January 9, 2020 • 35 mins
Big Ben calls Mike McCarthy a boring but understandable hire by the Cowboys. Ben calls the Rooney Rule an oxymoron and delivers his solution plus Gregg Popovich is unwilling to take ownership of "load management."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maller
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
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(00:23):
This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
Fox Sports Radio. So if you listen to sports talk radio,
you know generally how this stuff works. This time of
the year, we're in between NFL playoff weekends, and so
as we get closer to the end of the week,
we start looking more at the NFL playoff games. But
(00:45):
the coaching carousel goes round and round and round and
round and round and round and round and round and
round and round and round, and when it stops, it
doesn't really stop because then you have the introductory news conference,
which is always a fun thing because there's a lot
of I wish I could say the word I would
like to say a lot of very interesting things that
(01:07):
happened at these news conferences. Now, the Dallas Cowboys, who
everything's bigger in Texas. Right, it's one of the mottos
of some marketing firm years ago. But everything's bigger in Texas.
So Mike McCarthy, who I read last August, was on
a boat and imagine you'd go buy a boat in
McCarthy's laying out getting some sun there on the boat.
(01:28):
But I don't know, maybe he was, maybe it's fishing,
you know, maybe he's on a fisherman boat. I don't know.
But Mike McCarthy, the old Packers coach, they're introduced and
they went big. They went big in this one. And
we'll hear from Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy in a minute.
But there was a table set up at the practice
(01:50):
facility of the Cowboys, which is I think bigger than
several airports and medium sized cities in the United States.
And they went on and on and on, and it
was a lot of grab ass, a lot of grab ass,
a lot of Hey, you're great, No, you're great, No,
I love you, I love you more. It's like a
urinating contest where everyone's trying to one up each other. Right,
(02:11):
the spitting match is what it is. That's another way
to say it. Well, let's hear from Jerry Jones here,
and Jerry went on and on and on about Mike
McCarthy loves the resume. You get these jobs because of
the resume. Listen to Jerry talk about how excited he
is about McCarthy because of the experience. One of our
(02:32):
primary goals in selecting the head coach of the Dallas
Cowboys was to focus on a proven team build, and
Mike McCarthy we found a coach who not only check
those boxes, but also has the experience of taking an
NFL team to the biggest stage of the Souper Bowl. Yeah,
something I haven't been answer, so I had a different
(02:53):
faces what he went on to say. Yes, Hi know, Hey,
nothing wrong with classic surgery if you can afford it. Anyway,
here's more from Jerry Jones who points out, you know,
to talk about the hiring of McCarthy's whole things about
the hiring of McCarthy, and it talks about the setup
to get McCarthy to Dallas. Yes, we needed, we needed
(03:19):
a coach, but to have his availability to the coach
and to have his track record and ability to check
all the boxes that I just talked about was fortuitous
for this franchise. Yeah, that was the word of the day. Fortuitous.
Now is Jerry regularly use the word fortuitous or is
that a word that he went to the internet? And
(03:41):
it's like, well, I don't think Jerry uses the internet.
It's not a word you hear all the time, but
there it is, big headlines, Jerry Jones, State Run NFL
Media Jerry Jones calls McCarthy hiring fortuitous. It's a good word.
You know what a synonym of fortuitous is. You know,
we play password once a week. You should know your synonyms.
(04:01):
And the synonym for for tuitis is like unexpected and unanticipated,
another synonym unforeseen, Another one you could throw out there
for that word. All right, here's more from Jerry Jones,
and he points out even before he had Mike McCarthy
stayed at home, he says, I had a special, special
(04:23):
inkling when it comes to this coach. I knew Mike
McCarthy before he ever walked through these doors, and I
knew it from a lot of different directions. Stockhold that
while our time together initially talking about this job was meaningful,
so much more went into how and why he's sitting
(04:44):
at this table a day yeah, so much more. What
happened at that house? What happened and what kind of
I don't know if they consummated the relationship. I don't
know what happened there, but they are apparently together there
and I Mike McCarthy. It was really an odd visual.
We'll get to that coming up. Here's radio because you
(05:05):
can't really see anything. But I watched the I didn't
watch it live because I was trying to sleep, but
I didn't really sleep. But then I watched the YouTube
video and it was it was quite amusing. So Mike McCarthy,
now he's this big, chubby guy. He gets up there
and is a just a ball of motion is what
(05:26):
he Listen he breaks up within a few seconds. This
past year has been a year of reflection. My wife said,
I want Mica through ten words. I think I got
to about six. So he's either really excited to coach
the Cowboys. He's like, oh my god, I've just ruined
my career. I'm coaching the Dallas Cowboys. I'm gonna start
(05:48):
crying because I'll never get another job. After you make
the call. It's like those old NFL commercials. Mike McCarthy
was a ball of tears because he's excited, or he's like,
oh my god, I'm a prisoner. I'm a prisoner in
Jerry's jail, is what I am. I anyway, Yeah, here's
more from Mike McCarthy, and it's story time. Story Time
(06:09):
with Mike McCarthy. I didn't need to tell a story
about Saturday night when I was here on the interview.
Jerry's telling a story about the purchase of the Dallas Cowboys,
and at the end of the story he leans over
to me and he grabs him by the forearm and
reaches out to shake my hand. He says, and you
need to be the coach on the Dallas Cowboys. So
I jumped off and hogged him, and I'll stop right there.
(06:30):
We had a hell of a time. Wow, how much
alcohol did Jerry have that night? I love you, I
love you. So I'm guessing like Joe Namath, remember that
famous years ago. Look if you don't know, look it
up on YouTube. Joe Namath on a Monday night game
(06:51):
to the sideline reporter Susie Colber, I love you. I
want to kiss you. That sounds like Jerry Jones. All right,
so let's discuss the question what was your takeaway from
Mike McCarthy's Welcome to Big D. So I've got Andy Warhol, bond, bonds,
and office politics, and we will combine all these things together. Now, Hey,
(07:11):
this was a standard opening news conference with a little
extra pazzaz because it's the Cowboys. Jerry Jones knows how
to throw a party. As we said, he listed a
handful of reasons. We played some of the soundbites there.
He went on and on. He kept talking about how
wonderful this higher was. Command leadership of a team, experience, knowledge,
(07:34):
knows everybody in the NFL. He's got context everywhere, contacts
all over the place, natural instinct for the game. He
was really going on. And I need to point out
that Jerry Jones, and I was reminded of this when
I watched the news conference, is an artist. But much
like that famous quote from Andy Warhol, who taught us,
(07:55):
an artist is somebody who produces things that people don't
need to have. Jerry Jones case like cowboy football. But
he's not Michelangelo or van Gogh or rembrand No, he
is a BS artist. Remember, a BS artist is gonna
BS artist gonna serve up some fertilize. Jerry is the
(08:15):
propaganda minister of the Cowboys in addition to being the owner.
He's really good at Like, what did you expect him?
