February 18, 2025 • 43 mins
Arte Moreno expects the Angels to compete in 2025 and says that the team will probably lose between $50 and $60 million this season. Sources out of Dallas say that Luka Doncic missed games because the team wanted him to get back in shape and that he drinks and smokes hookah too much.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah. Then we got bred Rugan, Rodney Pete A and
five seventy LA Sports three hour program Force. Today one o'clock,
David Vatse will jump on, we'll get into the Dodgers.
Two o'clock. Ben Bulch on the program will talk about
Mick Cronin one went away from five hundred. I remember
when he went basically after his players at the news conference.
There was a concern that guessed too much. He went
(00:22):
berzerk on those players and guess what they responded. Yep,
big time. They responded big time. So we are going
to have Ben Boltch on the show to talk about
that during the two o'clock hour. And yes, we'll get
to the story about Luca and his hookah. That'll be
coming up as well today, but let's get started with it.
(00:44):
A little hookah from time to time. Come on, now, Well,
I'm not the one complaining. I'm saying, you know, people
in Dallas think Lucas spoke too much hookah, and that's
exactly why Luca is going put that hookah down. A
few more Uka places in LA. Then there in Dallas
they're Freddie Fritz. Well, maybe he's learned his lesson, or
(01:06):
maybe it's acceptable here, I'm not sure, but either way,
we'll get into that in the next segment. All right,
off the top, so uh Ardi Moreno spoke to MLB
dot com. Now, let's just talk about this because we
won't do it a lot, but we should do it
off the top, and it talks about ownership and an approach.
He spoke to MLB dot com. He said he's very
(01:28):
happy with the way things are going for twenty twenty five,
and he does believe his team will contend. All right,
let's start with that. He does believe it. Yeah, he's
very happy. He's very happy with the way things are
going in twenty twenty five, and he does believe his
(01:48):
team will contend. Okay, I don't think he had been
drinking before he did this interview or visiting Luca with
the hookah. So he is borderline delusional or knows something
that everyone else doesn't know because he thinks his team
will contend. Although he didn't specifically state what it would
(02:11):
contend for. Could it contend for third place in the
AL West, Could it contend for bottom third of the
American League. He didn't say what it was going to
contend for. Rodney, but we know, somehow, some way this
year he is in contention. Uh, Fred, you know he
(02:35):
didn't mean contending for the third place. He certainly meant
contending for title. Fred. That's the only way they do
things down there, and at a hid excuse me, los
Angeles South, Los Angeles South, that's how they do things
down there. I don't know, is he Do people believe
(02:56):
him when he says that they can't? He hasn't been
a contender since Socia left, and I don't know. And
when you're less active than most teams in the offseason,
how do you expect to be contenders after you've If
(03:18):
you've not had a great season, didn't make the playoffs,
what did you do to bolster your team? Well, no, no, no,
I'm glad you bring that up, because he will tell
you he spent money. Oh and he did. He spent
over one hundred million bucks on acquiring players. So he
did spend money. Spend it poorly again, but did spend money.
(03:41):
And that will make the point Rodney that he's going
to lose between fifteen sixty million dollars this year. And
he made that point, we're going to lose between fifty
and sixty million dollars this year. And you know, I
say to him, that's your problem. Note, I say to him,
learn how to operate your business, learn how you know.
(04:01):
The Angels I just looked. The Angels are thirteenth out
of thirty in attendance. They're thirteenth. It's on the top
top half, thirteenth. They averaged I didn't know this either.
They averaged thirty one thousand fans a game last year.
That's not bad. I mean the Dodgers average forty eight.
(04:23):
So you got to look at like that. It's a
little bit different. Yankees forty one. Dodgers are so passed
everybody by a large margin. But thirty one thousand a
night over two and a half million came through that
turnstile for him, and he's talking about losing fifty sixty
million dollars a year. Yeah, you have to understand this.
(04:44):
They're thirteenth last year. You know there was a period
of time where they were top five. Yeah, five, yes,
but I guess when the when the product you present
to the public is garbage, they stopped spending as much
money to come see it. So he was top five.
So now if you say, well, he's going to lose
between fifty and sixty how's he going to lose that money? Well,
(05:04):
what is the TV deal? It doesn't pay as much.
We've talked about the RSNS, the regional sports network model.
So that's one way, and let's say the other way
is because the team isn't that good. But whose fault
is that his? It's his fault. You see, you can't
put together an inferior product. People don't want to pay
(05:24):
for it. And then you say we lleah, but I'm
gonna lose money. Well, of course you are. That's your fault.
That's no one else's. I'm gonna lose between fifteen sixty
million dollars. Okay, then operate your business properly. Why have
you gone this long and still haven't figured out a
way to put an organization together that can deliver sustained success.
Why whose fault is that? Is it my fault? Is
(05:47):
it Rodney's fault? No, it's your fault. You haven't pigged
it out. Can't you go back into not too long
history and like you mentioned, they were top five in attendance.
You know, things were good. I don't think he was
losing fifty sixty million dollars then no, and he had
his big he had his bigger TV deal too, Rodney, Yeah,
I get that. I get that. But also winning brings
(06:09):
everything else. People are not buying the hats and shirts
and sweatshirts and hoodies and all that kind of stuff
as well when you're losing winning Winning takes care of
a lot of a lot of that when it terms
the revenue. But you're he sounds like the Cubs owner.
All we try to do is break even. We'll talk
about that in a second, because I think that is
a very astute observation. That line, I think means a lot. Uh.
(06:33):
So he's gonna lose between fifteen and sixty because he
elevated the payroll compared to last season. All right, well,
again that's on him. Uh. He did say the team
struggles are on him. It's his fault. It's his fault.
And he expects them to contend in twenty twenty five,
(06:53):
then that too will be his fault because they're not.
Hopefully they have a nice year. But when I think
of a powerhouse is in the American League, I'm not
going with the Angels. It's their year not doing that.
Pretty simple. He did also say that please don't accuse
(07:16):
me of not spending money because I've spent money. I mean,
look at the deal I gave Anthony Rendon. Yeah, let's
look at that that got the Dodgers didn't get him.
But let's look at that. You gave him that money.
So you can't say I didn't spend money. Let's look
at my Troup already says you can't blame him for
(07:37):
those guys getting hurt all the time. And you really can't.
But what should already have done? Held On to Otani
traded Trump before he fell apart and never signed Rendon.
We can make that point as well, I think, and
he did did, possibly mistakenly say Rendon will miss all
(07:59):
of twenty twenty. Well, I mean the shock would be
if he was there, not if he missed it. If
he missed it, nobody even knows he's supposed to be
there in the first place. So there's your angel report.
They'll be contenders. They'll lose money. Now, to your point, Rodney,
to your point, Ardi Moreno, we're gonna lose money between
(08:21):
fifteen sixty million dollars. Well, our heart bleeds for you.
Of course, there was a period of time before the
mayor of Anaheim was arrested by the FBI, and you
were trying to work out a deal that you would
have had enough money to develop all of the land
around Anaheim Stadium. That's interesting. You're gonna lose sixty million,
but you probably had a half a billion to try
(08:44):
and develop things interesting. So we have him losing, we
have the owner of the Cubs saying I try to
break even. I think Kevin told me because David Vasse
said it on Dodger Talk. Twenty two teams have a
lower payroll this year. Twenty two team.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Now, that's what Bob Nightingale wrote. I wrote that. I
said Dave Assay on Dodger Talk a couple of weeks
ago talked about the Pirates, and they have not signed
a player to a multi year deal over the last
like eight or nine years. They're all one year free
agent deals. They've never signed a player to a multi
year deal over the past decade or so.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I do have a problem with that. If you're
trying to win, you sign a guy to one year,
it's fine. I have a problem with that. That's how
you build a roster, build build a consistency by signing
everybody to one year deals. They have a great year,
they go somewhere else. That's how you build it. You
don't build it. No, you're not building consistency at all.
You're trying to get lucky. But at least they're trying something.
Here's when they get lucky for a year. Those guys
(09:40):
are out of there after one year. A guy hits
three hundred and has thirty home runs, he's getting for
that big payday. He's not going to stay there. As
soon as Paul Skeins can get out of there, he's gone. Correct,
you know, And didn't they correct me if I'm wrong?
Didn't they with the new TV deal? I know you
mentioned TV rights deal with the new TV deal with
(10:00):
Turner and ESPN, didn't Don't all the teams share in
that national revenue? Yes, yeah, but it's not as much.
