August 10, 2024 • 35 mins
Ben Maller (Danny G. producing) talks East Coast travels, Bowling, & is joined by legendary sports radio man, Jeff Biggs! Biggsy has been on several radio networks, as well as traveled with just about every Los Angeles sports team!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kabbooms.
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 gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
A everywhere and a very good Saturday to you still
navigating the Northeast. It is your pal band, but the podcast.
The great thing about podcasting is we tell you every
week here is you can do it from anywhere. You
don't need to have a high falutin studio and all that.
It's the magic of podcasting. So happy tenth day of August.
(00:50):
It is a malor only fifth our. My man Danny
g has the weekend off. He's still producing this podcast
and putting it together, making it sound and all pretty.
But he is away because I am on the East
Coast in the Boston area. Had a nice day traveling
around on Friday, and today I don't know where I'm
(01:11):
gonna end up today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Who knows?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
That's the great thing about this, and then tomorrow'll eventually
make my way back to southern California to do the
show tomorrow night into Monday. More on that as we
work our way through the day tomorrow. But today, the
tenth day of August, Happy National Bowling Day. That's right,
as National Bowling Day. Not the kind of balls I like.
(01:36):
When's the last time you bowled? It's been a long
time since I bowled, been a long long time, But
oh what fun bowling is. For years, I would always
give this fun fact that the number one participation sport
was bowling. I don't know if that is still true,
but I still repeat.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
It from time to time. I still repeat it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
But for so long, the national session was bowling because
you could drink and do all that. But so today's
National Bowling Day. Celebrate appropriately some of the other dopey
holidays that happened today. It's National Lazy Day. Definitely not
being lazy because I've got this podcast. But enough about that,
let's get to the meat of the matter. I am
(02:17):
very excited to bring back a podcast where we just chat.
Me and a friend, me and a radio friend. We
should do this all the time on the podcast. One
of my good friends in radio, someone I have known
since I was a teenager. I started out in LA
radio and this guy helped show me the way, help
me work around the hierarchy of the press box and
(02:41):
the decorum that one is supposed to have in said
press box. His name is Jeff Biggs. If you're familiar
with Fox Sports Radio in the past, you know who
Jeff Biggs is. Biggsy has worked all over the radio
dial in Los Angeles and other places as well. But
he traveled with the Rams and the Raiders, the Lakers.
(03:04):
He's been doing pre and postgame either traveled or did
pre and post game for the Rams, Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, USC, UCLA,
the Clippers. He does national studio work for Compass Media
Networks some of their football coverage on the weekend, so
you can hear Bigsie nationally in different markets. I work
together with Bigsie at a couple of different radio stations,
(03:25):
the Mighty six ninety in San Diego AM five seventy
slash eleven fifty.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We worked together.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I did a talk show with Bigsie for several years.
We traveled to the World Series together. I'll have to
mention that as we work our way through this conversation
with Bigsie and then at Fox Sports Radio as well.
I was at his wedding. So we go way back,
we go way back one of the people that helped
navigate my career. And I'm so excited to welcome back
(03:53):
here to the Fifth Hour with me, Ben Mahler and
Danny g We welcome in Jeff Biggs and so Biggs, Biggsie,
why don't we start with that the very early days,
the first time that we ever met, it was at
a press box. I think it was at Dodger Stadium.
What do you remember about that, Bigsie.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
I know it was in a press box. I did
not realize, though, you were that young at that time.
I mean, I know you're young, but I did not
realize how young you were right out of the gate.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
I do remember, and I remember you sitting in your
spot and a little quiet initially, but you were just
getting used to everybody and getting to know everybody. But
I fast forward and I look at all the times
that we spent at games and covering events, and then
of course working.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Together the way that we did.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
I tell people all the time, and this is not flattery,
but when we did our show together briefly that I've
always said that I enjoyed working with you as a
co host. I was always I felt the most comfortable
working with you. I felt like I was the most
my most genuine self. I was the most relaxed. And
I think that's a a big tribute to you, because
(05:09):
you're just You're a great guy, good friend, and I
felt comfortable with you, and I felt like I could
be myself and we just we had I always thought
we had good, good chemistry. So but I do remember
and look at where you are now. Congratulations on all
your success and all the things that you've got going
on and all across the country.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's a beautiful thing. Man, great story.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
No, Bigsie, no, I want to thank you because when
I started out, I was so young.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't
know the etiquette.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
There's like this whole etiquette in the press box that
you're supposed to follow, and like there's this code of conduct.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I knew none of that.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Bigsie, like you, you were one of the people in
the early days that showed me the way because it
was I don't know how to describe it, But the
press box culture, I don't think it's the same anymore
because of exactly, but at that time, the newspaper writer
was like the king, right, they were the most important thing,
(06:01):
the columnists or the beat writer. And then you had
the TV people, and then then you had us the
radio people that were kind of the caboose bringing up
the rear, right. Would that be an accurate way? How
would you put it in your words, Bigsie, what it
was like in those days?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Well, you have the You're correct, you had the TV people,
but they sat in an entirely different section. I mean,
it was just a TV group by themselves in a
better spot. Then you had you had the beat writers
and the columnists, and they they took themselves very seriously.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They took the writing.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
It was, I don't want to say, kind of a
Pulitzer Prize kind of vibe, but it was that was
kind of the the aura that a lot of them have.
And then, like you said, the radio guys, we were
the radio guys. And you know, and look, we have
a lot of great friends that are writers. And I
(06:57):
don't want to lump plump everybody. Not everybody is the
same and we clicked really well with some and then
some there were there were some that just didn't didn't
like radio people, didn't respect the profession. I think there
was a nickname somebody, I think somebody from Dallas came
up with a nickname. They referred to radio people as
foofs foof I think was as spelling. But anyway, that was,
(07:22):
like you said, that was a different time. But we
had our spot and we did our job. And I contend,
I mean, for what you want to say about sports radio,
I mean, there was a there was a period of
time coming out of the eighties and into the nineties
before social media really took off where sports radio really
(07:42):
had a prominent place. It still does, don't get me wrong,
but I mean we had the opportunity to to break
things and get things out there right away. You didn't
have to wait for the newspaper the next day, or
the eleven o'clock news, or even even the sports center
at night. I mean, you could you break news and
report things and tell people what was going on, and
(08:04):
and just give a different feel by being at those
games and being in the in the clubhouses, in the
locker rooms.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah, and that was one of the things, Bigsie. I
remember some of the writers would get upset because we'd
go in there and get audio and sometimes there'd be
a guy, a coach or a player that would have
a meltdown, and then we'd have the audio and then
you know, we'd be able to play it on the
radio that night and the next morning. And they had
to wait for the newspaper to be published, and they
would not they would go they would, you know, be
(08:32):
very upset.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
They are angry.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I got yelled at several times because of that. Now,
you covered pretty much every team. For those who don't
know Biggie's background in southern California, you know Bigsy because
this guy's he covered every team, right, I mean you
were on the beat, you did the pregame, the postgame.
I know you did stuff with the Dodgers, and that
you were rough with the Lakers for years, and that
(08:54):
you're I know you're a Rams fan and you did
stuff with the Rams, and I remember you with the Angels.
You were all all over the place, bigs You covered
pretty much every team in the LA market in those days.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Am I correct? I did?
