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October 21, 2025 • 46 mins

Big Ben talks about the Seattle Mariners getting eliminated in Game 7 of the ALCS and the Toronto Blue Jays moving on to the World Series, the Texans and C.J. Stroud losing to the Seahawks on MNF, Maller to the Third Degree, Maller's Mountain of Money: Kim Kardashian Edition, and more!

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
station for the Benmatlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot Com.
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 Mahler Show on
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Some Canadian bacon, the marritor is apparently not enjoying that
Canadian bacon. Welcome in the beginning of another night of
the Benmahler Show.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
As we are in the air.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Everywhere homeboys hanging out together here as they demented coast,
the coast, border, the border and beyond on the vast
and pleasantly powerful microphones of FSR amminating live from the
ticket as we punch our ticket, well the Blue Jays

(01:16):
did to the next round a higher level from the
world famous Fox Sports Radio Studios, as approved by FSR
alumni member and Toronto resident Canadian Mike who out of
the blue he used to work here. It's actually one
of the few people I like to work here. Canadian Mike,
and he lives in Toronto, and he sent me a
random text message.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
It's like, Wow, that's kind of cool. I like that guy.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
I wonder what happened to him because he's Canada dry
now hanging out there in Toronto, but he messages me.
And of course our sympathy to Robbie the Mariner fan
crying Craig who's crying right now? You could hear that
sound at the end of the baseball game JJ in Renton,
who assumed the Mariners We're gonna lose. No stre Denis.
I'm trying to remember everyone in Seattle. We got a

(01:58):
lot of guys that love the show in Seattle. I
can't remember everyone. But this portion of the Ben Maler
Show made possible in part by our friends at tire
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(02:20):
installation tire iraq dot com the way the tire buying
should be. So our lead this hour is from obviously Toronto.
It was the eye in the bullseye of Major League Baseball,
the Final Chapter, Game number seven of the American League
Championship Series the Mariners and the Blue Jays, twenty seven outs,

(02:43):
nine innings, one game winner gets the Dodgers in the
Fall Classic.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
It was on Fox.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
You had Joe Davis and John Momentum Smaltz on the call.
Although I have noticed these last couple of games. Ever
since I did my Mallor monologue mocking the momentum that
was mentioned every ten minutes on the on the game,
he hasn't mentioned it as much. Although I did hear
it in every broadcast I watched. There were two Monday

(03:15):
night games and I heard it halftime the Buccaneers had
all the momentum because they scored a field goal before halftime.
I heard that. I judge me anyway, So Joe Davis
and John Smoltz had the call. It was on Fox
Sports One. I don't know if you're watching it or not.
Perhaps not, but don't worry. I actually I loved I
mean it's game seven.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Yeah, I mean. Some of these things I watch, I'm
not gonna lie to you. I hate them.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I get paid to do that. But some of these games,
I watch them like, this sucks, but I kind of
have to watch it. This I enjoyed watching until the end.
When cheating one thousand and two, one thousand, oh, George
Springer hit a go ahead.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
And Dinger Springer the dinger.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
I wonder if there was a bang, bang or a
whistle whistle for the cheating a hole the go ahead
three run home run in the seventh inning to turn
the game around and Toronto advances to the World Series
for the first time since nineteen ninety three. Holy, Holy Canoley,

(04:23):
get the poutine ready, baby, so they rallied to beat
Seattle four to three in the final in Game seven
of the American League Championship Series on Monday night. Vladimir
Guerrero and the Blue Jays will host they have home
field advantage host Shohel Tani and the Dodgers Game one

(04:45):
on Friday night. It's on like Donkey Kong in Toronto
as the Blue Jays representing the World Series in Canada
for the third time. As they they would say, we
would have won a third time in a row, but
there was a baseball work stoppage and all that. But
the early nineties, blue Jays were legit. And that's a

(05:05):
long time ago, and you got to be old to
have remembered the Blue Jays when they were good. And
now they're good again in the World Series. And so
we have plenty of time to discuss as they take
on the Dodgers, who swept the Brewers in the NLCS.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
We have all week to talk about that.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
The better story, though, is in the losing locker room,
and so that is where we will begin. And the
Mariners gagged away a three to one lead in the
seventh and eighth They fell eight outs away, eight out
short of their first World Series of parents. They did
get home runs from Jay Rod and Calrally. Cal Raley

(05:44):
went yard there.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
But the Manors lose. They lose.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Now, Dan Wilson, who is he gonna shave that mustache?

