July 1, 2020 • 37 mins
Big Ben talks about conflicting reports involving Antonio Brown, a story about the Knicks pitch to LeBron James, Maller to the Third Degree, and more!
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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 weeknight
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. We are the radio show that's live
and local to you right because you're listening live and
we're in your ear drums right now, which I believe
he can't. We're in your body, We're in your mind
right now. It's what we're doing scary, but it's another
(00:46):
day and another opportunity to spin the wheel. It's like
a game show wheel that we have. It's the Antonio
Brown Wheel of speculation. Let's see where it lands. Oh,
look at that. Oh this is big. This is big
Tampa Bay. It is landed on Tampa Bay, the Antonio
(01:08):
O'brown Wheel of speculation. That's right, it's not a juicy lucy.
It's a juicy mister big chest. Rumor about that? Did
you hear this. Maybe we had learned here that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers were said to be interested in Antonio
Brown's services. Now that came from someone who's pretty plugged
(01:31):
in in NFL circles, at least he likes to tell
you how plugged in he is. Mike Lambardi, who was
one of the henchmen for Bill Belichick in his younger days.
Belichick's younger days, Lombarti has been an executive for multiple
NFL teams. Now he's a gas bag and a blowhard
(01:52):
and does this crap for a living. But he implied
Lombardi that Tampa is weighing an opportunity to bring in
the tarnished wide out Antonio Brown. Well that's exciting, right then.
That's why we stopped on the wheel of speculation. But
then the fun police came in and said, no, no, no,
you can't have any fun. You can't have any fun
(02:14):
because we have the gift of conflicting stories. Because shortly
after Lombardi's report circulated, it was the attempt to debunk
it was thrown out. That was an attempt to debunk
the story. A published report out of a small fledgling
cable outfit out of Bristol, Connecticut said that the Buccaneers
were not interested ball humbug, not interested at all. Well,
(02:38):
someone is not telling the truth you regarding the future
of Antonio Brown. So what is actually going on? Well,
good news. You have come to the right place, right here,
right here, right now. So let's get into it. As Marcel,
the reigning Caller of the Year from Brooklyn would say
if he was here right now, someone is Pinocchio. Someone
(02:59):
is not telling the truth regarding the future of Antonio Brown.
So let us discuss the question. You're gonna buy or
sell the original story the Buccaneers are considering and weighing
bringing in Antonio Brown. All right, so this one I'm
gonna buy. I'm gonna buy stock in this not a
lot of stock options. It's a penny stock at this point,
(03:22):
but I'm gonna buy some of it. The idea of
ab to Tampa Bay, I'm in right now. We talked
about Antonio Brown in a previous episode of the show
not that long ago, and at that time the conversation
was between the Ravens and the Seahawks, and we gave
our ringing endorsement to Seattle. But in this one, my observations.
You've gotten Morse code, the Jedi mind tricks, and the
(03:47):
antique carved Victorian dresser, and we will tie all these
things in somehow to Antonio Brown. Now, ay, I am
excited to go down this rabbit hole. This is a
good rabbit hole to go down. The fact that the
Buccaneers are downplaying the interest, to me, this is meaningless.
I put no stock in that, and you shouldn't either.
(04:11):
We're different than the other shows that do this. And
I'm not callingyone out, but a lot of these people
the team said they're not interested. They're not interested. That's
the end of the story. No, that's just the start
of the story. You take these things with a grand
of soul. NFL teams have been one thing that's been
consistent my entire life, certainly since I got into the
radio business. They are not transparent. They're not and you
(04:32):
would have to be the village idiot. If you believe
the party line, and this is the party line, you're gullible.
It's just admitted. If you believe that, you're gullible. And
that doesn't mean that Antonio Brown's gonna go to Tampa Bay.
But that's not what I'm asking the question is are
they interested? And the answer to that is it resounding yes.
The party line which these media dopes who are in
(04:54):
the tank for the team repeat. And there's a term
that's a political term, but it certainly applies more so
even to the NFL media, where you have a lot
of useful idiots who will repeat whatever they are told
from their sources in air quotes, right, whatever they're told,
they just repeat it. And then a source close to
(05:16):
the team. And I learned when I was around teams
covering professional teams years ago, sometimes the source is not
the general manager. Sometimes the source is the guy that
cleans the jockstraps. Sometimes that is your source close to
the team. Doesn't get any closer than that when you're
you're putting jock straps into the washing machine. But anyway,
so it's not like any of these people who report
(05:40):
these stories have to place their hand on the Holy
Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. They don't through any of that. Instead,
everything is in morse code. Everything is done in morse code.
It's thoughts and dashes, white lies, exaggeration. NFL teams are
selling Banan oil is what they're selling, and you have
to decide. And that's why we're here, the last bastions
(06:03):
of fairness sports talk radio, especially in the overnight. But
we are here to decipher and to translate in a
reality based format what is actually legitimate and what is
also non nonfiction as opposed to fiction, Right, I guess
that's the way to look at it. You got a library,
you get the fiction section, you got the nonfiction section.
(06:23):
Which one do you like a lot of people love
the fiction. A lot of people love the fiction. I'm
more of a nonfiction guy. That's just how I roll.
But look at the Patriots as a textbook example. How
many months were we fed the party line out of
New England that they all lot Cam Newton, They're not
interested in Cam Newton. Every tody that writes about the Patriots,
(06:46):
that's a kool aid guzzling reporter for New England repeated
some different version of the same story that the team
was not interested in Cam Newton time and again, and
they were publicly gushing, just singing sweet nothings about Jared
Stidham until the day the music stopped and they flip
(07:07):
flopped and agreed to a deal with Cam Newton. Now
the same thing is true to Tampa. You've got Bruce
Arians who's gone on the record saying it's not a
good fit and even stronger language than that. Buccaneers an
odd interest. Of course, you're not interested until the day
you wake up and you are all of a sudden interested.
So I would advise you to not fall for the smokescreen.
Do not fall for the head fake. All right, don't
(07:28):
be that that play. We all know that guy. I
played pickup basketball and I haven't done in a while.
When I used to play pickup basketball, I called me
moneyball Mallard was makeing a moneyball mallar just like that.
And you I know when I play defense, you can't
fall for the head fake. Cannot do it. That's a
rookie mistake. Cannot do it. But you can't fall for
it either in these type of stories. Now part be
here as we can send continue the conversation. So Antonio Brown,
(07:50):
what would he give the Buccaneers. Now, I'm still a believer.
I'm a fanboy of Antonio Brown because he's given me
a lot of quality monologues, because he does crazy stuff.
And Tony o'brown would give the Buccaneers a lethal one
two punch, not just a one two punch, one two, three,
four punch of explosive playmakers. Now that's assuming the position
(08:14):
that he is not washed up and in the reject
ben At this point, I'm making that assumption. Ab this
is perfect. He would fly under the radar. You want
to fly under the radar in this situation. The Hall
of Fame talent. You've got Mike Evans, who's also on
a Hall of Fame track, although no one knows because
he's in the witness protection program at Tampa by the way,
(08:37):
no longer in the witness protection program. You also have
Chris Godwin, who's been a godlike figure as a receiver
in football parlance. Those are the headliners at the white
opp position. But there's no clear number three receiver there.
Both the top guys are very good. You toss in
who knows what Rob Gronkowski shows up. He certainly looked
(08:58):
like he was a stick figure the last time we
saw him, and he will be returning from his gap year.
But with the what the Buccaneers already have, they've weaponized.
All right, we all agree on that they already weaponized.