He expected that Jerry Jones was gonna get up at
the dais and say, man, Mike McCarthy didn't get along
with Aaron Rodgers. How do you not get along with
Aaron Rodgers your coach quarterback relationship? And let me tell
(08:36):
you something. He could eat one less cheeseburger a week,
all right, less on the cheeseburgers and fries. Now, Jerry,
come on, this is all about myth making, telling whimsical anecdotes,
urban legends. Jerry said he heard bells when hiring Mike
McCarthy said he heard bells. Again, I go back to
(08:58):
the previous comment. Kind of maybe he was in an
Astro's game, that's true. Maybe he was watching a. J. Hinch,
a manager of the Astros, or possibly Alex Coremames in
the Red Sox. But anyway, so yeah, he said he
heard bells. He painted Mike McCarthy as this mythical lumberjack
living in the woods is essentially what he did. Now
(09:19):
Part B here, Former coach Jason Garrett was a hot
topic of conversation at Mike McCarthy's big shindig, and it
was whispered though in hush tones, because Jerry Jones seemed
genuinely hurt that he had to fire Chason Garrett. And
reports say that there was a chance right up until
(09:42):
the weekend that the Cowboys would have kept Jason Garrett,
like if they had not gotten Mike McCarthy. That this is,
of course all hearsay, so take it with a grand saul.
But but that's not really breaking news. We had said
as much that Jerry did not want to get rid
of Jason Garrett. Jones also said he wanted a soft
landing for Jason Garrett, so he'll get him a bed
(10:04):
of pillows that he can fall on. And it's like
one of those it's not you, it's it's me type
of deals. So you know, somewhere Jason Garrett was eating
bond bonds, those ice cream bond bonds, and it was
a glass case of emotion all right, watching this. And
you know, although he is such a Jerry Jones sock puppet,
(10:26):
I'm guessing, knowing the pedigree of Jason Garrett, that while
watching the Mike McCarthy news conference, he broke out an
applause because the clapper is going to clap. That's what
the clapper does. And Jerry Jones told the media that
he got an unusual recommendation from Mike McCarthy. You want
to guess who recommended Mike McCarthy, Ding Ning Ning, Ning Ning,
(10:46):
Jason Garrett. Yeah, I think this guy would be good
to replace. I think he's pretty good. You think Jason's like, Hey,
I could be the offensive coordinator, you know, I mean,
I could keep my office and I'd be the offensive
coordinator and I'll get to see every day Jerry. We
can cuddle. No, all right, last word, So, now this
is a dangerous road. It's kind of like driving in
(11:09):
certain parts of Mexico where the cartels are dangerous, right,
not safe at all. I'm talking about for Dak Prescott
and Zeke Kelly because the popular opinion is that Jason
Garrett is the village idiot. He was the problem. He
was the one that was holding back the progression of
Dak Prescott and Zeke Kelley in terms of being winning
players and the team being a winning team. So Dallas,
(11:32):
everyone said that lee roster, they're loaded and they keep
having meltdowns and it's because of the clapper. It's the
Clapper's fall. Well, now, if they have a similar nosedive,
if that continues in twenty twenty hundred, Mike McCarthy's watch,
and they wet the bed again, Dallas, then you can
(11:53):
move the bull's eye to Jerry Jones, Dak Prescott and
Zeke Elliot say what about that? What about them? They
all have some explain to you. So Mike, Mike McCarthy,
they will if this goes the way it typically does
for Jerry Jones. And Mike McCarthy is a safe hire.
He's not a great hire. We said this the other day.
It is an unadventurous move. It's boring. Now, that's set
(12:19):
These coaching tenures. We often point out, they're like relationship.
There's that hunting moon phase. When you hire a new coach.
You're like, oh, he won a Super Bowl. Oh he's great.
Come on, he's in the playoffs every year. The fans
love him, the players are like, hey, that's pretty cool.
That's always before you play a game. Then you play
a game, and usually that continues for a season. Then
(12:40):
there's that comfort phase for a year or two, where
the buzz has kind of faded away, but you're still okay,
this guy's a good coach. We're happy about that. And
then at some point the relationship has run his course.
Now Mike McCarthy overstayed his welcome at lambeau Field, and
he won't have to worry about that, Jerry, because all
(13:03):
of this is inside. It's just irrelevant in the standpoint
that you've got office politics. Jerry Jones is picking the players.
Jerry Jones has been and will be the overlord of
all things Cowboys. I would do the same thing. You
would do the same thing if you owned an NFL team,
(13:25):
You absolutely would. So Jerry's not gonna change. You think
he's gonna change, No, no, no, no, no no. He
is going to continue to be a back seat driver
while sitting in the front Seat's odd how that works.
But he's got the same issues are going to continue
around the Cowboys. Now, maybe they'll win anyway, Now it
(13:47):
is possible. I can't win because Jerry Jones is a
meddling owner. And plenty of teams that have had meddling
owners that have won championships in every sport. So that's
an excuse that's a rationalization, but even win with a
meddling owner. So on a positive note, though Mike McCarthy
is another fat NFL coach, we need more fat coaches
(14:10):
in the NFL. We've got Matt Patricia, Andy Reid, and
now McCarthy is back in the mix. How great is
it if you own a barbecue restaurant in Dallas or
a steakhouse in Dallas. This guy, let me tell you something,
Mimber Arlington, where the cowboys are. Because Mike McCarthy was
gonna He's gonna help your business, is what he's gonna do.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
(14:30):
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. So we begin
to new this hour, and an old reliable topic of
conversation on sports radio has popped up in recent days.
The Cleveland Browns are the only team left with a
(14:51):
coaching job available unless someone else gets fired because of
a terrible decision in the playoff game. The Browns are
at party of one. They are flying solough. They're a
one man band. So when looking at the recent hires
from teams like the Giants, the Cowboys of the Carolina Panthers.
Apparently they are too white for some people's taste. The
(15:13):
people are getting very upset about this. The Fritz Paullard Alliance,
a special interest group. The executive director Rod Graves, told
The New York Times that this kind of progress, or
lack of it, is shameful. Said, it's shameful for the
NFL that apparently, I don't really did not agree with McCarthy.
Was the upset with Joe Judge? Is he not a
(15:35):
fan of the old Baylor coach there with the Panthers.
But he said the word shameful. The NFL's own vice
president of Football Ops, Troy Vincent, agreed. He said, when
you look at the demographics, it's embarrassing. I don't know
what demographics he's looking at. Marvin Lewis chimed in on this.
He talked about the Rooney role after the Cowboys interviewed him,
(15:56):
and he said, quote, nobody is going to tell them
meeting the owners who to hire close quote. And a
lot of this gets back to some that believe there
should be a quota, that the NFL needs to have
a quota system for coaches. So I want to talk
about that. Does the NFL need to put in a
quota system on who gets hired and who doesn't get it? No,
(16:18):
of course, not silly. Now I've got the oxy moron,
the hornets, nast and the elevator pitch, and we will
lock all these things together. Not number one, it's very important.
Number one. Always shot with number one. The NFL was
the whole Rooney rule. We've ranted about this, and I
(16:40):
know we're beating a dead horse at this point, we're
flogging a dead horse. But the NFL was rather foolish
when they put the Rooney rule in in the first place. Now,
the PC police in NFL circles, they tossed out a
juicy piece of steak to those special interest groups. Now
every coaching search, every year we get a report card
(17:03):
when it concludes, it's not over yet. The Browns is
still there, but for all intensive purposes. The most of
the heavy lifting has been done. And when these coaching
searches end, the coaching carol cell comes to a stop,
they do inventory. Right, they go down how many minority
coaches were hired? Right? And so here we are again,
(17:24):
we're at that moment. They're at the crossroads. And we
have preached about this for many, many years. But the
Rooney rule is an oxymoron. It was in place and
it's been in place because they want equality. But the
Rooney rule, when you think about it, is actually a
racist rule because, and I'll tell you why, it openly
demands that candidates be judged on their race. Right, you
(17:50):
have to interview a minority candidate based on your race.