It's obviously not going to be as much when you
can't add in your local revenue when that's diminished. But
here's my point, Cubs want to break even. Are thees
losing money? Teams aren't increasing their payrolls. So what is
(10:22):
the argument here? What is the perception? What are they
trying to do? I'm not saying it's collusion. But what
is what's happening? Right? Because people are sheep wile they
follow the flock. Well, the owner of the Angel said
he's going to lose fifty to sixty million dollars. Well,
the owner of the Cubs in Chicago said, my god,
I just want to break even a number of teams
(10:42):
had said we have got to change the way we
do business in Major League Baseball. This is simply unfair.
All this is is building a case. Oh going a case,
a case in the court and public opinion that something
has to change. That's all this is. Don't be mislet
and don't be I bet you Moreno a salary cap
(11:03):
and baseball, right, this is what they're leading to. They
want a salary cap in baseball. Yeah, and now they're
planning the scenes with the public. Arta Moreno will not
be the last owner to say this. I promise you
you'll hear more We're in trouble. We're in trouble. We can't.
I mean, what do you want us to do. Nobody's
in business to lose money, folks, nobody. But I think
(11:26):
you have an obligation as a team owner to be competitive.
And again, you can make the argument in a smaller city.
You can't make as much money in a smaller market,
all right, you can't. Maybe you can't spend as much.
We'll go tell Tampa they're always there. At least they
put a product on the field their fans can embrace,
and in some ways hope they can get out of
the playoffs early and make a run at it like
(11:48):
they did against the Dodgers a few years back. They're
in it. If Andrew Friedman didn't have the money he
has here with Guggenheim, he built Tampa Bay. I assure
you he'd build another franchise. I assure you he would.
If Andrew Friedman was a general manager in Anaheim, even
working with Ardi Moreno's money, would they be effective. I
(12:11):
think they would. If Farhanzeidy goes somewhere beside San Francisco
and he's back with the Dodgers, now he's not gonna
go anywhere. He's working for Mark Walter and Todd Bowley.
But he was available and he went to Anaheim and
they left him alone, would he be able to build something? Yes.
(12:34):
So if you spend fifty million or sixty million on
your payroll, or seventeen gazillion like the Dodgers. If you
will put your team together properly, you have an opportunity
to compete and win. And we know the team that
spends the most money doesn't always win. They win the
off season, they win all media reports, they win sponsorships,
(12:56):
but they don't win on the field necessarily, Rodney, I
think that's what you're gonna hear. Now. Wait and see
how many more people say, man, we're just trying to
break even. You know what, we lost money. And here's
the other thing. I think the union argument, the conventional
argument is well, don't tell me that you've got a
lot of money. That's a bad argument. It's a bad
(13:19):
argument because yes, they do have a lot of money.
That's not a winning argument. What crime broke is not one.
The crime broke is certainly not. But the players that
they're lying got a lot of money. You've got a
lot of money. Stop lying about your revenue. Is that
what they're going to say? Mm hmm, don't tell you, you
know what, It won't even be that, it won't even
(13:40):
be stopped lying. It's more, we know you make a
lot of money and spend it. That's not a winning
argument either. I think this is how you have to
approach it. Look, guys, owners, everybody has a shot to win.
So why don't you get your own house in order?
You wouldn't be here. You wouldn't own a team if
(14:01):
you didn't have an awful lot of money. So you
know how to make money, and you certainly know how
to make money in the business in which you made it. Well,
maybe you don't know that much about this business and
maybe that's not why it's working for you. So get
your own house in order and then figure out you
think majority of the owners one a salary cap? Yes?
(14:24):
And then you do you think that they would agree
to revenue sharing with the players like the NFL does. Well,
there's a certain percent I believe it's sixty sixty five
percent of the revenue's got to go to the player
or something like that, Right, So if there's a salary cap,
that's how the players get theirs. Yeah, yeah, so you
make money, players make more money, they go for that.
(14:46):
Do I think the players would go for that? I
don't know, there is it's certainly not going to go
for that. I'm saying the owners would go for that
because that then they have to really open up their books. Yeah,
they wouldn't go be in partnership with the players. I
don't see that happening. Yeah, I don't. You can't, but
(15:06):
you can't have it both ways. You can't ask for
a salary cap and then not not have revenue sharing
and open up your books to see, Okay, what are
you making that that goes to the players. The percentage
goes to the players. So it it very well could
be a lockout coming here was it? Next year they
have this is when it's up. So uh yeah, But
I I that's an interesting argument for that you brought up,
(15:28):
because I agree with you. Artie is not gonna be
He's not gonna be the last one to come out
and say I'm broke. You know, we heard it from
the Cubs owner first, and then now we're hearing it
from already. They're gonna be a number of You're gonna
hear it from Seattle. You're gonna hear it in Pittsburgh.
You're gonna hear it in Cincinnati. You're gonna hear it
in all the Miami. You're gonna hear it all these places.
You know, we can't afford it. We can't afford this.
(15:48):
We're losing money. This is not gonna work, and it
all is to set that seed. We gotta change something
in Major League Baseball otherwise we can't continue like this.
Otherwise you're just gonna have a half a dozen teams
that play each other. This is laying the foundation, This
is planning the seeds. This is slowly rolling this out now,
(16:10):
and always look at media coverage because that tells you
why things are happening all way. I think people buy that, though, Fred,
you think people buy that when he says I'm losing
sixty million dollars a year like Angel fans. Do. I
think they buy it? No? But more importantly, do I
think they care? No? And that's the point. That's the point.
(16:34):
You're the king, you know what. I've had a bad
couple of weeks. I don't have shoes that fit. We
don't care. You're the king. It doesn't matter. You're on
top and right or wrong, good or bad. Your problems.
I don't want to hear about them because I got
my own. I got my own problems. You know, if
(16:56):
you want to buy a car, and you walked in
and there were no cars sitting there, and the car
dealer said, well, you know, we have some problems with
our delivery. Well, I'm gonna go across the street. You
know why, I don't care what your problem is. I'm
here to buy a car. If you don't have one,
I'm going across the street. Pretty simple. My problem, Your
(17:20):
problem is not mine, Arda Moreno, losing money is not
my problem, not at all, because you know what, I
don't think Artie's gonna sell us house. I don't think
Artie's gonna go in food stamps. I don't think Artie's
gonna be broke. You know. I think when he sells,
he'll make about three and a half billion dollars profit.
(17:43):
I think Artie's fine, just fine, And maybe it's a
good thing. If he claims he loses money, honestly, maybe
it's the best thing. Maybe he can't operate the franchise anymore.
He's going in the hole. Maybe he'll have to sell.
Maybe that's what it was, a warning shot over the bill.
(18:06):
I'm in big trouble. So don't hate me if I
sell the team. I assure you nobody will hate you.
There will be a parade. Nobody will hate you, So
please don't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Well, I'll tell you this, Fred Ardie Moreno, on that
same interview with MLB dot Com did say he has
no desire to sell the team anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So that's not happening. What happened two years ago and
he was ready to sell.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I don't know, you know, got cold feet. Rodney loves
baseball way too much, loves his team way too much
to get out.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Had a second win. He wanted to be here to
make sure Otani left. Oh yeah, he wanted to be
on hand in charge to say goodbye to the best
player in biggest straw on baseball. He needed to be
a on deck for that one. Okay, well you kissed
him off.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's a gold star on your legacy right there.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Already, that's the one.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
He one of the great players in the history of
the sport walk away for nothing.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Let's not go into how badly that was botched. It's
not even worth it. But anyway, that's the Angel story.
So Angel fans, if you do listen to the radio station,
be heartened, because you're going to contend that's what already says.
Despite the fact he's moving to the poorhouse, He's not
gonna let this team fall by the wayside. He's gonna
(19:22):
make sure they contend, So that ought to put a
smile on every Angel fan's face.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Yay Luca for that a hookah what Yeah, let's get
back to it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
On a Tuesday, February eighteenth, Roddy Pete Fred Rogan. Yeah,
breaking it all down to you on a Tuesday. It's
almost here. Dodge is almost playing games for it. Three
training games coming up on us brother Thursday noon, first
game right here in the radio station. So there you go, yes, sir, yes, sir.
(20:13):
People can't wait for him to get started. Okay, So
you knew the other shoe would fall and eventually something
would leak out. So now this leaked out because the
Mavericks needed it leaked out because their general manager is
under assault, their owner is now public enemy number one,
and in Dallas people are really mad that they got
(20:34):
rid of Luka Doncics. Now you know, it was a
conditioning issue that had been reported and they didn't want
to sign to the Supermax. But when stuff like this
leaks out, then you know the Mavericks have had enough
and they're gonna let people know why they made a
decision that seems so incredibly, incredibly odd. And here it is,
(20:56):
are the athletic reporting that Luca missed five games with
a risk injury, but they actually wanted him to use
those days to get himself in better condition. So that's
the first thing. He missed five games and he wasn't hurt.