They're covering all shapes and sizes of receivers. They got
the big, tall guys, they got the quick guys. How
about adding another quick guy though, Antonio Brown. Throw him
(09:20):
into the mix and see what you got there. That
would be an even larger embarrassment of riches. And you
can never have too much firepower. You can't, you can
never have. You can't bet your bottom dollar on this
this much. I will Garrett fffant Right now, just between us,
Tom Brady is using Jedi mind tricks and there's some
(09:44):
product in the TV twelve store that he's sending Bruce
Arians in an attempt to brainwash Bruce Arians and to
twist his arm. Now, these are not illegal pharmaceuticals, but
these are on the edge. But he's attempting to horne
swoggle the brass in Tampa to bring in his buddy.
You know why is that TV twelve Tom Brady fancies
(10:06):
himself as the camp counselor of the NFL, and he's
got some Father Flannagan in him, and he's like, Hey,
I'll be the life coach who oversees all of Antonio
Brown's life decisions, and I will take him out of
the darkness, and I will show him the light that's
(10:27):
the mind of Tom Brady. More importantly, the reason he
wants to do that is because he thinks that Antonio
Brown can help him stick it to Belichick and the
Patriots and the Bucks can have a great year and
get the last laugh. Now the last word for us
on this monologue about Antonio Brown. The Buccaneers make a
lot of sense for everyone involved. For everyone. Bruce Arians,
(10:48):
even though he says not interested, the guy's got bohemian tendencies.
He's a free spirit as a coach. He's not running
some kind of military boot camp. And he's I'm afraid
to do the unorthodox thing as a head coach with
the funny hats and all that stuff. And hell, Bruce Arians.
Remember the greatest story ever told about Bruce Arians. And
(11:09):
we loved it. We talked about a lot. When he
was coaching in Arizona. Bruce Arians as a child would
drink paint because he thought it would make him more
difficult to tackle. I'm dead, I'm not making that up.
I mean, if you didn't hear that story, I don't
know how you could have missed it, But maybe you did.
This is a guy that growing up thought if I
drink paint, the kind of stuff that you paint your
(11:31):
house with, that he would be invincible on the football field.
So you know what that does. That makes him relatable
to Antonio Brown, who has acted like he's been sniffing
paint for several years. Here. I don't know what's going
on with that. But since the Buckaneers don't need him
and Antonio Brown needs somebody to give him an opportunity,
(11:55):
it's just a good situation to kick the tires on
because you don't need him, and if he acts up,
you can just toss him away like a used tissue
if you have to. But at this point, AB is
like an antique card victorian dresser that has been sitting
in the backyard for a year. It's out there, exposed
to the elements. It's covered in spider webs, there's some
(12:17):
mud on it. That piece of furniture needs to be
sanded down and refinished and then you can get top dollar.
It's gonna pop. It's gonna pop again and become a
luxury item. And you listen, the other issue here and
the other shoe that hasn't dropped yet is AB is
facing If everything goes right in eight game suspension. So
(12:41):
it's not like he would be a full time edition
of the Buccaneers. And if you signed him today, you're
gonna have to worry about him causing problems once training
camp opens later in July. It's about it's not like
that he would be think of him like Geico insurance.
An Tonio Brown would be insurance that if Chris Guy
to win, or one of the other receivers does not
(13:02):
live up to their expectations or gets hurt, you have
Antonio Brown in the wings. And if those guys live
up to their expectations, then Antonio Brown becomes another player
that's a headache for the opposing defensive coordinators. Makes sense
all the way around. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
(13:24):
eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
And we are back at it again this hour. And
this is a fish story. It's a cock and bull
story from the NBA. Now. The apocalypse is a wonderful
time for a trip in the way back machine. Now. Fortunately,
we will get sports back here soon. Despite what the
(13:44):
nice singers say, Yes, born that later. Anyway, the summer
of twenty ten. Let's go back in the way back
machine to the summer of twenty ten. Lebron James a
regular punching bag in these parts. Lebron James deciding on
his next NBA destination. It was the infamous decision, which
(14:05):
was broadcast all over US. I was at a baseball
game in batting practice. They paused batting practice and put
on the scoreboard Lebron James deciding where he was going
to play. It was a really big deal. This isn't
the days before social media completely took over everything was.
It was about the beginning of that. Twitter had started,
I think the year before or a year and a
(14:27):
half before, and it really hadn't blown up the way
it is blown up in the last decade. But that's
a different conversation. So it was the infamous decision, and
I assume you know where I'm going, but maybe not.
This is a bit of a curveball. It is a
hum danger. It's a hum danger of a tale. It
is being reported that the New York Knickerbockers had the
(14:51):
in air quotes inside track of signing Lebron James. Keep
in mind that we're talking about something a decade ago. Now,
what is the source. What's my source? That would be
podcaster Bill Simmons, who at one point was a NBA broadcaster,
a network television commentator on all things NBA. He was
(15:16):
before being sent off to Siberia, and now he's been
marginalized in the podcast world only. But he's making a
ton of money, So what does he care. He's laughing
all the way to the bank. But here's what Simmons said.
He says, it's clear that the Knicks were the first choice.
It was basically the Knicks to lose, and they just couldn't.
Simmons said, stay out of their own way. The stories
(15:38):
are legendary, and then he told some of the stories
and we'll repeat them here. Bill Simmons said that they,
meaning the Knicks, had a legendary meeting. He said, Donnie
Walsh was in a wheelchair, Dolin was Dolin Simmons opine
and it was just a complete they didn't have anything
(16:01):
prepared situation, he went on to say. And it just
couldn't have gone worse by all accounts, it was a disaster.
Quose quote. Now. Dolan reportedly handed out copies of his
bands CD during free agent meetings that summer. That's been
widely reported. So let us discuss the question do you
(16:21):
believe this ten year old tale which is now being told.
I have not heard this in this detail that Lebron
wanted to go to the Knicks. But do you believe
that Lebron really did intend to sign with the New
York Knicks and that James Dolan and the Knickerbockers are
such boobs that they blew it? Now, I am gonna
quote one of the great television reality judges of all time,
(16:44):
the great Randy Jackson from American Idol fame, because if
he was doing this monologue, he would say, Yeah, that's
gonna be a no for me, dog, is what he
would say. And that's gonna be a no for me.
That's gonna be a no. Now, my observations, you've got
window dressing, Racula, and Shakespearean and we will combine all
(17:04):
these things together, will put them in the oven for
about fifteen minutes, maybe a little lesson that see what
we come up with. And Number one, this story reeks,
you smell that bullcrap. This story is bullcrap, okay, And
I learned from Johnny Cochran. He taught me during years
(17:26):
ago the OJ trial. If the glove doesn't fit, you
must have quit. The glove does not fit Lebron James
and the Knicks. It's just not Bill Simmons is partaking
in the ancient art of historical revisionism. Revisionist history is
the best kind of history because you're never wrong when
(17:47):
you recreate history, and it is powerful. It is for
filling when you connect the dots backwards. It's wonderful. Death
by a thousand paper cuts would be where we would
file this particular story. Never miss an opportunity to take
a pot shot at the beleaguered Gotham basketball franchise there
(18:07):
and their fan base. And I'm not talking about the
game Twist. And we all remember the game, the party
game Twister, but this is a spinoff. This is Twist.
The knife deeper is what this is. Now, why is
this manure? Let me tell you. If Lebron James had
his heart set on going to play for the Knicks,
(18:30):
guess what Lebron James would have done. He would have
signed his name, his John Hancock, on the contract to
go to New York. There's nothing stopping him. It doesn't
matter who was in a wheelchair. By the way, doesn't
that make Lebron James seem like he's anti wheelchair the
way and he's against the handicap people that happened to
be in wheelchairs. That's what it sounds like. The way
(18:51):
story was repeated there is Now that's not racism. What
is that he's bigging it against people in wheelchairs because
it happened to be that. Fortunately, Donnie Walsher, respected NBA
executive at that time, was in a wheelchair. And then
as far as like the whole crummy CD, James Dolan
passed out. That's a funny anecdote and all that stuff.
