July 2, 2020 • 40 mins
Big Ben breaks down the NFL's plan to put fans in the stands, the Greek Freak's claims about the 2020 season, Maller to the Third Degree, #AskBen, and more!
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Episode Transcript
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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
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(00:23):
This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
Fox Sports Radio. This show a little different than most
of the shows that we've been doing here, and I'll
tell you why in a couple of minutes. But don't
bury the lead, mamahn. All right. So, with the media
feeding frenzy, which is going on like Piranha and they
(00:46):
see blood in the water and they just attack over
the coronavirus and the sensationalistic media reports, you would be
led to believe that fun, any kind of fun, is
just not going to happen for the rest of eternity
the way that's being portrayed. Now. Of course, we know
that most of that is Fearmond Gregg. It's not based
(01:08):
in reality, which leads us to the interesting story involving
the NFL and a plan because you got to have
a plan man for fans to be at stadiums. And
you think this timeline on this the NFL preseason, which
has now been shortened, but the exhibition period training camp
(01:30):
opening up in less than a month. We're already now
industry July and the end of this month training camp
is set to open. But if you've not heard about this,
and maybe you were only listening with half an ear
and you missed it, perhaps that's the case. So we
have learned that the NFL is considering requiring you, the
fan who plans on attending the game this season, to
(01:52):
sign a liability waiver, which would thus, in theory, shield
the respective teams from law suits related to the coronavirus.
Now the NFL hasn't completely signed off on this yet.
It's tossed out as a weather balloon, I would imagine
to get the pulse of the people here, and so
(02:12):
we're doing some of that behind these microphones. But the
basic tenet of it, the NFL is planning on having
fans in the stadium. There is a scenario where no
one will be in the stadium, but they're going to
go on a hodgepod checkerboard type set up here where
local health regulators and thus politicians will influence certain teams
(02:35):
allowing fans in while others don't. But let's not bury
the lead here. This is all about the waiver. This
is all about the waiver. So let us discuss the question.
It's very simple here, will this fan liability waiver? Will
that plan actually work? Is it doable? Can they pull
it off? And the answers yes, The answer is absolutely yes.
(02:58):
So I've got paintball, numbers game, and selective outrage as well.
We will tie all these things together. Now, hey, it
sounds like the NFL's plan is actually well thought out.
Some are saying that's not the case. I disagree. We
are told it's going to be a digital signature on
(03:18):
the liability waiver in the pandemic times that we're living in,
and in terms of the meat and potatoes of this agreement,
the ultimate question that has to be answers it. Will
it stand up in court? And I believe yes, I
believe the answer is yes to that. While it is
being reported, as I said, just over the top by
(03:40):
some people. I can't believe they would ask fans to
sign a waiver to go to a game that seems
odd to me because this is actually not a foreign concept.
Obviously it's different now with the apocalypse. But if you
have ever purchased a ticket in I don't know how
many years to attend a sporting event, you have agreed
to waive your right to sue that team. Now, people
(04:04):
do end up suing, they often don't get anything out
of it. But you, when you buy a ticket, on
the back of the ticket you have signed off there's
a waiver on that ticket and it's it's pretty standard here.
It's a boiler plate type situation and it reads something
to the effect of balls, pucks, other objects may fly
(04:26):
into the spectator area during an event and despite shielding,
injury can occur. Stay alert at all times during and
after play or performance. And then it tells you what
to do if you're struck, etc. Etc. Etc. But you
waive this is key part. You waive any claims of
personal injury or death against us management, facilities, leagues, artists
(04:50):
and other participants and all of our respective parents, affiliates, entries, agents, officers, etcetera, etcetera.
Said a lot of legal ease, and that now even
if a fan signs this waiver, this latest waiver, which
is being talked about, and let's say gets the coronavirus
and then ensues, what are the chances they actually win
that case? What if they said, hey, I went to
(05:11):
a Buffalo Bills game against the Patriots and I got
the coronavirus because I was at that game. So you
got a clear case right there, you go by signing
the waiver, you would assume all liability the way I
understand use some all liability in the odds of you
being able to prove this is the main problem. If
(05:32):
you're planning on going to an NFL game saying you
got the coronavirus, you would then have to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that you got it from someone at
the stadium and directly involved in your experience at that game.
The chances of you being able to do that, as
(05:53):
the old line goes, are slim to none, and none
has left ability. There is no way that I know
of to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your situation
involved you one hundred percent getting infected at a game.
We're not talking about paintball here. Nobody's getting tagged with
blue paint and saying, well, there see, right there, you
(06:14):
got Tagger out of the game because you got COVID nineteen.
Could you could get the virus in many different ways.
It's impossible, though, to prove and this is the key
part the NFL can hang their hat on. It's impossible
to prove that you were infected at the game and
not somewhere else. I mean you going to the stadium,
stopping at the gas station. A good lawyer will say, well,
(06:37):
how do we know you didn't get it from pumping
the gas and maybe there's some some cooties on the
gas gas nozzle and all that at pumped four at
pumped four there, and that's contaminated. But the tracing part
of this would seemingly be impossible, which would mean to
win in court would also be near impossible. Now part
B of this, the NFL, we know they have the
(06:59):
top legal minds available. Why because they've got an s
load of money. We all know it. And they're not
using public defenders here like you and I might use. Now,
they got an army of lawyers that wear those thousand
dollars cuff links is what they've got. Their deep pockets,
(07:20):
and these scenarios have been scrutinized and inspected by that
legal department. Now, again, nothing is one hundred percent. But
the NFL overlords, they know that the stakes of getting
this wrong are really high in terms of damages, Like
(07:40):
the pile of money has skyrocketed in professional sports, but
in football in general, and the risk thus has gone
up from a financial side of things. And they've got
a bulls eye on their back. They absolutely they being
the NFL bulls out there back. Now, some opportunistic lawyers
see the NFL and they have an estimated networth, the
(08:03):
business of football has a net worth around thirty billion
dollars and they have their chisel out and they're chipping
away right there. Chippy, I want some gold coins. I'm
gonna chip away and see if I get some gold coins. Guys.
But it's a simple numbers game where while the NFL's
right to put the waiver out, which it sounds like
they're gonna do, that does not mean they're not going
(08:25):
to get sued. There are way too many attorneys and
not enough cases for those attorneys. We've talked about this
in the past that each year roughly eighty thousand people
take the bar exam on average, and of the eighty
thousand per year. About seventy five percent of those people
actually pass the bar exam, which means each year we
(08:47):
get about sixty thousand new lawyers that are now sworn
sworn in as they passed the bar and they're allowed
to practice law. Most lawyers, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending
on how look at it, most lawyers do not do
that exciting kind of work. They push pencils. They do
a lot of tedious, repetitive paperwork at law firms. That's
(09:09):
that's what a lot of these people end up doing,
and ensuing the NFL would be a path to a
possible that's what we's a word big paid it all right,
last word on this. So it is going to be
nice when we get to the point where we see
fans attending games. I would look at this as a positive.
Now I'm Benny Brightside. Other people are no, oh my god,
(09:31):
this guy is ll like no. But this should be
something that would be a ray of sunshine in the darkness.
But we know that's not going to happen for everybody.
And we know politicians. I live in California, King Newsom,
the overlord of California there and the other political blowhards
they'll put a stop to that, but not everywhere, and
(09:52):
not every other places will be more more open to it.
I know that one thing for sure. We've talked about
as many times. If you just call it a protest,
then it'll be fully endorsed by the political and media establishments.
They're out there. But my position on this is very simple.
I'm a big believer of letting people decide for themselves
(10:12):
free will. And you're not being forced to go to
a game. You're not. Nobody's being forced to go to
a game. The games are expensive, the NFL is a
better product on television anyway, But the fan experience, it's
an enjoyable thing to be in a game and be
part of that in that communal aspect of it. But
(10:33):
the way I look at this again, it's it's about
your choice whether if you don't want to go, that's fine,
but why stop someone else for going? Is my point
on that. And life is all about weighing the risk
of what you do day to day, your activities and
that and just adding an NFL game to listen. Now,
I understand the Devil's Advocate argument is wait a minute,
you are responsible for the rest of us, how dare
(10:55):
you and NFL games are going to be a risky environment.
