July 18, 2025 • 40 mins
Brian Noe is in for Ben Maller and talks about NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell Jr. stepping down after the collusion scandal, Damian Lillard returning to the Portland Trailblazers, a trip down memory lane, and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh what is going on? Greetings top of the evening
to you wherevery you're listening, top of the early morning
hours to you, depending on where you're at. Appreciate you
checking out the show. You know, something dawned on me
today and tonight I'm getting all these stories ready for
(00:21):
the show. And let me just tell you, ball is
on the brain, all right, lots of football to discuss tonight.
That's not the only thing. Some hoops see their way
into the show. A little baseball, but heavy on the ball.
Lots of football. And I'm compiling all these stories and
I'm looking at him. I'm like, I've never really thought
(00:42):
about it like this, because I don't know if you're
like me, where I anticipate the season coming up and
then after a while, I just I'm like, I know
it's getting closer, but based on the stories that we hear,
the stories don't get me more excited for the upcoming season,
(01:04):
you know what I mean. For instance, well, I'll probably
hit on tonight some of these holdouts, some of the
second round draft picks that are looking for guaranteed money.
The idiotic Bengals what they're doing with their first round pick,
Shamar Stewart. These stories don't get me more excited for
the season. What do I care whether second rounders get
(01:28):
fully guaranteed deals or you know, eighty seven percent gear,
I don't care. That has nothing to do with my
excitement level for the upcoming season, right And so I
thought of that, and I'm like, that's probably why most seasons,
even though it seems like I anticipate, all right, it's
only like five months away, it's only four months away,
(01:50):
get about it, and then boom, it's there. And I'm like,
why was I anticipating it four months out? But then
like two months out, I just kind of I stop
doing the countdown, you know. I think it has a
lot to do with the nature of the stories that
you hear about, and so I'm gonna try to keep
that in mind tonight. I think that some of these
(02:12):
stories are interesting even though they don't necessarily get me
excited for the upcoming season. So I think if you
have an interesting story that also gets you more excited
for the upcoming season, that's a double win right there.
That is a double win win win, as we say
in the business here. But I also think that some
(02:33):
of these stories that don't get you excited for the
upcoming season? Do have a place? And that's not to
be a complete hypocrite, but I'm gonna start with one
of those things, just because there are two parts of
this story and they both are insane. It's almost like
you can't make this stuff up? Are you kidding me
with this? So the news tonight is that Lloyd Howell.
(02:58):
You're looking at me. Even if a diehard fan, you're like,
Lloyd Howell? Should I Did he play for the I
don't know the Jags? Was he a backup defensive tackle
five years ago? Who is Lloyd Howell?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
So?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Lloyd Howell used to be the executive director of the
NFL Players Association as of late Thursday night, No Moss,
no more Lloyd Howell. He resigned late Thursday night, and
he cited distractions that his leadership has caused in recent weeks.
(03:31):
Kind of distractions are we talking about here? So this guy,
Lloyd Howell, he faced a lot of scrutiny. There was
an ESPN report that came out and it said that
Lloyd Howell has maintained a part time consulting job with
the Carlyle Group. Who the heck is the Carlyle group.
(03:51):
It doesn't matter. All that you need to know is
the Carlyle Group is now seeking minority ownership in NFL franchises.
So the guy who was the executive director of the
NFL Players Association was also a consultant for this group
(04:13):
that's seeking minority ownership. There are two very different worlds
when it comes to professional football NFL. Here it's player side,
ownership side. You can't be the executive director of the
Players Association while you are a paid consultant for a
group that's trying to become a minority owner in the NFL.
(04:37):
You can't have both. It's got to be one lane
or the other. Was the old LeVar ball Well, he said,
stay in your lane. I guess that's the thing. He's
got to stay in his lane. Whether it's player's lane
or ownership lane. You gotta choose. Can't be both. You're
all over the media, you're in access, You're going from
lane to lane over here, Lloyd Howell. So he resigned
(04:59):
from the Player Association as the executive director. That's the
first part of it where it's crazy that he was
trying to do both, and then all these Players Association
people they had his back they're like, Oh, all these accusations,
this is ridiculous. And then all of a sudden he
resigns and they're like, maybe there was something to that.
(05:20):
I don't know. There's this other part here, though, it's
not just involving Lloyd Howell. There's another story from last
month that makes the NFLPA, right, the NFL Players Association
look freaking terrible. I can't believe this is even true.
So the NFLPA and the NFL the league right, they
(05:45):
had a confidentiality agreement to keep quiet when an arbitrator
ruled about possible collusion by owners over quarterback salaries. Okay,
that sounds like you ever say, like, I've got Oreo,
the neighborhood cat. Here, she's taking a nap. She's very
comfortable on the couch right over there. She's very fired
up for the show tonight, hanging out here. You ever
(06:06):
see a cat that gets like hairball stuck in their
you know, maybe they licked their paws a little bit,
and then it just something didn't work right and they
just kind of they just do Like that's what that
last sentence sounded like, where it just sounds like leh
blah blah, blah blah BLI. So let's break it down.
This is now, it's a little wordy. I tried to
(06:27):
condense everything to the most important parts so it doesn't
just sound like yackitty yackitty yackity yeack. Again, the payoff
is unbelievable. So just bear with me for a second
over here. So this goes back to March of twenty
twenty two. That's when quarterback Deshaun Watson signed that mammoth
fully guaranteed two hundred and thirty million dollar contract.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
The NFL owners were pissed, just incredibly ticked off about this,
and so they had the owners meeting in Flo in
that same March of twenty twenty two, and so the league,
the NFL, was urging ownership to restrict guaranteed contracts. The
(07:12):
NFL gave a presentation during the owner's meetings and they
even included some speaker notes. Now, it basically is like, yo,
you can't be given out these guaranteed deals left and right.
This is gonna set a precedent, and then once the
toothpaste is out of the tube, you can't put it back.
All of a sudden, the next player in line, they're
(07:34):
gonna win a fully guaranteed deal, and then the next
player who's got leverage is gonna demand a fully guaranteed contract,
and so we gotta slow this train down or you
guys are gonna be in a rough spot NFL ownership.
That's basically what the NFL was saying. I think the
paraphrasing works way better than reading the exact things, because
it's you can imagine it's a four score and seven
(07:56):
years ago and you're like, oh my gosh, this is
just so boring. So you go back to they had
this presentation, and so an arbitrator made a ruling back
in January of this year. Okay, now what I told you,
the Deshaun Watson thing, twenty twenty two owners meetings in
(08:17):
March of twenty twenty two. Finally, this January and twenty five,
an arbitrator determined that this March twenty twenty two presentation
was evidence of the NFL's collusive behavior. Okay, that's the
way he said it. Evidence of the NFL's collusive behavior,
(08:37):
but he did not find the NFL guilty of collusion.
This is the first part that blows my mind. Collusive
behavior not quite collusion for sure though, that's like saying
I engaged in cheating behavior, but I'm not a cheater
(08:59):
or better yet, it's an arbitrator oversaw a case. All right,
there's this married man. He's fooling around with the secretary,
and this arbitrator is like, all right, even though she
was nude and on this married man's lap and making
sort of I don't know, I don't want to be
(09:19):
too raunchy over here, but let's just say, like, you know,
certain rowing like motions. You know, I can't say for
sure this guy is a cheater. I mean, that's a
little bit of a leap right there. Now, this was
cheating behavior, for sure, but cheating or a cheater. Ah, Oh,
(09:39):
that's a bit of a leap. That's basically what the
arbitrator ruled with the NFL. It's unbelievable. How can you
not say it's anything other than collusion. You guys are
actively talking about restricting guaranteed money. That's collusion. But somehow
this arbitrator didn't go that far. Now we get a
(10:00):
little bit more evidence of collusion or at least collusive behavior,
as the arbitrator ruled. Okay, so this goes back to
twenty twenty two July. All right, so we fast forward
from March of twenty two. We're in July of twenty two.
