June 30, 2025 • 40 mins
Big Ben talks about LeBron James picking up his player option and what’s Rich Paul really trying to say about LeBron’s future with the Lakers, Julius Randle + DeAndre Ayton’s futures, then Ben takes time take some major storylines from the world of baseball this weekend and remembers Dave Parker + a new edition of Insta-Advice Line!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Mahler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Sticking around, well, kind of sticking around. Welcome in the
beginning of another week of the Ben Mahler Show.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
We are in the air everywhere birds of a feather
as we are where the nighttime sparks fly coast to coast,
border to border and beyond on the vast and lavishly
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We are smooth operators all night long from the Fox
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(01:57):
All right, So our lead there's a lot of like
moving parts going on in that. We love transactions. I
always love the transaction. Now I like the rumor. I
like the rumor more than the transaction. I like what
might happen rather than what has happened. Now that being said,
we have a mix of what has happened and what
(02:18):
is going to happen. But our lead this hour is
from Pro Bouncy Ball the Kingdom as it's the King
James Kingdom of Basketball, filling the content machine, yet again,
filling the content machine. So over the weekend, Lebron James
decided that he wanted to stay with the Lakers. Kind
(02:39):
of look, fifty million dollars, got it, fifty two zero
point six million dollar player option and you just to
click that box right there, and you do the DOCU
sign and then you're on your way. And so instead
of signing a new Max extension, Lebron decides to take
(03:00):
the contract that he had signed in a previous deal.
So we are told Lebron could have made an extra
one point five million one point five million by signing
the new max at thirty five percent of the cap
and a lot of gibberish in that contract. ADI chose
(03:22):
not to do that, and so Lebron gets one extra year.
And then you have the commentary of Lebron James agent
Rich Paul, his right hand man, his intermediary between the
media and whatnot. Anyway, Rich Paul issued a clear statement,
I don't even saw this or not. Maybe maybe you missed it.
(03:44):
So I'll give you the highlights on this. I'm not
going to be the whole thing. I'll give you the highlights.
So Lebron wants to compete for a championship. Rich Paul snickered.
He knows the Lakers are building for the future. Yes, yes,
the Lakers are building for the for draft picks a
Rich Paul continues, says Lebron understands that, but he values
(04:07):
a realistic chance of winning it all. Rich Paul pumped
his chest out and said, we meaning Rich Paul and Lebron,
we do want do want to evaluate what's best for
Lebron at this stage in his life and career, he
wants to make every season he has left count close quote.
(04:31):
So that is Rich Paul his commentary on the status
of Lebron. So let us discuss the question for the
Esteem panel. Can you please decode decode the message from
Rich Paul on Lebron, James and his future with the Lakers.
(04:52):
So I've got prenup, home, depot, and verdict, and we
will combine all of these things to get other and
we are gonna make the Gabba Ghul. We're gonna make
the Goabba Gool to start the week. That's what we're
gonna do. So first of all, look, King James, the
opt in. I liked that Lebron's camp's trying to paint
(05:12):
this as some kind of heroic act by Lebron that
he could have gotten more money. You talk about hutzba,
as my grandfather used to say, that's hootzba, you guys
getting fifty two point six million dollars and wants you
to believe this is some kind.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Of Robin Hood situation.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So that's my first thought on this as I decode
the life and times of Lebron and Rich Pall so
the other thought, which is either obvious.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I'm sure you thought the same thing. I don't know
how you.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Could have come into any conclusion. This is like a
hostage note by Rich Pall. It's like, listen, it's disguised
as some kind of news release or whatever, but it's
a hostage letter by Rich Paul for Lebron Jam you
build a contender for Lebron or else, which is code
for it's never Lebron's fault. It's just the players around
(06:01):
Lebron are not that good. That's what Rich Paul saying.
He's like, listen, if we don't win, it's on you.
If we win, it's Lebron. That's it, period, stop now
or else? What else is there's Lebron gonna film another
crappy space jam movie or something like that during the season.
I don't know, Baby, they'll make another one, what the hell,
and they'll do it during the season, and that'll be that.
(06:23):
It'll be wonderful. Now, once again, we find ourselves in
sports gas baggery land.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
You and I.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
We find ourselves trapped in the never ending docu drama
The Life and Times of Lebron James Lebrand, Lebron the
brand not the basketball player. Not No, it's really about
the brand. It's all about the brand. That's what it's about.
It's about the brand. Now, this is not so much
a renewal of vowels, right, It's not like they're renewing
(06:53):
their vows here.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
The Lakers Lebron.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
This is a prenup agreed to buy Lebron and filed
through the It's a leverage play. It's a leverage play,
is what it is. And so for the Lakers, they
must use every possible trade asset they have.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I don't think they've mane draft pick til like twenty fifty, but.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
They got to trade those, right and build a championship
contender or else we're breaking up with you. We're gonna
find it's not you, it's somebody else, and that's it.
And a trade, of course, becomes far easier to facilitate
based on the contract Lebron opted into. So he does
clear the way for him to be traded somewhere else easier.
(07:34):
Of course, if Lron wants to be traded, it'll be traded.
It doesn't matter what the contract is. They'll work it out.
They'll finagle the rules to make sure Lebron goes where
Lebron watched the Oh and So's. It's the classic play
by Lebron James where you opt in with one hand
and then keep your finger on the eject button with
(07:54):
the other says I'm in, but I could could get
out of here, see you later. Now. I don't believe
Lebron wants to leave. He loves I'll tell you why.
He loves everything that comes with being in Los Angeles,
those Hollywood nights, hanging out with all those Hollywood f's,
those fake people in LA. He loves it. He can't
(08:14):
get enough of those people, my whole lifestyle. That's why
Lebron came to LA. He didn't come to LA for basketball.
He hasn't won as a Laker's been an abject failure
as a Laker. He came for Hollywood. Now, business wise
and entertainment, Lebron's done very well.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
That's why he came to Lakers.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So in terms of winning, he's winning the Hollywood game,
entertainment now basketball. No, No, if you want to win,
you don't go to Lakers. Not now. Not on her
Genie boss as she's selling the team. But the team's
been terrible since she took control. Of the team. But
it's all about Hollywood. If you look at Lebron's time
with the Lakers, he has a fail rate of over
(08:54):
seventy one percent. Seventy one percent of the time Ron
James has failed and there's no if sands.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Or butts about it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
That's it. I'll get no pushback. You can't push back.
That's a fact. It's a fact. Now, what's my math?
How did I get to seventy one point four percent?
That is the rate Lebron has either missed the playoffs.
The Lakers have missed the playoffs multiple times with Lebron James,
or one and done bumped out of the playoffs in
the first round. Right, and again, not my opinion, it's not.
(09:27):
I'm not giving some kind of opinion. This a fact.
It is a fact. Seven seasons with the Lakers, the
Lakers missed the playoffs twice. They got bumped in the
first round three times Suns, Nuggets, and then this past
year by the Minnesota ten Wwolves three times first round
and out. And the Lakers have not won a championship
(09:48):
that matters since Kobe Bryant. And Kobe's not walking back
through that door, okay, and that's that's not my adding commentary.
I've now that has been validated. That is hot take validation.
That take validated by Alex Caruso in a moment of clarity.
He took some truths from them called alcohol, and he
(10:08):
said the quiet part out loud. Alex Caruso said after
Oklahoma City won, he said that that Mickey mouse bubble
ring not a real one, and that now he had
a real one, which is what all of us knew
all along, but somebody on the team finally had the
balls to say it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
So Lebron hasn't won.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
As a Laker, and he's making some kind of the
myth because again, it's not gonna be about Lebron not
being good enough.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It's gonna be a bad well the other players on
the team. Weren't that good enough?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You said. Meanwhile, to Minnesota, a team that beat the
Lakers and Lebron in the playoffs in the first round,
and they have made a roster move, although not official official,
the teas must be crossed that the eyes dotted. We're
hearing now that Julius Randall, vagabond NBA player Julius Randall,
(10:56):
has agreed to re sign with the timber puffs and
he'll stay there in Minnesota three years.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
One hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Does that signing move the needle? Does that move the
needle at all? So I'll answer this first because you're
not here, so I'll go first. Does this move the needle? Sure,
it moves the needle due south at least come May,
when you get into the meat and potatoes of the playoffs,
you move the needle south.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
So you know what to do.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Our guys in Minnesota, you buckle up, right, it's a
roller coaster.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You buckle up.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
That's it. And of course Julius Randall in many ways
is your standard mid level star player in the NBA,
where he's the roller coaster that breaks down right before
the big drop. And similar to this, James Harden does
the same thing. You go down. You know, there's plenty
(11:54):
of players like that to just vanish in key moments.
