WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: Dodger Denial! 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:01.480 Kubbooms. 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:05.400 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:09.240 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.520 of the Old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.520 treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.639 rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to Clearinghouse of 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.520 hot takes, break free for something Special. The Fifth Hour 0:00:23.640 --> 0:00:29.560 with Ben Mallard starts right now in. 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.400 The air everywhere. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.680 The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Maller and Danny g 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.040 Radio A Happy Friday to you. We have made it 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.200 to the weekend, and that means we slide on over 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.360 to the pod studio, not the regular radio studio. No, no, no, 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:51.600 this is a podcast only. We thank you for being 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.360 part of the Ultimate P one Club and listening here 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.640 to the Fifth Hour Podcast with Me and Danny g Is. 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:02.200 It's now Friday, the twenty first day of the month 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:06.319 of March, and if my math is correct, this is 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:12.360 the last Friday without Major League Baseball until October. I 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.319 believe I'm correct on that right because I know the 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.679 season starts next week and then every Friday, even though 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.240 there's the All Star break that does not include Friday 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.000 so we will have baseball every weekend between now and 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:30.160 the World Series, which is exciting. And we actually have 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.080 a baseball related story here on the fifth hour that 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:37.080 we'll get to it a little bit and a lot 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:39.679 to break apart, a lot to break apart. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:41.160 It's been a very busy week. 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:46.280 We'll start with this though, on this National Crunchy Taco 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.840 Day today. Yeah, somebody sent that to me and said 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:55.480 you better mention this. I want to thank Steve in Arizona, 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.960 a rather large state. I'm assuming Phoenix, but maybe not 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.840 someone in the Phoenix area. Anyway, Steve rhad in and said, Ben, 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:03.600 I know you do the you like to begin the 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.720 podcast by saying, you know what you know, dopey days. 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:10.639 It's National Crunchy doc Taco Day on Friday. That is correct, now, Steve, 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:13.400 I have gotten into many arguments with some of our 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:17.959 great Latin listeners who have the Latin blood that say 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.880 that what I enjoyed the crunchy taco is not an 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:26.720 authentic taco. And to those people, I say, FUOI I 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.400 like what I like, and I like the crunchy taco. 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:31.680 One of my great friends, he passed away a couple 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.280 of years ago, this guy, Alex, who was a worked 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.120 at a Mexican radio station in Los Angeles, did Mexican 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:40.760 sports talk and just one of my great friends. I 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.760 knew him since I was like a teenager, and he 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.720 was always very supportive and he would always bust my balls. 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:52.080 He said, gringo tacos racist, But they're actually called tacos dorado. 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.359 And one of the great things about living in Los 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.880 Angeles is not the traffic, it's not the politics. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.840 It's the food. Amazing crunchy tacos. 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.760 A lot of plays not everywhere, a lot of the 0:03:05.720 --> 0:03:09.320 more authentic stick up that took his places. Oh, we 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.840 don't serve loose, we only shift soft tacos. But I 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.000 love a crunchy taco. So thanks to Steve for pointing 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.120 out it is National Crunchy Taco Day, and I think 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.160 later today I will eat crunchy tacos. But it has 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:26.440 been a very busy extended dance remix on this show. 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.720 I don't know how literally I've been yappy. I feel 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:31.560 like I've been talking all week. I don't know whether 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:33.880 or not you've been consuming all of this or not. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:38.080 I have no idea. We have been promoting it and 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.120 not trying to provoke anyone, but we have been promoting 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.280 it and I filled in not once but twice. In 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.080 LA I worked with Jonas Knox, my guy Jonas who 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:52.360 hosts the morning show on Fox Sports right now, on 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.720 the pregame show for Jonas, and despite us working essentially 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.520 both the overnight shift, regardless of that, we both formed 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.920 Vulture during the day. So right now, I'm not looking 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.200 for a purple heart. I'm not looking for some kind 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.200 of star near my name. I just want to point 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:13.960 out that in the last maybe twenty eight hours or so, 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:20.320 give or take, starting on Wednesday night, So Wednesday night 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:25.200 into Thursday, I did the overnight show, So that's four 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.719 hours of live national talk radio. So I did that, 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:34.120 and then I went to the gym, and then I 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:36.360 went back. I went to sleep, and that was basically it. 