They just thought he was out of shape, and apparently
he did called it a risk. They called it a
wrist injury. They did, but they just wanted to get
(21:21):
in shape. The other thing they reported Luca, I don't
mean to laugh, Luca drinks alcohol. Oh no, oh my god,
No one in the NBA does that. Luca drinks alcohol
and smokes hookah. Luca and the hookah. And they said,
(21:44):
that's enough. We gave you time to get yourself in shape.
You didn't do it. Now you're drinking all the time
and smoking hookah and we're finished with you. So Rodney,
I think the other foot has fallen and now we
know what it was. Yeah, but you know there's more
(22:06):
to it. When something like that drops, when something like
that comes out, you know, we've we've heard the stories
and we've heard we saw the video. Everybody knows that video,
Michael Finley grabbing the beer out of his hand after
a game, and evidently this has been a you know,
been a problem. And yes, everybody, everybody drinks. You know,
(22:29):
Lebron talks about going home having a glass of wine
on a regular basis. He's got I think he's got
his own wine or tequila company and does his own thing.
And that's fine. We're all adults and grown men, I think.
But when it what it affects something that you think
you need to work on. Like from the time he
(22:51):
got in the league, people were saying he needs to
be in better shape, he needs to take better care
of his body. So if that is the narrative for
you against the last thing that the MAVs wanted to
see is him often out around town smoking and drinking
in public, So that becomes the narrative of Luca and
(23:11):
then him being out of shape. Look, if he was
ripped up, tightening up and doing those things, I don't
and in shape, I don't think it'd be an issue.
But the fact that that was a big that's a
big issue with him. And then he's often seen pounding
beers and smoking a hookah Uh, it becomes an issue.
(23:32):
It becomes an issue, and and and he probably should
have or could have done a better job of being
a little bit more private with that. Well, Michael Finley
walked by him in the locker room and snatched that
beer out of his hand. I thought that was really weird,
And now, if you think about it, it was sort
of like he was real they didn't want him to
(23:54):
drink anything. Yeah, he's like, the cameras around, what are
you doing with that in your hand? What are you doing?
Cameras on watching you, what are you doing? Take that
out of your hand? And he grabbed it out of
his hand and it was like that that has been
an issue with him, that they had talked about it
and they are trying to deal with it, and it
was widely known and then they saw it and it's like,
(24:14):
can't have this in front of cameras. Yeah, it was awkward.
At the time. I was like why, I think they
just won a series or something too when he was
having that beer and it was it was very awkward that,
you know, another grown man would go and snatch a
beer out of another grown man's hand outside the locker room,
and maybe they wanted it to be in a private situation,
(24:35):
didn't want to do that, But it's more evident that
that has been an issue with him with the Mavericks
over the years, and it was painting a bad picture
that they didn't want to paint. And when it came
to now I get it right now, you get it, now,
I get it, but we get more of it. That's yeah.
(24:56):
Well they said he wasn't in shape. But back to
Finley for a second. When he he grabbed that beer
from him, And maybe it had to do with the
fact that cameras were there, or maybe I think it
had a big thing and to do with cam Yeah,
but you know what I think, Rodney, for him to
do what he did, maybe they told him to stop
drinking camera or not. Probably stop. All right, we're gonna
(25:20):
help you, but you gotta stop because they do it
off the season, yeah, end season, don't Yeah, let's not
do that. Yeah. The way he grabbed it from him,
I thought that was like the little kid, right, Yeah,
it was like taking it from a kid. That was
an odd reaction, especially at a time in a locker
room where a guy, I'll have a beer if they
just want a series, which they did.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
By the way, this is right after they won the
Western Conference finals, so they're going to the NBA Finals.
It's not uncommon for guys to pop champagne and drink
a little bit. That probably makes it stand out even
more that in the midst of that, Finley still grabbed
it from him.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, I gotta tell you, he was outside the locker
room too when he did.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Was talking to his dad outside of the locker room,
and it just kind of slyly walks by, grabs the beer,
Luca looks at him and just keeps on pushing.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I gotta tell you, I don't think it had anything
to do with cameras. I think it had to do
with the fact we told you not to drink. You're
out of shape. We told you not to drink, and
we're watching you. But that in itself is an issue.
So you can imagine now if you're Dallas and you've
got this guy, and maybe there will be more that
(26:23):
will come out. But now suddenly it secretly leaks that
they gave him five five games off to get in shape.
That's unheard of. And if that happens though, going back
to the Michael Finley situation, that happens because obviously that
you know, everybody caught that because it did catch it
on on camera and then it was talked about and
(26:46):
I'm sure in Dallas it was heightened more than anything else.
If that happens, and there's nothing wrong. If you're Luca,
aren't you pissed off? Why you got to do that?
Why you got to embarrass me like that in public? Oh? Yeah,
aren't you pissed off? Like? What are you doing? I'm
twenty five years old, I can I can have a
beer after we win a championship or you know, win
(27:09):
a series. What are you doing? But you didn't really
hear and he pushed back from Luca, no because he did. No, Well,
I'm I'm pissed off if I'm standing in the hall
having a beer with my father standing in the locker room, yeah,
or just sitting in the corner by myself and you
come by and take it. Who said you're in charge
of that? Exactly? But then you start connecting dots. And
(27:34):
they probably told him and they were trying to get
him to come around, And if in fact they did
that after the Western Conference finals, this has been going
on a long time, A long time, yeah, and he
didn't come around. Now I think this is kind of
like the movie Scared Straight. Once you see what could
(27:58):
happen to you you're not gonna make that mistake, all right, Well,
Luca has seen what can happen. He lost a hundred
million dollars like that. That's that's a lot of money.
He lost one hundred million dollars like that. That's a
lot of money, right man, that's not you know, twenty
five thousand dollars. That's one hundred million dollars and he
(28:19):
lost it. Yeah, when you're talking, you're the top three
in the league, and now you're you're you're going to
make one hundred million dollars less than what ten, twelve,
fifteen guys in the league. More than that, maybe guys
are getting a super max. You're gonna make that much
less than these guys. That that that hurts, That absolutely
(28:43):
hurts when you've been gearing up for this supermax. You know,
I don't care how much money you've made along the way.
When you got a chance to max out and you
do that, and then now it's taken away from you
and now you can't get that. That's that is a
painful blow, A painful blow that you can you can
(29:06):
you really can't make that up because it's a moment
in time that you would get that one hundred million dollars.
Now he signs for two forty five instead of three
forty five, that's one hundred million dollars that he lost
in twenty twenty six, twenty twenty five, and he can't
get that back. He can keep making money, but he
can't get that moment in time back from those that
(29:27):
period of time where he could have made one hundred
and more million dollars. That doesn't come back to you.
So the question now becomes what does he become here?
Initial reports were true? Is conditioning all right? Now we
know more? So? What does he become here? I still
(29:49):
err on the side of he becomes what he truly is,
which is one of the top players in the game.
He will I think he will do that. I think
this is enough to knock some Bundy around a little
bit and let them know we're not fooling around. But
on the other hand, as the general manager of the
maverage is getting death threats and the owner can't even
go to the games, do you have to somehow, somehow
(30:15):
respect what they did. We told you what to do.
I don't know if they tried to help them or not.
You would think with that kind of investment they would,
but you have to be willing to ask for help
and accept it. But do you respect them because obviously
they had we figured they that was the last straw.
Something happened. But do you respect them Rodney for doing
(30:36):
what they did? Just feeling we cannot get through to
this guy. Yeah, yeah, you have to because and on
top of that, I know the fans are all upset,
but they can't Also, you know, they can't really go
tell the full story. I'm sure there's stories that they
(30:57):
got to bury and they can't really evulge and don't
want to do that either. And they're taking all this heat.
They're taking it and probably back going. If you guys
only knew what we had to deal with, this is
this is you only saw a portion of what we
dealt with. We had to deal with this for five
years with the guy, and it just became too much
(31:18):
and we couldn't deal with it anymore. They can't go
out and say exactly what that was that they dealt with.
They're just taking all of the heat now and sometimes,
you know, we've seen it. Sometimes it just becomes for
an organization, it becomes too much and we're not going
to change this person and it's better to cut ties
(31:40):
now than to let this prolong and go on and
and and let us slowly bring us down over the years.
Even though they made it to the finals last year.
We cannot have sustained success unless he's changed or will change,
and he's showed no evidence to change. So we gotta
we gotta cut tie now. You know what the question is? Now,
(32:02):
there's one more question. What was the last straw? Right?
