1
00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:01,440
Speaker 1: Kubbooms.

2
00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,360
Speaker 2: If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,160
Speaker 2: a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants

4
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,480
Speaker 2: of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He

5
00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,480
Speaker 2: treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the

6
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,439
Speaker 2: rich pill poppers in the penthouse.

7
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:18,400
Speaker 1: Wow.

8
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,280
Speaker 2: The clearing House of Hot takes break free for something special.

9
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:30,680
Speaker 2: The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.

10
00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:35,000
Speaker 1: In the air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with me, Ben

11
00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,919
Speaker 1: Malor and Danny G Radio as we are together on

12
00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:45,000
Speaker 1: this Friday, the tenth day of January, and I gotta

13
00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,479
Speaker 1: tell you, I was on last night doing the Overnight.

14
00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:49,240
Speaker 1: So Danny G by the way, is on assignment. He

15
00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 1: will produce this podcast and hopefully be with us over

16
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,080
Speaker 1: the next couple of days. On the weekend that Danny

17
00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,480
Speaker 1: has been dealing with the fires and had to leave

18
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,920
Speaker 1: his home, there's some craziness out near him, and I

19
00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,480
Speaker 1: didn't want to address that, but it is, by the way,

20
00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:11,640
Speaker 1: National house Plant Appreciation Day to day before we get

21
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:13,880
Speaker 1: into the podcast, because we like these dopey holidays. It's

22
00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:21,360
Speaker 1: appreciation Day, which is fogazy, but apparently houseplants were used

23
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,760
Speaker 1: by wealthy families back in five hundred BC. They go

24
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,399
Speaker 1: all the way back to five hundred BC to this day.

25
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:30,840
Speaker 1: I remember back in the I think it was like

26
00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,920
Speaker 1: the eighties or the nineties, there was a fad of

27
00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:37,640
Speaker 1: fake houseplants. But that's pretty much all I know. Those

28
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,840
Speaker 1: plastic houseplants were everywhere. But I don't have any other

29
00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,600
Speaker 1: information other than its National house Plant Appreciation Day. Today

30
00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:51,520
Speaker 1: it's also Quitter's Day, so big day there. Quitter's Day

31
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:56,240
Speaker 1: held the second Friday in January. It falls on January

32
00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 1: tenth today, and it is a new Year's resolution, which

33
00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:04,040
Speaker 1: began four thousand years ago right the itching Babylon started

34
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:08,480
Speaker 1: the tradition of setting new Year's resolutions, and supposedly today

35
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,519
Speaker 1: Quitter's Day has set aside recognize those who set new

36
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:17,160
Speaker 1: goals and failed to achieve them. Yes, so if you

37
00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,600
Speaker 1: planned on doing something and you're already doing the opposite,

38
00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:25,400
Speaker 1: congratulations you are being honored today on National Quitter's Day.

39
00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,000
Speaker 1: A wonderful day. So on this edition of the Fifth Hour,

40
00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,120
Speaker 1: we've got scramble Drill, Scramble drill. We have that we

41
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 1: also have on the Oregon Trail and the idiom of

42
00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:46,919
Speaker 1: the day, the idiom of the day. But we'll start

43
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,440
Speaker 1: with this. So I wanted to mention and we do

44
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:52,799
Speaker 1: promote Benny versus the Penny. Some of you get annoyed

45
00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:54,840
Speaker 1: by the Oh I used to like your podcast, but

46
00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,080
Speaker 1: you spend so much time telling you about Benny versus

47
00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:03,160
Speaker 1: the Penny. Yes, Guilty as charged, Guilty as charged. I

48
00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:05,240
Speaker 1: have a TV show that I am trying to get

49
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,200
Speaker 1: people to watch. I will take every advantage I can

50
00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,320
Speaker 1: to get people to watch said TV show. If you're

51
00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:13,200
Speaker 1: annoyed by that, just fast forward in the podcast. But

52
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:15,240
Speaker 1: I actually have a good story to tell as I

53
00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:19,160
Speaker 1: welcome you in to this edition of the Fifth Hour. Right,

54
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:21,120
Speaker 1: this is our happy place. We get to hang around.

55
00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,240
Speaker 1: We can say bad words because it's only in the

56
00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:27,520
Speaker 1: podcast format. We don't run into the roadblock of the FCC,

57
00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,359
Speaker 1: where if we say a bad word we're in trouble.

58
00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,359
Speaker 1: Podcasts are like the old West. You can say whatever

59
00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:35,680
Speaker 1: you want, knock it out of the park. So the

60
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:40,600
Speaker 1: other day, it was a normal, normal week. It started

61
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,240
Speaker 1: out a long long time ago, which really wasn't that

62
00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:46,760
Speaker 1: long ago. It was a few days ago. I start

63
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,520
Speaker 1: getting ready for the next episode of the TV show,

64
00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:53,119
Speaker 1: pretty much when the games kick off on Thursday during

65
00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:56,040
Speaker 1: the season. So I'm watching the game on Thursday seeing

66
00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,120
Speaker 1: what I did wrong. It's kind of like that coward bit,

67
00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:01,320
Speaker 1: what did Ben get right? What had been get wrong?

68
00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:03,560
Speaker 1: This year, It's been a lot that I got wrong.

69
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: Things that are supposed to happen haven't happened, and so

70
00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:11,360
Speaker 1: I'm trying to outmaneuver the penny. And we've zoomed through

71
00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,320
Speaker 1: the NFL regular season, so it's a constant thing watching football,

72
00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,839
Speaker 1: looking at the numbers and all that, and it's a

73
00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 1: paralysis by analysis is generally what happens. I have too

74
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,080
Speaker 1: much information. Now I try to whittle that down. There's

75
00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,520
Speaker 1: certain key indicators that I look for, and that's kind

76
00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:33,760
Speaker 1: of how we make the Fedicini alfredo. So that's how

77
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,599
Speaker 1: that goes together. You gotta have the sauce, you gotta

78
00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,480
Speaker 1: have the noodles, and put all those together. So the

79
00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,960
Speaker 1: week started somewhat normal. I start putting stuff together on

80
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:49,040
Speaker 1: Sunday night, and then more on Monday night, and Tuesday

81
00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 1: is a big day to kind of get everything together,

82
00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:56,920
Speaker 1: and then Wednesday is the day that we put the

83
00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,760
Speaker 1: sausage into the two What becomes the sausage. We put

84
00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:05,520
Speaker 1: our head down and then all of a sudden, so

85
00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,159
Speaker 1: it was normal, and then all hell broke loose, Hot

86
00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,040
Speaker 1: Diggity Dog, all hell broke loose. So I had put together.