Speaker 5 (09:06):
And I want to say this in all humility, I
really do. I feel like God blessed me with honestly,
with just a great, great career.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Nothing.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I don't look at it as anything special about me
or my talent or my abilities.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I look at it as favor.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
But to your point, and I am, it's more it's
not like a if this makes sense, man, But it's
not like a pride thing. It's just more of a wow,
you know, look look what I Look what I got
to do? Does that make sense? See the different?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Like?
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Yeah, And so to your point, I mean I did well.
I'll start kind of go like my first big job
was at the original seven to ten KMPC when they
were they were owned by the Autrees right back in
the day. And that was in nineteen ninety two. And
my first boss, I mean my you know, my our
(10:02):
good friend and my good friend and mentor Big Joe McDonald,
Big Joe the Light Big Joe who man.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I wish he was still around today.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Can you imagine doing today's climate?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh my goodness, Oh, I mean he was amazing then.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I can only imagine what he would be like in
these days.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Just inside, Yeah, I feel bad because I think I'm
sure there's a lot of people that they're like who's
that And they don't know what we're talking about. But
a lot of people that will hear this will. But anyway,
Len Weiner came came over from w f AN. W
f AN, of course, the all sports station in New York.
Len came out, was hired to be the boss at
(10:44):
this new sports station, CAMPC. They decided, Hey, you know what,
we've been playing big band music. Let's uh, let's go
all sports. We've got the Angels, we've got the Rams,
We've got U. C. L A, We've got Jim Healy.
Let's let's do all sports. So one of my I
started there doing sports updates as an anchor, and then
in nineteen ninety two they asked me to travel with
(11:07):
the Raiders. The Raiders were still in town as a
beat reporter. So I got to do that. And you'll
get a kick out of this. One of the shows
that we had and would I would come on with
them a lot at night during the week, was Jeff
Witcher and Steve Yeager, the former Doctor Ketcher.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
They had a show together.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Oh that's wild.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
But I know we don't have a ton of time.
So but my one of my career highlights, one of
the first things I was able to do. And again
I say this in all humility, but in nineteen ninety two,
remember during that time, we you know, we went all
sports and this was about what two years after Extra
Sports six ninety was up and running back in the day, right,
(11:52):
So that's.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Where that's where I started as an indie. Yeah yeah,
Blood Rivals BIGSI.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Yeah, oh yeah, no it yeah, there was a little
window there. There was a little window where it was
a legit rivalry for sure, and I ended up working
for them after KMPC was full.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
But in nineteen ninety two, so imagine the scene.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
So Extra Sports six ninety they're the Chargers flagship station, right,
I mean they're just hardcore Chargers, right. The Chargers come
to the coliseum and they can wrap up I believe
that's what the scenario was.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It was nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
They can wrap up the division, right, so they're just
full blown Charger coverage. They can wrap up the division
over the Raiders. And so I had just gotten a
cell phone and our good friend Kurt Kretchmar was a
producer with us at the time at CAMPC Great. I mean,
he was a phenomenal producer before he got into upper management,
(12:52):
and the late Chris Roberts, the voice of the Bruins,
was doing a show at KMPC, and I had the
cell phone, and I thought, you know what, maybe I
could call Chris Roberts live on the air after the
end of the game and you know, see what we
could do something on the field. Well, the game ends,
the Chargers win, they wrap up the division, and so
(13:16):
right after the game ended, I run up to Junior, sayo,
and I call Chris and in the station on the
air and I say, hey, look, I'm walking to the
locker room with Junior sale Let's go live. So he
comes live to me and I'm literally interviewing Junior, say
the late great Junior se on my cell phone live
(13:38):
as we're running off the field together. And that that
had never happened before, Like nobody had the cell phone.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I mean the cell phone I had was like, you know,
a foot long.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
I mean they were brand new, like brand new, and
to be able to do that, to have and so
here we were seven to ten KMPC interviewing the best
Chargers player live on our air right after they wrapped
up the division. So that was that was definitely a
career highlight. But long answer to your question. You know,
(14:08):
we had so many different bosses and so many changes
at all the stations that we worked at. But over
the years, I mean career highlights traveling as an everyday
beat reporter with the Lakers, traveling with the Dodgers, and
doing you know, Dodger talk and the post game and
the pre and post game. You did that for a
little bit with the Angels. I also did the pre
(14:28):
and post game for USC and UCLA football, and had
a little brief stint doing the Clippers pre and postgame
as well, So pretty much got to do it be
a part of everybody, which is a huge blessing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
You ran the gauntlet. I wanted to focus on the
Laker thing. This is something that's just wild. As we've
gotten older, Big Z, we remember and you were there.
You were there much more than I was. But when
Kobe Bryant came onto the scene as a young young
cat and he wasn't you know, he was a young
guy they thought was going to be pretty good, and
then to watch how his career took off and now
(15:04):
obviously he's tragic passing a few years ago and the
tributes he's almost immortal, you know what I mean in
the way that people from around here and the statues
and all the things. But to watch that unfold in
front of us, and you traveled with the Lakers, followed
them around the country for years in that period of time,
(15:25):
if I remember correctly, the Shaq Kobe era around that time.
So what are some of your memories of watching that
up close and personal how that took off, Because it's
very really and you see a guy like that. Kobe's
one of the top ten players of all time, some
would say top five all time in the NBA, But
when he started out, he's just kind of like it
was good, but you didn't know how good he was
(15:45):
going to be as.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Wild Well, you remember the whole build up, and I
remember our good friend Big Joe. I mean, he was
the one that really broke the story and broke the
news that Shack was going to sign with the Lakers.
And so I was fortunate I was able to travel
with the Lakers right at the beginning when Jerry West
(16:09):
put that whole thing, you know, started to put that together,
and then also traveled. I traveled with them during the
three peat, and I always say the second season the
two thousand and one season when they beat the Sixers.
I was with that team from start to finish, every
single day, practice, every game, home and away, playoffs, championship,
(16:33):
and that was I mean, that's like the ultimate career
highlight because that was a team not only were they
like rock stars, but that was the year of the
Shack Kobe feud and it was phenomenal. But to your
point about Kobe, you remember, I mean he had a
couple things going on. I mean he came and Del
Harris was the coach initially and eventually ended up getting fired,
(16:56):
but Kobe, initially, they were the comparisons to Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And remember in the.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Playoff game, he had some bad shots against the Jazz
and was kind of developing the narrative as a ball hog,
and and so he had to work all through that.
He had to work and kind of take control of
that and turn that around, which he did masterfully, and
as you said, became one of the greatest ever and
(17:24):
his work ethic and everything else is legendary. But it
was a process and kind of getting over the hump
the way that they did in two thousand and just
and then everything that followed in the way that the
shack He and Shaq feuded and the split and the
trade and it was incredible though, and I don't think
we'll ever see anything like that again. And you know,
(17:47):
I always tell people, Man, I mean, and you're a
part of this, Ben, I mean, you can say what
you want. I'm not trying to sound like old guy,
get off your lawn, but I mean we I feel
like we were really blessed to cover, you know, arguably,
you know, the greatest era in sports, do you know.
