September 22, 2025 • 45 mins
Little Caesars is a name we don't know very well in Australia, but it's founder Mike Ilitch was a revolutionary in the world of fast food. He built an empire from one little shop, and would change the way many of us eat to this very day. He was also a very successful sports franchise owner and and even better ambassador for the city of Detroit. Listen this week as John takes Aaron and Sean through the story of Mike's rise to the top of the pizza world.
Find the video version on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@CheekyTalesPod
Find us on social media:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/cheekytalespod
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheekytalespod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheekytalespod/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Baseball,hockey, pizza and Detroit.
Believe it or not...Detroit!
These things.
These four thingsshare something in common.
We know Sean loves a story on a brand.
Well this week'sepisode will cover
the life of a manwho started an iconic brand
and went onto become an icon himself.
(00:21):
Welcome to Cheeky Tales,
and this is the story of fastfood tycoon
Mike Ilitch.
I'm so glad you do not knowthis story.
(00:42):
Here we go.
Capitalist Shawnis going to love this episode.
I know I've called it out.
Yeah.
Capitalism went wrong.
You looked up the brand.
Now I know who he is.
No, I mean, I know. Yeah.
I'm excited. Yeah.
Welcome to this week's episode.
Come back to GTA.
Welcome back to Chicken Tails.
Chicky chicky chicky.
(01:03):
What was that last episode?
Oh, you.
Andy's plane. Crash.
It was my key. Back, boy.
Taking strips out of paper.You're a. Quickie.
So I'm going to bea bit of a quickie.
You're trying to fit.
Uruguay didn't work.
So, yeah.
Pull ups this week.
A hopefullya bit of a fun story about a man
(01:23):
and his.
One man and his desire.
And so,you know, know who this is.
Boy, you don't know.
I'm sure I'll know it as soon asyou start talking about it.
But I don't know the name offthe top of my head.
John is a
as John has pointed out,I quite like brand history
and fast foodhistory, and I have watched
a lot on this particular brand,and I am excited about this.
But do you just do it justice?
(01:44):
I haven't done a deepdive into his brand.
It was more of a. Cuckoo,cuckoo.
Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoocuckoo. Cuckoo.
No doubt, no doubt.
Yeah.
So you want to getstraight into it.
Are we going to banter a bitand. Banter at the end?
Okay. Let's get into it.
Born on July 20th, 1929,in Detroit to parents
to Trier and Sultana. Who in
(02:07):
yes, Hulton.
Who immigrated from Macedoniajust five years earlier,
Karl Marx life is consideredto be a remarkable American
success story.
Yeah.
When those used to be ableto happen. Yes.
His parents were hardworkingand practical.
His father was a two and dyemaker.
Oh. And dye. Yes. Old school.
(02:27):
Roll up your sleevesand get dirty.
Detroit grit. Detroit.
Tool and die would be,I believe, something to do for,
like, metal training.
So like mocking so wants to.
I believe tool and die is to dowith, like, casting of the dye.
It's, it's like.
It's not like.
(02:48):
What do you mean, dies?
Like, doc.
It's like a maleand female component of molding.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, like, when you're moldingsomething out of metal.
Yeah.
Like jigs, fixtures,dyes, molds.
So I have a tap and dye set,which is the top is the
like a pretty much a screwor drill that goes in and put,
thread into a piece of metal.
(03:09):
Right. And the dyeis the external part.
So you have like a small, like a
steel rod,
and then you put the dye acrossthat which puts the thread.
That I'm with, you know.
Dyes I used with stamping, dyesI used with a press
as opposed to a drawing dyeused in the manufacture of wire
and casting dyes,which are not products
made with dyes rangefrom paperclips to component.
(03:29):
But it's. Yeah. Yeah.
So this is Detroit.
Detroit,when Detroit was Detroit.
Detroitis still Detroit boy when he.
But like come on man.
The manufacturing in Detroit.
On the way. Backthe car companies.
When it was when it was most.
Industrial.
Yeah. Heavilynot moved like it's.
(03:51):
In its glory days. Yeah.
Heavy metal thunder.
So pretty much what that meant
is that Mike grew up arounda lot of practical people
who built thingswith their hands.
As a kid,
Mike fell in love with baseball.
Take me out to the ball, climb.
Take me out to the. Game,
(04:12):
whatever.
It's only the second timeof Mustang Kelly.
Mustang kid.
Hey, I do realize this is prettyclose to my last baseball.
It's said that, right?
Oh, it's not.
It's far enough. Away.Yeah, but.
So in high school, Mike was astandout in track and baseball.
And after school,he initially turned down
a minor league contractwith the Detroit Tigers.
(04:33):
Detroit. Two instead.
So four yearswith the US Marine Corps.
What, year was this?
This would have been,
1948.
So after the war. After the war.Okay.
Glad you asked that,because he was stationed
at Parris Island,Quantico and Pearl Harbor.
(04:54):
Okay.
From the late 40s to early 50.
So, yeah, 1948 to 1952.
Matt.
Quick, quick tangent,Pearl Harbor.
I listen to a three partseries on that,
just like over the weekend.
Oh, boy. Hectic.
Yeah, what a story.
It was not a surprise.As I was gonna say.
Are you surprised by that? No.
Nothing. Nothing about PearlHarbor was a surprise.
(05:14):
Except for the factthat they ignored everything.
Yeah. They expect yeah, I did,I don't want to get into it.
Did you not know that? I knowquite a little bit. Pearl.
Not really.
It's one pieceI've never gotten into.
Yeah, they got told multipletimes that it was coming.
Then. Yeah. They had an idea.There was a talk coming.
The writer picked it up
and they're like,that's a flock of birds.
And like,that's really what's work birds.
Now it's these big submarinescoming back from that and,
just seems big.
And then it's a giant Japaneseattack, right?
(05:38):
Yeah. So I knowquite a bit about that.
And I did like
I don't like the story a of it,but it's interesting.
It includes the two
biggest episodes, topicsthat we've ever done.
Boats in World War two.Yeah, yeah.
I am surprisedI had not done it. Before.
Somebody at work looked at it.
I kind of covered it in themidway. In the. Midway? Yeah.
That was the build up to midway.Yeah.
Somebody at work
looked me up on Instagramthe other day
(05:59):
and then messaged me like, man,
you didn't tell meI had a podcast.
You guys talk about boatsin World War two.
I was like,the first thing they said is.
That what the Google AI comes uplike?
Tiki tells usthese boats and World War two.
The Boat and World War Two podca
Nice.
So upon returning home, there'snothing to report from service.
Just. I'll show. You.It was kind of a quiet.
(06:20):
Yeah. Oh, but.
I didn't say anything.
Any service or. The I overview.
Oh, no. Oh, that's.
I've left that rightto the very end of.
No, I'm in the eyeof you. Of us.
Oh what does it say.
Oh no. Oh no.
Techie types. Oh.
So is this the Google Gemini?
(06:41):
I was just like chat.
How was. It? Got the name wrong?
And oh wait, because it doesn'tit it doesn't get it right.
You can't.
You type in Cheeky Tails podcastand it
it gives you nothing in it.
Guys, would you like to seeCheeky Types podcast?
Okay.
There are a few podcasts
with similar namesyou may be looking for.
Cheeky Tails,an Australian podcast
of obscure, weirdand underappreciated stories,
(07:04):
or cheeky types or cheeky types.
A group that you knowcheeky tales.
Here's a breakdown.Hosts Erin and John.
Oh, I
guesswe better get to get that fixed.
It doesn't name me.
Because you're the producer.
And says obscure, weird,and underappreciated stories
from around the world, oftenwith a comedic tone.
(07:27):
Oh, that's pretty nice.
Good, good. Yeah. Available.
What's wrong with. That?
Available on Apple Podcastsand Podbean.
But not Sean.
Oh, we're also now on Deezer.
We are on data design.
It's time for creatorsto take back Days of.
Power days mouth.
Cool. That's my blankingof what I said.
(07:48):
Upon returning home in 1952,the baseball dream
was still alive. Yeah.
And the Tigers againoffered a minor league contract,
this time Mike signing for$3,000 to play second baseman.
Okay, so that's probably like $5million now.
Yeah, probably.
Their mike was good. Yeah.
He was not a superstar.
Okay. But good.
(08:10):
Right.
And good enough to havea crack at the majors okay.
He wasn't the tallestnor the strongest strongest.
He was only five foot eight,but he was scrappy, decent bat.
And I had a lot of hustle anda dream to play in the majors.
Yep, I he was driven. Yep.
As I'll show you, most peoplein Detroit at the time, Detroit,
he spent a few yearsbouncing around
(08:31):
different minor league teams,including the Tigers,
the New York Yankeesand the Washington Senators.
So just quickly,that is the lame team
name the Washington Senators.
Yep, the hockey team here.
It's good.
One minor leaguebaseball in the 1950s.
It wasn't glamorous.
Long bus rides, bad food,tiny paychecks.
(08:53):
Were the equivalent ofabout $36,000 in today's money.
By the way. Starts.
Wow. That's the kind of thingsomebody who would be named by
the Ivy.
And Mark had another problem.
His knees.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
He's got cheesy, cheesy knees.
Adam knees out.
Of a cheesy combine.
(09:14):
Injury after injury.
You know,those worst quarterback things?
Yeah.
He's he's got the fusiondance fusion.
Oh. I can't stand. Up.
He's he's got cheesy knees.
Eventuallythe Tigers cut him loose.
And just like that,the dream was like, oh,
(09:34):
don't dream.
It's over.
Hey now, hey now.
During his baseball career. Yep.
Mike had married Marion. Okay.
Also a childto immigrant parents.
And now that the baseballwas not done.
Not an option. Mike. Work hard.
Like most Detroiters. Detroit.
(09:56):
He worked regular jobsfor a few years, saving money.
He worked as a door to doorsalesman in hospitality.
And in 1959, the pair pooledall their savings together
and opened a tiny pizza shopin Garden City, Michigan.
Oh. Shit. I'm an acrobat.
Gordon City food.
(10:16):
All we need. Sorry. Westfield.
Sorry. Westfield has. The name.
Yeah, there's.He had a Asian name.
I'm sorry. It's Garden City.Yeah, yeah.
What is? Yeah.
Do you want a shopping centerthat's way bigger than you think
it is.
It has a city,
has multiple car yardsinside the shopping center.
Garden city, garden city.
Do you want to go to an eventcinemas and then go outside?
(10:37):
Needed of that pianoin a very sad hole.
Actually, no.The whole strength is gone.
All right.Hey, baby. Garden city.
Forever. Now for real. One step.
God. Seeany idea what this bait shop is?
But it's going to be eitherPizza Hut or Domino's.
Incorrect. Incorrect.
Little Caesars Pizza was born.
Okay. Pizza pizza.
Pizza pizza.
The name came from Marion'snickname for Mike.
(10:59):
She would often say thatMike could be a little bossy,
like a little Roman emperor.
And the name stuck andthey used it for their business.
Cool man. Until they got so.
It was originally little pizzas,pizza shop.
Little pizzas.
A Little Caesars pizza shop,
and then eventually shortenedto Little Caesars. Yeah.