There's a lot of people there. But I get upset
by that because it's selective outrage. You're very upset about this,
and this is obviously a hot button issue for you.
But my pet, peeve is you could say that same
statement about literally and figuratively any activity that involves leaving
(11:17):
your house. Right, you're responsible for the rest of us.
Why are you going to get that burrito at three
in the morning. What's wrong with you? I mean, you
make the same argument there, So no, it's not the same.
It's not saying, well, take a look at driving. And
I've given the numbers here based on the death rate
that we have at this moment as we're doing this
in real time on the coronavirus. If you are the
(11:39):
average human being in America under the age of fifty,
you have a better chance of dying while driving to
and from the stadium than going to a said NFL game,
getting the coronavirus and meeting your demise. And just look
at driving in general. Right, these people that are in
charge of the laws have raised the speed limit. Now
(12:01):
I'm okay with that. I'm fine with that. But if
you're really concerned about everyone and their health and people dying,
if you lower the speed limit to fifteen miles an hour,
that would dramatically and drastically lower the death rate of
automobile accidents. Now it would be a nuisance, absolutely right.
(12:21):
But if you go over fifteen miles an hour, you
are affecting the health of everyone around you. The possibility
off you're getting into an accident and them being injured
or dying goes up with every mile or five miles
or whatever is you go over the certain speed, the
risk of damage goes higher enough. So I mean that's
the slippery slope that you can go down. And you know,
(12:44):
if you're really worried about just don't leave your house.
I mean, that's your right. You have the free will
to do that. And just keep the blinds down and
just stay there and maybe eventually you'll be able to
leave again. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Thank
you for joining us on a newby night. Man. Is
(13:07):
that exciting? You can feel the buzz we had ridunculous
callers to begin newby Night. Will it calm down? Will
we get a new regular? We already had one regular
call in Christa san Antonio, who's snuck in. He was
very proud of himself for sneaking past Kopa Loop at
the beginning of the show. But I digress. Let's get
into it. The reigning most valuable player in the National
(13:31):
Basketball Association. Now he's officially known by his nickname, but
we call them on this show by his real name
because we know how to pronounce it. We didn't know
how to pronounce it for like the first two years
of his career. But Jannis Identa, Coombo of the Milwaukee Bucks,
believes the challenges that teams in twenty twenty are going
to have to overcome in their pursuit of the trophy,
(13:54):
the Larry O'Brien Trophy, will make the winner of the
twenty twenty NBA Playoffs all the more meaningful. In fact,
there's no asters right forget about the ass I don't
you saw the quote or not? Just imagine I am
Janis and I am giving you an amazing quote on
a conference call. As here it is quote. A lot
(14:16):
of people say there's gonna be a star next to
this championship. Adent To Cumbo articulated to random members of
the Fourth Estate, and he went on to say, I
feel like at the end of the day, I like that,
not at the start of the day, but at the
end of the day, at the end of the day,
this is gonna be the toughest championship you could ever win.
(14:36):
A dent To Cumbo declared, because the circumstances are really,
really tough right now. So whoever wants it more is
going to be able to go out there and take
it close. Quote all right, So we know it's been
almost four months since the NBA suspended operations on that
(14:58):
fateful night March eleventh, was the night we were right
here in the Magic Radio Box. It has now been
one hundred and fourteen days, one hundred and fourteen days
since the last NBA games were played. It's a long stretch.
It's a long stretch because of the pandemic. The restart
plan is gonna take place, come hell or high water,
(15:20):
and it's gonna take place at Walt Disney World's a
Mickey Mouse operation in Orlando in a bubble atmosphere. That
part we know. But the key part here the money quote.
Don't don't avoid the money quote. The money quote, and
all this from your honest Addenta Kombo, as he said,
this is going to be the toughest championship you could
ever win. It is what he said. So let us
(15:41):
discuss the question keep things simple in these parts. Are
you on board that this twenty twenty Championship is going
to be the single toughest to win in the history
of the NBA. I'm not. I'm not in agreement on this.
I'm gonna go thumbs down, not jumping on that train.
(16:02):
I'm not. I've got the Blue Moon, the Playboy Life,
and the House of Cards and we will lock all
these things together. Now. Number One, fundamentally, I disagree on
this one with Janni's adent to Coombo. The two toughest
variables traditionally in the NBA to win a championship no
(16:24):
longer exist. Now there are other issues, and I'm not
going to push back on that. There's the fear factor.
There's the living in a bubble environment, which is obviously
a foreign thing this long. If you get to the
NBA Finals, it's going to be much different. But it's
not gonna be the toughest of all time, because the
(16:46):
thing that stands out in the NBA the two things
that always we bring up on these type of shows
that you have to overcome to win a championship. Road
you gotta be the road team. That's a very tough obstacle.
And the travel, which obviously is related to that, and presto,
they're both gone, right, You don't have to travel, you
don't have to be the hostile environment. In that regard,
(17:08):
this is not going to be the most difficult NBA
championship to win. Yannis Addenti Coubo knows this is reality,
but it's one of those things you're supposed to only
talk about in hushed tones, right, trying to avoid that
the toughest parts of winning a title no longer exists now. Historically,
(17:28):
home court has meant the most in the NBA, even
more so than football, which doesn't make a lot of
sense because in football, you do you have the weather elements,
and certainly when dome teams go on the road, it's
a big deal. But when there's two outdoor teams that
play doesn't doesn't typically factor in all that much as
much as the NBA historically has done. If you are
the road team in an NBA finals, in that sport,
(17:52):
you're at a distinct disadvantage more so than any other
road environment. And the deeper the series goes, the murkier
the water has become for the team that's on the road.
And once in a blue moon, and I'm not talking
about the beer, once in a blue moon, does a
road team overcome those odds, especially when you can do
(18:14):
like a Game seven situation. Home cooking is the gift
that keeps giving in the NBA, and the cross country
travel eliminated, don't have to worry about it. Done over
finito and all that. And it has been proven that
the biggest reason that home court is such a big
(18:35):
deal in the NBA. They've done studies on this is
that human nature takes over. Now, what do I mean
by that? A lot of basketball calls are subjective, not objective,
meaning they could go either way, and you have three outcomes.
You can either not call a foul, you can call
a foul on the home team or the road team.
But talking about those fifty fifty calls, right, and in
(18:57):
a fifty fifty call environment, it has been un where
it's either a block or a charge, the favor goes
to the home team, not because the officials per se
are looking out for the home team, although that's been
a conspiracy going back to the David Stern days in
the NBA, but because of the raw emotion of the
fans and the officials. We see this in baseball where
(19:20):
a big three two pitch in the late part of
the game, the crowd standing up and they're going wild.
They go crazy, and the umpire if it's a close
pitch and it could go either way, strike three, you're out,
get out of here, and the crowd goes wild. So
that's part of it. Now the second figure. We broached
this general subject of winning a championship in a shortened
(19:44):
season in a previous episode. Now we were talking about
Major League Baseball on their return to action. You might
have heard that, maybe you didn't, But in a head
to head comparison baseball and basketball, I will argue the
point that it is going to be tougher in baseball
than it is going to be in basketball. Now it's
an apples and oranges type argument. They're still planning on
(20:08):
traveling in baseball. There's not gonna be any home field
advantage in terms of the crowd, So that's out the window.
It would appear, though we don't even know that to
be true, because it's certainly possible that in some cities
fans will be welcome back to attend baseball games. But
the sport itself, this is the big point of demarcation.
The sport itself is going to be different. Baseball is
gonna be played by a different set of rules, and
(20:30):
that is the biggest takeaway from this between the NBA
and baseball. And for reference, if you look at basketball,
the basketball guys have already played eighty percent of the
regular season and twenty two teams are coming back. Eight
teams are not invited back in the NBA, so you've
got eighty percent who of the season already played. You're
(20:52):
gonna play a handful of regular season games in sterile
arenas and Orlando, and then you're gonna start the playffs.
Major League Baseball, on the other hand, has nothing. They
played some spring training games that don't count, so they
have a sixty game sprint, which is much different than
the one hundred and sixty two game marathon that baseball
usually plays, and that is less than forty percent of
(21:12):
the traditional format that baseball is going to play only
forty percent less than that. I think it's like thirty
seven percent. And they're adding in some gazy rules such
as ghost runners on second base that magically appear when
you get to the tenth inning, and baseball is becoming
more and more like a three ring circus with their
changing rules. Basketball, to my knowledge, did not add a
(21:35):
four or five point shot, and they didn't say, when
you go to overtime in the NBA, home team gets
a six man on the court. They haven't done that yet.