Speaker 3 (05:52):
God, I'll shave it for him anyway.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
He's the manager of the Mariners, Dan Wilson, And he
was asked, you've just lost the American League pennant in
Game seven. You've choked away a series, losing five five
of the final six games, or four of the final
six games. Good job by you, good math by me.
When the first to lose four of the final five
to lose the series. Anyway, here's Dan Wilson on his

(06:16):
Mariner message, just to.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Hold up their heads and and and you know, to
understand what kind of a season they had. I mean,
I know this things and there's no question that it's
going to sting. But the kind of season they had,
you know, doing things that no team in this organization
has ever done. And and you know, knocking on the
door of a world series all that, you know, it's

(06:41):
it's it's due to how hard they've worked, how hard
they've played all season long, all the times they've come back,
all the times they've bounced back.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
It's a special team in there.

Speaker 4 (06:50):
And it's a shame we had to come out on
the on the wrong side of this one.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
So that's a bad quote. Your professional athlete, Your job
is to play hard. I don't give you any credit
for that. I give you no credit. Meanwhile, the money
quote is from the big dumper, cal Raley. Mister dinger.
This was his career year. He'll never play this well
again for a full season. This is it. This is
the high water mark for cal Raley. And they didn't
win the pennant. They lose to Toronto in Game seven,

(07:17):
and cal Raley dropped a truth bomb post game.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
You know, I hate to use the word failure, but
it's a failure.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
And that's what we expected just to get to a
World series win world series, and that's you know, what
the bar is and the standard is, and you know
that's what we want to hold ourselves accountable to.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
But yeah, it's uh, it hurts, all right. So that's
a great jumping off point right there. I like that.
That's the money quote.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
So let us discuss the question thumbs up or thumbs
down on cal Raley saying the Mariner season was a failure.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
So I've got Rodent blue.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Chew and Alfred Hitchcock and we will come find all
of these things together, and we are gonna make a delicious,
wonderful trip to Cancun with all all expenses paid.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
It's gonna be wonderful because that's where the Manners are going.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
Well, the Blue Jays are getting made for the World
Series on Friday, the Mariners can go on a nice
tropical vacation. So ay, I love this. I love the
cow Rally quote. I really do thumbs up. In fact,
you know, I'm gonna go not just thumbs up. I'm
gonna go thumbs all the way up to the mountain
to the moon. All right, big dumper gets it. Good
job by you. I was expecting the standard chow when

(08:37):
a team loses in this type of environment. There was
no puffy sticker being handed out to the to the
Seattle manners.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
No awe shucks. They blew it. That's where it is.
We're all grown ups here. They blew it.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
If it looks like a rodent, and it smells like
a rodent, it's a rodent.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
And that's it.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
They were up to two in the American League Championship Series.
They had won both games, both games in Toronto. They
had three games at home. Boom boom, boom.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
And theyft it up.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
They screwed it up, and they had one hand already
on the World Series ticket and they dropped it. They
dropped it, and they screwed it up. And that's the gag.
They choked. It's called what it is. The Seattle Mariners
choked in the American League Championship Series. From Game three
through the rest of the series, the Seattle baseball team

(09:35):
was outscored thirty three to seventeen they were almost doubled
up by Toronto, the pratt fall for the ages for
the Seattle marin they didn't just lose by a little bit.
Once they stopped playing, that was it. They're not the
last the party over, losing their gusto and losing with

(09:58):
some rasmatas when you think about it. And then they
still had eight outs to go in game seven, eight out,
so right, eight out, so you win the pennant, you
get the champagne, and the blue Jays zapped their lumber.
And the person who's not a household name, so it's
likely a name that only a few of us will remember.
But the one that has to wear this for effing

(10:21):
it up as Edward Bizardo, Eduardo Bizardo, who was just bad,
who apparently was good. I don't I didn't watch him
pitch much of a leaf pitcher for the Mariners, but
on this night he earns those novelty you know, the
plastic aircraft wings when you fly the vomit comet, and
he gets those. So congratulations to Bizardo, who screwed things up.

(10:44):
He gave up the home run to the cheater. He
sucked at a time you cannot suck and cal Rawley
is right again.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
This is just put the ball on this. It is
a failure.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
And we appreciate that he did not immediately run to
the gram and write some proud of you boy, some
kind of that bull crap post a bunch of crying
emojis or something like that.

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Maybe he did. I didn't see it.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
So he stood up and he said it. And you know,
it doesn't change the fact the Manners choked. But at
least you had the guts to say put what really
happened out there and not try to spin it. It
was a failure. Boom done, and that's accountability. Good job
by you, cal Raley. It had an amazing year and

(11:29):
you lived up to the big contract you got.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Good job by you.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
The bar is not the American League Championship Series participation banner.
It's the World Series, and the Mariners continue to be
the only team that has not made the World Series.
Every other member of the cartel has made the World Series. Now,
in the next five to ten years, probably the next
five years, they're going to add an expansion team or two,

(11:54):
so it'll be two other teams that haven't made the
World Series, and then those two teams will make the
World Series, and the Mariner still will not have made
the World Series, and it'll be even more embarrassing. But that's
the way we are. So the weight continues as they
are penantless in Seattle. Meanwhile in the winners locker room,
not as good, not as good as story. The question,
what is the lesson from Vladimir Guerrero winning American League

(12:19):
Championship Series ENVP honors for Toronto?

