June 24, 2025 • 27 mins
Big Ben discusses the release of the NBA Finals Game 7 Ratings and why it was so meaningless in the grand scheme of the rest of the Finals games, then dives into the media types shouting from the rooftops calling for the shortening of the NBA playoffs to reduce injuries + new editions of Maller to the Third Degree & Maller’s Mountain of Money!
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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 3 (00:34):
It is report card Time, Yes, our favorite time, report
card time. Welcome in not beginning of another night of
the Benmahlor Show. We are in the air everywhere, chewing
the rag as we provide scoreboard shadows whatever that means,
(00:57):
coast to coast, border to border and beyond on the
mast and enormously powerful microphones of fsre ammundating live from
the bakery do it live as we sell the takes
by the dozen, a baker's dozen from the Fox Sports
Radio studios, as approved by I forty Ian, who is
(01:21):
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show me. So our lead this hour is from pro Bounceable.
Well are you talking about basketball this season?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Eddy? Don't talk about that? Shut up SPACCAULI, you moron
and all you other idiots. All right, listen. I'm not
gonna sit here and start the show with that Celtic
trade with the Blazers. That's not worthy of starting the show.
But something that did catch my attention as the curtain
did come now finally on the finals, as it all ended,
(02:18):
That's all she wrote there. Sunday night, we talked about
that in depth as Oklahoma City celebrating a championship and
the MVP Shade Jogis Alexander and the Thunder beating Indiana,
a hobbled pacer team at the end in seven games.
But the report card came out, Oh, it's so exciting. Now.
I don't work for the NBA, I don't get paid
(02:39):
by the NBA. I have no skin in the game.
I am merely an independent observer in the middle of
the night, a neutral party, neutral party. But I love
it and I look forward to this because it is
a wellness check to see how you're doing. So the
report card came out. I don't even saw this or not,
(03:00):
perhaps not. I don't care about that, all right, well,
I care. It matters to me because I think it's funny.
I think it's funny. So the big headline was and
this came out from the NBA marketing arm. They pumped
their chest out. They were like a peacock with their
feathers in the air everywhere. They were very braggadocious. They said, listen,
(03:22):
all you haters, all you people that said mean things.
The Pacers thunder Game seven was the most watched NBA
game in six years. Put that in your pipe and
smoke it. Sixteen point four million out of a country
of three hundred plus million. Wow, watch the game seven.
(03:43):
Pretty good.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Game.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Wasn't all that close in the second half, late third
quarter Oklahoma City pulled away and then the fourth quarter
pretty much kept a hobbled Pacer team at arms length
in the fourth quarter. So let us discuss the question.
Here's the question for the steam panel. So the NBA
is taking a victory lap here for the television ratings
(04:06):
in the finals, Game seven. How do you assess this one?
So I've got Copperfield, Cyprus and Andy Warhol, and we
will combine all of these things together, and we are
going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the sports talk radio truth. All right. So ay,
(04:28):
this is what's called a deja vu situation. I'm not
talking about the Gentlemen's Club. I'm going deja vu here.
And here's why the NBA, yet again, yet again, is
gaslighting you. Maybe not you, because I'd like to think
that you're a different level than the low information fan.
But they're gas lighting the public, is what they're doing.
(04:50):
Do not be a resident of the village of Suckersville.
Do not do it now, Adam Silver and his underlings,
all right, taking a b out here for the supposed
rating success a victory and the television ratings here, and
the usual suspects and sports media slapper slabber, slabbery, you
(05:10):
know who they are, are gleefully regurgitating this as the gospel.
See I told you so. They just take the press release.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I used to run a website and I would get
these press releases, and I knew the places that would
just republish them without like adding anything. And there's a
lot of people. I get a lot of people are busy.
You know, I got stuff going on, and you don't
read past the headline. And they know that. They know
whatever they put in a news release will be repackaged
(05:40):
almost verbatim, and people will only see the headline and
all that. So it is true that Game seven of
the NBA Finals between Oklahoma City and Indiana to sixteen
point four million viewers. Golf clop, right, a little golf clop.
That's nice. However, as the late great radio man, the
(06:00):
legend of radio from a different generation, Paul Harvey, would say,
now for the rest of the story. Now for the
rest of the story. So the quiet part that the
NBA does not does not want you to talk about.
They don't want to bring this up. So don't bring
(06:21):
this up. See, I'm not part of the mainstream. We're
not late at night here, so I can talk about this.
But those mainstream daytime guys, they're not supposed talk about it.
So the part they don't want you to talk about
is the overall finals ratings. So the full seven game
NBA Finals, the worst rated final in a generation eighteen years,
(06:43):
which is closing in on twenty, which is a generation
eight O seven. I was barely alive in O seven.