Where if Rob Manford ran the NBA, they would say,
all right, we want the game to end in overtime,
so the home team gets an extra player on the court,
six on five power play. We'll make it like hockey.
(21:55):
They haven't done that obviously. And so the big sack
rests not without sacrifice. The NBA guys are making he
isn't gonna be away from their friends and family, most
of them for an extended time. And as Stephen A.
Smith taught us the other day, no groupies, right, And
when you are living the playboy life, don't undercount this,
don't underestimate this. When you're living the playboy life. And
(22:15):
it doesn't matter whether you're the NBA and these athletes
professional athletes. You live a certain life that we can
only imagine. And it's pretty tough to all of a
sudden flip the switch and go to celibacy Avenue. It's
a difficult road to go down now. As for the
players who aren't going to show up, and there are
some that have bowed out, that have raised the white flag,
that have given up and aren't going to play, none
(22:37):
of those guys are really over the top difference makers.
I guess the biggest name. Maybe I've missed somebody, but
Avery Bradley, who is going to be a shutdown defender
for the Lakers and would have really given the Clippers fits.
But he's given up. He's not playing. Dwight Howard could
skip out that great redemption story on Dwight Howard run.
It sounds like he might not play, although it's still
(22:59):
up in the air right now. But this is actually
a good thing for Lebron because it gives Lebron an
excuse when he ultimately loses to the people's team, the
Clippers and Kawhi Leonard in Orlando, the Great LA Rivalry
in Orlando, which will be taking place all right, final points,
so the coronavirus pandemic, which is obviously throwing a monkey
(23:19):
wrench and everything that we're involved in as far as
the sporting world is concerned, that's an understatement. But I
go back to something I said in the early days
of the apocalypse that you have to follow the basic
tenets of Darwinism, and sports has to do that as well.
And Adam Silver to his credit, and I think he
needs to eat a whole birthday cake by himself. But
(23:41):
Darwinism states if you don't know, you should know this.
If you do not adapt to your environment, you will die.
And right now this is the environment. The NBA environment
is one where they have to put a bubble up
and so they're going to adapt to it and then
they'll go back and it's not gonna last forever, and
then they'll go back and things will be more normal
in years to come. But there is a genuine concern
(24:02):
if they don't pull off this com out. I'm not
just talking about the NBA, I'm talking about baseball and
hockey as well, that the entire sports empire is going
to have to take a time out. If you will.
And now, is that too dramatic drastic I don't or
too dramatic, I don't know. I actually message somebody that
(24:25):
I've known for years who's worked with different teams, and
someone who's been a not a great friend, but someone
I talked to you every once in a while, and
he went on a rant and he was raven and
his premise, I'll just repeat the basics of it, but
his premise is that the longer you go without fan
engagement and you can only put so many videos on
(24:46):
Twitter and so many sizzle reels on Instagram, that without
having more games and without having the on field product,
they hire the probability that you're going to lose a
big percentage of your fan base, who are going to
wake up one morning and realize I don't really need sports.
I can live a fine life. And that dreaded word
(25:07):
apathy applies here. And you've got to think of this
like a house of cards ready to tumble down. So
they didn't seem like that up until March. The sports,
I'll give you the idea how big this is now.
In twenty oh nine, professional sports, the industrial complex of
sports in America was a forty eight billion dollar industry
forty eight billion. That's a ton of money. Forty eight
(25:29):
billion dollars in twenty nineteen. So ten years later, a
year ago, it had gone from forty eight million to
eighty three billion dollars. It had almost doubled, and it
just keeps going up. It was like the full proof
business for idiots. You know, you can't screw this up? Well,
is this going to be the thing that brings it
(25:51):
back down? Right? And is the jig up? Now? This
is doomsday stuff and all that from this guy that
I know, and people are still gonna watch. I think
the ratings will be great when these sports leads come back,
because people are thirsty. But you have a lot on
the line from the business side, and so it doesn't matter.
Business doesn't matter. Okay, well it doesn't matter to you,
(26:14):
but the people that work in that industry are very
concerned about it. And you have humongous media rights deals.
You have obviously the gate revenue, which looks like that's
going to be gone for the short term. You have
the sponsorship agreements, you have the merchandising deals and all that,
and all of those things are in danger of going
down down. How it's like doing the limbo how low
can you go? And then you've got contracts that are
(26:36):
already out there that are guaranteed based on what you
thought was going to be your revenue. And so it's
the trickle down situation. So all these things are factors.
But again, just to put the bow on this, we
started by talking about yannest at Dantha Koombo, who says
this is gonna be the hardest NBA championship. Push back
on that, I say, now, because you have no home
(26:58):
court slash road vantage disadvantage, you don't have to travel,
you don't have the crowd environment. So I'm gonna push
back and say no. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
eleven pm Pacific. Let's just do the third degree right now?
Why not? Here we go? Will not get out? Yeah?
I hit that buttonwout to the third degree. Yeah, this
(27:20):
is one big band gets grilled. All right, Coop d Loop.
What do we have? So, Ben, I was doing a
little bit of my own research, some deep reading in
Cam Newton's contract with the Patriots, and yeah, what I
noticed was that it doesn't seem to have any provision
that prevents them from signing him to a franchise tag
in the off season. Now, Ben, let's say that Cam
(27:42):
actually performs well this season. I'm not talking like MVP level.
Just let's say he performs well. You think there's any
chance that they give him a long term offer when
they have the tag option available? All right, So I
can't say zero, but it would be one percent as
as high as I would go as a one percent chance. Hey,
the way I see it, there are only three possible
(28:05):
outcomes for Cam Newton in New England. He's either terrible,
which means he gets cut and doesn't even make the team.
Or he starts the season but doesn't finish it either
because he's mediocre, or he gets hurt. And then the
other options, he's really good and he's full of the
chest pumps and the pelvic thrust and all that stuff
he's dapping in Superman and all that. In that scenario,
(28:29):
under that plan, the Patriots would just franchise tag him
and they wouldn't sign him a long term They just
go give him another year and let him stick around.
But be if you follow Belichick, and we've had no
choice but to pay attention to Bill Belichick over the years,
the Patriot way has been to get rid of a
player a year or two early rather than a year
(28:49):
too late. Right, And that's often because of salary, meaning
they make too much and they're gonna screw up your
salary cap, so you're better off getting rid of them,
or if it's age or performance related and all that,
and it's it's also part of Belichick's DNA not to overpay,
at least the perception of overpaying even your top players.
So if that is still true and that is considered
(29:11):
a bridge to nowhere in the mind of Belichick, then
there's almost no chinese that Cam Newton's gonna stick around
unless he's just kind of average and then they can
get him on the cheap for like a one year deal,
they bring him back, all right, next, So Pete Carroll
spoke to the media this week when he said that
despite all of the pandemic craziness, the Seahawks quote killed
(29:34):
it this offseason. Ben, how would you grade the Seahawks offseason?
All Right? So I think this is theatrical. It's the
way I would describe It's like Pete Carroll, God love him,
he is like his own Tony Robbins like motivational guy.
He could write a motivational book. His reputation is number one,
is that of a hipster, right, He's all about the positivity, yoga, meditation,
(29:57):
fruit smoothies. The glass has always full, it's not cracked,
it's not chipped at all. It's brand new, just out
of the box. And then secondly, there is nothing that
I unless I forgot something, and maybe I did, but
there's nothing that has the wow factor that the Seahawks
did this offseason. Again, maybe I missed it. But they
what do they do? They traded for Quentin Dunbar, who
(30:19):
has already been charged in a crime in Miami. Now
maybe he's not guilty, but he has been charged in
an armed robbery in Florida. They signed Philip Dorset, who
former Patriot. They brought back Bruce Irvin, and they inked
Carlos Hide. They're running back and that's it. That sounds
(30:40):
like a pretty garden variety offseason to me. That doesn't
sound like get killed it. It's not the worst, but
it's certainly not killing it all. Right. Next and a
piece on Yahoo Sports, a columnist suggested that the pandemic
allows the perfect opportunity for the Dodgers and Angels to
start their games earlier in the day, like five or
thirty at the latest, which would in turn attract a
(31:02):
younger audience. What do you think about that, Ben, Well,
this is more of the same. This is a boiler
plate story that baseball writers have been thrown out. Just
start the game at noon, let the young people enjoy
the game, go earlier. Come on, see here's my position.