I hope, I hope, you know, we'll see stuff like
that again. But you know, for LA, I mean that
(18:08):
was those were those were special times.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, it was great, and it might be just because
we're getting older, Bigsy, but I look at the waves,
yeah now, and I mean the whole and I love
the Dodgers, but they they added sho Hail Tani from
the Angels and it's just over the time and everything
is over the top. It just I don't know how
to put it away. It's so different now than it
was then. And it's not like there wasn't a lot
(18:32):
of money involved in sports then, but it's these these teams,
the Lakers and Dodgers are at a certain level right now,
so far ahead of everyone else. And in fact, the
Dodgers they pretty much sell out or get forty thousand
plus to every game now, and it's just the way
the whole process works. You were with the Angels also
for a long time now when you worked, you started
(18:54):
at seventy ten. Gene Autry was very old at that point.
Did you ever run into a Gene Autry at that
time when you were working for his station or how'd
that go down?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
So, so a couple of quick if we have him
at a couple of quick stories. I would see Gene
up in the press box and say hello to him,
and unfortunately he was he was pretty old at that point.
Never never saw him at the station. But a couple
of great Jackie Autry stories. So one of one, one
(19:29):
little highlight. So I was doing the sports updates. I CAN'TBC,
like I said, And I was working working on a
Saturday night one night, just doing my updates and I
get a call.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
From on the hotline.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
I'm at the station, right, yeah, and uh it's it's
Jackie Autry and it's like, I don't know, ten eleven
o'clock at night and you know this is before again,
this is before social media, This is before you know.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Anything like we have today.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
And she said, oh, by the way, one wanted to
let you know that we're going to be firing Fae Vincent,
the commissioner of baseball. So yeah, yeah, because she was
like she was the acting owner. So I was able
to break that. And it didn't obviously didn't have the
(20:29):
weight then like it would now. But I mean that
was a you know, we called AP and we got
a little credit. Back in the day, they had an
AP wire which every station had. It was like a
printer that would print, you know, updated news. But that
was about it. I mean, we didn't have things that
we had today. And then one time, and this is
a true story, when I was traveling with them as
(20:50):
a Beat reporter in the nineties, it was it was
really weird. I was sitting with the other Beat reporters
in Anaheim and she she came up in the press
box and rubbed her hand through my hair.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
And some people told Buck Rogers about that, and I
mean he teased me the entire season and made all
these jokes the rest of the way and called me,
called me names that I won't repeat. So so those
were Those were a couple of stories. But yeah, you know,
just just so many, so many different stories, so many
(21:26):
different times.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It's different now, but that was pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Well, to be.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Fair, though, you do have great hair. You always had
great hair, bon I mean you always did.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Not like I used to. But but I had a
little good run which I miss. Yeah, and we thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Well.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
We worked together at a couple we were friends in
the press box and we're working at different stations, and
then we worked together at a couple of stations along
the way, and you were at Fox Sports Radio. You're
part of the Fox Sports Radio Association, Bigsie. You did
use yes, Fox Sports Radio back in the day, and
then in the news room and all that. We're still
in the same building, Bigsie. We've just moved to cross
the hall. You remember the old studio they had for
(22:02):
Rush Limbaugh when Rush would yeah like that, he had
his own private studios. So then Steve Harvey moved into
a side studio.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
But we just moved.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
We combined the old Steve Harvey studio and the old
Rush Limbaugh studio. So we're I mean the same exact building.
We were just down the hall from where we had
broadcast from together. But you mentioned some of the characters
of La Raady. You mentioned Joe McDonald Bigger than Life,
and Joe's been gone now for over ten years. I
can't believe it's been that long.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Has it been? Has it been ten years? Really?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah? Yeah, it's been over ten years now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But big.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
The thing too about Joe, Joe was like the Mike
I would compare, like Mike Frances was in New York
at WFAN, you know, and he's still doing podcasts or whatever.
But Joe was like that guy in LA Sports Radio.
He worked at every station in town. He knew everybody.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I was.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
I told the story. I mean, this is how crazy
and how powerful big Joe was. At his funeral, we
were there saying our goodbyes to Joe, and Jerry West
was there, Eddie Murray. Eddie Murray could not stand the media, right, hey,
But he and Joe had this bond because I.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
With Kirk Gibson. Kirk Gibson loved Joe.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, I mean, and Joe was able to cross over.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I don't know what do I mean he I guess
he was just a straight shooter and those guys appreciated
it and he didn't. He didn't beat around the bush Bigsie, right.
Big Joe was a guy that would just tell you
what do you believe? His friends with Shack too. I
remember when Shaq was at the end of his career
with this I like his sons, and I was with
Big Joe in the bowels of what was then Staple
Center and Shaq came up to us and was talking
(23:43):
to and he was like he was trying to figure
out what he was going to do when he was done.
He knew that he was near the end of his career,
and I was like, he's dropping in. I was next
to Joe and Shaq was like, well, maybe I'll come
back to LA. He wanted to make movies and obviously
he's ended up with TNT and he's like he's endorsing
every probably does he do anything.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I was going to say, he should do some commercials.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Right, Basically, I mean, Yah is on every It's wild,
He's on He's on everything. When you were doing stuff
with the Raise, you your your allegiance. I know you're
a RAMS fan because I'm a RAMS fan, so we
had that in common, Bagsy. But when you're traveling with
like the Raiders. That was Was it awkward?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Was it odd?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
I mean, can you compartmentalize that because you do like
the Rams, but you were doing stuff with the Raiders
in those years.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Well I was, I was pretty young, and it was
all still kind of big and new and larger than life.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
And that was That was so a couple of stories
with that team.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
So you know, Al Davis was still around, and I
mean you had a lot of characters on that team.
You you had that was the end of the Marcus
Allen era. You had Todd Marinovich and all the scrutiny
of him, Jay Schrader, Tim Brown, Bob Golick who ironically
you know, covered him and they actually did a show
(24:57):
with him for about two weeks and then he just
stop showing up. I love Bob, but he would never
he would never show up. It just it was weird.
That was back in That was back where we worked
back in the day at eleven fifty before it made
the switch. But so I'm I'm with the Raiders in
(25:18):
d C for a It was a Christmas I want
to say it was a Christmas night game. The final game.
It was a Christmas night game against against Washington and
It turned out to be Marcus Allen's final game as
a Raider, and I remember we were well two things
(25:38):
you missed out on this. But back in the day
when Bo Jackson was there, when you would go into
the Raider locker room, he would Bo would only. He
would only take two to three questions from the Great
Jim Hill, and he would not talk to anybody else.
So if you did not get into that first little
(25:59):
circle by Bo, you were out of luck. You were
not gonna yeah, you were dead. He would talk, he
would answer two or three questions from Jim and then
that was it. He would shut it down.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
But we're in Washington and final game from Marcus Allen.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
I remember there was everybody was trying to get around him,
and there was a Raider Beat writer and a Washington cameraman,
and I remember the Washington camera guy was trying to
get a shot and the Raider Beat rider wouldn't move
and the you know the cameraman they have.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
The reporters have those handheld mics. You know, they're pretty
heavy with the batteries.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
The guy hit the Raider Beat reporter over the head
with the mike, and I remember I was doing live
reports from that game and the press box where at
least my spot was outside and it was like twenty
degrees out and I'm from LA so it was freezing.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But that was good times.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
And then ironically, speaking of Washington, I had a chance
to I used to be a I was a national
stringer what we call that, you know what that is,
where you do a bunch of reports across the country.
