting. She's not good. But for a
few minutes, in a moment of weakness, I had the broadcasting.
I made a mistake. But during that couple of minutes
I had the audio up. I heard Mike Breen, the
play by play announcer, who emphasized that the thunder Pacer
series was great for people who love pure basketball. That
(15:22):
was the line, right, pure basketball? Okay, So what is
your rebuttal to that particular line from the lead voice
of the NBA Finals. So that is a roll your
eyes response? Is what that is? You roll your eyes
when you hear somebody say pure basketball because it's nonsense, right,
It's poppy cock, is what it is. Here, give me
(15:45):
a bleeping break. Pure basketball, my fat ass pure basketball.
You know what else is pure? I'm not a big
drinker of this, but skim milk is pure. You want
to drink skim milk? Knock yourself out, No thanks. And
by the way, last night checked, this is not the
nineteen eighties here where the basketball hardos are sitting there
(16:06):
with their pants down watching the back door cuts getting
all excited. That's not the way this works. It didn't
work then either. By the way it didn't work then either.
That's what's called narrow casting, not broadcasting. And there are
not enough. It is a proven fact there are not
enough basketball hardos to provide a big enough audience for
(16:28):
the NBA Finals. We prove that in Game one. That
will continue to be a place you need the case,
you need to attract the casual. You need to attract
the run of the mill Joe blow fan. That's you
need your track. They don't care about the purity of
the game. It doesn't matter, right, it doesn't matter. And
pure basketball is also at dog whistles what it is?
(16:49):
Let me call it like it is. Right. When you
say pure basketball, it's code for there's no stars. Right,
the teams aren't popular. And let me just gaslight you,
the viewer, and shame you. And to think, abou if
you watch you're a pure basketball fan, you're like a
better fan. It's some kind of basketball utopia. Bull crap,
(17:10):
it's not. I mean god, this is the perfect trifecta.
It's the perfect trifecta. No, what is You got no stars,
You've got no compelling storylines and no ratings? Ding ding
ding ding. That's what you got, right. Do you think
the average fan cares about a dribble handoff and gets
all aroused because they see off the ball movement? Come on, like,
(17:33):
what are you doing right? No, they want the personality.
They want that, they want the good guys, the villains.
There's none of that. There's none of that. And it's
like a traveling all star team. The Thunder. I don't
mean that Ni Conway. I mean like an AAU team,
the way they react after games and whatnot. Here and
nobody is going to circle the Thunder and the Pacers
(17:57):
and say, man, I gotta watch it if you're in
Oklahoma or Indiana and but maybe not. You know, even
then you're like, you know, I gotta got some stuff
I've saved up on the streaming. I might need to
watch that, you know so, but I'll watch it for
it again. It's my public service. I'm watching it for you.
I'm a basketball hurdle bit.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Okay, I don't don't call. I don't need to hear that.
You're you're you're on an island. So I'm a purist
of basketball. Yeah, I'm sure you are. Eight congratulated. I'll
give you a cookie.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mallor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Unable to leave the nest, Welcome in the beginning of
another hour of The Ben Malor Show. We are in
the air everywhere, just ordinary people. As we got that
magic carpet ride coast to coast, border the border and
(18:55):
beond on the mast. Eh splashly powerful microphone of fs
are emmating live from the circus, the overnight chit chat
circus the Fox Sports radio studios, as approved by the
Green Bay Gobbler. Who knows that this portion of the
(19:15):
Ben Malor show maybe possible in part by our friends
at tire Rack. That's right. For over forty years, it's
a long time, Alf tells me. That's a long time.
Tire Rack has been helping customers find the right tires
for how, what and where they drive fast and free
back by free road hazard protection with convenient installation options
(19:36):
like mobile tire installation, tire rack dot Com, Theoadtire Buying Show.
So our lead this hour is from the A T L.
The atl The dirty birds aren't doing a damn thing.
They're not They're not having If you saw this, you
might know where I'm going with it. Maybe not. You know,
(19:58):
I love talking Atlanta Falcon football. Are we not on
the pulse of the people. Don't answer that we have
a trade rumor update, a trade rumor update. The word
on the street. The word on the street is that
the Falcons have been desperately trying to trade quarterback Kirk Cousins,
(20:18):
or they got him last offseason. They were all excited
about that, and then they drafted another quarterback, so they've
been trying to get rid of him, and now the
quarterback market is bone dry. According to the latest reporting,
Atlanta was eager to say bye bye to Cousins and
until they weren't, and then turned out they didn't really
(20:38):
want to eat the big portion of the contract that
would have been required there. They didn't have enough barbecue
sauce in Atlanta to do that, And so now the
quarterback carousel has begun. Cousins is left searching for a ride.