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:42.120 I slept for like four hours, and then I arose 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.880 thanks to my watch waking me up. I then wandered 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:52.960 into the studio disheveled, and I started talking and I 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.240 was the connoisseur of some hot takes. So I did 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.919 several hours of daytime talk radio. I think that was 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:02.400 what we three hours there, so that's seven hours and 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.359 then I had about an eight hour break in which 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:12.440 time I was the artisan and I crafted together some 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:13.800 malard monologues. 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.200 So I did that and watched some some random games 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:18.560 or whatever. 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.520 I was watching some college basketball because it's college basketball season. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:23.440 Uh. 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:28.600 And then I went back into the studio, wandered around 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.880 into the studio and did one, two, three, four more 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:39.000 hours of radio and not not copycat radio. This is 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:43.840 our intellectual property, not looking for any kind of again award. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.560 So four hours and then I had a few hours off. 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.920 I went to the gym for a little bit, and 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.360 then I walked back in here to the podcast studio. 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:59.920 I cranked on the mic and the underground mix. Here 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.800 found the secret sauce, the secret blend of eleven herbs 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.920 and spices, mixed that all together, and here we are. 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:13.280 So the fifth hour pocast. So the math on that 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:15.760 that is, by the time I get done with this, 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.919 it's about twelve hours of talk radio in a day 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:24.360 and a few hours. 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.560 So that's a fair amount. It's all right. 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.800 I love the job. And it was interesting being on 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.320 the show that I fill in on on the local station, 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:41.719 which is a five seventy in LA. Because the show 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:47.039 went viral indirectly went viral. I sit in for Fred 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:50.200 Rogan or Rodney Pete, depending on which one you want 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.600 to choose. They were both off from their show this week, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.880 and Rodney Pete and Fred were in Japan at the 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:02.280 Dodger Cub game in Tokyo, not your Cup games in Tokyo, 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:04.480 and so. 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.080 They're, you know, doing their thing whatever. 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:12.360 And in the sixth inning of game two, Dodgers and Cubs. 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.480 Bottom of the sixth inning, there's a foul ball and 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.520 Max Munsey is playing third base. He goes over to 0:07:19.560 --> 0:07:22.800 try to make the catch right along the line there 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.600 if you can kind of close your eyes and imagine 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:27.600 over and left field. But months he's playing third base. 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:29.600 So he goes over there, he puts the glove out 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:38.360 and the ball is is grabbed snatched by Rodney Pete. Yeah, 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.960 the same Rodney Pete that does the midday show. Rogan 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.320 and Rodney used to play for the Lions. I saw 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.360 a lot of stories, So why he's former Eagles quarterback. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:49.800 When I think of Rodney Pete, I think of him 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:51.600 with the Lions. I actually think of him as a 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.840 college quarterback at USC. But I guess that means I'm old. 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:56.120 So anyway, this thing went virals. It was seen millions 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.480 of times. A former NFL quarterback who does a sports 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:04.360 talk radio show wearing full Dodger gear and he ends 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.440 up stealing a foul ball for Max Munsey, who appeared 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:11.280 to reprimand him and give him a tongue lashing. And 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.960 some of you have messaged saying, well, you shouldn't be 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.080 taking a glove. You're over a certain age, you should 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.640 not take a glove and all that, and people complaining 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:21.800 and all this stuff. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:23.960 So that's that's the week. 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:25.600 I don't need to give a whole sermon on it, 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.000 but that's the week that was. So the the Golden 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:33.000 Pipes have gotten a heavy, heavy amount. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.000 Of work this week. 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.120 And one of the things that I didn't want to 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:39.679 mention and share with you, since this is for the 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:44.200 super p Ones, a couple of you knuckleheads have said, well, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:45.920 this is going to be the year. You know, the 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:47.920 Dodgers are going to take care of you now because 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:49.880 last year they didn't take carry. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:50.880 Well, we have an update. 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.920 I got an email from the Los Angeles Dodgers this week. 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.160 The some pr weasel for the LA Dodgers emailed me 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:04.560 and now that for the second conceived year after thirty 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.200 well was it twenty nine years? Twenty nine or thirty 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:12.599 years of covering the Dodgers in the media. For the 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.840 second consecutive year, I have been asked not to. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:19.560 Regularly cover the Dodger. I got an email. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.439 I was saying, they've denied my mi crenation and you 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.320 probably don't care, and you probably what who cares about 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.000 you and your stupid cranchial And I totally get it. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:28.679 I understand. 