That's the Rooney rule. That's how it works. Spat all
the way around. Now we got to deal with reality, right,
and we talked about the word, the term social engineering
and all that. Now, theoretically, the people behind what I
believe is a fughasi rule, they mean well right, they
(18:11):
mean well, I think they're just misguided here. And my
position has been diversity quotas in any business, whether it's
the NFL anything else, don't work. They create a token
situation for candidates there and they're hand picked as a
prop essentially because these companies are forced, in this case,
the NFL, forced to check a box. It doesn't fix anything, right,
(18:35):
I mean, who wants to cut in line and get
a job or interview for a job where the people
that are looking to hire you don't want to. They
want to hire you. The Bengals retain Marvin Lewis as
their head coach for I think it was like fifteen
or sixteen years. Marvin Lewis was the coach in Cincinnati.
Never won a playoff game, never won a playoff game.
(18:55):
And Marvin had some good defensive teams and had teams
that made the playoffs and whatnot. And he interviewed for
the cowboy job. He knew going in he probably wasn't
going to get the cowboy job, but he interviewed for
the cowboy job. Down the second thing, the big issue
with the NFL and this master plan is the fact
that you're opening up a hornet's nest. And others have
referenced this, but I want to go back to the
(19:17):
quote that just came out from the NFL's VP of
Football Ops, Troy Vincent, who says, when you look at
the demographics, it's embarrassing. See, the problem is he doesn't
know the demographics, because if you actually look at the
demographics the NFL, you might not like to hear this,
but if you go by the demographics of the breakdown
in the United States, based on each group of people,
(19:40):
the NFL's actually within the margin of error. Okay, they're
within the margin of error where they should be. Now,
the NFL on the field, it's about seventy percent or
something like that. The players are black, but in the
US population about twelve percent, about twelve percent in the NFL.
There are by the way, there's six million more women
than men in the United States. But I don't see
(20:02):
any women playing in the NFL. Even bad job by them.
I don't see a lot of Asian dudes in the
NFL either. It's bad job by the NF. Racist. Got
to get a rule in the Mexicans. Yeah, I don't
see a lot of Hispanics in the NFL. Why not?
But Roberto you should or Mexican you should file a
protest kind of Listen, the NFL currently has four minority coaches,
(20:26):
who apparently is not enough. That's twelve point five percent
of the NFL. Ron Rivera becoming the ways. You've got
Mike Tomlin and Anthony Winn who are African American. Now,
Brian Flores is called African American, but he's his family
is from Honduras racist, so is he Honduras American? That
doesn't sound as good right, doesn't flow as well. It's
but his parents came from Honduras, so he's gotta see
(20:49):
a last name as mean. But isn't that like our
friend Cowboy and Windsor says he's he's African Canadian, he's
Hondoras American Yang, So is it Honduras American or I'm not.
I don't know how that all? Like who comes up
with those those terms? Do you know the person? Can
I talk to them so I can figure. I want
to get it right. But like anyway, so the NFL
(21:09):
put this rule in place to level the playing field,
to enforce, to enforce. Quote if the NFL did this,
shouts do the Hypothetically the NFL did this, how would
that look? Right now? They would never do it, nor
should they do it. They shouldn't do it. You know,
I'm talking about on the field where you have to
have you know, certain percentage of Asian players, certain percentage
(21:31):
of Mexican players, black players, that would actually do damage
because again the NFL's but seventy percent or so the
players are African, American or from other kind whatever. But
that that's the point. So here's the way I look
at this. Now, Maybe I'm living in a bubble. But
for the most part, here's how I always thought of sports,
(21:51):
that sports are supposed to be a meritocracy, that you
are chosen based on your raw talent. And it's the
old Vince Lombardi quote that meaning isn't everything, it's the
only thing and the final. Now, that's some people that
go around to think everyone's racist and everyone's out to
get everyone. I hope that's not the case. But to
each their own, there's some people that believe everyone's out
(22:13):
to get them and that the you know, the world's
filled with a bunch of evil people and all that.
And that's one way to live your life. And for
a lot of people, that's how they live in life.
And there's other ways to live your life as well.
For those cranking up the outrage armies, singing and blowing
into the bugle outrage army and all that stuff about
the Rooney rule and this spin of the coaching carousel, racist, Yeah,
(22:35):
I would say, stop beating around the bush, because really,
you by saying that the NFL hired too many white coaches,
you're saying that NFL owners are racist. Just call them racist,
because when you you're dancing around and using all these
other vague terms and all that stuff. Just say it,
just yell it from the top of the mountain that
(22:55):
you think the people that own NFL teams are racist? Now,
I know they've been racist people that have owned NFL
teams over there, But which owners currently are racist? What
about Bob McNair, he's dead. Go ahead, next, go ahead,
give me the list of the racist owners in the NFL.
Is Jerry Jones racist because he hired a fat white
guy Mike McCarthy. Are the Giants who've got some very
(23:18):
woke owners there? Are they racist because they hired some
guy named Joe Judge who we've never heard of, you know?
And people are saying Eric Biannimy should have been a
head coach. He's the Chiefs offensive coordinator. But here's the thing.
Doesn't Andy Reid run the Chiefs offense? I mean, that's
you know, that's a tough thing. But and the other
(23:40):
part of this is, I would think if you own
an NFL team, you're you're hiring a coach. You want
someone who's going to relate to all the players. But
since the NFL is again about seventy percent African American,
most of the players are black. You would think if
you could find a candidate that is African American who
can relate the players, boy, this would be amazing. This
would be great qualified candidate. But the big problem with
(24:02):
the whole interview president, the Rooney rule is not the answer.
So I have a solution. I'm an answers guy. I'm
a solutions guy. I'm a one man think tank in
the middle of the night when everyone's sleeping. So the
Rooney rule is not the answer. My theory is, instead
of trying to manage coaching search outcomes, which is what
the NFL is trying to do, focus on, you know,
(24:24):
not focus on don't do quotas. The NFL needs to
target why there are not more candidates assistant coaches that
are working their way up, that are qualified, that would
get a job, that are able to pull it off.
If you get more of those candidates, then I think
it's a self fulfilling prophecy where by having more qualified
(24:45):
assistant coaches who are black, you are then going to
have more of a chance of them becoming head coach
if that is your stated goal and desire and all
of that. Ultimately, unless teams are taken to court. The
NFL is taken to court and they're four to hire
a certain number of this and that and the whole thing.
Then it really comes down to when you get an opportunity,
(25:08):
and right now, because the Rooney rules, certain people are
given opportunities and whatnot. But it comes down to when
you meet with the owner of the team, you have
to be a schmoozer. You have to kiss ass, you
have to win the elevator pitch. Right there's that elevator
pitch that takes place there when you go face to it,
you have to sell yourself. Mike McCarthy admitity lied. We
(25:31):
played that summon. Mike McCarthy's I said, I watched every
single Dallas Cowboy play. No he didn't. Pinocchio, you didn't
watch every single Dallas Cowboy play. You're a liar, but
it helped him get the job. Now, the way it works,
when you own the business, you can hire whoever you want.
That's part of the other issue involved with the NFL.
(25:52):
But this will continue to be like the Swallows returning
to Capistrano and Punkstani phil a tradition every year with
the coaching carousel. And I know why if you're a
New York Times writer, and you call the Fritz Pollard Alliance,
which is a special interest group that gives report cards
on racial hires. What did you expect them to say? Well,
(26:13):
I mean, it's kind of a people call the media
fakeing on. But you know, it's kind of like when
you ask someone a question, but you know the answer
before you ask them the question. You know what I'm saying. Like,
there's certain people that pop up on these TV news
shows where you know their position and you're like, well,
I know if I ask him this question or that's
(26:33):
I know what they're gonna say. So it's like, well,
I didn't tell them what to say, but I know
what their thoughts are, and that's how that's gonna work.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. So
the discussion on the influenza like outbreak of load management continues.
