November 29, 2024 • 40 mins
Ben Maller (produced by Danny G.) has a fun Friday for you! He talks: Bryan Fenley, the man he sometimes jousted with over a 6year period! B-Fen is a new member of the FSR Alumni Association & joins Ben for his first interview, ever, on The Fifth Hour podcast!
...Follow, rate & review "The Fifth Hour!"
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fifth-hour-with-ben-maller/id1478163837
#BenMaller
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):
Kabooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the Old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow, it's the clearing
house of hot takes. Break free for something special. The
(00:22):
Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In the air eywhere, and a very good Friday to you.
It is as you know, it's Black Friday, and the
normally good podcast hosts would not do a podcast on
Black Friday or this weekend. But hey, I love the
sound of my own voice, and I know there are
people that are looking for content because there's a lot
(00:49):
of really bad content this weekend. So tadda. Here we
are the Friday edition of The Fifth Hour. Happy Black Friday.
There is an NFL game later today, the Raiders and
the Cans City Chiefs at my holy Land Arrowhead Stadium
in Kansas City. So I thought we would do something
a little different here and we would go into the
(01:11):
Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association. I hear the sound I
recognize right there now, a new member, one of our
new I will soon be a member of this I'm
sure at some point the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association.
You know him, you love him, maybe I hate him,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
But he's back. Ryan Finley. There he is. Look Ryan Finley. Unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I never thought you'd have me on your podcast, Ben
never thought, but I guess it took an iHeartMedia layoff
to get that opportunity. And I can't wait. Well, now
you're part of the club, Brian. You weren't really part
of the club. I tried, that's trew. I explained to you.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I've been fired many times in radio and been laid
off in radio, and you're not really in the business
until that is, so now welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's like you're bar mitzvah. You're part of the You're.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Part of the group now and that and ferg Dog
paid ten thousand dollars for this, So I hope it's.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I hope it's with your.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But no, in all seriousness, but I know I was
very bummed out, obviously with Eddie and you and several
other people who were let go. It is a tough
time for everyone, and uh, I did reach out to you,
and I hope things are going all right for you
since all this went down back, you know, not that
long ago.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah, things are going pretty well. I got the phone
call while I was flying back from a tennis trip,
and it felt like I just nailed the week out,
a great week of tennis broadcasting. And then I get
the call and I'm like, uh oh, and.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, we know it. You didn't think you were getting
a promotion.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
You didn't believe, no, Well, I honestly what I thought
initially was is because I borrowed a Comrex to do
postgame brewin talk football while I was in Michigan for
this tennis broadcast. So I thought I was getting a
call to say, hey, we need that Comrex back asap,
and I would have just been like, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Flying home right now. I'm in the airport.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was literally sitting in the terminal of Middland, Michigan
or just thereafter.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
It was right nextplor to Middland, Michigan, somewhere in Michigan, some.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Random so some some Well it's technically Saginaw, but it's
so small there were litterally there are literally four gates
inside this airport, and I just had the greatest week,
and I'm like, just I'm on a high and I'm
about to get on the airplane and I get this call.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
But it's life.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
It happens, and I will always cherish my time with you.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Oh well, not with me. I don't know that's for
I would say with the company. I don't know that
with me.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
But I I did not obviously, I get let go
this time. But I did have a similar experience. I
was in Kansas City meeting listeners, had a great time.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I had a wonderful experience.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I flew back, I took the first flight out Monday
morning from Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I get into LA I go to sleep. I don't
even know where I am.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I wake up and there's all these text messages, and
usually that means either somebody died or somebody got let go.
And then I put two and two together, and then
I had to make some phone calls, and then I
found out the news about Eddie, and then you and
some of the other people that were like, oh, so
it was a back to reality situation. You've got I mean,
(04:33):
one thing about you, You've always been more prone to
play by play, Brian.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, he said, I've known you that that is.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Your passion, right you You were your mentor, one of
the people in your life, the great Dick Enberg, right,
who you were around in San Diego there, and so
you looked up to him, and so you've kind of
followed that path, right. So for you, I mean, it
sucks to lose a gig and all that, but now
you're more open to to do the tennis stuff and
(04:58):
all the play by play stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, well said. And I always cherished my time with
Dick Emberg. He was somebody that, to be honest with you,
when my mom got remarried in twenty seventeen, she had
Dick Emberg and the wife of Dick, they both came out.
It was a destination wedding. There was only like twenty
five people, and this was about six months before Dick
(05:22):
passed away. And it was great to be able to
spend that time with him as a family friend. And
certainly he has had this incomparable presence in broadcasting. But yeah,
my goal and my focus, Ben, as you know, is
versatility is employability. And I know that I've told that
to you and you've told that to me on your
show many a time. When I filled in for Eddie
(05:44):
on the Ben Malors Show, just because of situations like this,
because of the uncertainty of the business that we live in.
My goal has always been my focus is to be
good at as many things as possible so that when
something like this happens, that I have other things to
go to that will allow me to continue to pay
(06:05):
for my rent and all that good stuff. So thankfully,
I'm in a really good position with you know, UCLA
and doing a lot of the hosting stuff. So I'm
still on Fox Sports Radio. I e am five seventy
for those events. But yeah, you said it. I get
to do a lot of the live events when it
comes to the TV side, whether it's beach volleyball or
tennis or other things as well. So I dearly am
(06:27):
going to miss the people there and our experiences in
the fun I honestly, I have to tell you, Ben
that I got it.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
When I found out that I'd.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Gotten the opportunity at Fox Sports Radio, I was actually
on the doorstep of quitting the business.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
This is a crazy story. My sister was getting married.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
This is twenty eighteen, and I was so distraught about
the rejection that we all deal with all of us
deal with it. But I was coming to a point
where I was just about to give up. And so
the day that I was at my one of my
lowests and just thinking, all right, this is not for me,
I got a nice email from Dan, my former boss,
(07:04):
who said, we have an opportunity potentially for you. Would
you like to join us. It's a part time this
and part time that. And I said absolutely. And I
have to be very grateful for that opportunity for him,
because if it wasn't for Fox Sports Radio, then I'm
not doing a lot of this UCLA stuff at five
seventy and other things. So that was, in a way,
(07:25):
it was a lift for me. That'll always appreciate.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Well, that's great.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
What were you going to do if you didn't we
You're gonna become like a banker. I remember Rob Parker
tells the story about him.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Stevehn A Smith.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Was gonna like he worked at a bank or something
like that. He was going to get out of the business.
And then like Rob talked him in, Stephen A Smith
to stay, stay in the business and not become a
recluse or something like that. And they leave leave media behind.
And now Steve and as making, you know, thirty million
dollars a year or whatever he's making at ESPN. But
did you have a backup plan? I never had a
(07:58):
backup plan. Like, if I had back up, I probably
would have done that, because I you know, it took
me a while before anybody actually gave me a legitimate gig.
I did a lot of fill in, a lot of
waking up, and it was a it was a nightmare.
I mean I did years a weekend overnight radio and uh,
you know, those are terrible hours. You can't get any
relationship going. It's a nightmare. But what was your backup point?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
In many ways, Ben, as I'm listening to talk, I'm
thinking about, Yeah, I flirted with the idea of just
being like a bartender or something. But I'm like you,
generally speaking, I never really had a backup plan. I
you know, we we have to be determined in this business,
as you know, and resilient, and I just I mean,
not to get deep, but to get deep and to
(08:41):
get heavy for a second. Like when my dad was around.
My dad had a had a rough illness. He died
in front of me when I was a kid, and
he had cancer and but he survived four to five
more years longer than he was supposed to given the
doctor's prognosis of him. And why I bring up that
story is because you know, thankfully, knock on wood, I'm healthy.
(09:05):
But I got a chance to watch that man overcome
a lot and to deal with a lot and to
stay persistent. And I've kind of kept that with me
in the world of business. And so to your point, Ben,
I think, in many respects, using my father's legacy and
that that story and that message that he that he
showed me firsthand, I really never wanted to do anything
(09:27):
else in life but this in the end, and so
that's kind of where I am.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
That's cool, and that's a great tribute to your to
your pops that you were you're doing that, and I
I got to you talk about rejection, and uh, you know,
as man, we get rejected by women all the time. Yes,
I did, you know, in the dating game and all that.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's part of the world. But in the business world,
you get rejected.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And I when I first got in, I my original
plan before I became a talk radio guy, was I
was going to be a play by play announcer.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
So I had this in my head. I had this
all mapped out. You know. I saw Vin.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Scully on TV when I was like, guess, all right,
I'll do that. That sounds like fun. I get to
travel with the sports team and be a play by
play guy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So I tried to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And when I was at saddleback, he did the play
by play on the basketball and the football whatever. And
so I made some demo tapes and I you know,
back then there were these big cassette tape things, and
I sent them out to every minor league baseball team
and I'm thinking, I'll get a minor.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
League job and I'll work my web.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And every one of them, you know, rejected me, have
rejection letters. So then that that was a blow. And
then I was like, well and then I did the
math on that. I started looking up the play by
play guys and this is a long time, and I
don't know if it's the same, but these guys even
in like I remember I was in Indianapolis and the
Triple A play by play guy had been there for
like thirty five years doing Triple A Indianapolis Indians games.