And I had a chance to do the Rams final
game in Anaheim and it was against Washington, but I
remember I was doing reports all day long back back
(27:15):
on the Four Letter Network with Steve Levy, who was
the host of that radio show at that time, and
we had fun with that during the game. But it
was I was, you know, you know, when when Georgia
took the team to Saint Louis, I didn't, I stopped
rooting for them. I took a break and just I
had no team until they moved back.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I did the same thing. I did not.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
I was a Rams fan growing up, and when they
went to Saint Louis, I said, that's it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I'm done.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
It is odd though, because like the Raiders are, we
were Rams fans, but the Raiders have moved how many
times in our lifetimes basically went from Oakland to.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
LA back to Oakland.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Now they're in vague right, and yet they've kept fan
based like people who love the Raiders, it doesn't matter
where they play it. To me, that's the only team
that can really pull that off, because usually if you leave,
like the Chargers left San Diego. And I know for
a fact, Bigsie, when the Chargers came to LA, they
thought the Charger people thought that a lot of people
from San Diego were going to continue to follow the team.
(28:11):
We're going to come up to LA and buy tickets,
and it just didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
There were some, but it was very small.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Compared to what they thought they were going to get
because people just were turned off. And you know that dynamic,
the San Diego La thing, and there's a point of demarcation.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
People from San Diego do not enjoy the La vibe
at all. They do not like it.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
The people come down there and you go to all
their amusement parks and all that stuff and go to
the beach, and there's a lot of jealousy between San
Diego and LA, but it doesn't really apply.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Real quick, yeah, real quick, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
I didn't mean to cut you off. I just had
a flashback. Do you remember you and I were in
San Diego? I hope you'll remember this. This was after
a Dodger Padre game, and do you remember that you
and I were in the elevator and.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Guess who came in? Ricky Henderson. Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
He was playing for the Yes, the.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, and he talked to the third person.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Well, I just had this memory that popped in by
one of my favorite memories with with you, Bigsi's we
were doing the show together and it was nineteen ninety seven.
The Cleveland then Indians were playing the Miami the Florida Marlin.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Both teams have changed a little bit, so we.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Got I'm sorry I didn't handle that well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
No, no, no, Bigs, it was It was wonderful. So
like we this was a brand new radio station. They
had a lot of igus you called venture capital. They
had a lot of money, so they sent me and
you to cover the nineteen ninety seven World Series between
two teams that people from La who cares right, the
Marlins and then the Cleveland Indians.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
But we were in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
And h the whole trip was crazy because you went
from Cleveland to Miami. Cleveland it was very cold. In fact,
it snowed, yes and I am. We'll talk about that
a second. And then in Miami it was typical Miami
humid in the in the eighties and just kind of
that kind.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Of kind of weather.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
But in Cleveland when we we got there, we had
to do a one hour show.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And we we were staying.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Remember where we stayed.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
We stayed like near the Pennsylvania border. We did not
stay anywhere like in Cleveland proper. We were way out
in the suburbs and so we had to drive in
and every day. The thing I remember is on the
radio every day we turn on. It was a guy
Ronnie Duncan I think was the guy's name, and the
same song every day. It was like it was like
(30:51):
Groundhog Day driving in. But we couldn't make it to
our broadcast location, if I remember, because we were so
far away.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
So we pulled though.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Do you remember we we did the show in freezing
Cleveland on a bank of payphones, bigsy, this is freeze
cell phone days. We were on payphones and it wasn't
it was a hotel. I remember in my head. They
were like trash cans out in front of the doors.
In my head, that's the memory.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I have of it.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
We're freezing our behinds off and we're trying to do
the show on payphones, and.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I think we pulled it off, right, We did it.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Yeah, we did it, But it was it was It
was just wild then, and you were You're a little
older than me, and you're much more savvy than me.
It started snowing for the for the game, and it
was like batting practice.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
There were snowflakes coming.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
I I had never seen snow like that in my life,
Like I'd been to the snow when I was a kid,
but I didn't see it ever fall.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
But I remember you were.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
You were it was like two close you went and
you were watching on a monitor. We're like Peter Gammons.
Remember there was that side.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yes, Yeah, it was warm. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
And I of course I'm such a you know, I'm
a I'm a donkey. I'm out there freezing and I
was using those hot dogs as handwarmers, Cleveland hot dogs.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
But it's like I met the World Series.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
I gotta stay out here, you know, like snowing at
the World Series, Like this is like the coolest thing
I've ever seen. And uh, and you of course know
I've seen snow before. I'm good and you were all
toasty warm. And then we went to Miami and I
got I got so sick after that World Series because
it went seven games and all that. But to go
from the snow to the to the heat of Miami,
(32:36):
it was But that was a.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Great memory, biguse. I had so much fun trip.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It was wonderful. It was like, yeah, you.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Think back, they sent us there for a Cleveland Miami
series and we were doing local LA sports radio.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
It's wild.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Well, I'll tell you what I mean. One thing that
that that I am, I am happy. Uh, you know,
if I think back, I mean, one thing that that
I learned at CAMPC when Lenn Weiner came over is
he took something from w Fan that that he brought
to LA and that was he thought it was really
(33:13):
important to have radio beat reporters with with teams. So
back in the day at w FAN, Steve Levy was
with the Mets and Susan Wallen was with the Yankees,
and so he wanted to kind of bring that and
we were able to do it at CAMPC. But then
CAMPC was sold, and so when we started at Extra
(33:37):
in LA, that was my that was on my heart
and I and I pushed for that and we were
able to do it with with the Lakers and then
and with the Dodgers, and so, you know, I'm glad that.
I think that's important, and I think there's a need
for that, and I think there's something, like we talked
about earlier, something special about having somebody at those events
(33:58):
or with the team or around the play or you know,
providing a different perspective all throughout the day, you know,
so people have something to look forward to, whether it's
the morning of the midday or the afternoon, they can
find out what's going on and get the very latest
and if something breaks, they're available. So I'm happy, you know,
I'm happy that we were able to kind of keep
that going.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
And it's great to see where things are now.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Absolutely busy. I know you got to go, so we'll
say goodbye. But how can people hear you? I know
you're still on, You're on all over You're in many
parts of the country.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
You can always hear Jeff Biggs. Over thirty years, right,
you've been doing how many years you've been doing it's
over thirty, right, We're way.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Over thirty now, right. Yeah, I was in the late eighties,
so I don't whatever that math is. What wow thirty?
Yeah yeah, well you're right behind me though, I mean
you're right now. I know.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
It's I can't believe, Bigsie, how time has flown here?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It just like and you're by your success level. I mean,
you're off the charts, buddy. So thank rats again. Man,
I'm really really happy for you. Now, just a little
shameless plug, I'll be back with Compass Media Networks one
of their NFL hosts for the upcoming season. We do
games of the week and different things, and I know
sometimes they're in LA depending on the game and everything.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So excited. Can't wait for football to start.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Awesome, it's just right around the corner. Thank you, Busie,
scrit to hear your voice again. Be safe, say hi
to the family and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Thank you. Really enjoyed it. Thank you. Ben
Kabbooms.
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 gutter the same as the
rich pill poppers in the penthouse.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special.
The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in the.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
A everywhere and a very good Saturday to you still
navigating the Northeast. It is your pal band, but the podcast.
