The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller – Furball

Subscribe directly to the Fifth Hour podcast here: Subscribe. Bringing a uniqueness to the radio world, Andy Furman joins Ben and David to talk about his long and colorful career in sports. Andy shares a few fascinating stories about how he originally got involved with sports and then how that turned into a career behind the microphone. Andy's lengthy career has taken some unique turns and some of his antics would be eye-popping in today's environment.

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Episode Transcript

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(03:22):
a sole fashion of fairness. He treats crackheads in the
ghetto cutter the same as the rich pill poppers in
the penthouse the clearing house of hot takes break free
for something special. The fifth hour, which Ben Maller starts
right now, that it does. We are in the air
everywhere as we bloviate here on the fifth hours, you know,

(03:46):
and then four hours not enough on the overnight. We
do this now eight days a week. This is our
Friday podcast and it's a conversation podcast, so we'll get
right to it. We will not do let Daly, and
before we welcome in who we're talking to, we say
at David Gascon, who's back again another weekend with guestcon.
This is an amazing accomplishment after I thought we were

(04:07):
gonna get rid of you after that terrible job producing
a couple of weeks ago. But you're back again, which
is great because I heard you had a trickle down
effect with the new producers that were filling in for me.
It was it was great, and uh now I'm back again.
It's because you and are our guest here in a
few moments, have have accused me of being technically incompetent.
So I'm gonna try my best to railroad another podcast.

(04:30):
Since you and you alone are on the Marquis Ben Mountain. Well,
I don't want to say you're technically incompetent. I will
just say that you were hired by the company to produce,
Quasi produced the show, and you then proceeded to not
know how to screen phone calls for four hours in
the overnight and when the one time you did put
calls on the air, it was a clusterf So that's

(04:51):
all I'm saying. Other than that, I mean just I'm
going by what I experienced. Guests. Well, we're in the
day and age of disinformation, so I will correct you
because I didn't know how to not answer the phones correctly.
I just elected not to answer the phones for three
and a half hours. Well that's not what I'm hearing.
I'm hearing that you looked at the phone system and said,

(05:13):
what is this the space shuttle? And you couldn't figure
it out, and so that was it. But enough about you.
This is a very important person and we like hanging
out with people talking about and mostly the people that
I've experienced on the podcast that I for most are
like radio guys. I love radio guys. I love hearing
radio stories. I love people that work in this business
and do a great job. And we get to talk

(05:34):
to one of our colleagues. You already know this if
you download the podcast. The man affectionately known as fur
Ball a Cincinnati radio legend in icon and he's been
at Fox Sports Radio for many years now. You hear
him on the weekends with Brian No on Sunday mornings,
and we give it up now to any Furman who
is on here the fifth. You know, I learned something

(05:56):
then today I learned that his name is not David
Gag is David. That's gone. That's fine, Thank you for
having I'm gonna have more people hear me on this
podcast than they do on Sunday morning at the wee
hours at three am Pacific time. No, no, listen, Andie,
I used to do a shift around that time. You

(06:18):
know how many people are stumbling drunk walking around that
are listening to a huge audience. That. Yeah, it's a
massive audience. But I appreciate you having on. I really
do because it gives me something to do. I look
forward to this all day long. I even showered, and
during this pandemic, I don't do that often. Andy, we're
not in the same room here, Eddie, weren't. I understand.

(06:38):
I understand that. But I understand now through various Internet
reports that you can catch COVID nineteen over the phone.
That's what I've been reading, not that I'm saying. I
believe that you can find anything you want on the
Internet or certain news channels. They'll tell you whatever whatever
you want there. So and now I first met you Andy,
you came out. You and my North were doing the

(07:00):
morning show at Fox for for several years there, and
I love that show. You guys had a great vibe. Yeah,
it was it was fun. It was great. You know,
you guys were going back and forth. North would say
something ridiculous, you'd you'd throw it back in his face,
and it was wonderful. It was. You know, it was
very difficult to argue with him when he's bullheaded. I
love him the death, I love him like a brother.

(07:22):
But I'll never forget the one argument we had. There
was one person I forgot it was, but there were
many people in sports that get d uise or whatever
it may be. And I told him that alcoholism is
a disease, and he argued with me from top to
bottom that alcohol who's not. I said, Michael, you could
look it up in any journal, the medical journals. It's
a disease. Alcoholism is a disease. And he told me

(07:44):
that he used to drink and drink and drink and drink,
and he could stop anytime he wanted to. So I said, well,
you didn't have the disease. He was just a drinker.
But I mean, I mean I was winning. I was Fitz.
After that show, I'd have to shower. Really, he would
get me into such a frough I would sweit. But
it was wonderful because they was Hugman. It was real.
It wasn't scripted. It was from the heart that he
went one way, I went the other. And that was

(08:05):
the way it was. Yeah, you know, I want to
talk about you, though, Andy, because I I've heard stories.
Everyone's got an Andy Furman story that you know, he
did this, he did that. I gotta get some answers.
I know you you're from obviously he sound you don't
hide the fact that you're from New York, right, So
what I can't help it. Yeah, it's hard to disguise that.

(08:25):
And so you you worked at a religious college at
one point as uh in the was it the PR department?
Is that right? You worked? I worked at several I
wear the St. Francis College of Brooklyn Division one school.
I shard in all office with the brother Ronald. He
was the best. On the afternoons, he'd open up the
bar and away we went. So that was a good
time at St. Francis. And that I went to All

(08:46):
Roberts University and that was the first Hebrew to ever
work at that school. And wait, wait, wait that at
the time you wait, wait, you worked at Oral Roberts
University as a Jewish guy for two years at Old
Roberts University. Uh, the great Oral. I mean I met
him several times and I didn't know. And when I
got there, they told me a couple of things. I

(09:07):
didn't know during the interview process when they flew me out.
But on Tuesdays and Fridays, between the hours of eleven
and noon Central time, that was the school shut down completely.
Electricity shut down, the electric typewriter was off, everything was off. Shutdown.
You had to go to chapel services. And I went
the first time, and I'm saying, what in the heck

(09:27):
is speaking in tongues? I had no idea what speaking
in tongues was? But I went and after a couple
of times Oral called me to his office. If you
don't feel comfortable going to these things, you don't have
to go, which was great on his part. He was good.
May he rested peace. He was always good to me.
He really was. Oh that's cool, that's good. When you
took the job. Though, what did your family say when