The last time the NBA Finals did worse than this,
and that was back when the San Antonio Spurs in
the San Antonio River. They floated down that river as
chance Pippians over Lebron's cadavers in the seven NBA Finals
(07:05):
in that was a David Stern production, and he had
to pretend like people actually cared then. But David Stern
was more honest because he knew when there was bull
crap could he was very hard. It was very hard
for him to sell the bull crap Adam Silver because
he's like a lizard person, he seems to have no
problem selling it. So eighteen years after that, the finals
(07:27):
this year and that this was a seven game series
and imagine, I was actually texting one of my TV friends,
who are better people because they're on television, and actually
this guy works behind the scenes, and I was like, well,
what would the numbers have been had they not gotten
the sixteen million? And they were like, well, it's hard
to really know exactly what it would have been, but
it would have been you would have had to go
(07:47):
back like twenty five years or thirty years for a
lower rating than that. And so Adam Silver and his
PR machine churning over and over and over, you know,
doing the thing where they hope nobody notices. You know
that I hope nobody notices this and that that one
game spike in game seven. It does not make up
(08:11):
for what two weeks of apathy. I mean, this is
what we had, two weeks of apathy in the NBA
Finals and the league. And this is their their own
doing it. And we've talked about this repeatedly. They've gotten
so used to selling style over substance that they now
even they spend the numbers. It reminds me when my
(08:32):
early days in radio. I remember we had a program
director the ratings. I was doing local radio. The ratings
would come out and the boss would go into a
cubby hole in the back of the radio station for
like three hours and spin the numbers because we had
terrible ratings. But he would find like one demographic, right,
(08:54):
men seventy plus that have two teeth. We're number one
in the market, you know, and he'd sell that and
be like, all right, we're good. We're number one in
the market men's seventy plus with like three teeth to
dominate there. And so that's what the NBA is doing.
It's David Copperfield is impressed. It's like hocus pocus. Yeah,
the ratings were the worst rated in eighteen years, but
(09:15):
we did really well in game seven, really well. Right,
look over here, don't look over there. It's the art
of magic, and I love magic. The art of magic
is to get the people to look where you want
them to look and not where you're actually doing the switch.
And that's what the NBA did. So don't worry about
the fact, if you're Paniti, don't worry about the fact
the first six games of the NBA Finals barely move
(09:36):
the needle. Don't worry about that. No, no, no, no, no. Now,
the NBA has to live with the reality that they
have cooked up here. For multiple generations, forty years, the
league has been totally dependent on big market glamour teams, drama,
(09:57):
player movement, the tray. Now, of course, recently it's been
social media buzz that that doesn't translate into money, which
is the problem. They haven't really monetized that in a
way that they can make any real money on it.
And so the finals featured. If you're a hard old
basketball guy, all the nerds on social media like, oh,
this is the greatest team basketball man. The public doesn't
(10:20):
want to consume your product. It's like a restaurant where
the food's got the finest quality. Nobody wants to eat
it because they think it's disgusting, but it's Oh, it's
really healthy for you, all right now, page two. So
one of the other storylines here is the snap cracker
pop Tyreese Halliburton Gonzo in the first quarter, and people
continue to be freaking out. O MG, Haliburton, the Achilles injury.
(10:44):
I can't believe it. Now. Our teammate, our colleague, Colin
Cowherd from his Humble aboute in Chicago, is among a
handful of pundits recommending the league immediately shortened the NBA
plus did you see this? Yes, he's not. By the way,
there's other people that are also advocating that the NBA
must shorten the postseason. No more best of seven. No,
(11:08):
our delicate little flowers cannot handle the best of seven
that we need to go to a best of five.
Save our beloved basketball heroes go to a best of five.
Any insights you'd like to add on this. So when
I saw this, I immediately thought, well, this is sports talk, Barry,
(11:29):
this is the Babylon Bee or the Onion, this is
this is satire, you know, this is NBA sentel. This
is not real. This is fake. I'm not gonna fall
for it. And then I saw it again and I
watched the clip and I was like, well, I think
that's legit. I think he actually said it. I can't
believe he said it, but he said it, and so
other people said it. So it's like it's Cypress Hill,
(11:50):
is what it is. It's insane to the membrane. It's
insane to the membrane. Reminds me of the pandemic when
people are running around out of an abundance of caution.
Don't do anything out of it, Counson. It will never
be safe enough for our NBA heroes never ever. Why
stop at the best of five because in never really
(12:12):
someone's gonna get hurt in a best of five, So
why would you do that? You shouldn't have best of five?
How about best of three? You know, and wait a minute,
somebody could get hurt in a best offe. So we
should go like the NCAA march madness and just to
a single elimination. But in ever least somebody might pop
an achilles in a single elimission game. We need to
(12:33):
protect our NBA heroes. These are our superstars. We need
to protect them. So I've decided I will let the NBA,
if they pay me a nominal fee, I will allow
the NBA to borrow my friend the penny from benny
versus the penny, and they can flip the penny so
no longer get harmed. Just bring in like Lebron will
(12:54):
represent the Lakers, and Kawhi will represent the Clippers, and
like everyone you know, everyone's star player, and then you
just flip flip the penny. Boom done. That's the way.
Forget the five games. Somebody could still get hurt. You
could see, you could see these world class athletes to
spend millions of dollars a year on their bodies popping achilles.
So just bringing the penny. Listen, nobody wanted to see
(13:16):
Tyreese Halliburton limp off like he was at a you know,
a gymnasium, you know, somewhere at some fitness center playing
a bunch of middle aged guys and he popped his
achilles and all that. But the answer is, in all seriousness,
you don't chop away with the machete the NBA playoffs
and chop games away like you're tossing marshmallows into a
(13:39):
fire or something like that. The playoffs are supposed to
be a grind. It's supposed to be the team that
stands at the top of the mountain when it's all
said and done, has survived the war of attrition. But
everyone's so soft, like what happened? Like guys get guys
have always gotten hurt. It's like, now, oh, no one
(14:00):
can get hurt. Oh my god, all right, now, last word.