(10:44):
And I was like, what for thirty years? And you know,
I'm doing the math in my head. I'm like, these jobs,
you know, And I looked around all the baseball guys
and at that time, you had Harry Carey was doing
the Cubs, Alice was with the Phillies, Ernie Harwell was
with the Tege.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
All these guys were like their seventies, in their eighties,
you know.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And I'm like, you know, at that time, I'm in
my twenties, and I'm like, oh my god, this is
another math on. This is not gonna I mean, some
of these guys are going to check out and you know,
retire or whatever, but still the next wave and I'm
not necessarily the next way.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So I did the math on that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So then I went to talk radio, and then I
started fuzing around with that and I started sending stuff out,
sent out a bunch of again cassette tapes different radio
stations I wanted to work at that. I thought, Hey,
I'm WBN in Buffalo. It's my name, yeahs. And I
still have a box and I when I was moving,
(11:37):
I found the box of all the rejection letters. Wow,
all these radio stations, and the coolest thing is several
of them I have worked at my show that the
overnight shows carried on but wow, one of them hired
me to do wei I got rejected. Yeah, they hired
me to do some filling stuff years ago, and then
the Score.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
In Chicago we were on for a while. Well you know,
a couple other radio stations we've been on over the years.
But you know it's true.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I mean at one point and maybe I wasn't ready
and you get rejected, but you got to keep going, man,
And people, it doesn't guarantee you're gonna make it, but
if you have a backup plan you give up, then
you're guaranteed to not make You.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Know what I'm saying, And that's my position, man.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah you said it. Ben and I have such a
weird and there's no one way to do this. As
you said, you pointed this out, you had a thought
in your mind of what you wanted to do, and
then you made the pivot and sort of in that
realm of thinking, I did the same thing. Like I
started out in college. I was a sports producer at
a local TV station in North Carolina. So basically what
(12:45):
I was doing is I was shooting high school football,
I was editing, I was.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Writing copy for the anchor.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I wasn't on the air, but I did that while
I was in college, did that three days a week,
and then I basically was up on the desk in
between live shows, and I just put together reel and
I just kept going at it and finally got an
opportunity and Spokane where I was there. Lived there for
two years and was a sports anchor weekend sports anchor
(13:12):
for the CPS affiliate there, and was also a reporter,
and we covered Mike Leach when he was at Washington.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
States, and good years, Mike Man, Mike Leach, of all
the people I've come from my top five, oh no doubt,
loquats wonderful, just amazing outlook on life. And he passed
away a couple of years ago, but man, was that guy.
What a what a peach man? What a what a
good dude?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Mike Leach? Was he?
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And he was great for you because of the quirkiness
and gosh he You know, he passed way too soon,
but think about the quotes that he would give, and
I know on your show you would run wild with
those things. Because that's what I loved about him, is
being able to sit on those Monday press conferences with
him and the last thing he ever want wanted to
do with with folks that were beat reporters from wherever,
(14:04):
what local newspaper or whatnot. The last thing he wanted
to do was talk football. He wanted those opportunities ben
to talk about dating, to talk about pirates, to talk
about movies, to talk about Matthew McConaughey. The last thing
on a Monday press conference of a game week that
Mike Leach wanted to talk about was football. And that's
(14:27):
what made him so special well, and he.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Stood out to I used to cover Pac ten Media
Day back when it was the Pac ten. I'd go
every year, big event in LA and they had you know,
it's free food, media free loan out there, get a
free meal, and I'd listen to all the coaches from
the Pac ten. And usually at that time it was
like there was Oregon was good, sc was good, occasionally
UCLA was good, but most of the other teams sucked,
(14:50):
and the coaches all said the same thing. It was
this monotone coach speak, you know, the same verbiage. And
then Mike Leach would get up there and just kill
it and smile. You were like he was like watching
a great entertainer on stage as he waxed whatever was
(15:11):
going on at the time, and it was just so undertanded.
And he was really a great offensive mine too. Talk
about his some of the innovations he had for offensive football.
I know he had taken some of that stuff from
other coaches, but he had made it a little bit
better and fond members that.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So you're working there local TV.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
No money, I would assume, right, A lot of ours
no money.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I mean yeah, when that first job in Spokane. I
mean again, the price of living. The cost of living
in Spokane, Washington is a lot lower than Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
But I was making actually pay you, I think, to
live there.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
By the way, it is a beautiful part of the
country because it's up against the northern Idaho border. So
if anybody who's listening to this has ever been to
Cordelaine Lake, it is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
So if you like nature, you're gonna love the area.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
There's not a whole lot going on, and in the
middle of the state of Washington, if you're driving from
one side to the other, the middle looks like Mars
because there's nothing and it's just about all flat. But yeah,
so I was making my first year in Spokane Ben,
I made twenty eight thousand dollars that first year, twenty
eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
That was it.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
And so we've had.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
A lot of money in like nineteen twenty, I would
have been yes, and so yeah, and I think the
second year I made like thirty or thirty or something
like some are somewhere right around there. And then the
I got to go to the front on the line
at the soup kitchen when you're making the.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Thirties, Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Whatever.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It's like, you Ben, whenever there's places to get free
food at a media opportunity.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
I know where I can find you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
My twenties.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
You know, you didn't know me when I was really fat,
but my twenty I started out in radio I was nineteen,
and then my twenties and pretty much my thirties.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Most of my.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Thirties, I just was a media freeloader and I ate
and I well, and I never spent my own money
because they were, you know, providing free food. It was
it was great, but yeah, you really And I wasn't
making a lot of money either in radio. I wasn't
making thirty thousand, but I was made a little more
on that but it was you know, it was LA
so it was more expensive.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
So sure, yeah, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
So I was in Spokane and then after two years,
I wanted to look somewhere else and so an opportunity
in Memphis popped up and it was with the ABC
station and I was there for three years as a
fill in sports thanker. But mostly most of my my
work was done in the field, and a lot of
my assignments were around going to practices for Memphis Grizzlies
(17:44):
and Memphis Tiger basketball and the high school basketball and
the high school football. There was so good, so much talent.
And I also would go down and cover the sec Ole,
miss which is where half of my family went. That
was really a treat being able to go down there.
It's about a fifty five minute drive from Memphis to Oxford, Mississippi,
(18:05):
so that was part of.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
What was in our in our viewing area. So you
go down there and cover games.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Brian, you do not let people know that you have
ties to Old Miss. You keep that on the down low.
You don't let people know about that.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
You keep why my dad and my sister went there.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I'm aware.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You like to mention that you're very proud of that, right,
you're proud of your your roots.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And let me tell you.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Let me tell you this, but my dad had my
dad when he was alive, he wanted to go to
Ole Miss because at the time they were really good
at football, and he had no way to pay for that.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
He had no way to pay for the school. He
shows up, he gets into the school.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
He shows up and he goes, hey, I don't know
how to pay for this, but I got in.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
And so you talk about the balls on him.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They put him to work in the student cafeteria and
he's delivering sandwiches to other students and he finds a
way to pay for the schooling. But he showed up
there and they said, okay, Joe, you can come in
even though you can't find a way to pay, because
we're going to put you to work. And that's what
I respect about that university for giving him that chance.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, it's like, well, I used to kid with the
wife and we didn't have money to pay for the food,
well just clean dishes. But your dad actually apparently did it.