He's I want on the carousel and the horse is not,
(21:00):
in fact that very odd that a horse on a
carousel would leave the barn, but that appears to be
what happened here, and so supposedly Pittsburgh was the last
best shot for Kirk Cousins until Aaron Rogers knocked on
the door and they opened the door. And that's it.
So long story short, three words. Nobody wants him. Nobody
(21:26):
wants him. So let us discuss the question stuck in Atlanta.
What is the forecast? What is the forecast? For Kirk Cousins'
NFL future at this moment two day. So I've got tumbleweeds,
advanced degree, and dandy dawn, and we will combine all
(21:47):
of these things together and we are going to make
some twisted pizza dough is what we're going to make.
So number on the forecast. And we're never wrong about
these things because we have the power of the bully pulpit,
the power of the microphone, the power of the headphones,
the tools of ignorance. So the forecast for kirk Cousins
(22:09):
NFL future, looking at the long term weather modules, right,
looking at all the models and modules and all that stuff.
The Doppler radar left behind by Roberto who quit radio
to live his dream as a bus driver. So the
Doppler radar shows here that the Falcons are experiencing what's
(22:30):
known as climate whiplash. It's a relatively new term climate whiplash,
but the rapid shift between posing weather extremes opposing weather extremes,
from a flooding to drought, from flooding to drought trout.
So we are talking about a desolate desert devoid of
(22:50):
any precipitation, a desolate desert devoid of any precipitation and
a market that is the only thing you can see
moving around is tumbleweeds. It's a lot of tumbleweeds blowing around.
That's an invasive speeches that came to America from Russia
and stuck there. His cousins on the dance floor. Now
(23:11):
he is on the dance floor. That's the good news.
He's doing the dance move, the limbo, how low can
you go? How low can you go? And no trades. Really,
what he's waiting for is breakfast. Kirk Cousins is waiting
for breakfast because he knows at one point in the
upcoming month and then the next two months actually because
(23:31):
you know, we're doing the show in early June, and
you've got the rest of this month and then most
of July before training camp opens up. Somewhere between now
an early part of training camp, a quarterback in the NFL,
a starting quarterback will go out and have a big
bowl of rice crispies and they'll have a little milk,
and then they'll take the spoon and they'll put the
(23:52):
spoon in and then they'll have snap, crackle, pop. And
at that point when you have the snap crackle and pop.
That means you need another quarterback now. Is that Mahomes
hurting his ankle? Is that Josh Allen going a little
too heavy on his honeymoon and having a groin injury.
I don't know. Is that Lamar Jackson having a knee problem?
Who knows? But Boom goes to Dynamite and that is
(24:15):
when the portal will open up again for Kirk Cousins.
And the Saints are the only team, the only one
that does not have a quarterback in the NFL. They're
not even trying the fact that they're not even trying
in the Orleans woul lead you to believe that they're
just tanking and they're one of the teams is going
to try to get Arch Manning for marketing reasons and
do the whole Manning family connection thing and all that stuff.
(24:37):
And so that's it. Now Atlanta does have to act
relatively fast. And the reason they have to act relatively
fast is because they're banking on Raheem Morris, who somehow
has a head coaching job in the NFL game. Raheem
Morris and the Falcons are banking on the second year
jumpity jump for Michael Pennex Junior that he's gonna jump
(24:59):
on a trampoline and to the moon, to the moon,
to the moon, to the moon. And so you gotta
clear the runway, gotta get rid of the things on
the room. Wane Cousins. Right now is some debris that's
clearing the possible takeoff of Michael Pennix. You and your
now page two. We did have a pending pending roster
(25:20):
move over the weekend. What is the pending roster move?