So one of the other storylines. You're fresh off the
NBA Championship. The chatter within the league circles is that money, money,
money coming down, a lot of money. Jalen Williams and
Chet Holmgren skeletor of the Thunder. They are going to
(14:20):
receive massive rookie scale extensions, which means, let me praise
this a different way. Chi ching chi ching chi ching
from OKC the Thunder. So give me the pros and
cons of what's about to happen? All right, so the
(14:41):
pros to the victor goes the spoils. Right, you win
a championship. Everyone's got that excitement and you've got that
rush of energy, and so congratulations you hosted the trophy.
There fireworks over Bricktown, the confetti coming down, thunder rally,
everyone's all excited and all that stuff. And you saw
(15:01):
Sam Presty. Boy that everyone loves Sam Presty. My goodness,
holy crap. Looks like a nerd to me anyway. So
Sam Presty, they're standing atop as the champion GM and
everyone's celebrating, all the basketball nerds. They're all excited there,
they're all jones up and all that. Now the cons
on this are even as the champagne continues to flow
(15:27):
in Oksee and everything's covered in gold. Now you win
the championship and all that. There is a disease which
Oklahoma City has now acquired. And the illness, which was
first diagnosed by pat Riley a million years ago, is
the disease of me. It's below the surface. You can't
see it right now, but it's there. It's just developing
(15:51):
the disease of me and it's it's gonna echo more
and more and more throughout the dust ball. You've got
the generational wealth being passed out to everyone. And as
Andy Warhol famously said back in his day, life, just
a series of images that change and they repeat themselves
as they change. They're just the same thing happens to
(16:13):
new people. And that's kind of it. So we've seen
this before. We've seen this before, and we will not
pretend I mean, maybe you will, but I will not
pretend that the situation can be any different. In Oklahoma City,
they look like an AAU team the way they were
all celebrating and all that stuff. But even if it's subtle,
even if it's subtle, it's like, you know, it's we
(16:35):
over me, which was the mantra that used to win
the championship. And suddenly you're starting to think more about
stats and contracts and things like that, and you get
your money and all that, and the salaries start going
up up in a way, and the swell your bank
account gets a little bit bigger. You're like, hey, manute man,
wait a minute, now, I want a championship here. Maybe
I want to go play in a bigger city where
there's more to do, and why am I here? I
(16:57):
like Oklahoma City, but I want to go somewhere else
with the light. They're a little brighter and there's more
to do and why not? And then the pecking order
gets a little murky and the culture, the culture club
becomes it's a buzzword. Nobody actually follows it, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. It is the Baine mal Show.
(17:17):
What do you think about all that? We'll take your
calls on that. We did have a trade. We'll talk
more about it as we go through the overnight. The
Celtics have said bye bye to Drue Holiday. They trade
him back to the Blazer It's a team he played
for in the past. He goes back to Portland. But
there's one thing the Blazers needed, that missing piece, a
thirty five year old point guard. Hell of a trade
(17:37):
by the Trailblazers to get Drue Holiday back and Anthony
Simmons goes to Boston. He's a dime a dozen. See
some nerds all excited about that one thing. I've learned.
I covered some bad NBA teams back in the day.
You never get excited about a young player putting up
stats on a crap team, because that's the easiest thing
in the world to do. That's the easiest thing in
(17:59):
the world. No one's paying attention, no one's watching. It's
a much different animal going to a team that actually
people care about and pay attention to and actually win games,
which is what Simmons is going to plasb be going
to do, unless he's traded again from the Celtics somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Here we Go, Mallard, how about that?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
To the third degree?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Here we go?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
This is one big Ben gets grilled.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
All right and Brann With SGA becoming the first player
in twelve years to win both League MVP and Finals MVP,
it has a lot of people wondering if he is
the best thunderplayer of all time? Ah, do you think
that's already true?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
But I know you're dying. Yeah, that's a very important
question to you. As a lifelong thunderfan. Wish I was
well obviously as a player, no One. They had good
players there in Westbrook and Harden and Durant, but wearing
that uniform, nobody accomplished what all of the things that
SGA accomplished. So the answer is, yes, it's obvious. I
(19:06):
don't include the Sonics because that's it to me. That's
a different team and they'll beat the Sonics, will be back,
So yes, absolutely next.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
During the Fanatics event, Kevin Durant also made an NFL prediction.
He said he believes Micah Parsons will be a Washington
commander in two years. What do you think about that prediction,
Ben Well?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think Kevin Durant should stick to changing teams every
three years. That's what I think, cause that's what he's
good at, right, he changes teams. You big, good Durant.
You're a Suns fan, bri you rough time. Did you
enjoy the Durant era there in the Valley the Sun?
There much optimism? Yes, No, did not work out. Yeah,
Durant's normally wrong about these things. I don't know ninety
seven percent of the time, so I'm not worried about it.
(19:47):
I still believe it's they've already got a deal, Michael Parsons,
the Cowboys. They're gonna wait till training camp and then
they'll announce the deal. Parsons will get an extension, so
and he'll stay in dowas next kick.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Kevin Durant sho. He got his first strikeout as a
Dodger in his second abbreviated start on the Mellow.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
We're the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Are you more encouraged about a Tani's pitching contribution this
season after this specific outing, Ben.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
No, It's like it's like they're teaching him how to
eat again. There's spoon feeding Otani and all. I will
get excited when I see Otani pitch in October and
strike everyone out and dominate. Then I'm not getting excited
about a start against the Nationals or these you know,
you know the Padres in June. I'm just not there.
It is malarly third degree? How did we da plus?
