November 29, 2024 • 40 mins
Bernie Fratto in for Ben Maller opens the 2nd hour talking to NBA Analyst Mark Medina to talk all things NBA All Star Game, NBA Cup, the dysfunctional unhealthy 76ers & more! Bernie also talks about the hate coming towards the Dodgers after the Blake Snell signing.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Malor Show podcast.
It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
weeknight from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific right here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
find your local station for the Benmaler Show over at
foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get this, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. Ben Malor Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fratto in
for Ben. We are comedy lyon from the Tarrat dot
com studios here in Las Vegas. Tyre ac dot com
will help you get there unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers
tyrack dot com. The way tire buying should be. The
(00:53):
NBA season is raging and every Saturday night at midnight
Pacific time, I do a Medina Magic Mark Medina, our
Fox Sports Radio NBA guru, and he kind enough to
join us tonight on the midnight of Thanksgiving getting into
Black Friday. Hey, how about that they brought your sounder
(01:14):
in Mark.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Happy Thanksgiving Bernie, I couldn't hear what you're saying amid
the amazing infro music.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, which which I selected, by the way, which I selected,
of course a great job. So uh, well, Mark real
quickly a couple of things, because I want to It's
been really odd some teams where they were at real expectations,
like Philadelphia and Milwaukee, uh, just incredibly disappointing. On the
(01:44):
other hand, have been impressive teams. We're gonna get to
that in a second, but I want to follow up
on a couple of stories I say in air quotes
that we've sort of been following. Uh So the NBA
All Star Game, which is just a big fagaz. They
don't know what to do with it. Have they finalized
anything in terms of what the format is going to be.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I don't think they finalize it. I think that they've
discussed things and floated ideas about, you know, making it
a little mini tournament or you know, having the you know,
colonel Stars play against the rookies, sophomores, USA against the world.
But here here's a solution. It might it might sound
out of this world here, but you know, what the
(02:29):
format could be play hard. I think I don't solve
all the problems here. If they just act like the
game actually matters, I think people be entertained and watch
and you know, be the reason I actually have the event.
But that might be a novel concept these days.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well it's a real novel concept that there alies the
issue marked. They don't want to compete. They don't they
They've made it abundantly clear, very very similarly to the
Pro Bowl the NFL. They just they don't want to compete.
So I think they're having a real quandary there whether
you would go ahead.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah, well well I was gonna say is you know,
you always when people show you who they are, believe them.
But I think that there can be a way that
it will be a competitive game without adding gimmicks. And
I think you know, some of the players they've counter
responded to. When you know, Adam Silver obviously was not
(03:23):
excited that they broke the record last season for most
All Star points because there was zero defense and there
was just a bunch of threes being jacked up. The
player counterpoint has been, you know what, like you're indirectly
saying the All Star Game doesn't matter either because we're
having to do all these long intros, all these different
(03:45):
you know, NBA branding events throughout the weekend. So what
if we reduce on that now here. Here's the thing.
Both parties want their cake and want to be able
to eat it too. So some of these sponsored events
are player driven, but the league itself also has different
obligations that all Stars are a part of. So I
(04:05):
think if they reduce at least some of it, and
also don't have these intros that you know, the intro
with the starting lineups last like half an hour, I
think that that could, you know, help the game become
more competitive. I think if they actually have a practice,
that means something could work well too. Because the practice
(04:27):
that they have on Saturday, it's just like a showcase
for the fans. They don't actually do anything. So I
think if they strip some of those things down, it
could produce a better game. But I will say players
sh drive the agenda. If they care, it'll be a
great game. If they don't, it'll be another fiasco like
(04:47):
we saw last year.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Well, I don't have much faith that they're going to care.
I don't think they want to get hurt to that
in they're playing very hard on the NBA Cup. Is
the NBA Cup have the luster it had last year?
Is it's kind of like yesterday's news.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Now, Well, I think that, like with anything that's new,
it doesn't have the same intrigue of oh, how is
this going to work? But I think that the idea
is sustainable. Here's why. They've made it a point to
kind of group group play matchups of marquee teams going
(05:27):
against each other. So it's already going to be a
good matchup to begin with, and there is money to
be one. And now a lot of these players don't
necessarily need the money because they make millions of dollars,
but they're never going to turn down extra paycheck. And
I think it's also meaningful for the end of rotation guys.
I think it also helps that these games actually still
(05:49):
count in the standings, because that means that it's not
less important. So I think the idea is sustainable. But
that doesn't mean that they won't tweak things. You and
I have discussed the horts they really need to, you know,
change that or else I might line up lasses by
next season. But other than that, I think everything else
(06:10):
is good.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So Mark, let's dive into the inconvenient truths. If you
go back to last July, the Sixers were giddy when
they signed Paul George. Joel Embiid said he was probably
be a bart of the team. Darryl Morris as we
are all in. He had the three stooges with Maxi,
George and and Embiid and they're three and fourteen. Can
(06:32):
you take us behind the curtain? Howking to be this bad?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, the simple answer is that Joel Embiid, It's only
played in four games because of knee injuries. Paul George
is only playing eight games because of a left and
knee injury that happened twice. Tyrese Maxie's missed six games
with a hamstring injury. That's the main reason why they've
lost games. But there's also layers to it. You know,
in fairness to the Sixers, they were anticipating that Joel
(06:59):
Embiid Pall George won it play all eighty two games
because their injury history suggests that. So they did build
a pretty good roster around them with some good depth.
You know, they drafted well, gain Jared McClean, mccaina mean,
and they have good serviceable rotation players. You go down
the line. They got Kelly U Burray, they got Andre Drummond,
(07:21):
Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Gershwan, you Basella, you know, the
Frank Prospect that dunkedle Lebron James during the Olympics. And
outside of Gershawan and Jared McCain, everyone else has been
inconsistent and hasn't you know, been able to help the
Sixers absorb the overlapping absences with their big three. So
(07:45):
you compound, you combine that all together, and it's compounding
interest going the opposite direction that you'd want to. So
that's where they're at. And I think it's very telling
that a few weeks ago, when they're in La the
vibe that I got from you know, Sixers brass and
around the team is that they thought, you know what,
we're going to be fine. It's early. Paul George's minutes
(08:06):
restriction is going to go away soon, j'all be it's
gonna come back soon. But it doesn't matter. They've plummet
even more. And while I think that they will be
a better team once they finally play you know, significant
minutes together, they're so down in the standings. I don't
think it's gonna be enough.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
All right, let's slip to Milwaukee. Maybe we don't make
fun of them as much. I think since you were
last down with me, they've won five straight games. They're
now nine to nine. Are they figured out over Doc
Rivers or this kind of some kind of dead cat bounce.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Well, that's the thing, and I mean to tie to
the Sixers here. That's partly why they're still saying, hey,
everything can be changed pretty soon. They cited the Milwaukee
Bucks going on the five game winning streak after I
think starting the season one and a whole lot of losses.
They commented, notminators. Giannis is still pretty good, so as
(09:02):
Damian Loward. They're producing at a high you know, offensive
clip and so you knew that the law of averages
would come out. But I'm still a doubter in them
because I think that Boston's clearly shown they're the NBA favorites.
There hasn't been a major hangover there. The Cleveland Cavaliers
have been, you know, setting records as far as you know,
(09:25):
being on pace to try to catch. Yeah, that's seventy
two Lakers team that got a thirty three game winningstring.
I think that there's clear separation between Boston and Cleveland.
But I think Milwaukee's at least shown you know what,
We're not going to be out of the laand Tournament.
We're not going to be competing for watery ping pong balls,
but I would not consider them still, you know a
(09:47):
team that you know could get to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Mark, I can't let you go without getting a Brownie
James update. What is the latest on the Brownie James
since they insisted he's a developmental NBA project even though
of the sixty players that have two way contracts or fifty,
oh god, of the sixty players that have two way contracts,
(10:13):
and you can explain to the folks for a two
way contract is he ranks fifty ninth in offensive production
only ahead of the I can't pronounce young man's name,
but he was drafted like fifty eight, I think, and
he came from the African NBA Development League. I can't
even pronounce his name. Bronnie's ahead of him. But you
were gonna say something, go ahead, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Well, I was gonna say, hey, we talked about the Lakers'
recent struggles. Clearly they need to get Bronnie back on
the team. Get him some minutes. But in all seriousness,
there we go.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You haven't been in the Grandpa's cough syrup tonight, have you.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I can neither confirm nor deny.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I love it. Continue on.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
What I was gonna say is, no, he's with the
G League team. But he also hasn't played the last
two games because he's had a field contusion. So yeah,
so when that happens, Yeah, yeah, he's still with the
G League team. He's out with the regular season team.