By the early
1960s, the witches had openedtheir the, first franchise,
(11:21):
turning a real profit ina, like a real turning
point in a, business. Yeah.
Also creating a lot of profit.
It wasn't they weren't just
operating one pizza joint there.
They, the idea was scaling.
It was. Yeah.
It was.
Getting big.
Yeah.
Quick likemost of their customers. Yes.
And what was the ideaat the time.
(11:44):
Most, most pizza places were sitdown, eat in restaurants.
Crazy how times change.
Not everyone wanted to lingerin-store.
This was an opportunitythat Mark saw in the industry,
and Little Caesars
focused on making pizzasso you could take them home.
This was A12 punchcombo, though.
(12:04):
The other half of the equation
that led totheir success was good pizza.
That wascheap, ideal for families.
That was like good pizza.
Like a cheap take it on home.
Went crazy idea.
Well Sean will startlearning this very soon.
But eating at a restaurantwith a child
is not as fun as eating.
(12:25):
Even in a restaurantwithout children.
I don't think he needs to learnthat now.
No, I'm. Already involvedor you're already aware of it.
I'm already. Double it.
Yeah,and then double it again and.
Then double it again. So?
So the idea of being able to goget food and to take it home.
Yeah. It was ideal.
The idea of, like, takeaway
(12:45):
food is pretty new to bring you.
It's not really a no.
One thing.
Yeah.
Widely incorporated thing.
Well, yeah,I don't eat into that.
What?
It's probably likea super sexist thing of like.
Well, a woman should be at homecooking dinner.
Don't get into that.
That's whyI didn't want to say it.
(13:06):
Arun's views did not expressthe views of, Oh.
No, no. They leave. She was just
saying.
I'm notsaying that's appropriate.
I'm saying that's.
How was it a time day?
It was a product of its time.
What did youwhat did you get to be.
Look, the other weekI've got your back.
That was a great guy.
How it it.
(13:27):
Hold. Okay. If I said awesome,that was a great guy.
Iron says wind blew.
My statement about JohnFord is a great guy.
Oh, it up.
Haul it up.
I have something to say.
Yeah. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Have we getting to ensureMexicans.
Two thirds of Cheetosstands for women's rights.
(13:48):
Not here. Oh.
No, we cannot let thatget out there.
That is not all I said.Get that in the Google I.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Like I was about to sayhi to my John and Sean.
So you guys hosted by John,an. Occasional.
Disgraced former colleague.
And disgracedrightwing commentator Erin.
(14:08):
No. Hard right.
When did I become TuckerCarlson?
Sorry. Good. Oh, take it out.
Featuring hard right tales.
A small mini episode within day.
One day you wake up and you thatfat fuck for inside yours.
Oh, no.
The next innovation that Mikeand Little Caesars made in the
pizza industry came in 1979,when they introduced the famous
(14:29):
pizza. Pizza deal.
Two pizzas for the single price.
Sorry, two pizzasfor the price of a single pizza
from all my competitors.
So not two for the priceof one of these.
Yeah.
Two pizzas for the priceof someone else's one pizza.
Right.
People say Little Caesars,there goes Pete's Pizza
because you could gettwo pizzas.
Fact I did it twice alreadybefore we got into this.
(14:50):
Yeah.
Customerswould receive two pizzas side
by side in a single long papersleeve.
What?
Yeah, like a really big subwaybag. Yep.
Like a really big subway bag.
Paper sleeves.
Where the method of pizzathat were transported.
Carrying that. Yeah. Yeah.
It would be all floppy.
Mamma mia!
(15:11):
Oh, I can't holdall these pizzas.
Awful.
There was also corrugated likecorrugated cardboard in there.
Well,nobody said that until now. No.
Yeah, a little base.
It's a give it. It's assumed.
Not. Was it a givenyou said like subway.
That's floppy paper.
Scissors in the bag.Is like a big long subway bag.
It was kind of agiven that it wouldn't
just be floppy in a beanie.
It's not a packet of chickenchips.
(15:32):
The main transport was likethis, like piece of cardboard
with the pizza on it,with bags over it side by side.
So they also there was someI think Italy would do sheets
of copper like on these as well,like they're coming at some.
But anyway, Tom Monaghan,the founder of Domino's,
is credited with the
invention of the cardboard pizzabox that we know today.
(15:54):
Correct.
It seems odd to methat there was a world
that that didn't exist in.
Yeah.
It was quite a revolutionin the pizza industry because.
Biggest thing since a slice.
It could be folded.
So like stackingand whatever it would,
the little riseson the bottom of the pizza,
(16:15):
they have a put,
like, on the box,
the little that seat, the pizzabox, like two mil of whatever
it's sitting onthere has a purpose.
Yeah, because it's airflow.
No, it's just top markingsomeone's table.
Yeah.
So that way the hot wet doesn'thigh at the table.
Yeah, but. That doesn't happennow. They're all flat bottom.
Now they still haveon the edges.
They still have.
Yeah. Yeah.
Way the way the corrugationsI where it falls.
(16:35):
Like where the little like.Yeah.
Where like a yeah yeah yeah.
They're intentionally leftwith an overlap.
And they're
intentionally ventilatedso the pizza doesn't get soggy
with the fermentation.
So you wouldn't think a lot of,
what think tankwould go into a pizza box.
But it did.
When you incorporate
the little plastic babydoll tables as well.
Those who invented that.
Why did they disappear?
(16:56):
I don't know.Maybe they got the better.
Cardboard, got better cable.
Got betterstill, weren't they fine?
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Doll table.
I still think Domino's is, like,
leading the industrywith pizza boxes, too.
They always. Make a big dealabout. Inviting.
I don't think their boxesare any different.
They just cut the corners off.Yeah.
I like the hell pizza boxesbecause you can internally
(17:17):
fold them
into the shape of a coffinfor your leftover pizza,
because you don't need a wholepizza box for the leftovers.
I like thatI can confirm I will.
I'll sendyou guys a picture of mine
from this eveningwhen I get home.
I want to do that.
And that was the other thing
with the pizza boxesthat were stackable.
Yeah.
So eventually Little Caesarswould change to the cardboard
picks, a boxwhich would allow the pizza.
Pizza deal.
No more one meter,one right back.
(17:40):
It was staple clothes. Yeah.
The painter came in there.
It was type of clothes.This type will be enclosed.
Yeah. Cool.So you have to tear it.
I guess you would.
I feel. Like I'm posting Johnwith like, Little Caesars.
This fun, I love it.I love the little.
Caesars. It's still happeningtoday.
The Uber drivers.
I was picking up a KFCbecause I was away
and I still staple in that shop.
So themovie drivers can eat them.
(18:01):
Chippies?
Yeah, I don't trust those Uberdrivers with that sort of thing.
Yeah.The pizza pizza deal was a hit.
Yeah. Families loved it.
Kids remembered the slogan.
Hell yeah, pizza, pizza. Pizza.
And it practically doubledthis house overnight.
Nice.
Little Caesarswere popping up everywhere.
And by the 1980s and 90s,Little Caesars had stores
in all 50 statesand more than 20 countries.
(18:24):
United States, includingincluding Puerto Rico, Guam,
Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados,Cambodia, Can, Canada, Canada,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, CostaRica, Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,India, Jamaica, Kuwait,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,Portugal,
Saudi Arabia, Spain,Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey,
the United Arab Emirates,and the United Kingdom, and.
Australia. And Australia.
(18:44):
Except right now.
Yeah, I googled it.
There's still threeLittle Caesars.
There's one in Adelaide, oneand Melbourne and one in Sydney.
There's none in Brisbane.
I think the Brisbaneone shut down in 2014.
I have a sneaky suspicion thatthey are a separate company.
They might be different, but the
For a while they were the numbertwo pizza chain in America.
America right behind Pizza Hut.
(19:06):
Pizza Hut.
In 1995,the just founded the Love
Kitchen.
Oh. Right.
A mobile truck pizza kitchenthat would travel the country
and provide pizzasfor communities in need.
Yeah. So this is a bit weird.
So there's this love kitchen,which I love.
(19:27):
Kitchens, these trucksthat we drive around.
But then when you Googlethe Love Kitchen,
it comes up to someone else
that's founded.
Comes upwith this really bad website.
That they founded,something else
called the Love Kitchen,where they would make food
for the homelessand stuff like that.
So and that was in 1986.
So one year different.
So I believe this one
is referringto specifically the trucks.
Right. The mobile kitchens,
(19:50):
the trucksare still in operation today
providing pizzas to shelters,soup kitchens, veterans, first
responders, disaster areas,plus more.
To date, they have fed over4 million people with two trucks
serving over 300 US citiesa year. Wow.
And so whenever the trucks go,I go around,
it's the franchise'sall volunteer food
(20:12):
peopleto work in and stuff like that.
So it's not like,a team that goes with them.
It's the all the different
agencies of Little Caesars
getting in, volunteerand donate stuff.
What's the companythat has the emergency center?
And they do like
they have like an emergencycenter that they stand up
(20:33):
there like a
they're like a restaurant andthey are known for being like,
it's really good at reopeningafter emergencies.
Probably Little Caesars.
No, it'snot a Little Caesars. It's,
I don't thinkit's Wendy's, but it's like.
It could be. It could be,I think. Yeah, I think it is.
I think it is Wendy's.
Because I think it's the story
of during Katrinaor one of the hurricanes.
(20:53):
Milton recently they were stilloperating in getting food out.
Oh yeah. That was like. Yeah.
They have like this operation
center that runs and like they,they do waffle House.
That's where it is.Waffle House.
Yeah, they do like hurricaneand emergency tracking.
The while many chains have riskmanagement, the fast food chain
most famously knownfor its robust
(21:13):
disaster managementplan, its waffle House,
particularly due to its waffleHouse index,
which is an unofficial measureof the severity of natural
disasters. Ivan, you know, it's.
Not you know, it's not that bad.
Waffle House keeps employeestrained and on standby,
readyto quickly reopen restaurants
after severe weather,even if it means a limited menu.
And it meansthey're paying people
to not actually do any business
(21:34):
so that as soon as they canopen waffle House, baby.
People need food.
They don't have. Food.
They have like a website
that shows youwhich ones are open
and they show like,oh, it's closing now get out.
And like, yeah.
Yeah, it's serious.The waffle House is closed.
We need to getin the bomb shelter.
I feel like almostalways the first on reopening.
Yeah,they have red, yellow and green.
(21:55):
Waffle House locations are openand serving their full menu.
Red on the waffle House index
limited menu is yellowand closed is green.
I don't know why it's thatshould be the other way around.
But anyway, it. Was.
Fascinating.
Yeah.
In 1988, Little Caesars wouldintroduce a new style of pizza,
a deep pain squarepizza called the pain.
Pain.
(22:16):
It could be purchasedas part of the two for one deal,
either getting
two square pizzas or a square,and the traditional ramp pizza.
Brought great pizzaspopular in Detroit Detroit
rolling rectangles. But yeah.
Part of the reasonfor the Little Caesars success
is the constant innovationsthey introduced
that focus on valuefor the customer. Yeah.
However, in the late90s and early 2000,
(22:36):
I had a bit of a rough patch.
Competitorslike Domino's and Papa John's,
Papa John's, Papa Dan,I got really American.