(19:11):
And the other thing that some have brought up is
that James Dolan he was trying to woo Lebron James.
He knew that Lebron James liked acting, so he hired
James Gandolfini, better known as Tony Soprano to reprise his
role as Tony Soprano from the name the namesake show
(19:31):
The Sopranos there that had been off the air for
a couple of years in twenty ten, and they even
brought in Gandolfini's wife on the show. Edie Falco, was
brought in as well, all of that to try to
Wooobron James, and so it did not work. It did
not work, obviously, but it's it's window dressing. All of
that you file away as nothing more than window dressing
(19:55):
when you get down to nutcutting time. The Knickerbockers, just
like every other franchise in the NBA, would have cow
towed and anything Lebron needed the once and desires of
Lebron James, the Knicks would have done. They would have
bent over backwards. You know that. I know that they
wouldn't have moved mountains, but they would have moved some
(20:16):
skyscrapers around in Midtown Manhattan to pacify the entitled King James.
It certainly would have happened. Now the second point, one
of the things when we bring up Lebron James's name, now,
some of us to do this for a living, get triggered.
I'm not saying I'm part of that group or not.
But one thing about Lebron, when given the option, and
(20:37):
I think this is something we can all agree on,
he has always taken the path of least resistance, cruising
in a convertible with the top down for a nice
leisurely drive on Easy Street. It was Miami with d
Wade and Chris Bosh, the super duper team. He didn't
go back to Cleveland until Cleveland had acquired two number
(21:00):
one overall draft picks, almost guaranteed to be a big
star when you're a number one draft pick. They had
Kyrie Irving, and at the time Lebron decided to go
back to Cleveland, they had Andrew Wiggins. Now, Andrew Wiggins
has turned out to be a stiff in the NBA,
but he never played with Lebron because the Cavaliers, to appease,
Lebron traded Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota to get Kevin Love.
(21:21):
Worked out pretty well, and then he said, wow, he
went to LA. See that proves your point run well.
Lebron went to LA thinking he could use the same
magic wand that he used in Cleveland in LA, and
they had a bunch of draft picks that were highly
rated players, players that were drafted near the top of
the draft. And Lebron's like, oh, I'll turn these guys
(21:43):
into good players. And while I'm doing it, I'll have
my office on the Warner Brothers lot and I'll make
a bunch of crappy television shows and documentaries and movies
and things like that, only to be exposed because when
Lebron James said abra cadabra, presto, just like that, it
(22:03):
turned out that Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball didn't respond.
They both stunk. They were dogs with fleas, and Kyle
Kuzma not exactly someone you hang your hat on. So
as a result, Lebron was exposed. He was exposed as
a guy that had lost his mighta's touch in his
first season in La La Land, and without that safety net,
(22:26):
he was like Dracula exposed to sunlight. You know what
happens to a vampire when they see sunlight doesn't go well.
Every Hollywood movie that features those kind of scenes that
we know the outcome. So no longer in the marshmallow
soft Eastern Conference. Lebron was clearly humiliated his first year
in La Imagine if he'd gone to the Knicks, he said, Wow,
(22:47):
I still would have been the Eastern Conference. He would
have been brutal. The Lakers were a terrible team. They
failed to make the playoffs, they had a losing record,
and none of the young players. This is the most
important part improved under the tutelage of the Nike salesman
Lebron James. So what did Lebron do? Lebron said, you
know what, I gotta get back on easy streets. So
(23:08):
I'm gonna as the puppeteer. I'm gonna use my underlings
like Rich Paul to manipulate and brain well empire a
hodge podge of crap players and draft picks. And with
that said, imagine again, though, go back to the Knicks. Though,
(23:30):
because it started with the Knicks. We started down this
rabbit hole with the Knicks. Imagine how brutal it would
have been had Lebron gone to New York. And we
know Lebron often drives the Missus softy truck is not
known to to go light right. And when we're talking
about critical feedback here, the tabloids have never operated like that.
(23:53):
I would doubt they would all of a sudden do
it to please Lebron James. Lebron is used to the
kid glove stream and the NBA media just lobs softballs.
They just lob softballs. Occasionally I'll throw a water balloon.
Occasionally you're get a water boon, might get a lot
of water in your eye, but he's rarely called out
for any of the nonsense Lebron takes part in by
(24:14):
the NBA media establishment. It's just not good for their
business to do that. If he had gone to New York,
it would have been a different story, and I think
we'd see a much different Lebron James by this point.
Now the final final thing, so Lebron could still play
for the Knicks. Obviously this option is not over. It's
over for ten years ago, but Lebron's still planning on
(24:35):
playing several more years. And as a distant relative of
the great Nostra Damas and friend of Nostradinas who lives
in Seattle, we foreshadow Lebron James say he's thirty nine
years old signing with New York. Now, there's a lot
of boxes that would have to be checked, but it's
(24:55):
it's more than a small possibility. Think of this like
a Shakespearean drama, which often the NBA has been called
something along those lines, or a Greek tragedy if you
want to go down that room. But completely washed up
Lebron James by that point. The Nicks they still suck
and they blow every year, so they get the top
(25:15):
pick and Bronnie James is the number one pick, and
the Nike corporate overlords want to do a nice, sappy
commercial with Lebron and his kid playing side by side.
It could be the basketball version of Ken Griffy and
Ken Griffey Junior in Seattle when they played together and
they both hit home runs in Anaheim back in the day.
(25:36):
And so Lebron also could instead of acting in movies
and TV shows, he could have a career on Broadway. Right.
We know he's one of the great thespians of our time.
Just ask him and he will tell you. But wait,
there's more. Now, something else popped up and came across
my radar, and some of you who listened to Fox
Sports Radio all day brought this up. What about politics?
(25:59):
Taking a bite out of the big apple in theory
would certainly help in the political theater. In fact, our
colleague Chris Broussard of Fox Sports Radio says that he
thanks Lebron could be president of the United States someday. Now,
keep in mind, it has been now almost seventy years
(26:19):
since we had a commander in chief without a college degree.
That was Harry Truman. Harry S. Truman. I've been to
the Truman Museum. By I'm better than you because I've
been to the Truman Museum. But anyway, the library whatever
they call it. So Truman that he last was president
in nineteen fifty three. He was the last president, the
thirty third president of the United States who did not
(26:39):
have a college degree. But he actually attended college. He
went to business college, in law school. He never graduated, Truman,
but he became president. But you want to play that game,
to play Devil's advocate. George Washington never graduated from college.
Abraham Lincoln never graduated or even attended college. There have
been many of the early presidents that it's like child labor.
(27:01):
They started out having to work at the age of
like eight, nine, ten, because that's how things were in
the early days in the country. Anyway, listen, I would
be surprised if Lebron James actually does go into politics,
so you can stop sending me emails. Lebron strikes me
as a very thin skin guy who lives in a vacuum.
(27:24):
And you can say most politicians are thin skin and
most live in a vacuum, and maybe that is true,
but could you imagine the juxtaposition from Lebron James, who
has all these NBA writers that just lick his toes.
They give them a manny and a petty. It's not
like that in the political world at all. It's vicious,
especially now more than ever. And sometimes you're the windshield
(27:48):
in life and sometimes you're the bug in life. But
the just the political muckraking alone, Wow, that would that
would not be good. And Lebron tries to make it
seem like he's relatable, but he would be painfully out
of touch in that particular world. All right, it is
(28:10):
the Bennet Mallis show. You want to talk about that.