That's when Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback, he signed his contract
extension five years, two hundred and thirty million dollars. Only
(10:22):
one hundred and three million was guaranteed at signing. Now,
I say only because it's relative. You know, if I
signed my next contract for one hundred and three million dollars,
I'm not putting on clothes for the rest of my life.
You know what I'm saying. But it's all relative. Deshaun
Watson got two hundred thirty million guaranteed. Kyler Murray got
one hundred and three million dollars guaranteed. Now, there was
(10:44):
a text exchange between Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Cardinals
owner Michael Bidwell. Okay, so Bidwell, Cardinals team owner Kyler
Murray just signed this contract, right, So Dean Spanos of
the Chargers, he texts Bidwell and says congratulations on signing Murray.
(11:05):
Bidwell responds, thanks Dino, that's my favorite part of the
Thanks Dino. These QB deals are expensive, but we limited
the fully guaranteed money and have some pretty good language.
Thankfully we have a quarterback worth paying. And then Dean
Spano says, your deal helps us for our quarterback next year.
(11:28):
Kind of sounds a little bit like collusion, a little
bit right, or exactly like collusion. That's when Michael Bidwell
he responded via text, I think many teams will be
happy with it once they have a chance to review.
Cleveland really screwed things up, but I was resolved to
keep the guarantees relatively low. Very interesting, right again, this arbitrator,
(11:52):
you've found a lot of collusive behavior, but not quite collusion.
That's unbelievable. Now, this, this to me, is the ultimate
curve ball, and all this stuff where the NFLPA just
looks like a total joke. You would think the NFLPA
would be screaming with a megaphone here. Now, all this
(12:13):
stuff was not released, right, nothing was released. It was
Pablo Torre, remember of ESPN and does his podcast. He
found this arbitrator's sixty one page document detailing the ruling
of this, and so Pablo Torre, he's the one who
(12:34):
publicized all of these findings. The arbitrator ruled in January
of this year. Pablo Torre released this last month. Okay,
now you would be thinking the NFLPA would be screaming,
do you see what the NFL is doing here? They're
trying to restrict guaranteed money from our players, so forth
(12:55):
and so on. Nope, turns out the NFLPA actually struck
a deal with the NFL. They struck a confidentiality agreement
to hide the details of the arbitrator's decision from the
players that the NFLPA represents. Make sense of that. What
(13:17):
did the NFL promise the NFLPA here? I don't know what.
They're like, Hey, man, if you do us this solid,
we'll give you whatever, whatever, whatever, I don't know what.
But somehow the NFLPA was like, yeah, we agree to
a confidentiality agreement. We won't say anything NFL about you
guys working with ownership to try to limit the guaranteed
(13:42):
money that our players that we represent are making. That
is unbelievable. If I'm an NFL player right now, I'm
looking at the Players Association like, do you freaking guys
know anything? Do you know what you're doing at? What
are you what's happening over here?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Now?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
The last little part of this is just for scorekeeping.
I guess the guy Lloyd Howell that we talked about
who just stepped down as the executive director of the
Players Association. He took over in twenty twenty three. Okay,
so that's important. Demorris Smith, Remember old Demorris Smith. He
(14:22):
was the executive director until twenty twenty three. Right, It
was Demorris Smith from nine to twenty twenty three, and
then Lloyd Howell took over from there in twenty three.
That's important because again this all traced back to Deshaun
Watson in March of twenty twenty two, So that was
Demorris Smith overseeing that whole thing, and then it was
(14:45):
Lloyd Howell later on. But just so we're clear on
that this wasn't Lloyd Howell screwing everything up with the
twenty twenty two collusive behavior, not quite collusion, but collusive behavior.
It wasn't under his watch. What Lloyd Howell is really
screwing up is he's trying to do two things at once.
(15:05):
Trying to represent the players and he's consulting a group
that's vying for NFL ownership. That is, that is the
NFLPA is a total joke right now, You can't make
this stuff up. If a buddy told me this, I'd
be like, you're getting something wrong. This can't be true.
It's true. This is exactly what went down. Unbelievable, but
(15:30):
that's where we are right now, and the NFLPA is
looking for a new executive director. So I find that
to be fascinating and unbelievable, but again, does nothing to
get you fired up for the upcoming season. So we
will put that to the side, and I'm gonna pinpoint
some stories that do get you fired up for the
(15:51):
upcoming season. I like one of them coming up next.
I saw a column about overrated and underrated teams heading
into the season, so that a little bit later as
the show goes along fired up to be here malin Militia.
You want to get on in, feel free to do
so at the no shows where you can find me
on X and the phones are open Man eight seven
(16:11):
seven ninety nine on Fox. That's right, we promised and
we delivered last time I was filling in for Big Ben.
You're on hold, we roll out the red carpet. We
get right to you. No Yiaki yacketing quickly, that's right fast?
Oh yeah, we got we got h I don't know
my guy, you know, Emmett, Wan's fine, We're getting to
amit great. Emitt's on hold, We're getting right to him.
(16:35):
We got Jed who fled on hold, boom right to him.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
We got a bunch of all right, we're going four
by one hundred meter relay, leg after leg after leg
after leg. You know, let's get him on quickly. So
feel free to check in coming up next the militia
if you're there. And also, you don't know what you
have until it's gone. Great example of that coming up.
I'm Brian in for Big Ben mallor hang with us
(17:01):
here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
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Speaker 1 (17:11):
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Brian Noen for Big Ben mallor here on Fox Sports Radio.
Ah Man, the picture that Larina just painted right then,
it's just utterly disgusting, just terrible. So she's talking about Coop.
You're driving in work tonight and what he was probably
(18:03):
rocking out to, and this is probably exactly what it was. Coop,
do you like, what's the song that you're like, Yeah,
what's the Tool song that really gets you fired up?
Over there? Do you have one who's probably doing his
job right now, probably what's going Yeah, it's maybe it's
(18:26):
too long to list. I don't know. Maybe he doesn't
want to start an active list of songs from Tool
that fire him up.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
And I mean all of them fire me up.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That cannot be correct. That that cannot be Listen. Every
band I love has songs that do nothing for me
in terms of firing me up. There's no way every
Tool song fires you up.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
That's yeah, because they're all brilliant. There's no way that
is correct.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I love Metallica even before you know things went wrong
after the Black album. You know, mostly there are plenty
of songs. Even there are five great albums that were terrible.
Escape is awful, Jumping the Fire is a wretched song.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well, I mean we disagree on that, but no, yeah,
I mean every band has bad songs except for Tool.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Every band Button Tool has bad songs.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Unreal, man, you don't feel like that about any band, No, not.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
One band ever. Every band has some bad songs.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I mean I feel like I feel like System of
a Down also doesn't really have a bad song.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
No, there's I could you know, I'd have to go
in the archives here. I don't know System as well
as you know some of my go to metal bands.
But I guarantee you go, you know the B sides,
you go C side there, you're gonna find a handful
of songs where you're like, mm, yeah, could have done
better on this one. Every band has said some of
(20:00):
the most legendary bands ever have some duds. You know,
it happens, it's true.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But I just there's certain bands for me where like
every single one. I'm you know, there's ones that I
like less than others, But I don't know that there's
any that I think like, ooh, this is a bad song.