They didn't love Papa John's.
Dan's, PapaJohn's were investing
in delivery technologyand slick marketing campaigns.
That's in the box.
I would assume that'swhere that come, come in.
I probablyit's probably the slogan for
(22:58):
a long time.
Probably. Yeah.
Also a very, Popular children's.
Children's TV. Show. Yeah.
What's in the box, Nancy?
Just, you should Google thatand see what the,
like the pop up thinglooks like.
It's terrifying. Yeah. Yeah.
Meanwhile,a lot of little Caesars shops
were stuck in old strip mallsand or outdated buildings.
(23:20):
Customers drifted awayand hundreds of stores closed.
Some thoughtthe company might not survive.
But then came hot and ready in.
Ready. Nice.
The $5 pizzadeal was their comeback card.
Large pepperoni pizzasready instantly for $5.
No waiting,no calling ahead. That movie.
(23:42):
Walking. WalkingDead. Get $5 pepperoni pizza.
Hell yeah.
That move reinvented
Little Caesars and made themthe kings of cheap, quick pizza.
It undercut
the competition. Was simpleto understand,
and appealedto families on a budget.
By the mid 2000, a
Little Caesars were back on top,stronger than ever.
Nice in the carryout industry,which we would call takeaway.
(24:02):
Yeah, that's called carryout.
But what about Beyond Pizza?
I mentioned a few other thingsin the, cold open.
What made Mike Ilitch himselfan icon?
Well, we may have already seena small picture of it
with the love kitchen trucks
with the pizza shopsas the foundation.
He and,
(24:24):
Marion, which is her name.
I don't know whythat didn't seem right.
He and Marion built IlitchHoldings, an umbrella company
that would stretch
into sports, entertainment,real estate, even casinos.
Right. Okay.
Oh, yeah.
This dude ended upwith billions.
Yeah. Is he a sports team owner?
(24:44):
Mike loved his sport andhis city all through his career.
All through his career. Sorry.
Yeah. Getting there.
In 1974,he helped fund the Detroit.
We drew it.
A football team in the airexperimental
foot WorldFootball League, the WFL.
Okay. Yeah.
Rest in pepperonis, worldfootball.
(25:05):
League, wrestling, pepperonis,anything that's not the NFL.
Yeah. And currently XFL.
Mike was one of the 33 peopleto fund the ill fated team
that didn't even finish
the inaugural seasonin the start up league.
Yeah, that'show you know you failed.
Yeah. So it was just like aI guess an NFL rival.
And it didn't happen.
(25:26):
Mike and Little Caesarsalso owned the Detroit Detroit
Caesars.
He played in the AmericanI love.
Yeah.
Who played in the Americanprofessional slow pitch
softball league in 1977.
Professional slow pitch.
Correct. Okay.
But the team was disbandedin 1979.
(25:47):
Prior to that leaguebecoming professional.
Right.
It was like,originally an amateur league.
Yeah.
Little Caesars was a major
sponsor of amateursoftball in the Detroit area.
Detroit.
They also sponsored the 1970American Softball
Associationnational championship team.
Okay,this man loved sport. Yeah.
And he lovedgiving back to his city.
(26:09):
With the formationof a professional league
which formed a teamand his first solo
step into professional sportsownership.
You are correct.
He's a sports team owner. Yeah.
So in 1982, Mike boughtthe Detroit Red wings.
Detroit 8 million.
That's so little.
There was a reason why.
1982 8 million.
(26:30):
Still a quite bad money.
Yeah, yeah.
But there's a reason
why it was so like at the time,they were awful.
People called them the deadWings.
Oh, geez.
That's a good timeto buy a sports team.
Oh, they're the.
Tie dye.
No, no, nounnecessary hockey law.
Okay, okay. No, I like it.
That part of the original six.
No matter what happens,they can't die.
(26:52):
Yeah, the original six I like.
So the hockey. Pittsburgh.
Then Pittsburgh,the Rangers, the Montreal
Canadiens, the, Maple Leafs.
Oh, I think. Itsounded like that. We did. Yeah.
So the the dead wings.Yeah. The original six.
Basically, hockey got real bigand the hockey got real small.
And the six people that survivedafter the original six
(27:12):
are the Bruins,
the Chicago Blackhawks,
the Detroit Redwings, the Montreal Canadiens,
the New York Rangersand the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That made up the leaguefrom 42 to 67.
Proceeding the leadsfirst major expansion.
The two of them were Canadian.
Yeah, cool.
The arenas were half empty.
HockeyDetroit was on life support.
Detroit.But it would love the sport.
He poured money into scouting,coaching and players.
(27:35):
Slowly, the dead wingsbecome the Red wings again.
By the 1990s and the 2000,they were a dynasty for Stanley
Cups under his ownership1997 98, 2002 and 2008 nice.
$26 million.
By the way, in today's money,it was a million bucks.
That's still not muchfor a professional sports team.
No, it's still. But like
(27:57):
accounting.
Like itstill gets a lot of money.
Yeah. $26 million is a lot.
Yeah, but doesn't seem likesports team money.
Hockey is a differentkind of money.
This one might blowyour socks off.
So in 1992,
Mike purchased the Detroit
Detroit Tigersfrom fellow pizza magnate.
And I mentioned earlier,
Domino's founderTom Monahan for 82 million.
(28:17):
So what time did you buysorry Detroit Tigers.
Right. The baseballthe baseball team. Yes.
The remember
this is the team that droppedhim 36 years earlier. Oh.
And he immediatelydisbanded them.
Maybe he felt likehe had unfinished business
with the team.
Maybe he did just love baseballin Detroit that much.
Detroit.
Anyway,after acquiring the team,
Ilitch expressed interest
in moving the struggling teamto a new ballpark, and in 2000,
(28:41):
his expectations were realizedwhen the team moved
from Tiger Stadium intothe newly built Comerica Park.
He financed approximately 60%of the $350 million facility.
The taxpayers of the GreaterDetroit Wayne County, Detroit
federal agents, federal grantscovered the balance.
This is something I've hearda lot about recently is like
(29:02):
the taxpayer having to pay forstadiums over there.
And like
I think it's something like theythey have
a new stadium in the NFLevery 2 or 3 years or something.
Yeah.
And they're mostly paidfor by taxpayers. Yes.
Well this what's the point.
Well this one was 60%by the owner.
Yeah.
But still that's 40%that has to be paid
(29:23):
for by the peopleand that and federal grants.
Yeah. And then.
Well, I would assume.
It would be federal grants.
Where do you think that moneycomes from?
The taxpayer.
Well,I don't know how taxes work in.
Yeah.
And then but I think taxesgo to the state
and federal money is different.
And it still doesn't matterbecause half the reason
that these professional sportsfranchises I'm tangent
here, sorry,
half the reason they sportingseparate
professional sporting
(29:44):
franchises move isbecause the owners are like,
well, we can't get the stadiumthat we want,
so we're going to move somewhere
where the state or the city
is preparedto use the taxpayer money
to build a stadiumthat we want, i.e.
the Oakland Athletics,the Oakland Raiders.
The San DiegoChargers. The San Francisco.
Louis Rams.
They're Golden State Warriors,they in the short lived
(30:05):
friggin, Golden Statekiller whales, which are hockey.
Team the Utah Jazz.
They're originally from.
I can't rememberwhether Utah Jazz from Nolan's.
Well, that's the jazz.
That's a. Yeah.Still a really long time ago.
That one in particular.
They've been therefor a long time anyway. Yeah.
It's actually really shit.
Yeah.
(30:25):
Yeah.
So, various,
(30:45):
Ilitch holdings,
incorporated enterprises manageand operate commercial Park
and its concessions.
So not only did he build it,but like all his different
subgroups.
Operate it. Run it.
Yeah. Mike would continueto pump money into the Tigers.
And in 2008,they were one of the highest
salary teams in baseball.
The Tigers would reach the WorldSeries twice before Mike's
(31:06):
death in 2006 and 2012,but lost both times.
I actually don't knowif they've won it since, but
anyway, and while he was at it,he also restored
Detroit's history. Detroit
Historic Fox Theater
move Little CaesarsHQ there and like,
spearheaded the constructionof Little Caesars
(31:27):
Arena, the new home for boththe Red Wings and Pistons.
He wasn't just building teams.
He was rebuilding the town
team. Right?
I think so, yeah. Yes it is.
Yeah yeah, yeah.
They haven't won the WorldSeries since 1984.
Yeah.
They've only won for 35,45, 68 and 84.
Jeez that's a long timebetween drinks.
(31:48):
But this man obviously puta lot of money into his city.
Oh yeah. And it's
probably quite upsetting to knowwhere Detroit is now.
Detroit, wherever.
It is this way back up.
Like,
even though the city in parts ofit is urban decay essential,
their sporting franchises,keeping the community together.
I mean, the Tigers in the Lionsplay literally next door
(32:10):
to each other.
Yeah, the stadiums are nextto each other.
Because of what this man did.
Yeah, like it's fantastic.The Pistons not just him.
There'sthere's like a core of people
that are from Detroitthat love Detroit.
And yeah, obviously Eminemis the one that we all know.
But there's tons of people.
But I'm not for Detroit. Yeah.
So Mark and Marionhad seven kids
(32:31):
and family was alwaysat the heart of everything.
Despite being a billionaire,Mike was nine to just shut up
a Little Caesars store and orderpizza like anyone else.
He never really lostthat every main streak.
Did he ever do whatthe Colonel did?
This Little Caesars is garbage.
Oh, no.
The Colonel used to show upafter he like solid KFC.
He'd show offa KFC restaurant. As done in.
(32:54):
Ten, and he wouldgo in and order chicken it.
If he didn't like it,he'd make a scene, you know,
like chocolate bean and screamat everyone, then leave.
I really want to cover that.
Well,then when you do, let me know,
because I have a storyabout a KFC.
Very similar.
Like you could work itinto the Colonel story.
I plan on it.
(33:14):
He was introduced
into the Hockey Hall of Famein 2003 as a builder,
not a player, honoring his workin transforming the Red wings
and the NHL.
He also made the Michigan SportsHall of Fame
and appeared on ForbesBillionaire lists.
He dropped out for a while.
Come backin, oh, that kind of fun stuff.
But for all the glitz, peopleremembered him
(33:36):
for the small stuff.
The guy who loved sports.
Small things.
He loved Detroit,
and he believed ingiving Detroit people a shot.
Oh, there's one other storyyou might find interesting.
In 1994, an elderly lady of 81
years of age was attackedand robbed in her apartment.
The lady? Just funny. The lady.
(33:56):
No you might find interesting,I said. Not funny.
True.
The lady, decided to move toan apartment in Detroit.
Detroit Towers
an upscale complex with securityand better living conditions.
The downside?
The rent was highand the lady couldn't afford it.
Around that time, federal JudgeDiamond Keith,
who was a friend of Mark Wright,we told him of the situation.
(34:19):
Without hesitation.
Mike offered to payfor the ladies rent, and he did.
From 1994 to 2005,when the lady passed.
I have heard about this.
Yeah, Markdidn't do this for advertisement
or to furtherany of these companies.
No one actually knewabout this arrangement
until after Mike'sdeath in 2017.
