March 11, 2022 • 33 mins
Dave "Softy" Mahler (possibly Ben's long lost relative) has been ruling the Seattle airwaves for 30 years now and joins Ben MALLER to talk shop and the huge Russell Wilson trade! What is next for the Seahawks? What will and won't Softy and his listeners miss the most about their Super Bowl winning QB? How will Wilson do in Seattle and why Dave compares him to both Urkel (Family Matters) and Kip (Napoleon Dynamite.) Maller and Mahler also have fun discussing the big news of KJR being added to the FM dial, Mahler's legendary run in the Emerald City, the Mariners, if the NBA will ever come back post-Sonics, and more. Follow Softy on Twitter @SoftyKJR , 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!
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ka Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
a week was enough, I 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
(00:23):
Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the air
everywhere it is another weekend. We're kicking it off right
now on the Friday Friday Friday edition of The Fifth
Hour with Ben Maller and Danny g Back again. You
(00:45):
can't stop us from talking. There's always something to discuss.
And it's been a big week here in the sporting
world with the start of the silly season in the NFL.
And you know the mantra that I have had if
you listen to my yapping over my time at Fox,
and you know, I believe the better story is in
(01:07):
the losing locker room. And the biggest transaction in the
NFL for my money, dollar for dollar, was the trade
that sent Russell Willson out of Seattle and into Denver.
As Russ will be cooking in the mile high altitude
so the better story is in the losing locker room. Yeah,
(01:34):
that would be the Seattle locker room. As the Seahawks
are now heading into uncharted waters without a big time quarterbacks,
so they're gonna have to pivot on the fly. And
who better to get to the bottom of what's going
on in Seattle than the voice of sports talk radio
in Seattle When you think, at least for those of
(01:54):
us who work in the radio, because the people that
matter in Seattle sports ray, there's only one name that
really rises all the way up to the top, and
that's Softy and a man who I often have been
accused of being related to that we are brothers from
another mother. And because it's Softy Maller and Ben Mallard,
(02:16):
and I've always been just we're gonna bring Softly on
right now. Softy, I've always been jealous that your surname,
while it's similar to mine, is pronounced in a much
more masculine way. That Maller is much more impressive than Mallard.
So we'll start with that. And also, we've been on
the radio in Seattle for years. We are on the
obviously overnight show on kJ are the great sports talker
(02:39):
you are the big afternoon drive sensation there in Seattle,
and I semi regularly will have a listener that that
is in the Seattle market that will say, hey, are
you you related? They are convinced that because we have
a similar sounding name and we work in radio, that
(03:01):
we are somehow we are d n A related. Have
you gotten the same reaction there, softy, that's probably were related.
I mean, you're kind of bursting my bubble. I saw
the story where Jerry Jones is getting sued by somebody
who claims that Jerry is for father, and I don't know.
I thought I thought you and I were related. Maybe
I should play all law student, have like a DNA
(03:22):
test and make sure that you know we we are
not related. But I've been walking around forever people ask
me my claim to fame. It's like, yeah, me and
me and Ben Maller were related. That's my claim to fame.
And now you're telling me that we're not. Man, this
is just a whole new world for me, and I'm
not sure if I can go forward now knowing that
we are actually not related. No, man, I mean, here's
(03:43):
the thing, dude. Um, It's funny how some people get
this stuff mixed up. I didn't think it was that difficult.
Apparently for some people it is. But places like Twitter,
for example, have reminded me that not everybody is on
the same page as we are, and that stuff you
would not think would need explanation, indeed does need explanation.
(04:04):
So yes, Ben and I are not related, which is
better news for him than it is for me. By
the way, well, no, and I I filled in for you.
I don't know if you remember. You were on a
tropical island somewhere with the family, and I filled in
remotely before it was cool to fill in remotely on
the powerful kJ R. And uh, clearly management heard that
(04:28):
show softly because I've not been invited back. So clearly
they heard that broadcast and said, Mallard not as good
as Maller, and uh, get out of here, stay away,
stay away, stay I think, no, I think what happens.
They realized how good you were, and they said, if
we put this bastard on the air again, we're gonna
have to pay you actually compensate the guy. So forget that.
(04:49):
Let's go back to Maller, who's just cheap talent. We
can get away with putting his asks on the air.
So anyway, yeah, man, it's good to be on with you.
And what a what a crazy couple of days in Seattle, Man,
it has been. We're gonna get to that. But I'm
not done b s thing about radio because I'm I'm
waiting now. So you you are a star. You are
like the Mike Francess of Seattle. I don't know if
(05:10):
that's a compliment or not, but you've been on there
for a long time. You're very successful. But when is
the trickle down gonna happen? I see these contracts softly
with Aikman and these guys, and I'm I'm not happy
for these broadcasters in the NFL. But I have always
believed I'm biased here because I work in radio as
you do. But people tune in to hear what the
radio guy has to say. When you will watch an
(05:33):
NFL game, if the teams are good, you're not necessarily
watching because of Troy Aikman or any of these guys,
no matter how good they are. You're not watching because
of the broadcasters. So when is the money give me
the answer here, softly, When is the money gonna come
down to guys like us? Yeah? I would say it's
a word that rhymes would never number one because number
two and and I really realized this when I get
(05:54):
to go to the Super Bowl for Radio Row or
the Final Four for Radio Row, and you look around
in a row and you see all these bombs, and
you see all these clowns, and you think, man, that's me.
I'm I'm one of those bums. I'm one of those
clowns and sports talk radio. So in the end, and
I always say this that you and I are just
(06:14):
monkeys and a carnival man, and all they do is
just throw peanuts at us, you know, our entire career.
So maybe one day they'll give us more peanuts. Maybe
one day they'll give us more bananas. But they ain't
gonna give us more cash, man, There's no question about that.
So you and I work on the Toys and Games department.
Other people out there have real jobs, and they're you know,
busting their ass twelve thirteen hours a day construction, hard
(06:38):
labor things like this. So we got nothing to bitch about, man,
no matter how little they pay us. But uh, it's
a hell of a run. It's been twenty seven years
for me. I decided to do deal. They'll take you
to thirty with kJ R, and I just wonder every
day when they're gonna fall the plug, and they haven't
done it yet, so it's a freaking miracle. Congratulations, you
have dominated. You are the king of Seattle radio. But
(06:59):
I and and speaking of that, I know from my
little overnight show and we have you know, listeners in
Seattle and you guys just moved to the FM down Now.
This fascinates me, Softie, because people were like, oh, you
sound so much better on the FM dial. The the
power of terrestrial radio still because you can listen to
(07:21):
your show on I Heart Radio and the streaming and
all that, and same with obviously my show. But so
many people are just creatures of habit. They just love
the old school radio and they listen that way. It's
to me, it's fascinating. If you've gotten a similar response,
it's a big deal to be on the FM dial now.
It's a huge deal. And it's even bigger for our
broadcast partners you on the Crack and the Huskies, Washington basketball,
(07:45):
Washington football, the Sounders, you know, you know, Westwood One
for example, to have all those games and and FM radio.
But you're right. I mean there were people when we
made the move that were irritated. You know, I want
my m I've been listening the nine AM for forty
years or whatever, and and and and and here's the
funny thing. Then, yesterday was actually the one hundredth anniversary
(08:09):
of kJ R getting their very first broadcast license in
nineteen two. So our radio station has been around for
over a hundred years now, and we finally made the
switch full time to FM. We're gonna simulcast for a
little bit and then make the switch and a couple
of months officially. We actually tried this about ten years ago,
(08:30):
the simulcast on an FM station with nine a m.
And the ratings for like four hours were off the
charts and the management was going bananas. I gotta look
at this. And then a week later, yeah, they stuck again.
So I don't know, man, maybe maybe this will be
the boost everybody is looking for. But I think I think,
I mean, you're you're kind of a radio junkie like me.