It is a fair game here. The lines are open
at eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fix. He just
wanted to finish up. I was running into a brick wall.
We were talking about Andrew Tolls, who I enjoyed watching
with the Dodgers a couple of years ago. He's homeless,
and I didn't even get into the meat of the story.
So apparently this has been going on for like a
(28:31):
couple of years where he's been living on the streets
and he runs from his family, which is a story
you hear a lot from people that are home listen.
Maybe you're listening now and your homeless, and you've got
your story to tell. But this is so wild that
Tolls has been arrested multiple times here in the last year.
It just became public for some reason in Key West.
(28:52):
I guess it's the state of Florida again, and the
media is snooping around. Anytime someone gets arrested, they do
a search and all. That doesn't happen this same way
with public information in other states. But according to the family,
he was arrested in Kentucky. A similar incident incurred in
the state of Kentucky. Tolls. Actually, this is the most
(29:13):
wild part that I failed to mention. It's bad job
by me. So this guy that played in the twenty
sixteen National League Championship Series, Andrew Tolls, spent a month
in prison in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong during the holidays.
Imagine that. Imagine going in from twenty sixteen, you are
a couple of wins away from the World Series the
Dodgers were against the Cubs. Didn't get done there, and
(29:35):
you go from that in twenty sixteen to several years
later you are sitting in a prison in Hong Kong.
He was wandering the streets. He had lost his passport,
the story goes, and was arrested for stealing food at
a gas station because he had to have something to eat.
And then they had to call in the US embassy
(29:56):
to get him out of Hong Kong. And he came
back in the United States, and as soon as he
came back, he vanished. He disappeared again and was back
out on the streets and going around. So it's it's crazy,
and you read that story, and there's several stories that
were written about him, and it's it's the question that
so many people have asked, like, how do you help
(30:16):
somebody that does not want the help? And if you're
an adult, the answer is, there's really nothing you can do.
That's the sad tail. There's nothing that can be done.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. It's Maller.
How about that? To the third degree? This is one
(30:40):
big band gets grilled. All right, Coop, talk very slowly,
take as much time as you want. You want to
do an hour here, we can do an hour whatever
you want, all right, Well, yesterday you talked about the
Major League Baseball players that are opting out of the
sixty game season. Yes, well, apparently MLB is considering letting
non high risk players to change their mind during the
(31:03):
regular season and just come back and start playing. Would
you be on board with this bend? Yeah, this doesn't
sound right to me. Ay, it sounds like chaos. Like
Major League Baseball is doing the right thing. They're allowing
the players who don't want to show up for whatever
reason to not show up. It's very kind. Most jobs
don't allow that, and in theory you'll have a job
(31:25):
waiting for you next season. It's very nice. It's beyond generous.
It's not something that is being offered to people who
are working other jobs at the grocery store or whatnot,
other essential workers. You have to show up to work
or you're fired. So I think they've been fair enough
as it is, and be this also goes against the
Code of the West, right, And I'm a big believer
(31:47):
in that. I've talked about it from time to time
that the Code of the West, among the things that
are listed in the Code of the West, you always
finish what you start. Now. If you don't start it,
you don't have to finish it. So if you're a
player and you skip out, if you're Ian Desman or
what all those you don't want to play, then that's fine.
You've chosen not to play and somebody else will get
your job, and that's good for them. But you, if
you start something, you finish it, and you do what
(32:10):
has to be done. You got to take pride in
your work and things like that. And now, obviously if
you get sick or something is different. But if you
just try to bow out in the middle of it
because he's I don't like this that No, once you
decided to do something, you stick it out. That's the
way to go about it, all right. Next. Also, Rod
Woodson talked to TMZ earlier this week, and he revealed
that he's been trying to find a full time coaching
job in the NFL for a while now, but he
(32:32):
believes he's being backballed due to being a Hall of Famer. Now,
he said that head coaches don't want Hall of famers
on the staff because they want to be the only
alpha male. Are you buying this, Ben? So this is
a double edged story. Sorry, I got a couple of
thoughts here. Number one, the way I see it, like,
he's not wrong with the opening salary here, Like Hall
(32:54):
of Famers are absolutely a threat to head coaches. And
it's happened several times over the year with a few
Hall of Famers that have ended up in the coaching game.
That's just the reality, right. The forty nine Ers I
use as the example when it comes to this thing,
because Mike Nolan, who was the coach in San Francis
gonna do a very good job. He eventually got polloxed
from the forty nine ers and they turned to who
(33:18):
Mike Singletary, the Hall of Fame linebacker from the Monsters
of the Midway in Chicago. Now, Singletary had been on
the staff, but in terms of experience, yeah, you would
not go to Mike Singletary. But he was the biggest name,
not the most experienced coach on the staff. And they
went to Mike Singletary and gave him the opportunity and
it was a hot mess. Now, the thing that Woodson's
(33:41):
wrong about here is the whole it's not fair thing, right.
That's where he jumps into the circus train and starts
going down the tracks here, because a lot of the
coaching profession in football is unglamorous. It is most coaches
started in high school and going to college and then
(34:03):
eventually get into the NFL. That's normally the path. And
it sounds like Rod Woodson is like, hey, I want
to take the fast pass. I understand you'd want to
take the fast pass, but but he's like, you don't
want to pay your dues. You want to go to
the front of the line. And it's like, you're you're
entitled to be on an NFL coaching staff because you
(34:24):
have a plaque in a dusty museum in Ohio that
gives you carte blanche. Now, it's not just every once
while there's somebody that jumps to the front of line.
Sean mcvay's an example someone that jumped to the front
of the line. But he did have some experience as assistant,
but he didn't really pay his dues the way most
coaches have to. You think of Uncle Vick, your guy
Coop in Denver. That's a lifer. You know, he's spent
(34:47):
he's been coaching since the USFL days and beyond before that,
and paid his dues and it finally became a head
coach in the NFL. That's usually how it had gone,
although occasionally lately it's changed up bit all right. Next,
so we learned yesterday some sad news been that Manny
Paciow's dog, pac Man, died in a freak car accident.
(35:09):
I was devastated, yes, but that aside, pac Man's dogs
should not have been driving the car. That aside, you know, yes,
condolence is rip. It got me wondering, Ben, would you
ever name a pet after yourself? Sure? Why not? Why not? Absolutely?
(35:30):
Well in a way let me explain. So, I do
believe in giving dogs human like names like blame my
mom for that, and I've always kind of done that thing.
That's kind of been my thing. And the great thing
about dogs is they have no grasp of language, like
they might understand that certain sounds you're supposed to do something.
But you could name a dog the most disgusting thing
(35:50):
in the world, and that dog will come over if
you've got food and will answer to that whatever sound
you're making. It is in the name. It's not like
their dogs aren't triggered by names or words or anything
like that. Now, Secondly, my wife is the one that
usually does the dog naming Bella was already named before
we got her, or she had lived with another another
family before we got her. But I would not be
(36:12):
opposed to a Mallard branded like puppy, like when Bella
moves to the big candle in the sky, one of
my forty six nicknames, Like I, could you know Beethoven?
I know there's a movie. Wasn't there a dog named
beethovena big giant dog back in the I'm known as
Beethoven and Beethoven of bs. How about gallbladder? That could
be like a tribute at my gallbladder malfunctioning Marconi Maller
(36:36):
that would be a good one. Uh, There's there's a
lot of options with the nicknames, but I'd be fine
with like calling the dog one of those things. I
have no problem with that. I wouldn't call it like
Ben or Mallard. I don't like I would do that.
All right, there it is Mallard of the third degree?
How did we do? Ben passed edition? Where it is?