It was only then talked about,
(34:40):
oh, thelady, you may have heard of her.
It was Rosa Parks.
Yeah, the civil rights movement,Rosa Parks.
I did know about that Mark.
I was sick.
Yeah.
Mark Elledge
passed away on February10th, 2017 at the age of 87.
His funeral brought outathletes,
politicians, business leadersand everyday Detroiters.
Detroithe turned failure into success
(35:02):
gave Detroit SportsDetroit its swagger back
and left his citybetter than he found it.
This guy's cool.
That is the story of LittleCaesars founder Mark Ilitch.
What a cool guy.
Yeah, super cool guy.
Super cool dude.
Super cool dude. That's whatwe should all aspire to be.
Yeah.
How to be a billionaireand not be an ass.
(35:23):
Yeah. We're talking to you.
Every other billionaire.
You out long.Every other say it.
Hey, hey. Wrongside of the fence, friend.
Go back to you.All of the far right rhetoric.
I would like to reiterate that
I was not sayingwhat you are suggesting.
I'm saying
I was saying that at the time,that was the prevailing opinion.
Back on crossing the damn buddybench over here.
(35:47):
Like,get back on your side. Right.
Wait for the people.
All right, let's go offto some other billionaires
and Bezos, dickhead.
Looks like an egg.
Can I get us demonetized?
Controversially, Taylor Swift.
Oh, yeah.
Name one thing that she's donephilanthropically.
And don't say getting engagedto Travis Kelsey.
(36:07):
Now, I'm going to sayshe released a love story
until there's an internto a rough.
Just applause.And me being in high school.
That is not philanthropic.
Did it help me get a girlfriendin high school?
Because I knew the words to hersongs?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, take mesomewhere we can be a life.
So, yes, Taylor Swift,help me out in high school.
Cool. So
I'm another billionaire boy.
(36:29):
Another billionaire,Warren Buffett.
All right.
I should know if he's doneanything.
I think he does, though.Actually, I think that's decent.
I mean, I want an old bondAlan Bond dickhead.
Oh, really?
Not a story of Australianand unity.
Ingenuity in spirit, kind of.
But also, yeah.I would say he's a dickhead.
There's a point.
This is point at whichno one cares about your boat
(36:50):
race anymore,that you just a dickhead.
There's a point
where these people turn frombeing like a great story
into just being like every otherbillionaire dickhead.
Like, I think you've gotso much money.
Somebody said, I saw somethingthe other day that was like,
imagine it's the year82, 80,000 BC, right?
You decide I'm going tostart saving $10,000 a day.
(37:14):
82,025 years later, you
still don't have as much moneyas Elon Musk.
That should not exist.
Yeah it's crazy.
I, I yeah, I get it.
Ridiculous. Yeah.
We saying check it tells usanti billionaire. Yep.
Because we want that money.
We like Bernie Sanders.
(37:34):
We hate billionairesbut we like being millionaires.
Multi-millionaires.We're okay with.
Down to the billionaires.
There's a certain level.It's too much money.
It's too much. Moneynot be able to have.
And you get all the thing,oh, you know,
they don't actuallyhave that money.
It's toothe assets. Well, I don't care.
It's still too much.
That money is somewhere.
Yeah. And JeffBezos looking at you man.
Like you got to get a new life.You sound like a supervillain.
(37:57):
Have you heard now he Las Vegas.
Oh, he was like a supervillain.
Supervillain.And he's bald like me.
Looks like a supervillain.
Anyway, in other non story.
And other non non.
Where in this because theBroncos taken down the Raiders.
And now they're upagainst the Panthers next week
(38:17):
for a spot in the grand final.
And I'm tryingto manifest a win because
oh boy am I worried about himgoing up against the Panthers.
We'll be right.
Have faith boy.
And the Lions next week.
Lions a.
Diehard Lions.
Map. Massively excited for that.
Who watched the the Lions game?
(38:37):
Yes, that hands up.
I watched a quarter of it.
You know, real fan.
Fake fans watch everythingother than the grand final.
Real fans watch the grand final,and that's it.
That's it. Nothing else.
As we're all aware,I'm a multi team guy
due to not being from Australia.
I have a ladder of teams
so yesterday was a difficultpredicament for me.
(38:58):
I'm Collingwood firstand it was a good game of footy,
but I was pretty disappointedin a few aspects.
But I'm impressedwith Brisbane's ability
to rally back, get the ballin, camera in his hands
and get some damn goals.
From my limited knowledgeof AFL, they they rallied like
within the first
five minutesof the third quarter,
which put them aheadfor the only.
(39:18):
Way that they were rubbish inwas the second.
There was a disappointingpenalty.
I don't know if it would havemade the difference,
and it definitely madea difference
to Collingwood's momentum
and what should have madea difference
came right in the King goals,I don't know, but it
definitely made a differenceto Congress momentum.
However, Brisbanewere in a stronger position.
Collingwood without Pendlebury
and Bobby Hill like,and it was just.
(39:39):
And so who didthey see in the final John.
They will seeGeelong in the finals.
They just eat themin the first week of form. Yes.
And they are playing very strong
except Geelonghaving a little bit of a look
about when the grand final is.
They're trying to getit pushed by a week
to get their key player back in.
However, they're trying to getit pushed by a week.
Yeah. It's not going to happenthough of.
(40:00):
Course it's not going to happen.
We talk about that move,the grand final.
And assuming Brisbane gets luckyNeil back in.
Yeah I didn't get backthis like I didn't.
Get back this week.
But he will probably be.
On the news I did.
He did an eight K run duringthe game to prove his fitness.
So he's calf islooking good. Yeah.
Oh good.
Yeah Imean and then my other multi
(40:22):
multi team aspectis that I'm Cowboys followed by
the Dolphins who have slottedinto second position
due to my favorite playerand then the Broncos.
So I'm happy for the Broncos.
I'm glad for the Broncos.Being it right is fourth.
If I could I'm Queenslandabove everybody else and I.
Myself as roll I would.
I'm sorry,are you trying to tell me
that if it was any other city.
(40:42):
So if it was Penrith,as any other Queensland team,
you wouldn't be happyfor the Queensland team.
To what flow pattern
you just like.
No, I don't carebecause it's not the Broncos.
If it was a Queensland team.
Everybody's got a ladder,a teams. Everyone.
But I would say it's
because it's a Queensland teamnot to be like it's
this one did this one, this onedidn't ordain the Broncos.
Yeah because it goesmy top team.
And then I noticeall of the Queensland teams.
(41:04):
Yeah my teams gothe Broncos Queensland teams.
Yeah I'm not I'm notwhere the I'm not ordering them.
Where are the Titansin that boy.
In the Queensland towns. Oh youconsider them a Queensland.
The team.
They're a border region team.
That's Tijuana I was thinkingabout this yesterday.
They need they need to rebrandtheir entire thing.
They need to redo the top.
Who is about the Titans?
(41:24):
No one. No one.
But the jersey is terrible.
Cal is a terrible.
The brand has no history. But
but but. That stadium is great.
The stadium is great.
But that's okay. Except. No,but that's.
I think they've gone.They've got a cool stadium.
The Gold Coast stadiums.What if that's what I mean?
Rebrand backto an aspect of the team
that has some historyyourself. The Iraq changes.
(41:45):
Be the seagulls again.
Be anything other than the team.
That wasthat was South Queensland.
Yeah.
Go back to being the goals ofthe Giants or whatever the hell.
Like it wasa few different ones.
But the goals the seagulls was aprobably one was the
I think they were the Tweed
Seagullsor the Gold Coast Seagulls.
Bring it back that cool colorsand the stadium is already good.
You've got a good stadium.
(42:05):
It can be done.The Suns have done it.
Yeah the Suns did it.
The Gold Coast thing.
If you've ever beento a Gold Coast Suns
game, the fan culture downthere is really good.
They love that.The fans love their team.
The team loves their fans.
The stadium is a great placeto watch footy.
Gold coast can do it
and to be fair, goldCoast is away kit this season.
The pink. It was awesome.Looks like stood out.
(42:29):
You might beright with the rebranding, but
end of the story.
They'vethey've got to make finals.
They gotta godeep in the finals.
Then people Kthat's what's going to change.
They're going to have to go.
They haven't finished singledigits for like six years.
They need they need to gointo week 2 or 3 of the finals.
People will get.
They did that oncethey went to a semifinal.
I did not remember that. Yeah.
(42:50):
But I remember when it was.
Like 2004 or 5 or something.
Yeah, over 20 years ago.
It doesn't matter.
They need that needs to happensooner rather than later.
People care about the dolphinsbecause they was
they have a top eightfinish last year.
No, no.
They were quite so close.They've gone close.
The only reason this year.
Yeah. It's better than whatthe Titans have done.
The only reasonpeople care about the Dolphins
(43:11):
is they have playersthat came from other teams, and.
The team has history.
In the UK, a.
Small number of peoplethat are their fans,
the majority of going for thembecause they're not the Broncos.
No. I mean, what I mean is
the team has history,not the players coming out,
but I mean, the teamhas an established brand. Yeah.
Like if you are a fan of classicrugby league, you're aware
that a lot of players playedfor the
(43:32):
the Dolphins
when they existed in the cukupbody. Bates and famously played
for the Dolphinsfor a while as well.
The team has a backstory.They have a backstory.
They have an identity.
They're not just kind ofmade up on the spot, but they.
Which they got some high profilemarquee players ain't a quote,
yes, but an season had a highprofile coach.
You've got the hammer,you got Farnworth.
(43:52):
You know, there's
We've now spentten minutes talking about this.
We should wrap. Up who's themarquee player in the Titans.
No. Tino. That's it.
Yeah, I need more.
They had David Fifita, but.Now he's gone.
He's decayed.
He didn't play well. I wouldn'tcall him a marquee player.
Maybe when he didleave the Broncos
to go to the Titans,he was that marquee player.
(44:12):
But he hasn't. Performedan all alternate mustache.
Cameraman's damn nameleft Parramatta Campbell.
Oh yeah. Well he's gone.
Yeah. He's gone.
Campbell. Graham.
Campbell. Gilbert.
Thank you.
Campbell. Get up.
Yeah. Again.
He hasn'treally been performing.
I wouldn't say he's a marquee.
Yeah, but when you're
in a team of mediocre players,it's hard to stand out. Gary
(44:33):
Ablett junior went from Geelongto the Gold Coast Suns and
just wasn't able to do much.
I mean,that's like a football team.
That's local football.Deeper than I expected.
Anyway. Great story. Boy,I thank you.
I thought you'd enjoy that oneI was originally looking at.
I can't believe his name,but he might pop up
as a sequel to the storyof another brand.
(44:55):
Oh, the Peyton guy.
No, no, no contact guy.
Not the McDonald's guy.
Not the KFC guy.
Domino's guy. Nope. Okay.
Different brand. When John worksthat out, we'll let you know.
I know the brand.I don't want to give away.
All right. Yeah, like I don't.
It keeps giving awaymy. Besides.
And on that night.
Oh on that bombshell.Good night everybody.
Good. Not
(45:17):
cricketers.
Take it easy.
You've been listeningto Cheeky Tales podcast.
