WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: Seat-Hanger Saga 0:00:00.680 --> 0:00:01.440 Cutbooms. 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.360 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.200 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.480 of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.480 treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.439 rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to clearing House 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.200 of hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:30.760 Hour with Ben Mahller starts right now. 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:34.280 In the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:39.280 Mahler and Danny g Radio A happy beginning to your weekend. 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.360 We are hanging out together here as we whisper around. 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:45.520 So I did the radio show overnight. I then hung 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:52.200 out with the wife and Moxie and then walked back 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.840 into the podcast studio. We're doing the show from the 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.280 remote studio, but now back into the podcast studio, and 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:03.040 here we are cooking with gas as we heave. Not 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:06.440 hot takes. But this is this podcast not about the 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:08.480 hot take. It's about something else. But I had a 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:10.399 couple of things I wanted to get to. The take 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:16.440 a seat story, foody fun, and the Real Secret Sauce 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:20.960 all featured on this kickoff to the weekend. 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.319 Here a amazing. 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.760 Heave ho to the week as we have fun on 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.240 the weekend, and we will not be jumping through hoops 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:33.240 on this podcast, So we'll begin with this the seat 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:38.000 on the plane. Now, there are many ways, many ways 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:42.319 to lose a job in the NFL, and having talked 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:46.520 about and documented the NFL over the years on the radio, 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.720 I know just about all of them. We talk about 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:54.080 these things regularly on the radio show. You can blow coverages, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:58.000 you can misevaluate a quarterback, you can pick the wrong 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.400 player in the first round of the jibt. You can 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:03.680 forget how to manage a clock like it's a ticking 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.680 time bomb. Tick tick tick tick tick tick tick kaboom, 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:11.560 the wirings all messed up. And then there's the most 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:16.680 modern NFL way of all. You can lose a job 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:22.600 over a seat assignment on a plane. Not x's and o's, 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.840 its seat B three. No, sir, you're not in seat 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:32.160 B three. You've got to go to seat C twenty seven. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:35.960 But no, I'm always in this seat. Who goofed? I've 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:40.280 got to know. Now entering the chat, Brian Cox with 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:45.600 a y Brian Cox, who lost his Giants assistant coaching 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:50.640 job this week, not because of failed defensive play, although 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.440 the Giants weren't great defensively, not because of anemic pass rush. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.040 Although they weren't great in that department. 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:03.320 Instead because the chartered airl line that they used in 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.520 the NFL. They have different companies that use to charter flights. 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.240 They made a change to the NFL's cast system. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.400 They changed mid season. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:18.040 And b Cox reacted like a man who had lived 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:23.840 his entire football life demanding the queen of soul hum 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:28.560 rispect right that whole Aretha Franklin song back in the day. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.360 So this story resonated with me. The reason I'm bringing 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.400 it up and talking to you about this on the podcast. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:39.160 The thing that resonated with me is because it's not 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:44.760 really about a seat. It's about an ego, the hierarchy, loyalty, 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:50.680 and the unspoken rules of football democracy. It's about how 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:57.000 billion dollar operations operate like middle school cafeterias, and there's 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.920 clicks and all that, and selfishly the full disclosure I know, 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:04.160 alf is like, I know why you're talking about this. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.840 Fer dog might not. However, in the olden. 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:13.400 Days, Beat Cox and I we go back. We have 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:16.920 a past, not a great past, not a great past. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.520 But selfishly it's about Brian Cox, someone I actually knew. 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.880 I don't know him now I have his phone number 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.880 if he has the same number he had twenty years ago. 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.920 But it always adds a little extra spice to the gumbo. 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:30.960 It always has a little ekra spice. And as I've 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.960 gotten older in life and i've my life has taken 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.720 me around a number of people. Some of them have 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:38.600 gone on and been very famous. Some of them used 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:40.200 to be famous and are no longer famous. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:41.680 And it's just very. 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.320 Odd when you see these stories and it's someone that 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:49.400 you crossed path with in life. And that's one of 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:53.280 these examples. Like Brian Cox is a Fox Sports Radio alumnus. 0:04:54.040 --> 0:05:00.400 Long before podcast microphones sprouted up like weeds. Brian Cox 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:04.280 co hosted a show with Chris Myers on the early 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:08.320 editions of Fox Sports Radio, not the very beginning, but 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:12.160 shortly after the network started. This goes back to around 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.400 the year two thousand and two, two thousand and three, 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:16.600 somewhere in that area. 