(08:51):
I think the biggest difference is that the music stations
are struggling because they can't compete with all the music
you know, streaming platforms, uh for example. But like I
Hearts app, where you can get all the music you
want on the I Heart app. But if you still
want local sports talk until they start streaming that on
all the other platforms, there's only one place to go. Yeah, no, absolutely,
(09:14):
I mean that's music radio. Will you listen in the
morning and it's just talk radio, like the music stations
are just talk stations. That's been that way for years.
But uh, I mean it's it's absolutely and people like
to listen. When it comes to music. A lot of
people want to hear only what they want to hear,
and you never know what you're gonna get when you
listen on on radio. But as as our boss over
at Foxes, uh, don't better leave my man. Uh So
(09:37):
we need to talk. We need to talk football softly.
You are the king of Seattle. Are you still sitting
shiva here for the end of Russell Wilson as a
Seattle Seahawk. No, I'm not doing that. I gotta be
honest with you, man. I I appreciate everything Russell Wilson
did for this franchise, everything he did for the organization.
(09:59):
It doesn't take a genius, uh, you know to look
back and say, hey, man, the ten years of Russell
Wilson quarterback. We're pretty damn good for this franchise, but
I was kind of growing tired, started bitching about his
offensive line, and then all this controversy erupted, all this rumor,
all this innuendo, and Russell didn't say a damn thing.
(10:19):
He didn't put an end to any of it. He
just sat back with his hands behind his head, kicked
his speed up and smiled and just enjoyed being in
the spotlight. And I even asked him, you know, at
a press conference, I said, if you really want to
be in Seattle long term, why would you allow all
that rumor and innuendo to continue? And he said, well,
because we had some stuff to figure out behind closed doors,
blah blah blah. Well then you're really truly we're not
(10:42):
as invested here. And it really truly was not as
harmonious a relationship as you guys have been leading people on.
You can't have it both freaking ways. So there was
a lot of drama with him. There was a lot
of nonsense with him. He became all about him, He
became all about his brand, which is fine if you're
playing great football and winning m vps the way Aaron
(11:03):
Rodgers is. But he wasn't doing that. You know, the
guy comes out and complains about the line. He wants
more talent, he wants this, he wants his legacy to
be secure, which he never talked like that. Bobby Wagner
never talked like that. Richard Sherman never talks like that.
Uh you know, K. J. Wright, Earl Thomas Camp Chancellor,
those guys never talked about themselves in that light. And
(11:24):
Russell Wilson never did until about a year and a
half ago. So things started ben to become about Russell
and his brand and his legacy and his campaign. And
then he picks that opportunity and that time to go
out and start playing bad football in the back half
of two thousand twenty breaks his finger and was playing
poorly even before that in the first half of two
(11:46):
thousand twenty one. So all of it created the student
that a lot of people were just kind of getting
tired of. To be honest with you, well, I don't
know about you, softie, but that that bread football thing
that Russ was selling, that that's a solid him there.
And the nano bubbles, right, he had the nano bubbles
going to ye. Yeah, he claimed to have ben You
know what's funny about that, as you mentioned the nano bubbles,
(12:09):
that that that really was the only thing that he
had done that he had even remotely approached any controversy
when he claimed to have this water that can cure concussions,
and that went away real quick. And then all of
a sudden, you know, again he met Sierra. Uh, he
started turning into a bit of a diva. The analogy
that I've used before with him. You remember the movie
(12:29):
Napoleon Dynamite. Obviously, when when his brother Kipp was this
nerdy computer geek sitting at home online talking to babes
all day, and then he meets Lafonda and he totally changes.
He's got the do rag on, he's got the medallion
with the thunderbird hanging around his neck. He's walking differently,
he's talking differently. That's what happened to Russell. I'm telling you,
(12:53):
go look at Russell Wilson. His first three or four
years in the NFL. He was like Arkell of NFL quarterbacks,
and then he meets Era and all of a sudden,
he becomes this totally different person. He's dressing differently. He's
walking differently, he's talking differently, he's got a different hairstyle,
he's using different voices. I swear to God, Ben, we
have a Russell Wilson sound wheel where he's got seven
(13:16):
or eight different accents, and everything just got weird with
the guy. And then he started playing poorly and all
hell want to you know, hell hand bucket. So it
was just a big, freaking giant recipe of nonsense. Well
you are the expert on Russell Wilson sound bus. My
personal favorite was the Mr Unlimited rant that he did
that is I gotta get you, I gotta get you.
(13:39):
And when we're done here, have your producer give you
a buzz. I gotta get you some of these drops
because you'll have a field day. It is unbelievable. I
could play you six or seven different clips, and if
you didn't know it was Russell Wilson, you would think
it was six or seven different people talk and I
swear to God, Well, the thing too about him, and
you know it's obviously as you says, Cheene is recently,
(14:00):
but Russell Wilson. For years, it sounded like he was
mimicking Pete Carroll, like the same tone, like the phrases.
It was like he was the doppel Gang or a
Pete Carroll like that. He was just trying to copy
the exact language. So is he gonna copy the Broncos
coach over that is the guy from the Packers there?
Is he gonna rip that hacket? Yeah? Yeah, Well that's
(14:22):
one of the funny things that Seahawk fans are gonna
keep their eye on. Fand you know, this guy like
to end every press conference with go Hawks, which was
kind of fun. Whatever blah blah blah. And then when
he didn't do it, Seahawk fans from panic. Oh he
didn't say go Hawks. What does that mean? He didn't
say go Hawks. So now we'll see if he says
go Broncos in Denver. But that was one of the
things that made this thing work is that him and
(14:43):
John Schneider and Pete Carroll were always on the same page.
You know, they would they would agree on, you know,
how they were going to present themselves in public, what
they would talk about, what they would not talk about.
Russell Wilson was the master of the cliche. He was
the master of deflection. It's what made him so great
that he was a good player, very very good player.
(15:03):
But they also had the l Ob, They had Marshawn Lynch.
They had the highest grade offensive line in football when
they won the title in two thousand thirteen, and Russell
Wilson never ever, ever even thought about locking the boat.
And then things began to deteriorate and he became a
little more brass. He became a little more bold, which
I have no problem with. The guy that spent eight
(15:23):
nine years in the NFL should have that, you know,
confidence that he can speak his mind. But like I said,
it became about him and it got weird, and he
would do all this weird stuff on social media. I
don't know if you remember, but there was a photo
about four or five, three or four years ago that
he sent out where he's buck naked with a naked
(15:46):
Sierra and a buck naked Huture junior and they're all
wrapped up like a big serpent, and he puts the
picture on social media. I'm like, dude, if I got
pictures like that with me and my wife, you know
what I'm doing that I'm hanging above my bed or
it's in my bathroom above the toilet so nobody can
see it. I'm not showing that the people. It's just weird, man,
(16:10):
just stuff that guys just don't do very odd and
players in the locker room tality, they would roll their
eyes at this stuff. I talked to one guy that
spent nine years with him in Seattle, and I asked him,
how many times did you go out with Russell Wilson
after practice, after a game for a beer, a steak,
thin or whatever. He said, Not one time, Not one
(16:32):
time did I ever go out with Russell Wilson. So
it's just the kind of guy he was. And again,
when you're winning games, find no problem. When you're playing well,
find no problem. But obviously at the end that wasn't happening.
All right, So you are on the pulse of the
people as the voice of Seattle Sports Radio. So what
what is the Raking file, Softie? I mean, I know
you're the you're the opinion guy. But the people that
(16:53):
you're around there, the Seahawks fan, the hardcore Seahawks fan,
are they in lockstep with you or they like, wait
a minute, we are screwed now, We're not gonna have
a quarterback for the next five ten years. Well, I
think everybody understands how hard he's gonna be to replace. Uh,
they don't have it Aaron Rodgers or a Steve Young
waiting in the wings the way the Niners or Packers
did when they lost Montana and Brett Farve. So that's
(17:14):
gonna be an issue. And obviously, Pete Carroll seventy years old,
how much longer does he want to deal with this
before he walks away and plays with his grandkids and
goes to a place in Maui. But you know, as
far as the reaction, I mean, I I just put
a poll on Twitter yesterday. Not that Twitter polls are
the end all be all, but just a small little sample. Uh.