Speaker 3 (12:23):
What's the lesson here?

Speaker 1 (12:24):
So this is classic baseball in October playoff baseball. We
were talking about this series in real time and after
two games of the ass what was the talking point. Well,
Vladimir Guerrero has had seven at bats, he's zero for seven.
We had the stats against the Yankees. He hit the
crap out of the ball against everyone else in after

(12:45):
two games he was batting one hundred or something like that,
one o three against everyone else in the playoffs other
than the Yankees. Vlattie was a battie and not a
good way, not a good way. And then you know
the hot take machine, which I'm part of the industrial
complex of the hot take in a small part of it.
I don't work day shift. If I day shift, i'd
be a big part of it. I work overnights, so

(13:07):
this is where the real hot takes are developed.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
In the kitchen. We cook him up hot and we
piping hot right out of them.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Anyway, so revving up the hot take machine, it was spicy,
so everyone was ready to stick the fraud label on
the back of Vladimir Guerrero and then boom goes to
dynamite or in this case wrecket Ralph or Reckitt Vlattie
as he went turbo time, which is a reminder. Now
we have a daily talk show to do a nightly

(13:35):
talk show, so it is a reminder though it's not
how you start, it is how you finish. And this
was a turbotastic ending for Vladimir Guerrero. The blue Chee
or the blue jay chew fixed whatever issue he may
or may not out of had here doing the mal
or math. Vladimir Guerrero Junior batted the final five games

(13:57):
of the ALCS.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Batted five.

Speaker 1 (14:01):
That's Beer league softball for Vladimir Guerrero with three home runs,
scored six runs, had three runs batted in. And that's
why you pay stars. You pay them to perform like that.
Not all of them do, many of them do not
perform at that level. And Guerrero did not need to
be perfect. He was not perfect at the beginning, obviously sucked.
He just needed to be there when it mattered. And

(14:24):
that's the other lesson from all this. And I've known
this for many, many years, but it's it's amnesia. It's
October amnesia that happens every year. It's like, I'll give
you a shoel. Tani was trash in the playoffs with
the Dodgers. Everyone right now is licking every crevice of
his body because of the game he had in the

(14:44):
closeout game against the Brewers. But he was terrible for
the postseason up until that game. But that's what people
are gonna remember. They're gonna remember all Toddy was sucked
before that. They're gonna remember, Oh my god, did you.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
See the game? He had the greatest game of all time.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
He got my pants down that they're so excited about,
so they'll forget the other stuff. And Guerrero's a great example.
He was terrible for the first two games, but October
amnesia kicks in and he was there at the end.
He delivered for games three, four, five, six, and seven.
Onthough it was one for four in this game in
game seven, but he didn't melt under the bright lights

(15:20):
of October there, and so I guess he just needed
a couple of games to heat up the old engine.
Now the last word, big picture. All right, big picture.
We now have the match up, the matchup a set.
We've got a team representing an entire entire country because
baseball let the Expos leave Montreal, so we've got Toronto

(15:42):
and La.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
What letter grade?

Speaker 1 (15:45):
What letter grade do you put on the twenty twenty
five World Series matchup? First glance Dodgers and Blue Jays,
So first glance on the Malard report card, I give
it a B.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm gonna give it a B. It's not an A.
I can't give it an A. It's a B.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
It's like a B minus. World Series. It's a bee.
It is a matchup that has some juice. And I
was thinking about it as I was making the long
trip in here to the hallowed hallways of Fox Sports Radio,
where legends have worked.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Here in the old Steve Harvey studio.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
We're in now where he did his show and then
crossed the way there. The other studio we're in is
the where Limbad did his show when he was in
La like Legends of Radio. So I come in here
and the storylines are bubbling up for the Fall Classic.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
They are what are they?

Speaker 1 (16:33):
You've got some stars, You've got a villain, you've got history,
all of that stuff mixed together. You've got Otani, the
biggest global star in baseball, who's representing Japan, right, biggest
thing in the world there for Japanese baseball fans. And
you got him playing in his second World Series. And oh,

(16:55):
by the way, even though the Dodgers one last year,
O Tani, you're not supposed to say this part wasn't
very good.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Oh I said it. Oh my god, I said it.
That's why I'm on Overnight. I said it.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
I said it the daytime. Guys would lick his toes.
He sucked in the World Series last year. There, I
said it. Okay, anyway, so he's got a chance at redemption,
all right. And we also have that other story, the
catfish story. We all got catfished when Otani was a
free agent.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
You remember this.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I was thinking about this when I was coming in here.
I was like Otani when he was a free agent
and nobody knew.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Where it was. Gonna go.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
And there was that infamous private jet story. Do you
remember this Otani to Toronto John Morosi MLB insider tracking
the tail number essentially of Otani's private plane leaving the
airport in southern California like it was Air Force one
heading to Toronto and everyone, We're all excited and turned out. No,

