January 22, 2021 • 46 mins
Bruce Jacobs is part of the FSR alumni Association. Veteran of the sports talk wars, he hosts morning drive in Phoenix. Is a native New Yorker who loves the Jets and Mets more than air to breathe and water. Ben and Bruce catch up on old times.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's right. It is the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor
and not not David Gascon. He's not here this weekend
because four hours a night are not enough eight days
a week. And as you know by now, this is
a spinoff of the Overnight Show, The Ben Mallard Show,
only available right here in the podcast world. And thank
(00:24):
you for finding We do appreciate that. Otherwise, why are
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(00:48):
you're a brigadier general, a P one super fan, if
you want me to rant about something. I had a
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know he called me on cameos. You gotta ranked about
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How dare him? So? I did that? Uh? And also
obviously on social media if you don't follow me on
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(01:12):
Mallor on Fox on Instagram and just Ben Mallard on Twitter.
So I am excited to bring this person on today.
Is one of my favorite people in sports radio. I
don't like a lot of people in sports radio. I
don't you know that. I have a very strong opinions
about what's good and what's not. I like entertainment, I
like passion, strong opinions, and I like people that are prepared.
(01:36):
He checks every box. Plus I know him, I've worked
with him, I've met him. Bruce Jacobs. Now, if you're
a longtime connoisseur of Fox Sports Radio, and many of
you are, but maybe not you, Bruce Jacobs was part
of the network the first decade or so of Fox
Sports Radio. He is the most passionate New York Jets
(02:01):
and Mets fan I know, Sorry, Jason Smith. Bruce takes
it to the next level and he despises the Miami
Dolphins and also can't stand the New York Yankees. He's
been on the radio for many, many years. He's a
staple of the Phoenix radio market. He's doing morning drive
now in Phoenix, and so I wanted to catch up
(02:24):
with Bruce, and we welcome in Bruce Jacobs. The reason, Bruce,
that I wanted to catch up with you, and you're
aware of this, obviously I booked you, is that in
early October of we had a conversation. I believe I
appeared on your your Morning show. We were talking about
the Kyler murray or something along those lines. So anyways,
(02:44):
like October of last year, and we had made a
bet on the presidential election, which at that time was
about a month away. I said that Donald Trump was
gonna win a second term, and you said, no, it's
gonna be Joe Biden that's gonna win. And here we are.
Biden was sworn in the other day as the President
of the United States. So I'm paying up my bet.
(03:06):
I am a man of integrity, Bruce, I am a
man of honor. Congratulations, But how does it feel to
win that bet? Well, Bet, it's nice to talk to you, man, Okay.
It's it's good to hear from your brother. And you know,
I made a lot of bets over the years. I've
won a lot of bets. I've lost a lot of bets.
And I'll be honest with you, I am sorry that
(03:27):
I won this Bet, I'm very rarely sorry when I lose.
I mean, you're always sorry when you lose because you're lost.
So when I say sorry, sorry to yourself. But yeah,
I really kind of apologized to America. To be honest
with you, Yes, I did lose that, bet, Ben. Uh.
The upside is I get to spend some time with you.
(03:48):
The downside is I have well probably four years happy
to be ruled by him. Yeah. Well, you know, it'll
be interesting things to talk about, Bruce. It won't be
as much fun is when Trump was president, but you'll
you'll have some things to talking about bout you. Now,
you are a member of the f s Are Alumni Association.
(04:10):
So have you been paying up your dues Bruce's and
are you're an active member? Are you on hiatus from that?
I guess it depends you know what I mean, if
somebody some cash and co in. So you you asked
me to your college here, and yes I am a
(04:30):
proud alumni. Yeah, I rather enjoyed it very much. Well.
I I love working. I have no concept of time though,
I don't know if you're like me, like it all
is like a big ball. I like I remember working
alongside you we we would do shows at different times.
I think you filled in for me a few times,
and I probably filled in for you a few times,
(04:51):
and we went back and forth and all that. So
I recall that, but I'm trying to think of the
timeline when you were here for several years at Fox
Sports Radio. I remember that, but I don't remember exactly
like when I know it was in the I think
the first decade of the two thousand of my give
me the timeline, but the Bruce Jacob's timeline when you
(05:13):
were here. Yeah, so Ben, I started there around two
thousand and one. Tom Lee originally hired me. Okay, Tom
Lee when he ran Fox Sports. I went to about
two thousand and eleven. Uh no two thousand and ten
and UH my last partner in Lincoln Kennedy. He and
(05:34):
I banged it out for UH for about two years
or so. But I do remember all, you know, the
the times that you and I got a chance to
do some stuff together, and you know, I was pretty
much your weekend over that guy and UH and UH
chilling whenever needed. And so but I started it was
(05:55):
right up to I land had been two jobs in
one week after taking this were off Fox and back
here in Phoenix, which is where I live at at
the news talk station. So I was looking for a
little bit audition for a couple of things around the country,
not many, and then in one week, and you know,
(06:16):
that's the way the luck is, man. You know, you
put out the plan right then you put out the plan,
and then you know, the plan goes to buses. I
tell anybody who's down, if you're down, you know tomorrow. Okay,
you might be down today, but you don't know what's
going to happen tomorrow. You literally don't. And uh yeah,
So in one week I landed the two gigs and
(06:37):
Fox and one of them and it was great, man.
I thoroughly enjoyed it well. And you were ahead of
your time risk because like everyone these days, pretty much
everyone's doing remote broadcasting or has done remote broadcasting because
of the pandemic. But you, I remember, because you would
you do the show from your house, and you you
had your dog that would sometimes I think one time
shoot up your headphones or something like that. And I
(06:59):
remember you were all and once I'll tell you the
for me, the best story, okay, And and God bless
uh Andrew Ashwood, the Gorilla may rest in peace, one
of the really great people in the business for me
personally and professionally. Uh So, I'm doing the show and
(07:21):
I had like a studio. Okay, you know, man, I'm sitting,
I'm sitting. I'm sitting, and I'm surrounding myself with starter
phone Okay, obviously, so it doesn't sound at goee, etcetera, etcetera.
So at the time, I had three Siderian Huskies. Uh
Sever was the youngest, Curtis the middle one named after
(07:42):
Curtis Martin severs obvious, and Chad named after Chad Pennington.
And so one night, then Chad, who was the ringleader
of the three, he starts holland you know, like Husky
is he was just talking. Now imagine this. I'm sitting
at my desk. I only have much rope, if you will,
or so much line headphone line okay, because it's a
(08:05):
headphone mike at the time, and I'm like chat, you know,
without talking, because I'm on the air. Okay, you talk
about talent, man, do these two things at one time?
Liked quiet and the more you tell him to be quiet,
the more he would talk. The next thing, you know,
all three of them are at it, man, and they
are going at it, and I'm like thinking to myself,
Holy moly, I'm gonna get fired. The next day, I
(08:29):
did you not? The grilla called and he's like, uh,
saws everything garden, and I'm like, good. So I was
a show. It was well. We had a little problem.
So I tell him about the probably goes. I don't
don't know where I hurt it, and do me a
favor the next time you're on the more of the
(08:50):
dogs and less of you, okay. And so it was great, man,
it was great. And so we bring the dogs on.
We formed the band called Ruse and the Wolfie Three.
They come on and do predictions. You know. We got
fun like yeah, yeah, man, listen, that's what I love.
You're You're you're my like my upper echelon there. You know,
(09:12):
because a lot of these guys in sports radio these days, uh,
you know, they just they don't have the possess. You
got the possess, Bruce. I'm not kissing your ass here,
but I like your style, right, I like you know,
you're passionate, you've got strong opinions, you're prepared, and you
throw haymakers be sure to catch live editions of The
Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
(09:33):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio.
What what happened to our business with so many the
next you know, next generation? I don't know how you
want to describe it. I don't sense a lot of that.
I don't know what happened used to be that when
I back in my day, Bruce, when I started, I
feel like a lot of guys were like that, and
now the business has gotten away from that, which I
(09:55):
don't like. I don't like. What do you think happened? Well, honestly,
I think it's a lot of things, Ben, I think
it starts with UH management. It became like government, Okay,
the rule of thum became instead of sin. It's thicker
at the top and then thinner where you needed to
(10:17):
be sicker. And that is UH good hosts and support
people and producers, you know everything. When one when one
guy has to do six seven jobs, Ben, you know
you can be as good as you can be. And man,
when you have so many jobs, there's gonna be things
that are just gonna fall through the cracks. And when
the little things fall through the cracks, they become a
big thing. So there's that. I think the audience has changed.
(10:40):
Let's be honest. The tolerance level in this country is
about as bad as it can be. Okay, people are
looking to be offended. Okay, they want to be offended
so they can complain and then they can try to
get you canceled. Because that's like a big club. It's
a it's a cancer on the country as a whole,
in anything, not just read your folks, um, but it's
(11:01):
become a cancer. And these people lived for this because
their lives are mostly meaningless. They have no meaning in life,
so their meaning now is destroying you because you have
some level of success. Um, there's that. There's for young
This is what I find is disappointment. And I won't
speak for you, and I think I'm a little north
of you. But when I was a kid, and I
(11:25):
hate doing these when I was a kid, but when
I loved you know, I love sports, but I'd love
to research it. And at that time we didn't have
all this this great stuff, right, So when I say
research it, I love to learn the history about the
things that I loved that I didn't know the history
of made me love it more. R the case that
the dolphins hate it more. Okay, so it depends. But
I had a quest a desire. A lot of the
(11:48):
younger folks. I think where they're making a mistake is,
you know, history started before they were born. It didn't
start on the day they were born. So I think
there's that as well. And I also believe that you know,
a lot of people have lost the bay you communicate
because they spend their life in those phones. Ben. I'm
sitting in Phoenix, Arizona. The sun is out, it's a
(12:10):
tiny bit of wind, it's about seventy degrees. It's just
a beautiful day. You've been here, and I'm talking to
you on a flip phone because I do not want
my phone to be in my life, to be engrossed
in my phone. So there's a lot of factors, and
that's so I see it. Yeah, And am I'm misting.
