November 19, 2021 • 44 mins
Jerry Coleman makes his maiden voyage on the Fifth Hour podcast. Ben and Jerry have been radio friends for over 20 years. The guys share stories about their days working as radio stringers covering various professional sports and the locker room drama. They celebrate the iconic Baltimore sports rant from Earl Weaver and talk some Lamar Jackson and more. Jerry Coleman hosts “Sports with Coleman” from 6-10 pm on Baltimore's “105.7 The Fan” and has covered the Orioles and Ravens since Hector was a pup. Follow Jerry on Twitter @SportswColeman / Follow Ben on Twitter @BenMaller and listen to the original "Ben Maller Show," Monday-Friday on Fox Sports Radio, 2a-6a ET, 11p-3a PT!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kaboom. 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 pill poppers in the penthouse the Clearinghouse of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, Yet
another weekend is upon us. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mallard back at it. Because four hours a night, five
days a week clearly not enough. So we do this
(00:46):
eight days a week. And if it is a Friday podcast,
that would be today, the weekend before Thanksgiving holiday. It's
a chance to catch up with someone who I either
know or want to talk to. In this case, it's
someone that I know, a radio pal, someone who I've
(01:09):
never actually physically met, but have been friends with for
over twenty years. I have known. This guy is a
fellow sports talk radio gas bag. He hosts Sports with
Coleman on in the nighttime hours in Baltimore six to ten.
He has covered the Ravens and the Baltimore Orioles for
(01:31):
a long time. We have sparked, I go on his
radio show. Occasionally. I'll pop up on his show and
he uh, this is his first appearance on this show.
But let's give it up now for Sports with Coleman.
Jerry Coleman is his name, and sports talk radio is
his game. So, Jerry, how long have we known each other?
(01:53):
I think it began in the early two thousands, I
want to say, but it might have been even earlier
than that. I'm not sure. I want to say early
two thousands, Jerry, phil me and when was it? It
was actually prior to that, Ben, and thanks for having
me on. I can now update my resume and add
this to it. It should be uh, you know, enough
(02:15):
to get me a much better job than I have
right now. But no, it goes back to a local
l A station you were working at one that of
course started with a K. I can't remember the rest
of the call letters, but you would make the calls
to the little stringers around the country and say, hey,
can you come on and during I think it was
the Angels broadcast or pregame show and give us an
(02:38):
update from Camden Yards was where I was back in
the day. It was a memorial stadium but you would
arrange for that, and then you became, you know, a
lot more high profile and than have time to do
the dirty work. Wow, I don't even remember that. My
memory is so bad, Jerry, I don't. I just remember
you doing stuff. It fucked. We we don't even use
(02:58):
stringers anymore. I don't think it. Fox Sports Radio, like
we at most places have kind of gone away from that.
But we we have similar backgrounds, Like we both did
that for a long time, and I have great memories
and also some terrible memories of doing that. But I
was at games every single night, and it was it
(03:20):
was awesome. And in those days you had a lot
of access to the locker room and stuff, which was
I think Jerry, you would agree a blessing and a
curse at the same time. Some of the stuff that
took place behind the scenes very interesting. There were there
were numerous clubhouse encounters with me and players and managers,
and too many to probably tell the time during this podcast.
(03:42):
But yeah, that's where I learned the protocols of you know,
when you can and can't go into a locker room.
I was always very aggressive, so I didn't ask. I
just begged for forgiveness after. You know, there was one
time actually when they were the Red Skins and Joe
Gibbs was coaching them back in the nineties. They were
playing the Dallas Cowboys at RFK Stadium. I'm talking football now,
(04:05):
and I didn't know that NFL locker rooms were closed
before the games starts. So I strolled into the Redskins
locker room. There was no gate guard whatsoever. But once
they found out I was in there, all heck broke
loose and I was escorted out. I was chided by PR.
I was told never to enter an NFL locker room
(04:25):
before the game or without a PR person. So I
learned a harsh lesson there. But yeah, that's where I
cut my teeth as being a stringer. You know. We
made a joke about it at the time. You would
make maybe thirty thousand dollars a year, fifty dollars at
a time. Yeah, no, it was, It was true. And
it was like every remember after the work stoppage in
the baseball strike in ninety four, when they came back
(04:49):
in ve and being in l A there were two teams,
it was like every they no days off, And I'm
such an idiot I never took a day off even
back then. I was I gotta show up and we
needed to as a stringer because you made no money
and the other thing. And I don't know if this
ever happened to you, Jerry, being in Baltimore and going
to games in d C and stuff. At some point
(05:12):
to try to make a decent amount of money, you
had to use I had to work for a bunch
of different networks, right your So you'd work for your
local station. And then I remember at one time I
was working for sports Fan Radio ESPN Radio. How about
that in the early days when they had stuff on
the weekends with Tony Bruno, Peter Brown, and Chuck Wilson.
(05:35):
I did stuff with those guys, and and there was
one on one sports I think out of Chicago was
around for a while, and there were a bunch of
these things. But did you ever have I had one
of the most embarrassing moments I had I've ever done.
I was in the press box and I was doing
these updates from Dodger Stadium, and you know, they're thirty
second updates whatever. So I'm doing the update and I
(05:56):
nailed it, and I was like, you know, sports Fan
radio network. Can I slam the phone down? And it
wasn't the Sportsman Radio network, it was a different network,
and oh man, I would write down the name of
the station because it was U P I, it was
a P. It was the fan in New York. It
was I never worked for Fox Sports Radio. There was
(06:17):
a lady there that didn't like me that would set
up the stringers and she would go with someone else
in the market who came behind me. So that was fine.
But I did ABC and CBS, and at times I
guess it was Westwood One, So yeah, I would have
the name right in front of me. I did not
make that mistake. I was more prone to butchering players names.
(06:38):
In fact, the last time I did one of those
was a Capital's New York Rangers playoff game that went
into triple overtime. I had a morning show the next day.
The reason I went to do it was because, and
here's a name drop alert, Kenny Albert was calling the
game for Rangers Radio and he needed a stat person. Why.
(06:59):
I have no idea, but the job paid seventy five dollars,
so I took it, and I told him, listen, I
gotta get up at four or five in the morning.
I'm leaving probably midway through the third period, just so
you know. He's like, you're supposed to stay through the
whole game if you want to check. I'm like, just
pay me up front, and I'll be here for close
to three periods. So then we go into overtime. I said,
(07:21):
I'll stick around for the first overtime. Then comes the
second overtime. I stick around a little for that, but
then I leave during a time out and I go
to a remote location and I'm waiting for the game
to end so i can call in the final report.
The goal is scored. The guy who scored the goal
I can't even remember, but I butchered his name so
bad on live New York radio. That was the end
(07:44):
of my career. And when I told Kenny about this,
he couldn't believe it. I literally did the voice or
ben from the lobby of what was called the m
c I Center back then, and then bolted for my
car and back to Baltimore. But I didn't get home
until like four or five in the morning, and then
was up an hour later, and I said, you know,
(08:04):
I'm getting too old to do this stuff. Yeah, didn't
you tell me you you traveled around you did stats?
Uh for for Kenny right for TV? Right? Yes, I
was his first spot or the first two years. I
think this is year like twenty six or twenty seven
for him, whatever year they started doing the broadcasting. He
and Joe Buck are two among the originals right now.
(08:27):
And his first two years on the job, Fox really
was spending the money under David Hill. They would fly
out the statistician, the spotter. They would put him up
in a hotel for a couple of nights. So I
went out to l A, went out to San Francisco,
did a terrible job in terms of spotting, was fired
after two weeks, but it made a nice living for
(08:48):
two weeks with him, and uh we still remain friends
here twenty five plus years later. But no way he's
gonna hire me to spot a game because I was
too busy watching the football game myself. So how how
bad were you? Like? What do you remember exactly the
moment you realize this is not good? There were multiple
(09:09):
There were multiple calls where he would just name the
tackler himself instead of waiting for me to point to
the number. Because I was so late in getting to
the number, and the same thing with you know, when
you need someone to tell you who was the assist
guy and who scored the goal on what the time was.
He had that all calculated before I could write that down,
(09:31):
so I was really not needed. So you're saying that
Kenny Albert has a computer like mind, and you a
little you have a radio mind. You have it, yes,
and uh, and he belittles me at every moment. He
has to have to remind me of that he's superior.
What can I tell you? Yeah, so you need to
come up. I have Mallard math, which is a version
of of actual math. It's a ballpark figure, so you
(09:52):
have you have sports with Coleman math. But I did
learn in those days when I was a stringer and
I sat near the stat guys that actually knew what
they were doing. And I still to this day some
of that stuff, like when you're breaking down a football game,
some of the numbers are basketball like. I learned a
lot of that stuff in those days when I was
was a stringer. But you mentioned David Hill and the
amount of money that Fox put out, and I met
(10:14):
David Hill a few times. Uh, in the early days
when Fox took over the in the nineties. I was
at we was at a party one time, and uh,
everyone loved David Hill. I don't, I'm not, I'm not.
I'm sure there are people that didn't like him, but
I never met anyone. I mean that the amount of
money You're right that they put out for those those
broadcasts was insane. But I do remember being at the
(10:37):
NHL All Star Game in the mid nineties that Fox
had the rights, and I remember overhearing a conversation and
I don't I will not say who it was with.