Karl Anthony Towns, who played in Minnesota, is traded for
Jew Randa's another guy like that you can't depend on.
And Julius Randall's got a blind spot, clearly not a
blind spot that will cost him any money. One hundred
million dollars over three years. I mean, my god, so
(12:14):
so good for him, and he's like Randall's like Houdini
with a headband because he's out there in the Abrica
dabraaj hocus focus and not a big game player, not
a big game play. Now, during the regular season, there
are nights that Randall looks like a world beater and
he'll get you twenty five points and ten rebounds, no problem,
(12:36):
and look like he can do it every game. Twenty
five points, ten rebounds. He'll be physical, he'll be aggressive.
During the regular season, all fine attributes, and at times
he'll look unstoppable, and then the calendar will flip over
to April and pressed down. Suddenly, what happens. He's serving
(12:57):
up more bricks than the loading doc over at home depot.
You get a brick, you get a brick, you get
a break. Sometimes he didn't even make he didn't take
many bricks because he doesn't shoot. He becomes passive two
for eleven or one for eight or something like that.
In the playoffs, and then the fourth quarter, forget about it.
In the fourth quarter, come on, fourth quarter, you gotta
(13:19):
leave early, beat the traffic. Normally, when you play for
the team, you're not supposed to leave early to beat
the traffic. But it happens. Those those demons they come back.
They haunt you like Hazan Minnesota haunt you. They just
kind of haunch you, they do. And so good luck,
good luck to ant Man. This is your running mate,
this is your sidekick. Now Anthony Edwards has some issues too.
(13:41):
I meant, there's some games I recall where he didn't
didn't do much. So now they're together again. Back to
back final four appearances for the Timberwolves, and they are
locking in Julius rand. All.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Right, now, final thought.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We go down to the Pacific Northwest where the weather
is good most of the time. Terms you like fresh
air and all that stuff and rain and sports they sucked.
Now there used to be two teams, actually there should
be three teams at one point in the Pacific Northwest.
Now there's only one. That's the Portland Trailblazers. Now the
Trailblazers we learned over the weekend plan to buy out,
(14:18):
to spend millions of dollars to buy out center DeAndre Ayton.
Hey O, he's about to hit the market. He'll go
to the highest bidder in free agency. So what stands out?
What stands out about the bitter end of DeAndre Ayton
and him hitting the market here via a buyout from
the Trailblazers, and there'll be a lot of talk in
(14:41):
the coming days about teams fighting to get their hands
on DeAndre eighton. So the Trailblazers, the fact that they
are paying him to go away like that is a
massive thing. I don't think you can undersell the fact
that they're paying him to go away. Let that marinate
for a moment. This guy was the number wh in
an overall pick in the NBA draft a number of
(15:03):
years ago. They're not trading him for assets. They're not
trading him for draft picks or some young up and
coming players. They're not attaching him to a bad contract
to get rid of the player and clear out the roster.
They're not doing that. They're not trying to rehab his value.
They've given up on that. No, no, no, Like all
(15:25):
of those things are things that you would think teams
would do a player like that has some value. Still,
you'd say, Okay, I'm gonna tried to sugarcoat this, and
we're gonna try to put some good stories out there
and make it seem like this guy's turned things around
and all that stuff. No, they are at the point
now they are cutting their losses. They're like, this guy blows. There,
she blows. We're better off without him. We are better
(15:48):
off without Now. How did they come to that conclusion?
How did Chauncey Billups and the team in Portland come
to that decision? Because, for of all, portlandn't really want DeAndre.
They got him in that it was that weird Damian
Lillard multi team thing and they moved everyone around and
ate and became part of the trade and all that stuff.
(16:09):
But he arrived when he arrived in Portland just like
when he arrived in Phoenix. He's got all the size
and the athletic ability. He's got that pedigree to be
a dominant big man and all that. And you saw
some highlights on Instagram. You're like, wow, he looks good
and all that stuff. And then you had to watch
him play. And then you had to watch him play,
and when the game started, the one word we all
had watching DeAndre Ayton play was eh man. He was eh,
(16:33):
you know, it's like whatever. Right now.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
He put up some numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
They were empty number stat banddto what do we always talking.
We talked about Dak Prescott, We talked about some of
his elia stat Bandito's where he has some double doubles,
but they're empty double doubles. It's empty stat long rebounds.
No one can tested right. Things like that points when
the game's already decided either for or against your team,
and so the numbers like, oh, you know, the low
(16:58):
information fan, the dumb fancies, they're like, oh, this guy's
pretty good. Look at the numbers. Look at the stats. Right,
box score readers, Chris, the box were lied. It lied,
and and then the real ones know. And so the
jury has made its ruling. The jury has made its ruling,
and the experiment is over. You're a loser. You wear
(17:21):
the scarlet letter, the L for loser, and the buff's
been called by the Trailblazers, and the verdict is in.
The verdict is clear from the jury, and DeAndre Ayton
is a losing player. That's what they're saying. The guy's
a loser, and that's just the way it is. He
doesn't impact winning. He didn't do it in Phoenix, he
didn't do it in Portland, and he's not going to
(17:43):
do it where he goes next. And I will laugh
at the bidding war that will take place for DeAndre
Ayton as he'll try to sit on the bench somewhere
on a good team and piggy back his way to
some playoff success here, and so let him go to
the Lakers. So I'd love that be so good a
loser like DeAndre eight on the Lakers. I hope that happened.
(18:03):
All the wars, it doesn't matter, and the same thing's
gonna happen. He's not gonna change all of a sudden.
It's one of those things in life. And there's a
lot of things like this in life where he sounds
better in theory than reality, right, it sounds better in
theory than reality. And there's a lot of things like
that in life. In sports, there's things like that also,
and DeAndre eight would be an example where if you
look at the SISO and I know, going back my
(18:26):
entire time just as an adult, but around basketball in particular,
in all sports. But I remember years ago when I
was I was doing stuff every day at team events
and practices, and there'd always be guys that could not
just didn't get it, but teams would keep giving them
opportunities because they thought. Every coach is like, I'm gonna
turn this guy around. I have the code to unlock
(18:48):
the safe. They all all coaches are wired that way.
They all think, oh man, we just get this guy
going watch out. And ninety eight point seven percent of
the time that does not happen. There is one percent.
People bring up the one percent. Oh yeah it happened
this time. Okay, yeah, it happened in that time. But
the rest of the time.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Hi, this is Jay. I'm the producer of the Paula
and Toni Fusco Show. Usually in these promos they ask
you to listen to the show. I'm here to ask
you please don't listen to the show. The hosts are
two absolute morons who have the dumbest takes on sports, imagicable.
Don't listen to the show so it can get.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Camps the get him Paulio, that fool. Listen to The
paul and Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts. He's still Moving.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
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 (19:47):
Riding high in April and man crashing down in June.
Welcome in the beginning of another.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Hour of the Ben Mahler Show.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We are in the air a rewhere BFFs as we
are talking when the sun don't shine, coast to coast,
border to border, hand beyond on the mast and impressively
powerful microphones of fsre amminating live from the stop the
(20:18):
truck stop of sports Talk, not to be confused with
truck stop fungus, as we're hanging out here at the
Fox Sports Radio studios, as approved by Filler Up phil YEP.
Filler Up Phill approves this portion of the Ben Malor
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our lead this hour is from We'll start out in Pittsburgh.