And less, baseball games are played like video games on
(31:24):
an Xbox or a PlayStation. They're not interesting enough for
gen z to participate in. And secondly, this is the
standard argument the media makes the games, especially on the
West Coast, start too late and they have to accommodate
the schedule of people living on the East Coast, and
it's bullcrap. I am a believer of if you build it,
(31:47):
they will come. That model, meaning if you have a
good enough product, doesn't matter when you play. And unfortunately,
even though there isn't apocalypse and forty million people or
whatever out of work, a lot of people still have jobs,
and a lot of those people they're still traffic and
by the time they get home, the seven o'clock start
makes sense. And Really, it doesn't matter what some baseball
(32:07):
writer or columnists thinks. The TV people are going to
be the ones that decide because they are the people
that are paying the bills. The TV advertising ultimately is
what pays everyone's salary in professional sports, so they have
to sign off on it. We've gone a little long there.
It is Mallard of the third degree? How did we
do Benny pass this edition? There it is that is
(32:28):
a winner like sixty five dollar ham sandwich. You can
put it on the board. Yeah. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within
the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. It's now
(32:48):
time for time for hurry, hurry, I can ask Bed
Twitter sends your questions on Twitter. Now man away. We
go to ask Ben your questions our answers for the
rest of the hour. On a very mediocre Neobie night,
we go over to the Kopa loop for the reading
(33:08):
of the questions. It's called Ask Ben, but it's asked
Ben and friends. All Right, Ben, We're gonna start off
with a question for everyone. All right, this is from
Chris and Houston. He wants to know what trilogy Isn't
an easy one, I think, but what trilogy of movies
are your favorite to watch? So we have to stop
(33:29):
at a trilogy or we can go like beyond that
because some of these like went on forever, some of
these movies I feel like for me, it was the
original like Star Wars, but you could go you know,
police right that. I mean that definitely counts as a trilogy.
I mean because you know, but they kept making them though. Yeah,
but they're they're separate trilogies. All right, we'll I go.
(33:49):
I was, you know, maybe a kid, or maybe I
wasn't the live but I remember the excitement for Star
Wars and Return of the Jedi and the Empire strikes
back and all. That's why I will go with Star Wars. Eddie. Yeah,
so I mean trilogy obviously that means three movies, right
or does it mean okay, job by you, Eddie, that
is correct. Trilogy. I mean Lord of the Rings. Lord
of the Rings was pretty pretty amazing, but being the
(34:13):
giant Star Wars nerd that I am, I also have
to go Star Wars. All right, Roberto, you want to
go off the reservation here the dark Knight trilogy, back
to the Future. Oh, back to the Future is a
good one. Oh, the first one was. I felt it
was so much better than the other ones. Uh. And
that's that's it. That's it. That's it. That's the end
(34:34):
of the list, all right, Coop loop Liar Liar one,
two and three. Yes, Well, so, Chris's question was what
trilogy of movies are your favorite to watch? Not necessarily,
which is the best trilogy? The Matrix trilogy. So yeah,
that's my answer. My answer is Star Wars, the original
Star Wars trilogy, but the Matrix would be my second one.
(34:55):
I think Lord of the Rings trilogy is better than
the Matrix trilogy overall, but I get the Lord of
Rings too long. I can't watch that a bunch of times.
I can watch The Matrix a bunch of I've only
seen the first Matrix movie. I haven't seen the other
Matrix movies. I quote the first one all that's about.
It's never I never got around to watching the other ones.
It's kind of it's it's even it's it's even worse
(35:16):
than Back to the Future in the sense of the
first one. Far out too. There's definitely like cool scenes
and they're still great as a whole, I think. But
it's the first one is the game changer, the red
or the blue pill? Which are you gonna take? All? Right,
what's next? It's asked Ben your question, yea our answer, Uh?
(35:39):
That dork and san Antonio wants to know what is
the most that you've hijack He's hijacked the show, Chris
and san Antonio's hijacked the show hostile takeover. What's the
most that you've ever won on a scratch off? Well,
I don't. I'm not like so scratch Off or Buddy
in Arkansas, so I don't play them that often. But
he's younger. I used to play him a bit. I
(36:00):
think the most I was like fifty bucks. I think
that's it. But I don't. I don't play very often.
So sometimes if i'm indo like a seven eleven or
something like that, I'll I'm getting a slurpee and all
give me a scratch or something. I don't really don't play, Eddie.
Most you've ever won on a lottery, I've never purchased
a scratcher in my life. I've gotten a few for
like a president, Yeah exactly, And I think I think
(36:22):
five bucks is the most every one? So all right,
Roberto big winning lottery ticket two fifty bucks? Really yeah? Good? Yeah, yeah,
that's cool, all right, Cooper, I don't I don't play
them as much either anymore. I did in my like
you know, or like as soon like when I turned
eighteen to like early twenties, I played them a lot.
(36:43):
And when I was a kid, I used to play them.
I would my mom would buy them for me and
then give him the most. Yeah, most every one was
Actually when I was like eight years old and I
got one hundred dollars scratcher. Oh well, you're eight, you
don't really even know what that is. At that I
knew what money was, okay, all right, Well good for you. Well,
(37:03):
I mean I also I had, like you know, I
did chores and gotten an allowance. Yeah, oh you had
a career. Yeah yeah, yeah that too. I didn't get
to spend that money until much later. But they put
that like an escrow or something like that. It's called
a Cougan account, so you're not allowed. Why is it
called the Coogan account? Was it who's as like an
old child actor or something like that. Okay, okay, all right,
(37:26):
what's next year? It's asked. Man, your questions are answered.
This one is from Dave on Twitter. Hi Dave, It's
for everybody. He wants to know if you could speak
a second language, which one would you choose. Yeah, you know,
when I was a kid, I to have a bar mitzva,
so I learned a little bit, just enough to fake
it during my bar mitz for Hebrew. But uh, you know,
(37:47):
I wish I spoke fluent Spanish. Uh you know, I
think that would be great too. Yeah, um, that would
be helpful. I don't I know a little bit. I
know Spanglish is what I know, and then uh like
it don't be cool. It'll Italian and a bunch of
it would be nice to have that lexicon of different languages.
(38:10):
But I guess if you put it put a gun
to my head, I would say Spanish, what about you, Eddie? Yeah,
I mean, because it's part of my heritage, and I
think it's probably the most useful in our in our
country with the large Latino community, especially here in southern California,
So I would I would go Spanish as well. My
dad spoke fluid Spanish and all of his relatives did,
but he never showed any interest in teaching me Spanish.
(38:31):
So because him, It's like my grandfather with Yiddish. You
know that they wanted to talk and curse, they'd speak.
He would speak Yiddish and the kids didn't know what
they were saying. So yeah, what about you, Roberto? Any
language you want to uh? Italian? Probably? Yeah? Next time
you know we go to Eurovanna you know, you know,
(38:52):
get better on in that Italian? All right? What about you?
Coopa loop? The smart answer would be Spanish because of
where where we live, but I would pick Italian also
because of my heritage. I understand. All right, what's next?
What do we have here? Ask Ben? Your questions our answers.
All right, here's another one. This is from no Help
on Twitter. What is more important to you? I know
(39:14):
your answer, Ben, But what is more important to you
on an average day, A good sleep or a good meal? Well?
I don't eat most days, so I love when I
get sleep. So you know I'm on this fougais he die?
What about you, Eddie? Well, sleep is obviously very important,
especially for us, but I only eat one meal a
day so and I look forward to that meal like
you can't believe. So I'm gonna go with the meal.
(39:35):
How terribles our life, Eddie. We don't eat much, we
don't sleep much. What about you, Roberto? And I enjoy
eating food, but I gotta go with the sleep man.
It's all about sleep. Yeah, very well, what about you, Coop? Yeah,
I enjoy a good meal more, but my whole day
is screwed up. If you don't get good sleep, and
if you have a crappy meal, then whatever, it's crappy. Yeah.