The great thing about podcasting is we tell you every
week here is you can do it from anywhere. You
don't need to have a high falutin studio and all that.
It's the magic of podcasting. So happy tenth day of August.
(00:50):
It is a malor only fifth our. My man Danny
g has the weekend off. He's still producing this podcast
and putting it together, making it sound and all pretty.
But he is away because I am on the East
Coast in the Boston area. Had a nice day traveling
around on Friday, and today I don't know where I'm
(01:11):
gonna end up today.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Who knows?
Speaker 4 (01:12):
That's the great thing about this, and then tomorrow'll eventually
make my way back to southern California to do the
show tomorrow night into Monday. More on that as we
work our way through the day tomorrow. But today, the
tenth day of August, Happy National Bowling Day. That's right,
as National Bowling Day. Not the kind of balls I like.
(01:36):
When's the last time you bowled? It's been a long
time since I bowled, been a long long time, But
oh what fun bowling is. For years, I would always
give this fun fact that the number one participation sport
was bowling. I don't know if that is still true,
but I still repeat.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
It from time to time. I still repeat it.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
But for so long, the national session was bowling because
you could drink and do all that. But so today's
National Bowling Day. Celebrate appropriately some of the other dopey
holidays that happened today. It's National Lazy Day. Definitely not
being lazy because I've got this podcast. But enough about that,
let's get to the meat of the matter. I am
(02:17):
very excited to bring back a podcast where we just chat.
Me and a friend, me and a radio friend. We
should do this all the time on the podcast. One
of my good friends in radio, someone I have known
since I was a teenager. I started out in LA
radio and this guy helped show me the way, help
me work around the hierarchy of the press box and
(02:41):
the decorum that one is supposed to have in said
press box. His name is Jeff Biggs. If you're familiar
with Fox Sports Radio in the past, you know who
Jeff Biggs is. Biggsy has worked all over the radio
dial in Los Angeles and other places as well. But
he traveled with the Rams and the Raiders, the Lakers.
(03:04):
He's been doing pre and postgame either traveled or did
pre and post game for the Rams, Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, USC, UCLA,
the Clippers. He does national studio work for Compass Media
Networks some of their football coverage on the weekend, so
you can hear Bigsie nationally in different markets. I work
together with Bigsie at a couple of different radio stations,
(03:25):
the Mighty six ninety in San Diego AM five seventy
slash eleven fifty.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We worked together.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I did a talk show with Bigsie for several years.
We traveled to the World Series together. I'll have to
mention that as we work our way through this conversation
with Bigsie and then at Fox Sports Radio as well.
I was at his wedding. So we go way back,
we go way back one of the people that helped
navigate my career. And I'm so excited to welcome back
(03:53):
here to the Fifth Hour with me, Ben Mahler and
Danny g We welcome in Jeff Biggs and so Biggs, Biggsie,
why don't we start with that the very early days,
the first time that we ever met, it was at
a press box. I think it was at Dodger Stadium.
What do you remember about that, Bigsie.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
I know it was in a press box. I did
not realize, though, you were that young at that time.
I mean, I know you're young, but I did not
realize how young you were right out of the gate.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
But yeah, I do.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
I do remember, and I remember you sitting in your
spot and a little quiet initially, but you were just
getting used to everybody and getting to know everybody. But
I fast forward and I look at all the times
that we spent at games and covering events, and then
of course working.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Together the way that we did.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
I tell people all the time, and this is not flattery,
but when we did our show together briefly that I've
always said that I enjoyed working with you as a
co host. I was always I felt the most comfortable
working with you. I felt like I was the most
my most genuine self. I was the most relaxed. And
I think that's a a big tribute to you, because
(05:09):
you're just You're a great guy, good friend, and I
felt comfortable with you, and I felt like I could
be myself and we just we had I always thought
we had good, good chemistry. So but I do remember
and look at where you are now. Congratulations on all
your success and all the things that you've got going
on and all across the country.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's a beautiful thing. Man, great story.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
No, Bigsie, no, I want to thank you because when
I started out, I was so young.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't
know the etiquette.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
There's like this whole etiquette in the press box that
you're supposed to follow, and like there's this code of conduct.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
I knew none of that.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Bigsie, like you, you were one of the people in
the early days that showed me the way because it
was I don't know how to describe it, But the
press box culture, I don't think it's the same anymore
because of exactly, but at that time, the newspaper writer
was like the king, right, they were the most important thing,
(06:01):
the columnists or the beat writer. And then you had
the TV people, and then then you had us the
radio people that were kind of the caboose bringing up
the rear, right. Would that be an accurate way? How
would you put it in your words, Bigsie, what it
was like in those days?
Speaker 5 (06:17):
Well, you have the You're correct, you had the TV people,
but they sat in an entirely different section. I mean,
it was just a TV group by themselves in a
better spot. Then you had you had the beat writers
and the columnists, and they they took themselves very seriously.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
They took the writing.
Speaker 5 (06:35):
It was, I don't want to say, kind of a
Pulitzer Prize kind of vibe, but it was that was
kind of the the aura that a lot of them have.
And then, like you said, the radio guys, we were
the radio guys. And you know, and look, we have
a lot of great friends that are writers. And I
(06:57):
don't want to lump plump everybody. Not everybody is the
same and we clicked really well with some and then
some there were there were some that just didn't didn't
like radio people, didn't respect the profession. I think there
was a nickname somebody, I think somebody from Dallas came
up with a nickname. They referred to radio people as
foofs foof I think was as spelling. But anyway, that was,
(07:22):
like you said, that was a different time. But we
had our spot and we did our job. And I contend,
I mean, for what you want to say about sports radio,
I mean, there was a there was a period of
time coming out of the eighties and into the nineties
before social media really took off where sports radio really
(07:42):
had a prominent place. It still does, don't get me wrong,
but I mean we had the opportunity to to break
things and get things out there right away. You didn't
have to wait for the newspaper the next day, or
the eleven o'clock news, or even even the sports center
at night. I mean, you could you break news and
report things and tell people what was going on, and
(08:04):
and just give a different feel by being at those
games and being in the in the clubhouses, in the
locker rooms.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Yeah, and that was one of the things, Bigsie. I
remember some of the writers would get upset because we'd
go in there and get audio and sometimes there'd be
a guy, a coach or a player that would have
a meltdown, and then we'd have the audio and then
you know, we'd be able to play it on the
radio that night and the next morning. And they had
to wait for the newspaper to be published, and they
would not they would go they would, you know, be
(08:32):
very upset.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
They are angry.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
I got yelled at several times because of that. Now,
you covered pretty much every team. For those who don't
know Biggie's background in southern California, you know Bigsy because
this guy's he covered every team, right, I mean you
were on the beat, you did the pregame, the postgame.
I know you did stuff with the Dodgers, and that
you were rough with the Lakers for years, and that
(08:54):
you're I know you're a Rams fan and you did
stuff with the Rams, and I remember you with the Angels.
You were all all over the place, bigs You covered
pretty much every team in the LA market in those days.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Am I correct? I did?
Speaker 5 (09:06):
And I want to say this in all humility, I
really do. I feel like God blessed me with honestly,
with just a great, great career.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Nothing.
Speaker 5 (09:17):
I don't look at it as anything special about me
or my talent or my abilities.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
I look at it as favor.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
But to your point, and I am, it's more it's
not like a if this makes sense, man, But it's
not like a pride thing. It's just more of a wow,
you know, look look what I Look what I got
to do? Does that make sense? See the different?
