February 18, 2022 • 41 mins
Andy Furman stops by the podcast studio for a special chat on the “Fifth Hour, with Ben Maller,” and Danny G Radio. A beloved teammate on Fox Sports Radio. The fellas talk about how Bengals fans are handling the loss in Super Bowl 56, whether or not Cincinnati ownership will spend what it takes to fix the offensive line and keep Joe Burrow around. Andy shares classic stories from his days as a zany promoter at the horse track, and behind the microphones on afternoon drive in Cincinnati. Furman explains how he has become pen-pals with Patriots coach Bill Belichick and much more. You can hear Andy Furman each Sunday morning on FSR from 6am-9am ET, say hi to Andy on Twitter @AndyFurmanFSR. Follow Danny G Radio on Twitter @DannyGradio, Follow Big Ben on Twitter @BenMaller, and listen to the original "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on 400+ terrestrial Fox Sports Radio affiliates, iHeart stream, and SiriusXM Radio channel 83, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a
week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, another
weekend kicking off. You know it's the weekend if you
hear me bloviating into the microphones of The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller. Very exciting Ben Maller, qu Danny g
(00:48):
and Flying Solo. Though on this edition of the Fifth
Hour we have survived the first week following Super Bowl
fifty six, we have yet to get into the full
rattle of the silly season of the NFL with all
the rumors in the air everywhere, and we look forward
(01:08):
to the NFL Draft, which is a gossip palooza. Not
that we're big fans of the actual NFL draft, but
we like all the trimmings that come with the NFL Draft,
if you understand what I'm saying. But this podcast, I
thought it was appropriate. We had Jackie Slater on from
the Rams last week leading into the Super Bowl, and
(01:31):
that inspired the Rams to win Super Bowl fifty six.
And I thought, fairness in broadcasting, if you are going
to have a ram on, you've got to have some balances.
And so who do I know in Cincinnati? I went
through my roll in decks after the Bengals took it
on the chin, and uh yeah, well in the Super Bowl.
(01:54):
But there's one name that popped up, and that is
the Great Andy Furman. And so we contacted and he's
standing by right now here on the fifth hour. So Andy,
who has been in radio for a long time. If
you don't know Andy's work, shame on you. He does
a Sunday, very popular Sunday show here on Fox Sports Radio.
(02:15):
He was our morning guy. It was Andy Furman and
Mike North did the morning show at Fox Sports Radio
for a while. Legendary public relations director at a horse track.
And it's done all kinds of zany wild things where
you can get into as much of that as we
can get into. But we must start with the Cincinnati
Bengals as we welcome in the great Andy Furman. So, uh, Andy,
(02:38):
are the good people of Cincinnati still sitting Shivau for
the Bengal players. It's it's been about a week since
the Super Bowl, So how are people reacting to the loss?
You know, it's funny you mentioned that then, it really
is because once they after about five o'clock, they had
a big rally and I'm still trying to figure out
(02:58):
what was the rally focused and win anything. But they
were just so happy with the results of this team
and where they ended up that there's no one expecting
anything to happen with this team. I mean, Vegas picked
the Bengals to win five or six games. So about
five in the afternoon, believing the Governor Dwine showed up,
the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati was there.
Mike Brown, who never makes public appearances, that was there.
(03:20):
Zach Taylor. No, no players, of course, players have didn't disappeared.
They just gone after the game was over. But about
a thousand or fifteen hundred people showed up at Washington
Park downtown Cincinnati with the band, music, drinks and just
a grand old time. People making speeches and just so
happy and appreciative of what this Bengals team did. I
was shocked. Really, that's insane to me. They lost Andy,
(03:43):
they lost the game. They but they got all these
politicians together and just for where they where they lighting candles?
Did they have the candles light as well? And you
know those I do. Anytime there's a microphone, there's gonna
be a politician that's number one. So they were they.
I mean, why the governors there? I have idea. I
mean if the Cleveland Browns one, he would have been
up in Cleveland. So there's no doubt there. But the
(04:04):
point is, you're right. I mean they didn't win anything,
but I think they were just so pleased after thirty
three years of not winning a thing and all of
a sudden not coming back to life. You know, you
talk about expectations, and you know, as well as anybody
else then the expectations of what sports is all about.
People expect things to happen. I know one expected this
to happen in Cincinnati. The problem is right now they
did catch lightning on the bottle, But now the pressure
(04:26):
is on next year. What if they don't make the playoffs.
This is one of the tougher divisions in football. They
got Baltimore, Cleveland is gonna be back. Pittsburgh's gonna be
back on the new quarterback for sure. We'll see what
happens next year. Could be a major disappointment next year
if they don't even make the playoffs. So you see,
and you agree. You are my Cincinnati guy, Andy, and
you agree with me that you know I've been talking
(04:46):
to some Banngo fans. You think, no, no, this is
Joe Burrow, that he's the real thing. I think Burrow
is good. But this season was a fluke, right, that
this was as you said, Vegas did not expect the
ban Goes to have a particularly good team here, that
this is an interloper situation. Everything kind of lined up
for them this season. Is it sustainable and he are
(05:09):
you you mentioned the owner that doesn't really show his
face very often. Are they willing to actually spend some money,
not a ton of money, just enough money to improve
the offensive line and make this team sustainable for the
next couple of years. Well, you know, you hit the
nail on the head because there are people early on
going into the playoffs comparing Joe Burrow to Tom Brady
(05:32):
and I almost topped my finger in my mouth. And
it's just one of a few, because you know, you
just can't mean you can't. It's too soon. He had
a great year. You know, you can't not what the
Bengals did. I think they certainly deserved to get to
the playoffs. But everything lined up, the stars were in linement.
They were. But again, you've got free agency. You know
who Zama Osama is a free agent right now because
(05:55):
several other free agents. And you saw what happened to
Joe Borrow in the playoff game. You know, everybody was
gasting and he went down on that knee. They said
it won't be an operational situation, but he's gonna have
to work that knee out, which was the so called
good knee. So they got to get protection there under
the salary caps. They need to protect this guy. And
I read what Carson Palmer had to say, the formal
quarterback of the Bengals. He said he doesn't think Joe
(06:17):
Burrow is gonna be it down the stretch because he
doesn't think this he's gonna make the commitment of winning.
And to protect him, we'll see what happens when his
contracts up. Well, yeah, we're gonna get to that. But
it's it's great how the media works. We're in the media,
But we're radio guys. Andy, you know, we're radio radio guys,
so we're kind of in the media. But the story,
as you mentioned, was Joe Burrows the next Tom Brady
(06:38):
before the Super Bowl, and now after the Super Bowl,
he's now being compared to Andrew Luck. So who is
the real Joe Burrow? Andy Furman? Did this guy Joe Burrow?
Really and truly this was truly his rookie season. He
played five games a year ago. Uh, he played well,
got this team into the playoffs. Despite despite that offensive line,
(06:59):
he was fifty one time. Is the a band still
hiders and in the in the National Football League? Plus
he was not something like nine times in that game
against Tennessee. You know how much abuse can of quarterback
and he's a young kid. He can't take that much longer.
Maybe his first year he could do that. So what
happened last year against that Washington team, They carried him
out on the stretcher. So he can't continue to get
(07:20):
that punishment. They got to protect him. You know, I'm
not gonna compare him to anybody because I don't think
it's fair. It's not fair to him and it's not
fair to those who have did to the Wars and
have completed great seasons and great careers. Picture, it's not fair.
I think it's so much ludicrous. I think it's ridiculous,
to be honest, I think it's stupid. Well that's what
we do. We're stupid. But but he does that. Burrows
got the razmatask though. There's something about him, and you know,
(07:44):
you see different quarterbacks and then this Burrows got something
I don't just saw the video of him during the
Super Bowl. I talked about it the other night on
my show where he was going around and he was
introducing himself. Hey, I'm Joe to some of the Ram
defensive players, which was which was kind of cool. A need.
I mean, so if he can and it's obviously the
you know, ifs and butts game, but he's got these guys,
(08:06):
I said, the RASMU tast So if he can play
at a high level, he's gonna make a ton of money.
I had heard Andy. I don't know if you heard
the same thing that the people on Madison Avenue, the
people in the advertising world, we're licking their chops. If
the Bengals had beaten the Rams, that it would have
been Joe Burrow all over television, and he would have
taken endorsements away from like Baker Mayfield and guys like
(08:28):
that or on every other commercial. So he's he's got
a pile of money waiting for him if he can,
if he can just figure this thing out in the
next couple of years, yeah, you may. You may see
Joe Burrow doing those insurance commercials down the stretch. And
I will say this, I mean these quota tests. I
don't think there's down looks of a difference in the
talent level between quartterback game and quarteback b in the
(08:50):
national football Like what I mean by that, they all
could pass the hill, could throw, they all know how
to read defenses. What separates the good from the great
is the leadership quality. So I think that Joe Burrow
has that he has the command of the respect in
the huddle. These guys believe in him, and he's a
true leader. And I think he's not confident in the
sense that cockiness shows, but he's confident in knowing what
(09:12):
he has to do, and he's shown that. I think
he's won this team over and I think that's what
makes him head and shoulders above other quarterbacks. That have
started out in this league. I think he's a great leader,
and in other leaders that I've seen on this ball
club have been Boomers. Sizzin had that same it's fact
that that people respect him, followed him and trust him.
And that's what they did with Joe Burrow. How many
(09:34):
guys have left Dandy in the Cincinnati media that we're
covering the team when Boomer was there, I mean, you
you've you've seen some dreadful football for like how many years?
My god, that's back in the late late eighties, right
early nineties. Boomers Sizzin, Mike, that's a that's a lifetime ago.
That's insane. It was Kenny Anderson and Boomer Sizin, and
(09:54):
after that it was David Klingler, Jeff Blake. You go
down the list. I mean it was on the but
then Mallett was understent. I played. That was in the preseason.