But you know, he hasn't been available with the G
League because of a little bit of an injury, but
they don't consider it serious, and you know, before you know,
(11:15):
you'll see him back up in uniform a gun.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So get your tickets, all right, Paul, listen, get some rest.
Appreciate you well, we'll see you Saturday night. Mark Medina,
our NBA guru. You hear them all around the Fox
Sports Network. Mark, thanks a lot, Buddy.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Thank you, and happy Thanks Javin, Thanks Pal.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Coming up. Believe it or not, the NBA may be
invoking one very familiar name to attract attention at the
NBA All Star Weekend coming up February fourteenth through the sixteenth.
Not make it up when you hear the name. Also,
by the way, there was some big news this week.
And you know they love you when they say they
(11:55):
hate you. And I'm going to just put it out there.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Be sure to catch live editions the Ben Mallor Show
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You know, you always want to be listening to the
Ben Mahlor Show, even if Bill Miller is out, even
if Ben Maller is out. I'm Bernie Fratto sitting in
for Ben Mallar tonight, coming to you live from the
Las Vegas Fox Sportsradio, Tireck dot Com Studios, and again,
(12:28):
Department of Redundancy Department. You always want to be listening
to the Ben Malor Show. Four out of five doctors
agree it's good for your health, and I don't know
what the hell's wrong with that fifth doctor. Let's have
a little fun eight seven, seven, nine to nine on Fox.
Let skirt the phones Andrew in Bakersfield, Andrew to what
the wheeled this pleasure tonight as we head into Black Friday.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
Happy Thanksgiving you too, all right? Okay, For some reason
on this Thanksgiving I'd like to give you my top five.
I have greatest travesties in sports history.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Ready moll rough them, go right ahead.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Oh but first, a hot dog I think was made
by God to have a red line on the left
and a yellow line on the right. Mustardn't catch up.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
How do you, hey, buddy, live how you want to live? Man?
This is America.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
I know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I went golfing with a guy once who wanted to
plut from the rough. Live how you want to live? Andrew?
Speaker 5 (13:28):
All right? So number one is when David Stern blocked
the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Number two, probably you might have done him a favor
now what we know now go ahead.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Number two is when the Astros won the World Series
against the Dodgers by cheating. Number three is when Dave
Roberts didn't get the Best Manager of the Year this year.
Number four is every baseball or who ever took steroids.
Number five you're gonna love this one is Florida State
(14:05):
not getting into the football playoffs last year.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
All right, you put some effort into that, Andrew. Is
that is that all we got today? Is they did
we good?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
No? Okay, college football playoffs? I was enlightened. When you
said that, I saw it. You said the first five
teams are the conference champions. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, You've got the four Power conference champions and the
best group of five champions. As long as you win
your conference, you're getting in. As opposed to what happened
to Florida State last year.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Okay, who's the best group of five?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, today I would say it's Boise State. I know
I lost one game at Oregon close, so I'd have
to say it's Boise.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Who's the group of five? I'm saying Mountain West.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, you know you got the mac, you got the
mont West, you got the you know them all. I mean,
there's a bunch of them all right.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
So I had thought originally they should have gone to
eight teams. But then when you told me that about
the first five teams, I was like, Okay, maybe I
can see it. And that's about all I got tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
All right, Andrew, maybe we'll hear from you in the
midnight hour on Friday. The bottom line is is, look,
it's still it made for TV event eight seven, seven,
nine and nine on Fox. You want to chime in
the night eight seven, seven, nine, nine, six six three
six nine. All Right, I mentioned a minute ago that
the NBA may be trying to lure a certain name. Okay,
(15:37):
it's wait for it, Caitlin Clark. The NBA is hoping
to you to piece of the Caitlin Clark effect. Possibly
the NBA All Star Weekend the fourteenth through the sixteen
in San Francease Center. You know last year they had
the three point challenge between Steph Curry and Sabrina and
I and Escrew. This one could include Clark, maybe Klay
(15:59):
Thompson they been talking about. Last year's All Star Saturday
only drew four and a half a million listeners. It
was up from the previous year, but it's been down.
It's been down, and based on recent history, bringing in
Clark could boost ratings. Right, She's got a viewership effect
that very few athletes can truly match. She drove nearly
nineteen million to watch the twenty twenty four Women's Basketball Championship.
(16:22):
A couple of years ago, she did not participate in
a WNBAS three point contest, So look, it's unclear what
the NBA would offer her. She just turned down a
million to play in the three three on three League,
But she's gonna bring eyeball. So wouldn't that be something
that they would lean on Caitlin Clark the NBA in
their desperation to get the NBAL Star Game back to relevancy.
(16:43):
Eight seven, seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine.
Let's hear from yet Gunner in Minnesota. I think you
wanted to talk about the college football playoff? Correct? Yes,
go ahead? What do you got for us? Oh, I'm
seeing only a couple of teams that can win this year.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Texas be a matchup in the finals.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
I'll see Miami.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Having a chance, Boyd to State and not having a
chance either.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Wow, States a struggle with Boise, and don't know Georgia the.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, remember we don't we don't, Gunner. We still don't
honestly know that the matchups are a guess. Right now,
there's still going to be two more selection shows. You know,
you've got the conference championship games, You've got rivalry games
this weekend. And what's going to happen is next Tuesday
will be the second to last rankings, and then a
week from Sunday, which I believe is December eighth, at
(17:39):
Eastern time, you'll have the final. You'll you'll know you'll
know the final playoff matchup Seon. Yeah, all right, that's
all I'm thinking. All right, appreciated Gunner. Thanks for checking
in eight seven, seven, nine, nine, six six three sixty nine.
We have legally Broliant Christopher calling in form North Carolina.
(18:03):
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Faraday, whichever you prefer.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Well, I do appreciate Bernie. I just love your taken
as it relates to all sports, especially from your Michigan
days of what you used to write. I followed you
way back then as a Michigan sports fan. So my
take for you, sir, and question for you is this,
it doesn't really matter what happens today as college football,
and it won't really matter until after the playoffs next week.
(18:28):
Where do you feel the top two teams are going
to be as it relates to who's going to play
number one and two? Personally, if Ohio State dominates Michigan today,
it's not going to matter who they play in the
championship game in Indianapolis, because that's all the people are
going to remember is the blowout against Michigan, which I
think is going to happen. Number two, Georgia has still
(18:52):
a very strong defense and I feel that in the
long run, it is Ohio State has shown time and
time again that they are unable to produce when it matters.
Offense doesn't win this. It's always been defense, and we
see it time and time again. I think that's where
Georgia still has a strong chance. As it relates to
the playoffs, well, they have.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
An excellent chance. The first thing they have to do
is bet Georgia Tech. They're already in the SEC Championship Game,
but they really can't get that third loss. They'll play
the winner of Texas Texas A and M. If they win,
Georgia wins in the SEC Championship game, they're in. And
I said at the top of the show, I believe
if Georgia brings their best game and everybody else brings
their best game, Georgia can win. Georgia, per Nick Saban
(19:37):
could be the only team possibly to get a bid
with three losses because if they go to the SEC
Championship game and lose, they don't want to punish a
three loss team if they were if they made it
to the SEC Championship game, but they're gonna need help.
As far as one two, I still see it as
Oregon and Texas. I mean Oregon. It looks like they're
(20:00):
going to win the Big Ten, although they could lose
to Ohio State in the rematch, right that's a week
from That would be a week from in the Big
Ten championship. So any of this happens, we don't know
who gets the first round by the home games and
all the other things that go along with it. I
can give you what projections are today, but it's a
guess because there's still two more full weeks of college football.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Thank you forgetting about Oregon, and again, I also forget
about Texas because Texas has been dominant enough to give
the sport a chance. So there are really good, four
good teams. At least now we won't have fans saying,
well I miss this, I miss that. Well, hey, you
got twelve teams. Make your based bet, show up, play,
do it or shut up.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, it's decided on the field. Good stuff, Christopher, thanks
for checking in. Appreciate that, Thanks for the nice comments. Again,
just ever so quickly, I'm Caitlyn Clark. It's unclear what
the NBA might be willing to offer Caitlin Clark to
participate in the All Star Game. In the All Star
Game week. That is, you know, the NBA still owns
(21:02):
a reported sixty percent of the WNBA, And I know
the WNBA managed to get a two point two billion
dollar media deal, which I'm not gonna lie. I left
my I'm scratching my head a little bit. This is
a league that's lost money for twenty five straight years.