It might have been with David Hill, maybe not, but
it might have been somebody else. And they were lamenting
the fact that everything that they had tried to get
people to watch hockey on TV had not worked. Remember
(10:58):
they had that going puck thing that of course, yeah, yeah,
and they were they just couldn't figure it out. They're like,
what do we what do we have to do? They
tried everything, and and here we are all these years later, Jerry,
and still people not flocking to watch hockey on television now,
even though it's moved to T n T and the
guy was calling the game the other night. I didn't
(11:18):
even know that their games start at ten pm. But
he reminded me he was calling his first game from
the Key Arena, home of the Seattle Crack, and he
said he had not been back there since an NBA
game there when the Sonics played there. But yeah, t
n T s starting their hockey now on Thursday or
I'm sorry, on Wednesday evenings at ten pm. And who
(11:39):
knew except the announcer. Yeah, I have not seen any
of those, uh, any of those hockey games. But I
usually wait till like Christmas. Basketball, you definitely wait till Christmas. Absolutely,
but hockey. I love going to hockey. The King's out
here in l A Are not very good, but I
guess the Ducks are off to a good start. But
(11:59):
you go back in the stringer, back in the stringer days, Ben,
because Baltimore is just a two sport town, and really,
when I was doing a lot of the work, it
was a one sport town. The Colts had bolted for Indianapolis,
which is why I went down the Rhodar f G
just to be around professional football as we were waiting
for a team to come back. And then you had
the Bullets and then Wizards, and of course the Capitals
(12:21):
and I would go to select games there and of
course to about seventy too close to eighty oriole games
a year, just like you with the Dodgers and Angels. Yeah,
and I know you you were born in Atlanta, right,
But have you been in Baltimore your whole career? Have
you been always like a Baltimore radio guy? Pretty much? So?
I was born in Atlanta, lived there the first seven
(12:43):
years of my life. That actually we moved because my
family was in the liquor business. My dad took his
talents to West Hartford, Connecticut, where I lived for three years,
and then in nineteen seventy seven we moved to Baltimore,
and uh, that's where I started elementary school here and
then moved up to middle and high school and then
(13:04):
went to Ithaca College and then out of Ithaca College
because Syracuse wouldn't let me in. That's the reason I'm
not a part of the dreaded Syracuse mafia. Didn't have
the grade point average ben they wanted more than a
two point out for some reason. They also wouldn't let
you start on the college radio station until your junior year.
Where at Ithaca they had a jv and a varsity
(13:25):
there was an a M for the JV and an
FM station for the varsity, and uh I got started
in year one there and then right out of college
started stringing and then started to lay in radio jobs
part time and then eventually full time. Well, it really
is one of the reasons, Jerry, that we have maintained
a friendship for all these years is that you are
(13:46):
not part of the Syracuse mafia. You are not part
of that. Every radio station I've worked at, I've I've
worked odd jobs at different places in sports media, and
there's always been a handful of Syracuse people that worked there,
especially in the Northeast. Man, my goodness, it is can
escape yeah everywhere. I mean, it is a license to
(14:08):
get a great job. Now, not everyone at Syracuse has
a great job, but I mean the networking, the people
that have come out of Syracuse, it is insane. And
h that college radio station, but I'm proud. So you
didn't go there. You went to a smaller school, and
I went to, of course, the great Saddleback College where
in those of the West, Yes, yes, so I it's
(14:30):
actually the Syracuse the Harvard of the West. But the
cool thing about that is they had a little FM station,
and you know in those days, they've let you right on,
like you took a couple of classes and they put
you on there. Now it's not like that anymore. That
the station's more revenue driven, shall I say, Jarry, you
(14:51):
know they're trying to make some money. Yes, I understand
that a lot of college radio stations have gone that route. Ironically,
what it's supposed to be for the students now for revenue.
But the big guy on campus when I was at
Ithaca was Carl Rabbit. He was a senior. I was
a freshman. He paid me very little attention until he
got a small time TV job in Harrisburg. Excuse me,
(15:15):
Harrisburg TV. We would come to Camden Yards and be
my best friend until he worked for ESPN and then
they never knew me again. Well that's the way it goes, right,
I mean you get to yeah, yeah, we've we've all
been around those people that the little nice and then
when they reached a certain level, there's they're in that
rare fight air and they're like, oh, you're just a
(15:36):
radio guy, get out of here. You know where I'm
a big TV star now, how dare you leave me alone? Yeah?
But we all know guys. We all know guys too
that are at much higher levels than the people I'm
talking about that are also actually nice. You find those
in between, yeah yeah, but we remember the ones that
are mean and douches and things like that. Oh yeah,
(15:57):
the air holes always stand out to me. Yeah, yeah,
that's a well. It's the same concept with the news business,
right if it's if it's good news, that's at the end,
that's the kicker story at the end. If it's bad news.
That's why I always say you you know this too, Jenny,
from being in those locker rooms. The better stories in
the losing locker room, right you go in there, there
absolutely is. And that's what I miss about going into
(16:19):
the locker room right now is because it is so
I don't know what the word is polished. I guess
as one of the words I can use, and I'll
just reference the local teams like the Ravens. They will
bring out the best talkers, the least controversial players too.
You know, you hear from each and every week unless
you may make a hardsh request, because again, they want
(16:41):
the sanitized version coming out of the locker room. And
when you enter the locker room, PR can't control that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And are the locker rooms even open? I know, no, yeah,
yeah they're not open. Only the NHL, i've heard, but
not the NBA, certainly not football or baseball. Yeah. I
(17:01):
do miss going in there because there would be stuff
that would happen that, as you said, the unexpected right
where you're like you, as you said, everything kind of
filtered now with PR people and stuff, But there'd be
that random day on like a Wednesday night or something,
and you'd get a guy on a on a perfect
moment where he'd rant and complained and and and go
(17:24):
off the deep end, and that would feed the content
for the next several days. Now everything's on zoom and
everything's recorded for posterity's sake, and there's there's not the
one on one doesn't really exist anymore, Nope, because you
have the PR people all standing around monitoring every move
that has made, every word that has said, where they
(17:46):
can't control that. Inside the locker room, you get someone
in a private situation. They don't spread themselves at thin
inside the locker room. So that is what I miss,
and a lot of the off the record stuff that
is said inside the lock rohom I missed that as well,
so we don't have that right now. Again. I hope
the educated fan, as you like to refer to, understands
(18:08):
that be sure to catch live editions of The Ben
Meller Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio. Yeah. Yeah,
exactly as much different. Now, moving on the Great Sports
with Coleman. The greatest contribution, the greatest contribution to sports
entertainment from Baltimore came from Earl Weaver, and I actually
(18:34):
want to play it. I have it here, I've set
it up. We're allowed. I think we're allowed to play
it on the podcast. I will beg for forgiveness if
we're not. But I think we're good to go on this.
It's everyone involved is long gone, so I think we're
good on this. This is for those that haven't heard it,
and then we're gonna react to it. Maybe I'll stop
it in the middle of it and react to it.
But this is Earl Weaver, the manager's corner, the old
(18:57):
Hall of Fame manager, the very colorful Earl Weaver. And listen,
this is amazing audio. I don't I don't know when
this was recorded something I know. I know all about this.
I believe the interviewer is a guy named Tom marr Okay,
so this goes back. What are we looking at? Late seventies,
early eighties, probably some late seventies early eighties. All right,
(19:17):
here we go. This is the great Earl Weaver. And
now to the manager's going with Earl Weaver. Hi, everybody,
this is Earl Weaver with Managers Conner. Today. I have
Tom marr oreo broadcaster, back on the show, and I
understand understand Tom's been getting some mail with questions that
supposedly I can answer. Now what the funk are somebody's
(19:40):
goddamn questions? Tom? Well, first of all, Earl George Moore
from Ball, we're gonna have to turn that up. Then?
Is that too long? Wait a minute, I cannot hear
any of that. Really, I heard a little bit of it. Yeah,
all right, I think that's because you're on the on
the phone hook up. Let me just playing a little more.
This is Earl. Let me play a little Earl Weaver there.
I think the the listener Jerry can hear it. But
(20:01):
the the technical setup that we have here is not
that great. May play a little bit fine. I know
the conversation almost by heart. Let me play a little
more here, here we go. How much we feel the
loss of Don Stanhouse. Well, don Stanhouse was an asshole.
He had us in trouble, had to fucking base as well,
God damn it. Almost every time he went out there
he liked to ruin my health smoking cigarettes. And thank
(20:23):
god we got Jimmy Stoddard coming in out the bullpen
right now sticking a bat up their asses. And that's
what it takes. Well, Bill Whitehouse less certainly is an
answer from Frederick Maryland wants to know why you and
the Orioles don't go up and get some more teams, Speed,
team speed, for Christ's sake. You get fucking goddamn little
pleased on the fucking basis getting picked off, trying to steal,
(20:43):
get the throwne out, taking runs away from you. You
get them big cock suckers that you hit the fucking
ball out of the ball puck, and you can't make
any god damn mistakes. Well, certainly this show is gonna
get out in history. Earl Terry Elliott of Washington, d C.
Why And he wants to know why you don't use
Terry Crowley. As here we go. Well, Terry Terry Crowley's
lucky he's in fucking baseball. For christ sake. He was
(21:04):
released by the Cincinnata Reds. He was released by the
fucking goddamn Atlanta Braves. We saw that Terry Crowley could
sit on his fucking ask gerade innings and enjoy watching
a baseball game just like any other fan, and has
the ability to get up there and break one open
in the fucking ninth. So if this toxicker mind his
own business and let me manage the fucking team, we'd
be a lot better off. Well, certainly you've made your
(21:25):
opinions known on the fans questions about baseball, Earl, But
let's get to something else. Alice Sweet from off, Yeah,
we got to be worried about where to funk her
next lays coming from, rather where next goddamn tomato plants
coming from. Get her ass out the fucking bars at
night and go hustling around the goddamn streets. You might
get a frick stuck in her once in a while.