I thought I did pretty well, Andy, but they cut
me for some reason. Not right that they released I
don't know why. I don't think they liked your attitude,
but it was I don't know. I'm just saying, you
know we're around here. Well, it was apparently I ate
(10:16):
too much in the locker room there, and they said
they had they had to get rid of me because
I was I was eating too much. But who had
food in the locker room? Exactly? Exactly? So, so who's getting?
I always loved when the team loses, because, as you know,
the better story is in the losing locker room. Even
though I like the Rams and I'm happy the Rams.
One from a conversation standpoint, it's the finger pointing right
(10:38):
when you lose a game, who gets the blame seems
pretty obvious. A lot of this is on the offensive line,
but uh, is there anyone else? I know? Eli Apple?
Uh did not have a particularly great Super Bowl. He
fell apart at the end of the game. Who are
the fall guys? And he who's getting? I'm gonna I'm
gonna give you two particulars that really irked me in
(10:58):
this game. Number one, let's go back to the first quarter.
Benglis had the ball, they the fifty odd line. It
was fourth and one. Zack Taylor decides to go for
it was ridiculous at that time point in time in
the game to go for a fourth and one. It
was early, it was too early. He didn't make it.
They didn't make the Rams go back to mace Cores.
That's number one. Let's move down to the fourth quarter.
Thirty eight seconds left in the game, fourth and one,
(11:21):
fourth and one, they get a first down. Now they're
trailing by three. There's a good chance that they get
a first down, and there Evan McPherson, who is basically
deadly from fifty yards out. Basically becauld have tied this game.
They go fourth and one, they give the ball to
p Ryan. Why I give this guy the ball? I
have no idea. He failed to get the first down.
This guy gained something like four yards in the entire
(11:42):
playoff series. Now, I will say this, they may not
have gotten to the playoffs without this guy. Pe Ryan
had sold back. But why given the ball? You gotta
give the best player behind center the ball. You gotta
give you a money guy the ball. Joe Mixon should
have got the call. He didn't get the call, and
I think that costs in the game. Well, you mentioned
Zach Taylor. I remember you're talking about the gambling gods Andy.
Before the season, Zach Taylor, people said O Scott, he
(12:05):
might not be the Bengals coaches could be it. You
know his last year, two years and out or whatever,
and Cincinnati now they just gave him a contract extension
this week. Is he a good coach or is he
just the beneficiary of having a young quarterback that kind
of figured things out this year in Borow? Well, in
the National Football League, you're nothing without a quarterback. So
(12:25):
certainly we've got the so called franchise quarterback under wraps
right now. But you know, he was surrounding some some
pretty good coaches around him. Uh. As far as calling
offensive place, I never liked the fact that he called
the offense and he was the head coach. I think
you have to separate that number one, number two, he
did it from the field up. I think you got
to call it from the booth. A lot of guys
(12:46):
call it from the booth. He didn't do that. I
think he's still learning, I really do. I mean the
fact that he was a protege of the Rams staff
and the so called genius Sean McVeigh. I think that
he got the job by osmosis. You know people think
that Sean they was the so called g is. Let's
take this skuy stealing from the staff. I think I
think the jury is still out. I really do. However,
you have to put in now in a category of
(13:07):
guys that have won the Super Bowl and maybe one
only one super Bowl. Let's think about this. Andy Readers
won one, John Harbaugh has won one. These the guys
that have won just one super Bowl. Sean McVeigh one
and he's won it now in his third years. So
that's a star in his corner, really is. Yeah. And
I actually had I interviewed McVeigh a couple of years
ago and I got a chance to have my name
(13:29):
in the coaching circuit. I think I was up for
a couple of years ago the Tennessee Titans job before
they they made the change there. So just by being
in the room with Sean McVeigh, they want to hire you.
How Come the Bengals have never hired you? Speaking of
hiring people in radio, and you know it's funny, you know,
been my background has always been a PR guy. I
was a sports information guy, has several colleges. I was
(13:51):
a PR guy in the pros with the with the
fort loader deal strikes a ron by the Robbie family.
So I did some work with the Miami Dolphins at
that time. And you know, Mike Mike kind of knew me,
and I'm I'm pretty close with Mike Brown. And every
time it was a pr opening UH in the National
Football League. This is really funny he'd write a letter
in my behalf, certainly because he wanted to get me
(14:11):
off the local radio. I think that's why he did it.
I really knew. I mean, he wrote a beautiful letter
to UH, to the forty Niners for me that there
was an opening years ago to San Francisco forty Niners
and he earn letter to the Green Bay Packers in
my behalf and UH, And I was I was excited
because I I would have loved to have gone and
done that work. But I think that he didn't do
it so much because of his love for me. I
(14:33):
think it was from my hate on the radio, because
I attacked him. I mean, I was pretty brutal when
they were kind of death in the nineties, you know.
And he was the general manage still is made a
lot of the calls. He had the smallest scouting staff,
and I said the only reason he got that job
and this really was a quote for for the ages.
I said he was sperm lucky because of his daddy.
(14:55):
I think and you know he was infuriated that quote.
That quote almost haunt I me, I mean you think
that haunted him and haunted be I mean I was
colder to the manager's office at the time we did
the games. How can you say, well, it's true. I
mean the guy basically was firm monkey, but he was well, yeah,
I mean that's all like so much of the sports world,
that's what it's all about. Like Jim Ersey right in Indianapolis,
(15:17):
he just happened to be in the right spot. These
these NFL teams. Look, the Raiders, the spawn of Al Davis,
Mark Davis, who's is running the Raiders. That's believable. Yeah,
I look at him on TV. I mean the guy
looks like a clown for Wringling Brothers. He really does. Yeah.
And that haircut in you'd think somewhere along the way
he'd say, Hey, maybe let's try something a little different here,
(15:38):
that's change it up a little bit. He loves that cut.
He keeps going back to that haircut. That's his go
to haircut. And uh yeah, I saw him on HBO
Real Sports. He's wearing like a Raiders Jacke being interview
with the Raiders. Schilk jacket on. I mean, come on, really, really,
how much football can he possibly know? The people will say,
you know, you have to have a business center. You
really don't have to know the game of football. Just
(15:58):
hire good football. People are on you maybe, but I
don't know. We'll see. Yeah. See if if our dads
owned NFL teams, we would have inherited the team then
and we would have been running in NFL teams. Again,
that goes back to your sperm lottery as you as
you said, we just we we got in the wrong line. Apparently, Andy,
we just got in the wrong line. I'll give you
(16:20):
a story way back when when I lived back east.
You know, the late Dave Saberstein and obviously, oh the
Holland glowtroter is. But his son was a lunatic and
his son always had these off the wall ideas, and
he owned the team called the New York Sets and
World Team tennants. Oh my goodness. I mean he brought
that team into the ground. I remember I went to
a couple of the matches and my good friend Dave
(16:41):
hablished him. We went to college together. You know, he
was doing some of the games and helping the team out.
But this guy, his son just I think whatever. Fortunately
he inherited from the late aid he just blew. I
mean they there was nothing left. He just invested in stuff,
trying to promote things and just just couldn't get it done. Well,
you're one of the great pr guys. I love the
fact every time I see the story about the horse
(17:03):
when Chris Collin's worth, you had him a race of horse?
What could you get away with that stuff today? Would
it be bigger today or would it not be the
same any With social media, it's a whole different social media.
If I had a horse racer an athlete, I think
Peter would probably lock me up. I mean, you can't
do it. They don't even have There's no more elephants
at the circus anymore, I know. And I don't even
(17:25):
think there's a circus. I think the circus is gone.
I don't think there's any more. I think they have
they have human circuses now, right. Isn't that the thing
where they have people flying like trapeze artists and things
like that, but they don't actually actually actually it's called
Fox Sports radioed. Yes, the biggest circus under the big
top and he come one come exactly fun, fun, for
(17:45):
all ages, fun for all ages, right, Yeah, you're right, absolutely,
you know it's funny. I'm lucky I was. I was
there at the right time. Uh. And a lot of
things that I did today would be canceled culture. There's
no doubt about that. I know. I worked at one
race track and the general Manjerson, I don't care what
(18:06):
you do as own as you don't get arrested. I
don't want to get a phone called in the middle
of the night after and I sent out a released
one time that there were hookers around the race track,
you know, and the we've made papers. I made his
unbelievable ladies of the night, you know, circling the race track.
And I thought that were the track more guys to
come to the race track. I really did, you know.
I'll give you another one. This one definitely would have
(18:26):
got me. Can There's no doubt. I had a promotion
called beat your Wife Night, Beat your Wife, where you
come into the race track, you purchased a program. The
husband would have more winners in the program than the wife.
He beat his wife. Now you put that out today,
you go to jail. Beat your wife. I can't do it,
can't do it. Well, i'll tell you. I'll tell you. Sorry.
I on the Overnight Show. This is a couple of
(18:48):
years ago. Uh. For some reason, I did one of
like like who am I game questions and the answer,
UH was like Joe Niekro right, And then we had
to call it called up and and I was just
like telling a joke and it was Joe and Phil
Nekro and uh. And then I I said, it was
like a throw in, like I can't even repeat it
(19:10):
on the podcast, Andy, because became a drop on the show,
and I said, you know they all look the same,
the and you know, the Joe and Phil and and
and I said that, and I didn't say what people
thought I said. But it didn't matter Andy, right, because
people heard the clip, and you know how people consume radio.
They listened with half in a year. And so every
(19:30):
time that drop got played, Andy, we got people calling up,
sending the emails, well, I can't believe you would say
this on the national airwaves of Fox Sports Radio and
I We're gonna be fired. And I was like, I
didn't say anything. Their knuckleball pitchers from the you know,
back in the seventies and the eighties, what am I
doing it. Nothing, nothing, but people people look for that
(19:52):
kind of stuff these days. It's you know, it's when
you're shaving and you cut yourself and say, good, I
got you. I think people listen to the radio and
they want to get you. They really do. He did
it to my good buddy, Tommy Brennaman, and he wasn't
even on the air, you know, doing the game. It
was like an open mic prior to the to the brook.