87
00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,680
Speaker 1: What I do is I send ideas. I pitch ideas

88
00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,000
Speaker 1: to Vinnie, who's the producer of Bennie Versus the Penny

89
00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000
Speaker 1: and the team in Boston. But Vinnie's the guy that

90
00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 1: producers the show. So I spend Monday and Tuesday mostly

91
00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:28,799
Speaker 1: cooking up ideas, and then Wednesday, starting in the morning,

92
00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,240
Speaker 1: is a production day. So that's the day on Wednesday

93
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:37,279
Speaker 1: where I throw all these eyes ideas down. I scribble

94
00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,400
Speaker 1: them down with chicken scratch, and then I put some

95
00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 1: stats together, riveting stuff, right, riveting stuff. So I put

96
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,719
Speaker 1: all this stuff together, and I'm putting the show together,

97
00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,880
Speaker 1: doing my thing. La la la la la la la

98
00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,280
Speaker 1: la la la la la la. You know, nothing to

99
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,200
Speaker 1: see here, just putting the show together. And mentioned all

100
00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 1: hell broke loose because the fires actually started on Tuesday.

101
00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,760
Speaker 1: But we have fires all the time. In southern California.

102
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:07,640
Speaker 1: Fires are a regular thing, so you figure, okay, there's fires,

103
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,760
Speaker 1: it's fire seasons pretty much year round. We don't get

104
00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:16,480
Speaker 1: much rain here, so fine, nothing to see here. Well,

105
00:06:17,080 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 1: the fires On Wednesday morning, it was getting pretty pretty nasty,

106
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,359
Speaker 1: pretty gnarly, and it just kept getting worse and worse

107
00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:34,200
Speaker 1: and worse and worse. And by Wednesday afternoon I was

108
00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:36,919
Speaker 1: getting emails from the people at Universal Studios saying, the

109
00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:41,080
Speaker 1: lot is closed, the lot is closed today, We're not

110
00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,720
Speaker 1: sure if the lot's going to be open on Thursday,

111
00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,640
Speaker 1: which is the day that we record Benny Versus the Penny,

112
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,000
Speaker 1: and they were waiting for the next wave of fires,

113
00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 1: which they knew were apparently coming. I didn't know you

114
00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,040
Speaker 1: could forecast fires. I guess there were a number of

115
00:06:57,120 --> 00:06:58,840
Speaker 1: them that were started out, all of them, but a

116
00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:04,000
Speaker 1: number of them were started by homeless people. So wonderful. Anyway,

117
00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,400
Speaker 1: So Wednesday I start I start getting messages saying, you know,

118
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,520
Speaker 1: we're not sure if the lot's gonna be open. Let's

119
00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:13,080
Speaker 1: have a contingency plan. So I didn't really think much

120
00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:15,960
Speaker 1: of it. I thought, well, it seems like it's pretty bad,

121
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,360
Speaker 1: but the planes are back up, the helicopters are back

122
00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:22,480
Speaker 1: up to put out the fire, and so since that's

123
00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,360
Speaker 1: going on, it should be okay, right, you know, you

124
00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,480
Speaker 1: know what happened, you assume it should be okay. So fine,

125
00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:37,920
Speaker 1: that's that. And then about ninety minutes later, and don't

126
00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:39,880
Speaker 1: hold me to that. I'd have to go back and

127
00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:43,960
Speaker 1: check my my messages, but it felt like about ninety

128
00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,280
Speaker 1: minutes later, they sent a message saying, all right, we've

129
00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:54,960
Speaker 1: nailed down the contingency plan. If we can't do Thursday,

130
00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,240
Speaker 1: we're we're gonna do. We're gonna do Friday. We'll do like,

131
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:02,800
Speaker 1: we'll do it Friday morning. We'll record many versus the Penny.

132
00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:06,520
Speaker 1: And they asked me my availability, and then yeah, I

133
00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,720
Speaker 1: don't I don't care. I'll record the show at any time,

134
00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:16,480
Speaker 1: any place, anywhere. Let's do it. I'm down. So I

135
00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:19,000
Speaker 1: text him back. I said, whatever you need me to do,

136
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,239
Speaker 1: I will do. The show must go on. So fine,

137
00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,000
Speaker 1: So they said, thank you. That's great. It's very kind

138
00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 1: of you. We appreciate you doing that. Wonderful. All right, fine,

139
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:36,600
Speaker 1: So then another ninety minutes goes by and I'm getting

140
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,920
Speaker 1: ready for the radio show, right, I'm doubling down on

141
00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:40,760
Speaker 1: the radio show. I'm like, all right, I'm getting ready.

142
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:45,160
Speaker 1: It's it's Wednesday. It's starting to be that time where

143
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:47,120
Speaker 1: I got to lock in on the on the radio

144
00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:48,600
Speaker 1: show and figure out what I'm going to talk about,

145
00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,760
Speaker 1: Mallard monologues and all that. And so now I get

146
00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:56,360
Speaker 1: all right, lots closed contingency plan. We'll send a crew

147
00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,800
Speaker 1: out from Universal Studios to where you are and we'll

148
00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:05,960
Speaker 1: do your show remotely. So okay, And then there's some

149
00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,520
Speaker 1: meetings going on in Boston. I mean, it's a total

150
00:09:08,559 --> 00:09:12,680
Speaker 1: scramble scramble drill, people trying to figure out like what

151
00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,320
Speaker 1: are we doing? What are we doing? And I'm like,

152
00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,600
Speaker 1: I don't care. And then I'm like, there was this talk. Well,

153
00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,120
Speaker 1: maybe we'll send a crew out and I'll meet Looney

154
00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,319
Speaker 1: because Looney's closer to Universal Studios where he lives then

155
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,120
Speaker 1: I do out in the north Woods. And so we're

156
00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,360
Speaker 1: going through all this anyway, we determine, because of the situation,

157
00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:32,520
Speaker 1: we would just do the show from our home studios.

