September 18, 2020 • 48 mins
From city to Sin City, Bernie Fratto has found a sweet spot amongst the degenerates in America. A longtime radio host, Bernie joins the show talk about his past stops and elaborates on how things are transpiring in the gambling world. With Las Vegas still getting plenty of action, Bernie gives Ben and David an idea of what is to come with sports gambling in 2020 and throughout the NFL season.
Make sure to subscribe, rate, and post a review on iTunes whenever you get the chance.
Engage with the podcast by emailing us at RealFifthHour@gmail.com
Follow Ben on Twitter @BenMaller and on Instagram @BenMallerOnFOX
David is on Twitter @DavidJGascon and Instagram @DaveGascon
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m Pacific Boom.
If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
(00:21):
pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
Ben Maller starts right now that it is well, come
into the beginning of the Fifth Hour with Ben Masse.
(00:42):
My name is on the marquee there because four hours
are not and off and we now do this thing
eight days a week. The question is will we continue
to do it eight days a week and obviously spin
off of the radio show. But you've found it, you've
downloaded it, you subscribed, you've told your friends, you've told
your enemies about it, and we welcome in. It's it
is a gas bag chat, a chat with our friend podcast.
(01:07):
We'll get to him in a second. We welcome in
David Gascon from West of the four or five I
have in front of a studio audience here and wonderful
Sherman Oaks, California. It is interesting that you are able
to get that particular SoundBite. But I don't really get
(01:30):
any drops. I don't get any rim shots. I don't
get any applause, any laughter, any of that. It's a
pretty good job of, you know, patting yourself on the back,
you know, making it all about you, as you know
liquently said, uh, it's all about you during your shows. Well, no,
I was the Tom Looney school of radio. That's not
my school of radio. But I did take advantage of
(01:52):
a situation that was bad and turned in into a positive.
Because anything that you learned that after he gave you
advice on how to invest in the real estate market
and that turned out to be a dudd you'd stop
listening to him. But here we are in the month
of September and appears to be no slowing down. You
and Tom Leney, Well listen, I don't actually talk to
Looney much. We text, which is not really talking, it's texting,
(02:14):
and we go back and forth in that. But uh,
but he is wrong about everything, certainly as politics are
all messed up. So we go back and forth on
that but enough enough about me. Oh wait a minute,
Wait a minute. We have Gascon tonight if you're listening
anytime early in the day on Friday, this podcast, the
Friday Podcast. We made our maiden voyage last week. We
(02:37):
did Benny versus the Penny YouTube stars YouTube stars only
on the YouTube and it went better than I expected.
There were only limited mistakes by you um and people
seem to enjoy it, and we had a live crowd
that was interacting with the show on the chat on YouTube.
(02:58):
It was a lot of fun and more importantly, we won.
At least I won on my my bet, so we
came out ahead, which is the most important thing. And
we're gonna do it again tonight, same situation on the YouTube,
and it is at nine o'clock Pacific on Friday, which
is midnight Eastern. That's the Witching Hour. Guestcount. We're gonna
(03:19):
be on on the Witching Hour on the East Coast.
We'll do it live, so that'll be fun. I'm looking
forward to will pick every NFL game from the weekend
card against the spread. We'll have winners on every single
game and we will attempt again to win some money
and the and the best part is is is we
will unveil something a little special for for those that
(03:40):
are actually watching the uh the stream too. So you
and I had talked about this for the last couple
of weeks and it's a little give back to to
those are participating in in the broadcast tonight. So what
do we give? What are we giving them? Um? You
know it's it's something that has to I'll give him
a hand. It has something to do with your Iowa
Hawkeye hat. Oh yes, all right, well I have you.
(04:05):
I wore that the other night the Iowa hawk Eye had.
It's good looking at that's good looking at. So I
took some notes from from the first broadcast because I
know that typically when you go on the air, you
don't wanna you don't want to listen to what happened
after when it's all said and done. So, um, I
have fourth wall, Christmas and economy. Those are the three
things I like. I like that you're doing monolog that's
(04:31):
because typical West of the four or five. Absolutely, and
love with breaking the fourth wall, like that that live
feed with with viewers typing in comments, you could not
get away from. It was like a kid in the
fucking candy still it was like your first Christmas unwrapping
a nice g I Joe or Transformer, and you were
(04:54):
just fixated on it until you broke it. Like the
broadcast went nearly two hours, which you didn't give me
any credit for because I helped you through that two
hour fast that you needed to complete. And then on
top of that, you said, this thing is gonna suck.
I know it's not gonna be good, it will not
be technically savvy. And then all of a sudden you
got to flame Mignon as opposed to you know bull.
(05:15):
But a couple of things. First of all, I like
that you made this all about you and just to
celebrate yourself, which is which is good. And as far
as the chat uh a, it was unexpected, so I
didn't expect that to be an option, so I didn't
think we'd have any real time feedback and and be
it kept me from having to just focus on you.
(05:36):
I could focus on other things, which is good. That's good.
And see this is the difference again, you are proving
yourself what's as not being a man of the people.
I am a man of the people, and I like
to interact with the unwashed. You do not uh, you
think these people are below you, the riff raff right,
and all those scum and the lowest common denomena and
(05:59):
all the mean things you say about the Mallard militia.
You call them vermin and rodents and all that. But
these are my people. These are my people. There. I
like hanging out with the peasants. I like hanging out
with the hoi poloi and all that, and uh, you
know these are my guys. Well, I mean, like you,
like you said, is that if you're performing, which this
is a performance, there's a there's a stage, and then
(06:21):
there's an audience. And you never have the stage and
the audience run parallel to each other. Usually one is
on top of the other or vice versa. So I
think in this point the audience is behind the stage
of what we're doing virtually. So if you don't mind
for the future, let's temper this down a little bit,
because you know we've got business schedules here, and I
(06:41):
know you've got two hours to spare when you're at
home doing shows from your bed and and broadcasts. Well yeah,
not in my bed. I mean a professional radio studio
which has top notch equipment. I have better equipment than
i'd say five percent of the sports radio stations that
are all raggedy and all that. So so uh yeah,
(07:03):
I mean I I've been to a few radio stations.
I've been blown away. I remember one in Oklahoma. In Norman, Oklahoma,
I went to a radio station there because I had
to record something. I was there for a college football game,
and the radio station was at the transmitter site and
it was like a portable like when I was in school,
in elementary school, you know, I had those portables out
(07:25):
in the back of the school. It was the radio
station was in that Like, oh my god. I was like,
this is my profession here and I but then you
go to like New York or l A and then
these big massive skyscrapers and you've got show showcase studios
and all that. But there's more radio stations like the
one that was at the transmitter in Norman, Oklahoma, in
a little portable building than there are other places. But
(07:48):
then I don't beat the knocking the home studio. I
have great equipment here. I'm gonna upgrade the studio later
this month. I got some things coming in here. They're
gonna make it even better. So I'm all about that man,
all about that action. That's good. We have one show
in the book, we have another show tonight, and I
think this is I think this is important because the
(08:09):
more feedback the better, but also the the activity level,
because we're gonna be giving some things back to the audience,
so they need to be aware of like what's like.
If you like what we're doing, great, there's ways to
support that. But if you don't like some of the things,
that make sure that you you voiced those through the
(08:30):
live feed or through the comments section or even the
podcast you can rate, you can subscribe, and then you
can chime in as well. Because and I think what
you're really saying is we need more people watching. I
think that's what you're really say. I think we and
the most effective advertising. Yes, and you know this, and
this has always been my thing. I have no ad budget,
there's no marketing budget zero. The most important thing is
(08:51):
what I call guerrilla marketing, word of mouth advertising, and
that that is I don't need billboards, I don't need tvmercials.
They'd be nice radio commercials. I don't need any of that.
But the real hype, the real advertising, is just you saying, hey,
so and so this is this is one of the
(09:11):
reasons this is important, like one of the cool things.
Is one of the reasons that I Yelp is so
popular and and and Amazon people buy products based on
the reviews is because we value other people's opinion. Obviously
it's human nature. But really, if people we know, right,
people you know who are in your circle, not in
my circle, but in your circle, your your family, your
(09:32):
co workers, you go to school, people around you say hey,
I got it. I got this thing on YouTube that's
like kind of cool, but nobody knows about it. See
that that adds some some drama their guest because and
really nobody knows about this, right Well, it's not like
lights camera action. It's like, all right, turn on the
little dusty candle or you know, like the little candle
and here we are. Yeah, which is fascinating to me
(09:54):
because I don't know why you had a problem with
my avatar picture that if nobody knows, what's the issue
with you and my back I don't get that. No, listen,
I think that's great. I know you use that on
grinder and I think that's pretty cool there, and I
know you've had success with that picture, but uh, you know,
I just thought maybe it was unprofessional. How about that
you have multiple pictures sent out to all these radio
(10:17):
stations and their photo shot pictures of you. No, no, no,
not photoshow. Those are just old pictures. Well there's one fat,
there's one skinny, there's one and they so well the
problem is, and if if you really hate me and
want me to get fat again, tell tell scotch Aapiro
and management of Fox Sports Radio to have a photo shoot,
(10:38):
because I guarantee you I will gain eighty to a
hundred pounds before said photo shoot. It happens almost every
single time I've very rarely in radio do they do
photo shoots for the talent. And I have timed it,
I believe probably seven out of the eight times I've
had to do those things over the years, roughly ball
(11:00):
park figure. I have ballooned like a turkey before Thanksgiving.
Uh and it never ends. So uh, you know, whenever
I'm lean and mean, very rarely do I get my
photo taken for those photo shoots. So it's only when
I'm fat. So then if we go, if you're on
a video feed, then does that mean you can clean
up a little bit? Can we get you, like in
(11:20):
a suit and a tie or at least a dress
shirt and rolled up sleeves. And you want me to
dress up? Oh why not? It's better than being in pajamas.
Look like No, I wore a nice T shirt. I
had a cap. Again, I'm relatable. I engage with the people,
all right, I engage. You're Johnny one note over there.
(11:41):
Let me dress up here, I'm gonna look all I'm
gonna be like Cramer from the CNBC, and I'll do that.
And all the shots of the Speaker of the House
this week, I saw that. I did see that. All right,
we're going very long. This is an interview situation task
on this is a chat. You're so long winded here.
It's a bad job by you. You have buried the lead,
(12:02):
my man. So we're excited we're gonna have here right now.
He is standing by Bernie Fratto. You know him. He's
on Fox Sports Radio on Saturday nights, my old time.
So I just one hour show Saturday nights, eleven pm
in the West, two am in the east, straight out
of Vegas, all the inside dirt, right in the middle
of the weekend. So essentially, when you lose your ass
(12:24):
on college football. You listen to Bernie. He gives us
some info, some important info on what's gonna happen on
Sunday in the NFL. So you can get your your
your money back, conceivably get your money back and all that.
So let's welcome in now. He's worked in radio and
Detroit and uh, he's a soap cow guy, so he's
he's lived an interesting life in the radio business. Let's
(12:47):
give it up now for Bernie Fratto and Bernie, why
don't we start with this, How the heck is that
show doing? Then? Uh? And David first, thanks for having me.