He actually cleaned to go to school. That's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So you're you're in Memphis and this bigger city, right medium, Yeah,
Tennessee and a lot of crime there.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I've been to Memphis, you know, barbecue and you know,
not too much going on. I'm not kind of a lazy
town for the most part.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Well, the thing that's really cool about it, and yeah,
you said it, there's good barbecue. And I lived in Cordova,
so if anybody is from the Memphis area, they'll know
where that is. But there are so many outstanding basketball
players that come out of those high schools. Penny Hardaway
when he before he took the job at Memphis where
(20:01):
he was the now he's the head he's now the
head college basketball coach at at Memphis. As somebody calls
me Ben, and I apologize for that. But as as
Penny Hardaway took the head coaching job at Memphis, before then,
he was the coach at Memphis East, the high school,
and the amount of talent, like guys like James Wiseman,
(20:22):
you know, and I know he didn't really pan out
of the NBA, but I could go down a list
of guys who I got to see when they were
in high school and I just had this feeling that
one day they'd make it to the NFL. So probably
the most exciting thing for me is covering so many
high school football and basketball games in that area and
(20:43):
seeing so many of those players go on to the
NBA and go on to the NFL and still maintain
relationships with with those guys. That that to me was
really cool. Yeah, that's awesome, that's great.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Although the landscape has certainly changed now these high school
guys are getting nil.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Money now it's ooh, wacky, man, it's wacky.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And I supported I did support the players getting paid everything.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But as in with everything in life, Brian, you.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Know, it's it gets a little extreme, right everything, you know, Yeah,
taken to the next level. But so you're Syria in Memphis,
and then you end up what next stop back in
southern California after that.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Yeah, So twenty seventeen, I my mom, My mom had
gotten remarried. I mentioned that at twenty seventeen, and that
was the first time where I had made a move.
I wanted to get back to California. That was the
first time I made a move and I had absolutely nothing,
And so I got back at the beginning of the
summer and sort of spent that whole summer looking for
(21:44):
anything and basically, and we talked about it earlier, the rejection,
the rejection, the rejection, the rejection. I would go up
to la maybe have a coffee with a couple of
people and just you know, it's important to network and
get to know people.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
So I started to do that.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
But it was getting towards the end of the year
or end of the summer, and we're getting close to
college football and I'm like, oh, I don't know what
I'm gonna do. You know, we're getting up against it.
And that is where kind of when I one of
the lower moments. There's many of them, but again it's
a constant and Ben, you would attest to this too,
and many in this industry about persistence because there are gaps,
(22:22):
or there are ebbs and highs and lows. I guess
I should say so. In twenty seventeen, I finally got
an opportunity with UCLA. I guess somehow they saw my work.
I had worked with lear Field at in Memphis when
Tubby Smith was the head basketball coach before Penny hard
Away in Memphis. They did they did like a TV
(22:44):
coaches show, and they used our studio and I'd fill
in in Memphis, and I did a couple of shows
with with Tubby Smith, doing the weekly Tubby Smith Show
as they would call it. And anyway, under lear Field
and UCLA at the time was under lear Field and
they had an opportunity that was opened for a coaches show.
So I finally, you know, by the grace of the
(23:04):
higher power or whatever you want to call it, I
got a nice email from a gentleman who wanted to
speak with me, and then I went up to the
university and met with a lot of the athletic personnel there,
those who are in those.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Positions of power.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
And that was my foot into the door in la
and sort of from there I've kind of just slowly
but surely chiseled a little bit of a bigger imprint
in the market. And not to say, men, it happened overnight,
my goodness, not to say that at all. And it's
just a lot of literal blood, sweat and tears. But
when you love what you do, you'll do just about
(23:40):
anything for it and get your mind out of the
gutter there, Ben, But.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh I I'd never go go blue.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I would never never said I gotta tell your mom's
a cool woman.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
As you thank you, you know, because of some of
the p ones like Justin and Cincinnati and somebody like you.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Your mom was in was in Playboy? Well she was, Yeah,
no she was.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I mean they of course justin immediately within like five
minutes found the issue of Playboy.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Your mom. But your mom was a good sport.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I met her at your It wasn't your wedding, but
it was like a wedding event that you had. And yes,
right over the ocean there most of Wortune right there
in San Diego. Just just wonderful event. And she was
very nice and I met some of your friends and whatnot,
and that was that.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Was a cool night.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean, we had many battles, Brian, and I enjoyed
them on the on the radio.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I give you a few nicknames. You were how many
a couple of years? How many? I don't know how
long you were there. It's how many years? Can you
believe this? Ben?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
I was there for six years as no way.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yes, Wow, it just so quick, that's wild.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
The end of twenty eighteen is when I started.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, I have no concept of time, Brian, I really don't.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I mean, I can't believe I've been there as long
as I've been there, Everything's turned over, Management's turned over,
every single person, the building's turned over, and it's like
I'm stuck in some kind of time warp where I'm
still there, which I don't know if that's good or bad.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That might not be good, that might be bad.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
But we gave you, We gave you a lot of nicknames.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now I want to know since this is you know,
your appearance on the fifth hour, and I know you're
a mentor to Poppy in San Diego.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we go. We're We're tight. Yeah,
no doubt you've.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
You've got ferg Dog on your team and all that,
and Fergie right now, this is orgasmic.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, listening to this.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
For well, he called Ben Ben.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
I hate to interrupt you, but he called in to
postgame Bruins talk last Saturday. And when he called in
after the football game where you see it lost against
USC the first thing he brought up was you. So
you made an appearance.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's just what the Bruin fans want to hear.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, which, which.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Which tipped me off, been to say, I doubt Fergie
watched one second of that game.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
No, probably not probably not. Yeah, well point out though. Now.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I did bruin talk a generation ago, and I my
one of my top ten moments in broadcasting, not for
a good thing but for a bad thing was the
Fateful Day. It was a Saturday afternoon. UCLA was playing
Miami Bob Toledo.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
They oh, don't you dare go there?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Well no, I did the ridiculous outcome there, like the
FBI investigated it, and I'm doing bruin talk after the game.
They were up seventeen points in the third quarter, they
win the game. They're going whatever they called the champion
on the playoff at that time, it was only coming Yeah, the.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
FCS orby FBS, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
They were going to get in and then a guy
named Edrin James ran through them. But I was doing
bruin talk because they had laid off Joe McDonald and
right BEFO for that.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Actually that's why I was doing that.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
But I still remember that I did some bruin basketball
post game, not too many of those, but I recall
I'm doing that. But I wanted to ask you when
I did Dodger Talk, and I also did Red Sox Review,
which is the Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, how that happened.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But the Red Sox post game, which is a whole
different can of worms. But one thing I've noticed everywhere
I've done the post game, when the team wins, the.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Call load is light. When the.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Call load is fire, the coach players blow, you know,
we suck?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You know?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
To me, it was always Is it still that way, Brian?
When you're doing the postgame show and the team's playing well,
it's a little lighter. But when they lose, people are
up in arms? Is that still the way to it
is been?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
And I go back to something that you're notorious for saying,
the best story is in the losing locker room. And
I think that goes off of what the callers think
because I think that's where you get the most entergy, tainting,
the most energy field calls. Where there was one loss
this season where this dude calls in and I kid
you not, he is asking for a new head coach
(28:10):
at u c l A with with regards to their
football team, and he's throwing out names like, well, why
isn't Bill Belichick?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Carroll? I'm like, are you serious?
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Are you high? But Nick Shaban? Can we get Nick? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
Exactly like what are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (28:29):
So no, I mean it is It makes for very
entertaining talk radio, especially when you lose to USC when
the Bruins should have won that game. But yeah, tons
of callers and we listen to them all. We don't discriminate.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
You gotta finish the game, man, you gotta finish the game.
I remember I did Dodger Talk and I started it
was Ross Porter wife Paul Trivia. Yeah, uh, Ross was
was was a peach.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
We had certain people that call and the Dodgers weren't
mediocre in those days. So now they win a You know,
I know you Padre fans, tough for you to deal
with that, but well.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
You guys finally got that pivotal World Series, the official
ring first one before I was born nineteen eighty eight, eight
right before I was born.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Twenty twenty, the hardest World Series of all time, during
a global pandemic. The Dodgers won the World Series and
that's much harder than beating the Yankees in the World Series.
And it's to know that even old Padres want to
play for the Dodgers, like that loser Blake Snell, who's
now a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
So that coming out.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
It's funny how you bring that up about the Dodgers
in twenty twenty. But if the Clippers won the title
in twenty twenty in the bubble, unlike the Lakers, you
would have said that was the hardest. But you continue
to discount the Lakers winning time.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're doing what about ism, and you're doing what. I
don't believe in what about ism. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I live in reality and okay I do wrong. So
of the nicknames, no, let me give you the nickname
run down here, Brian. I want to know which one
do you like the most, because I have my favorite.
So I gave you a lot nicknames out. I didn't
realize it was six years. So the the Brian Finley
nickname rundown I got. I did this with Eddie too,
(30:07):
because I mean, I can't here, I can't on tape now,
so I can't really do a nickname for a guy
on tape.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But I have. I called you what Goldielocks.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I think that was the bottleneck, Brian Gridlock, the Butcher,
the Buckeroo, the babbling baboon, Radio Ned Flanders, ok fake news,
Finley wonderbred of radio and Quaker oats. I think those
are those those are the ones I remember. Yeah, Now,
what do you have a favorite? Because I have a favorite.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know what my favorite is? You absolutely know, like, oh.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
My god, oh what my favorite is?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Brian? No is it? Man?