Nick Chubb a loblub formerly known as Nick Chubb. Nick
Chubb a lovelob, the former I say, former Cleveland Browns
running back coming off back to back seasons with massive
career altering injuries. Well, Nick Chubb has reportedly agreed to
(25:43):
a deal with a new team. He is taking his
talents to the Texans, pending a physical. That's a big
pending a physical addendum, So are you giving this move
a thumbs up or a thumb's down? Nick Chubb going
to Houston after a thorough review, a minutes long, minutes
(26:06):
long deliberation, with our copious amounts of research, we are
giving this a full thumbs up. Now, not two thumbs up,
but one full solid thumbs up the thumb, standing high
and proud. It is smart football. It is smart football
because it's it's a short term deal. It's a power play,
power play by the Texas. So Houston is not betting
(26:30):
the family jewels. Right, that's a one year low risk
if the reports are Accurate's one year low risk contract
is that it's a flyer. You know, when you park
your car and at like a sporting event or a
concert and you come out and there's a flyer on
the windshield wiper. That's all this is. It's a flyer.
They put that out. Maybe one out of two thousand
(26:50):
people will actually buy the product. But you're just doing that, right.
He's a guy who was on a dog food Cleveland team,
a spark play Nick Chubb so went healthy and that
is a massive, massive win. That's any ifs and butts
were candy and nuts, you'd celebrate every day, but you don't. Right,
(27:14):
And when he's right, he's got the breakaway ability or
had the breakaway ability of a top five running back
in the NFL. Explosive efficient powerful a nightmare for opposing
defensive players here, and the problem is his doppelganger has
been Humpty dumpty, and when your doppelganger is Humpty Dumpty,
(27:36):
it does not go well. Right. Forget the spaghetti and
meatballs because he left the spaghetti out. What Nick Chubb
has been doing the last couple of years is adding
meat ball surgery after meatball surgery. He's twenty nine and
Chubb has not played a full game since what Week
fourteen last season, and then the year before he got
(27:58):
hurt and I think it was a week two. I
believe it was week two of the regular season. So
it's been a while since he played all the games.
And he's a crash test dummy, is what he is.
And so he's got he had the sprained ankle, and
he had the ligament messed up in his knee and
is a complete just everything was shredded, shred tred tred tred,
(28:19):
shred tred t red. And so he had the heel,
the ACL that was the bugaboo, and then he had
the broken foot this past season, and now he is
I understand it if he does pass the physical, which
is very hard not to pass if the team wants
he it's very hard not to pass the physical. And
(28:40):
they brought Chubb in and so I would assume Houston
wants him. Why else would they do that. They could
just you know, go out and sign mister irrigation to
play running back. But anyway, nonetheless, so Nick Chobb will
not be asked to be the bell cow back. It's
going to be an ensemble backfield because you're gonna have
Nick Chubb back there and Joe mix it. So that's
the one two punch, which means Nick Chubb would be
(29:03):
what he would be the goal line, goal line kind
of closer. That type of running back does not have
to be Superman and leap tall buildings in a single
you know what. And as Larry David will say, that
would be pretty pretty good if you can mix and
match and intertwine Joe Mixon and Nick Chubb, right, and
(29:25):
if you're getting seventy or eighty percent of what Nick
Chubb had been back in the day, Okay, as a
part time player, that's not a bad situation, being all
right now. Final points, speaking of disheveled running backs. Disheveled
running backs dateline buffalo store that has been percolating over
the last couple of days in Upstate New York. The
(29:49):
team that fancies themselves a super Bowl contender, but always
finds a way to screw things up in the playoffs.
The Buffalo of Bells James Cook, the lead running back
in Buffalo James Cook. Let's just say that he is
not planning on showing up to Buffalo. He wants nothing
to do with Buffalo. He wants no part of that
(30:14):
city or that region at all. The Bills running back
and not close to a new deal. In fact, the
team's pretty much said we're not giving you a new deal.
And he has put his house on the market. That
was originally an internet rumor. Apparently it's been confirmed and
has some recent commentary that he's already looking around for
(30:37):
his new team and all that stuff. So what does
all this tell you? What if it doesn't hit you
right right in the schnaz, what does this tell you?
So it tells me everything I need to know. The
classic tune from a different era in the NFL, bringing
Dandy Dawn, Don Meredith, turn out the lots the parties
over a sealer. It's business, It's more than that though,
(31:02):
it's not just business personal right, this person Cook is cooked.
He is cooked in a Bill's uniform. He gone, He
is mentally checked out, and once a player has mentally
checked out, that's it. Go to HR, fill out the paperwork.