(20:32):
You passed? That is a win. I won fer Dog,
I won blind Scott, I'm a winner, hollering James, I
won the game, Bill Miller in you. It is the
Ben Mahler Show on the Red Eye flight. Be sure
to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. That's right,
(20:53):
what does radio look like? Look on YouTube? Just search
Fox Sports Radio on the YouTube. You see a whole
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it all is that also work here and be sure
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You will not miss any of the very best Fox
(21:16):
Sports Radio videos on the YouTube.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Now, Mailor's Mountain of money? Do you have what it
takes to get to the top. Probably not.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Let's do it here we go. Let's play the game
right now. We have Manuel in Guardina, who's picked up
many honors over his years his dedication to sports talk radio.
He's chosen to fall on the sword and lose this
game as he's teamed up with Rihanna, and they're gonna
lose because far out Dave is gonna win with me.
(21:50):
That's right made, far far out Dave's gonna get it
done here. All right, Well, let's do it here we go.
Bring your up first. It is the JJ Reddick edition.
You picked. Manuel picked Laker coaches. Interesting easy category. That's
the easiest category on the board. What oh so easy? No,
my guy picked the hardest category, by the way.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Okay, if they know what's.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Easy or eighty. That eighty point question, hardest question we've
had in months for you on the tattoo. Yeah, alright,
well I well man, well are you ready? Abre you
want to give the category and all that? Say?
Speaker 4 (22:26):
What is? Alrighty Lakers coaches? These coaches has all coach
the Lakers at one point in their NBA coaching career.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
All right, forty five seconds on the clock. We're on
our way. That'd be quiet, Dave, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Manuel, Okay, number one aka the then Master dated Jeanie
but coach the nineteen eighty showtime Lakers, right coach the
Lakers in the twenty twenty Bubble Championship.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
He was a coach.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
He was in the coach of the Suns, and then
he's a scapegoat.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
He doesn't remember. That's how we're twenty twenty championship, is okay?
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Don't say that?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Seventh seconds or left bank, Yes, oh, seventh deconds are
last coach with the Suns and then followed into the
follows team Nash of the Lakers. Uh, you had a
queer little mustache. Kobe looked up to him when he
was a basketball player in Italy.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Oh what a show it was. Mike d'antello. Oh my god,
Oh my god. If you are now, Manuel's actually spoiler alert,
Manuell's a Clipper fan. Who knew Manuel's a Clipper fan? Unbelievable. Alright,
that's uh sixty points? Holy, all right, that's choke city.
All right, here we go, Dave? Are you ready far out? Dave?
(23:45):
Are these athletes, these all athletes all have numerous visible tattoos.
Forty five seconds on the clock tattoo booze, Here we go.
H played for the Cavaliers, tried to dribble out the
clock in a tie game in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
A guard the govern guy.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Right, that's not gonna work. The answer for the seventy
six ers, the great player for the Sixers in the
early two thousands, keep going, okay, he played played with
the Denver Nuggets. I'm about to punch you. Played with
the Denver Nuggets. Had tattoos all the way up to
(24:22):
his neck. MVP for the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan
defensive Star. You're sabotage in the game. You are sabbathmans
are Dennis Rodman is on his head. I'm done with him.
I'm done with him. I gotta get somebody else. That
guy's a theory. He's never playing the games again. That
(24:43):
is a sabotage by that schmuck far Out Day. He's
dead to me. I'm not reading your stupid comments on
social media. You're dead to me. Far Out Dame, You're
dead to me. That's not the first time you pulled that.
Maybe I'm going to the bullpen. Shut up, I'm going
to the bullpen, rocking, Rob? Are you there? Rob? Rob?
(25:04):
Are you ready to my relief pitch? Are you there? Rob?
You ready? I can't hear you. Rob. Get right on
that phone, Rob, no speaker phone? All right? We have
what do we have? Dukies and podcast pros? Which one
do you want? Rob? Dukies? All right? We're doing mallows
(25:30):
amount of money and Far Out Dave is now banned
by the malamotion powers invested to me, he will never
be on the air again. Go listen to George Nori
over there, Coast to coast. You're dead to me. All right.
These athletes all were graduates of Duke University, or at
least attended Duke. Are you ready? Rock and Rob? All right?
Forty five seconds on the clock. Here we go. Hit
(25:52):
the biggest shot in Duke history to beat Kentucky in
the NCAA tournament. Yes plays for the Dallas Mavericks right now.
Play with Lebron for a while, guard uncle Drew Yes
played with the Miami Heat. Was a three point specialist
like a power forward where the Lebron Heatles out of
(26:14):
Duke won a championship. Had a bunch of three point
shots for those Heat teams. Okay quarterback for the Giants.
He was drafted out of Duke. Nicknamed Vanilla Vic he
sucked it. Yes, that is correct. Plays for the New
Orleans Pelicans right now, big fat guy he always heard
for the Yes, exactly. All right, we got the lead.
(26:39):
What what what was the last name? He said, Zion Williamson.
That was the last one. So I got that. That's
so what do we got there? All right? We got
to leave.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
You have time to do it brief Come, okay, let's
go podcast pros you ready?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Manuel ready?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Alrighty H hasn't had a contract extension with the Cowboys yet,
but it is on its way. Michael Parky Okay played
at Syracuse and the New York Knicks for Milla Anthony
got Okay was on the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
You were not order. Oh, I'm not even how to
do that. You realized you were doing that the first thing. Okay, okay, anyways,
you guys, it's already over. You've already won. You won
a stupid game, but only because it sounds far out.
Days come up only one, because far out day through
(27:32):
the game. No more far out day.
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 Benmaler Show at Foxsports Radio dot com.