(21:47):
I don't understand where the questions are coming time. That's
about it from manager's honor, Go fuck yourself and fun
with your show coming up next on the Bollimore Audio
Baseball fucking Network. Alright, man, that is outstanding, So, uh
what do you know about I mean, obviously that's one
of the great things that has come out of Baltimore
(22:08):
or Earl and it's it's right up there with the
Lee EO your rants, some of the sort of rants
like there's like this upper echelon Jerry of great rants
and Earl Weavers in the top five all time. That
was outstanding. That was yes. Now, now that pregame show
never did air on the radio, I will disclose that
(22:29):
that never made it to air. Uh. That was kind
of a mock thing that they did that somehow, I
think a producer put out there and it got loose.
I don't think Alice ever submitted a question after that.
I think Terry Crowley realized that he was joking. The
crow was a great pinch it or back in the time.
But uh, Tom and Earl would have a lot of
(22:51):
fun during that pregame show and they would grow a
garden out there in the bullpen. Pat Santa On the
old groundskeeper, would grow like tomatoes and other vegetables. They'd
have a little garden in the bullpen, and Earl would
have a little bit of a green thumb and a
hand in that. So that's where that emanated from. But yeah,
that was tremendous. And that's right up there with the
(23:13):
argument he had with Uh. I believe it's the late
great Ron Luciano where he came out to the mound
and everything was heard, and he kept calling Earl a
loser and recited his world series record and all that,
and UH and Eddie Murray is standing there trying to
hold back the laughter. It was just hilarious. Mike Flanagan
(23:34):
tries to intervene. It was quite a comedy show with Earl,
who was one of the greatest managers of all time,
but also quite a character, very vocal, not too tall,
maybe Kyler Murray size. But he and Jim Palmer had
a very testy relationship bend and that continued even after
their careers were over. I remember near the end of
(23:57):
Earl's life there was a banquet where the two were
seated next to each other and the alcohol was flowing,
and so were the insults, and it almost came two blows.
You may want to look that up, because that was
just less than ten years ago. I think when that
occurred and it got really ugly at a place right
down the road called Martin's West, where I think they
(24:18):
had to have some people come in and intervene between
those two because Earl was ready to go after Jim.
So it was not a bygones, be bygone situation. It
was it was personal between Earl Weaver and Jim Palm
when Earle was when Earle had a few cocktails and cigarettes,
and he was notorious for smoking in the dugout in
the runway. Uh. In fact, he had a nickname for
(24:41):
Don Stanhouse, the former reliever. He would call him six pack,
not in terms of beers, but six packs of cigarettes.
He would have to go through as this guy tried
to get through the ninth inning. But Earl had a
temper and we would see it on the field and
sometimes off the field. Now he was gone by the
time he started as radio reporter. Right now he wasn't
(25:02):
managing the team. I was around the sort a little bit.
This Earl did. Earl have the reputation like Tommy where
if the Dodgers won, Tommy would be waiting for the
cameras to come into the locker room ready to go,
and if the Dodgers lost, he would be sitting behind
his desk eating some kind of whatever the meal of
(25:22):
the night was, and he wouldn't stop eating, and he
had his head down and he would be he had
he had to shove the mic. I remember how to
clean the microphone, Jerry, because as a stringer and I
started the sort of managed. It was like the last
three years he managed. And I remember when they lose,
he would spit food on the mic and I had
(25:44):
to clean the sort of spit food parts off my
micro was did Earl have the same reputation or was
he the same whether the O's one or they lost.
I had heard, because I never covered him, that he
could be testy after a loss. But the managers, the
vintage manager is that I dealt with during the La
Sword Age fit that description, and they would be the
(26:05):
late Sparky Anderson and Lou Panella Litow. Lou wouldn't even
get dressed sometimes, which was very uncomfortable, so he would
be sitting there without anything on. He would have a
cigarette in his right hand and a fork in his
left hand. He would eat and smoke and then he'd
pick up the beer in between questions, and he was
(26:25):
always very testy. This is when he was managing Seattle.
And then Sparky of course would come in with the
tigers and and be a curmudgeon at times two to
the young reporters trying to ask, you know, probing questions.
So those are the vintage managers I dealt with only
the sort of one time. But that Dave Kingman Rants
still reigned supreme. Well, it's the Kingman Rants great. The
(26:50):
Kirk Bovaca one is pretty good. Bovaca couldn't hit water
if he fell out of a boat. But but for me,
the Lea is still still the gold standard. And less
grob I should get less Grobstein on this podcast. Less
is uh. He's I think last I heard, he's still
doing a show in Chicago, and he's the guy that
(27:10):
recorded that, uh the radio stringer back in those days
in the early eighties and had a tour Lee had
a tour of duty through Baltimore and talked about that,
you know, I mean, without any terms of you know,
remorse whatsoever. I think at the time maybe he felt it,
but now he feels like it's a part of baseball lords.
(27:30):
So he kind of embraced it when I asked him
about it. But you're right, there was no tirade that
equaled that inside, you know, a manager's office that I
had ever heard. Yeah, and I had heard stories that
that wasn't even the worst like that, that this that
just happened to be recorded. Jerry, that that there was
actually some other stuff that didn't get recorded. I heard
the same thing about the sort of that, the sort
(27:52):
of you know, he had some epic rants that were
better than the Kingman rant. But because it was only
sports writers and there weren't can was around her microphones
per se, that that stuff got lost, Uh, for the
ages there. Now, speaking of Baltimore sports, there's another story. Now,
we have fought over this for many years, the legendary
(28:14):
night the lights went out at Camden Yards and cal
Ripken had not set the record yet. It was a
big game the Mariners, who at the time it's hard
to believe now considering how crappy the Mariners have been
for almost twenty years, but at that time the Mariners
were one of the it teams in baseball, and they
had big rock star players in Seattle, and they were
(28:36):
playing the Orioles. And this is a big game and
Cal Ripkins getting closer to breaking the all time streak
for consecutive games played, and the lights went out at
Camden Yards. The game was postponed immediately. There was a
rumor that popped up that there was an incident involving
Kevin Costner and Cal Ripkin's wife. And if you want, Jerry,
(29:02):
I can give the story as I remember the story,
or you can give the story if you want, but
I believe it to be true. You have said it
is not true. But the story involves, uh, Cal going
to the ballpark forgetting something, turning around to go home,
and there was a situation he walked in on with
(29:23):
Kevin Costner and I guess now his ex wife and Uh.
And because of that situation, they had to cancel the game.
That he was so flummixed and also a little beaten
up that he had to cancel. They had to cancel
the game. You have denied that, Jerry, you have taken
that and said it is bull crap. I believe you
(29:44):
are wrong, but make your position known again for those
listening to the fifth hour. Well, first of all, let's
think about the multiple layers of cover up that would
have to transpire for this to occur in seven Now,
it was true that Kevin and Costner was finishing up
a film. I think it was called The Postman, and
he was staying at the Ripken home back in August
(30:07):
of the cow returning home before a game. Never heard
of that before. That's usually not the norm. Usually when
he goes to the ballpark, he doesn't turn around to
go back to retrieve something. I was at the game
that night. I spoke with Cal before that game that night.
In fact, I think I may have interviewed him. As
far as the lighting going on, it was out all
(30:29):
of downtown Baltimore. I mean, what a conspiracy to have
all of Baltimore's electricity shut down for one guy to
keep a streak intact. I just don't believe it. I
think that Kevin Costner actually called into Fox at one
point to put the k bosh on this, But it's
too extravagant of a rumor for me to buy to
(30:49):
keep a streak intact. So being there that night, seeing
the lights off all around downtown Baltimore, it was unusual.
But I'm not buying into the conspiracy that that kept
the street going and those two gotten a big battle
inside the Ripken home. All right. So I here's where
I come into this. So I was this stringer at
(31:10):
the time. I was doing my thing, and I was
at Dodger Stadium. Uh. And the next day, the next day,
a buddy of mine came. He came up to me,
said You're never gonna believe this, and I said, you know,
of course, I said, what is it? What are you
what are you talking about? And he said, you know
that that game between the Orioles and the Mariners. He says, well,
(31:32):
I was in Vegas last night and uh. He then
said he was gambling. Uh, this is I guess this
is actually two days after because he had come back
two days after. So this he was in Vegas the
day after that game. He says, You're never gonna be whatever.
I mean. I'm in I'm ethics, see, and I'm gambling.
And he ended up he was gambling with somebody who
(31:54):
happened to be very close with Peter Angelos, the owner
of the Orioles there at the time and in the
Angelo's family, and said that he explained the whole story.
And this is before it became popular, and this is
you know this this in the days Jerry before social media.
So and he's giving me the whole thing. He's like,
you know, this is unbelievers, came right from the name,
(32:16):
the person whatever. And so I I buy it because
I feel like I heard it two days after as
I remember, as I remember the story. So it is
conceivable Cal Ripkin was such a big deal in those
days that the Illuminati could have come in right and
some kind of new world order and then let's just
(32:38):
shut the lights out. You know, Peter Angelo's has a
lot of money. You had a lot of money at
the time, still has a lot of money that the
Angelo's family and all that. So, uh, make a few
phone calls, Hey, give do me a solid and uh,
that's it. The game's postponed for a night, and then
the next night everything's good. Well, I do know that
Cal is no longer married to Kelly Rippin. They've been
(32:59):
separate aided a divorce for quite some time. There was
no connection to Kevin Costner whatsoever. Again, very elaborate to
keep that streak going. But that's what, truly you want
to believe. That's fine. I mean, I just don't see
it that way. Having been at the ballpark that night,
I just find it hard to fathom that they would
go to that link to keep this streak intact and
shut down all of the power in Baltimore. Well, remember
(33:22):
not just at Camden Yards. I mean there were other
places where the lights were out too. It wasn't just
at Camden Yards. I wouldn't say the entire city was dark,
but that neighborhood, the block or two that the ballpark
sat in, was dark. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
eleven pm Pacific. Well, and and also they'll remember in
(33:44):
that time that was the cal Ripkins streak was to
bring fans back because baseball was still trying to get
people to come back after the work stopage into and
then that that cal Ripkin was credited with bringing you know,
old time baseball fans back and all that. So that
was a big deal to save a billion dollar industry.