I lost forty million dollars this year. But knock yourself out.
It's part of the NBA's seventy seven billion dollar deal
(21:25):
with ESPN, NBC, Universal, Amazon, and the value of the
WNBA's portion it's going to be determined later. But look,
everybody's everybody's printing money now. But the NBA seriously is
looking to and they have to make changes to the
format of the All Star Game. The league has to
figure something out. According to ESPN, they're talking pretty vehemently
(21:48):
right now about a four team tournament style format, two
semi final games, and a championship game. The idea is
that you know you make this, you know you You
would play a game up to forty points, okay, and
then the championship game would play up to twenty five points.
The idea that is, you just create this fast paced
pickup style format. It'll change a tenor of the game, right,
(22:11):
and the NBAL Star Game reverted last year to the
East versus West format. But everything, you know, I think
the commissioner, Adam Silver, he hoped the players would take
the game seriously. But you're not going to tell me
they're taking it seriously. When the team combined for three
hundred and ninety seven points, that's the most in the
(22:32):
game's history. Okay, so it's not basketball. I don't know
what the hell you call it. Speaking of taking stuff seriously,
I know we got a lot of Dodger fans, Dodger
fan listeners, and justifiably so. Broadcasting on five seventy am
when they blow torch in southern California, the Dodger's flagship,
and here's the kicker. It's now going to become chic
(22:55):
this year. You watch they call the Yankees the Evil Empire.
Watch how people start to really hate on the Dodgers,
and maybe to a degree, it's already happened. But the
Dodgers signed Blake Snell the other day, and you can
hate on him if you want, but they had some
help building their evil empire. Right, it's the classic rich
(23:17):
gets richer, and you know, half a dozen markets still
get rich off of local TV rights. And the Dodgers
have a lot of money and they seem to have
been spending it wisely, right, And I know that at
Bud Selig de facto Bud the commissioner at one time
of baseball, he had really lamented about the rich getting
(23:41):
richer and the haves and have nots. He wanted parody.
And you know he can maybe he thinks that's a
valid concern. But in the wake of the Dodgers' latest deal,
Blake Snell five years, one hundred and eighty two million
dollar deal. By the way, if I'm not mistaken, Blake
Snell got the He got the decisive win game for
Tampa Bay years ago when they beat the Dodgers. He
(24:04):
wants to find a home and a lot of doors
slammed in his face because he's a little he's a
little eccentric, Blake Snell is. And look, he's not the
only one. He's not the only Dodgers are not the
only team that gave Blake Snell an offer. I believe
the Boston Red Sox did as well, right, But the
(24:25):
Dodgers two years now removed from their fourth World Series championship,
since well, look, let's put it this way. Let's put
it this way. The Dodgers are putting the icing on
the cake because you had Mookie Betts who just needed
one more spring to determine Hell. I like to hang
with you guys for a while. I remembering trading places,
(24:46):
Eddie Murphy, you know, looking good, Billy Ray, feeling good Valentine.
He gets to the back seat of a cap I
think I can hang with you guys for a while.
That's exactly what Mookie Betts did. He just needed one
spring instead of I can hang with you guys for
a dozen years. And he had three hundred and sixty
five million reasons to stay with the Dodgers right now.
(25:08):
The Atlanta Braves, they celebrated their twenty twenty one World
Series by kicking Freddy Freeman to the curb. And they
did sign Matt Olson, who's been pretty good. But the
Dodgers said, hey, we'll see you're Freddy Freeman and take
them Orange County product. And I went to the same
high school as Freddy Freeman, Almandine High School. They offer
(25:30):
from a reasonable six year, one hundred and sixty two
million dollar contract with referrals, and now only the Dodgers
spending money and getting and being very productive. They're spending
money very wisely. And by the way, let's not forget
last year, the San Francisco Giants and every team that
bid for Blake's know and their services. Last winter he
(25:52):
was a Ranting Sion Award winner. He fetched on the
market well in the March. Finally he said, okay, I'll
sit out one year. Well, I'll not sit out one year.
I'll bide my time. He grabbed a two year deal
with the Giants thirty two million per season, with a
chance to opt out after one and that's exactly what
he did. Next. What happened next, frankly very predictable. Snell
(26:16):
kind of rushed through with spring training, got hurt, the
Giants fell out of contention. Blake Snell had one of
the greatest second halves of the season for a starting
pitcher in decades, Just in time to hit the market again.
Enter the Dodgers. Inner superagent Scott Boris and inner Blake
Snell combine Snell's Dodgers contract with his one year in
(26:36):
the Bay. Snell's getting basically six years two hundred and
fourteen million, and that's a pretty good deal in this
day and age. Give it up to Scott Boris. So
the point remains. The Giants, the Red Sox, the Yankees,
any number of those teams could have had Blake Snell
last winter, probably for the amount of money, maybe even
(26:58):
for a lesser lay. Instead they went cheap. And now
Randy Newman can help Blake Snell record the new version
of the song I Love La all right, And by
the way, it's it can be fun if you're a
Dodgers fan to spend other people's money. But why not
spend the money right the Dodgers and the Guggenheim brothers
(27:20):
who bought the Dodgers. Look, this started out as a
vanity buy. I mean, these people own art. You talk
about art, and by the way, I when we get
to art in a minute, here it can be I'll
tell you what. Somebody paid six million dollars for a
little bit of pocket chains the Dodgers. All of a sudden,
now you add Blake Snell, and the Dodgers are going
(27:40):
to have seven players on their roster that have nine
figure contracts. That's a nasty payroll. But they got the
money and success breeds success. And the one thing the
Dodgers are not afraid to do is spend money. They're
not cheap. They believe you got to spend money to
make money. Hate on the Dodgers all you want hate him?
(28:02):
You know you want to be him, you know you do.
The most surprising thing about the Dodgers reason not lay
of all this billion dollars, just not even twelve months ago.
It wasn't the fact they guaranteed the great shohe Atani
and the incredible Yoshinobu Yamamotu contracts worth seven hundred million
and three hundred and twenty five million. That puts you,
(28:24):
puts you for a billion dollars due contracts. It got
them of a World championship. It worked. Doesn't always work,
does it. The surprising thing is frankly kind of how
easy it was. It's almost like once Otani hit the
market after six years of doing his hard time in Anaheim,
there was no other choice. I know. It was even
reported by very incredible people that Otani may be on
(28:47):
his way to Toronto. I never once believed that. I
always knew he wanted to stand south of California. He
actually came damn close to signing with the Angels, but
at the end he opted not to. So you got
Otani in the fold. Who will be able to pitch
again next year? Or else would Yama Motor go for
a maximum comfort and get paid and the chance to
complete a compete for a championship? You go to Los
(29:07):
Angeles to hang out with his betty Otani Boston? Yeah, right, Okay,
they're not going to Boston. With all due respect, they're
not going to Boston. Now this January we may be
revisiting this topic again for your Dodger haters. There's a pitcher,
Willsey Okyosaki Sasaki. Excuse me, he's the next great Japanese
(29:27):
right hand or he's coming to the major leagues and
anybody can bid on him. And like Otani, Sasaki is
leaving Japan before he's even twenty five years old, and
so he can only agree to a contract within the
parameters of these international signing pools. So he'll make a
little bit less for three years. But guess where he's
(29:49):
expected to go. If you guess the Dodgers, you are right.
Funny thing is, just five years ago the Dodgers fans
were bemoaning their front office and their ownership, or they're
seeming lack of desire to go all in on a title.
Well that has changed. And even as they built this
infrastructure that's delivered twelve consecutive years of playoff berths, the
(30:10):
desire to reset the luxury tax penalty stay just under
the line. Andrew Friedman, who people complained about some people,
is having the last laugh and then all of a
sudden again Mookie Bets dropped into their lap. Five years later.