(09:48):
they say when you said I'm going to Oral roberts
Is that is that Oklahoma is Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I
think my family basically was more concerned with me going
to the state of Oklahoma than or Robertson University because
you know, really we didn't know much about Old roberts
I didn't know. I mean, I knew they were a
great basketball school that Anthony roberts has called something like
seventy points once in an n I T game. So
they were a basketball power. And when I got there

(10:11):
there were sort of like on the tail land. They
still were not at a conference, so that was good.
Now they're in some sort of a Cocamani conference. I mean,
you really they had much about All roberts anymore now,
but they were really good, and really we hosted the
Midwest Regionals and basketball because at the time, the Maybe Center,
which hosted about ten four ten five attendants, was one
of the bigger arenas in the Midwest. Now it tails

(10:33):
in comparison to some of the arenas where they play. Now, Wow,
there's another there's another Andy Furman story that I heard
that I want to verify that you gave the Associated
Press at one point the score that wasn't an actual
score that they actually reported in the newspapers. This correct
that that's been many times, not just once, really not
just one. So how does this this is back in

(10:55):
the days where you had to like call in the scores.
Is that When I lived in Oklahoma, here's the thing
on Friday night was high school football was huge. I mean,
I never lived in a place that had such big
high school football either. Now I live in northern Kentucky. Cincinnati,
Ohio's real big high school football. But living in New
York City, high school football is like secondary. No one
follows that, no one cares. There's once in a while

(11:16):
a player comes out. That's not bad. John Brockington went
to Ohio State. They've had players from time to time
out of New York City, but very few. So I
got to Oklahoma and on Friday nights it was like
a religion, this high school football. And I'd go and
watch some of these games. And at the time, you
could they just call in the scores. Now, I'm sure
when they call in scores, they're verified, they're on computer.

(11:38):
You know, there's no way you could pull in a
fast one. We would go to parties on Friday night
in Tulsa, get a little liquored up called the TV stations,
and we'd see on the running scores on the bottom
of the screen these schools that we just made up.
Many know, you know, uh, North Holden beat South Tulsa

(11:59):
seventy five. Well he was something like that, and we
see him iom in the screen, and we don't give
a high flop to one another. You know, in the
next morning, we just you know, I forgot all about
it because the buzz warold you were the original fake news. Andy,
you were the yeah, yeah, yeah, you were ahead of
your time. Andy. Well, yeah, you know, I'm a trend center,
a trend center exactly. All right. So now I was

(12:23):
waiting for Gasconda chime in there. But he's he's so
aghast by this. He's so taken aback by this. Now
right now he's sitting at resumes. He's looking for a job.
Can you hire me? He can clean your lawn or whatever.
You know, if you got some rubber cool boy, really well,
he would be a great pool boy. I think he's
done that before. I think that's how I got some

(12:44):
of his other jobs. That I got some of my
girlfriends too. You know, it's it's easy to do when
you're west of the four or five. Anyways. You know,
it's funny because the two things you throw in my
face are probably the two least interesting things. No, okay,
because some of them got me in trouble and some
of them got me fired. But that's all right, you know, really, Andy,

(13:05):
I'm it's it's a slow build up to a crescendo.
You can't start right away with the good sty you
gotta this is not bad. So you're building up. You
know it. You're building up to an amazing crescendo. Okay,
take it easy, I mean, because another want this to
cost me my job that that Sunday morning gig. Come on, Yeah,

(13:25):
I wanted to keep it for a while, I understand.
Speaking of building up for ball, how did you how
did you actually get into sports talk radio anyway? Like,
what was the what was the origin and the genesis
of all this? You know that that is a pretty
good question. That's why you are pretty good journalist, gascon
really question on your resume. Put this on the tape
really because it was pretty good. I mean, I don't
know if you wrote it out prior to But it's

(13:46):
pretty good. You know it's funny. I got a job.
I was a sales guy at the local TVs. I
was forced director at Channel five, the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati,
and the general manage when he hired me, said, if
you don't like it after about six months, come to
my office and we'll figure something out. Well, I did
it for six months. I didn't know anything about TV.
And I went to his office, said, this is crazy

(14:07):
being a sports director of local affiliate. It's like an
animal leading. It's young. You work six seven, eight hours
a day for two and a half minutes. It's crazy,
and the next day it starts all over again. I said,
I don't want to do this anymore. He says, what
do you want to do? I said, I think I'm
a good salesman. I could sell so At the time,
the local LETBC affiliate in Cincinnati carried the Cincinnati Reds
games over the year, and uh, and I sold Reds baseball.

(14:29):
But how do you sell Reds baseball? You get a
telephone book and you look in the telephone book and
stop calling clients. But what I did, instead of starting
from a to Z, I started from Z because I
think everybody starts from me when they got a phone book.
So I started from Z. So I started running lettuce
and calling people. Park Proctor and Gamble is based in Cincinnati.
I sent a note to the brand manager of a

(14:50):
product called top Job. Top Job as a female oriented
product that cleans ovens and stoves, you know, And we
had the weekly sales meeting and I told them, you know,
what do you got O? When I saw the top Job,
they looked at me and they laughed at me. That
will never happen. It's female. Baseball's male never have So
all right, fine, Well, about a week later, the brand
manager calls me up. Go to her off as a
young girl would have picture of Paul O'Neil on our desk.

(15:12):
I figured, I'm in. She says, so I love it.
We'll have the top job of the game on again.
No big, it's great. How much does it course to
a sponsor? This deal? I couldn't get it out of
my mouth. It was a hundred and sixty thou dollars
for the deal. She said, yes, I want crazy. I
hugged there, came back to the station, and a couple
of days later the general manager of ww Radio calls
me up and I said to my wife, I said,

(15:33):
I'm going to get a job at w W Radio.
How do you know? So why would the general manager
want to take me out to lunch? We went out
for lunch before the major d candy waiter came. I said,
to the guy, and may rest in peace, J David Martin.
Use his name, I said, Mr Martin. I said the answers, yes,
I want to work for you, and he almost choked.
I said, what do you mean, I said, we Why
are you taking me out to lunch? General manager takes
a guy out to lunch, he's gonna fire him a

(15:55):
hire him. I don't work for you yet, so he
hired me. It was a great situation. I sold red
based on the radio, which is a lot easier than TV,
did some promotions for the radio station and as a
great station and still live seven AM, tremendous station, high
heart Media station as well, and he put He created
a show on Sunday wanting called Sunday Morning Sports Talk,
which morphed into Sports Talk during the week, which I

(16:16):
co hosted for a while with the great Chris Collinsworth.
That's pretty wild well and The famous story with you
is the race you were at the track right in Cincinnati.
You were the I ended up here. I worked for
a company based out of Buffalo called Delaware North, and
they owned a lot of racing facilities, and they shipped
me from city to city, and I was like a vagabond.