I'm skipping this.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh man, that's maybe you. Uh, you're either blind or
you're more of an optimistic person than I am. You know,
I don't know which it is. Maybe it's a blend
of blood.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It's easier for bands like that though, Like, it's not
like they have a huge catalog of songs with which
which band either one I mean, System of a Down
I mean and even Tool.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Really, how many how many albums does System have? I'm
checking it out.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
They've got the self titled, then they've got Toxicity, and
then they have Hypnotized Mesmerise, which was like a double album.
They've got at the steal this album. So we're like
looking at four or five.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, I'm sure they have some bad ones, have some yeah,
five studio albums. There you go, see, I you are
you detailing that? It's faster than me with Google. I
am not great with Google.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I mean, they were my all time favorite band for
long until I discovered Tool.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh my gosh, dude, I did not realize it was
this dire. I didn't realize it was we.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Need a what is it?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Uh, It's exactly what we need, an intervention. We need
to get this together immediately, Loraina, I did that someone
right now? That's like kicking the Broncos to the curb
for like the Titans right now. Why would you do that? Yeah,
that's what you did. You took System and said, yeah,
(21:52):
I'm kind of over it.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I didn't say I was over it. They're still there,
my number two, and.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You're like, there's someone better out here in these streets
named Tool. That's what you think.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And then you get out there and Tool left Je
high and dry.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, that's that's the way it goes sometimes, unbelievable, Coop
I did. The more the more I hear you talk
about Tool, the less I respect you. It hasn't completely
gone away, but it's dwindling. A statement by statement, sentence
by sentence from you, Unreal eight seven seven ninety nine
on Fox is your number. If you want to weigh
(22:26):
in on whatever you know, Tool, System or sports, feel
free to do so. I contend that every song, even
every band, even legendary bands, legendary artists, have some dud songs.
Everybody does, Tool included, and they are not a legendary
band at least in my book, Let me get to
(22:48):
You don't know what you have until it's gone. That
would be Damian Lillard. So Sham Sharania of ESPN he
broke this news that Damian Lillard has agreed to a
three year deal forty two million dollars to return to
the Portland Trail Blazers. So it's it's kind of a
(23:08):
cool story. He's going back to Portland. But here's the
thing that's interesting to me. So Dame left Portland and
went to Milwaukee. He wanted to be in a better
position to compete for a championship. And the reason he
left Portland is because they were nowhere close to competing
for a championship. When he was ready to re sign
(23:29):
or go elsewhere, the Blazers weren't close. They they were
going young, all that stuff. But I'm not gonna do
you know, Blazers basketball for you. Most of the country
doesn't care. But at the time, they weren't in position
to compete for a championship. And now Dame is back.
Are they in position to compete for a championship?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Now?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No, they are not. Are they going to be in
position to compete for a championship two or three years
from now when Dame is still under contract and hopefully
healed from that achilles injury. No, they will not. They
will not be a championship contending So what's changed. What's
changed is Dame's perspective. He didn't realize what he had
until it was gone. And a big part of it
(24:09):
was his family. His family, his kids. They live back
in Portland, and so he was out in Milwaukee by himself.
He detailed this a lot. He's a big boxing fan.
He's just sitting there watching boxing videos day after day,
just like man kind of missed my family. Right now,
let me see what let me see what this boxer
(24:31):
is up to, and all right, cool, let's watch this
next YouTube video and gets old. So that's a huge
reason why he's going back to Portland. And you don't
quite understand what it's like until that's gone. And so
I completely appreciate that. I don't think that Dame's making
a bad move. He's just going back to the Blazers.
(24:53):
But the interesting part is one of the reasons why
he left the team wasn't ready to compete for a championship.
That was the main reason he left. That's not even
really applying to this decision. Otherwise he wouldn't be going
back there he'd be going to the Warriors or he's
from the Bay Area, right, The Warriors made a lot
(25:14):
of sense. They're in a better spot to compete for
a championship, but he said, no, man going back to
Portland over here. So I don't know. It just strikes
me the reason, the main reason he left, was not
even a secondary reason in terms of him going back.
That kind of interesting there. So Dame with seven games
(25:35):
with the Blazers regular season in playoffs, with at least
fifty five points, most enfranchise history, leading scorer, most threes
made ever, so the return once he's healthy, that would
be really cool. But unfortunately they're not going to be
in a position to compete for a title for a
long time. So that part I hate. Like Shams's tweet
(25:55):
was a storybook reunion home for the thirty five years.
I mean, the ultimate storybook story or ending I should say,
is Dame going back to Portland and winning a championship.
But the franchise is not going to be in a
position to realistically compete for a championship. But cool, he's
(26:16):
going back there. Awesome, that'll be close to his family
and like severely missed that when he was gone totally understandable,
so hopefully it works out. Other NBA news, Bradley Beal,
he goes to the Clippers. Was Ben? Was Ben talking about?
Speaker 4 (26:32):
This?
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Was Ben in last night talking about what was his
take on Bradley Beal.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I mean, look, he of course he spins it as
to oh, Bradley Beal turned down the Lakers because he
wants to join the people's team.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah yeah, uh huh, Okay, that's good.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
But but I do think he's realistic about how much
Bradley Beal is really going to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, yeah, it's man. I'll tell you what. I don't
know that there's another man in sports that has screwed
up more of my bets than Bradley freaking Bio.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I don't know what it is with that guy. I
can't make up some of this stuff. I'd have a
bet and needed one more bucket, and Bradley Beal one
time literally missed a dunk. I'm not making that up.
He missed a dunk. I didn't know it was possible
from an NBA player, but he somehow managed is against
the Brooklyn Nets last season. I don't know how it happened.
(27:31):
It just did. And yeah, he's been bad. He has
been very bad. And a lot of this trace is
back too. He's so banged up. He's averaged like over,
he's averaged thirty three missed games a season over the
last four years, missus thirty three games each year on average.
(27:53):
That's way too much, way too much. He's projected to
be a starter for the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He hey, but back when he was teamed up with
the MVP caliber Great Wall of DC, those are those
are some good teams.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
The Great Wall of DC. I gotta try to look
up that epic sound like. For those who don't know
Coop for a while, a little good stretch, right, you
were a big time John Wall fan with the Wizards.
Man pretty decent. Now I have we recreated a John
(28:33):
Wall call. I think this is it. No, I don't
know why we did this. We were like, Coop, get try,
I have it. I don't know how, but I still have.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Here's Cooper.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Coop is doing some play by play of John Wall
back in d C.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
See if you like this, John Wall taking the ball
up the court, Wizards up by two, John Wall rises, choots,
he buries it. The Great Wall of DC cannot be
Conquered Wizards ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Whoever they're playing ninety five, that's pretty legit, Coop. I
think you got a future. Man that's really strong. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Man, that was a really good, pretty good besides whoever
they're playing against.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, oh man, that's awesome. That's great audio right there?
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
My gosh?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, man, I've got other let's I don't know what
all these other ones are. Oh, here we go. I
don't know what this one is, it says Justin Cooper.
Top three Seattle bands, I got. I gotta hear this.
Let's chuck it out.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
First, I gotta go with Nirvana, obviously, second with Jimi Hendrix.
Third one, I went with Heart.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Look you are Heart Heart Hearts great. It's not a
top three Seattle band. Come on, who knows that they're
a Seattle band? That's the question. Who's aware of that?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Me?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I guess so, man, that's yeah, that's strong praise right there.
I don't know if wow, this is really going. I
don't know what this audio.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
You don't like this game? Why are you playing all
this this old embarrassing audio?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
So it just says because you used to produce TJ Reeves.
TJ Reeves, he's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline reporter, right
sideline guy, and so Coop used to produce his show.