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I let me hear it from you. Let me hear
it from you, buckeroo.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That was one of the funniest nights.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I will if I write a book sometime, I'll have
to try to get that in the book.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Because we were trying.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
We were in a pissing match, me and you and uh,
you know, I dropped a piano on you, and you're
very upsetting.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Hey, let's not forget Ben.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
There was that one time where yeah, I mean, look,
I always think that, you know, the barbs we throw
are fun, but I get it.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You know, I have to learn, you know, you put
me in my spot.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
There was one week where I was filling in for
Eddie and I remember you're like, I think I said
something about you know, and I didn't mean it personally,
but I think I said something about saddle back. And
then you only let me talk for like one minute
at the bottom of the hour and there and then
you're like, I'll take it from from the Do you
(31:37):
remember this this was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I don't particularly remember that, but I'm sure it probably happened.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I was having a you know, I was having it,
you know, that time of the month or whatever. I
don't know what's going on, but no.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
But I learned my lesson, like I I you know,
it's so.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I remember when you when you, like.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
The early part of the time we worked together, you
were trying to make your mark right, and you were
annoying me. And because you were, you were trying too hard, right,
and it happens right, you just you were just over
the top and it was getting under my skin. But
you that's the line you had. You were using different
verbiage to describe the outcome of games. Oh yeah, yeah,
(32:15):
that was too far. You used a position, a certain
description of a I'll cover your Brian, But there was
a way you described the outcome of a game that
we gave you the nickname the Buckeroo, and that was
just I still I still chuckle at the particular night
(32:39):
there was. It was absolutely wonderful, just just tremendous. And
the net Flanders thing, I think that's also one of
my top for you.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Ocally Docally do no, Now, how did you come up
with those two?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Though? Well, the the buckeroo was we couldn't say what
you had.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Said, so well, yeah, I get that one.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yeah, the net Flanners, I think that was one of
the listeners actually sent that one in because you sounded
your delivery initially was a little ned flanders Ish, the
character from the Simpsons, So I think that's that's what
it was.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I also remember the day that you were eating almond.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
And you left it on the counter there, and again
it made a big deal about that. I remember you
and you were you ate a lot. I think it
was around this time. This is Thanksgiving weekend. It's Black
Friday today, and I remember one Thanksgiving. I think we
worked together and you were eating like chicken, olive oil, almond, butter,
(33:37):
you know, like all that stuff on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Like that was your Thanksgiving meal.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
It's very well, because of working overnight, Ben, I had
to think outside the box. And let's just say that
I've opened up my palette since then. I'm not as restrictive.
I've learned a lot on my own health journey. So
that's another store.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
But yes or no, you're not like the vegan Alex.
The Vegan who's been on this podcast, who.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Go no, no, no, I but I'm Keto so Keto diet,
So I don't do anything that has artificial sugar. Okay,
so any like natural sugar that's in fruits and stuff
like that, I'll do. But I'm not doing anything processed
or any artificial sugar, and that's sort of more limited.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
I got you, I got you.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
By the way, I need to promote I have a
TV show that's took me on today on Friday here,
even though it's Thanksgiving weekend. I know you'll be watching,
Brian unless you don't, but it's Benny Versus the Penny.
It'll be on today now that I always debut in
Boston because that's where the show is produced out of,
so NBC Sports Boston.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Today it's six o'clock Boston, right after the I.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Assume it's a replay of Felger and Maz on NBC
Sports Boston.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
So that'll be available later today and I work that
in there.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Also, since you're here, Brian and you're part of the show,
how about the worm of the day.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Are you ready for the That's what I am.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Ready, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
So the phrase of the day today, I figured, why
not just play the hits, mom, man, play the hits
a black Friday. The term black Friday, which originated I
did not know is it goes back to eighteen sixty nine.
Today is black Friday a day that we know is
about shopping and spending money and all that. But the
original term was coined in eighteen sixty nine the bottom
(35:28):
fell out of the gold market because of manipulation. There
were a couple of shady Wall Street people, go figure
that manipulated the gold market, and black Friday was used
the first time to describe the day that launched bankruptcies.
So that's the real It wasn't for retail. But wait,
(35:49):
there's more. Now, this part of this I found. I
found it fascinating. Years ago, Black Friday was not a thing, right,
It was not a thing up until like the nineteen eighties.
In fact, originally it was. It was such a negative
that they turned into a positive. So the stories that
black Friday, you know, most people say, well that's when
(36:11):
stores go from in the red to in the black,
but it actually goes back to Philadelphia, PA. And it
was the day after Thanksgiving. Cops hated it. They complained
about Black Friday because they had to work on their
off day, they'd work overtime and the day after Thanksgiving
because downtown Philadelphia there were tons of people there shopping.
(36:34):
They were out of towners there, fans in town because
that was always I know, they don't play it there
every year anymore, but the Army Navy game was played
in Philadelphia, see me forever. So they had huge crowds
in Philly that the game was on Saturday, so people
would come into town and it was apparently a massive
day for shoplifters. This goes back like the nineteen seventies,
(36:54):
and so it was a massive problem for the people
that were in the retail business because they know people
shoppers were coming in there and they would steal a
bunch of crap, much like they do today in some places.
And so this is like the the in the in
the fifties and in the sixties. And then at some
point they got together, some of the big retailers in Philadelphia,
(37:18):
and as the story has been passed on to me,
it was one of those things, well, if we can't
beat them, we might as well join them. And so
let's try to turn a negative into a positive and
we'll reinvent Black Friday. But it took a while, and then,
you know, the late seventies early eighties, Black Friday by
then became synonymous with the day to spend money you
(37:39):
don't have and shop to drop and you know, doorbuster
deals and all that. But originally Black Friday was a negative.
You know, it was a Wall Street term about the
gold market manipulation. And then in Philadelphia it was a
day where crime ran wild and people were hoodlums and
all that, and they turned the negative into a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
So that is the phrase of the week. There you go.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Who knows, it's funny, Ben, because that's all you do
on your shows. You turn a negative into a positive.
So it makes so much sense.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I look at that out.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
There, all right, thank you for doing this. Now anything
you want to promote, Brian, How can people? I know
you're still on the X and all that, and then
you know, follow me on X.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, yeah, doing a lot of tennis, doing a lot
of volleyball, looking forward to twenty twenty five. So for
all the updates going into twenty twenty five, follow me
on X and Ben.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
It's great to finally be on that's great.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
What's your dream gig, like, you know, five years from now,
we're sitting here at the end of twenty twenty four.
If I if I dial you up in twenty twenty
nine around giving like could you be a play by
play guy for a team network job?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
But something else? What do you what do you think?
I got my toes in a lot of different things.
So I want to be able to to do something
related to tennis, broadcasting at Wimbledon or one of the majors,
you know, Grand Slam wise in tennis, also college volleyball,
more that on ESPN.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
I've done some of that before.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
I want to continue to do that and want to
get into the golf space. But tennis and volleyball I
am gonna do. This is kind of fun. I'm doing
a couple of UCLA women's basketball games in December. So
we're getting close to December, and they are now number
one in the country after beating Don Staley South Carolina
team a few days ago from when we tape this,
(39:20):
So you're going to see me do some basketball in December.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Ben.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
So, yeah, just a little thing, a little bunch of
different things all over the place.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Outstanding all right, Well, Brian, it's been it's been fun.
And you look at that you're part of the alumni associations.
Make sure todm looney told me to make sure you
pay your dues. You're you're in the alumni association. Now
you're an active member FSR Alumni Association, the number one.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Club out there.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
But had a good time busting your balls back in
the day. And you know, maybe we'll work together again
down the line. But thanks for coming on.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Thanks have a great, great holiday season, Brian YouTube Ben.
I appreciate you having me man. Always cherish our times
and all the laughs and all the fun times we
had together.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Lader skater gotta murder, I gotta go
Kabooms.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
of the Old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He
treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow, it's the clearing
house of hot takes. Break free for something special. The
(00:22):
Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
In the air eywhere, and a very good Friday to you.
It is as you know, it's Black Friday, and the
normally good podcast hosts would not do a podcast on
Black Friday or this weekend. But hey, I love the
sound of my own voice, and I know there are
people that are looking for content because there's a lot
(00:49):
of really bad content this weekend. So tadda. Here we
are the Friday edition of The Fifth Hour. Happy Black Friday.