It's going great. He's having my two year aniversary this
week and donal looads have increased and uh, no one's
tried to shoot me yet. But you're at eleven pm
Saturday night, Pacific time, and it's a one hour show
(13:12):
and the center piece of the show, and of course
it's called Straight out of Vegas. The centerpiece of the
show us of course sports betting. However, the content is
a little bit more broad based and eclectic than that.
I like to offer a journalistic commentary. I like to
give insights. Uh, you know, give my cake as they say. Uh,
it turns out that we're finding that about the people
(13:35):
who listen to the show don't even bet. However, they
like to hear what we're talking about and maybe have
brightening rights over their friends and such, and we try
to drop a lot of knowledge. We try to be
keen observers have been at this a long time and
I used to have a joke. You know, if you
go to medical school and finished last in your class,
they call you a doctor. If you go to betting
(13:55):
school and finish last in your class, that might call
your books. So we'd like to intertwine and common sense
strategies as well, like money management and various things like that.
So we tryd of make it a correct I guess
we can then within the framework of being betting centric,
because you know, people want to hear your opinions on
games and events. Well and Bernie, uh, and I'm sure
you are because you do a professional show. I didn't.
(14:17):
I do an amateur show. So you don't have to
worry about the crazy people that call up right and
harass you on social media at that time and not
because that that is a party time slot. Bernie. I
know that downloads are good and all that, but in
real time doing the show live at that time that
is right in the middle of the weekend, and that
is party central. And I know from years past, Bernie,
(14:38):
that the people that are listening at that time live,
they are feeling no pain, if you know what I'm saying,
No doubt, many folks are just exiting their favorite watering
hole that might have had a couple of creamed emments
and learn a certain type of mood. And what's interesting
about that is I get people tweet at me during
the show. People tweet at the show, um, and what
(15:00):
surprises me, never ceases to surprise me, is how many
of those tweets are coming from the Eastern time zone, Philadelphia,
New York, Virginia, Beach, Virginia, wherever. And so as you know,
uh liter hours, there are always listeners out there. The
guy text me is listening from Sydney, Australia. So what's
(15:20):
interesting is because of the wonderful platform that Fox Sports has,
and you know, you've got a hundred and sixty eight
hours in the week, I just do one. All you
guys do such a great job. People have it keep
it locked on Fox Sports. So I find that more
people are listening sometimes and we realize, oh, I agree
with you, and and the cool thing about that it's
a lot of fun is that these people listening around
(15:43):
the country. We're on Fox Sports radios on the American
Forces Network or whatever they're calling it now. So we
have a lot of military, uh and non military that
happened to be working for the government that are in
you know, Asia or different countries around the world where
US military is and they listen on the American Forces Network.
So it's pretty cool. But that's cheating, Bernie, because it's
(16:05):
like an afternoon show. It's not an overnight show for
these people on these different parts of a life. Ran
once said, we're in the air everywhere. I don't know
who would say something like that. I have no idea, Bernie,
who would say that. But now do you consider I
think of you as a radio guy. That's one of
the reasons I like you, Broke. I think of you
as a radio guy, But you've done a bunch of
(16:26):
other stuff as well. Now do you consider yourself part
of the Rob Parker radio tree or is that incorrect?
It's correct, So let's unpack this. I began my radio
career in at w t K in Ann Arbor and
the first night I ever and I'm gonna build up
to the Rob Parker thing. I'll get there on a second.
(16:46):
But the first night I ever had a credentia was Friday,
June seventeenth, was at the Old Tiger Stadium. They were
hosting the Toronto Blue Jays, and that was the first
year they put martyrs in the press box and watched
the game. But there was no sound. Well, that night
we were watching the game, we were watching a little
thing that became known as the Yo J Bronco Chase.
(17:07):
And then later on a fine gentleman's faith kept popping
on the screen, a guy you made it out a
world named David Gascon And I'm watching the screen and
my first night in the press box, and all these
things are hitting me, and I couldn't hear what he
was saying. So when I got home about eleven thirty
that night, I made sure I watched all the replays,
and of course the rest is history. I spent several
(17:27):
years at w t K covering Michigan football, had my
own show on Sunday called The View from the Chief Seats,
another show called Inside the Frattle house, and then Rob
Parker and I became friends and started corresponding on things,
and I found all the way over to CV yesterday
eight won the flagship station w k r K Detroit,
which is now w x y T. And not only
did I work with Rob, we covered the World Series,
(17:49):
the super Bowl, the NBA Finals. Also was a part
of the Lions pre and postgame show broadcast team from
two thousand and eight and the fall people in that period.
Then I saw everything. It was Barry Sanders last year
and to all the way until two thousand and eight,
which when the lines went Owen sixteen under Rob Marinelli
(18:10):
and I saw everything in between. So I lived three
lifetimes covering the Lions, and then I left Detroit in
two thousand ten February, came to Las Vegas, joined up
with the ESPN Radio here co hosted some shows, also
hosted rube Lextra, which is a post game show for
you and of you run a rebel basketball Along this
(18:31):
whole way, Rob and I kept in touch. We've known
each other for twenty five years. And worlds collided because
R J. Bell had started a show called UM Straight
out of the Guts, and they wanted to add a
Saturday night show, and I got into Scotch Shapiro, and
as I said, the planets aligned. And so about this
time in two years ago now they created the Saturday show.
(18:53):
They said, can you make the commitment? I said absolutely,
And here we are. Look at that and the rest
is history. And will you do a great job, Bernie
on the show. And now you're a big national radio star.
You've become international, right, international radis. But I love Rob.
I went out. You know, I've known Rob not as
long as you, but I've always been a big Rob
(19:13):
Parker fan. I like this style, He's no nonsense style,
and how he's willing to tear it people down and
all that. A lot of these guys don't do that, uh,
you know, the athletes and whatever. So when I went
out one time, we do not have a meal with Rob,
and we were just trading stories about like nineties radio
and how different it was compared to what we can
do now. Do you have a really good Rob Parker story,
(19:35):
Bernie from back in those Detroit, those wild local FM
radio days in the Motor City. Well there's a tell.
I'll tell you a couple of classics. No, we're uh
in in two thousand nine, Rob used to joke with
rod Man and Elly, uh you know that his uh
(19:56):
southern law when we began a eventsive coordinator marry his
daughter and and Rob used to joke with Rob. I
used to I bet you wish your daughter would have
married a better defensive coordinator. And you know you might
not have gone in sixteen and both the room down,
Rob Mary Milly didn't think we still have funny. But
the paper one I was going over forget Ben was
when Jim Leland take over the tires. And in the
(20:18):
fall of two thousand and five and the first year
out of the gate, they go to the World Series
and there wasn't a person in town. They played the
same Louis Cardinals that you They were e three and
seventy nine, and that was the David uh the shortstop
but David x x xteen, Thank you very much, sir,
thank you. So they are all story longer. The Cardinals
(20:41):
beat the Tigers four games to one. And before the series,
while I was the only guy in town that predicted
the Tigers would not win the World Series, and man,
you'd here to think he would have assassinated, you know,
the president or something they were coming at him right
and left. And you know, Detroit is a very provincial
sports town. There's not a transient population there. So if
you go on the airways and you're not being a
(21:03):
slappy fandboard and one of their teams, Rob and I
didn't do that, and Rob especially didn't do that. So
time and time again he would be a contrarian like
he has with Tom Brady, now what. He would do
that all all the time in Detroit, and so he
you know, he became sort of this caricature of himself.
But obviously he's still one of the most popular guys
in media there. But I'll never forget the O six
(21:24):
World Series when he predicted the Cardinals would win, and
even after it happened, people called us up and just
roade Rob red Rob the riot after he was at
Jason go back to New York. He never lived it down. Wow,
and I gotta go back. You mentioned you saw everything.
When you're doing the Lions post game. I have buddies
of mine that have done Baltimore Orioles post game recently
(21:44):
the last couple of years, I've been terrible, uh Clipper
post game back and what you're doing the Lions coverage there?
What what would you do in a call in show, Bernie,
What is that like when you're losing every game and
they don't win a game and you're taking a Lion
Fans have to be used to it, I would imagine
after all these years, But what was that like for you?
(22:05):
It was amazing because it was the biggest love hate
relationship I've ever seen with any team in my life,
and I saw it up close and personal. We would
sign onto the postgame show, get the particulars, do a
couple of livories, and we'd open up to the phone
line just a post game. We didn't have callings in
the pregame. We definitely have Paul Collins in the post game.
And what you would have it was inevitable. Mark Wilson,
(22:27):
will you also know he did shows with us. We
would write down we would do an over under six minutes,
nine minutes. How long will it take for a someone
to say fire the coach? B Ford sell the team right?
Never ended and of course the years under mad Millan,
which were absolutely disastrous. They wrote him like a rented mule.
So one of you know, one person after another would
(22:47):
call in and they would berate the Lions. We found
me was to lose. I mean, they just did it
again this last Sunday. It's incredible. But the Lows he
was there, and they'd sell out the following week. And
every now and then someone would call in and say,
I'm getting ready my season tickets that said I've had it,
and I would pick certain callers and I would fire
back and I said, no, you're not, No, you're not.
This is a football time, and you know it. We've
(23:09):
got eight home games every year. Okay, you're not gonna
move to quarterline Outah. Yeah, they got a nice bed
and breakfast there, but there's no NFL football there, you know.
Damn Well, oh yeah, you're right. Well, I love my Lions.
One football or excuse me, one playoff win ben since
nineteen fifty seven. January six and Dave Craig and the
de Trade Lions beat Dallas and Jimmy Johnson though do
(23:31):
you eight to six? And that day on National TV,
John Madden said, we're looking at the two teams of
the nineties. Well he was half right. The Lions got
to the playoffs a couple of times under way in Fons,
but then he was gone. And then Bobby Ross came in,
and then Gary Moore, and then Dick You're Run, and
then Rob Marinelli, then Mike. Before that, it was Marty
morning Wig and Steve Mariucci had like six coaches in
(23:54):
ten years and it was a constant circus. But the
biggest takeaway, Ben was the incredible love hate relationship because
colors would be raped in three they never go to
a game again, but they'd be right back the next
week because they couldn't break away. Bernie, what's the wildest
story that you can tell? Denn and I because we've
heard some doozies from athletes of the last couple episodes
(24:16):
on podcasts, But you mentioned the relationship with Rob, and
Rob had has played me some old tapes of when
he was in Detroit, and I said, hey, you have
the ship that's on this tape you could not get
away with. Now. Is there anything that comes to mind,
whether're working with him or anybody else that you thought like,
I can't bring that up now because I get pulled
right from the radio station. Well, we crossed the We
(24:40):
danced across the line a couple of times in a minute,
and I'm gonna tell you about the night and Rob
was some dirt of that night. Rob. Rob had begun
a pretty a pretty big career in earnest with the
Four Letter Network. So but on November nineteen, two thousand
and four, there was a little thing Detroit called a
mouse at the Palace. I was there. We covered the
game from the a concourse, Mark Wilson and I. But
(25:03):
before that, there's one thing, and I can't mention this
guy's name for obvious reasons, but I happen to be
in Vegas in July and say of two thousand seven,
and I'm getting out an elevator. I'm getting off an
elevator in one particular starting offensive lineman for the Detroit
and with getting off the elevator, and he had his
(25:24):
arm around two females and they you know, it might
not have been his wife. It looks at me, and
I looked at him and said, this is between us, right,
And I said that day I was in Chicago that day.
