December 29, 2022 • 40 mins
EPISODE 101: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Be as righteously indignant as you want, Democrats. But do NOT attempt to block the seating of George "If That Is Your Real Name" Santos. No matter which way Kevin McCarthy turns, Santos will be his undoing, so just shut up and invest in popcorn. As a Republican District Attorney opens a probe of his campaign and his cornucopia of lies, Santos is still doubling down and dismissing as "nitpicking" those recoiling at his lies about his religion, family, the Holocaust, the Pulse Nightclub, 9/11, his finances, jobs, education, time spent in Brazil, time spent in Russia, possible criminal records, buildings he does or doesn't own, and lies about a DOG RESCUE. This is not a man even approaching the building that contains the hallway that leads to step one of the 12-Step Program for compulsive liars. It's so bad one Republican ex-Congressman is openly hoping they can seat Santos, then talk him into voting for McCarthy for Speaker, and only then resigning!
B-Block (19:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Maltipoo Honey in New York (20:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I'm running for CEO of Twitter, the health of Jamie Raskin, the Bill Cosby Comeback-And-Spiked-Drink Tour (22:54) IN SPORTS: The Raiduhs Quarterback must go down and he must go down hard (24:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The New York Times can't stop itself: now it's hyping books written by three correspondents who held news back from The Times in order to get book deals. Plus Elon Musk, and Mayor Eric Adams endorsing turning New York over to "Big Brother."
C-Block (29:12) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Because I found the cassette recently, please enjoy the first professional sportscast I ever did, on July 10, 1979, plus sportscasts from Disco Demolition Night and the retirement of Catfish Hunter. Or don't. I won't hold it against you if you don't listen to 43-year old sportscasts!
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 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio.
George Santos matters because Kevin McCarthy matters. Because if Kevin
(00:27):
McCarthy ousked George Santos, Kevin McCarthy may never become Speaker
of the House because George Santos will not be there
to vote for him. But if Kevin McCarthy protects George Santos,
Kevin McCarthy then owns George Santos for the rest of
his natural life. Which is why strategically the Democrats should
not try to prevent George Santos from being seated in
(00:50):
the new Congress. Either way McCarthy plays it, he will lose.
Let Santos hang from the collective Republican neck as long
as possible, dividing them and overshadowing their agenda and utter
cutting their farcical investigations of corruption while congressmen, catch me
if you can, sucks all the air out of the capital.
(01:12):
Especially since the Republican District Attorney of Nassau County, New York,
the center of the district that elected this charlatan, announced
late yesterday she is investigating Santos. His lies, she says,
quote are nothing short of stunning. If a crime was
committed in this county, we will prosecute it. Yes, do
(01:34):
that if a Republican d A is going to investigate
a Republican congressman tied to the leader of the Republicans
in the House for wholesale scale line to get elected Democrats,
get out of the Republicans way, shut up, an invest
in popcorn. All of which is why a former Republican
congressman went on the news Max propaganda feed late yesterday
(01:57):
and suggested, in passing the most Kevin McCarthy way out
of this imaginable get George sent Goes to vote for
McCarthy for Speaker and then get him to resign from
the House. The problem with that genius scheme, of course,
is that there is not the slightest sign that this
con man is ready to admit he has lied at all,
(02:19):
never mind the slightest sign that he would be willing
to quit before or after he has sworn in. As
of his most recent public interview and is now infamous
Tulsea Gabbard interview on Fox Tuesday night, George Santos is
still insisting that those of both parties screaming about his
lies about his religion, his lie that his grandparents escaped
(02:39):
the Holocaust, his lie that his mother escaped the World
Trade Center on nine eleven, his lie that his employees
died at the Pulse terrorist attack, his lies about his finances,
his lies about his sexual orientation, his lies about his employment,
his lies about his education, his lies about his time
spent his Brazil, his lives spent, about his time spent
in Russia, his lies about his criminal record, if any,
(03:00):
His lies about buildings he does or does not own,
his lines about companies that do or do not exist,
his lies about whether he was a landlord or a
deadbeat tenant, his lies about his dog rescue. That all
these complaints he has been able to dismiss as quote
net picking. We are still at the stage where caught
(03:23):
lying about his supposed Jewish heritage. He came back and,
as you know, insisted he never said he was Jewish,
he said he was jew hyphen Ish. And then the newspaper,
the Forward, produced his campaign position paper on Israel and
the Middle East, and Santos his third sentence begins, quote
as a proud American Jew. So he lied, then covered
(03:46):
up the lie with a different lie, and We still
haven't even reached the tertiary stage of George Santos disease,
where there is a third lie to cover up the
first two lies that didn't work. I've seen how socialism
destroys people's lives because my grandparents survived the Holocaust. This
is not a man even approaching the building that contains
(04:09):
the hallway that leads to step one of the twelve
step program for compulsive liars. This is also not a
man poised to follow some script that Kevin McCarthy just
hands him. In fact, the only thing he seems to
have actually done about this bottomless pit of stupid, these
impossible to escape lies is to underscore the power he
(04:33):
Santos holds over McCarthy. On December, Santos tweeted, quote, we
have the opportunity of a lifetime to deliver real results
for the American people. We must give the gabble to
Kevin McCarthy to stop the disastrous policies the Dems have
pushed the last two years. I encourage my colleagues to
join me. Our country depends on it. We must, in
(04:58):
caps give the gabble to Kevin McCarthy. At was the
eighteen No later than the twenty three George Santos deleted
that tweet, And if deleting that tweet does not wreak
of pressuring McCarthy for his support, I do not know
what could. And McCarthy can't just back away in any
direction from this twerp. It is barely six weeks since
(05:21):
he himself spoke glowingly and proudly and boastfully and credit
grabbing lee about the election of George Santos. And he
did all this boasting to the Republican Jewish Coalitions Leadership
Conference in Vegas. For God's sake, I really want to
talk about who's the makeup of this new majority. You
(05:42):
heard from some of all already, you know, at Max
Miller in Ohio, George Santos in New York, and you
had David custed Off from Tennessee get reelected. He introduced him.
Do you realize we have the largest Republican Jewish caucus
in more than twenty four years? Not bad, huh? Not anymore?
(06:03):
You don't say, Sparky, when you bought this scamster, did
they give you the receipt or did they give him
the receipt? Because one of you sure as hell owns
this guy and the insolvable mess he has created. And
of course, just as much as Santos is nowhere near admitting,
let alone atoning for his sins, nor is anybody in
(06:24):
the Republican Congressional Caucus near admitting they have got to
get out from under this Albert trust as quickly as possible.
Do not be fooled by the grand standing by the
Republican reps from the adjoining districts. Anthony Desposito and Nick
Laalatta called for ethics investigations of Santos, and that confirms
(06:44):
they are ready to seat him and then turn him
over to a Republican led committee that will first have
to ask somebody what the word ethics means. And especially,
do not be fooled by the impact of the Tulsei
Gabbard interview with Santos. That was the perfect fix, re Lee.
(07:05):
It was genius by Fox News. You must remember that
Republicans not only still believed Tulsea Gabbard was a Democrat,
in fact that she was a liberal Democrat, but they
believed she is still at least a liberal. And thus
the fact that the grilling on Tucker Carlson's show was
done by her and not Carlson or another genuine Fox fascist,
(07:28):
abused that interview with a kind of magical quality. Republican
reaction to the Gabbard interviewed followed along the lines of
the tweet by the Indiana Congressman Jim Banks. Banks didn't
slam Santos, Banks didn't demand Santos resign. Banks didn't mention
Santos at all. He wrote just four words, good job,
(07:50):
Tulsey Gabbard. It is my fervent belief that Republicans in
office and just the civilians at home, burn their incense
at the altar of their cult. Can embrace the Banks reaction,
while simultaneous Lee also embracing the Marjorie Trailer Park Green reaction,
in which she complained about Gabbered not giving Santos any
(08:12):
quote grace for having admitted his lies, and she added
that Gabbered quote says she is a former Democrat. They
can all believe in many ways. They need to believe
both that the Gabbered interview was cathartic and it relieves
them of any of santos ethical taint, and at the
(08:34):
same time that the Gabbered interview was just another Democratic
attack on the fundamental meaning of life. He's a Republican.
He got elected, therefore he is above criticism for anything.