158
00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:36,439
Speaker 1: Looney has a studio he does some work at KBC,

159
00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,199
Speaker 1: and I have the studio for Fox Sports Radio and

160
00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,480
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm actually in the studio right now. So

161
00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:47,000
Speaker 1: we're like, all right, we'll just do it on Thursday,

162
00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,480
Speaker 1: but we'll just do it from the home studio and

163
00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,760
Speaker 1: we'll figure it out and all that. So I said,

164
00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,160
Speaker 1: all right, this will be different, and I'm curious how

165
00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,240
Speaker 1: this is going to go. Never done a national TV

166
00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:02,280
Speaker 1: show from my podcast studio, but here we were. We

167
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:04,920
Speaker 1: had no other option because Universal Studios has been closed

168
00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:08,440
Speaker 1: because the fires and the fires pretty close. The studios

169
00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,839
Speaker 1: have had major fires over these Universal Studios. They've had

170
00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:17,920
Speaker 1: some serious, serious fires that have caused tremendous damage to

171
00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:19,840
Speaker 1: the back lot where we like to walk around and

172
00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,679
Speaker 1: all that. So whatever it takes to keep Universal Studios

173
00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,360
Speaker 1: in tech, I know they have some of their own

174
00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:31,480
Speaker 1: fire crews out that way. So we ended up yesterday

175
00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:38,000
Speaker 1: doing the TV show from our homes and if you

176
00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,200
Speaker 1: watch it it already. The reason we had to do

177
00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,840
Speaker 1: it on Thursday was because it starts airing Thursday evening.

178
00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:47,960
Speaker 1: So we needed a show because the show was scheduled

179
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,560
Speaker 1: to be broadcast in some markets on Thursday evening, and

180
00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,760
Speaker 1: so we had to get the show out. People needed

181
00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:56,960
Speaker 1: to show. People agreed to carry the show, and they

182
00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,440
Speaker 1: had programming they needed to do the program. So we

183
00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,480
Speaker 1: did the show and it was it was interesting. There

184
00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:05,600
Speaker 1: were there were some obviously issues we had to work through,

185
00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:10,679
Speaker 1: some technical stuff. I had a pretty good setup, though,

186
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,960
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I don't think I don't

187
00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:18,520
Speaker 1: think it looked that bad. It looked pretty similar I

188
00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:21,679
Speaker 1: think to the way the show does look on a

189
00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,480
Speaker 1: normal weekly basis. There were some audio issues we had

190
00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:29,280
Speaker 1: to work out. The great thing about NBC, and it's

191
00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:31,640
Speaker 1: out of NBC Boston, they have all the bells and

192
00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:35,360
Speaker 1: whistles that you need to do a show from your home.

193
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:40,160
Speaker 1: Considering that during COVID that's all they did. So they

194
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,640
Speaker 1: figured out during that pandemic, how can we have television

195
00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:49,600
Speaker 1: from people's homes, And so they figured it all out

196
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,520
Speaker 1: and it was it was great. Everything worked out, and

197
00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:55,640
Speaker 1: so they had everything that we needed. The IFB hookup

198
00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:00,600
Speaker 1: with the headphones, the way that we did the video

199
00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,719
Speaker 1: and the backdrop and the lighting and everything was good

200
00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,000
Speaker 1: to go. It was a chef's kiss. So I do

201
00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:11,000
Speaker 1: want to thank Vinnie and the people over there at

202
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:14,280
Speaker 1: NBC Sports in Boston for making that a very smooth,

203
00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:19,679
Speaker 1: very smooth transition. There was one snaffo that we just

204
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:23,360
Speaker 1: got burned by because we were doing the show and

205
00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,680
Speaker 1: about an hour after the show was put to bed

206
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:33,640
Speaker 1: and then sent out to the affiliates, the NFL stumbled

207
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:35,960
Speaker 1: through an announcement. There's a segment if you watch this

208
00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,720
Speaker 1: week's episode of Benni Versus Penny, there's a segment where

209
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,240
Speaker 1: we stumbled through a portion of the show. We're talking

210
00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,960
Speaker 1: about the Rams and the Vikings, and the Vikings fans

211
00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,000
Speaker 1: were planning a hostile takeover, so we talked about that

212
00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:50,840
Speaker 1: during the show. Well, at the time we were talking

213
00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,720
Speaker 1: about that. The NFL was scheduled to play the Ram

214
00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:58,160
Speaker 1: Viking game on Monday night in Los Angeles in Inglewood,

215
00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,679
Speaker 1: in the hood in Inglewood, and then out of an

216
00:13:00,679 --> 00:13:04,720
Speaker 1: abundance of caution, okay, they decided to move the game.

217
00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:06,520
Speaker 1: They didn't have to move the game. The game could

218
00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:09,600
Speaker 1: have been played there. They chose to to move the game.

219
00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:14,240
Speaker 1: So it's the it's only the second playoff game Playoffs

220
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,880
Speaker 1: in the history of the NFL where they've moved a

221
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:22,479
Speaker 1: playoff game. The story behind that, the other one is fascinating,

222
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:24,640
Speaker 1: Like this one is just Hey, it's twenty twenty five,

223
00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,160
Speaker 1: you know, we've we've got to let everyone know that

224
00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:31,440
Speaker 1: we're more concerned about people than everyone else and and

225
00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:33,760
Speaker 1: all that. Like, you could easily have played the game

226
00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,720
Speaker 1: on Monday night and it would have actually been been fine.