There's no ime to sight. These guys are printing money
and they're not afraid to spend it, and they seem
to be spending it very wisely. They're pocketing tens of
(30:33):
millions more because of Otani, who's a brand, and they're
paying them thanks to a cavalcade of Japanese sponsorship deals,
and Otani he's got a willingness to the first so
much of his contract. The Dodgers played the biggest ballpark
in the manjor leagues, and the demand is off the charts.
When you draw over fifty thousand people against the Diamondbacks
(30:56):
on a Tuesday day game in April, Tuesday night game
in April, this eight point three billion dollar TV deal
runs through the middle of the next decade. You're gonna
be prying in your beer. Giants in Red Sox, they've
combined for seven world series this century. Now they're just
waking up. They've gone on this austerity program and arbitrage
and found out a couple of things. Their fans hate it,
(31:18):
and they're getting their butts kicked on the field, and
it's only getting harder to stop the new evil empire
that's a runaway train called the Los Angeles Dodgers now
because of what the Dodgers are doing, and feel free
to hate on the Dodgers all you want. You know,
you love them, you want to be them. They're trying
to pivot, the Giants whiffing on free They're whiffing on
(31:39):
every big free name agent they're trying to get. Now.
The Red Sox claim they're all in on Juan Soto,
But a little birdie told me, I think Wan SODA's
gonna sign with the Mets. But it's not so easy
to get these guys, is it, unless maybe you're the Dodgers.
I don't think SODA's going to the Dodgers. So cute up,
you're gonna be complaining next year once the Dodgers make
their inevitable blitz because their financial night, or just a
(32:03):
player who wants to hang out with show Yotani, catch
a little sunshine, get paid, and play for a championship.
You can do all those things in Los Angeles. And
that's now you know why. Randy Newman continues to sing,
I Love La. Coming up, we continue on The Ben
Mallor Show. I'm Bernie Fraddle sitting in for Ben Maller.
(32:25):
We are coming you live from the Fox Sports Radio
Tirek dot Com studios. Keep it locked you're listening to
The Ben Malor Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mallor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Here Back on the Ben Malor Show, Bernie Fradle sitting
in for Ben Maller. Ben enjoying a very well deserved
Thanksgiving evening into Black Fridayum here here, I'm back on
the airwaves Sunday night. I'm Bernie Fraddle city in for
Ben Maller. Would take you up to three am Pacific,
(33:04):
six am Eastern, and by the way, you heard Jason
Smith lament about Juan Soto. I guess if you want
to be involved in the bidding for the WANSDA this offseason,
you're gonna have a lot of competition. Allegedly five teams
have already made an offer for the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers,
Blue Jays, and Red Sox. I think it's gonna be
the Mets. You know he's gonna be twenty seven. This
(33:25):
is like, it's what fourteen and seven years. He's only
had north of one hundred RVs three times. I don't know, man,
and he doesn't pitch like Otani. I'm here he's gonna
get something close to Atani money. That's crazy. But what
do I know? I mean, we saw something happen this
past week. I do a little bit on my Saturday
night show called What kind of brand New Fool Are You?
(33:46):
It's very much had had to make the category because look,
I don't know much about art. Like I look at
a bottle Celli and have no idea what the hell
I'm looking at. I just don't, and it's probably a
good thing I don't. Because something happened at soth Bee's
auction last Wednesday, and a purchase was made by this
(34:10):
Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur. And I think it's like God's way
of saying, this dude's got too much money. Okay, I
don't even know what the hell it is, but apparently
this art that this individual purchased, well, they tried this
as an experiment I think three years ago, and the
(34:35):
darn thing sold for one hundred grand. Then they did
it again and it sold for two hundred grand. And
so what they do They decided they're going to go
to Softhbee's auction and try this again. And so what
they did is, you know how auctions work, the bidding
you know, opened up, I don't know, I think it
(34:58):
opened up with like five hundred grand, and next thing,
you know, somebody bid it up. And the next thing,
you know, it was, you know, bid up to a million,
and it actually went for It went from eight hundred
grand to a million, to two million, to three million,
and finally it ends up on five million, five point
(35:18):
two million. And apparently at this auction at Softbe's, you know,
you you pay for the the item, the five point
two million, and then you have what's called a a
a some kind of fee. I don't know. It's some
kind of official fee. It's about a million dollars on
(35:40):
top of that. So at the end of the day,
this individual paid six point two million, wait for it,
for a banana held on a piece of whiteboard by
duct tape. A banana. Of course, I didn't feel as
(36:03):
bad for the guy when I found out that they
got the banana a Whole Foods. But that's the story
for a different day. Maybe that's never a story for
another day ever, because I've told the story twice now
and it doesn't It doesn't. It doesn't get any better.
I'll tell you what doesn't also doesn't get any better.
I have to revisit this one last time because if
(36:25):
you're a Chicago Bears fan, you're ready to kill yourself
with a chainsaw. They had the Lions, I won't say
they had him on the ropes, but they climbed all
the way back. They were down twenty three to twenty.
There was three minutes and forty one seconds left in
the game. The Bears start this drive on their own
one yard line after a sixty one yard punt by
the Lions punter, and Caleb Williams starts out. He hits
(36:48):
wide receiver Keenan Allen for a six yard game and
then you know, that kind of set the tone for
the rest of the drive. Even though Williams was sacked
three times, he kept escaping trouble, kept things alive, made
several big plays on third down and fourth down, and
the Bears offense kind of dnked and dunked its way
(37:09):
down the field. And by the way, they were aided
in a bed they were very much benefited from a
twenty nine year pass interference play on fourth and fourteen
with fifty six seconds left in the game. Now it
started to get very interesting. And believe me, I don't
care how optimistic Lions fans are. I was there too long,
cover too many They're always waiting potentially for the other
(37:31):
shoot to drop. They may not admit it now. And
remember on Thanksgiving Day, the Lions historically they're thirty They're
thirty five and forty seven. Before before Thursday, they had lost.
The Lions had lost seven straight Thanksgiving games, and that
in that stretch, three of those games were against the Bears.
(37:53):
They lost the Bears three of those times. So could
lightning strike again? Is it possible can strike again? They
would lose their eighth game in a row to iclow
Lei Chicago, Who's going nowhere and the likelihood is their
coach won't be back next year. Forty six seconds left
in the game, Chicago now has first and ten on
(38:15):
the Detroit twenty five, so they're already in you know,
they got a field goal attempt basically. Then Williams shows
an incomplete pass on first down. Then the Bears burn
their second time out to avoid a delay a game.
After the timeout, Allen a thirteen yard reception called back.
They were down to the twelve, but called back due
to illegal hands to the face. But that puts Chicago
(38:36):
back to the thirty five yard line second and twenty,
and that's when the real fun began. Thirty six seconds left,
the Bears were on Detroit's thirty six yard line, still
well within range to at least tie the game. Of
the field goal second and twenty, Williams get sacked at
the Detroit forty one. Caleb Williams. When he went down,
(38:57):
there were thirty six seconds left in the game. Chicago
still had one timeout. Now, Bears coach Matt Eberfluls chose
not to use it. He instead allows the clock to
tick down, likely in case he needed to use the
timeout to set up a field goal or try to
win the game. Genius, right, Well, it took ten seconds
for Caleb Williams to get up and get his bearings.
(39:20):
Then he started singling and play to his teammates. Then
he was in the shotgun with the center ready to
snap the ball. And now we're all the way down
to twelve seconds left in the game. Now Isaac Rookie
surveying the defense looking around, looked like a dunny Hill
Chinese fire drill. He eventually called for the snap. Now
we're all the way down to six seconds left in
the game. He throws a deep ball to another first
(39:43):
round draft choice, Romadunze. The ball seals over his head,
lands at the five yard line. The clock hits the ground,
the ball hits the ground, the clock reads zero, and
Chicago loses with one timeout on the clock and embarrassing
final play and what completely roomed what would have been
an oppressive second half comeback for a team that was
(40:04):
down sixteen to nothing. And then the coach defended the
play afterward, And how was your day? Were they tanking?
I don't think so. I hate tanking, don't do it.
I want to explain why keep it locked. Bernie Friday
went for Ben Maller or The Ben Maller Show.
Hey, thanks for listening to the Ben Malor Show podcast.