That is a winner? You put it on the bar. Yeah,
(37:01):
I work
Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maller
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 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. We are the radio show that's live
and local to you right because you're listening live and
we're in your ear drums right now, which I believe
he can't. We're in your body, We're in your mind
right now. It's what we're doing scary, but it's another
(00:46):
day and another opportunity to spin the wheel. It's like
a game show wheel that we have. It's the Antonio
Brown Wheel of speculation. Let's see where it lands. Oh,
look at that. Oh this is big. This is big
Tampa Bay. It is landed on Tampa Bay, the Antonio
(01:08):
O'brown Wheel of speculation. That's right, it's not a juicy lucy.
It's a juicy mister big chest. Rumor about that? Did
you hear this. Maybe we had learned here that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers were said to be interested in Antonio
Brown's services. Now that came from someone who's pretty plugged
(01:31):
in in NFL circles, at least he likes to tell
you how plugged in he is. Mike Lambardi, who was
one of the henchmen for Bill Belichick in his younger days.
Belichick's younger days, Lombarti has been an executive for multiple
NFL teams. Now he's a gas bag and a blowhard
(01:52):
and does this crap for a living. But he implied
Lombardi that Tampa is weighing an opportunity to bring in
the tarnished wide out Antonio Brown. Well that's exciting, right then.
That's why we stopped on the wheel of speculation. But
then the fun police came in and said, no, no, no,
you can't have any fun. You can't have any fun
(02:14):
because we have the gift of conflicting stories. Because shortly
after Lombardi's report circulated, it was the attempt to debunk
it was thrown out. That was an attempt to debunk
the story. A published report out of a small fledgling
cable outfit out of Bristol, Connecticut said that the Buccaneers
were not interested ball humbug, not interested at all. Well,
(02:38):
someone is not telling the truth you regarding the future
of Antonio Brown. So what is actually going on? Well,
good news. You have come to the right place, right here,
right here, right now. So let's get into it. As Marcel,
the reigning Caller of the Year from Brooklyn would say
if he was here right now, someone is Pinocchio. Someone
(02:59):
is not telling the truth regarding the future of Antonio Brown.
So let us discuss the question. You're gonna buy or
sell the original story the Buccaneers are considering and weighing
bringing in Antonio Brown. All right, so this one I'm
gonna buy. I'm gonna buy stock in this not a
lot of stock options. It's a penny stock at this point,
(03:22):
but I'm gonna buy some of it. The idea of
ab to Tampa Bay, I'm in right now. We talked
about Antonio Brown in a previous episode of the show
not that long ago, and at that time the conversation
was between the Ravens and the Seahawks, and we gave
our ringing endorsement to Seattle. But in this one, my observations.
You've gotten Morse code, the Jedi mind tricks, and the
(03:47):
antique carved Victorian dresser, and we will tie all these
things in somehow to Antonio Brown. Now, ay, I am
excited to go down this rabbit hole. This is a
good rabbit hole to go down. The fact that the
Buccaneers are downplaying the interest, to me, this is meaningless.
I put no stock in that, and you shouldn't either.
(04:11):
We're different than the other shows that do this. And
I'm not callingyone out, but a lot of these people
the team said they're not interested. They're not interested. That's
the end of the story. No, that's just the start
of the story. You take these things with a grand
of soul. NFL teams have been one thing that's been
consistent my entire life, certainly since I got into the
radio business. They are not transparent. They're not and you
(04:32):
would have to be the village idiot. If you believe
the party line, and this is the party line, you're gullible.
It's just admitted. If you believe that, you're gullible. And
that doesn't mean that Antonio Brown's gonna go to Tampa Bay.
But that's not what I'm asking the question is are
they interested? And the answer to that is it resounding yes.
The party line which these media dopes who are in
(04:54):
the tank for the team repeat. And there's a term
that's a political term, but it certainly applies more so
even to the NFL media, where you have a lot
of useful idiots who will repeat whatever they are told
from their sources in air quotes, right, whatever they're told,
they just repeat it. And then a source close to
(05:16):
the team. And I learned when I was around teams
covering professional teams years ago, sometimes the source is not
the general manager. Sometimes the source is the guy that
cleans the jockstraps. Sometimes that is your source close to
the team. Doesn't get any closer than that when you're
you're putting jock straps into the washing machine. But anyway,
so it's not like any of these people who report
(05:40):
these stories have to place their hand on the Holy
Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. They don't through any of that. Instead,
everything is in morse code. Everything is done in morse code.
It's thoughts and dashes, white lies, exaggeration. NFL teams are
selling Banan oil is what they're selling, and you have
to decide. And that's why we're here, the last bastions
(06:03):
of fairness sports talk radio, especially in the overnight. But
we are here to decipher and to translate in a
reality based format what is actually legitimate and what is
also non nonfiction as opposed to fiction, Right, I guess
that's the way to look at it. You got a library,
you get the fiction section, you got the nonfiction section.
(06:23):
Which one do you like a lot of people love
the fiction. A lot of people love the fiction. I'm
more of a nonfiction guy. That's just how I roll.
But look at the Patriots as a textbook example. How
many months were we fed the party line out of
New England that they all lot Cam Newton, They're not
interested in Cam Newton. Every tody that writes about the Patriots,
(06:46):
that's a kool aid guzzling reporter for New England repeated
some different version of the same story that the team
was not interested in Cam Newton time and again, and
they were publicly gushing, just singing sweet nothings about Jared
Stidham until the day the music stopped and they flip
(07:07):
flopped and agreed to a deal with Cam Newton. Now
the same thing is true to Tampa. You've got Bruce
Arians who's gone on the record saying it's not a
good fit and even stronger language than that. Buccaneers an
odd interest. Of course, you're not interested until the day
you wake up and you are all of a sudden interested.
So I would advise you to not fall for the smokescreen.
Do not fall for the head fake. All right, don't
(07:28):
be that that play. We all know that guy. I
played pickup basketball and I haven't done in a while.
When I used to play pickup basketball, I called me
moneyball Mallard was makeing a moneyball mallar just like that.
And you I know when I play defense, you can't
fall for the head fake. Cannot do it. That's a
rookie mistake. Cannot do it. But you can't fall for
it either in these type of stories. Now part be
here as we can send continue the conversation. So Antonio Brown,
(07:50):
what would he give the Buccaneers. Now, I'm still a believer.
I'm a fanboy of Antonio Brown because he's given me
a lot of quality monologues, because he does crazy stuff.
And Tony o'brown would give the Buccaneers a lethal one
two punch, not just a one two punch, one two, three,
four punch of explosive playmakers. Now that's assuming the position
(08:14):
that he is not washed up and in the reject
ben At this point, I'm making that assumption. Ab this
is perfect. He would fly under the radar. You want
to fly under the radar in this situation. The Hall
of Fame talent. You've got Mike Evans, who's also on
a Hall of Fame track, although no one knows because
he's in the witness protection program at Tampa by the way,
(08:37):
no longer in the witness protection program. You also have
Chris Godwin, who's been a godlike figure as a receiver
in football parlance. Those are the headliners at the white
opp position. But there's no clear number three receiver there.
Both the top guys are very good. You toss in
who knows what Rob Gronkowski shows up. He certainly looked
(08:58):
like he was a stick figure the last time we
saw him, and he will be returning from his gap year.
But with the what the Buccaneers already have, they've weaponized.
All right, we all agree on that they already weaponized.