I don't know nothing. I'll tell you guys name off
the air sometime, but I can't tell you his name
on the ear. But back to the malice at the Palace.
It's the most incredible story because none knows the backstory
(25:47):
guys that that the Indiana Pacers were coached by Rick
Carlisle and he'd been unceremoniously fired by the Pistons the
year before. He was angry and they brought him Larry Brown,
and so you have revenge on his mind. And they
were leaving that game by about thirty three points. And
you remember that the Pacers had one, I think sixty
(26:08):
games the year before, but I know four of the
Pistons knocked them off in the conference semifinals and Casehaun
Prince had that famous block and they were supposed to
win that series either. So Indiana comes to town spitting venom.
Rick Carlisle's man. The whole team is man. That was
a great team, Jamal Tinsley, Uh, you know, draw on
our test, the whole deal and when that cup came
(26:29):
full until we let me back up, when Bennel Wallas
was filed by around our tests and he shoved him
and our tests ran over late on the table and
an empty beer cup. Never people always tell the story wrong.
It wasn't a beer. It was an empty beer cup
landing on our test hands and he went up on
the stand. That scene was so surreal. I don't know
if I can do it justice. I would take me
(26:50):
a four hour or till the whole story. But I'll
tell you one little rooming detail. But no one ever
talks about all of the referees on the floor that night.
Tim donaghe wow. Uh. And I was at Bernie. I
was that here at Fox Sports Radio after that game,
we were doing the overnight and uh, that's all we
talked about. We did like we tried to use the
(27:12):
brewery film style coverage, breaking it down frame by frame.
It is right up there with my top moments. And
I wasn't even there. You were there, You were lucky
enough to be there. But I was just watching on
TV and I couldn't believe what I was watching. I was.
I was like, it wasn't it like a Friday night
or something like that. And it was a Friday night
ESPN game. It was a Friday night at uh. And
(27:35):
the reason that I I remembered so well is our show
from seven to eleven PM, and we were going to
our final break to sign off, and I walked to
the concourse into you know, look at the game and
see what's going on. You know, it's a miracle because
it precisely that moment Ben Wallis was going in for
a meaningless layup, and that's when Artest Foblem and everything
(27:55):
broke loose. We had about a four minute break. I
watched as much as I could, and I ran back
to the micat You're not gonna believe what's happening here,
and and then you know, as as they say, the
rest is history. And that game set back the Indiana
piece or franchise I think ten years. I mean there
were five million dollars in fines idiot games missed. You know,
it ruined their season. The Pistons ended up making it
(28:18):
back to the files that you're losing to the San
Antonio Spurts and seven games thanks the big shot, Bob.
But the funny thing is is that the Malice at
the Palace has become one of those infamous stories that
everybody seems to know about. And last Novelber nineteenth, which
was the fifteen year anniversary, I asked to go on
several shows. But I can imagine what it must have
(28:40):
looked like from your in Ben as well, because you've
you've pretty much seen it on the world of sports.
But how do you describe that when you're watching it. Yeah,
it was crazy. He reminded me a little bit of
I don't know if you remember. This is often forgotten
the Dodgers in I think it was the year two thousand.
We're in Chicago and somebody stole one of the I
(29:00):
think it was one of the pictures hats Catcher's hat,
Catcher's hats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So that was my
That was my thought because I was actually with the
Dodgers when we went back. I wasn't with him on
that trip, but when we went back to Chicago and
they had like extra security because they were those big,
mean cub fans, We're gonna mess with the Dodgers and
stuff because they were That was their first trip back
(29:22):
since that happened. But that was the closest And I
don't even think that's a good comp to tell what
that that is so un unpressing. I mean, there there
have been situations where maybe one or two guys went
in the crowd. We've all heard those stories of the years,
maybe back in the early days of baseball, or even
more recently with Verdon Maxwell or Tony Phillips, the baseball
player that win the crowd in Milwaukee have to have
(29:42):
half the team. And remember Jermaine O'Neil throwing that haymaker.
I thought he killed the guy Germaine on neil with
that punch. So that night in the mouth in the palace,
Yeah yeah, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the punch he
threw the guy that came on the court and he
through the punch was just there was left foot head
(30:03):
and slipped on some sort of moisture on the floor.
He would have killed the guy. If you go back
and watched the film's left foot slips. It's like a
kicker when your pivot foot slips. And he was unable
to really launch. But yeah, you remember that's pretty good detail. Yeah,
that was amazing, Bernie, real quick and for you and
Ben to the catcher was was Chad Cruder with the Dodgers.
(30:24):
I don't know if you guys remember him, but remember, no, no,
I remember. Listen, he that Chad Cruder. Let me tell
you something, all right, that blankety blank, I was sitting
in the press box at Dodger Stave. He he hits
a foul ball and he hit my laptop and destroyed
my laptop in the press box at Dodger Stadium. And
then I. I was all pissed, you know, because I'm
(30:45):
a struggling radio guy and I can't I I asked
the diet. I said, you gotta pay for this, you know.
And at the time, I was doing Dodger postgame stuff.
They had a big meeting and they decided after like
five executives and the Dodgers got together. This is back
in the end of the O'Malley No I might no
Omalley must have been going. It must have been the
Foxox the Fox here and uh they got together and
(31:09):
they said, oh, sorry, bet you're on your own head.
You know. One of the things that I enjoy about
listening to your show and the guys Bryan Family can
attest I'm I'm a radio junkie. Is then, because you
have have this rich history of l A sports, which
I can completely relate to because I grew up in
SoCal before I moved to Michigan. Um are the events
(31:32):
that have marked at marked times in l A sports history.
And herego I'm going with this, guys. I've loved this odd, idiosyncratic,
unexplainable life that I had been at these sporting events
and odd things have happened, and I guy local writer
here who just retired Norm Clark. He was like Las
Vegas version of Ron the archer um will article about me,
(31:56):
and it's out there somewhere. I'm gonna give you an example.
Ben December ninth, nineteen seventy seven. The Floor. I'm there,
Rudy tom Janovich is punched by current Washington And my
biggest takeaway is when Kermit said Rudy's head at the floor,
it sounded like someone dropping a bowling ball from six
bat because I had I in turn at the Forum
(32:16):
for four years. July of nineteen seventy four, I'm at
a baseball camp at pepper Dyne. The coaches take us
out to this game at Dodger Stadium. I see Tommy
John walking off the mound holding his left shoulder. That's
the game that hurt his arm and ended up getting
Tommy John surgery. The other night, Jason Smith and Mike Carmen,
we're talking about the Miracle Bowl. December nineteenth, nineteen eighty
(32:40):
B y U and S m U. We're b y
U trail forty five to twenty five with five minutes
to go, fourth and five Lazella where Edwards b y
Us coach tried to send the punt team on the field.
McMahon yells at him and said, get the f off
the field, and b y U scores three more touchdowns
and beats Craig Jans and out Dickerson. I'll is at
(33:00):
that game. I've been recruited to play baseball b while
year two years earlier and made funs with a bunch
of the guys. I didn't go there, And I'm right
behind the bench and I'm looking at this and saying,
we just we're about to have the forty year anniversary
of this game. And I remember, like yesterday, all three
of those events took place in California. And then you
had in situations like, well, the what I just told
(33:21):
you about, the mouse in the Palace, how about a
sixty band octour of eighty six, the Donnie Moore game.
I'm got one foot all the rail and Dave Henderson
hits the home run, the ball goes up and the
sky stays up in the sky fifteen minutes and comes
down on the end of the side of the fence.
Three months later, Donnie Moore kills himself. So I could
go out all day about that. But one of the
reasons I had brought it up. Is because when you
(33:43):
reference some of those l a historical perspective takes you have,
I absolutely relate to them. And I'm like a little
kid looking through the fence saying this is cool. Yeah, well,
we both appreciate the great Jim Healey, the radio guy.
That's one of the reasons Bernie I got in the race.
You I loved the Jim Healy radio show and I
thought he was amazing and all the drops and they
(34:05):
weren't even dropping, they were they had carts, you know,
back in those days in radio, you had these big,
bulky carts and it was so good, and I I
loved every day, you know, five thirty and then the
dread the dreaded six o'clock tone that would be played.
And there's a website that still has all the old
Healy clips on it, and there's some YouTube videos of
people because people who didn't live in l A or
(34:28):
you know, young people have no idea who the hell
Jim Healy is because he's been gone for a while.
But you remember Jim Healy when he got he got
a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and they
had this big ceremony, right it was a big deal.
I just started in radio at the time, so and
I couldn't go. I was working in San Diego. Uh
but as I remember the story, uh, that was the
(34:49):
day that Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive and
so all the media that was gonna be covering this
Jim Healy thing all had to leave to go to
the Forum because they had a press conference. And that
was like one a big I'm a stunning story, right,
it was Oh my god, I remember how crazy that
was at the time. But that's uh, that was the
day that Jim Healy had his star on the Hollywood
Walk of Faith and his kid his kids. Yes, yeah, yeah,
(35:14):
I worked with Hacksaw. I interned with hacks and think
you know, you know, I'm gonna say that's probably issue
you're what you're talking about that vintage there, and of
course those are really some of the real golden days
of of l A radio. I mean, if you were driving,
if we all know him, the traffic in l A
is what it is, and that's what sustained me. And
(35:37):
I would listen to Heally and I listened you know
who could forget has? All? Right? Okay, San Diego, let's
get back on the jam pack four line. Ratuel Pascadis
first time calling. Might stay here from you. You could
disagree with me, but you'd be wrong. But Roally we
got it over the hockey line. I mean that was
our l a radio then and then he would come
on and it was just thirty minutes of just pure bliss. Yeah,
(35:59):
it was great. It was I'll tell you a funny story, Bernie.
When I first actually, as I looked back at the timeline,
I was not working in radio at the time the
Healy thing happened, but I was still in school. But
then when later on, when I got into radio a
couple years after that, and I was going to these
games in the in the press box and stuff, and
I I met Stud Nahan and I, yeah, exactly. And
(36:24):
every time I saw ste May he Rest in peace.
He was in the press dining room eating and I
was just laughing because the Jim Healey Show used to play, uh, yeah,
as you said, the drop, so they called them silver
tips stew and all that. It was. It was hilarious
because it was always, uh, you know, freeloaders update and
all that, and uh, it was quite it was quite impressive.
And you mentioned Norm Clark Bernie and I, you know,
(36:45):
I know Norm a little bit. I actually I I
had a meal with him years ago in Vegas when
I was doing my website, my gossip site, and he
was like to go to any any for years, anything
in Vegas. You know, he was the page s He
was the TMZ of Vegas. And you know what the catchphrase,
the marketing phrase, and it happens in Vegas and stays
(37:07):
in Vegas. Well not if, not if Norm found out?
Not if Norm found out? And uh he was he
was so good and and as I'm sure you know too,
he was a baseball wasn't He worked for the associate
He told me the story. He worked for the press.