You can find it there or stream us live every
night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Maler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
It is report card Time, Yes, our favorite time, report
card time. Welcome in not beginning of another night of
the Benmahlor Show. We are in the air everywhere, chewing
the rag as we provide scoreboard shadows whatever that means,
(00:57):
coast to coast, border to border and beyond on the
mast and enormously powerful microphones of fsre ammundating live from
the bakery do it live as we sell the takes
by the dozen, a baker's dozen from the Fox Sports
Radio studios, as approved by I forty Ian, who is
(01:21):
given the rubber stamp on this and this portion of
the Ben Maller Show made possible in part by our
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show me. So our lead this hour is from pro Bounceable.
Well are you talking about basketball this season?
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Eddy? Don't talk about that? Shut up SPACCAULI, you moron
and all you other idiots. All right, listen. I'm not
gonna sit here and start the show with that Celtic
trade with the Blazers. That's not worthy of starting the show.
But something that did catch my attention as the curtain
did come now finally on the finals, as it all ended,
(02:18):
That's all she wrote there. Sunday night, we talked about
that in depth as Oklahoma City celebrating a championship and
the MVP Shade Jogis Alexander and the Thunder beating Indiana,
a hobbled pacer team at the end in seven games.
But the report card came out, Oh, it's so exciting. Now.
I don't work for the NBA, I don't get paid
(02:39):
by the NBA. I have no skin in the game.
I am merely an independent observer in the middle of
the night, a neutral party, neutral party. But I love
it and I look forward to this because it is
a wellness check to see how you're doing. So the
report card came out. I don't even saw this or not,
(03:00):
perhaps not. I don't care about that, all right, well,
I care. It matters to me because I think it's funny.
I think it's funny. So the big headline was and
this came out from the NBA marketing arm. They pumped
their chest out. They were like a peacock with their
feathers in the air everywhere. They were very braggadocious. They said, listen,
(03:22):
all you haters, all you people that said mean things.
The Pacers thunder Game seven was the most watched NBA
game in six years. Put that in your pipe and
smoke it. Sixteen point four million out of a country
of three hundred plus million. Wow, watch the game seven.
(03:43):
Pretty good.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Game.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Wasn't all that close in the second half, late third
quarter Oklahoma City pulled away and then the fourth quarter
pretty much kept a hobbled Pacer team at arms length
in the fourth quarter. So let us discuss the question.
Here's the question for the steam panel. So the NBA
is taking a victory lap here for the television ratings
(04:06):
in the finals, Game seven. How do you assess this one?
So I've got Copperfield, Cyprus and Andy Warhol, and we
will combine all of these things together, and we are
going to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the sports talk radio truth. All right. So ay,
(04:28):
this is what's called a deja vu situation. I'm not
talking about the Gentlemen's Club. I'm going deja vu here.
And here's why the NBA, yet again, yet again, is
gaslighting you. Maybe not you, because I'd like to think
that you're a different level than the low information fan.
But they're gas lighting the public, is what they're doing.
(04:50):
Do not be a resident of the village of Suckersville.
Do not do it now, Adam Silver and his underlings,
all right, taking a b out here for the supposed
rating success a victory and the television ratings here, and
the usual suspects and sports media slapper slabber, slabbery, you
(05:10):
know who they are, are gleefully regurgitating this as the gospel.
See I told you so. They just take the press release.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
I used to run a website and I would get
these press releases, and I knew the places that would
just republish them without like adding anything. And there's a
lot of people. I get a lot of people are busy.
You know, I got stuff going on, and you don't
read past the headline. And they know that. They know
whatever they put in a news release will be repackaged
(05:40):
almost verbatim, and people will only see the headline and
all that. So it is true that Game seven of
the NBA Finals between Oklahoma City and Indiana to sixteen
point four million viewers. Golf clop, right, a little golf clop.
That's nice. However, as the late great radio man, the
(06:00):
legend of radio from a different generation, Paul Harvey, would say,
now for the rest of the story. Now for the
rest of the story. So the quiet part that the
NBA does not does not want you to talk about.
They don't want to bring this up. So don't bring
(06:21):
this up. See, I'm not part of the mainstream. We're
not late at night here, so I can talk about this.
But those mainstream daytime guys, they're not supposed talk about it.
So the part they don't want you to talk about
is the overall finals ratings. So the full seven game
NBA Finals, the worst rated final in a generation eighteen years,
(06:43):
which is closing in on twenty, which is a generation
eight O seven. I was barely alive in O seven.
The last time the NBA Finals did worse than this,
and that was back when the San Antonio Spurs in
the San Antonio River. They floated down that river as
chance Pippians over Lebron's cadavers in the seven NBA Finals
(07:05):
in that was a David Stern production, and he had
to pretend like people actually cared then. But David Stern
was more honest because he knew when there was bull
crap could he was very hard. It was very hard
for him to sell the bull crap Adam Silver because
he's like a lizard person, he seems to have no
problem selling it. So eighteen years after that, the finals
(07:27):
this year and that this was a seven game series
and imagine, I was actually texting one of my TV friends,
who are better people because they're on television, and actually
this guy works behind the scenes, and I was like, well,
what would the numbers have been had they not gotten
the sixteen million? And they were like, well, it's hard
to really know exactly what it would have been, but
it would have been you would have had to go
(07:47):
back like twenty five years or thirty years for a
lower rating than that. And so Adam Silver and his
PR machine churning over and over and over, you know,
doing the thing where they hope nobody notices. You know
that I hope nobody notices this and that that one
game spike in game seven. It does not make up
(08:11):
for what two weeks of apathy. I mean, this is
what we had, two weeks of apathy in the NBA
Finals and the league. And this is their their own
doing it. And we've talked about this repeatedly. They've gotten
so used to selling style over substance that they now
even they spend the numbers. It reminds me when my
(08:32):
early days in radio. I remember we had a program
director the ratings. I was doing local radio. The ratings
would come out and the boss would go into a
cubby hole in the back of the radio station for
like three hours and spin the numbers because we had
terrible ratings. But he would find like one demographic, right,
(08:54):
men seventy plus that have two teeth. We're number one
in the market, you know, and he'd sell that and
be like, all right, we're good. We're number one in
the market men's seventy plus with like three teeth to
dominate there. And so that's what the NBA is doing.