They're covering all shapes and sizes of receivers. They got
the big, tall guys, they got the quick guys. How
about adding another quick guy though, Antonio Brown. Throw him
(09:20):
into the mix and see what you got there. That
would be an even larger embarrassment of riches. And you
can never have too much firepower. You can't, you can
never have. You can't bet your bottom dollar on this
this much. I will Garrett fffant Right now, just between us,
Tom Brady is using Jedi mind tricks and there's some
(09:44):
product in the TV twelve store that he's sending Bruce
Arians in an attempt to brainwash Bruce Arians and to
twist his arm. Now, these are not illegal pharmaceuticals, but
these are on the edge. But he's attempting to horne
swoggle the brass in Tampa to bring in his buddy.
You know why is that TV twelve Tom Brady fancies
(10:06):
himself as the camp counselor of the NFL, and he's
got some Father Flannagan in him, and he's like, Hey,
I'll be the life coach who oversees all of Antonio
Brown's life decisions, and I will take him out of
the darkness, and I will show him the light that's
(10:27):
the mind of Tom Brady. More importantly, the reason he
wants to do that is because he thinks that Antonio
Brown can help him stick it to Belichick and the
Patriots and the Bucks can have a great year and
get the last laugh. Now the last word for us
on this monologue about Antonio Brown. The Buccaneers make a
lot of sense for everyone involved. For everyone. Bruce Arians,
(10:48):
even though he says not interested, the guy's got bohemian tendencies.
He's a free spirit as a coach. He's not running
some kind of military boot camp. And he's I'm afraid
to do the unorthodox thing as a head coach with
the funny hats and all that stuff. And hell, Bruce Arians.
Remember the greatest story ever told about Bruce Arians. And
(11:09):
we loved it. We talked about a lot. When he
was coaching in Arizona. Bruce Arians as a child would
drink paint because he thought it would make him more
difficult to tackle. I'm dead, I'm not making that up.
I mean, if you didn't hear that story, I don't
know how you could have missed it, But maybe you did.
This is a guy that growing up thought if I
drink paint, the kind of stuff that you paint your
(11:31):
house with, that he would be invincible on the football field.
So you know what that does. That makes him relatable
to Antonio Brown, who has acted like he's been sniffing
paint for several years. Here. I don't know what's going
on with that. But since the Buckaneers don't need him
and Antonio Brown needs somebody to give him an opportunity,
(11:55):
it's just a good situation to kick the tires on
because you don't need him, and if he acts up,
you can just toss him away like a used tissue
if you have to. But at this point, AB is
like an antique card victorian dresser that has been sitting
in the backyard for a year. It's out there, exposed
to the elements. It's covered in spider webs, there's some
(12:17):
mud on it. That piece of furniture needs to be
sanded down and refinished and then you can get top dollar.
It's gonna pop. It's gonna pop again and become a
luxury item. And you listen, the other issue here and
the other shoe that hasn't dropped yet is AB is
facing If everything goes right in eight game suspension. So
(12:41):
it's not like he would be a full time edition
of the Buccaneers. And if you signed him today, you're
gonna have to worry about him causing problems once training
camp opens later in July. It's about it's not like
that he would be think of him like Geico insurance.
An Tonio Brown would be insurance that if Chris Guy
to win, or one of the other receivers does not
(13:02):
live up to their expectations or gets hurt, you have
Antonio Brown in the wings. And if those guys live
up to their expectations, then Antonio Brown becomes another player
that's a headache for the opposing defensive coordinators. Makes sense
all the way around. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
(13:24):
eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
And we are back at it again this hour. And
this is a fish story. It's a cock and bull
story from the NBA. Now. The apocalypse is a wonderful
time for a trip in the way back machine. Now. Fortunately,
we will get sports back here soon. Despite what the
(13:44):
nice singers say, Yes, born that later. Anyway, the summer
of twenty ten. Let's go back in the way back
machine to the summer of twenty ten. Lebron James a
regular punching bag in these parts. Lebron James deciding on
his next NBA destination. It was the infamous decision, which
(14:05):
was broadcast all over US. I was at a baseball
game in batting practice. They paused batting practice and put
on the scoreboard Lebron James deciding where he was going
to play. It was a really big deal. This isn't
the days before social media completely took over everything was.
It was about the beginning of that. Twitter had started,
I think the year before or a year and a
(14:27):
half before, and it really hadn't blown up the way
it is blown up in the last decade. But that's
a different conversation. So it was the infamous decision, and
I assume you know where I'm going, but maybe not.
This is a bit of a curveball. It is a
hum danger. It's a hum danger of a tale. It
is being reported that the New York Knickerbockers had the
(14:51):
in air quotes inside track of signing Lebron James. Keep
in mind that we're talking about something a decade ago. Now,
what is the source. What's my source? That would be
podcaster Bill Simmons, who at one point was a NBA broadcaster,
a network television commentator on all things NBA. He was
(15:16):
before being sent off to Siberia, and now he's been
marginalized in the podcast world only. But he's making a
ton of money, So what does he care. He's laughing
all the way to the bank. But here's what Simmons said.
He says, it's clear that the Knicks were the first choice.
It was basically the Knicks to lose, and they just couldn't.
Simmons said, stay out of their own way. The stories
(15:38):
are legendary, and then he told some of the stories
and we'll repeat them here. Bill Simmons said that they,
meaning the Knicks, had a legendary meeting. He said, Donnie
Walsh was in a wheelchair, Dolin was Dolin Simmons opine
and it was just a complete they didn't have anything
(16:01):
prepared situation, he went on to say. And it just
couldn't have gone worse by all accounts, it was a disaster.
Quose quote. Now. Dolan reportedly handed out copies of his
bands CD during free agent meetings that summer. That's been
widely reported. So let us discuss the question do you
(16:21):
believe this ten year old tale which is now being told.
I have not heard this in this detail that Lebron
wanted to go to the Knicks. But do you believe
that Lebron really did intend to sign with the New
York Knicks and that James Dolan and the Knickerbockers are
such boobs that they blew it? Now, I am gonna
quote one of the great television reality judges of all time,
(16:44):
the great Randy Jackson from American Idol fame, because if
he was doing this monologue, he would say, Yeah, that's
gonna be a no for me, dog, is what he
would say. And that's gonna be a no for me.
That's gonna be a no. Now, my observations, you've got
window dressing, Racula, and Shakespearean and we will combine all
(17:04):
these things together, will put them in the oven for
about fifteen minutes, maybe a little lesson that see what
we come up with. And Number one, this story reeks,
you smell that bullcrap. This story is bullcrap, okay, And
I learned from Johnny Cochran. He taught me during years
(17:26):
ago the OJ trial. If the glove doesn't fit, you
must have quit. The glove does not fit Lebron James
and the Knicks. It's just not Bill Simmons is partaking
in the ancient art of historical revisionism. Revisionist history is
the best kind of history because you're never wrong when
(17:47):
you recreate history, and it is powerful. It is for
filling when you connect the dots backwards. It's wonderful. Death
by a thousand paper cuts would be where we would
file this particular story. Never miss an opportunity to take
a pot shot at the beleaguered Gotham basketball franchise there
(18:07):
and their fan base. And I'm not talking about the
game Twist. And we all remember the game, the party
game Twister, but this is a spinoff. This is Twist.
The knife deeper is what this is. Now, why is
this manure? Let me tell you. If Lebron James had
his heart set on going to play for the Knicks,
(18:30):
guess what Lebron James would have done. He would have
signed his name, his John Hancock, on the contract to
go to New York. There's nothing stopping him. It doesn't
matter who was in a wheelchair. By the way, doesn't
that make Lebron James seem like he's anti wheelchair the
way and he's against the handicap people that happened to
be in wheelchairs. That's what it sounds like. The way
(18:51):
story was repeated there is Now that's not racism. What
is that he's bigging it against people in wheelchairs because
it happened to be that. Fortunately, Donnie Walsher, respected NBA
executive at that time, was in a wheelchair. And then
as far as like the whole crummy CD, James Dolan
passed out. That's a funny anecdote and all that stuff.