(26:54):
Greg Popovitch, the San Antonio Spurs Czar was asked about
the bonic plague of the NBA. Did you hear what
he had to say? He said it just before San
Antonio somehow beat the Boston Celtics at the garden and
who knew that was going to happen. That was a possibility.
The Spurs are under five hundred. The Celtics have this big,
(27:15):
impressive record. But anyway, so if you didn't hear what
Popovitch had to say, Popovitch amazingly pushed back on the
thought that he was the originator of what is known
now as modern load management in the NBA. He spoke
before that game in Boston. Popovich seemingly with a straight face,
said I never did load and management. I never took
(27:38):
out He says, he never took out a sheet of
paper and said he's going to do this. He's going
to do that. Pop opined on the topic, So let's
discuss the question, what do you make of Greg Popovitch
being unwilling to take ownership of the disease of load management.
(27:59):
So I've got Google, toothpaste, and the Grifter, and we
will combine all these things together and we will make
some text. Mex is what we're gonna make. Now, I'm
not a big text mex don't like. Yeah, you like
the original, not the rip off version. So now, first
of all, Greg Popovitch, he seems like someone who's selling
(28:21):
you fertilizer, right. He seems like a fertilizer salesman. He's
got this gruff persona, which isn't as much fun right
now because the Spurs are a losing team serving up
dog food most nights. Yeah, I know they beat the Celtics. Yeah,
but yeah it yeah, but but it's amusing that Greg
Popovich would not want to own this. He's the one
(28:45):
that put it on the map. He's trying now to
use some revisionist history. And I love the fact that
a Boston media guy asked Greg Popovitch to his face,
said that he was the godfather of load management. It
was a pathetic performance. How precious is that we we
I've tried to find the audio. I looked around. I
(29:07):
could not find the audio of this. I only saw
the written transcript of Popovitch's pregame interview for San Antonio there,
and I'd love to get a copy of it. So
the guy asked Popovitch, he said, you're the godfather load management?
Was something like, how do you feel about this? We
have been preaching from our little bully pulpit here at
Fox Sports Radio about Greg Popovitch and load management and
(29:29):
he being the forefather of load management and all this stuff.
This guy, this guy's got to be I don't know
who this person is, but they've got to be like
a closeted Mallard Militia listener, right, I mean, whoever asked
that question has to be somebody that's a listener to
our show. Now, how did Popovitch respond? He chuckled, He laughed?
Now was it a laugh of guild? Inquiring minds would
(29:51):
like to know. Now, clearly Greg Popovich is he's living
in a parallel dimension if he really leaves his or
he he simply does not understand how modern communication operates.
Meeting Just google it right, type in any search engine
load management and Greg Popovitch's name is gonna pop up
(30:13):
in those returns. Now, why is that all? Right? Second
thing here, let's sake go, yeah, we're Google. So let's
take a trip back in the hot tub time machine
to the year twenty twelve, A little before I was
alive in twenty twelve. But in the year twenty twelve,
Greg Popovich famously rested Tim duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli,
(30:34):
and Danny Green. These spurs were in Florida. They were
going to Orlando Miami matchup, and you know, flying from
Orlando to Miami, except the Spurs players flew back to
San Antonio on a Southwest Airlines flight. The problem that
they would have gotten away with it if it hadn't
been a TNT game that in Miami it was a
(30:55):
big Lebron and the Heat versus the Spurs, So duncan Park,
Genoble and Green took a Southwest Airlines flight home to
Orlando the night before the game. When then Commissioner David
Stern found out about this, he went ballistic. Stern went
nuts right. He had the foresight the leadership to realize
(31:16):
what a disaster this load management was going to be
to the business of the NFL, so he tried to
put the kabash on it, apologized to NBA fans, said
this was unacceptable. The Spurs were fined a ton of money.
I think it was like two hundred fifty thousand dollars
in fines over all. This. In addition, the godfather of
load management, which is Greg Popovich, we gave him the
(31:38):
nickname Typhoid Mary because he's denials do not change the
reality of what happened. He thought he was doing the
right thing, sending home Duncan Parker, Genoble and Green on
that Southwest Airlines fight flight. But he thought he was
doing the right thing. Everyone thought the same thing at
the time. People around the spurs. Everything seemed kosher. And yet,
(32:01):
and yet Greg Popovich caused this infestation. If you will,
to become the new normal. And again, even though David
Stern tried to rein in teams, he failed. And it's
a reminder that you can't put the toothpaste back in
the tube. You can't do it. You put some of
(32:23):
the toothpaste back in the tube, but you can't put
all of it back in the tube, because that's not how.
And don't send me those YouTube videos of people cutting
open tubes of toothpaste. That's cheating, that's not okay. Don't
do that. I don't need to see that. I've seen
enough of those over the years. It's a good expression,
and I like the expression, so I'm going to continue
to use the expression. This is an issue and the
(32:45):
reason it's an issue, and Adam Silver is too dumb.
Apparently he's a dummy. He doesn't figure this out. If
you go to an NBA game, then most people don't
go to NBA against we go to an NBA game
or any kind of a sporting event, you buy a
ticket to see the stars. The NBA markets the stars,
but there's no guarantee when you go to an NBA
game that the players are going to play. Now, we
(33:07):
accept when people get hurt in sports, that's okay, it's
part of the game, right, Players get hurt all the time.
No one is perfect in the health department. But when
these guys are healthy and you still don't play, and
what is that? It's it's absurd. And the NBA needs
(33:27):
to get back to the code of the West and
stop trying to use all this other fugaysy nonsense with
these Mama Lukes. It is supposed to be a war
of attrition and Jerry rigging the schedule and all these
things that these guys are doing. Come on, all right?
The final thought, so Greg Popovich, even when as far
(33:48):
as to call out other NBA teams, other coaches for
what's going on today with load management quote, it's become
kind of silly, Popovich said of the load management virus
it's making its way around the NFL. Says, I didn't
(34:08):
do any kind of load management Popovich said, if there's
credit in that, I don't deserve it. If there's the opposite,
I don't deserve that either. He said, I did it
because I wanted those guys to have a longer career. Well,
isn't that admitting that you did it? I mean, hello, hypocrite,
talking out of both sides of your mouth, Greg Popovitch.
(34:32):
My grandfather and my mother, if they were alive here
and I told them about this, they would say, Greg
Popovitch has so much hutzpah, so much hutzpah for this,
My goodness, what a mensch. He sounds like a scam
artist to me, like a classic drifter. Right. Popovitch, dying
with the Devil of load management, claimed it was just
a harmless meal, there was nothing to it. Well, depending
(34:56):
on the daily Here's the other thing about Popovitch, depending
on his move in the day of the week. Greg
Popovitch's answers changed like a kaleidoscope. Back in November. I
looked it up. In November, Popovich opined, load management is
whatever you want load management to be. Everyone does it
to some degree. Close quote. That's the everybody's doing it defense.
(35:19):
We talked about that with the Red Sox and the Astros.
So if the crown fits, you should wear it. This
is part of the legacy of Greg Popovich and so
rather than tap dance around it, you should own it.
You should own it. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
(35:40):
shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio
app search FSR to listen live.