(39:56):
And when I don't get enough sleep, I sound like
I'm drunk. I'm slurring my words. It's this is terrible.
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. This show a little different than most
of the shows that we've been doing here, and I'll
tell you why in a couple of minutes. But don't
bury the lead, mamahn. All right. So, with the media
feeding frenzy, which is going on like Piranha and they
(00:46):
see blood in the water and they just attack over
the coronavirus and the sensationalistic media reports, you would be
led to believe that fun, any kind of fun, is
just not going to happen for the rest of eternity
the way that's being portrayed. Now. Of course, we know
that most of that is Fearmond Gregg. It's not based
(01:08):
in reality, which leads us to the interesting story involving
the NFL and a plan because you got to have
a plan man for fans to be at stadiums. And
you think this timeline on this the NFL preseason, which
has now been shortened, but the exhibition period training camp
(01:30):
opening up in less than a month. We're already now
industry July and the end of this month training camp
is set to open. But if you've not heard about this,
and maybe you were only listening with half an ear
and you missed it, perhaps that's the case. So we
have learned that the NFL is considering requiring you, the
fan who plans on attending the game this season, to
(01:52):
sign a liability waiver, which would thus, in theory, shield
the respective teams from law suits related to the coronavirus.
Now the NFL hasn't completely signed off on this yet.
It's tossed out as a weather balloon, I would imagine
to get the pulse of the people here, and so
(02:12):
we're doing some of that behind these microphones. But the
basic tenet of it, the NFL is planning on having
fans in the stadium. There is a scenario where no
one will be in the stadium, but they're going to
go on a hodgepod checkerboard type set up here where
local health regulators and thus politicians will influence certain teams
(02:35):
allowing fans in while others don't. But let's not bury
the lead here. This is all about the waiver. This
is all about the waiver. So let us discuss the question.
It's very simple here, will this fan liability waiver? Will
that plan actually work? Is it doable? Can they pull
it off? And the answers yes, The answer is absolutely yes.
(02:58):
So I've got paintball, numbers game, and selective outrage as well.
We will tie all these things together. Now, hey, it
sounds like the NFL's plan is actually well thought out.
Some are saying that's not the case. I disagree. We
are told it's going to be a digital signature on
(03:18):
the liability waiver in the pandemic times that we're living in,
and in terms of the meat and potatoes of this agreement,
the ultimate question that has to be answers it. Will
it stand up in court? And I believe yes, I
believe the answer is yes to that. While it is
being reported, as I said, just over the top by
(03:40):
some people. I can't believe they would ask fans to
sign a waiver to go to a game that seems
odd to me because this is actually not a foreign concept.
Obviously it's different now with the apocalypse. But if you
have ever purchased a ticket in I don't know how
many years to attend a sporting event, you have agreed
to waive your right to sue that team. Now, people
(04:04):
do end up suing, they often don't get anything out
of it. But you, when you buy a ticket, on
the back of the ticket you have signed off there's
a waiver on that ticket and it's it's pretty standard here.
It's a boiler plate type situation and it reads something
to the effect of balls, pucks, other objects may fly
(04:26):
into the spectator area during an event and despite shielding,
injury can occur. Stay alert at all times during and
after play or performance. And then it tells you what
to do if you're struck, etc. Etc. Etc. But you
waive this is key part. You waive any claims of
personal injury or death against us management, facilities, leagues, artists
(04:50):
and other participants and all of our respective parents, affiliates, entries, agents, officers, etcetera, etcetera.
Said a lot of legal ease, and that now even
if a fan signs this waiver, this latest waiver, which
is being talked about, and let's say gets the coronavirus
and then ensues, what are the chances they actually win
that case? What if they said, hey, I went to
(05:11):
a Buffalo Bills game against the Patriots and I got
the coronavirus because I was at that game. So you
got a clear case right there, you go by signing
the waiver, you would assume all liability the way I
understand use some all liability in the odds of you
being able to prove this is the main problem. If
(05:32):
you're planning on going to an NFL game saying you
got the coronavirus, you would then have to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that you got it from someone at
the stadium and directly involved in your experience at that game.
The chances of you being able to do that, as
(05:53):
the old line goes, are slim to none, and none
has left ability. There is no way that I know
of to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that your situation
involved you one hundred percent getting infected at a game.
We're not talking about paintball here. Nobody's getting tagged with
blue paint and saying, well, there see, right there, you
(06:14):
got Tagger out of the game because you got COVID nineteen.
Could you could get the virus in many different ways.
It's impossible, though, to prove and this is the key
part the NFL can hang their hat on. It's impossible
to prove that you were infected at the game and
not somewhere else. I mean you going to the stadium,
stopping at the gas station. A good lawyer will say, well,
(06:37):
how do we know you didn't get it from pumping
the gas and maybe there's some some cooties on the
gas gas nozzle and all that at pumped four at
pumped four there, and that's contaminated. But the tracing part
of this would seemingly be impossible, which would mean to
win in court would also be near impossible. Now part
B of this, the NFL, we know they have the
(06:59):
top legal minds available. Why because they've got an s
load of money. We all know it. And they're not
using public defenders here like you and I might use. Now,
they got an army of lawyers that wear those thousand
dollars cuff links is what they've got. Their deep pockets,
(07:20):
and these scenarios have been scrutinized and inspected by that
legal department. Now, again, nothing is one hundred percent. But
the NFL overlords, they know that the stakes of getting
this wrong are really high in terms of damages, Like
(07:40):
the pile of money has skyrocketed in professional sports, but
in football in general, and the risk thus has gone
up from a financial side of things. And they've got
a bulls eye on their back. They absolutely they being
the NFL bulls out there back. Now, some opportunistic lawyers
see the NFL and they have an estimated networth, the
(08:03):
business of football has a net worth around thirty billion
dollars and they have their chisel out and they're chipping
away right there. Chippy, I want some gold coins. I'm
gonna chip away and see if I get some gold coins. Guys.
But it's a simple numbers game where while the NFL's
right to put the waiver out, which it sounds like
they're gonna do, that does not mean they're not going
(08:25):
to get sued. There are way too many attorneys and
not enough cases for those attorneys. We've talked about this
in the past that each year roughly eighty thousand people
take the bar exam on average, and of the eighty
thousand per year. About seventy five percent of those people
actually pass the bar exam, which means each year we
(08:47):
get about sixty thousand new lawyers that are now sworn
sworn in as they passed the bar and they're allowed
to practice law. Most lawyers, unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, depending
on how look at it, most lawyers do not do
that exciting kind of work. They push pencils. They do
a lot of tedious, repetitive paperwork at law firms. That's
(09:09):
that's what a lot of these people end up doing,
and ensuing the NFL would be a path to a
possible that's what we's a word big paid it all right,
last word on this. So it is going to be
nice when we get to the point where we see
fans attending games. I would look at this as a positive.
Now I'm Benny Brightside. Other people are no, oh my god,
(09:31):
this guy is ll like no. But this should be
something that would be a ray of sunshine in the darkness.
But we know that's not going to happen for everybody.
And we know politicians. I live in California, King Newsom,
the overlord of California there and the other political blowhards
they'll put a stop to that, but not everywhere, and
(09:52):
not every other places will be more more open to it.
I know that one thing for sure. We've talked about
as many times. If you just call it a protest,
then it'll be fully endorsed by the political and media establishments.
They're out there. But my position on this is very simple.
I'm a big believer of letting people decide for themselves
(10:12):
free will. And you're not being forced to go to
a game. You're not. Nobody's being forced to go to
a game. The games are expensive, the NFL is a
better product on television anyway, But the fan experience, it's
an enjoyable thing to be in a game and be
part of that in that communal aspect of it. But
(10:33):
the way I look at this again, it's it's about
your choice whether if you don't want to go, that's fine,
but why stop someone else for going? Is my point
on that. And life is all about weighing the risk
of what you do day to day, your activities and
that and just adding an NFL game to listen. Now,
I understand the Devil's Advocate argument is wait a minute,
you are responsible for the rest of us, how dare
(10:55):
you and NFL games are going to be a risky environment.
There's a lot of people there. But I get upset
by that because it's selective outrage. You're very upset about this,
and this is obviously a hot button issue for you.
But my pet, peeve is you could say that same
statement about literally and figuratively any activity that involves leaving
(11:17):
your house. Right, you're responsible for the rest of us.