You're done. You're done. You're disconnected. He is disconnected from
(31:25):
the organization. And James Cook is not just skipping workouts, said, well,
who cares, it's June. He's not just skipping workouts. He's
essentially skipping zip codes. He's like, I'm out, and you
don't list your house for sale like that. Remember Tom
Brady before he left the Patriots, he put his house
(31:45):
on the market and there were people like, well, that
doesn't mean anything. He was like, oh, generally, it's a
pain in the ass to move, even when you're rich.
I know, when you're rich, you can have a bunch
of people move your crap. But it's still a pain
in the butt to take everything in your DMV, your
driver's license address, change, everything has to be changed. It's
(32:08):
a pain in the book. So you only do that
when you have to do it right. And so the
fact that James Cook is proactively getting rid of where
he lives, that is a dead giveaway. You've got a
contract squabble. The team's pretty much said you're not that important,
and really that's what that that This gets down to you.
James Cook put up solid numbers in Buffalo last year.
(32:31):
Is a yin to the yang into the yang of
Josh Allen. And this is not hey, I just want
a little more money or a couple of bonuses tossed
into the contract. This is not that. It's more than that, right,
This is a James Cook bird is the word. He's
given the bird to the organization. And he's already thinking
(32:52):
about where do I want to be in September? Do
I want to be Miami? Do I want to be
Where do I want to be a Chargers? Where would
I like to go? Pick your team man? Not in Buffalo,
not in Bubble, somewhere else. He would like to be
somewhere else. He's ghosting New York. And it's kind of
like go back to the pandemic a couple of years back,
and many of us found out whether we were essential
(33:15):
employees or non essential employees, like, for example, you would
think overnight talk radio not essential. I found out during
the pandemic very essential. In fact, they gave us cards
if they had martial law, which I maybe they'll have
here in LA with what's going on these days. But
they gave us a card. We're allowed to work because
(33:35):
the people need sports takes no matter what. So we
are essential employees doing overnight talk radio. But if you're
a running back for the Buffalo Bills, you are non essential.
You are non essential. You are not part of the
critical infrastructure that is that football team, clearly, and I
don't disagree with that by the Bills front office. He's
(33:55):
not a one percent running back, James Cook, But you
can find somebody else. Josh Allen will open things up,
and you have a decent offensive line, you'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
How about that to the third degree?
Speaker 2 (34:18):
This is one big then gets grilled cool.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
Earlier this year, former Colts coach Chuck Pagano came out
of retirement to join the Ravens as their secondary coach.
He was recently asked if he aspires to be a
head coach again, and he said emphatically no, he's had
enough of head coaching.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Do you believe him? Yeah, I do believe. It's been
almost ten years since he was a head coach. He
coached the Colts. I love Pagano is a great sound
by he's almost sixty five. I think he's just tired
of the bull crap and he just wants to coach
and it's fun being a position coach and he can
play grab ass with everyone on this Generally, I think
most of these guys are lying when they say they
(34:56):
don't want to be head coach. But in this case, no,
I believe McConnell's being one hundred percent reel and he
knows he's not gonna be a head coach, and he's
like he's happy just kind of hanging out and being
part of the Ravens coaching chef.
Speaker 7 (35:08):
Next, the Steelers have not had a losing record since
the two thousand and three season under Bill Kauer. That's
a twenty one straight years of finishing five hundred or better.
As the Street continue with Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
Yes, because they've proven they've had suck quarterbacks in Pittsburgh
since even in the end of Roethlisberger, they were pretty bad.
And so the Steelers defense is good enough to win
by itself seven games, let's say, right, so they'll win
seven because of the defense, and then the offense will
win at least two or three, So they'll get to
that nine or ten win mark and Tomlin is a
(35:42):
good regular season coach. He hasn't been a good playoff coach.
But with TJ. Watt and Patrick Queen and what they
have on defense and Hayward and those guys, they'll win
at least nine games next.
Speaker 7 (35:54):
The Celtics are widely expected to be active on the
trade market this summer. In recent recording, says rival teams
are operating as if Boston will have a little something
for everybody.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Yeah, then what Boston players do you expect to be
gone next year? Well, definitely Holiday, Drew Holiday is going
to be traded, Porzingis will likely be gone. The big
one is do they trade Jalen Brown? But at least
two of the rotation guys Wire can be gone? How
do we know you pass? The second? Is that? The
way foot it on the bard.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
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. Hey you sports figure, guy or girl?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Who here were you talking to? So here's some instant advice.