(21:02):
That is where the Metropolitans were floundering and drowning, a
place normally you go to get well if you're not
doing that well. When you see a team like the
Pirates who are on their way to losing one hundred
games like they do almost every year, you're like, oh man,
this is great. Time to eat, time to get healthy. Now,
(21:24):
if you didn't follow this, I immediately when I saw this,
I said, oh, this is great. This is a good story.
In fact, this is better than a good story is like, Okay,
you lost to the Pirates. A better story is what
Francisco Lindor did. Now. He signed that forever contract with
the Metropolitans a couple of years back, and after a
(21:47):
slow start, he's put up some decent stats and all
that fine and wonderful and all that. So less than
twenty four hours prior, Francisco Lindor called a team meeting,
closed clubhouse meet and greet. The Mets had lost two
in a row to the Pirates. That was on Saturday,
and then they went out the Amazings as they are
(22:10):
called when they win. They went out there the Amazons
and got smashed at PNC Park as they got their
ass handed him by the Pirates. It was O'Neil Cruz,
the guy that only plays hard when he feels like
it O'Neil Cruz and Tommy fam that very angry guy
(22:30):
in the outfield who teed off on the New York
Mets starting pitcher on Sunday, Frankie Montees and see you later.
Back to back first inning home runs. The Mets would
never never get into the game. They lost twelve to one.
You lost by eleven runs to the Buccos after a
(22:52):
player only meeting. Now, O'Neil Cruz, the guy that has
put the dog in Major League dog, had another home
run in the seventh in a two run homer for
the Pirates. Now, the better story is in the losing
locker room, and that would be the Mets, who somehow,
some way managed to slide into Pittsburgh over the weekend
(23:13):
last weekend of June. Last week ind of June, they
slide into Pittsburgh and got outscored by twenty six runs.
The Pirates. What do they bring back? Andy Evansking, Barry
Bonds and Bobby Booney and the Pirates outscored the Mets
thirty to four. Thirty to four was the final. So
(23:35):
if you're keeping scored at home, the New York Metropolitans
have now lost in their last sixteen games, thirteen of
the sixteen. Now, I didn't play Major League baseball. I
just know that blows. Okay, So let us discuss the question,
will this Francisco Lindor inspired players only meeting make any
(23:56):
noticeable difference going forward for the Mets? We know it
didn't work the first day, will make any noticeable difference
going forward? So I've got spinal tap, Gothic horror novel,
and blueprint, and we will combine all of these things
together and we're going to make a intervention because the
(24:20):
New York Mets, the way they are playing baseball right now,
they need an intervention. So number why, I said number why.
If you've heard the show over the years, you know
this is one of my pet peeves. I know firsthand
from being in the ballparks and the stadiums of the arenas.
(24:44):
I know what absolute fertilizer the players only Meeting is.
I also know that there's a lot of low information
fans that think it is something that it is not.
The players only meeting has been a staple of losing
teams in professional sports. It is an enduring tradition that
(25:08):
goes back to the start of media. I mean media
meaning has been around forever. But baseball in the early days,
there were eighteen newspapers that would follow the New York Gkees,
and if they didn't play well, they'd have a player's
only meeting and players only meetings. It's like a fungus.
It just refuses to die. It doesn't work, but it
(25:29):
refuses to die. The only thing, the only thing players
only meeting meetings are good for it. The only thing
really accomplishes is it turns up the volume. Turns up
the volume a little bit right. To think of the
film Spinal Tap and the famous scene in that film
where you're demonstrating the amplifier for the guitar and said, well,
(25:51):
this one goes all the way up to eleven, and
it's a zero to eleven. Those other ones only go
to ten, but this is to eleven, and so there
you go, put it up to eleven. And so that's
what does. But team meetings are not necessary, and I'll
tell you why. The reason they're not necessary, and this
is gonna blow you away. Professional athletes, the brotherhood of
professional athletes. They spend more time together than they do
(26:14):
with their families. They're on planes, trains, and automobiles from here, there,
and everywhere. All they do is hang out together. They
work out in gyms together, they practice their sport together.
They stay at the same hotels, they eat at the
same restaurants on the road, right, they go down the
hotel bar, all that stuff. In other words, the player's
(26:36):
only meeting is just an opportunity to chat amongst each other,
something they have the opportunity to do every singlefing day.
And just like the real world. I know from being
in radio and having many meetings. Back we don't have
meetings anymore, but back in the old days, we have
to have meetings all the time, and the whole point
(26:57):
of the meeting was to try to get it over
with as quickly as possible, to not ask any questions,
just shut up, listen to the dumb boss speak, and
then get the hell out of there. And inevitably, every
place of business, at least I've worked, there's always that
one a hole I want to say something on. There's
that one person that tries to suck up to the boss.
(27:19):
You know, you know what I'm talking about, and they
ask eight million questions. We used to have a guy
and he didn't work here anymore. He's I did a
TV show with him. But that guy, all he did
was ask stupid question would drive us all nuts. It's ridiculous,
it was. It was so stupid. But the main the
thing you accomplish it you don't improve things with players
only meetings. You just give the illusion that you care. Right,
(27:43):
you give the appearance that you're involved and that you're
really upset by what's going on. And you can't just
go on and lose and do nothing. Oh, you gotta
do something, so you have the coach and the media
think that you're really here. These guys are passionate, they care.
Who knows what actually goes on in there. From what
(28:05):
I've heard, it's a lot of complaining. And then what
ends up happening is you have people that leave the
meeting feeling worse, and then that prolongs the situation because
they're being called out in front of their teammates. The
old well maybe this will help, We'll just do the
old hail Mary. Why not? All right now? Page two
to Sacramento. That's right, I said it. Sacramento a city
(28:29):
that is so embarrassing they allowed a major League Baseball
team to move there, and the team so humiliated by
being in that city. They refuse to use the city, Moniker,
how do you allow that if you're the mayor of Sacramento,
how do you allow that if you're involved in that team?
Like it's so embarrassing. It's the most single, most embarrassing
(28:50):
thing I have seen in my years around professional sports
that politicians allowed a team to move temporarily and they said, okay,
well fine if you don't ever mention the city that
you're playing in. And it's so humiliating. You talk about
a kick to the nuts. Anyway, the Athletics, they spent
(29:11):
the weekend getting their face mostly bashed in by the Yankees.
So the Athletics. The big move they made on their
way to Vegas, but they stopped in Sacramento. From Oakland.
They signed Luis Severino. That's a starting pitcher, not a
good one. They signed him to a three year, sixty
seven million dollars contract, and now they want to trade him.
(29:35):
They cannot wait to unload him, we are told because
sever Reno has pointed out what a bush league setup
they have in Sacramento, and he is agitated the same
a holes that don't want to admit they're in Sacramento.
You can't make this up. Like the people running the
Athletics made sure to not have Sacramento in the name.
(29:57):
It's just Athletics or Athletics Baseball. They don't want Sacramento
to involved. So here's the guy ripping the ballpark in
Sacramento and the working conditions, and the team that clearly
agrees because they're the ones that are forcing Major League
Baseball run prop the news service to not say Sacramento,
(30:20):
and they agree, But now they want to get rid
of him. So how do these Luis Severino trade talks
from the Athletics compute to you? All Right? So I
love the fact that Severino played the Athletics. Nobody was
going to give him that kind of a contract, And
how do I know that if anyone had offered him
(30:42):
that kind of contract he would have gone anywhere else.
The Athletics are not a big league team. Everyone knew that,
everyone knew the situation, so minor league outfit there. They're
not trying to win, they're trying to time it. So
they have a collection of good young players, some of
them that are gonna be in their prime by the
time they opened that ballpark in Vegas. They just started
(31:06):
construction to the ballpark in Vegas. You know how long
it's going to take to finish that. It's gonna be
three years minimum, probably longer than that. Before everything's done,
there'll be some delays, there'll be some setbacks. So it's
gonna be several years before that ballpark is done in Sacramento.
And so sever Reno couldn't get a deal anywhere else.
(31:27):
So he said, all right, I'll take that. I'll take
the money. And he's out there playing chess. Luis Severino
played chess with the Athletics. They paid, they overpaid, they
paid a premium for them. Nobody else was willing to
give him that kind of money. And then now before
the trade deadline, he's out there. He's like, checkmate, you're
(31:47):
gonna trade me. And if you don't trade me, I'm
gonna keep talking about what a minor league outfit you are.