Why are you going to get that burrito at three
in the morning. What's wrong with you? I mean, you
make the same argument there, So no, it's not the same.
It's not saying, well, take a look at driving. And
I've given the numbers here based on the death rate
that we have at this moment as we're doing this
in real time on the coronavirus. If you are the
(11:39):
average human being in America under the age of fifty,
you have a better chance of dying while driving to
and from the stadium than going to a said NFL game,
getting the coronavirus and meeting your demise. And just look
at driving in general. Right, these people that are in
charge of the laws have raised the speed limit. Now
(12:01):
I'm okay with that. I'm fine with that. But if
you're really concerned about everyone and their health and people dying,
if you lower the speed limit to fifteen miles an hour,
that would dramatically and drastically lower the death rate of
automobile accidents. Now it would be a nuisance, absolutely right.
(12:21):
But if you go over fifteen miles an hour, you
are affecting the health of everyone around you. The possibility
off you're getting into an accident and them being injured
or dying goes up with every mile or five miles
or whatever is you go over the certain speed, the
risk of damage goes higher enough. So I mean that's
the slippery slope that you can go down. And you know,
(12:44):
if you're really worried about just don't leave your house.
I mean, that's your right. You have the free will
to do that. And just keep the blinds down and
just stay there and maybe eventually you'll be able to
leave again. Be sure to catch live editions of The
Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app. Thank
you for joining us on a newby night. Man. Is
(13:07):
that exciting? You can feel the buzz we had ridunculous
callers to begin newby Night. Will it calm down? Will
we get a new regular? We already had one regular
call in Christa san Antonio, who's snuck in. He was
very proud of himself for sneaking past Kopa Loop at
the beginning of the show. But I digress. Let's get
into it. The reigning most valuable player in the National
(13:31):
Basketball Association. Now he's officially known by his nickname, but
we call them on this show by his real name
because we know how to pronounce it. We didn't know
how to pronounce it for like the first two years
of his career. But Jannis Identa, Coombo of the Milwaukee Bucks,
believes the challenges that teams in twenty twenty are going
to have to overcome in their pursuit of the trophy,
(13:54):
the Larry O'Brien Trophy, will make the winner of the
twenty twenty NBA Playoffs all the more meaningful. In fact,
there's no asters right forget about the ass I don't
you saw the quote or not? Just imagine I am
Janis and I am giving you an amazing quote on
a conference call. As here it is quote. A lot
(14:16):
of people say there's gonna be a star next to
this championship. Adent To Cumbo articulated to random members of
the Fourth Estate, and he went on to say, I
feel like at the end of the day, I like that,
not at the start of the day, but at the
end of the day, at the end of the day,
this is gonna be the toughest championship you could ever win.
(14:36):
A dent To Cumbo declared, because the circumstances are really,
really tough right now. So whoever wants it more is
going to be able to go out there and take
it close. Quote all right, So we know it's been
almost four months since the NBA suspended operations on that
(14:58):
fateful night March eleventh, was the night we were right
here in the Magic Radio Box. It has now been
one hundred and fourteen days, one hundred and fourteen days
since the last NBA games were played. It's a long stretch.
It's a long stretch because of the pandemic. The restart
plan is gonna take place, come hell or high water,
(15:20):
and it's gonna take place at Walt Disney World's a
Mickey Mouse operation in Orlando in a bubble atmosphere. That
part we know. But the key part here the money quote.
Don't don't avoid the money quote. The money quote, and
all this from your honest Addenta Kombo, as he said,
this is going to be the toughest championship you could
ever win. It is what he said. So let us
(15:41):
discuss the question keep things simple in these parts. Are
you on board that this twenty twenty Championship is going
to be the single toughest to win in the history
of the NBA. I'm not. I'm not in agreement on this.
I'm gonna go thumbs down, not jumping on that train.
(16:02):
I'm not. I've got the Blue Moon, the Playboy Life,
and the House of Cards and we will lock all
these things together. Now. Number One, fundamentally, I disagree on
this one with Janni's adent to Coombo. The two toughest
variables traditionally in the NBA to win a championship no
(16:24):
longer exist. Now there are other issues, and I'm not
going to push back on that. There's the fear factor.
There's the living in a bubble environment, which is obviously
a foreign thing this long. If you get to the
NBA Finals, it's going to be much different. But it's
not gonna be the toughest of all time, because the
(16:46):
thing that stands out in the NBA the two things
that always we bring up on these type of shows
that you have to overcome to win a championship. Road
you gotta be the road team. That's a very tough obstacle.
And the travel, which obviously is related to that, and presto,
they're both gone, right, You don't have to travel, you
don't have to be the hostile environment. In that regard,
(17:08):
this is not going to be the most difficult NBA
championship to win. Yannis Addenti Coubo knows this is reality,
but it's one of those things you're supposed to only
talk about in hushed tones, right, trying to avoid that
the toughest parts of winning a title no longer exists now. Historically,
(17:28):
home court has meant the most in the NBA, even
more so than football, which doesn't make a lot of
sense because in football, you do you have the weather elements,
and certainly when dome teams go on the road, it's
a big deal. But when there's two outdoor teams that
play doesn't doesn't typically factor in all that much as
much as the NBA historically has done. If you are
the road team in an NBA finals, in that sport,
(17:52):
you're at a distinct disadvantage more so than any other
road environment. And the deeper the series goes, the murkier
the water has become for the team that's on the road.
And once in a blue moon, and I'm not talking
about the beer, once in a blue moon, does a
road team overcome those odds, especially when you can do
(18:14):
like a Game seven situation. Home cooking is the gift
that keeps giving in the NBA, and the cross country
travel eliminated, don't have to worry about it. Done over
finito and all that. And it has been proven that
the biggest reason that home court is such a big
(18:35):
deal in the NBA. They've done studies on this is
that human nature takes over. Now, what do I mean
by that? A lot of basketball calls are subjective, not objective,
meaning they could go either way, and you have three outcomes.
You can either not call a foul, you can call
a foul on the home team or the road team.
But talking about those fifty fifty calls, right, and in
(18:57):
a fifty fifty call environment, it has been un where
it's either a block or a charge, the favor goes
to the home team, not because the officials per se
are looking out for the home team, although that's been
a conspiracy going back to the David Stern days in
the NBA, but because of the raw emotion of the
fans and the officials. We see this in baseball where
(19:20):
a big three two pitch in the late part of
the game, the crowd standing up and they're going wild.
They go crazy, and the umpire if it's a close
pitch and it could go either way, strike three, you're out,
get out of here, and the crowd goes wild. So
that's part of it. Now the second figure. We broached
this general subject of winning a championship in a shortened
(19:44):
season in a previous episode. Now we were talking about
Major League Baseball on their return to action. You might
have heard that, maybe you didn't, But in a head
to head comparison baseball and basketball, I will argue the
point that it is going to be tougher in baseball
than it is going to be in basketball. Now it's
an apples and oranges type argument. They're still planning on
(20:08):
traveling in baseball. There's not gonna be any home field
advantage in terms of the crowd, So that's out the window.
It would appear, though we don't even know that to
be true, because it's certainly possible that in some cities
fans will be welcome back to attend baseball games. But
the sport itself, this is the big point of demarcation.
The sport itself is going to be different. Baseball is
gonna be played by a different set of rules, and
(20:30):
that is the biggest takeaway from this between the NBA
and baseball. And for reference, if you look at basketball,
the basketball guys have already played eighty percent of the
regular season and twenty two teams are coming back. Eight
teams are not invited back in the NBA, so you've
got eighty percent who of the season already played. You're
(20:52):
gonna play a handful of regular season games in sterile
arenas and Orlando, and then you're gonna start the playffs.
Major League Baseball, on the other hand, has nothing. They
played some spring training games that don't count, so they
have a sixty game sprint, which is much different than
the one hundred and sixty two game marathon that baseball
usually plays, and that is less than forty percent of
(21:12):
the traditional format that baseball is going to play only
forty percent less than that. I think it's like thirty
seven percent. And they're adding in some gazy rules such
as ghost runners on second base that magically appear when
you get to the tenth inning, and baseball is becoming
more and more like a three ring circus with their
changing rules. Basketball, to my knowledge, did not add a
(21:35):
four or five point shot, and they didn't say, when
you go to overtime in the NBA, home team gets
a six man on the court. They haven't done that yet.