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Like?
Speaker 5 (09:41):
Yeah, And so to your point, I mean I did well.
I'll start kind of go like my first big job
was at the original seven to ten KMPC when they
were they were owned by the Autrees right back in
the day. And that was in nineteen ninety two. And
my first boss, I mean my you know, my our
(10:02):
good friend and my good friend and mentor Big Joe McDonald,
Big Joe the Light Big Joe who man.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
I wish he was still around today.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Can you imagine doing today's climate?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
Oh my goodness, Oh, I mean he was amazing then.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
I can only imagine what he would be like in
these days.
Speaker 5 (10:23):
Just inside, Yeah, I feel bad because I think I'm
sure there's a lot of people that they're like who's
that And they don't know what we're talking about. But
a lot of people that will hear this will. But anyway,
Len Weiner came came over from w f AN. W
f AN, of course, the all sports station in New York.
Len came out, was hired to be the boss at
(10:44):
this new sports station, CAMPC. They decided, Hey, you know what,
we've been playing big band music. Let's uh, let's go
all sports. We've got the Angels, we've got the Rams,
We've got U. C. L A, We've got Jim Healy.
Let's let's do all sports. So one of my I
started there doing sports updates as an anchor, and then
in nineteen ninety two they asked me to travel with
(11:07):
the Raiders. The Raiders were still in town as a
beat reporter. So I got to do that. And you'll
get a kick out of this. One of the shows
that we had and would I would come on with
them a lot at night during the week, was Jeff
Witcher and Steve Yeager, the former Doctor Ketcher.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
They had a show together.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Oh that's wild.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
But I know we don't have a ton of time.
So but my one of my career highlights, one of
the first things I was able to do. And again
I say this in all humility, but in nineteen ninety two,
remember during that time, we you know, we went all
sports and this was about what two years after Extra
Sports six ninety was up and running back in the day, right,
(11:52):
So that's.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
Where that's where I started as an indie. Yeah yeah,
Blood Rivals BIGSI.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Yeah, oh yeah, no it yeah, there was a little
window there. There was a little window where it was
a legit rivalry for sure, and I ended up working
for them after KMPC was full.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
But in nineteen ninety two, so imagine the scene.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
So Extra Sports six ninety they're the Chargers flagship station, right,
I mean they're just hardcore Chargers, right. The Chargers come
to the coliseum and they can wrap up I believe
that's what the scenario was.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
It was nineteen ninety two.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
They can wrap up the division, right, so they're just
full blown Charger coverage. They can wrap up the division
over the Raiders. And so I had just gotten a
cell phone and our good friend Kurt Kretchmar was a
producer with us at the time at CAMPC Great. I mean,
he was a phenomenal producer before he got into upper management,
(12:52):
and the late Chris Roberts, the voice of the Bruins,
was doing a show at KMPC, and I had the
cell phone, and I thought, you know what, maybe I
could call Chris Roberts live on the air after the
end of the game and you know, see what we
could do something on the field. Well, the game ends,
the Chargers win, they wrap up the division, and so
(13:16):
right after the game ended, I run up to Junior, sayo,
and I call Chris and in the station on the
air and I say, hey, look, I'm walking to the
locker room with Junior sale Let's go live. So he
comes live to me and I'm literally interviewing Junior, say
the late great Junior se on my cell phone live
(13:38):
as we're running off the field together. And that that
had never happened before, Like nobody had the cell phone.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
I mean the cell phone I had was like, you know,
a foot long.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
I mean they were brand new, like brand new, and
to be able to do that, to have and so
here we were seven to ten KMPC interviewing the best
Chargers player live on our air right after they wrapped
up the division. So that was that was definitely a
career highlight. But long answer to your question. You know,
(14:08):
we had so many different bosses and so many changes
at all the stations that we worked at. But over
the years, I mean career highlights traveling as an everyday
beat reporter with the Lakers, traveling with the Dodgers, and
doing you know, Dodger talk and the post game and
the pre and post game. You did that for a
little bit with the Angels. I also did the pre
(14:28):
and post game for USC and UCLA football, and had
a little brief stint doing the Clippers pre and postgame
as well, So pretty much got to do it be
a part of everybody, which is a huge blessing.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
You ran the gauntlet. I wanted to focus on the
Laker thing. This is something that's just wild. As we've
gotten older, Big Z, we remember and you were there.
You were there much more than I was. But when
Kobe Bryant came onto the scene as a young young
cat and he wasn't you know, he was a young
guy they thought was going to be pretty good, and
then to watch how his career took off and now
(15:04):
obviously he's tragic passing a few years ago and the
tributes he's almost immortal, you know what I mean in
the way that people from around here and the statues
and all the things. But to watch that unfold in
front of us, and you traveled with the Lakers, followed
them around the country for years in that period of time,
(15:25):
if I remember correctly, the Shaq Kobe era around that time.
So what are some of your memories of watching that
up close and personal how that took off, Because it's
very really and you see a guy like that. Kobe's
one of the top ten players of all time, some
would say top five all time in the NBA, But
when he started out, he's just kind of like it
was good, but you didn't know how good he was
(15:45):
going to be as.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
Wild Well, you remember the whole build up, and I
remember our good friend Big Joe. I mean, he was
the one that really broke the story and broke the
news that Shack was going to sign with the Lakers.
And so I was fortunate I was able to travel
with the Lakers right at the beginning when Jerry West
(16:09):
put that whole thing, you know, started to put that together,
and then also traveled. I traveled with them during the
three peat, and I always say the second season the
two thousand and one season when they beat the Sixers.
I was with that team from start to finish, every
single day, practice, every game, home and away, playoffs, championship,
(16:33):
and that was I mean, that's like the ultimate career
highlight because that was a team not only were they
like rock stars, but that was the year of the
Shack Kobe feud and it was phenomenal. But to your
point about Kobe, you remember, I mean he had a
couple things going on. I mean he came and Del
Harris was the coach initially and eventually ended up getting fired,
(16:56):
but Kobe, initially, they were the comparisons to Michael Jordan.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
And remember in the.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Playoff game, he had some bad shots against the Jazz
and was kind of developing the narrative as a ball hog,
and and so he had to work all through that.
He had to work and kind of take control of
that and turn that around, which he did masterfully, and
as you said, became one of the greatest ever and
(17:24):
his work ethic and everything else is legendary. But it
was a process and kind of getting over the hump
the way that they did in two thousand and just
and then everything that followed in the way that the
shack He and Shaq feuded and the split and the
trade and it was incredible though, and I don't think
we'll ever see anything like that again. And you know,
(17:47):
I always tell people, Man, I mean, and you're a
part of this, Ben, I mean, you can say what
you want. I'm not trying to sound like old guy,
get off your lawn, but I mean we I feel
like we were really blessed to cover, you know, arguably,
you know, the greatest era in sports, do you know.