If you'd like to seesupplemental images
related to our episodesor to interact
with us about our episodes,hit us up on at cheeky.
Tell us Pod on Instagram,Facebook and YouTube.
You can watch our episodeson YouTube
or listen to them on Spotify,Apple Podcasts or whatever.
You get your podcasts.
Baseball,hockey, pizza and Detroit.
Believe it or not...Detroit!
These things.
These four thingsshare something in common.
We know Sean loves a story on a brand.
Well this week'sepisode will cover
the life of a manwho started an iconic brand
and went onto become an icon himself.
(00:21):
Welcome to Cheeky Tales,
and this is the story of fastfood tycoon
Mike Ilitch.
I'm so glad you do not knowthis story.
(00:42):
Here we go.
Capitalist Shawnis going to love this episode.
I know I've called it out.
Yeah.
Capitalism went wrong.
You looked up the brand.
Now I know who he is.
No, I mean, I know. Yeah.
I'm excited. Yeah.
Welcome to this week's episode.
Come back to GTA.
Welcome back to Chicken Tails.
Chicky chicky chicky.
(01:03):
What was that last episode?
Oh, you.
Andy's plane. Crash.
It was my key. Back, boy.
Taking strips out of paper.You're a. Quickie.
So I'm going to bea bit of a quickie.
You're trying to fit.
Uruguay didn't work.
So, yeah.
Pull ups this week.
A hopefullya bit of a fun story about a man
(01:23):
and his.
One man and his desire.
And so,you know, know who this is.
Boy, you don't know.
I'm sure I'll know it as soon asyou start talking about it.
But I don't know the name offthe top of my head.
John is a
as John has pointed out,I quite like brand history
and fast foodhistory, and I have watched
a lot on this particular brand,and I am excited about this.
But do you just do it justice?
(01:44):
I haven't done a deepdive into his brand.
It was more of a. Cuckoo,cuckoo.
Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoocuckoo. Cuckoo.
No doubt, no doubt.
Yeah.
So you want to getstraight into it.
Are we going to banter a bitand. Banter at the end?
Okay. Let's get into it.
Born on July 20th, 1929,in Detroit to parents
to Trier and Sultana. Who in
(02:07):
yes, Hulton.
Who immigrated from Macedoniajust five years earlier,
Karl Marx life is consideredto be a remarkable American
success story.
Yeah.
When those used to be ableto happen. Yes.
His parents were hardworkingand practical.
His father was a two and dyemaker.
Oh. And dye. Yes. Old school.
(02:27):
Roll up your sleevesand get dirty.
Detroit grit. Detroit.
Tool and die would be,I believe, something to do for,
like, metal training.
So like mocking so wants to.
I believe tool and die is to dowith, like, casting of the dye.
It's, it's like.
It's not like.
(02:48):
What do you mean, dies?
Like, doc.
It's like a maleand female component of molding.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, like, when you're moldingsomething out of metal.
Yeah.
Like jigs, fixtures,dyes, molds.
So I have a tap and dye set,which is the top is the
like a pretty much a screwor drill that goes in and put,
thread into a piece of metal.
(03:09):
Right. And the dyeis the external part.
So you have like a small, like a
steel rod,
and then you put the dye acrossthat which puts the thread.
That I'm with, you know.
Dyes I used with stamping, dyesI used with a press
as opposed to a drawing dyeused in the manufacture of wire
and casting dyes,which are not products
made with dyes rangefrom paperclips to component.
(03:29):
But it's. Yeah. Yeah.
So this is Detroit.
Detroit,when Detroit was Detroit.
Detroitis still Detroit boy when he.
But like come on man.
The manufacturing in Detroit.
On the way. Backthe car companies.
When it was when it was most.
Industrial.
Yeah. Heavilynot moved like it's.
(03:51):
In its glory days. Yeah.
Heavy metal thunder.
So pretty much what that meant
is that Mike grew up arounda lot of practical people
who built thingswith their hands.
As a kid,
Mike fell in love with baseball.
Take me out to the ball, climb.
Take me out to the. Game,
(04:12):
whatever.
It's only the second timeof Mustang Kelly.
Mustang kid.
Hey, I do realize this is prettyclose to my last baseball.
It's said that, right?
Oh, it's not.
It's far enough. Away.Yeah, but.
So in high school, Mike was astandout in track and baseball.
And after school,he initially turned down
a minor league contractwith the Detroit Tigers.
(04:33):
Detroit. Two instead.
So four yearswith the US Marine Corps.
What, year was this?
This would have been,
1948.
So after the war. After the war.Okay.
Glad you asked that,because he was stationed
at Parris Island,Quantico and Pearl Harbor.
(04:54):
Okay.
From the late 40s to early 50.
So, yeah, 1948 to 1952.
Matt.
Quick, quick tangent,Pearl Harbor.
I listen to a three partseries on that,
just like over the weekend.
Oh, boy. Hectic.
Yeah, what a story.
It was not a surprise.As I was gonna say.
Are you surprised by that? No.
Nothing. Nothing about PearlHarbor was a surprise.
(05:14):
Except for the factthat they ignored everything.
Yeah. They expect yeah, I did,I don't want to get into it.
Did you not know that? I knowquite a little bit. Pearl.
Not really.
It's one pieceI've never gotten into.
Yeah, they got told multipletimes that it was coming.
Then. Yeah. They had an idea.There was a talk coming.
The writer picked it up
and they're like,that's a flock of birds.
And like,that's really what's work birds.
Now it's these big submarinescoming back from that and,
just seems big.
And then it's a giant Japaneseattack, right?
(05:38):
Yeah. So I knowquite a bit about that.
And I did like
I don't like the story a of it,but it's interesting.
It includes the two
biggest episodes, topicsthat we've ever done.
Boats in World War two.Yeah, yeah.
I am surprisedI had not done it. Before.
Somebody at work looked at it.
I kind of covered it in themidway. In the. Midway? Yeah.
That was the build up to midway.Yeah.
Somebody at work
looked me up on Instagramthe other day
(05:59):
and then messaged me like, man,
you didn't tell meI had a podcast.
You guys talk about boatsin World War two.
I was like,the first thing they said is.
That what the Google AI comes uplike?
Tiki tells usthese boats and World War two.
The Boat and World War Two podca
Nice.
So upon returning home, there'snothing to report from service.
Just. I'll show. You.It was kind of a quiet.
(06:20):
Yeah. Oh, but.
I didn't say anything.
Any service or. The I overview.
Oh, no. Oh, that's.
I've left that rightto the very end of.
No, I'm in the eyeof you. Of us.
Oh what does it say.
Oh no. Oh no.
Techie types. Oh.
So is this the Google Gemini?
(06:41):
I was just like chat.
How was. It? Got the name wrong?
And oh wait, because it doesn'tit it doesn't get it right.
You can't.
You type in Cheeky Tails podcastand it
it gives you nothing in it.
Guys, would you like to seeCheeky Types podcast?
Okay.
There are a few podcasts
with similar namesyou may be looking for.
Cheeky Tails,an Australian podcast
of obscure, weirdand underappreciated stories,
(07:04):
or cheeky types or cheeky types.
A group that you knowcheeky tales.
Here's a breakdown.Hosts Erin and John.
Oh, I
guesswe better get to get that fixed.
It doesn't name me.
Because you're the producer.
And says obscure, weird,and underappreciated stories
from around the world, oftenwith a comedic tone.
(07:27):
Oh, that's pretty nice.
Good, good. Yeah. Available.
What's wrong with. That?
Available on Apple Podcastsand Podbean.
But not Sean.
Oh, we're also now on Deezer.
We are on data design.
It's time for creatorsto take back Days of.
Power days mouth.
Cool. That's my blankingof what I said.
(07:48):
Upon returning home in 1952,the baseball dream
was still alive. Yeah.
And the Tigers againoffered a minor league contract,
this time Mike signing for$3,000 to play second baseman.
Okay, so that's probably like $5million now.
Yeah, probably.
Their mike was good. Yeah.
He was not a superstar.
Okay. But good.
(08:10):
Right.
And good enough to havea crack at the majors okay.
He wasn't the tallestnor the strongest strongest.
He was only five foot eight,but he was scrappy, decent bat.
And I had a lot of hustle anda dream to play in the majors.
Yep, I he was driven. Yep.
As I'll show you, most peoplein Detroit at the time, Detroit,
he spent a few yearsbouncing around
(08:31):
different minor league teams,including the Tigers,
the New York Yankeesand the Washington Senators.
So just quickly,that is the lame team
name the Washington Senators.
Yep, the hockey team here.
It's good.
One minor leaguebaseball in the 1950s.
It wasn't glamorous.
Long bus rides, bad food,tiny paychecks.
(08:53):
Were the equivalent ofabout $36,000 in today's money.
By the way. Starts.
Wow. That's the kind of thingsomebody who would be named by
the Ivy.
And Mark had another problem.
His knees.
Oh, no. Oh, no.
He's got cheesy, cheesy knees.
Adam knees out.
Of a cheesy combine.
(09:14):
Injury after injury.
You know,those worst quarterback things?
Yeah.
He's he's got the fusiondance fusion.
Oh. I can't stand. Up.
He's he's got cheesy knees.
Eventuallythe Tigers cut him loose.
And just like that,the dream was like, oh,
(09:34):
don't dream.
It's over.
Hey now, hey now.
During his baseball career. Yep.
Mike had married Marion. Okay.
Also a childto immigrant parents.
And now that the baseballwas not done.
Not an option. Mike. Work hard.
Like most Detroiters. Detroit.
(09:56):
He worked regular jobsfor a few years, saving money.
He worked as a door to doorsalesman in hospitality.
And in 1959, the pair pooledall their savings together
and opened a tiny pizza shopin Garden City, Michigan.
Oh. Shit. I'm an acrobat.
Gordon City food.
(10:16):
All we need. Sorry. Westfield.
Sorry. Westfield has. The name.
Yeah, there's.He had a Asian name.
I'm sorry. It's Garden City.Yeah, yeah.
What is? Yeah.
Do you want a shopping centerthat's way bigger than you think
it is.
It has a city,
has multiple car yardsinside the shopping center.
Garden city, garden city.
Do you want to go to an eventcinemas and then go outside?
(10:37):
Needed of that pianoin a very sad hole.
Actually, no.The whole strength is gone.
All right.Hey, baby. Garden city.
Forever. Now for real. One step.
God. Seeany idea what this bait shop is?
But it's going to be eitherPizza Hut or Domino's.
Incorrect. Incorrect.
Little Caesars Pizza was born.
Okay. Pizza pizza.
Pizza pizza.
The name came from Marion'snickname for Mike.
(10:59):
She would often say thatMike could be a little bossy,
like a little Roman emperor.
And the name stuck andthey used it for their business.
Cool man. Until they got so.
It was originally little pizzas,pizza shop.
Little pizzas.
A Little Caesars pizza shop,
and then eventually shortenedto Little Caesars. Yeah.
By the early
1960s, the witches had openedtheir the, first franchise,
(11:21):
turning a real profit ina, like a real turning
point in a, business. Yeah.
Also creating a lot of profit.
It wasn't they weren't just
operating one pizza joint there.
They, the idea was scaling.
It was. Yeah.
It was.
Getting big.