Don't get me started about Gabbard's motivation in all this
A she smells a television job and be I'll just
repeat a tweet reply from an attorney named Hallie spiked
(08:58):
quote she's pissed because he got more money from the
Russians than she did. Unquote. Of course that highlights what
is next on this wonderful heaven sent to the Democrats,
endless cornucopia of Republican corruption, complete with its own easy
to remember one word catch phrase jew ish. What highlights
(09:22):
what's next? What's next is the money? The website Semaphore
summed it up neatly. Let me quote them. When he
first ran for Congress in Santos, who appeared to have
suffered from financial trouble for much of his adult life,
filed disclosures listing no assets at a salary of fifty
five thousand dollars, but the filings from his most recent
(09:45):
run suggests he came into sudden riches, making between three
and a half million and eleven and a half billion
from a company he founded called the Devolder Organization. In
one he loaned his campaign more than seven hundred thousand dollars.
Devolder was dissolved in September you after failing to file
(10:06):
an annual report. Given that timing Representative elect Dan Goldman,
Democrat New York has raised the question of whether it
was created merely to funnel illegal campaign donations unquote. Faced
with other reporting that those donations included large sums from
the cousin of a Russian oligarch. George Santos actually talked
(10:27):
to Semaphore on the record and tried to explain how
at Devolder he could make up to four hundred thousand
dollars merely by serving as a go between in the
private sale of a yacht, and then he added, quote,
I don't dance to the tune of Congressman elect Dan Goldman.
If it was requested of me to produce any documentation
(10:48):
from this organization, I have no problem doing so. Two
people with proper authority, not to authoritarian members of Congress
that think they have authority over their peers unquote, respect
my authority. George seems ready to deal. Huh. That quote
was before the d A announced her investigation, and one
(11:10):
of the things that d A will be looking to
no doubt. Is a Santos interview from last March, in
which he helpfully brought up Russia money, spending money in Russia,
and just in case we needed to ratchet this whole
thing up to another level, he brought up how frequently
he traveled to Moscow to spend money in Russia. You
(11:30):
show up with a hundred dollars and you get six
thou rules and you can do a lot with six thousands.
I mean, I've been to Moscow many times during my career.
I mean you stay at the St. Regis on the
Red Square, right off the Red Square, next to the
Gum Museum, which is the most expensive shopping mall in
the world. Once again, Democrats, stay out of this. Make
(11:54):
all the noises of propriety you need to put. Do
not raise an objection to seating George Santos. Resolving this
could kill Kevin McCarthy's career no matter which way he turns,
and split the Republican Party. And all you have to
do is stand to the side and give a nice,
polite golf clap. I mean the ex Georgia congressman who
(12:14):
suggested getting Santos to vote for McCarthy for Speaker and
then getting him to quit. Doug Collins also asked yesterday rhetorically,
if they were all sure Santos really is a Republican
George Santos, The guy's name even sounds like Ron de Santis.
Just let McCarthy choose between the tiger or the other tiger.
(12:39):
Then Kevin McCarthy is gonna have to make that choice
because while a Supreme Court ruling in nineteen sixty nine
limited Congress's ability to actually not admit an elected representative
or senator, limited it to violations of the legal requirements
age citizenship residency buried in this avalanche of lies, lies
(12:59):
to cover lies, and the application of the suffix ish.
While it is clear Santos is older than the minimum
house age of there are clearly reasons to doubt his
residency and indeed whether or not he is actually a
citizen of the United States. So yeah, I know, we
don't need one more Republican associate path one more Manchurian candidate.
(13:22):
It looks like they made him in a laboratory to
be all the things a Republican would need to be
to win on Long Island, from the gay part to
the Jewish part, to the Hispanic part, to the dog
rescue part. But Democrats alone are not going to get
him tossed out of the house anyway. Nor does it
appear that anybody Democratic or Republican is going to get
this guy to stop digging. Let him dig. Kevin McCarthy
(13:48):
is now the man who used to come out on
the Ed Sullivan Show while that saber dance music played,
and he would start spinning a dozen or so of
these long poles and then carefully balance big dinner plates
atop the polls and continually jump from one pole to
the other, trying to keep the polls and the plates
spinning and not crashing to the floor, live on national television.
(14:10):
If you need one more piece of evidence about this,
santos Is spokeswoman has made a statement quote as a millennial,
George did what he had to in order to evade
smear campaigns put forth by elitist organizations like the New
York Times. Gabrielle Lipsky went on that the paper quote
(14:31):
shamefully launched open season against the first openly gay person
to be elected to Congress. End quote. George Santos is
not the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress.
George Santos is not even the first openly gay Republican
to be elected to Congress, and given his recent marriage
to a woman, we don't even know about the gay part.
(14:53):
Santos Is spokeswoman responded to santos Is lies by herself, lying,
this is all Kevin McCarthy's show Democrat as there are
his polls, they are his China. It is his spinning.
Your role is to buy him more plates. Thank you,
(15:35):
Nazi Faust still ahead? Why yes, I am running for
CEO of Twitter. Thank you for asking the old one
makes worse persons and not just for tanking his own companies.
(15:58):
Where did we get this guy, Eric Adams? Did my
city not suffer enough with Giuliani and Bloomberg into Blasia?
Now the mayor is literally saying, it's not big brother
watching you. Big brother is protecting you and in things
I promised not to tell, things I have told repeatedly.
My first professional sports Cash tenth nine not only does
(16:20):
still exist, I will play it for you and I
will not be offended if you do not stick around
all the way to the end of the podcast to
listen to it. That's next This is Countdown. This is
Countdown with Keith still ahead on Countdown. Do you have
(16:45):
anything left from your first day at your first job?
I do, I will share first. In each edition of Countdown,
we feature a dog in need you can help. Every
dog has its day. This nightmare continues here at the
New York Pound. The kill list reach twenty five dogs
at Christmas, and three of them died yesterday. Now added
(17:07):
to that list. Honey. Honey is a seventeen month old
twelve pound mix a boy. He looks like a multi pooh.
He's house trained, He's well behaved, but he is anxious
around strangers, and he'll need more training to get along
smoothly with other dogs. Pledges to get him into the
hands of an experienced rescue. That's probably the best course
(17:29):
of action for Honey. Incredibly, Honey was left at the
pound to die by his quote humans on Christmas Eve.
How could you do that and live with yourself afterwards?
Let's try to make it up to him. I thank you,
and Honey thanks you. Pos Scripts to the news, some headlines,
(18:04):
some updates, some snarks, some predictions. Date line, Washington Congress
and Jamie Raskin of Maryland and the January six Committee
has announced he is about to begin chemo after having
been diagnosed with diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which he
describes as quote a serious but curable form of cancer.
We pray so dateline Washington. Headline from the latest January
(18:25):
six Committee interview. Transcripts. Cassidy Hutchinson testified the Trump's chief
of staff Mark Meadows, routinely burned documents in his office.
When Will Meadows cut a deal, he is neck high
already in this dateline Grand Rapids, Michigan. What can push
back against the increasing political terrorism from the right, Well,
(18:46):
things like the nineteen years in prison given out yesterday
to the co leader of the fascist plot to kidnap
Governor Whitber of Michigan. That is what Barry Croft got Tuesday.
His fellow terrorist Adam Fox got sixteen years. Dateline, San Francisco. Yes,
I am running for CEO of Twitter. My argument, I
(19:06):
can't do worse than this guy. Some of the items
on my platform, a free share of Tesla with every tweet,
keeping the Piers Morgan account hacked because the fake tweets
are less offensive than his usual ones, and hiring Maggie
Haberman to do the next, Twitter Files and Dateline Newport News, Virginia.
Bill Cosby says he's going to tour this year, a
(19:28):
comedy tour. There's so much fun to be had in
this storytelling I do. He says, no truth. Rumors that
all who attend will be given drinks personally prepared by
Mr Cosby. This is SportsCenter. Wait, check that, not anymore.
(19:58):
This is Countdown with Keith in sports where it's pretty
strange move, even for the always strange Las Vegas formerly
Oakland formerly Los Angeles formerly Oakland formerly Los Angeles Raiders.
