December 30, 2024 • 34 mins
Top Headlines of 2024. Rams/Chargers! Vic Jacobs joins the show to talk about Lebron James turning 40.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Sitting in for John coblt here on the Mighty KFI
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We'm just curious. Did a little quick research during the break.
You know, the KFI has been broadcasting inside of the
California since nineteen twenty two, now owned by iHeartMedia. So
I'm really happy to be sitting here. Always been a
(00:28):
talk radio when I'm gonna use the term radio because
that's still what we think of. Talk radio encompasses the
app encompasses streaming. I mean, I guess you could call
it audio now, but calling it talk audio doesn't sound
quite the same, right, So, been a huge fan of
talk radio. I'm from the Boston area originally, and ever
since i was a kid, I had that AM radio
(00:50):
with me, or the transistor radio or the clock radio
by the bedside, and a lot of time a lot
listening to WBZ, which is a huge talk radio station
in New England, could get the New y York stations
listen to a lot of sports talk.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's just a great way to stay up on information.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's also if you have a talk show host that
you like listening to their opinion. I mean, what is
more entertaining slash informative, slash wild and listening to Bill
Handle every morning?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I mean I don't know Bill Handle. I met him
here briefly.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We all feel like we know people that are on
the radio or people that are on TV, because you know,
they're in our house, They're in our bedroom, they're in
our living room, they're on our phones, they're on our computers.
Handle that is that is one interesting dude, right, quite
a quite a personality.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And I mean that and you know, in the right way.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So as we wrap up twenty twenty four, it's obviously
a time that we look back on stories that we
were talking about. And this is what we do here
in talk radio, what we do in the news business
Fox eleven, where I spent the past twenty five or three.
I can remember how many years it was, and it's
it's really interesting because right here in the KFI studios
(02:01):
in Burbank, I can look out the window. I've mentioned
this before if you've heard me sitting in and look
out at what used to be the studios of KNBC
three thousand West Alameda, the former NBC headquarters West Coast Headquarters.
Now they move the news department over to the Universal
Studios lot. But spent I guess I wouldn't call them
(02:23):
my formidive years because I was already in my twenties.
But I spent almost twenty years with the fine folks
at Channel four News, many of whom are still there.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And wow, that was quite a ride during the eighties
and nineties.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
From Rodney King to the riots, to OJ to Menendez.
I mean, you name it. We were there at earthquakes, fires, floods.
It never stops. It never stops here in southern California.
What was the big news story for you in your world?
You know how to do it. You click on the
microphone icon on the iHeartRadio app and record your comments
(02:59):
and we'll play them on the Haven't gotten very many
today must not be a good time for people. What
They're busy making their New Year's Eve plans, or they're
sitting in traffic. So the big story and it's everybody
does these compilations, and when I go through some of these,
you're gonna go, oh, yeah, I'd forgotten all about that.
Do you remember back in January, almost a year ago.
(03:22):
They call it the Alaska door plug incident. Plug is
just another name for a door. Do you remember the
flight Alaska Flights twelve eighty two. It took off from
Portland and a door blew out. Remember the flight was
full and fortunately the seats next to the missing door
happened to be empty. And it was a Boeing seven
thirty seven Max nine if you want the technical details,
(03:46):
and made an emergency landing. No one was seriously injured,
and the NTSB investigated in a preliminary report anyway, was
that four bolts which are specifically designed to be there
for the first in the first place, and tightened to
prevent the door from opening and falling off the plane
we're missing. Boeing blamed that on the fuselage supplier and
(04:11):
that's still been unresolved.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Boeing has a new CEO.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The government mandated they slowed down production and increase oversight.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Then bowing plane just went down in South Korea. Yeah,
and South Korea, that tragedy.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
There was a Boeing plane which you know most I
don't know the exact numbers in front of me, but
it's safe to say that the majority of airliners that
are commercial use these days are made by Boeing, so
that maybe a little bit unfair plumping them into that.
But yeah, that South Korean air disasters, how many people
were killed is definitely the investigation is just really getting
(04:47):
started on that one and continuing our sort of greatest
bad hits. You remember the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse
that was huge in Baltimore. That was in March. A
container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It collapsed
(05:08):
the bridge and killed six construction workers who were just
working on the bridge. I think they were filling potholes.
Two workers that were on the bridge survived and that
shut down the huge port of Baltimore for weeks and
they had to remove like tens of thousands of tons
of debris. In October, the operators of the vessel that
destroyed the bridge agreed to pay one hundred million dollars
(05:30):
in costs, and repairing the bridge is going to cost
like a couple of billion dollars. I think it's been
reopened temporarily, but the construction still is in progress. An
interesting story, I say, interesting sad story with an interesting
result is that the parents of a school shooter were convicted.
(05:52):
This is back in April. The school shooter is named
Ethan Crumbley. It happened in Michigan, and sadly, it's easy
to sort of forget all the different school shootings that
we've had, but this was a shooter who was fifteen
years old at the time of the twenty twenty one shooting.
He killed four students in at Oxford High School, and
(06:15):
the prosecutors charged remember police arrest, prosecutors prosecute. They prosecuted
the parents for allowing their son or negligence and allowing
their son to get access to a gun. They actually
bought the gun for their son and failed to secure
it and limit their son's access to it. Again, he
was fifteen years old at the time. So they were
(06:38):
convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to
ten to fifteen years in prison, A significant amount of
prison time for a school shooter's parents, and that a
case we all follow here in southern California. This was
back in July with a judge dismissed the Alec Baldwin
rust case on day three of his involuntary manslaughter trial.
(06:58):
Remember that was the fatal onset sh shooting of cinematographer
Helenia Hutchins, where Baldwin was using a gun and pointed
it at the director.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He says that went off by itself.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Others say he pulled the trigger and nobody realized that
it was loaded with live ammunition. The armor or on
rust Handagutierras was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March.
I found not guilty of tampering with evidence, and then
Baldwin was prosecuted.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
He wasn't prosecutor.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Then they finally dismissed the case against him because of
bad faith by prosecutors and failure to turn over some
ammunition evidence.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So Baldwin skated on that one.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And now what he's like back on Saturday Night Live
and back with his career as if nothing happened. I mean,
I don't know Alec Baldwin. He certainly had his share
of controversies in life, and he deserves to live his life.
He wasn't convicted of a crime, But I don't know
how you move on for something from something as sad
as that.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Five people were charged in August of twenty twenty four
in connection with last year's ketamine death of friend star
Matthew Perry. You remember how huge that story was. Well,
these actors live in assistant. A name by the name
of Kenneth Iwa Masa has been charged uh and the
doctor has been charged.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Two doctors have been charged as well.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Mark Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another doctor, doctor
Salvador Placentia, UH, with the understanding it will be sold
to Perry, so that criminal cases. Those criminal cases are ongoing,
but certainly a shocking story about the death of friend
star Matthew Perry and a cautionary tale. Thinking back to
when we talk last segment about the you know power
(08:45):
of addiction, the danger of addiction. Matthew Perry could never
quite overcome it. He wrote his autobiography Really Powerful, read
about you know, the demons that he dealt with for
decades and despite all the love and friends, no pun
intended in his family, in his world, nobody could Ultimately,
(09:07):
nobody could save him. Another school shooting September fourth, Should
I go? Is this too depressing? Should I wrap this up?