Yeah.
Quick likemost of their customers. Yes.
And what was the ideaat the time.
(11:44):
Most, most pizza places were sitdown, eat in restaurants.
Crazy how times change.
Not everyone wanted to lingerin-store.
This was an opportunitythat Mark saw in the industry,
and Little Caesars
focused on making pizzasso you could take them home.
This was A12 punchcombo, though.
(12:04):
The other half of the equation
that led totheir success was good pizza.
That wascheap, ideal for families.
That was like good pizza.
Like a cheap take it on home.
Went crazy idea.
Well Sean will startlearning this very soon.
But eating at a restaurantwith a child
is not as fun as eating.
(12:25):
Even in a restaurantwithout children.
I don't think he needs to learnthat now.
No, I'm. Already involvedor you're already aware of it.
I'm already. Double it.
Yeah,and then double it again and.
Then double it again. So?
So the idea of being able to goget food and to take it home.
Yeah. It was ideal.
The idea of, like, takeaway
(12:45):
food is pretty new to bring you.
It's not really a no.
One thing.
Yeah.
Widely incorporated thing.
Well, yeah,I don't eat into that.
What?
It's probably likea super sexist thing of like.
Well, a woman should be at homecooking dinner.
Don't get into that.
That's whyI didn't want to say it.
(13:06):
Arun's views did not expressthe views of, Oh.
No, no. They leave. She was just
saying.
I'm notsaying that's appropriate.
I'm saying that's.
How was it a time day?
It was a product of its time.
What did youwhat did you get to be.
Look, the other weekI've got your back.
That was a great guy.
How it it.
(13:27):
Hold. Okay. If I said awesome,that was a great guy.
Iron says wind blew.
My statement about JohnFord is a great guy.
Oh, it up.
Haul it up.
I have something to say.
Yeah. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Have we getting to ensureMexicans.
Two thirds of Cheetosstands for women's rights.
(13:48):
Not here. Oh.
No, we cannot let thatget out there.
That is not all I said.Get that in the Google I.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Like I was about to sayhi to my John and Sean.
So you guys hosted by John,an. Occasional.
Disgraced former colleague.
And disgracedrightwing commentator Erin.
(14:08):
No. Hard right.
When did I become TuckerCarlson?
Sorry. Good. Oh, take it out.
Featuring hard right tales.
A small mini episode within day.
One day you wake up and you thatfat fuck for inside yours.
Oh, no.
The next innovation that Mikeand Little Caesars made in the
pizza industry came in 1979,when they introduced the famous
(14:29):
pizza. Pizza deal.
Two pizzas for the single price.
Sorry, two pizzasfor the price of a single pizza
from all my competitors.
So not two for the priceof one of these.
Yeah.
Two pizzas for the priceof someone else's one pizza.
Right.
People say Little Caesars,there goes Pete's Pizza
because you could gettwo pizzas.
Fact I did it twice alreadybefore we got into this.
(14:50):
Yeah.
Customerswould receive two pizzas side
by side in a single long papersleeve.
What?
Yeah, like a really big subwaybag. Yep.
Like a really big subway bag.
Paper sleeves.
Where the method of pizzathat were transported.
Carrying that. Yeah. Yeah.
It would be all floppy.
Mamma mia!
(15:11):
Oh, I can't holdall these pizzas.
Awful.
There was also corrugated likecorrugated cardboard in there.
Well,nobody said that until now. No.
Yeah, a little base.
It's a give it. It's assumed.
Not. Was it a givenyou said like subway.
That's floppy paper.
Scissors in the bag.Is like a big long subway bag.
It was kind of agiven that it wouldn't
just be floppy in a beanie.
It's not a packet of chickenchips.
(15:32):
The main transport was likethis, like piece of cardboard
with the pizza on it,with bags over it side by side.
So they also there was someI think Italy would do sheets
of copper like on these as well,like they're coming at some.
But anyway, Tom Monaghan,the founder of Domino's,
is credited with the
invention of the cardboard pizzabox that we know today.
(15:54):
Correct.
It seems odd to methat there was a world
that that didn't exist in.
Yeah.
It was quite a revolutionin the pizza industry because.
Biggest thing since a slice.
It could be folded.
So like stackingand whatever it would,
the little riseson the bottom of the pizza,
(16:15):
they have a put,
like, on the box,
the little that seat, the pizzabox, like two mil of whatever
it's sitting onthere has a purpose.
Yeah, because it's airflow.
No, it's just top markingsomeone's table.
Yeah.
So that way the hot wet doesn'thigh at the table.
Yeah, but. That doesn't happennow. They're all flat bottom.
Now they still haveon the edges.
They still have.
Yeah. Yeah.
Way the way the corrugationsI where it falls.
(16:35):
Like where the little like.Yeah.
Where like a yeah yeah yeah.
They're intentionally leftwith an overlap.
And they're
intentionally ventilatedso the pizza doesn't get soggy
with the fermentation.
So you wouldn't think a lot of,
what think tankwould go into a pizza box.
But it did.
When you incorporate
the little plastic babydoll tables as well.
Those who invented that.
Why did they disappear?
(16:56):
I don't know.Maybe they got the better.
Cardboard, got better cable.
Got betterstill, weren't they fine?
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Doll table.
I still think Domino's is, like,
leading the industrywith pizza boxes, too.
They always. Make a big dealabout. Inviting.
I don't think their boxesare any different.
They just cut the corners off.Yeah.
I like the hell pizza boxesbecause you can internally
(17:17):
fold them
into the shape of a coffinfor your leftover pizza,
because you don't need a wholepizza box for the leftovers.
I like thatI can confirm I will.
I'll sendyou guys a picture of mine
from this eveningwhen I get home.
I want to do that.
And that was the other thing
with the pizza boxesthat were stackable.
Yeah.
So eventually Little Caesarswould change to the cardboard
picks, a boxwhich would allow the pizza.
Pizza deal.
No more one meter,one right back.
(17:40):
It was staple clothes. Yeah.
The painter came in there.
It was type of clothes.This type will be enclosed.
Yeah. Cool.So you have to tear it.
I guess you would.
I feel. Like I'm posting Johnwith like, Little Caesars.
This fun, I love it.I love the little.
Caesars. It's still happeningtoday.
The Uber drivers.
I was picking up a KFCbecause I was away
and I still staple in that shop.
So themovie drivers can eat them.
(18:01):
Chippies?
Yeah, I don't trust those Uberdrivers with that sort of thing.
Yeah.The pizza pizza deal was a hit.
Yeah. Families loved it.
Kids remembered the slogan.
Hell yeah, pizza, pizza. Pizza.
And it practically doubledthis house overnight.
Nice.
Little Caesarswere popping up everywhere.
And by the 1980s and 90s,Little Caesars had stores
in all 50 statesand more than 20 countries.
(18:24):
United States, includingincluding Puerto Rico, Guam,
Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados,Cambodia, Can, Canada, Canada,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, CostaRica, Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,India, Jamaica, Kuwait,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru,Portugal,
Saudi Arabia, Spain,Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey,
the United Arab Emirates,and the United Kingdom, and.
Australia. And Australia.
(18:44):
Except right now.
Yeah, I googled it.
There's still threeLittle Caesars.
There's one in Adelaide, oneand Melbourne and one in Sydney.
There's none in Brisbane.
I think the Brisbaneone shut down in 2014.
I have a sneaky suspicion thatthey are a separate company.
They might be different, but the
For a while they were the numbertwo pizza chain in America.
America right behind Pizza Hut.
(19:06):
Pizza Hut.
In 1995,the just founded the Love
Kitchen.
Oh. Right.
A mobile truck pizza kitchenthat would travel the country
and provide pizzasfor communities in need.
Yeah. So this is a bit weird.
So there's this love kitchen,which I love.
(19:27):
Kitchens, these trucksthat we drive around.
But then when you Googlethe Love Kitchen,
it comes up to someone else
that's founded.
Comes upwith this really bad website.
That they founded,something else
called the Love Kitchen,where they would make food
for the homelessand stuff like that.
So and that was in 1986.
So one year different.
So I believe this one
is referringto specifically the trucks.
Right. The mobile kitchens,
(19:50):
the trucksare still in operation today
providing pizzas to shelters,soup kitchens, veterans, first
responders, disaster areas,plus more.
To date, they have fed over4 million people with two trucks
serving over 300 US citiesa year. Wow.
And so whenever the trucks go,I go around,
it's the franchise'sall volunteer food
(20:12):
peopleto work in and stuff like that.
So it's not like,a team that goes with them.
It's the all the different
agencies of Little Caesars
getting in, volunteerand donate stuff.
What's the companythat has the emergency center?
And they do like
they have like an emergencycenter that they stand up
(20:33):
there like a
they're like a restaurant andthey are known for being like,
it's really good at reopeningafter emergencies.
Probably Little Caesars.
No, it'snot a Little Caesars. It's,
I don't thinkit's Wendy's, but it's like.
It could be. It could be,I think. Yeah, I think it is.
I think it is Wendy's.
Because I think it's the story
of during Katrinaor one of the hurricanes.
(20:53):
Milton recently they were stilloperating in getting food out.
Oh yeah. That was like. Yeah.
They have like this operation
center that runs and like they,they do waffle House.
That's where it is.Waffle House.
Yeah, they do like hurricaneand emergency tracking.
The while many chains have riskmanagement, the fast food chain
most famously knownfor its robust
(21:13):
disaster managementplan, its waffle House,
particularly due to its waffleHouse index,
which is an unofficial measureof the severity of natural
disasters. Ivan, you know, it's.
Not you know, it's not that bad.
Waffle House keeps employeestrained and on standby,
readyto quickly reopen restaurants
after severe weather,even if it means a limited menu.
And it meansthey're paying people
to not actually do any business
(21:34):
so that as soon as they canopen waffle House, baby.
People need food.
They don't have. Food.
They have like a website
that shows youwhich ones are open
and they show like,oh, it's closing now get out.
And like, yeah.
Yeah, it's serious.The waffle House is closed.
We need to getin the bomb shelter.
I feel like almostalways the first on reopening.
Yeah,they have red, yellow and green.
(21:55):
Waffle House locations are openand serving their full menu.
Red on the waffle House index
limited menu is yellowand closed is green.
I don't know why it's thatshould be the other way around.
But anyway, it. Was.
Fascinating.
Yeah.
In 1988, Little Caesars wouldintroduce a new style of pizza,
a deep pain squarepizza called the pain.
Pain.
(22:16):
It could be purchasedas part of the two for one deal,
either getting
two square pizzas or a square,and the traditional ramp pizza.
Brought great pizzaspopular in Detroit Detroit
rolling rectangles. But yeah.
Part of the reasonfor the Little Caesars success
is the constant innovationsthey introduced
that focus on valuefor the customer. Yeah.
However, in the late90s and early 2000,
(22:36):
I had a bit of a rough patch.
Competitorslike Domino's and Papa John's,
Papa John's, Papa Dan,I got really American.
They didn't love Papa John's.
Dan's, PapaJohn's were investing
in delivery technologyand slick marketing campaigns.
That's in the box.
I would assume that'swhere that come, come in.
I probablyit's probably the slogan for
(22:58):
a long time.