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maller
Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every week
night from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your
local station for the Ben Mallers Show at Fox Sports
Radio dot com. You can find it there or stream
us live every night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
(00:23):
This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
Fox Sports Radio. So if you listen to sports talk radio,
you know generally how this stuff works. This time of
the year, we're in between NFL playoff weekends, and so
as we get closer to the end of the week,
we start looking more at the NFL playoff games. But
(00:45):
the coaching carousel goes round and round and round and
round and round and round and round and round and
round and round and round, and when it stops, it
doesn't really stop because then you have the introductory news conference,
which is always a fun thing because there's a lot
of I wish I could say the word I would
like to say a lot of very interesting things that
(01:07):
happened at these news conferences. Now, the Dallas Cowboys, who
everything's bigger in Texas. Right, it's one of the mottos
of some marketing firm years ago. But everything's bigger in Texas.
So Mike McCarthy, who I read last August, was on
a boat and imagine you'd go buy a boat in
McCarthy's laying out getting some sun there on the boat.
(01:28):
But I don't know, maybe he was, maybe it's fishing,
you know, maybe he's on a fisherman boat. I don't know.
But Mike McCarthy, the old Packers coach, they're introduced and
they went big. They went big in this one. And
we'll hear from Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy in a minute.
But there was a table set up at the practice
(01:50):
facility of the Cowboys, which is I think bigger than
several airports and medium sized cities in the United States.
And they went on and on and on, and it
was a lot of grab ass, a lot of grab ass,
a lot of Hey, you're great, No, you're great, No,
I love you, I love you more. It's like a
urinating contest where everyone's trying to one up each other. Right,
(02:11):
the spitting match is what it is. That's another way
to say it. Well, let's hear from Jerry Jones here,
and Jerry went on and on and on about Mike
McCarthy loves the resume. You get these jobs because of
the resume. Listen to Jerry talk about how excited he
is about McCarthy because of the experience. One of our
(02:32):
primary goals in selecting the head coach of the Dallas
Cowboys was to focus on a proven team build, and
Mike McCarthy we found a coach who not only check
those boxes, but also has the experience of taking an
NFL team to the biggest stage of the Souper Bowl. Yeah,
something I haven't been answer, so I had a different
(02:53):
faces what he went on to say. Yes, Hi know, Hey,
nothing wrong with classic surgery if you can afford it. Anyway,
here's more from Jerry Jones who points out, you know,
to talk about the hiring of McCarthy's whole things about
the hiring of McCarthy, and it talks about the setup
to get McCarthy to Dallas. Yes, we needed, we needed
(03:19):
a coach, but to have his availability to the coach
and to have his track record and ability to check
all the boxes that I just talked about was fortuitous
for this franchise. Yeah, that was the word of the day. Fortuitous.
Now is Jerry regularly use the word fortuitous or is
that a word that he went to the internet? And
(03:41):
it's like, well, I don't think Jerry uses the internet.
It's not a word you hear all the time, but
there it is, big headlines, Jerry Jones, State Run NFL
Media Jerry Jones calls McCarthy hiring fortuitous. It's a good word.
You know what a synonym of fortuitous is. You know,
we play password once a week. You should know your synonyms.
(04:01):
And the synonym for for tuitis is like unexpected and unanticipated,
another synonym unforeseen, Another one you could throw out there
for that word. All right, here's more from Jerry Jones,
and he points out even before he had Mike McCarthy
stayed at home, he says, I had a special, special
(04:23):
inkling when it comes to this coach. I knew Mike
McCarthy before he ever walked through these doors, and I
knew it from a lot of different directions. Stockhold that
while our time together initially talking about this job was meaningful,
so much more went into how and why he's sitting
(04:44):
at this table a day yeah, so much more. What
happened at that house? What happened and what kind of
I don't know if they consummated the relationship. I don't
know what happened there, but they are apparently together there
and I Mike McCarthy. It was really an odd visual.
We'll get to that coming up. Here's radio because you
(05:05):
can't really see anything. But I watched the I didn't
watch it live because I was trying to sleep, but
I didn't really sleep. But then I watched the YouTube
video and it was it was quite amusing. So Mike McCarthy,
now he's this big, chubby guy. He gets up there
and is a just a ball of motion is what
(05:26):
he Listen he breaks up within a few seconds. This
past year has been a year of reflection. My wife said,
I want Mica through ten words. I think I got
to about six. So he's either really excited to coach
the Cowboys. He's like, oh my god, I've just ruined
my career. I'm coaching the Dallas Cowboys. I'm gonna start
(05:48):
crying because I'll never get another job. After you make
the call. It's like those old NFL commercials. Mike McCarthy
was a ball of tears because he's excited, or he's like,
oh my god, I'm a prisoner. I'm a prisoner in
Jerry's jail, is what I am. I anyway, Yeah, here's
more from Mike McCarthy, and it's story time. Story Time
(06:09):
with Mike McCarthy. I didn't need to tell a story
about Saturday night when I was here on the interview.
Jerry's telling a story about the purchase of the Dallas Cowboys,
and at the end of the story he leans over
to me and he grabs him by the forearm and
reaches out to shake my hand. He says, and you
need to be the coach on the Dallas Cowboys. So
I jumped off and hogged him, and I'll stop right there.
(06:30):
We had a hell of a time. Wow, how much
alcohol did Jerry have that night? I love you, I
love you. So I'm guessing like Joe Namath, remember that
famous years ago. Look if you don't know, look it
up on YouTube. Joe Namath on a Monday night game
(06:51):
to the sideline reporter Susie Colber, I love you. I
want to kiss you. That sounds like Jerry Jones. All right,
so let's discuss the question what was your takeaway from
Mike McCarthy's Welcome to Big D. So I've got Andy Warhol, bond, bonds,
and office politics, and we will combine all these things together. Now, Hey,
(07:11):
this was a standard opening news conference with a little
extra pazzaz because it's the Cowboys. Jerry Jones knows how
to throw a party. As we said, he listed a
handful of reasons. We played some of the soundbites there.
He went on and on. He kept talking about how
wonderful this higher was. Command leadership of a team, experience, knowledge,
(07:34):
knows everybody in the NFL. He's got context everywhere, contacts
all over the place, natural instinct for the game. He
was really going on. And I need to point out
that Jerry Jones, and I was reminded of this when
I watched the news conference, is an artist. But much
like that famous quote from Andy Warhol, who taught us,
(07:55):
an artist is somebody who produces things that people don't
need to have. Jerry Jones case like cowboy football. But
he's not Michelangelo or van Gogh or rembrand No, he
is a BS artist. Remember, a BS artist is gonna
BS artist gonna serve up some fertilize. Jerry is the
(08:15):
propaganda minister of the Cowboys in addition to being the owner.
He's really good at Like, what did you expect him?
He expected that Jerry Jones was gonna get up at
the dais and say, man, Mike McCarthy didn't get along
with Aaron Rodgers. How do you not get along with
Aaron Rodgers your coach quarterback relationship? And let me tell
(08:36):
you something. He could eat one less cheeseburger a week,
all right, less on the cheeseburgers and fries. Now, Jerry,
come on, this is all about myth making, telling whimsical anecdotes,
urban legends. Jerry said he heard bells when hiring Mike
McCarthy said he heard bells. Again, I go back to
(08:58):
the previous comment. Kind of maybe he was in an
Astro's game, that's true. Maybe he was watching a. J. Hinch,
a manager of the Astros, or possibly Alex Coremames in
the Red Sox. But anyway, so yeah, he said he
heard bells. He painted Mike McCarthy as this mythical lumberjack
living in the woods is essentially what he did. Now
(09:19):
Part B here, Former coach Jason Garrett was a hot
topic of conversation at Mike McCarthy's big shindig, and it
was whispered though in hush tones, because Jerry Jones seemed
genuinely hurt that he had to fire Chason Garrett. And
reports say that there was a chance right up until
(09:42):
the weekend that the Cowboys would have kept Jason Garrett,
like if they had not gotten Mike McCarthy. That this is,
of course all hearsay, so take it with a grand saul.