And I asked you, you know, my followers, Um, how
(17:37):
you know, are you more sad to see Bobby Wagner
or Russell Wilson go? And se said Bobby Wagner over
Russell Wilson. And you know it's like what I mean?
You know, I mean, come on, you guys know the
in fact, the middle linebacker has over a quarterback. But
I just think it shows you that people were just
ready to move on. The Hawks have some draft capital. Now,
they've got a bunch of salary cap space. Second most
(17:58):
in the NFL, and people are excited, I guess in
some ways to see how the Hawks spend it. There's
also a side of the Seahawk fan base that doesn't
trust John Schnyder or Pete Carroll as far as they
can throw him, because the drafts have been terrible for
the most part, the free agent spending has been awful,
and it seems like every move they make has been
a disaster. The Jamal Adams deal disaster, Jimmy Graham deal disaster,
(18:20):
Percy Harvin deal disaster. Every big move this franchise has made,
except for the early drafts in two thousand and ten, eleven,
and twelve, really have not worked out. So the track
record was solid and they built a great foundation, but
in the last seven eight years they've been they've been
really slipping in that regard. So three years from now
(18:42):
and we're looking back at this, is Pete Carroll a
still the coach of the team, and is Russell. Do
you think russ is gonna light it up in Denver?
You think he he continues as you said, he hasn't
been playing well the last couple of years. You think
he falls off the cliff. Well, I think they're gonna
let him cook, and you know what that means. That
means letting rust of the ball forty five times a game.
That's what he wanted, That's what he wanted here in Seattle.
(19:04):
That's what Brian Schottenheimer wanted for him in Seattle. And
then Seahawks went six and two in the first half
of the two thousand twenty season. They went to Buffalo,
they got destroyed. Russell Wilson threw a bunch of picks
and Pete Carroll said, that's the end of that. Enough
of that, and they went back to his roots. The
problem with Pete Carroll is he thinks it's still two
(19:24):
thousand thirteen. He doesn't want to take any chances on offense,
doesn't want to turn the ball over, wants to rely
on a great running game and an elite defense. The
problem is they haven't had either one of those things
for the last four or five years. I don't know.
Maybe Pete Carroll's in a coma and he waked up
every day in his dream and he's he's dreaming that
it's two thousand thirteen. I got no freaking idea. But
(19:47):
if they want to get back to where they are,
with Pete Carroll, they got to get serious about the
offensive line, they got a get serious about the defensive line,
and they gotta find a way to start dominating people
on the ground. And that hasn't happened. Chris Carson can't
count on him, but Sean Penny can't count on him.
Their options have been guys like Alex Collin's, Carlos Hide
and Paul Homer. Excuse me, Travis Homer. So they just
(20:09):
need if they're going to make this work with Pete Carroll,
he's got to find a way to get back to
his roofs. All right, So you have to get a
quarterback this year for the Seahawks. So what are you
hearing it? Soft? Is it gonna be Drew Lock? Are
they gonna sign one of these other stiffs that are
free agents? Are trade for somebody? Yeah? I think the
next Great Shauk quarterback is probably in diaper's right now.
Probably honestly, all right, I mean seriously, because I just
(20:34):
don't see anything in free agency. I don't see anything
on the trade market. Maybe they make a run of
a guy like a Marcus Mario, and maybe they'll bring
a guy like a Gardner of Minshew in here and
see what they can do provide some competition. I mean,
that's really what we're talking about right now. The other
option is to Shaun Watson and we'll find out what
happens on Friday with the grand Jury. I love the
(20:55):
Shaun as a player, obviously, right now he's a no
goes on because of all the accusations against him, and
that's got to be dropped. And if those are dropped,
I think the Hawks are very much gonna be involved
with the this Shaun Watson sweepstakes. I mean, Ben, you
gotta understand and I know that you do that. Pete
Carroll seventy damn years old, right. He may think he's
young at heart, and he may think he can coach
(21:17):
until he's eighty years old. Prett, he's freaking seventy. There's
only a handful of guys in the NFL that have
had any success past that age. Uh, and he's gonna
have to be another one, you know, to pull this off.
So I don't think he's you know, interested in rebuilding
this thing from the ground up and training a rookie
quarterback and you know, building a new offensive and defensive line.
(21:38):
That's why he left USC to come to the Seahawks
in the first place for crying out loud because the
guy had no interest in rebuilding USC when they were
about to go on probation. So I think Pete Carroll
is going to take the path of least resistance, And
if that means getting to Mariota, if that means getting
the Minshew, if that means drafting you know a Malik
Willis with the number nine pick that got the Bronco
(21:59):
d are getting into the Watson sweepstakes. I think that's
what he'll do. But right now there's only two quarterbacks
on the roster is Drew Lock and Jacob Eesan. So
right now it's the Drew Lock Show until something changes. Well, yeah,
I was just gonna bring up that I was around
Pete when he was coaching at USC, and once once
he saw the writing on the wall that that was
not gonna go well with the n c A, he
hied tailed it out of there. He got he got going,
(22:22):
and uh, you wonder if he's gonna stick arts. Yeah, well,
I I agree with you, But you think within the
next five years that the Seahawks are gonna have a
legit Super Bowl contented? It seems unlikely at this point.
They have a bunch of draft picks. But but you know, Softie,
the problem with draft picks is most of them don't
live up to the hype. You gotta actually pick the
right players. That's always It sounds great to have draft picks,
(22:43):
but you got actually get the picks right. And these
teams screwed up all the time. And they've been screwing
it up. I mean they've you know, they've had a
couple of hits here and there, but for the most part,
and look, here's the thing. What they did between two
thousand ten, two thousand eleven and two thousand twelve, they
brought in Russell o'coon. They brought in Earl Thomas, they
(23:04):
brought in Richard Sherman, they brought in kJ Wright, they
brought in Bobby Wagner, they brought in Russell Wilson, they
brought in Doug Baldwin is an undrafted free agent. They're
never gonna have that kind of success again. That was
a once in a career type of run for John
Schneider and Pete Carroll when it comes to the draft
and when it comes to undrafted free agent. So of
(23:25):
course I agree with you that in the next five years,
is it likelier than not that the Seahawks are not
gonna be a dominant football team. Of course it is. Yeah.
I mean this is absolutely going down the road of
a rebuild, there is no question about that. And Pete
Carroll is gonna be seventy three, seventy four years old, uh,
in the time frame that you're talking about. And the
(23:45):
other part of this equation that not a lot of
people have been mentioning is that Paul Allen is dead.
I mean, Paul Allen was one of the great owners
in the NFL. Everything Paul Allen touched when it came
to the NFL, from hiring Mike Holmgren to hiring Pete Carroll,
to be willing to fire Jim Mora after one year
(24:08):
of a four year deal when Todd light Witty convinced
him it wasn't working. He didn't give a damn. He
just wanted to win games. I mean, look at the
look at the playoff appearances with Paul Allen from the
late nineties on compared to what they had before Paul
Allen was the owner. And he passed away a couple
of years ago. His sister Jodi is now in charge.
(24:28):
Nobody even knows what the hell she sounds like for
crying out loud. Nobody even knows what her plans are
long term for this organization. So there's a little bit
of a question mark, ben, if not a big question
mark about the ownership structure in Seattle. How long does
Jody hang onto the team if they do want to sell.