Because something put this all over the top, right, because
this has been going on for a while and you
don't wake up and go, you know what, I just
don't think he's coming around. Something had to happen. What
was the last straw? The one moment where they said
(32:23):
that's enough. Because it happened, we don't know what it
is to it. Yeah, right. It wouldn't have been a
gradual thing because they had been working with him gradually,
so that wouldn't have been the case. Something happened. He
hit everybody in their hand. I'd like to say, as
a red button. It sits squarely in the middle of
(32:43):
your hand, this red button. If you push the button,
you hit the ejector seat and you eject yourself right
out of wherever you're at He pushed the button, he
ejected himself. Something happened and we just don't know what
that is. But that's Rodney. I think what will be next?
What was the final straw? Yeah? I agree with you.
(33:07):
I agree there was a he crossed the line or
pushed it over the top it, you know, the last straw,
whatever you want to call it. I agree with you.
There had to be something because this doesn't just gradually happen,
as you say, and then eventually they well, this is
the third time he did the same thing. This is
the fourth time he did the same thing. So let's
just no. It was like he did what after we
(33:31):
told him this x y z and we had to
sit down and he still did x y z. Okay,
that's it. If you do this, you know, we catch
this one more time, and you do this one more time?
Are you not doing this? It's like, we can't anymore.
We can't. We told you, we warned you. Now it's real.
(33:52):
That's what it feels like. Top of the air, one o'clock. Well,
join David Say for Dodger Baseball from training camp. We'll
find out the very latest two o'clock mc cronin's one
went away from five hundred at UCLA and Ben Boltcher
joined the show. Today's afternoon delight is Set You Free
(34:17):
by Jack Harlowe. The song is the third single that
the Kentucky native has released since the past November, after
having previously taken a year off between releases, and a
recent glood of releases as spark rumors that the rapper
could be gearing up for his first studio album since
twenty twenty three, project titled jack Man. However, nothing has
(34:39):
officially been announced as of now. Again. Today's afternoon Delight
is Set You Free by Jack Harlowe. Alright from the
Court to the court Room with Jacob em Ronnie. Now
(35:01):
all weekly chat with our good friend Jacob em Ronni. Jacob,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (35:06):
I'm doing wonderful. How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Good? You're smoking any hookah? Good? Hey?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Hey hey heyes, No, I'm not much of a hookah smoker.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I don't get your sent out of Dallas. I heard
you smoke Houka in Dallas. You're out, Jacob.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Oh boy, Well, thank god we're not in Dallas, right.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Tell you what'd you think of what the Mavericks have
to say about Luca?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
You know what. I just feel like sometimes you're so
much further ahead by saying less, and with all the
heat that they were taking, I don't know why they're
just kind of pouring more and more dirt on themselves.
I mean, you just gotta, you know, take the high road,
be classy about it. You know you guys yourself a
(35:51):
good player, Just say this could be a win win
for both and just move on. I'm not a big
fan of a lot of that talk.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I agree they were taking
so much heat, and I think that they panicked and
linked it out that well, you think it's all us,
and it's it's just as much his fault and as
our fault, and it became very childish on their on
their side. I I, I certainly, I certainly agree with that, Jacob.
(36:20):
What do you think of if you watch any of
it the All Star weekend?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
You know, the only part of the All Star Weekend
I watched was you know the games, you know, the
four different teams and you know, playing against each other.
I'm a little sad that, you know, the All Star
break has lost its muster. I'm happy that Lebron decided
not to play, saying that it's more important for him
(36:46):
to rest and get ready for the second, you know,
half of the season. But you know, I think you
have so many stars that can actually come out and
make the All Star break as exciting as it used to.
But now you've got the stars talking about I mean
KD came out the other day and said you should
just do away with the All Star Game and just
(37:07):
let us rest.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
You know, there's that that talks a lot about, you know,
the state of the NBA right now and the fact
that I don't know if it's true or not, but
they said this was one of the lowest rated All Stars.
It's it's odd because NBA has always been the league
in terms of its marketing that's been bounds and leaves up,
you know, in front of everybody else, always coming up
(37:31):
with the ideas, you know, the playing game and things
like that to get more viewers, and they just have
not been able to figure out the All Star Game
and it's just been going the other way.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah. Well that's because the players don't really want to
be there. That's why it's pretty simple. You can't figure
it out because they don't want to do it. And
if you're putting.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
Any money in your product want to be there. I
was saying that if they actually do exactly what they
did with the in league tournament and actually money up there,
I guarantee you they're all going to want to be there.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Ah See, that's what I think too, Jacob. I think
people think, oh, they make so much money, they don't
want if you put an incentive like that, Like even
with the play in it's what half a million dollars
and most of the guys make that in a week
in the NBA, But that half a million dollars that
they got a chance to win in that mid season tournament,
(38:26):
that that makes guys play harder because that's a check
that they didn't normally are thinking about getting. And so yeah,
from a monetary incentive situation that I think that would help.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
As a matter of fact, Yeah, money always brings everybody out.
When there's money there, people show up. If that really
is the intention of the NBA to continue the All
Star Game, you have so much money coming in from
you know, the people that are advertising, from all the
promotional stuff. Shouldn't be that dificult to put, you know,
(39:01):
put some money in there and and make them have
something to play for.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I have an idea. I have an idea, real quick
for I'm sorry, Uh, yes, you put the money. Say
it's five hundred thousand dollars that the winning team gets,
But but that money comes from the opposing team, So
the opposing players have to pony up that money. It's
(39:26):
like playing somebody on the golf course. You know you
play golf. He's like, you know, let's play for a
let's put something on it and play for money. You lose,
you got to come out of your pocket and and
put that on the opposing team. So if you lose
that All Star game, the guys on the losing side
got a pony up that money. Jacob, what do you
think about that?
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Listen? But the question here becomes is if you're playing
in an All Star game, right and you now have
to pay something out of your pocket? Ah, you really
think those guys are gonna want to jump into that?
You know, I mean.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Today, if I get a chance to take some money
from you, Oh maybe I don't know, made Jacob, I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Maybe these guys like let me tell you, Lebron, say
I get to take some money from Kyrie, I'm gonna
take Kyrie's money. I'm going for.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
It, Rodney. They don't make them like you the way
you know. I mean, you know, they don't make them.
They're not all like you. I'll tell you that, all.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Right, Jacob. Listeners love when you offer some advice. How
about the second opinions? How can it benefit someone? Listen?
Speaker 4 (40:26):
You know, second opinion is something that is just a label,
right when when an individual is uh diagnosed or has
a sickness, they go see a doctor, they take it
all in, and then they always like to get a
second opinion. If you are being you know, if you're
being recommended to have back surgery, you just don't jump in.
(40:50):
You go get a second opinion. And you know people
do that because they use their health insurance. They're not
really paying much, but they still pay something and they
get opinions. You know, in our industry, it's important to
understand that people who are involved in an accident case
don't always understand what's the beginning, the middle, and end
(41:11):
of the process. And you know, there's a lot of
great attorneys and a lot of great law firms that
are doing good work, but then there's also attorneys who
are new to the field. The people who are not
specialists and they take a dibble dabble in what we do.
And you know the reason we have the second opinion
(41:31):
opportunities and we don't charge a penny for that is
it gives them individual who may not who may be
confused in terms of the process, who may not be
able to speak to their attorney, who may be always
passed on to assistant and never even have a law
firm when the attorneys ever in the office and they
want an opportunity to sit with somebody, have a one
(41:51):
on one review their case and just have their questions answered.
And you know, we've been doing that now for ten years.
When we review a case and we see that a
fellow attorney's doing a great job, we're the first people
to tell them they're doing a great job. You know,
you shouldn't be worried. But then when we look at
things that they're not doing a great job or it's
(42:12):
been screwed up. It's also our ethical duty in order
to give that as a second opinion to these individuals
who call us, and they're so appreciative of it because
they have no commitment to have to go with us.
It's literally a free second opinion and they get another
pair adies on their case and people have been very
(42:32):
thankful about that. And this is something we've been doing.
We do it every you know, every day. We don't
talk about it, but a lot of individuals who've been
coming off to our office in the past few weeks
has said, we need to discuss it because people don't
think that they have a right to do that and
it's free. So you know, that kind of got me
to talk about it this week.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
All right, Jacob, you are the man.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
We appreciate you coming on anytime. Great talking to you guys,
and having good rest of your week.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
All right, as we continue, will join David Vassay at
spring training with the Dodgers.