But but that's not really breaking news. We had said
as much that Jerry did not want to get rid
of Jason Garrett. Jones also said he wanted a soft
landing for Jason Garrett, so he'll get him a bed
(10:04):
of pillows that he can fall on. And it's like
one of those it's not you, it's it's me type
of deals. So you know, somewhere Jason Garrett was eating
bond bonds, those ice cream bond bonds, and it was
a glass case of emotion all right, watching this. And
you know, although he is such a Jerry Jones sock puppet,
(10:26):
I'm guessing, knowing the pedigree of Jason Garrett, that while
watching the Mike McCarthy news conference, he broke out an
applause because the clapper is going to clap. That's what
the clapper does. And Jerry Jones told the media that
he got an unusual recommendation from Mike McCarthy. You want
to guess who recommended Mike McCarthy, Ding Ning Ning, Ning Ning,
(10:46):
Jason Garrett. Yeah, I think this guy would be good
to replace. I think he's pretty good. You think Jason's like, Hey,
I could be the offensive coordinator, you know, I mean,
I could keep my office and I'd be the offensive
coordinator and I'll get to see every day Jerry. We
can cuddle. No, all right, last word, So, now this
is a dangerous road. It's kind of like driving in
(11:09):
certain parts of Mexico where the cartels are dangerous, right,
not safe at all. I'm talking about for Dak Prescott
and Zeke Kelly because the popular opinion is that Jason
Garrett is the village idiot. He was the problem. He
was the one that was holding back the progression of
Dak Prescott and Zeke Kelley in terms of being winning
players and the team being a winning team. So Dallas,
(11:32):
everyone said that lee roster, they're loaded and they keep
having meltdowns and it's because of the clapper. It's the
Clapper's fall. Well, now, if they have a similar nosedive,
if that continues in twenty twenty hundred, Mike McCarthy's watch,
and they wet the bed again, Dallas, then you can
(11:53):
move the bull's eye to Jerry Jones, Dak Prescott and
Zeke Elliot say what about that? What about them? They
all have some explain to you. So Mike, Mike McCarthy,
they will if this goes the way it typically does
for Jerry Jones. And Mike McCarthy is a safe hire.
He's not a great hire. We said this the other day.
It is an unadventurous move. It's boring. Now, that's set
(12:19):
These coaching tenures. We often point out, they're like relationship.
There's that hunting moon phase. When you hire a new coach.
You're like, oh, he won a Super Bowl. Oh he's great.
Come on, he's in the playoffs every year. The fans
love him, the players are like, hey, that's pretty cool.
That's always before you play a game. Then you play
a game, and usually that continues for a season. Then
(12:40):
there's that comfort phase for a year or two, where
the buzz has kind of faded away, but you're still okay,
this guy's a good coach. We're happy about that. And
then at some point the relationship has run his course.
Now Mike McCarthy overstayed his welcome at lambeau Field, and
he won't have to worry about that, Jerry, because all
(13:03):
of this is inside. It's just irrelevant in the standpoint
that you've got office politics. Jerry Jones is picking the players.
Jerry Jones has been and will be the overlord of
all things Cowboys. I would do the same thing. You
would do the same thing if you owned an NFL team,
(13:25):
You absolutely would. So Jerry's not gonna change. You think
he's gonna change, No, no, no, no, no no. He
is going to continue to be a back seat driver
while sitting in the front Seat's odd how that works.
But he's got the same issues are going to continue
around the Cowboys. Now, maybe they'll win anyway, Now it
(13:47):
is possible. I can't win because Jerry Jones is a
meddling owner. And plenty of teams that have had meddling
owners that have won championships in every sport. So that's
an excuse that's a rationalization, but even win with a
meddling owner. So on a positive note, though Mike McCarthy
is another fat NFL coach, we need more fat coaches
(14:10):
in the NFL. We've got Matt Patricia, Andy Reid, and
now McCarthy is back in the mix. How great is
it if you own a barbecue restaurant in Dallas or
a steakhouse in Dallas. This guy, let me tell you something,
Mimber Arlington, where the cowboys are. Because Mike McCarthy was
gonna He's gonna help your business, is what he's gonna do.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
(14:30):
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. So we begin
to new this hour, and an old reliable topic of
conversation on sports radio has popped up in recent days.
The Cleveland Browns are the only team left with a
(14:51):
coaching job available unless someone else gets fired because of
a terrible decision in the playoff game. The Browns are
at party of one. They are flying solough. They're a
one man band. So when looking at the recent hires
from teams like the Giants, the Cowboys of the Carolina Panthers.
Apparently they are too white for some people's taste. The
(15:13):
people are getting very upset about this. The Fritz Paullard Alliance,
a special interest group. The executive director Rod Graves, told
The New York Times that this kind of progress, or
lack of it, is shameful. Said, it's shameful for the
NFL that apparently, I don't really did not agree with McCarthy.
Was the upset with Joe Judge? Is he not a
(15:35):
fan of the old Baylor coach there with the Panthers.
But he said the word shameful. The NFL's own vice
president of Football Ops, Troy Vincent, agreed. He said, when
you look at the demographics, it's embarrassing. I don't know
what demographics he's looking at. Marvin Lewis chimed in on this.
He talked about the Rooney role after the Cowboys interviewed him,
(15:56):
and he said, quote, nobody is going to tell them
meeting the owners who to hire close quote. And a
lot of this gets back to some that believe there
should be a quota, that the NFL needs to have
a quota system for coaches. So I want to talk
about that. Does the NFL need to put in a
quota system on who gets hired and who doesn't get it? No,
(16:18):
of course, not silly. Now I've got the oxy moron,
the hornets, nast and the elevator pitch, and we will
lock all these things together. Not number one, it's very important.
Number one. Always shot with number one. The NFL was
the whole Rooney rule. We've ranted about this, and I
(16:40):
know we're beating a dead horse at this point, we're
flogging a dead horse. But the NFL was rather foolish
when they put the Rooney rule in in the first place. Now,
the PC police in NFL circles, they tossed out a
juicy piece of steak to those special interest groups. Now
every coaching search, every year we get a report card
(17:03):
when it concludes, it's not over yet. The Browns is
still there, but for all intensive purposes. The most of
the heavy lifting has been done. And when these coaching
searches end, the coaching carol cell comes to a stop,
they do inventory. Right, they go down how many minority
coaches were hired? Right? And so here we are again,
(17:24):
we're at that moment. They're at the crossroads. And we
have preached about this for many, many years. But the
Rooney rule is an oxymoron. It was in place and
it's been in place because they want equality. But the
Rooney rule, when you think about it, is actually a
racist rule because, and I'll tell you why, it openly
demands that candidates be judged on their race. Right, you
(17:50):
have to interview a minority candidate based on your race.