And it's you look at the ballpark there. I've not
been to these Sacramento ball I've watched some games on
TV this year, and it is a Major League Baseball
version of the Witness Protection program in Sacramento. It is
(32:08):
is not not a not a fan of the spring
training environment. Now. Prior to the start on Sunday, Sevarino
had an zero to seven record and an ERA of
six point seven to nine in ten starts in Sacramento.
In seven starts on the road, he had an earned
run average of two and a half, a little less
(32:29):
than two and a half. He did get lit up.
But this is in the game on Sunday against the
Yankees as old team. But it is a Doctor Jekyll,
Mister Hyde, gothic horror horror novel is what. He's Doctor Jekyll,
you know. And he's on the road pitching at Dodger
Stadium or Anaheim or somewhere else. He's fine. And then
at that hide he's doctor Hyde or mister Hyde at
(32:52):
that that minor league Sutter Health Park or whatever the
corporate name is of that ballpark. Now, the bottom line,
the bottom him lying on this is that we expect
him to end up by August first, because the trade
headline is July thirty first. He's going to end up
on a contender. And the the A's are throwing a
(33:12):
tantrum like a bunch of you know, toddlers out there
the front office. They're all upset and all this stuff,
and they, you know how dare you, because this guy
is saying the quiet part out loud. He's unfiltered because
Cary got the contract that's guaranteed. And so now the
a's front office they're shopping him like a you know,
(33:32):
some broken air frar that you're trying to get rid
of on the internet, and you'll offer up come pick
it up. Here you go take it please, all right? Now?
Final point, A melancholy, melancholy oh bit, if you will.
We learned over the weekend that soon to be Hall
of Fame, in fact, the ceremonies coming up, I believe
in July here soon to be Hall of Famer. Dave
(33:54):
Parker died at the age of seventy four. Now, if
you're of a certain age, this is a big deal.
If you're below a certain age, you're like, I don't
know Dave Parker. As I saw some highlights, it doesn't
do anything for me. But Dave Parker was a legend
for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the nineteen seventies and
had some big years in the eighties, had a couple
(34:14):
of down years played with the Cincinnati Reds after he
left Pittsburgh. Actually was on some good teams with the
old Oakland Athletics won a World Series, the Bay Bridge
Series with the Athletics as a veteran mentor, and I
had a chance I a day Parker my podcast a
while back before he got into the Hall of Fame.
It was campaigning to get into the Hall of Fame.
(34:35):
Was obviously a big deal, as anyone would say, to
get into the Hall of Fame. So I want to
spend a few minutes what will you remember? What are
you going to remember about the baseball life of Hall
of Famer Dave Parker, who died over the weekend. So
on this one, it's not just the guy had a cam.
He thought about the ability as a player. He had
(34:57):
a cannon in the outfield and right field, and he
brought this thunderous left handed power swing. And those are
all fun things and all great, But for me, it
was the way that he carried himself on the field.
There was this struck, this rasmatas the swagger, the presence
in an era when most people didn't carry themselves like
(35:18):
that in baseball. And so Dave Parker stood out from
the others in baseball and that and he played very well,
was an MVP in one the batting title a couple
of times.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
And he was a tall.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Guy, six foot five, but he looked more like a
tight end, like a modern tight end in the NFL.
And it's like when he was batting, and I saw
most of what I saw, Dave Parker was after his prime,
like I'm old. I'm not that old, but I guess
I am. But I watched him kind of after his
prime years, and even then he would dare the opposing
(35:54):
pitcher to throw him something hittable. And what I loved.
I saw him with the played with the Angels near
the end of his career and saw him out there,
and I went down late in games because he'd be
in the on deck circle and he had an actual sledgehammer,
not a fake sledgehammer. He had a real sledgehammer. He
got that from Willie Stargell with the Pirates, and it
was like an act of intimidation for the opposing pitcher.
(36:17):
Like normally they used to use these, they called them donuts.
They put the weighted donuts around the bat. Well Dave
Parker and he learned it from Willy starge He had
an actual sledgehammer and he took it with him from
Pittsburgh and then they had to paint it the different
colors to the different teams he went went to. And
he had the same electricity in that era. Like Reggie
Jackson was a similar type player in that and you
(36:41):
know this guy's in there's every generation has a couple
of them. You're so good and so gifted that and
the way they carry themselves that you're you're locked in
on them, like that's you got to see when they're
at bat. You don't go get the nachos, you don't
go take a whiz. You want to see what they do.
And he had the nickname too, he the Cobra. How
great a nickname is that the Cobra. It's awesome. And
(37:03):
he backed it up on the field and he did
all that in an era before look at me.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Social media, you.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Know that didn't exist and that one around. Now it's
easy to put an earring in and dance around and
you get a million bots in the matrix that get
all excited, get all fired up. But there was no
clickbait when Dave Parker was doing his thing back in
the day, and now he wasn't perfect. There were some flaws.
In the nineteen eighties, everyone was doing coke, including Dave Parker.
(37:33):
He loved the cocaine, and there was a big drug
scandal in baseball and he was a central figure in that.
There was the co One of the reasons Dave Parker
didn't get in the Hall of Fame sooner is because
of the cocaine trials of the nineteen eighties. I mentioned
what that would have been like in the modern era
with the media the way it is today, and it
was mentioned, but it wasn't mentioned nearly all that much
(37:54):
as I remember. As I remember it, however, he didn't
like away from that hoping. He talked about his issues
and all that stuff. He'd been battling some health problems
for a number of years and made a ton of money,
as I remember. With Popeye's Chicken. Dave Parker owned a
bunch of Popeyes Chicken in Cincinnati, lowkey like franchises, and
(38:16):
they did pretty well. So he made some money on that.
And so rest in peace, Dave Parker, seventy fourth. It's
a bummer didn't get into the Hall of Fame. And
he got in, but he will not be able to
give his speech obviously, as he has checked out from
this mortal coil. Bill Miller and you you can stream
the Ben Maller Show and all the other Fox Sports
Radio shows live twenty four to seven. The new and
(38:38):
improved iHeartRadio app just searched Fox Sports Radio. In the app,
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Show the Fifth Hour Podcast. Three new episodes dropped Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
And some of your presets just liked the presets on
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Sports Radio Ben Maler Show, Fifth Hour Podcast in the
(39:01):
iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up at the top
of your screen.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Hey you sports figure, guy or girl.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Here you talking to son? Here some instant advice.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
Hold that thought.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
No one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds.
And if you don't like it, all right, who needs
our advice? The New York Mets they blow. They've lost
thirty of the last sixteen games. Got swept by the
lowly Pirates over the weekend, outscored by twenty six runs.
Your advice to the Mets. Line one, You're live on
the air eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello,
(39:35):
Line one, all right, thank you your next caller for
you're on the air. Hello, advice please. That was our
friend from the Bay Area. You're on their advice please
to the Mets.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
Look at it a few centuries back, just to think
about the slave ships.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Wow, that's dramatic. Rick and Maryland Morning Time. Line five.
You're on the air line five. We're giving advice to
the New York Mets League. Got swept by the pirates
over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
How come you have so many blind callers and no
death collars.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I need to be funny, Oh, supermarket, Steve. We are
allowed to rip the death they cannot hear us. Line six,
you're on the airline six. Hello.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Tell me about stealing.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Your piece of Loraina. If it's any constellation, I can
tell you how I tasted.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
It's a ferk dog. Line one, you're on the airline one. Hello.
I don't know what that was. Line two. You're on
the airline too. Hello. Oh that's Sean the hood guy.
You're on the air Incident advice line for the Mats. Hello.
Oh hang on, hang on, Okay, yeah, there you go.
Do one more, one more only Bret Picket last call
(40:44):
number one. Go ahead on the Mats. Line one, all right,
there you go, mister met right there. Tribute to mister
men
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
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is the best of the Ben Mahler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Sticking around, well, kind of sticking around. Welcome in the
beginning of another week of the Ben Mahler Show.