Probably outside the playoff picture, but not yet eliminated. The
(20:19):
Writers have bench quarterback Derek Carr. They say they will
use the last regular season game to look at his backup,
Jarrett Stidham. It probably means Car won't be back with
the Raiders next year. And remember what Raiders owner Al Davis,
the Late Al Davis used to say, My team's quotaback
mus go down, and he must go down. Hod College
Bowl season at Oklahoma and Florida State playing the Cheese
(20:42):
It Bowl in Orlando tonight, amid controversy. Carter Carrol's of
the Tallahassee Democrat writes that the sponsor has informed him, quote,
there is no such thing as cheese. It's one cheese
it is a cheese it two or more of the
cheese it are called cheese it crackers, not cheese. It's
(21:04):
two problems. A. I don't think that's true, and more importantly,
be if you are debating the correct plural for the
product of the bull game sponsor, the game itself is
probably not worth watching. They sent me to record the speech.
(21:35):
To record the speech, I had to balance the top
of garbage can and stick my microphone into a public
address system speaker hanging from the ceiling. Coming up in
things I promised not to tell. First the daily roundup
of the miscreants, morons and done in Kruger effect specimens
who constitute today's worst persons in the world lebrons. The
(21:55):
New York Times it has published a long quote opinion
unquote piece on the relative merits of three books about Trump.
One is by Peter Baker, another is by Robert Draper.
The third is by Maggie Haberman. Now what do those
three have in common, Well, they all rite for The
New York Times. What else do they have in common? Well,
(22:17):
they all withheld news from The New York Times and
its readers during an antidemocracy crisis until each author got
their own book advance, and now their relative merits are
being covered in the New York Times. I believe the
technical term for this is log rolling. Runner up the
Anthony from the Twilight Zone of Twitter Elon Musk. Almost
(22:39):
no one seems to realize. He tweeted that the head
of bioethics at m I H, the person who's supposed
to make sure FOUNC she behaves ethically is his wife.
You know, a normal mind writes that out and before
they hit send, they think, huh. Almost no one seems
to realize something. Is it possible? That's because it's not true,
(23:00):
and in this case, it's not true Ellen. Dr Christine
Grady runs the chief of the Department of Bioethics at
the nih Clinical Center. Her husband is Dr Anthony Fauci,
and Dr Faucci is the head of the nih S
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Different organizations, different buildings,
different power structures. Next COVID conspiracy rumor that the dim
(23:24):
witted Musk can spread that Dr Grady is the sister
of Joane Maxwell. She's also not that but our winner.
New York's mayor Eric Adams, the man who brought to
you such quotes as I thank God I'm the mayor
right now, and there's no way God created me for
this moment. If he did not believe this was my moment,
(23:46):
he may have topped himself. Defending his push to cover
New York in facial recognition devices, he told an interviewer, quote,
it blows my mind how much we have not embraced technology.
And part of that is because many of our electeds
are afraid anything technology. They think, oh, it's a boogeyman,
it's big brother watching you. No, big brother is protecting you.
(24:10):
I'm willing to bet Eric Adams does not know exactly
what big brother is or anything about the premise of Orwell,
which you may have heard this in the premises, the
state gradually gets to enslave everybody by convincing them it's
not big brother watching you. Big brother is protecting you.
(24:32):
Mayor Eric, you're trying to make me, Miss Bill de Blasio,
aren't you today's worst parson? And no one to the
(24:57):
number one story on the Countdown and things I promised
not to tell, and it is hardly that today. In fact,
it is more accurately Show and Tell. There is no
particular excuse for this, except for the fact that I
found these the other day. They are three sportscasts I
did in the first ten weeks of my professional career,
from July through September of nineteen seventy nine, and to me,
(25:20):
the fun part of this is hearing the old timey
names and a few events that are still talked about,
like the night of the infamous disco demolition in Chicago
and one of the many nights Nolan Ryan bid for
a no hit game. And then there's reporting on the
retirement of one of my favorite players and something I
could not physically do today that I did that day.
(25:41):
You don't have to listen to all of them. I
won't take it personally. You don't have to listen to
any of them in fact, but in their defense, they're
each just two minutes long. The first one was on
the morning of Tuesday, July seventy nine, the thousand stations
on the United Press International Radio Network QPI Audio. We're
expecting to hear our sports director Sam Rosen, their usual
(26:03):
morning man, to appear on their feed for the nine
am sportscast. But at about eight am, Sam had told
the new guy me that I wasn't just training and
watching him do all those sportscasts. I would be doing
the surprise. What you will hear first is the talk
(26:23):
up newscasters, business reporters. Sportscasters would tell the stations live
that they were there and that their broadcast was coming
up exactly ten seconds from Mark. Stations live sports will begin,
preceded by a one second tone coming up ten seconds
from Mark. Incidentally, I never figured out who Mark was
(26:47):
here it is here's the sports guest. Good morning. Three
members of the Houston Astros named this morning to manager
Tommy Losort's national leg pitching staff for next Tuesday's All
Star Game. Top winner Joe Nicro tapped by Losorta, along
with Joaquin and dhar and leader Joe Sambido. Rounding out
the staff veteran Steve Carlton of Philadelphia and gay Lord
(27:09):
Perry of the Padres, Steve Rogers of Montreal, the Cubs
brew suitor, and Cincinnati's Mike Lacas. And. Speaking of the
All Stars, you would think Don Baylor and his eight
e r B I would be a shoe in for
the a l Outfield. Baylor drove in another run last
night as the Angels whip Boston six to nothing, but
matter of fact, he placed fourteenth in the voting. The
most important thing for me right now is just to
(27:30):
win on this fall club. A lot of people brought
up to the All Star thing, and I can't do
anything about that, you know, voter and things, but I
can't do something about this fall club. You know, if
I produced on this club when they did last night
as Nolan Ryan struck out twelve, that puts California a
half game up on Texas in the West. Elsewhere in
the American the Orioles lead is up to three. In
the East, they beat Oakland by the score of seven three.
(27:52):
It was the Blue Jays seven Milwaukee one, Minnesota over
Detroit five three is Jerry Kuzman won his eleventh The
White Sox stopped Texas five to four in Cleveland over
Kse eight to two. The New York Yankees were off,
but they made an important move for their pennant hopes
the activation of injured relief picture Rich Gossage over in
the National Montreal's Eastern lead is up to five and
a half, Bill Lee blank the Dodgers three zip, Philly
(28:14):
Is over the Giants four to the Cardinals meeting Cincinnati
six to three in Chicago seven Atlanta four. At the
Pan Am Games in San Juan a big upset and
the eight hundred meter run American James Robinson shocking Cuban
Olympic champ Alberto one Arena, the US boosted its gold
medal total to eighty one. Both the men's and women's
basketball teams remain undefeated, and for the second time in
(28:35):
his career, crack Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden has called
it quits. Dryden going back to the law books at
the age of thirty one. This time it looks permanent,
though the have say the big goalie is welcome back
at any time. From the sports desk of the United
Press International, I'm Keith Olberman. What no NFL camp news today?
That whole sports gas would be nothing but NFL camp news.
(28:57):
Well it's not bad considering I was on twenty years
old and I was going on no sleep. I was
having an out of body experience and the tape is
running a little fast. I should tell you about that
tone that starts. Each one of these the tone was
used for automated stations. That would be the signal for
them to take the network as it were, and put
me on their automated stations, and it had another automated
(29:18):
quality to it. The guy who succeeded me once went
in there a little um, a little impaired, and when
the tone generator did not generate the tone because somebody
had switched it off instead of just doing his sports
cast anyway, he got up and left. They threw him
back in the booth and somebody shouted talk. They fired
him not long after. So that's Tuesday, my first sportscast
(29:41):
as a professional. By Friday, I was on my own.
I was anchoring the night shift at u p I
six Sports cast one an hour starting at The big
news that day was what had happened the night before
at the Tiger's White Sox doubleheader, when the Socks tried
to tap into the nation's sincere anti disco zeitgeist by
(30:02):
blowing up a bunch of disco records between in games. What,
as the kids say, could possibly go wrong? After pondering
the evidence for the better part of the day, American
League President Lee McPhail has forfeited the second game of
last night Chicago Detroit doubleheader to the visiting Tigers. Between games,
anti disco promotional event escalated into big trouble and estimated
(30:25):
seven thousand fans stormed the field and reaked havoc. The
second game never got underway. Sock center fielder chet Lemon
was upset by the forfeit, but as he told reporters,
there was more to worry about last night than who
won and who lost. So you know, there's really nothing
I could do or say anything like that. I on
even think about it. You know, there's a lot of
things that happened without my control. Under happy that I
(30:45):
can go out the day and play baseball. I think
we're lucky that every ball player is able to walk
around and nobody get hurt. Everybody isn't only the ball
players with anybody that was pushed enough to get away
from me last night without getting hurt. Anything like that
is that hasn't be You know, it happens. You know,
it's the shame, but it happens. It's the way that
will to submit. Detroit and Chicago were scheduled for a
(31:07):
plain old night game later today. Meanwhile, the disc jockey
who led the anti disco stunt refused to take the
blame for the incident. Steve Dahl said it was not
his fault. He claims the media have distorted the event.