(34:05):
Could you imagine if he had gotten that close to
the streak and then not being able to play, Oh
my goodness, that would have been a disaster for baseball
at that By then, though he had already set the
consecutive games record. We're talking about nineties seven. I believe
he set the record in ninety five, so he was
(34:25):
just trying to keep it intact and extend it. But again,
what year was it. I gotta look, I believe I
thought it was ninety seven. Was that might you might
you know, you might be right, but ninety seven are
like the same to me. You know, the streak was
still very much intact, though, is what I'm saying. Then
he was trying to you know, he kept it going
(34:47):
five hundred games longer after breaking Luke Garrett's mark, So
it was still a big deal at that point. But again,
a lot of a lot of things would add to
have occurred for that to transpire. All right, So as
far is, the Ravens are concerned, and we've kept you
a long time here, Jerry. But what a game that was?
Uh look, yeah, well the last Ravens game very impressive. Now,
(35:07):
Lamar Jackson. I did several rants, several Mallard monologues slamming
Lamar Jackson back in the day, and he made me
look like a total donkey when he had the m
v P, the breakout, amazing, all everything, the video game
glitch here for the Ravens. But I have noticed here
(35:28):
this season quietly, Lamar, not exactly lighting the world on
fire here, Jerry, what's going on with your guy, Lamar Jackson.
You're right, he's regressed. I think you pointed it out
after the Thursday night debacle in Miami. The last three
games have been underwhelming, and then we were supposed to
speak to him the other day and for the third
time this year on a Wednesday, he's missed his session
(35:52):
because he was ill, and that's kind of peculiar. The
coach came out and said, it's not COVID. We don't
know if he's had the shot or not, because it's
something he keeps secretive. And I'm tired of asking about it.
And I know you're tired of people asking athletes about
it yourself, even though that's what I like to do,
is prod and probe. But the fact that he lost
his top two running backs, a lot of his offensive
(36:14):
line is banged up. Yeah, injuries are part of football.
The Ravens have as many as any team in the NFL,
but it's really hurt him. He's been sacked twenty seven
times already this year. Ben. That's five more times and
all of last year combined. And I think maybe he's
not ill. I just think they're trying to give him
an extra day off. He's taken up beating, and the
(36:35):
Ravens are going to continue to run this guy until
they try and get to a super Bowl. And I
really wonder what type of money they're gonna offer him,
if a substantial contract at all. I just think they're
waiting until the very last second to try and have
to pay this guy and see what they can get
out of him physically and running the football. But when
he's carrying the ball twenty times a game, that's for
(36:56):
a running back, not a quarterback. Is he gonna get
paid here? Is there a chance that the Ravens don't
give him the contract, that they say, hey, you're too
injury prone and we can't we can't trust that you're
gonna be effective and we're gonna get we can't give
you all this guaranteed money? Is there? Everyone? Everyone seems
sold that he's going to get paid. Yet his mother
(37:17):
is his agent. He doesn't have anyone reputable handling him.
With no disrespect to his mother, but she hasn't done
this for a living like people you know out there
that do do it for a you know seven day
a week living and he doesn't have any major endorsements
either that I won the m v P a couple
of years ago. He's not appearing on commercials like homes
(37:39):
and Rogers and Baker Mayfield. So a lot of his
money is being made by selling apparel and other little
things that he's doing. But for me, he's blown millions
of dollars and endorsement money, and again it's still working
off his rookie deal. Yeah, it's pretty pretty well now.
You're you're very well known on our show. Your your
(38:01):
relationship with John Harbaugh, your repartee with John Harbaugh. Does
he like you or not like you? I think he
does like you. I think he genuinely likes you and
also at the same time hates you based on how
the interaction goes. What I've seen on some of these
Raven News conferences when I watched them online, Jerry, where
(38:22):
are you at with John Harbaugh? The coach? Long time
coach at the rating. John Harbaugh has been there forever.
My goodness. I thought he was gonna leave a couple
of years ago when they had that rough patch. I
don't think he's going there. I don't think he's going anyway.
I think he's gonna be there for the rest of
his life. But you and Hardball, where are you at?
You two? I think you nailed it pretty accurately. We
(38:43):
have a tremendous relationship. But at times he does hate me,
especially when I'm asking a question that he knows is
going to be probing, that he knows is going to
rub him the wrong way. But I have his phone number.
He and I text back and forth, and sometimes he
doesn't mind when I stirred up to be honest with few.
I think he respects the fact that, you know, unlike
a lot of people in our business, especially around here,
(39:06):
they'll take shots at the Ravens or the Orioles and
never show their face at the ballpark or the locker room.
I'm out there two or three times a week now.
One of the reasons, ad Midaly is the Ravens are
giving out free COVID tests, So every Wednesday I go
there just to get tests tested and make sure I
test negative. They also give out some very good food
on Wednesdays, so that's why I go out there on Wednesdays.
(39:28):
But I'm out there on Monday's peppering him at his
press conference. I don't even bother asking him questions after
the football game anymore, Ben, because they always say, I
have to look at the proverbial tape. And that's why
I wait until Monday and say, now that you've looked
at your tape and seeing how bad your team looked
on Sunday, maybe you can comment on this aspect. Now
(39:51):
does he pull the old Well, we're ready to move on.
Now that's in the past. We're not gonna look. No, no, no,
we don't turn the page on Monday's. We don't turn
the page on Mondays. I remind him of that. Okay,
you can turn the page on Wednesday, but not the
day after, two days after the game. Now, when you
say they have good food the Ravens, what are we
looking at? Give me a kind of an idea. Here's
(40:12):
a media freeloader myself. Over the years, I enjoy a
good meal. I know you have gone to the legendary
horse race there in Baltimore and then the Preakness. You've
told me you you've gone just for the foods occasionally
that it's that good. Well, that's a catered event. Then
that is a catered event. What the Ravens do is
(40:33):
every Wednesday, they will bring in an outside establishment for food.
Yesterday it was a local pizza chain. We had all
sorts of cow zones, uh, buffalo chicken. I went for
the meat lovers. Instead of taking one, I take two.
I live about ten minutes away from the complex. I
could bring ice cream home from the complex and it
(40:54):
wouldn't melt, so I make sure I get my allotment
and get on out of there. But it rotates. It's
pizza one week, it subs the next week barbecue, so
there's a rotation that's going. In fact, I've been taking
pictures every week and at the end of the year
I'll make a montage and credit some of the Ravens
p R. Because they keep reminding me they're paying for
(41:15):
the food. It's not part of a trade deal. And
then I remind them they're worth about three billion dollars,
so stop complaining. Yeah, well that's good. That's good to hear.
The Ravens are taking care of you guys. I know
in l A at the Ram Games at so Fi Stadium,
which is amazing. It's a it's a palace that place.
The Rams better food than the Chargers, even though it's
(41:37):
the same stadium, the same setup in the press box
and all that on game day, better spread of food
for the l A Rams and the l A Chargers.
So and the Stan Crockie Stan Crocki has got more
money than that Spanos family, right, Yeah, Well, the charge
is probably upset with the media because they don't get
the same attention the Rams get and all that. But
(41:58):
you're right they I always that was trade. I always
thought it was part of the deal, and they just too.
You know, you know who may have the best pre
games set up in the NFL in terms of food
and halftime? Who's that? That would be the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers because they have a omelet spread in the morning,
um where you can order your own omelet. They have
(42:19):
an omelet bar going before the game. Then at halftime
that turns into like if you want bananas, foster or
something else off the frying pan, and then they add
in all sorts of candy bars. I mean, you know,
there's a pile of Snickers, a pile of heath Bars,
three musketeers, you go down the line. So they really
(42:40):
spoiled the media down in Tampa. And this was pre
Tom Brady Nice. I've not been to a Buccaneers game.
I'll have to have to check that out. All right, Sports,
how can people follow you on Twitter? How can they
hear you on your radio show? Promote? Promote? Promote? All Right?
On Twitter? Are at Sports with Coleman. Instagram it is
(43:03):
J cole five five four or five J colet and
the Facebook page Sports with Coleman. Pretty easy to remember.
I'm on the radio typically six to ten at nights.
Used to do Morning Drive. Asked for out of that.
The reason being is because I think you've talked about this.
(43:24):
You know, work in the morning drive takes years off
your life. Wasn't really good for my mental health. The
days were getting shorter. Plus I was working with two
other people. Now I have my own show just like you,
and I don't have the interruptions that I had to
deal with. Plus I get to set the agenda from
my show. So I'm on six to ten. When there
isn't Maryland basketball, when the Orioles aren't playing, and when
(43:46):
there isn't Monday or Thursday night football, That's what I'll
be on. So in essence, I'm on two or three
times a week. It's a great gig and occasionally I
even make an appearance like I did the other night.
I make an appearance with The Great Sports with Coleman.
But you're right morning radio and I've I've done this
ramp many times. I did morning updates for a brief
(44:07):
period of my career and I could not figure it out.
I'm not a morning person and I tried to stay
up all night. That didn't work, and the hours were
just to me, they were worse than working overnights. People.