I don't know what this is. You know, you can
see the audio and most of this sound. It's only
like a three second clip. Most of it is no audio,
(30:58):
So I I don't know, Coop, I don't know. We'll
give it a shot. Here you go. How you doing, Justin?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
How are you? As Coop totally fired up, just completely
geeked out of his mind to do another edition of
the DJ Reeves show here on Fox Sports Radio at
the time that one man. Listen to the enthusiasm from Coop,
How you doing, Justin?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 6 (31:26):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think that's it. That's all I got. It's still
pretty good. Oh wait, hold on one more. There's one
last one random audio from Justin Cooper here on Fox
Sports Radio. I think I might have been filling in
for OutKick at the time. Otherwise, I don't know what
or else. I just grabbed this audio somehow, But it's
(31:51):
Coop on Chick fil A. Let's hear a hot take
from Coop on Chick fil a.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
You know, I think this is a regional thing.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
I think you've got all of your southern, you know,
sec country followers backing you up on this. But if
you talk to the more you know, cultured people of
the of the coasts, they'll they'll tell you that Chick
fil A.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Is not allow.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
All right, so my opinion has since changed. Okay, I
love Chick fil A.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Good you're on team right side now here. Yeah, what
happened with that?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I think at the time it had just like we had,
you know, the first location. It wasn't even like near me.
It was like a good I don't know, twenty miles away,
and I drove the twenty miles to go try it,
and I was like, okay, like I mean, I wasn't
worth driving over here for it. But now I have
(32:46):
one like two minutes from my house, and I go
all the time. It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
There you go, there you go. I'm glad that you've
finally seen the light. If we can only make that
happen with tool.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I had it for breakfast this morning, did you there
you go?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Now, you're a hardcore do it on days.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
That he works all the way through the night because
they open at what six thirty? Yes, so they stop
serving breakfast at like ten, and I'm not I'm never
usually awake, right, I.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Don't get that it's so lame that I love McDonald's breakfast.
I went, I don't know, a couple months ago, and
they end at this weird. I think it's like ten
thirty or something like. Why would you end at ten thirty?
Why want you at least go to eleven? I think
you should have it all day? Yeah, yeah, you should
have breakfast.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
We used to have that. McDonald's did all day breakfast
for a while and then I don't know if it
was COVID that ended it or.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Yeah, or a bad idea that ended it. You should
have that all the time. Why not? Why not serve
it up? Don't get it all right? Feel free to
check in. Mallard Militia eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox is your number? I mean that was I feel
that was a pretty strong segment. We've got some random
coup audio in there, got him doing play by play
(34:02):
of John Wall. I mean, how can your evening get
any better? How? I ask you?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Now?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
In honor of Big Ben Malor, we'll keep the who
am I game? Tradition going on. So I just mentioned
that Damian Lillard he's returning to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Who that's right, Dame Dollar, Dame time. I'll be back
in Rip City. So he has the most fifty five
(34:29):
point scoring games in Blazers team history. He's got seven
of them if you include the regular season in the postseason.
Which player is next on the list with the most
fifty five point games in Blazer's history? Who that's right?
Who am? I feel free to guess. At the No
(34:52):
Show on X can throw some tweets my way, feel
free to do so. We will pay that off right
around the corner. I'm Brian no in for Big Ben Maller.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
It is Fox Sports Radio. I'm Brian though in for
Big Ben Mahler. All right, we'll get to the militia
they're stopping by here. Love it. We'll go rapid fire
here in a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
First though, the who am I game?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
This is it's a little tricky here, but I think
you'll appreciate the trickiness. I do think so so Damian Lillard.
He's back with the Blazers, agreed to a three year contract,
and he has scored the most fifty five point games
in Blazer's team history. He has seven of them, including
the playoffs. Seven times he's reached at least fifty five
(35:46):
points in a game. So which player is next on
the list with the most fifty five point games in
Blazers team history? Who am I? So we go to
the tweets here foxwed he put Clyde the Glide. I
like that, Mallard prop he went with Moneyball Mallard not
a bad guess, not bad. I can't read that one.
(36:08):
Don Juan, he goes with Clyde the Glyde. Also Clyde Drexler.
Jason goes with Brandon Roy. Let's see, AUSSI wa was
he goes your favorite mascot, the Oregon Duck is what
he went with? Bobby and Florida went with Freddy Krueger.
That's good, all right? I think Shy Bears went with
(36:29):
Bill Walton, I believe. And let's see Matt goes with
George Foreman. No, no, not correct? You want does it? Yeah?
I love the Foreman grill outstanding the number of meals
I had on that thing. Gosh, it's a life saver. No,
the answer is nobody. How crazy is that? That's a
(36:55):
trick question. I'm sorry, but Damian Lillard has seven fifty
five point games in his Blazers career, regular season in postseason.
So the guy that's next on the list doesn't exist.
Nobody else in the history of the Portland Trail Blazers
has a fifty five point game. How can that be?
(37:18):
They got They've had some really good players throughout the years.
Not one guy who isn't named Damian Lillard has scored
fifty five points. That's amazing to me. So there you go.
I learned something this evening. He might have also, that
blows my mind. I'd like to go and I don't
know how I would do this, because again I'm pretty
(37:39):
bad at googling. I would like to know if you
went franchise by franchise, if you and you counted up
like the number of players that have had fifty five
point games, which franchises are at the very top, like
which franchises are alarmingly are low. Which franchises don't have
(37:59):
one guy? I would imagine there's got to be some
franchise that doesn't have one. If the Blazers only have
one guy and it's Dame, I'd love to know that.
If I was good at googling, I would find out
that information and relay it back to I suck. I
don't know how to look things up. Let's go to
the phones here. Andre is in mass first up, representing
(38:22):
the militia. What's going onre?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Hey? Yeah, Hi, how you doing? Thanks for taking the call.
Listen the situation that you started with in terms of
the NFL and this possible collusion that they have in
terms of keeping the quarterback salaries below again NFLPA, this
would be a good opportunity for them to kind of
swoop in, gain a little bit of leverage, bring back
some rights for the players. But time and again, the
(38:47):
NFL players don't band together, you know, when they have
the opportunity to make forward progress. So unfortunately, I mean,
this is kind of a big deal, right, you know,
every team saying that we're not going to do with
the Cleveland Browns did proven to be the stuper money
at the table, right, keeping that completely guaranteed deal with
Deshaun Watson, which didn't end up working out. Nonetheless, this
is a could be a watershed moment to get fully
(39:10):
guaranteed contracts, if only for the quarterbacks. Then kind of
the build out from there. So Pablo tore, you know,
doing some tlu thing, you know, digging up and seeing
that there's really something here to be had. I just
feel like, if this was the Major League Baseball Association, Yeah,
and they would tweek down on this, and you would see,
you know, there'd be a battle and there'd be threats
(39:30):
of a lockout so on and forth, but most certainly
it wouldn't happen again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
But then also players could see some games you know that.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, No, I'm with you. Andre. Here's the thing, man,
is like, I appreciate you checking in. You would think
the nfl PA, if there's evidence that the NFL was
telling ownership like, yo, man, we got to slow down
these these guarantees, fully guaranteed contracts. Man, it's gonna be
too much. Like, don't guarantee that much money. It's going
(39:58):
to become the norm. You would think the NFLPA would
have used that to their advantage and gotten many things
in their favor. Instead, they agreed to a confidentiality agreement.
That's unbelievable to me. All right, coming up next, No
wonder everything fell apart that in the militia that comes
your way right around the corner.
Oh what is going on? Greetings top of the evening
to you wherevery you're listening, top of the early morning
hours to you, depending on where you're at. Appreciate you
checking out the show. You know, something dawned on me
today and tonight I'm getting all these stories ready for
(00:21):
the show. And let me just tell you, ball is
on the brain, all right, lots of football to discuss tonight.