(16:37):
They went all over the place. If I used the
same promotions in every city and it always worked. I
was an upstate in New York and I had Beasley
Reset the New York Football Giants race trotter at Montacello Raceway.
When I came to Latonia Racecourse in Florence, Kentucky, I
had Chris collins Worth racer horse and it was great.
People loved it. It was a big deal and made
the press and you know stuff like that. People like
that fun. So how did you how did you vince

(17:00):
Collinsworth to raise a horse? Like, well, what's the pitch
on that? Like you shame him into it, you know,
you start sending material out to the media and you
challenge him, you back him against the wall that he
can't say no. And he knew that. So that remember
they remember a couple of years ago, somebody, I don't
think you were part of that somebody, ye Johnson? Yeah
you were You were part of that, were you? Yeah? Yeah,

(17:21):
Oh I didn't realize that it works every time. You know,
after a while it gets old. But you know what,
the kids love it. Chad Johnson was great because he
actually beat the horse, although he had a head start,
but he beat the horse. But he hung around and
he had people sunning autographs. He's just he's wonderful. Chat
the best. Heal. This was good, but Chad was the best.
Now you could conceivably like drug the horse so the

(17:42):
horse doesn't run your make the horse feel bloated, so
the horse can't. Drug Johnson, That's who he did. He
was great. He really was fun. You know, you know,
people ask me what do I do? Are you pr
guy who promoted you know Ben? You would notice I'm
what is called the tumbler. A tumbler is a guy

(18:02):
in Yiddish that just creates a lot of mess, a
lot of a lot of action. You know that I'm
a tumbler. You're as well. Well, you know what the
late Morny Glickman called me that Mortylan used to love.
Morty Glickman. He called the New York football giant Games
on w n W Radio, New York City eleven thirty
a m. And I met M. Marty Glickman through a
mutual friend, and you know, he was calling the Jet

(18:24):
games too at the end of his career. And I
met him a couple of times through a third party,
and he said to me, you have the MS sugunar right,
Because in New York City, when I was working in St.
Francis College and doing stuff and sending stuff out to
the media, you know, it got around that I was
a little unorthodox, so to speak. Fun but I'm the
author of that. So he called me. May he rest
in peace? Two because Morty Glickman was great. Uh, he

(18:45):
called me the M sugun That's well, yeah, And you
got if you're a promoter, though, you've got to be
part of every kakameni idea that you could possibly come with.
Did you somebody said that you worked for the Dolphins
at one point, the Miami doll Fins. I heard, Was
that true? I did? Was? I worked for the fourth
little the Strikers. I was the pr guy for them,

(19:06):
and they were owned by the late Joe and Liz
Robbie Liz on the Strikers and Joe on the Dolphins.
So when the Strikers weren't playing, I helped out with
the Dolphins. But basically, my my my main thing was
with the Strikers, and they were great because we had
Georgie Best. George Best was the greatest thing. Every time
we landed in the city, there was seven thousand women
at the airport waiting for him. I'm sure you didn't

(19:27):
mind that, Andy, No, not at all. George was great.
I mean, it was just you know, it's just it
was an electric it really was with him and every
city we went to. So what are some of the
others any promotion? You had a couple of NFL guys,
race horses. What are some of the other crazy stuff
that we don't know about that you did best? Well,
you know this was a bad one, but you know,
since I love you guys, I'm gonna be honest and
open it. It happened way back in night, believe it

(19:48):
or not, back when I worked at Manaslla Raceway. You know,
my job was to get people in the race track.
Before I worked at a race track, I couldn't tell
you the front of a horse from the back end
of a horse, really, but I went to mint seller
and the guy says, look, you don't to know a
thing about racing, just get people in here. Get him
in here, all right. So during the summer we started
getting some crowds because I was going around the various
service clubs, you know, alliance clubs, whatever, rotary clubs. They

(20:11):
ask him to come to the racetrack, and they did
so during the summer. You know, Manicello was right near
the Pennsylvania border, and in Pennsylvania they don't have what
they call in New York off track wagering in New
York City. In New York State and New York City,
you don't have to go to the racetrack to play
a bed. You got to a little parlor which is
off track and you place a bed, which hurts the
attendance at the race track. But in the state of
Pennsylvania there was no off track wagering. So we did

(20:34):
a lot of promoting in Pennsylvania, all right. So I
would subscribe to the Pennsylvania papers, the Scranton Time, Scranton Tribune,
and there was a series about the Ku Klux Klan
in the Scranton papers, and I'm saying, why would this
be there? Every day in the front page. And to
this day I remember the guy was like the ringleader,
the the master guy, I guess in Pennsylvania. His name

(20:57):
was Mr Lenz. Albert Lanz was the guy. I wrote
him a letter and I said, please come to the
race track, the Manasla Raceway. Leave your sheets at home,
will have a man at the races and you know
you have dining or whatever it might be, but under
racist and come to the Manasla Raceway for not at
the races KKK and I I sent that out, make

(21:18):
copies to like every media person around New York City,
New York State, Pennsylvania and racing. You have to be licensed.
You get a licensed from the New York State Racing
a wagering board. When they got wind of this letter
with the KKK, they revoked my license. And I loved
my job, but it was made like every staper of
the country. I mean, now I lost the job. But

(21:38):
after I lost the job, I was getting phone close
from like circuses to be a pr guy Moneleague Baseball.
It was crazy, I mean just unbelievable. I was getting
but I never really I'm not an advocate of the KKK,
believe me. And in Mantaslla. You haven't understand it to
three thousand population Hamlet and upstate New York and maybe
like Jews and five African Americans. So it wasn't the

(22:01):
greatest place in the world to fight the KKK anyway,
And you know what I did this day? I didn't
even know why I was fired. Was I fired because
I invited them? Was that fired? Of course they didn't show.
Can you imagine if you did something like that? Now?
Oh my god, Oh man, I'm a friend to talk
about it, then what are you kidding me? There's another