There is an NFL game later today, the Raiders and
the Cans City Chiefs at my holy Land Arrowhead Stadium
in Kansas City. So I thought we would do something
a little different here and we would go into the
(01:11):
Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association. I hear the sound I
recognize right there now, a new member, one of our
new I will soon be a member of this I'm
sure at some point the Fox Sports Radio Alumni Association.
You know him, you love him, maybe I hate him,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
But he's back. Ryan Finley. There he is. Look Ryan Finley. Unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I never thought you'd have me on your podcast, Ben
never thought, but I guess it took an iHeartMedia layoff
to get that opportunity. And I can't wait. Well, now
you're part of the club, Brian. You weren't really part
of the club. I tried, that's trew. I explained to you.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I've been fired many times in radio and been laid
off in radio, and you're not really in the business
until that is, so now welcome.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's like you're bar mitzvah. You're part of the You're.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Part of the group now and that and ferg Dog
paid ten thousand dollars for this, So I hope it's.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I hope it's with your.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
But no, in all seriousness, but I know I was
very bummed out, obviously with Eddie and you and several
other people who were let go. It is a tough
time for everyone, and uh, I did reach out to you,
and I hope things are going all right for you
since all this went down back, you know, not that
long ago.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Yeah, things are going pretty well. I got the phone
call while I was flying back from a tennis trip,
and it felt like I just nailed the week out,
a great week of tennis broadcasting. And then I get
the call and I'm like, uh oh, and.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, we know it. You didn't think you were getting
a promotion.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
You didn't believe, no, Well, I honestly what I thought
initially was is because I borrowed a Comrex to do
postgame brewin talk football while I was in Michigan for
this tennis broadcast. So I thought I was getting a
call to say, hey, we need that Comrex back asap,
and I would have just been like, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 5 (03:11):
Flying home right now. I'm in the airport.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
I was literally sitting in the terminal of Middland, Michigan
or just thereafter.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
It was right nextplor to Middland, Michigan, somewhere in Michigan, some.
Speaker 4 (03:21):
Random so some some Well it's technically Saginaw, but it's
so small there were litterally there are literally four gates
inside this airport, and I just had the greatest week,
and I'm like, just I'm on a high and I'm
about to get on the airplane and I get this call.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
But it's life.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
It happens, and I will always cherish my time with you.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Oh well, not with me. I don't know that's for
I would say with the company. I don't know that
with me.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
But I I did not obviously, I get let go
this time. But I did have a similar experience. I
was in Kansas City meeting listeners, had a great time.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
I had a wonderful experience.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I flew back, I took the first flight out Monday
morning from Kansas City.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I get into LA I go to sleep. I don't
even know where I am.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I wake up and there's all these text messages, and
usually that means either somebody died or somebody got let go.
And then I put two and two together, and then
I had to make some phone calls, and then I
found out the news about Eddie, and then you and
some of the other people that were like, oh, so
it was a back to reality situation. You've got I mean,
(04:33):
one thing about you, You've always been more prone to
play by play, Brian.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, he said, I've known you that that is.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Your passion, right you You were your mentor, one of
the people in your life, the great Dick Enberg, right,
who you were around in San Diego there, and so
you looked up to him, and so you've kind of
followed that path, right. So for you, I mean, it
sucks to lose a gig and all that, but now
you're more open to to do the tennis stuff and
(04:58):
all the play by play stuff, right.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, well said. And I always cherished my time with
Dick Emberg. He was somebody that, to be honest with you,
when my mom got remarried in twenty seventeen, she had
Dick Emberg and the wife of Dick, they both came out.
It was a destination wedding. There was only like twenty
five people, and this was about six months before Dick
(05:22):
passed away. And it was great to be able to
spend that time with him as a family friend. And
certainly he has had this incomparable presence in broadcasting. But yeah,
my goal and my focus, Ben, as you know, is
versatility is employability. And I know that I've told that
to you and you've told that to me on your
show many a time. When I filled in for Eddie
(05:44):
on the Ben Malors Show, just because of situations like this,
because of the uncertainty of the business that we live in.
My goal has always been my focus is to be
good at as many things as possible so that when
something like this happens, that I have other things to
go to that will allow me to continue to pay
(06:05):
for my rent and all that good stuff. So thankfully,
I'm in a really good position with you know, UCLA
and doing a lot of the hosting stuff. So I'm
still on Fox Sports Radio. I e am five seventy
for those events. But yeah, you said it. I get
to do a lot of the live events when it
comes to the TV side, whether it's beach volleyball or
tennis or other things as well. So I dearly am
(06:27):
going to miss the people there and our experiences in
the fun I honestly, I have to tell you, Ben
that I got it.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
When I found out that I'd.
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Gotten the opportunity at Fox Sports Radio, I was actually
on the doorstep of quitting the business.
Speaker 5 (06:42):
This is a crazy story. My sister was getting married.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
This is twenty eighteen, and I was so distraught about
the rejection that we all deal with all of us
deal with it. But I was coming to a point
where I was just about to give up. And so
the day that I was at my one of my
lowests and just thinking, all right, this is not for me,
I got a nice email from Dan, my former boss,
(07:04):
who said, we have an opportunity potentially for you. Would
you like to join us. It's a part time this
and part time that. And I said absolutely. And I
have to be very grateful for that opportunity for him,
because if it wasn't for Fox Sports Radio, then I'm
not doing a lot of this UCLA stuff at five
seventy and other things. So that was, in a way,
(07:25):
it was a lift for me. That'll always appreciate.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Well, that's great.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
What were you going to do if you didn't we
You're gonna become like a banker. I remember Rob Parker
tells the story about him.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Stevehn A Smith.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Was gonna like he worked at a bank or something
like that. He was going to get out of the business.
And then like Rob talked him in, Stephen A Smith
to stay, stay in the business and not become a
recluse or something like that. And they leave leave media behind.
And now Steve and as making, you know, thirty million
dollars a year or whatever he's making at ESPN. But
did you have a backup plan? I never had a
(07:58):
backup plan. Like, if I had back up, I probably
would have done that, because I you know, it took
me a while before anybody actually gave me a legitimate gig.
I did a lot of fill in, a lot of
waking up, and it was a it was a nightmare.
I mean I did years a weekend overnight radio and uh,
you know, those are terrible hours. You can't get any
relationship going. It's a nightmare. But what was your backup point?
Speaker 4 (08:21):
In many ways, Ben, as I'm listening to talk, I'm
thinking about, Yeah, I flirted with the idea of just
being like a bartender or something. But I'm like you,
generally speaking, I never really had a backup plan. I
you know, we we have to be determined in this business,
as you know, and resilient, and I just I mean,
not to get deep, but to get deep and to
(08:41):
get heavy for a second. Like when my dad was around.
My dad had a had a rough illness. He died
in front of me when I was a kid, and
he had cancer and but he survived four to five
more years longer than he was supposed to given the
doctor's prognosis of him. And why I bring up that
story is because you know, thankfully, knock on wood, I'm healthy.
(09:05):
But I got a chance to watch that man overcome
a lot and to deal with a lot and to
stay persistent. And I've kind of kept that with me
in the world of business. And so to your point, Ben,
I think, in many respects, using my father's legacy and
that that story and that message that he that he
showed me firsthand, I really never wanted to do anything
(09:27):
else in life but this in the end, and so
that's kind of where I am.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
That's cool, and that's a great tribute to your to
your pops that you were you're doing that, and I
I got to you talk about rejection, and uh, you know,
as man, we get rejected by women all the time. Yes,
I did, you know, in the dating game and all that.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
It's part of the world. But in the business world,
you get rejected.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
And I when I first got in, I my original
plan before I became a talk radio guy, was I
was going to be a play by play announcer.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
So I had this in my head. I had this
all mapped out. You know. I saw Vin.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Scully on TV when I was like, guess, all right,
I'll do that. That sounds like fun. I get to
travel with the sports team and be a play by
play guy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
So I tried to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And when I was at saddleback, he did the play
by play on the basketball and the football whatever. And
so I made some demo tapes and I you know,
back then there were these big cassette tape things, and
I sent them out to every minor league baseball team
and I'm thinking, I'll get a minor.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
League job and I'll work my web.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And every one of them, you know, rejected me, have
rejection letters. So then that that was a blow. And
then I was like, well and then I did the
math on that. I started looking up the play by
play guys and this is a long time, and I
don't know if it's the same, but these guys even
in like I remember I was in Indianapolis and the
Triple A play by play guy had been there for
like thirty five years doing Triple A Indianapolis Indians games.