Ah. Then we got bred Rugan, Rodney Pete A and
five seventy LA Sports three hour program Force. Today one o'clock,
David Vatse will jump on, we'll get into the Dodgers.
Two o'clock. Ben Bulch on the program will talk about
Mick Cronin one went away from five hundred. I remember
when he went basically after his players at the news conference.
There was a concern that guessed too much. He went
(00:22):
berzerk on those players and guess what they responded. Yep,
big time. They responded big time. So we are going
to have Ben Boltch on the show to talk about
that during the two o'clock hour. And yes, we'll get
to the story about Luca and his hookah. That'll be
coming up as well today, but let's get started with it.
(00:44):
A little hookah from time to time. Come on, now, Well,
I'm not the one complaining. I'm saying, you know, people
in Dallas think Lucas spoke too much hookah, and that's
exactly why Luca is going put that hookah down. A
few more Uka places in LA. Then there in Dallas
they're Freddie Fritz. Well, maybe he's learned his lesson, or
(01:06):
maybe it's acceptable here, I'm not sure, but either way,
we'll get into that in the next segment. All right,
off the top, so uh Ardi Moreno spoke to MLB
dot com. Now, let's just talk about this because we
won't do it a lot, but we should do it
off the top, and it talks about ownership and an approach.
He spoke to MLB dot com. He said he's very
(01:28):
happy with the way things are going for twenty twenty five,
and he does believe his team will contend. All right,
let's start with that. He does believe it. Yeah, he's
very happy. He's very happy with the way things are
going in twenty twenty five, and he does believe his
(01:48):
team will contend. Okay, I don't think he had been
drinking before he did this interview or visiting Luca with
the hookah. So he is borderline delusional or knows something
that everyone else doesn't know because he thinks his team
will contend. Although he didn't specifically state what it would
(02:11):
contend for. Could it contend for third place in the
AL West, Could it contend for bottom third of the
American League. He didn't say what it was going to
contend for. Rodney, but we know, somehow, some way this
year he is in contention. Uh, Fred, you know he
(02:35):
didn't mean contending for the third place. He certainly meant
contending for title. Fred. That's the only way they do
things down there, and at a hid excuse me, los
Angeles South, Los Angeles South, that's how they do things
down there. I don't know, is he Do people believe
(02:56):
him when he says that they can't? He hasn't been
a contender since Socia left, and I don't know. And
when you're less active than most teams in the offseason,
how do you expect to be contenders after you've If
(03:18):
you've not had a great season, didn't make the playoffs,
what did you do to bolster your team? Well, no, no, no,
I'm glad you bring that up, because he will tell
you he spent money. Oh and he did. He spent
over one hundred million bucks on acquiring players. So he
did spend money. Spend it poorly again, but did spend money.
(03:41):
And that will make the point Rodney that he's going
to lose between fifteen sixty million dollars this year. And
he made that point, we're going to lose between fifty
and sixty million dollars this year. And you know, I
say to him, that's your problem. Note, I say to him,
learn how to operate your business, learn how you know.
(04:01):
The Angels I just looked. The Angels are thirteenth out
of thirty in attendance. They're thirteenth. It's on the top
top half, thirteenth. They averaged I didn't know this either.
They averaged thirty one thousand fans a game last year.
That's not bad. I mean the Dodgers average forty eight.
(04:23):
So you got to look at like that. It's a
little bit different. Yankees forty one. Dodgers are so passed
everybody by a large margin. But thirty one thousand a
night over two and a half million came through that
turnstile for him, and he's talking about losing fifty sixty
million dollars a year. Yeah, you have to understand this.
(04:44):
They're thirteenth last year. You know there was a period
of time where they were top five. Yeah, five, yes,
but I guess when the when the product you present
to the public is garbage, they stopped spending as much
money to come see it. So he was top five.
So now if you say, well, he's going to lose
between fifty and sixty how's he going to lose that money? Well,
(05:04):
what is the TV deal? It doesn't pay as much.
We've talked about the RSNS, the regional sports network model.
So that's one way, and let's say the other way
is because the team isn't that good. But whose fault
is that his? It's his fault. You see, you can't
put together an inferior product. People don't want to pay
(05:24):
for it. And then you say we lleah, but I'm
gonna lose money. Well, of course you are. That's your fault.
That's no one else's. I'm gonna lose between fifteen sixty
million dollars. Okay, then operate your business properly. Why have
you gone this long and still haven't figured out a
way to put an organization together that can deliver sustained success.
Why whose fault is that? Is it my fault? Is
(05:47):
it Rodney's fault? No, it's your fault. You haven't pigged
it out. Can't you go back into not too long
history and like you mentioned, they were top five in attendance.
You know, things were good. I don't think he was
losing fifty sixty million dollars then no, and he had
his big he had his bigger TV deal too, Rodney, Yeah,
I get that. I get that. But also winning brings
(06:09):
everything else. People are not buying the hats and shirts
and sweatshirts and hoodies and all that kind of stuff
as well when you're losing winning Winning takes care of
a lot of a lot of that when it terms
the revenue. But you're he sounds like the Cubs owner.
All we try to do is break even. We'll talk
about that in a second, because I think that is
a very astute observation. That line, I think means a lot. Uh.
(06:33):
So he's gonna lose between fifteen and sixty because he
elevated the payroll compared to last season. All right, well,
again that's on him. Uh. He did say the team
struggles are on him. It's his fault. It's his fault.
And he expects them to contend in twenty twenty five,
(06:53):
then that too will be his fault because they're not.
Hopefully they have a nice year. But when I think
of a powerhouse is in the American League, I'm not
going with the Angels. It's their year not doing that.
Pretty simple. He did also say that please don't accuse
(07:16):
me of not spending money because I've spent money. I mean,
look at the deal I gave Anthony Rendon. Yeah, let's
look at that that got the Dodgers didn't get him.
But let's look at that. You gave him that money.
So you can't say I didn't spend money. Let's look
at my Troup already says you can't blame him for
(07:37):
those guys getting hurt all the time. And you really can't.
But what should already have done? Held On to Otani
traded Trump before he fell apart and never signed Rendon.
We can make that point as well, I think, and
he did did, possibly mistakenly say Rendon will miss all
(07:59):
of twenty twenty. Well, I mean the shock would be
if he was there, not if he missed it. If
he missed it, nobody even knows he's supposed to be
there in the first place. So there's your angel report.
They'll be contenders. They'll lose money. Now, to your point, Rodney,
to your point, Ardi Moreno, we're gonna lose money between
(08:21):
fifteen sixty million dollars. Well, our heart bleeds for you.
Of course, there was a period of time before the
mayor of Anaheim was arrested by the FBI, and you
were trying to work out a deal that you would
have had enough money to develop all of the land
around Anaheim Stadium. That's interesting. You're gonna lose sixty million,
but you probably had a half a billion to try
(08:44):
and develop things interesting. So we have him losing, we
have the owner of the Cubs saying I try to
break even. I think Kevin told me because David Vasse
said it on Dodger Talk. Twenty two teams have a
lower payroll this year. Twenty two team.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Now, that's what Bob Nightingale wrote. I wrote that. I
said Dave Assay on Dodger Talk a couple of weeks
ago talked about the Pirates, and they have not signed
a player to a multi year deal over the last
like eight or nine years. They're all one year free
agent deals. They've never signed a player to a multi
year deal over the past decade or so.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I do have a problem with that. If you're
trying to win, you sign a guy to one year,
it's fine. I have a problem with that. That's how
you build a roster, build build a consistency by signing
everybody to one year deals. They have a great year,
they go somewhere else. That's how you build it. You
don't build it. No, you're not building consistency at all.
You're trying to get lucky. But at least they're trying something.
Here's when they get lucky for a year. Those guys
(09:40):
are out of there after one year. A guy hits
three hundred and has thirty home runs, he's getting for
that big payday. He's not going to stay there. As
soon as Paul Skeins can get out of there, he's gone. Correct,
you know, And didn't they correct me if I'm wrong?
Didn't they with the new TV deal? I know you
mentioned TV rights deal with the new TV deal with
(10:00):
Turner and ESPN, didn't Don't all the teams share in
that national revenue? Yes, yeah, but it's not as much.
It's obviously not going to be as much when you
can't add in your local revenue when that's diminished. But
here's my point, Cubs want to break even. Are thees
losing money? Teams aren't increasing their payrolls. So what is
(10:22):
the argument here? What is the perception? What are they
trying to do? I'm not saying it's collusion. But what
is what's happening? Right? Because people are sheep wile they
follow the flock. Well, the owner of the Angel said
he's going to lose fifty to sixty million dollars. Well,
the owner of the Cubs in Chicago said, my god,
I just want to break even a number of teams
(10:42):
had said we have got to change the way we
do business in Major League Baseball. This is simply unfair.