But you know, and it's it's a shame, but like,
I don't think he's ever gonna get back in. But
it's funny you say that because I said something way
(20:13):
back when talking about women's sports, and I said something
it was just tongue in cheek. I said, the only
place for women will be in the bedroom in the kitchen.
Oh my goodness, that I get heat. I said, there's
two places for women and they are the bedroom in
the kitchen. And oh the heat that I got on
that you couldn't believe. Well, now, yeah, as you forget
about it, it's it's all over. Turnout the lights, the
(20:33):
party's over on that. Yeah. The have you talked to
Tom Brennaman since saw that went to Tom? I talked
to him last week, last Thursday week, a week ago,
and uh, you know, he seems to be doing all right,
but I'm sure, I'm sure his heart's broken. You know.
I can imagine going to bed at night, looking at
the ceiling and say, what happened to me? What happened
to my life? He was great and he's a good guy.
(20:56):
I think I think he was done wrong and hopefully
one day he gets back in. I mean, I think
everybody deserves a second chance. I don't think he's an
evil person. I really don't. Yeah, and I don't know
the rules because I haven't been able to keep track,
like when you cancel somebody, and and obviously Tom Brennan
was canceled, Like what's the statue of limitations on that?
When does that run out? But the problem is now,
(21:19):
you know, as you mentioned, there's so many people in
society today, Andy that are like I want to I
got you, you know, got you and all this stuff.
So if Tom Brendon, let's say he was up for
a play by play job somewhere, even if the Reds
wanted to hire him back, there would be groups out
protesting right there be you know, backlash. I don't even
know if it's real or not because it's social media, right,
(21:40):
I don't know how much of it's really how much
of it's fake, But you'd have to deal with that,
and you know better than anybody, and because you worked
around professional sports, you've been around longer than I have
that the one thing these teams don't want is negative publicity, right,
So any kind of negative stories to get out. If
you were to hire a guy like that, there's just like,
it's not worth our trouble, which sucks to shift. That's
(22:00):
the key. Also, because you'll hire a bell like that,
every sponsor is gonna say, you know when, we're not
gonna buy a time when your station, We're not gonna
sponse to the team, whatever it may be. But you
would just love, in this day and age to see
an owner of one team with a pair of onions
to get out there and say you know what, I'm here,
I'm bringing them back. You may not like it, but
everybody in life deserves a second chance. And look at
(22:20):
yourself in the mirror, because I'm sure you screwed up
once in a while and you got a second chance.
We're bringing them back. Boom. But I don't think you
do that. Yeah, I don't think that owner exists today.
Like I'm you're you're describing like Al Davis or build
Beck built that biboard, Bill veck uh, but like Steinburn
or somebody along that the owners today, you know this,
(22:43):
some of the guys kind of get it, but they
don't there if everyone's afraid of the same the same
boogeyman is is what I'm trying to say. And Yeah,
the one person in sports that I think would be
willing to do that would be Dana White at the UFC.
Like Dana White seems like the kind of guy that
US doesn't give a damn and he would he doesn't
care about that stuff. He would be willing to to
(23:04):
cross over the cancel culture and all that and and
hire a guy like Tom Brendon. Don't Brennavan wants to
do UFC stuff. But that's that would be a path
where I could see something like that working out. You know,
I'm just in the top of my head off any
own or any major sport that would do something that
I can't. You know what about the owner of the Clippers,
he seems to be a bit of a maverick Steve. Yeah,
(23:26):
you know he is. But he's also you know, he's
kind of in the NBA world. You gotta be in
lockstep there, So he's not uh, he's not crossing the line.
He is building this great arena. Though. Next time you're
in town, Andy, next time you're in l A, the
Intuit Dome, which is right right near a near Sofi
Stadium where they piled they played the Super Bowl. You
(23:48):
gotta see the Sofi Stadium. Oh my Goddy, this is
a put you don't want if I had a choice
to see Sofi Stadium, but go to Langers Delhi. I'm
going to Landers Delhi. All right, Well, I agree with you?
Is that. Look, you're a true you're true mench Langers
Deli people. A lot of people visit that, drawing me
on ride with a Sala pickle, and I thought that
Brown's cream soda. There's nothing better. It's great. Now, you
(24:10):
gotta go early in the day because they're not they're
only open till four o'clock Lingers Deli in l A.
Because you don't want to be there after four o'clock. Andy,
You don't, and you don't want to make a wrong turn.
You don't want to go across the street there to
MacArthur Park, because that is that is like hell on Earth,
Sodom and Gomorrah. I think they are right there across
the street. Well, I'm glad you chose Langers, and not
(24:31):
that Cancer's Delhi is bad. But Langers is you're a
New York guy, It's better than most of if not all.
I like cats As Deli in New York. That's my
go to Delhi when I go to her, but it's
very expensive and uh and all that. But I do
enjoy cats Is Deli, But Langers in l A is insane.
And so I don't know how I'm gonna take it
(24:53):
to one if you come to the Midwest. Okay, I
thought one if you close your eyes, is very very
close to Langers and Catses should year olds Delhi in Indianapolis. Okay,
So if I mean that's that's the same type of
that Pastrami's the die for it Languge. So it's a
similar type of Shapiro's is unreal? It really is? Is that? Now?
What are your top? What's your one? In New York? You?
(25:15):
How can you go back to New York? Do you
have a Catches? Catches New York line shapiros and in
Cincinnati we got is He's is the one. Okay. So
it's a very important information because I need soul food
when I need when I'm seriously pastrami, salmon, matzo ball soup. Yeah,
that's he has the potato pancakes too. That's not a
bad That's not a bad move either. Not a bad
(25:37):
move either. Oh, I got a time. I'm excited to
pass on it. For the first time. I've been sports
radio a long time. For the first time ever, they
allowed me to go to Radio Row last week for
the super I've never been to radio or I assume
you've been there many times over the years, right, doing
your only only twicely? Okay, yeah, all right, what was
your experience like? Did you did you enjoy Yeah? I
(26:00):
enjoyed it. But it comes out as a as a
place where people just hawk their wares and you know,
you see it. Another figure that did Vermeil showed up
and he just got in done into the Hall of Fame,
which is great. And he showed up and I'm saying
to myself, why is he here? He has something to
do with the game. He's not coaching, but he was
selling wine. He has a venue and he was selling one.
(26:21):
But it was great, you know, but he comes down there,
talks about his wine and his video. But then we
talked football a little bit, but it was just crazy.
It's one after another. And don't little think that Cam
Newton showed up in h I think it was in
New Orleans when I was there, and we talked about
social media and at the time, I'm sure it's not
true now. At the time he said he didn't believe
in social media and he didn't have any social media
(26:42):
accounts whatsoever. So some of the stories were great and
they stuck with you. You know, you never a loss
for a guest because they're coming in and draws. Really
it's like a herd. They're coming one after another. But
it's great and you gotta be on your toes a
little bit because you don't know what you're gonna talk
about when you see these guys. But you know, it's
kind of fun and it's a it's a unique score.
If you've never been there. Yeah, I know, I've never
(27:03):
been there. I didn't really know what to expect. It's
not I was told by the people that are there
every year. It was not the same. Because of the
California COVID rules and all that, there were not as
many media people as there are normally, but it was
it reminded me like a boardwalk situation. And then they
were you know, people screaming, hey, they're selling weight loss
(27:24):
products or you name it as you said, whine, all
kinds of nonsense. And the amount of people that are
around these former athletes that always blows me away. Andy.
These guys have like posses of people that are leading
them through and the the whole entourage. Uh, the only Yeah,
that's why athletes are broke five years after they retire.
(27:48):
It goes to the posses. Yeah. But the only radio
guy I saw that had a posse was Pat McAfee.
But he's got a hundred million dollars eighties, so I
think he's he's doing okay, I think he can forward.
I mean, what about the Mala militias. They should have
been there. Oh no, where the Malay See. Let me
tell you how the mallema works outside of when I
(28:08):
was walking to Radio Row uh, and I parked far
away because you know, I'm very frugal, like the people
that run the Bengals there. I like to hold on
my money. So they were. They were price gounging everyone
around Radio Row at the l A Convention Center. So
I parked a couple of miles away from the convention
center and I'm walking through the mean streets of l A.
(28:31):
Which they cleaned up by the way, Andy, because the
super Bowl obviously was there, so they took a lot
of the homeless and they just stooped them. I don't
know where they put them, but they moved them. I'm
sure they're back now because the super Bowl is over.
But but anyway, so the point of story, So I'm
walking through and I run into one of my callers,
Helmet Man, the guy known as helmet Man. He's out
(28:53):
selling shirts and helmet you know, he buys stuff from
like Goodwill and then he tries to turn it around
and sell it and make money on the street. I
ran into him. I had not seen him in like
two years. I thought he had died, Andy, and there
he was. And that's my guy. That's the Mallard Militia. Andy.
They're not inside. And I like the guy the one
when I do listen because it's on a little late
(29:15):
at night for me. He on the East coast. But
I do listen once in a while. You have the
guy you put them on and you hear him snoring. Oh, yes, yes,
you're you're talking about hollering James. Yes, he is the
most prolific snorer in is in my career. Maybe you
had something because you do you did primetime shows, Andy,
(29:36):
I I do live late night, so I got more
of the people. But this guy holler and James, he's
your great overnight sports talk radio caller because he really
has nothing to say. He just wants to be on
the air, and he falls asleep literally two out of
every three times he calls the show. And you will
appreciate this, Andy, as a fellow radio professional. One of
(29:57):
the greatest bits I ever did with Hollereen James. We
were playing a game show it was too much or
not enough, and this is a couple of years ago,
and he fell asleep and he was supposed to play
the game. So we had him play the game anyway
based on if he snored, the answer was too much.