227
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,640
Speaker 1: But I bring this up because the NFL has been

228
00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: in existence for over one hundred years. It's been a minute, right,

229
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,440
Speaker 1: it's been a minute. And through all of the different

230
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,840
Speaker 1: events that have taken place in the history of America

231
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:57,120
Speaker 1: that have been intertwined, wrapped around, wrapped around the NFL

232
00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:00,800
Speaker 1: like simultaneously, right, the NFL is being played, life goes on.

233
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:08,319
Speaker 1: There was the President Kennedy being assassinated. There's been shuttles

234
00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:12,280
Speaker 1: that have exploded, There's been different events that have happened

235
00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:15,680
Speaker 1: nine to eleven, and so the NFL's pawster and things.

236
00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:19,000
Speaker 1: But as far as the playoffs are concerned, incredibly, the

237
00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,400
Speaker 1: Ram Viking game this weekend is only the second playoff

238
00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,040
Speaker 1: game in the history of the one hundred plus year

239
00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: NFL to be moved to a different city. So I

240
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,040
Speaker 1: wanted to give you the first one. The first one

241
00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,400
Speaker 1: was the nineteen thirty six NFL championship matchup between the

242
00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:41,080
Speaker 1: Boston Redskins and the Green Bay Packers. Have you heard

243
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:44,840
Speaker 1: this story before? You have not? Okay, good. I actually

244
00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:46,280
Speaker 1: was going to use this on the Overnight Show, and

245
00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:47,840
Speaker 1: for some reason I never got to it. Bad job.

246
00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:52,200
Speaker 1: By me. So the Redskins and the Packers, we're going

247
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,160
Speaker 1: to play the NFL Championship game nineteen thirty six, but

248
00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,720
Speaker 1: the game was moved out of Boston to New York.

249
00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:03,440
Speaker 1: The reason the game was moved get to the point please.

250
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,720
Speaker 1: The reason is because the Redskins, the Boston Redskins, they

251
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:10,200
Speaker 1: were the one schedule to host the NFL Championship at

252
00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:14,320
Speaker 1: Finnway Park, that was their home stadium. But the owner

253
00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:17,320
Speaker 1: a guy that is notorious for being a bit of

254
00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:22,040
Speaker 1: a douche, George Preston Marshall. Now I never met him.

255
00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:24,240
Speaker 1: Maybe he was a nice guy, but the history books,

256
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,920
Speaker 1: the people that write history have not been very kind

257
00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,360
Speaker 1: to George Preston Marshall. So the owner of the Redskins decided,

258
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:34,560
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't want to play the game

259
00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:36,240
Speaker 1: at Finnway Park. I want to move the game to

260
00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:39,880
Speaker 1: the Polo Grounds in New York City. So a team

261
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:45,760
Speaker 1: from Boston played a team from Wisconsin at the Polo

262
00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:50,440
Speaker 1: Grounds in New York City. And the reason that George

263
00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,760
Speaker 1: Preston Marshall did that is he was annoyed because the

264
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:59,800
Speaker 1: sports fans in Boston were not in they were not

265
00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,400
Speaker 1: invested in that type of American football. In nineteen thirty six,

266
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:08,120
Speaker 1: baseball was popular, horse racing, boxing, and he didn't want

267
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,760
Speaker 1: the game to be played there because he was worried

268
00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:13,080
Speaker 1: about he wanted to make money, he was worried about

269
00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:17,040
Speaker 1: not selling enough tickets in Boston. So he's like, I

270
00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,280
Speaker 1: got to get out of here now. It is interesting

271
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 1: to note that there's more to the story. As Paul

272
00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,400
Speaker 1: Harvey would say, you know the news, but now you're

273
00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:29,120
Speaker 1: about to find the found out the rest of the story.

274
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:30,480
Speaker 1: You're going to find out the rest of the story.

275
00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:40,000
Speaker 1: So Marshall was planning on relocating what was the Boston Redskins,

276
00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,760
Speaker 1: and in nineteen thirty seven. The following year, he took

277
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:50,240
Speaker 1: the Boston Redskins. He said bye bye to Boston and

278
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:56,239
Speaker 1: moved them to Washington, DC and they became the Washington

279
00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:00,680
Speaker 1: Redskins starting in nineteen thirty seven. That had They later

280
00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:02,960
Speaker 1: around and played football for years and years, and then

281
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,000
Speaker 1: the Wolkesters got involved and couldn't say that anymore. I

282
00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:08,320
Speaker 1: had to change the name of the team, and very

283
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:13,480
Speaker 1: offensive to say that, and the NFL completely gen reflected

284
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,240
Speaker 1: a few years back and got rid of the nickname.

285
00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:18,960
Speaker 1: Now the team really didn't have a nickname. Yeah, I

286
00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:23,000
Speaker 1: look at the team formerly know as the Redskins, I'm like,

287
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,880
Speaker 1: it's just kind of faceless team. It's like the Memphis

288
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:31,560
Speaker 1: Grizzlies or the New Orleans Pelicans. They're just these teams

289
00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:34,560
Speaker 1: that are just kind of there. They're filler teams. They

290
00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,960
Speaker 1: don't really move the needle at all. The names are blah,

291
00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:42,640
Speaker 1: the uniforms are blah. That's pretty much where I am

292
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:48,600
Speaker 1: on the Washington Commanders, if you will. Now turning the

293
00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:54,840
Speaker 1: page on that. There was a moment about a week

294
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,480
Speaker 1: ago that I thought I would be doing this podcast

295
00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:02,080
Speaker 1: from another state. I was convinced I was going to

296
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,880
Speaker 1: figure out a way to get it done. Unfortunately, much

297
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:07,000
Speaker 1: to my dismay, I could not do it. We're talking

298
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,399
Speaker 1: about going on the Oregon Trail. Now, what is that

299
00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:19,600
Speaker 1: all about? Let me explain. So I learned after the fact. Unfortunately,

300
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:23,360
Speaker 1: after the fact, I learned that somebody that I had

301
00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:28,320
Speaker 1: been a friend with for a number of years passed

302
00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:31,840
Speaker 1: away at the end of twenty twenty four. It actually

303
00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:40,199
Speaker 1: happened in November November of twenty twenty four, and I

304
00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:43,639
Speaker 1: didn't find out about it at the time, and I

305
00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,040
Speaker 1: actually found out about it a little later than that.