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:32.200 It's just very bizarre to me, and I know why 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:33.800 they did it. I don't make them any money. I 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:36.320 guess they don't need the overnight listener, but it's bizarre. 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.679 The reason it's bizarre, first of all, is I've I 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:44.480 know the people out there, many of them I've considered friends. 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.600 I guess maybe I should revisit that. So I've been 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:50.480 either I know the people involved. A lot of them 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.400 have changed, and so that's part of the problem. A 0:09:52.440 --> 0:09:54.520 lot of the people I knew really well are dead 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.280 or they're not working out there anymore. So the next 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:00.160 people that took those jobs, they don't really appreciate at 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:01.199 the work that we do here. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:02.959 So that's part of the problem. 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:06.560 But the reason it's bizarro world to me is first 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:10.040 of all, that I'm on the Dodger station I just mentioned. 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.880 I filled in on the AM five to seventy airways 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.360 that station. I'll let you in on a little inside radio. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.480 I'll get to the word of the week, by the way, 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:21.920 or the word up today anyway, coming up in a 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:24.720 little bit. But let me get in my soapbox. So 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:27.360 when I fill in on AM five to seventy in LA, 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.680 or when I do my own overnight show, those shows 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.640 are broadcast on AM five to seventy, which is owned 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.160 by about I think it's like forty nine point five 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.800 percent or something like that. Somebody told me, I forget, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.880 it's a lot. Don't hold me to that about half 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:49.320 the radio station. And it's a partnership with the parent company, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:50.880 which is the company. 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.160 That I work for. iHeart. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.480 So I work not for the Dodgers, but I work 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:02.600 on the Dodgers station. I've been out there. It's not 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:05.040 like I need a seat. The thing that's that's bizarre. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.360 I usually my my strategy in recent years, I often 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.320 don't even stay for the games because I need I 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:15.800 need tunnel vision to lock in and put some notes together, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.120 bullet points for the Mallard monologues. Very long winded and 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.520 all that stuff, as you know, and it takes time to, 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:28.520 as we like to say, handcraft those prolonged Mallard monologues. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.480 And so if I'm at Dodger Stadium and I'm there 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.400 for a long time and people like to talk to me, 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.599 which I don't know why I'm an introvert, but people. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.679 I say, how you doing? I heard the show? Or 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:42.240 you know, what's this? Uh? 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.559 This guy that takes all the pills in Minnesota? Or 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:45.920 who's the the you got? 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.959 He got? Alf? Is that an alien? He call? 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:52.120 He just doesn't call, but he sends him. He asked 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:57.080 me random questions. And I'm honored that they listen. You know, 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.160 we have a lot of a lot of the listeners 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.520 in the the media in LA and a lot of 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:06.120 the baseball people because they'll listen on their way home. 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.560 I'm on in LA, our shows on after Dodger Talk 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:12.160 most of the time when they're on the West Coast, 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:14.560 they play a night game, so a lot of them 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.600 will hear the beginning of our show and whatever we're 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:21.240 ranting about, and sometimes they'll hear the the end of 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.240 the show when they're playing an early game on the 0:12:23.280 --> 0:12:27.080 East Coast, so people ask questions. Fine, but the fact 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.120 that they they wouldn't let me out there, it's you know, 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:30.800 idealy and they'll say, well, you just still go out 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:34.200 there occasionally, you know, I have to to get approval. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:38.360 It's just a it's a giant inconvenience, and I guess 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:39.960 I'm at the point now where I've done this for 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:44.000 so long, I don't need to go out there in 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:45.959 terms of actually watching the games. I need to go 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:48.559 out there to network, to to talk to the guys 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:53.400 during batting practice, to you know, kind of get stories 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.520 the story when the story you talk to some of 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.520 the Dodger players during batting practice, some of the coaches, 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.319 some of the broadcasters, and that's where you get a 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:03.920 lot of stuff you don't get it during the game. 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:05.000 During the game. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:09.000 It's great, And I certainly don't dislike watching the Dodger games. 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.000 I watched them all the time. But as I said, 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.480 you know, getting ready for the show, people past you 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.640 and bought you know, kind of badgie and it's tough 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.320 to stay focused, and so that ends up provoking me 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.440 at some point. So the whole point of it is 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.360 to be out there and just kind of get those stories. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.760 And then I'll often leave early in the game and 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.760 then go to the mother Ship and I go to 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:38.040 the very back and get ready for the show. I 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:42.960 put the monologue together and all the monologues and that's that. 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.240 But will not be at Dodger Stadium. I don't know 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:46.840 if I'll go out there at all. I went one 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:51.840 time last year. It was again very frustrating thing. And 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.959 it's funny. I last year I visited the great t 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:00.520 J Seimer's who died. He had terminal care answer and 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:02.920 TJ was a friend of mine and I was able 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.320 to see him several times in hospice and right up 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:10.160 until the end. TJ was a total firecracker. And I 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.319 remember one of the conversations we had. TJ was bedridden 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.440 and he was talking about his career and some of 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.120 the great moments in his writing career. At the La 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.680 Times and some other places in San Diego he worked, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.400 and he was on ESPN on the show that's about 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:28.200 to be canceled. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.480 I think it's called Around the Horn. I think something 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:30.800 like that. 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:33.800 He was one of the original panels on the show. Anyway, 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:35.960 we talked about TEJ. I talking to TJ. I remember 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.160 one of the things TJ told me before he checked out, 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:41.680 he I'd mentioned to him. We talked about the Dodgers 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:45.360 and some of the old stories back when Davy Johnson 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.120 was the manager and Kevin Malone was the GM and 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:53.600 trading stories. And there was this great uprising, this insurgency 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.640 when TJ took over, because the La Times had always 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.840 been a safe space for the Dodgers, like they just 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:05.560 lick the toes, right. It was full throttle propaganda for 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.640 the Dodgers, and because they were one of the big advertisers, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:11.800 they bought a lot of newspaper space. 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.360 And when TJ took over. 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.800 He came in there and he was a fire hose 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.480 and he was a flamethrower and you know all that, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.000 and I mean, just whatever adjective you want to use. 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:27.240 He was throwing razor blades all over the place, and 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:33.440 there was a rebellion. There was anarchy among the media, 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:35.320 the other writers at the La. 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.800 Times because TJ was such. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:43.000 A muckraker, if you will, and he would call the 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:46.600 Dodgers out and they hadn't won in a fair amount 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:51.160 of years at that time, and so it was very awkward. 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:55.160 It was a mutiny on the Dodger bounty. But eventually 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:58.000 things calmed down and TJ continued. He was a great 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.640 columnist and did a wonderful job, but there were people 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.760 that wouldn't like sit. They board cutted the manager's news 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.440 conference because they were so upset with TJ. 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.160 And they went on and anyway. 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.040 So I remember talking to TJ at the end of 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:14.920 his life and I told him, I said, TJ, listen. 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:17.680 He asked me something about going to the games. I said, 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:18.640 I'm not going to the games. 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.960 And I said, TJ, I I I'm not going because 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.960 the Dodgers did not give me a season credit. He said, 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.000 what are you talking about? And he then explained to me, 0:16:28.040 --> 0:16:30.840 said you shouldn't. You should raise holy hell. He says, 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.920 if that happened to me, I would write about it 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:37.080 every single column in the La Times, back when people 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.200 actually read the La Times, and uh there would be 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.840 a complete I would. I would raise you a massive 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.360 amount of noise. He my word is Hulda blue. He 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:46.880 didn't use the word Hulda blue. I used the word 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.920 Hulda blue. So I'm not necessarily going to do that. 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:51.720 I'm mentioning it here and I'm mention it on the 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.720 radio show at some point. But like I said, I 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:58.760 can watch the games. I have access to everything I need. 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:01.120 It was just more of I felt like to make 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:03.520 the show a little bit better. I always got a 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:07.600 lot of good stuff because baseball people love to talk, 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:11.920 and some of those cats I've known for many, many years, 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:14.000 Like I said, the people that work kind of behind 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:18.919 the scenes and they just tell you stuff, and a 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:25.000 lot of the time it's stuff that is not mainstream, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.800 and it's usually pretty good. I can get some scoops. 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.440 I've found some stuff out, We've broken some stories over 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.159 the years because of that interaction during batting practice with 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.879 players and coaches and people that work for the team. 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:42.280 And so it's disappointing that the Dodgers don't do that. 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:45.760 It's also kind of frustrating because if I feel like 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.080 if I worked for a radio station in Tokyo, i'd 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:49.840 get a credential. 