What do you guys think? It's kind of depressing? A
Linds All right, this is I apologize because I'm like
guilty of this too. It's like I flip on the
news or I turn on the news and it's like
man killed here, woman killed here, five people dead in
(09:27):
a car accident here, an explosion here killed five And
I'm like enough already, So I guess I'm being guilty
of the same thing. We'll mention hurricanes. P Diddy arrested,
the Meninda's brothers, ongoing fight, the United Healthcare CEO killing,
which shocked so many people in December. Let's just say
there is no shortage of news, which is why news businesses,
why news operations exist.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Right, But we're not talking about news.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
We're here on talk radio Am six point forty kf
I Live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
You're listening to John co Else on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You know, rocking out with the Isisley Brothers kind of
a I guess dis what's the CRT word disconnect disconnect
between the upbeat music and sort of the downby news.
And I apologize. I want to apologize for that last
segment profusely. We have the opportunity to look here in
the monitor. I'm looking at Brigitta in the newsroom and
She's like that last segment, is this depressing you?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
She's like shaking your head.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Good. I thought all day though, the stories that I'm
even covering, I'm trying to throw some light ones book.
You know, we we've heard the cliche for years, right
about the news business is that most of it, sadly,
is what you would consider bad news.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The you know, the old saying.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And I've talked about this before here in KFI is quote,
we don't report on the successful plane landings. You heard
that before, Right, That's like an old sort of standard
cliche in the news business. So, and what's interesting is
my my wife's best friend, Debbie, we're visiting over the holidays,
and we may actually talk about this with her tomorrow
(11:03):
when I'm here for John also from one to four.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Looking forward to that or to get some ideas. Is
she's doing a.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Total news blackout because especially during the holidays, you're trying
to relax, have fun, celebrate, and it's just so much.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
It's overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
So after that last segment, I took a quick look
on al Gore's Internet, and if you google topics like
how does bad news affect us? Oh my god, it's
just a wealth of information. So here's a few tips.
And I'm not telling you not to pay attention to
the news, but what I am suggesting is maybe you
want to modify it or cut back a little bit.
(11:42):
So the question how does negative news impact mental health?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Stress?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It increases your stress response, It triggers the fight or
flight response, It releases adrenaline and cortisol.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
We know what those are.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It increases it's like, why did I want this as
a career? Again, it increases anxiety and depression. Studies study
after study of showing that people experience increased symptoms of
anxiety and depression after consuming news for.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Just fourteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Fourteen minutes typical newscast is an hour, right, although we
do have sports and weather and traffic. And then here's
something that's relatively new. Relying on social media can drive
addicted behavior. Social media can be a breeding ground for
negativity with clickbait headlines and algorithms, so it's easy to
(12:38):
be critical, right.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So then the question is.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Well, how do you still be an informed, intelligent, conversant
person in the world without being overwhelmed by a bad news?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, good thing you asked. Here's some tips.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Limit screen time, limit TV and radio time and stream
would be in that category.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Also, be mindful of how much.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Time you spend consuming news, especially on social media. And
then here's something interesting and a few people have had
success with this, it's not super mainstream. Seek out positive stories,
balance negative news with positive stories to create a more
balanced view of the world. You know, it's great at
(13:25):
that if you have the ability to search online for
this is and I never met the man, I would
love to talk with him, Steve Hartman of CBS. His
stories are often on CBS Sunday Morning, which is the
greatest news show on television. Real uplifting stories. So you
want to balance negative news stories with positive stories to
(13:45):
give you a little bit more balance. And then here's
something that I think is really important is focus on solutions.
So it's sort of a subset of the focus on
positive stories. But you want to look for stories about
people and programs. Whether it's homelessness, whether it's crime, you know,
pick your issue. You want to look for people that
(14:05):
are working on solutions. Remember we talked about how to
make life better, how to be a better person, how
to improve your slice of the world a little bit.
In twenty twenty five, focus on those kinds of stories
if you can, they're harder defined, of course, or maybe
you can create one of your own take breaks. It's
a little bit repetitive, but give yourself time away from
(14:27):
the news to simply relax and de stress. Stress is
our enemy, right, Happiness is Our goal is happiness? A
goal is happiness a state of being as happiness a
state of mind. Can you like their tactics? Are their
techniques to increase happiness? A lot of books have been
written on this subject. I've read a couple of them.
(14:50):
I still don't necessarily have I don't have the clear
cut answer. I think it's a goal. I think if
you if I had to decide, I have to say
it's a goal that and then that becomes a state
of mind. And that's something that by my own admission,
I definitely need to work on.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Could do better on that.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So, as I mentioned one strategy a little extreme taking
a complete news break, I don't suggest that, but definitely
maybe limit your news exposure, especially if you have kids around,
kids in the house, you definitely want to limit their exposure.
And unfortunately we live in the twenty four to seven
news cycle. We live in southern California, which every day
(15:30):
is just non stomp news, most of it bad.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I've unfortunately been a part of a lot of.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
It and seen it, and I think my wife thinks
that I have PTSD just from an unrealized accumulation of
stress and deadlines and pressure and covering what we would
consider I guess the worst.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Things that happen that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I think it's a real thing for news reporters often,
you know, not talk about a lot, but I know
at Fox eleven and I know most of my colleagues,
their news organizations have a much greater awareness of that
off they need to take care of ourselves. I know
the Union Stag after that I'm a part of has
extensive benefits when it comes to counseling and employee assistant programs.
I've taken advantage of them. I know I've encouraged many
(16:19):
of my colleagues to do it. So I guess this
is the theme of today's show boys and Girls, is
that reach out to help someone, or take advantage of
the help that is available to you if you need it,
especially at this time of the year. Don't feel like
don't ever feel like you're alone.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Coming up on New Year's Eve tomorrow, do you have
any exciting plans? My wife and I going to be
going out to a fun restaurant in Studio City.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Not super big New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Guy. I'm not a big drinker. I'm not a party animal.