It's David Copperfield is impressed. It's like hocus pocus. Yeah,
the ratings were the worst rated in eighteen years, but
(09:15):
we did really well in game seven, really well. Right,
look over here, don't look over there. It's the art
of magic, and I love magic. The art of magic
is to get the people to look where you want
them to look and not where you're actually doing the switch.
And that's what the NBA did. So don't worry about
the fact, if you're Paniti, don't worry about the fact
the first six games of the NBA Finals barely move
(09:36):
the needle. Don't worry about that. No, no, no, no, no. Now,
the NBA has to live with the reality that they
have cooked up here. For multiple generations, forty years, the
league has been totally dependent on big market glamour teams, drama,
(09:57):
player movement, the tray. Now, of course, recently it's been
social media buzz that that doesn't translate into money, which
is the problem. They haven't really monetized that in a
way that they can make any real money on it.
And so the finals featured. If you're a hard old
basketball guy, all the nerds on social media like, oh,
this is the greatest team basketball man. The public doesn't
(10:20):
want to consume your product. It's like a restaurant where
the food's got the finest quality. Nobody wants to eat
it because they think it's disgusting, but it's Oh, it's
really healthy for you, all right now, page two. So
one of the other storylines here is the snap cracker
pop Tyreese Halliburton Gonzo in the first quarter, and people
continue to be freaking out. O MG, Haliburton, the Achilles injury.
(10:44):
I can't believe it. Now. Our teammate, our colleague, Colin
Cowherd from his Humble aboute in Chicago, is among a
handful of pundits recommending the league immediately shortened the NBA
plus did you see this? Yes, he's not. By the way,
there's other people that are also advocating that the NBA
must shorten the postseason. No more best of seven. No,
(11:08):
our delicate little flowers cannot handle the best of seven
that we need to go to a best of five.
Save our beloved basketball heroes go to a best of five.
Any insights you'd like to add on this. So when
I saw this, I immediately thought, well, this is sports talk, Barry,
(11:29):
this is the Babylon Bee or the Onion, this is
this is satire, you know, this is NBA sentel. This
is not real. This is fake. I'm not gonna fall
for it. And then I saw it again and I
watched the clip and I was like, well, I think
that's legit. I think he actually said it. I can't
believe he said it, but he said it, and so
other people said it. So it's like it's Cypress Hill,
(11:50):
is what it is. It's insane to the membrane. It's
insane to the membrane. Reminds me of the pandemic when
people are running around out of an abundance of caution.
Don't do anything out of it, Counson. It will never
be safe enough for our NBA heroes never ever. Why
stop at the best of five because in never really
(12:12):
someone's gonna get hurt in a best of five, So
why would you do that? You shouldn't have best of five?
How about best of three? You know, and wait a minute,
somebody could get hurt in a best offe. So we
should go like the NCAA march madness and just to
a single elimination. But in ever least somebody might pop
an achilles in a single elimission game. We need to
(12:33):
protect our NBA heroes. These are our superstars. We need
to protect them. So I've decided I will let the NBA,
if they pay me a nominal fee, I will allow
the NBA to borrow my friend the penny from benny
versus the penny, and they can flip the penny so
no longer get harmed. Just bring in like Lebron will
(12:54):
represent the Lakers, and Kawhi will represent the Clippers, and
like everyone you know, everyone's star player, and then you
just flip flip the penny. Boom done. That's the way.
Forget the five games. Somebody could still get hurt. You
could see, you could see these world class athletes to
spend millions of dollars a year on their bodies popping achilles.
So just bringing the penny. Listen, nobody wanted to see
(13:16):
Tyreese Halliburton limp off like he was at a you know,
a gymnasium, you know, somewhere at some fitness center playing
a bunch of middle aged guys and he popped his
achilles and all that. But the answer is, in all seriousness,
you don't chop away with the machete the NBA playoffs
and chop games away like you're tossing marshmallows into a
(13:39):
fire or something like that. The playoffs are supposed to
be a grind. It's supposed to be the team that
stands at the top of the mountain when it's all
said and done, has survived the war of attrition. But
everyone's so soft, like what happened? Like guys get guys
have always gotten hurt. It's like, now, oh, no one
(14:00):
can get hurt. Oh my god, all right, now, last word.
So one of the other storylines. You're fresh off the
NBA Championship. The chatter within the league circles is that money, money,
money coming down, a lot of money. Jalen Williams and
Chet Holmgren skeletor of the Thunder. They are going to
(14:20):
receive massive rookie scale extensions, which means, let me praise
this a different way. Chi ching chi ching chi ching
from OKC the Thunder. So give me the pros and
cons of what's about to happen? All right, so the
(14:41):
pros to the victor goes the spoils. Right, you win
a championship. Everyone's got that excitement and you've got that
rush of energy, and so congratulations you hosted the trophy.