He didn't he went many years from Denver. You come
to town and we'll we'll grab Norman. I have dinner
onund me. Norm is a great guy, a wonderful guy.
(37:28):
Was a black eye patch the Norman. I became friends
in two thousand and twelve, purely diaccident, because well those
years Ben we were I was doing a radio show
and Kell Polly San Luis Obispo got a bid for
the Big Dance in the NT Tournament. And this guy
calls in and says, who were I don't known? In
(37:49):
the bottom I said, that's all you need to know
about him. It's in nineteen seventy six. They're starting shortstop
on the baseball team was Ozzy Smith and the starting
right fielder with Danny Gams, who I'm sure you know.
Ben had a great show. You're in Vegas for many years.
Got risted his soul as well, and Norman heard that
on the year called me. We became friends and said
that's some that's some pretty good minutia there, because he
(38:09):
knew that right. But you're right, normal was the go to.
I mean, when Britney Spirits was married for fifty hours,
she called him and said, I want you to call
I've read a comments at the Record Street. Wow it's
pretty good, Bernie, I I was reading online. Did you
play minor league baseball? Is that right back in the days?
Or yeah? I did silent a Sincina where as Larry
Barton Senior signed me. He since passed away. They might
(38:31):
have shot him. There's a short lived career. Back in
the day. I had I end up having done chips
on my elbow and had trouble hitting a slider. But yeah,
I did I did? I played? Yep, I had a
great inficincinator re organization. Did you spent a year or
two years? Or what is seven games? What are you
seven games? You're like Moonlight Graham a little bit right,
you know the mood like? And uh and did you
(38:52):
play with anybody that made it? Did any of the guy? Oh?
My goodness? Well as certainly ant more. In college, I
played with Tim Flannery and Marty Cass studio J Petty
Bone played against everybody in southern California made it. And
then in the organization played a bit with Eddie Milner,
Paul Householder, um, and uh see Dave Van Gorder um.
And then what's interesting is is then back in the day,
(39:14):
they used to have these winner teams, and and Larry
Barton Jr. Put together this winner team and we would
play colleges on weekends. We go to USC and play
a doubleheader. You go to Cypress College and play a doubleheader.
I don't know if they do that anymore, but this
is we're talking. This is nineteen seventy nine, and all
the right before spring training, a lot of the big
leaguers would come out and work out with us. So
(39:37):
Davy Collins came out, Eric Davis came out with Actually
no excuse was before Eric Dave this his time. He
might have he went in the big league yet though,
But I caught Frank past story for three intings. One day,
I caught Mike Lacrosse. They'd come out when they get ready.
I don't talk about it much because it comes off
like Al Bundy, you know, and or it comes I
come off like you don't want to come off like
Uncle Rico in uh Napoleon nine of Mike. You know,
(39:58):
you could have won the championship back in eighty two.
No one cares, but yes I did. Well, that's this
is that's interesting man, that's that's cool. You know who
also didn't make it in the minor leagues. With Scott Morris,
who has become the greatest agent of all time. I used,
he's yeah, I know, it's been an afternoon with him.
There's actually a picture. I mean, I finally put it on.
What happened was back there in the last band. Um.
(40:20):
I'll remember when Michael Jordan's signed with the Burningham Barons.
And I'm telling you Ben and I know you guys
know sports as well as anybody. If you go to
a double A and hit two or two. You got
some jump in your trump. People will realize that what
a good level of baseball it is. I'm shocked looking
at Jordan's swing and the way he transferred is way
too quick and it was really armed. How did he
too too, I meaning, even hit a couple of home runs.
(40:41):
The only thing that Jordan did that I liked was
he went first to third like a meniac. However, he
was such an incredible competitor. Ron Schouler said, if he
hadn't gone back to the NBA in their administrate, he
probably would have gotten September call up. But anyway, uh,
some guy to do that, I mean, said Jordan saw
he couldn't play it. That's not fair, that's not fair.
(41:03):
He he competed. If it neverould have been any Kazinsky,
he never would have signed because he didn't have any
one tool that made you love him. But he could compete,
I said. But having said that, I still think I
would have beaten Michael Jordan at home on Derby contest,
and I stand by that. And then I sent him
a picture of me. You can go to my Twitter
account on the right. You'll see a picture of me
in a Tampa tropons since NAID uniform the longer held
(41:27):
there in a pressure looking faith and then I put
a picture of me up there and still that's enough
of that. I guess that's enough of that, he Bernie.
I wanted to ask you because you mentioned Vegas earlier,
with what's going on? What's the climate like? Because you know,
we've all talked about sports eventually returning back in full form,
and now the NFL is king and you know Ben
and I have have have done some other things with
(41:49):
with Benny versus a penny. We're doing some streaming live now.
But there's a ton of dudes that are putting money
and and good action on these on these NFL games,
whether it's on Thursday and football or just then affairs.
So have you seen any kind of uptick or is
everything else pretty much the same in terms of of
action across the gambling lines. Yeah, it's a good questions.
(42:09):
So it's not where it was last year at this point,
they're still done about but it's far above what they
thought it would be coming out of COVID. Uh. The
handles on games have been extremely healthy. Um a lot
of people betting and one of the things, and it's
not just Vegas, guys. One of the things that has
really um enhanced the impact of sports bidding in general
(42:34):
is legalized sports betting, as you know, may passed by
the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act of was overturned and
since then, the hipocritical Roger Goodell, who wouldn't even take
Vegas is advertising money back in the Super Bowl thirty
eight two thousand four, I mean in the NFL and
their teams are from twenty eight marketing and data sharing
(42:55):
partnerships with various enterprises. Eighteen states are now legal for
more states have ratified it, they just don't have the
brick and mortar set up yet or the app technology
set up. In seven other states have legislation. So to
answer your question, uh, thirty three million people in one
form of fashion that on an NFL game last Sunday,
(43:17):
and here in Vegas. If you come to town during
football and walk into a even though the social distancing
is a little different and the way the books are
set up now are following protocols and people are wearing masks.
If you were never here before, you would never know
the difference. The traffic is robust, the betting on the
game is heavy, and I mean heavy, heavy betting on
the game last Thursday along there's a there's always big bets, right.
(43:41):
A guy put a hundred and ten thousand on the
Chiefs minus nine and a half at the Mirage. Another
guy put a hundred thousand on the under a fifty
three and a half at Aria, and you saw Atlanta
on fifty four. So there are big bets. You've got
the US open and then you brought up a good point.
What was it like during COVID, Well, believe it or not,
even in the casinos were shut down on the sports
(44:02):
books were shut down for seventy six days, people could
still bet on apps and about six of all betters
in Vegas now that through their app. And back in
March and April they were stuck with Korean baseball, Russian
Ping Pong Boom, This League, Soccer UFC. But even in
spite of that, people were still looking for action and
(44:23):
they were still betting, even though the four majors weren't back.
Now that they're all back, it's Bonker's now, Bernie. Can't
we set a line in Vegas for when a certain
guy will throw up after he eats bull testicles. Well,
here's the thing people always ask, you know, what is
Vegas say about the election? What is Vegas say about
(44:44):
the Academy Awards. There's a simple rule here in Vegas,
in the Gaming Commission's bylines. It's got to be in
a box score. Uh, there's got to be a final
result in the box score. Because if anybody can control
the outcome, or anybody if an outco them could be
predetermined by someone's information, you can't get it. Now, that's funny.
Maybe somebody will get to something like that, right, but
(45:07):
they're not. No regulated gaming establishment would set a line
on something like that. Offshore, sure, why not? You can
do just about you know, you go to some of
these offshore sites which I'm sure you've heard of, you know,
Pinnacle and Bovada and such that you can bet all
kinds of stuff on that. But here going to regulate
with considered a regulated market, it's got to be in
a box score. Well, and Bernie, there's no reason to
(45:28):
put a line. There's a hundred percent. I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen. I'm gonna eat
the damn bol test. He goes my my wife's going
out to the butcher shop because I'm told you can
get those at a butcher shop. Who knew that a
butcher shop, any butcher shop supposedly has those. But so
I'm gonna I'm gonna pick those up and I will
I'm I guarantee I'm gonna make a YouTube video. I
can't get to Denver obviously because of COVID and all this.
(45:49):
I'm not traveling anywhere. But when when I eat, these
people are gonna claim that they're not what they are,
that I'm I'm faking it or not. But I guarantee you,
all right, I'm gonna eat one. That's all. I'm meeting Bernie.
One bull testicle. I don't need to one, and then
that's it, And so I don't. I'm gonna get crap
for it. But strew all the haters. It's gonna happen.
(46:11):
If not this weekend, it's gonna happen in the next
couple of weeks. And I I'm not sure if we'll
be able to get it done this weekend, but we're
gonna try. So it's gonna happen. But if I could
share something worthy, I'm sure you know Hank Goldberg right
hammeron Hank, you know, yeah, Miami language. Yeah. So he
moved to Vegas two or three years ago. And I
don't Hank pretty well, and I've been on a couple
of betting panels with him. I like him, and I'm
(46:31):
pretty sure I got his phone number and I'll get
it to you, because we did. We did a seminar
here at SS the station, UH two years ago of
NFL preview, and we all had dinner afterward, and Frank asked,
Hank asked me a couple of questions about Detroit because
I spent seventeen years there. Actually I was born there.
(46:51):
Then we moved to California. My mom actually went to
University of Michigan. But here's what I'm going with this, Hankers,
I have one distinct memory of Detroit. I was down
toomp somewhere blah blah blah back in the mid seven
He's I went to this restaurant and it's allegedly served
bull testicles, and I ordered them and had them, and
I go, how were they? They're little tough. I don't
(47:12):
think that it up. So we gotta get connected. Well, Listen,
I I was reading online, Bernie, because I have no
life of like how to properly prepare the bull testicles,
and so you gotta like take the vein out, which
sounds disgusting, and then you gotta cut it thin. My
my buddy Bob, who does radio in Kansas City, Hughes
(47:32):
had him. He said, you gotta come thin, and then
you gotta bread them and deep prium. So my theory
is if I cut them thin, I bred them and
it's like eating a chicken nugget and then I just
dip it in barbecue sauce. How bad could that be?
It can't be that bad, right, it's gotta be okay. Well,
I'm with you. I think maybe throw a little a
(47:52):
one or catch up on it. And then, you know,
I've always said, no matter what, you put a one on,
it tastes like a one. You know, he put it
on a boot, taste like a once. So well, throw
a little late one on there. And no one said
you couldn't do that, right then? Yeah, exactly, See that's
there were no real rules on this. There's no real
rules on this. It's just that I have to consume
the bull testicle. How I consume the bull testicle, that
(48:13):
is a different situation. That's a different all right. Listen, Bernie,
I love you man. Continued success. You're dominating their Saturday nights.
Everyone needs to listen to to you if you haven't
heard Bernie show straight out of Vegas. And remember the
most important number in gambling, right, Bernie, fifty two point
four Right, isn't that the most important number? Yeah, there's
(48:33):
a man with knowledge. If you that's your break even point.
Because if you can win more than fifty two point
four percent of your games, you you can be profitable.