(22:23):
one what I did when I when I lost that job,
I got a phone call. This how I ended up
with Delaware North Companies and Buffalo. They flew me out
to Buffalo and they said, of you, the guy that
invited the KKK the Manticello. I said, yes, I was,
said what we were we even the fired, we would
have killed you. And I looked at looked at the
background at his company. I mean, there was the old
M prize situation and you could, you know, put two

(22:45):
and two together and figure. But that was all about.
So they hired me and my first job was a
Buffalo Raceway in Buffalo, New York and Hamburg, New York.
And Uh, I said, you know, maybe what I need
to do is have like ethnic nights. All right, so
not bad? So I said, with to have what would
I call a Polish night? What is Polish night? While
they're gonna serve Polish sausages, we're gonna have the drivers

(23:07):
of the harness horses go around the track the wrong way.
I want to go around and start the wrong way
for Polish night. And how do you promote the game?
How do you promote Polish Night? Well, every track has
like a Marquis on the highway. So on the Marquee
he usually says post time tonight seven pm. But the
being by the bang, I went to the truck's maintenance
guy and I said, do me a favor. Where it
says post time tonight seven pm. Right, Polish night tonight.

(23:31):
And when you spell polish, put the p on their backwards,
just put it back. What do you mean, Just do
me a favorite. So he did that on the highway.
I run back to the office and I called the
Buffalo Evening News and I said, some schmucks spell polish
wrong on the Marquee. Sure enough, the Buffer Evening News
i'd how you did the promotion went around the track
the wrong way. We gave out salamis to the winning drivers.

(23:53):
It was great. Again. I don't think you could do
that today. I really don't. I don't love a sense
of humor, you know. And maybe for me even talking
about it now, this may come back and haunt me.
What do you think? Do you think, Eddie? I love it? Man,
I wish you know. Listen, you you had so many
great express Who was your who is your influence? Though?
You sound like Bill Veck? He uh made him several times.

(24:16):
And I lived in Lord of Thee, the White Sox
who trained right now, right near there, and I met
him several times. And you know, it's funny thing with him.
Not only did I write him, I got several letters
front and still with my folder and my file whatever
you may want to call my scrapbook. But any time
you ever called him, and I don't know how many
people would want to call Bill Beck, but I did.
He took the phone up. He had no secretary. You know,
you just call the White Sox office as I want

(24:38):
to talk to Mr Veck. Hell, hold on hello, Bill
Beck here? And he called and he answered the phone.
He was unbelievable. But I guess one of my bigger
influences was the late Alan Jerome Finkelson. Alan Fickleson was
the PR man of Pampanau Park and Papana, Florida. And
uh he was like my my godfather, my my teacher,
and he really was. And uh, I always I always

(24:58):
admired those guys like to build us to the world,
the Irving Rudds of the world. You know, you could
look him up to. He was a PR guy of
the Brooklyn Dodgers way back in the fifties. But you know,
I read about these guys. These are the guys that
read about, you know, my contemporaries. My friends would read
novels about William mas Mbiga Mantel, and I'm reading about
Irving Rudd and Bill Veck. That's what I did. Well,

(25:19):
who are the you know, who are the guys? Now?
There's nobody really doing what you did and what you've
done right right. You can't do it now. People are
too sensitive. You just can't. I'd love to do stuff
like that. Now you just can't do it. You got
a jail, will get shot purball. But like all of
this or at least you're like some of your best stories.

(25:42):
In fact that you told me something like this, I
think last year, But like, what inspired you to write
letters to people? Because I know you've told me you
you've written the several head coaches in the national football
you know, coaching. I think what started with the leather
running was basically when I was like working for a
newspaper in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Eagle, which I still write
once in a while, a nauticle, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

(26:03):
If you go on their website you'll see some of
the all goles I've recently written too. But honestly, what
I do is I get the clippings that I write
my columns and send them out to coach. And that's
how I got the job at Old Roberts because you know,
I had a column called Scholastic Roundup. It was like
a little roundup column, like little one liners that would
be like Ben Mallard of ex High School is now

(26:25):
playing freshman basketball at San Jose State. So I get
the paper, I rip it out mail to the coach
of San Jose State, and that's what I did, mail
and to the sports information guys, and I get on
at least mailing list. So they had a player at
or Roberts the name of author Stretched Graham from Brooklyn.
And every time, I mean he did something, I put
a little bit on my column and mail it out
to the athletics, the sports information guy. And I guess

(26:46):
this guy thought it was like, you know, the New
York Times getting something from the New York Times from me,
and they want they wanted to expand their their influences
pr wise, and he thought that I had contacts in
the New York media, which I did because I lived there,
and uh, and he hired me. That's that's what That's
the way it was. Did you get any kind of
negative pushback from someone that you wrote a letter to?
I get negative pushback from my wife because she says

(27:08):
with him, running letters shows how old you are, and
it makes you look old. And I know you won't
because I'm really adapted on the computer. I could do
my emails, I could do my attachments and that links
it all that crap. I could do that. But the
point is this, everybody does it, but no one sends
out letters. So that's why I'm different. You get a
stack of mail every day at home. What is it
usually junk mail or bills. And then you see something

(27:29):
like this letther from me. You're curious, You're gonna open
it up. And a lot of times you send out
an email, it gets in the trash band. It really does.
That's why I have made a habit every time I
had a guest on radio, I'd always send him a
thank you note. That's what I did. A matter of fact,
when I lived in Brooklyn of New York City, I'd
always send a little notes to Dig. A felt so

(27:49):
I still talked to today. He lives not far from
me in South ben Indiana, and Dig his wonderful him.
He was coaching Fordham and I got to know him,
and he had a couple of Brooklyn players. I'd send
him and he was one the few coaches that you
sent him a note. Kenny Charles played for him for
for Fordham, and Kenny Charles is a Brooklyn kid. I
write about Hinton, can dig it clipping in two days, Lady,

(28:10):
send me a thank you note. Bobby Knight the same way.
When I came to Cincinnati on WLW radio, Bobby Knight
did a half hour show with me. He really did.
And uh, you know, Bobby knight to me. Didn't do
many of those shows at any except his own Coaches show,
but he had ground rules to me. He said, look,
we'll do a half hour, no commercials, no phone calls, boom.
That was it and then it was great. It really was.