There fireworks over Bricktown, the confetti coming down, thunder rally,
everyone's all excited and all that stuff. And you saw
(15:01):
Sam Presty. Boy that everyone loves Sam Presty. My goodness,
holy crap. Looks like a nerd to me anyway. So
Sam Presty, they're standing atop as the champion GM and
everyone's celebrating, all the basketball nerds. They're all excited there,
they're all jones up and all that. Now the cons
on this are even as the champagne continues to flow
(15:27):
in Oksee and everything's covered in gold. Now you win
the championship and all that. There is a disease which
Oklahoma City has now acquired. And the illness, which was
first diagnosed by pat Riley a million years ago, is
the disease of me. It's below the surface. You can't
see it right now, but it's there. It's just developing
(15:51):
the disease of me and it's it's gonna echo more
and more and more throughout the dust ball. You've got
the generational wealth being passed out to everyone. And as
Andy Warhol famously said back in his day, life, just
a series of images that change and they repeat themselves
as they change. They're just the same thing happens to
(16:13):
new people. And that's kind of it. So we've seen
this before. We've seen this before, and we will not
pretend I mean, maybe you will, but I will not
pretend that the situation can be any different. In Oklahoma City,
they look like an AAU team the way they were
all celebrating and all that stuff. But even if it's subtle,
even if it's subtle, it's like, you know, it's we
(16:35):
over me, which was the mantra that used to win
the championship. And suddenly you're starting to think more about
stats and contracts and things like that, and you get
your money and all that, and the salaries start going
up up in a way, and the swell your bank
account gets a little bit bigger. You're like, hey, manute man,
wait a minute, now, I want a championship here. Maybe
I want to go play in a bigger city where
there's more to do, and why am I here? I
(16:57):
like Oklahoma City, but I want to go somewhere else
with the light. They're a little brighter and there's more
to do and why not? And then the pecking order
gets a little murky and the culture, the culture club
becomes it's a buzzword. Nobody actually follows it, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera. It is the Baine mal Show.
(17:17):
What do you think about all that? We'll take your
calls on that. We did have a trade. We'll talk
more about it as we go through the overnight. The
Celtics have said bye bye to Drue Holiday. They trade
him back to the Blazer It's a team he played
for in the past. He goes back to Portland. But
there's one thing the Blazers needed, that missing piece, a
thirty five year old point guard. Hell of a trade
(17:37):
by the Trailblazers to get Drue Holiday back and Anthony
Simmons goes to Boston. He's a dime a dozen. See
some nerds all excited about that one thing. I've learned.
I covered some bad NBA teams back in the day.
You never get excited about a young player putting up
stats on a crap team, because that's the easiest thing
in the world to do. That's the easiest thing in
(17:59):
the world. No one's paying attention, no one's watching. It's
a much different animal going to a team that actually
people care about and pay attention to and actually win games,
which is what Simmons is going to plasb be going
to do, unless he's traded again from the Celtics somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
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.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
Here we Go, Mallard, how about that?
Speaker 2 (18:25):
To the third degree?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Here we go?
Speaker 2 (18:27):
This is one big Ben gets grilled.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
All right and Brann With SGA becoming the first player
in twelve years to win both League MVP and Finals MVP,
it has a lot of people wondering if he is
the best thunderplayer of all time? Ah, do you think
that's already true?
Speaker 1 (18:45):
But I know you're dying. Yeah, that's a very important
question to you. As a lifelong thunderfan. Wish I was
well obviously as a player, no One. They had good
players there in Westbrook and Harden and Durant, but wearing
that uniform, nobody accomplished what all of the things that
SGA accomplished. So the answer is, yes, it's obvious. I
(19:06):
don't include the Sonics because that's it to me. That's
a different team and they'll beat the Sonics, will be back,
So yes, absolutely next.
Speaker 4 (19:13):
During the Fanatics event, Kevin Durant also made an NFL prediction.
He said he believes Micah Parsons will be a Washington
commander in two years. What do you think about that prediction,
Ben Well?
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think Kevin Durant should stick to changing teams every
three years. That's what I think, cause that's what he's
good at, right, he changes teams. You big, good Durant.
You're a Suns fan, bri you rough time. Did you
enjoy the Durant era there in the Valley the Sun?
There much optimism? Yes, No, did not work out. Yeah,
Durant's normally wrong about these things. I don't know ninety
seven percent of the time, so I'm not worried about it.
(19:47):
I still believe it's they've already got a deal, Michael Parsons,
the Cowboys. They're gonna wait till training camp and then
they'll announce the deal. Parsons will get an extension, so
and he'll stay in dowas next kick.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Kevin Durant sho. He got his first strikeout as a
Dodger in his second abbreviated start on the Mellow.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
We're the Dodgers.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Are you more encouraged about a Tani's pitching contribution this
season after this specific outing, Ben.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
No, It's like it's like they're teaching him how to
eat again. There's spoon feeding Otani and all. I will
get excited when I see Otani pitch in October and
strike everyone out and dominate. Then I'm not getting excited
about a start against the Nationals or these you know,
you know the Padres in June. I'm just not there.
It is malarly third degree? How did we da plus?
(20:32):
You passed? That is a win. I won fer Dog,
I won blind Scott, I'm a winner, hollering James, I
won the game, Bill Miller in you. It is the
Ben Mahler Show on the Red Eye flight. Be sure
to check out the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. That's right,
(20:53):
what does radio look like? Look on YouTube? Just search
Fox Sports Radio on the YouTube. You see a whole
bunch of video highlights from gas Bags, Blowhards, and know
it all is that also work here and be sure
to subscribe. You'll get the first dips and the only
way to watch Mallard monologues that are not available anywhere else.