(19:11):
And the other thing that some have brought up is
that James Dolan he was trying to woo Lebron James.
He knew that Lebron James liked acting, so he hired
James Gandolfini, better known as Tony Soprano to reprise his
role as Tony Soprano from the name the namesake show
(19:31):
The Sopranos there that had been off the air for
a couple of years in twenty ten, and they even
brought in Gandolfini's wife on the show. Edie Falco, was
brought in as well, all of that to try to
Wooobron James, and so it did not work. It did
not work, obviously, but it's it's window dressing. All of
that you file away as nothing more than window dressing
(19:55):
when you get down to nutcutting time. The Knickerbockers, just
like every other franchise in the NBA, would have cow
towed and anything Lebron needed the once and desires of
Lebron James, the Knicks would have done. They would have
bent over backwards. You know that. I know that they
wouldn't have moved mountains, but they would have moved some
(20:16):
skyscrapers around in Midtown Manhattan to pacify the entitled King James.
It certainly would have happened. Now the second point, one
of the things when we bring up Lebron James's name, now,
some of us to do this for a living, get triggered.
I'm not saying I'm part of that group or not.
But one thing about Lebron, when given the option, and
(20:37):
I think this is something we can all agree on,
he has always taken the path of least resistance, cruising
in a convertible with the top down for a nice
leisurely drive on Easy Street. It was Miami with d
Wade and Chris Bosh, the super duper team. He didn't
go back to Cleveland until Cleveland had acquired two number
(21:00):
one overall draft picks, almost guaranteed to be a big
star when you're a number one draft pick. They had
Kyrie Irving, and at the time Lebron decided to go
back to Cleveland, they had Andrew Wiggins. Now, Andrew Wiggins
has turned out to be a stiff in the NBA,
but he never played with Lebron because the Cavaliers, to appease,
Lebron traded Andrew Wiggins to Minnesota to get Kevin Love.
(21:21):
Worked out pretty well, and then he said, wow, he
went to LA. See that proves your point run well.
Lebron went to LA thinking he could use the same
magic wand that he used in Cleveland in LA, and
they had a bunch of draft picks that were highly
rated players, players that were drafted near the top of
the draft. And Lebron's like, oh, I'll turn these guys
(21:43):
into good players. And while I'm doing it, I'll have
my office on the Warner Brothers lot and I'll make
a bunch of crappy television shows and documentaries and movies
and things like that, only to be exposed because when
Lebron James said abra cadabra, presto, just like that, it
(22:03):
turned out that Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball didn't respond.
They both stunk. They were dogs with fleas, and Kyle
Kuzma not exactly someone you hang your hat on. So
as a result, Lebron was exposed. He was exposed as
a guy that had lost his mighta's touch in his
first season in La La Land, and without that safety net,
(22:26):
he was like Dracula exposed to sunlight. You know what
happens to a vampire when they see sunlight doesn't go well.
Every Hollywood movie that features those kind of scenes that
we know the outcome. So no longer in the marshmallow
soft Eastern Conference. Lebron was clearly humiliated his first year
in La Imagine if he'd gone to the Knicks, he said, Wow,
(22:47):
I still would have been the Eastern Conference. He would
have been brutal. The Lakers were a terrible team. They
failed to make the playoffs, they had a losing record,
and none of the young players. This is the most
important part improved under the tutelage of the Nike salesman
Lebron James. So what did Lebron do? Lebron said, you
know what, I gotta get back on easy streets. So
(23:08):
I'm gonna as the puppeteer. I'm gonna use my underlings
like Rich Paul to manipulate and brain well empire a
hodge podge of crap players and draft picks. And with
that said, imagine again, though, go back to the Knicks. Though,
(23:30):
because it started with the Knicks. We started down this
rabbit hole with the Knicks. Imagine how brutal it would
have been had Lebron gone to New York. And we
know Lebron often drives the Missus softy truck is not
known to to go light right. And when we're talking
about critical feedback here, the tabloids have never operated like that.
(23:53):
I would doubt they would all of a sudden do
it to please Lebron James. Lebron is used to the
kid glove stream and the NBA media just lobs softballs.
They just lob softballs. Occasionally I'll throw a water balloon.
Occasionally you're get a water boon, might get a lot
of water in your eye, but he's rarely called out
for any of the nonsense Lebron takes part in by
(24:14):
the NBA media establishment. It's just not good for their
business to do that. If he had gone to New York,
it would have been a different story, and I think
we'd see a much different Lebron James by this point.
Now the final final thing, so Lebron could still play
for the Knicks. Obviously this option is not over. It's
over for ten years ago, but Lebron's still planning on
(24:35):
playing several more years. And as a distant relative of
the great Nostra Damas and friend of Nostradinas who lives
in Seattle, we foreshadow Lebron James say he's thirty nine
years old signing with New York. Now, there's a lot
of boxes that would have to be checked, but it's
(24:55):
it's more than a small possibility. Think of this like
a Shakespearean drama, which often the NBA has been called
something along those lines, or a Greek tragedy if you
want to go down that room. But completely washed up
Lebron James by that point. The Nicks they still suck
and they blow every year, so they get the top
(25:15):
pick and Bronnie James is the number one pick, and
the Nike corporate overlords want to do a nice, sappy
commercial with Lebron and his kid playing side by side.
It could be the basketball version of Ken Griffy and
Ken Griffey Junior in Seattle when they played together and
they both hit home runs in Anaheim back in the day.
(25:36):
And so Lebron also could instead of acting in movies
and TV shows, he could have a career on Broadway. Right.
We know he's one of the great thespians of our time.
Just ask him and he will tell you. But wait,
there's more. Now, something else popped up and came across
my radar, and some of you who listened to Fox
Sports Radio all day brought this up. What about politics?
(25:59):
Taking a bite out of the big apple in theory
would certainly help in the political theater. In fact, our
colleague Chris Broussard of Fox Sports Radio says that he
thanks Lebron could be president of the United States someday. Now,
keep in mind, it has been now almost seventy years
(26:19):
since we had a commander in chief without a college degree.
That was Harry Truman. Harry S. Truman. I've been to
the Truman Museum. By I'm better than you because I've
been to the Truman Museum. But anyway, the library whatever
they call it. So Truman that he last was president
in nineteen fifty three. He was the last president, the
thirty third president of the United States who did not
(26:39):
have a college degree. But he actually attended college. He
went to business college, in law school. He never graduated, Truman,
but he became president. But you want to play that game,
to play Devil's advocate. George Washington never graduated from college.
Abraham Lincoln never graduated or even attended college. There have
been many of the early presidents that it's like child labor.
(27:01):
They started out having to work at the age of
like eight, nine, ten, because that's how things were in
the early days in the country. Anyway, listen, I would
be surprised if Lebron James actually does go into politics,
so you can stop sending me emails. Lebron strikes me
as a very thin skin guy who lives in a vacuum.
(27:24):
And you can say most politicians are thin skin and
most live in a vacuum, and maybe that is true,
but could you imagine the juxtaposition from Lebron James, who
has all these NBA writers that just lick his toes.
They give them a manny and a petty. It's not
like that in the political world at all. It's vicious,
especially now more than ever. And sometimes you're the windshield
(27:48):
in life and sometimes you're the bug in life. But
the just the political muckraking alone, Wow, that would that
would not be good. And Lebron tries to make it
seem like he's relatable, but he would be painfully out
of touch in that particular world. All right, it is
(28:10):
the Bennet Mallis show. You want to talk about that.
It is a fair game here. The lines are open
at eight seven, seven ninety nine on Fix. He just
wanted to finish up. I was running into a brick wall.