In other baseball news, the Cincinnati Reds of extended manager
John McNamara's contract. McNamara will be skipper in Cincinnati at
least through the nineties season. It'll be the United States
(31:27):
and Puerto Rico tonight playing for the basketball gold medal
at the Pan American Games, and the US will have
coach Bobby Knight at courtside night today got a postponement
of his assault trial until the twenty second of next month.
Also this evening, the American women's hoop squad goes for
gold against Cuba. In action this afternoon, the U S
took golds in both men's and women's tennis doubles, and
mel Purcell took the men's single title. Engulf At Doherty
(31:50):
is all alone atop the Greater Milwaukee Open. He shot
a six hundred sixty six today, one stroke ahead of
Vic Regolatto. And at the Women's Open in Connecticut, Sandra
Palmer and Debbie Massey share the lead that is early
in the second round from the sports desk of the
United President or National I'm Keith, I love chet Lemon.
They're saying it wasn't him. It was the system, man,
It's the system. By the way, I guess who was
(32:11):
the organist at Comiskey Park for that disco demolition night
for the White Sox and Tigers on that night in
August of nine. Yes, our own Nancy Faust. All right,
so I think that was the six sports cast on
the night of Maybe it was the seven, but by
Disco Demolition night aftermath was no longer the lead story.
(32:33):
In an early evening start in Anaheim, a man whose
name is now inseparable from no hitters was when my
ten forty five sports cast began on the verge of
throwing another one. Through eight innings at Anaheim, Nolan Ryan
of the California Angels has a no hitter going against
the New York Yankees. Ryan's no hitter preserved with one
(32:53):
out in the eighth thning when Jim Spencer aligned a
dying quail to center field that the official score ruled
an error. Again, Ryan bidding for his fifth no hitter
of his career. He leads the Yankees three to nothing
going into the ninth inning an American League final. Tonight,
Minnesota beat Toronto six to four in the National The
Padres came up with three in the ninth to beat
Montreal seven to five and the first of a double header.
(33:13):
The Mets got two rbi from Steve Henderson as they
won the opener of their night twinight or rather with
the Giant seven to six. The home run bats propelled
the Braves to a thirteen four mashing of Pittsburgh. Jeff
Burrows at a grand slam and Bob Horner hit two homers,
and the Phillies beat the Dodgers three to two. American
League President Lee McPhail has declared a forfeit in the
second game of last night scheduled Detroit Chicago doubleheader. The
(33:35):
nightcap was never played because thousands of fans streamed onto
the field during a promotional event after the opener. A
L spokeswoman Phyllis Marriage reads President McPhail's official decision. It
was the judgment of the umpires that it was not
possible to start the second game of the July twelfth
doubleheader because its inadequate crowd control and damage to the
playing field, both of which are the specific responsibility of
(33:59):
the home team. Is stand four required of me that
I declared this game for. At the PanAm Games in
San Juan, the US women took the silver medal in basketball,
dropping their final game to Cuba six This evening. Meanwhile,
America's Mary Decker took the race and Wi la Plott
won the gold in the one meter low hurdles. This afternoon,
(34:22):
the U S took gold medals in both men's and
women's tennis doubles, and mel Purcell won the golden men's singles.
In golf, it's geraln Brits leading the pack at the
U S Women's Open in Connecticut. She shot a two
part today and as the lead by two strokes after
the second round. And at Doherty leads the Greater Milwaukee Tournament.
He has a one stroke lead. From the sports desk
of United Press International, I'm Keith Olberman. That's a lot
(34:43):
of information for a two minute sportscast. Kid Nolan Ryan,
by the way, did not get his fifth no hitter
that night, and Angels infielder fumbled a Thurman Munthson ground
ball to start the ninth inning. Then Greg Nettles popped out.
Then Reggie Jackson got the first Yankee hit of the game.
In a moment later, a sacrifice fly took away Ryan's
shutout too. It was the second of five of times
(35:05):
Nolan Ryan lost no hitter in the ninth. He would
get his fifth no hitter two years later. He got
seven for his career and lost five in the ninth. Amazingly,
Thurman Munson would be dead just twenty days later. There
would be moments at Yankee Stadium the rest of that
year that we're not overwhelmed by the shock of his death,
but they were very few. On September six, nine seventy nine,
(35:26):
the great Yankees and Athletics pitcher Jim Canfish Hunter was
honored in a retirement ceremony, and I got to cover it,
and then I got to hear my reports on the
air on one of the New York radio stations. I
grew up listening to honored catfish Hunter, who was retiring
at the end of the season. Keith Olberman reports after
receiving gifts serious and comical and the praise of his
(35:46):
teammates as manager in the fan, catfish Hunter marked his
retirement ceremony by noting the important people who could not attend.
Three people I wish come in here today. My dad
(36:18):
latter leaves the Yankees to retire to his farm in Hertford,
North Carolina. People wereman at Yankee Stadium, New York. He's
retiring at the end of the season, and Keith Olberman
has the tales. Yankee showered their retiring right hander with gifts,
a trip to Hawaii, a pickup truck, and even a
brown elephant. After his teammates and the fans thanked him,
it was time for Catfish Hunter to do the thinking
and I thank you for all the gifts received a day,
(36:42):
and thank God for giving me strength and let me
be a ball player what always wanted to be. Thank
you very much for thirty minute ceremony was the symbolic
end of Hunter's fifteen year major league career, a career
that has to date featured two victories. Hutter says he'll
(37:04):
miss his tamates, but he's missed his family even more
and plans to become a gentleman farmer in North Carolina.
Keith Overman at Yankee Stadium in New York. Two things
about that it was such a different time. I got
to the ballpark early that Sunday morning, and perhaps an
hour before the ceremony, I saw Jim Hunter sitting by
himself in the dugout. I approached him for an interview,
(37:25):
explaining who I was and saying, if he was trying
to take in the last day and just contemplate things,
I was sorry to have intruded, and of course we
could skip the interview. He laughed and said, now I'm
just sitting here waiting for them to give me them
gag gifts. There's no pr person, no entourage to keep
me away, just him. I tried to get him to
repeat his most famous quote in this famous SoundBite that
(37:46):
all of us who ever heard it kept repeating to
each other for years, where he insisted his morm was
just fine, which was the answer to the question, catfish,
how's your arm? Marm feels real good. And that leads
me to the second PostScript. There was also no maltbox.
A Malti box is an audio feed from a lot
I have event at a press conference or off something
(38:07):
like a public address system. While you know player is
retiring and giving his farewell speech. I asked the Yankees
PR man if there was somewhere I could plug in
to record Hunter's address. Nope, I said, you don't have
a maltbox for the Catfish Hunter retirement speech. Nope. Could
I get on the field and just take my microphone
to the p A mic and then stay crouched over
(38:28):
with the photographers. Nope. So I had to get creative.
I was sent to get the speech. Those clips of
Catfish Hunter talking about his teammates and supporters reverberating through
the vast caverns of Yankee Stadium over the p A
system were recorded by me standing atop of garbage can
next to the hot dog stand next to the Yankee
(38:50):
Stadium press box, and while balancing and trying not to
fall off the damn thing, extending my right arm completely
above my head and sticking my microphone into one of
the PA speakers hanging from the ceiling. It worked. I
got the tape. Huh. I mean you can still hear it.
It's more than forty three years ago now, and I'm
(39:13):
still proud of it. On the other hand, as I
recalled this, my rotator cuff passed out just by remembering
the pain I've done, all the damage I can do
(39:33):
here to my rotator Cuff. Thank you for listening. If
you're not following or subscribing to the podcast, please do so.
You don't have to use your own name, I'm told.