(28:31):
Ill give you an example about a year or so
ago during Christmas week, I had Bill Belichick on Fox.
I was filling in during the week on a Wednesday
night show and Bill Belichick said, he going why because
I sent him letters all that time, said him, notes,
I made a relationship. But Coach Belichick, that's awesome. So
you you talked about check used to give you change
the letters? Do you have talked to him on the phone,

(28:52):
and I've talked to him on the radio. I had
him on phone, Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh, his
mom just died about a week or so ago, and
I sent them a text because I got to sell.
And the other day he texted me back. He thanked
me so much, you know, for my my little text
for Belichick sends he sends text messages. Who knew. I

(29:12):
thought he was a technophobe. I thought, that's this whole stick, right,
and maybe if someone did it for him, I don't know,
but maybe the text. How many letters do you think
you've sent out over the years, Andy, Oh god, oh man.
You know what if I had, if I had like
a dime fery letter I sent back, I wouldn't have
to work anymore. Well, you would have a dime if
you didn't send the letters, though, you would have a

(29:35):
letter you could. You know, here's the thing. Most of
the time, say of the time, when I write letters,
I'm mailing him out from business. Didn't cost me anything.
I don't have an office anymore. That's the problem. So
now I'm paying for the stamps. That's that's a major problem.
It really is. I want you what I should do.
This is what I should do. I should collect all
my mail once a week in to box, send it

(29:56):
out the Fox in Sherman Oaks and let them running
through the medium mach for me. So it'll be one
one big postage bill. But I could send out five
letters in the box. I remember my one of my
first days working on on Ben show that carried over
into you guys, and Jonas was producing at that time
for you guys, and there was just stacks of letters

(30:21):
that Jonas had and Eddie at the time was filling
in for Eddie had in his mailbox, and I couldn't
believe it. I said, what the funk is all this
mail doing here? And Jonah, wait a minute, we don't
need that kind of a language here on this kind
of a family related podcast. Just backle up a little bit.
I'm not my bad guess he's from He's from Brooklyn.

(30:43):
They don't talk like that from Brooklyn. A little bit
different of a dialogue there, Yes, yes, so anyway, But
you know, Eddie Garcia, you ustick at a fend. He
could upset every time I saw a hockey story that
I thought it would be of interest to him. And
maybe in the New York Times the New York Post,
which I get I'd said it to him. It was
probably on him. He's not on the list anymore. He's

(31:04):
off my mailing list. Now. I want you to know, Andy,
I in the mail room since this COVID thing started.
It's a little food gazzy up there. It's it's messed up.
So I went into I go to the mail room
every couple of weeks. Actually I haven't been in a while.
I gotta go to this weekend and check the mail.
But I go in there looking for stuff for me,
and there your mail is all over the place. I mean,
there's more Andy Furman mail than there is for anybody

(31:26):
like you. Think of the people who work at Foxbus
like Cowherd and Clay and these big you know, big
people whatever who think you know, they're important, and there's
more mail from you than any for any of those people.
It's crazy. You dominate the mail room, Andy Ferman. That's
the way it should be. Really. You know, people think
that podcasts dominate and they talk about ratings on radio.

(31:47):
There's nothing better in life than personal relationships. And the
only way you can make a personal relationship is through
the mail really, you know, the obviously phone as well.
Mail is a great personal relationship technique and people don't
do it because they think it's a podcast. They think
it's a YouTube situation. Hey, you know what it is.
That's one way. It's one way, and it's also forces

(32:09):
the secondary person to have to tune in and find you.
Whereas mail, I'm reaching out to you and people don't
understand I'm reaching out to you. And how great does
somebody feel? You know? I sometimes get on Twitter, uh
every now in the game out often every now I listened.
I have a listener from Minnesota. About two weeks ago.
You know, he gave me his address. Could you send

(32:31):
me a note because he knows that write letters. I did.
I reached out that I won this guy over. You
don't think that guy is gonna show ten other people. Hey,
Andy Firman, I listen to him on Sunday on Fox.
He sent me a letter, you know, that's what it is.
One letter is worth perhaps ten listeners. And who's the
guy that you said, is it who's the guy that
you sent a letter to that you didn't think was
going to write back that did right back? Is it Belichick?

(32:53):
Who's the guy that you said, this guy's not gonna
write back, and then he did. You know, I never
thought I hear from Belichick. And it's funny because I
was sending out resident Mays just for the hell of
it to see, you know whatever. And I asked him
if I could use him for a reference, and you
already wrote me back. He said, you could use me
for a reference, but don't have them right, you know,
don't have me right to them, have them right to me,
and I'll take care of you. That's what he said. Now,

(33:17):
when you first connected with the Belichick was he where
was he in his career? Was he with Cleveland? Was
he with the Patriots? Was he the story with Cleveland?
That's that's how we first met. It was unbelievable, really,
this is what happened. I was running to him in Cleveland,
and I was like the anti Bengal fan in Cincinnati,
which it is not difficult to do if you follow
the Bengals. Really they'll give you no watching him play,

(33:38):
but that he was coaching the Cleveland Browns, and for
some reason he called me, or you had to call
me because of no email back in the day. I
don't think he called me. He said, I need a
tape of a of a Cincinnati Bengal game, right and
he gave me his FedEx number to send the tape
to him overnight. I said, how in the hell am
I going to get a tape of a Bengal game.