(17:49):
that was almost as good as Arson Judge going to
the Giants. That was a John Hayman f up by him.
So now it comes full circle. Now it is full circle.
We know obviously with Tany's with the Dodgers and all
that he didn't go to Toronto, and now he is
standing between Toronto and a World Series trophy, and that

(18:10):
is an interesting wrinkle to this World Series. Then you've
got Vladdy Guerrero Junior, who has turned into the Oracle
of October as Vladdie is your daddy, hitting four forty
even those two zero for seven, the two games, oh,
hitting four to forty, He's leading baseball.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
In every key number.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
Is the daddy. Yeah, he is carying Toronto. This is
like David Ortiz type stuff when he was with the
Red Sox back in the day. I guess Vlatty's gonna
end up on Fox eventually doing baseball coverage on TV.
So uh, there's no such thing as momentum. But he's
on a heater, that's what the kids say. He's a cartoon.
Crooked numbers there for Vladimir Guerrero Junior, number twenty seven

(18:52):
in your program, but number one in your heart for
the Blue Jays. And let's not forget the real thing
about this world series that stands out like a sore thumb,
the villain. Now, they might think the Dodgers are the
villains because they spend all the money, they've got all
the good players. No, that would be wrong. The villain
a cheating, a strout. Oh yeah, George EFN Springer forever

(19:23):
an a hole, forever, a cheater. He's been branded a
dirty dog. He's a dirty dog, George Springer, And every
Dodger fan in Chavez Ravine when the series gets to
La will serenade him. Right they still remember I was
getting text from people that were sending me messages from
the twenty seventeen period of time. There that wretched world series.

(19:44):
Bine bining a whistle whistle? How about how about this?
Check him for the buzzer? How do we know he wasn't.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Wearing a buzzer.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Every time Springer walks up to the plate, he's going
to get the Alfred Hitchcock treatment.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
You know what that is.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
That's going to be the birds, the boo birds is
what he's going to get there. And a reminder for
those of you that are a little slow and dumb.
George Springer, Jose al Boove, and Alex Bregman, the three
headless horsemen of the Apocalypse of baseball, the greatest single

(20:22):
scandal in the history of North American sport.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
They got away with it.

Speaker 1 (20:26):
The whole dirt bag crew, all of them, and Rob Manford,
who should have dropped the hammer on them instead he
did nothing because he's locking balls. He doesn't have any balls.
Otherwise he would have punished him. But they all should
have been banned for life. George Springer should have been
banned for baseball for life. That home run that happened

(20:48):
in Game seven of the alc has should not have
been allowed to happen because he would have had no
even selling insurance or doing something to get a real job.
But because the commissioner's got no spot. George Springer, altub pregnant,
all those other cheats are allowed in baseball, and it
makes me want to vomit.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
I want a puke. And so now some justice.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
As he goes into Dodger Stadium would be saring and
anything gonna lose the World Series, the Dodgers of winning
the World Series, and so that's great, and they'll boom
and they'll serenade him. It's delicious. He's the bad guy,
so that's good. And but so it gets a B
because I mean it's Toronto. I can't go higher than
a bee with Toronto.

Speaker 3 (21:29):
I can't do that. But it's got star power.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
It's got that's we mentioned got the villain, You've got
the redemption arc with Otani after sucking in the World
Series last year. So there's a full plate of drama.
And O'tian's obviously the biggest star. But Vladi's gone nuclear
here of late for the Blue Jays year. And you
got the rich kid Dodgers. See this is tough. Like
if you hate the Dodgers, but you're like love America,

(21:54):
are you gonna like pull for Toronto? This is there,
that's Canadas team.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
What do you do?

Speaker 1 (21:59):
It's Holly Wood versus Hockey Town. Boo Springer, You've got
will Vladdie Rag versus that Dodger starting pitching your tany
mania all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maler
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (22:18):
Hey, it's me Rob Parker.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of pipe in hot baseball talk, featuring
the biggest names of newsmakers in the sport. Whether you
believe in analytics or the I test, We've got all
the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so do
yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Parker with

(22:43):
Rob Parker on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get
your podcast.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Houston, we have a problem.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
Welcme in the beginning of another night of the Ben
Mahler Show. We are in the air everywhere, besties.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
As we know, Fresh is our middle name.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
Coast to coast, border, the border in beyond on the
vest and lip smackingly powerful microphones of fsre ammounading live
from the town the Downtown Moneyball mallor why now we
make that we go downtown from the world famous Fox

(23:28):
Sports Radio Studios, as approved by Fried Daddy, who has
been sending various packages to the main studio here this
week and this portion of the Ben Males Show made
possible in part by our friends at tire Rack. For
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(24:14):
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So our lead this hour, we'll get back to the baseball,
and I know some of you guys are on holds
to want to talk about the Blue Jays and the
Dodgers in the World Series. That is the matchup for
twenty twenty five. One of those two teams will be

(24:35):
celebrating a championship. But our lead this hour is from
the NFL. We'll start with the late Monday night football game.
And it was late late start. The second half of
the Monday Night Football was like a coke current.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
It was.