(30:18):
If he didn't store it was not enough. He won
the game. Maybe he won the game show fast asleep
And it was the most amazing, surreal experience. It was
crazy and I should have won the Marconi for that,
but somehow I did not get a single vote. Can
you believe that? Andy? It's insane? You know you've been
doing the overnight you know, for a while. Are you
(30:41):
amazed how many people are up at that hour and
call you? Because I'm on now at six am Sunday
Eastern time and we opened the phones and still we're
getting calls. I mean most of the calls probably from
the West Coast, which is like three am. What are
they doing up? They're coming back from the bars? Is
(31:01):
that what it is? Yeah? No, I I completely am shot.
I'm flabbergasted. I've been doing a while now. I even
did Super Bowl shows for years. I would do shows
with Looney or Eddie on Super Bowl Sunday during the
gaming during the Super Bowl, and we'd open up the
phone calls at halftime to open up the lines for
(31:23):
phone calls, and we'd have full banks of calls during
the Super Bowl on a sports talk radio station when
plausibly everyone should be consuming the Super Bowl and not
listening to Fox Sports Radio for those three and a
half hours, And yet there were people that love Fox
Sports Radio would turn down the TV and listen to
to the radio, so and it's, uh, it's great. How's
(31:45):
the show going, By the way, on the weekends, everything
going all right? On that you're going, it's going and
maybe going and maybe gone. It's going going gone, now
it's going. I think he's doing all right. I mean,
you know, you know, as those odd this business, no
news is good news. So we're going. Yeah, there's only
I'm on the list every week on the on the
list that the shows are on, and my name is there,
so I figured it's good. You know, my name is
(32:06):
not there. I gotta worry. But you know, things things
are good. You know, you wrote from one about you
know why people call talk shows, And there's most of
the people that call up either they're entertaining, but they
don't really add a lot, you know, but it's kind
of fun you play with them. I think they're auditioning.
I think that's the key. They think that they could
do it, and they probably could, I guess, so good.
But I think that's why they called. They were auditioning
(32:27):
to be on the radio. Yeah, Like I've noticed, there's
like four or five types of people that call the show.
There's a lot of people that just think they're entertaining,
which is fine, right. They want to they want to
be heard. There's there's I like the insider guy, the
guy that calls up and he probably got this a
lot when you're doing the afternoon show back in Cincinnati
back in the day. That the guy that calls up
(32:47):
that overheard something at the barber shop. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. The guy who knows I heard from a sword. Well,
who I know? A friend of mine told me or whatever. Yeah,
my my friends barber's gardener happens to know the owner
of the Bengals and told me that X, Y and
Z is guy. I was at the gas stage and
I saw I saw Mike Brown or the guy that
calls up said, you know what I saw? I saw
(33:09):
Joe Burrow's house and there's a for sales side in
front of it. I think he's being traded. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah exactly. I like that guy, like the insider guy.
Then there's the guy that calls up to try to
correct you because they think you're wrong, so they want
to touch up your work, right, They say, well you
didn't get that right They and as you said, the
people are listening. There's a certain percentage of people that
listen to these radio shows just waiting. I had, I
(33:31):
had a programm break. You tell me this, they said, Ben.
If you know, if if you're doing the show and
you're taking calls and nobody's calling and make a mistake,
there's nothing the radio listener loves more then calling up
and correcting the person on the air. Am I not?
Am I not right? Andy? Is that not? And people, yeah,
that's what That's why A lot of times and five
ball on the radio and it was Wednesday as welcome,
(33:53):
what a great Tuesday this is, And then everybody calls up, No,
it's true. I I you know. You know Rick, he's right,
the radio guy in l A years ago. Maybe you don't,
but Rick was a legend in l A radio. Ricky's
he did a Top forty countdown show and he had
a TV show. And and Rick, when I started in
the business, I was doing a midday show. I started
(34:13):
in l A. And Rick was still doing mornings at
this Kiss FM, this big top forty station which is
still huge in l A. And Rick, they's nicest guy
in the world, I mean, the Hall of Fame radio guy.
And he would record because he did a morning show Andy,
so he would record like the first hour because he
didn't want to get up for the five am hour,
so he would record that hour when he got done.
(34:35):
And he pulled me aside, and this guy Dave I
was working with the time, and he gave us a
great piece of advice and I don't I don't record
stuff because you know, do it live. Rado. Obviously this
is a podcast, so it's recorded. But uh, he said, listen,
He said, when you're doing a taped like a show
for radio, make mistakes. He said, because the listener doesn't
(34:58):
he they won't realize it's tape because they'll think if
it was taped, you wouldn't make a mistake. The good points, right,
I mean, because you edited out in post production. But
he said, no, you leave some mistakes in there because
the people will assume that it's real, it's live. And
so I thought it was. That was wonderful like a
radio I have no problem with that. Then mistake, but
(35:22):
you never make a mistake with the United States Postal Service.
You are a legendary. I can't I read on before
and I got a story, good, good, good. I need
a story. Give me a story. I need a story,
give me a story, Okay. I got to the post office,
Offen good my mail, okay, And I know it's Over
the years, they've had a lot of stamps named after
sports figures. I think Muhammad Ali has a stamp. The
(35:44):
most recent one. Yogi Barra has one. Jackie Robinson as
a stamp. I wrote a letter to the Post nacy
in general this stout two three months ago that they
should und stand for the late Joe Knoxtall, who broadcast
since Nutty Reds games with Marty Brennam and also was
the youngest player to play in the major leagues in
fifteen years of age. Sure, so I got a letter
back two weeks ago. I got this letter and he
wrote back to me and one of the assistance to
(36:06):
the Post message general that taking it up for vote.
They did a vote on it. Really have to be
you have to be deceased five years to have a
stamp named after you. And it was wonder if I
sent the letter to Joe no Soul's son kidnapsl right
here in Cincinnati. I may held out to the local
media and everybody is getting a little bit of a
buzz on it. The Reds wrote me back the end
(36:26):
of the day they got the letter. I said it
to them. So I'm excited because I'd love to see
Joe not Sole get a stamp with his name, and
he deserves it. I mean, the youngest player ever to
play baseball. That's great. Well, plus, I mean, let's be honest,
and he just between me, you and a lamp post.
You've got some pull of the United States Postal Service.
You are, no but nobody writes letters anymore. You know,
(36:48):
my wife thinks it, says it's a bad thing because
it shows people my age and I'm old and I'm
snailed the old guy. I said, not at all. I said,
people appreciate the fact that you're taking the time to
send the note because often than not, the mail that
you get a home's garbage. It's either bills or junk mail.
So when you get something like this, you could basically
get on someone's desk. And even example, when I started
(37:09):
in radio, is on the but I also did sales,
and you know, there was really not much of Internet
action then. But now in in the sales everything is
non personal. It's all basically done computer. You're sending out
that there be a proposal, you're setting out the rates
and boom boo boom. You know that then it was
all personal, face to face and relationships and it's all
about mail. And I think that really that's helped me
(37:31):
over the years and helped me make a relationship because
I Bill Belichick and Bobby Night over the years through
letters and sending them stuff. And that's why it was in.
Belichick is a big letter writer. I get letters with
him all the time. That's great, that's great. See and
and so you you've maintained that over the years with Belgian.
What do you guys talk about? You know, I get
too personal, but what kind of stuff is sports? Or
(37:52):
is it? When the Bengals, the Bengals cut running back
recently about a year or so ago, and I wrote
them back, I said, know, he just caught him. He said, yeah,
he liked somebody's not gonna sign him and stuff like
not not football. But I did ask him one time,
I said, could I use you as a reference, Not
that I'm even looking for a job, but it just
he just you know what he says, used me as
the reference? Hes but have the people call me. So
(38:15):
I'm not writing any letters and stuff like that. So
you know, if anybody wants I, it is someone up.
And I opened up. I wrote in a resume that
do belichicks the reference of mine? You know that's great? Yeah,
you know I will see I don't. I had heard
like and and you you know better than me. But
when I was in New York years ago and Joe Maningo,
who has just retired, it was the Overnight Guy, and
he he had told me a story that Belichick, when
(38:37):
he was a coach with the Jets, would listen to
the Overnight Show. He'd go to the facilities so early
that he was still on and he I guess he
befriended Joe and they became became pals away before he
became Bill Belichick, the great Patriots coach. But so he
does he listens to the sports or at least BacT
Danny listened to sports Stark Radio. And I know he's
(38:59):
a big war buff and all that I've I've heard
stories that he'll buy stuff off eBay, like old war
memorabili and things like that, and so I don't know.
It's it's an interesting guy because you know, the public
persona Belichick is, he's curmudgeon and he's just yeah, when
when these athletes and sports figures say they don't listen
or read, I don't believe it because the sports guys
and if you're a sports guy, that's what you do.
(39:21):
It really is. I mean, you can't tell me you
don't pick up the paper, look at the internet, social media,
or listen to talk radio. You have to. I mean,
I'm sure football coaches in the NFL when they're in
that car turned the radio into sports talk radio. They're
not listening to rap music. I promise Andy Reid is
not listening to rap music. Well, and you've had people
confront you, and I've had the same way. I was
(39:42):
doing local stuff back in the day, had a guy
in the Dodgers that screamed at me and yelled at
me in the clubhouse, and the whole the rant was,
you know, I don't listen to sports radio. Is like, well,
why are you upset with me? And then he said
my family does. He said that was the Uh that
was when is his complaints? So I don't listen, but
the family does and and all that. So anyway, Uh, Andy,
(40:05):
you're the man, You're the myth, the legend. I've taken
away too much of your time. So how can people
hear you on the weekends? We have promote the heck
out of the show social media. You've got more followers
than I do on Twitter. You're a machine over there.
How can people got to be a family, That's why
there you go? How can how could people get in
touch with a great Andy Ferman? I'll listen to you.
I'll give you my phone number if you want. No, Okay,
(40:26):
I'm on a Sunday Fox What's Radio Sunday six dam
Eastern That will be three am Pacific, Fox Sports Radio
Serious XM eighty three and could do that. And during
the week you see on Tuesday nights I'm on seven
ww Radio at Cincinnati at nine pm Eastern. So that's
basically it for me. You know. It's also you can
(40:47):
get you the I write for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
twice a week. I write sports for them Mondays and
Fridays and the Brooklyn Daily Eagles. You could google that
if you'd like us some good stories there. Let's cool.