I probably should be a little bit more exciting, but
it's gonna be fun. I hope you have plans that
you're looking forward to. I know, if you're into electronic music,
DJs and massive crowds and maybe even taking the Metro,
you can go downtown Downtown LA to Grand Park the
annual New Year's Eve celebration.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I'm gonna probably be watching the ball drop in Times
Square along with a billion of my closest friends around
the world. One of the things that's always entertaining is
watching Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen just get smashed on CNN,
right and you guys ever watched that they get They
get drunk while they're covering the New Year's Eve ball dropping,
(17:37):
which makes a little bit tough for Anderson Cooper to
report on Secretary of Defense candidate Pete Hegsat's excessive drinking allegations, right,
but hey, we get it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It's all in context.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
So we want to shift the tone a little bit
from all the depressing news that the Brigitta insists that
I keep talking about. Yes, something a little bit fun,
which is sports. Now. I know we have the sister
stations here AM five seventy LA Sports, but forgive me
(18:10):
if I if I maybe take a little bit of
their sports thunder because I'm a big sports guy. I'm
a big sports fan. I love playing sports when I
was in college. I love watching sports. I love going
to sporting events. And it's a great diversion. Picking up
on our theme from the last segment, it's a great
break from the realities of life, right, And it's it's
(18:33):
a it's a it's fun. You root for your favorite team,
you roote for your favorite athlete. You have moments that
you remember with your son or your daughter, or your
father or your grandfather, or your friends or your family members,
or the people that you become friends with at the stadium.
I mean, I can't think of how many great times
I've had at sporting events and here in southern California.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
What what unites us more than anything?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
What unites us more than anything, whether you're from East La,
South La, Pasadena, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, the Dodgers, the Angels, right,
the Angels, No, he didn't say the Angels, the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So I mean here in southern California, we're blessed.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
We have the Dodgers, we have the Angels, we have
the Chargers, we have the Rams, we have the Kings,
we have the Ducks, we have Galaxy, we have the LAFC,
we have all of these Division I college programs. It's
just a wealth of sports. And so now we're in
football season. Basketball seasons. Yes, we're going to talk about
that in the next segment. But for the first time
(19:35):
I think in six years, I read the Rams and
the Chargers have both made the playoffs. Now, I won't
get too complicated in case you're not a sports fan,
Rams and the NFC National Football Conference, the Chargers and
the AFC one of the most complicated things. And if
you're a sports fan, you're with me on this is
like the NFL playoff picture. It's like so so complicated
(20:01):
that it's not even worth trying to figure out until
the season's over. But we can't in terms of who's
playing who seven teams make it from each conference, the
four division winners, the three wild card, then the seeds
change and who gets the buy which means they sit
out the first round. Super complicated, right, But what you
need to know is that the Rams are in the
playoffs and the Chargers are in the playoffs. The Chargers
(20:23):
a great story. Jim Harbaugh, their coach, turned around that culture.
Let's not call it mediocrity, but shall we say mediocrity
in just one year? Really interesting, funny guy, quirky Justin Herbert,
one of the greatest quarterbacks in the league this year.
And then we have the Rams of Courts with the
perpetually energetic and youthful Sean McVay. They've won two Super Bowls,
(20:48):
by the way, if you're counting the Charges of one
zero and the Rams are in the playoffs. They think
they started the season one and four. I was at
the game at so Far on Saturday night. So exciting
they we're fortunate to win. I don't know if you
saw the highlights that last minute interception in the end
zone cut short Cardinals drive when they march right down
(21:08):
the field and ready to win.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So football's so much fun. I don't like all the injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I like the rules designed to prevent injuries, although I
think they're enforced somewhat inconsistently. I mean, if a quarterback
is sliding and you go to hit him, and you
hit him and he's already half sliding, am I supposed
to stop in mid air?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I mean, how do I avoid that?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
So there's very few experiences like a pro football game.
Dodger Stadium is great, yes, but when there's eighty thousand
people screaming and the music is playing, and the lights
are flashing, and the the sidelines are intense and the
fans are going crazy, it's so much fun. It's also
very expensive, so it's not, you know, something unfortunately, that
(21:50):
everybody can afford, which is one of the problems with
pro sports these days. Baseball not as bad as basketball
and football. But if you have the opportunity to go
to a game at SOFI what they created there in
Englewood on this formerly Hollywood park, you know, right by
the forum.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Have you guys been there, Elmer Regida.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It's just it's just so FI. Yeah, it's incredible. It's
like it's an overload of your sensory experiences.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
To say it's like going to a football game is saying,
like you know, going to the Rose Parade is seeing
like a float with some horses drive by. I mean,
it's just overwhelming in all of the right ways and
some of the wrong ways, like traffic and like I said,
ticket prices. But if you have the opportunity to go,
you should definitely go. So we want to root for
the Rams. We want to root for the Chargers. I mean,
(22:46):
maybe they'll end up facing each other in the Super Bowl.
That's unlikely. And for extra credit, if you can tell
me the teams that have never won a Super Bowl
in addition to the Chargers, then you win a special prize,
which we all announce at five o'clock today on the
Tim Conway Junior Show. But yeah, that's one of the
great things about the sports. It unifies us. It's not
(23:08):
just here in southern California. I mean, pick your city
of sports Nuts, Boston, New York, Philly, Green Bay, San Francisco.
I mean, Shannon Farren would probably run through fire to
go to a forty nine Ers game, right probably has
run through fire to go to a forty nine Ers game.
It's just it's fun. It gives you, like something to
(23:29):
the root for, something to believe in. I don't like
the trend of, you know, players becoming mercenaries. Whoever offers
them the most they leave. But I get it because
if you're a player and you have limited lifespan in
your professional league. I think the NFL lifespan is shockingly low,
like three point two years. You got to cash in
while you can. But we've talked about this before. We
(23:50):
talked about us during the World Series. I mean, if
I'm a free agent and teen A is offering me
five years for a hundred and fifty million dollars, what's
that math?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Breakdown to a year?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
And then if Team B is offering me five years
for one hundred and seventy million dollars, is that twenty
million dollars gonna change my life at that level? No,
So stick with the home team, have some loyalty. That's
why I love Mike trout Look. Showhy left for the money.
Freddy Freeman left for the money. People leave for the money.
(24:25):
I get it. It's make but it makes it tough
as a fan to remain loyal to players. I mean,
when you know, when I was growing up the teams,
the player stayed with the teams. I mean Collier Stumps
giveing the Red Sox, Jackie Slater with the Rams, I
mean twenty years. So that's a trend that I don't like,
but I understand it. But it doesn't mean we can't
love them. It doesn't mean we can't, you know, still
(24:46):
root for them. I mean, I will never forget Dodger Stadium,
Freddy Freeman walk off home run to win the World
Series game.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Remember that's the one.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
That the little kid with the braces and the blonde
caught and then we just sold for the ball was
sold for like a million dollars. We'll never forget that.
Memories with my father, with my grandfather at Fenway Park
growing up. I mean, these are things that you have
to cherish that we don't get in other kinds of
experiences here in southern California.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I mean, how many times are you gonna say.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Boy, I remember we went on that hike and run
in Canyon in you know, two thousand and twenty, and boy,
wasn't that fun. You never forget that one, right, Or
we remember that time we went to that restaurant on
Colorado and Pasadena and had that great hamburger. I will
never forget that moment, right, But no, you say that.
Remember the time we went to Game one of the
(25:35):
NBA Finals with the Celtics and the Mavericks and we
had that celebration outside Boston Garden until two o'clock in
the morning. Yeah, you remember those things, And that's why
sports are an important part of our life. And I
remember having this discussion with my adult daughter, who is
not a sports fans, and I said, I said to her,
I feel bad that you're not a sports fan, because
(25:57):
you know, you don't have that in your life to
root for, to identify with, to be passionate about.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
And she said, well, you know, I have.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Like The Bachelor, Like, oh my god, just shoot me now.