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:17.760 I forget. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.680 He wasn't there long, Brian Cox, but it was maybe 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:23.960 even five. He had been doing some stuff with the 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.960 Best damn Sports Show period, so he was paired with 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:27.800 Chris Myers. 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.279 I kin because I care the great Chris Myers. 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:36.080 And when Chris was off on NFL assignments or NASCAR 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.800 or the other television jobs that he had at the time, 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:45.359 I would fill in. And that meant hours, hours in 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:50.479 the radio bunker, the trenches with Brian Cox, a man who, 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:56.400 let's just say, approached life, football and talk radio with 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.720 the seriousness of a fourth and goal to win the 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.800 Super Bowl. And let me say this, I'm gonna say 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:10.080 it delicately. In the long, storied history of Fox Sports Radio, 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.479 Brian Cox is one of a very small handful of 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.000 people I simply did not vibe with. 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:18.040 I just didn't. 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.040 It's not a long list. There are people that I 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.560 didn't like working with, but I liked as people. There 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.880 are people that didn't like me in the style that 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:33.680 I do, but we got along off the radio. My sarcastic, cynical, 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:39.920 side eye eye rolling worldview paired with Brian Cox, who 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:44.159 was from East Saint Louis, Missouri, the baddest part of town, 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:49.159 no nonsense. I mentioned the respect and all that, and 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.479 that was a respect above all, that was the ethos, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:57.279 and that went together Me and him went together like 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:02.839 pineapple and mayonnaise, technically or edible. Both technically or edible, 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:08.520 both deeply upsetting When combined together. The teamwork does not 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:11.640 make the dream work. If the teamwork is not great, 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:16.320 it was combustible or nonexistent or both. And Brian Cox 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:21.640 is a respect guys, we've said capital are that's the currency, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:26.320 that's the oxygen. Respect is not optional. Not that I 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.960 didn't respect him. I just had an interesting way of 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:32.960 saying it. And when you've had the career that he 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.360 had had at that time, he was only a little 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.760 bit removed from his playing days in the NFL. It's 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.480 been twelve years with the Dolphins and the Bears and 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:47.360 the Jets, Patriots and Saints and bled for multiple franchises. 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:50.920 You don't take kindly to being told you're now sitting 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:54.880 in steerage with the luggage in the back of the plane. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.760 And so the Giants moved the assistant coaches to the 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.840 back of the plane because I guess they decided they 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.480 wanted to change it up during the bye week. And 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:09.720 that's it. That's the spark. The seating chart adjustment, an 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:15.840 organizational shrug, a silent memo that said, you know you 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:21.320 are a little less important today than you were the 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.440 last time we went on a plane. Well, I don't 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:29.320 understand why. So Brian Cox reacted apparently poorly. I wasn't there, 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:32.480 and in my head I'm like, well, of course he did. 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.880 This is a man who once gave a now iconic, 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.880 if you're old enough to remember, iconic double bird salute 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:45.320 to Bill's fans years ago as he was running out 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:52.239 of the tunnel. That was before Bill's Mafia became a brand. Instead, 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:56.319 it was a snow covered mob back in those days. 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.880 And this is a man who once gave me an unsolicited, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:07.120 very vivid, borderline medical conference level description of sports hernia's 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:14.760 surgery that I still remember, against my will. There was 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.000 a player that had gotten a sports hernia and we 0:09:18.000 --> 0:09:21.480 were debating on the show will this person be able 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.920 to come back and play in the NFL? And I said, well, 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.040 the sports hernia is not that bad, and Brian Cox 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:29.760 is like, oh, yeah, you want to bet And then 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.400 he went through the whole thing and gave me the 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.559 whole run down. And so Brian Cox, he does not 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:40.439 bottle things up. He detonates and the giants now they're 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:46.200 saying it was about behavior that teams, generally speaking, always 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.559 say it's about behavior. Behavior is the NFL's all purpose 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:53.400 disinfected wipe very important. You gotta have that all purpose 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:59.040 disinfected wipe. And let's not kidd ourselves. This smells like 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:06.400 a convenient excommunication. Cox was a loyalist to Brian Dayball, 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.040 the rotund former coach of the Giants, and so Brian 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.240 Dable had already been shown the door. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:17.679 And I do know from my life experience, when regime 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.320 regimes change, whether it's a football team, a radio station, 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:27.720 or whatever it might be, when regimes change, loyalty becomes radioactive. 