Look at that. You you're juggling, You're juggling a lot
of gigs, and you said, let us out, and you're
going to the post office two or three times a day.
It seems like to send those very good thank you Eddie.
I appreciate it. Buddy, you're good. Thanks
Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a
week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, another
weekend kicking off. You know it's the weekend if you
hear me bloviating into the microphones of The Fifth Hour
with Ben Maller. Very exciting Ben Maller, qu Danny g
(00:48):
and Flying Solo. Though on this edition of the Fifth
Hour we have survived the first week following Super Bowl
fifty six, we have yet to get into the full
rattle of the silly season of the NFL with all
the rumors in the air everywhere, and we look forward
(01:08):
to the NFL Draft, which is a gossip palooza. Not
that we're big fans of the actual NFL draft, but
we like all the trimmings that come with the NFL Draft,
if you understand what I'm saying. But this podcast, I
thought it was appropriate. We had Jackie Slater on from
the Rams last week leading into the Super Bowl, and
(01:31):
that inspired the Rams to win Super Bowl fifty six.
And I thought, fairness in broadcasting, if you are going
to have a ram on, you've got to have some balances.
And so who do I know in Cincinnati? I went
through my roll in decks after the Bengals took it
on the chin, and uh yeah, well in the Super Bowl.
(01:54):
But there's one name that popped up, and that is
the Great Andy Furman. And so we contacted and he's
standing by right now here on the fifth hour. So Andy,
who has been in radio for a long time. If
you don't know Andy's work, shame on you. He does
a Sunday, very popular Sunday show here on Fox Sports Radio.
(02:15):
He was our morning guy. It was Andy Furman and
Mike North did the morning show at Fox Sports Radio
for a while. Legendary public relations director at a horse track.
And it's done all kinds of zany wild things where
you can get into as much of that as we
can get into. But we must start with the Cincinnati
Bengals as we welcome in the great Andy Furman. So, uh, Andy,
(02:38):
are the good people of Cincinnati still sitting Shivau for
the Bengal players. It's it's been about a week since
the Super Bowl, So how are people reacting to the loss?
You know, it's funny you mentioned that then, it really
is because once they after about five o'clock, they had
a big rally and I'm still trying to figure out
(02:58):
what was the rally focused and win anything. But they
were just so happy with the results of this team
and where they ended up that there's no one expecting
anything to happen with this team. I mean, Vegas picked
the Bengals to win five or six games. So about
five in the afternoon, believing the Governor Dwine showed up,
the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati was there.
Mike Brown, who never makes public appearances, that was there.
(03:20):
Zach Taylor. No, no players, of course, players have didn't disappeared.
They just gone after the game was over. But about
a thousand or fifteen hundred people showed up at Washington
Park downtown Cincinnati with the band, music, drinks and just
a grand old time. People making speeches and just so
happy and appreciative of what this Bengals team did. I
was shocked. Really, that's insane to me. They lost Andy,
(03:43):
they lost the game. They but they got all these
politicians together and just for where they where they lighting candles?
Did they have the candles light as well? And you
know those I do. Anytime there's a microphone, there's gonna
be a politician that's number one. So they were they.
I mean, why the governors there? I have idea. I
mean if the Cleveland Browns one, he would have been
up in Cleveland. So there's no doubt there. But the
(04:04):
point is, you're right. I mean they didn't win anything,
but I think they were just so pleased after thirty
three years of not winning a thing and all of
a sudden not coming back to life. You know, you
talk about expectations, and you know, as well as anybody
else then the expectations of what sports is all about.
People expect things to happen. I know one expected this
to happen in Cincinnati. The problem is right now they
did catch lightning on the bottle, But now the pressure
(04:26):
is on next year. What if they don't make the playoffs.
This is one of the tougher divisions in football. They
got Baltimore, Cleveland is gonna be back. Pittsburgh's gonna be
back on the new quarterback for sure. We'll see what
happens next year. Could be a major disappointment next year
if they don't even make the playoffs. So you see,
and you agree. You are my Cincinnati guy, Andy, and
you agree with me that you know I've been talking
(04:46):
to some Banngo fans. You think, no, no, this is
Joe Burrow, that he's the real thing. I think Burrow
is good. But this season was a fluke, right, that
this was as you said, Vegas did not expect the
ban Goes to have a particularly good team here, that
this is an interloper situation. Everything kind of lined up
for them this season. Is it sustainable and he are
(05:09):
you you mentioned the owner that doesn't really show his
face very often. Are they willing to actually spend some money,
not a ton of money, just enough money to improve
the offensive line and make this team sustainable for the
next couple of years. Well, you know, you hit the
nail on the head because there are people early on
going into the playoffs comparing Joe Burrow to Tom Brady
(05:32):
and I almost topped my finger in my mouth. And
it's just one of a few, because you know, you
just can't mean you can't. It's too soon. He had
a great year. You know, you can't not what the
Bengals did. I think they certainly deserved to get to
the playoffs. But everything lined up, the stars were in linement.
They were. But again, you've got free agency. You know
who Zama Osama is a free agent right now because
(05:55):
several other free agents. And you saw what happened to
Joe Borrow in the playoff game. You know, everybody was
gasting and he went down on that knee. They said
it won't be an operational situation, but he's gonna have
to work that knee out, which was the so called
good knee. So they got to get protection there under
the salary caps. They need to protect this guy. And
I read what Carson Palmer had to say, the formal
quarterback of the Bengals. He said he doesn't think Joe
(06:17):
Burrow is gonna be it down the stretch because he
doesn't think this he's gonna make the commitment of winning.
And to protect him, we'll see what happens when his
contracts up. Well, yeah, we're gonna get to that. But
it's it's great how the media works. We're in the media,
But we're radio guys. Andy, you know, we're radio radio guys,
so we're kind of in the media. But the story,
as you mentioned, was Joe Burrows the next Tom Brady
(06:38):
before the Super Bowl, and now after the Super Bowl,
he's now being compared to Andrew Luck. So who is
the real Joe Burrow? Andy Furman? Did this guy Joe Burrow?
Really and truly this was truly his rookie season. He
played five games a year ago. Uh, he played well,
got this team into the playoffs. Despite despite that offensive line,
(06:59):
he was fifty one time. Is the a band still
hiders and in the in the National Football League? Plus
he was not something like nine times in that game
against Tennessee. You know how much abuse can of quarterback
and he's a young kid. He can't take that much longer.
Maybe his first year he could do that. So what
happened last year against that Washington team, They carried him
out on the stretcher. So he can't continue to get
(07:20):
that punishment. They got to protect him. You know, I'm
not gonna compare him to anybody because I don't think
it's fair. It's not fair to him and it's not
fair to those who have did to the Wars and
have completed great seasons and great careers. Picture, it's not fair.
I think it's so much ludicrous. I think it's ridiculous,
to be honest, I think it's stupid. Well that's what
we do. We're stupid. But but he does that. Burrows
got the razmatask though. There's something about him, and you know,
(07:44):
you see different quarterbacks and then this Burrows got something
I don't just saw the video of him during the
Super Bowl. I talked about it the other night on
my show where he was going around and he was
introducing himself. Hey, I'm Joe to some of the Ram
defensive players, which was which was kind of cool. A need.
I mean, so if he can and it's obviously the
you know, ifs and butts game, but he's got these guys,
(08:06):
I said, the RASMU tast So if he can play
at a high level, he's gonna make a ton of money.
I had heard Andy. I don't know if you heard
the same thing that the people on Madison Avenue, the
people in the advertising world, we're licking their chops. If
the Bengals had beaten the Rams, that it would have
been Joe Burrow all over television, and he would have
taken endorsements away from like Baker Mayfield and guys like
(08:28):
that or on every other commercial. So he's he's got
a pile of money waiting for him if he can,
if he can just figure this thing out in the
next couple of years, yeah, you may. You may see
Joe Burrow doing those insurance commercials down the stretch. And
I will say this, I mean these quota tests. I
don't think there's down looks of a difference in the
talent level between quartterback game and quarteback b in the
(08:50):
national football Like what I mean by that, they all
could pass the hill, could throw, they all know how
to read defenses. What separates the good from the great
is the leadership quality. So I think that Joe Burrow
has that he has the command of the respect in
the huddle. These guys believe in him, and he's a
true leader. And I think he's not confident in the
sense that cockiness shows, but he's confident in knowing what
(09:12):
he has to do, and he's shown that. I think
he's won this team over and I think that's what
makes him head and shoulders above other quarterbacks. That have
started out in this league. I think he's a great leader,
and in other leaders that I've seen on this ball
club have been Boomers. Sizzin had that same it's fact
that that people respect him, followed him and trust him.
And that's what they did with Joe Burrow. How many
(09:34):
guys have left Dandy in the Cincinnati media that we're
covering the team when Boomer was there, I mean, you
you've you've seen some dreadful football for like how many years?
My god, that's back in the late late eighties, right
early nineties. Boomers Sizzin, Mike, that's a that's a lifetime ago.
That's insane. It was Kenny Anderson and Boomer Sizin, and
(09:54):
after that it was David Klingler, Jeff Blake. You go
down the list. I mean it was on the but
then Mallett was understent. I played. That was in the preseason.
I thought I did pretty well, Andy, but they cut
me for some reason. Not right that they released I
don't know why. I don't think they liked your attitude,
but it was I don't know. I'm just saying, you
know we're around here. Well, it was apparently I ate
(10:16):
too much in the locker room there, and they said
they had they had to get rid of me because
I was I was eating too much. But who had
food in the locker room? Exactly? Exactly? So, so who's getting?
I always loved when the team loses, because, as you know,
the better story is in the losing locker room. Even
though I like the Rams and I'm happy the Rams.