(33:58):
So I went to Channel nine, the Fox affiliate in Cincinnati,
and I told him I said, I need a tape
of a Bengal game. I don't know how I sold
him on that, but I got the tape and I
got his fed X number. I sent it overnight mail
to him and after that and it was it was beautiful,
It was amazed. Can you think about that now, guys
asking for tapes Like I know, it's amazing how things

(34:19):
have changed. And I've seen the change, and we all
seen the change. I mean guys asking for tapes with
a FedEx number. And now immediately after the game, these
coaches are on the plane with their iPads watching the game. Again.
It's it's amazing, it really is. So you tell me
this is a great story, dye. So Bill Belichick is
coaching the Browns and he needed scouting on the Bengals
and contacted a media guy in Cincinnati to send him

(34:41):
a game tape. That's unbelievable. And I did, and I did,
And what we're talking about that we're talking like me,
he rest in peace. We had a love hate relationship.
I loved him and he hated me. But at the
end we kind of made a kissed them made up
because I used to play with him and he used
to have the rabbit ears. He really did, which is
great for a talk radio host. And we had a
helicopter pilot who gave the traffic every day. The name

(35:02):
with John Phillips I love John Phillips. In the morning.
In the afternoon, you getting the helicopter, get the traffic.
So I went on. I said to John, we're gonna
do this to play with Sandwich a little bit. I
said that I was going to be in the helicopter
taping practice and sending it out to the opponents. And
he called the station. This was like on a Wednesday
or Thursday, probably Thursday maybe was whatever. It was way

(35:25):
back in the day. The next morning, at nine o'clock
in the morning, he was up in the general manager's
face saying, Andy Firman was in the helicopter taking pictures
of my practice. They threatened on the radio, is going
to send them out my opponents. So I got called
in the river. This is amazing, really, So I got
called to the office. I had no idea Sam was

(35:45):
in there and say, coach, I don't He wouldn't talk
to me. His face is burning red, steam coming out
of his ears, and the general manager, David Martin, says
to me, what's the story. I said, first of all,
I'm afraid to go in the helicopter. Secondly, I'm not
gonna go on with John Phillips. The guys like a cowboy.
He's crazy, he really is. And thirdly, I never did
it and Sam went crazy. The theater of the mind
it always works in radio, the theater of the mind.

(36:09):
It was wonderful, it really was. That's outstanding. I just
I can't I love this. Everyone loves the Sam Wie
ran you know, even Cleveland knock it off. And you
know what, he was a good guy. And uh, if
you go on Google and you google my name with
Sam wise when he passed on, I wrote an upbed
piece in the Cincinnati inquire At, which they ran. And

(36:31):
I had no idea until that time that someone gave
me this from the Cincinnati Bengals. He hated me so
much he had a play named after me. He named
the play. I got a place. She gave it. I
gave it to the Inquirer, but they didn't run the play,
but I ran the name. What was the play? What
was the play? What was the play? You know? I
couldn't read it. I had no I don't know was

(36:53):
it was. It had to be a passing play, I
would think. No, I don't know. But the play was
named after me, and so it was. It was just
like what called f Furman and you could figure with
that stood forth all right, So is this when like
Boomer Siasin was the quarterback, so it's possible the whole

(37:13):
the whole cruise, so it's possible. In his MVP season,
Boomer Sisen at the line of scrimmage that was calling
the play out and it was f Furman was Now
I had to play on the sheet of paper from
the Bengals, and even with the place to cover and
the whole thing, I got that and I gave it
to the inquire I thought they would take a picture
of it when I wrote the OpEd piece, but they
didn't run that. But I have the OpEd piece, so

(37:35):
I think you can write just google sam wise op
ed Since then the Inquirer and I want I want
to see I want to see the play, Andy, I
gotta I gotta see a copy. You know, I'll find it.
I'll take a picture and I'll scan it to you.
That's what I'll do. Did the play ever? Was it
ever productive? Did it ever go for a touchdown? They
never want anything? Come on, you haven't got to be productive.

(37:56):
He can doesn't want anything, you know, because Zack Taylor
now he's free seventeen and one you don't think I
could be free seventeen and one is a coach in
the NFL. You could be free seventeen and one. Think
about it. The only good thing about three seventeen and
one for Zach Taylor is that he could have hopefully
passed Dave Schuili's ridiculous record. And I love Dave Schula.
I really liked it when he coached here in Cincinnati.

(38:17):
He's now back at dartms like coaching the quarterbacks. So
hopefully he could have raised Dave Shula's ugly record in Cincinnati. So,
Zach Taylor, I hope he doesn't get fired. I hope
he stays here another eight years. Are you buying the hype?
I guess you're not on Joe burrow Man. This guy's great.
You know, I feel for the guy. You know, if
you look at the eyes, if you'll see he's playing

(38:39):
Indianapolis this Sunday, look in his eyes. It's a situation
now we call here in Cincinnati being bangalized. He's become
bangalized right now. It's like when the deer and the
eye look, you know, when it gets really why like
silver dollars. That's basically what he has right now and
he's lost more games now in Cincinnati that he probably has.

(39:02):
It's an entire high school and college career. Really, it's amazing.
The back of this jersey last Sunday was so green
you thought that he was playing for the Jets because
he was still of grastinate. He was hit seventeen times
and stacked five times. I feel for the guy. And
here's the thing. Every once in a while, I wish
I was still on local radio because the locals right
now are brought and paid for. I want crazy. I

(39:24):
was on Monday night. Some local guy in Cincinnati had
me on. I said, here's the deal, because he's what
do you think of the Bengals, Joe? But I shall
tell you what I think. I said, They're losing twenty
seven nothing on Sunday was the twenty seven nothing with
eight minutes to go. Why in the hell is Joe
Borrow and Joe mix is still in the ball game.
The only reason they're in there is to get hurt.
I mean, they're not gonna win. They lost seven to three.

(39:45):
Why were they still in at that time? That I
never understood, and no one in the media challenge that
Taylor did that. Did that hide him at all? Why
you have these guys in there? No, listen, I agree
with you. I mean, but when you were doing you
would spice it up a local guy. And I experienced this,
you know, And I'll do a rant on the overnight
about the astros and I'll get the local radio hack

(40:06):
in Houston, who you know, the fanboy. Oh, you can't criticize,
you know, the astros and all this stuff. And I've
I've experienced this in several cities around the country. The
local radio guy. It's all upset. But to me, I
love how you did it, Andy, And there's there's very few.
You're like one of the last of the Mohicans. The
local radio guy now is a fanboy. That's pretty much

(40:28):
what the local radio guy literally, the local radio guy.
If that station carries the games, they have that contractual agreement.
And you don't want to upset the Apple car because
it's revenue. There's no doubt about that. But here's the
thing people lasting all the time. What's the difference between
local and national? Doing local and national? I think national
radio to me is easier. Why there's more of a
broad spectrum of topics. You could talk about local if

(40:50):
I'm in Cincinnati. We never talked that n HL or
n b A. We don't have a team, No one
cares about it. So basically, locally you're based on NBA,
NFL and the Cincinnati Ridge. That's basically a little college
University of Cincinnati or Xavier University, and basically that's it.
So you have a smaller, uh piece of the pie
to talk about. So you have to be harder, you