Here are the credits. Most of the music, including our
theme here from Beethoven's Ninth was arranged, produced and performed
by Brian Ray and John Philip Chanelle. They are the
countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, Guitars,
(39:55):
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by T k
O Brothers. Another Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed
by No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the over
theme from ESPN two and it was written by Mitch
Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauchs,
the best baseball stadium organist ever and survivor of Disco
Demolition Night in ninety nine, are an outstre Today was
(40:18):
Larry David and everything else is pretty much my fault.
So that's countdown for this the twenty three day since
Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government
of the United States. Arrest him now while we still
can a new edition tomorrow. Until then, I'm Keith all vermin,
good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. Countdown with
(40:50):
Keith Olderman is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of I Heart Radio.
George Santos matters because Kevin McCarthy matters. Because if Kevin
(00:27):
McCarthy ousked George Santos, Kevin McCarthy may never become Speaker
of the House because George Santos will not be there
to vote for him. But if Kevin McCarthy protects George Santos,
Kevin McCarthy then owns George Santos for the rest of
his natural life. Which is why strategically the Democrats should
not try to prevent George Santos from being seated in
(00:50):
the new Congress. Either way McCarthy plays it, he will lose.
Let Santos hang from the collective Republican neck as long
as possible, dividing them and overshadowing their agenda and utter
cutting their farcical investigations of corruption while congressmen, catch me
if you can, sucks all the air out of the capital.
(01:12):
Especially since the Republican District Attorney of Nassau County, New York,
the center of the district that elected this charlatan, announced
late yesterday she is investigating Santos. His lies, she says,
quote are nothing short of stunning. If a crime was
committed in this county, we will prosecute it. Yes, do
(01:34):
that if a Republican d A is going to investigate
a Republican congressman tied to the leader of the Republicans
in the House for wholesale scale line to get elected Democrats,
get out of the Republicans way, shut up, an invest
in popcorn. All of which is why a former Republican
congressman went on the news Max propaganda feed late yesterday
(01:57):
and suggested, in passing the most Kevin McCarthy way out
of this imaginable get George sent Goes to vote for
McCarthy for Speaker and then get him to resign from
the House. The problem with that genius scheme, of course,
is that there is not the slightest sign that this
con man is ready to admit he has lied at all,
(02:19):
never mind the slightest sign that he would be willing
to quit before or after he has sworn in. As
of his most recent public interview and is now infamous
Tulsea Gabbard interview on Fox Tuesday night, George Santos is
still insisting that those of both parties screaming about his
lies about his religion, his lie that his grandparents escaped
(02:39):
the Holocaust, his lie that his mother escaped the World
Trade Center on nine eleven, his lie that his employees
died at the Pulse terrorist attack, his lies about his finances,
his lies about his sexual orientation, his lies about his employment,
his lies about his education, his lies about his time
spent his Brazil, his lives spent, about his time spent
in Russia, his lies about his criminal record, if any,
(03:00):
His lies about buildings he does or does not own,
his lines about companies that do or do not exist,
his lies about whether he was a landlord or a
deadbeat tenant, his lies about his dog rescue. That all
these complaints he has been able to dismiss as quote
net picking. We are still at the stage where caught
(03:23):
lying about his supposed Jewish heritage. He came back and,
as you know, insisted he never said he was Jewish,
he said he was jew hyphen Ish. And then the newspaper,
the Forward, produced his campaign position paper on Israel and
the Middle East, and Santos his third sentence begins, quote
as a proud American Jew. So he lied, then covered
(03:46):
up the lie with a different lie, and We still
haven't even reached the tertiary stage of George Santos disease,
where there is a third lie to cover up the
first two lies that didn't work. I've seen how socialism
destroys people's lives because my grandparents survived the Holocaust. This
is not a man even approaching the building that contains
(04:09):
the hallway that leads to step one of the twelve
step program for compulsive liars. This is also not a
man poised to follow some script that Kevin McCarthy just
hands him. In fact, the only thing he seems to
have actually done about this bottomless pit of stupid, these
impossible to escape lies is to underscore the power he
(04:33):
Santos holds over McCarthy. On December, Santos tweeted, quote, we
have the opportunity of a lifetime to deliver real results
for the American people. We must give the gabble to
Kevin McCarthy to stop the disastrous policies the Dems have
pushed the last two years. I encourage my colleagues to
join me. Our country depends on it. We must, in
(04:58):
caps give the gabble to Kevin McCarthy. At was the
eighteen No later than the twenty three George Santos deleted
that tweet, And if deleting that tweet does not wreak
of pressuring McCarthy for his support, I do not know
what could. And McCarthy can't just back away in any
direction from this twerp. It is barely six weeks since
(05:21):
he himself spoke glowingly and proudly and boastfully and credit
grabbing lee about the election of George Santos. And he
did all this boasting to the Republican Jewish Coalitions Leadership
Conference in Vegas. For God's sake, I really want to
talk about who's the makeup of this new majority. You
(05:42):
heard from some of all already, you know, at Max
Miller in Ohio, George Santos in New York, and you
had David custed Off from Tennessee get reelected. He introduced him.
Do you realize we have the largest Republican Jewish caucus
in more than twenty four years? Not bad, huh? Not anymore?
(06:03):
You don't say, Sparky, when you bought this scamster, did
they give you the receipt or did they give him
the receipt? Because one of you sure as hell owns
this guy and the insolvable mess he has created. And
of course, just as much as Santos is nowhere near admitting,
let alone atoning for his sins, nor is anybody in
(06:24):
the Republican Congressional Caucus near admitting they have got to
get out from under this Albert trust as quickly as possible.
Do not be fooled by the grand standing by the
Republican reps from the adjoining districts. Anthony Desposito and Nick
Laalatta called for ethics investigations of Santos, and that confirms
(06:44):
they are ready to seat him and then turn him
over to a Republican led committee that will first have
to ask somebody what the word ethics means. And especially,
do not be fooled by the impact of the Tulsei
Gabbard interview with Santos. That was the perfect fix, re Lee.
(07:05):
It was genius by Fox News. You must remember that
Republicans not only still believed Tulsea Gabbard was a Democrat,
in fact that she was a liberal Democrat, but they
believed she is still at least a liberal. And thus
the fact that the grilling on Tucker Carlson's show was
done by her and not Carlson or another genuine Fox fascist,
(07:28):
abused that interview with a kind of magical quality. Republican
reaction to the Gabbard interviewed followed along the lines of
the tweet by the Indiana Congressman Jim Banks. Banks didn't
slam Santos, Banks didn't demand Santos resign. Banks didn't mention
Santos at all. He wrote just four words, good job,
(07:50):
Tulsey Gabbard. It is my fervent belief that Republicans in
office and just the civilians at home, burn their incense
at the altar of their cult. Can embrace the Banks reaction,
while simultaneous Lee also embracing the Marjorie Trailer Park Green reaction,
in which she complained about Gabbered not giving Santos any
(08:12):
quote grace for having admitted his lies, and she added
that Gabbered quote says she is a former Democrat. They
can all believe in many ways. They need to believe
both that the Gabbered interview was cathartic and it relieves
them of any of santos ethical taint, and at the
(08:34):
same time that the Gabbered interview was just another Democratic
attack on the fundamental meaning of life. He's a Republican.
He got elected, therefore he is above criticism for anything.
Don't get me started about Gabbard's motivation in all this
A she smells a television job and be I'll just
repeat a tweet reply from an attorney named Hallie spiked
(08:58):
quote she's pissed because he got more money from the
Russians than she did. Unquote. Of course that highlights what
is next on this wonderful heaven sent to the Democrats,
endless cornucopia of Republican corruption, complete with its own easy
to remember one word catch phrase jew ish. What highlights
(09:22):
what's next? What's next is the money? The website Semaphore
summed it up neatly. Let me quote them. When he
first ran for Congress in Santos, who appeared to have
suffered from financial trouble for much of his adult life,
filed disclosures listing no assets at a salary of fifty
five thousand dollars, but the filings from his most recent
(09:45):
run suggests he came into sudden riches, making between three
and a half million and eleven and a half billion
from a company he founded called the Devolder Organization. In
one he loaned his campaign more than seven hundred thousand dollars.