That's exactly right. Then, Yeah, you gotta make money. It's
all about making money, all right, Bernie, Thank you man,
I appreciate it. Pleasure being with you, guys, Thank you
very much. Thanks. Be sure to catch live editions of
(48:54):
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific
Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m Pacific Boom.
If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
was enough, I think again. He's the last remnants of
the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats
crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich
(00:21):
pill poppers in the penthouse the clearing House of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
Ben Maller starts right now that it is well, come
into the beginning of the Fifth Hour with Ben Masse.
(00:42):
My name is on the marquee there because four hours
are not and off and we now do this thing
eight days a week. The question is will we continue
to do it eight days a week and obviously spin
off of the radio show. But you've found it, you've
downloaded it, you subscribed, you've told your friends, you've told
your enemies about it, and we welcome in. It's it
is a gas bag chat, a chat with our friend podcast.
(01:07):
We'll get to him in a second. We welcome in
David Gascon from West of the four or five I
have in front of a studio audience here and wonderful
Sherman Oaks, California. It is interesting that you are able
to get that particular SoundBite. But I don't really get
(01:30):
any drops. I don't get any rim shots. I don't
get any applause, any laughter, any of that. It's a
pretty good job of, you know, patting yourself on the back,
you know, making it all about you, as you know
liquently said, uh, it's all about you during your shows. Well, no,
I was the Tom Looney school of radio. That's not
my school of radio. But I did take advantage of
(01:52):
a situation that was bad and turned in into a positive.
Because anything that you learned that after he gave you
advice on how to invest in the real estate market
and that turned out to be a dudd you'd stop
listening to him. But here we are in the month
of September and appears to be no slowing down. You
and Tom Leney, Well listen, I don't actually talk to
Looney much. We text, which is not really talking, it's texting,
(02:14):
and we go back and forth in that. But uh,
but he is wrong about everything, certainly as politics are
all messed up. So we go back and forth on
that but enough enough about me. Oh wait a minute,
Wait a minute. We have Gascon tonight if you're listening
anytime early in the day on Friday, this podcast, the
Friday Podcast. We made our maiden voyage last week. We
(02:37):
did Benny versus the Penny YouTube stars YouTube stars only
on the YouTube and it went better than I expected.
There were only limited mistakes by you um and people
seem to enjoy it, and we had a live crowd
that was interacting with the show on the chat on YouTube.
(02:58):
It was a lot of fun and more importantly, we won.
At least I won on my my bet, so we
came out ahead, which is the most important thing. And
we're gonna do it again tonight, same situation on the YouTube,
and it is at nine o'clock Pacific on Friday, which
is midnight Eastern. That's the Witching Hour. Guestcount. We're gonna
(03:19):
be on on the Witching Hour on the East Coast.
We'll do it live, so that'll be fun. I'm looking
forward to will pick every NFL game from the weekend
card against the spread. We'll have winners on every single
game and we will attempt again to win some money
and the and the best part is is is we
will unveil something a little special for for those that
(03:40):
are actually watching the uh the stream too. So you
and I had talked about this for the last couple
of weeks and it's a little give back to to
those are participating in in the broadcast tonight. So what
do we give? What are we giving them? Um? You
know it's it's something that has to I'll give him
a hand. It has something to do with your Iowa
Hawkeye hat. Oh yes, all right, well I have you.
(04:05):
I wore that the other night the Iowa hawk Eye had.
It's good looking at that's good looking at. So I
took some notes from from the first broadcast because I
know that typically when you go on the air, you
don't wanna you don't want to listen to what happened
after when it's all said and done. So, um, I
have fourth wall, Christmas and economy. Those are the three
things I like. I like that you're doing monolog that's
(04:31):
because typical West of the four or five. Absolutely, and
love with breaking the fourth wall, like that that live
feed with with viewers typing in comments, you could not
get away from. It was like a kid in the
fucking candy still it was like your first Christmas unwrapping
a nice g I Joe or Transformer, and you were
(04:54):
just fixated on it until you broke it. Like the
broadcast went nearly two hours, which you didn't give me
any credit for because I helped you through that two
hour fast that you needed to complete. And then on
top of that, you said, this thing is gonna suck.
I know it's not gonna be good, it will not
be technically savvy. And then all of a sudden you
got to flame Mignon as opposed to you know bull.
(05:15):
But a couple of things. First of all, I like
that you made this all about you and just to
celebrate yourself, which is which is good. And as far
as the chat uh a, it was unexpected, so I
didn't expect that to be an option, so I didn't
think we'd have any real time feedback and and be
it kept me from having to just focus on you.
(05:36):
I could focus on other things, which is good. That's good.
And see this is the difference again, you are proving
yourself what's as not being a man of the people.
I am a man of the people, and I like
to interact with the unwashed. You do not uh, you
think these people are below you, the riff raff right,
and all those scum and the lowest common denomena and
(05:59):
all the mean things you say about the Mallard militia.
You call them vermin and rodents and all that. But
these are my people. These are my people. There. I
like hanging out with the peasants. I like hanging out
with the hoi poloi and all that, and uh, you
know these are my guys. Well, I mean, like you,
like you said, is that if you're performing, which this
is a performance, there's a there's a stage, and then
(06:21):
there's an audience. And you never have the stage and
the audience run parallel to each other. Usually one is
on top of the other or vice versa. So I
think in this point the audience is behind the stage
of what we're doing virtually. So if you don't mind
for the future, let's temper this down a little bit,
because you know we've got business schedules here, and I
(06:41):
know you've got two hours to spare when you're at
home doing shows from your bed and and broadcasts. Well yeah,
not in my bed. I mean a professional radio studio
which has top notch equipment. I have better equipment than
i'd say five percent of the sports radio stations that
are all raggedy and all that. So so uh yeah,
(07:03):
I mean I I've been to a few radio stations.
I've been blown away. I remember one in Oklahoma. In Norman, Oklahoma,
I went to a radio station there because I had
to record something. I was there for a college football game,
and the radio station was at the transmitter site and
it was like a portable like when I was in school,
in elementary school, you know, I had those portables out
(07:25):
in the back of the school. It was the radio
station was in that Like, oh my god. I was like,
this is my profession here and I but then you
go to like New York or l A and then
these big massive skyscrapers and you've got show showcase studios
and all that. But there's more radio stations like the
one that was at the transmitter in Norman, Oklahoma, in
a little portable building than there are other places. But
(07:48):
then I don't beat the knocking the home studio. I
have great equipment here. I'm gonna upgrade the studio later
this month. I got some things coming in here. They're
gonna make it even better. So I'm all about that man,
all about that action. That's good. We have one show
in the book, we have another show tonight, and I
think this is I think this is important because the
(08:09):
more feedback the better, but also the the activity level,
because we're gonna be giving some things back to the audience,
so they need to be aware of like what's like.
If you like what we're doing, great, there's ways to
support that. But if you don't like some of the things,
that make sure that you you voiced those through the
(08:30):
live feed or through the comments section or even the
podcast you can rate, you can subscribe, and then you
can chime in as well. Because and I think what
you're really saying is we need more people watching. I
think that's what you're really say. I think we and
the most effective advertising. Yes, and you know this, and
this has always been my thing. I have no ad budget,
there's no marketing budget zero. The most important thing is
(08:51):
what I call guerrilla marketing, word of mouth advertising, and
that that is I don't need billboards, I don't need tvmercials.
They'd be nice radio commercials. I don't need any of that.
But the real hype, the real advertising, is just you saying, hey,
so and so this is this is one of the
(09:11):
reasons this is important, like one of the cool things.
Is one of the reasons that I Yelp is so
popular and and and Amazon people buy products based on
the reviews is because we value other people's opinion. Obviously
it's human nature. But really, if people we know, right,
people you know who are in your circle, not in
my circle, but in your circle, your your family, your
(09:32):
co workers, you go to school, people around you say hey,
I got it. I got this thing on YouTube that's
like kind of cool, but nobody knows about it. See
that that adds some some drama their guest because and
really nobody knows about this, right Well, it's not like
lights camera action. It's like, all right, turn on the
little dusty candle or you know, like the little candle
and here we are. Yeah, which is fascinating to me
(09:54):
because I don't know why you had a problem with
my avatar picture that if nobody knows, what's the issue
with you and my back I don't get that. No, listen,
I think that's great. I know you use that on
grinder and I think that's pretty cool there, and I
know you've had success with that picture, but uh, you know,
I just thought maybe it was unprofessional. How about that
you have multiple pictures sent out to all these radio
(10:17):
stations and their photo shot pictures of you. No, no, no,
not photoshow. Those are just old pictures. Well there's one fat,
there's one skinny, there's one and they so well the
problem is, and if if you really hate me and
want me to get fat again, tell tell scotch Aapiro
and management of Fox Sports Radio to have a photo shoot,
(10:38):
because I guarantee you I will gain eighty to a
hundred pounds before said photo shoot. It happens almost every
single time I've very rarely in radio do they do
photo shoots for the talent. And I have timed it,
I believe probably seven out of the eight times I've
had to do those things over the years, roughly ball
(11:00):
park figure. I have ballooned like a turkey before Thanksgiving.
Uh and it never ends. So uh, you know, whenever
I'm lean and mean, very rarely do I get my
photo taken for those photo shoots. So it's only when
I'm fat. So then if we go, if you're on
a video feed, then does that mean you can clean
up a little bit? Can we get you, like in
(11:20):
a suit and a tie or at least a dress
shirt and rolled up sleeves. And you want me to
dress up? Oh why not? It's better than being in pajamas.
Look like No, I wore a nice T shirt. I
had a cap. Again, I'm relatable. I engage with the people,
all right, I engage. You're Johnny one note over there.
(11:41):
Let me dress up here, I'm gonna look all I'm
gonna be like Cramer from the CNBC, and I'll do that.
And all the shots of the Speaker of the House
this week, I saw that. I did see that. All right,
we're going very long. This is an interview situation task
on this is a chat. You're so long winded here.
It's a bad job by you. You have buried the lead,
(12:02):
my man. So we're excited we're gonna have here right now.
He is standing by Bernie Fratto. You know him. He's
on Fox Sports Radio on Saturday nights, my old time.
So I just one hour show Saturday nights, eleven pm
in the West, two am in the east, straight out
of Vegas, all the inside dirt, right in the middle
of the weekend. So essentially, when you lose your ass
(12:24):
on college football. You listen to Bernie. He gives us
some info, some important info on what's gonna happen on
Sunday in the NFL. So you can get your your
your money back, conceivably get your money back and all that.
So let's welcome in now. He's worked in radio and
Detroit and uh, he's a soap cow guy, so he's
he's lived an interesting life in the radio business. Let's
(12:47):
give it up now for Bernie Fratto and Bernie, why
don't we start with this, How the heck is that
show doing? Then? Uh? And David first, thanks for having me.
It's going great. He's having my two year aniversary this
week and donal looads have increased and uh, no one's
tried to shoot me yet. But you're at eleven pm
Saturday night, Pacific time, and it's a one hour show
(13:12):
and the center piece of the show, and of course
it's called Straight out of Vegas. The centerpiece of the
show us of course sports betting. However, the content is
a little bit more broad based and eclectic than that.