I mean, but I stand with your daughter, But I
mean I get the I get the argument. That's whatever
your passions are, I guess. But sports, especially here in
southern California, with so many stars and so many big names,
and so much success and so much drama and so
much focus, Hey, we're fortunate to be able to be
(26:29):
a part of it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And which leads me into our next segment.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
We're going to talk about Lebron and a name familiar
to all of us, one of my friends from way back,
Victor brick Jacobs, to talk about.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Lebron James turning forty.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Lebron James, perhaps the supreme athlete of our time, turns
forty today, twenty two seasons in the NBA, twenty time
All Star, four time champion, happily married, father of three.
I mean, the superlatives go on and on and on,
all time leading scorer, and he just shows no sign
(27:12):
really to me of slowing down. So you heard me
talking about the value of sports in our last segment.
Being able to have Lebron on the Lakers and being
able to see him in action as something that is
really a I wouldn't say it's once in a lifetime,
because there's plenty of top quality athletes that are worth seeing,
but to be able to say that you saw Lebron
(27:33):
James in action is going to be something to remember
and with us to talk about the remarkable career of
Lebron on and off the court. Is a familiar name
to many of us here in southern California, Vic the
Brick Jacobs Vic, how are you.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Belie? I'm your nowavo everybody. Hopefully everyone had a joyous
and blissful holiday.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Same to you, my friend, Kwanta so Vic. When you
look at Lebron James and we've all seen a lot
of athletes in their prime, superstars, I mean, what makes
him special?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
How could you describe it?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Mind blowing force of nature, forty years, fresh, creative and free.
I mean, averaging twenty four points a game, eight boards,
nine assists. Are you kidding me? I mean those stats
for a dude twenty two years into the league are
staggering and inspiring in that it is such a rare atmosphere,
(28:40):
a rare club. Right to be forty and balling in
the association and having his son Brianni falling with you
is just again. It freaks me out as a purist,
as a lifetime fan, and Bron James obviously has been
(29:01):
a crazy fawn in the side of the Lakers for many,
many years before he became a Los Angeles Laker a
few years ago won a title with the Lakers. He's
won four titles in his twenty two years and numerous records.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
But I guess the question is I guess The question
is how does he do it at this age? I mean,
you read a lot about the work he puts in
off the court taking care of his body. His diet
is training regimen. I guess that has to be a
huge part of it.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
In addition to that he just gifted.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
No doubt true, his training regime is unparalleled. He spends
over a million dollars a year just to build his
body up. I don't know how many athletes are that
dedicated to building one's body. The only name I can
come up with is the immortal Kobe Bryant, who also
(29:56):
took care of his body like no other. I mean,
even at this point, you know, he's celebrating his birthday,
but he's probably an ice. Here's some sort of healing
machine attached to him, right, I mean his relentlessness, you know,
to stay in an incredible shape and to play the
young man's game. And even as bron said today that
he could play if he wanted to five to seven
(30:17):
more years.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Wow, he said, how long do you think he'll play?
I mean, he fulfilled his dream of being on the
same court with Brownie. You know, you could say what
you will about that. It hasn't worked out great. But
at least it's happened, which is pretty cool. I mean,
how much time does.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
He have left?
Speaker 5 (30:36):
He wants more rings. He's playing at such a high level,
a level we've never seen before. If someone you know,
forty years and just balling out, it's really quite humbling
to watch him every night. Again, he'll be an action
again tomorrow against his former squad Cleveland with the kid
from Akron. The kid from Akron wants and at least
(30:56):
another ring. I'm sure he wants to tie Jordan with
five rings. He's got four. He got two with Miami,
one with Cleveland, one with the Lakers. I'm sure he
wants more rings, more hardware, and more bling. I mean
that is the goal. And he's playing at such an
insane level, and again the Lakers want to make it happen.
I mean they traded d Angela Russell. Uh yes, you know,
(31:19):
late today or yesterday whatever, and they basically gave away
d Rush. But if he just uh, some guys who
are hard, you know, these aren't scorers. These are you know,
Finney Smith, shake shake, Milton from Brooklyn. I mean, these
guys they're hard, you know, they have a toughness, to
the right because you know, the squad is soft. You know,
Brian can't play you know, back and forth h you know,
(31:43):
back and forth defense anymore. He's got to concentrate, you know,
on this offense. And once in a while he'll do
a there when it counts, he'll play a little d
but he's mostly offensive at this point, and his offense
is is insane.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
But I also think I also think people don't talk
enough about his his family, his dedication, his wife. They
are high school sweethearts, three great kids. I mean, never
a hint of any off court issues with someone who's
been in the public eye since they were in you know,
elementary school. I mean it seems like I don't know him,
you know, obviously been in locker rooms and done postgame
(32:21):
interviews as have you. You've spent more time with them
than I have. But just seems like great character there.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
Oh absolutely, he's totally, uh, the the embodiment of the
association of what they want their slooperstar to be, to
what their face of the association to be. Exactly a
family man, loves loves his loves his kids, always out there,
(32:48):
you know, social consciousness, right, I mean, he's been He's
been the perfect role model as well as an insanely
talented ballplayer. And to have them as Laker was used
a brilliant move by Jeanie Buss, you know, Urban Magic
Johnson and Rob Polinka, you know, to bring him, you know,
into the mix. And remember when when Brian came to
(33:09):
the Lakers, there was they were they were in trouble.
This was this was not irrelevant team. You know, the
great Kobe era had passed and the Lakers was searching,
they were seeking, and they failed to make the playoffs.
And then Brian got here, made him relevant. They win
the title in twenty twenty, and they were in the
mix with like a sixth seed right down there, we're
in the mild.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Absolutely, you never count on our team with Lebron James right, brick.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's only missed three games the entire season. He's only
missed three games. I mean, it's incredible. The superstars around
the league.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Anthony Davis misses three games a week exactly.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
I mean, he's he's an incredible relentlessness. Is h is breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
All Right, I'm gonna have to leave it at that, sir.
Happy holidays to you and your family.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
It's always great to talk with you, Uh, Victor brick Jacobs,
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Phil Schuman.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I've been here for John Cobelt from one to four.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Beat to do this again with you tomorrow if you
will have me, of course, the incomparable TCJ Tim Conway
Junior coming up in the four after the news at
the top of the hour at four o'clock. Get ready
for a big New Year's Eve celebration tomorrow. Thanks very
much to Keana and Elmer for their help. Couldn't do
it without you, folks. Thanks for listening. I'm Phil Schuman,
(34:21):
and before I leave you, let's check in one more
time with the KFI twenty four hour news room.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
I AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Sitting in for John coblt here on the Mighty KFI
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
We'm just curious. Did a little quick research during the break.