Devolder was dissolved in September you after failing to file
(10:06):
an annual report. Given that timing Representative elect Dan Goldman,
Democrat New York has raised the question of whether it
was created merely to funnel illegal campaign donations unquote. Faced
with other reporting that those donations included large sums from
the cousin of a Russian oligarch. George Santos actually talked
(10:27):
to Semaphore on the record and tried to explain how
at Devolder he could make up to four hundred thousand
dollars merely by serving as a go between in the
private sale of a yacht, and then he added, quote,
I don't dance to the tune of Congressman elect Dan Goldman.
If it was requested of me to produce any documentation
(10:48):
from this organization, I have no problem doing so. Two
people with proper authority, not to authoritarian members of Congress
that think they have authority over their peers unquote, respect
my authority. George seems ready to deal. Huh. That quote
was before the d A announced her investigation, and one
(11:10):
of the things that d A will be looking to
no doubt. Is a Santos interview from last March, in
which he helpfully brought up Russia money, spending money in Russia,
and just in case we needed to ratchet this whole
thing up to another level, he brought up how frequently
he traveled to Moscow to spend money in Russia. You
(11:30):
show up with a hundred dollars and you get six
thou rules and you can do a lot with six thousands.
I mean, I've been to Moscow many times during my career.
I mean you stay at the St. Regis on the
Red Square, right off the Red Square, next to the
Gum Museum, which is the most expensive shopping mall in
the world. Once again, Democrats, stay out of this. Make
(11:54):
all the noises of propriety you need to put. Do
not raise an objection to seating George Santos. Resolving this
could kill Kevin McCarthy's career no matter which way he turns,
and split the Republican Party. And all you have to
do is stand to the side and give a nice,
polite golf clap. I mean the ex Georgia congressman who
(12:14):
suggested getting Santos to vote for McCarthy for Speaker and
then getting him to quit. Doug Collins also asked yesterday rhetorically,
if they were all sure Santos really is a Republican
George Santos, The guy's name even sounds like Ron de Santis.
Just let McCarthy choose between the tiger or the other tiger.
(12:39):
Then Kevin McCarthy is gonna have to make that choice
because while a Supreme Court ruling in nineteen sixty nine
limited Congress's ability to actually not admit an elected representative
or senator, limited it to violations of the legal requirements
age citizenship residency buried in this avalanche of lies, lies
(12:59):
to cover lies, and the application of the suffix ish.
While it is clear Santos is older than the minimum
house age of there are clearly reasons to doubt his
residency and indeed whether or not he is actually a
citizen of the United States. So yeah, I know, we
don't need one more Republican associate path one more Manchurian candidate.
(13:22):
It looks like they made him in a laboratory to
be all the things a Republican would need to be
to win on Long Island, from the gay part to
the Jewish part, to the Hispanic part, to the dog
rescue part. But Democrats alone are not going to get
him tossed out of the house anyway. Nor does it
appear that anybody Democratic or Republican is going to get
this guy to stop digging. Let him dig. Kevin McCarthy
(13:48):
is now the man who used to come out on
the Ed Sullivan Show while that saber dance music played,
and he would start spinning a dozen or so of
these long poles and then carefully balance big dinner plates
atop the polls and continually jump from one pole to
the other, trying to keep the polls and the plates
spinning and not crashing to the floor, live on national television.
(14:10):
If you need one more piece of evidence about this,
santos Is spokeswoman has made a statement quote as a millennial,
George did what he had to in order to evade
smear campaigns put forth by elitist organizations like the New
York Times. Gabrielle Lipsky went on that the paper quote
(14:31):
shamefully launched open season against the first openly gay person
to be elected to Congress. End quote. George Santos is
not the first openly gay person to be elected to Congress.
George Santos is not even the first openly gay Republican
to be elected to Congress, and given his recent marriage
to a woman, we don't even know about the gay part.
(14:53):
Santos Is spokeswoman responded to santos Is lies by herself, lying,
this is all Kevin McCarthy's show Democrat as there are
his polls, they are his China. It is his spinning.
Your role is to buy him more plates. Thank you,
(15:35):
Nazi Faust still ahead? Why yes, I am running for
CEO of Twitter. Thank you for asking the old one
makes worse persons and not just for tanking his own companies.
(15:58):
Where did we get this guy, Eric Adams? Did my
city not suffer enough with Giuliani and Bloomberg into Blasia?
Now the mayor is literally saying, it's not big brother
watching you. Big brother is protecting you and in things
I promised not to tell, things I have told repeatedly.
My first professional sports Cash tenth nine not only does
(16:20):
still exist, I will play it for you and I
will not be offended if you do not stick around
all the way to the end of the podcast to
listen to it. That's next This is Countdown. This is
Countdown with Keith still ahead on Countdown. Do you have
(16:45):
anything left from your first day at your first job?
I do, I will share first. In each edition of Countdown,
we feature a dog in need you can help. Every
dog has its day. This nightmare continues here at the
New York Pound. The kill list reach twenty five dogs
at Christmas, and three of them died yesterday. Now added
(17:07):
to that list. Honey. Honey is a seventeen month old
twelve pound mix a boy. He looks like a multi pooh.
He's house trained, He's well behaved, but he is anxious
around strangers, and he'll need more training to get along
smoothly with other dogs. Pledges to get him into the
hands of an experienced rescue. That's probably the best course
(17:29):
of action for Honey. Incredibly, Honey was left at the
pound to die by his quote humans on Christmas Eve.
How could you do that and live with yourself afterwards?
Let's try to make it up to him. I thank you,
and Honey thanks you. Pos Scripts to the news, some headlines,
(18:04):
some updates, some snarks, some predictions. Date line, Washington Congress
and Jamie Raskin of Maryland and the January six Committee
has announced he is about to begin chemo after having
been diagnosed with diffuse large B cell lymphoma, which he
describes as quote a serious but curable form of cancer.
We pray so dateline Washington. Headline from the latest January
(18:25):
six Committee interview. Transcripts. Cassidy Hutchinson testified the Trump's chief
of staff Mark Meadows, routinely burned documents in his office.
When Will Meadows cut a deal, he is neck high
already in this dateline Grand Rapids, Michigan. What can push
back against the increasing political terrorism from the right, Well,
(18:46):
things like the nineteen years in prison given out yesterday
to the co leader of the fascist plot to kidnap
Governor Whitber of Michigan. That is what Barry Croft got Tuesday.
His fellow terrorist Adam Fox got sixteen years. Dateline, San Francisco. Yes,
I am running for CEO of Twitter. My argument, I
(19:06):
can't do worse than this guy. Some of the items
on my platform, a free share of Tesla with every tweet,
keeping the Piers Morgan account hacked because the fake tweets
are less offensive than his usual ones, and hiring Maggie
Haberman to do the next, Twitter Files and Dateline Newport News, Virginia.
Bill Cosby says he's going to tour this year, a
(19:28):
comedy tour. There's so much fun to be had in
this storytelling I do. He says, no truth. Rumors that
all who attend will be given drinks personally prepared by
Mr Cosby. This is SportsCenter. Wait, check that, not anymore.
(19:58):
This is Countdown with Keith in sports where it's pretty
strange move, even for the always strange Las Vegas formerly
Oakland formerly Los Angeles formerly Oakland formerly Los Angeles Raiders.
Probably outside the playoff picture, but not yet eliminated. The
(20:19):
Writers have bench quarterback Derek Carr. They say they will
use the last regular season game to look at his backup,
Jarrett Stidham. It probably means Car won't be back with
the Raiders next year. And remember what Raiders owner Al Davis,
the Late Al Davis used to say, My team's quotaback
mus go down, and he must go down. Hod College
Bowl season at Oklahoma and Florida State playing the Cheese
(20:42):
It Bowl in Orlando tonight, amid controversy. Carter Carrol's of
the Tallahassee Democrat writes that the sponsor has informed him, quote,
there is no such thing as cheese. It's one cheese
it is a cheese it two or more of the
cheese it are called cheese it crackers, not cheese. It's
(21:04):
two problems. A. I don't think that's true, and more importantly,
be if you are debating the correct plural for the
product of the bull game sponsor, the game itself is
probably not worth watching. They sent me to record the speech.
(21:35):
To record the speech, I had to balance the top
of garbage can and stick my microphone into a public
address system speaker hanging from the ceiling. Coming up in
things I promised not to tell. First the daily roundup
of the miscreants, morons and done in Kruger effect specimens
who constitute today's worst persons in the world lebrons. The
(21:55):
New York Times it has published a long quote opinion
unquote piece on the relative merits of three books about Trump.