I don't think you're on Are you on Twitter? Bruce?
(12:31):
I I know you're on Facebook. I see on Facebook
all the time. Are you active on the Twitter machine? No?
And that's not a protest. I've never been on Twitter,
and I don't see any reason, uh why I would
why I would do that. No, No, it doesn't interest me.
First off, then nothing happens right now that if I
(12:51):
find out in two minutes or three minutes or four
minutes later, is going to change anything for me. Okay,
so um No, I jump on Facebook a little bit,
have a little bit of fun. But other than that,
you know, I'm not a social media fan. I guess
you know. People my age, we man, we found better
(13:13):
ways to communicate this shitty here yell at each other
on the phone. Yeah, no, listen, I Bruce, I I
I have a love hate relationship with Twitter, like I
I use it for the show. I use it a lot,
but I find the biggest a holes in the world
are all getting together and having a block party pretty
much on Twitter. It's NonStop. But that the word I
(13:36):
will use, Bruce, that describes what you're talking about. Is
this obsessive like the tribalism, like if and there's no
room for any dissenting opinions. And it's the thing that's
really scary and you reference this and you've lived it,
and you know we're all living at the work in
the radio business, is that even in sports radio, like
(13:56):
I love to me, the greatest hate is sports hate.
Like you are legendary in the business, Bruce. You can't
stand the Miami Dolphins right in the Yankees, you ripped
them all that, But that's like, that's fun, that's great,
that's sports say. But even that, now you can't do
that because people don't want to hear it, and they
get offended and they sent in the attack puppies to
(14:20):
to take you down. It's insane. But it all comes
back to tribalism. I remember when MLB dot Com started.
I had a buddy of mine who was working for
Major League Baseball who told me, this is going to
be the future that you know, you're gonna get to
the point where people don't want to hear They're just
gonna have reporters covering the teams that are on the payroll,
(14:40):
and eventually people aren't gonna want to hear any negativity
about their teams. And it's it's like we've we've had
that moment, Bruce, where even you're in you're in Phoenix,
you're in the Phoenix market. Right. Uh, how about now?
Kyler Murray? Right, I I ripped Kyler Murray a few
times on my show. It end up in the in
(15:00):
the newspaper. I send you the material of like, Hey, Ben,
you're getting trash today and I love it, man, I
love it? Yes, but continue you Coo're you're exactly correct.
Do you get ripped in the papers today? You're correct? Yeah, no,
But I'm just it didn't used to be like that.
In fact, I you know, you're a little older than
I am, but I think we have the same you know,
(15:23):
mindset on this where I think a good fan to
me is willing to take some shots at their own
teeth and if they can't, to me, that's a bad fan.
What do you think about that? You know what I
would say? Overall, definitely sports and having done the news
talk format, the ability to have fun is I'm not
(15:46):
gonna say it's gone because I have fun every day, Ben,
honestly I do. I you know, broadcasting is fun, but
part of it is serious. A lot of it is
fun and for me, you know, um, I'm all said this, man.
The two greatest things about sports is the love and
the hate. I love to love my teams, but hey,
(16:09):
if my team sucks, if your team sucks too, I
feel a little bit better because I love to hate. Oh.
The Dolphins are Number one and always will be the
Yankee slotting right behind them. And we can throw in
the Phillies, the Flyers, virtually anything from the city of Philadelphia. Um,
and I've got a number of others too, man so,
(16:31):
but yeah, I've always enjoyed and I know, listen, I
so badly. I know if you feel the same way.
This is a little bit of a different lane, a
little bit. But we badly need been the Tampa Bay
Bucks to get to the super Bowl. And it has
nothing to do with Tom Brady. It's because if we
don't have Bruce Arians, we don't have the pomp and
(16:53):
the circumstance we normally do. It will be boring. Bly
b A can make the Super Bowl all a little
spicy of all the people involved, because how many stories
can I hear that are? You know? Okay, that's funny
about Andy Andy read eating different cheeseburgers. I mean, okay,
that's got some value to it. It It needs an affable guy.
But man, if we don't have be a Brother, we're
(17:14):
gonna have a boring super Bowl week. How about the
if we get the Bills against the Packers, Now, that
would be all next level boring unless Aaron Rodgers does
something passive aggressive in which he normally does that. That
would be the Savings. Now, how have you recovered, Britain?
I guess the Patriot dynasty is over now, But when
(17:36):
you were at Fox Sports Radio, they were becoming the
dynasty they were. It was the early part of it
and it lasted another ten years. Bruce. Uh, they haven't
passed the Dolts. No, it doesn't bother me. Then the Patriots,
Patriots never bothered me. I respect the Patriots, man. I
don't have any problem with dynasties. Um. You know, I
(17:58):
know they cheated and I like to poke fund them.
They changed a couple of times. But you know what's funny.
All of my hatred the teams that I don't like
today I didn't like when I was younger. Nothing has
really changed. I might have added a team like Ohio
State to the list because I can't stand them. I've
added a few personalities or people to the list. Uh.
(18:20):
But for the both part, the same teams I don't
like today are the teams I didn't like as a kid,
and they if I wanted to kill the Patriots, I
just as usually hate the Atlanta Braves. I mean, you
talked about the Patriots, how about the Braves run denying
my Mets any possibility? And now would they went fifteen
out of sixteen or whatever it was? So Yeah, I've
been the victim quote unquote of dynasties man happen Tora,
(18:47):
and I've gotten hit against two of them. Yeah. Well,
and I gotta ask you. I haven't talked to you
about this, but how many walls did you punch after
the Jets beat the Rams to not uh, to forget
the number one situation this past year? Did you scream
out loud? Did you have to go outside? I mean,
what what? What did you do Bruce? When the Jets
actually won a game when it looked like they were
(19:08):
gonna go in sixteen? Well? The one thing I think
it's the first time my wife's kids ever saw somebody
hate on their own team. Okay, and um, you know,
I mean, look, hey, it's all worked out in the
end for me. Ben, I got the coach I want, dude. Now,
if I can get the quarterback I want d Watson, boy,
(19:32):
I'll be a very very It'll be the first time
in seven years I won't go into August and then
roll into September. And I don't, and I haven't cared. Really,
I really have not cared much about the Jets the
last couple of years because, you know, if you're not
interested in winning, what do I get out of it?
You know, I mean, well, what is it for me
(19:52):
as a fan if you are. I didn't say if
you didn't win. I said, if you're not interested in winning,
and when you have when you have eight dad Gaze
or eight damn waste as I call them, and you
have todd toilet Bowls before that, you don't want to
win to be the one of these being. No one
of these coaches is capable. They're both powerable and uh.
(20:13):
But now I think we want to get back to winning.
So I'm I'm very excited about the upcoming season, even
though I know we're gonna stay, but I'm excited to
see State. Yeah, they'll be instead of being at the
very bottom, they'll be you know, in the mid tier
of suckets. They'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, So we
won't suck the same way. Then we're gonna suck a
(20:33):
different way. Man, Okay, it's gonna be different. We're gonna
be We're gonna suck aggressively. We're back to back installs.
You know, the Jets play their best football, and remember
you got to keep it in context. They're best football
is a FC Championship games and not a lot of them,
but a few when we when we have a defensive coach,
(20:53):
a defensive minded guy as our coach. And you can
look at really anywhere from Rex to Parcelves to leave
you bank. You know, it doesn't matter where you go home.
Our past football has played with a defensive coach, uh coach.
So I'm very excited, very excited to win my five
games coming up this year. If we get Watson, then
(21:14):
if we get Watching and Fever, we should be dangerous.
You know, he's a moral enemy of mine, Deshaun Watson there,
but he blocked me on Twitter. And this is like
when he was out of coming out of Clemson because
I I said something on social media. I was, I
forget exactly what I said. You got all upset though,
he very offended and uh and so I'd be worried
(21:35):
about him, Bruce, if he goes to New York, because
if you can't handle criticism from a blowhard like me,
can you imagine what the New York The few tough
guys left in the New York media would do to
Deshaun Watson. It would not go well. It would not
go well. It won't listen. I uh And then uh,
I don't have to I don't have to blow beate
for you. You know, I'm off and up at the
(21:55):
times that a lot of time that you're on because
I'm doing my preparation work. And I listened to about
your Twitter wars and all this, and you know, I
find that to be that maybe one thing that that
you know, that the fun wars, but you know when
it gets really not to go back to that, but
you know those fun wars and blocking people and laughing
at people and that sort of thing. Yeah, that might
(22:17):
be one element of it that I would like. But hey,
you know what I don't care. Deshaun Watson is is
high level. I've been talking about this with my partner.
I do the show with Dale Hellistre, the former cowboy. Uh.
And when you say who, I say, he's got three rings,
so he's got a lot of who on his on
his fingers. Anyway, I would if I were any of
(22:41):
like twenty teams, then oh you want three number ones? Man?
I put the phone on pause and say, man, I
can't believe they're gonna they're gonna give me. They're gonna
give me this guy for only three number ones. I
couldn't make that deal fast enough. Then I'll give you
salmon to you want Sam and three salmon three? It
is no problem. And I would finally because before I die,
(23:03):
then I have to see a great Jets quarterback. You know,
Brett Favre played for US one year, but he wasn't
a Jet. And I love Jet Pennington, but he's not great. Um,
I gotta see one great Jet quarterback. And Watson is
still young enough to be a Jet when all is
said and done. Yeah, all right. I like the fact
that you're willing to trade all the draft picks, because
(23:24):
that's another peeple, all of them. Yeah, I agree to that.
I'm so annoyed you can't trade draft picks. Oh my god, No,
every and they think every draft pick is going to
turn out to be an all pro. And it's like,
you know, we've seen enough, Bruce, of these draft picks.