A lot of people complain. I'll run into people, how
do you work the overnight? So I'm like, compared to
morning drive. The only thing that sucks about is you
(44:28):
don't get paid doing night radio or overnight radio. You
don't get paid anywhere near what you get paid typically
in the mornings. But uh, the quality of life is
better anyway. Jerry, thank you so much, appreciate it. We'll
have you on again and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and the listeners out there. I
enjoy the radio show as much as a podcast. Thanks
(44:51):
for having me
Kaboom. 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 pill poppers in the penthouse the Clearinghouse of Hot
takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with
(00:23):
Ben Maller starts right now in the air everywhere, Yet
another weekend is upon us. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Mallard back at it. Because four hours a night, five
days a week clearly not enough. So we do this
(00:46):
eight days a week. And if it is a Friday podcast,
that would be today, the weekend before Thanksgiving holiday. It's
a chance to catch up with someone who I either
know or want to talk to. In this case, it's
someone that I know, a radio pal, someone who I've
(01:09):
never actually physically met, but have been friends with for
over twenty years. I have known. This guy is a
fellow sports talk radio gas bag. He hosts Sports with
Coleman on in the nighttime hours in Baltimore six to ten.
He has covered the Ravens and the Baltimore Orioles for
(01:31):
a long time. We have sparked, I go on his
radio show. Occasionally. I'll pop up on his show and
he uh, this is his first appearance on this show.
But let's give it up now for Sports with Coleman.
Jerry Coleman is his name, and sports talk radio is
his game. So, Jerry, how long have we known each other?
(01:53):
I think it began in the early two thousands, I
want to say, but it might have been even earlier
than that. I'm not sure. I want to say early
two thousands, Jerry, phil me and when was it? It
was actually prior to that, Ben, and thanks for having
me on. I can now update my resume and add
this to it. It should be uh, you know, enough
(02:15):
to get me a much better job than I have
right now. But no, it goes back to a local
l A station you were working at one that of
course started with a K. I can't remember the rest
of the call letters, but you would make the calls
to the little stringers around the country and say, hey,
can you come on and during I think it was
the Angels broadcast or pregame show and give us an
(02:38):
update from Camden Yards was where I was back in
the day. It was a memorial stadium but you would
arrange for that, and then you became, you know, a
lot more high profile and than have time to do
the dirty work. Wow, I don't even remember that. My
memory is so bad, Jerry, I don't. I just remember
you doing stuff. It fucked. We we don't even use
(02:58):
stringers anymore. I don't think it. Fox Sports Radio, like
we at most places have kind of gone away from that.
But we we have similar backgrounds, Like we both did
that for a long time, and I have great memories
and also some terrible memories of doing that. But I
was at games every single night, and it was it
(03:20):
was awesome. And in those days you had a lot
of access to the locker room and stuff, which was
I think Jerry, you would agree a blessing and a
curse at the same time. Some of the stuff that
took place behind the scenes very interesting. There were there
were numerous clubhouse encounters with me and players and managers,
and too many to probably tell the time during this podcast.
(03:42):
But yeah, that's where I learned the protocols of you know,
when you can and can't go into a locker room.
I was always very aggressive, so I didn't ask. I
just begged for forgiveness after. You know, there was one
time actually when they were the Red Skins and Joe
Gibbs was coaching them back in the nineties. They were
playing the Dallas Cowboys at RFK Stadium. I'm talking football now,
(04:05):
and I didn't know that NFL locker rooms were closed
before the games starts. So I strolled into the Redskins
locker room. There was no gate guard whatsoever. But once
they found out I was in there, all heck broke
loose and I was escorted out. I was chided by PR.
I was told never to enter an NFL locker room
(04:25):
before the game or without a PR person. So I
learned a harsh lesson there. But yeah, that's where I
cut my teeth as being a stringer. You know. We
made a joke about it at the time. You would
make maybe thirty thousand dollars a year, fifty dollars at
a time. Yeah, no, it was, It was true. And
it was like every remember after the work stoppage in
the baseball strike in ninety four, when they came back
(04:49):
in ve and being in l A there were two teams,
it was like every they no days off, And I'm
such an idiot I never took a day off even
back then. I was I gotta show up and we
needed to as a stringer because you made no money
and the other thing. And I don't know if this
ever happened to you, Jerry, being in Baltimore and going
to games in d C and stuff. At some point
(05:12):
to try to make a decent amount of money, you
had to use I had to work for a bunch
of different networks, right your So you'd work for your
local station. And then I remember at one time I
was working for sports Fan Radio ESPN Radio. How about
that in the early days when they had stuff on
the weekends with Tony Bruno, Peter Brown, and Chuck Wilson.
(05:35):
I did stuff with those guys, and and there was
one on one sports I think out of Chicago was
around for a while, and there were a bunch of
these things. But did you ever have I had one
of the most embarrassing moments I had I've ever done.
I was in the press box and I was doing
these updates from Dodger Stadium, and you know, they're thirty
second updates whatever. So I'm doing the update and I
(05:56):
nailed it, and I was like, you know, sports Fan
radio network. Can I slam the phone down? And it
wasn't the Sportsman Radio network, it was a different network,
and oh man, I would write down the name of
the station because it was U P I, it was
a P. It was the fan in New York. It
was I never worked for Fox Sports Radio. There was
(06:17):
a lady there that didn't like me that would set
up the stringers and she would go with someone else
in the market who came behind me. So that was fine.
But I did ABC and CBS, and at times I
guess it was Westwood One, So yeah, I would have
the name right in front of me. I did not
make that mistake. I was more prone to butchering players names.
(06:38):
In fact, the last time I did one of those
was a Capital's New York Rangers playoff game that went
into triple overtime. I had a morning show the next day.
The reason I went to do it was because, and
here's a name drop alert, Kenny Albert was calling the
game for Rangers Radio and he needed a stat person. Why.
(06:59):
I have no idea, but the job paid seventy five dollars,
so I took it, and I told him, listen, I
gotta get up at four or five in the morning.
I'm leaving probably midway through the third period, just so
you know. He's like, you're supposed to stay through the
whole game if you want to check. I'm like, just
pay me up front, and I'll be here for close
to three periods. So then we go into overtime. I said,
(07:21):
I'll stick around for the first overtime. Then comes the
second overtime. I stick around a little for that, but
then I leave during a time out and I go
to a remote location and I'm waiting for the game
to end so i can call in the final report.
The goal is scored. The guy who scored the goal
I can't even remember, but I butchered his name so
bad on live New York radio. That was the end
(07:44):
of my career. And when I told Kenny about this,
he couldn't believe it. I literally did the voice or
ben from the lobby of what was called the m
c I Center back then, and then bolted for my
car and back to Baltimore. But I didn't get home
until like four or five in the morning, and then
was up an hour later, and I said, you know,
(08:04):
I'm getting too old to do this stuff. Yeah, didn't
you tell me you you traveled around you did stats?
Uh for for Kenny right for TV? Right? Yes, I
was his first spot or the first two years. I
think this is year like twenty six or twenty seven
for him, whatever year they started doing the broadcasting. He
and Joe Buck are two among the originals right now.
(08:27):
And his first two years on the job, Fox really
was spending the money under David Hill. They would fly
out the statistician, the spotter. They would put him up
in a hotel for a couple of nights. So I
went out to l A, went out to San Francisco,
did a terrible job in terms of spotting, was fired
after two weeks, but it made a nice living for
(08:48):
two weeks with him, and uh we still remain friends
here twenty five plus years later. But no way he's
gonna hire me to spot a game because I was
too busy watching the football game myself. So how how
bad were you? Like? What do you remember exactly the
moment you realize this is not good? There were multiple
(09:09):
There were multiple calls where he would just name the
tackler himself instead of waiting for me to point to
the number. Because I was so late in getting to
the number, and the same thing with you know, when
you need someone to tell you who was the assist
guy and who scored the goal on what the time was.
He had that all calculated before I could write that down,
(09:31):
so I was really not needed. So you're saying that
Kenny Albert has a computer like mind, and you a
little you have a radio mind. You have it, yes,
and uh, and he belittles me at every moment. He
has to have to remind me of that he's superior.
What can I tell you? Yeah, so you need to
come up. I have Mallard math, which is a version
of of actual math. It's a ballpark figure, so you
(09:52):
have you have sports with Coleman math. But I did
learn in those days when I was a stringer and
I sat near the stat guys that actually knew what
they were doing. And I still to this day some
of that stuff, like when you're breaking down a football game,
some of the numbers are basketball like. I learned a
lot of that stuff in those days when I was
was a stringer. But you mentioned David Hill and the
amount of money that Fox put out, and I met
(10:14):
David Hill a few times. Uh, in the early days
when Fox took over the in the nineties. I was
at we was at a party one time, and uh,
everyone loved David Hill. I don't, I'm not, I'm not.
I'm sure there are people that didn't like him, but
I never met anyone. I mean that the amount of
money You're right that they put out for those those
broadcasts was insane. But I do remember being at the
(10:37):
NHL All Star Game in the mid nineties that Fox
had the rights, and I remember overhearing a conversation and
I don't I will not say who it was with.