One is by Peter Baker, another is by Robert Draper.
The third is by Maggie Haberman. Now what do those
three have in common, Well, they all rite for The
New York Times. What else do they have in common? Well,
(22:17):
they all withheld news from The New York Times and
its readers during an antidemocracy crisis until each author got
their own book advance, and now their relative merits are
being covered in the New York Times. I believe the
technical term for this is log rolling. Runner up the
Anthony from the Twilight Zone of Twitter Elon Musk. Almost
(22:39):
no one seems to realize. He tweeted that the head
of bioethics at m I H, the person who's supposed
to make sure FOUNC she behaves ethically is his wife.
You know, a normal mind writes that out and before
they hit send, they think, huh. Almost no one seems
to realize something. Is it possible? That's because it's not true,
(23:00):
and in this case, it's not true Ellen. Dr Christine
Grady runs the chief of the Department of Bioethics at
the nih Clinical Center. Her husband is Dr Anthony Fauci,
and Dr Faucci is the head of the nih S
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Different organizations, different buildings,
different power structures. Next COVID conspiracy rumor that the dim
(23:24):
witted Musk can spread that Dr Grady is the sister
of Joane Maxwell. She's also not that but our winner.
New York's mayor Eric Adams, the man who brought to
you such quotes as I thank God I'm the mayor
right now, and there's no way God created me for
this moment. If he did not believe this was my moment,
(23:46):
he may have topped himself. Defending his push to cover
New York in facial recognition devices, he told an interviewer, quote,
it blows my mind how much we have not embraced technology.
And part of that is because many of our electeds
are afraid anything technology. They think, oh, it's a boogeyman,
it's big brother watching you. No, big brother is protecting you.
(24:10):
I'm willing to bet Eric Adams does not know exactly
what big brother is or anything about the premise of Orwell,
which you may have heard this in the premises, the
state gradually gets to enslave everybody by convincing them it's
not big brother watching you. Big brother is protecting you.
(24:32):
Mayor Eric, you're trying to make me, Miss Bill de Blasio,
aren't you today's worst parson? And no one to the
(24:57):
number one story on the Countdown and things I promised
not to tell, and it is hardly that today. In fact,
it is more accurately Show and Tell. There is no
particular excuse for this, except for the fact that I
found these the other day. They are three sportscasts I
did in the first ten weeks of my professional career,
from July through September of nineteen seventy nine, and to me,
(25:20):
the fun part of this is hearing the old timey
names and a few events that are still talked about,
like the night of the infamous disco demolition in Chicago
and one of the many nights Nolan Ryan bid for
a no hit game. And then there's reporting on the
retirement of one of my favorite players and something I
could not physically do today that I did that day.
(25:41):
You don't have to listen to all of them. I
won't take it personally. You don't have to listen to
any of them in fact, but in their defense, they're
each just two minutes long. The first one was on
the morning of Tuesday, July seventy nine, the thousand stations
on the United Press International Radio Network QPI Audio. We're
expecting to hear our sports director Sam Rosen, their usual
(26:03):
morning man, to appear on their feed for the nine
am sportscast. But at about eight am, Sam had told
the new guy me that I wasn't just training and
watching him do all those sportscasts. I would be doing
the surprise. What you will hear first is the talk
(26:23):
up newscasters, business reporters. Sportscasters would tell the stations live
that they were there and that their broadcast was coming
up exactly ten seconds from Mark. Stations live sports will begin,
preceded by a one second tone coming up ten seconds
from Mark. Incidentally, I never figured out who Mark was
(26:47):
here it is here's the sports guest. Good morning. Three
members of the Houston Astros named this morning to manager
Tommy Losort's national leg pitching staff for next Tuesday's All
Star Game. Top winner Joe Nicro tapped by Losorta, along
with Joaquin and dhar and leader Joe Sambido. Rounding out
the staff veteran Steve Carlton of Philadelphia and gay Lord
(27:09):
Perry of the Padres, Steve Rogers of Montreal, the Cubs
brew suitor, and Cincinnati's Mike Lacas. And. Speaking of the
All Stars, you would think Don Baylor and his eight
e r B I would be a shoe in for
the a l Outfield. Baylor drove in another run last
night as the Angels whip Boston six to nothing, but
matter of fact, he placed fourteenth in the voting. The
most important thing for me right now is just to
(27:30):
win on this fall club. A lot of people brought
up to the All Star thing, and I can't do
anything about that, you know, voter and things, but I
can't do something about this fall club. You know, if
I produced on this club when they did last night
as Nolan Ryan struck out twelve, that puts California a
half game up on Texas in the West. Elsewhere in
the American the Orioles lead is up to three. In
the East, they beat Oakland by the score of seven three.
(27:52):
It was the Blue Jays seven Milwaukee one, Minnesota over
Detroit five three is Jerry Kuzman won his eleventh The
White Sox stopped Texas five to four in Cleveland over
Kse eight to two. The New York Yankees were off,
but they made an important move for their pennant hopes
the activation of injured relief picture Rich Gossage over in
the National Montreal's Eastern lead is up to five and
a half, Bill Lee blank the Dodgers three zip, Philly
(28:14):
Is over the Giants four to the Cardinals meeting Cincinnati
six to three in Chicago seven Atlanta four. At the
Pan Am Games in San Juan a big upset and
the eight hundred meter run American James Robinson shocking Cuban
Olympic champ Alberto one Arena, the US boosted its gold
medal total to eighty one. Both the men's and women's
basketball teams remain undefeated, and for the second time in
(28:35):
his career, crack Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden has called
it quits. Dryden going back to the law books at
the age of thirty one. This time it looks permanent,
though the have say the big goalie is welcome back
at any time. From the sports desk of the United
Press International, I'm Keith Olberman. What no NFL camp news today?
That whole sports gas would be nothing but NFL camp news.
(28:57):
Well it's not bad considering I was on twenty years
old and I was going on no sleep. I was
having an out of body experience and the tape is
running a little fast. I should tell you about that
tone that starts. Each one of these the tone was
used for automated stations. That would be the signal for
them to take the network as it were, and put
me on their automated stations, and it had another automated
(29:18):
quality to it. The guy who succeeded me once went
in there a little um, a little impaired, and when
the tone generator did not generate the tone because somebody
had switched it off instead of just doing his sports
cast anyway, he got up and left. They threw him
back in the booth and somebody shouted talk. They fired
him not long after. So that's Tuesday, my first sportscast
(29:41):
as a professional. By Friday, I was on my own.
I was anchoring the night shift at u p I
six Sports cast one an hour starting at The big
news that day was what had happened the night before
at the Tiger's White Sox doubleheader, when the Socks tried
to tap into the nation's sincere anti disco zeitgeist by
(30:02):
blowing up a bunch of disco records between in games. What,
as the kids say, could possibly go wrong? After pondering
the evidence for the better part of the day, American
League President Lee McPhail has forfeited the second game of
last night Chicago Detroit doubleheader to the visiting Tigers. Between games,
anti disco promotional event escalated into big trouble and estimated
(30:25):
seven thousand fans stormed the field and reaked havoc. The
second game never got underway. Sock center fielder chet Lemon
was upset by the forfeit, but as he told reporters,
there was more to worry about last night than who
won and who lost. So you know, there's really nothing
I could do or say anything like that. I on
even think about it. You know, there's a lot of
things that happened without my control. Under happy that I
(30:45):
can go out the day and play baseball. I think
we're lucky that every ball player is able to walk
around and nobody get hurt. Everybody isn't only the ball
players with anybody that was pushed enough to get away
from me last night without getting hurt. Anything like that
is that hasn't be You know, it happens. You know,
it's the shame, but it happens. It's the way that
will to submit. Detroit and Chicago were scheduled for a
(31:07):
plain old night game later today. Meanwhile, the disc jockey
who led the anti disco stunt refused to take the
blame for the incident. Steve Dahl said it was not
his fault. He claims the media have distorted the event.
In other baseball news, the Cincinnati Reds of extended manager
John McNamara's contract. McNamara will be skipper in Cincinnati at
least through the nineties season. It'll be the United States
(31:27):
and Puerto Rico tonight playing for the basketball gold medal
at the Pan American Games, and the US will have
coach Bobby Knight at courtside night today got a postponement
of his assault trial until the twenty second of next month.