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We are in the air everywhere birds of a feather
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buying should be. We have survived another weekend and we
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(01:57):
All right, So our lead there's a lot of like
moving parts going on in that. We love transactions. I
always love the transaction. Now I like the rumor. I
like the rumor more than the transaction. I like what
might happen rather than what has happened. Now that being said,
we have a mix of what has happened and what
(02:18):
is going to happen. But our lead this hour is
from Pro Bouncy Ball the Kingdom as it's the King
James Kingdom of Basketball, filling the content machine, yet again,
filling the content machine. So over the weekend, Lebron James
decided that he wanted to stay with the Lakers. Kind
(02:39):
of look, fifty million dollars, got it, fifty two zero
point six million dollar player option and you just to
click that box right there, and you do the DOCU
sign and then you're on your way. And so instead
of signing a new Max extension, Lebron decides to take
(03:00):
the contract that he had signed in a previous deal.
So we are told Lebron could have made an extra
one point five million one point five million by signing
the new max at thirty five percent of the cap
and a lot of gibberish in that contract. ADI chose
(03:22):
not to do that, and so Lebron gets one extra year.
And then you have the commentary of Lebron James agent
Rich Paul, his right hand man, his intermediary between the
media and whatnot. Anyway, Rich Paul issued a clear statement,
I don't even saw this or not. Maybe maybe you missed it.
(03:44):
So I'll give you the highlights on this. I'm not
going to be the whole thing. I'll give you the highlights.
So Lebron wants to compete for a championship. Rich Paul snickered.
He knows the Lakers are building for the future. Yes, yes,
the Lakers are building for the for draft picks a
Rich Paul continues, says Lebron understands that, but he values
(04:07):
a realistic chance of winning it all. Rich Paul pumped
his chest out and said, we meaning Rich Paul and Lebron,
we do want do want to evaluate what's best for
Lebron at this stage in his life and career, he
wants to make every season he has left count close quote.
(04:31):
So that is Rich Paul his commentary on the status
of Lebron. So let us discuss the question for the
Esteem panel. Can you please decode decode the message from
Rich Paul on Lebron, James and his future with the Lakers.
(04:52):
So I've got prenup, home, depot, and verdict, and we
will combine all of these things to get other and
we are gonna make the Gabba Ghul. We're gonna make
the Goabba Gool to start the week. That's what we're
gonna do. So first of all, look, King James, the
opt in. I liked that Lebron's camp's trying to paint
(05:12):
this as some kind of heroic act by Lebron that
he could have gotten more money. You talk about hutzba,
as my grandfather used to say, that's hootzba, you guys
getting fifty two point six million dollars and wants you
to believe this is some kind.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
Of Robin Hood situation.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
So that's my first thought on this as I decode
the life and times of Lebron and Rich Pall so
the other thought, which is either obvious.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
I'm sure you thought the same thing. I don't know
how you.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Could have come into any conclusion. This is like a
hostage note by Rich Pall. It's like, listen, it's disguised
as some kind of news release or whatever, but it's
a hostage letter by Rich Paul for Lebron Jam you
build a contender for Lebron or else, which is code
for it's never Lebron's fault. It's just the players around
(06:01):
Lebron are not that good. That's what Rich Paul saying.
He's like, listen, if we don't win, it's on you.
If we win, it's Lebron. That's it, period, stop now
or else? What else is there's Lebron gonna film another
crappy space jam movie or something like that during the season.
I don't know, Baby, they'll make another one, what the hell,
and they'll do it during the season, and that'll be that.
(06:23):
It'll be wonderful. Now, once again, we find ourselves in
sports gas baggery land.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
You and I.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
We find ourselves trapped in the never ending docu drama
The Life and Times of Lebron James Lebrand, Lebron the
brand not the basketball player. Not No, it's really about
the brand. It's all about the brand. That's what it's about.
It's about the brand. Now, this is not so much
a renewal of vowels, right, It's not like they're renewing
(06:53):
their vows here.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
The Lakers Lebron.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
This is a prenup agreed to buy Lebron and filed
through the It's a leverage play. It's a leverage play,
is what it is. And so for the Lakers, they
must use every possible trade asset they have.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I don't think they've mane draft pick til like twenty fifty, but.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
They got to trade those, right and build a championship
contender or else we're breaking up with you. We're gonna
find it's not you, it's somebody else, and that's it.
And a trade, of course, becomes far easier to facilitate
based on the contract Lebron opted into. So he does
clear the way for him to be traded somewhere else easier.
(07:34):
Of course, if Lron wants to be traded, it'll be traded.
It doesn't matter what the contract is. They'll work it out.
They'll finagle the rules to make sure Lebron goes where
Lebron watched the Oh and So's. It's the classic play
by Lebron James where you opt in with one hand
and then keep your finger on the eject button with
(07:54):
the other says I'm in, but I could could get
out of here, see you later. Now. I don't believe
Lebron wants to leave. He loves I'll tell you why.
He loves everything that comes with being in Los Angeles,
those Hollywood nights, hanging out with all those Hollywood f's,
those fake people in LA. He loves it. He can't
(08:14):
get enough of those people, my whole lifestyle. That's why
Lebron came to LA. He didn't come to LA for basketball.
He hasn't won as a Laker's been an abject failure
as a Laker. He came for Hollywood. Now, business wise
and entertainment, Lebron's done very well.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
That's why he came to Lakers.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
So in terms of winning, he's winning the Hollywood game,
entertainment now basketball. No, No, if you want to win,
you don't go to Lakers. Not now. Not on her
Genie boss as she's selling the team. But the team's
been terrible since she took control. Of the team. But
it's all about Hollywood. If you look at Lebron's time
with the Lakers, he has a fail rate of over
(08:54):
seventy one percent. Seventy one percent of the time Ron
James has failed and there's no if sands.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Or butts about it.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
That's it. I'll get no pushback. You can't push back.
That's a fact. It's a fact. Now, what's my math?
How did I get to seventy one point four percent?
That is the rate Lebron has either missed the playoffs.
The Lakers have missed the playoffs multiple times with Lebron James,
or one and done bumped out of the playoffs in
the first round. Right, and again, not my opinion, it's not.
(09:27):
I'm not giving some kind of opinion. This a fact.
It is a fact. Seven seasons with the Lakers, the
Lakers missed the playoffs twice. They got bumped in the
first round three times Suns, Nuggets, and then this past
year by the Minnesota ten Wwolves three times first round
and out. And the Lakers have not won a championship
(09:48):
that matters since Kobe Bryant. And Kobe's not walking back
through that door, okay, and that's that's not my adding commentary.
I've now that has been validated. That is hot take validation.
That take validated by Alex Caruso in a moment of clarity.
He took some truths from them called alcohol, and he
(10:08):
said the quiet part out loud. Alex Caruso said after
Oklahoma City won, he said that that Mickey mouse bubble
ring not a real one, and that now he had
a real one, which is what all of us knew
all along, but somebody on the team finally had the
balls to say it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
So Lebron hasn't won.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
As a Laker, and he's making some kind of the
myth because again, it's not gonna be about Lebron not
being good enough.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
It's gonna be a bad well the other players on
the team. Weren't that good enough?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You said. Meanwhile, to Minnesota, a team that beat the
Lakers and Lebron in the playoffs in the first round,
and they have made a roster move, although not official official,
the teas must be crossed that the eyes dotted. We're
hearing now that Julius Randall, vagabond NBA player Julius Randall,
(10:56):
has agreed to re sign with the timber puffs and
he'll stay there in Minnesota three years.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
One hundred million dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Does that signing move the needle? Does that move the
needle at all? So I'll answer this first because you're
not here, so I'll go first. Does this move the needle? Sure,
it moves the needle due south at least come May,
when you get into the meat and potatoes of the playoffs,
you move the needle south.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
So you know what to do.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Our guys in Minnesota, you buckle up, right, it's a
roller coaster.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You buckle up.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
That's it. And of course Julius Randall in many ways
is your standard mid level star player in the NBA,
where he's the roller coaster that breaks down right before
the big drop. And similar to this, James Harden does
the same thing. You go down. You know, there's plenty
(11:54):
of players like that to just vanish in key moments.