That's not the only thing. Some hoops see their way
into the show. A little baseball, but heavy on the ball.
Lots of football. And I'm compiling all these stories and
I'm looking at him. I'm like, I've never really thought
(00:42):
about it like this, because I don't know if you're
like me, where I anticipate the season coming up and
then after a while, I just I'm like, I know
it's getting closer, but based on the stories that we hear,
the stories don't get me more excited for the upcoming season,
(01:04):
you know what I mean. For instance, well, I'll probably
hit on tonight some of these holdouts, some of the
second round draft picks that are looking for guaranteed money.
The idiotic Bengals what they're doing with their first round pick,
Shamar Stewart. These stories don't get me more excited for
the season. What do I care whether second rounders get
(01:28):
fully guaranteed deals or you know, eighty seven percent gear,
I don't care. That has nothing to do with my
excitement level for the upcoming season, right And so I
thought of that, and I'm like, that's probably why most seasons,
even though it seems like I anticipate, all right, it's
only like five months away, it's only four months away,
(01:50):
get about it, and then boom, it's there. And I'm like,
why was I anticipating it four months out? But then
like two months out, I just kind of I stop
doing the countdown, you know. I think it has a
lot to do with the nature of the stories that
you hear about, and so I'm gonna try to keep
that in mind tonight. I think that some of these
(02:12):
stories are interesting even though they don't necessarily get me
excited for the upcoming season. So I think if you
have an interesting story that also gets you more excited
for the upcoming season, that's a double win right there.
That is a double win win win, as we say
in the business here. But I also think that some
(02:33):
of these stories that don't get you excited for the
upcoming season? Do have a place? And that's not to
be a complete hypocrite, but I'm gonna start with one
of those things, just because there are two parts of
this story and they both are insane. It's almost like
you can't make this stuff up? Are you kidding me
with this? So the news tonight is that Lloyd Howell.
(02:58):
You're looking at me. Even if a diehard fan, you're like,
Lloyd Howell? Should I Did he play for the I
don't know the Jags? Was he a backup defensive tackle
five years ago? Who is Lloyd Howell?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
So?
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Lloyd Howell used to be the executive director of the
NFL Players Association as of late Thursday night, No Moss,
no more Lloyd Howell. He resigned late Thursday night, and
he cited distractions that his leadership has caused in recent weeks.
(03:31):
Kind of distractions are we talking about here? So this guy,
Lloyd Howell, he faced a lot of scrutiny. There was
an ESPN report that came out and it said that
Lloyd Howell has maintained a part time consulting job with
the Carlyle Group. Who the heck is the Carlyle group.
(03:51):
It doesn't matter. All that you need to know is
the Carlyle Group is now seeking minority ownership in NFL franchises.
So the guy who was the executive director of the
NFL Players Association was also a consultant for this group
(04:13):
that's seeking minority ownership. There are two very different worlds
when it comes to professional football NFL. Here it's player side,
ownership side. You can't be the executive director of the
Players Association while you are a paid consultant for a
group that's trying to become a minority owner in the NFL.
(04:37):
You can't have both. It's got to be one lane
or the other. Was the old LeVar ball Well, he said,
stay in your lane. I guess that's the thing. He's
got to stay in his lane. Whether it's player's lane
or ownership lane. You gotta choose. Can't be both. You're
all over the media, you're in access, You're going from
lane to lane over here, Lloyd Howell. So he resigned
(04:59):
from the Player Association as the executive director. That's the
first part of it where it's crazy that he was
trying to do both, and then all these Players Association
people they had his back they're like, Oh, all these accusations,
this is ridiculous. And then all of a sudden he
resigns and they're like, maybe there was something to that.
(05:20):
I don't know. There's this other part here, though, it's
not just involving Lloyd Howell. There's another story from last
month that makes the NFLPA, right, the NFL Players Association
look freaking terrible. I can't believe this is even true.
So the NFLPA and the NFL the league right, they
(05:45):
had a confidentiality agreement to keep quiet when an arbitrator
ruled about possible collusion by owners over quarterback salaries. Okay,
that sounds like you ever say, like, I've got Oreo,
the neighborhood cat. Here, she's taking a nap. She's very
comfortable on the couch right over there. She's very fired
up for the show tonight, hanging out here. You ever
(06:06):
see a cat that gets like hairball stuck in their
you know, maybe they licked their paws a little bit,
and then it just something didn't work right and they
just kind of they just do Like that's what that
last sentence sounded like, where it just sounds like leh
blah blah, blah blah BLI. So let's break it down.
This is now, it's a little wordy. I tried to
(06:27):
condense everything to the most important parts so it doesn't
just sound like yackitty yackitty yackity yeack. Again, the payoff
is unbelievable. So just bear with me for a second
over here. So this goes back to March of twenty
twenty two. That's when quarterback Deshaun Watson signed that mammoth
fully guaranteed two hundred and thirty million dollar contract.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
The NFL owners were pissed, just incredibly ticked off about this,
and so they had the owners meeting in Flo in
that same March of twenty twenty two, and so the league,
the NFL, was urging ownership to restrict guaranteed contracts. The
(07:12):
NFL gave a presentation during the owner's meetings and they
even included some speaker notes. Now, it basically is like, yo,
you can't be given out these guaranteed deals left and right.
This is gonna set a precedent, and then once the
toothpaste is out of the tube, you can't put it back.
All of a sudden, the next player in line, they're
(07:34):
gonna win a fully guaranteed deal, and then the next
player who's got leverage is gonna demand a fully guaranteed contract,
and so we gotta slow this train down or you
guys are gonna be in a rough spot NFL ownership.
That's basically what the NFL was saying. I think the
paraphrasing works way better than reading the exact things, because
it's you can imagine it's a four score and seven
(07:56):
years ago and you're like, oh my gosh, this is
just so boring. So you go back to they had
this presentation, and so an arbitrator made a ruling back
in January of this year. Okay, now what I told you,
the Deshaun Watson thing, twenty twenty two owners meetings in
(08:17):
March of twenty twenty two. Finally, this January and twenty five,
an arbitrator determined that this March twenty twenty two presentation
was evidence of the NFL's collusive behavior. Okay, that's the
way he said it. Evidence of the NFL's collusive behavior,
(08:37):
but he did not find the NFL guilty of collusion.
This is the first part that blows my mind. Collusive
behavior not quite collusion for sure though, that's like saying
I engaged in cheating behavior, but I'm not a cheater
(08:59):
or better yet, it's an arbitrator oversaw a case. All right,
there's this married man. He's fooling around with the secretary,
and this arbitrator is like, all right, even though she
was nude and on this married man's lap and making
sort of I don't know, I don't want to be
(09:19):
too raunchy over here, but let's just say, like, you know,
certain rowing like motions. You know, I can't say for
sure this guy is a cheater. I mean, that's a
little bit of a leap right there. Now, this was
cheating behavior, for sure, but cheating or a cheater. Ah, Oh,
(09:39):
that's a bit of a leap. That's basically what the
arbitrator ruled with the NFL. It's unbelievable. How can you
not say it's anything other than collusion. You guys are
actively talking about restricting guaranteed money. That's collusion. But somehow
this arbitrator didn't go that far. Now we get a
(10:00):
little bit more evidence of collusion or at least collusive behavior,
as the arbitrator ruled. Okay, so this goes back to
twenty twenty two July. All right, so we fast forward
from March of twenty two. We're in July of twenty two.
That's when Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback, he signed his contract
extension five years, two hundred and thirty million dollars. Only
(10:22):
one hundred and three million was guaranteed at signing. Now,
I say only because it's relative. You know, if I
signed my next contract for one hundred and three million dollars,
I'm not putting on clothes for the rest of my life.