You will not miss any of the very best Fox
(21:16):
Sports Radio videos on the YouTube.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Now, Mailor's Mountain of money? Do you have what it
takes to get to the top. Probably not.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Let's do it here we go. Let's play the game
right now. We have Manuel in Guardina, who's picked up
many honors over his years his dedication to sports talk radio.
He's chosen to fall on the sword and lose this
game as he's teamed up with Rihanna, and they're gonna
lose because far out Dave is gonna win with me.
(21:50):
That's right made, far far out Dave's gonna get it
done here. All right, Well, let's do it here we go.
Bring your up first. It is the JJ Reddick edition.
You picked. Manuel picked Laker coaches. Interesting easy category. That's
the easiest category on the board. What oh so easy? No,
my guy picked the hardest category, by the way.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Okay, if they know what's.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Easy or eighty. That eighty point question, hardest question we've
had in months for you on the tattoo. Yeah, alright,
well I well man, well are you ready? Abre you
want to give the category and all that? Say?
Speaker 4 (22:26):
What is? Alrighty Lakers coaches? These coaches has all coach
the Lakers at one point in their NBA coaching career.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
All right, forty five seconds on the clock. We're on
our way. That'd be quiet, Dave, go ahead.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Manuel, Okay, number one aka the then Master dated Jeanie
but coach the nineteen eighty showtime Lakers, right coach the
Lakers in the twenty twenty Bubble Championship.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
He was a coach.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
He was in the coach of the Suns, and then
he's a scapegoat.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
He doesn't remember. That's how we're twenty twenty championship, is okay?
Speaker 4 (23:02):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Don't say that?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
Seventh seconds or left bank, Yes, oh, seventh deconds are
last coach with the Suns and then followed into the
follows team Nash of the Lakers. Uh, you had a
queer little mustache. Kobe looked up to him when he
was a basketball player in Italy.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Oh what a show it was. Mike d'antello. Oh my god,
Oh my god. If you are now, Manuel's actually spoiler alert,
Manuell's a Clipper fan. Who knew Manuel's a Clipper fan? Unbelievable. Alright,
that's uh sixty points? Holy, all right, that's choke city.
All right, here we go, Dave? Are you ready far out? Dave?
(23:45):
Are these athletes, these all athletes all have numerous visible tattoos.
Forty five seconds on the clock tattoo booze, Here we go.
H played for the Cavaliers, tried to dribble out the
clock in a tie game in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
A guard the govern guy.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Right, that's not gonna work. The answer for the seventy
six ers, the great player for the Sixers in the
early two thousands, keep going, okay, he played played with
the Denver Nuggets. I'm about to punch you. Played with
the Denver Nuggets. Had tattoos all the way up to
(24:22):
his neck. MVP for the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan
defensive Star. You're sabotage in the game. You are sabbathmans
are Dennis Rodman is on his head. I'm done with him.
I'm done with him. I gotta get somebody else. That
guy's a theory. He's never playing the games again. That
(24:43):
is a sabotage by that schmuck far Out Day. He's
dead to me. I'm not reading your stupid comments on
social media. You're dead to me. Far Out Dame, You're
dead to me. That's not the first time you pulled that.
Maybe I'm going to the bullpen. Shut up, I'm going
to the bullpen, rocking, Rob? Are you there? Rob? Rob?
(25:04):
Are you ready to my relief pitch? Are you there? Rob?
You ready? I can't hear you. Rob. Get right on
that phone, Rob, no speaker phone? All right? We have
what do we have? Dukies and podcast pros? Which one
do you want? Rob? Dukies? All right? We're doing mallows
(25:30):
amount of money and Far Out Dave is now banned
by the malamotion powers invested to me, he will never
be on the air again. Go listen to George Nori
over there, Coast to coast. You're dead to me. All right.
These athletes all were graduates of Duke University, or at
least attended Duke. Are you ready? Rock and Rob? All right?
Forty five seconds on the clock. Here we go. Hit
(25:52):
the biggest shot in Duke history to beat Kentucky in
the NCAA tournament. Yes plays for the Dallas Mavericks right now.
Play with Lebron for a while, guard uncle Drew Yes
played with the Miami Heat. Was a three point specialist
like a power forward where the Lebron Heatles out of
(26:14):
Duke won a championship. Had a bunch of three point
shots for those Heat teams. Okay quarterback for the Giants.
He was drafted out of Duke. Nicknamed Vanilla Vic he
sucked it. Yes, that is correct. Plays for the New
Orleans Pelicans right now, big fat guy he always heard
for the Yes, exactly. All right, we got the lead.
(26:39):
What what what was the last name? He said, Zion Williamson.
That was the last one. So I got that. That's
so what do we got there? All right? We got
to leave.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
You have time to do it brief Come, okay, let's
go podcast pros you ready?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Manuel ready?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Alrighty H hasn't had a contract extension with the Cowboys yet,
but it is on its way. Michael Parky Okay played
at Syracuse and the New York Knicks for Milla Anthony
got Okay was on the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
You were not order. Oh, I'm not even how to
do that. You realized you were doing that the first thing. Okay, okay, anyways,
you guys, it's already over. You've already won. You won
a stupid game, but only because it sounds far out.
Days come up only one, because far out day through
(27:32):
the game. No more far out day.
Host
Ben Maller
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