It's me Ben. Be sure to catch us live every
weeknight from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three
am Pacific right here on Fox Sports Radio. You can
find your local station for the Benmaler Show over at
foxsports Radio dot com, or stream us live every night
on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get this, you're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Well, that's right, you heard the man. Ben Malor Show
keeps rolling right along. My name is Bernie Fratto in
for Ben. We are comedy lyon from the Tarrat dot
com studios here in Las Vegas. Tyre ac dot com
will help you get there unmatched selection, fast free shipping,
free road hazard protection, and over ten thousand recommended installers
tyrack dot com. The way tire buying should be. The
(00:53):
NBA season is raging and every Saturday night at midnight
Pacific time, I do a Medina Magic Mark Medina, our
Fox Sports Radio NBA guru, and he kind enough to
join us tonight on the midnight of Thanksgiving getting into
Black Friday. Hey, how about that they brought your sounder
(01:14):
in Mark.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Happy Thanksgiving Bernie, I couldn't hear what you're saying amid
the amazing infro music.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Yes, which which I selected, by the way, which I selected,
of course a great job. So uh, well, Mark real
quickly a couple of things, because I want to It's
been really odd some teams where they were at real expectations,
like Philadelphia and Milwaukee, uh, just incredibly disappointing. On the
(01:44):
other hand, have been impressive teams. We're gonna get to
that in a second, but I want to follow up
on a couple of stories I say in air quotes
that we've sort of been following. Uh So the NBA
All Star Game, which is just a big fagaz. They
don't know what to do with it. Have they finalized
anything in terms of what the format is going to be.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I don't think they finalize it. I think that they've
discussed things and floated ideas about, you know, making it
a little mini tournament or you know, having the you know,
colonel Stars play against the rookies, sophomores, USA against the world.
But here here's a solution. It might it might sound
out of this world here, but you know, what the
(02:29):
format could be play hard. I think I don't solve
all the problems here. If they just act like the
game actually matters, I think people be entertained and watch
and you know, be the reason I actually have the event.
But that might be a novel concept these days.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well it's a real novel concept that there alies the
issue marked. They don't want to compete. They don't they
They've made it abundantly clear, very very similarly to the
Pro Bowl the NFL. They just they don't want to compete.
So I think they're having a real quandary there whether
you would go ahead.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Yeah, well well I was gonna say is you know,
you always when people show you who they are, believe them.
But I think that there can be a way that
it will be a competitive game without adding gimmicks. And
I think you know, some of the players they've counter
responded to. When you know, Adam Silver obviously was not
(03:23):
excited that they broke the record last season for most
All Star points because there was zero defense and there
was just a bunch of threes being jacked up. The
player counterpoint has been, you know what, like you're indirectly
saying the All Star Game doesn't matter either because we're
having to do all these long intros, all these different
(03:45):
you know, NBA branding events throughout the weekend. So what
if we reduce on that now here. Here's the thing.
Both parties want their cake and want to be able
to eat it too. So some of these sponsored events
are player driven, but the league itself also has different
obligations that all Stars are a part of. So I
(04:05):
think if they reduce at least some of it, and
also don't have these intros that you know, the intro
with the starting lineups last like half an hour, I
think that that could, you know, help the game become
more competitive. I think if they actually have a practice,
that means something could work well too. Because the practice
(04:27):
that they have on Saturday, it's just like a showcase
for the fans. They don't actually do anything. So I
think if they strip some of those things down, it
could produce a better game. But I will say players
sh drive the agenda. If they care, it'll be a
great game. If they don't, it'll be another fiasco like
(04:47):
we saw last year.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Well, I don't have much faith that they're going to care.
I don't think they want to get hurt to that
in they're playing very hard on the NBA Cup. Is
the NBA Cup have the luster it had last year?
Is it's kind of like yesterday's news.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
Now, Well, I think that, like with anything that's new,
it doesn't have the same intrigue of oh, how is
this going to work? But I think that the idea
is sustainable. Here's why. They've made it a point to
kind of group group play matchups of marquee teams going
(05:27):
against each other. So it's already going to be a
good matchup to begin with, and there is money to
be one. And now a lot of these players don't
necessarily need the money because they make millions of dollars,
but they're never going to turn down extra paycheck. And
I think it's also meaningful for the end of rotation guys.
I think it also helps that these games actually still
(05:49):
count in the standings, because that means that it's not
less important. So I think the idea is sustainable. But
that doesn't mean that they won't tweak things. You and
I have discussed the horts they really need to, you know,
change that or else I might line up lasses by
next season. But other than that, I think everything else
(06:10):
is good.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
So Mark, let's dive into the inconvenient truths. If you
go back to last July, the Sixers were giddy when
they signed Paul George. Joel Embiid said he was probably
be a bart of the team. Darryl Morris as we
are all in. He had the three stooges with Maxi,
George and and Embiid and they're three and fourteen. Can
(06:32):
you take us behind the curtain? Howking to be this bad?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
Well, the simple answer is that Joel Embiid, It's only
played in four games because of knee injuries. Paul George
is only playing eight games because of a left and
knee injury that happened twice. Tyrese Maxie's missed six games
with a hamstring injury. That's the main reason why they've
lost games. But there's also layers to it. You know,
in fairness to the Sixers, they were anticipating that Joel
(06:59):
Embiid Pall George won it play all eighty two games
because their injury history suggests that. So they did build
a pretty good roster around them with some good depth.
You know, they drafted well, gain Jared McClean, mccaina mean,
and they have good serviceable rotation players. You go down
the line. They got Kelly U Burray, they got Andre Drummond,
(07:21):
Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Gershwan, you Basella, you know, the
Frank Prospect that dunkedle Lebron James during the Olympics. And
outside of Gershawan and Jared McCain, everyone else has been
inconsistent and hasn't you know, been able to help the
Sixers absorb the overlapping absences with their big three. So
(07:45):
you compound, you combine that all together, and it's compounding
interest going the opposite direction that you'd want to. So
that's where they're at. And I think it's very telling
that a few weeks ago, when they're in La the
vibe that I got from you know, Sixers brass and
around the team is that they thought, you know what,
we're going to be fine. It's early. Paul George's minutes
(08:06):
restriction is going to go away soon, j'all be it's
gonna come back soon. But it doesn't matter. They've plummet
even more. And while I think that they will be
a better team once they finally play you know, significant
minutes together, they're so down in the standings. I don't
think it's gonna be enough.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
All right, let's slip to Milwaukee. Maybe we don't make
fun of them as much. I think since you were
last down with me, they've won five straight games. They're
now nine to nine. Are they figured out over Doc
Rivers or this kind of some kind of dead cat bounce.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Well, that's the thing, and I mean to tie to
the Sixers here. That's partly why they're still saying, hey,
everything can be changed pretty soon. They cited the Milwaukee
Bucks going on the five game winning streak after I
think starting the season one and a whole lot of losses.
They commented, notminators. Giannis is still pretty good, so as
(09:02):
Damian Loward. They're producing at a high you know, offensive
clip and so you knew that the law of averages
would come out. But I'm still a doubter in them
because I think that Boston's clearly shown they're the NBA favorites.
There hasn't been a major hangover there. The Cleveland Cavaliers
have been, you know, setting records as far as you know,
(09:25):
being on pace to try to catch. Yeah, that's seventy
two Lakers team that got a thirty three game winningstring.
I think that there's clear separation between Boston and Cleveland.
But I think Milwaukee's at least shown you know what,
We're not going to be out of the laand Tournament.
We're not going to be competing for watery ping pong balls,
but I would not consider them still, you know a
(09:47):
team that you know could get to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Mark, I can't let you go without getting a Brownie
James update. What is the latest on the Brownie James
since they insisted he's a developmental NBA project even though
of the sixty players that have two way contracts or fifty,
oh god, of the sixty players that have two way contracts,
(10:13):
and you can explain to the folks for a two
way contract is he ranks fifty ninth in offensive production
only ahead of the I can't pronounce young man's name,
but he was drafted like fifty eight, I think, and
he came from the African NBA Development League. I can't
even pronounce his name. Bronnie's ahead of him. But you
were gonna say something, go ahead, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
Well, I was gonna say, hey, we talked about the Lakers'
recent struggles. Clearly they need to get Bronnie back on
the team. Get him some minutes. But in all seriousness,
there we go.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
You haven't been in the Grandpa's cough syrup tonight, have you.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
I can neither confirm nor deny.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I love it. Continue on.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
What I was gonna say is, no, he's with the
G League team. But he also hasn't played the last
two games because he's had a field contusion. So yeah,
so when that happens, Yeah, yeah, he's still with the
G League team. He's out with the regular season team.