You know what I'm saying. But it's all relative. Deshaun
Watson got two hundred thirty million guaranteed. Kyler Murray got
one hundred and three million dollars guaranteed. Now, there was
(10:44):
a text exchange between Chargers owner Dean Spanos and Cardinals
owner Michael Bidwell. Okay, so Bidwell, Cardinals team owner Kyler
Murray just signed this contract, right, So Dean Spanos of
the Chargers, he texts Bidwell and says congratulations on signing Murray.
(11:05):
Bidwell responds, thanks Dino, that's my favorite part of the
Thanks Dino. These QB deals are expensive, but we limited
the fully guaranteed money and have some pretty good language.
Thankfully we have a quarterback worth paying. And then Dean
Spano says, your deal helps us for our quarterback next year.
(11:28):
Kind of sounds a little bit like collusion, a little
bit right, or exactly like collusion. That's when Michael Bidwell
he responded via text, I think many teams will be
happy with it once they have a chance to review.
Cleveland really screwed things up, but I was resolved to
keep the guarantees relatively low. Very interesting, right again, this arbitrator,
(11:52):
you've found a lot of collusive behavior, but not quite collusion.
That's unbelievable. Now, this, this to me, is the ultimate
curve ball, and all this stuff where the NFLPA just
looks like a total joke. You would think the NFLPA
would be screaming with a megaphone here. Now, all this
(12:13):
stuff was not released, right, nothing was released. It was
Pablo Torre, remember of ESPN and does his podcast. He
found this arbitrator's sixty one page document detailing the ruling
of this, and so Pablo Torre, he's the one who
(12:34):
publicized all of these findings. The arbitrator ruled in January
of this year. Pablo Torre released this last month. Okay,
now you would be thinking the NFLPA would be screaming,
do you see what the NFL is doing here? They're
trying to restrict guaranteed money from our players, so forth
(12:55):
and so on. Nope, turns out the NFLPA actually struck
a deal with the NFL. They struck a confidentiality agreement
to hide the details of the arbitrator's decision from the
players that the NFLPA represents. Make sense of that. What
(13:17):
did the NFL promise the NFLPA here? I don't know what.
They're like, Hey, man, if you do us this solid,
we'll give you whatever, whatever, whatever, I don't know what.
But somehow the NFLPA was like, yeah, we agree to
a confidentiality agreement. We won't say anything NFL about you
guys working with ownership to try to limit the guaranteed
(13:42):
money that our players that we represent are making. That
is unbelievable. If I'm an NFL player right now, I'm
looking at the Players Association like, do you freaking guys
know anything? Do you know what you're doing at? What
are you what's happening over here?
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Now?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
The last little part of this is just for scorekeeping.
I guess the guy Lloyd Howell that we talked about
who just stepped down as the executive director of the
Players Association. He took over in twenty twenty three. Okay,
so that's important. Demorris Smith, Remember old Demorris Smith. He
(14:22):
was the executive director until twenty twenty three. Right, It
was Demorris Smith from nine to twenty twenty three, and
then Lloyd Howell took over from there in twenty three.
That's important because again this all traced back to Deshaun
Watson in March of twenty twenty two, So that was
Demorris Smith overseeing that whole thing, and then it was
(14:45):
Lloyd Howell later on. But just so we're clear on
that this wasn't Lloyd Howell screwing everything up with the
twenty twenty two collusive behavior, not quite collusion, but collusive behavior.
It wasn't under his watch. What Lloyd Howell is really
screwing up is he's trying to do two things at once.
(15:05):
Trying to represent the players and he's consulting a group
that's vying for NFL ownership. That is, that is the
NFLPA is a total joke right now, You can't make
this stuff up. If a buddy told me this, I'd
be like, you're getting something wrong. This can't be true.
It's true. This is exactly what went down. Unbelievable, but
(15:30):
that's where we are right now, and the NFLPA is
looking for a new executive director. So I find that
to be fascinating and unbelievable, but again, does nothing to
get you fired up for the upcoming season. So we
will put that to the side, and I'm gonna pinpoint
some stories that do get you fired up for the
(15:51):
upcoming season. I like one of them coming up next.
I saw a column about overrated and underrated teams heading
into the season, so that a little bit later as
the show goes along fired up to be here malin Militia.
You want to get on in, feel free to do
so at the no shows where you can find me
on X and the phones are open Man eight seven
(16:11):
seven ninety nine on Fox. That's right, we promised and
we delivered last time I was filling in for Big Ben.
You're on hold, we roll out the red carpet. We
get right to you. No Yiaki yacketing quickly, that's right fast?
Oh yeah, we got we got h I don't know
my guy, you know, Emmett, Wan's fine, We're getting to
amit great. Emitt's on hold, We're getting right to him.
(16:35):
We got Jed who fled on hold, boom right to him.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
We got a bunch of all right, we're going four
by one hundred meter relay, leg after leg after leg
after leg. You know, let's get him on quickly. So
feel free to check in coming up next the militia
if you're there. And also, you don't know what you
have until it's gone. Great example of that coming up.
I'm Brian in for Big Ben mallor hang with us
(17:01):
here on Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's me Rob Parker.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for
twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk, featuring.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
The biggest names of newsmakers in the sport.
Speaker 5 (17:24):
Whether you believe in analytics or the iast, We've got
all the bases covered. New episodes drop every Thursday, so
do your sofa favor and listen to Inside.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
The Parker with Rob Parker on the.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Brian Noen for Big Ben mallor here on Fox Sports Radio.
Ah Man, the picture that Larina just painted right then,
it's just utterly disgusting, just terrible. So she's talking about Coop.
You're driving in work tonight and what he was probably
(18:03):
rocking out to, and this is probably exactly what it was. Coop,
do you like, what's the song that you're like, Yeah,
what's the Tool song that really gets you fired up?
Over there? Do you have one who's probably doing his
job right now, probably what's going Yeah, it's maybe it's
(18:26):
too long to list. I don't know. Maybe he doesn't
want to start an active list of songs from Tool
that fire him up.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
And I mean all of them fire me up.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That cannot be correct. That that cannot be Listen. Every
band I love has songs that do nothing for me
in terms of firing me up. There's no way every
Tool song fires you up.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
That's yeah, because they're all brilliant. There's no way that
is correct.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
I love Metallica even before you know things went wrong
after the Black album. You know, mostly there are plenty
of songs. Even there are five great albums that were terrible.
Escape is awful, Jumping the Fire is a wretched song.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Well, I mean we disagree on that, but no, yeah,
I mean every band has bad songs except for Tool.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Every band Button Tool has bad songs.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
Unreal, man, you don't feel like that about any band, No, not.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
One band ever. Every band has some bad songs.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
I mean I feel like I feel like System of
a Down also doesn't really have a bad song.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
No, there's I could you know, I'd have to go
in the archives here. I don't know System as well
as you know some of my go to metal bands.
But I guarantee you go, you know the B sides,
you go C side there, you're gonna find a handful
of songs where you're like, mm, yeah, could have done
better on this one. Every band has said some of
(20:00):
the most legendary bands ever have some duds. You know,
it happens, it's true.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
But I just there's certain bands for me where like
every single one. I'm you know, there's ones that I
like less than others, But I don't know that there's
any that I think like, ooh, this is a bad song.
I'm skipping this.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh man, that's maybe you. Uh, you're either blind or
you're more of an optimistic person than I am. You know,
I don't know which it is. Maybe it's a blend
of blood.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It's easier for bands like that though, Like, it's not
like they have a huge catalog of songs with which
which band either one I mean, System of a Down
I mean and even Tool.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Really, how many how many albums does System have? I'm
checking it out.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
They've got the self titled, then they've got Toxicity, and
then they have Hypnotized Mesmerise, which was like a double album.