One from a conversation standpoint, it's the finger pointing right
(10:38):
when you lose a game, who gets the blame seems
pretty obvious. A lot of this is on the offensive line,
but uh, is there anyone else? I know? Eli Apple?
Uh did not have a particularly great Super Bowl. He
fell apart at the end of the game. Who are
the fall guys? And he who's getting? I'm gonna I'm
gonna give you two particulars that really irked me in
(10:58):
this game. Number one, let's go back to the first quarter.
Benglis had the ball, they the fifty odd line. It
was fourth and one. Zack Taylor decides to go for
it was ridiculous at that time point in time in
the game to go for a fourth and one. It
was early, it was too early. He didn't make it.
They didn't make the Rams go back to mace Cores.
That's number one. Let's move down to the fourth quarter.
Thirty eight seconds left in the game, fourth and one,
(11:21):
fourth and one, they get a first down. Now they're
trailing by three. There's a good chance that they get
a first down, and there Evan McPherson, who is basically
deadly from fifty yards out. Basically becauld have tied this game.
They go fourth and one, they give the ball to
p Ryan. Why I give this guy the ball? I
have no idea. He failed to get the first down.
This guy gained something like four yards in the entire
(11:42):
playoff series. Now, I will say this, they may not
have gotten to the playoffs without this guy. Pe Ryan
had sold back. But why given the ball? You gotta
give the best player behind center the ball. You gotta
give you a money guy the ball. Joe Mixon should
have got the call. He didn't get the call, and
I think that costs in the game. Well, you mentioned
Zach Taylor. I remember you're talking about the gambling gods Andy.
Before the season, Zach Taylor, people said O Scott, he
(12:05):
might not be the Bengals coaches could be it. You
know his last year, two years and out or whatever,
and Cincinnati now they just gave him a contract extension
this week. Is he a good coach or is he
just the beneficiary of having a young quarterback that kind
of figured things out this year in Borow? Well, in
the National Football League, you're nothing without a quarterback. So
(12:25):
certainly we've got the so called franchise quarterback under wraps
right now. But you know, he was surrounding some some
pretty good coaches around him. Uh. As far as calling
offensive place, I never liked the fact that he called
the offense and he was the head coach. I think
you have to separate that number one, number two, he
did it from the field up. I think you got
to call it from the booth. A lot of guys
(12:46):
call it from the booth. He didn't do that. I
think he's still learning, I really do. I mean the
fact that he was a protege of the Rams staff
and the so called genius Sean McVeigh. I think that
he got the job by osmosis. You know people think
that Sean they was the so called g is. Let's
take this skuy stealing from the staff. I think I
think the jury is still out. I really do. However,
you have to put in now in a category of
(13:07):
guys that have won the Super Bowl and maybe one
only one super Bowl. Let's think about this. Andy Readers
won one, John Harbaugh has won one. These the guys
that have won just one super Bowl. Sean McVeigh one
and he's won it now in his third years. So
that's a star in his corner, really is. Yeah. And
I actually had I interviewed McVeigh a couple of years
ago and I got a chance to have my name
(13:29):
in the coaching circuit. I think I was up for
a couple of years ago the Tennessee Titans job before
they they made the change there. So just by being
in the room with Sean McVeigh, they want to hire you.
How Come the Bengals have never hired you? Speaking of
hiring people in radio, and you know it's funny, you know,
been my background has always been a PR guy. I
was a sports information guy, has several colleges. I was
(13:51):
a PR guy in the pros with the with the
fort loader deal strikes a ron by the Robbie family.
So I did some work with the Miami Dolphins at
that time. And you know, Mike Mike kind of knew me,
and I'm I'm pretty close with Mike Brown. And every
time it was a pr opening UH in the National
Football League. This is really funny he'd write a letter
in my behalf, certainly because he wanted to get me
(14:11):
off the local radio. I think that's why he did it.
I really knew. I mean, he wrote a beautiful letter
to UH, to the forty Niners for me that there
was an opening years ago to San Francisco forty Niners
and he earn letter to the Green Bay Packers in
my behalf and UH, And I was I was excited
because I I would have loved to have gone and
done that work. But I think that he didn't do
it so much because of his love for me. I
(14:33):
think it was from my hate on the radio, because
I attacked him. I mean, I was pretty brutal when
they were kind of death in the nineties, you know.
And he was the general manage still is made a
lot of the calls. He had the smallest scouting staff,
and I said the only reason he got that job
and this really was a quote for for the ages.
I said he was sperm lucky because of his daddy.
(14:55):
I think and you know he was infuriated that quote.
That quote almost haunt I me, I mean you think
that haunted him and haunted be I mean I was
colder to the manager's office at the time we did
the games. How can you say, well, it's true. I
mean the guy basically was firm monkey, but he was well, yeah,
I mean that's all like so much of the sports world,
that's what it's all about. Like Jim Ersey right in Indianapolis,
(15:17):
he just happened to be in the right spot. These
these NFL teams. Look, the Raiders, the spawn of Al Davis,
Mark Davis, who's is running the Raiders. That's believable. Yeah,
I look at him on TV. I mean the guy
looks like a clown for Wringling Brothers. He really does. Yeah.
And that haircut in you'd think somewhere along the way
he'd say, Hey, maybe let's try something a little different here,
(15:38):
that's change it up a little bit. He loves that cut.
He keeps going back to that haircut. That's his go
to haircut. And uh yeah, I saw him on HBO
Real Sports. He's wearing like a Raiders Jacke being interview
with the Raiders. Schilk jacket on. I mean, come on, really, really,
how much football can he possibly know? The people will say,
you know, you have to have a business center. You
really don't have to know the game of football. Just
(15:58):
hire good football. People are on you maybe, but I
don't know. We'll see. Yeah. See if if our dads
owned NFL teams, we would have inherited the team then
and we would have been running in NFL teams. Again,
that goes back to your sperm lottery as you as
you said, we just we we got in the wrong line. Apparently, Andy,
we just got in the wrong line. I'll give you
(16:20):
a story way back when when I lived back east.
You know, the late Dave Saberstein and obviously, oh the
Holland glowtroter is. But his son was a lunatic and
his son always had these off the wall ideas, and
he owned the team called the New York Sets and
World Team tennants. Oh my goodness. I mean he brought
that team into the ground. I remember I went to
a couple of the matches and my good friend Dave
(16:41):
hablished him. We went to college together. You know, he
was doing some of the games and helping the team out.
But this guy, his son just I think whatever. Fortunately
he inherited from the late aid he just blew. I
mean they there was nothing left. He just invested in stuff,
trying to promote things and just just couldn't get it done. Well,
you're one of the great pr guys. I love the
fact every time I see the story about the horse
(17:03):
when Chris Collin's worth, you had him a race of horse?
What could you get away with that stuff today? Would
it be bigger today or would it not be the
same any With social media, it's a whole different social media.
If I had a horse racer an athlete, I think
Peter would probably lock me up. I mean, you can't
do it. They don't even have There's no more elephants
at the circus anymore, I know. And I don't even
(17:25):
think there's a circus. I think the circus is gone.
I don't think there's any more. I think they have
they have human circuses now, right. Isn't that the thing
where they have people flying like trapeze artists and things
like that, but they don't actually actually actually it's called
Fox Sports radioed. Yes, the biggest circus under the big
top and he come one come exactly fun, fun, for
(17:45):
all ages, fun for all ages, right, Yeah, you're right, absolutely,
you know it's funny. I'm lucky I was. I was
there at the right time. Uh. And a lot of
things that I did today would be canceled culture. There's
no doubt about that. I know. I worked at one
race track and the general Manjerson, I don't care what
(18:06):
you do as own as you don't get arrested. I
don't want to get a phone called in the middle
of the night after and I sent out a released
one time that there were hookers around the race track,
you know, and the we've made papers. I made his
unbelievable ladies of the night, you know, circling the race track.
And I thought that were the track more guys to
come to the race track. I really did, you know.
I'll give you another one. This one definitely would have
(18:26):
got me. Can There's no doubt. I had a promotion
called beat your Wife Night, Beat your Wife, where you
come into the race track, you purchased a program. The
husband would have more winners in the program than the wife.
He beat his wife. Now you put that out today,
you go to jail. Beat your wife. I can't do it,
can't do it. Well, i'll tell you. I'll tell you. Sorry.
I on the Overnight Show. This is a couple of
(18:48):
years ago. Uh. For some reason, I did one of
like like who am I game questions and the answer,
UH was like Joe Niekro right, And then we had
to call it called up and and I was just
like telling a joke and it was Joe and Phil
Nekro and uh. And then I I said, it was
like a throw in, like I can't even repeat it
(19:10):
on the podcast, Andy, because became a drop on the show,
and I said, you know they all look the same,
the and you know, the Joe and Phil and and
and I said that, and I didn't say what people
thought I said. But it didn't matter Andy, right, because
people heard the clip, and you know how people consume radio.
They listened with half in a year. And so every
(19:30):
time that drop got played, Andy, we got people calling up,
sending the emails, well, I can't believe you would say
this on the national airwaves of Fox Sports Radio and
I We're gonna be fired. And I was like, I
didn't say anything. Their knuckleball pitchers from the you know,
back in the seventies and the eighties, what am I
doing it. Nothing, nothing, but people people look for that
(19:52):
kind of stuff these days. It's you know, it's when
you're shaving and you cut yourself and say, good, I
got you. I think people listen to the radio and
they want to get you. They really do. He did
it to my good buddy, Tommy Brennaman, and he wasn't
even on the air, you know, doing the game. It
was like an open mic prior to the to the brook.
But you know, and it's it's a shame, but like,
I don't think he's ever gonna get back in. But
it's funny you say that because I said something way
(20:13):
back when talking about women's sports, and I said something
it was just tongue in cheek. I said, the only
place for women will be in the bedroom in the kitchen.