But you know, he hasn't been available with the G
League because of a little bit of an injury, but
they don't consider it serious, and you know, before you know,
(11:15):
you'll see him back up in uniform a gun.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
So get your tickets, all right, Paul, listen, get some rest.
Appreciate you well, we'll see you Saturday night. Mark Medina,
our NBA guru. You hear them all around the Fox
Sports Network. Mark, thanks a lot, Buddy.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
Thank you, and happy Thanks Javin, Thanks Pal.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Coming up. Believe it or not, the NBA may be
invoking one very familiar name to attract attention at the
NBA All Star Weekend coming up February fourteenth through the sixteenth.
Not make it up when you hear the name. Also,
by the way, there was some big news this week.
And you know they love you when they say they
(11:55):
hate you. And I'm going to just put it out there.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Be sure to catch live editions the Ben Mallor Show
weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox
Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
You know, you always want to be listening to the
Ben Mahlor Show, even if Bill Miller is out, even
if Ben Maller is out. I'm Bernie Fratto sitting in
for Ben Mallar tonight, coming to you live from the
Las Vegas Fox Sportsradio, Tireck dot Com Studios, and again,
(12:28):
Department of Redundancy Department. You always want to be listening
to the Ben Malor Show. Four out of five doctors
agree it's good for your health, and I don't know
what the hell's wrong with that fifth doctor. Let's have
a little fun eight seven, seven, nine to nine on Fox.
Let skirt the phones Andrew in Bakersfield, Andrew to what
the wheeled this pleasure tonight as we head into Black Friday.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
Happy Thanksgiving you too, all right? Okay, For some reason
on this Thanksgiving I'd like to give you my top five.
I have greatest travesties in sports history.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
Ready moll rough them, go right ahead.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Oh but first, a hot dog I think was made
by God to have a red line on the left
and a yellow line on the right. Mustardn't catch up.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
How do you, hey, buddy, live how you want to live? Man?
This is America.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
I know.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
I went golfing with a guy once who wanted to
plut from the rough. Live how you want to live? Andrew?
Speaker 5 (13:28):
All right? So number one is when David Stern blocked
the trade of Chris Paul to the Lakers.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Number two, probably you might have done him a favor
now what we know now go ahead.
Speaker 5 (13:43):
Number two is when the Astros won the World Series
against the Dodgers by cheating. Number three is when Dave
Roberts didn't get the Best Manager of the Year this year.
Number four is every baseball or who ever took steroids.
Number five you're gonna love this one is Florida State
(14:05):
not getting into the football playoffs last year.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
All right, you put some effort into that, Andrew. Is
that is that all we got today? Is they did
we good?
Speaker 5 (14:16):
No? Okay, college football playoffs? I was enlightened. When you
said that, I saw it. You said the first five
teams are the conference champions. Is that true?
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Yeah, You've got the four Power conference champions and the
best group of five champions. As long as you win
your conference, you're getting in. As opposed to what happened
to Florida State last year.
Speaker 5 (14:41):
Okay, who's the best group of five?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, today I would say it's Boise State. I know
I lost one game at Oregon close, so I'd have
to say it's Boise.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Who's the group of five? I'm saying Mountain West.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Yeah, you know you got the mac, you got the
mont West, you got the you know them all. I mean,
there's a bunch of them all right.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
So I had thought originally they should have gone to
eight teams. But then when you told me that about
the first five teams, I was like, Okay, maybe I
can see it. And that's about all I got tonight.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
All right, Andrew, maybe we'll hear from you in the
midnight hour on Friday. The bottom line is is, look,
it's still it made for TV event eight seven, seven,
nine and nine on Fox. You want to chime in
the night eight seven, seven, nine, nine, six six three
six nine. All Right, I mentioned a minute ago that
the NBA may be trying to lure a certain name. Okay,
(15:37):
it's wait for it, Caitlin Clark. The NBA is hoping
to you to piece of the Caitlin Clark effect. Possibly
the NBA All Star Weekend the fourteenth through the sixteen
in San Francease Center. You know last year they had
the three point challenge between Steph Curry and Sabrina and
I and Escrew. This one could include Clark, maybe Klay
(15:59):
Thompson they been talking about. Last year's All Star Saturday
only drew four and a half a million listeners. It
was up from the previous year, but it's been down.
It's been down, and based on recent history, bringing in
Clark could boost ratings. Right, She's got a viewership effect
that very few athletes can truly match. She drove nearly
nineteen million to watch the twenty twenty four Women's Basketball Championship.
(16:22):
A couple of years ago, she did not participate in
a WNBAS three point contest, So look, it's unclear what
the NBA would offer her. She just turned down a
million to play in the three three on three League,
But she's gonna bring eyeball. So wouldn't that be something
that they would lean on Caitlin Clark the NBA in
their desperation to get the NBAL Star Game back to relevancy.
(16:43):
Eight seven, seven nine nine six sixty three sixty nine.
Let's hear from yet Gunner in Minnesota. I think you
wanted to talk about the college football playoff? Correct? Yes,
go ahead? What do you got for us? Oh, I'm
seeing only a couple of teams that can win this year.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Texas be a matchup in the finals.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
I'll see Miami.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Having a chance, Boyd to State and not having a
chance either.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
Wow, States a struggle with Boise, and don't know Georgia the.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, remember we don't we don't, Gunner. We still don't
honestly know that the matchups are a guess. Right now,
there's still going to be two more selection shows. You know,
you've got the conference championship games, You've got rivalry games
this weekend. And what's going to happen is next Tuesday
will be the second to last rankings, and then a
week from Sunday, which I believe is December eighth, at
(17:39):
Eastern time, you'll have the final. You'll you'll know you'll
know the final playoff matchup Seon. Yeah, all right, that's
all I'm thinking. All right, appreciated Gunner. Thanks for checking
in eight seven, seven, nine, nine, six six three sixty nine.
We have legally Broliant Christopher calling in form North Carolina.
(18:03):
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Black Faraday, whichever you prefer.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Well, I do appreciate Bernie. I just love your taken
as it relates to all sports, especially from your Michigan
days of what you used to write. I followed you
way back then as a Michigan sports fan. So my
take for you, sir, and question for you is this,
it doesn't really matter what happens today as college football,
and it won't really matter until after the playoffs next week.
(18:28):
Where do you feel the top two teams are going
to be as it relates to who's going to play
number one and two? Personally, if Ohio State dominates Michigan today,
it's not going to matter who they play in the
championship game in Indianapolis, because that's all the people are
going to remember is the blowout against Michigan, which I
think is going to happen. Number two, Georgia has still
(18:52):
a very strong defense and I feel that in the
long run, it is Ohio State has shown time and
time again that they are unable to produce when it matters.
Offense doesn't win this. It's always been defense, and we
see it time and time again. I think that's where
Georgia still has a strong chance. As it relates to
the playoffs, well, they have.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
An excellent chance. The first thing they have to do
is bet Georgia Tech. They're already in the SEC Championship Game,
but they really can't get that third loss. They'll play
the winner of Texas Texas A and M. If they win,
Georgia wins in the SEC Championship game, they're in. And
I said at the top of the show, I believe
if Georgia brings their best game and everybody else brings
their best game, Georgia can win. Georgia, per Nick Saban
(19:37):
could be the only team possibly to get a bid
with three losses because if they go to the SEC
Championship game and lose, they don't want to punish a
three loss team if they were if they made it
to the SEC Championship game, but they're gonna need help.
As far as one two, I still see it as
Oregon and Texas. I mean Oregon. It looks like they're
(20:00):
going to win the Big Ten, although they could lose
to Ohio State in the rematch, right that's a week
from That would be a week from in the Big
Ten championship. So any of this happens, we don't know
who gets the first round by the home games and
all the other things that go along with it. I
can give you what projections are today, but it's a
guess because there's still two more full weeks of college football.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Thank you forgetting about Oregon, and again, I also forget
about Texas because Texas has been dominant enough to give
the sport a chance. So there are really good, four
good teams. At least now we won't have fans saying,
well I miss this, I miss that. Well, hey, you
got twelve teams. Make your based bet, show up, play,
do it or shut up.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Yeah, it's decided on the field. Good stuff, Christopher, thanks
for checking in. Appreciate that, Thanks for the nice comments. Again,
just ever so quickly, I'm Caitlyn Clark. It's unclear what
the NBA might be willing to offer Caitlin Clark to
participate in the All Star Game. In the All Star
Game week. That is, you know, the NBA still owns
(21:02):
a reported sixty percent of the WNBA, And I know
the WNBA managed to get a two point two billion
dollar media deal, which I'm not gonna lie. I left
my I'm scratching my head a little bit. This is
a league that's lost money for twenty five straight years.