You know, the KFI has been broadcasting inside of the
California since nineteen twenty two, now owned by iHeartMedia. So
I'm really happy to be sitting here. Always been a
(00:28):
talk radio when I'm gonna use the term radio because
that's still what we think of. Talk radio encompasses the
app encompasses streaming. I mean, I guess you could call
it audio now, but calling it talk audio doesn't sound
quite the same, right, So, been a huge fan of
talk radio. I'm from the Boston area originally, and ever
since i was a kid, I had that AM radio
(00:50):
with me, or the transistor radio or the clock radio
by the bedside, and a lot of time a lot
listening to WBZ, which is a huge talk radio station
in New England, could get the New y York stations
listen to a lot of sports talk.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's just a great way to stay up on information.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's also if you have a talk show host that
you like listening to their opinion. I mean, what is
more entertaining slash informative, slash wild and listening to Bill
Handle every morning?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I mean I don't know Bill Handle. I met him
here briefly.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
We all feel like we know people that are on
the radio or people that are on TV, because you know,
they're in our house, They're in our bedroom, they're in
our living room, they're on our phones, they're on our computers.
Handle that is that is one interesting dude, right, quite
a quite a personality.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
And I mean that and you know, in the right way.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So as we wrap up twenty twenty four, it's obviously
a time that we look back on stories that we
were talking about. And this is what we do here
in talk radio, what we do in the news business
Fox eleven, where I spent the past twenty five or three.
I can remember how many years it was, and it's
it's really interesting because right here in the KFI studios
(02:01):
in Burbank, I can look out the window. I've mentioned
this before if you've heard me sitting in and look
out at what used to be the studios of KNBC
three thousand West Alameda, the former NBC headquarters West Coast Headquarters.
Now they move the news department over to the Universal
Studios lot. But spent I guess I wouldn't call them
(02:23):
my formidive years because I was already in my twenties.
But I spent almost twenty years with the fine folks
at Channel four News, many of whom are still there.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And wow, that was quite a ride during the eighties
and nineties.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
From Rodney King to the riots, to OJ to Menendez.
I mean, you name it. We were there at earthquakes, fires, floods.
It never stops. It never stops here in southern California.
What was the big news story for you in your world?
You know how to do it. You click on the
microphone icon on the iHeartRadio app and record your comments
(02:59):
and we'll play them on the Haven't gotten very many
today must not be a good time for people. What
They're busy making their New Year's Eve plans, or they're
sitting in traffic. So the big story and it's everybody
does these compilations, and when I go through some of these,
you're gonna go, oh, yeah, I'd forgotten all about that.
Do you remember back in January, almost a year ago.
(03:22):
They call it the Alaska door plug incident. Plug is
just another name for a door. Do you remember the
flight Alaska Flights twelve eighty two. It took off from
Portland and a door blew out. Remember the flight was
full and fortunately the seats next to the missing door
happened to be empty. And it was a Boeing seven
thirty seven Max nine if you want the technical details,
(03:46):
and made an emergency landing. No one was seriously injured,
and the NTSB investigated in a preliminary report anyway, was
that four bolts which are specifically designed to be there
for the first in the first place, and tightened to
prevent the door from opening and falling off the plane
we're missing. Boeing blamed that on the fuselage supplier and
(04:11):
that's still been unresolved.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Boeing has a new CEO.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The government mandated they slowed down production and increase oversight.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Then bowing plane just went down in South Korea. Yeah,
and South Korea, that tragedy.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
There was a Boeing plane which you know most I
don't know the exact numbers in front of me, but
it's safe to say that the majority of airliners that
are commercial use these days are made by Boeing, so
that maybe a little bit unfair plumping them into that.
But yeah, that South Korean air disasters, how many people
were killed is definitely the investigation is just really getting
(04:47):
started on that one and continuing our sort of greatest
bad hits. You remember the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse
that was huge in Baltimore. That was in March. A
container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge. It collapsed
(05:08):
the bridge and killed six construction workers who were just
working on the bridge. I think they were filling potholes.
Two workers that were on the bridge survived and that
shut down the huge port of Baltimore for weeks and
they had to remove like tens of thousands of tons
of debris. In October, the operators of the vessel that
destroyed the bridge agreed to pay one hundred million dollars
(05:30):
in costs, and repairing the bridge is going to cost
like a couple of billion dollars. I think it's been
reopened temporarily, but the construction still is in progress. An
interesting story, I say, interesting sad story with an interesting
result is that the parents of a school shooter were convicted.
(05:52):
This is back in April. The school shooter is named
Ethan Crumbley. It happened in Michigan, and sadly, it's easy
to sort of forget all the different school shootings that
we've had, but this was a shooter who was fifteen
years old at the time of the twenty twenty one shooting.
He killed four students in at Oxford High School, and
(06:15):
the prosecutors charged remember police arrest, prosecutors prosecute. They prosecuted
the parents for allowing their son or negligence and allowing
their son to get access to a gun. They actually
bought the gun for their son and failed to secure
it and limit their son's access to it. Again, he
was fifteen years old at the time. So they were
(06:38):
convicted of four counts of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to
ten to fifteen years in prison, A significant amount of
prison time for a school shooter's parents, and that a
case we all follow here in southern California. This was
back in July with a judge dismissed the Alec Baldwin
rust case on day three of his involuntary manslaughter trial.
(06:58):
Remember that was the fatal onset sh shooting of cinematographer
Helenia Hutchins, where Baldwin was using a gun and pointed
it at the director.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
He says that went off by itself.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Others say he pulled the trigger and nobody realized that
it was loaded with live ammunition. The armor or on
rust Handagutierras was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in March.
I found not guilty of tampering with evidence, and then
Baldwin was prosecuted.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
He wasn't prosecutor.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
Then they finally dismissed the case against him because of
bad faith by prosecutors and failure to turn over some
ammunition evidence.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
So Baldwin skated on that one.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
And now what he's like back on Saturday Night Live
and back with his career as if nothing happened. I mean,
I don't know Alec Baldwin. He certainly had his share
of controversies in life, and he deserves to live his life.
He wasn't convicted of a crime, But I don't know
how you move on for something from something as sad
as that.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Five people were charged in August of twenty twenty four
in connection with last year's ketamine death of friend star
Matthew Perry. You remember how huge that story was. Well,
these actors live in assistant. A name by the name
of Kenneth Iwa Masa has been charged uh and the
doctor has been charged.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Two doctors have been charged as well.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Mark Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another doctor, doctor
Salvador Placentia, UH, with the understanding it will be sold
to Perry, so that criminal cases. Those criminal cases are ongoing,
but certainly a shocking story about the death of friend
star Matthew Perry and a cautionary tale. Thinking back to
when we talk last segment about the you know power
(08:45):
of addiction, the danger of addiction. Matthew Perry could never
quite overcome it. He wrote his autobiography Really Powerful, read
about you know, the demons that he dealt with for
decades and despite all the love and friends, no pun
intended in his family, in his world, nobody could Ultimately,
(09:07):
nobody could save him. Another school shooting September fourth, Should
I go? Is this too depressing? Should I wrap this up?