(10:44):
And I was like, what for thirty years? And you know,
I'm doing the math in my head. I'm like, these jobs,
you know, And I looked around all the baseball guys
and at that time, you had Harry Carey was doing
the Cubs, Alice was with the Phillies, Ernie Harwell was
with the Tege.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
All these guys were like their seventies, in their eighties,
you know.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
And I'm like, you know, at that time, I'm in
my twenties, and I'm like, oh my god, this is
another math on. This is not gonna I mean, some
of these guys are going to check out and you know,
retire or whatever, but still the next wave and I'm
not necessarily the next way.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
So I did the math on that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So then I went to talk radio, and then I
started fuzing around with that and I started sending stuff out,
sent out a bunch of again cassette tapes different radio
stations I wanted to work at that. I thought, Hey,
I'm WBN in Buffalo. It's my name, yeahs. And I
still have a box and I when I was moving,
(11:37):
I found the box of all the rejection letters. Wow,
all these radio stations, and the coolest thing is several
of them I have worked at my show that the
overnight shows carried on but wow, one of them hired
me to do wei I got rejected. Yeah, they hired
me to do some filling stuff years ago, and then
the Score.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
In Chicago we were on for a while. Well you know,
a couple other radio stations we've been on over the years.
But you know it's true.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
I mean at one point and maybe I wasn't ready
and you get rejected, but you got to keep going, man,
And people, it doesn't guarantee you're gonna make it, but
if you have a backup plan you give up, then
you're guaranteed to not make You.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
Know what I'm saying, And that's my position, man.
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Yeah you said it. Ben and I have such a
weird and there's no one way to do this. As
you said, you pointed this out, you had a thought
in your mind of what you wanted to do, and
then you made the pivot and sort of in that
realm of thinking, I did the same thing. Like I
started out in college. I was a sports producer at
a local TV station in North Carolina. So basically what
(12:45):
I was doing is I was shooting high school football,
I was editing, I was.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
Writing copy for the anchor.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
I wasn't on the air, but I did that while
I was in college, did that three days a week,
and then I basically was up on the desk in
between live shows, and I just put together reel and
I just kept going at it and finally got an
opportunity and Spokane where I was there. Lived there for
two years and was a sports anchor weekend sports anchor
(13:12):
for the CPS affiliate there, and was also a reporter,
and we covered Mike Leach when he was at Washington.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
States, and good years, Mike Man, Mike Leach, of all
the people I've come from my top five, oh no doubt,
loquats wonderful, just amazing outlook on life. And he passed
away a couple of years ago, but man, was that guy.
What a what a peach man? What a what a
good dude?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Mike Leach? Was he?
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And he was great for you because of the quirkiness
and gosh he You know, he passed way too soon,
but think about the quotes that he would give, and
I know on your show you would run wild with
those things. Because that's what I loved about him, is
being able to sit on those Monday press conferences with
him and the last thing he ever want wanted to
do with with folks that were beat reporters from wherever,
(14:04):
what local newspaper or whatnot. The last thing he wanted
to do was talk football. He wanted those opportunities ben
to talk about dating, to talk about pirates, to talk
about movies, to talk about Matthew McConaughey. The last thing
on a Monday press conference of a game week that
Mike Leach wanted to talk about was football. And that's
(14:27):
what made him so special well, and he.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
Stood out to I used to cover Pac ten Media
Day back when it was the Pac ten. I'd go
every year, big event in LA and they had you know,
it's free food, media free loan out there, get a
free meal, and I'd listen to all the coaches from
the Pac ten. And usually at that time it was
like there was Oregon was good, sc was good, occasionally
UCLA was good, but most of the other teams sucked,
(14:50):
and the coaches all said the same thing. It was
this monotone coach speak, you know, the same verbiage. And
then Mike Leach would get up there and just kill
it and smile. You were like he was like watching
a great entertainer on stage as he waxed whatever was
(15:11):
going on at the time, and it was just so undertanded.
And he was really a great offensive mine too. Talk
about his some of the innovations he had for offensive football.
I know he had taken some of that stuff from
other coaches, but he had made it a little bit
better and fond members that.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
So you're working there local TV.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
No money, I would assume, right, A lot of ours
no money.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
I mean yeah, when that first job in Spokane. I
mean again, the price of living. The cost of living
in Spokane, Washington is a lot lower than Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
But I was making actually pay you, I think, to
live there.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
By the way, it is a beautiful part of the
country because it's up against the northern Idaho border. So
if anybody who's listening to this has ever been to
Cordelaine Lake, it is absolutely beautiful.
Speaker 5 (15:59):
So if you like nature, you're gonna love the area.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
There's not a whole lot going on, and in the
middle of the state of Washington, if you're driving from
one side to the other, the middle looks like Mars
because there's nothing and it's just about all flat. But yeah,
so I was making my first year in Spokane Ben,
I made twenty eight thousand dollars that first year, twenty
eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
That was it.
Speaker 5 (16:21):
And so we've had.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
A lot of money in like nineteen twenty, I would
have been yes, and so yeah, and I think the
second year I made like thirty or thirty or something
like some are somewhere right around there. And then the
I got to go to the front on the line
at the soup kitchen when you're making the.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Thirties, Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Whatever.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It's like, you Ben, whenever there's places to get free
food at a media opportunity.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
I know where I can find you.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
My twenties.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
You know, you didn't know me when I was really fat,
but my twenty I started out in radio I was nineteen,
and then my twenties and pretty much my thirties.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Most of my.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Thirties, I just was a media freeloader and I ate
and I well, and I never spent my own money
because they were, you know, providing free food. It was
it was great, but yeah, you really And I wasn't
making a lot of money either in radio. I wasn't
making thirty thousand, but I was made a little more
on that but it was you know, it was LA
so it was more expensive.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
So sure, yeah, yeah, so yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
So I was in Spokane and then after two years,
I wanted to look somewhere else and so an opportunity
in Memphis popped up and it was with the ABC
station and I was there for three years as a
fill in sports thanker. But mostly most of my my
work was done in the field, and a lot of
my assignments were around going to practices for Memphis Grizzlies
(17:44):
and Memphis Tiger basketball and the high school basketball and
the high school football. There was so good, so much talent.
And I also would go down and cover the sec Ole,
miss which is where half of my family went. That
was really a treat being able to go down there.
It's about a fifty five minute drive from Memphis to Oxford, Mississippi,
(18:05):
so that was part of.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
What was in our in our viewing area. So you
go down there and cover games.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Brian, you do not let people know that you have
ties to Old Miss. You keep that on the down low.
You don't let people know about that.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
You keep why my dad and my sister went there.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I'm aware.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
You like to mention that you're very proud of that, right,
you're proud of your your roots.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
And let me tell you.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Let me tell you this, but my dad had my
dad when he was alive, he wanted to go to
Ole Miss because at the time they were really good
at football, and he had no way to pay for that.
Speaker 5 (18:41):
He had no way to pay for the school. He
shows up, he gets into the school.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
He shows up and he goes, hey, I don't know
how to pay for this, but I got in.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
And so you talk about the balls on him.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
They put him to work in the student cafeteria and
he's delivering sandwiches to other students and he finds a
way to pay for the schooling. But he showed up
there and they said, okay, Joe, you can come in
even though you can't find a way to pay, because
we're going to put you to work. And that's what
I respect about that university for giving him that chance.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Yeah, it's like, well, I used to kid with the
wife and we didn't have money to pay for the food,
well just clean dishes. But your dad actually apparently did it.
He actually cleaned to go to school. That's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Man.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
So you're you're in Memphis and this bigger city, right medium, Yeah,
Tennessee and a lot of crime there.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
I've been to Memphis, you know, barbecue and you know,
not too much going on. I'm not kind of a lazy
town for the most part.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Well, the thing that's really cool about it, and yeah,
you said it, there's good barbecue. And I lived in Cordova,
so if anybody is from the Memphis area, they'll know
where that is. But there are so many outstanding basketball
players that come out of those high schools. Penny Hardaway
when he before he took the job at Memphis where
(20:01):
he was the now he's the head he's now the
head college basketball coach at at Memphis. As somebody calls
me Ben, and I apologize for that. But as as
Penny Hardaway took the head coaching job at Memphis, before then,
he was the coach at Memphis East, the high school,
and the amount of talent, like guys like James Wiseman,
(20:22):
you know, and I know he didn't really pan out
of the NBA, but I could go down a list
of guys who I got to see when they were
in high school and I just had this feeling that
one day they'd make it to the NFL. So probably
the most exciting thing for me is covering so many
high school football and basketball games in that area and
(20:43):
seeing so many of those players go on to the
NBA and go on to the NFL and still maintain
relationships with with those guys. That that to me was
really cool. Yeah, that's awesome, that's great.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Although the landscape has certainly changed now these high school
guys are getting nil.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Money now it's ooh, wacky, man, it's wacky.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
And I supported I did support the players getting paid everything.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But as in with everything in life, Brian, you.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
Know, it's it gets a little extreme, right everything, you know, Yeah,
taken to the next level. But so you're Syria in Memphis,
and then you end up what next stop back in
southern California after that.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Yeah, So twenty seventeen, I my mom, My mom had
gotten remarried. I mentioned that at twenty seventeen, and that
was the first time where I had made a move.