Probably. Yeah.
Also a very, Popular children's.
Children's TV. Show. Yeah.
What's in the box, Nancy?
Just, you should Google thatand see what the,
like the pop up thinglooks like.
It's terrifying. Yeah. Yeah.
Meanwhile,a lot of little Caesars shops
were stuck in old strip mallsand or outdated buildings.
(23:20):
Customers drifted awayand hundreds of stores closed.
Some thoughtthe company might not survive.
But then came hot and ready in.
Ready. Nice.
The $5 pizzadeal was their comeback card.
Large pepperoni pizzasready instantly for $5.
No waiting,no calling ahead. That movie.
(23:42):
Walking. WalkingDead. Get $5 pepperoni pizza.
Hell yeah.
That move reinvented
Little Caesars and made themthe kings of cheap, quick pizza.
It undercut
the competition. Was simpleto understand,
and appealedto families on a budget.
By the mid 2000, a
Little Caesars were back on top,stronger than ever.
Nice in the carryout industry,which we would call takeaway.
(24:02):
Yeah, that's called carryout.
But what about Beyond Pizza?
I mentioned a few other thingsin the, cold open.
What made Mike Ilitch himselfan icon?
Well, we may have already seena small picture of it
with the love kitchen trucks
with the pizza shopsas the foundation.
He and,
(24:24):
Marion, which is her name.
I don't know whythat didn't seem right.
He and Marion built IlitchHoldings, an umbrella company
that would stretch
into sports, entertainment,real estate, even casinos.
Right. Okay.
Oh, yeah.
This dude ended upwith billions.
Yeah. Is he a sports team owner?
(24:44):
Mike loved his sport andhis city all through his career.
All through his career. Sorry.
Yeah. Getting there.
In 1974,he helped fund the Detroit.
We drew it.
A football team in the airexperimental
foot WorldFootball League, the WFL.
Okay. Yeah.
Rest in pepperonis, worldfootball.
(25:05):
League, wrestling, pepperonis,anything that's not the NFL.
Yeah. And currently XFL.
Mike was one of the 33 peopleto fund the ill fated team
that didn't even finish
the inaugural seasonin the start up league.
Yeah, that'show you know you failed.
Yeah. So it was just like aI guess an NFL rival.
And it didn't happen.
(25:26):
Mike and Little Caesarsalso owned the Detroit Detroit
Caesars.
He played in the AmericanI love.
Yeah.
Who played in the Americanprofessional slow pitch
softball league in 1977.
Professional slow pitch.
Correct. Okay.
But the team was disbandedin 1979.
(25:47):
Prior to that leaguebecoming professional.
Right.
It was like,originally an amateur league.
Yeah.
Little Caesars was a major
sponsor of amateursoftball in the Detroit area.
Detroit.
They also sponsored the 1970American Softball
Associationnational championship team.
Okay,this man loved sport. Yeah.
And he lovedgiving back to his city.
(26:09):
With the formationof a professional league
which formed a teamand his first solo
step into professional sportsownership.
You are correct.
He's a sports team owner. Yeah.
So in 1982, Mike boughtthe Detroit Red wings.
Detroit 8 million.
That's so little.
There was a reason why.
1982 8 million.
(26:30):
Still a quite bad money.
Yeah, yeah.
But there's a reason
why it was so like at the time,they were awful.
People called them the deadWings.
Oh, geez.
That's a good timeto buy a sports team.
Oh, they're the.
Tie dye.
No, no, nounnecessary hockey law.
Okay, okay. No, I like it.
That part of the original six.
No matter what happens,they can't die.
(26:52):
Yeah, the original six I like.
So the hockey. Pittsburgh.
Then Pittsburgh,the Rangers, the Montreal
Canadiens, the, Maple Leafs.
Oh, I think. Itsounded like that. We did. Yeah.
So the the dead wings.Yeah. The original six.
Basically, hockey got real bigand the hockey got real small.
And the six people that survivedafter the original six
(27:12):
are the Bruins,
the Chicago Blackhawks,
the Detroit Redwings, the Montreal Canadiens,
the New York Rangersand the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That made up the leaguefrom 42 to 67.
Proceeding the leadsfirst major expansion.
The two of them were Canadian.
Yeah, cool.
The arenas were half empty.
HockeyDetroit was on life support.
Detroit.But it would love the sport.
He poured money into scouting,coaching and players.
(27:35):
Slowly, the dead wingsbecome the Red wings again.
By the 1990s and the 2000,they were a dynasty for Stanley
Cups under his ownership1997 98, 2002 and 2008 nice.
$26 million.
By the way, in today's money,it was a million bucks.
That's still not muchfor a professional sports team.
No, it's still. But like
(27:57):
accounting.
Like itstill gets a lot of money.
Yeah. $26 million is a lot.
Yeah, but doesn't seem likesports team money.
Hockey is a differentkind of money.
This one might blowyour socks off.
So in 1992,
Mike purchased the Detroit
Detroit Tigersfrom fellow pizza magnate.
And I mentioned earlier,
Domino's founderTom Monahan for 82 million.
(28:17):
So what time did you buysorry Detroit Tigers.
Right. The baseballthe baseball team. Yes.
The remember
this is the team that droppedhim 36 years earlier. Oh.
And he immediatelydisbanded them.
Maybe he felt likehe had unfinished business
with the team.
Maybe he did just love baseballin Detroit that much.
Detroit.
Anyway,after acquiring the team,
Ilitch expressed interest
in moving the struggling teamto a new ballpark, and in 2000,
(28:41):
his expectations were realizedwhen the team moved
from Tiger Stadium intothe newly built Comerica Park.
He financed approximately 60%of the $350 million facility.
The taxpayers of the GreaterDetroit Wayne County, Detroit
federal agents, federal grantscovered the balance.
This is something I've hearda lot about recently is like
(29:02):
the taxpayer having to pay forstadiums over there.
And like
I think it's something like theythey have
a new stadium in the NFLevery 2 or 3 years or something.
Yeah.
And they're mostly paidfor by taxpayers. Yes.
Well this what's the point.
Well this one was 60%by the owner.
Yeah.
But still that's 40%that has to be paid
(29:23):
for by the peopleand that and federal grants.
Yeah. And then.
Well, I would assume.
It would be federal grants.
Where do you think that moneycomes from?
The taxpayer.
Well,I don't know how taxes work in.
Yeah.
And then but I think taxesgo to the state
and federal money is different.
And it still doesn't matterbecause half the reason
that these professional sportsfranchises I'm tangent
here, sorry,
half the reason they sportingseparate
professional sporting
(29:44):
franchises move isbecause the owners are like,
well, we can't get the stadiumthat we want,
so we're going to move somewhere
where the state or the city
is preparedto use the taxpayer money
to build a stadiumthat we want, i.e.
the Oakland Athletics,the Oakland Raiders.
The San DiegoChargers. The San Francisco.
Louis Rams.
They're Golden State Warriors,they in the short lived
(30:05):
friggin, Golden Statekiller whales, which are hockey.
Team the Utah Jazz.
They're originally from.
I can't rememberwhether Utah Jazz from Nolan's.
Well, that's the jazz.
That's a. Yeah.Still a really long time ago.
That one in particular.
They've been therefor a long time anyway. Yeah.
It's actually really shit.
Yeah.
(30:25):
Yeah.
So, various,
(30:45):
Ilitch holdings,
incorporated enterprises manageand operate commercial Park
and its concessions.
So not only did he build it,but like all his different
subgroups.
Operate it. Run it.
Yeah. Mike would continueto pump money into the Tigers.
And in 2008,they were one of the highest
salary teams in baseball.
The Tigers would reach the WorldSeries twice before Mike's
(31:06):
death in 2006 and 2012,but lost both times.
I actually don't knowif they've won it since, but
anyway, and while he was at it,he also restored
Detroit's history. Detroit
Historic Fox Theater
move Little CaesarsHQ there and like,
spearheaded the constructionof Little Caesars
(31:27):
Arena, the new home for boththe Red Wings and Pistons.
He wasn't just building teams.
He was rebuilding the town
team. Right?
I think so, yeah. Yes it is.
Yeah yeah, yeah.
They haven't won the WorldSeries since 1984.
Yeah.
They've only won for 35,45, 68 and 84.
Jeez that's a long timebetween drinks.
(31:48):
But this man obviously puta lot of money into his city.
Oh yeah. And it's
probably quite upsetting to knowwhere Detroit is now.
Detroit, wherever.
It is this way back up.
Like,
even though the city in parts ofit is urban decay essential,
their sporting franchises,keeping the community together.
I mean, the Tigers in the Lionsplay literally next door
(32:10):
to each other.
Yeah, the stadiums are nextto each other.
Because of what this man did.
Yeah, like it's fantastic.The Pistons not just him.
There'sthere's like a core of people
that are from Detroitthat love Detroit.
And yeah, obviously Eminemis the one that we all know.
But there's tons of people.
But I'm not for Detroit. Yeah.
So Mark and Marionhad seven kids
(32:31):
and family was alwaysat the heart of everything.
Despite being a billionaire,Mike was nine to just shut up
a Little Caesars store and orderpizza like anyone else.
He never really lostthat every main streak.
Did he ever do whatthe Colonel did?
This Little Caesars is garbage.
Oh, no.
The Colonel used to show upafter he like solid KFC.
He'd show offa KFC restaurant. As done in.
(32:54):
Ten, and he wouldgo in and order chicken it.
If he didn't like it,he'd make a scene, you know,
like chocolate bean and screamat everyone, then leave.
I really want to cover that.
Well,then when you do, let me know,
because I have a storyabout a KFC.
Very similar.
Like you could work itinto the Colonel story.
I plan on it.
(33:14):
He was introduced
into the Hockey Hall of Famein 2003 as a builder,
not a player, honoring his workin transforming the Red wings
and the NHL.
He also made the Michigan SportsHall of Fame
and appeared on ForbesBillionaire lists.
He dropped out for a while.
Come backin, oh, that kind of fun stuff.
But for all the glitz, peopleremembered him
(33:36):
for the small stuff.
The guy who loved sports.
Small things.
He loved Detroit,
and he believed ingiving Detroit people a shot.
Oh, there's one other storyyou might find interesting.
In 1994, an elderly lady of 81
years of age was attackedand robbed in her apartment.
The lady? Just funny. The lady.
(33:56):
No you might find interesting,I said. Not funny.
True.
The lady, decided to move toan apartment in Detroit.
Detroit Towers
an upscale complex with securityand better living conditions.
The downside?
The rent was highand the lady couldn't afford it.
Around that time, federal JudgeDiamond Keith,
who was a friend of Mark Wright,we told him of the situation.
(34:19):
Without hesitation.
Mike offered to payfor the ladies rent, and he did.
From 1994 to 2005,when the lady passed.
I have heard about this.
Yeah, Markdidn't do this for advertisement
or to furtherany of these companies.
No one actually knewabout this arrangement
until after Mike'sdeath in 2017.
It was only then talked about,
(34:40):
oh, thelady, you may have heard of her.
It was Rosa Parks.
Yeah, the civil rights movement,Rosa Parks.
I did know about that Mark.
I was sick.
Yeah.