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:51.440 I guess season credential. 0:17:52.119 --> 0:17:54.320 And actually I told one of my buddies, who is 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.359 a sports writer and longtime sportswriter who I will not 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.760 name because they're still employed, one of the few that 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.320 are employed, and I told him by this and I said, 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:06.360 I said, what should I do? 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:07.960 And he said, you know what you should do? Ben. 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:09.720 This was his idea. 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.680 Contact the radio stations in Japan and tell them you 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.840 want to be their US correspondent, and they'll probably just 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:19.840 give you a credential because they'll see they'll see like 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:21.560 Radio Tokyo or something like that. 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:22.120 And you're good. 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:25.320 The fact that you're in the backyard, you're too close, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:28.560 they're too comfortable with you. They can screw you over. 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.439 But I get I understand the economics. And there were 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:36.920 twenty five million people that watch watch the Dodger cub 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:41.080 opener the other day this week on TV, and you know, 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.119 that's an insane amount of people. And the amount of 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.720 people that watch regular season baseball in America is a 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.320 fraction of that. And the Dodgers in Major League Baseball 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.960 are complete whores when it comes to making money in Japan. 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.200 And I don't disagree with that. I would do the 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.720 same thing. I mean, and they are completely pillaging the 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:07.439 pockets of baseball loving fans in Japan, and that's what 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.159 they should be doing, right. They're selling a bunch of 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:12.280 jerseys and a bunch of knick knacks and all that 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.560 stuff and slapping the Dodger logo on it. People are 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:17.879 buying it and they can't sell enough, so they're allowing 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:21.880 every newspaper and all these people to get the creditors. 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.520 I just think you shouldn't forget the people in your backyard. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.560 But you know, maybe I'm wrong, Maybe I'm what do 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.400 I know? I just do the overnight show, so who knows? 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:31.800 Anyway? 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.640 Moving on from that, I want to spend the whole 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:35.240 time yapping. I feel like I have spent the whole 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.840 time yapping about that time. Now for the I guess 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.600 we'll call this the phrase all the week, the phrase 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:46.520 all the week, and I feel it's appropriate. This being 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.080 the unofficial soft launch of the Major League Baseball season. 0:19:51.240 --> 0:19:54.720 The phrase of the week on this Friday heading into 0:19:54.720 --> 0:20:01.600 the weekend, the last Friday without baseball, is inside baseball. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.639 That is the fresh all the week praise Lee. All right, 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:07.800 so the week inside baseball. Now, this goes all the 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:13.320 way back. Believe it or not to they say eighteen 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:18.919 ninety two, Say why yes? The man credited as the pioneer, 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:25.320 the forefather of inside baseball is a guy named Ned Hamlin, 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.600 who the f is ned at and ned Hamler's been 0:20:27.640 --> 0:20:31.320 dead longer than dead. But this goes way back to 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.840 the late eighteen hundreds. He was the manager, he was 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.720 a player, and he had he had the Raleigh fingers mustache. 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:40.560 I've seen a photo of him, had the Raleigh fingers mustache, 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:43.960 you know, the handleball mustache. And they played baseball with 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:50.479 ties in the eighteen eighties. They had ties and very bizarre. 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:53.040 But anyway, I don't need to get in that here, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.360 so get to the point, please. So this guy Net 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.080 Hamlin was a former professional player in the eighteen eighties. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.399 He became the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, yep, the 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:07.480 Orioles in eighteen ninety two, and they were in the 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.359 National League and they were very good. They supposedly, as 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.440 legend goes, they won a bunch of pennants and in 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.280 the decade they were like the Dodgers of that time. 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.480 And this guy need Handling came up with all these 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:24.520 different ways to play baseball that nobody prior in the 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:26.280 eighteen seventies of the eighteen eighties had. 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:26.600 Come up with. 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.200 The Orioles are the team that gave us the Baltimore chop. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:33.840 And if you're a baseball nerd, you know the Baltimore chop. 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:35.240 When I was a kid, if I hit a ball 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:37.800 right into the ground in front of home plate, it 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.040 was the coach would be the you hit the Baltimore chop? 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:41.600 I said, what they have is the Baltimore chop? Is 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:43.199 that like a pork chop? Is that something I know? 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.280 That is where the batter tries to hit the ball 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:51.000 almost straight down and it results in a giant bounce 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.359 and the ball will stand in there long enough where 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:55.879 the runner will reach for a space. 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.240 And the story. I remember hearing stories about the. 0:21:58.160 --> 0:22:03.320