There's gonna be plenty of people in Seattle, namely a
(24:50):
guy like a Jeff Bezos. Maybe Bill Gates finally steps
up and buys a team. Um, But that's a big, big,
big concern for me because as long as Paul Allen
was year this organization was firing on all cylinders, and
now that he's gone, nobody has any idea of the
future of that of that structure and what that looks like.
How how great would it be though for the Seahawks
(25:10):
fans if they Bezos ends up getting the team with
all his money home my goodness, insanity. But as for
you know what I'd rather, I'd rather have him buy
the Mariners with no salary captain baseball. That'd be better. Well,
they're debating that, right, so they have the owners have
their fake salary, kept their through gayzy salary, kept that
they pay in baseball, which is ridiculous. Base Bazos would
(25:31):
take that luxury tax by the neck and sweet so
hard that tideballs would pop out exactly. He wouldn't give
a damn. He would not get And I've always argued
that Paul Allen owned the wrong team. If he had
owned the Mariners instead of the Seahawks, Oh my god,
we'd have six World Series titles by now. Yeah, I'm sure.
And now, as far as you though, I'm thinking this
is actually good for you, Softy, that the Seahawks, because
(25:53):
there's a lot of passion for the Seahawks from an
outsider's perspective, right, it's a lot of ha been to
see how a few times, a lot of passion. But
if the team's bad, that's great sports radio, right, that's
great for you because people are angry. It's to me,
it's always been better when things are kind of rocky
as opposed to when everything's great and you're winning for
sports talk radio purposes only. Of course, what do you
(26:15):
think about that? Well, I think there's no doubt that
anger drives passion. You know, people tend to communicate with
sports talk radio stations more so when they're irritated and
angry than when they're happy. Uh. You know, look, I
mean it's obviously a controversial thing for this for this town.
This team has been good for a long long time,
(26:37):
and and now that's all about the fall apart. So
I'm curious to see how people respond to it. But
it's not just the Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Pete Carroll,
you know, DK Metcalf's contract is up. You know what
about Jamal Adams future. We've spent a year and a
half hammering Jamal Adams on the eater and and and
not just hammering the Seahawks, but hammering him. I mean
(26:58):
there's been some plays that he's made or plays that
he's not made, or I've looked at him and asked
if he even gives a damn about playing football. And
then there's there's there's plays that will make your skin crawl.
Ben with this guy, And you know, look, here's the thing.
He was all he was all pot in New York
because the Jets weren't winning. He comes to Seattle, they
(27:18):
make the playoffs. The guy likes a freaking cigar at
a podium to celebrate finally making the postseason. And now
the Seahawks suck again with Jamal adds, So now he's
going right back to where he was with the Jets
two or three years ago. So I'm curious to see
how Jamal Adam tangles all this, you know, uh, all
(27:38):
these tough times that are about to be on the
horizon for the Seahawks. But yeah, it's gonna be an
interesting offseason, interesting couple of years. People are fired up.
The interaction with the fans is always awesome. But I
don't know, man, I'm at a point in my career
where I don't even give a damn anymore. You know,
whatever happens, it's gonna happen. Just get me the hell
(27:58):
off the air so I can be on the first
tea by you know, three o'clock. Well, the great thing
about these jobs is whether the teams are good or bad,
we still have to We still have to talk, so
it doesn't really matter, but talk about it exactly and more.
Now I gotta I gotta ask, you know, one of
the one of the NBA guys gonna get back in Seattle.
What what are you hearing there? We I've heard rumors
for the past five years. Softly, my guys in the
(28:19):
NBA that Seattle is getting an expansion team. They're gonna
add two teams Seattle and I had recently in Vegas,
but I've heard some other cities mentioned. So what are
you what are you hearing on that? Anything close? Really close? Well,
here's the funny thing. Here's the funny thing about that.
First of all, can you believe it's been fourteen years
since they left to Oklahoma City? Ben? Yeah? Ben, Ben.
(28:41):
The sad part about it is is that you've got
I don't know, we've we've We've had this conversation before
on our show. How how old do you have to
be to have like a real conscious sports memory, you know, six, seven,
eight years old? I don't know. I mean, the Sonics
won the NBA title in seventy nine. I was five
and a half. I got no memory of that whatsoever.
(29:01):
I was more concerned about where my next booker was
coming from, you know, versus nity A basketball. So I
have no memory of that whatsoever. I have some memories
of the early eighties when I was seven eight years old,
But you know, if we just use that as a benchmark,
there's kids graduating high school this year, college freshman in
our area that have no idea what NBA basketball in
(29:23):
this town is all about. You gotta be in your
mid twenties early twenties to have any memory of NBA basketball.
So you're starting over with an entirely new generation of fans.
And guess what. A lot of people have moved on
their sounder soccer fans, their cracking hockey fans, their w
NBA fans. They're sitting home playing freaking video games all
(29:44):
day with their buddies online. There's a lot more competition
now for the sports dollar than there was fourteen, fifteen,
twenty years ago. So I'm curious to see how the
city reacts to it. They reacted great to the cracking.
They sold out all their season ticket deposits. But here's
the not so think. You know the name Todd LYE Wicky,
You know the named Tim Lywicky. Obviously two of the
(30:05):
great sports executives in the country. Todd was the president
of Seahawks when they hired Pete Carroll back in the
day and did great things for us. These are the
guys that are telling everybody that the NBA is coming back.
And you would think that those would be the guys
that would say, hey, look, we just got you at
damn hockey team, why don't you enjoy the NHL for
(30:26):
a while and will work on the NBA later. It's
not been the It's not been the case. These guys
are the ones telling us they're coming back. They're coming back.
We've got to be patient, but they're coming back. Tim
Lywicky and Todd lan Wicky, who have done so much
for the town already getting this beautiful arena built and
by the way, it is really awesome. You come to town,
will get you a game, by the way, and they
(30:48):
get us a hockey team, and you would think they
would want you to just enjoy that. But they are
the ones that are fanning the flames for the NBA
to come back. So I would be fairly surprised if
in the next three to five years we did not
have basketball back. And see you and they gotta come.
I know there's there's business involved, those oil barons in Oklahoma.
They gotta get the Sonic name back. Though I'm gonna
(31:10):
go full old school. Don't change some dopey name, go
with the Sonics, bring it back, Bring back well, and
you've seen, you've seen how that franchise is doing. They're
not doing well. They're not drawn fans or lose the
money right and left. And I'm shedding a tear. I'm
playing a little violin over here for Clay Bennett and
the issues they're having in Oklahoma City. But I gotta
be honest with you, man, it's uh, it's a wacky
(31:31):
thing to think about how long it's been since this
basketball team was not around. And I think it's great
the amount of passion that you hear and see around
the country. People are always tweeting and talking about how
Seattle deserves a basketball team, and I don't. I would
just challenge anybody whether San Diego after they lost the Clippers,
Kansas City after they lost the King's uh, Louisville after
(31:54):
they you know, fourteen fifteen years later, was there still
this kind of passion in oh towns to bring the
NBA back? And I would say no. I mean, dude,
We've got a freaking store. We got a store simply
Seattle dot com South Sonic Gear, and they sell a
lot of it and people are running around town wearing
(32:14):
the stuff. It's crazy how the plane is still going.
I love it. Yeah, I know, and we're around the
same h So, I I mean I remember, you know,
I'm not. I wasn't a Sonic, yes exactly. I haven't
aged in many years, but I remember those Sonic teams.
I was like, wow, I mean that was great basketball,
and it was always like a it was always the
always seem to have competitive teams in those days. But anyway,
(32:34):
I've kept it for way too long. Softy, I appreciate it.
You're the man, you're the myth, you're the legend. You
own Seattle, and it's coming up on thirty years. You
sign your new deal. So we're gonna they're gonna have
like a day for you, Softy Day in Seattle. They're
gonna have that whole thing. Yeah, the Softy Day better
come along with that being the next day is my
last day on the year. That's all I'm asking for.