Hold that thought. No one's paid attention to me for
ten whole seconds and if you don't like it anyway
we go. It's time now for the insta advice line,
unscreened or radio sports on the show Made Possible by Tire.
For over forty years, ty Iraq has been helping customers
find the right tires for how, what and where they drive,
(37:05):
ship fast and freeback by free road hazard protection with
convenient installation options like mobile tire installation ti iraq dot
Com The Way Tire Buying Show be So, who needs
our advice? Hmmm? Who needs our advice? Does? Some of
you sent suggestions in nothing really all that great? So
(37:26):
we will give advice now on I think we've did
this last week. I think we will give more advice
now the NBA Game one. Nobody watched the NBA Finals
compared to years past, So any tips now we've seen
two games of the NBA Finals, So any advice to
the NBA to get people joned up to actually watch
the Pacers and the Thunder Because side by Side No.
(37:49):
One was eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox. You're
on the air. When you hear my voice, we'll start
out with you online number one. Hello, Line one, your
advice to get people jones up to watch the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Wait a minute in morning time, look at here alert.
I saw the movie center. It's about tennis and.
Speaker 5 (38:07):
It was long.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Okay, thank you for that line too. You're on that's
a great record. Marderland line too. You're on the air.
We're giving advice here to the NBA to try to
get people to watch the finals, which no one seems
to be into. At eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox, Hello,
line two.
Speaker 5 (38:21):
I don't know what's the rundown?
Speaker 1 (38:23):
I don't know, all right. Line three, you're on the air.
Hello line three, Okay, I don't know. I don't know.
Coop doesn't want to take your calls. I guess Line four, Hello,
line four, Hey man, I'm at the la Ryant. Want
me to lose something for you at TV stereo? Maybe yeah,
dr yeah, just throw some rocks like all those other losers.
(38:44):
Let's go to you. Line one, you're on the air. Hello,
line one, my life. Okay, thank you. You sound like
you're you're about to lose your life. Line too, Hello,
you're on the air, line too.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
It's a better story to lose the locking room.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Yes right, hot hot Pacer talk that's Sean the hood guy.
Line three. You're on the airline three. Hello, okay, thank you,
go go away a line number. Let's go line for Hello,
line four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
Man, the the series would have great ratings if we
read all of Simone miles transphobic tweets.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Sure ahead, so we need to do thank you. There's
our friend beer drinking, you know or not the beer
drinking take drinking Steve. Hello, you're on the air line one. Hello,
line one, Mine one is not there. We'll go to
line two. At eight seven seven ninety nine on Fox, Hello,
line two. We always wipe front to back. If that's
(39:40):
technically the way. I mean, some people go back to front.
I'm not sure. Let's go to you. Line three. You're
on the airline three. Hello, okay, thank you for that.
We'll go to line number four. Hello, line for. We're
giving advice to the NBA trying to get people to
watch The Finest Boy. What a great advice we are
giving here. These are the screen calls at eight seven
(40:01):
seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello, line four, they should
do what the NHL does. Wasn't get outside games. Okay,
I didn't understand what you said. But Line six you're
on the airline six. Hello, Hello, line six, Hello, Hello,
line six. We're gonna line one. Line number one, Hello,
line one, you're on the airline one. Oh, that's the
(40:23):
famous Tukus took Us took us man, a hero of
the Instant Advice line, one of the great callers on
the Instant Advice line. Line number two, Hello, line two. Okay,
we've checked that box on your Bingo card. We'll go
to line number three. Hello, line three. Alright, I'm sure
(40:47):
they'll work on that right now. Hello, they got other
issues they're dealing with. Line number six. Hello, line six,
you're on the air on screen.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Radio line Scott sucks and I'm just gratefully's blind?
Speaker 1 (40:58):
All right, that's very mean. And how dare you? Line
number two, Hello, line two, Scott's the best caller of
all time. All right, but that kind of sounded like
blind Scott. I don't know if that was a line
number one. Hello, Line one.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Write a check to the officials and get a hand.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
There you go, go to the orchids of Asia Baseball.
We'll do one more of us good. I'll take credit
or not coop pick the final call. Hurry up, please,
Line four, Line four you're on the air line for Go.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
I believe there is. It's a book by Tim Donahey
that could help you.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
There you go, Tim done, he booked there. That's a
supermarket Steve gut In there somehow, I don't know how
Host
Ben Maller
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