Karl Anthony Towns, who played in Minnesota, is traded for
Jew Randa's another guy like that you can't depend on.
And Julius Randall's got a blind spot, clearly not a
blind spot that will cost him any money. One hundred
million dollars over three years. I mean, my god, so
(12:14):
so good for him, and he's like Randall's like Houdini
with a headband because he's out there in the Abrica
dabraaj hocus focus and not a big game player, not
a big game play. Now, during the regular season, there
are nights that Randall looks like a world beater and
he'll get you twenty five points and ten rebounds, no problem,
(12:36):
and look like he can do it every game. Twenty
five points, ten rebounds. He'll be physical, he'll be aggressive.
During the regular season, all fine attributes, and at times
he'll look unstoppable, and then the calendar will flip over
to April and pressed down. Suddenly, what happens. He's serving
(12:57):
up more bricks than the loading doc over at home depot.
You get a brick, you get a brick, you get
a break. Sometimes he didn't even make he didn't take
many bricks because he doesn't shoot. He becomes passive two
for eleven or one for eight or something like that.
In the playoffs, and then the fourth quarter, forget about it.
In the fourth quarter, come on, fourth quarter, you gotta
(13:19):
leave early, beat the traffic. Normally, when you play for
the team, you're not supposed to leave early to beat
the traffic. But it happens. Those those demons they come back.
They haunt you like Hazan Minnesota haunt you. They just
kind of haunch you, they do. And so good luck,
good luck to ant Man. This is your running mate,
this is your sidekick. Now Anthony Edwards has some issues too.
(13:41):
I meant, there's some games I recall where he didn't
didn't do much. So now they're together again. Back to
back final four appearances for the Timberwolves, and they are
locking in Julius rand. All.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Right, now, final thought.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We go down to the Pacific Northwest where the weather
is good most of the time. Terms you like fresh
air and all that stuff and rain and sports they sucked.
Now there used to be two teams, actually there should
be three teams at one point in the Pacific Northwest.
Now there's only one. That's the Portland Trailblazers. Now the
Trailblazers we learned over the weekend plan to buy out,
(14:18):
to spend millions of dollars to buy out center DeAndre Ayton.
Hey O, he's about to hit the market. He'll go
to the highest bidder in free agency. So what stands out?
What stands out about the bitter end of DeAndre Ayton
and him hitting the market here via a buyout from
the Trailblazers, and there'll be a lot of talk in
(14:41):
the coming days about teams fighting to get their hands
on DeAndre eighton. So the Trailblazers, the fact that they
are paying him to go away like that is a
massive thing. I don't think you can undersell the fact
that they're paying him to go away. Let that marinate
for a moment. This guy was the number wh in
an overall pick in the NBA draft a number of
(15:03):
years ago. They're not trading him for assets. They're not
trading him for draft picks or some young up and
coming players. They're not attaching him to a bad contract
to get rid of the player and clear out the roster.
They're not doing that. They're not trying to rehab his value.
They've given up on that. No, no, no, Like all
(15:25):
of those things are things that you would think teams
would do a player like that has some value. Still,
you'd say, Okay, I'm gonna tried to sugarcoat this, and
we're gonna try to put some good stories out there
and make it seem like this guy's turned things around
and all that stuff. No, they are at the point
now they are cutting their losses. They're like, this guy blows. There,
she blows. We're better off without him. We are better
(15:48):
off without Now. How did they come to that conclusion?
How did Chauncey Billups and the team in Portland come
to that decision? Because, for of all, portlandn't really want DeAndre.
They got him in that it was that weird Damian
Lillard multi team thing and they moved everyone around and
ate and became part of the trade and all that stuff.
(16:09):
But he arrived when he arrived in Portland just like
when he arrived in Phoenix. He's got all the size
and the athletic ability. He's got that pedigree to be
a dominant big man and all that. And you saw
some highlights on Instagram. You're like, wow, he looks good
and all that stuff. And then you had to watch
him play. And then you had to watch him play,
and when the game started, the one word we all
had watching DeAndre Ayton play was eh man. He was eh,
(16:33):
you know, it's like whatever. Right now.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
He put up some numbers.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
They were empty number stat banddto what do we always talking.
We talked about Dak Prescott, We talked about some of
his elia stat Bandito's where he has some double doubles,
but they're empty double doubles. It's empty stat long rebounds.
No one can tested right. Things like that points when
the game's already decided either for or against your team,
and so the numbers like, oh, you know, the low
(16:58):
information fan, the dumb fancies, they're like, oh, this guy's
pretty good. Look at the numbers. Look at the stats. Right,
box score readers, Chris, the box were lied. It lied,
and and then the real ones know. And so the
jury has made its ruling. The jury has made its ruling,
and the experiment is over. You're a loser. You wear
(17:21):
the scarlet letter, the L for loser, and the buff's
been called by the Trailblazers, and the verdict is in.
The verdict is clear from the jury, and DeAndre Ayton
is a losing player. That's what they're saying. The guy's
a loser, and that's just the way it is. He
doesn't impact winning. He didn't do it in Phoenix, he
didn't do it in Portland, and he's not going to
(17:43):
do it where he goes next. And I will laugh
at the bidding war that will take place for DeAndre
Ayton as he'll try to sit on the bench somewhere
on a good team and piggy back his way to
some playoff success here, and so let him go to
the Lakers. So I'd love that be so good a
loser like DeAndre eight on the Lakers. I hope that happened.
(18:03):
All the wars, it doesn't matter, and the same thing's
gonna happen. He's not gonna change all of a sudden.
It's one of those things in life. And there's a
lot of things like this in life where he sounds
better in theory than reality, right, it sounds better in
theory than reality. And there's a lot of things like
that in life. In sports, there's things like that also,
and DeAndre eight would be an example where if you
look at the SISO and I know, going back my
(18:26):
entire time just as an adult, but around basketball in particular,
in all sports. But I remember years ago when I
was I was doing stuff every day at team events
and practices, and there'd always be guys that could not
just didn't get it, but teams would keep giving them
opportunities because they thought. Every coach is like, I'm gonna
turn this guy around. I have the code to unlock
(18:48):
the safe. They all all coaches are wired that way.
They all think, oh man, we just get this guy
going watch out. And ninety eight point seven percent of
the time that does not happen. There is one percent.
People bring up the one percent. Oh yeah it happened
this time. Okay, yeah, it happened in that time. But
the rest of the time.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
Hi, this is Jay. I'm the producer of the Paula
and Toni Fusco Show. Usually in these promos they ask
you to listen to the show. I'm here to ask
you please don't listen to the show. The hosts are
two absolute morons who have the dumbest takes on sports, imagicable.
Don't listen to the show so it can get.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Camps the get him Paulio, that fool. Listen to The
paul and Tony Fusco Show on the iHeartRadio app or
wherever you get your podcasts. He's still Moving.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
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 (19:47):
Riding high in April and man crashing down in June.
Welcome in the beginning of another.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Hour of the Ben Mahler Show.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
We are in the air a rewhere BFFs as we
are talking when the sun don't shine, coast to coast,
border to border, hand beyond on the mast and impressively
powerful microphones of fsre amminating live from the stop the
(20:18):
truck stop of sports Talk, not to be confused with
truck stop fungus, as we're hanging out here at the
Fox Sports Radio studios, as approved by Filler Up phil YEP.
Filler Up Phill approves this portion of the Ben Malor
Show made possible in part by our friends at tire Rack.
For over forty years, ty Iraq has been helping customers
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find the right tires for how, what and where they drive,
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raq dot com. The way tire buying show'd be so
our lead this hour is from We'll start out in Pittsburgh.
(21:02):
That is where the Metropolitans were floundering and drowning, a
place normally you go to get well if you're not
doing that well. When you see a team like the
Pirates who are on their way to losing one hundred
games like they do almost every year, you're like, oh man,
this is great. Time to eat, time to get healthy. Now,
(21:24):
if you didn't follow this, I immediately when I saw this,
I said, oh, this is great. This is a good story.