(32:56):
Just get me the hell out of here, get me
off there. Now. This is great because this this keeps
me from having to go do work around the house.
So if you want me to hang out for another
four or five hours, I have no problem doing that. Yeah,
I think I would. My producer will kill me though,
so I appreciate it, but if thank you so, if
you appreciate man, see you. But
Ka Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes
a week was enough, I 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
(00:23):
Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the air
everywhere it is another weekend. We're kicking it off right
now on the Friday Friday Friday edition of The Fifth
Hour with Ben Maller and Danny g Back again. You
(00:45):
can't stop us from talking. There's always something to discuss.
And it's been a big week here in the sporting
world with the start of the silly season in the NFL.
And you know the mantra that I have had if
you listen to my yapping over my time at Fox,
and you know, I believe the better story is in
(01:07):
the losing locker room. And the biggest transaction in the
NFL for my money, dollar for dollar, was the trade
that sent Russell Willson out of Seattle and into Denver.
As Russ will be cooking in the mile high altitude
so the better story is in the losing locker room. Yeah,
(01:34):
that would be the Seattle locker room. As the Seahawks
are now heading into uncharted waters without a big time quarterbacks,
so they're gonna have to pivot on the fly. And
who better to get to the bottom of what's going
on in Seattle than the voice of sports talk radio
in Seattle When you think, at least for those of
(01:54):
us who work in the radio, because the people that
matter in Seattle sports ray, there's only one name that
really rises all the way up to the top, and
that's Softy and a man who I often have been
accused of being related to that we are brothers from
another mother. And because it's Softy Maller and Ben Mallard,
(02:16):
and I've always been just we're gonna bring Softly on
right now. Softy, I've always been jealous that your surname,
while it's similar to mine, is pronounced in a much
more masculine way. That Maller is much more impressive than Mallard.
So we'll start with that. And also, we've been on
the radio in Seattle for years. We are on the
obviously overnight show on kJ are the great sports talker
(02:39):
you are the big afternoon drive sensation there in Seattle,
and I semi regularly will have a listener that that
is in the Seattle market that will say, hey, are
you you related? They are convinced that because we have
a similar sounding name and we work in radio, that
(03:01):
we are somehow we are d n A related. Have
you gotten the same reaction there, softy, that's probably were related.
I mean, you're kind of bursting my bubble. I saw
the story where Jerry Jones is getting sued by somebody
who claims that Jerry is for father, and I don't know.
I thought I thought you and I were related. Maybe
I should play all law student, have like a DNA
(03:22):
test and make sure that you know we we are
not related. But I've been walking around forever people ask
me my claim to fame. It's like, yeah, me and
me and Ben Maller were related. That's my claim to fame.
And now you're telling me that we're not. Man, this
is just a whole new world for me, and I'm
not sure if I can go forward now knowing that
we are actually not related. No, man, I mean, here's
(03:43):
the thing, dude. Um, It's funny how some people get
this stuff mixed up. I didn't think it was that difficult.
Apparently for some people it is. But places like Twitter,
for example, have reminded me that not everybody is on
the same page as we are, and that stuff you
would not think would need explanation, indeed does need explanation.
(04:04):
So yes, Ben and I are not related, which is
better news for him than it is for me. By
the way, well, no, and I I filled in for you.
I don't know if you remember. You were on a
tropical island somewhere with the family, and I filled in
remotely before it was cool to fill in remotely on
the powerful kJ R. And uh, clearly management heard that
(04:28):
show softly because I've not been invited back. So clearly
they heard that broadcast and said, Mallard not as good
as Maller, and uh, get out of here, stay away,
stay away, stay I think, no, I think what happens.
They realized how good you were, and they said, if
we put this bastard on the air again, we're gonna
have to pay you actually compensate the guy. So forget that.
(04:49):
Let's go back to Maller, who's just cheap talent. We
can get away with putting his asks on the air.
So anyway, yeah, man, it's good to be on with you.
And what a what a crazy couple of days in Seattle, Man,
it has been. We're gonna get to that. But I'm
not done b s thing about radio because I'm I'm
waiting now. So you you are a star. You are
like the Mike Francess of Seattle. I don't know if
(05:10):
that's a compliment or not, but you've been on there
for a long time. You're very successful. But when is
the trickle down gonna happen? I see these contracts softly
with Aikman and these guys, and I'm I'm not happy
for these broadcasters in the NFL. But I have always
believed I'm biased here because I work in radio as
you do. But people tune in to hear what the
radio guy has to say. When you will watch an
(05:33):
NFL game, if the teams are good, you're not necessarily
watching because of Troy Aikman or any of these guys,
no matter how good they are. You're not watching because
of the broadcasters. So when is the money give me
the answer here, softly, When is the money gonna come
down to guys like us? Yeah? I would say it's
a word that rhymes would never number one because number
two and and I really realized this when I get
(05:54):
to go to the Super Bowl for Radio Row or
the Final Four for Radio Row, and you look around
in a row and you see all these bombs, and
you see all these clowns, and you think, man, that's me.
I'm I'm one of those bums. I'm one of those
clowns and sports talk radio. So in the end, and
I always say this that you and I are just
(06:14):
monkeys and a carnival man, and all they do is
just throw peanuts at us, you know, our entire career.
So maybe one day they'll give us more peanuts. Maybe
one day they'll give us more bananas. But they ain't
gonna give us more cash, man, There's no question about that.
So you and I work on the Toys and Games department.
Other people out there have real jobs, and they're you know,
busting their ass twelve thirteen hours a day construction, hard
(06:38):
labor things like this. So we got nothing to bitch about, man,
no matter how little they pay us. But uh, it's
a hell of a run. It's been twenty seven years
for me. I decided to do deal. They'll take you
to thirty with kJ R, and I just wonder every
day when they're gonna fall the plug, and they haven't
done it yet, so it's a freaking miracle. Congratulations, you
have dominated. You are the king of Seattle radio. But
(06:59):
I and and speaking of that, I know from my
little overnight show and we have you know, listeners in
Seattle and you guys just moved to the FM down Now.
This fascinates me, Softie, because people were like, oh, you
sound so much better on the FM dial. The the
power of terrestrial radio still because you can listen to
(07:21):
your show on I Heart Radio and the streaming and
all that, and same with obviously my show. But so
many people are just creatures of habit. They just love
the old school radio and they listen that way. It's
to me, it's fascinating. If you've gotten a similar response,
it's a big deal to be on the FM dial now.
It's a huge deal. And it's even bigger for our
broadcast partners you on the Crack and the Huskies, Washington basketball,
(07:45):
Washington football, the Sounders, you know, you know, Westwood One
for example, to have all those games and and FM radio.
But you're right. I mean there were people when we
made the move that were irritated. You know, I want
my m I've been listening the nine AM for forty
years or whatever, and and and and and here's the
funny thing. Then, yesterday was actually the one hundredth anniversary
(08:09):
of kJ R getting their very first broadcast license in
nineteen two. So our radio station has been around for
over a hundred years now, and we finally made the
switch full time to FM. We're gonna simulcast for a
little bit and then make the switch and a couple
of months officially. We actually tried this about ten years ago,
(08:30):
the simulcast on an FM station with nine a m.
And the ratings for like four hours were off the
charts and the management was going bananas. I gotta look
at this. And then a week later, yeah, they stuck again.
So I don't know, man, maybe maybe this will be
the boost everybody is looking for. But I think I think,
I mean, you're you're kind of a radio junkie like me.
(08:51):
I think the biggest difference is that the music stations
are struggling because they can't compete with all the music
you know, streaming platforms, uh for example. But like I
Hearts app, where you can get all the music you
want on the I Heart app. But if you still
want local sports talk until they start streaming that on
all the other platforms, there's only one place to go. Yeah, no, absolutely,
(09:14):
I mean that's music radio. Will you listen in the
morning and it's just talk radio, like the music stations
are just talk stations. That's been that way for years.