Where if Rob Manford ran the NBA, they would say,
all right, we want the game to end in overtime,
so the home team gets an extra player on the court,
six on five power play. We'll make it like hockey.
(21:55):
They haven't done that obviously. And so the big sack
rests not without sacrifice. The NBA guys are making he
isn't gonna be away from their friends and family, most
of them for an extended time. And as Stephen A.
Smith taught us the other day, no groupies, right, And
when you are living the playboy life, don't undercount this,
don't underestimate this. When you're living the playboy life. And
(22:15):
it doesn't matter whether you're the NBA and these athletes
professional athletes. You live a certain life that we can
only imagine. And it's pretty tough to all of a
sudden flip the switch and go to celibacy Avenue. It's
a difficult road to go down now. As for the
players who aren't going to show up, and there are
some that have bowed out, that have raised the white flag,
that have given up and aren't going to play, none
(22:37):
of those guys are really over the top difference makers.
I guess the biggest name. Maybe I've missed somebody, but
Avery Bradley, who is going to be a shutdown defender
for the Lakers and would have really given the Clippers fits.
But he's given up. He's not playing. Dwight Howard could
skip out that great redemption story on Dwight Howard run.
It sounds like he might not play, although it's still
(22:59):
up in the air right now. But this is actually
a good thing for Lebron because it gives Lebron an
excuse when he ultimately loses to the people's team, the
Clippers and Kawhi Leonard in Orlando, the Great LA Rivalry
in Orlando, which will be taking place all right, final points,
so the coronavirus pandemic, which is obviously throwing a monkey
(23:19):
wrench and everything that we're involved in as far as
the sporting world is concerned, that's an understatement. But I
go back to something I said in the early days
of the apocalypse that you have to follow the basic
tenets of Darwinism, and sports has to do that as well.
And Adam Silver to his credit, and I think he
needs to eat a whole birthday cake by himself. But
(23:41):
Darwinism states if you don't know, you should know this.
If you do not adapt to your environment, you will die.
And right now this is the environment. The NBA environment
is one where they have to put a bubble up
and so they're going to adapt to it and then
they'll go back and it's not gonna last forever, and
then they'll go back and things will be more normal
in years to come. But there is a genuine concern
(24:02):
if they don't pull off this com out. I'm not
just talking about the NBA, I'm talking about baseball and
hockey as well, that the entire sports empire is going
to have to take a time out. If you will.
And now, is that too dramatic drastic I don't or
too dramatic, I don't know. I actually message somebody that
(24:25):
I've known for years who's worked with different teams, and
someone who's been a not a great friend, but someone
I talked to you every once in a while, and
he went on a rant and he was raven and
his premise, I'll just repeat the basics of it, but
his premise is that the longer you go without fan
engagement and you can only put so many videos on
(24:46):
Twitter and so many sizzle reels on Instagram, that without
having more games and without having the on field product,
they hire the probability that you're going to lose a
big percentage of your fan base, who are going to
wake up one morning and realize I don't really need sports.
I can live a fine life. And that dreaded word
(25:07):
apathy applies here. And you've got to think of this
like a house of cards ready to tumble down. So
they didn't seem like that up until March. The sports,
I'll give you the idea how big this is now.
In twenty oh nine, professional sports, the industrial complex of
sports in America was a forty eight billion dollar industry
forty eight billion. That's a ton of money. Forty eight
(25:29):
billion dollars in twenty nineteen. So ten years later, a
year ago, it had gone from forty eight million to
eighty three billion dollars. It had almost doubled, and it
just keeps going up. It was like the full proof
business for idiots. You know, you can't screw this up? Well,
is this going to be the thing that brings it
(25:51):
back down? Right? And is the jig up? Now? This
is doomsday stuff and all that from this guy that
I know, and people are still gonna watch. I think
the ratings will be great when these sports leads come back,
because people are thirsty. But you have a lot on
the line from the business side, and so it doesn't matter.
Business doesn't matter. Okay, well it doesn't matter to you,
(26:14):
but the people that work in that industry are very
concerned about it. And you have humongous media rights deals.
You have obviously the gate revenue, which looks like that's
going to be gone for the short term. You have
the sponsorship agreements, you have the merchandising deals and all that,
and all of those things are in danger of going
down down. How it's like doing the limbo how low
can you go? And then you've got contracts that are
(26:36):
already out there that are guaranteed based on what you
thought was going to be your revenue. And so it's
the trickle down situation. So all these things are factors.
But again, just to put the bow on this, we
started by talking about yannest at Dantha Koombo, who says
this is gonna be the hardest NBA championship. Push back
on that, I say, now, because you have no home
(26:58):
court slash road vantage disadvantage, you don't have to travel,
you don't have the crowd environment. So I'm gonna push
back and say no. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
eleven pm Pacific. Let's just do the third degree right now?
Why not? Here we go? Will not get out? Yeah?
I hit that buttonwout to the third degree. Yeah, this
(27:20):
is one big band gets grilled. All right, Coop d Loop.
What do we have? So, Ben, I was doing a
little bit of my own research, some deep reading in
Cam Newton's contract with the Patriots, and yeah, what I
noticed was that it doesn't seem to have any provision
that prevents them from signing him to a franchise tag
in the off season. Now, Ben, let's say that Cam
(27:42):
actually performs well this season. I'm not talking like MVP level.
Just let's say he performs well. You think there's any
chance that they give him a long term offer when
they have the tag option available? All right, So I
can't say zero, but it would be one percent as
as high as I would go as a one percent chance. Hey,
the way I see it, there are only three possible
(28:05):
outcomes for Cam Newton in New England. He's either terrible,
which means he gets cut and doesn't even make the team.
Or he starts the season but doesn't finish it either
because he's mediocre, or he gets hurt. And then the
other options, he's really good and he's full of the
chest pumps and the pelvic thrust and all that stuff
he's dapping in Superman and all that. In that scenario,
(28:29):
under that plan, the Patriots would just franchise tag him
and they wouldn't sign him a long term They just
go give him another year and let him stick around.
But be if you follow Belichick, and we've had no
choice but to pay attention to Bill Belichick over the years,
the Patriot way has been to get rid of a
player a year or two early rather than a year
(28:49):
too late. Right, And that's often because of salary, meaning
they make too much and they're gonna screw up your
salary cap, so you're better off getting rid of them,
or if it's age or performance related and all that,
and it's it's also part of Belichick's DNA not to overpay,
at least the perception of overpaying even your top players.
So if that is still true and that is considered
(29:11):
a bridge to nowhere in the mind of Belichick, then
there's almost no chinese that Cam Newton's gonna stick around
unless he's just kind of average and then they can
get him on the cheap for like a one year deal,
they bring him back, all right, next, So Pete Carroll
spoke to the media this week when he said that
despite all of the pandemic craziness, the Seahawks quote killed
(29:34):
it this offseason. Ben, how would you grade the Seahawks offseason?
All Right? So I think this is theatrical. It's the
way I would describe It's like Pete Carroll, God love him,
he is like his own Tony Robbins like motivational guy.
He could write a motivational book. His reputation is number one,
is that of a hipster, right, He's all about the positivity, yoga, meditation,
(29:57):
fruit smoothies. The glass has always full, it's not cracked,
it's not chipped at all. It's brand new, just out
of the box. And then secondly, there is nothing that
I unless I forgot something, and maybe I did, but
there's nothing that has the wow factor that the Seahawks
did this offseason. Again, maybe I missed it. But they
what do they do? They traded for Quentin Dunbar, who
(30:19):
has already been charged in a crime in Miami. Now
maybe he's not guilty, but he has been charged in
an armed robbery in Florida. They signed Philip Dorset, who
former Patriot. They brought back Bruce Irvin, and they inked
Carlos Hide. They're running back and that's it. That sounds
(30:40):
like a pretty garden variety offseason to me. That doesn't
sound like get killed it. It's not the worst, but
it's certainly not killing it all. Right. Next and a
piece on Yahoo Sports, a columnist suggested that the pandemic
allows the perfect opportunity for the Dodgers and Angels to
start their games earlier in the day, like five or
thirty at the latest, which would in turn attract a
(31:02):
younger audience. What do you think about that, Ben, Well,
this is more of the same. This is a boiler
plate story that baseball writers have been thrown out. Just
start the game at noon, let the young people enjoy
the game, go earlier. Come on, see here's my position.