All this is is building a case. Oh going a case,
a case in the court and public opinion that something
has to change. That's all this is. Don't be mislet
and don't be I bet you Moreno a salary cap
(11:03):
and baseball, right, this is what they're leading to. They
want a salary cap in baseball. Yeah, and now they're
planning the scenes with the public. Arta Moreno will not
be the last owner to say this. I promise you
you'll hear more We're in trouble. We're in trouble. We can't.
I mean, what do you want us to do. Nobody's
in business to lose money, folks, nobody. But I think
(11:26):
you have an obligation as a team owner to be competitive.
And again, you can make the argument in a smaller city.
You can't make as much money in a smaller market,
all right, you can't. Maybe you can't spend as much.
We'll go tell Tampa they're always there. At least they
put a product on the field their fans can embrace,
and in some ways hope they can get out of
the playoffs early and make a run at it like
(11:48):
they did against the Dodgers a few years back. They're
in it. If Andrew Friedman didn't have the money he
has here with Guggenheim, he built Tampa Bay. I assure
you he'd build another franchise. I assure you he would.
If Andrew Friedman was a general manager in Anaheim, even
working with Ardi Moreno's money, would they be effective. I
(12:11):
think they would. If Farhanzeidy goes somewhere beside San Francisco
and he's back with the Dodgers, now he's not gonna
go anywhere. He's working for Mark Walter and Todd Bowley.
But he was available and he went to Anaheim and
they left him alone, would he be able to build something? Yes.
(12:34):
So if you spend fifty million or sixty million on
your payroll, or seventeen gazillion like the Dodgers. If you
will put your team together properly, you have an opportunity
to compete and win. And we know the team that
spends the most money doesn't always win. They win the
off season, they win all media reports, they win sponsorships,
(12:56):
but they don't win on the field necessarily, Rodney, I
think that's what you're gonna hear. Now. Wait and see
how many more people say, man, we're just trying to
break even. You know what, we lost money. And here's
the other thing. I think the union argument, the conventional
argument is well, don't tell me that you've got a
lot of money. That's a bad argument. It's a bad
(13:19):
argument because yes, they do have a lot of money.
That's not a winning argument. What crime broke is not one.
The crime broke is certainly not. But the players that
they're lying got a lot of money. You've got a
lot of money. Stop lying about your revenue. Is that
what they're going to say? Mm hmm, don't tell you, you
know what, It won't even be that, it won't even
(13:40):
be stopped lying. It's more, we know you make a
lot of money and spend it. That's not a winning
argument either. I think this is how you have to
approach it. Look, guys, owners, everybody has a shot to win.
So why don't you get your own house in order?
You wouldn't be here. You wouldn't own a team if
(14:01):
you didn't have an awful lot of money. So you
know how to make money, and you certainly know how
to make money in the business in which you made it. Well,
maybe you don't know that much about this business and
maybe that's not why it's working for you. So get
your own house in order and then figure out you
think majority of the owners one a salary cap? Yes?
(14:24):
And then you do you think that they would agree
to revenue sharing with the players like the NFL does. Well,
there's a certain percent I believe it's sixty sixty five
percent of the revenue's got to go to the player
or something like that, Right, So if there's a salary cap,
that's how the players get theirs. Yeah, yeah, so you
make money, players make more money, they go for that.
(14:46):
Do I think the players would go for that? I
don't know, there is it's certainly not going to go
for that. I'm saying the owners would go for that
because that then they have to really open up their books. Yeah,
they wouldn't go be in partnership with the players. I
don't see that happening. Yeah, I don't. You can't, but
(15:06):
you can't have it both ways. You can't ask for
a salary cap and then not not have revenue sharing
and open up your books to see, Okay, what are
you making that that goes to the players. The percentage
goes to the players. So it it very well could
be a lockout coming here was it? Next year they
have this is when it's up. So uh yeah, But
I I that's an interesting argument for that you brought up,
(15:28):
because I agree with you. Artie is not gonna be
He's not gonna be the last one to come out
and say I'm broke. You know, we heard it from
the Cubs owner first, and then now we're hearing it
from already. They're gonna be a number of You're gonna
hear it from Seattle. You're gonna hear it in Pittsburgh.
You're gonna hear it in Cincinnati. You're gonna hear it
in all the Miami. You're gonna hear it all these places.
You know, we can't afford it. We can't afford this.
(15:48):
We're losing money. This is not gonna work, and it
all is to set that seed. We gotta change something
in Major League Baseball otherwise we can't continue like this.
Otherwise you're just gonna have a half a dozen teams
that play each other. This is laying the foundation, This
is planning the seeds. This is slowly rolling this out now,
(16:10):
and always look at media coverage because that tells you
why things are happening all way. I think people buy that, though, Fred,
you think people buy that when he says I'm losing
sixty million dollars a year like Angel fans. Do. I
think they buy it? No? But more importantly, do I
think they care? No? And that's the point. That's the point.
(16:34):
You're the king, you know what. I've had a bad
couple of weeks. I don't have shoes that fit. We
don't care. You're the king. It doesn't matter. You're on
top and right or wrong, good or bad. Your problems.
I don't want to hear about them because I got
my own. I got my own problems. You know, if
(16:56):
you want to buy a car, and you walked in
and there were no cars sitting there, and the car
dealer said, well, you know, we have some problems with
our delivery. Well, I'm gonna go across the street. You
know why, I don't care what your problem is. I'm
here to buy a car. If you don't have one,
I'm going across the street. Pretty simple. My problem, Your
(17:20):
problem is not mine, Arda Moreno, losing money is not
my problem, not at all, because you know what, I
don't think Artie's gonna sell us house. I don't think
Artie's gonna go in food stamps. I don't think Artie's
gonna be broke. You know. I think when he sells,
he'll make about three and a half billion dollars profit.
(17:43):
I think Artie's fine, just fine, And maybe it's a
good thing. If he claims he loses money, honestly, maybe
it's the best thing. Maybe he can't operate the franchise anymore.
He's going in the hole. Maybe he'll have to sell.
Maybe that's what it was, a warning shot over the bill.
(18:06):
I'm in big trouble. So don't hate me if I
sell the team. I assure you nobody will hate you.
There will be a parade. Nobody will hate you, So
please don't feel that way.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Well, I'll tell you this, Fred Ardie Moreno, on that
same interview with MLB dot Com did say he has
no desire to sell the team anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
So that's not happening. What happened two years ago and
he was ready to sell.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I don't know, you know, got cold feet. Rodney loves
baseball way too much, loves his team way too much
to get out.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Had a second win. He wanted to be here to
make sure Otani left. Oh yeah, he wanted to be
on hand in charge to say goodbye to the best
player in biggest straw on baseball. He needed to be
a on deck for that one. Okay, well you kissed
him off.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's a gold star on your legacy right there.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Already, that's the one.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
He one of the great players in the history of
the sport walk away for nothing.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Let's not go into how badly that was botched. It's
not even worth it. But anyway, that's the Angel story.
So Angel fans, if you do listen to the radio station,
be heartened, because you're going to contend that's what already says.
Despite the fact he's moving to the poorhouse, He's not
gonna let this team fall by the wayside. He's gonna
(19:22):
make sure they contend, So that ought to put a
smile on every Angel fan's face.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Yay Luca for that a hookah what Yeah, let's get
back to it.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
On a Tuesday, February eighteenth, Roddy Pete Fred Rogan. Yeah,
breaking it all down to you on a Tuesday. It's
almost here. Dodge is almost playing games for it. Three
training games coming up on us brother Thursday noon, first
game right here in the radio station. So there you go, yes, sir, yes, sir.
(20:13):
People can't wait for him to get started. Okay, So
you knew the other shoe would fall and eventually something
would leak out. So now this leaked out because the
Mavericks needed it leaked out because their general manager is
under assault, their owner is now public enemy number one,
and in Dallas people are really mad that they got
(20:34):
rid of Luka Doncics. Now you know, it was a
conditioning issue that had been reported and they didn't want
to sign to the Supermax. But when stuff like this
leaks out, then you know the Mavericks have had enough
and they're gonna let people know why they made a
decision that seems so incredibly, incredibly odd. And here it is,
(20:56):
are the athletic reporting that Luca missed five games with
a risk injury, but they actually wanted him to use
those days to get himself in better condition. So that's
the first thing. He missed five games and he wasn't hurt.