We were talking about Andrew Tolls, who I enjoyed watching
with the Dodgers a couple of years ago. He's homeless,
and I didn't even get into the meat of the story.
So apparently this has been going on for like a
(28:31):
couple of years where he's been living on the streets
and he runs from his family, which is a story
you hear a lot from people that are home listen.
Maybe you're listening now and your homeless, and you've got
your story to tell. But this is so wild that
Tolls has been arrested multiple times here in the last year.
It just became public for some reason in Key West.
(28:52):
I guess it's the state of Florida again, and the
media is snooping around. Anytime someone gets arrested, they do
a search and all. That doesn't happen this same way
with public information in other states. But according to the family,
he was arrested in Kentucky. A similar incident incurred in
the state of Kentucky. Tolls. Actually, this is the most
(29:13):
wild part that I failed to mention. It's bad job
by me. So this guy that played in the twenty
sixteen National League Championship Series, Andrew Tolls, spent a month
in prison in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong during the holidays.
Imagine that. Imagine going in from twenty sixteen, you are
a couple of wins away from the World Series the
Dodgers were against the Cubs. Didn't get done there, and
(29:35):
you go from that in twenty sixteen to several years
later you are sitting in a prison in Hong Kong.
He was wandering the streets. He had lost his passport,
the story goes, and was arrested for stealing food at
a gas station because he had to have something to eat.
And then they had to call in the US embassy
(29:56):
to get him out of Hong Kong. And he came
back in the United States, and as soon as he
came back, he vanished. He disappeared again and was back
out on the streets and going around. So it's it's crazy,
and you read that story, and there's several stories that
were written about him, and it's it's the question that
so many people have asked, like, how do you help
(30:16):
somebody that does not want the help? And if you're
an adult, the answer is, there's really nothing you can do.
That's the sad tail. There's nothing that can be done.
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. It's Maller.
How about that? To the third degree? This is one
(30:40):
big band gets grilled. All right, Coop, talk very slowly,
take as much time as you want. You want to
do an hour here, we can do an hour whatever
you want, all right, Well, yesterday you talked about the
Major League Baseball players that are opting out of the
sixty game season. Yes, well, apparently MLB is considering letting
non high risk players to change their mind during the
(31:03):
regular season and just come back and start playing. Would
you be on board with this bend? Yeah, this doesn't
sound right to me. Ay, it sounds like chaos. Like
Major League Baseball is doing the right thing. They're allowing
the players who don't want to show up for whatever
reason to not show up. It's very kind. Most jobs
don't allow that, and in theory you'll have a job
(31:25):
waiting for you next season. It's very nice. It's beyond generous.
It's not something that is being offered to people who
are working other jobs at the grocery store or whatnot,
other essential workers. You have to show up to work
or you're fired. So I think they've been fair enough
as it is, and be this also goes against the
Code of the West, right, And I'm a big believer
(31:47):
in that. I've talked about it from time to time
that the Code of the West, among the things that
are listed in the Code of the West, you always
finish what you start. Now. If you don't start it,
you don't have to finish it. So if you're a
player and you skip out, if you're Ian Desman or
what all those you don't want to play, then that's fine.
You've chosen not to play and somebody else will get
your job, and that's good for them. But you, if
you start something, you finish it, and you do what
(32:10):
has to be done. You got to take pride in
your work and things like that. And now, obviously if
you get sick or something is different. But if you
just try to bow out in the middle of it
because he's I don't like this that No, once you
decided to do something, you stick it out. That's the
way to go about it, all right. Next. Also, Rod
Woodson talked to TMZ earlier this week, and he revealed
that he's been trying to find a full time coaching
job in the NFL for a while now, but he
(32:32):
believes he's being backballed due to being a Hall of Famer. Now,
he said that head coaches don't want Hall of famers
on the staff because they want to be the only
alpha male. Are you buying this, Ben? So this is
a double edged story. Sorry, I got a couple of
thoughts here. Number one, the way I see it, like,
he's not wrong with the opening salary here, Like Hall
(32:54):
of Famers are absolutely a threat to head coaches. And
it's happened several times over the year with a few
Hall of Famers that have ended up in the coaching game.
That's just the reality, right. The forty nine Ers I
use as the example when it comes to this thing,
because Mike Nolan, who was the coach in San Francis
gonna do a very good job. He eventually got polloxed
from the forty nine ers and they turned to who
(33:18):
Mike Singletary, the Hall of Fame linebacker from the Monsters
of the Midway in Chicago. Now, Singletary had been on
the staff, but in terms of experience, yeah, you would
not go to Mike Singletary. But he was the biggest name,
not the most experienced coach on the staff. And they
went to Mike Singletary and gave him the opportunity and
it was a hot mess. Now, the thing that Woodson's
(33:41):
wrong about here is the whole it's not fair thing, right.
That's where he jumps into the circus train and starts
going down the tracks here, because a lot of the
coaching profession in football is unglamorous. It is most coaches
started in high school and going to college and then
(34:03):
eventually get into the NFL. That's normally the path. And
it sounds like Rod Woodson is like, hey, I want
to take the fast pass. I understand you'd want to
take the fast pass, but but he's like, you don't
want to pay your dues. You want to go to
the front of the line. And it's like, you're you're
entitled to be on an NFL coaching staff because you
(34:24):
have a plaque in a dusty museum in Ohio that
gives you carte blanche. Now, it's not just every once
while there's somebody that jumps to the front of line.
Sean mcvay's an example someone that jumped to the front
of the line. But he did have some experience as assistant,
but he didn't really pay his dues the way most
coaches have to. You think of Uncle Vick, your guy
Coop in Denver. That's a lifer. You know, he's spent
(34:47):
he's been coaching since the USFL days and beyond before that,
and paid his dues and it finally became a head
coach in the NFL. That's usually how it had gone,
although occasionally lately it's changed up bit all right. Next,
so we learned yesterday some sad news been that Manny
Paciow's dog, pac Man, died in a freak car accident.
(35:09):
I was devastated, yes, but that aside, pac Man's dogs
should not have been driving the car. That aside, you know, yes,
condolence is rip. It got me wondering, Ben, would you
ever name a pet after yourself? Sure? Why not? Why not? Absolutely?
(35:30):
Well in a way let me explain. So, I do
believe in giving dogs human like names like blame my
mom for that, and I've always kind of done that thing.
That's kind of been my thing. And the great thing
about dogs is they have no grasp of language, like
they might understand that certain sounds you're supposed to do something.
But you could name a dog the most disgusting thing
(35:50):
in the world, and that dog will come over if
you've got food and will answer to that whatever sound
you're making. It is in the name. It's not like
their dogs aren't triggered by names or words or anything
like that. Now, Secondly, my wife is the one that
usually does the dog naming Bella was already named before
we got her, or she had lived with another another
family before we got her. But I would not be
(36:12):
opposed to a Mallard branded like puppy, like when Bella
moves to the big candle in the sky, one of
my forty six nicknames, Like I, could you know Beethoven?
I know there's a movie. Wasn't there a dog named
beethovena big giant dog back in the I'm known as
Beethoven and Beethoven of bs. How about gallbladder? That could
be like a tribute at my gallbladder malfunctioning Marconi Maller
(36:36):
that would be a good one. Uh, There's there's a
lot of options with the nicknames, but I'd be fine
with like calling the dog one of those things. I
have no problem with that. I wouldn't call it like
Ben or Mallard. I don't like I would do that.
All right, there it is Mallard of the third degree?
How did we do? Ben passed edition? Where it is?
That is a winner? You put it on the bar. Yeah,
(37:01):
I work
Host
Ben Maller
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