(41:11):
have to go different layers, and you can. You can
make a difference. You could get the city after a coach.
You know, if I'm if I'm on there now, I say, look,
he's three seventeen and one. The honeymoon for is that
tail is over. And if you lose his five more
games this year, you start the petition. You have the
fans meet me outside for the stadium with picket sign
saying let's getting fired. You could do it at locally,

(41:32):
you can't do it nationally. It's no different than Hugh
Jackson a few years ago right in Cleveland, where he
goes winless and and obviously still maintains a job for
a short period of time. Andy is there because you've
you've obviously worked as a sports information director, you've worked locally,
you've worked national radio. Is there anything that you haven't
done that you wanted to do or want to do eventually? Well,

(41:52):
I wanted to run for president, but that would have
been a good third party guy this year. Ye could
have been done. You know, you know, honestly what I
wanted to do. And I wrote this in my high
school graduation book. I always wanted to work for the
New York Knicks. That was my goal. I really really,
that's what I wanted to don't want to be the
PR guy for the New York Knick. About this my idol.

(42:13):
When I grew up, I watched the Willis Reason that
Dick Barnett's and Dave Dave to Bush, all those guys playing.
But the one guy always had my eye on was
Frank blouse Child. No nos who he is, but Frank
blouse Child was the guy was sitting next to Red Holzman.
He was the PR guy in traveling secretary of the
New York Knicks. That was the job I wanted. That's
pretty damn good. What about the race track and what
about the ponies that if you is there anything that

(42:35):
ever inspired you to work there? Like on the track
at the track, even on the p A there. You
know what, first of all I could never do, I
could never call a race. Is now MIKEA. Tagley did that.
He's the best in new business. He was there for
us at Altona Race Course. But I will say this,
in all the years I worked in racing and I
worked the greyhound tracks and uh in New Hampshire, I've

(42:56):
been all of I don't think I've made maybe more
than twenty dollars total in total bets. It never excited
me to wager. But I always try to create the
racing being horness racing, throwable racing or greyhound racing into
a sport and make it legit, you know, and try
to get statistics involved in that so maybe you could
get on the sports pages and also to a very

(43:16):
good human interest stories in the world of sports. For example,
in one I worked in uh in Lakes Region Greyhound
Park in Belmont, New Hampshire. Belmont, New Hampshire, you could
take a bed on Highway six and never get hit
by a car and sleep there. That that's how many
people were there. And they wanted me to bring people
to this racetrack, which I did. You know, we had
a good time. But that was the summer of the

(43:37):
baseball strike, if you remember one. And we had a
guy who had a kennel of dogs and he loved
the New York Yankees, and he had all his kennel
dog Greyhounds named after the Yankees, really Randolf, and it
said to all of them. So when he had these guys,
these dogs racing, we got the tape of the race.
And again this is before computers. I had to go

(44:00):
to the local bus station in Belmont, New Hampshire and
put the tape on a bus to Lend Berman at
CBS TV Channel two in New York to get him
on a Sunday night TV show and he ran it.
That's what I did in New Hampshire. Yeah, that's pretty
damn impressive and stupid, really, but I did it firt

(44:21):
of all. So if if the Knicks called you up
and said, hey, we want you to move back to
New York, I'd walk. I would walk there, believe me.
I mean honestly, what I'm doing right now. And I
know this is like a dreamland, I know, but it
could very well happen because I got free time of
mine and I'm working with a man in Louisville, Kentucky.
He's an attorney. His name is Bruce Miller, J period

(44:43):
Bruce Miller. J. Bruce Miller is a die hard, die
hard NBA fan. He uh, he represented many NBA players
over the years, and he almost had the Vancouver Grizzlies
moved to Louisville, but they ended up in Memphis. So
I'm working with him trying to get investors to get
an NBA team in Louisville. I think it could happen.

(45:05):
Louisville is a tremendous basketball city. They have a great
arena in Louisville, and I think they could support the
NBA there more than that. And this is at the
top of my head. I'm thinking this. A lot of
these NBA owners took a bath this year. They lost
a lot of money, and I won't be surprised if
many of these owners would would even go out and
try to sell their franchise. So I think Louisville has
a chance if we can get someone to corny up

(45:28):
the money. And what I do all day long. You
talk about letter writing, Oh my goodness, I mean I
I write letters to everybody and anybody, and uh, about
a year or so ago, I wrote a letter to
Larry King. And why did I write to him? To
stow fold number one? I knew he went to a
pout of Dodgers at one time. I watched the Dodging games.
He always sits right behind home plate. Number two. He
went to my high school. He went to Lafiett High

(45:48):
School in Brooklyn. So I got his address. I got
this book of addresses. I wrote to his address in
Beverly Hills, and a couple of days later he called
me up. He started singing me to fight song for
Lafayette High School, and he said he was interested. But
then in you know, God, you know, I hate to
say his his son died and he got a divorce,
and I kind of just left them be because I
just don't think he's ready for that right now. But

(46:09):
we've got other people. And I wrote to uhs Ray.
You know, I was watching the NBA games that she
was doing promos on on the TV. So I wrote,
I write to everybody and anybody that I think would
be interested. I wrote to Charles Barklay wrote to uh
Kenny the Jets smith. You know your name it what's

(46:30):
the what's you would have a circle of people with
money that would be interested in buying an NBA team.
So what's the pitch though, Like when you're hey, I've
got I need you to write a check for millions
of dollars to buy No I did. I didn't tell
my background and I'm legit, you know, like most of these.
I write to Bernard King, I said, Bernard, I watched
you play high school basketball at Fort Hambleton High School
in Brooklyn. I was a manager of my high school

(46:51):
basketball team and I was at Lafayette High School. I
watched you play, I said, uh, I watched you with
the Knicks. I said, I'm working with J. Bruce Miller,
an attorney in Louisville, has we'd love to have you
join our group. I say, here's my cell phone number.
I could hook you with Mr Miller and maybe you
could fill you in on what we're doing and who'd
love to have you join us. That's all. What could
you say? You know, hopefully someone will, and I think
they might. I think there's a there's a lot of

(47:13):
people out there with money who love basketball and have
an ego. That's what it takes. You have to have money,
love the game at basketball, and have a bit of
an ego, And is basketball your number one love or
I love it? I love college in the NBA, but
I love the NBA better. Interesting, So growing up in
New York, obviously it's one thing, but did you transfer
your allegiance to any team locally and you know, an