What do you guys think? It's kind of depressing? A
Linds All right, this is I apologize because I'm like
guilty of this too. It's like I flip on the
news or I turn on the news and it's like
man killed here, woman killed here, five people dead in
(09:27):
a car accident here, an explosion here killed five And
I'm like enough already, So I guess I'm being guilty
of the same thing. We'll mention hurricanes. P Diddy arrested,
the Meninda's brothers, ongoing fight, the United Healthcare CEO killing,
which shocked so many people in December. Let's just say
there is no shortage of news, which is why news businesses,
why news operations exist.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Right, But we're not talking about news.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
We're here on talk radio Am six point forty kf
I Live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
You're listening to John co Else on demand from KFI
AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You know, rocking out with the Isisley Brothers kind of
a I guess dis what's the CRT word disconnect disconnect
between the upbeat music and sort of the downby news.
And I apologize. I want to apologize for that last
segment profusely. We have the opportunity to look here in
the monitor. I'm looking at Brigitta in the newsroom and
She's like that last segment, is this depressing you?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
She's like shaking your head.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Good. I thought all day though, the stories that I'm
even covering, I'm trying to throw some light ones book.
You know, we we've heard the cliche for years, right
about the news business is that most of it, sadly,
is what you would consider bad news.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
The you know, the old saying.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
And I've talked about this before here in KFI is quote,
we don't report on the successful plane landings. You heard
that before, Right, That's like an old sort of standard
cliche in the news business. So, and what's interesting is
my my wife's best friend, Debbie, we're visiting over the holidays,
and we may actually talk about this with her tomorrow
(11:03):
when I'm here for John also from one to four.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Looking forward to that or to get some ideas. Is
she's doing a.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Total news blackout because especially during the holidays, you're trying
to relax, have fun, celebrate, and it's just so much.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
It's overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
So after that last segment, I took a quick look
on al Gore's Internet, and if you google topics like
how does bad news affect us? Oh my god, it's
just a wealth of information. So here's a few tips.
And I'm not telling you not to pay attention to
the news, but what I am suggesting is maybe you
want to modify it or cut back a little bit.
(11:42):
So the question how does negative news impact mental health?
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Stress?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It increases your stress response, It triggers the fight or
flight response, It releases adrenaline and cortisol.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
We know what those are.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It increases it's like, why did I want this as
a career? Again, it increases anxiety and depression. Studies study
after study of showing that people experience increased symptoms of
anxiety and depression after consuming news for.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Just fourteen minutes.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Fourteen minutes typical newscast is an hour, right, although we
do have sports and weather and traffic. And then here's
something that's relatively new. Relying on social media can drive
addicted behavior. Social media can be a breeding ground for
negativity with clickbait headlines and algorithms, so it's easy to
(12:38):
be critical, right.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So then the question is.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Well, how do you still be an informed, intelligent, conversant
person in the world without being overwhelmed by a bad news?
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Well, good thing you asked. Here's some tips.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Limit screen time, limit TV and radio time and stream
would be in that category.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Also, be mindful of how much.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Time you spend consuming news, especially on social media. And
then here's something interesting and a few people have had
success with this, it's not super mainstream. Seek out positive stories,
balance negative news with positive stories to create a more
balanced view of the world. You know, it's great at
(13:25):
that if you have the ability to search online for
this is and I never met the man, I would
love to talk with him, Steve Hartman of CBS. His
stories are often on CBS Sunday Morning, which is the
greatest news show on television. Real uplifting stories. So you
want to balance negative news stories with positive stories to
(13:45):
give you a little bit more balance. And then here's
something that I think is really important is focus on solutions.
So it's sort of a subset of the focus on
positive stories. But you want to look for stories about
people and programs. Whether it's homelessness, whether it's crime, you know,
pick your issue. You want to look for people that
(14:05):
are working on solutions. Remember we talked about how to
make life better, how to be a better person, how
to improve your slice of the world a little bit.
In twenty twenty five, focus on those kinds of stories
if you can, they're harder defined, of course, or maybe
you can create one of your own take breaks. It's
a little bit repetitive, but give yourself time away from
(14:27):
the news to simply relax and de stress. Stress is
our enemy, right, Happiness is Our goal is happiness? A
goal is happiness a state of being as happiness a
state of mind. Can you like their tactics? Are their
techniques to increase happiness? A lot of books have been
written on this subject. I've read a couple of them.
(14:50):
I still don't necessarily have I don't have the clear
cut answer. I think it's a goal. I think if
you if I had to decide, I have to say
it's a goal that and then that becomes a state
of mind. And that's something that by my own admission,
I definitely need to work on.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Could do better on that.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
So, as I mentioned one strategy a little extreme taking
a complete news break, I don't suggest that, but definitely
maybe limit your news exposure, especially if you have kids around,
kids in the house, you definitely want to limit their exposure.
And unfortunately we live in the twenty four to seven
news cycle. We live in southern California, which every day
(15:30):
is just non stomp news, most of it bad.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I've unfortunately been a part of a lot of.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
It and seen it, and I think my wife thinks
that I have PTSD just from an unrealized accumulation of
stress and deadlines and pressure and covering what we would
consider I guess the worst.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Things that happen that.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I think it's a real thing for news reporters often,
you know, not talk about a lot, but I know
at Fox eleven and I know most of my colleagues,
their news organizations have a much greater awareness of that
off they need to take care of ourselves. I know
the Union Stag after that I'm a part of has
extensive benefits when it comes to counseling and employee assistant programs.
I've taken advantage of them. I know I've encouraged many
(16:19):
of my colleagues to do it. So I guess this
is the theme of today's show boys and Girls, is
that reach out to help someone, or take advantage of
the help that is available to you if you need it,
especially at this time of the year. Don't feel like
don't ever feel like you're alone.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Coming up on New Year's Eve tomorrow, do you have
any exciting plans? My wife and I going to be
going out to a fun restaurant in Studio City.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Not super big New Year's Eve.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Guy. I'm not a big drinker. I'm not a party animal.
I probably should be a little bit more exciting, but
it's gonna be fun. I hope you have plans that
you're looking forward to. I know, if you're into electronic music,
DJs and massive crowds and maybe even taking the Metro,
you can go downtown Downtown LA to Grand Park the
annual New Year's Eve celebration.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I'm gonna probably be watching the ball drop in Times
Square along with a billion of my closest friends around
the world. One of the things that's always entertaining is
watching Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen just get smashed on CNN,
right and you guys ever watched that they get They
get drunk while they're covering the New Year's Eve ball dropping,
(17:37):
which makes a little bit tough for Anderson Cooper to
report on Secretary of Defense candidate Pete Hegsat's excessive drinking allegations, right,
but hey, we get it.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
It's all in context.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
So we want to shift the tone a little bit
from all the depressing news that the Brigitta insists that
I keep talking about. Yes, something a little bit fun,
which is sports. Now. I know we have the sister
stations here AM five seventy LA Sports, but forgive me
(18:10):
if I if I maybe take a little bit of
their sports thunder because I'm a big sports guy. I'm
a big sports fan. I love playing sports when I
was in college. I love watching sports. I love going
to sporting events. And it's a great diversion. Picking up
on our theme from the last segment, it's a great
break from the realities of life, right, And it's it's
(18:33):
a it's a it's fun. You root for your favorite team,
you roote for your favorite athlete. You have moments that
you remember with your son or your daughter, or your
father or your grandfather, or your friends or your family members,
or the people that you become friends with at the stadium.