306
00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:51,520
Speaker 1: But I got a text from some number I didn't recognize. No,

307
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,760
Speaker 1: normally I don't pay any attention to the text messages.

308
00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is somebody, this is probably spam. It's

309
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,880
Speaker 1: probably spam. What am I doing? But this one had

310
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:06,600
Speaker 1: information where only certain people would know the information? You know.

311
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:11,160
Speaker 1: So and so I'm, you know, regarding the person I'm

312
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,359
Speaker 1: about to talk about, and he said, there will be

313
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 1: another email coming. You have been invited to a celebration

314
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:25,720
Speaker 1: of life for this particular person. So the person that

315
00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:33,439
Speaker 1: died is former Portland Trailblazers broadcaster Brian Wheeler was the

316
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:37,960
Speaker 1: radio voice of the Portland Trailblazers from nineteen ninety eight

317
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:41,520
Speaker 1: to twenty nineteen and had become a good friend of

318
00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,720
Speaker 1: mine for years. I met him shortly after he took

319
00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,439
Speaker 1: over in nineteen ninety eight. Now, back in those days,

320
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,520
Speaker 1: I covered the NBA. I was there every night Clippers

321
00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 1: Lakers games. I lived the NBA life. I probably went

322
00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:04,120
Speaker 1: to eighty plus NBA games including the playoffs per year

323
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:08,200
Speaker 1: combined Clippers and even the Lakers, which I covered back

324
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,639
Speaker 1: in those days. And so I was friends with this guy, Tony,

325
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,680
Speaker 1: who was the engineer. He did the visiting teams, and

326
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:16,719
Speaker 1: Tony was a buddy of mine, and he introduced me

327
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,840
Speaker 1: to a lot of the play by play guys. He's like, hey, Ben,

328
00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:21,399
Speaker 1: you got to meet this guy. And Wheels had just

329
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: started out as the play by play guy for the Blazers.

330
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,439
Speaker 1: He had replaced a gentleman who had been there for

331
00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:32,200
Speaker 1: seemingly ever, the longtime play by play guy the Blazers.

332
00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,720
Speaker 1: I forget his name. I forget his name right now, Shanelle,

333
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:36,920
Speaker 1: I believe his name, but he had been there a

334
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,840
Speaker 1: long time. So I immediately bonded with Brian Wheeler. He

335
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,280
Speaker 1: was kind of a bigger guy, and I was a

336
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:47,399
Speaker 1: much bigger guy at the time, and he was the

337
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:49,639
Speaker 1: radio voice of the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers are some

338
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,840
Speaker 1: really good teams. Early on, they were in the Western

339
00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:57,520
Speaker 1: Conference Finals. They played the Lakers in the postseason one year,

340
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,719
Speaker 1: and I saw wheel a couple times a year. They

341
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:06,040
Speaker 1: probably four times a year. I would see him when

342
00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,160
Speaker 1: the Blazers would come to La to play the Clippers,

343
00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:10,840
Speaker 1: and likes always made sure I was out there when

344
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,199
Speaker 1: the Blazers were in town and Over the years we

345
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 1: became friends. We talk on the phone. Sometimes we send

346
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:21,480
Speaker 1: text messages to each other. Occasionally, Wheels had an afternoon

347
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:28,159
Speaker 1: drive radio show in Portland and I would be a

348
00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:33,600
Speaker 1: guest on there. Occasionally called me up to fill in. Actually,

349
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,199
Speaker 1: I auditioned when I was out of work one of

350
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,440
Speaker 1: the jobs I lost years ago. I auditioned for the

351
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,440
Speaker 1: radio station. I got offered the afternoon drive show in Portland,

352
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 1: and I turned it down. I was I couldn't do

353
00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:49,240
Speaker 1: it because the a the money wasn't good enough, and

354
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 1: it just felt like the wrong move in my career

355
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:55,440
Speaker 1: at that time. So I didn't do it. But our

356
00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:02,080
Speaker 1: friendship continued, and Wheels and I we talked quite a bit.

357
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:05,600
Speaker 1: And there's some stories. I don't know if it's appropriate

358
00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,600
Speaker 1: to tell them right now. I might wait until after

359
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: the celebration of life. I did want to thank that

360
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: the Trailblazers and the people who were involved in Wheel's

361
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,520
Speaker 1: life for inviting me. I was honored to be invited.

362
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,440
Speaker 1: I really wanted to make it. The event is on Sunday.

363
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,159
Speaker 1: I was planning on trying to fly up. Actually today,

364
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,560
Speaker 1: I was gonna fly up today, and then my plan

365
00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: was to kind of hang out. I've never been to Portland.

366
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,000
Speaker 1: I've flown over to go to Seattle. I was gonna

367
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 1: come to port I'm gonna go to Portland. I'll hang out.

368
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 1: My wife has a friend there. She'll visit her friend,

369
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:42,960
Speaker 1: and then maybe I'll do a mallor meet and greet

370
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,359
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and then I'll go to the event on

371
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: Sunday and then I'll fly back. The problem was the logistics.

372
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 1: I found out about this at the last minute, so

373
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,880
Speaker 1: it pretty expensive to fly up there. But I could

374
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,359
Speaker 1: spend the money and I wouldn't really have an issue

375
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,920
Speaker 1: with that, but I would have had to miss a show.

376
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: There were no flights out after the event. I would

377
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,200
Speaker 1: have to wait until Monday morning, so I would have

378
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 1: missed the radio show. But it's like, yeah, I could

379
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,679
Speaker 1: have done that. But anyway, the flight thing, it just

380
00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 1: didn't work out. So I was pretty bummed out when

381
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: I found out of it. I didn't find out right away.