Oh my goodness, that I get heat. I said, there's
two places for women and they are the bedroom in
the kitchen. And oh the heat that I got on
that you couldn't believe. Well, now, yeah, as you forget
about it, it's it's all over. Turnout the lights, the
(20:33):
party's over on that. Yeah. The have you talked to
Tom Brennaman since saw that went to Tom? I talked
to him last week, last Thursday week, a week ago,
and uh, you know, he seems to be doing all right,
but I'm sure, I'm sure his heart's broken. You know.
I can imagine going to bed at night, looking at
the ceiling and say, what happened to me? What happened
to my life? He was great and he's a good guy.
(20:56):
I think I think he was done wrong and hopefully
one day he gets back in. I mean, I think
everybody deserves a second chance. I don't think he's an
evil person. I really don't. Yeah, and I don't know
the rules because I haven't been able to keep track,
like when you cancel somebody, and and obviously Tom Brennan
was canceled, Like what's the statue of limitations on that?
When does that run out? But the problem is now,
(21:19):
you know, as you mentioned, there's so many people in
society today, Andy that are like I want to I
got you, you know, got you and all this stuff.
So if Tom Brendon, let's say he was up for
a play by play job somewhere, even if the Reds
wanted to hire him back, there would be groups out
protesting right there be you know, backlash. I don't even
know if it's real or not because it's social media, right,
(21:40):
I don't know how much of it's really how much
of it's fake, But you'd have to deal with that,
and you know better than anybody, and because you worked
around professional sports, you've been around longer than I have
that the one thing these teams don't want is negative publicity, right,
So any kind of negative stories to get out. If
you were to hire a guy like that, there's just like,
it's not worth our trouble, which sucks to shift. That's
(22:00):
the key. Also, because you'll hire a bell like that,
every sponsor is gonna say, you know when, we're not
gonna buy a time when your station, We're not gonna
sponse to the team, whatever it may be. But you
would just love, in this day and age to see
an owner of one team with a pair of onions
to get out there and say you know what, I'm here,
I'm bringing them back. You may not like it, but
everybody in life deserves a second chance. And look at
(22:20):
yourself in the mirror, because I'm sure you screwed up
once in a while and you got a second chance.
We're bringing them back. Boom. But I don't think you
do that. Yeah, I don't think that owner exists today.
Like I'm you're you're describing like Al Davis or build
Beck built that biboard, Bill veck uh, but like Steinburn
or somebody along that the owners today, you know this,
(22:43):
some of the guys kind of get it, but they
don't there if everyone's afraid of the same the same
boogeyman is is what I'm trying to say. And Yeah,
the one person in sports that I think would be
willing to do that would be Dana White at the UFC.
Like Dana White seems like the kind of guy that
US doesn't give a damn and he would he doesn't
care about that stuff. He would be willing to to
(23:04):
cross over the cancel culture and all that and and
hire a guy like Tom Brendon. Don't Brennavan wants to
do UFC stuff. But that's that would be a path
where I could see something like that working out. You know,
I'm just in the top of my head off any
own or any major sport that would do something that
I can't. You know what about the owner of the Clippers,
he seems to be a bit of a maverick Steve. Yeah,
(23:26):
you know he is. But he's also you know, he's
kind of in the NBA world. You gotta be in
lockstep there, So he's not uh, he's not crossing the line.
He is building this great arena. Though. Next time you're
in town, Andy, next time you're in l A, the
Intuit Dome, which is right right near a near Sofi
Stadium where they piled they played the Super Bowl. You
(23:48):
gotta see the Sofi Stadium. Oh my Goddy, this is
a put you don't want if I had a choice
to see Sofi Stadium, but go to Langers Delhi. I'm
going to Landers Delhi. All right, Well, I agree with you?
Is that. Look, you're a true you're true mench Langers
Deli people. A lot of people visit that, drawing me
on ride with a Sala pickle, and I thought that
Brown's cream soda. There's nothing better. It's great. Now, you
(24:10):
gotta go early in the day because they're not they're
only open till four o'clock Lingers Deli in l A.
Because you don't want to be there after four o'clock. Andy,
You don't, and you don't want to make a wrong turn.
You don't want to go across the street there to
MacArthur Park, because that is that is like hell on Earth,
Sodom and Gomorrah. I think they are right there across
the street. Well, I'm glad you chose Langers, and not
(24:31):
that Cancer's Delhi is bad. But Langers is you're a
New York guy, It's better than most of if not all.
I like cats As Deli in New York. That's my
go to Delhi when I go to her, but it's
very expensive and uh and all that. But I do
enjoy cats Is Deli, But Langers in l A is insane.
And so I don't know how I'm gonna take it
(24:53):
to one if you come to the Midwest. Okay, I
thought one if you close your eyes, is very very
close to Langers and Catses should year olds Delhi in Indianapolis. Okay,
So if I mean that's that's the same type of
that Pastrami's the die for it Languge. So it's a
similar type of Shapiro's is unreal? It really is? Is that? Now?
What are your top? What's your one? In New York? You?
(25:15):
How can you go back to New York? Do you
have a Catches? Catches New York line shapiros and in
Cincinnati we got is He's is the one. Okay. So
it's a very important information because I need soul food
when I need when I'm seriously pastrami, salmon, matzo ball soup. Yeah,
that's he has the potato pancakes too. That's not a
bad That's not a bad move either. Not a bad
(25:37):
move either. Oh, I got a time. I'm excited to
pass on it. For the first time. I've been sports
radio a long time. For the first time ever, they
allowed me to go to Radio Row last week for
the super I've never been to radio or I assume
you've been there many times over the years, right, doing
your only only twicely? Okay, yeah, all right, what was
your experience like? Did you did you enjoy Yeah? I
(26:00):
enjoyed it. But it comes out as a as a
place where people just hawk their wares and you know,
you see it. Another figure that did Vermeil showed up
and he just got in done into the Hall of Fame,
which is great. And he showed up and I'm saying
to myself, why is he here? He has something to
do with the game. He's not coaching, but he was
selling wine. He has a venue and he was selling one.
(26:21):
But it was great, you know, but he comes down there,
talks about his wine and his video. But then we
talked football a little bit, but it was just crazy.
It's one after another. And don't little think that Cam
Newton showed up in h I think it was in
New Orleans when I was there, and we talked about
social media and at the time, I'm sure it's not
true now. At the time he said he didn't believe
in social media and he didn't have any social media
(26:42):
accounts whatsoever. So some of the stories were great and
they stuck with you. You know, you never a loss
for a guest because they're coming in and draws. Really
it's like a herd. They're coming one after another. But
it's great and you gotta be on your toes a
little bit because you don't know what you're gonna talk
about when you see these guys. But you know, it's
kind of fun and it's a it's a unique score.
If you've never been there. Yeah, I know, I've never
(27:03):
been there. I didn't really know what to expect. It's
not I was told by the people that are there
every year. It was not the same. Because of the
California COVID rules and all that, there were not as
many media people as there are normally, but it was
it reminded me like a boardwalk situation. And then they
were you know, people screaming, hey, they're selling weight loss
(27:24):
products or you name it as you said, whine, all
kinds of nonsense. And the amount of people that are
around these former athletes that always blows me away. Andy.
These guys have like posses of people that are leading
them through and the the whole entourage. Uh, the only Yeah,
that's why athletes are broke five years after they retire.
(27:48):
It goes to the posses. Yeah. But the only radio
guy I saw that had a posse was Pat McAfee.
But he's got a hundred million dollars eighties, so I
think he's he's doing okay, I think he can forward.
I mean, what about the Mala militias. They should have
been there. Oh no, where the Malay See. Let me
tell you how the mallema works outside of when I
(28:08):
was walking to Radio Row uh, and I parked far
away because you know, I'm very frugal, like the people
that run the Bengals there. I like to hold on
my money. So they were. They were price gounging everyone
around Radio Row at the l A Convention Center. So
I parked a couple of miles away from the convention
center and I'm walking through the mean streets of l A.
(28:31):
Which they cleaned up by the way, Andy, because the
super Bowl obviously was there, so they took a lot
of the homeless and they just stooped them. I don't
know where they put them, but they moved them. I'm
sure they're back now because the super Bowl is over.
But but anyway, so the point of story, So I'm
walking through and I run into one of my callers,
Helmet Man, the guy known as helmet Man. He's out
(28:53):
selling shirts and helmet you know, he buys stuff from
like Goodwill and then he tries to turn it around
and sell it and make money on the street. I
ran into him. I had not seen him in like
two years. I thought he had died, Andy, and there
he was. And that's my guy. That's the Mallard Militia. Andy.
They're not inside. And I like the guy the one
when I do listen because it's on a little late
(29:15):
at night for me. He on the East coast. But
I do listen once in a while. You have the
guy you put them on and you hear him snoring. Oh, yes, yes,
you're you're talking about hollering James. Yes, he is the
most prolific snorer in is in my career. Maybe you
had something because you do you did primetime shows, Andy,
(29:36):
I I do live late night, so I got more
of the people. But this guy holler and James, he's
your great overnight sports talk radio caller because he really
has nothing to say. He just wants to be on
the air, and he falls asleep literally two out of
every three times he calls the show. And you will
appreciate this, Andy, as a fellow radio professional. One of
(29:57):
the greatest bits I ever did with Hollereen James. We
were playing a game show it was too much or
not enough, and this is a couple of years ago,
and he fell asleep and he was supposed to play
the game. So we had him play the game anyway
based on if he snored, the answer was too much.
(30:18):
If he didn't store it was not enough. He won
the game. Maybe he won the game show fast asleep
And it was the most amazing, surreal experience. It was
crazy and I should have won the Marconi for that,
but somehow I did not get a single vote. Can
you believe that? Andy? It's insane? You know you've been
doing the overnight you know, for a while. Are you
(30:41):
amazed how many people are up at that hour and
call you? Because I'm on now at six am Sunday
Eastern time and we opened the phones and still we're
getting calls. I mean most of the calls probably from
the West Coast, which is like three am. What are
they doing up? They're coming back from the bars? Is
(31:01):
that what it is? Yeah? No, I I completely am shot.