I hope, I hope, you know, we'll see stuff like
that again. But you know, for LA, I mean that
(18:08):
was those were those were special times.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
Yeah, it was great, and it might be just because
we're getting older, Bigsy, but I look at the waves,
yeah now, and I mean the whole and I love
the Dodgers, but they they added sho Hail Tani from
the Angels and it's just over the time and everything
is over the top. It just I don't know how
to put it away. It's so different now than it
was then. And it's not like there wasn't a lot
(18:32):
of money involved in sports then, but it's these these teams,
the Lakers and Dodgers are at a certain level right now,
so far ahead of everyone else. And in fact, the
Dodgers they pretty much sell out or get forty thousand
plus to every game now, and it's just the way
the whole process works. You were with the Angels also
for a long time now when you worked, you started
(18:54):
at seventy ten. Gene Autry was very old at that point.
Did you ever run into a Gene Autry at that
time when you were working for his station or how'd
that go down?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
So, so a couple of quick if we have him
at a couple of quick stories. I would see Gene
up in the press box and say hello to him,
and unfortunately he was he was pretty old at that point.
Never never saw him at the station. But a couple
of great Jackie Autry stories. So one of one, one
(19:29):
little highlight. So I was doing the sports updates. I CAN'TBC,
like I said, And I was working working on a
Saturday night one night, just doing my updates and I
get a call.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
From on the hotline.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
I'm at the station, right, yeah, and uh it's it's
Jackie Autry and it's like, I don't know, ten eleven
o'clock at night and you know this is before again,
this is before social media, This is before you know.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Anything like we have today.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
And she said, oh, by the way, one wanted to
let you know that we're going to be firing Fae Vincent,
the commissioner of baseball. So yeah, yeah, because she was
like she was the acting owner. So I was able
to break that. And it didn't obviously didn't have the
(20:29):
weight then like it would now. But I mean that
was a you know, we called AP and we got
a little credit. Back in the day, they had an
AP wire which every station had. It was like a
printer that would print, you know, updated news. But that
was about it. I mean, we didn't have things that
we had today. And then one time, and this is
a true story, when I was traveling with them as
(20:50):
a Beat reporter in the nineties, it was it was
really weird. I was sitting with the other Beat reporters
in Anaheim and she she came up in the press
box and rubbed her hand through my hair.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
And some people told Buck Rogers about that, and I
mean he teased me the entire season and made all
these jokes the rest of the way and called me,
called me names that I won't repeat. So so those
were Those were a couple of stories. But yeah, you know,
just just so many, so many different stories, so many
(21:26):
different times.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
It's different now, but that was pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Well, to be.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Fair, though, you do have great hair. You always had
great hair, bon I mean you always did.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Not like I used to. But but I had a
little good run which I miss. Yeah, and we thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Well.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
We worked together at a couple we were friends in
the press box and we're working at different stations, and
then we worked together at a couple of stations along
the way, and you were at Fox Sports Radio. You're
part of the Fox Sports Radio Association, Bigsie. You did
use yes, Fox Sports Radio back in the day, and
then in the news room and all that. We're still
in the same building, Bigsie. We've just moved to cross
the hall. You remember the old studio they had for
(22:02):
Rush Limbaugh when Rush would yeah like that, he had
his own private studios. So then Steve Harvey moved into
a side studio.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
But we just moved.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
We combined the old Steve Harvey studio and the old
Rush Limbaugh studio. So we're I mean the same exact building.
We were just down the hall from where we had
broadcast from together. But you mentioned some of the characters
of La Raady. You mentioned Joe McDonald Bigger than Life,
and Joe's been gone now for over ten years. I
can't believe it's been that long.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Has it been? Has it been ten years? Really?
Speaker 1 (22:33):
Yeah? Yeah, it's been over ten years now.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
But big.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
The thing too about Joe, Joe was like the Mike
I would compare, like Mike Frances was in New York
at WFAN, you know, and he's still doing podcasts or whatever.
But Joe was like that guy in LA Sports Radio.
He worked at every station in town. He knew everybody.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I was.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
I told the story. I mean, this is how crazy
and how powerful big Joe was. At his funeral, we
were there saying our goodbyes to Joe, and Jerry West
was there, Eddie Murray. Eddie Murray could not stand the media, right, hey,
But he and Joe had this bond because I.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
With Kirk Gibson. Kirk Gibson loved Joe.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, I mean, and Joe was able to cross over.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
I don't know what do I mean he I guess
he was just a straight shooter and those guys appreciated
it and he didn't. He didn't beat around the bush Bigsie, right.
Big Joe was a guy that would just tell you
what do you believe? His friends with Shack too. I
remember when Shaq was at the end of his career
with this I like his sons, and I was with
Big Joe in the bowels of what was then Staple
Center and Shaq came up to us and was talking
(23:43):
to and he was like he was trying to figure
out what he was going to do when he was done.
He knew that he was near the end of his career,
and I was like, he's dropping in. I was next
to Joe and Shaq was like, well, maybe I'll come
back to LA. He wanted to make movies and obviously
he's ended up with TNT and he's like he's endorsing
every probably does he do anything.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I was going to say, he should do some commercials.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Right, Basically, I mean, Yah is on every It's wild,
He's on He's on everything. When you were doing stuff
with the Raise, you your your allegiance. I know you're
a RAMS fan because I'm a RAMS fan, so we
had that in common, Bagsy. But when you're traveling with
like the Raiders. That was Was it awkward?
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Was it odd?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
I mean, can you compartmentalize that because you do like
the Rams, but you were doing stuff with the Raiders
in those years.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Well I was, I was pretty young, and it was
all still kind of big and new and larger than life.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
And that was That was so a couple of stories
with that team.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
So you know, Al Davis was still around, and I
mean you had a lot of characters on that team.
You you had that was the end of the Marcus
Allen era. You had Todd Marinovich and all the scrutiny
of him, Jay Schrader, Tim Brown, Bob Golick who ironically
you know, covered him and they actually did a show
(24:57):
with him for about two weeks and then he just
stop showing up. I love Bob, but he would never
he would never show up. It just it was weird.
That was back in That was back where we worked
back in the day at eleven fifty before it made
the switch. But so I'm I'm with the Raiders in
(25:18):
d C for a It was a Christmas I want
to say it was a Christmas night game. The final game.
It was a Christmas night game against against Washington and
It turned out to be Marcus Allen's final game as
a Raider, and I remember we were well two things
(25:38):
you missed out on this. But back in the day
when Bo Jackson was there, when you would go into
the Raider locker room, he would Bo would only. He
would only take two to three questions from the Great
Jim Hill, and he would not talk to anybody else.
So if you did not get into that first little
(25:59):
circle by Bo, you were out of luck. You were
not gonna yeah, you were dead. He would talk, he
would answer two or three questions from Jim and then
that was it. He would shut it down.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
But we're in Washington and final game from Marcus Allen.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
I remember there was everybody was trying to get around him,
and there was a Raider Beat writer and a Washington cameraman,
and I remember the Washington camera guy was trying to
get a shot and the Raider Beat rider wouldn't move
and the you know the cameraman they have.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
The reporters have those handheld mics. You know, they're pretty
heavy with the batteries.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
The guy hit the Raider Beat reporter over the head
with the mike, and I remember I was doing live
reports from that game and the press box where at
least my spot was outside and it was like twenty
degrees out and I'm from LA so it was freezing.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
But that was good times.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
And then ironically, speaking of Washington, I had a chance
to I used to be a I was a national
stringer what we call that, you know what that is,
where you do a bunch of reports across the country.