It might have been with David Hill, maybe not, but
it might have been somebody else. And they were lamenting
the fact that everything that they had tried to get
people to watch hockey on TV had not worked. Remember
(10:58):
they had that going puck thing that of course, yeah, yeah,
and they were they just couldn't figure it out. They're like,
what do we what do we have to do? They
tried everything, and and here we are all these years later, Jerry,
and still people not flocking to watch hockey on television now,
even though it's moved to T n T and the
guy was calling the game the other night. I didn't
(11:18):
even know that their games start at ten pm. But
he reminded me he was calling his first game from
the Key Arena, home of the Seattle Crack, and he
said he had not been back there since an NBA
game there when the Sonics played there. But yeah, t
n T s starting their hockey now on Thursday or
I'm sorry, on Wednesday evenings at ten pm. And who
(11:39):
knew except the announcer. Yeah, I have not seen any
of those, uh, any of those hockey games. But I
usually wait till like Christmas. Basketball, you definitely wait till Christmas. Absolutely,
but hockey. I love going to hockey. The King's out
here in l A Are not very good, but I
guess the Ducks are off to a good start. But
(11:59):
you go back in the stringer, back in the stringer days, Ben,
because Baltimore is just a two sport town, and really,
when I was doing a lot of the work, it
was a one sport town. The Colts had bolted for Indianapolis,
which is why I went down the Rhodar f G
just to be around professional football as we were waiting
for a team to come back. And then you had
the Bullets and then Wizards, and of course the Capitals
(12:21):
and I would go to select games there and of
course to about seventy too close to eighty oriole games
a year, just like you with the Dodgers and Angels. Yeah,
and I know you you were born in Atlanta, right,
But have you been in Baltimore your whole career? Have
you been always like a Baltimore radio guy? Pretty much? So?
I was born in Atlanta, lived there the first seven
(12:43):
years of my life. That actually we moved because my
family was in the liquor business. My dad took his
talents to West Hartford, Connecticut, where I lived for three years,
and then in nineteen seventy seven we moved to Baltimore,
and uh, that's where I started elementary school here and
then moved up to middle and high school and then
(13:04):
went to Ithaca College and then out of Ithaca College
because Syracuse wouldn't let me in. That's the reason I'm
not a part of the dreaded Syracuse mafia. Didn't have
the grade point average ben they wanted more than a
two point out for some reason. They also wouldn't let
you start on the college radio station until your junior year.
Where at Ithaca they had a jv and a varsity
(13:25):
there was an a M for the JV and an
FM station for the varsity, and uh I got started
in year one there and then right out of college
started stringing and then started to lay in radio jobs
part time and then eventually full time. Well, it really
is one of the reasons, Jerry, that we have maintained
a friendship for all these years is that you are
(13:46):
not part of the Syracuse mafia. You are not part
of that. Every radio station I've worked at, I've I've
worked odd jobs at different places in sports media, and
there's always been a handful of Syracuse people that worked there,
especially in the Northeast. Man, my goodness, it is can
escape yeah everywhere. I mean, it is a license to
(14:08):
get a great job. Now, not everyone at Syracuse has
a great job, but I mean the networking, the people
that have come out of Syracuse, it is insane. And
h that college radio station, but I'm proud. So you
didn't go there. You went to a smaller school, and
I went to, of course, the great Saddleback College where
in those of the West, Yes, yes, so I it's
(14:30):
actually the Syracuse the Harvard of the West. But the
cool thing about that is they had a little FM station,
and you know in those days, they've let you right on,
like you took a couple of classes and they put
you on there. Now it's not like that anymore. That
the station's more revenue driven, shall I say, Jarry, you
(14:51):
know they're trying to make some money. Yes, I understand
that a lot of college radio stations have gone that route. Ironically,
what it's supposed to be for the students now for revenue.
But the big guy on campus when I was at
Ithaca was Carl Rabbit. He was a senior. I was
a freshman. He paid me very little attention until he
got a small time TV job in Harrisburg. Excuse me,
(15:15):
Harrisburg TV. We would come to Camden Yards and be
my best friend until he worked for ESPN and then
they never knew me again. Well that's the way it goes, right,
I mean you get to yeah, yeah, we've we've all
been around those people that the little nice and then
when they reached a certain level, there's they're in that
rare fight air and they're like, oh, you're just a
(15:36):
radio guy, get out of here. You know where I'm
a big TV star now, how dare you leave me alone? Yeah?
But we all know guys. We all know guys too
that are at much higher levels than the people I'm
talking about that are also actually nice. You find those
in between, yeah yeah, but we remember the ones that
are mean and douches and things like that. Oh yeah,
(15:57):
the air holes always stand out to me. Yeah, yeah,
that's a well. It's the same concept with the news business,
right if it's if it's good news, that's at the end,
that's the kicker story at the end. If it's bad news.
That's why I always say you you know this too, Jenny,
from being in those locker rooms. The better stories in
the losing locker room, right you go in there, there
absolutely is. And that's what I miss about going into
(16:19):
the locker room right now is because it is so
I don't know what the word is polished. I guess
as one of the words I can use, and I'll
just reference the local teams like the Ravens. They will
bring out the best talkers, the least controversial players too.
You know, you hear from each and every week unless
you may make a hardsh request, because again, they want
(16:41):
the sanitized version coming out of the locker room. And
when you enter the locker room, PR can't control that. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And are the locker rooms even open? I know, no, yeah,
yeah they're not open. Only the NHL, i've heard, but
not the NBA, certainly not football or baseball. Yeah. I
(17:01):
do miss going in there because there would be stuff
that would happen that, as you said, the unexpected right
where you're like you, as you said, everything kind of
filtered now with PR people and stuff, But there'd be
that random day on like a Wednesday night or something,
and you'd get a guy on a on a perfect
moment where he'd rant and complained and and and go
(17:24):
off the deep end, and that would feed the content
for the next several days. Now everything's on zoom and
everything's recorded for posterity's sake, and there's there's not the
one on one doesn't really exist anymore, Nope, because you
have the PR people all standing around monitoring every move
that has made, every word that has said, where they
(17:46):
can't control that. Inside the locker room, you get someone
in a private situation. They don't spread themselves at thin
inside the locker room. So that is what I miss,
and a lot of the off the record stuff that
is said inside the lock rohom I missed that as well,
so we don't have that right now. Again. I hope
the educated fan, as you like to refer to, understands
(18:08):
that be sure to catch live editions of The Ben
Meller Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio. Yeah. Yeah,
exactly as much different. Now, moving on the Great Sports
with Coleman. The greatest contribution, the greatest contribution to sports
entertainment from Baltimore came from Earl Weaver, and I actually
(18:34):
want to play it. I have it here, I've set
it up. We're allowed. I think we're allowed to play
it on the podcast. I will beg for forgiveness if
we're not. But I think we're good to go on this.
It's everyone involved is long gone, so I think we're
good on this. This is for those that haven't heard it,
and then we're gonna react to it. Maybe I'll stop
it in the middle of it and react to it.
But this is Earl Weaver, the manager's corner, the old
(18:57):
Hall of Fame manager, the very colorful Earl Weaver. And listen,
this is amazing audio. I don't I don't know when
this was recorded something I know. I know all about this.
I believe the interviewer is a guy named Tom marr Okay,
so this goes back. What are we looking at? Late seventies,
early eighties, probably some late seventies early eighties. All right,
(19:17):
here we go. This is the great Earl Weaver. And
now to the manager's going with Earl Weaver. Hi, everybody,
this is Earl Weaver with Managers Conner. Today. I have
Tom marr oreo broadcaster, back on the show, and I
understand understand Tom's been getting some mail with questions that
supposedly I can answer. Now what the funk are somebody's
(19:40):
goddamn questions? Tom? Well, first of all, Earl George Moore
from Ball, we're gonna have to turn that up. Then?
Is that too long? Wait a minute, I cannot hear
any of that. Really, I heard a little bit of it. Yeah,
all right, I think that's because you're on the on
the phone hook up. Let me just playing a little more.
This is Earl. Let me play a little Earl Weaver there.
I think the the listener Jerry can hear it. But
(20:01):
the the technical setup that we have here is not
that great. May play a little bit fine. I know
the conversation almost by heart. Let me play a little
more here, here we go. How much we feel the
loss of Don Stanhouse. Well, don Stanhouse was an asshole.
He had us in trouble, had to fucking base as well,
God damn it. Almost every time he went out there
he liked to ruin my health smoking cigarettes. And thank
(20:23):
god we got Jimmy Stoddard coming in out the bullpen
right now sticking a bat up their asses. And that's
what it takes. Well, Bill Whitehouse less certainly is an
answer from Frederick Maryland wants to know why you and
the Orioles don't go up and get some more teams, Speed,
team speed, for Christ's sake. You get fucking goddamn little
pleased on the fucking basis getting picked off, trying to steal,
(20:43):
get the throwne out, taking runs away from you. You
get them big cock suckers that you hit the fucking
ball out of the ball puck, and you can't make
any god damn mistakes. Well, certainly this show is gonna
get out in history. Earl Terry Elliott of Washington, d C.
Why And he wants to know why you don't use
Terry Crowley. As here we go. Well, Terry Terry Crowley's
lucky he's in fucking baseball. For christ sake. He was
(21:04):
released by the Cincinnata Reds. He was released by the
fucking goddamn Atlanta Braves. We saw that Terry Crowley could
sit on his fucking ask gerade innings and enjoy watching
a baseball game just like any other fan, and has
the ability to get up there and break one open
in the fucking ninth. So if this toxicker mind his
own business and let me manage the fucking team, we'd
be a lot better off. Well, certainly you've made your
(21:25):
opinions known on the fans questions about baseball, Earl, But
let's get to something else. Alice Sweet from off, Yeah,
we got to be worried about where to funk her
next lays coming from, rather where next goddamn tomato plants
coming from. Get her ass out the fucking bars at
night and go hustling around the goddamn streets. You might
get a frick stuck in her once in a while.
(21:47):
I don't understand where the questions are coming time. That's
about it from manager's honor, Go fuck yourself and fun
with your show coming up next on the Bollimore Audio
Baseball fucking Network. Alright, man, that is outstanding, So, uh
what do you know about I mean, obviously that's one
of the great things that has come out of Baltimore
(22:08):
or Earl and it's it's right up there with the
Lee EO your rants, some of the sort of rants
like there's like this upper echelon Jerry of great rants
and Earl Weavers in the top five all time. That
was outstanding. That was yes. Now, now that pregame show
never did air on the radio, I will disclose that
(22:29):
that never made it to air. Uh. That was kind
of a mock thing that they did that somehow, I
think a producer put out there and it got loose.