I mean, I can't think of how many great times
I've had at sporting events and here in southern California.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
What what unites us more than anything?
Speaker 3 (18:57):
What unites us more than anything, whether you're from East La,
South La, Pasadena, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, the Dodgers, the Angels, right,
the Angels, No, he didn't say the Angels, the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
So I mean here in southern California, we're blessed.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
We have the Dodgers, we have the Angels, we have
the Chargers, we have the Rams, we have the Kings,
we have the Ducks, we have Galaxy, we have the LAFC,
we have all of these Division I college programs. It's
just a wealth of sports. And so now we're in
football season. Basketball seasons. Yes, we're going to talk about
that in the next segment. But for the first time
(19:35):
I think in six years, I read the Rams and
the Chargers have both made the playoffs. Now, I won't
get too complicated in case you're not a sports fan,
Rams and the NFC National Football Conference, the Chargers and
the AFC one of the most complicated things. And if
you're a sports fan, you're with me on this is
like the NFL playoff picture. It's like so so complicated
(20:01):
that it's not even worth trying to figure out until
the season's over. But we can't in terms of who's
playing who seven teams make it from each conference, the
four division winners, the three wild card, then the seeds
change and who gets the buy which means they sit
out the first round. Super complicated, right, But what you
need to know is that the Rams are in the
playoffs and the Chargers are in the playoffs. The Chargers
(20:23):
a great story. Jim Harbaugh, their coach, turned around that culture.
Let's not call it mediocrity, but shall we say mediocrity
in just one year? Really interesting, funny guy, quirky Justin Herbert,
one of the greatest quarterbacks in the league this year.
And then we have the Rams of Courts with the
perpetually energetic and youthful Sean McVay. They've won two Super Bowls,
(20:48):
by the way, if you're counting the Charges of one
zero and the Rams are in the playoffs. They think
they started the season one and four. I was at
the game at so Far on Saturday night. So exciting
they we're fortunate to win. I don't know if you
saw the highlights that last minute interception in the end
zone cut short Cardinals drive when they march right down
(21:08):
the field and ready to win.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So football's so much fun. I don't like all the injuries.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
I like the rules designed to prevent injuries, although I
think they're enforced somewhat inconsistently. I mean, if a quarterback
is sliding and you go to hit him, and you
hit him and he's already half sliding, am I supposed
to stop in mid air?
Speaker 1 (21:27):
I mean, how do I avoid that?
Speaker 3 (21:28):
So there's very few experiences like a pro football game.
Dodger Stadium is great, yes, but when there's eighty thousand
people screaming and the music is playing, and the lights
are flashing, and the the sidelines are intense and the
fans are going crazy, it's so much fun. It's also
very expensive, so it's not, you know, something unfortunately, that
(21:50):
everybody can afford, which is one of the problems with
pro sports these days. Baseball not as bad as basketball
and football. But if you have the opportunity to go
to a game at SOFI what they created there in
Englewood on this formerly Hollywood park, you know, right by
the forum.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Have you guys been there, Elmer Regida.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
It's just it's just so FI. Yeah, it's incredible. It's
like it's an overload of your sensory experiences.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
To say it's like going to a football game is saying,
like you know, going to the Rose Parade is seeing
like a float with some horses drive by. I mean,
it's just overwhelming in all of the right ways and
some of the wrong ways, like traffic and like I said,
ticket prices. But if you have the opportunity to go,
you should definitely go. So we want to root for
the Rams. We want to root for the Chargers. I mean,
(22:46):
maybe they'll end up facing each other in the Super Bowl.
That's unlikely. And for extra credit, if you can tell
me the teams that have never won a Super Bowl
in addition to the Chargers, then you win a special prize,
which we all announce at five o'clock today on the
Tim Conway Junior Show. But yeah, that's one of the
great things about the sports. It unifies us. It's not
(23:08):
just here in southern California. I mean, pick your city
of sports Nuts, Boston, New York, Philly, Green Bay, San Francisco.
I mean, Shannon Farren would probably run through fire to
go to a forty nine Ers game, right probably has
run through fire to go to a forty nine Ers game.
It's just it's fun. It gives you, like something to
(23:29):
the root for, something to believe in. I don't like
the trend of, you know, players becoming mercenaries. Whoever offers
them the most they leave. But I get it because
if you're a player and you have limited lifespan in
your professional league. I think the NFL lifespan is shockingly low,
like three point two years. You got to cash in
while you can. But we've talked about this before. We
(23:50):
talked about us during the World Series. I mean, if
I'm a free agent and teen A is offering me
five years for a hundred and fifty million dollars, what's
that math?
Speaker 1 (24:03):
Breakdown to a year?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
And then if Team B is offering me five years
for one hundred and seventy million dollars, is that twenty
million dollars gonna change my life at that level? No,
So stick with the home team, have some loyalty. That's
why I love Mike trout Look. Showhy left for the money.
Freddy Freeman left for the money. People leave for the money.
(24:25):
I get it. It's make but it makes it tough
as a fan to remain loyal to players. I mean,
when you know, when I was growing up the teams,
the player stayed with the teams. I mean Collier Stumps
giveing the Red Sox, Jackie Slater with the Rams, I
mean twenty years. So that's a trend that I don't like,
but I understand it. But it doesn't mean we can't
love them. It doesn't mean we can't, you know, still
(24:46):
root for them. I mean, I will never forget Dodger Stadium,
Freddy Freeman walk off home run to win the World
Series game.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Remember that's the one.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
That the little kid with the braces and the blonde
caught and then we just sold for the ball was
sold for like a million dollars. We'll never forget that.
Memories with my father, with my grandfather at Fenway Park
growing up. I mean, these are things that you have
to cherish that we don't get in other kinds of
experiences here in southern California.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I mean, how many times are you gonna say.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Boy, I remember we went on that hike and run
in Canyon in you know, two thousand and twenty, and boy,
wasn't that fun. You never forget that one, right, Or
we remember that time we went to that restaurant on
Colorado and Pasadena and had that great hamburger. I will
never forget that moment, right, But no, you say that.
Remember the time we went to Game one of the
(25:35):
NBA Finals with the Celtics and the Mavericks and we
had that celebration outside Boston Garden until two o'clock in
the morning. Yeah, you remember those things, And that's why
sports are an important part of our life. And I
remember having this discussion with my adult daughter, who is
not a sports fans, and I said, I said to her,
I feel bad that you're not a sports fan, because
(25:57):
you know, you don't have that in your life to
root for, to identify with, to be passionate about.