Speaker 1 (24:51):
It wasn't a standalone doubleheader because they the games did
go side by side late in the early game where
the Buccaneers and Lions played Detroit, winning that game. So
the second half you had the scuffling CJ.

Speaker 3 (25:07):
Stroud. C J.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
Stroud and the Texans their stage coach rolled into Seattle,
the Pacific Northwest. They're a playdate with Sam Darnold and
the Seattle Seahawks. This is the B side game. Now,
you know this is the less important Monday night game.
Now what is the tell that the Seattle Seahawks Houston
Texan game was less valuable to the NFL? You know

(25:32):
this When you see Dan Orlofsky in the broadcast booth,
that is a dead giveaway. He's doing the crap game.
The good game is where Joe Buck and Aikman go.
The bad game. They send to Orlofsky, So mister Owen
sixteen from the Lions was out there broadcasting the game
with two other jabebronis Now.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
I don't know if you watched it or not. We
had it on here into the late night hours.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Ended actually not that long before we cracked the microphones
here at Fox Sports Radio and Jackson Smith and Jigba
getting it done yet again, having the breakout domination situation.

Speaker 3 (26:04):
He was good last year, he's better this year.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
So far, NFL leading fifth one hundred plus yard receiving game,
giving every fantasy football owner a bit of a chubby,
very excited about that, as the Seahawks beat the Texans
twenty seven to nineteen in a game that was not
that close on Monday night football in total now, Smith
and Jigba, he caught eight passes in this game for

(26:29):
ae undred twenty three yards. But the better story is
in the losing locker room and oh my god, what
has happened to mister Irrigation's Houston Texans and their offense
or lack thereof? And the story here is always about
the quarterback, because y'all told me a couple of years
ago that you'd found your forever quarterback. You told me that,

(26:49):
Oh my god, they got so lucky. How did they
find this guy? Well, my god, how you feeling right now?
Everything good? No? Okay, so that is a good jumping
off point. Let us discuss the question how are things
looking for the Texans quarterback?

Speaker 3 (27:06):
See Jay Stroud at this point.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
So I've got fishtail, bubble, and schnazola, and we will
combine all of these things together and we are gonna
make the baba gnoosh. We're gonna make the baba ganoosh.
All right, So, first of all, I don't want to
hear the he's young. I don't want to hear that.

(27:30):
So if you're planning on sending me a message on
social media's young, give him a break, or calling up
and telling me.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Well, they had the offensive line, they got some.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Issues on that, or the injuries, or the seattles is
so good with their defense.

Speaker 3 (27:44):
I don't want to hear it. Okay, I want to
hear it now.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
I did a monologue before the NFL season started, and
I got a lot of crap for it because people
in Houston are mostly whims and they got very offended
that I dared point out that this was a player
that was not going the right his career was not
going the right direction. They had bad year last year,
Cjstraft and I mentioned something along the lines I'm paraphrasing

(28:08):
here that it was a crossroad situation for CJS draft,
and when you're in the industrial complex of the hot take,
you've got to take the fire, right. I mean, there's
a lot of low information fans, a lot of morons
that are fun boys, and they don't understand reality, right.
It's one of the cool advantages you have when you
don't approach things that way, and so dumb people are like,

(28:29):
oh my god, what are you talking about CJ.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Stroud, He's so great? Oh my god. Yeah, I'm not
getting as many of those messages right now. I wonder why.
I wonder why.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Right boooooo. He had drafted the guy to be the dude,
to be the mayor. That's where you drafted him. And
he looked good early on in his NFL career. They
thought they had found their unicorn. Right now, they found
a donkey with a fake horn on its nose. That's

(29:00):
it right there, boom, all right, and supposed to be
the guy who lifts the tide, lifts all boats.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
The great quarterback lifts all players.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Around him, and he was gonna lift this franchise out
of mediocrity, the Texans, and not the guy that is
like the aux in the ditch, right stuck in the mud. Now,
if this was a fishtail, let's just assume CJ. Stroud's
career was a fishtail. If CJ was a fish, he
would be a flounder, a flounder, just flat lifeless down

(29:34):
there at the bottom. C J. Stroud in this game,
twenty three of forty nine, two hundred and twenty nine yards,
he averaged a puke in your mouth four point seven
yards per pass attempt. He had an interception, He had
a touchdown, but the touchdown came in garbage time with
a couple of minutes to go in the game. He
was sacked three times, constantly running around, had no idea
how to deal with a pass rush. You'd think he'd

(29:55):
learned that by the time he got to the NFL
and was just generally the word is blah. He was blam.
That's the word. That is not the stuff of a
franchise quarterback. And this is a major issue. And if
this doesn't get better, the Texans are going to have
to go to the market and get a quarterback. He's
been that bad this year if you look at his

(30:16):
full body work, where the texts gonna be like, listen,
this is back to back bad years and this is
no third year jump or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
This is who this guy is at this point, and
so what are we gonna do?