(47:34):
NBA TC. I love the Knicks. I live and die
with the Knicks. I love Red Holsman. I loved him
when he coached the Knicks. I went to summer camp,
I met Red Holsman. They I just loved him. I
love him to death. What about for baseball though? I mean,
obviously Yankees are mats, and then now you go to
Cincinnati with them? You know, I tell you, And this
sounds terrible, it really does. I like the Reds, but
I think that the longer I follow sports, and of

(47:57):
all the sports, I think, the less interest I have
in baseball. I think a lot of people feel the
same way. Baseball back when I was a kid, was
a national sport. Baseball now is a local sport. It's
a localized sport. I mean I watched the sports cast
now on in Cincinnati at eleven o'clock. They don't even
give the playoff scores. They don't give any highlights, any
tape because if your team is not in it, no

(48:17):
one cares. But the NFL. They plays ding NFL highlights
in Boise, Idaho. It's a national sport for many reasons,
the gambling aspect, the fantasy football aspect. But still, I
think baseball right now has become a localized sport and
unless your city is involved in the playoffs, no one cares.
How does it feel any that you you've lived in
Cincinnati all these years, You're from New York and the

(48:38):
Knicks have become the Bengals, right? I mean, if you
were saying that, you know who's the Bengals of the NBA,
It's the Knicks, right. They've been horrible for well. I've
open Tom Tibodo could turn them around. I'm hoping it
could turn them around. I really now. I'm hearing some
rumblings that Russell Westbrook may become a Knick and I'd
love to see that. I would love to see him
on the Knicks. So we'll see what happens. I don't
know if I think Tibodot could. If anybody could turn

(49:00):
them around, it's him, you know. And it's certainly sad
because I hear all these fans and all these sports
blaming ownerships. You know, in Cincinnati, it's Mike Brown. He's
the He's the devil, He's the evil guy, the evil impick.
What did he do? Mike Brown doesn't tackle, Mike Brown
doesn't rush the quarterback. He has nothing to do with.
They spent a lot of money this year. The banks
spent like a hundred and sixty million dollars on players.

(49:21):
Maybe they spent it on the wrong players. Maybe he
should have beefed up the offensive line just to have
the defensive side of the ball. You know, you've got
a franchise quarterback. Protect the guy, protect him, And they
didn't do that. So Andy, I want to circle back
to the letter writing, have you had success with any
of the younger generation, the millennials of the Gen Z
or these younger coaches. Do they right back or do

(49:44):
they ignore you? Well, I'm trying to think who who
they might be. I mean, uh, you know, there's a
lot of older guys that ignore me too. I wish
saw Kimbell might be a younger guy and I will
stay because I knew him at the University of Toledo.
He's kind of a younger guy. I don't. I don't.
I think Matt Campbell maybe early thirties and maybe late twenties.
I don't know how well that Campbell is, like like

(50:07):
Sean McVeigh with the Rams or Yeah, I don't. I
don't like a lot of pro coaches. I really don't.
Uh Pete Carroll every once in a while and they'll
scribble a note back. You know. You know who writes
me back all the time is Hardbor Harbor from Michigan.
He's the best. He's great. Helloways who rub me back
in two three days, handwritten notes all the time. As
I said, a lot of these letters a kid. I

(50:28):
got a couple of letters Stiffer made off for up
from Kentucky, you know, and I said at the time,
when I was in high school, I said I wanted
to attend the University of Kentucky was a basketball and
he wrote me back. I got to find that letter
somewhere in my basement, I guess, he said, young man,
when you come down here and look me up in
my office, he's signed the eight offer up the baron. Wow,
that's pretty cool. And Andy, have you do you frame

(50:49):
any of your letters? The returns if that's egotistical, free
from what so someone could see it. I know, I
know you can see it. It's almost like a baseball
card where you put it in a seal and you
make sure that it's in good condition if you ever
want to. I got it somewhere to the probably the yellow.
Now it's probably turned out. I don't know. If you're
touched by fall apart, well, look, you read it once.

(51:10):
What else you gonna do with it? Like I read books.
After I read the book, I throw him away. I
keep the book ane and any any politician, any presidents,
or anybody politician type people that you've written to over
the years that we would know of. You know, it's funny.
I usually do write the president because uh I used
to write the president. Well, I tell you what the

(51:31):
Queen of England. She's written me back several times. What
the Queen of England? You know, I'm sure it's one
of the staff members. But I got from Buckingham Palace.
I got letters from Buckingham Palace and what it was.
At one point in time I wanted because my grandfather
was from England. He really was from Golden's Green, right
outside of London. And I mentioned that to the Queen

(51:52):
and I said that I'm on radio in the States
and I wouldn't mind working for the BBC. And I
thought that really my accent, which I did a that
I had, but my New York Brooklyn twang, I thought
that would go big in the BBC in London, It
really would. I wouldn't know anything about the the soccer
match as much, I mean the English Premier League maybe,
but I think that would go big. But she wrote

(52:13):
me back and she said that she couldn't help me whatever,
like you got to contact the station themselves. But she
wrote me back. She really did. But you know, when
I used to work for the race tracks, what I
used to do is send others out to the presidents
or or the Queen and and invite them to opening
not at the races, and that always used to get
some good pr. I remember I once wrote to George
Burns and I said that I'd give you a boxes

(52:34):
to cars if you come out to opening night. And
you know, Xerox Stats send it out to the press
and they bite on that and they always wrote about that.
That's pretty cool. We gotta wrap this up, Andy, I
love you, man, Sunday mornings. Right, promote your show. Andy.
People can hear you on Fox Sports Radio Sunday mornings
six a and Eastern time, three am Pacific time, Sirius

(52:55):
XM Channel eighty three, Big I Heart Radio app also
third sixty Am in Cincinnati, am in Dayton, uh, twelve
sixty am in Indianapolis, seven nine AM in Louisville. Look
at that, Mr. I got it. We're on a lot

(53:16):
of stations. All right, Andy, we love you man, thank
you for your time, and we'll do this again. Thanks,
But they're okay. Honestly, that was great. It was wonderful.
It was life changing. I love it. Yeah, it's going
to change my life. I hope no one is it.
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news coverage with reporters, or what if you want to
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