In fact, this is better than a good story is like, Okay,
you lost to the Pirates. A better story is what
Francisco Lindor did. Now. He signed that forever contract with
the Metropolitans a couple of years back, and after a
(21:47):
slow start, he's put up some decent stats and all
that fine and wonderful and all that. So less than
twenty four hours prior, Francisco Lindor called a team meeting,
closed clubhouse meet and greet. The Mets had lost two
in a row to the Pirates. That was on Saturday,
and then they went out the Amazings as they are
(22:10):
called when they win. They went out there the Amazons
and got smashed at PNC Park as they got their
ass handed him by the Pirates. It was O'Neil Cruz,
the guy that only plays hard when he feels like
it O'Neil Cruz and Tommy fam that very angry guy
(22:30):
in the outfield who teed off on the New York
Mets starting pitcher on Sunday, Frankie Montees and see you later.
Back to back first inning home runs. The Mets would
never never get into the game. They lost twelve to one.
You lost by eleven runs to the Buccos after a
(22:52):
player only meeting. Now, O'Neil Cruz, the guy that has
put the dog in Major League dog, had another home
run in the seventh in a two run homer for
the Pirates. Now, the better story is in the losing
locker room, and that would be the Mets, who somehow,
some way managed to slide into Pittsburgh over the weekend
(23:13):
last weekend of June. Last week ind of June, they
slide into Pittsburgh and got outscored by twenty six runs.
The Pirates. What do they bring back? Andy Evansking, Barry
Bonds and Bobby Booney and the Pirates outscored the Mets
thirty to four. Thirty to four was the final. So
(23:35):
if you're keeping scored at home, the New York Metropolitans
have now lost in their last sixteen games, thirteen of
the sixteen. Now, I didn't play Major League baseball. I
just know that blows. Okay, So let us discuss the question,
will this Francisco Lindor inspired players only meeting make any
(23:56):
noticeable difference going forward for the Mets? We know it
didn't work the first day, will make any noticeable difference
going forward? So I've got spinal tap, Gothic horror novel,
and blueprint, and we will combine all of these things
together and we're going to make a intervention because the
(24:20):
New York Mets, the way they are playing baseball right now,
they need an intervention. So number why, I said number why.
If you've heard the show over the years, you know
this is one of my pet peeves. I know firsthand
from being in the ballparks and the stadiums of the arenas.
(24:44):
I know what absolute fertilizer the players only Meeting is.
I also know that there's a lot of low information
fans that think it is something that it is not.
The players only meeting has been a staple of losing
teams in professional sports. It is an enduring tradition that
(25:08):
goes back to the start of media. I mean media
meaning has been around forever. But baseball in the early days,
there were eighteen newspapers that would follow the New York Gkees,
and if they didn't play well, they'd have a player's
only meeting and players only meetings. It's like a fungus.
It just refuses to die. It doesn't work, but it
(25:29):
refuses to die. The only thing, the only thing players
only meeting meetings are good for it. The only thing
really accomplishes is it turns up the volume. Turns up
the volume a little bit right. To think of the
film Spinal Tap and the famous scene in that film
where you're demonstrating the amplifier for the guitar and said, well,
(25:51):
this one goes all the way up to eleven, and
it's a zero to eleven. Those other ones only go
to ten, but this is to eleven, and so there
you go, put it up to eleven. And so that's
what does. But team meetings are not necessary, and I'll
tell you why. The reason they're not necessary, and this
is gonna blow you away. Professional athletes, the brotherhood of
professional athletes. They spend more time together than they do
(26:14):
with their families. They're on planes, trains, and automobiles from here, there,
and everywhere. All they do is hang out together. They
work out in gyms together, they practice their sport together.
They stay at the same hotels, they eat at the
same restaurants on the road, right, they go down the
hotel bar, all that stuff. In other words, the player's
(26:36):
only meeting is just an opportunity to chat amongst each other,
something they have the opportunity to do every singlefing day.
And just like the real world. I know from being
in radio and having many meetings. Back we don't have
meetings anymore, but back in the old days, we have
to have meetings all the time, and the whole point
(26:57):
of the meeting was to try to get it over
with as quickly as possible, to not ask any questions,
just shut up, listen to the dumb boss speak, and
then get the hell out of there. And inevitably, every
place of business, at least I've worked, there's always that
one a hole I want to say something on. There's
that one person that tries to suck up to the boss.
(27:19):
You know, you know what I'm talking about, and they
ask eight million questions. We used to have a guy
and he didn't work here anymore. He's I did a
TV show with him. But that guy, all he did
was ask stupid question would drive us all nuts. It's ridiculous,
it was. It was so stupid. But the main the
thing you accomplish it you don't improve things with players
only meetings. You just give the illusion that you care. Right,
(27:43):
you give the appearance that you're involved and that you're
really upset by what's going on. And you can't just
go on and lose and do nothing. Oh, you gotta
do something, so you have the coach and the media
think that you're really here. These guys are passionate, they care.
Who knows what actually goes on in there. From what
(28:05):
I've heard, it's a lot of complaining. And then what
ends up happening is you have people that leave the
meeting feeling worse, and then that prolongs the situation because
they're being called out in front of their teammates. The
old well maybe this will help, We'll just do the
old hail Mary. Why not? All right now? Page two
to Sacramento. That's right, I said it. Sacramento a city
(28:29):
that is so embarrassing they allowed a major League Baseball
team to move there, and the team so humiliated by
being in that city. They refuse to use the city, Moniker,
how do you allow that if you're the mayor of Sacramento,
how do you allow that if you're involved in that team?
Like it's so embarrassing. It's the most single, most embarrassing
(28:50):
thing I have seen in my years around professional sports
that politicians allowed a team to move temporarily and they said, okay,
well fine if you don't ever mention the city that
you're playing in. And it's so humiliating. You talk about
a kick to the nuts. Anyway, the Athletics, they spent
(29:11):
the weekend getting their face mostly bashed in by the Yankees.
So the Athletics. The big move they made on their
way to Vegas, but they stopped in Sacramento. From Oakland.
They signed Luis Severino. That's a starting pitcher, not a
good one. They signed him to a three year, sixty
seven million dollars contract, and now they want to trade him.
(29:35):
They cannot wait to unload him, we are told because
sever Reno has pointed out what a bush league setup
they have in Sacramento, and he is agitated the same
a holes that don't want to admit they're in Sacramento.
You can't make this up. Like the people running the
Athletics made sure to not have Sacramento in the name.
(29:57):
It's just Athletics or Athletics Baseball. They don't want Sacramento
to involved. So here's the guy ripping the ballpark in
Sacramento and the working conditions, and the team that clearly
agrees because they're the ones that are forcing Major League
Baseball run prop the news service to not say Sacramento,
(30:20):
and they agree, But now they want to get rid
of him. So how do these Luis Severino trade talks
from the Athletics compute to you? All Right? So I
love the fact that Severino played the Athletics. Nobody was
going to give him that kind of a contract, And
how do I know that if anyone had offered him
(30:42):
that kind of contract he would have gone anywhere else.
The Athletics are not a big league team. Everyone knew that,
everyone knew the situation, so minor league outfit there. They're
not trying to win, they're trying to time it. So
they have a collection of good young players, some of
them that are gonna be in their prime by the
time they opened that ballpark in Vegas. They just started
(31:06):
construction to the ballpark in Vegas. You know how long
it's going to take to finish that. It's gonna be
three years minimum, probably longer than that. Before everything's done,
there'll be some delays, there'll be some setbacks. So it's
gonna be several years before that ballpark is done in Sacramento.
And so sever Reno couldn't get a deal anywhere else.
(31:27):
So he said, all right, I'll take that. I'll take
the money. And he's out there playing chess. Luis Severino
played chess with the Athletics. They paid, they overpaid, they
paid a premium for them. Nobody else was willing to
give him that kind of money. And then now before
the trade deadline, he's out there. He's like, checkmate, you're
(31:47):
gonna trade me. And if you don't trade me, I'm
gonna keep talking about what a minor league outfit you are.