Mark Elledge
passed away on February10th, 2017 at the age of 87.
His funeral brought outathletes,
politicians, business leadersand everyday Detroiters.
Detroithe turned failure into success
(35:02):
gave Detroit SportsDetroit its swagger back
and left his citybetter than he found it.
This guy's cool.
That is the story of LittleCaesars founder Mark Ilitch.
What a cool guy.
Yeah, super cool guy.
Super cool dude.
Super cool dude. That's whatwe should all aspire to be.
Yeah.
How to be a billionaireand not be an ass.
(35:23):
Yeah. We're talking to you.
Every other billionaire.
You out long.Every other say it.
Hey, hey. Wrongside of the fence, friend.
Go back to you.All of the far right rhetoric.
I would like to reiterate that
I was not sayingwhat you are suggesting.
I'm saying
I was saying that at the time,that was the prevailing opinion.
Back on crossing the damn buddybench over here.
(35:47):
Like,get back on your side. Right.
Wait for the people.
All right, let's go offto some other billionaires
and Bezos, dickhead.
Looks like an egg.
Can I get us demonetized?
Controversially, Taylor Swift.
Oh, yeah.
Name one thing that she's donephilanthropically.
And don't say getting engagedto Travis Kelsey.
(36:07):
Now, I'm going to sayshe released a love story
until there's an internto a rough.
Just applause.And me being in high school.
That is not philanthropic.
Did it help me get a girlfriendin high school?
Because I knew the words to hersongs?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, take mesomewhere we can be a life.
So, yes, Taylor Swift,help me out in high school.
Cool. So
I'm another billionaire boy.
(36:29):
Another billionaire,Warren Buffett.
All right.
I should know if he's doneanything.
I think he does, though.Actually, I think that's decent.
I mean, I want an old bondAlan Bond dickhead.
Oh, really?
Not a story of Australianand unity.
Ingenuity in spirit, kind of.
But also, yeah.I would say he's a dickhead.
There's a point.
This is point at whichno one cares about your boat
(36:50):
race anymore,that you just a dickhead.
There's a point
where these people turn frombeing like a great story
into just being like every otherbillionaire dickhead.
Like, I think you've gotso much money.
Somebody said, I saw somethingthe other day that was like,
imagine it's the year82, 80,000 BC, right?
You decide I'm going tostart saving $10,000 a day.
(37:14):
82,025 years later, you
still don't have as much moneyas Elon Musk.
That should not exist.
Yeah it's crazy.
I, I yeah, I get it.
Ridiculous. Yeah.
We saying check it tells usanti billionaire. Yep.
Because we want that money.
We like Bernie Sanders.
(37:34):
We hate billionairesbut we like being millionaires.
Multi-millionaires.We're okay with.
Down to the billionaires.
There's a certain level.It's too much money.
It's too much. Moneynot be able to have.
And you get all the thing,oh, you know,
they don't actuallyhave that money.
It's toothe assets. Well, I don't care.
It's still too much.
That money is somewhere.
Yeah. And JeffBezos looking at you man.
Like you got to get a new life.You sound like a supervillain.
(37:57):
Have you heard now he Las Vegas.
Oh, he was like a supervillain.
Supervillain.And he's bald like me.
Looks like a supervillain.
Anyway, in other non story.
And other non non.
Where in this because theBroncos taken down the Raiders.
And now they're upagainst the Panthers next week
(38:17):
for a spot in the grand final.
And I'm tryingto manifest a win because
oh boy am I worried about himgoing up against the Panthers.
We'll be right.
Have faith boy.
And the Lions next week.
Lions a.
Diehard Lions.
Map. Massively excited for that.
Who watched the the Lions game?
(38:37):
Yes, that hands up.
I watched a quarter of it.
You know, real fan.
Fake fans watch everythingother than the grand final.
Real fans watch the grand final,and that's it.
That's it. Nothing else.
As we're all aware,I'm a multi team guy
due to not being from Australia.
I have a ladder of teams
so yesterday was a difficultpredicament for me.
(38:58):
I'm Collingwood firstand it was a good game of footy,
but I was pretty disappointedin a few aspects.
But I'm impressedwith Brisbane's ability
to rally back, get the ballin, camera in his hands
and get some damn goals.
From my limited knowledgeof AFL, they they rallied like
within the first
five minutesof the third quarter,
which put them aheadfor the only.
(39:18):
Way that they were rubbish inwas the second.
There was a disappointingpenalty.
I don't know if it would havemade the difference,
and it definitely madea difference
to Collingwood's momentum
and what should have madea difference
came right in the King goals,I don't know, but it
definitely made a differenceto Congress momentum.
However, Brisbanewere in a stronger position.
Collingwood without Pendlebury
and Bobby Hill like,and it was just.
(39:39):
And so who didthey see in the final John.
They will seeGeelong in the finals.
They just eat themin the first week of form. Yes.
And they are playing very strong
except Geelonghaving a little bit of a look
about when the grand final is.
They're trying to getit pushed by a week
to get their key player back in.
However, they're trying to getit pushed by a week.
Yeah. It's not going to happenthough of.
(40:00):
Course it's not going to happen.
We talk about that move,the grand final.
And assuming Brisbane gets luckyNeil back in.
Yeah I didn't get backthis like I didn't.
Get back this week.
But he will probably be.
On the news I did.
He did an eight K run duringthe game to prove his fitness.
So he's calf islooking good. Yeah.
Oh good.
Yeah Imean and then my other multi
(40:22):
multi team aspectis that I'm Cowboys followed by
the Dolphins who have slottedinto second position
due to my favorite playerand then the Broncos.
So I'm happy for the Broncos.
I'm glad for the Broncos.Being it right is fourth.
If I could I'm Queenslandabove everybody else and I.
Myself as roll I would.
I'm sorry,are you trying to tell me
that if it was any other city.
(40:42):
So if it was Penrith,as any other Queensland team,
you wouldn't be happyfor the Queensland team.
To what flow pattern
you just like.
No, I don't carebecause it's not the Broncos.
If it was a Queensland team.
Everybody's got a ladder,a teams. Everyone.
But I would say it's
because it's a Queensland teamnot to be like it's
this one did this one, this onedidn't ordain the Broncos.
Yeah because it goesmy top team.
And then I noticeall of the Queensland teams.
(41:04):
Yeah my teams gothe Broncos Queensland teams.
Yeah I'm not I'm notwhere the I'm not ordering them.
Where are the Titansin that boy.
In the Queensland towns. Oh youconsider them a Queensland.
The team.
They're a border region team.
That's Tijuana I was thinkingabout this yesterday.
They need they need to rebrandtheir entire thing.
They need to redo the top.
Who is about the Titans?
(41:24):
No one. No one.
But the jersey is terrible.
Cal is a terrible.
The brand has no history. But
but but. That stadium is great.
The stadium is great.
But that's okay. Except. No,but that's.
I think they've gone.They've got a cool stadium.
The Gold Coast stadiums.What if that's what I mean?
Rebrand backto an aspect of the team
that has some historyyourself. The Iraq changes.
(41:45):
Be the seagulls again.
Be anything other than the team.
That wasthat was South Queensland.
Yeah.
Go back to being the goals ofthe Giants or whatever the hell.
Like it wasa few different ones.
But the goals the seagulls was aprobably one was the
I think they were the Tweed
Seagullsor the Gold Coast Seagulls.
Bring it back that cool colorsand the stadium is already good.
You've got a good stadium.
(42:05):
It can be done.The Suns have done it.
Yeah the Suns did it.
The Gold Coast thing.
If you've ever beento a Gold Coast Suns
game, the fan culture downthere is really good.
They love that.The fans love their team.
The team loves their fans.
The stadium is a great placeto watch footy.
Gold coast can do it
and to be fair, goldCoast is away kit this season.
The pink. It was awesome.Looks like stood out.
(42:29):
You might beright with the rebranding, but
end of the story.
They'vethey've got to make finals.
They gotta godeep in the finals.
Then people Kthat's what's going to change.
They're going to have to go.
They haven't finished singledigits for like six years.
They need they need to gointo week 2 or 3 of the finals.
People will get.
They did that oncethey went to a semifinal.
I did not remember that. Yeah.
(42:50):
But I remember when it was.
Like 2004 or 5 or something.
Yeah, over 20 years ago.
It doesn't matter.
They need that needs to happensooner rather than later.
People care about the dolphinsbecause they was
they have a top eightfinish last year.
No, no.
They were quite so close.They've gone close.
The only reason this year.
Yeah. It's better than whatthe Titans have done.
The only reasonpeople care about the Dolphins
(43:11):
is they have playersthat came from other teams, and.
The team has history.
In the UK, a.
Small number of peoplethat are their fans,
the majority of going for thembecause they're not the Broncos.
No. I mean, what I mean is
the team has history,not the players coming out,
but I mean, the teamhas an established brand. Yeah.
Like if you are a fan of classicrugby league, you're aware
that a lot of players playedfor the
(43:32):
the Dolphins
when they existed in the cukupbody. Bates and famously played
for the Dolphinsfor a while as well.
The team has a backstory.They have a backstory.
They have an identity.
They're not just kind ofmade up on the spot, but they.
Which they got some high profilemarquee players ain't a quote,
yes, but an season had a highprofile coach.
You've got the hammer,you got Farnworth.
(43:52):
You know, there's
We've now spentten minutes talking about this.
We should wrap. Up who's themarquee player in the Titans.
No. Tino. That's it.
Yeah, I need more.
They had David Fifita, but.Now he's gone.
He's decayed.
He didn't play well. I wouldn'tcall him a marquee player.
Maybe when he didleave the Broncos
to go to the Titans,he was that marquee player.
(44:12):
But he hasn't. Performedan all alternate mustache.
Cameraman's damn nameleft Parramatta Campbell.
Oh yeah. Well he's gone.
Yeah. He's gone.
Campbell. Graham.
Campbell. Gilbert.
Thank you.
Campbell. Get up.
Yeah. Again.
He hasn'treally been performing.
I wouldn't say he's a marquee.
Yeah, but when you're
in a team of mediocre players,it's hard to stand out. Gary
(44:33):
Ablett junior went from Geelongto the Gold Coast Suns and
just wasn't able to do much.
I mean,that's like a football team.
That's local football.Deeper than I expected.
Anyway. Great story. Boy,I thank you.
I thought you'd enjoy that oneI was originally looking at.
I can't believe his name,but he might pop up
as a sequel to the storyof another brand.
(44:55):
Oh, the Peyton guy.
No, no, no contact guy.
Not the McDonald's guy.
Not the KFC guy.
Domino's guy. Nope. Okay.
Different brand. When John worksthat out, we'll let you know.
I know the brand.I don't want to give away.
All right. Yeah, like I don't.
It keeps giving awaymy. Besides.
And on that night.
Oh on that bombshell.Good night everybody.
Good. Not
(45:17):
cricketers.
Take it easy.
You've been listeningto Cheeky Tales podcast.
If you'd like to seesupplemental images
related to our episodesor to interact
with us about our episodes,hit us up on at cheeky.
Tell us Pod on Instagram,Facebook and YouTube.
You can watch our episodeson YouTube
or listen to them on Spotify,Apple Podcasts or whatever.
You get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.