I lost forty million dollars this year. But knock yourself out.
It's part of the NBA's seventy seven billion dollar deal
(21:25):
with ESPN, NBC, Universal, Amazon, and the value of the
WNBA's portion it's going to be determined later. But look,
everybody's everybody's printing money now. But the NBA seriously is
looking to and they have to make changes to the
format of the All Star Game. The league has to
figure something out. According to ESPN, they're talking pretty vehemently
(21:48):
right now about a four team tournament style format, two
semi final games, and a championship game. The idea is
that you know you make this, you know you You
would play a game up to forty points, okay, and
then the championship game would play up to twenty five points.
The idea that is, you just create this fast paced
pickup style format. It'll change a tenor of the game, right,
(22:11):
and the NBAL Star Game reverted last year to the
East versus West format. But everything, you know, I think
the commissioner, Adam Silver, he hoped the players would take
the game seriously. But you're not going to tell me
they're taking it seriously. When the team combined for three
hundred and ninety seven points, that's the most in the
(22:32):
game's history. Okay, so it's not basketball. I don't know
what the hell you call it. Speaking of taking stuff seriously,
I know we got a lot of Dodger fans, Dodger
fan listeners, and justifiably so. Broadcasting on five seventy am
when they blow torch in southern California, the Dodger's flagship,
and here's the kicker. It's now going to become chic
(22:55):
this year. You watch they call the Yankees the Evil Empire.
Watch how people start to really hate on the Dodgers,
and maybe to a degree, it's already happened. But the
Dodgers signed Blake Snell the other day, and you can
hate on him if you want, but they had some
help building their evil empire. Right, it's the classic rich
(23:17):
gets richer, and you know, half a dozen markets still
get rich off of local TV rights. And the Dodgers
have a lot of money and they seem to have
been spending it wisely, right, And I know that at
Bud Selig de facto Bud the commissioner at one time
of baseball, he had really lamented about the rich getting
(23:41):
richer and the haves and have nots. He wanted parody.
And you know he can maybe he thinks that's a
valid concern. But in the wake of the Dodgers' latest deal,
Blake Snell five years, one hundred and eighty two million
dollar deal. By the way, if I'm not mistaken, Blake
Snell got the He got the decisive win game for
Tampa Bay years ago when they beat the Dodgers. He
(24:04):
wants to find a home and a lot of doors
slammed in his face because he's a little he's a
little eccentric, Blake Snell is. And look, he's not the
only one. He's not the only Dodgers are not the
only team that gave Blake Snell an offer. I believe
the Boston Red Sox did as well, right, But the
(24:25):
Dodgers two years now removed from their fourth World Series championship,
since well, look, let's put it this way. Let's put
it this way. The Dodgers are putting the icing on
the cake because you had Mookie Betts who just needed
one more spring to determine Hell. I like to hang
with you guys for a while. I remembering trading places,
(24:46):
Eddie Murphy, you know, looking good, Billy Ray, feeling good Valentine.
He gets to the back seat of a cap I
think I can hang with you guys for a while.
That's exactly what Mookie Betts did. He just needed one
spring instead of I can hang with you guys for
a dozen years. And he had three hundred and sixty
five million reasons to stay with the Dodgers right now.
(25:08):
The Atlanta Braves, they celebrated their twenty twenty one World
Series by kicking Freddy Freeman to the curb. And they
did sign Matt Olson, who's been pretty good. But the
Dodgers said, hey, we'll see you're Freddy Freeman and take
them Orange County product. And I went to the same
high school as Freddy Freeman, Almandine High School. They offer
(25:30):
from a reasonable six year, one hundred and sixty two
million dollar contract with referrals, and now only the Dodgers
spending money and getting and being very productive. They're spending
money very wisely. And by the way, let's not forget
last year, the San Francisco Giants and every team that
bid for Blake's know and their services. Last winter he
(25:52):
was a Ranting Sion Award winner. He fetched on the
market well in the March. Finally he said, okay, I'll
sit out one year. Well, I'll not sit out one year.
I'll bide my time. He grabbed a two year deal
with the Giants thirty two million per season, with a
chance to opt out after one and that's exactly what
he did. Next. What happened next, frankly very predictable. Snell
(26:16):
kind of rushed through with spring training, got hurt, the
Giants fell out of contention. Blake Snell had one of
the greatest second halves of the season for a starting
pitcher in decades, Just in time to hit the market again.
Enter the Dodgers. Inner superagent Scott Boris and inner Blake
Snell combine Snell's Dodgers contract with his one year in
(26:36):
the Bay. Snell's getting basically six years two hundred and
fourteen million, and that's a pretty good deal in this
day and age. Give it up to Scott Boris. So
the point remains. The Giants, the Red Sox, the Yankees,
any number of those teams could have had Blake Snell
last winter, probably for the amount of money, maybe even
(26:58):
for a lesser lay. Instead they went cheap. And now
Randy Newman can help Blake Snell record the new version
of the song I Love La all right, And by
the way, it's it can be fun if you're a
Dodgers fan to spend other people's money. But why not
spend the money right the Dodgers and the Guggenheim brothers
(27:20):
who bought the Dodgers. Look, this started out as a
vanity buy. I mean, these people own art. You talk
about art, and by the way, I when we get
to art in a minute, here it can be I'll
tell you what. Somebody paid six million dollars for a
little bit of pocket chains the Dodgers. All of a sudden,
now you add Blake Snell, and the Dodgers are going
(27:40):
to have seven players on their roster that have nine
figure contracts. That's a nasty payroll. But they got the
money and success breeds success. And the one thing the
Dodgers are not afraid to do is spend money. They're
not cheap. They believe you got to spend money to
make money. Hate on the Dodgers all you want hate him?
(28:02):
You know you want to be him, you know you do.
The most surprising thing about the Dodgers reason not lay
of all this billion dollars, just not even twelve months ago.
It wasn't the fact they guaranteed the great shohe Atani
and the incredible Yoshinobu Yamamotu contracts worth seven hundred million
and three hundred and twenty five million. That puts you,
(28:24):
puts you for a billion dollars due contracts. It got
them of a World championship. It worked. Doesn't always work,
does it. The surprising thing is frankly kind of how
easy it was. It's almost like once Otani hit the
market after six years of doing his hard time in Anaheim,
there was no other choice. I know. It was even
reported by very incredible people that Otani may be on
(28:47):
his way to Toronto. I never once believed that. I
always knew he wanted to stand south of California. He
actually came damn close to signing with the Angels, but
at the end he opted not to. So you got
Otani in the fold. Who will be able to pitch
again next year? Or else would Yama Motor go for
a maximum comfort and get paid and the chance to
complete a compete for a championship? You go to Los
(29:07):
Angeles to hang out with his betty Otani Boston? Yeah, right, Okay,
they're not going to Boston. With all due respect, they're
not going to Boston. Now this January we may be
revisiting this topic again for your Dodger haters. There's a pitcher,
Willsey Okyosaki Sasaki. Excuse me, he's the next great Japanese
(29:27):
right hand or he's coming to the major leagues and
anybody can bid on him. And like Otani, Sasaki is
leaving Japan before he's even twenty five years old, and
so he can only agree to a contract within the
parameters of these international signing pools. So he'll make a
little bit less for three years. But guess where he's
(29:49):
expected to go. If you guess the Dodgers, you are right.
Funny thing is, just five years ago the Dodgers fans
were bemoaning their front office and their ownership, or they're
seeming lack of desire to go all in on a title.
Well that has changed. And even as they built this
infrastructure that's delivered twelve consecutive years of playoff berths, the
(30:10):
desire to reset the luxury tax penalty stay just under
the line. Andrew Friedman, who people complained about some people,
is having the last laugh and then all of a
sudden again Mookie Bets dropped into their lap. Five years later.