And you, as a Jets fan more than anybody, these
guys that are drafting the top ten that have all
(23:45):
this hyperbole around them, and how great they're gonna be,
and most of them are either mediocre or completely worthless
compared to the hype that they had before the draft. Yet, yeah,
I looked at these teams that perpetually don't have a
cool are back, okay. And I looked at the quarterbacks
that they have drafted high in the middle. Okay. The Jets.
(24:06):
We've drafted Mark Sanchez. That's that's top level for us.
That's mediocre. We've drafted the biggest bum, Christian Hackenberg, who,
by the way, Ben and you, I don't know if
you ever asked the sir tribute. There's only three guys,
three quarterbacks who have been drafted since the merger in
(24:26):
the first two rounds that have not seen the playing
field for their team. Only three. Jim Kelly because he
was drafted by Uh. He went, I'm sorry in his
first two years. I apologize. That was the last part
of it. So did not see the field in the
first two years. Jim Kelly. But that's a trick because
(24:47):
he played for the Houston Gamblers. The second one was
a guy drafted by the Euston Oilers, and I forgot
the dude's name. In nineteen seventy and the second one
is Christian Ackenberg. He's only the third top two pick
since the merger to be drafted and never saw the
field for his team. So the guys we drafted, the
(25:08):
kid from Baalor I forgot his name, ran all Brile's
offense there, so high take flowed. I looked at the
Cardinals because you know, like cover of the Cardinals, they
drafted Matt Liner's. Um, oh my goodness. I had a list,
and I say to the Chicago Bears, look at the
quarterbacks that they have drafted. You wouldn't give up three
number one for us first an established star right now?
(25:32):
You're crazy? That's a gift. Three number one, no problem
every day. No, I'm right there with you. I Draft
picks are lottery tickets there. You know, most lottery tickets
you don't win in. So it's I'm I'm in complete agreement.
And that stand Hinky guy or Sam Hickey rather the
GM of the the Sixers with that whole trust in
(25:52):
the process, and he made that cool and all that.
I hate that guy. I'm glad he's not working in sports.
I it's such an annoyance. Sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two a m.
Eastern eleven pm Pacific. I want to go back to you, Bruce,
as a radio savant. How many markets have you worked
in over the years. I know you've been in Phoenix
(26:13):
a lot. You were on the East Coast, and you're
in Albany, I believe for a while. I think you
started in New York. How many other places have you
been bouncing around the country doing radio? So we're talking
local or yeah, local markets? Uh, New York and Phoenix,
those are the only two. And and I've been nationale
(26:36):
for Fox. And let's just say a couple of peons. Well,
I thought you didn't you work with Arnie at the
Were you in Chicago? Or no? You did you do
that work with was was the afternoon guy? Uh? In Phoenix?
In fact, Annie Spaniard is the first guy Ben to
ever put me on the air. I must have told
(26:58):
you I can do you on. I'm I'm like overnight
board up and I had a regular job, sales job,
and I'm watching It was during the NHL playoffs and
you know, like, uh, like your boy, my boy Eddie Garcia. Okay,
love the NHL and love the playoffs. So I'm sitting
there Ben, and I'm watching it was a first round.
We won the cup this year. Uh, and I'm watching
(27:20):
the first round of My boss comes up to me
and Ben, I do not embellish on this at all, Okay,
he says to me. Hey, it was a retail store.
He says to me, I want you to go and
dust the tops of those refrigerators. So I very kindly
said to him, listen, I don't touch the time. I
don't toust the top of the refrigery to my own house,
and I'm not gonna do it here. My job is
to sell. There ain't no customers, so customer walks and
(27:41):
I'm gonna sell them something. Olways, I'm gonna watch this
hockey game. Next day, I go in. I got fired
for in subordination. The radio station called me. I'm a
weekend board up. They said, hey, we need you to
come in and run the board because we have a
meeting with everybody and there's nobody to I was, okay,
no problem, I'm available. I go in an audio tell
you and Arnie's doing the afternoon show and he said
(28:04):
to me, and I've seen him in the always a
couple of times and whatnot, you know, and he's the
big the BMOC. Okay, he runs. He used the sports
guy in town. And he says to me, he goes, hey,
you're a hockey fan, right, big hockey fans. Why'd you
come on the air. We'll talk some hockey, will take
some calls. Okay. Then I never ran the board. After that,
I got a call from the general manager. Hey, that's that.
(28:26):
I started doing some on air updates and blah blah blah.
But if the want Arnie Spaniard, you know, I may
never have gotten a chance. I may have and I
may not. So he's the first guy that ever put
me on the air in a major market. So you
are on Arnie Spaniards Radio Tree as the big star.
And then I am sure Arnie said others. And then
didn't you work with Mike Golic before he became the
(28:47):
Mike and Mike guy. You were with him right and Phoenix,
didn't you do some stuff with him? Yeah? So after
Arnie left and blah blah blah, change the ownership, blah
blah blah blah blah. The new program director who his
name is Chris Visor, brother of Leslie Business San Diego, guy. Right.
I think I might have crossed paths with him at
(29:09):
the mighty six ninety back in you know you probably
did San Diego Denver. Uh, And they hired him here
in Phoenix. And the funnies thing is is that I
had I was Arnie got Arnie got let go. And
actually Arnie called me when I was on vacation. I
(29:29):
was vacation. He says, Hey, when you come back. I
was a producer at this time. He says, I just
want to let you know. And Arnie were I were friends.
He says, listen, I want to let you know you're
gonna get fired. You know, I'm just a young guy.
Ben right. He's like, yeah, they're they're getting rid of
a producer and the and the guy who ran the
place with a slob and an idiot, and he didn't
like me and whatever you don't like. He didn't like
people from New York. So when I came back, they
(29:53):
told me he actually came into the studio while I
was doing a fill in show. Anyway, long story, short
ter calls me and uh, he got ahold of my
audio because he asked for audio from all the on
air people, and uh, he listened to mine, and he
called me and he said, hey, don't go, don't go
looking for work. I'll be in town in a weekend.
(30:15):
I want you to come and see me. So he
hired me back, and he brought in Mike Golick and uh,
he put Mike and I together, who worked here for
shat under three years, and it was great. I mean,
he's he was just an awesome, awesome he's just awesome individual,
awesome human being and an awesome radio partner. Yeah, and
then he went onto that Mike and Mike thing forever
(30:36):
and ever and ever. So you've been in the Phoenix
market for a very long time here, Bruce. Now you
do your morning show? Is it all cardinals, d backs
and science? It's not right. You do national stuff. You
do a lot of national stuff too, righte. You mix
it up? Oh sure, because remember this is this very
transition here. Um. So you know it's still top five
for people moving from other places. So yeah, I mean, obviously, Ben,
(31:01):
you know it's Phoenix, so you know, um, but we
do not. Oh okay, listen, look what are we gonna
what is our eight cardinal topic today? God? Though, who
they'll want the list of that? Um? No, no, I mean,
we we hit the headlines and then we hit the
stuff that nobody else often has based on culling of information, opinion,
(31:23):
just whatever. And then by all means, listen, I'm going
to spend a large part of this hanging on the
Brooklyn nets. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
I don't know there's a team outside of the Dolphins
of the Yankees. I want to lose more games. Okay.
I love that Cavalier game last night, by the way, Okay,
that was watching watching a nine pounds sex and destroy
(31:44):
their backcourt was beautiful. So yeah, listen, man, we we
have up front, but I'm not you know, it's one
of the great places, and you know this will be
the last stop on my train. One of the great
things for me is I do not get micro managed
by seventeen bosses, ten say else people, eight marketing people,
and somebody along the chain there is upset with something
(32:05):
I said. So you know it's uh, you know, your professional,
but free rein your professional, be a professional, be an idiot,
and yeah, it up absolutely That was a former cowboy.
So um, I'm a jet fan. I mean, god, did
anybody really just spend four hours only talking about local
(32:27):
Is that is that really going on? Because if that is,
that's a losing ticket. Yeah, well I I filled in it.
I did some shows at w e I for a
while it was pretty much all like you know, just
the Patriots and Red Sox and Celtics. That was pretty
much and really rarely the Celtics on that. But I
like what you said about not having a bunch of
people meddling with you. And that's one of the reasons
(32:49):
I love doing the overnight show, Bruce. As you know,
management typically not listening in the middle of the night,
so we have a little more freedom to do what
we want to do, which is which is pretty cool
there in the oh. I I didn't bring up the
big Mets trade Francisco Indoor. Have you gotten your Francisco
Indoor Jersey, Bruce, it's coming your level on a scale
(33:14):
of one to ten. Your level of excitement when Francisco
Indoor it was announced that he had been traded the Mets.
All right, your level of excitement and you found out
the Mets GM was sending pictures of his twigging berries
out to the women years ago. How do I answer that, Ben?
(33:41):
How would you let me handle that serious or I
can just pass on it, like, uh, when will you when?
When will you be starting? Is the next GM of
the Mets? Have you sent your resume in yet to
the new ownership group there? Well, i'll tell you, Ben,
I'm glad that they didn't start. And Springer. I can't
believe that dude got millions in here. I mean shooting
(34:05):
to sixty. I thought there was no money in this game. Um. Hey,
if the Mets can get ballor and I don't know
if they will, but if they can get ballot, even
if they don't, we have a very good team. We're
coming after your Dodgers, Ben, Um, No, I actually have
I actually have said this. I think the Dodgers have
the chance to be a real good a dynasty. Uh
(34:29):
that's how good they can be. But I think we
can be better than you. If we can get Trevor ballot,
then look out, big boy. You'll have to Hey, you'll
have to look shout for you to San Diego for
some trouble. But make sure you glance east because we're coming. Baby,
We're coming to kick some ass. Watch out for the Mets. No,
I am worried about the Padres. I like teams that,
(34:51):
like the Mets are have been aggressive here, the Padres,
even the Blue Jays. I don't agree with that the
Blue Jays have done. But I'm so sick of these
teams that just sit on their hands and they don't
do anything in the off season. And you know, as
far as the Dodgers, the thing that worries me here,
and let me be very clear, the the executive, the
big shot, this guy stand casting, who I'm sure you're
(35:12):
very familiar with, but he was in Atlanta when the
Braves you referenced them earlier. They made the playoffs all
the time, and they had the nineties dynasty and spilled
over into the two thousands. But that's the model. The
Dodgers model is, Hey, let's just make the playoffs every
year and then we'll win, you know, a couple of
championships along the way. The Braves only one one. The
Dodgers have won one. But really, Bruce, you'd admit they
(35:34):
should have won two, right because the Astros were cheating
in and you know, that's a bull crap championship for
the Astros. Yes, question about it. Listen, I think the
Dodgers have a chance. Let me rephrase, uh dynasty is
too simple. I think they have a chance to be
the best baseball team I've seen. And I hate to
(35:56):
say this, but you know, there's my opinion, there's my
at and there's a tax. Right yeah, but you know,
since since those great Yankee teams at the turn of
the century, Okay, um, I think they maybe even better.