I don't think Alice ever submitted a question after that.
I think Terry Crowley realized that he was joking. The
crow was a great pinch it or back in the time.
But uh, Tom and Earl would have a lot of
(22:51):
fun during that pregame show and they would grow a
garden out there in the bullpen. Pat Santa On the
old groundskeeper, would grow like tomatoes and other vegetables. They'd
have a little garden in the bullpen, and Earl would
have a little bit of a green thumb and a
hand in that. So that's where that emanated from. But yeah,
that was tremendous. And that's right up there with the
(23:13):
argument he had with Uh. I believe it's the late
great Ron Luciano where he came out to the mound
and everything was heard, and he kept calling Earl a
loser and recited his world series record and all that,
and UH and Eddie Murray is standing there trying to
hold back the laughter. It was just hilarious. Mike Flanagan
(23:34):
tries to intervene. It was quite a comedy show with Earl,
who was one of the greatest managers of all time,
but also quite a character, very vocal, not too tall,
maybe Kyler Murray size. But he and Jim Palmer had
a very testy relationship bend and that continued even after
their careers were over. I remember near the end of
(23:57):
Earl's life there was a banquet where the two were
seated next to each other and the alcohol was flowing,
and so were the insults, and it almost came two blows.
You may want to look that up, because that was
just less than ten years ago. I think when that
occurred and it got really ugly at a place right
down the road called Martin's West, where I think they
(24:18):
had to have some people come in and intervene between
those two because Earl was ready to go after Jim.
So it was not a bygones, be bygone situation. It
was it was personal between Earl Weaver and Jim Palm
when Earle was when Earle had a few cocktails and cigarettes,
and he was notorious for smoking in the dugout in
the runway. Uh. In fact, he had a nickname for
(24:41):
Don Stanhouse, the former reliever. He would call him six pack,
not in terms of beers, but six packs of cigarettes.
He would have to go through as this guy tried
to get through the ninth inning. But Earl had a
temper and we would see it on the field and
sometimes off the field. Now he was gone by the
time he started as radio reporter. Right now he wasn't
(25:02):
managing the team. I was around the sort a little bit.
This Earl did. Earl have the reputation like Tommy where
if the Dodgers won, Tommy would be waiting for the
cameras to come into the locker room ready to go,
and if the Dodgers lost, he would be sitting behind
his desk eating some kind of whatever the meal of
(25:22):
the night was, and he wouldn't stop eating, and he
had his head down and he would be he had
he had to shove the mic. I remember how to
clean the microphone, Jerry, because as a stringer and I
started the sort of managed. It was like the last
three years he managed. And I remember when they lose,
he would spit food on the mic and I had
(25:44):
to clean the sort of spit food parts off my
micro was did Earl have the same reputation or was
he the same whether the O's one or they lost.
I had heard, because I never covered him, that he
could be testy after a loss. But the managers, the
vintage manager is that I dealt with during the La
Sword Age fit that description, and they would be the
(26:05):
late Sparky Anderson and Lou Panella Litow. Lou wouldn't even
get dressed sometimes, which was very uncomfortable, so he would
be sitting there without anything on. He would have a
cigarette in his right hand and a fork in his
left hand. He would eat and smoke and then he'd
pick up the beer in between questions, and he was
(26:25):
always very testy. This is when he was managing Seattle.
And then Sparky of course would come in with the
tigers and and be a curmudgeon at times two to
the young reporters trying to ask, you know, probing questions.
So those are the vintage managers I dealt with only
the sort of one time. But that Dave Kingman Rants
still reigned supreme. Well, it's the Kingman Rants great. The
(26:50):
Kirk Bovaca one is pretty good. Bovaca couldn't hit water
if he fell out of a boat. But but for me,
the Lea is still still the gold standard. And less
grob I should get less Grobstein on this podcast. Less
is uh. He's I think last I heard, he's still
doing a show in Chicago, and he's the guy that
(27:10):
recorded that, uh the radio stringer back in those days
in the early eighties and had a tour Lee had
a tour of duty through Baltimore and talked about that,
you know, I mean, without any terms of you know,
remorse whatsoever. I think at the time maybe he felt it,
but now he feels like it's a part of baseball lords.
(27:30):
So he kind of embraced it when I asked him
about it. But you're right, there was no tirade that
equaled that inside, you know, a manager's office that I
had ever heard. Yeah, and I had heard stories that
that wasn't even the worst like that, that this that
just happened to be recorded. Jerry, that that there was
actually some other stuff that didn't get recorded. I heard
the same thing about the sort of that, the sort
(27:52):
of you know, he had some epic rants that were
better than the Kingman rant. But because it was only
sports writers and there weren't can was around her microphones
per se, that that stuff got lost, Uh, for the
ages there. Now, speaking of Baltimore sports, there's another story. Now,
we have fought over this for many years, the legendary
(28:14):
night the lights went out at Camden Yards and cal
Ripken had not set the record yet. It was a
big game the Mariners, who at the time it's hard
to believe now considering how crappy the Mariners have been
for almost twenty years, but at that time the Mariners
were one of the it teams in baseball, and they
had big rock star players in Seattle, and they were
(28:36):
playing the Orioles. And this is a big game and
Cal Ripkins getting closer to breaking the all time streak
for consecutive games played, and the lights went out at
Camden Yards. The game was postponed immediately. There was a
rumor that popped up that there was an incident involving
Kevin Costner and Cal Ripkin's wife. And if you want, Jerry,
(29:02):
I can give the story as I remember the story,
or you can give the story if you want, but
I believe it to be true. You have said it
is not true. But the story involves, uh, Cal going
to the ballpark forgetting something, turning around to go home,
and there was a situation he walked in on with
(29:23):
Kevin Costner and I guess now his ex wife and Uh.
And because of that situation, they had to cancel the game.
That he was so flummixed and also a little beaten
up that he had to cancel. They had to cancel
the game. You have denied that, Jerry, you have taken
that and said it is bull crap. I believe you
(29:44):
are wrong, but make your position known again for those
listening to the fifth hour. Well, first of all, let's
think about the multiple layers of cover up that would
have to transpire for this to occur in seven Now,
it was true that Kevin and Costner was finishing up
a film. I think it was called The Postman, and
he was staying at the Ripken home back in August
(30:07):
of the cow returning home before a game. Never heard
of that before. That's usually not the norm. Usually when
he goes to the ballpark, he doesn't turn around to
go back to retrieve something. I was at the game
that night. I spoke with Cal before that game that night.
In fact, I think I may have interviewed him. As
far as the lighting going on, it was out all
(30:29):
of downtown Baltimore. I mean, what a conspiracy to have
all of Baltimore's electricity shut down for one guy to
keep a streak intact. I just don't believe it. I
think that Kevin Costner actually called into Fox at one
point to put the k bosh on this, But it's
too extravagant of a rumor for me to buy to
(30:49):
keep a streak intact. So being there that night, seeing
the lights off all around downtown Baltimore, it was unusual.
But I'm not buying into the conspiracy that that kept
the street going and those two gotten a big battle
inside the Ripken home. All right. So I here's where
I come into this. So I was this stringer at
(31:10):
the time. I was doing my thing, and I was
at Dodger Stadium. Uh. And the next day, the next day,
a buddy of mine came. He came up to me,
said You're never gonna believe this, and I said, you know,
of course, I said, what is it? What are you
what are you talking about? And he said, you know
that that game between the Orioles and the Mariners. He says, well,
(31:32):
I was in Vegas last night and uh. He then
said he was gambling. Uh, this is I guess this
is actually two days after because he had come back
two days after. So this he was in Vegas the
day after that game. He says, You're never gonna be whatever.
I mean. I'm in I'm ethics, see, and I'm gambling.
And he ended up he was gambling with somebody who
(31:54):
happened to be very close with Peter Angelos, the owner
of the Orioles there at the time and in the
Angelo's family, and said that he explained the whole story.
And this is before it became popular, and this is
you know this this in the days Jerry before social media.
So and he's giving me the whole thing. He's like,
you know, this is unbelievers, came right from the name,
(32:16):
the person whatever. And so I I buy it because
I feel like I heard it two days after as
I remember, as I remember the story. So it is
conceivable Cal Ripkin was such a big deal in those
days that the Illuminati could have come in right and
some kind of new world order and then let's just
(32:38):
shut the lights out. You know, Peter Angelo's has a
lot of money. You had a lot of money at
the time, still has a lot of money that the
Angelo's family and all that. So, uh, make a few
phone calls, Hey, give do me a solid and uh,
that's it. The game's postponed for a night, and then
the next night everything's good. Well, I do know that
Cal is no longer married to Kelly Rippin. They've been
(32:59):
separate aided a divorce for quite some time. There was
no connection to Kevin Costner whatsoever. Again, very elaborate to
keep that streak going. But that's what, truly you want
to believe. That's fine. I mean, I just don't see
it that way. Having been at the ballpark that night,
I just find it hard to fathom that they would
go to that link to keep this streak intact and
shut down all of the power in Baltimore. Well, remember
(33:22):
not just at Camden Yards. I mean there were other
places where the lights were out too. It wasn't just
at Camden Yards. I wouldn't say the entire city was dark,
but that neighborhood, the block or two that the ballpark
sat in, was dark. Be sure to catch live editions
of The Ben Meller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
eleven pm Pacific. Well, and and also they'll remember in
(33:44):
that time that was the cal Ripkins streak was to
bring fans back because baseball was still trying to get
people to come back after the work stopage into and
then that that cal Ripkin was credited with bringing you know,
old time baseball fans back and all that. So that
was a big deal to save a billion dollar industry.