They just thought he was out of shape, and apparently
he did called it a risk. They called it a
wrist injury. They did, but they just wanted to get
(21:21):
in shape. The other thing they reported Luca, I don't
mean to laugh, Luca drinks alcohol. Oh no, oh my god,
No one in the NBA does that. Luca drinks alcohol
and smokes hookah. Luca and the hookah. And they said,
(21:44):
that's enough. We gave you time to get yourself in shape.
You didn't do it. Now you're drinking all the time
and smoking hookah and we're finished with you. So Rodney,
I think the other foot has fallen and now we
know what it was. Yeah, but you know there's more
(22:06):
to it. When something like that drops, when something like
that comes out, you know, we've we've heard the stories
and we've heard we saw the video. Everybody knows that video,
Michael Finley grabbing the beer out of his hand after
a game, and evidently this has been a you know,
been a problem. And yes, everybody, everybody drinks. You know,
(22:29):
Lebron talks about going home having a glass of wine
on a regular basis. He's got I think he's got
his own wine or tequila company and does his own thing.
And that's fine. We're all adults and grown men, I think.
But when it what it affects something that you think
you need to work on. Like from the time he
(22:51):
got in the league, people were saying he needs to
be in better shape, he needs to take better care
of his body. So if that is the narrative for
you against the last thing that the MAVs wanted to
see is him often out around town smoking and drinking
in public, So that becomes the narrative of Luca and
(23:11):
then him being out of shape. Look, if he was
ripped up, tightening up and doing those things, I don't
and in shape, I don't think it'd be an issue.
But the fact that that was a big that's a
big issue with him. And then he's often seen pounding
beers and smoking a hookah Uh, it becomes an issue.
(23:32):
It becomes an issue, and and and he probably should
have or could have done a better job of being
a little bit more private with that. Well, Michael Finley
walked by him in the locker room and snatched that
beer out of his hand. I thought that was really weird,
And now, if you think about it, it was sort
of like he was real they didn't want him to
(23:54):
drink anything. Yeah, he's like, the cameras around, what are
you doing with that in your hand? What are you doing?
Cameras on watching you, what are you doing? Take that
out of your hand? And he grabbed it out of
his hand and it was like that that has been
an issue with him, that they had talked about it
and they are trying to deal with it, and it
was widely known and then they saw it and it's like,
(24:14):
can't have this in front of cameras. Yeah, it was awkward.
At the time. I was like why, I think they
just won a series or something too when he was
having that beer and it was it was very awkward that,
you know, another grown man would go and snatch a
beer out of another grown man's hand outside the locker room,
and maybe they wanted it to be in a private situation,
(24:35):
didn't want to do that, But it's more evident that
that has been an issue with him with the Mavericks
over the years, and it was painting a bad picture
that they didn't want to paint. And when it came
to now I get it right now, you get it, now,
I get it, but we get more of it. That's yeah.
(24:56):
Well they said he wasn't in shape. But back to
Finley for a second. When he he grabbed that beer
from him, And maybe it had to do with the
fact that cameras were there, or maybe I think it
had a big thing and to do with cam Yeah,
but you know what I think, Rodney, for him to
do what he did, maybe they told him to stop
drinking camera or not. Probably stop. All right, we're gonna
(25:20):
help you, but you gotta stop because they do it
off the season, yeah, end season, don't Yeah, let's not
do that. Yeah. The way he grabbed it from him,
I thought that was like the little kid, right, Yeah,
it was like taking it from a kid. That was
an odd reaction, especially at a time in a locker
room where a guy, I'll have a beer if they
just want a series, which they did.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
By the way, this is right after they won the
Western Conference finals, so they're going to the NBA Finals.
It's not uncommon for guys to pop champagne and drink
a little bit. That probably makes it stand out even
more that in the midst of that, Finley still grabbed
it from him.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Yeah, I gotta tell you, he was outside the locker
room too when he did.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Was talking to his dad outside of the locker room,
and it just kind of slyly walks by, grabs the beer,
Luca looks at him and just keeps on pushing.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I gotta tell you, I don't think it had anything
to do with cameras. I think it had to do
with the fact we told you not to drink. You're
out of shape. We told you not to drink, and
we're watching you. But that in itself is an issue.
So you can imagine now if you're Dallas and you've
got this guy, and maybe there will be more that
(26:23):
will come out. But now suddenly it secretly leaks that
they gave him five five games off to get in shape.
That's unheard of. And if that happens though, going back
to the Michael Finley situation, that happens because obviously that
you know, everybody caught that because it did catch it
on on camera and then it was talked about and
(26:46):
I'm sure in Dallas it was heightened more than anything else.
If that happens, and there's nothing wrong. If you're Luca,
aren't you pissed off? Why you got to do that?
Why you got to embarrass me like that in public? Oh? Yeah,
aren't you pissed off? Like? What are you doing? I'm
twenty five years old, I can I can have a
beer after we win a championship or you know, win
(27:09):
a series. What are you doing? But you didn't really
hear and he pushed back from Luca, no because he did. No, Well,
I'm I'm pissed off if I'm standing in the hall
having a beer with my father standing in the locker room, yeah,
or just sitting in the corner by myself and you
come by and take it. Who said you're in charge
of that? Exactly? But then you start connecting dots. And
(27:34):
they probably told him and they were trying to get
him to come around, And if in fact they did
that after the Western Conference finals, this has been going
on a long time, A long time, yeah, and he
didn't come around. Now I think this is kind of
like the movie Scared Straight. Once you see what could
(27:58):
happen to you you're not gonna make that mistake, all right, Well,
Luca has seen what can happen. He lost a hundred
million dollars like that. That's that's a lot of money.
He lost one hundred million dollars like that. That's a
lot of money, right man, that's not you know, twenty
five thousand dollars. That's one hundred million dollars and he
(28:19):
lost it. Yeah, when you're talking, you're the top three
in the league, and now you're you're you're going to
make one hundred million dollars less than what ten, twelve,
fifteen guys in the league. More than that, maybe guys
are getting a super max. You're gonna make that much
less than these guys. That that that hurts, That absolutely
(28:43):
hurts when you've been gearing up for this supermax. You know,
I don't care how much money you've made along the way.
When you got a chance to max out and you
do that, and then now it's taken away from you
and now you can't get that. That's that is a
painful blow, A painful blow that you can you can
(29:06):
you really can't make that up because it's a moment
in time that you would get that one hundred million dollars.
Now he signs for two forty five instead of three
forty five, that's one hundred million dollars that he lost
in twenty twenty six, twenty twenty five, and he can't
get that back. He can keep making money, but he
can't get that moment in time back from those that
(29:27):
period of time where he could have made one hundred
and more million dollars. That doesn't come back to you.
So the question now becomes what does he become here?
Initial reports were true? Is conditioning all right? Now we
know more? So? What does he become here? I still
(29:49):
err on the side of he becomes what he truly is,
which is one of the top players in the game.
He will I think he will do that. I think
this is enough to knock some Bundy around a little
bit and let them know we're not fooling around. But
on the other hand, as the general manager of the
maverage is getting death threats and the owner can't even
go to the games, do you have to somehow, somehow
(30:15):
respect what they did. We told you what to do.
I don't know if they tried to help them or not.
You would think with that kind of investment they would,
but you have to be willing to ask for help
and accept it. But do you respect them because obviously
they had we figured they that was the last straw.
Something happened. But do you respect them Rodney for doing
(30:36):
what they did? Just feeling we cannot get through to
this guy. Yeah, yeah, you have to because and on
top of that, I know the fans are all upset,
but they can't Also, you know, they can't really go
tell the full story. I'm sure there's stories that they
(30:57):
got to bury and they can't really evulge and don't
want to do that either. And they're taking all this heat.
They're taking it and probably back going. If you guys
only knew what we had to deal with, this is
this is you only saw a portion of what we
dealt with. We had to deal with this for five
years with the guy, and it just became too much
(31:18):
and we couldn't deal with it anymore. They can't go
out and say exactly what that was that they dealt with.
They're just taking all of the heat now and sometimes,
you know, we've seen it. Sometimes it just becomes for
an organization, it becomes too much and we're not going
to change this person and it's better to cut ties
(31:40):
now than to let this prolong and go on and
and and let us slowly bring us down over the years.
Even though they made it to the finals last year.
We cannot have sustained success unless he's changed or will change,
and he's showed no evidence to change. So we gotta
we gotta cut tie now. You know what the question is? Now,
(32:02):
there's one more question. What was the last straw? Right?