I mean they're just loaded and young, and I I agree, man,
they probably should have to and uh, I just hope that.
(36:19):
I hope that. Man if we could get Trevor Bauer, boy,
oh boy, man, oh man, we could be so good.
Of course, we still have that as SeMet fans call
him f and Diaz closing games, but you know, hopefully
that won't last too long. We did bring in big
Trevor May, so there you go, there you go, Trevor May. Uh.
(36:39):
And now, Bruce, I believe at your house you are
you were living with a non Jets fan? Is that correct?
Is it is your your wife a Bills fan? Is
that right? My wife is a die hard Bills fan.
That is her favorite team. She's from. Um, well, she
likes to consider herself for a a New Yorker, but hey,
(37:01):
if you live in Buffalo, you're not a New Yorker
and be she'll only lived there until she was about
to sick. But she is a huge Bills fans, So
you know, I you know, you know how this goes,
Ben being a married man, happy wife, happy life, blah
blah blah. And uh here's the thing though, Ben, and
she can't hear me right now. You know she's working
(37:22):
from home. I gotta be honest, Ben. My favorite non
Jet player is Patrick Mahomes. Okay, maybe I think it's
He's gonna be the greatest quarterback I'll ever see. And
god do I love to watch him play. He just
and I'm not an offensive guy. I like defense, but
there's something about him that's just I've never seen it
before and I don't think I'll ever see it again.
He's magic to me. He's so he's so freaking great.
(37:46):
He's unbelievable. Um. So, I you know the chiefs are man,
I'll tell you, and but I'll roll with my wife
and you know I'll work for the Bills and un
because it's a good I mean, the petals are really good.
I mean, you know, you guys love Josh Allen man,
I mean you know I love that kid. Yeah, Bruce, Like,
(38:07):
what do you do? You guys have wagers because every
year the Jets and Bills are gonna play twice forever
and ever they're in the same division. So how's it
work in the house? You guys make bets. You're watching
separate rooms. How's how's it work? Okay, so I'm married
for about a year and a half, but uh, seriously,
dating for five years. We've sucked and I've kept my
mouth shut. That's how it's worked. Simple, simple enough, simple enough. Now, Okay,
(38:37):
she lets me know about it. But no, she's she's
the opposite to me. She's a gracious loser. But she's not.
Excuse me, she's she's a gracious winner. She's not a
good loser. I'm a great loser because that's all I've
ever done is lose. That's what I know. I don't
know anything else. Man, I'm not a good winner because
when my team's wins, I will let you know about it. Yeah,
(38:58):
all right, well, Bruce, And how now you have a
lot of fans. You know, I know you've been at
Fox for a few years now, but do you got
you know, I'll bring your name up every once in
a while and I'll get people where's Bruce that I
want to hear Bruce? I miss Bruce. Bring Bruce back,
you know, like a management I can bring you back.
But you have your you have a great gig in Phoenix.
And and how can people hear you? Everything's online these days,
(39:21):
so I'm sure people can stream the show if they
want to hear get a little Bruce. Jacob's fixed in
the in the morning. And how can they find you? Well,
you can find me. Well, I'm not on Twitter. We've
already established that. You can find me on Facebook. And
you can find me at eighties of fanatic dot com.
And we go six to ten am right now. It's
(39:43):
Mountain standard time. The other half of the year, Ben,
we're on your time, Pacific standard time because we don't
change clocks here. Uh. So that's how you can find me.
And I you know, listen. Uh there's a bunch of people.
Um uh still contact me and you know, I listen.
You get to work for a great company, you get
(40:04):
to be a great markets and fun markets and you
get Eddie Garcia. For heaven's sakes, anytime you get Eddie Garcia,
you're gonna have fun. So uh, I appreciate that. And uh,
you know, I thoroughly enjoyed good partners, great bosses, and
uh and uh, man, there's something about overnight. Bet you're
(40:25):
the king of it. Okay, you are the man and
I'm not I'm not brown nose, and I mean you're
the man. You're the late night guy. Uh. You may
be the best who has ever done it. And there's
so there's a certain there's a certain love for that,
and you kind of able to connect with listeners that
I don't think you can do in any other day
part in any other in any other market, you know,
(40:46):
I know, excuse me, maybe in some local markets. But
there's something, there's a there's a relationship when you do
the overnights that you can establish with listeners. Um, that
I think is unique. Yeah, I completely agree with you.
I I you know, I've been early on, I did
mid days, and I did some other day parts. I
(41:08):
think I've done the full radio cycle where I've been
on at all all different hours. But what is your favorite?
But yeah, I do like the overnights. I've always been
a night person. I've always been more nocturnal. I've been
more I feel like I'm more creative at night. I'm
not a morning person. I I don't know how you
do it, Bruce. I did morning radio. I did updates,
(41:29):
and I was like a sidekick on a morning show
for I think it was a year and a half.
And it was the worst year and a half of
my career because I hated I could not get up.
I I tried to stay up all night and then
make it like an overnight show, but that didn't work.
My body clock was all messed up. And you'd think
(41:49):
after a few months I would be able to adjust. Like,
and you've kind of done that the right. You tell
me you stay up all night getting ready for the show.
When when do you sleep? Yeah, so when you're awake,
I'm asleep. And when you're asleep, I'm a lake. You know.
Here's the thing I did afternoons. I don't know if
you know. If you but Brian no Fox is Brian
(42:11):
no He and I worked together in New York and
he was my boss. Uh and uh. I did afternoon
drive and that's okay, but not for me. And I
did enjoy the overnight very much, but for me, morning
drive morning. And I've done morning drive most of my
most of my career. At least you know local. Okay,
here Phoenix. You know, when I've been here for a
(42:32):
good ben it's like twenty seven, twenty eight years minus
a few years in New York and doing national out
of Chicago. I've been here for most of that time,
and the most of it's been Morning Drive, and I
wouldn't change the thing still even today. You know a
lot of morning people. They get glumpy years, they get older. Okay,
you're having to get up in the morning and everything
not me um, And I'm usually up preparing um and
(42:57):
watching and viewing and blah blah blah and listening more
often or not to your show and doing my thing. Well,
everybody else is sleeping, and uh man, I do love
Morning Drive. There's nothing like it. Well, you're you're one
of the greats, Bruce, I mean that man, mutual admiration
in society. Hey, before I before I move on here,
(43:18):
any any Eddie Garcia's stories. I know Eddie told me
a story that he met you in Phoenix and you
took him to a fish restaurant. Is that is that accurate?
I remember him telling the story, um several I think
it was a year or two years ago, something like that. Well,
I wouldn't. I don't like to take credit for things, right,
but you know, I say I deserve a little bit.
(43:40):
Eddie might not be married to his wife. Uh if
not for me. Now I did not introduce them. Actually,
you know, hey, hey Karen, this is Eddie. But she
she used to she was Katie. Okay, that was she
used to call the show. And she loved the dogs.
Ben loved. If you know her, and you do know her,
I do. He loved dogs, okay, So she loved She
(44:01):
would call and she say, let me talk to the dogs, okay.
And you know, and somehow, and I don't remember the transition,
you have to go over with uh with e Garcia.
Somehow they met and um and Eddie and I, you know,
he did a lot of work. We did a lot
of work together. And they met and yeah, they came
(44:22):
out of here again. Who was during super Bowl week?
And you know his life is just awesome. Bless her soul,
bless her loving soul and our loves vastly overrated Philip Rivers.
I'll get a message from Martial lamp paste me. Um
and uh uh yeah, I mean Eddie's you know, what
can you say? Man? Another guy who stood the test
(44:44):
of time and is a great broadcaster. And uh, at
the time, Patton, you know, he and I were I
think the only two guys really that chopped it up
on on the puckage at at the network for the
most part. Anyway, Yeah, no, I think that's still the case.
By the way, I think the he's the only guy
laugh that actually talks about talks about hockey. Hey he
(45:04):
I mean, I'll tell you this, man, I mean, he
knows the game. And uh so you wad him. And look,
I mean guys like to say you got all those guys. Man,
there's just so many great guys that that that worked there.
Uh you know, uh and still do. I mean, you know,
I know Brian know very well and any obviously both
(45:25):
friends of mine and blah blah blah, and uh but yeah,
talking a little bity credit for for Eddie Garcia and
he control in any blanks. But safe to say if
I didn't work at Fox, Eddie Garcia would not be
married to Karen Garcia. There you go, all right, Well,
thank you so much, have a wonderful rest of your
(45:48):
your weekend, right and well okay, yeah, well I'm glad.
I'm glad to spend the time with you. But I'm
not glad I won the bet. I'm pissed over the
circumstances of me being on your program. Here, I just
want to point out when I made the bed, a
lot of the stuff that ended up happening hadn't happened yet.
But you called your shot, and you you gotta right.
All right, Thank you, Bruce, all right, thank you Ben.