And it's you look at the ballpark there. I've not
been to these Sacramento ball I've watched some games on
TV this year, and it is a Major League Baseball
version of the Witness Protection program in Sacramento. It is
(32:08):
is not not a not a fan of the spring
training environment. Now. Prior to the start on Sunday, Sevarino
had an zero to seven record and an ERA of
six point seven to nine in ten starts in Sacramento.
In seven starts on the road, he had an earned
run average of two and a half, a little less
(32:29):
than two and a half. He did get lit up.
But this is in the game on Sunday against the
Yankees as old team. But it is a Doctor Jekyll,
Mister Hyde, gothic horror horror novel is what. He's Doctor Jekyll,
you know. And he's on the road pitching at Dodger
Stadium or Anaheim or somewhere else. He's fine. And then
at that hide he's doctor Hyde or mister Hyde at
(32:52):
that that minor league Sutter Health Park or whatever the
corporate name is of that ballpark. Now, the bottom line,
the bottom him lying on this is that we expect
him to end up by August first, because the trade
headline is July thirty first. He's going to end up
on a contender. And the the A's are throwing a
(33:12):
tantrum like a bunch of you know, toddlers out there
the front office. They're all upset and all this stuff,
and they, you know how dare you, because this guy
is saying the quiet part out loud. He's unfiltered because
Cary got the contract that's guaranteed. And so now the
a's front office they're shopping him like a you know,
(33:32):
some broken air frar that you're trying to get rid
of on the internet, and you'll offer up come pick
it up. Here you go take it please, all right? Now?
Final point, A melancholy, melancholy oh bit, if you will.
We learned over the weekend that soon to be Hall
of Fame, in fact, the ceremonies coming up, I believe
in July here soon to be Hall of Famer. Dave
(33:54):
Parker died at the age of seventy four. Now, if
you're of a certain age, this is a big deal.
If you're below a certain age, you're like, I don't
know Dave Parker. As I saw some highlights, it doesn't
do anything for me. But Dave Parker was a legend
for the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the nineteen seventies and
had some big years in the eighties, had a couple
(34:14):
of down years played with the Cincinnati Reds after he
left Pittsburgh. Actually was on some good teams with the
old Oakland Athletics won a World Series, the Bay Bridge
Series with the Athletics as a veteran mentor, and I
had a chance I a day Parker my podcast a
while back before he got into the Hall of Fame.
It was campaigning to get into the Hall of Fame.
(34:35):
Was obviously a big deal, as anyone would say, to
get into the Hall of Fame. So I want to
spend a few minutes what will you remember? What are
you going to remember about the baseball life of Hall
of Famer Dave Parker, who died over the weekend. So
on this one, it's not just the guy had a cam.
He thought about the ability as a player. He had
(34:57):
a cannon in the outfield and right field, and he
brought this thunderous left handed power swing. And those are
all fun things and all great, But for me, it
was the way that he carried himself on the field.
There was this struck, this rasmatas the swagger, the presence
in an era when most people didn't carry themselves like
(35:18):
that in baseball. And so Dave Parker stood out from
the others in baseball and that and he played very well,
was an MVP in one the batting title a couple
of times.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
And he was a tall.
Speaker 1 (35:31):
Guy, six foot five, but he looked more like a
tight end, like a modern tight end in the NFL.
And it's like when he was batting, and I saw
most of what I saw, Dave Parker was after his prime,
like I'm old. I'm not that old, but I guess
I am. But I watched him kind of after his
prime years, and even then he would dare the opposing
(35:54):
pitcher to throw him something hittable. And what I loved.
I saw him with the played with the Angels near
the end of his career and saw him out there,
and I went down late in games because he'd be
in the on deck circle and he had an actual sledgehammer,
not a fake sledgehammer. He had a real sledgehammer. He
got that from Willie Stargell with the Pirates, and it
was like an act of intimidation for the opposing pitcher.
(36:17):
Like normally they used to use these, they called them donuts.
They put the weighted donuts around the bat. Well Dave
Parker and he learned it from Willy starge He had
an actual sledgehammer and he took it with him from
Pittsburgh and then they had to paint it the different
colors to the different teams he went went to. And
he had the same electricity in that era. Like Reggie
Jackson was a similar type player in that and you
(36:41):
know this guy's in there's every generation has a couple
of them. You're so good and so gifted that and
the way they carry themselves that you're you're locked in
on them, like that's you got to see when they're
at bat. You don't go get the nachos, you don't
go take a whiz. You want to see what they do.
And he had the nickname too, he the Cobra. How
great a nickname is that the Cobra. It's awesome. And
(37:03):
he backed it up on the field and he did
all that in an era before look at me.
Speaker 4 (37:08):
Social media, you.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Know that didn't exist and that one around. Now it's
easy to put an earring in and dance around and
you get a million bots in the matrix that get
all excited, get all fired up. But there was no
clickbait when Dave Parker was doing his thing back in
the day, and now he wasn't perfect. There were some flaws.
In the nineteen eighties, everyone was doing coke, including Dave Parker.
(37:33):
He loved the cocaine, and there was a big drug
scandal in baseball and he was a central figure in that.
There was the co One of the reasons Dave Parker
didn't get in the Hall of Fame sooner is because
of the cocaine trials of the nineteen eighties. I mentioned
what that would have been like in the modern era
with the media the way it is today, and it
was mentioned, but it wasn't mentioned nearly all that much
(37:54):
as I remember. As I remember it, however, he didn't
like away from that hoping. He talked about his issues
and all that stuff. He'd been battling some health problems
for a number of years and made a ton of money,
as I remember. With Popeye's Chicken. Dave Parker owned a
bunch of Popeyes Chicken in Cincinnati, lowkey like franchises, and
(38:16):
they did pretty well. So he made some money on that.
And so rest in peace, Dave Parker, seventy fourth. It's
a bummer didn't get into the Hall of Fame. And
he got in, but he will not be able to
give his speech obviously, as he has checked out from
this mortal coil. Bill Miller and you you can stream
the Ben Maller Show and all the other Fox Sports
Radio shows live twenty four to seven. The new and
(38:38):
improved iHeartRadio app just searched Fox Sports Radio. In the app,
stream is live and one of the newest features in
the app, you can select Fox Sports Radio Ben Maler
Show the Fifth Hour Podcast. Three new episodes dropped Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
And some of your presets just liked the presets on
the car radio dial, So be sure to preset Fox
Sports Radio Ben Maler Show, Fifth Hour Podcast in the
(39:01):
iHeartRadio app. It will always pop up at the top
of your screen.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Hey you sports figure, guy or girl.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
Here you talking to son? Here some instant advice.
Speaker 4 (39:13):
Hold that thought.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
No one's paid attention to me for ten whole seconds.
And if you don't like it, all right, who needs
our advice? The New York Mets they blow. They've lost
thirty of the last sixteen games. Got swept by the
lowly Pirates over the weekend, outscored by twenty six runs.
Your advice to the Mets. Line one, You're live on
the air eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fox. Hello,
(39:35):
Line one, all right, thank you your next caller for
you're on the air. Hello, advice please. That was our
friend from the Bay Area. You're on their advice please
to the Mets.
Speaker 5 (39:48):
Look at it a few centuries back, just to think
about the slave ships.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Wow, that's dramatic. Rick and Maryland Morning Time. Line five.
You're on the air line five. We're giving advice to
the New York Mets League. Got swept by the pirates
over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
How come you have so many blind callers and no
death collars.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I need to be funny, Oh, supermarket, Steve. We are
allowed to rip the death they cannot hear us. Line six,
you're on the airline six. Hello.
Speaker 4 (40:15):
Tell me about stealing.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Your piece of Loraina. If it's any constellation, I can
tell you how I tasted.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
It's a ferk dog. Line one, you're on the airline one. Hello.
I don't know what that was. Line two. You're on
the airline too. Hello. Oh that's Sean the hood guy.
You're on the air Incident advice line for the Mats. Hello.
Oh hang on, hang on, Okay, yeah, there you go.
Do one more, one more only Bret Picket last call
(40:44):
number one. Go ahead on the Mats. Line one, all right,
there you go, mister met right there. Tribute to mister
men
Host
Ben Maller
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