I wanted to get back to California. That was the
first time I made a move and I had absolutely nothing,
And so I got back at the beginning of the
summer and sort of spent that whole summer looking for
(21:44):
anything and basically, and we talked about it earlier, the rejection,
the rejection, the rejection, the rejection. I would go up
to la maybe have a coffee with a couple of
people and just you know, it's important to network and
get to know people.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
So I started to do that.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
But it was getting towards the end of the year
or end of the summer, and we're getting close to
college football and I'm like, oh, I don't know what
I'm gonna do. You know, we're getting up against it.
And that is where kind of when I one of
the lower moments. There's many of them, but again it's
a constant and Ben, you would attest to this too,
and many in this industry about persistence because there are gaps,
(22:22):
or there are ebbs and highs and lows. I guess
I should say so. In twenty seventeen, I finally got
an opportunity with UCLA. I guess somehow they saw my work.
I had worked with lear Field at in Memphis when
Tubby Smith was the head basketball coach before Penny hard
Away in Memphis. They did they did like a TV
(22:44):
coaches show, and they used our studio and I'd fill
in in Memphis, and I did a couple of shows
with with Tubby Smith, doing the weekly Tubby Smith Show
as they would call it. And anyway, under lear Field
and UCLA at the time was under lear Field and
they had an opportunity that was opened for a coaches show.
So I finally, you know, by the grace of the
(23:04):
higher power or whatever you want to call it, I
got a nice email from a gentleman who wanted to
speak with me, and then I went up to the
university and met with a lot of the athletic personnel there,
those who are in those.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Positions of power.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
And that was my foot into the door in la
and sort of from there I've kind of just slowly
but surely chiseled a little bit of a bigger imprint
in the market. And not to say, men, it happened overnight,
my goodness, not to say that at all. And it's
just a lot of literal blood, sweat and tears. But
when you love what you do, you'll do just about
(23:40):
anything for it and get your mind out of the
gutter there, Ben, But.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Oh I I'd never go go blue.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I would never never said I gotta tell your mom's
a cool woman.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
As you thank you, you know, because of some of
the p ones like Justin and Cincinnati and somebody like you.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Your mom was in was in Playboy? Well she was, Yeah,
no she was.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I mean they of course justin immediately within like five
minutes found the issue of Playboy.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Your mom. But your mom was a good sport.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
I met her at your It wasn't your wedding, but
it was like a wedding event that you had. And yes,
right over the ocean there most of Wortune right there
in San Diego. Just just wonderful event. And she was
very nice and I met some of your friends and whatnot,
and that was that.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Was a cool night.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I mean, we had many battles, Brian, and I enjoyed
them on the on the radio.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I give you a few nicknames. You were how many
a couple of years? How many? I don't know how
long you were there. It's how many years? Can you
believe this? Ben?
Speaker 5 (24:43):
I was there for six years as no way.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yes, Wow, it just so quick, that's wild.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
The end of twenty eighteen is when I started.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, I have no concept of time, Brian, I really don't.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
I mean, I can't believe I've been there as long
as I've been there, Everything's turned over, Management's turned over,
every single person, the building's turned over, and it's like
I'm stuck in some kind of time warp where I'm
still there, which I don't know if that's good or bad.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
That might not be good, that might be bad.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
I think it's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
But we gave you, We gave you a lot of nicknames.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Now I want to know since this is you know,
your appearance on the fifth hour, and I know you're
a mentor to Poppy in San Diego.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we go. We're We're tight. Yeah,
no doubt you've.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
You've got ferg Dog on your team and all that,
and Fergie right now, this is orgasmic.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, listening to this.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
For well, he called Ben Ben.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
I hate to interrupt you, but he called in to
postgame Bruins talk last Saturday. And when he called in
after the football game where you see it lost against
USC the first thing he brought up was you. So
you made an appearance.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
That's just what the Bruin fans want to hear.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, which, which.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Which tipped me off, been to say, I doubt Fergie
watched one second of that game.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
No, probably not probably not. Yeah, well point out though. Now.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
I did bruin talk a generation ago, and I my
one of my top ten moments in broadcasting, not for
a good thing but for a bad thing was the
Fateful Day. It was a Saturday afternoon. UCLA was playing
Miami Bob Toledo.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
They oh, don't you dare go there?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Well no, I did the ridiculous outcome there, like the
FBI investigated it, and I'm doing bruin talk after the game.
They were up seventeen points in the third quarter, they
win the game. They're going whatever they called the champion
on the playoff at that time, it was only coming Yeah, the.
Speaker 5 (26:44):
FCS orby FBS, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
They were going to get in and then a guy
named Edrin James ran through them. But I was doing
bruin talk because they had laid off Joe McDonald and
right BEFO for that.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Actually that's why I was doing that.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
But I still remember that I did some bruin basketball
post game, not too many of those, but I recall
I'm doing that. But I wanted to ask you when
I did Dodger Talk, and I also did Red Sox Review,
which is the Red Sox.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Okay, how that happened.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
But the Red Sox post game, which is a whole
different can of worms. But one thing I've noticed everywhere
I've done the post game, when the team wins, the.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Call load is light. When the.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Call load is fire, the coach players blow, you know,
we suck?
Speaker 1 (27:38):
You know?
Speaker 3 (27:39):
To me, it was always Is it still that way, Brian?
When you're doing the postgame show and the team's playing well,
it's a little lighter. But when they lose, people are
up in arms? Is that still the way to it
is been?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
And I go back to something that you're notorious for saying,
the best story is in the losing locker room. And
I think that goes off of what the callers think
because I think that's where you get the most entergy, tainting,
the most energy field calls. Where there was one loss
this season where this dude calls in and I kid
you not, he is asking for a new head coach
(28:10):
at u c l A with with regards to their
football team, and he's throwing out names like, well, why
isn't Bill Belichick?
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Carroll? I'm like, are you serious?
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Are you high? But Nick Shaban? Can we get Nick? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (28:26):
Exactly like what are we doing here?
Speaker 4 (28:29):
So no, I mean it is It makes for very
entertaining talk radio, especially when you lose to USC when
the Bruins should have won that game. But yeah, tons
of callers and we listen to them all. We don't discriminate.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
You gotta finish the game, man, you gotta finish the game.
I remember I did Dodger Talk and I started it
was Ross Porter wife Paul Trivia. Yeah, uh, Ross was
was was a peach.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
We had certain people that call and the Dodgers weren't
mediocre in those days. So now they win a You know,
I know you Padre fans, tough for you to deal
with that, but well.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
You guys finally got that pivotal World Series, the official
ring first one before I was born nineteen eighty eight, eight
right before I was born.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Twenty twenty, the hardest World Series of all time, during
a global pandemic. The Dodgers won the World Series and
that's much harder than beating the Yankees in the World Series.
And it's to know that even old Padres want to
play for the Dodgers, like that loser Blake Snell, who's
now a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
So that coming out.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
It's funny how you bring that up about the Dodgers
in twenty twenty. But if the Clippers won the title
in twenty twenty in the bubble, unlike the Lakers, you
would have said that was the hardest. But you continue
to discount the Lakers winning time.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
You're doing what about ism, and you're doing what. I
don't believe in what about ism. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
I live in reality and okay I do wrong. So
of the nicknames, no, let me give you the nickname
run down here, Brian. I want to know which one
do you like the most, because I have my favorite.
So I gave you a lot nicknames out. I didn't
realize it was six years. So the the Brian Finley
nickname rundown I got. I did this with Eddie too,
(30:07):
because I mean, I can't here, I can't on tape now,
so I can't really do a nickname for a guy
on tape.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
But I have. I called you what Goldielocks.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
I think that was the bottleneck, Brian Gridlock, the Butcher,
the Buckeroo, the babbling baboon, Radio Ned Flanders, ok fake news,
Finley wonderbred of radio and Quaker oats. I think those
are those those are the ones I remember. Yeah, Now,
what do you have a favorite? Because I have a favorite.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
You know what my favorite is? You absolutely know, like, oh.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
My god, oh what my favorite is?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Brian? No is it? Man?