There's no ime to sight. These guys are printing money
and they're not afraid to spend it, and they seem
to be spending it very wisely. They're pocketing tens of
(30:33):
millions more because of Otani, who's a brand, and they're
paying them thanks to a cavalcade of Japanese sponsorship deals,
and Otani he's got a willingness to the first so
much of his contract. The Dodgers played the biggest ballpark
in the manjor leagues, and the demand is off the charts.
When you draw over fifty thousand people against the Diamondbacks
(30:56):
on a Tuesday day game in April, Tuesday night game
in April, this eight point three billion dollar TV deal
runs through the middle of the next decade. You're gonna
be prying in your beer. Giants in Red Sox, they've
combined for seven world series this century. Now they're just
waking up. They've gone on this austerity program and arbitrage
and found out a couple of things. Their fans hate it,
(31:18):
and they're getting their butts kicked on the field, and
it's only getting harder to stop the new evil empire
that's a runaway train called the Los Angeles Dodgers now
because of what the Dodgers are doing, and feel free
to hate on the Dodgers all you want. You know,
you love them, you want to be them. They're trying
to pivot, the Giants whiffing on free They're whiffing on
(31:39):
every big free name agent they're trying to get. Now.
The Red Sox claim they're all in on Juan Soto,
But a little birdie told me, I think Wan SODA's
gonna sign with the Mets. But it's not so easy
to get these guys, is it, unless maybe you're the Dodgers.
I don't think SODA's going to the Dodgers. So cute up,
you're gonna be complaining next year once the Dodgers make
their inevitable blitz because their financial night, or just a
(32:03):
player who wants to hang out with show Yotani, catch
a little sunshine, get paid, and play for a championship.
You can do all those things in Los Angeles. And
that's now you know why. Randy Newman continues to sing,
I Love La. Coming up, we continue on The Ben
Mallor Show. I'm Bernie Fraddle sitting in for Ben Maller.
(32:25):
We are coming you live from the Fox Sports Radio
Tirek dot Com studios. Keep it locked you're listening to
The Ben Malor Show on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Mallor
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Here Back on the Ben Malor Show, Bernie Fradle sitting
in for Ben Maller. Ben enjoying a very well deserved
Thanksgiving evening into Black Fridayum here here, I'm back on
the airwaves Sunday night. I'm Bernie Fraddle city in for
Ben Maller. Would take you up to three am Pacific,
(33:04):
six am Eastern, and by the way, you heard Jason
Smith lament about Juan Soto. I guess if you want
to be involved in the bidding for the WANSDA this offseason,
you're gonna have a lot of competition. Allegedly five teams
have already made an offer for the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers,
Blue Jays, and Red Sox. I think it's gonna be
the Mets. You know he's gonna be twenty seven. This
(33:25):
is like, it's what fourteen and seven years. He's only
had north of one hundred RVs three times. I don't know, man,
and he doesn't pitch like Otani. I'm here he's gonna
get something close to Atani money. That's crazy. But what
do I know? I mean, we saw something happen this
past week. I do a little bit on my Saturday
night show called What kind of brand New Fool Are You?
(33:46):
It's very much had had to make the category because look,
I don't know much about art. Like I look at
a bottle Celli and have no idea what the hell
I'm looking at. I just don't, and it's probably a
good thing I don't. Because something happened at soth Bee's
auction last Wednesday, and a purchase was made by this
(34:10):
Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur. And I think it's like God's way
of saying, this dude's got too much money. Okay, I
don't even know what the hell it is, but apparently
this art that this individual purchased, well, they tried this
as an experiment I think three years ago, and the
(34:35):
darn thing sold for one hundred grand. Then they did
it again and it sold for two hundred grand. And
so what they do They decided they're going to go
to Softhbee's auction and try this again. And so what
they did is, you know how auctions work, the bidding
you know, opened up, I don't know, I think it
(34:58):
opened up with like five hundred grand, and next thing,
you know, somebody bid it up. And the next thing,
you know, it was, you know, bid up to a million,
and it actually went for It went from eight hundred
grand to a million, to two million, to three million,
and finally it ends up on five million, five point
(35:18):
two million. And apparently at this auction at Softbe's, you know,
you you pay for the the item, the five point
two million, and then you have what's called a a
a some kind of fee. I don't know. It's some
kind of official fee. It's about a million dollars on
(35:40):
top of that. So at the end of the day,
this individual paid six point two million, wait for it,
for a banana held on a piece of whiteboard by
duct tape. A banana. Of course, I didn't feel as
(36:03):
bad for the guy when I found out that they
got the banana a Whole Foods. But that's the story
for a different day. Maybe that's never a story for
another day ever, because I've told the story twice now
and it doesn't It doesn't. It doesn't get any better.
I'll tell you what doesn't also doesn't get any better.
I have to revisit this one last time because if
(36:25):
you're a Chicago Bears fan, you're ready to kill yourself
with a chainsaw. They had the Lions, I won't say
they had him on the ropes, but they climbed all
the way back. They were down twenty three to twenty.
There was three minutes and forty one seconds left in
the game. The Bears start this drive on their own
one yard line after a sixty one yard punt by
the Lions punter, and Caleb Williams starts out. He hits
(36:48):
wide receiver Keenan Allen for a six yard game and
then you know, that kind of set the tone for
the rest of the drive. Even though Williams was sacked
three times, he kept escaping trouble, kept things alive, made
several big plays on third down and fourth down, and
the Bears offense kind of dnked and dunked its way
(37:09):
down the field. And by the way, they were aided
in a bed they were very much benefited from a
twenty nine year pass interference play on fourth and fourteen
with fifty six seconds left in the game. Now it
started to get very interesting. And believe me, I don't
care how optimistic Lions fans are. I was there too long,
cover too many They're always waiting potentially for the other
(37:31):
shoot to drop. They may not admit it now. And
remember on Thanksgiving Day, the Lions historically they're thirty They're
thirty five and forty seven. Before before Thursday, they had lost.
The Lions had lost seven straight Thanksgiving games, and that
in that stretch, three of those games were against the Bears.
(37:53):
They lost the Bears three of those times. So could
lightning strike again? Is it possible can strike again? They
would lose their eighth game in a row to iclow
Lei Chicago, Who's going nowhere and the likelihood is their
coach won't be back next year. Forty six seconds left
in the game, Chicago now has first and ten on
(38:15):
the Detroit twenty five, so they're already in you know,
they got a field goal attempt basically. Then Williams shows
an incomplete pass on first down. Then the Bears burn
their second time out to avoid a delay a game.
After the timeout, Allen a thirteen yard reception called back.
They were down to the twelve, but called back due
to illegal hands to the face. But that puts Chicago
(38:36):
back to the thirty five yard line second and twenty,
and that's when the real fun began. Thirty six seconds left,
the Bears were on Detroit's thirty six yard line, still
well within range to at least tie the game. Of
the field goal second and twenty, Williams get sacked at
the Detroit forty one. Caleb Williams. When he went down,
(38:57):
there were thirty six seconds left in the game. Chicago
still had one timeout. Now, Bears coach Matt Eberfluls chose
not to use it. He instead allows the clock to
tick down, likely in case he needed to use the
timeout to set up a field goal or try to
win the game. Genius, right, Well, it took ten seconds
for Caleb Williams to get up and get his bearings.
(39:20):
Then he started singling and play to his teammates. Then
he was in the shotgun with the center ready to
snap the ball. And now we're all the way down
to twelve seconds left in the game. Now Isaac Rookie
surveying the defense looking around, looked like a dunny Hill
Chinese fire drill. He eventually called for the snap. Now
we're all the way down to six seconds left in
the game. He throws a deep ball to another first
(39:43):
round draft choice, Romadunze. The ball seals over his head,
lands at the five yard line. The clock hits the ground,
the ball hits the ground, the clock reads zero, and
Chicago loses with one timeout on the clock and embarrassing
final play and what completely roomed what would have been
an oppressive second half comeback for a team that was
(40:04):
down sixteen to nothing. And then the coach defended the
play afterward, And how was your day? Were they tanking?
I don't think so. I hate tanking, don't do it.
I want to explain why keep it locked. Bernie Friday
went for Ben Maller or The Ben Maller Show.
Host
Ben Maller
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.