But uh, I mean it's it's absolutely and people like
to listen. When it comes to music. A lot of
people want to hear only what they want to hear,
and you never know what you're gonna get when you
listen on on radio. But as as our boss over
at Foxes, uh, don't better leave my man. Uh So
(09:37):
we need to talk. We need to talk football softly.
You are the king of Seattle. Are you still sitting
shiva here for the end of Russell Wilson as a
Seattle Seahawk. No, I'm not doing that. I gotta be
honest with you, man. I I appreciate everything Russell Wilson
did for this franchise, everything he did for the organization.
(09:59):
It doesn't take a genius, uh, you know to look
back and say, hey, man, the ten years of Russell
Wilson quarterback. We're pretty damn good for this franchise, but
I was kind of growing tired, started bitching about his
offensive line, and then all this controversy erupted, all this rumor,
all this innuendo, and Russell didn't say a damn thing.
(10:19):
He didn't put an end to any of it. He
just sat back with his hands behind his head, kicked
his speed up and smiled and just enjoyed being in
the spotlight. And I even asked him, you know, at
a press conference, I said, if you really want to
be in Seattle long term, why would you allow all
that rumor and innuendo to continue? And he said, well,
because we had some stuff to figure out behind closed doors,
blah blah blah. Well then you're really truly we're not
(10:42):
as invested here. And it really truly was not as
harmonious a relationship as you guys have been leading people on.
You can't have it both freaking ways. So there was
a lot of drama with him. There was a lot
of nonsense with him. He became all about him, He
became all about his brand, which is fine if you're
playing great football and winning m vps the way Aaron
(11:03):
Rodgers is. But he wasn't doing that. You know, the
guy comes out and complains about the line. He wants
more talent, he wants this, he wants his legacy to
be secure, which he never talked like that. Bobby Wagner
never talked like that. Richard Sherman never talks like that.
Uh you know, K. J. Wright, Earl Thomas Camp Chancellor,
those guys never talked about themselves in that light. And
(11:24):
Russell Wilson never did until about a year and a
half ago. So things started ben to become about Russell
and his brand and his legacy and his campaign. And
then he picks that opportunity and that time to go
out and start playing bad football in the back half
of two thousand twenty breaks his finger and was playing
poorly even before that in the first half of two
(11:46):
thousand twenty one. So all of it created the student
that a lot of people were just kind of getting
tired of. To be honest with you, well, I don't
know about you, softie, but that that bread football thing
that Russ was selling, that that's a solid him there.
And the nano bubbles, right, he had the nano bubbles
going to ye. Yeah, he claimed to have ben You
know what's funny about that, as you mentioned the nano bubbles,
(12:09):
that that that really was the only thing that he
had done that he had even remotely approached any controversy
when he claimed to have this water that can cure concussions,
and that went away real quick. And then all of
a sudden, you know, again he met Sierra. Uh, he
started turning into a bit of a diva. The analogy
that I've used before with him. You remember the movie
(12:29):
Napoleon Dynamite. Obviously, when when his brother Kipp was this
nerdy computer geek sitting at home online talking to babes
all day, and then he meets Lafonda and he totally changes.
He's got the do rag on, he's got the medallion
with the thunderbird hanging around his neck. He's walking differently,
he's talking differently. That's what happened to Russell. I'm telling you,
(12:53):
go look at Russell Wilson. His first three or four
years in the NFL. He was like Arkell of NFL quarterbacks,
and then he meets Era and all of a sudden,
he becomes this totally different person. He's dressing differently. He's
walking differently, he's talking differently, he's got a different hairstyle,
he's using different voices. I swear to God, Ben, we
have a Russell Wilson sound wheel where he's got seven
(13:16):
or eight different accents, and everything just got weird with
the guy. And then he started playing poorly and all
hell want to you know, hell hand bucket. So it
was just a big, freaking giant recipe of nonsense. Well
you are the expert on Russell Wilson sound bus. My
personal favorite was the Mr Unlimited rant that he did
that is I gotta get you, I gotta get you.
(13:39):
And when we're done here, have your producer give you
a buzz. I gotta get you some of these drops
because you'll have a field day. It is unbelievable. I
could play you six or seven different clips, and if
you didn't know it was Russell Wilson, you would think
it was six or seven different people talk and I
swear to God, Well, the thing too about him, and
you know it's obviously as you says, Cheene is recently,
(14:00):
but Russell Wilson. For years, it sounded like he was
mimicking Pete Carroll, like the same tone, like the phrases.
It was like he was the doppel Gang or a
Pete Carroll like that. He was just trying to copy
the exact language. So is he gonna copy the Broncos
coach over that is the guy from the Packers there?
Is he gonna rip that hacket? Yeah? Yeah, Well that's
(14:22):
one of the funny things that Seahawk fans are gonna
keep their eye on. Fand you know, this guy like
to end every press conference with go Hawks, which was
kind of fun. Whatever blah blah blah. And then when
he didn't do it, Seahawk fans from panic. Oh he
didn't say go Hawks. What does that mean? He didn't
say go Hawks. So now we'll see if he says
go Broncos in Denver. But that was one of the
things that made this thing work is that him and
(14:43):
John Schneider and Pete Carroll were always on the same page.
You know, they would they would agree on, you know,
how they were going to present themselves in public, what
they would talk about, what they would not talk about.
Russell Wilson was the master of the cliche. He was
the master of deflection. It's what made him so great
that he was a good player, very very good player.
(15:03):
But they also had the l Ob, They had Marshawn Lynch.
They had the highest grade offensive line in football when
they won the title in two thousand thirteen, and Russell
Wilson never ever, ever even thought about locking the boat.
And then things began to deteriorate and he became a
little more brass. He became a little more bold, which
I have no problem with. The guy that spent eight
(15:23):
nine years in the NFL should have that, you know,
confidence that he can speak his mind. But like I said,
it became about him and it got weird, and he
would do all this weird stuff on social media. I
don't know if you remember, but there was a photo
about four or five, three or four years ago that
he sent out where he's buck naked with a naked
(15:46):
Sierra and a buck naked Huture junior and they're all
wrapped up like a big serpent, and he puts the
picture on social media. I'm like, dude, if I got
pictures like that with me and my wife, you know
what I'm doing that I'm hanging above my bed or
it's in my bathroom above the toilet so nobody can
see it. I'm not showing that the people. It's just weird, man,
(16:10):
just stuff that guys just don't do very odd and
players in the locker room tality, they would roll their
eyes at this stuff. I talked to one guy that
spent nine years with him in Seattle, and I asked him,
how many times did you go out with Russell Wilson
after practice, after a game for a beer, a steak,
thin or whatever. He said, Not one time, Not one
(16:32):
time did I ever go out with Russell Wilson. So
it's just the kind of guy he was. And again,
when you're winning games, find no problem. When you're playing well,
find no problem. But obviously at the end that wasn't happening.
All right, So you are on the pulse of the
people as the voice of Seattle Sports Radio. So what
what is the Raking file, Softie? I mean, I know
you're the you're the opinion guy. But the people that
(16:53):
you're around there, the Seahawks fan, the hardcore Seahawks fan,
are they in lockstep with you or they like, wait
a minute, we are screwed now, We're not gonna have
a quarterback for the next five ten years. Well, I
think everybody understands how hard he's gonna be to replace. Uh,
they don't have it Aaron Rodgers or a Steve Young
waiting in the wings the way the Niners or Packers
did when they lost Montana and Brett Farve. So that's
(17:14):
gonna be an issue. And obviously, Pete Carroll seventy years old,
how much longer does he want to deal with this
before he walks away and plays with his grandkids and
goes to a place in Maui. But you know, as
far as the reaction, I mean, I I just put
a poll on Twitter yesterday. Not that Twitter polls are
the end all be all, but just a small little sample. Uh.