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:29.400 Like everyone wants. 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:33.040 Loyal people until the new coach comes in and you're 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:34.480 loyal to the old coach. 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:35.559 Everyone knows this. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:40.679 And football organizations they preach about family. It's all about 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:45.600 the family until the family photo gets updated. Then suddenly 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.240 you're cropped out like an ex spouse. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:49.320 And that's just kind of how it goes. 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:56.120 So Brian Cox proud loud, old school, and. 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.400 He became expendable. 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.320 I got rid of him, and the assignment became the 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:07.800 paper trail. And that's how the modern football world works. 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:16.480 Like nobody gets fired for ideology. They get fired for incidents. Incidents, right, 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:21.800 Nobody gets purged for loyalty. They get purged for conduct 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:27.480 detrimental to the team or conduct unbecoming. Because the NFL 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:32.800 is a reality show that's got hr language. 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:34.200 Because they're big. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:39.520 This is not These places start out reasonable, small family businesses, 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:43.120 and then the corporations get involved and we're off to 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:43.680 the races. 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.400 We know that to be be true. 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:52.359 And what struck me most was not that Brian Cox reacted. 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.720 It was that he couldn't not react based on my 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:00.240 interactions with him back in the day. This is the 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:05.160 same league that demands coaches bark, spit, intimidate, and do 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.520 all that Monday through Saturday, and then expect them to 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.440 nod politely when told to move to the back of 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:18.840 the plane like a middle manager on a budget airline. Hello, 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:26.760 he blew me off at a hotel near Lax. We 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:32.800 get the business model. We understand, it's ironclad. The business model. 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.800 It's not worth fighting. Football is the product. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:36.640 In theory. 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:44.520 They sell masculinity like a Cologne commercial. Right, that's it, 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:49.160 and then it punishes you for actually using it. We 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.640 sell masculinity and it's like cologne, just don't put any 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:53.040 of this on. 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:55.360 And here's the uncomfortable truth. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:13:00.200 Also, Brian Cox probably wasn't wrong to feel the D 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:06.440 word disrespected. He was just wrong in expressing it in 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:11.040 a language that pretended hierarchy did not exist, based on 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:12.680 what I've read, while. 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:14.000 Enforcing it ruthlessly. 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.120 And so the NFL has always been built on these 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:24.440 silent agreements like who sits where, who speaks when? Who 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.920 gets blamed publicly when the team's not going well, who 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:33.080 gets blamed quietly? Who do you cover up for once 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:38.560 you violate the sacred seating chart to fly to some 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:43.480 jerkwater town. Once you violated the seating chart, you're not 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.880 arguing logistics. You're challenging authority. And that is when the 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.880 hammer comes down. That is when the hammer comes down. 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.480 So you read the teas, I was not surprised at all. 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.040 I was not, not because I know the giants, because 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:02.560 I know Brian Cock, at least the way he was 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:03.800 years and years ago. 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.400 That's the guy I know. He's not a vibes guy. 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:08.960 He's not that. 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:13.520 He's he's not a role with it guy. That's not 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.400 the guy that I was around as I remember. He's 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.800 not a hey man, it's just a seat guy. That's 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:24.960 definitely not him. He's a what does that say about 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.640 how you see me? Kind of a guy? And in 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:34.720 football perception is everything right. You got to show the respect. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.600 You gotta eat it like a horse. You gotta you 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:43.640 gotta do it. And the story resonated because it's rather petty, 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:47.400 it's deeply human. It's a it's a list, a long 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.600 football life reduced to a chair assignment, and for now 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:53.840 his coaching career is on pause. 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.080 Pause. It's not with a whistle, but with a boarding pass. 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.720 And the other part of this, it was a it's 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.880 a thirty nine minute flight. That's a thirty nine minute 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:11.400 flying time that takes a while longer to take the 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:13.600 plane off the ground and put it away, but the 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:19.520 actual time in the air thirty nine minutes from Foxborough 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:24.280 to the New York City tri state area. It's also 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:29.560 a reminder the NFL doesn't chew people up with drama. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:35.040 It does it with procedure, right with policy, with the 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:40.320 seating chart, and when you no longer fit the diagram, 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:46.360 it's turnout the loss. The parties over just like that, 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.840 and Brian Cox lost a job over a seat. 