382
00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: There are some stories I want to tell. I feel

383
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: like it's inappropriate to tell them right at this minute,

384
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,359
Speaker 1: but let's just say me and Wheels had a very

385
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: good friendship and I'd made some moves. There was one

386
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: moment and remind me on this. I'll get into it

387
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 1: in the future podcast. If I forget remind me. I

388
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,480
Speaker 1: want to wait till after Sunday. But there was one

389
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:50,439
Speaker 1: situation that would have changed NBA broadcasting and would have

390
00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:56,600
Speaker 1: been absolutely amazing. But I was involved in it. I

391
00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,159
Speaker 1: was helping Brian Wheeler. There was a job that was

392
00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:05,879
Speaker 1: open and I knew some people and I attempted to

393
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 1: help and then at the very last minute, somebody from

394
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: the outside stepped in and messed everything up. And so

395
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,159
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate. But if you never heard Brian wheel he

396
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,199
Speaker 1: was the radio voice of the Trailblazers, and he was

397
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:24,640
Speaker 1: he was the guy that had a lot of catchphrases.

398
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,359
Speaker 1: The one that he was most famous for NBA Entertainment

399
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: on their vignette shows. Remember nineteen ninety eight, this is

400
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,920
Speaker 1: before social media, and really social media took off probably

401
00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,560
Speaker 1: about twenty ten, So the last nine years Wheels was

402
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,640
Speaker 1: the voice of the Trailblazers, there was a lot of

403
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 1: social media, but early on there was not. But he

404
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: had all these catchphrase. The one that he was most

405
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,879
Speaker 1: recognized for was boom shacka laca. A lot of people say, well,

406
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,280
Speaker 1: boom shacka locke. He just took that from the video

407
00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 1: game NBA Jam. But no, Wheels was not a video

408
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:03,560
Speaker 1: game player. He used to say that he only played

409
00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 1: like pac Man or Miss pac Man or something like that.

410
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 1: He took boom shacka loca from He borrowed it from

411
00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:14,639
Speaker 1: the movie Stripes with Bill Murray. He took boom shacka

412
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,800
Speaker 1: loaca from that. There was a yeah. He had a

413
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 1: bunch of catchphrases. He had do it till You're satisfied,

414
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: which he took out from from a funk song by

415
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 1: DT Express. It's a great day to be a Blazer.

416
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 1: It was one of his catchphrases, and that was from

417
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:38,960
Speaker 1: John Rooney, the old White Sox broadcaster back in the day.

418
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 1: That's a White Sox winner. So he took that and

419
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: twisted around and you know, once again and then we

420
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 1: can say it's a great day to be a Blazer.

421
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:53,760
Speaker 1: He said that after every Trailblazer victory. And I really

422
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 1: appreciated what Wheels did. I told him this. You know,

423
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 1: he died pretty young. He was sixty t too. But

424
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 1: I told Wheels, I said, I love words, and I

425
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:09,359
Speaker 1: love how you are able to work words. And in fact,

426
00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: I know Alf and some of the guys that have

427
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: been listening a long time to the radio show. You know,

428
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: from time to time I will quote Brian Wheeler and

429
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: he would go on these rants this he would use

430
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 1: a three word I don't know how to describe it,

431
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: you know, adjectives, literation to describe the emotions of the

432
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:35,640
Speaker 1: opposing team. When the Blazers would go on a run

433
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,680
Speaker 1: and the other team would call it time out, it

434
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 1: would be like time out San Antonio. Greg Popovich is mystified,

435
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 1: mesmerized and mortified. And it was so good to listen to.

436
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,639
Speaker 1: It was so awesome to listen to that, and I

437
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: just I loved it. And you know, that's just just

438
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: one example. There were a bunch. I mean I've quoted

439
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,640
Speaker 1: Wheels doing that from time to time because I think

440
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:13,560
Speaker 1: it's just just the alliterations of Brian Wheeler simply outstanding. Right.

441
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: The the Blazers are amazing, astonishing and astounding. You know,

442
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: it's let's see, like the Clippers coach Bill Fitch, time out.

443
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 1: Clippers Bill Fitch has bemused, bewildered, and bedeviled. Things like that.

444
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: Just just great, absolutely great, And if somebody was doing

445
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 1: very well, you know, certified, classified, gratified. Boom boom boom

446
00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,440
Speaker 1: boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom.

447
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: So that was his style. There were a bunch of

448
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: other catchphrases. When somebody would have a hammered dunk, he'd say, oh,

449
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 1: that was nasty. And they're dancing in the aisles at

450
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 1: the Rose Garden if something went great for the where

451
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 1: the Troublazers. But I love Wheels. He was very kind

452
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 1: to me. We would go out to lunch sometimes in

453
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: the offseason. He was adopted. He grew up in southern California.

454
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 1: He was adopted at birth, and he had a tough

455
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:17,199
Speaker 1: child that he stepfather was an asshole and had a

456
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: tough tough time growing up. But he loved Vince Scully.

457
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:25,440
Speaker 1: He loved chick Hern, Bob Miller, the great La play

458
00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:27,199
Speaker 1: by play guys, and he told me stories about you

459
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: wanted to be just like them. He planned on attending

460
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:34,200
Speaker 1: school at USC. He ended up going to college in Chicago,

461
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:39,200
Speaker 1: which it is interesting to note his he found his

462
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: birth mother. And you know, it's always one of those

463
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 1: weird things when you're adopted. You know, some people that

464
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: are adopted, they want to find their birth parents. Other

465
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: people that are adopted want nothing to do with their

466
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: birth parents. So it's a weird dynamic. But Brian wanted

467
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 1: to meet his birth mother. He did end up meeting

468
00:28:55,760 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: her a few years back and learned about what she

469
00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: was like and why she made the decision that she

470
00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: made and whatnot. And so anyway, Wheels grew up in

471
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 1: southern California, but he went to college in Chicago. He

472
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,760
Speaker 1: did some like studio work for the Bulls. He worked

473
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: for the old Seattle SuperSonics back in the He bounced around,

474
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: He lived the nomad life, and I just loved him,

475
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,200
Speaker 1: just loved the way he did the play by play.

476
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: And he had stints with the Sacramento Kings and the Sonics.