I like to offer a journalistic commentary. I like to
give insights. Uh, you know, give my cake as they say. Uh,
it turns out that we're finding that about the people
(13:35):
who listen to the show don't even bet. However, they
like to hear what we're talking about and maybe have
brightening rights over their friends and such, and we try
to drop a lot of knowledge. We try to be
keen observers have been at this a long time and
I used to have a joke. You know, if you
go to medical school and finished last in your class,
they call you a doctor. If you go to betting
(13:55):
school and finish last in your class, that might call
your books. So we'd like to intertwine and common sense
strategies as well, like money management and various things like that.
So we tryd of make it a correct I guess
we can then within the framework of being betting centric,
because you know, people want to hear your opinions on
games and events. Well and Bernie, uh, and I'm sure
you are because you do a professional show. I didn't.
(14:17):
I do an amateur show. So you don't have to
worry about the crazy people that call up right and
harass you on social media at that time and not
because that that is a party time slot. Bernie. I
know that downloads are good and all that, but in
real time doing the show live at that time that
is right in the middle of the weekend, and that
is party central. And I know from years past, Bernie,
(14:38):
that the people that are listening at that time live,
they are feeling no pain, if you know what I'm saying,
No doubt, many folks are just exiting their favorite watering
hole that might have had a couple of creamed emments
and learn a certain type of mood. And what's interesting
about that is I get people tweet at me during
the show. People tweet at the show, um, and what
(15:00):
surprises me, never ceases to surprise me, is how many
of those tweets are coming from the Eastern time zone, Philadelphia,
New York, Virginia, Beach, Virginia, wherever. And so as you know,
uh liter hours, there are always listeners out there. The
guy text me is listening from Sydney, Australia. So what's
(15:20):
interesting is because of the wonderful platform that Fox Sports has,
and you know, you've got a hundred and sixty eight
hours in the week, I just do one. All you
guys do such a great job. People have it keep
it locked on Fox Sports. So I find that more
people are listening sometimes and we realize, oh, I agree
with you, and and the cool thing about that it's
a lot of fun is that these people listening around
(15:43):
the country. We're on Fox Sports radios on the American
Forces Network or whatever they're calling it now. So we
have a lot of military, uh and non military that
happened to be working for the government that are in
you know, Asia or different countries around the world where
US military is and they listen on the American Forces Network.
So it's pretty cool. But that's cheating, Bernie, because it's
(16:05):
like an afternoon show. It's not an overnight show for
these people on these different parts of a life. Ran
once said, we're in the air everywhere. I don't know
who would say something like that. I have no idea, Bernie,
who would say that. But now do you consider I
think of you as a radio guy. That's one of
the reasons I like you, Broke. I think of you
as a radio guy, But you've done a bunch of
(16:26):
other stuff as well. Now do you consider yourself part
of the Rob Parker radio tree or is that incorrect?
It's correct, So let's unpack this. I began my radio
career in at w t K in Ann Arbor and
the first night I ever and I'm gonna build up
to the Rob Parker thing. I'll get there on a second.
(16:46):
But the first night I ever had a credentia was Friday,
June seventeenth, was at the Old Tiger Stadium. They were
hosting the Toronto Blue Jays, and that was the first
year they put martyrs in the press box and watched
the game. But there was no sound. Well, that night
we were watching the game, we were watching a little
thing that became known as the Yo J Bronco Chase.
(17:07):
And then later on a fine gentleman's faith kept popping
on the screen, a guy you made it out a
world named David Gascon And I'm watching the screen and
my first night in the press box, and all these
things are hitting me, and I couldn't hear what he
was saying. So when I got home about eleven thirty
that night, I made sure I watched all the replays,
and of course the rest is history. I spent several
(17:27):
years at w t K covering Michigan football, had my
own show on Sunday called The View from the Chief Seats,
another show called Inside the Frattle house, and then Rob
Parker and I became friends and started corresponding on things,
and I found all the way over to CV yesterday
eight won the flagship station w k r K Detroit,
which is now w x y T. And not only
did I work with Rob, we covered the World Series,
(17:49):
the super Bowl, the NBA Finals. Also was a part
of the Lions pre and postgame show broadcast team from
two thousand and eight and the fall people in that period.
Then I saw everything. It was Barry Sanders last year
and to all the way until two thousand and eight,
which when the lines went Owen sixteen under Rob Marinelli
(18:10):
and I saw everything in between. So I lived three
lifetimes covering the Lions, and then I left Detroit in
two thousand ten February, came to Las Vegas, joined up
with the ESPN Radio here co hosted some shows, also
hosted rube Lextra, which is a post game show for
you and of you run a rebel basketball Along this
(18:31):
whole way, Rob and I kept in touch. We've known
each other for twenty five years. And worlds collided because
R J. Bell had started a show called UM Straight
out of the Guts, and they wanted to add a
Saturday night show, and I got into Scotch Shapiro, and
as I said, the planets aligned. And so about this
time in two years ago now they created the Saturday show.
(18:53):
They said, can you make the commitment? I said absolutely,
And here we are. Look at that and the rest
is history. And will you do a great job, Bernie
on the show. And now you're a big national radio star.
You've become international, right, international radis. But I love Rob.
I went out. You know, I've known Rob not as
long as you, but I've always been a big Rob
(19:13):
Parker fan. I like this style, He's no nonsense style,
and how he's willing to tear it people down and
all that. A lot of these guys don't do that, uh,
you know, the athletes and whatever. So when I went
out one time, we do not have a meal with Rob,
and we were just trading stories about like nineties radio
and how different it was compared to what we can
do now. Do you have a really good Rob Parker story,
(19:35):
Bernie from back in those Detroit, those wild local FM
radio days in the Motor City. Well there's a tell.
I'll tell you a couple of classics. No, we're uh
in in two thousand nine, Rob used to joke with
rod Man and Elly, uh you know that his uh
(19:56):
southern law when we began a eventsive coordinator marry his
daughter and and Rob used to joke with Rob. I
used to I bet you wish your daughter would have
married a better defensive coordinator. And you know you might
not have gone in sixteen and both the room down,
Rob Mary Milly didn't think we still have funny. But
the paper one I was going over forget Ben was
when Jim Leland take over the tires. And in the
(20:18):
fall of two thousand and five and the first year
out of the gate, they go to the World Series
and there wasn't a person in town. They played the
same Louis Cardinals that you They were e three and
seventy nine, and that was the David uh the shortstop
but David x x xteen, Thank you very much, sir,
thank you. So they are all story longer. The Cardinals
(20:41):
beat the Tigers four games to one. And before the series,
while I was the only guy in town that predicted
the Tigers would not win the World Series, and man,
you'd here to think he would have assassinated, you know,
the president or something they were coming at him right
and left. And you know, Detroit is a very provincial
sports town. There's not a transient population there. So if
you go on the airways and you're not being a
(21:03):
slappy fandboard and one of their teams, Rob and I
didn't do that, and Rob especially didn't do that. So
time and time again he would be a contrarian like
he has with Tom Brady, now what. He would do
that all all the time in Detroit, and so he
you know, he became sort of this caricature of himself.
But obviously he's still one of the most popular guys
in media there. But I'll never forget the O six
(21:24):
World Series when he predicted the Cardinals would win, and
even after it happened, people called us up and just
roade Rob red Rob the riot after he was at
Jason go back to New York. He never lived it down. Wow,
and I gotta go back. You mentioned you saw everything.
When you're doing the Lions post game. I have buddies
of mine that have done Baltimore Orioles post game recently
(21:44):
the last couple of years, I've been terrible, uh Clipper
post game back and what you're doing the Lions coverage there?
What what would you do in a call in show, Bernie,
What is that like when you're losing every game and
they don't win a game and you're taking a Lion
Fans have to be used to it, I would imagine
after all these years, But what was that like for you?
(22:05):
It was amazing because it was the biggest love hate
relationship I've ever seen with any team in my life,
and I saw it up close and personal. We would
sign onto the postgame show, get the particulars, do a
couple of livories, and we'd open up to the phone
line just a post game. We didn't have callings in
the pregame. We definitely have Paul Collins in the post game.
And what you would have it was inevitable. Mark Wilson,
(22:27):
will you also know he did shows with us. We
would write down we would do an over under six minutes,
nine minutes. How long will it take for a someone
to say fire the coach? B Ford sell the team right?
Never ended and of course the years under mad Millan,
which were absolutely disastrous. They wrote him like a rented mule.
So one of you know, one person after another would
(22:47):
call in and they would berate the Lions. We found
me was to lose. I mean, they just did it
again this last Sunday. It's incredible. But the Lows he
was there, and they'd sell out the following week. And
every now and then someone would call in and say,
I'm getting ready my season tickets that said I've had it,
and I would pick certain callers and I would fire
back and I said, no, you're not, No, you're not.
This is a football time, and you know it. We've
(23:09):
got eight home games every year. Okay, you're not gonna
move to quarterline Outah. Yeah, they got a nice bed
and breakfast there, but there's no NFL football there, you know.
Damn Well, oh yeah, you're right. Well, I love my Lions.
One football or excuse me, one playoff win ben since
nineteen fifty seven. January six and Dave Craig and the
de Trade Lions beat Dallas and Jimmy Johnson though do
(23:31):
you eight to six? And that day on National TV,
John Madden said, we're looking at the two teams of
the nineties. Well he was half right. The Lions got
to the playoffs a couple of times under way in Fons,
but then he was gone. And then Bobby Ross came in,
and then Gary Moore, and then Dick You're Run, and
then Rob Marinelli, then Mike. Before that, it was Marty
morning Wig and Steve Mariucci had like six coaches in
(23:54):
ten years and it was a constant circus. But the
biggest takeaway, Ben was the incredible love hate relationship because
colors would be raped in three they never go to
a game again, but they'd be right back the next
week because they couldn't break away. Bernie, what's the wildest
story that you can tell? Denn and I because we've
heard some doozies from athletes of the last couple episodes
(24:16):
on podcasts, But you mentioned the relationship with Rob, and
Rob had has played me some old tapes of when
he was in Detroit, and I said, hey, you have
the ship that's on this tape you could not get
away with. Now. Is there anything that comes to mind,
whether're working with him or anybody else that you thought like,
I can't bring that up now because I get pulled
right from the radio station. Well, we crossed the We
(24:40):
danced across the line a couple of times in a minute,
and I'm gonna tell you about the night and Rob
was some dirt of that night. Rob. Rob had begun
a pretty a pretty big career in earnest with the
Four Letter Network. So but on November nineteen, two thousand
and four, there was a little thing Detroit called a
mouse at the Palace. I was there. We covered the
game from the a concourse, Mark Wilson and I. But
(25:03):
before that, there's one thing, and I can't mention this
guy's name for obvious reasons, but I happen to be
in Vegas in July and say of two thousand seven,
and I'm getting out an elevator. I'm getting off an
elevator in one particular starting offensive lineman for the Detroit
and with getting off the elevator, and he had his
(25:24):
arm around two females and they you know, it might
not have been his wife. It looks at me, and
I looked at him and said, this is between us, right,
And I said that day I was in Chicago that day.