Speaker 1 (26:04):
And she said, well, you know, I have.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Like The Bachelor, Like, oh my god, just shoot me now.
I mean, but I stand with your daughter, But I
mean I get the I get the argument. That's whatever
your passions are, I guess. But sports, especially here in
southern California, with so many stars and so many big names,
and so much success and so much drama and so
much focus, Hey, we're fortunate to be able to be
(26:29):
a part of it.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
And which leads me into our next segment.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
We're going to talk about Lebron and a name familiar
to all of us, one of my friends from way back,
Victor brick Jacobs, to talk about.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Lebron James turning forty.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI AM sixty.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
Lebron James, perhaps the supreme athlete of our time, turns
forty today, twenty two seasons in the NBA, twenty time
All Star, four time champion, happily married, father of three.
I mean, the superlatives go on and on and on,
all time leading scorer, and he just shows no sign
(27:12):
really to me of slowing down. So you heard me
talking about the value of sports in our last segment.
Being able to have Lebron on the Lakers and being
able to see him in action as something that is
really a I wouldn't say it's once in a lifetime,
because there's plenty of top quality athletes that are worth seeing,
but to be able to say that you saw Lebron
(27:33):
James in action is going to be something to remember
and with us to talk about the remarkable career of
Lebron on and off the court. Is a familiar name
to many of us here in southern California, Vic the
Brick Jacobs Vic, how are you.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Belie? I'm your nowavo everybody. Hopefully everyone had a joyous
and blissful holiday.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Same to you, my friend, Kwanta so Vic. When you
look at Lebron James and we've all seen a lot
of athletes in their prime, superstars, I mean, what makes
him special?
Speaker 1 (28:10):
How could you describe it?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Mind blowing force of nature, forty years, fresh, creative and free.
I mean, averaging twenty four points a game, eight boards,
nine assists. Are you kidding me? I mean those stats
for a dude twenty two years into the league are
staggering and inspiring in that it is such a rare atmosphere,
(28:40):
a rare club. Right to be forty and balling in
the association and having his son Brianni falling with you
is just again. It freaks me out as a purist,
as a lifetime fan, and Bron James obviously has been
(29:01):
a crazy fawn in the side of the Lakers for many,
many years before he became a Los Angeles Laker a
few years ago won a title with the Lakers. He's
won four titles in his twenty two years and numerous records.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
But I guess the question is I guess The question
is how does he do it at this age? I mean,
you read a lot about the work he puts in
off the court taking care of his body. His diet
is training regimen. I guess that has to be a
huge part of it.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Right.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
In addition to that he just gifted.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
No doubt true, his training regime is unparalleled. He spends
over a million dollars a year just to build his
body up. I don't know how many athletes are that
dedicated to building one's body. The only name I can
come up with is the immortal Kobe Bryant, who also
(29:56):
took care of his body like no other. I mean,
even at this point, you know, he's celebrating his birthday,
but he's probably an ice. Here's some sort of healing
machine attached to him, right, I mean his relentlessness, you know,
to stay in an incredible shape and to play the
young man's game. And even as bron said today that
he could play if he wanted to five to seven
(30:17):
more years.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Wow, he said, how long do you think he'll play?
I mean, he fulfilled his dream of being on the
same court with Brownie. You know, you could say what
you will about that. It hasn't worked out great. But
at least it's happened, which is pretty cool. I mean,
how much time does.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
He have left?
Speaker 5 (30:36):
He wants more rings. He's playing at such a high level,
a level we've never seen before. If someone you know,
forty years and just balling out, it's really quite humbling
to watch him every night. Again, he'll be an action
again tomorrow against his former squad Cleveland with the kid
from Akron. The kid from Akron wants and at least
(30:56):
another ring. I'm sure he wants to tie Jordan with
five rings. He's got four. He got two with Miami,
one with Cleveland, one with the Lakers. I'm sure he
wants more rings, more hardware, and more bling. I mean
that is the goal. And he's playing at such an
insane level, and again the Lakers want to make it happen.
I mean they traded d Angela Russell. Uh yes, you know,
(31:19):
late today or yesterday whatever, and they basically gave away
d Rush. But if he just uh, some guys who
are hard, you know, these aren't scorers. These are you know,
Finney Smith, shake shake, Milton from Brooklyn. I mean, these
guys they're hard, you know, they have a toughness, to
the right because you know, the squad is soft. You know,
Brian can't play you know, back and forth h you know,
(31:43):
back and forth defense anymore. He's got to concentrate, you know,
on this offense. And once in a while he'll do
a there when it counts, he'll play a little d
but he's mostly offensive at this point, and his offense
is is insane.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
But I also think I also think people don't talk
enough about his his family, his dedication, his wife. They
are high school sweethearts, three great kids. I mean, never
a hint of any off court issues with someone who's
been in the public eye since they were in you know,
elementary school. I mean it seems like I don't know him,
you know, obviously been in locker rooms and done postgame
(32:21):
interviews as have you. You've spent more time with them
than I have. But just seems like great character there.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
Oh absolutely, he's totally, uh, the the embodiment of the
association of what they want their slooperstar to be, to
what their face of the association to be. Exactly a
family man, loves loves his loves his kids, always out there,
(32:48):
you know, social consciousness, right, I mean, he's been He's
been the perfect role model as well as an insanely
talented ballplayer. And to have them as Laker was used
a brilliant move by Jeanie Buss, you know, Urban Magic
Johnson and Rob Polinka, you know, to bring him, you know,
into the mix. And remember when when Brian came to
(33:09):
the Lakers, there was they were they were in trouble.
This was this was not irrelevant team. You know, the
great Kobe era had passed and the Lakers was searching,
they were seeking, and they failed to make the playoffs.
And then Brian got here, made him relevant. They win
the title in twenty twenty, and they were in the
mix with like a sixth seed right down there, we're
in the mild.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Absolutely, you never count on our team with Lebron James right, brick.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
He's only missed three games the entire season. He's only
missed three games. I mean, it's incredible. The superstars around
the league.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Anthony Davis misses three games a week exactly.
Speaker 5 (33:45):
I mean, he's he's an incredible relentlessness. Is h is breathtaking.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
All Right, I'm gonna have to leave it at that, sir.
Happy holidays to you and your family.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
It's always great to talk with you, Uh, Victor brick Jacobs,
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Phil Schuman.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
I've been here for John Cobelt from one to four.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Beat to do this again with you tomorrow if you
will have me, of course, the incomparable TCJ Tim Conway
Junior coming up in the four after the news at
the top of the hour at four o'clock. Get ready
for a big New Year's Eve celebration tomorrow. Thanks very
much to Keana and Elmer for their help. Couldn't do
it without you, folks. Thanks for listening. I'm Phil Schuman,
(34:21):
and before I leave you, let's check in one more
time with the KFI twenty four hour news room.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
The John Kobylt Show News
Host
John Kobylt
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