477
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: As I said, the Bulls, and he was the Oregon

478
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: sportscaster of the Year in twenty oh seven. He had

479
00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 1: battled his weight his entire adult life. And I remember

480
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,760
Speaker 1: when I lost my weight, which was probably probably around

481
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: twenty twenty ten. Wheels and I had many conversations. He's

482
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: trying to figure out how can he lose the weight,

483
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 1: and what can you do? And he tried every fad

484
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 1: diet and some of them worked. I remember he did

485
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: my Man Wheels, did the Oprah winfree like liquid diet,

486
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 1: and he lost a ton of weight. He was lost

487
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: more weight than I lost. He was lean, mean, and

488
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 1: a wrecking machine. The problem was traveling with an NBA team.

489
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: You're getting in late. You're getting in late, right. Things

490
00:30:26,440 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 1: are not necessarily open. Good restaurants are not open, so

491
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 1: you're eating late. You're not eating good food. You're drinking

492
00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 1: a fair amount because you're going out to bars and

493
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: restaurants and you're having a social cocktail or whatever. So

494
00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:45,960
Speaker 1: eventually he could not keep up with the liquid diet.

495
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,000
Speaker 1: He had to start eating solid food, and he put

496
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 1: all of the weight back and then some. And it

497
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 1: was just devastating when that happened. And so I tried

498
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: to give him some advice. I said, do the intimute fasting.

499
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: He actually tried it for a while, but it was

500
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: very difficult for him because again because of the schedule

501
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,680
Speaker 1: and being around food, traveling to different NBA cities and

502
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 1: there's always like big piles of food all over the place,

503
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 1: and it's not good food. It was either the end

504
00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:19,120
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three or early twenty twenty four. He

505
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 1: was with the Blazers till twenty nineteen. We spoke probably

506
00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: once a year. After that, I didn't see him, obviously

507
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: because he was no longer traveling with the Trail Blazers.

508
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:31,959
Speaker 1: He did come to LA. Big Dodger fan, Wheels and

509
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: so he would come down to La usually in the

510
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: middle of the summer, catch a Dodger game game or two.

511
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,080
Speaker 1: But just a sweetheart of a guy and just really

512
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: enjoyed enjoyers coming on bummed out. I was unable to

513
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: make it. I hope to. I hope to get up

514
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: to Portland at some point. I think there's gonna be

515
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 1: some tributes that will be there for Wheels, and hope

516
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: to see some of that stuff. But again, I was

517
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: honored to be invited. I had a casual friendship with

518
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,360
Speaker 1: Brian Wheeler, but I really appreciated his work. He was

519
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:11,120
Speaker 1: so good, and you know, from Boomshaka Laca to my

520
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,120
Speaker 1: eyes don't deceive. So I have to believe, and I

521
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: hope to honor Wheels. And this is something that I've

522
00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: done a lot. Over the years. I've gotten older, more

523
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 1: and more people have died, which is unfortunate, but that's

524
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: part of life. Our number is going to come up,

525
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,960
Speaker 1: all of us at some point. So I'm going to

526
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 1: try to work into the monologue some of the catchphrases

527
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: from Brian Wheeler as a tribute to Wheels, and so

528
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:46,840
Speaker 1: that that's my plan. That's my plan. Now whether whether

529
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:48,240
Speaker 1: that works, I'm not going to do it all the time,

530
00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:52,840
Speaker 1: but I'll do it occasionally, just a small, small tribute

531
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 1: to the great Brian Wheeler and Blazer fans were very

532
00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,959
Speaker 1: lucky to have him. He was so good. It is

533
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: such a art that very few do well. There's a

534
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,840
Speaker 1: lot of people that can do play by play, and

535
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: I watch a bunch of different TV broadcasts, I hear

536
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,080
Speaker 1: some radio broadcasts. A lot of these guys are just

537
00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:16,920
Speaker 1: their jabs, just another broadcaster, their jabs, nothing special. But

538
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: Wheels was special. He had whatever that is, the rasthma taz,

539
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 1: he had it. And I was lucky to be able

540
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: to hear some of his work. I was lucky enough

541
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 1: to know him. And he left this world. He should

542
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 1: still be doing the Trailblazer games, and he had some

543
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: health problems and he had to leave the Trailblazers, and

544
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 1: you know, it's sad, but you know, that's a job

545
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: he could have had. He'd still be doing it. He's

546
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 1: probably doing another eight nine years still his seventies, but

547
00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 1: unfortunately he leaves this world at the age of sixty two.

548
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 1: So rest in peace. Brian Wheeler, one of the great

549
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,160
Speaker 1: play by play guys. I was so lucky to come

550
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:01,000
Speaker 1: across him and befriend him and have him as a

551
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: guy in my circle over the years. Now, I was

552
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,760
Speaker 1: gonna do foodie fun, but there's not a lot of

553
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,799
Speaker 1: food news, and there's no really good transition from that,

554
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: and it's kind of a slow week in foody fund

555
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,160
Speaker 1: so I think I'll skip that. I did want to

556
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,960
Speaker 1: mention the idiom of the day. We'll get out on

557
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,919
Speaker 1: this the idiom of the day on the fifth hour.

558
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:26,240
Speaker 1: So it's a phrase we've all used, man's best friend.

559
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 1: A dog is man's best friend. But is it true?

560
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: Is it true that that phrase actually goes back back back, back, back, back,

561
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 1: back back only to eighteen seventy, roughly eighteen seventy. Say what, yeah,

562
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,400
Speaker 1: let me explain this is a matter fascinating. Now, I

563
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 1: love dogs. I'm a dog person. I'm not a cat person.

564
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 1: My dog Moxie. I spend pretty much every day getting

565
00:34:55,640 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: ready with the radio show with Moxie, my English bulldog,

566
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:04,480
Speaker 1: laying on my legs, snoring and farting while I'm watching

567
00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 1: games and getting ready for the show. And it's just

568
00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 1: such a She's a sixty or fifty pound lap dog

569
00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:15,479
Speaker 1: or whatever, fifty five pounds. So anyway, have you ever

570
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:17,919
Speaker 1: heard the phrase a dog is a man's best friend?