And I had a chance to do the Rams final
game in Anaheim and it was against Washington, but I
remember I was doing reports all day long back back
(27:15):
on the Four Letter Network with Steve Levy, who was
the host of that radio show at that time, and
we had fun with that during the game. But it
was I was, you know, you know, when when Georgia
took the team to Saint Louis, I didn't, I stopped
rooting for them. I took a break and just I
had no team until they moved back.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I did the same thing. I did not.
Speaker 4 (27:36):
I was a Rams fan growing up, and when they
went to Saint Louis, I said, that's it.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
I'm done.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
It is odd though, because like the Raiders are, we
were Rams fans, but the Raiders have moved how many
times in our lifetimes basically went from Oakland to.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
LA back to Oakland.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Now they're in vague right, and yet they've kept fan
based like people who love the Raiders, it doesn't matter
where they play it. To me, that's the only team
that can really pull that off, because usually if you leave,
like the Chargers left San Diego. And I know for
a fact, Bigsie, when the Chargers came to LA, they
thought the Charger people thought that a lot of people
from San Diego were going to continue to follow the team.
(28:11):
We're going to come up to LA and buy tickets,
and it just didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
There were some, but it was very small.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
Compared to what they thought they were going to get
because people just were turned off. And you know that dynamic,
the San Diego La thing, and there's a point of demarcation.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
People from San Diego do not enjoy the La vibe
at all. They do not like it.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
The people come down there and you go to all
their amusement parks and all that stuff and go to
the beach, and there's a lot of jealousy between San
Diego and LA, but it doesn't really apply.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Real quick, yeah, real quick, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5 (28:46):
I didn't mean to cut you off. I just had
a flashback. Do you remember you and I were in
San Diego? I hope you'll remember this. This was after
a Dodger Padre game, and do you remember that you
and I were in the elevator and.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
Guess who came in? Ricky Henderson. Do you remember?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
He was playing for the Yes, the.
Speaker 3 (29:06):
Yeah, and he talked to the third person.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Well, I just had this memory that popped in by
one of my favorite memories with with you, Bigsi's we
were doing the show together and it was nineteen ninety seven.
The Cleveland then Indians were playing the Miami the Florida Marlin.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Both teams have changed a little bit, so we.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Got I'm sorry I didn't handle that well, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (29:34):
No, no, no, Bigs, it was It was wonderful. So
like we this was a brand new radio station. They
had a lot of igus you called venture capital. They
had a lot of money, so they sent me and
you to cover the nineteen ninety seven World Series between
two teams that people from La who cares right, the
Marlins and then the Cleveland Indians.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
But we were in Cleveland.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
And h the whole trip was crazy because you went
from Cleveland to Miami. Cleveland it was very cold. In fact,
it snowed, yes and I am. We'll talk about that
a second. And then in Miami it was typical Miami
humid in the in the eighties and just kind of
that kind.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Of kind of weather.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
But in Cleveland when we we got there, we had
to do a one hour show.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
And we we were staying.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Remember where we stayed.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
We stayed like near the Pennsylvania border. We did not
stay anywhere like in Cleveland proper. We were way out
in the suburbs and so we had to drive in
and every day. The thing I remember is on the
radio every day we turn on. It was a guy
Ronnie Duncan I think was the guy's name, and the
same song every day. It was like it was like
(30:51):
Groundhog Day driving in. But we couldn't make it to
our broadcast location, if I remember, because we were so
far away.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
So we pulled though.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
Do you remember we we did the show in freezing
Cleveland on a bank of payphones, bigsy, this is freeze
cell phone days. We were on payphones and it wasn't
it was a hotel. I remember in my head. They
were like trash cans out in front of the doors.
In my head, that's the memory.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
I have of it.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
We're freezing our behinds off and we're trying to do
the show on payphones, and.
Speaker 3 (31:29):
I think we pulled it off, right, We did it.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Yeah, we did it, But it was it was It
was just wild then, and you were You're a little
older than me, and you're much more savvy than me.
It started snowing for the for the game, and it
was like batting practice.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
There were snowflakes coming.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
I I had never seen snow like that in my life,
Like I'd been to the snow when I was a kid,
but I didn't see it ever fall.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
But I remember you were.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
You were it was like two close you went and
you were watching on a monitor. We're like Peter Gammons.
Remember there was that side.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Yes, Yeah, it was warm. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
And I of course I'm such a you know, I'm
a I'm a donkey. I'm out there freezing and I
was using those hot dogs as handwarmers, Cleveland hot dogs.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
But it's like I met the World Series.
Speaker 4 (32:15):
I gotta stay out here, you know, like snowing at
the World Series, Like this is like the coolest thing
I've ever seen. And uh, and you of course know
I've seen snow before. I'm good and you were all
toasty warm. And then we went to Miami and I
got I got so sick after that World Series because
it went seven games and all that. But to go
from the snow to the to the heat of Miami,
(32:36):
it was But that was a.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
Great memory, biguse. I had so much fun trip.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
It was wonderful. It was like, yeah, you.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Think back, they sent us there for a Cleveland Miami
series and we were doing local LA sports radio.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
It's wild.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Well, I'll tell you what I mean. One thing that
that that I am, I am happy. Uh, you know,
if I think back, I mean, one thing that that
I learned at CAMPC when Lenn Weiner came over is
he took something from w Fan that that he brought
to LA and that was he thought it was really
(33:13):
important to have radio beat reporters with with teams. So
back in the day at w FAN, Steve Levy was
with the Mets and Susan Wallen was with the Yankees,
and so he wanted to kind of bring that and
we were able to do it at CAMPC. But then
CAMPC was sold, and so when we started at Extra
(33:37):
in LA, that was my that was on my heart
and I and I pushed for that and we were
able to do it with with the Lakers and then
and with the Dodgers, and so, you know, I'm glad that.
I think that's important, and I think there's a need
for that, and I think there's something, like we talked
about earlier, something special about having somebody at those events
(33:58):
or with the team or around the play or you know,
providing a different perspective all throughout the day, you know,
so people have something to look forward to, whether it's
the morning of the midday or the afternoon, they can
find out what's going on and get the very latest
and if something breaks, they're available. So I'm happy, you know,
I'm happy that we were able to kind of keep
that going.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
And it's great to see where things are now.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
Absolutely busy. I know you got to go, so we'll
say goodbye. But how can people hear you? I know
you're still on, You're on all over You're in many
parts of the country.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
You can always hear Jeff Biggs. Over thirty years, right,
you've been doing how many years you've been doing it's
over thirty, right, We're way.
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Over thirty now, right. Yeah, I was in the late eighties,
so I don't whatever that math is. What wow thirty?
Yeah yeah, well you're right behind me though, I mean
you're right now. I know.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
It's I can't believe, Bigsie, how time has flown here?
Speaker 5 (34:48):
It just like and you're by your success level. I mean,
you're off the charts, buddy. So thank rats again. Man,
I'm really really happy for you. Now, just a little
shameless plug, I'll be back with Compass Media Networks one
of their NFL hosts for the upcoming season. We do
games of the week and different things, and I know
sometimes they're in LA depending on the game and everything.
Speaker 3 (35:11):
So excited. Can't wait for football to start.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
Awesome, it's just right around the corner. Thank you, Busie,
scrit to hear your voice again. Be safe, say hi
to the family and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Thank you. Really enjoyed it. Thank you. Ben
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