Speaker 1 (30:30):
What are we gonna do so something don't look like
your franchise quarterback, looks like just your standard garden variety
game manager. Just blah, that's his stuff. And the first
five drive you talk about going on the road, trying
to set a tone, set an example, first five drives, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt,
Houston had fifteen third down places. There were two of

(30:54):
fifteen on third down. Houston also got a defensive touchdown.
And CJ's draft was pressured from the Seattle pass rush
throughout the entire night. He was unable to adjust. The
soft underbelly was exposed. Yet again, this is not new.
It's just a reminder. This is who the ballplayer is,

(31:15):
right And so Seattle, you got a good defense. It's
not an all time great defense. They have a good
defense to the Seahawks. And I know that no. Studinis
was shaking his head yes, And so they were able
to put some pressure on CJ. Stroud and he never adjusted,
which I think is the job description, that you have
to adjust, that you're not gonna have everything's gonna go
great for you. They're not going to keep giving you

(31:37):
clean pockets and training wheels and just short passes, and
at some point you're gonna have to open things up.
That's life in the NFL. And as for the Nico
Collins injury and all the other various excuses, c J.
Stroud sucked before Nico Collins left the game, and that's
life in the league, Cupcake, that's how it goes. And
so you make it work, you find a way. The

(32:00):
elite guys they rise above it. And he looks like
a guy. He really looked like this for a while.
That's just kind of along for the rice. He's not
a bus driver, he's a bus rider. He's like in
the back of Roberto's bus. He's just kind of in
the back there. And so it was a gloomy night.
The Texans are two and four. You are what your
record says you are, and they are not good. Now.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
Meanwhile, in the winning locker.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
Room the Seattle Seahawks who win this game twenty seven
to nineteen.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Again the late touchdown by c. J. Stroud, But it's
one of these things.

Speaker 1 (32:31):
Where the Texans, the way they played and as good
as Seattle's defense played, should have been a bigger final
margin than it was. And so while they were in
control a lot. But how about Sam Darnell. Let's address
Sam Donald here and his performance. And he played by
most accounts, he played okay, you know, he didn't one

(32:53):
touchdown pass, he had an interception. He also totally eft
it up and fumbled and gave Houston a touchdown. I
don't know what the hell that was what he was
trying to do on that, but it was a disaster.
So he have that up and the Texans scored a
touchdown when Donald was sacked and it was in the

(33:14):
end zone that was covered by Will Anderson in the
end zone that was in the third quarter for one
of the Houston touchdowns, the offense getting that one late touchdown.
But as far as Sam Donald's overall body work, he
was seventeen and thirty one. He completed less than fifty
five percent of his passes and averaged a little less
than seven yards per pass attempt in Seattle does win

(33:35):
the football game. So they've got that. But do you
trust Sam Donald as a Seahawk that he's among the
better quarterbacks in the NFL if you go by just
the raw stats. So if you go by the stats,
you'd say, yes, you trust Sam Darnald. I don't just
go by the numbers. I go by the eyeball test.
And it's also a full body of work. And I

(33:58):
look at this like bubbles, and he's the bubble boy,
and he's not in the bubble of trust. I don't
have Sam Donald in there. I don't trust him. The
Seahawks are five and two now, they've got a really
good record, and they're trending towards a playoff idea or
a playoff season. Rather they playoff season here for Seattle,

(34:20):
so they're looking like a playoff team. And just like
in Minnesota, you know, he's better in Minnesota than he
wasn't Seattle.

Speaker 3 (34:26):
But just like that, I do not believe.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
I do not believe that we get to a late
season game or a wild card game for Seattle because
the Rams will win that division. That you're gonna trust
Sam Donald to get her done in a big spot.
His reputation precedes him. Final thought, we move away from
the Monday night game. We go now to Philadelphia where
the Eagles are having problems.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
And how do I know that they won? They beat Minnesota?