And I asked you, you know, my followers, Um, how
(17:37):
you know, are you more sad to see Bobby Wagner
or Russell Wilson go? And se said Bobby Wagner over
Russell Wilson. And you know it's like what I mean?
You know, I mean, come on, you guys know the
in fact, the middle linebacker has over a quarterback. But
I just think it shows you that people were just
ready to move on. The Hawks have some draft capital. Now,
they've got a bunch of salary cap space. Second most
(17:58):
in the NFL, and people are excited, I guess in
some ways to see how the Hawks spend it. There's
also a side of the Seahawk fan base that doesn't
trust John Schnyder or Pete Carroll as far as they
can throw him, because the drafts have been terrible for
the most part, the free agent spending has been awful,
and it seems like every move they make has been
a disaster. The Jamal Adams deal disaster, Jimmy Graham deal disaster,
(18:20):
Percy Harvin deal disaster. Every big move this franchise has made,
except for the early drafts in two thousand and ten, eleven,
and twelve, really have not worked out. So the track
record was solid and they built a great foundation, but
in the last seven eight years they've been they've been
really slipping in that regard. So three years from now
(18:42):
and we're looking back at this, is Pete Carroll a
still the coach of the team, and is Russell. Do
you think russ is gonna light it up in Denver?
You think he he continues as you said, he hasn't
been playing well the last couple of years. You think
he falls off the cliff. Well, I think they're gonna
let him cook, and you know what that means. That
means letting rust of the ball forty five times a game.
That's what he wanted, That's what he wanted here in Seattle.
(19:04):
That's what Brian Schottenheimer wanted for him in Seattle. And
then Seahawks went six and two in the first half
of the two thousand twenty season. They went to Buffalo,
they got destroyed. Russell Wilson threw a bunch of picks
and Pete Carroll said, that's the end of that. Enough
of that, and they went back to his roots. The
problem with Pete Carroll is he thinks it's still two
(19:24):
thousand thirteen. He doesn't want to take any chances on offense,
doesn't want to turn the ball over, wants to rely
on a great running game and an elite defense. The
problem is they haven't had either one of those things
for the last four or five years. I don't know.
Maybe Pete Carroll's in a coma and he waked up
every day in his dream and he's he's dreaming that
it's two thousand thirteen. I got no freaking idea. But
(19:47):
if they want to get back to where they are,
with Pete Carroll, they got to get serious about the
offensive line, they got a get serious about the defensive line,
and they gotta find a way to start dominating people
on the ground. And that hasn't happened. Chris Carson can't
count on him, but Sean Penny can't count on him.
Their options have been guys like Alex Collin's, Carlos Hide
and Paul Homer. Excuse me, Travis Homer. So they just
(20:09):
need if they're going to make this work with Pete Carroll,
he's got to find a way to get back to
his roofs. All right, So you have to get a
quarterback this year for the Seahawks. So what are you
hearing it? Soft? Is it gonna be Drew Lock? Are
they gonna sign one of these other stiffs that are
free agents? Are trade for somebody? Yeah? I think the
next Great Shauk quarterback is probably in diaper's right now.
Probably honestly, all right, I mean seriously, because I just
(20:34):
don't see anything in free agency. I don't see anything
on the trade market. Maybe they make a run of
a guy like a Marcus Mario, and maybe they'll bring
a guy like a Gardner of Minshew in here and
see what they can do provide some competition. I mean,
that's really what we're talking about right now. The other
option is to Shaun Watson and we'll find out what
happens on Friday with the grand Jury. I love the
(20:55):
Shaun as a player, obviously, right now he's a no
goes on because of all the accusations against him, and
that's got to be dropped. And if those are dropped,
I think the Hawks are very much gonna be involved
with the this Shaun Watson sweepstakes. I mean, Ben, you
gotta understand and I know that you do that. Pete
Carroll seventy damn years old, right. He may think he's
young at heart, and he may think he can coach
(21:17):
until he's eighty years old. Prett, he's freaking seventy. There's
only a handful of guys in the NFL that have
had any success past that age. Uh, and he's gonna
have to be another one, you know, to pull this off.
So I don't think he's you know, interested in rebuilding
this thing from the ground up and training a rookie
quarterback and you know, building a new offensive and defensive line.
(21:38):
That's why he left USC to come to the Seahawks
in the first place for crying out loud because the
guy had no interest in rebuilding USC when they were
about to go on probation. So I think Pete Carroll
is going to take the path of least resistance, And
if that means getting to Mariota, if that means getting
the Minshew, if that means drafting you know a Malik
Willis with the number nine pick that got the Bronco
(21:59):
d are getting into the Watson sweepstakes. I think that's
what he'll do. But right now there's only two quarterbacks
on the roster is Drew Lock and Jacob Eesan. So
right now it's the Drew Lock Show until something changes. Well, yeah,
I was just gonna bring up that I was around
Pete when he was coaching at USC, and once once
he saw the writing on the wall that that was
not gonna go well with the n c A, he
hied tailed it out of there. He got he got going,
(22:22):
and uh, you wonder if he's gonna stick arts. Yeah, well,
I I agree with you, But you think within the
next five years that the Seahawks are gonna have a
legit Super Bowl contented? It seems unlikely at this point.
They have a bunch of draft picks. But but you know, Softie,
the problem with draft picks is most of them don't
live up to the hype. You gotta actually pick the
right players. That's always It sounds great to have draft picks,
(22:43):
but you got actually get the picks right. And these
teams screwed up all the time. And they've been screwing
it up. I mean they've you know, they've had a
couple of hits here and there, but for the most part,
and look, here's the thing. What they did between two
thousand ten, two thousand eleven and two thousand twelve, they
brought in Russell o'coon. They brought in Earl Thomas, they
(23:04):
brought in Richard Sherman, they brought in kJ Wright, they
brought in Bobby Wagner, they brought in Russell Wilson, they
brought in Doug Baldwin is an undrafted free agent. They're
never gonna have that kind of success again. That was
a once in a career type of run for John
Schneider and Pete Carroll when it comes to the draft
and when it comes to undrafted free agent. So of
(23:25):
course I agree with you that in the next five years,
is it likelier than not that the Seahawks are not
gonna be a dominant football team. Of course it is. Yeah.
I mean this is absolutely going down the road of
a rebuild, there is no question about that. And Pete
Carroll is gonna be seventy three, seventy four years old, uh,
in the time frame that you're talking about. And the
(23:45):
other part of this equation that not a lot of
people have been mentioning is that Paul Allen is dead.
I mean, Paul Allen was one of the great owners
in the NFL. Everything Paul Allen touched when it came
to the NFL, from hiring Mike Holmgren to hiring Pete Carroll,
to be willing to fire Jim Mora after one year
(24:08):
of a four year deal when Todd light Witty convinced
him it wasn't working. He didn't give a damn. He
just wanted to win games. I mean, look at the
look at the playoff appearances with Paul Allen from the
late nineties on compared to what they had before Paul
Allen was the owner. And he passed away a couple
of years ago. His sister Jodi is now in charge.
(24:28):
Nobody even knows what the hell she sounds like for
crying out loud. Nobody even knows what her plans are
long term for this organization. So there's a little bit
of a question mark, ben, if not a big question
mark about the ownership structure in Seattle. How long does
Jody hang onto the team if they do want to sell.
There's gonna be plenty of people in Seattle, namely a
(24:50):
guy like a Jeff Bezos. Maybe Bill Gates finally steps
up and buys a team. Um, But that's a big, big,
big concern for me because as long as Paul Allen
was year this organization was firing on all cylinders, and
now that he's gone, nobody has any idea of the
future of that of that structure and what that looks like.