(34:05):
Could you imagine if he had gotten that close to
the streak and then not being able to play, Oh
my goodness, that would have been a disaster for baseball
at that By then, though he had already set the
consecutive games record. We're talking about nineties seven. I believe
he set the record in ninety five, so he was
(34:25):
just trying to keep it intact and extend it. But again,
what year was it. I gotta look, I believe I
thought it was ninety seven. Was that might you might
you know, you might be right, but ninety seven are
like the same to me. You know, the streak was
still very much intact, though, is what I'm saying. Then
he was trying to you know, he kept it going
(34:47):
five hundred games longer after breaking Luke Garrett's mark, So
it was still a big deal at that point. But again,
a lot of a lot of things would add to
have occurred for that to transpire. All right, So as
far is, the Ravens are concerned, and we've kept you
a long time here, Jerry. But what a game that was?
Uh look, yeah, well the last Ravens game very impressive. Now,
(35:07):
Lamar Jackson. I did several rants, several Mallard monologues slamming
Lamar Jackson back in the day, and he made me
look like a total donkey when he had the m
v P, the breakout, amazing, all everything, the video game
glitch here for the Ravens. But I have noticed here
(35:28):
this season quietly, Lamar, not exactly lighting the world on
fire here, Jerry, what's going on with your guy, Lamar Jackson.
You're right, he's regressed. I think you pointed it out
after the Thursday night debacle in Miami. The last three
games have been underwhelming, and then we were supposed to
speak to him the other day and for the third
time this year on a Wednesday, he's missed his session
(35:52):
because he was ill, and that's kind of peculiar. The
coach came out and said, it's not COVID. We don't
know if he's had the shot or not, because it's
something he keeps secretive. And I'm tired of asking about it.
And I know you're tired of people asking athletes about
it yourself, even though that's what I like to do,
is prod and probe. But the fact that he lost
his top two running backs, a lot of his offensive
(36:14):
line is banged up. Yeah, injuries are part of football.
The Ravens have as many as any team in the NFL,
but it's really hurt him. He's been sacked twenty seven
times already this year. Ben. That's five more times and
all of last year combined. And I think maybe he's
not ill. I just think they're trying to give him
an extra day off. He's taken up beating, and the
(36:35):
Ravens are going to continue to run this guy until
they try and get to a super Bowl. And I
really wonder what type of money they're gonna offer him,
if a substantial contract at all. I just think they're
waiting until the very last second to try and have
to pay this guy and see what they can get
out of him physically and running the football. But when
he's carrying the ball twenty times a game, that's for
(36:56):
a running back, not a quarterback. Is he gonna get
paid here? Is there a chance that the Ravens don't
give him the contract, that they say, hey, you're too
injury prone and we can't we can't trust that you're
gonna be effective and we're gonna get we can't give
you all this guaranteed money? Is there? Everyone? Everyone seems
sold that he's going to get paid. Yet his mother
(37:17):
is his agent. He doesn't have anyone reputable handling him.
With no disrespect to his mother, but she hasn't done
this for a living like people you know out there
that do do it for a you know seven day
a week living and he doesn't have any major endorsements
either that I won the m v P a couple
of years ago. He's not appearing on commercials like homes
(37:39):
and Rogers and Baker Mayfield. So a lot of his
money is being made by selling apparel and other little
things that he's doing. But for me, he's blown millions
of dollars and endorsement money, and again it's still working
off his rookie deal. Yeah, it's pretty pretty well now.
You're you're very well known on our show. Your your
(38:01):
relationship with John Harbaugh, your repartee with John Harbaugh. Does
he like you or not like you? I think he
does like you. I think he genuinely likes you and
also at the same time hates you based on how
the interaction goes. What I've seen on some of these
Raven News conferences when I watched them online, Jerry, where
(38:22):
are you at with John Harbaugh? The coach? Long time
coach at the rating. John Harbaugh has been there forever.
My goodness. I thought he was gonna leave a couple
of years ago when they had that rough patch. I
don't think he's going there. I don't think he's going anyway.
I think he's gonna be there for the rest of
his life. But you and Hardball, where are you at?
You two? I think you nailed it pretty accurately. We
(38:43):
have a tremendous relationship. But at times he does hate me,
especially when I'm asking a question that he knows is
going to be probing, that he knows is going to
rub him the wrong way. But I have his phone number.
He and I text back and forth, and sometimes he
doesn't mind when I stirred up to be honest with few.
I think he respects the fact that, you know, unlike
a lot of people in our business, especially around here,
(39:06):
they'll take shots at the Ravens or the Orioles and
never show their face at the ballpark or the locker room.
I'm out there two or three times a week now.
One of the reasons, ad Midaly is the Ravens are
giving out free COVID tests, So every Wednesday I go
there just to get tests tested and make sure I
test negative. They also give out some very good food
on Wednesdays, so that's why I go out there on Wednesdays.
(39:28):
But I'm out there on Monday's peppering him at his
press conference. I don't even bother asking him questions after
the football game anymore, Ben, because they always say, I
have to look at the proverbial tape. And that's why
I wait until Monday and say, now that you've looked
at your tape and seeing how bad your team looked
on Sunday, maybe you can comment on this aspect. Now
(39:51):
does he pull the old Well, we're ready to move on.
Now that's in the past. We're not gonna look. No, no, no,
we don't turn the page on Monday's. We don't turn
the page on Mondays. I remind him of that. Okay,
you can turn the page on Wednesday, but not the
day after, two days after the game. Now, when you
say they have good food the Ravens, what are we
looking at? Give me a kind of an idea. Here's
(40:12):
a media freeloader myself. Over the years, I enjoy a
good meal. I know you have gone to the legendary
horse race there in Baltimore and then the Preakness. You've
told me you you've gone just for the foods occasionally
that it's that good. Well, that's a catered event. Then
that is a catered event. What the Ravens do is
(40:33):
every Wednesday, they will bring in an outside establishment for food.
Yesterday it was a local pizza chain. We had all
sorts of cow zones, uh, buffalo chicken. I went for
the meat lovers. Instead of taking one, I take two.
I live about ten minutes away from the complex. I
could bring ice cream home from the complex and it
(40:54):
wouldn't melt, so I make sure I get my allotment
and get on out of there. But it rotates. It's
pizza one week, it subs the next week barbecue, so
there's a rotation that's going. In fact, I've been taking
pictures every week and at the end of the year
I'll make a montage and credit some of the Ravens
p R. Because they keep reminding me they're paying for
(41:15):
the food. It's not part of a trade deal. And
then I remind them they're worth about three billion dollars,
so stop complaining. Yeah, well that's good. That's good to hear.
The Ravens are taking care of you guys. I know
in l A at the Ram Games at so Fi Stadium,
which is amazing. It's a it's a palace that place.
The Rams better food than the Chargers, even though it's
(41:37):
the same stadium, the same setup in the press box
and all that on game day, better spread of food
for the l A Rams and the l A Chargers.
So and the Stan Crockie Stan Crocki has got more
money than that Spanos family, right, Yeah, Well, the charge
is probably upset with the media because they don't get
the same attention the Rams get and all that. But
(41:58):
you're right they I always that was trade. I always
thought it was part of the deal, and they just too.
You know, you know who may have the best pre
games set up in the NFL in terms of food
and halftime? Who's that? That would be the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers because they have a omelet spread in the morning,
um where you can order your own omelet. They have
(42:19):
an omelet bar going before the game. Then at halftime
that turns into like if you want bananas, foster or
something else off the frying pan, and then they add
in all sorts of candy bars. I mean, you know,
there's a pile of Snickers, a pile of heath Bars,
three musketeers, you go down the line. So they really
(42:40):
spoiled the media down in Tampa. And this was pre
Tom Brady Nice. I've not been to a Buccaneers game.
I'll have to have to check that out. All right, Sports,
how can people follow you on Twitter? How can they
hear you on your radio show? Promote? Promote? Promote? All Right?
On Twitter? Are at Sports with Coleman. Instagram it is
(43:03):
J cole five five four or five J colet and
the Facebook page Sports with Coleman. Pretty easy to remember.
I'm on the radio typically six to ten at nights.
Used to do Morning Drive. Asked for out of that.
The reason being is because I think you've talked about this.
(43:24):
You know, work in the morning drive takes years off
your life. Wasn't really good for my mental health. The
days were getting shorter. Plus I was working with two
other people. Now I have my own show just like you,
and I don't have the interruptions that I had to
deal with. Plus I get to set the agenda from
my show. So I'm on six to ten. When there
isn't Maryland basketball, when the Orioles aren't playing, and when
(43:46):
there isn't Monday or Thursday night football, That's what I'll
be on. So in essence, I'm on two or three
times a week. It's a great gig and occasionally I
even make an appearance like I did the other night.
I make an appearance with The Great Sports with Coleman.
But you're right morning radio and I've I've done this
ramp many times. I did morning updates for a brief
(44:07):
period of my career and I could not figure it out.
I'm not a morning person and I tried to stay
up all night. That didn't work, and the hours were
just to me, they were worse than working overnights. People.
A lot of people complain. I'll run into people, how
do you work the overnight? So I'm like, compared to
morning drive. The only thing that sucks about is you
(44:28):
don't get paid doing night radio or overnight radio. You
don't get paid anywhere near what you get paid typically
in the mornings. But uh, the quality of life is
better anyway. Jerry, thank you so much, appreciate it. We'll
have you on again and have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you,
Happy Thanksgiving to you and the listeners out there. I
enjoy the radio show as much as a podcast. Thanks
(44:51):
for having me
Host
Ben Maller
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