Speaker 1 (34:54):
How do I know they're having problems because defensive end
Brandon Graham. Yes, that brand, He's been around forever, but
he went around this year, has decided to come out
of retirement and is finalizing a deal. Of reports that
the deal is about done here and announcement will come
down sometime later here on Tuesday, as we're doing this

(35:15):
in real time in the overnight, and Graham will join
rejoin the Philadelphia football team. So the longest tenured player
in Eagles history is going to come back for his
sixteenth season. Question, bringing Brandon Graham, defensive end back Brandon

(35:35):
Graham out of retirement, is this a smart move or
a desperation move for the Eagles. So this is a
phone of friend move, is what I wrote down on
my scorecard, A phone of friend move for the Eagles,
because if you check your schnazola, it certainly smells like desperation.

(35:58):
Like this is some carefully late out a roster plan
unless it isn't. This is obviously on the panic side,
the arrows pointing at panic. Now, if you know the
story of the Backstore, in this Zadarius Smith decided he
wanted to quit the NFL during the season. He walked away.
He said, I can't handle this anymore. I'm done, and
he quit, pulled the Andrew luck and left the NFL

(36:20):
mid season to retirement, and took with him a player that,
even though he didn't have great stats compared to the
other stiffs that the Eagles have on that position, was productive.
And so Brandon Graham was supposed to be sitting on
the beach somewhere and sipping a nice pink lemonade, maybe
a hard pink lemonade, not lining up for third and

(36:44):
eight before Halloween.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
But here we are, and Brandon Graham is back, and
this is a deadyboy.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Things are not going well in Philadelphia. Despite the win
over the Minnesota Vikings, things are not going well in
Philadelphia and the Birds this is you know what this is.
They broke up with their new girlfriend and they then
sent a late night text to their ex.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
And this is like when the X you know, it doesn't.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
Really move out, but kind of moves out, you know,
you know what I mean, Like they leave some stuff behind,
like there's a you know, some shirts and some other
like toothbrush and some other crap they leave by, so
just kind of marking their territory.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
So Brandon Graham like marked his territory.

Speaker 1 (37:26):
And the Eagles are like, at let's call this guy, Hey,
who are you gonna call you?

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Would you like to play for the Eagles? You already
played for the Eagles?

Speaker 1 (37:33):
And sure enough, boom, they started making calls, Hey, we
need some help, you want to play? And he was
on their call list and he answered the phone, he
answered the text, he wrote back, and now they're they're
back on the couch three weeks later saying hey, hey,
I missed you.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Hey, come on back, we missed you.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
You know. At this point, Graham is like an emotional
support animal for the Philadelphi Eagles, and some people are
upset because this ruins the fairy tale. The fairy tale
is athlete plays a long career athlete wins Super Bowl.
Fade to black well, Brandon Graham, who has been part

(38:10):
of the glory days of the Philadelphia Eagles. They've never
had a period of sustained success like they've had the
last ten years or so in Philadelphia, going back to
the Nick Foles playoff run and all that. So Brandon
Graham was part of all that. He won another super Bowl,
he walked away, and now because of a injury, he
is back.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
And there you go.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
He's the connective tissue to the past decade, the glory
days of the Philadelphia Eagles. There and not the guy
who's going to get your double digit sacks. That's not happening.
He's just a warm blanket and you need a blankey.
He's a nostalgia blanket, Brandon Graham, and so good luck
on that. And Philly's playing like they're playing it up

(38:50):
some of the stories I've seen. That's like a storybook reunion.
They never intended for this to happen. They never did.
It's not one last midnight rodeo in Green, All Green,
Kelly Green. It's not that at all. You can cue
the orchestra and the nice sappy music if you want,
but in reality, this is a thirty seven year old

(39:11):
defensive end who had decided he didn't want to play football.
He didn't have it in him. His body couldn't hold
up and all that stuff. And now despite the bald tires,
the dense, the cracks, the rust, all that stuff, he's
back for the Philadelphia. So again, there's a theme to
this NFL season where the teams that were supposed to

(39:32):
be good the teams that were supposed to be really
really good at this point, Eh, Okay, the Chiefs are
coming around, but are they really coming around? You can't
get too excited about the win over the the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (39:47):
Now, the Lions win was good. That was at home.
They played well in that game.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
There we go, There we got, there we go.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
That's grill google.

Speaker 6 (40:06):
The Bears have won four games in a row, and
yet they still open as six and a half point
underdogs against the one in five Ravens in Week eight.
Ben in Chicago being disrespected by the odds makers.

Speaker 3 (40:17):
Well, no, they're not being disrespecting.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
It's not guaranteed Lamar Jackson's going to play, and if
he plays, like, how.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Is he going to do?

Speaker 1 (40:24):
And all I mean, they're really the gambling line is
just based on what public perception is but yeah, if
you look at that, it does look like that is
a gigantic screw up by the odds makers, which tells
you the Ravens will likely win by two touchdowns next.