How how great would it be though for the Seahawks
(25:10):
fans if they Bezos ends up getting the team with
all his money home my goodness, insanity. But as for
you know what I'd rather, I'd rather have him buy
the Mariners with no salary captain baseball. That'd be better. Well,
they're debating that, right, so they have the owners have
their fake salary, kept their through gayzy salary, kept that
they pay in baseball, which is ridiculous. Base Bazos would
(25:31):
take that luxury tax by the neck and sweet so
hard that tideballs would pop out exactly. He wouldn't give
a damn. He would not get And I've always argued
that Paul Allen owned the wrong team. If he had
owned the Mariners instead of the Seahawks, Oh my god,
we'd have six World Series titles by now. Yeah, I'm sure.
And now, as far as you though, I'm thinking this
is actually good for you, Softy, that the Seahawks, because
(25:53):
there's a lot of passion for the Seahawks from an
outsider's perspective, right, it's a lot of ha been to
see how a few times, a lot of passion. But
if the team's bad, that's great sports radio, right, that's
great for you because people are angry. It's to me,
it's always been better when things are kind of rocky
as opposed to when everything's great and you're winning for
sports talk radio purposes only. Of course, what do you
(26:15):
think about that? Well, I think there's no doubt that
anger drives passion. You know, people tend to communicate with
sports talk radio stations more so when they're irritated and
angry than when they're happy. Uh. You know, look, I
mean it's obviously a controversial thing for this for this town.
This team has been good for a long long time,
(26:37):
and and now that's all about the fall apart. So
I'm curious to see how people respond to it. But
it's not just the Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Pete Carroll,
you know, DK Metcalf's contract is up. You know what
about Jamal Adams future. We've spent a year and a
half hammering Jamal Adams on the eater and and and
not just hammering the Seahawks, but hammering him. I mean
(26:58):
there's been some plays that he's made or plays that
he's not made, or I've looked at him and asked
if he even gives a damn about playing football. And
then there's there's there's plays that will make your skin crawl.
Ben with this guy, And you know, look, here's the thing.
He was all he was all pot in New York
because the Jets weren't winning. He comes to Seattle, they
(27:18):
make the playoffs. The guy likes a freaking cigar at
a podium to celebrate finally making the postseason. And now
the Seahawks suck again with Jamal adds, So now he's
going right back to where he was with the Jets
two or three years ago. So I'm curious to see
how Jamal Adam tangles all this, you know, uh, all
(27:38):
these tough times that are about to be on the
horizon for the Seahawks. But yeah, it's gonna be an
interesting offseason, interesting couple of years. People are fired up.
The interaction with the fans is always awesome. But I
don't know, man, I'm at a point in my career
where I don't even give a damn anymore. You know,
whatever happens, it's gonna happen. Just get me the hell
(27:58):
off the air so I can be on the first
tea by you know, three o'clock. Well, the great thing
about these jobs is whether the teams are good or bad,
we still have to We still have to talk, so
it doesn't really matter, but talk about it exactly and more.
Now I gotta I gotta ask, you know, one of
the one of the NBA guys gonna get back in Seattle.
What what are you hearing there? We I've heard rumors
for the past five years. Softly, my guys in the
(28:19):
NBA that Seattle is getting an expansion team. They're gonna
add two teams Seattle and I had recently in Vegas,
but I've heard some other cities mentioned. So what are
you what are you hearing on that? Anything close? Really close? Well,
here's the funny thing. Here's the funny thing about that.
First of all, can you believe it's been fourteen years
since they left to Oklahoma City? Ben? Yeah? Ben, Ben.
(28:41):
The sad part about it is is that you've got
I don't know, we've we've We've had this conversation before
on our show. How how old do you have to
be to have like a real conscious sports memory, you know, six, seven,
eight years old? I don't know. I mean, the Sonics
won the NBA title in seventy nine. I was five
and a half. I got no memory of that whatsoever.
(29:01):
I was more concerned about where my next booker was
coming from, you know, versus nity A basketball. So I
have no memory of that whatsoever. I have some memories
of the early eighties when I was seven eight years old,
But you know, if we just use that as a benchmark,
there's kids graduating high school this year, college freshman in
our area that have no idea what NBA basketball in
(29:23):
this town is all about. You gotta be in your
mid twenties early twenties to have any memory of NBA basketball.
So you're starting over with an entirely new generation of fans.
And guess what. A lot of people have moved on
their sounder soccer fans, their cracking hockey fans, their w
NBA fans. They're sitting home playing freaking video games all
(29:44):
day with their buddies online. There's a lot more competition
now for the sports dollar than there was fourteen, fifteen,
twenty years ago. So I'm curious to see how the
city reacts to it. They reacted great to the cracking.
They sold out all their season ticket deposits. But here's
the not so think. You know the name Todd LYE Wicky,
You know the named Tim Lywicky. Obviously two of the
(30:05):
great sports executives in the country. Todd was the president
of Seahawks when they hired Pete Carroll back in the
day and did great things for us. These are the
guys that are telling everybody that the NBA is coming back.
And you would think that those would be the guys
that would say, hey, look, we just got you at
damn hockey team, why don't you enjoy the NHL for
(30:26):
a while and will work on the NBA later. It's
not been the It's not been the case. These guys
are the ones telling us they're coming back. They're coming back.
We've got to be patient, but they're coming back. Tim
Lywicky and Todd lan Wicky, who have done so much
for the town already getting this beautiful arena built and
by the way, it is really awesome. You come to town,
will get you a game, by the way, and they
(30:48):
get us a hockey team, and you would think they
would want you to just enjoy that. But they are
the ones that are fanning the flames for the NBA
to come back. So I would be fairly surprised if
in the next three to five years we did not
have basketball back. And see you and they gotta come.
I know there's there's business involved, those oil barons in Oklahoma.
They gotta get the Sonic name back. Though I'm gonna
(31:10):
go full old school. Don't change some dopey name, go
with the Sonics, bring it back, Bring back well, and
you've seen, you've seen how that franchise is doing. They're
not doing well. They're not drawn fans or lose the
money right and left. And I'm shedding a tear. I'm
playing a little violin over here for Clay Bennett and
the issues they're having in Oklahoma City. But I gotta
be honest with you, man, it's uh, it's a wacky
(31:31):
thing to think about how long it's been since this
basketball team was not around. And I think it's great
the amount of passion that you hear and see around
the country. People are always tweeting and talking about how
Seattle deserves a basketball team, and I don't. I would
just challenge anybody whether San Diego after they lost the Clippers,
Kansas City after they lost the King's uh, Louisville after
(31:54):
they you know, fourteen fifteen years later, was there still
this kind of passion in oh towns to bring the
NBA back? And I would say no. I mean, dude,
We've got a freaking store. We got a store simply
Seattle dot com South Sonic Gear, and they sell a
lot of it and people are running around town wearing
(32:14):
the stuff. It's crazy how the plane is still going.
I love it. Yeah, I know, and we're around the
same h So, I I mean I remember, you know,
I'm not. I wasn't a Sonic, yes exactly. I haven't
aged in many years, but I remember those Sonic teams.
I was like, wow, I mean that was great basketball,
and it was always like a it was always the
always seem to have competitive teams in those days. But anyway,
(32:34):
I've kept it for way too long. Softy, I appreciate it.
You're the man, you're the myth, you're the legend. You
own Seattle, and it's coming up on thirty years. You
sign your new deal. So we're gonna they're gonna have
like a day for you, Softy Day in Seattle. They're
gonna have that whole thing. Yeah, the Softy Day better
come along with that being the next day is my
last day on the year. That's all I'm asking for.
(32:56):
Just get me the hell out of here, get me
off there. Now. This is great because this this keeps
me from having to go do work around the house.
So if you want me to hang out for another
four or five hours, I have no problem doing that. Yeah,
I think I would. My producer will kill me though,
so I appreciate it, but if thank you so, if
you appreciate man, see you. But
Host
Ben Maller
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.