I don't know nothing. I'll tell you guys name off
the air sometime, but I can't tell you his name
on the ear. But back to the malice at the Palace.
It's the most incredible story because none knows the backstory
(25:47):
guys that that the Indiana Pacers were coached by Rick
Carlisle and he'd been unceremoniously fired by the Pistons the
year before. He was angry and they brought him Larry Brown,
and so you have revenge on his mind. And they
were leaving that game by about thirty three points. And
you remember that the Pacers had one, I think sixty
(26:08):
games the year before, but I know four of the
Pistons knocked them off in the conference semifinals and Casehaun
Prince had that famous block and they were supposed to
win that series either. So Indiana comes to town spitting venom.
Rick Carlisle's man. The whole team is man. That was
a great team, Jamal Tinsley, Uh, you know, draw on
our test, the whole deal and when that cup came
(26:29):
full until we let me back up, when Bennel Wallas
was filed by around our tests and he shoved him
and our tests ran over late on the table and
an empty beer cup. Never people always tell the story wrong.
It wasn't a beer. It was an empty beer cup
landing on our test hands and he went up on
the stand. That scene was so surreal. I don't know
if I can do it justice. I would take me
(26:50):
a four hour or till the whole story. But I'll
tell you one little rooming detail. But no one ever
talks about all of the referees on the floor that night.
Tim donaghe wow. Uh. And I was at Bernie. I
was that here at Fox Sports Radio after that game,
we were doing the overnight and uh, that's all we
talked about. We did like we tried to use the
(27:12):
brewery film style coverage, breaking it down frame by frame.
It is right up there with my top moments. And
I wasn't even there. You were there, You were lucky
enough to be there. But I was just watching on
TV and I couldn't believe what I was watching. I was.
I was like, it wasn't it like a Friday night
or something like that. And it was a Friday night
ESPN game. It was a Friday night at uh. And
(27:35):
the reason that I I remembered so well is our show
from seven to eleven PM, and we were going to
our final break to sign off, and I walked to
the concourse into you know, look at the game and
see what's going on. You know, it's a miracle because
it precisely that moment Ben Wallis was going in for
a meaningless layup, and that's when Artest Foblem and everything
(27:55):
broke loose. We had about a four minute break. I
watched as much as I could, and I ran back
to the micat You're not gonna believe what's happening here,
and and then you know, as as they say, the
rest is history. And that game set back the Indiana
piece or franchise I think ten years. I mean there
were five million dollars in fines idiot games missed. You know,
it ruined their season. The Pistons ended up making it
(28:18):
back to the files that you're losing to the San
Antonio Spurts and seven games thanks the big shot, Bob.
But the funny thing is is that the Malice at
the Palace has become one of those infamous stories that
everybody seems to know about. And last Novelber nineteenth, which
was the fifteen year anniversary, I asked to go on
several shows. But I can imagine what it must have
(28:40):
looked like from your in Ben as well, because you've
you've pretty much seen it on the world of sports.
But how do you describe that when you're watching it. Yeah,
it was crazy. He reminded me a little bit of
I don't know if you remember. This is often forgotten
the Dodgers in I think it was the year two thousand.
We're in Chicago and somebody stole one of the I
(29:00):
think it was one of the pictures hats Catcher's hat,
Catcher's hats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, So that was my
That was my thought because I was actually with the
Dodgers when we went back. I wasn't with him on
that trip, but when we went back to Chicago and
they had like extra security because they were those big,
mean cub fans, We're gonna mess with the Dodgers and
stuff because they were That was their first trip back
(29:22):
since that happened. But that was the closest And I
don't even think that's a good comp to tell what
that that is so un unpressing. I mean, there there
have been situations where maybe one or two guys went
in the crowd. We've all heard those stories of the years,
maybe back in the early days of baseball, or even
more recently with Verdon Maxwell or Tony Phillips, the baseball
player that win the crowd in Milwaukee have to have
(29:42):
half the team. And remember Jermaine O'Neil throwing that haymaker.
I thought he killed the guy Germaine on neil with
that punch. So that night in the mouth in the palace,
Yeah yeah, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the punch he
threw the guy that came on the court and he
through the punch was just there was left foot head
(30:03):
and slipped on some sort of moisture on the floor.
He would have killed the guy. If you go back
and watched the film's left foot slips. It's like a
kicker when your pivot foot slips. And he was unable
to really launch. But yeah, you remember that's pretty good detail. Yeah,
that was amazing, Bernie, real quick and for you and
Ben to the catcher was was Chad Cruder with the Dodgers.
(30:24):
I don't know if you guys remember him, but remember, no, no,
I remember. Listen, he that Chad Cruder. Let me tell
you something, all right, that blankety blank, I was sitting
in the press box at Dodger Stave. He he hits
a foul ball and he hit my laptop and destroyed
my laptop in the press box at Dodger Stadium. And
then I. I was all pissed, you know, because I'm
(30:45):
a struggling radio guy and I can't I I asked
the diet. I said, you gotta pay for this, you know.
And at the time, I was doing Dodger postgame stuff.
They had a big meeting and they decided after like
five executives and the Dodgers got together. This is back
in the end of the O'Malley No I might no
Omalley must have been going. It must have been the
Foxox the Fox here and uh they got together and
(31:09):
they said, oh, sorry, bet you're on your own head.
You know. One of the things that I enjoy about
listening to your show and the guys Bryan Family can
attest I'm I'm a radio junkie. Is then, because you
have have this rich history of l A sports, which
I can completely relate to because I grew up in
SoCal before I moved to Michigan. Um are the events
(31:32):
that have marked at marked times in l A sports history.
And herego I'm going with this, guys. I've loved this odd, idiosyncratic,
unexplainable life that I had been at these sporting events
and odd things have happened, and I guy local writer
here who just retired Norm Clark. He was like Las
Vegas version of Ron the archer um will article about me,
(31:56):
and it's out there somewhere. I'm gonna give you an example.
Ben December ninth, nineteen seventy seven. The Floor. I'm there,
Rudy tom Janovich is punched by current Washington And my
biggest takeaway is when Kermit said Rudy's head at the floor,
it sounded like someone dropping a bowling ball from six
bat because I had I in turn at the Forum
(32:16):
for four years. July of nineteen seventy four, I'm at
a baseball camp at pepper Dyne. The coaches take us
out to this game at Dodger Stadium. I see Tommy
John walking off the mound holding his left shoulder. That's
the game that hurt his arm and ended up getting
Tommy John surgery. The other night, Jason Smith and Mike Carmen,
we're talking about the Miracle Bowl. December nineteenth, nineteen eighty
(32:40):
B y U and S m U. We're b y
U trail forty five to twenty five with five minutes
to go, fourth and five Lazella where Edwards b y
Us coach tried to send the punt team on the field.
McMahon yells at him and said, get the f off
the field, and b y U scores three more touchdowns
and beats Craig Jans and out Dickerson. I'll is at
(33:00):
that game. I've been recruited to play baseball b while
year two years earlier and made funs with a bunch
of the guys. I didn't go there, And I'm right
behind the bench and I'm looking at this and saying,
we just we're about to have the forty year anniversary
of this game. And I remember, like yesterday, all three
of those events took place in California. And then you
had in situations like, well, the what I just told
(33:21):
you about, the mouse in the Palace, how about a
sixty band octour of eighty six, the Donnie Moore game.
I'm got one foot all the rail and Dave Henderson
hits the home run, the ball goes up and the
sky stays up in the sky fifteen minutes and comes
down on the end of the side of the fence.
Three months later, Donnie Moore kills himself. So I could
go out all day about that. But one of the
reasons I had brought it up. Is because when you
(33:43):
reference some of those l a historical perspective takes you have,
I absolutely relate to them. And I'm like a little
kid looking through the fence saying this is cool. Yeah, well,
we both appreciate the great Jim Healey, the radio guy.
That's one of the reasons Bernie I got in the race.
You I loved the Jim Healy radio show and I
thought he was amazing and all the drops and they
(34:05):
weren't even dropping, they were they had carts, you know,
back in those days in radio, you had these big,
bulky carts and it was so good, and I I
loved every day, you know, five thirty and then the
dread the dreaded six o'clock tone that would be played.
And there's a website that still has all the old
Healy clips on it, and there's some YouTube videos of
people because people who didn't live in l A or
(34:28):
you know, young people have no idea who the hell
Jim Healy is because he's been gone for a while.
But you remember Jim Healy when he got he got
a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and they
had this big ceremony, right it was a big deal.
I just started in radio at the time, so and
I couldn't go. I was working in San Diego. Uh
but as I remember the story, uh, that was the
(34:49):
day that Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive and
so all the media that was gonna be covering this
Jim Healy thing all had to leave to go to
the Forum because they had a press conference. And that
was like one a big I'm a stunning story, right,
it was Oh my god, I remember how crazy that
was at the time. But that's uh, that was the
day that Jim Healy had his star on the Hollywood
Walk of Faith and his kid his kids. Yes, yeah, yeah,
(35:14):
I worked with Hacksaw. I interned with hacks and think
you know, you know, I'm gonna say that's probably issue
you're what you're talking about that vintage there, and of
course those are really some of the real golden days
of of l A radio. I mean, if you were driving,
if we all know him, the traffic in l A
is what it is, and that's what sustained me. And
(35:37):
I would listen to Heally and I listened you know
who could forget has? All? Right? Okay, San Diego, let's
get back on the jam pack four line. Ratuel Pascadis
first time calling. Might stay here from you. You could
disagree with me, but you'd be wrong. But Roally we
got it over the hockey line. I mean that was
our l a radio then and then he would come
on and it was just thirty minutes of just pure bliss. Yeah,
(35:59):
it was great. It was I'll tell you a funny story, Bernie.
When I first actually, as I looked back at the timeline,
I was not working in radio at the time the
Healy thing happened, but I was still in school. But
then when later on, when I got into radio a
couple years after that, and I was going to these
games in the in the press box and stuff, and
I I met Stud Nahan and I, yeah, exactly. And
(36:24):
every time I saw ste May he Rest in peace.
He was in the press dining room eating and I
was just laughing because the Jim Healey Show used to play, uh, yeah,
as you said, the drop, so they called them silver
tips stew and all that. It was. It was hilarious
because it was always, uh, you know, freeloaders update and
all that, and uh, it was quite it was quite impressive.
And you mentioned Norm Clark Bernie and I, you know,
(36:45):
I know Norm a little bit. I actually I I
had a meal with him years ago in Vegas when
I was doing my website, my gossip site, and he
was like to go to any any for years, anything
in Vegas. You know, he was the page s He
was the TMZ of Vegas. And you know what the catchphrase,
the marketing phrase, and it happens in Vegas and stays
(37:07):
in Vegas. Well not if, not if Norm found out?
Not if Norm found out? And uh he was he
was so good and and as I'm sure you know too,
he was a baseball wasn't He worked for the associate
He told me the story. He worked for the press.
He didn't he went many years from Denver. You come
to town and we'll we'll grab Norman. I have dinner
onund me. Norm is a great guy, a wonderful guy.