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.440 Let that settle into your later you know, your little 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:54.120 brain there. 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:58.160 But really he lost it over who he's always kind 0:15:58.160 --> 0:15:59.920 of been, at least in my experience with him in 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:05.840 the NFL. Eventually that's enough and they'll just say we've 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.920 moved on. We've decided to move on. We're not in 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:13.920 the business with you anymore. That's it. See you later, sucker, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:19.400 get out of here. Meanwhile, foody fun, it's time for 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.680 food he fun. I know, I can't sing as good 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:24.640 as Ohio, and it's a little slow at the end 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.080 of the year, holidays coming up. It seems like a 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.840 lot of these places that sell the fast food are 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:35.440 waiting until next year to roll out a lot of 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.080 new items. I did see Taco Bell Welcome Back, cheesy 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:43.080 dipping burritos and steak garlic nacho fries. No, those sound 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.280 pretty good. Those sound pretty good to me. I'm not 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.000 going to be going to Taco Bell, but they sound 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.640 pretty good. Those nacho the steak garlic nacho fries. I 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:55.680 like steak, I like garlic, I like nachos, I like fries. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.040 I like it all. I love it all. 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.080 Sam I am a fan favorite. Cheesy dipping burritos and 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.439 steak garlic nacho fries. Nacho fries. 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:07.400 Yeah, there you go. I gotta try one of those 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.359 if I'm allowed to. Seven to eleven has launched. 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:12.240 I think we talked about this in the previous episode 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.760 long ago, but they've done it. They've launched Japanese style 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:20.959 egg salad sandwiches in US stores. And this is the 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:26.000 viral sandwich that was very popular on social media. 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:29.000 Out of Japan, and it launched. 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:33.359 It launched a new Japanese style egg salad sandwich at 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.879 seven to eleven a bunch of their other locations. So 0:17:38.320 --> 0:17:43.040 there is that Dominoes is in the foodie fund. It's 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:47.720 all about the Dominos, the Dominoes. So Domino's offering three 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.879 free chocolate lava crunch cakes. 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:53.040 That's a mouthful. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:58.199 That's a mouthful with any online order of ten or 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:02.719 more dollars through the date of December twenty second. So 0:18:02.760 --> 0:18:06.720 it's celebrating its sixty fifth birthday on December ninth. And 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.560 Dominoes that was just a couple of days ago. Dominoes 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:15.000 offering three free chocolate lava crunch cakes with any online 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.280 or it's always online. It is all they need to 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.560 track you. It must be online. And if it's not. 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:27.159 Online, you've done something wrong. You've definitely done something wrong. 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:30.399 So this was this next thing, and it's kind of 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:36.920 a hybrid between foody fun and just the regular nonsense. 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.160 But we'll take a rip at it, why not, and 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.320 we'll try to sell the soap. 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.439 We do that. That's how it goes. 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:48.760 So people in Nashville, I think Mike and Nashville sent this. 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.720 I don't. I think it was Mike, but that's a 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:52.760 generic name. It might have been somebody else. It's an 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.400 m name. I want to go Mike in Nashville. 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:58.760 And he said, hey, listen people, he wrote it, says Ben, 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:02.080 I like to show people in my town waited three 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:06.600 hours in a drive through for in and out Burger 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.520 this week, three hours, three hours, and he wanted to 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.680 get my my reaction to that, well, I didn't see 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:16.360 this story. 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.560 You sent me a link to a story which I 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:22.560 I'm looking at here. I don't think this is fake. 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:23.840 It doesn't look fake to me. 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.439 It looks like a legitimate type of news story that 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:33.440 this is not doctored in some way. It seems pretty legit. 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:40.200 This is a guy that's that's been around and and all. Anyway, listen, 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.919 So here's the deal. The person that wrote this has 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.600 been around, so it looks like it's it's new. Some 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.800 of the stuff is AI. So anyway, three hours, let 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:51.560 that marinate. Three hours. So my thoughts on this, Mic, 0:19:51.960 --> 0:19:53.760 I'm just gonna call you Mike, even if that's not 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:55.919 your name. You can, you know, you know, write me 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.359 back and yell at me. But you didn't just buy 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.879 a double double right, just buy the ble. You donated 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.000 the most valuable commodity known to mankind. All those people 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:10.000 online for three hours, three hours, you gave the most 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.879 valuable commodity known to mankind. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:17.360 Time. Time is undefeated. 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:23.080 You can't venmo it, you can't finance it, you can't 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:24.080 get a refund. 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.280 Once it's gone, it's. 