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I let me hear it from you. Let me hear
it from you, buckeroo.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
That was one of the funniest nights.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
I will if I write a book sometime, I'll have
to try to get that in the book.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Because we were trying.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
We were in a pissing match, me and you and uh,
you know, I dropped a piano on you, and you're
very upsetting.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Hey, let's not forget Ben.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
There was that one time where yeah, I mean, look,
I always think that, you know, the barbs we throw
are fun, but I get it.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
You know, I have to learn, you know, you put
me in my spot.
Speaker 4 (31:17):
There was one week where I was filling in for
Eddie and I remember you're like, I think I said
something about you know, and I didn't mean it personally,
but I think I said something about saddle back. And
then you only let me talk for like one minute
at the bottom of the hour and there and then
you're like, I'll take it from from the Do you
(31:37):
remember this this was a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
I don't particularly remember that, but I'm sure it probably happened.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
I was having a you know, I was having it,
you know, that time of the month or whatever. I
don't know what's going on, but no.
Speaker 5 (31:47):
But I learned my lesson, like I I you know,
it's so.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
I remember when you when you, like.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
The early part of the time we worked together, you
were trying to make your mark right, and you were
annoying me. And because you were, you were trying too hard, right,
and it happens right, you just you were just over
the top and it was getting under my skin. But
you that's the line you had. You were using different
verbiage to describe the outcome of games. Oh yeah, yeah,
(32:15):
that was too far. You used a position, a certain
description of a I'll cover your Brian, But there was
a way you described the outcome of a game that
we gave you the nickname the Buckeroo, and that was
just I still I still chuckle at the particular night
(32:39):
there was. It was absolutely wonderful, just just tremendous. And
the net Flanders thing, I think that's also one of
my top for you.
Speaker 5 (32:47):
Ocally Docally do no, Now, how did you come up
with those two?
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Though? Well, the the buckeroo was we couldn't say what
you had.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Said, so well, yeah, I get that one.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Yeah, the net Flanners, I think that was one of
the listeners actually sent that one in because you sounded
your delivery initially was a little ned flanders Ish, the
character from the Simpsons, So I think that's that's what
it was.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
I also remember the day that you were eating almond.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
And you left it on the counter there, and again
it made a big deal about that. I remember you
and you were you ate a lot. I think it
was around this time. This is Thanksgiving weekend. It's Black
Friday today, and I remember one Thanksgiving. I think we
worked together and you were eating like chicken, olive oil, almond, butter,
(33:37):
you know, like all that stuff on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Like that was your Thanksgiving meal.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
It's very well, because of working overnight, Ben, I had
to think outside the box. And let's just say that
I've opened up my palette since then. I'm not as restrictive.
I've learned a lot on my own health journey. So
that's another store.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
But yes or no, you're not like the vegan Alex.
The Vegan who's been on this podcast, who.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
Go no, no, no, I but I'm Keto so Keto diet,
So I don't do anything that has artificial sugar. Okay,
so any like natural sugar that's in fruits and stuff
like that, I'll do. But I'm not doing anything processed
or any artificial sugar, and that's sort of more limited.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
I got you, I got you.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
By the way, I need to promote I have a
TV show that's took me on today on Friday here,
even though it's Thanksgiving weekend. I know you'll be watching,
Brian unless you don't, but it's Benny Versus the Penny.
It'll be on today now that I always debut in
Boston because that's where the show is produced out of,
so NBC Sports Boston.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Today it's six o'clock Boston, right after the I.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Assume it's a replay of Felger and Maz on NBC
Sports Boston.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
So that'll be available later today and I work that
in there.
Speaker 3 (34:55):
Also, since you're here, Brian and you're part of the show,
how about the worm of the day.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Are you ready for the That's what I am.
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Ready, let's do it.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
So the phrase of the day today, I figured, why
not just play the hits, mom, man, play the hits
a black Friday. The term black Friday, which originated I
did not know is it goes back to eighteen sixty nine.
Today is black Friday a day that we know is
about shopping and spending money and all that. But the
original term was coined in eighteen sixty nine the bottom
(35:28):
fell out of the gold market because of manipulation. There
were a couple of shady Wall Street people, go figure
that manipulated the gold market, and black Friday was used
the first time to describe the day that launched bankruptcies.
So that's the real It wasn't for retail. But wait,
(35:49):
there's more. Now, this part of this I found. I
found it fascinating. Years ago, Black Friday was not a thing, right,
It was not a thing up until like the nineteen eighties.
In fact, originally it was. It was such a negative
that they turned into a positive. So the stories that
black Friday, you know, most people say, well that's when
(36:11):
stores go from in the red to in the black,
but it actually goes back to Philadelphia, PA. And it
was the day after Thanksgiving. Cops hated it. They complained
about Black Friday because they had to work on their
off day, they'd work overtime and the day after Thanksgiving
because downtown Philadelphia there were tons of people there shopping.
(36:34):
They were out of towners there, fans in town because
that was always I know, they don't play it there
every year anymore, but the Army Navy game was played
in Philadelphia, see me forever. So they had huge crowds
in Philly that the game was on Saturday, so people
would come into town and it was apparently a massive
day for shoplifters. This goes back like the nineteen seventies,
(36:54):
and so it was a massive problem for the people
that were in the retail business because they know people
shoppers were coming in there and they would steal a
bunch of crap, much like they do today in some places.
And so this is like the the in the in
the fifties and in the sixties. And then at some
point they got together, some of the big retailers in Philadelphia,
(37:18):
and as the story has been passed on to me,
it was one of those things, well, if we can't
beat them, we might as well join them. And so
let's try to turn a negative into a positive and
we'll reinvent Black Friday. But it took a while, and then,
you know, the late seventies early eighties, Black Friday by
then became synonymous with the day to spend money you
(37:39):
don't have and shop to drop and you know, doorbuster
deals and all that. But originally Black Friday was a negative.
You know, it was a Wall Street term about the
gold market manipulation. And then in Philadelphia it was a
day where crime ran wild and people were hoodlums and
all that, and they turned the negative into a puzzle.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
So that is the phrase of the week. There you go.
Speaker 4 (38:01):
Who knows, it's funny, Ben, because that's all you do
on your shows. You turn a negative into a positive.
So it makes so much sense.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I look at that out.
Speaker 3 (38:07):
There, all right, thank you for doing this. Now anything
you want to promote, Brian, How can people? I know
you're still on the X and all that, and then
you know, follow me on X.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, yeah, doing a lot of tennis, doing a lot
of volleyball, looking forward to twenty twenty five. So for
all the updates going into twenty twenty five, follow me
on X and Ben.
Speaker 5 (38:24):
It's great to finally be on that's great.
Speaker 3 (38:26):
What's your dream gig, like, you know, five years from now,
we're sitting here at the end of twenty twenty four.
If I if I dial you up in twenty twenty
nine around giving like could you be a play by
play guy for a team network job?
Speaker 4 (38:40):
But something else? What do you what do you think?
I got my toes in a lot of different things.
So I want to be able to to do something
related to tennis, broadcasting at Wimbledon or one of the majors,
you know, Grand Slam wise in tennis, also college volleyball,
more that on ESPN.
Speaker 5 (38:58):
I've done some of that before.
Speaker 4 (38:59):
I want to continue to do that and want to
get into the golf space. But tennis and volleyball I
am gonna do. This is kind of fun. I'm doing
a couple of UCLA women's basketball games in December. So
we're getting close to December, and they are now number
one in the country after beating Don Staley South Carolina
team a few days ago from when we tape this,
(39:20):
So you're going to see me do some basketball in December.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Ben.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
So, yeah, just a little thing, a little bunch of
different things all over the place.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Outstanding all right, Well, Brian, it's been it's been fun.
And you look at that you're part of the alumni associations.
Make sure todm looney told me to make sure you
pay your dues. You're you're in the alumni association. Now
you're an active member FSR Alumni Association, the number one.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
Club out there.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
But had a good time busting your balls back in
the day. And you know, maybe we'll work together again
down the line. But thanks for coming on.
Speaker 4 (39:49):
Thanks have a great, great holiday season, Brian YouTube Ben.
I appreciate you having me man. Always cherish our times
and all the laughs and all the fun times we
had together.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Lader skater gotta murder, I gotta go
Host
Ben Maller
Popular Podcasts
Monster: BTK
'Monster: BTK', the newest installment in the 'Monster' franchise, reveals the true story of the Wichita, Kansas serial killer who murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991. Known by the moniker, BTK – Bind Torture Kill, his notoriety was bolstered by the taunting letters he sent to police, and the chilling phone calls he made to media outlets. BTK's identity was finally revealed in 2005 to the shock of his family, his community, and the world. He was the serial killer next door. From Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts, this is 'Monster: BTK'.
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.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.