And less, baseball games are played like video games on
(31:24):
an Xbox or a PlayStation. They're not interesting enough for
gen z to participate in. And secondly, this is the
standard argument the media makes the games, especially on the
West Coast, start too late and they have to accommodate
the schedule of people living on the East Coast, and
it's bullcrap. I am a believer of if you build it,
(31:47):
they will come. That model, meaning if you have a
good enough product, doesn't matter when you play. And unfortunately,
even though there isn't apocalypse and forty million people or
whatever out of work, a lot of people still have jobs,
and a lot of those people they're still traffic and
by the time they get home, the seven o'clock start
makes sense. And Really, it doesn't matter what some baseball
(32:07):
writer or columnists thinks. The TV people are going to
be the ones that decide because they are the people
that are paying the bills. The TV advertising ultimately is
what pays everyone's salary in professional sports, so they have
to sign off on it. We've gone a little long there.
It is Mallard of the third degree? How did we
do Benny pass this edition? There it is that is
(32:28):
a winner like sixty five dollar ham sandwich. You can
put it on the board. Yeah. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com and within
the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to listen live. It's now
(32:48):
time for time for hurry, hurry, I can ask Bed
Twitter sends your questions on Twitter. Now man away. We
go to ask Ben your questions our answers for the
rest of the hour. On a very mediocre Neobie night,
we go over to the Kopa loop for the reading
(33:08):
of the questions. It's called Ask Ben, but it's asked
Ben and friends. All Right, Ben, We're gonna start off
with a question for everyone. All right, this is from
Chris and Houston. He wants to know what trilogy Isn't
an easy one, I think, but what trilogy of movies
are your favorite to watch? So we have to stop
(33:29):
at a trilogy or we can go like beyond that
because some of these like went on forever, some of
these movies I feel like for me, it was the
original like Star Wars, but you could go you know,
police right that. I mean that definitely counts as a trilogy.
I mean because you know, but they kept making them though. Yeah,
but they're they're separate trilogies. All right, we'll I go.
(33:49):
I was, you know, maybe a kid, or maybe I
wasn't the live but I remember the excitement for Star
Wars and Return of the Jedi and the Empire strikes
back and all. That's why I will go with Star Wars. Eddie. Yeah,
so I mean trilogy obviously that means three movies, right
or does it mean okay, job by you, Eddie, that
is correct. Trilogy. I mean Lord of the Rings. Lord
of the Rings was pretty pretty amazing, but being the
(34:13):
giant Star Wars nerd that I am, I also have
to go Star Wars. All right, Roberto, you want to
go off the reservation here the dark Knight trilogy, back
to the Future. Oh, back to the Future is a
good one. Oh, the first one was. I felt it
was so much better than the other ones. Uh. And
that's that's it. That's it. That's it. That's the end
(34:34):
of the list, all right, Coop loop Liar Liar one,
two and three. Yes, Well, so, Chris's question was what
trilogy of movies are your favorite to watch? Not necessarily,
which is the best trilogy? The Matrix trilogy. So yeah,
that's my answer. My answer is Star Wars, the original
Star Wars trilogy, but the Matrix would be my second one.
(34:55):
I think Lord of the Rings trilogy is better than
the Matrix trilogy overall, but I get the Lord of
Rings too long. I can't watch that a bunch of times.
I can watch The Matrix a bunch of I've only
seen the first Matrix movie. I haven't seen the other
Matrix movies. I quote the first one all that's about.
It's never I never got around to watching the other ones.
It's kind of it's it's even it's it's even worse
(35:16):
than Back to the Future in the sense of the
first one. Far out too. There's definitely like cool scenes
and they're still great as a whole, I think. But
it's the first one is the game changer, the red
or the blue pill? Which are you gonna take? All? Right,
what's next? It's asked Ben your question, yea our answer, Uh?
(35:39):
That dork and san Antonio wants to know what is
the most that you've hijack He's hijacked the show, Chris
and san Antonio's hijacked the show hostile takeover. What's the
most that you've ever won on a scratch off? Well,
I don't. I'm not like so scratch Off or Buddy
in Arkansas, so I don't play them that often. But
he's younger. I used to play him a bit. I
(36:00):
think the most I was like fifty bucks. I think
that's it. But I don't. I don't play very often.
So sometimes if i'm indo like a seven eleven or
something like that, I'll I'm getting a slurpee and all
give me a scratch or something. I don't really don't play, Eddie.
Most you've ever won on a lottery, I've never purchased
a scratcher in my life. I've gotten a few for
like a president, Yeah exactly, And I think I think
(36:22):
five bucks is the most every one? So all right,
Roberto big winning lottery ticket two fifty bucks? Really yeah? Good? Yeah, yeah,
that's cool, all right, Cooper, I don't I don't play
them as much either anymore. I did in my like
you know, or like as soon like when I turned
eighteen to like early twenties, I played them a lot.
(36:43):
And when I was a kid, I used to play them.
I would my mom would buy them for me and
then give him the most. Yeah, most every one was
Actually when I was like eight years old and I
got one hundred dollars scratcher. Oh well, you're eight, you
don't really even know what that is. At that I
knew what money was, okay, all right, Well good for you. Well,
(37:03):
I mean I also I had, like you know, I
did chores and gotten an allowance. Yeah, oh you had
a career. Yeah yeah, yeah that too. I didn't get
to spend that money until much later. But they put
that like an escrow or something like that. It's called
a Cougan account, so you're not allowed. Why is it
called the Coogan account? Was it who's as like an
old child actor or something like that. Okay, okay, all right,
(37:26):
what's next year? It's asked. Man, your questions are answered.
This one is from Dave on Twitter. Hi Dave, It's
for everybody. He wants to know if you could speak
a second language, which one would you choose. Yeah, you know,
when I was a kid, I to have a bar mitzva,
so I learned a little bit, just enough to fake
it during my bar mitz for Hebrew. But uh, you know,
(37:47):
I wish I spoke fluent Spanish. Uh you know, I
think that would be great too. Yeah, um, that would
be helpful. I don't I know a little bit. I
know Spanglish is what I know, and then uh like
it don't be cool. It'll Italian and a bunch of
it would be nice to have that lexicon of different languages.
(38:10):
But I guess if you put it put a gun
to my head, I would say Spanish, what about you, Eddie? Yeah,
I mean, because it's part of my heritage, and I
think it's probably the most useful in our in our
country with the large Latino community, especially here in southern California,
So I would I would go Spanish as well. My
dad spoke fluid Spanish and all of his relatives did,
but he never showed any interest in teaching me Spanish.
(38:31):
So because him, It's like my grandfather with Yiddish. You
know that they wanted to talk and curse, they'd speak.
He would speak Yiddish and the kids didn't know what
they were saying. So yeah, what about you, Roberto? Any
language you want to uh? Italian? Probably? Yeah? Next time
you know we go to Eurovanna you know, you know,
(38:52):
get better on in that Italian? All right? What about you?
Coopa loop? The smart answer would be Spanish because of
where where we live, but I would pick Italian also
because of my heritage. I understand. All right, what's next?
What do we have here? Ask Ben? Your questions our answers.
All right, here's another one. This is from no Help
on Twitter. What is more important to you? I know
(39:14):
your answer, Ben, But what is more important to you
on an average day, A good sleep or a good meal? Well?
I don't eat most days, so I love when I
get sleep. So you know I'm on this fougais he die?
What about you, Eddie? Well, sleep is obviously very important,
especially for us, but I only eat one meal a
day so and I look forward to that meal like
you can't believe. So I'm gonna go with the meal.
(39:35):
How terribles our life, Eddie. We don't eat much, we
don't sleep much. What about you, Roberto? And I enjoy
eating food, but I gotta go with the sleep man.
It's all about sleep. Yeah, very well, what about you, Coop? Yeah,
I enjoy a good meal more, but my whole day
is screwed up. If you don't get good sleep, and
if you have a crappy meal, then whatever, it's crappy. Yeah.
(39:56):
And when I don't get enough sleep, I sound like
I'm drunk. I'm slurring my words. It's this is terrible.
Host
Ben Maller
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