(46:10):
Be well
That's right. It is the Fifth Hour with Ben Mallor
and not not David Gascon. He's not here this weekend
because four hours a night are not enough eight days
a week. And as you know by now, this is
a spinoff of the Overnight Show, The Ben Mallard Show,
only available right here in the podcast world. And thank
(00:24):
you for finding We do appreciate that. Otherwise, why are
we doing this? And the show available wherever you get
your podcast. Tell a friend, Tell a friend, and also
tell a friend about cameo. Cameo. I'm not gonna waste
your time with a lot of these promotions and all that,
but but I do love Cameo. I'm on there and
you can find me Ben Maller personalized video messages if
(00:48):
you're a brigadier general, a P one super fan, if
you want me to rant about something. I had a
Laker apologist who called up and said, hey, you you
know he called me on cameos. You gotta ranked about
the Lakers. He's not a couple of times that schmuck?
How dare him? So? I did that? Uh? And also
obviously on social media if you don't follow me on
there already, it's Ben Maller's show on Facebook and Ben
(01:12):
Mallor on Fox on Instagram and just Ben Mallard on Twitter.
So I am excited to bring this person on today.
Is one of my favorite people in sports radio. I
don't like a lot of people in sports radio. I
don't you know that. I have a very strong opinions
about what's good and what's not. I like entertainment, I
like passion, strong opinions, and I like people that are prepared.
(01:36):
He checks every box. Plus I know him, I've worked
with him, I've met him. Bruce Jacobs. Now, if you're
a longtime connoisseur of Fox Sports Radio, and many of
you are, but maybe not you, Bruce Jacobs was part
of the network the first decade or so of Fox
Sports Radio. He is the most passionate New York Jets
(02:01):
and Mets fan I know, Sorry, Jason Smith. Bruce takes
it to the next level and he despises the Miami
Dolphins and also can't stand the New York Yankees. He's
been on the radio for many, many years. He's a
staple of the Phoenix radio market. He's doing morning drive
now in Phoenix, and so I wanted to catch up
(02:24):
with Bruce, and we welcome in Bruce Jacobs. The reason, Bruce,
that I wanted to catch up with you, and you're
aware of this, obviously I booked you, is that in
early October of we had a conversation. I believe I
appeared on your your Morning show. We were talking about
the Kyler murray or something along those lines. So anyways,
(02:44):
like October of last year, and we had made a
bet on the presidential election, which at that time was
about a month away. I said that Donald Trump was
gonna win a second term, and you said, no, it's
gonna be Joe Biden that's gonna win. And here we are.
Biden was sworn in the other day as the President
of the United States. So I'm paying up my bet.
(03:06):
I am a man of integrity, Bruce, I am a
man of honor. Congratulations, But how does it feel to
win that bet? Well, Bet, it's nice to talk to you, man, Okay.
It's it's good to hear from your brother. And you know,
I made a lot of bets over the years. I've
won a lot of bets. I've lost a lot of bets.
And I'll be honest with you, I am sorry that
(03:27):
I won this Bet, I'm very rarely sorry when I lose.
I mean, you're always sorry when you lose because you're lost.
So when I say sorry, sorry to yourself. But yeah,
I really kind of apologized to America. To be honest
with you, Yes, I did lose that, bet, Ben. Uh.
The upside is I get to spend some time with you.
(03:48):
The downside is I have well probably four years happy
to be ruled by him. Yeah. Well, you know, it'll
be interesting things to talk about, Bruce. It won't be
as much fun is when Trump was president, but you'll
you'll have some things to talking about bout you. Now,
you are a member of the f s Are Alumni Association.
(04:10):
So have you been paying up your dues Bruce's and
are you're an active member? Are you on hiatus from that?
I guess it depends you know what I mean, if
somebody some cash and co in. So you you asked
me to your college here, and yes I am a
(04:30):
proud alumni. Yeah, I rather enjoyed it very much. Well.
I I love working. I have no concept of time though,
I don't know if you're like me, like it all
is like a big ball. I like I remember working
alongside you we we would do shows at different times.
I think you filled in for me a few times,
and I probably filled in for you a few times,
(04:51):
and we went back and forth and all that. So
I recall that, but I'm trying to think of the
timeline when you were here for several years at Fox
Sports Radio. I remember that, but I don't remember exactly
like when I know it was in the I think
the first decade of the two thousand of my give
me the timeline, but the Bruce Jacob's timeline when you
(05:13):
were here. Yeah, so Ben, I started there around two
thousand and one. Tom Lee originally hired me. Okay, Tom
Lee when he ran Fox Sports. I went to about
two thousand and eleven. Uh no two thousand and ten
and UH my last partner in Lincoln Kennedy. He and
(05:34):
I banged it out for UH for about two years
or so. But I do remember all, you know, the
the times that you and I got a chance to
do some stuff together, and you know, I was pretty
much your weekend over that guy and UH and UH
chilling whenever needed. And so but I started it was
(05:55):
right up to I land had been two jobs in
one week after taking this were off Fox and back
here in Phoenix, which is where I live at at
the news talk station. So I was looking for a
little bit audition for a couple of things around the country,
not many, and then in one week, and you know,
(06:16):
that's the way the luck is, man. You know, you
put out the plan right then you put out the plan,
and then you know, the plan goes to buses. I
tell anybody who's down, if you're down, you know tomorrow. Okay,
you might be down today, but you don't know what's
going to happen tomorrow. You literally don't. And uh yeah,
So in one week I landed the two gigs and
(06:37):
Fox and one of them and it was great, man.
I thoroughly enjoyed it well. And you were ahead of
your time risk because like everyone these days, pretty much
everyone's doing remote broadcasting or has done remote broadcasting because
of the pandemic. But you, I remember, because you would
you do the show from your house, and you you
had your dog that would sometimes I think one time
shoot up your headphones or something like that. And I
(06:59):
remember you were all and once I'll tell you the
for me, the best story, okay, And and God bless
uh Andrew Ashwood, the Gorilla may rest in peace, one
of the really great people in the business for me
personally and professionally. Uh So, I'm doing the show and
(07:21):
I had like a studio. Okay, you know, man, I'm sitting,
I'm sitting. I'm sitting, and I'm surrounding myself with starter
phone Okay, obviously, so it doesn't sound at goee, etcetera, etcetera.
So at the time, I had three Siderian Huskies. Uh
Sever was the youngest, Curtis the middle one named after
(07:42):
Curtis Martin severs obvious, and Chad named after Chad Pennington.
And so one night, then Chad, who was the ringleader
of the three, he starts holland you know, like Husky
is he was just talking. Now imagine this. I'm sitting
at my desk. I only have much rope, if you will,
or so much line headphone line okay, because it's a
(08:05):
headphone mike at the time, and I'm like chat, you know,
without talking, because I'm on the air. Okay, you talk
about talent, man, do these two things at one time?
Liked quiet and the more you tell him to be quiet,
the more he would talk. The next thing, you know,
all three of them are at it, man, and they
are going at it, and I'm like thinking to myself,
Holy moly, I'm gonna get fired. The next day, I
(08:29):
did you not? The grilla called and he's like, uh,
saws everything garden, and I'm like, good. So I was
a show. It was well. We had a little problem.
So I tell him about the probably goes. I don't
don't know where I hurt it, and do me a
favor the next time you're on the more of the
(08:50):
dogs and less of you, okay. And so it was great, man,
it was great. And so we bring the dogs on.
We formed the band called Ruse and the Wolfie Three.
They come on and do predictions. You know. We got
fun like yeah, yeah, man, listen, that's what I love.
You're You're you're my like my upper echelon there. You know,
(09:12):
because a lot of these guys in sports radio these days, uh,
you know, they just they don't have the possess. You
got the possess, Bruce. I'm not kissing your ass here,
but I like your style, right, I like you know,
you're passionate, you've got strong opinions, you're prepared, and you
throw haymakers be sure to catch live editions of The
Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm
(09:33):
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio.
What what happened to our business with so many the
next you know, next generation? I don't know how you
want to describe it. I don't sense a lot of that.
I don't know what happened used to be that when
I back in my day, Bruce, when I started, I
feel like a lot of guys were like that, and
now the business has gotten away from that, which I
(09:55):
don't like. I don't like. What do you think happened? Well, honestly,
I think it's a lot of things, Ben, I think
it starts with UH management. It became like government, Okay,
the rule of thum became instead of sin. It's thicker
at the top and then thinner where you needed to
(10:17):
be sicker. And that is UH good hosts and support
people and producers, you know everything. When one when one
guy has to do six seven jobs, Ben, you know
you can be as good as you can be. And man,
when you have so many jobs, there's gonna be things
that are just gonna fall through the cracks. And when
the little things fall through the cracks, they become a
big thing. So there's that. I think the audience has changed.
(10:40):
Let's be honest. The tolerance level in this country is
about as bad as it can be. Okay, people are
looking to be offended. Okay, they want to be offended
so they can complain and then they can try to
get you canceled. Because that's like a big club. It's
a it's a cancer on the country as a whole,
in anything, not just read your folks, um, but it's
(11:01):
become a cancer. And these people lived for this because
their lives are mostly meaningless. They have no meaning in life,
so their meaning now is destroying you because you have
some level of success. Um, there's that. There's for young
This is what I find is disappointment. And I won't
speak for you, and I think I'm a little north
of you. But when I was a kid, and I
(11:25):
hate doing these when I was a kid, but when
I loved you know, I love sports, but I'd love
to research it. And at that time we didn't have
all this this great stuff, right, So when I say
research it, I love to learn the history about the
things that I loved that I didn't know the history
of made me love it more. R the case that
the dolphins hate it more. Okay, so it depends. But
I had a quest a desire. A lot of the
(11:48):
younger folks. I think where they're making a mistake is,
you know, history started before they were born. It didn't
start on the day they were born. So I think
there's that as well. And I also believe that you know,
a lot of people have lost the bay you communicate
because they spend their life in those phones. Ben. I'm
sitting in Phoenix, Arizona. The sun is out, it's a
(12:10):
tiny bit of wind, it's about seventy degrees. It's just
a beautiful day. You've been here, and I'm talking to
you on a flip phone because I do not want
my phone to be in my life, to be engrossed
in my phone. So there's a lot of factors, and
that's so I see it. Yeah, And am I'm misting.