Because something put this all over the top, right, because
this has been going on for a while and you
don't wake up and go, you know what, I just
don't think he's coming around. Something had to happen. What
was the last straw? The one moment where they said
(32:23):
that's enough. Because it happened, we don't know what it
is to it. Yeah, right. It wouldn't have been a
gradual thing because they had been working with him gradually,
so that wouldn't have been the case. Something happened. He
hit everybody in their hand. I'd like to say, as
a red button. It sits squarely in the middle of
(32:43):
your hand, this red button. If you push the button,
you hit the ejector seat and you eject yourself right
out of wherever you're at He pushed the button, he
ejected himself. Something happened and we just don't know what
that is. But that's Rodney. I think what will be next?
What was the final straw? Yeah? I agree with you.
(33:07):
I agree there was a he crossed the line or
pushed it over the top it, you know, the last straw,
whatever you want to call it. I agree with you.
There had to be something because this doesn't just gradually happen,
as you say, and then eventually they well, this is
the third time he did the same thing. This is
the fourth time he did the same thing. So let's
just no. It was like he did what after we
(33:31):
told him this x y z and we had to
sit down and he still did x y z. Okay,
that's it. If you do this, you know, we catch
this one more time, and you do this one more time?
Are you not doing this? It's like, we can't anymore.
We can't. We told you, we warned you. Now it's real.
(33:52):
That's what it feels like. Top of the air, one o'clock. Well,
join David Say for Dodger Baseball from training camp. We'll
find out the very latest two o'clock mc cronin's one
went away from five hundred at UCLA and Ben Boltcher
joined the show. Today's afternoon delight is Set You Free
(34:17):
by Jack Harlowe. The song is the third single that
the Kentucky native has released since the past November, after
having previously taken a year off between releases, and a
recent glood of releases as spark rumors that the rapper
could be gearing up for his first studio album since
twenty twenty three, project titled jack Man. However, nothing has
(34:39):
officially been announced as of now. Again. Today's afternoon Delight
is Set You Free by Jack Harlowe. Alright from the
Court to the court Room with Jacob em Ronnie. Now
(35:01):
all weekly chat with our good friend Jacob em Ronni. Jacob,
how are you today?
Speaker 4 (35:06):
I'm doing wonderful. How are you guys?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Good? You're smoking any hookah? Good? Hey?
Speaker 4 (35:11):
Hey hey heyes, No, I'm not much of a hookah smoker.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
I don't get your sent out of Dallas. I heard
you smoke Houka in Dallas. You're out, Jacob.
Speaker 4 (35:23):
Oh boy, Well, thank god we're not in Dallas, right.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Tell you what'd you think of what the Mavericks have
to say about Luca?
Speaker 4 (35:30):
You know what. I just feel like sometimes you're so
much further ahead by saying less, and with all the
heat that they were taking, I don't know why they're
just kind of pouring more and more dirt on themselves.
I mean, you just gotta, you know, take the high road,
be classy about it. You know you guys yourself a
(35:51):
good player, Just say this could be a win win
for both and just move on. I'm not a big
fan of a lot of that talk.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I agree they were taking
so much heat, and I think that they panicked and
linked it out that well, you think it's all us,
and it's it's just as much his fault and as
our fault, and it became very childish on their on
their side. I I, I certainly, I certainly agree with that, Jacob.
(36:20):
What do you think of if you watch any of
it the All Star weekend?
Speaker 4 (36:25):
You know, the only part of the All Star Weekend
I watched was you know the games, you know, the
four different teams and you know, playing against each other.
I'm a little sad that, you know, the All Star
break has lost its muster. I'm happy that Lebron decided
not to play, saying that it's more important for him
(36:46):
to rest and get ready for the second, you know,
half of the season. But you know, I think you
have so many stars that can actually come out and
make the All Star break as exciting as it used to.
But now you've got the stars talking about I mean
KD came out the other day and said you should
just do away with the All Star Game and just
(37:07):
let us rest.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Uh.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
You know, there's that that talks a lot about, you know,
the state of the NBA right now and the fact
that I don't know if it's true or not, but
they said this was one of the lowest rated All Stars.
It's it's odd because NBA has always been the league
in terms of its marketing that's been bounds and leaves up,
you know, in front of everybody else, always coming up
(37:31):
with the ideas, you know, the playing game and things
like that to get more viewers, and they just have
not been able to figure out the All Star Game
and it's just been going the other way.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
Yeah. Well that's because the players don't really want to
be there. That's why it's pretty simple. You can't figure
it out because they don't want to do it. And
if you're putting.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
Any money in your product want to be there. I
was saying that if they actually do exactly what they
did with the in league tournament and actually money up there,
I guarantee you they're all going to want to be there.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Ah See, that's what I think too, Jacob. I think
people think, oh, they make so much money, they don't
want if you put an incentive like that, Like even
with the play in it's what half a million dollars
and most of the guys make that in a week
in the NBA, But that half a million dollars that
they got a chance to win in that mid season tournament,
(38:26):
that that makes guys play harder because that's a check
that they didn't normally are thinking about getting. And so yeah,
from a monetary incentive situation that I think that would help.
Speaker 4 (38:39):
As a matter of fact, Yeah, money always brings everybody out.
When there's money there, people show up. If that really
is the intention of the NBA to continue the All
Star Game, you have so much money coming in from
you know, the people that are advertising, from all the
promotional stuff. Shouldn't be that dificult to put, you know,
(39:01):
put some money in there and and make them have
something to play for.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
I have an idea. I have an idea, real quick
for I'm sorry, Uh, yes, you put the money. Say
it's five hundred thousand dollars that the winning team gets,
But but that money comes from the opposing team, So
the opposing players have to pony up that money. It's
(39:26):
like playing somebody on the golf course. You know you
play golf. He's like, you know, let's play for a
let's put something on it and play for money. You lose,
you got to come out of your pocket and and
put that on the opposing team. So if you lose
that All Star game, the guys on the losing side
got a pony up that money. Jacob, what do you
think about that?
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Listen? But the question here becomes is if you're playing
in an All Star game, right and you now have
to pay something out of your pocket? Ah, you really
think those guys are gonna want to jump into that?
You know, I mean.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
Today, if I get a chance to take some money
from you, Oh maybe I don't know, made Jacob, I
don't know.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
Maybe these guys like let me tell you, Lebron, say
I get to take some money from Kyrie, I'm gonna
take Kyrie's money. I'm going for.
Speaker 4 (40:10):
It, Rodney. They don't make them like you the way
you know. I mean, you know, they don't make them.
They're not all like you. I'll tell you that, all.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
Right, Jacob. Listeners love when you offer some advice. How
about the second opinions? How can it benefit someone? Listen?
Speaker 4 (40:26):
You know, second opinion is something that is just a label,
right when when an individual is uh diagnosed or has
a sickness, they go see a doctor, they take it
all in, and then they always like to get a
second opinion. If you are being you know, if you're
being recommended to have back surgery, you just don't jump in.
(40:50):
You go get a second opinion. And you know people
do that because they use their health insurance. They're not
really paying much, but they still pay something and they
get opinions. You know, in our industry, it's important to
understand that people who are involved in an accident case
don't always understand what's the beginning, the middle, and end
(41:11):
of the process. And you know, there's a lot of
great attorneys and a lot of great law firms that
are doing good work, but then there's also attorneys who
are new to the field. The people who are not
specialists and they take a dibble dabble in what we do.
And you know the reason we have the second opinion
(41:31):
opportunities and we don't charge a penny for that is
it gives them individual who may not who may be
confused in terms of the process, who may not be
able to speak to their attorney, who may be always
passed on to assistant and never even have a law
firm when the attorneys ever in the office and they
want an opportunity to sit with somebody, have a one
(41:51):
on one review their case and just have their questions answered.
And you know, we've been doing that now for ten years.
When we review a case and we see that a
fellow attorney's doing a great job, we're the first people
to tell them they're doing a great job. You know,
you shouldn't be worried. But then when we look at
things that they're not doing a great job or it's
(42:12):
been screwed up. It's also our ethical duty in order
to give that as a second opinion to these individuals
who call us, and they're so appreciative of it because
they have no commitment to have to go with us.
It's literally a free second opinion and they get another
pair adies on their case and people have been very
(42:32):
thankful about that. And this is something we've been doing.
We do it every you know, every day. We don't
talk about it, but a lot of individuals who've been
coming off to our office in the past few weeks
has said, we need to discuss it because people don't
think that they have a right to do that and
it's free. So you know, that kind of got me
to talk about it this week.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
All right, Jacob, you are the man.
Speaker 4 (42:54):
We appreciate you coming on anytime. Great talking to you guys,
and having good rest of your week.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
All right, as we continue, will join David Vassay at
spring training with the Dodgers.
Roggin And Rodney News
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