They've got at the steal this album. So we're like
looking at four or five.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Yeah, I'm sure they have some bad ones, have some yeah,
five studio albums. There you go, see, I you are
you detailing that? It's faster than me with Google. I
am not great with Google.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
I mean, they were my all time favorite band for
long until I discovered Tool.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Oh my gosh, dude, I did not realize it was
this dire. I didn't realize it was we.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Need a what is it?
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Uh, It's exactly what we need, an intervention. We need
to get this together immediately, Loraina, I did that someone
right now? That's like kicking the Broncos to the curb
for like the Titans right now. Why would you do that? Yeah,
that's what you did. You took System and said, yeah,
(21:52):
I'm kind of over it.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I didn't say I was over it. They're still there,
my number two, and.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You're like, there's someone better out here in these streets
named Tool. That's what you think.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And then you get out there and Tool left Je
high and dry.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, that's that's the way it goes sometimes, unbelievable, Coop
I did. The more the more I hear you talk
about Tool, the less I respect you. It hasn't completely
gone away, but it's dwindling. A statement by statement, sentence
by sentence from you, Unreal eight seven seven ninety nine
on Fox is your number. If you want to weigh
(22:26):
in on whatever you know, Tool, System or sports, feel
free to do so. I contend that every song, even
every band, even legendary bands, legendary artists, have some dud songs.
Everybody does, Tool included, and they are not a legendary
band at least in my book, Let me get to
(22:48):
You don't know what you have until it's gone. That
would be Damian Lillard. So Sham Sharania of ESPN he
broke this news that Damian Lillard has agreed to a
three year deal forty two million dollars to return to
the Portland Trail Blazers. So it's it's kind of a
(23:08):
cool story. He's going back to Portland. But here's the
thing that's interesting to me. So Dame left Portland and
went to Milwaukee. He wanted to be in a better
position to compete for a championship. And the reason he
left Portland is because they were nowhere close to competing
for a championship. When he was ready to re sign
(23:29):
or go elsewhere, the Blazers weren't close. They they were
going young, all that stuff. But I'm not gonna do
you know, Blazers basketball for you. Most of the country
doesn't care. But at the time, they weren't in position
to compete for a championship. And now Dame is back.
Are they in position to compete for a championship?
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Now?
Speaker 1 (23:46):
No, they are not. Are they going to be in
position to compete for a championship two or three years
from now when Dame is still under contract and hopefully
healed from that achilles injury. No, they will not. They
will not be a championship contending So what's changed. What's
changed is Dame's perspective. He didn't realize what he had
until it was gone. And a big part of it
(24:09):
was his family. His family, his kids. They live back
in Portland, and so he was out in Milwaukee by himself.
He detailed this a lot. He's a big boxing fan.
He's just sitting there watching boxing videos day after day,
just like man kind of missed my family. Right now,
let me see what let me see what this boxer
(24:31):
is up to, and all right, cool, let's watch this
next YouTube video and gets old. So that's a huge
reason why he's going back to Portland. And you don't
quite understand what it's like until that's gone. And so
I completely appreciate that. I don't think that Dame's making
a bad move. He's just going back to the Blazers.
(24:53):
But the interesting part is one of the reasons why
he left the team wasn't ready to compete for a championship.
That was the main reason he left. That's not even
really applying to this decision. Otherwise he wouldn't be going
back there he'd be going to the Warriors or he's
from the Bay Area, right, The Warriors made a lot
(25:14):
of sense. They're in a better spot to compete for
a championship, but he said, no, man going back to
Portland over here. So I don't know. It just strikes
me the reason, the main reason he left, was not
even a secondary reason in terms of him going back.
That kind of interesting there. So Dame with seven games
(25:35):
with the Blazers regular season in playoffs, with at least
fifty five points, most enfranchise history, leading scorer, most threes
made ever, so the return once he's healthy, that would
be really cool. But unfortunately they're not going to be
in a position to compete for a title for a
long time. So that part I hate. Like Shams's tweet
(25:55):
was a storybook reunion home for the thirty five years.
I mean, the ultimate storybook story or ending I should say,
is Dame going back to Portland and winning a championship.
But the franchise is not going to be in a
position to realistically compete for a championship. But cool, he's
(26:16):
going back there. Awesome, that'll be close to his family
and like severely missed that when he was gone totally understandable,
so hopefully it works out. Other NBA news, Bradley Beal,
he goes to the Clippers. Was Ben? Was Ben talking about?
Speaker 4 (26:32):
This?
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Was Ben in last night talking about what was his
take on Bradley Beal.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
I mean, look, he of course he spins it as
to oh, Bradley Beal turned down the Lakers because he
wants to join the people's team.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah yeah, uh huh, Okay, that's good.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
But but I do think he's realistic about how much
Bradley Beal is really going to make a difference.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Yeah, yeah, it's man. I'll tell you what. I don't
know that there's another man in sports that has screwed
up more of my bets than Bradley freaking Bio.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Man.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
I don't know what it is with that guy. I
can't make up some of this stuff. I'd have a
bet and needed one more bucket, and Bradley Beal one
time literally missed a dunk. I'm not making that up.
He missed a dunk. I didn't know it was possible
from an NBA player, but he somehow managed is against
the Brooklyn Nets last season. I don't know how it happened.
(27:31):
It just did. And yeah, he's been bad. He has
been very bad. And a lot of this trace is
back too. He's so banged up. He's averaged like over,
he's averaged thirty three missed games a season over the
last four years, missus thirty three games each year on average.
(27:53):
That's way too much, way too much. He's projected to
be a starter for the Clippers.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
He hey, but back when he was teamed up with
the MVP caliber Great Wall of DC, those are those
are some good teams.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
The Great Wall of DC. I gotta try to look
up that epic sound like. For those who don't know
Coop for a while, a little good stretch, right, you
were a big time John Wall fan with the Wizards.
Man pretty decent. Now I have we recreated a John
(28:33):
Wall call. I think this is it. No, I don't
know why we did this. We were like, Coop, get try,
I have it. I don't know how, but I still have.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Here's Cooper.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Coop is doing some play by play of John Wall
back in d C.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
See if you like this, John Wall taking the ball
up the court, Wizards up by two, John Wall rises, choots,
he buries it. The Great Wall of DC cannot be
Conquered Wizards ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Whoever they're playing ninety five, that's pretty legit, Coop. I
think you got a future. Man that's really strong. That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Man, that was a really good, pretty good besides whoever
they're playing against.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, oh man, that's awesome. That's great audio right there?
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
My gosh?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yeah, man, I've got other let's I don't know what
all these other ones are. Oh, here we go. I
don't know what this one is, it says Justin Cooper.
Top three Seattle bands, I got. I gotta hear this.
Let's chuck it out.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
First, I gotta go with Nirvana, obviously, second with Jimi Hendrix.
Third one, I went with Heart.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Look you are Heart Heart Hearts great. It's not a
top three Seattle band. Come on, who knows that they're
a Seattle band? That's the question. Who's aware of that?
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Me?
Speaker 1 (30:22):
I guess so, man, that's yeah, that's strong praise right there.
I don't know if wow, this is really going. I
don't know what this audio.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
You don't like this game? Why are you playing all
this this old embarrassing audio?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
So it just says because you used to produce TJ Reeves.
TJ Reeves, he's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sideline reporter, right
sideline guy, and so Coop used to produce his show.