That's the Rooney rule. That's how it works. Spat all
the way around. Now we got to deal with reality, right,
and we talked about the word, the term social engineering
and all that. Now, theoretically, the people behind what I
believe is a fughasi rule, they mean well right, they
(18:11):
mean well, I think they're just misguided here. And my
position has been diversity quotas in any business, whether it's
the NFL anything else, don't work. They create a token
situation for candidates there and they're hand picked as a
prop essentially because these companies are forced, in this case,
the NFL, forced to check a box. It doesn't fix anything, right,
(18:35):
I mean, who wants to cut in line and get
a job or interview for a job where the people
that are looking to hire you don't want to. They
want to hire you. The Bengals retain Marvin Lewis as
their head coach for I think it was like fifteen
or sixteen years. Marvin Lewis was the coach in Cincinnati.
Never won a playoff game, never won a playoff game.
(18:55):
And Marvin had some good defensive teams and had teams
that made the playoffs and whatnot. And he interviewed for
the cowboy job. He knew going in he probably wasn't
going to get the cowboy job, but he interviewed for
the cowboy job. Down the second thing, the big issue
with the NFL and this master plan is the fact
that you're opening up a hornet's nest. And others have
referenced this, but I want to go back to the
(19:17):
quote that just came out from the NFL's VP of
Football Ops, Troy Vincent, who says, when you look at
the demographics, it's embarrassing. See, the problem is he doesn't
know the demographics, because if you actually look at the
demographics the NFL, you might not like to hear this,
but if you go by the demographics of the breakdown
in the United States, based on each group of people,
(19:40):
the NFL's actually within the margin of error. Okay, they're
within the margin of error where they should be. Now,
the NFL on the field, it's about seventy percent or
something like that. The players are black, but in the
US population about twelve percent, about twelve percent in the NFL.
There are by the way, there's six million more women
than men in the United States. But I don't see
(20:02):
any women playing in the NFL. Even bad job by them.
I don't see a lot of Asian dudes in the
NFL either. It's bad job by the NF. Racist. Got
to get a rule in the Mexicans. Yeah, I don't
see a lot of Hispanics in the NFL. Why not?
But Roberto you should or Mexican you should file a
protest kind of Listen, the NFL currently has four minority coaches,
(20:26):
who apparently is not enough. That's twelve point five percent
of the NFL. Ron Rivera becoming the ways. You've got
Mike Tomlin and Anthony Winn who are African American. Now,
Brian Flores is called African American, but he's his family
is from Honduras racist, so is he Honduras American? That
doesn't sound as good right, doesn't flow as well. It's
but his parents came from Honduras, so he's gotta see
(20:49):
a last name as mean. But isn't that like our
friend Cowboy and Windsor says he's he's African Canadian, he's
Hondoras American Yang, So is it Honduras American or I'm not.
I don't know how that all? Like who comes up
with those those terms? Do you know the person? Can
I talk to them so I can figure. I want
to get it right. But like anyway, so the NFL
(21:09):
put this rule in place to level the playing field,
to enforce, to enforce. Quote if the NFL did this,
shouts do the Hypothetically the NFL did this, how would
that look? Right now? They would never do it, nor
should they do it. They shouldn't do it. You know,
I'm talking about on the field where you have to
have you know, certain percentage of Asian players, certain percentage
(21:31):
of Mexican players, black players, that would actually do damage
because again the NFL's but seventy percent or so the
players are African, American or from other kind whatever. But
that that's the point. So here's the way I look
at this. Now, Maybe I'm living in a bubble. But
for the most part, here's how I always thought of sports,
(21:51):
that sports are supposed to be a meritocracy, that you
are chosen based on your raw talent. And it's the
old Vince Lombardi quote that meaning isn't everything, it's the
only thing and the final. Now, that's some people that
go around to think everyone's racist and everyone's out to
get everyone. I hope that's not the case. But to
each their own, there's some people that believe everyone's out
(22:13):
to get them and that the you know, the world's
filled with a bunch of evil people and all that.
And that's one way to live your life. And for
a lot of people, that's how they live in life.
And there's other ways to live your life as well.
For those cranking up the outrage armies, singing and blowing
into the bugle outrage army and all that stuff about
the Rooney rule and this spin of the coaching carousel, racist, Yeah,
(22:35):
I would say, stop beating around the bush, because really,
you by saying that the NFL hired too many white coaches,
you're saying that NFL owners are racist. Just call them racist,
because when you you're dancing around and using all these
other vague terms and all that stuff. Just say it,
just yell it from the top of the mountain that
(22:55):
you think the people that own NFL teams are racist? Now,
I know they've been racist people that have owned NFL
teams over there, But which owners currently are racist? What
about Bob McNair, he's dead. Go ahead, next, go ahead,
give me the list of the racist owners in the NFL.
Is Jerry Jones racist because he hired a fat white
guy Mike McCarthy. Are the Giants who've got some very
(23:18):
woke owners there? Are they racist because they hired some
guy named Joe Judge who we've never heard of, you know?
And people are saying Eric Biannimy should have been a
head coach. He's the Chiefs offensive coordinator. But here's the thing.
Doesn't Andy Reid run the Chiefs offense? I mean, that's
you know, that's a tough thing. But and the other
(23:40):
part of this is, I would think if you own
an NFL team, you're you're hiring a coach. You want
someone who's going to relate to all the players. But
since the NFL is again about seventy percent African American,
most of the players are black. You would think if
you could find a candidate that is African American who
can relate the players, boy, this would be amazing. This
would be great qualified candidate. But the big problem with
(24:02):
the whole interview president, the Rooney rule is not the answer.
So I have a solution. I'm an answers guy. I'm
a solutions guy. I'm a one man think tank in
the middle of the night when everyone's sleeping. So the
Rooney rule is not the answer. My theory is, instead
of trying to manage coaching search outcomes, which is what
the NFL is trying to do, focus on, you know,
(24:24):
not focus on don't do quotas. The NFL needs to
target why there are not more candidates assistant coaches that
are working their way up, that are qualified, that would
get a job, that are able to pull it off.
If you get more of those candidates, then I think
it's a self fulfilling prophecy where by having more qualified
(24:45):
assistant coaches who are black, you are then going to
have more of a chance of them becoming head coach
if that is your stated goal and desire and all
of that. Ultimately, unless teams are taken to court. The
NFL is taken to court and they're four to hire
a certain number of this and that and the whole thing.
Then it really comes down to when you get an opportunity,
(25:08):
and right now, because the Rooney rules, certain people are
given opportunities and whatnot. But it comes down to when
you meet with the owner of the team, you have
to be a schmoozer. You have to kiss ass, you
have to win the elevator pitch. Right there's that elevator
pitch that takes place there when you go face to it,
you have to sell yourself. Mike McCarthy admitity lied. We
(25:31):
played that summon. Mike McCarthy's I said, I watched every
single Dallas Cowboy play. No he didn't. Pinocchio, you didn't
watch every single Dallas Cowboy play. You're a liar, but
it helped him get the job. Now, the way it works,
when you own the business, you can hire whoever you want.
That's part of the other issue involved with the NFL.
(25:52):
But this will continue to be like the Swallows returning
to Capistrano and Punkstani phil a tradition every year with
the coaching carousel. And I know why if you're a
New York Times writer, and you call the Fritz Pollard Alliance,
which is a special interest group that gives report cards
on racial hires. What did you expect them to say? Well,
(26:13):
I mean, it's kind of a people call the media
fakeing on. But you know, it's kind of like when
you ask someone a question, but you know the answer
before you ask them the question. You know what I'm saying. Like,
there's certain people that pop up on these TV news
shows where you know their position and you're like, well,
I know if I ask him this question or that's
(26:33):
I know what they're gonna say. So it's like, well,
I didn't tell them what to say, but I know
what their thoughts are, and that's how that's gonna work.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. So
the discussion on the influenza like outbreak of load management continues.