I'm flabbergasted. I've been doing a while now. I even
did Super Bowl shows for years. I would do shows
with Looney or Eddie on Super Bowl Sunday during the
gaming during the Super Bowl, and we'd open up the
phone calls at halftime to open up the lines for
(31:23):
phone calls, and we'd have full banks of calls during
the Super Bowl on a sports talk radio station when
plausibly everyone should be consuming the Super Bowl and not
listening to Fox Sports Radio for those three and a
half hours, And yet there were people that love Fox
Sports Radio would turn down the TV and listen to
to the radio, so and it's, uh, it's great. How's
(31:45):
the show going, By the way, on the weekends, everything
going all right? On that you're going, it's going and
maybe going and maybe gone. It's going going gone, now
it's going. I think he's doing all right. I mean,
you know, you know, as those odd this business, no
news is good news. So we're going. Yeah, there's only
I'm on the list every week on the on the
list that the shows are on, and my name is there,
so I figured it's good. You know, my name is
(32:06):
not there. I gotta worry. But you know, things things
are good. You know, you wrote from one about you
know why people call talk shows, And there's most of
the people that call up either they're entertaining, but they
don't really add a lot, you know, but it's kind
of fun you play with them. I think they're auditioning.
I think that's the key. They think that they could
do it, and they probably could, I guess, so good.
But I think that's why they called. They were auditioning
(32:27):
to be on the radio. Yeah, Like I've noticed, there's
like four or five types of people that call the show.
There's a lot of people that just think they're entertaining,
which is fine, right. They want to they want to
be heard. There's there's I like the insider guy, the
guy that calls up and he probably got this a
lot when you're doing the afternoon show back in Cincinnati
back in the day. That the guy that calls up
(32:47):
that overheard something at the barber shop. Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah. The guy who knows I heard from a sword. Well,
who I know? A friend of mine told me or whatever. Yeah,
my my friends barber's gardener happens to know the owner
of the Bengals and told me that X, Y and
Z is guy. I was at the gas stage and
I saw I saw Mike Brown or the guy that
calls up said, you know what I saw? I saw
(33:09):
Joe Burrow's house and there's a for sales side in
front of it. I think he's being traded. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah exactly. I like that guy, like the insider guy.
Then there's the guy that calls up to try to
correct you because they think you're wrong, so they want
to touch up your work, right, They say, well you
didn't get that right They and as you said, the
people are listening. There's a certain percentage of people that
listen to these radio shows just waiting. I had, I
(33:31):
had a programm break. You tell me this, they said, Ben.
If you know, if if you're doing the show and
you're taking calls and nobody's calling and make a mistake,
there's nothing the radio listener loves more then calling up
and correcting the person on the air. Am I not?
Am I not right? Andy? Is that not? And people, yeah,
that's what That's why A lot of times and five
ball on the radio and it was Wednesday as welcome,
(33:53):
what a great Tuesday this is, And then everybody calls up, No,
it's true. I I you know. You know Rick, he's right,
the radio guy in l A years ago. Maybe you don't,
but Rick was a legend in l A radio. Ricky's
he did a Top forty countdown show and he had
a TV show. And and Rick, when I started in
the business, I was doing a midday show. I started
(34:13):
in l A. And Rick was still doing mornings at
this Kiss FM, this big top forty station which is
still huge in l A. And Rick, they's nicest guy
in the world, I mean, the Hall of Fame radio guy.
And he would record because he did a morning show Andy,
so he would record like the first hour because he
didn't want to get up for the five am hour,
so he would record that hour when he got done.
(34:35):
And he pulled me aside, and this guy Dave I
was working with the time, and he gave us a
great piece of advice and I don't I don't record
stuff because you know, do it live. Rado. Obviously this
is a podcast, so it's recorded. But uh, he said, listen,
He said, when you're doing a taped like a show
for radio, make mistakes. He said, because the listener doesn't
(34:58):
he they won't realize it's tape because they'll think if
it was taped, you wouldn't make a mistake. The good points, right,
I mean, because you edited out in post production. But
he said, no, you leave some mistakes in there because
the people will assume that it's real, it's live. And
so I thought it was. That was wonderful like a
radio I have no problem with that. Then mistake, but
(35:22):
you never make a mistake with the United States Postal Service.
You are a legendary. I can't I read on before
and I got a story, good, good, good. I need
a story. Give me a story. I need a story,
give me a story, Okay. I got to the post office,
Offen good my mail, okay, And I know it's Over
the years, they've had a lot of stamps named after
sports figures. I think Muhammad Ali has a stamp. The
(35:44):
most recent one. Yogi Barra has one. Jackie Robinson as
a stamp. I wrote a letter to the Post nacy
in general this stout two three months ago that they
should und stand for the late Joe Knoxtall, who broadcast
since Nutty Reds games with Marty Brennam and also was
the youngest player to play in the major leagues in
fifteen years of age. Sure, so I got a letter
back two weeks ago. I got this letter and he
wrote back to me and one of the assistance to
(36:06):
the Post message general that taking it up for vote.
They did a vote on it. Really have to be
you have to be deceased five years to have a
stamp named after you. And it was wonder if I
sent the letter to Joe no Soul's son kidnapsl right
here in Cincinnati. I may held out to the local
media and everybody is getting a little bit of a
buzz on it. The Reds wrote me back the end
(36:26):
of the day they got the letter. I said it
to them. So I'm excited because I'd love to see
Joe not Sole get a stamp with his name, and
he deserves it. I mean, the youngest player ever to
play baseball. That's great. Well, plus, I mean, let's be honest,
and he just between me, you and a lamp post.
You've got some pull of the United States Postal Service.
You are, no but nobody writes letters anymore. You know,
(36:48):
my wife thinks it, says it's a bad thing because
it shows people my age and I'm old and I'm
snailed the old guy. I said, not at all. I said,
people appreciate the fact that you're taking the time to
send the note because often than not, the mail that
you get a home's garbage. It's either bills or junk mail.
So when you get something like this, you could basically
get on someone's desk. And even example, when I started
(37:09):
in radio, is on the but I also did sales,
and you know, there was really not much of Internet
action then. But now in in the sales everything is
non personal. It's all basically done computer. You're sending out
that there be a proposal, you're setting out the rates
and boom boo boom. You know that then it was
all personal, face to face and relationships and it's all
about mail. And I think that really that's helped me
(37:31):
over the years and helped me make a relationship because
I Bill Belichick and Bobby Night over the years through
letters and sending them stuff. And that's why it was in.
Belichick is a big letter writer. I get letters with
him all the time. That's great, that's great. See and
and so you you've maintained that over the years with Belgian.
What do you guys talk about? You know, I get
too personal, but what kind of stuff is sports? Or
(37:52):
is it? When the Bengals, the Bengals cut running back
recently about a year or so ago, and I wrote
them back, I said, know, he just caught him. He said, yeah,
he liked somebody's not gonna sign him and stuff like
not not football. But I did ask him one time,
I said, could I use you as a reference, Not
that I'm even looking for a job, but it just
he just you know what he says, used me as
the reference? Hes but have the people call me. So
(38:15):
I'm not writing any letters and stuff like that. So
you know, if anybody wants I, it is someone up.
And I opened up. I wrote in a resume that
do belichicks the reference of mine? You know that's great? Yeah,
you know I will see I don't. I had heard
like and and you you know better than me. But
when I was in New York years ago and Joe Maningo,
who has just retired, it was the Overnight Guy, and
he he had told me a story that Belichick, when
(38:37):
he was a coach with the Jets, would listen to
the Overnight Show. He'd go to the facilities so early
that he was still on and he I guess he
befriended Joe and they became became pals away before he
became Bill Belichick, the great Patriots coach. But so he
does he listens to the sports or at least BacT
Danny listened to sports Stark Radio. And I know he's
(38:59):
a big war buff and all that I've I've heard
stories that he'll buy stuff off eBay, like old war
memorabili and things like that, and so I don't know.
It's it's an interesting guy because you know, the public
persona Belichick is, he's curmudgeon and he's just yeah, when
when these athletes and sports figures say they don't listen
or read, I don't believe it because the sports guys
and if you're a sports guy, that's what you do.
(39:21):
It really is. I mean, you can't tell me you
don't pick up the paper, look at the internet, social media,
or listen to talk radio. You have to. I mean,
I'm sure football coaches in the NFL when they're in
that car turned the radio into sports talk radio. They're
not listening to rap music. I promise Andy Reid is
not listening to rap music. Well, and you've had people
confront you, and I've had the same way. I was
(39:42):
doing local stuff back in the day, had a guy
in the Dodgers that screamed at me and yelled at
me in the clubhouse, and the whole the rant was,
you know, I don't listen to sports radio. Is like, well,
why are you upset with me? And then he said
my family does. He said that was the Uh that
was when is his complaints? So I don't listen, but
the family does and and all that. So anyway, Uh, Andy,
(40:05):
you're the man, You're the myth, the legend. I've taken
away too much of your time. So how can people
hear you on the weekends? We have promote the heck
out of the show social media. You've got more followers
than I do on Twitter. You're a machine over there.
How can people got to be a family, That's why
there you go? How can how could people get in
touch with a great Andy Ferman? I'll listen to you.
I'll give you my phone number if you want. No, Okay,
(40:26):
I'm on a Sunday Fox What's Radio Sunday six dam
Eastern That will be three am Pacific, Fox Sports Radio
Serious XM eighty three and could do that. And during
the week you see on Tuesday nights I'm on seven
ww Radio at Cincinnati at nine pm Eastern. So that's
basically it for me. You know. It's also you can
(40:47):
get you the I write for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
twice a week. I write sports for them Mondays and
Fridays and the Brooklyn Daily Eagles. You could google that
if you'd like us some good stories there. Let's cool.
Look at that. You you're juggling, You're juggling a lot
of gigs, and you said, let us out, and you're
going to the post office two or three times a day.
It seems like to send those very good thank you Eddie.
I appreciate it. Buddy, you're good. Thanks
Host
Ben Maller
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