Also this evening, the American women's hoop squad goes for
gold against Cuba. In action this afternoon, the U S
took golds in both men's and women's tennis doubles, and
mel Purcell took the men's single title. Engulf At Doherty
(31:50):
is all alone atop the Greater Milwaukee Open. He shot
a six hundred sixty six today, one stroke ahead of
Vic Regolatto. And at the Women's Open in Connecticut, Sandra
Palmer and Debbie Massey share the lead that is early
in the second round from the sports desk of the
United President or National I'm Keith, I love chet Lemon.
They're saying it wasn't him. It was the system, man,
It's the system. By the way, I guess who was
(32:11):
the organist at Comiskey Park for that disco demolition night
for the White Sox and Tigers on that night in
August of nine. Yes, our own Nancy Faust. All right,
so I think that was the six sports cast on
the night of Maybe it was the seven, but by
Disco Demolition night aftermath was no longer the lead story.
(32:33):
In an early evening start in Anaheim, a man whose
name is now inseparable from no hitters was when my
ten forty five sports cast began on the verge of
throwing another one. Through eight innings at Anaheim, Nolan Ryan
of the California Angels has a no hitter going against
the New York Yankees. Ryan's no hitter preserved with one
(32:53):
out in the eighth thning when Jim Spencer aligned a
dying quail to center field that the official score ruled
an error. Again, Ryan bidding for his fifth no hitter
of his career. He leads the Yankees three to nothing
going into the ninth inning an American League final. Tonight,
Minnesota beat Toronto six to four in the National The
Padres came up with three in the ninth to beat
Montreal seven to five and the first of a double header.
(33:13):
The Mets got two rbi from Steve Henderson as they
won the opener of their night twinight or rather with
the Giant seven to six. The home run bats propelled
the Braves to a thirteen four mashing of Pittsburgh. Jeff
Burrows at a grand slam and Bob Horner hit two homers,
and the Phillies beat the Dodgers three to two. American
League President Lee McPhail has declared a forfeit in the
second game of last night scheduled Detroit Chicago doubleheader. The
(33:35):
nightcap was never played because thousands of fans streamed onto
the field during a promotional event after the opener. A
L spokeswoman Phyllis Marriage reads President McPhail's official decision. It
was the judgment of the umpires that it was not
possible to start the second game of the July twelfth
doubleheader because its inadequate crowd control and damage to the
playing field, both of which are the specific responsibility of
(33:59):
the home team. Is stand four required of me that
I declared this game for. At the PanAm Games in
San Juan, the US women took the silver medal in basketball,
dropping their final game to Cuba six This evening. Meanwhile,
America's Mary Decker took the race and Wi la Plott
won the gold in the one meter low hurdles. This afternoon,
(34:22):
the U S took gold medals in both men's and
women's tennis doubles, and mel Purcell won the golden men's singles.
In golf, it's geraln Brits leading the pack at the
U S Women's Open in Connecticut. She shot a two
part today and as the lead by two strokes after
the second round. And at Doherty leads the Greater Milwaukee Tournament.
He has a one stroke lead. From the sports desk
of United Press International, I'm Keith Olberman. That's a lot
(34:43):
of information for a two minute sportscast. Kid Nolan Ryan,
by the way, did not get his fifth no hitter
that night, and Angels infielder fumbled a Thurman Munthson ground
ball to start the ninth inning. Then Greg Nettles popped out.
Then Reggie Jackson got the first Yankee hit of the game.
In a moment later, a sacrifice fly took away Ryan's
shutout too. It was the second of five of times
(35:05):
Nolan Ryan lost no hitter in the ninth. He would
get his fifth no hitter two years later. He got
seven for his career and lost five in the ninth. Amazingly,
Thurman Munson would be dead just twenty days later. There
would be moments at Yankee Stadium the rest of that
year that we're not overwhelmed by the shock of his death,
but they were very few. On September six, nine seventy nine,
(35:26):
the great Yankees and Athletics pitcher Jim Canfish Hunter was
honored in a retirement ceremony, and I got to cover it,
and then I got to hear my reports on the
air on one of the New York radio stations. I
grew up listening to honored catfish Hunter, who was retiring
at the end of the season. Keith Olberman reports after
receiving gifts serious and comical and the praise of his
(35:46):
teammates as manager in the fan, catfish Hunter marked his
retirement ceremony by noting the important people who could not attend.
Three people I wish come in here today. My dad
(36:18):
latter leaves the Yankees to retire to his farm in Hertford,
North Carolina. People wereman at Yankee Stadium, New York. He's
retiring at the end of the season, and Keith Olberman
has the tales. Yankee showered their retiring right hander with gifts,
a trip to Hawaii, a pickup truck, and even a
brown elephant. After his teammates and the fans thanked him,
it was time for Catfish Hunter to do the thinking
and I thank you for all the gifts received a day,
(36:42):
and thank God for giving me strength and let me
be a ball player what always wanted to be. Thank
you very much for thirty minute ceremony was the symbolic
end of Hunter's fifteen year major league career, a career
that has to date featured two victories. Hutter says he'll
(37:04):
miss his tamates, but he's missed his family even more
and plans to become a gentleman farmer in North Carolina.
Keith Overman at Yankee Stadium in New York. Two things
about that it was such a different time. I got
to the ballpark early that Sunday morning, and perhaps an
hour before the ceremony, I saw Jim Hunter sitting by
himself in the dugout. I approached him for an interview,
(37:25):
explaining who I was and saying, if he was trying
to take in the last day and just contemplate things,
I was sorry to have intruded, and of course we
could skip the interview. He laughed and said, now I'm
just sitting here waiting for them to give me them
gag gifts. There's no pr person, no entourage to keep
me away, just him. I tried to get him to
repeat his most famous quote in this famous SoundBite that
(37:46):
all of us who ever heard it kept repeating to
each other for years, where he insisted his morm was
just fine, which was the answer to the question, catfish,
how's your arm? Marm feels real good. And that leads
me to the second PostScript. There was also no maltbox.
A Malti box is an audio feed from a lot
I have event at a press conference or off something
(38:07):
like a public address system. While you know player is
retiring and giving his farewell speech. I asked the Yankees
PR man if there was somewhere I could plug in
to record Hunter's address. Nope, I said, you don't have
a maltbox for the Catfish Hunter retirement speech. Nope. Could
I get on the field and just take my microphone
to the p A mic and then stay crouched over
(38:28):
with the photographers. Nope. So I had to get creative.
I was sent to get the speech. Those clips of
Catfish Hunter talking about his teammates and supporters reverberating through
the vast caverns of Yankee Stadium over the p A
system were recorded by me standing atop of garbage can
next to the hot dog stand next to the Yankee
(38:50):
Stadium press box, and while balancing and trying not to
fall off the damn thing, extending my right arm completely
above my head and sticking my microphone into one of
the PA speakers hanging from the ceiling. It worked. I
got the tape. Huh. I mean you can still hear it.
It's more than forty three years ago now, and I'm
(39:13):
still proud of it. On the other hand, as I
recalled this, my rotator cuff passed out just by remembering
the pain I've done, all the damage I can do
(39:33):
here to my rotator Cuff. Thank you for listening. If
you're not following or subscribing to the podcast, please do so.
You don't have to use your own name, I'm told.
Here are the credits. Most of the music, including our
theme here from Beethoven's Ninth was arranged, produced and performed
by Brian Ray and John Philip Chanelle. They are the
countdown musical directors. All orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Chanelle, Guitars,
(39:55):
bass and drums by Brian Ray, produced by T k
O Brothers. Another Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed
by No Horns Allowed. The sports music is the over
theme from ESPN two and it was written by Mitch
Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN Inc. Musical comments by Nancy Fauchs,
the best baseball stadium organist ever and survivor of Disco
Demolition Night in ninety nine, are an outstre Today was
(40:18):
Larry David and everything else is pretty much my fault.
So that's countdown for this the twenty three day since
Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically elected government
of the United States. Arrest him now while we still
can a new edition tomorrow. Until then, I'm Keith all vermin,
good morning, good afternoon, goodnight, and good luck. Countdown with
(40:50):
Keith Olderman is a production of I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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