(37:28):
Was a black eye patch the Norman. I became friends
in two thousand and twelve, purely diaccident, because well those
years Ben we were I was doing a radio show
and Kell Polly San Luis Obispo got a bid for
the Big Dance in the NT Tournament. And this guy
calls in and says, who were I don't known? In
(37:49):
the bottom I said, that's all you need to know
about him. It's in nineteen seventy six. They're starting shortstop
on the baseball team was Ozzy Smith and the starting
right fielder with Danny Gams, who I'm sure you know.
Ben had a great show. You're in Vegas for many years.
Got risted his soul as well, and Norman heard that
on the year called me. We became friends and said
that's some that's some pretty good minutia there, because he
(38:09):
knew that right. But you're right, normal was the go to.
I mean, when Britney Spirits was married for fifty hours,
she called him and said, I want you to call
I've read a comments at the Record Street. Wow it's
pretty good, Bernie, I I was reading online. Did you
play minor league baseball? Is that right back in the days?
Or yeah? I did silent a Sincina where as Larry
Barton Senior signed me. He since passed away. They might
(38:31):
have shot him. There's a short lived career. Back in
the day. I had I end up having done chips
on my elbow and had trouble hitting a slider. But yeah,
I did I did? I played? Yep, I had a
great inficincinator re organization. Did you spent a year or
two years? Or what is seven games? What are you
seven games? You're like Moonlight Graham a little bit right,
you know the mood like? And uh and did you
(38:52):
play with anybody that made it? Did any of the guy? Oh?
My goodness? Well as certainly ant more. In college, I
played with Tim Flannery and Marty Cass studio J Petty
Bone played against everybody in southern California made it. And
then in the organization played a bit with Eddie Milner,
Paul Householder, um, and uh see Dave Van Gorder um.
And then what's interesting is is then back in the day,
(39:14):
they used to have these winner teams, and and Larry
Barton Jr. Put together this winner team and we would
play colleges on weekends. We go to USC and play
a doubleheader. You go to Cypress College and play a doubleheader.
I don't know if they do that anymore, but this
is we're talking. This is nineteen seventy nine, and all
the right before spring training, a lot of the big
leaguers would come out and work out with us. So
(39:37):
Davy Collins came out, Eric Davis came out with Actually
no excuse was before Eric Dave this his time. He
might have he went in the big league yet though,
But I caught Frank past story for three intings. One day,
I caught Mike Lacrosse. They'd come out when they get ready.
I don't talk about it much because it comes off
like Al Bundy, you know, and or it comes I
come off like you don't want to come off like
Uncle Rico in uh Napoleon nine of Mike. You know,
(39:58):
you could have won the championship back in eighty two.
No one cares, but yes I did. Well, that's this
is that's interesting man, that's that's cool. You know who
also didn't make it in the minor leagues. With Scott Morris,
who has become the greatest agent of all time. I used,
he's yeah, I know, it's been an afternoon with him.
There's actually a picture. I mean, I finally put it on.
What happened was back there in the last band. Um.
(40:20):
I'll remember when Michael Jordan's signed with the Burningham Barons.
And I'm telling you Ben and I know you guys
know sports as well as anybody. If you go to
a double A and hit two or two. You got
some jump in your trump. People will realize that what
a good level of baseball it is. I'm shocked looking
at Jordan's swing and the way he transferred is way
too quick and it was really armed. How did he
too too, I meaning, even hit a couple of home runs.
(40:41):
The only thing that Jordan did that I liked was
he went first to third like a meniac. However, he
was such an incredible competitor. Ron Schouler said, if he
hadn't gone back to the NBA in their administrate, he
probably would have gotten September call up. But anyway, uh,
some guy to do that, I mean, said Jordan saw
he couldn't play it. That's not fair, that's not fair.
(41:03):
He he competed. If it neverould have been any Kazinsky,
he never would have signed because he didn't have any
one tool that made you love him. But he could compete,
I said. But having said that, I still think I
would have beaten Michael Jordan at home on Derby contest,
and I stand by that. And then I sent him
a picture of me. You can go to my Twitter
account on the right. You'll see a picture of me
in a Tampa tropons since NAID uniform the longer held
(41:27):
there in a pressure looking faith and then I put
a picture of me up there and still that's enough
of that. I guess that's enough of that, he Bernie.
I wanted to ask you because you mentioned Vegas earlier,
with what's going on? What's the climate like? Because you know,
we've all talked about sports eventually returning back in full form,
and now the NFL is king and you know Ben
and I have have have done some other things with
(41:49):
with Benny versus a penny. We're doing some streaming live now.
But there's a ton of dudes that are putting money
and and good action on these on these NFL games,
whether it's on Thursday and football or just then affairs.
So have you seen any kind of uptick or is
everything else pretty much the same in terms of of
action across the gambling lines. Yeah, it's a good questions.
(42:09):
So it's not where it was last year at this point,
they're still done about but it's far above what they
thought it would be coming out of COVID. Uh. The
handles on games have been extremely healthy. Um a lot
of people betting and one of the things, and it's
not just Vegas, guys. One of the things that has
really um enhanced the impact of sports bidding in general
(42:34):
is legalized sports betting, as you know, may passed by
the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act of was overturned and
since then, the hipocritical Roger Goodell, who wouldn't even take
Vegas is advertising money back in the Super Bowl thirty
eight two thousand four, I mean in the NFL and
their teams are from twenty eight marketing and data sharing
(42:55):
partnerships with various enterprises. Eighteen states are now legal for
more states have ratified it, they just don't have the
brick and mortar set up yet or the app technology
set up. In seven other states have legislation. So to
answer your question, uh, thirty three million people in one
form of fashion that on an NFL game last Sunday,
(43:17):
and here in Vegas. If you come to town during
football and walk into a even though the social distancing
is a little different and the way the books are
set up now are following protocols and people are wearing masks.
If you were never here before, you would never know
the difference. The traffic is robust, the betting on the
game is heavy, and I mean heavy, heavy betting on
the game last Thursday along there's a there's always big bets, right.
(43:41):
A guy put a hundred and ten thousand on the
Chiefs minus nine and a half at the Mirage. Another
guy put a hundred thousand on the under a fifty
three and a half at Aria, and you saw Atlanta
on fifty four. So there are big bets. You've got
the US open and then you brought up a good point.
What was it like during COVID, Well, believe it or not,
even in the casinos were shut down on the sports
(44:02):
books were shut down for seventy six days, people could
still bet on apps and about six of all betters
in Vegas now that through their app. And back in
March and April they were stuck with Korean baseball, Russian
Ping Pong Boom, This League, Soccer UFC. But even in
spite of that, people were still looking for action and
(44:23):
they were still betting, even though the four majors weren't back.
Now that they're all back, it's Bonker's now, Bernie. Can't
we set a line in Vegas for when a certain
guy will throw up after he eats bull testicles. Well,
here's the thing people always ask, you know, what is
Vegas say about the election? What is Vegas say about
(44:44):
the Academy Awards. There's a simple rule here in Vegas,
in the Gaming Commission's bylines. It's got to be in
a box score. Uh, there's got to be a final
result in the box score. Because if anybody can control
the outcome, or anybody if an outco them could be
predetermined by someone's information, you can't get it. Now, that's funny.
Maybe somebody will get to something like that, right, but
(45:07):
they're not. No regulated gaming establishment would set a line
on something like that. Offshore, sure, why not? You can
do just about you know, you go to some of
these offshore sites which I'm sure you've heard of, you know,
Pinnacle and Bovada and such that you can bet all
kinds of stuff on that. But here going to regulate
with considered a regulated market, it's got to be in
a box score. Well, and Bernie, there's no reason to
(45:28):
put a line. There's a hundred percent. I'm gonna do it.
I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen. I'm gonna eat
the damn bol test. He goes my my wife's going
out to the butcher shop because I'm told you can
get those at a butcher shop. Who knew that a
butcher shop, any butcher shop supposedly has those. But so
I'm gonna I'm gonna pick those up and I will
I'm I guarantee I'm gonna make a YouTube video. I
can't get to Denver obviously because of COVID and all this.
(45:49):
I'm not traveling anywhere. But when when I eat, these
people are gonna claim that they're not what they are,
that I'm I'm faking it or not. But I guarantee you,
all right, I'm gonna eat one. That's all. I'm meeting Bernie.
One bull testicle. I don't need to one, and then
that's it, And so I don't. I'm gonna get crap
for it. But strew all the haters. It's gonna happen.
(46:11):
If not this weekend, it's gonna happen in the next
couple of weeks. And I I'm not sure if we'll
be able to get it done this weekend, but we're
gonna try. So it's gonna happen. But if I could
share something worthy, I'm sure you know Hank Goldberg right
hammeron Hank, you know, yeah, Miami language. Yeah. So he
moved to Vegas two or three years ago. And I
don't Hank pretty well, and I've been on a couple
of betting panels with him. I like him, and I'm
(46:31):
pretty sure I got his phone number and I'll get
it to you, because we did. We did a seminar
here at SS the station, UH two years ago of
NFL preview, and we all had dinner afterward, and Frank asked,
Hank asked me a couple of questions about Detroit because
I spent seventeen years there. Actually I was born there.
(46:51):
Then we moved to California. My mom actually went to
University of Michigan. But here's what I'm going with this, Hankers,
I have one distinct memory of Detroit. I was down
toomp somewhere blah blah blah back in the mid seven
He's I went to this restaurant and it's allegedly served
bull testicles, and I ordered them and had them, and
I go, how were they? They're little tough. I don't
(47:12):
think that it up. So we gotta get connected. Well, Listen,
I I was reading online, Bernie, because I have no
life of like how to properly prepare the bull testicles,
and so you gotta like take the vein out, which
sounds disgusting, and then you gotta cut it thin. My
my buddy Bob, who does radio in Kansas City, Hughes
(47:32):
had him. He said, you gotta come thin, and then
you gotta bread them and deep prium. So my theory
is if I cut them thin, I bred them and
it's like eating a chicken nugget and then I just
dip it in barbecue sauce. How bad could that be?
It can't be that bad, right, it's gotta be okay. Well,
I'm with you. I think maybe throw a little a
(47:52):
one or catch up on it. And then, you know,
I've always said, no matter what, you put a one on,
it tastes like a one. You know, he put it
on a boot, taste like a once. So well, throw
a little late one on there. And no one said
you couldn't do that, right then? Yeah, exactly, See that's
there were no real rules on this. There's no real
rules on this. It's just that I have to consume
the bull testicle. How I consume the bull testicle, that
(48:13):
is a different situation. That's a different all right. Listen, Bernie,
I love you man. Continued success. You're dominating their Saturday nights.
Everyone needs to listen to to you if you haven't
heard Bernie show straight out of Vegas. And remember the
most important number in gambling, right, Bernie, fifty two point
four Right, isn't that the most important number? Yeah, there's
(48:33):
a man with knowledge. If you that's your break even point.
Because if you can win more than fifty two point
four percent of your games, you you can be profitable.
That's exactly right. Then, Yeah, you gotta make money. It's
all about making money, all right, Bernie, Thank you man,
I appreciate it. Pleasure being with you, guys, Thank you
very much. Thanks. Be sure to catch live editions of
(48:54):
The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven
pm Pacific
Host
Ben Maller
Popular Podcasts
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
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.