(26:54):
Greg Popovitch, the San Antonio Spurs Czar was asked about
the bonic plague of the NBA. Did you hear what
he had to say? He said it just before San
Antonio somehow beat the Boston Celtics at the garden and
who knew that was going to happen. That was a possibility.
The Spurs are under five hundred. The Celtics have this big,
(27:15):
impressive record. But anyway, so if you didn't hear what
Popovitch had to say, Popovitch amazingly pushed back on the
thought that he was the originator of what is known
now as modern load management in the NBA. He spoke
before that game in Boston. Popovich seemingly with a straight face,
said I never did load and management. I never took
(27:38):
out He says, he never took out a sheet of
paper and said he's going to do this. He's going
to do that. Pop opined on the topic, So let's
discuss the question, what do you make of Greg Popovitch
being unwilling to take ownership of the disease of load management.
(27:59):
So I've got Google, toothpaste, and the Grifter, and we
will combine all these things together and we will make
some text. Mex is what we're gonna make. Now, I'm
not a big text mex don't like. Yeah, you like
the original, not the rip off version. So now, first
of all, Greg Popovitch, he seems like someone who's selling
(28:21):
you fertilizer, right. He seems like a fertilizer salesman. He's
got this gruff persona, which isn't as much fun right
now because the Spurs are a losing team serving up
dog food most nights. Yeah, I know they beat the Celtics. Yeah,
but yeah it yeah, but but it's amusing that Greg
Popovich would not want to own this. He's the one
(28:45):
that put it on the map. He's trying now to
use some revisionist history. And I love the fact that
a Boston media guy asked Greg Popovitch to his face,
said that he was the godfather of load management. It
was a pathetic performance. How precious is that we we
I've tried to find the audio. I looked around. I
(29:07):
could not find the audio of this. I only saw
the written transcript of Popovitch's pregame interview for San Antonio there,
and I'd love to get a copy of it. So
the guy asked Popovitch, he said, you're the godfather load management?
Was something like, how do you feel about this? We
have been preaching from our little bully pulpit here at
Fox Sports Radio about Greg Popovitch and load management and
(29:29):
he being the forefather of load management and all this stuff.
This guy, this guy's got to be I don't know
who this person is, but they've got to be like
a closeted Mallard Militia listener, right, I mean, whoever asked
that question has to be somebody that's a listener to
our show. Now, how did Popovitch respond? He chuckled, He laughed?
Now was it a laugh of guild? Inquiring minds would
(29:51):
like to know. Now, clearly Greg Popovich is he's living
in a parallel dimension if he really leaves his or
he he simply does not understand how modern communication operates.
Meeting Just google it right, type in any search engine
load management and Greg Popovitch's name is gonna pop up
(30:13):
in those returns. Now, why is that all? Right? Second
thing here, let's sake go, yeah, we're Google. So let's
take a trip back in the hot tub time machine
to the year twenty twelve, A little before I was
alive in twenty twelve. But in the year twenty twelve,
Greg Popovich famously rested Tim duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli,
(30:34):
and Danny Green. These spurs were in Florida. They were
going to Orlando Miami matchup, and you know, flying from
Orlando to Miami, except the Spurs players flew back to
San Antonio on a Southwest Airlines flight. The problem that
they would have gotten away with it if it hadn't
been a TNT game that in Miami it was a
(30:55):
big Lebron and the Heat versus the Spurs, So duncan Park,
Genoble and Green took a Southwest Airlines flight home to
Orlando the night before the game. When then Commissioner David
Stern found out about this, he went ballistic. Stern went
nuts right. He had the foresight the leadership to realize
(31:16):
what a disaster this load management was going to be
to the business of the NFL, so he tried to
put the kabash on it, apologized to NBA fans, said
this was unacceptable. The Spurs were fined a ton of money.
I think it was like two hundred fifty thousand dollars
in fines over all. This. In addition, the godfather of
load management, which is Greg Popovich, we gave him the
(31:38):
nickname Typhoid Mary because he's denials do not change the
reality of what happened. He thought he was doing the
right thing, sending home Duncan Parker, Genoble and Green on
that Southwest Airlines fight flight. But he thought he was
doing the right thing. Everyone thought the same thing at
the time. People around the spurs. Everything seemed kosher. And yet,
(32:01):
and yet Greg Popovich caused this infestation. If you will,
to become the new normal. And again, even though David
Stern tried to rein in teams, he failed. And it's
a reminder that you can't put the toothpaste back in
the tube. You can't do it. You put some of
(32:23):
the toothpaste back in the tube, but you can't put
all of it back in the tube, because that's not how.
And don't send me those YouTube videos of people cutting
open tubes of toothpaste. That's cheating, that's not okay. Don't
do that. I don't need to see that. I've seen
enough of those over the years. It's a good expression,
and I like the expression, so I'm going to continue
to use the expression. This is an issue and the
(32:45):
reason it's an issue, and Adam Silver is too dumb.
Apparently he's a dummy. He doesn't figure this out. If
you go to an NBA game, then most people don't
go to NBA against we go to an NBA game
or any kind of a sporting event, you buy a
ticket to see the stars. The NBA markets the stars,
but there's no guarantee when you go to an NBA
game that the players are going to play. Now, we
(33:07):
accept when people get hurt in sports, that's okay, it's
part of the game, right, Players get hurt all the time.
No one is perfect in the health department. But when
these guys are healthy and you still don't play, and
what is that? It's it's absurd. And the NBA needs
(33:27):
to get back to the code of the West and
stop trying to use all this other fugaysy nonsense with
these Mama Lukes. It is supposed to be a war
of attrition and Jerry rigging the schedule and all these
things that these guys are doing. Come on, all right?
The final thought, so Greg Popovich, even when as far
(33:48):
as to call out other NBA teams, other coaches for
what's going on today with load management quote, it's become
kind of silly, Popovich said of the load management virus
it's making its way around the NFL. Says, I didn't
(34:08):
do any kind of load management Popovich said, if there's
credit in that, I don't deserve it. If there's the opposite,
I don't deserve that either. He said, I did it
because I wanted those guys to have a longer career. Well,
isn't that admitting that you did it? I mean, hello, hypocrite,
talking out of both sides of your mouth, Greg Popovitch.
(34:32):
My grandfather and my mother, if they were alive here
and I told them about this, they would say, Greg
Popovitch has so much hutzpah, so much hutzpah for this,
My goodness, what a mensch. He sounds like a scam
artist to me, like a classic drifter. Right. Popovitch, dying
with the Devil of load management, claimed it was just
a harmless meal, there was nothing to it. Well, depending
(34:56):
on the daily Here's the other thing about Popovitch, depending
on his move in the day of the week. Greg
Popovitch's answers changed like a kaleidoscope. Back in November. I
looked it up. In November, Popovich opined, load management is
whatever you want load management to be. Everyone does it
to some degree. Close quote. That's the everybody's doing it defense.
(35:19):
We talked about that with the Red Sox and the Astros.
So if the crown fits, you should wear it. This
is part of the legacy of Greg Popovich and so
rather than tap dance around it, you should own it.
You should own it. Fox Sports Radio has the best
sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
(35:40):
shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within the iHeartRadio
app search FSR to listen live.
Host
Ben Maller
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