Speaker 5 (40:38):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
There are a lot of bad teams in the NFL
this season, many of which we talked about during yesterday show. Yeah, Ben,
which teams fan base should feel the most hopeless?

Speaker 3 (40:48):
I'm gonna go the Jets like the Browns.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
It's easy to say the Browns the Jets like because
the Browns fans kind of accept it. They suck like
the Jets fans every year think, Oh, this new coach
is gonna be great. This quarterback like, that's just like
a New Yorker thing. They just like every year, the
same crap. It's amazing. Sami, go the Jets because they
thought Aaron Glenn was a good coach. They thought Justin
Fields would figure things out. They both suck. Next, so

(41:12):
the Eagles got back into the win. Call him on Sunday,
Ye did it with an aerial attack? Do you think
Philly fans can breathe a sigh of relief?

Speaker 3 (41:19):
No?

Speaker 1 (41:19):
No, because it was that game was decided mostly because
of the incompetence of Carson Wentz. They the Vikings got
to the red zone six times, and they screwed it
up a bunch of those times, So I'm not comfortable yet.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
It was it was a needed win, but I'm not
quite there yet for the how did we do you pass?
That is a win? Put it on the ball.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. Now, Mailer's Mountain of Money? Do you have
what it takes to get to the top? Probably? Not?

Speaker 3 (42:04):
All right, here we go.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Time now four of the game. I've been told by
Coop no small talk. So we'll have Mike in Boston. Hello, Mike, Welcome,
Hello Ben, No small talk? Who do you want to
partner with?

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Mike? I'll take cool all right, and no, boy Pa,
I'm backfired. Poppy in San Diego. Hello Poppy.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
Hey, I'm gonna have to go with my master that matter.

Speaker 6 (42:33):
We're gonna win, Okay, go ahead, all right, gentlemen, this
is malards amount of money. Kim Kardashian. Addition, she turns
forty five years old today. The category is our home video,
keeping Up, Black Book, and under the knife.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
Mike, you were on first. Which category would you like?

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Keeping up?

Speaker 6 (42:51):
Keeping up? All right, Poppy? How about you under the knife? Okay,
all right, Mike, You and I are up. The category
is keeping up. We need the first and last name
of the athletes.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (43:04):
These athletes all come from big sports families. Are you ready, Mike?

Speaker 3 (43:08):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (43:08):
All right, forty five seconds. Let's begin the star on
the Golden State Warriors right now. Yes, a star tight
end for the New England Patriots. He's retired now. Yes,
he is currently the quarterback at Texas. He's gonna be
a high draft pick.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (43:26):
This guy was the center slash power forward for the
Lakers with Kobe Bryanty from Spain. Yes, this guy was
the father of Roberto Roberto. Uh, he just passed.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
Away a few days ago. Yes, good job. This guy
is the father of Aaron, the manager for the Yankees.
Bob Boone, jeez, Brett Boone. No, all right, this guy
was an offensive lineman. It was Bob Boone. Okay, how
many points? Was oh boy? Alrightny? All right, Poppy? You

(44:07):
ready to go here?

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Poppy?

Speaker 3 (44:09):
All right? Forty five seconds. These athletes have all had
cosmic work.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Cosmetic cosmetic work done.

Speaker 3 (44:16):
Are you ready, Poppy? Yes, all right, run away and go.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Basketball player. He went to high school in Alaska. He
played at Duke. He was with the Lakers and the
Bulls and the Cavaliers. All right, boxer named the real deal.
Mike Tyson bit his ear off. Yes, white linebacker for
the Chicago Bears in the early two thousands. Yes, star

(44:43):
for the Heat, not Lebron, not Chris Bosh. Yes, primetime
defensive back coach at Colorado. Right, yes, let's see what
else did we have?

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Guard? What was this guy?

Speaker 1 (44:56):
We went to Yukon, I believe, played with the Hornets,
the Celtics.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Uh yeah, you got it rightes?

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Wow? Wrong? Wow? What was that? What are we at now?

Speaker 2 (45:09):
The lead?

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Yes? All right, Mike, no, Mike, do you want home
video or black book?

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Home video?

Speaker 3 (45:15):
All right? These athletes are all known to have a
sex tape.

Speaker 6 (45:18):
Forty five seconds on the clock.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
Love sex tapes? Go col begin all right. This guy
is a famous wrestler. He just died.

Speaker 6 (45:31):
No, no, he just died like most famous wrestler of
all time. Okay, yes, thank you. One of the best
tight ends of all time. He's on f S one
and ESPN. He was for the Broncos, the Ravens. No, okay,
this guy's second fiddle on the Nuggets, second fiddle on

(45:54):
the Nuggets.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
He's the second guy on the Nuggets. The shooting guard, Cooop.
We're out of time, Coop, you do not get enough points.
We win the game. Poppy, you won the game. We
won the game. We won the game. Cheater, No, you
had you went
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