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:31.880 Gone, gone, gone, gone, kind of like a bad NFL 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:36.960 head coach after Thanksgiving. Bye, bye, see you later, skater 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.840 osta pasta, all that stuff, all that stuff. So I 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:44.480 gotta tell you now, when I was younger, I did 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.520 stand online. The most famous one was for a Howard 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:51.560 Stern book signing where there were all these potheads there 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:55.720 and I was not. I was always on the straight 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.160 and narrow at that age in particular, and I recall 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:02.240 we were like, oh, we're just gonna go and we're 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.760 gonna get these the book signed and all this stuff. 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.880 Howard written a book Private Parts, and I remember going 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:11.760 out there and I was there all night. I waited 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.560 online all night for the King of Radio, Howard Stern. 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:17.119 And even then, at that age, I was like, what 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.960 am I doing? And as I've gotten older, I've gotten 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:22.159 less and less motivated to wait online. I just have 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:26.200 no interest in waiting online. So I mean the fact 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:27.280 that these people went out there. 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:28.080 You didn't just. 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:32.240 Buy a double double. You donated Again, the most valuable 0:21:32.280 --> 0:21:36.840 thing that you have time is unstoppable. Standing in that 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:38.879 line is like it was like waiting. It must have 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.600 been like waiting for Space Mountain, except instead of Mickey Mouse, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:47.760 you're gonna get a double double wrapped in paper and regret. 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.919 It's Disney World for cheeseburgers. 0:21:50.160 --> 0:21:55.520 Plus plus you gotta have the animal style fries as well, 0:21:56.160 --> 0:21:57.120 minus the rides. 0:21:57.720 --> 0:21:59.920 I would assume no indigestion. Who knows. 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:07.280 And this is peak America, Peak America America. We complain 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:10.960 we're busy, all right, can plain We're busy glued to 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:14.119 our phones racing the clock. I'm always racing the clock 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:17.280 every day. I do the show. It is a race. 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:18.800 It's a race. 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.120 Against time, and you're just trying to put the thing 0:22:21.160 --> 0:22:24.200 together as fast as you can. But then while you're 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:26.760 putting the show together, it'll take you in behind the scenes. 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:30.080 So you're trying to put the show together. Fine, but 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:34.320 then also there's things going on. So I'll plan stuff 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:35.080 out a lot of. 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.560 Times it'll like I can't do that because something else 0:22:37.640 --> 0:22:40.439 changed in the story. Once you peak behind the curtain, 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:44.400 there's just not much else for you do, and that's it, 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:45.080 and that's it. 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:47.239 And so that's where we are on this. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.080 I mean, this is again, people wait three hours online 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:54.800 in Nashville. This is peak Americana, peak Americana with everything 0:22:54.880 --> 0:23:00.200 that goes on, and just to happily idle your engine 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:04.840 for three hours. Like you know, back in the day, 0:23:04.880 --> 0:23:06.680 my parents still be ailt waiting for gas during I 0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:10.159 guess I think Nixon was president that administration. So the 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:12.919 burger's good. We like in and out burger. It's not 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:17.560 rescue a hostage good. It's not miss your kid's birthday 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:22.480 party good. It's not that good. You could have watched 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:24.920 a movie trilogy. You think the things you could have done, 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:29.000 those of you that waited online for three hours. In Nashville, 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:32.600 you could have watched a movie trilogy. You could have 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:38.600 learned conversational Italian from a Rosetta stone, or listened to 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:45.360 three Malar monologues over and over and over again. One 0:23:45.400 --> 0:23:48.200 it's pick an hour, and just over and over and 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:50.040 over and over and over. 0:23:51.200 --> 0:23:52.240 That's the malor math. 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:55.520 The juice, as we like to say, isn't worth the squeeze, 0:23:55.520 --> 0:23:57.840 eat the burger, don't let the burger eat you. 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:00.040 And that line. 0:23:59.840 --> 0:24:04.879 Was wasn't about fast food. People of Nashville didn't just 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:07.520 fall in love with in and out Burger. 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:09.439 People doing it. 0:24:09.480 --> 0:24:11.360 From what I hear boots on the ground there, Mike, 0:24:11.359 --> 0:24:14.719 people were doing it for the TikTok, for the Grams. 0:24:14.880 --> 0:24:17.600 So some of those guys that played in Boston are like, hey, 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:19.600 look at us. Now we can get tattoos and we 0:24:19.640 --> 0:24:22.159 can grow a beard, and we're not playing for the 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:23.160 Yankees anymore. 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:24.280 This, that and the other thing. 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:30.000 Now, the real secret sauce, the real secret sauce. You 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:33.680 know what it is, Okay, you do, Okay. The real 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:38.840 secret sauce is fomo. Yeah, and people eat that up. 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:41.520 They love the fomo. They don't want to miss anything, 0:24:42.200 --> 0:24:44.200 but fomo is the way to go. I'm a big 0:24:44.240 --> 0:24:49.080 fomo guy. Love the fomo. What's new in the world 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:53.719 of nonsense? Well, this podcast is there. It's also by 0:24:53.720 --> 0:24:56.920 the way, gingerbread House dass I failed to mention that 0:24:57.000 --> 0:25:00.359 at the beginning Today's gingerbread House Desk she got to 0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:04.399 get it done a couple weeks before. Did gingerbread houses 0:25:04.480 --> 0:25:08.040 last that long? I've made one. I don't remember what 0:25:08.160 --> 0:25:11.520