I don't think you're on Are you on Twitter? Bruce?
(12:31):
I I know you're on Facebook. I see on Facebook
all the time. Are you active on the Twitter machine? No?
And that's not a protest. I've never been on Twitter,
and I don't see any reason, uh why I would
why I would do that. No, No, it doesn't interest me.
First off, then nothing happens right now that if I
(12:51):
find out in two minutes or three minutes or four
minutes later, is going to change anything for me. Okay,
so um No, I jump on Facebook a little bit,
have a little bit of fun. But other than that,
you know, I'm not a social media fan. I guess
you know. People my age, we man, we found better
(13:13):
ways to communicate this shitty here yell at each other
on the phone. Yeah, no, listen, I Bruce, I I
I have a love hate relationship with Twitter, like I
I use it for the show. I use it a lot,
but I find the biggest a holes in the world
are all getting together and having a block party pretty
much on Twitter. It's NonStop. But that the word I
(13:36):
will use, Bruce, that describes what you're talking about. Is
this obsessive like the tribalism, like if and there's no
room for any dissenting opinions. And it's the thing that's
really scary and you reference this and you've lived it,
and you know we're all living at the work in
the radio business, is that even in sports radio, like
(13:56):
I love to me, the greatest hate is sports hate.
Like you are legendary in the business, Bruce. You can't
stand the Miami Dolphins right in the Yankees, you ripped
them all that, But that's like, that's fun, that's great,
that's sports say. But even that, now you can't do
that because people don't want to hear it, and they
get offended and they sent in the attack puppies to
(14:20):
to take you down. It's insane. But it all comes
back to tribalism. I remember when MLB dot Com started.
I had a buddy of mine who was working for
Major League Baseball who told me, this is going to
be the future that you know, you're gonna get to
the point where people don't want to hear They're just
gonna have reporters covering the teams that are on the payroll,
(14:40):
and eventually people aren't gonna want to hear any negativity
about their teams. And it's it's like we've we've had
that moment, Bruce, where even you're in you're in Phoenix,
you're in the Phoenix market. Right. Uh, how about now?
Kyler Murray? Right, I I ripped Kyler Murray a few
times on my show. It end up in the in
(15:00):
the newspaper. I send you the material of like, Hey, Ben,
you're getting trash today and I love it, man, I
love it? Yes, but continue you Coo're you're exactly correct.
Do you get ripped in the papers today? You're correct? Yeah, no,
But I'm just it didn't used to be like that.
In fact, I you know, you're a little older than
I am, but I think we have the same you know,
(15:23):
mindset on this where I think a good fan to
me is willing to take some shots at their own
teeth and if they can't, to me, that's a bad fan.
What do you think about that? You know what I
would say? Overall, definitely sports and having done the news
talk format, the ability to have fun is I'm not
(15:46):
gonna say it's gone because I have fun every day, Ben,
honestly I do. I you know, broadcasting is fun, but
part of it is serious. A lot of it is
fun and for me, you know, um, I'm all said this, man.
The two greatest things about sports is the love and
the hate. I love to love my teams, but hey,
(16:09):
if my team sucks, if your team sucks too, I
feel a little bit better because I love to hate. Oh.
The Dolphins are Number one and always will be the
Yankee slotting right behind them. And we can throw in
the Phillies, the Flyers, virtually anything from the city of Philadelphia. Um,
and I've got a number of others too, man so,
(16:31):
but yeah, I've always enjoyed and I know, listen, I
so badly. I know if you feel the same way.
This is a little bit of a different lane, a
little bit. But we badly need been the Tampa Bay
Bucks to get to the super Bowl. And it has
nothing to do with Tom Brady. It's because if we
don't have Bruce Arians, we don't have the pomp and
(16:53):
the circumstance we normally do. It will be boring. Bly
b A can make the Super Bowl all a little
spicy of all the people involved, because how many stories
can I hear that are? You know? Okay, that's funny
about Andy Andy read eating different cheeseburgers. I mean, okay,
that's got some value to it. It It needs an affable guy.
But man, if we don't have be a Brother, we're
(17:14):
gonna have a boring super Bowl week. How about the
if we get the Bills against the Packers, Now, that
would be all next level boring unless Aaron Rodgers does
something passive aggressive in which he normally does that. That
would be the Savings. Now, how have you recovered, Britain?
I guess the Patriot dynasty is over now, But when
(17:36):
you were at Fox Sports Radio, they were becoming the
dynasty they were. It was the early part of it
and it lasted another ten years. Bruce. Uh, they haven't
passed the Dolts. No, it doesn't bother me. Then the Patriots,
Patriots never bothered me. I respect the Patriots, man. I
don't have any problem with dynasties. Um. You know, I
(17:58):
know they cheated and I like to poke fund them.
They changed a couple of times. But you know what's funny.
All of my hatred the teams that I don't like
today I didn't like when I was younger. Nothing has
really changed. I might have added a team like Ohio
State to the list because I can't stand them. I've
added a few personalities or people to the list. Uh.
(18:20):
But for the both part, the same teams I don't
like today are the teams I didn't like as a kid,
and they if I wanted to kill the Patriots, I
just as usually hate the Atlanta Braves. I mean, you
talked about the Patriots, how about the Braves run denying
my Mets any possibility? And now would they went fifteen
out of sixteen or whatever it was? So Yeah, I've
been the victim quote unquote of dynasties man happen Tora,
(18:47):
and I've gotten hit against two of them. Yeah. Well,
and I gotta ask you. I haven't talked to you
about this, but how many walls did you punch after
the Jets beat the Rams to not uh, to forget
the number one situation this past year? Did you scream
out loud? Did you have to go outside? I mean,
what what? What did you do Bruce? When the Jets
actually won a game when it looked like they were
(19:08):
gonna go in sixteen? Well? The one thing I think
it's the first time my wife's kids ever saw somebody
hate on their own team. Okay, and um, you know,
I mean, look, hey, it's all worked out in the
end for me. Ben, I got the coach I want, dude. Now,
if I can get the quarterback I want d Watson, boy,
(19:32):
I'll be a very very It'll be the first time
in seven years I won't go into August and then
roll into September. And I don't, and I haven't cared. Really,
I really have not cared much about the Jets the
last couple of years because, you know, if you're not
interested in winning, what do I get out of it?
You know, I mean, well, what is it for me
(19:52):
as a fan if you are. I didn't say if
you didn't win. I said, if you're not interested in winning,
and when you have when you have eight dad Gaze
or eight damn waste as I call them, and you
have todd toilet Bowls before that, you don't want to
win to be the one of these being. No one
of these coaches is capable. They're both powerable and uh.
(20:13):
But now I think we want to get back to winning.
So I'm I'm very excited about the upcoming season, even
though I know we're gonna stay, but I'm excited to
see State. Yeah, they'll be instead of being at the
very bottom, they'll be you know, in the mid tier
of suckets. They'll be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, So we
won't suck the same way. Then we're gonna suck a
(20:33):
different way. Man, Okay, it's gonna be different. We're gonna
be We're gonna suck aggressively. We're back to back installs.
You know, the Jets play their best football, and remember
you got to keep it in context. They're best football
is a FC Championship games and not a lot of them,
but a few when we when we have a defensive coach,
(20:53):
a defensive minded guy as our coach. And you can
look at really anywhere from Rex to Parcelves to leave
you bank. You know, it doesn't matter where you go home.
Our past football has played with a defensive coach, uh coach.
So I'm very excited, very excited to win my five
games coming up this year. If we get Watson, then
(21:14):
if we get Watching and Fever, we should be dangerous.
You know, he's a moral enemy of mine, Deshaun Watson there,
but he blocked me on Twitter. And this is like
when he was out of coming out of Clemson because
I I said something on social media. I was, I
forget exactly what I said. You got all upset though,
he very offended and uh and so I'd be worried
(21:35):
about him, Bruce, if he goes to New York, because
if you can't handle criticism from a blowhard like me,
can you imagine what the New York The few tough
guys left in the New York media would do to
Deshaun Watson. It would not go well. It would not
go well. It won't listen. I uh And then uh,
I don't have to I don't have to blow beate
for you. You know, I'm off and up at the
(21:55):
times that a lot of time that you're on because
I'm doing my preparation work. And I listened to about
your Twitter wars and all this, and you know, I
find that to be that maybe one thing that that
you know, that the fun wars, but you know when
it gets really not to go back to that, but
you know those fun wars and blocking people and laughing
at people and that sort of thing. Yeah, that might
(22:17):
be one element of it that I would like. But hey,
you know what I don't care. Deshaun Watson is is
high level. I've been talking about this with my partner.
I do the show with Dale Hellistre, the former cowboy. Uh.
And when you say who, I say, he's got three rings,
so he's got a lot of who on his on
his fingers. Anyway, I would if I were any of
(22:41):
like twenty teams, then oh you want three number ones? Man?
I put the phone on pause and say, man, I
can't believe they're gonna they're gonna give me. They're gonna
give me this guy for only three number ones. I
couldn't make that deal fast enough. Then I'll give you
salmon to you want Sam and three salmon three? It
is no problem. And I would finally because before I die,
(23:03):
then I have to see a great Jets quarterback. You know,
Brett Favre played for US one year, but he wasn't
a Jet. And I love Jet Pennington, but he's not great. Um,
I gotta see one great Jet quarterback. And Watson is
still young enough to be a Jet when all is
said and done. Yeah, all right. I like the fact
that you're willing to trade all the draft picks, because
(23:24):
that's another peeple, all of them. Yeah, I agree to that.
I'm so annoyed you can't trade draft picks. Oh my god, No,
every and they think every draft pick is going to
turn out to be an all pro. And it's like,
you know, we've seen enough, Bruce, of these draft picks.