I don't know what this is. You know, you can
see the audio and most of this sound. It's only
like a three second clip. Most of it is no audio,
(30:58):
So I I don't know, Coop, I don't know. We'll
give it a shot. Here you go. How you doing, Justin?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
How are you? As Coop totally fired up, just completely
geeked out of his mind to do another edition of
the DJ Reeves show here on Fox Sports Radio at
the time that one man. Listen to the enthusiasm from Coop,
How you doing, Justin?
Speaker 3 (31:25):
I'm doing good?
Speaker 6 (31:26):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
I think that's it. That's all I got. It's still
pretty good. Oh wait, hold on one more. There's one
last one random audio from Justin Cooper here on Fox
Sports Radio. I think I might have been filling in
for OutKick at the time. Otherwise, I don't know what
or else. I just grabbed this audio somehow, But it's
(31:51):
Coop on Chick fil A. Let's hear a hot take
from Coop on Chick fil a.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
You know, I think this is a regional thing.
Speaker 6 (31:57):
I think you've got all of your southern, you know,
sec country followers backing you up on this. But if
you talk to the more you know, cultured people of
the of the coasts, they'll they'll tell you that Chick
fil A.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Is not allow.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
All right, so my opinion has since changed. Okay, I
love Chick fil A.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Good you're on team right side now here. Yeah, what
happened with that?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I think at the time it had just like we had,
you know, the first location. It wasn't even like near me.
It was like a good I don't know, twenty miles away,
and I drove the twenty miles to go try it,
and I was like, okay, like I mean, I wasn't
worth driving over here for it. But now I have
(32:46):
one like two minutes from my house, and I go
all the time. It's delicious.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
There you go, there you go. I'm glad that you've
finally seen the light. If we can only make that
happen with tool.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I had it for breakfast this morning, did you there
you go?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Now, you're a hardcore do it on days.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
That he works all the way through the night because
they open at what six thirty? Yes, so they stop
serving breakfast at like ten, and I'm not I'm never
usually awake, right, I.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Don't get that it's so lame that I love McDonald's breakfast.
I went, I don't know, a couple months ago, and
they end at this weird. I think it's like ten
thirty or something like. Why would you end at ten thirty?
Why want you at least go to eleven? I think
you should have it all day? Yeah, yeah, you should
have breakfast.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
We used to have that. McDonald's did all day breakfast
for a while and then I don't know if it
was COVID that ended it or.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Yeah, or a bad idea that ended it. You should
have that all the time. Why not? Why not serve
it up? Don't get it all right? Feel free to
check in. Mallard Militia eight seven seven ninety nine on
Fox is your number? I mean that was I feel
that was a pretty strong segment. We've got some random
coup audio in there, got him doing play by play
(34:02):
of John Wall. I mean, how can your evening get
any better? How? I ask you?
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Now?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
In honor of Big Ben Malor, we'll keep the who
am I game? Tradition going on. So I just mentioned
that Damian Lillard he's returning to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Who that's right, Dame Dollar, Dame time. I'll be back
in Rip City. So he has the most fifty five
(34:29):
point scoring games in Blazers team history. He's got seven
of them if you include the regular season in the postseason.
Which player is next on the list with the most
fifty five point games in Blazer's history? Who that's right?
Who am? I feel free to guess. At the No
(34:52):
Show on X can throw some tweets my way, feel
free to do so. We will pay that off right
around the corner. I'm Brian no in for Big Ben Maller.
This is Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 4 (35:02):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
It is Fox Sports Radio. I'm Brian though in for
Big Ben Mahler. All right, we'll get to the militia
they're stopping by here. Love it. We'll go rapid fire
here in a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
First though, the who am I game?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Now?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
This is it's a little tricky here, but I think
you'll appreciate the trickiness. I do think so so Damian Lillard.
He's back with the Blazers, agreed to a three year contract,
and he has scored the most fifty five point games
in Blazer's team history. He has seven of them, including
the playoffs. Seven times he's reached at least fifty five
(35:46):
points in a game. So which player is next on
the list with the most fifty five point games in
Blazers team history? Who am I? So we go to
the tweets here foxwed he put Clyde the Glide. I
like that, Mallard prop he went with Moneyball Mallard not
a bad guess, not bad. I can't read that one.
(36:08):
Don Juan, he goes with Clyde the Glyde. Also Clyde Drexler.
Jason goes with Brandon Roy. Let's see, AUSSI wa was
he goes your favorite mascot, the Oregon Duck is what
he went with? Bobby and Florida went with Freddy Krueger.
That's good, all right? I think Shy Bears went with
(36:29):
Bill Walton, I believe. And let's see Matt goes with
George Foreman. No, no, not correct? You want does it? Yeah?
I love the Foreman grill outstanding the number of meals
I had on that thing. Gosh, it's a life saver. No,
the answer is nobody. How crazy is that? That's a
(36:55):
trick question. I'm sorry, but Damian Lillard has seven fifty
five point games in his Blazers career, regular season in postseason.
So the guy that's next on the list doesn't exist.
Nobody else in the history of the Portland Trail Blazers
has a fifty five point game. How can that be?
(37:18):
They got They've had some really good players throughout the years.
Not one guy who isn't named Damian Lillard has scored
fifty five points. That's amazing to me. So there you go.
I learned something this evening. He might have also, that
blows my mind. I'd like to go and I don't
know how I would do this, because again I'm pretty
(37:39):
bad at googling. I would like to know if you
went franchise by franchise, if you and you counted up
like the number of players that have had fifty five
point games, which franchises are at the very top, like
which franchises are alarmingly are low. Which franchises don't have
(37:59):
one guy? I would imagine there's got to be some
franchise that doesn't have one. If the Blazers only have
one guy and it's Dame, I'd love to know that.
If I was good at googling, I would find out
that information and relay it back to I suck. I
don't know how to look things up. Let's go to
the phones here. Andre is in mass first up, representing
(38:22):
the militia. What's going onre?
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Hey? Yeah, Hi, how you doing? Thanks for taking the call.
Listen the situation that you started with in terms of
the NFL and this possible collusion that they have in
terms of keeping the quarterback salaries below again NFLPA, this
would be a good opportunity for them to kind of
swoop in, gain a little bit of leverage, bring back
some rights for the players. But time and again, the
(38:47):
NFL players don't band together, you know, when they have
the opportunity to make forward progress. So unfortunately, I mean,
this is kind of a big deal, right, you know,
every team saying that we're not going to do with
the Cleveland Browns did proven to be the stuper money
at the table, right, keeping that completely guaranteed deal with
Deshaun Watson, which didn't end up working out. Nonetheless, this
is a could be a watershed moment to get fully
(39:10):
guaranteed contracts, if only for the quarterbacks. Then kind of
the build out from there. So Pablo tore, you know,
doing some tlu thing, you know, digging up and seeing
that there's really something here to be had. I just
feel like, if this was the Major League Baseball Association, Yeah,
and they would tweek down on this, and you would see,
you know, there'd be a battle and there'd be threats
(39:30):
of a lockout so on and forth, but most certainly
it wouldn't happen again.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
But then also players could see some games you know that.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, No, I'm with you. Andre. Here's the thing, man,
is like, I appreciate you checking in. You would think
the nfl PA, if there's evidence that the NFL was
telling ownership like, yo, man, we got to slow down
these these guarantees, fully guaranteed contracts. Man, it's gonna be
too much. Like, don't guarantee that much money. It's going
(39:58):
to become the norm. You would think the NFLPA would
have used that to their advantage and gotten many things
in their favor. Instead, they agreed to a confidentiality agreement.
That's unbelievable to me. All right, coming up next, No
wonder everything fell apart that in the militia that comes
your way right around the corner.
Host
Ben Maller
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