571
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:18,400
Speaker 1: Of course you have.

572
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:19,600
Speaker 2: Now.

573
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: It seems like it goes back to the ancient times.

574
00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:29,760
Speaker 1: But is it true that it's actually from eighteen seventy

575
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:34,280
Speaker 1: from America, the Missouri Supreme Court case of Burden versus

576
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 1: Hornsby in September of eighteen seventy. This is considered the

577
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,600
Speaker 1: origin of the phrase, at least in the modern world.

578
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:47,760
Speaker 1: In September of eighteen seventy. This is in Johnson County, Missouri,

579
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 1: in a courtroom. There there was a setting for what

580
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 1: was called the most celebrated dog case in the world,

581
00:35:55,920 --> 00:36:00,399
Speaker 1: big news in eighteen seventy. So this is the story.

582
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:01,800
Speaker 1: I won't give you the whole story, but there was

583
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:06,359
Speaker 1: this a person named Lee ownedas Hornsby. Fortunately we don't

584
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 1: use the name Lee owned us anymore. Really, it's an

585
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:14,320
Speaker 1: old name. So this guy shot his neighbor and brother

586
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 1: in law, Charles Burden's hunting dog, the top hunting dog

587
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:25,720
Speaker 1: dog named Old Drum Old Drum. So Burden was very upset.

588
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 1: Charles Burton's like, wait a minute, you a hole, what's

589
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:32,759
Speaker 1: wrong with you? And threatened to kill Hornsby, but instead realized, well,

590
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 1: I probably shouldn't kill him, so instead I'll sue this

591
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 1: guy Hornsby for one hundred dollars. Well, Hornsby had been

592
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 1: employing his nephew to guard his flock of sheep, denied

593
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,880
Speaker 1: giving any instruction to shoot the dog, Old Drum, so

594
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 1: they went to court. Now, one hundred bucks in eighteen

595
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: seventy was a lot of money. You want to play

596
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 1: the game? How much money? How much money was one

597
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: hundred dollars in eighteen seventy money versus today? You want

598
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 1: to play that game, Let's play that game. How much

599
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:15,239
Speaker 1: do you think one hundred bucks in eighteen seventy versus today?

600
00:37:15,880 --> 00:37:20,319
Speaker 1: Here we are in twenty twenty five. So what would

601
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 1: the map? They don't even go back to eighteen seventy.

602
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:27,560
Speaker 1: You know that they don't go back to eighteen seventy.

603
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:30,239
Speaker 1: Let's see. Let me let me tump, let me let

604
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 1: me see last you. Maybe let me let me click

605
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,520
Speaker 1: on this year. Hold on sake, listening to our live

606
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: coverage on the fifth hour, and as we try to

607
00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,839
Speaker 1: figure this out, No, it only goes back to the

608
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 1: inflation calculator. It only goes back to like nineteen nineteen thirteen,

609
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:54,319
Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, So there's no other information before. So we

610
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:55,960
Speaker 1: can't even play the game. Why it was a lot

611
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: of money, I get to the point. So they went

612
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:03,399
Speaker 1: to court and the lawsuit one hundred dollars. Hornsby had

613
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: been employing the nephew to guard the flock, but again

614
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:10,000
Speaker 1: said I didn't tell this person to shoot Old Drum.

615
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:13,280
Speaker 1: So they had two trials. The jury found Hornsby guilty

616
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 1: of ordering his nephew to kill Old Drum, awarded the

617
00:38:16,239 --> 00:38:20,440
Speaker 1: guy Burden, twenty five dollars. The judgment, though, was later reversed,

618
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 1: so they had a third trial, and Burden's lawyer, George

619
00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:33,320
Speaker 1: graham Vest George Graham Vest, delivered a tear jerking closing argument,

620
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,959
Speaker 1: considered one of the great closing arguments at that time

621
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,359
Speaker 1: and still talked about. Here we are one hundred and

622
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,120
Speaker 1: fifty years later one hundred and fifty five years later

623
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:48,439
Speaker 1: and it's still talked about. The closing argument was called

624
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:53,920
Speaker 1: Eulogy for a Dog, and when this lawyer, George Graham

625
00:38:54,040 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: Vest finished, the jurors were in tears. They were they

626
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: awarded burden fifty dollars, so you didn't get the one

627
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:06,880
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, you got the fifty dollars. Hornsby appealed to

628
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,319
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court of Missouri, but the decision stood. But

629
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:17,920
Speaker 1: best closing argument was so popular it became famous. It

630
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,840
Speaker 1: was printed in newspapers and saved because there was no

631
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 1: internet in eighteen seventy and that is believed to be

632
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:29,520
Speaker 1: where the modern version of a dog is a Man's

633
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 1: Best Friend came from from a closing argument in a

634
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:38,759
Speaker 1: Missouri courthouse called Eulogy for a Dog, and it is

635
00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:41,080
Speaker 1: still available. You can read it. If you're interested in that,

636
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:44,800
Speaker 1: check it out. We'll get out on that note. Hopefully

637
00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 1: Danny g will be okay and these fires will go away,

638
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:52,840
Speaker 1: and we will have a brand new episode of the

639
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:57,680
Speaker 1: Fifth Hour podcast tomorrow Wildcard Weekend, Wildcard Saturday, we'll have

640
00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: a brand new episode. Also tonight, we've got college football,

641
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: so it's a good sports weekend. Got college football tonight

642
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:08,400
Speaker 1: Ohio State and Texas. The winner gets Notre Dome in

643
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 1: the championship game of college football. Have a wonderful rest

644
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,840
Speaker 1: of your Friday. Thank you for listening to the podcast.

645
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 1: Tell a friend, tell a friend, spread the gospel of

646
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:24,319
Speaker 1: the Fifth Hour Podcast, and we will talk to you tomorrow. Tomorrow.

647
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:29,480
Speaker 1: Is it later, Skater Danny? Is that how it goes? Later? Skater?

648
00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,080
Speaker 1: I think so wrong. Gotta murder, I gotta go