And you, as a Jets fan more than anybody, these
guys that are drafting the top ten that have all
(23:45):
this hyperbole around them, and how great they're gonna be,
and most of them are either mediocre or completely worthless
compared to the hype that they had before the draft. Yet, yeah,
I looked at these teams that perpetually don't have a
cool are back, okay. And I looked at the quarterbacks
that they have drafted high in the middle. Okay. The Jets.
(24:06):
We've drafted Mark Sanchez. That's that's top level for us.
That's mediocre. We've drafted the biggest bum, Christian Hackenberg, who,
by the way, Ben and you, I don't know if
you ever asked the sir tribute. There's only three guys,
three quarterbacks who have been drafted since the merger in
(24:26):
the first two rounds that have not seen the playing
field for their team. Only three. Jim Kelly because he
was drafted by Uh. He went, I'm sorry in his
first two years. I apologize. That was the last part
of it. So did not see the field in the
first two years. Jim Kelly. But that's a trick because
(24:47):
he played for the Houston Gamblers. The second one was
a guy drafted by the Euston Oilers, and I forgot
the dude's name. In nineteen seventy and the second one
is Christian Ackenberg. He's only the third top two pick
since the merger to be drafted and never saw the
field for his team. So the guys we drafted, the
(25:08):
kid from Baalor I forgot his name, ran all Brile's
offense there, so high take flowed. I looked at the
Cardinals because you know, like cover of the Cardinals, they
drafted Matt Liner's. Um, oh my goodness. I had a list,
and I say to the Chicago Bears, look at the
quarterbacks that they have drafted. You wouldn't give up three
number one for us first an established star right now?
(25:32):
You're crazy? That's a gift. Three number one, no problem
every day. No, I'm right there with you. I Draft
picks are lottery tickets there. You know, most lottery tickets
you don't win in. So it's I'm I'm in complete agreement.
And that stand Hinky guy or Sam Hickey rather the
GM of the the Sixers with that whole trust in
(25:52):
the process, and he made that cool and all that.
I hate that guy. I'm glad he's not working in sports.
I it's such an annoyance. Sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two a m.
Eastern eleven pm Pacific. I want to go back to you, Bruce,
as a radio savant. How many markets have you worked
in over the years. I know you've been in Phoenix
(26:13):
a lot. You were on the East Coast, and you're
in Albany, I believe for a while. I think you
started in New York. How many other places have you
been bouncing around the country doing radio? So we're talking
local or yeah, local markets? Uh, New York and Phoenix,
those are the only two. And and I've been nationale
(26:36):
for Fox. And let's just say a couple of peons. Well,
I thought you didn't you work with Arnie at the
Were you in Chicago? Or no? You did you do
that work with was was the afternoon guy? Uh? In Phoenix?
In fact, Annie Spaniard is the first guy Ben to
ever put me on the air. I must have told
(26:58):
you I can do you on. I'm I'm like overnight
board up and I had a regular job, sales job,
and I'm watching It was during the NHL playoffs and
you know, like, uh, like your boy, my boy Eddie Garcia. Okay,
love the NHL and love the playoffs. So I'm sitting
there Ben, and I'm watching it was a first round.
We won the cup this year. Uh, and I'm watching
(27:20):
the first round of My boss comes up to me
and Ben, I do not embellish on this at all, Okay,
he says to me. Hey, it was a retail store.
He says to me, I want you to go and
dust the tops of those refrigerators. So I very kindly
said to him, listen, I don't touch the time. I
don't toust the top of the refrigery to my own house,
and I'm not gonna do it here. My job is
to sell. There ain't no customers, so customer walks and
(27:41):
I'm gonna sell them something. Olways, I'm gonna watch this
hockey game. Next day, I go in. I got fired
for in subordination. The radio station called me. I'm a
weekend board up. They said, hey, we need you to
come in and run the board because we have a
meeting with everybody and there's nobody to I was, okay,
no problem, I'm available. I go in an audio tell
you and Arnie's doing the afternoon show and he said
(28:04):
to me, and I've seen him in the always a
couple of times and whatnot, you know, and he's the
big the BMOC. Okay, he runs. He used the sports
guy in town. And he says to me, he goes, hey,
you're a hockey fan, right, big hockey fans. Why'd you
come on the air. We'll talk some hockey, will take
some calls. Okay. Then I never ran the board. After that,
I got a call from the general manager. Hey, that's that.
(28:26):
I started doing some on air updates and blah blah blah.
But if the want Arnie Spaniard, you know, I may
never have gotten a chance. I may have and I
may not. So he's the first guy that ever put
me on the air in a major market. So you
are on Arnie Spaniards Radio Tree as the big star.
And then I am sure Arnie said others. And then
didn't you work with Mike Golic before he became the
(28:47):
Mike and Mike guy. You were with him right and Phoenix,
didn't you do some stuff with him? Yeah? So after
Arnie left and blah blah blah, change the ownership, blah
blah blah blah blah. The new program director who his
name is Chris Visor, brother of Leslie Business San Diego, guy. Right.
I think I might have crossed paths with him at
(29:09):
the mighty six ninety back in you know you probably
did San Diego Denver. Uh, And they hired him here
in Phoenix. And the funnies thing is is that I
had I was Arnie got Arnie got let go. And
actually Arnie called me when I was on vacation. I
(29:29):
was vacation. He says, Hey, when you come back. I
was a producer at this time. He says, I just
want to let you know. And Arnie were I were friends.
He says, listen, I want to let you know you're
gonna get fired. You know, I'm just a young guy.
Ben right. He's like, yeah, they're they're getting rid of
a producer and the and the guy who ran the
place with a slob and an idiot, and he didn't
like me and whatever you don't like. He didn't like
people from New York. So when I came back, they
(29:53):
told me he actually came into the studio while I
was doing a fill in show. Anyway, long story, short
ter calls me and uh, he got ahold of my
audio because he asked for audio from all the on
air people, and uh, he listened to mine, and he
called me and he said, hey, don't go, don't go
looking for work. I'll be in town in a weekend.
(30:15):
I want you to come and see me. So he
hired me back, and he brought in Mike Golick and uh,
he put Mike and I together, who worked here for
shat under three years, and it was great. I mean,
he's he was just an awesome, awesome he's just awesome individual,
awesome human being and an awesome radio partner. Yeah, and
then he went onto that Mike and Mike thing forever
(30:36):
and ever and ever. So you've been in the Phoenix
market for a very long time here, Bruce. Now you
do your morning show? Is it all cardinals, d backs
and science? It's not right. You do national stuff. You
do a lot of national stuff too, righte. You mix
it up? Oh sure, because remember this is this very
transition here. Um. So you know it's still top five
for people moving from other places. So yeah, I mean, obviously, Ben,
(31:01):
you know it's Phoenix, so you know, um, but we
do not. Oh okay, listen, look what are we gonna
what is our eight cardinal topic today? God? Though, who
they'll want the list of that? Um? No, no, I mean,
we we hit the headlines and then we hit the
stuff that nobody else often has based on culling of information, opinion,
(31:23):
just whatever. And then by all means, listen, I'm going
to spend a large part of this hanging on the
Brooklyn nets. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?
I don't know there's a team outside of the Dolphins
of the Yankees. I want to lose more games. Okay.
I love that Cavalier game last night, by the way, Okay,
that was watching watching a nine pounds sex and destroy
(31:44):
their backcourt was beautiful. So yeah, listen, man, we we
have up front, but I'm not you know, it's one
of the great places, and you know this will be
the last stop on my train. One of the great
things for me is I do not get micro managed
by seventeen bosses, ten say else people, eight marketing people,
and somebody along the chain there is upset with something
(32:05):
I said. So you know it's uh, you know, your professional,
but free rein your professional, be a professional, be an idiot,
and yeah, it up absolutely That was a former cowboy.
So um, I'm a jet fan. I mean, god, did
anybody really just spend four hours only talking about local
(32:27):
Is that is that really going on? Because if that is,
that's a losing ticket. Yeah, well I I filled in it.
I did some shows at w e I for a
while it was pretty much all like you know, just
the Patriots and Red Sox and Celtics. That was pretty
much and really rarely the Celtics on that. But I
like what you said about not having a bunch of
people meddling with you. And that's one of the reasons
(32:49):
I love doing the overnight show, Bruce. As you know,
management typically not listening in the middle of the night,
so we have a little more freedom to do what
we want to do, which is which is pretty cool
there in the oh. I I didn't bring up the
big Mets trade Francisco Indoor. Have you gotten your Francisco
Indoor Jersey, Bruce, it's coming your level on a scale
(33:14):
of one to ten. Your level of excitement when Francisco
Indoor it was announced that he had been traded the Mets.
All right, your level of excitement and you found out
the Mets GM was sending pictures of his twigging berries
out to the women years ago. How do I answer that, Ben?
(33:41):
How would you let me handle that serious or I
can just pass on it, like, uh, when will you when?
When will you be starting? Is the next GM of
the Mets? Have you sent your resume in yet to
the new ownership group there? Well, i'll tell you, Ben,
I'm glad that they didn't start. And Springer. I can't
believe that dude got millions in here. I mean shooting
(34:05):
to sixty. I thought there was no money in this game. Um. Hey,
if the Mets can get ballor and I don't know
if they will, but if they can get ballot, even
if they don't, we have a very good team. We're
coming after your Dodgers, Ben, Um, No, I actually have
I actually have said this. I think the Dodgers have
the chance to be a real good a dynasty. Uh
(34:29):
that's how good they can be. But I think we
can be better than you. If we can get Trevor ballot,
then look out, big boy. You'll have to Hey, you'll
have to look shout for you to San Diego for
some trouble. But make sure you glance east because we're coming. Baby,
We're coming to kick some ass. Watch out for the Mets. No,
I am worried about the Padres. I like teams that,
(34:51):
like the Mets are have been aggressive here, the Padres,
even the Blue Jays. I don't agree with that the
Blue Jays have done. But I'm so sick of these
teams that just sit on their hands and they don't
do anything in the off season. And you know, as
far as the Dodgers, the thing that worries me here,
and let me be very clear, the the executive, the
big shot, this guy stand casting, who I'm sure you're
(35:12):
very familiar with, but he was in Atlanta when the
Braves you referenced them earlier. They made the playoffs all
the time, and they had the nineties dynasty and spilled
over into the two thousands. But that's the model. The
Dodgers model is, Hey, let's just make the playoffs every
year and then we'll win, you know, a couple of
championships along the way. The Braves only one one. The
Dodgers have won one. But really, Bruce, you'd admit they
(35:34):
should have won two, right because the Astros were cheating
in and you know, that's a bull crap championship for
the Astros. Yes, question about it. Listen, I think the
Dodgers have a chance. Let me rephrase, uh dynasty is
too simple. I think they have a chance to be
the best baseball team I've seen. And I hate to
(35:56):
say this, but you know, there's my opinion, there's my
at and there's a tax. Right yeah, but you know,
since since those great Yankee teams at the turn of
the century, Okay, um, I think they maybe even better.
I mean they're just loaded and young, and I I agree, man,
they probably should have to and uh, I just hope that.
(36:19):
I hope that. Man if we could get Trevor Bauer, boy,
oh boy, man, oh man, we could be so good.
Of course, we still have that as SeMet fans call
him f and Diaz closing games, but you know, hopefully
that won't last too long. We did bring in big
Trevor May, so there you go, there you go, Trevor May. Uh.
(36:39):
And now, Bruce, I believe at your house you are
you were living with a non Jets fan? Is that correct?
Is it is your your wife a Bills fan? Is
that right? My wife is a die hard Bills fan.
That is her favorite team. She's from. Um, well, she
likes to consider herself for a a New Yorker, but hey,
(37:01):
if you live in Buffalo, you're not a New Yorker
and be she'll only lived there until she was about
to sick. But she is a huge Bills fans, So
you know, I you know, you know how this goes,
Ben being a married man, happy wife, happy life, blah
blah blah. And uh here's the thing though, Ben, and
she can't hear me right now. You know she's working
(37:22):
from home. I gotta be honest, Ben. My favorite non
Jet player is Patrick Mahomes. Okay, maybe I think it's
He's gonna be the greatest quarterback I'll ever see. And
god do I love to watch him play. He just
and I'm not an offensive guy. I like defense, but
there's something about him that's just I've never seen it
before and I don't think I'll ever see it again.
He's magic to me. He's so he's so freaking great.
(37:46):
He's unbelievable. Um. So, I you know the chiefs are man,
I'll tell you, and but I'll roll with my wife
and you know I'll work for the Bills and un
because it's a good I mean, the petals are really good.
I mean, you know, you guys love Josh Allen man,
I mean you know I love that kid. Yeah, Bruce, Like,
(38:07):
what do you do? You guys have wagers because every
year the Jets and Bills are gonna play twice forever
and ever they're in the same division. So how's it
work in the house? You guys make bets. You're watching
separate rooms. How's how's it work? Okay, so I'm married
for about a year and a half, but uh, seriously,
dating for five years. We've sucked and I've kept my
mouth shut. That's how it's worked. Simple, simple enough, simple enough. Now, Okay,
(38:37):
she lets me know about it. But no, she's she's
the opposite to me. She's a gracious loser. But she's not.
Excuse me, she's she's a gracious winner. She's not a
good loser. I'm a great loser because that's all I've
ever done is lose. That's what I know. I don't
know anything else. Man, I'm not a good winner because
when my team's wins, I will let you know about it. Yeah,
(38:58):
all right, well, Bruce, And how now you have a
lot of fans. You know, I know you've been at
Fox for a few years now, but do you got
you know, I'll bring your name up every once in
a while and I'll get people where's Bruce that I
want to hear Bruce? I miss Bruce. Bring Bruce back,
you know, like a management I can bring you back.
But you have your you have a great gig in Phoenix.
And and how can people hear you? Everything's online these days,
(39:21):
so I'm sure people can stream the show if they
want to hear get a little Bruce. Jacob's fixed in
the in the morning. And how can they find you? Well,
you can find me. Well, I'm not on Twitter. We've
already established that. You can find me on Facebook. And
you can find me at eighties of fanatic dot com.
And we go six to ten am right now. It's
(39:43):
Mountain standard time. The other half of the year, Ben,
we're on your time, Pacific standard time because we don't
change clocks here. Uh. So that's how you can find me.
And I you know, listen. Uh there's a bunch of people.
Um uh still contact me and you know, I listen.
You get to work for a great company, you get
(40:04):
to be a great markets and fun markets and you
get Eddie Garcia. For heaven's sakes, anytime you get Eddie Garcia,
you're gonna have fun. So uh, I appreciate that. And uh,
you know, I thoroughly enjoyed good partners, great bosses, and
uh and uh, man, there's something about overnight. Bet you're
(40:25):
the king of it. Okay, you are the man and
I'm not I'm not brown nose, and I mean you're
the man. You're the late night guy. Uh. You may
be the best who has ever done it. And there's
so there's a certain there's a certain love for that,
and you kind of able to connect with listeners that
I don't think you can do in any other day
part in any other in any other market, you know,
(40:46):
I know, excuse me, maybe in some local markets. But
there's something, there's a there's a relationship when you do
the overnights that you can establish with listeners. Um, that
I think is unique. Yeah, I completely agree with you.
I I you know, I've been early on, I did
mid days, and I did some other day parts. I
(41:08):
think I've done the full radio cycle where I've been
on at all all different hours. But what is your favorite?
But yeah, I do like the overnights. I've always been
a night person. I've always been more nocturnal. I've been
more I feel like I'm more creative at night. I'm
not a morning person. I I don't know how you
do it, Bruce. I did morning radio. I did updates,
(41:29):
and I was like a sidekick on a morning show
for I think it was a year and a half.
And it was the worst year and a half of
my career because I hated I could not get up.
I I tried to stay up all night and then
make it like an overnight show, but that didn't work.
My body clock was all messed up. And you'd think
(41:49):
after a few months I would be able to adjust. Like,
and you've kind of done that the right. You tell
me you stay up all night getting ready for the show.
When when do you sleep? Yeah, so when you're awake,
I'm asleep. And when you're asleep, I'm a lake. You know.
Here's the thing I did afternoons. I don't know if
you know. If you but Brian no Fox is Brian
(42:11):
no He and I worked together in New York and
he was my boss. Uh and uh. I did afternoon
drive and that's okay, but not for me. And I
did enjoy the overnight very much, but for me, morning
drive morning. And I've done morning drive most of my
most of my career. At least you know local. Okay,
here Phoenix. You know, when I've been here for a
(42:32):
good ben it's like twenty seven, twenty eight years minus
a few years in New York and doing national out
of Chicago. I've been here for most of that time,
and the most of it's been Morning Drive, and I
wouldn't change the thing still even today. You know a
lot of morning people. They get glumpy years, they get older. Okay,
you're having to get up in the morning and everything
not me um, And I'm usually up preparing um and
(42:57):
watching and viewing and blah blah blah and listening more
often or not to your show and doing my thing. Well,
everybody else is sleeping, and uh man, I do love
Morning Drive. There's nothing like it. Well, you're you're one
of the greats, Bruce, I mean that man, mutual admiration
in society. Hey, before I before I move on here,
(43:18):
any any Eddie Garcia's stories. I know Eddie told me
a story that he met you in Phoenix and you
took him to a fish restaurant. Is that is that accurate?
I remember him telling the story, um several I think
it was a year or two years ago, something like that. Well,
I wouldn't. I don't like to take credit for things, right,
but you know, I say I deserve a little bit.
(43:40):
Eddie might not be married to his wife. Uh if
not for me. Now I did not introduce them. Actually,
you know, hey, hey Karen, this is Eddie. But she
she used to she was Katie. Okay, that was she
used to call the show. And she loved the dogs.
Ben loved. If you know her, and you do know her,
I do. He loved dogs, okay, So she loved She
(44:01):
would call and she say, let me talk to the dogs, okay.
And you know, and somehow, and I don't remember the transition,
you have to go over with uh with e Garcia.
Somehow they met and um and Eddie and I, you know,
he did a lot of work. We did a lot
of work together. And they met and yeah, they came
(44:22):
out of here again. Who was during super Bowl week?
And you know his life is just awesome. Bless her soul,
bless her loving soul and our loves vastly overrated Philip Rivers.
I'll get a message from Martial lamp paste me. Um
and uh uh yeah, I mean Eddie's you know, what
can you say? Man? Another guy who stood the test
(44:44):
of time and is a great broadcaster. And uh, at
the time, Patton, you know, he and I were I
think the only two guys really that chopped it up
on on the puckage at at the network for the
most part. Anyway, Yeah, no, I think that's still the case.
By the way, I think the he's the only guy
laugh that actually talks about talks about hockey. Hey he
(45:04):
I mean, I'll tell you this, man, I mean, he
knows the game. And uh so you wad him. And look,
I mean guys like to say you got all those guys. Man,
there's just so many great guys that that that worked there.
Uh you know, uh and still do. I mean, you know,
I know Brian know very well and any obviously both
(45:25):
friends of mine and blah blah blah, and uh but yeah,
talking a little bity credit for for Eddie Garcia and
he control in any blanks. But safe to say if
I didn't work at Fox, Eddie Garcia would not be
married to Karen Garcia. There you go, all right, Well,
thank you so much, have a wonderful rest of your
(45:48):
your weekend, right and well okay, yeah, well I'm glad.
I'm glad to spend the time with you. But I'm
not glad I won the bet. I'm pissed over the
circumstances of me being on your program. Here, I just
want to point out when I made the bed, a
lot of the stuff that ended up happening hadn't happened yet.
But you called your shot, and you you gotta right.
All right, Thank you, Bruce, all right, thank you Ben.
(46:10):
Be well
Host
Ben Maller
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