1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:23,635 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. I 2 00:00:23,755 --> 00:00:28,635 Speaker 1: wonder if Judge Tanya Chutkin has stopped laughing yet. Trump 3 00:00:28,635 --> 00:00:31,435 Speaker 1: made his lawyers file a twenty nine page document complaining 4 00:00:31,435 --> 00:00:36,995 Speaker 1: about Joe Biden's coffee mug. Trump really hates this coffee mug. 5 00:00:37,595 --> 00:00:42,755 Speaker 1: Trump is really aggrieved by this coffee mug. Trump's fractured 6 00:00:42,795 --> 00:00:47,395 Speaker 1: emotional and intellectual depth perception is triggered by this coffee mug. 7 00:00:48,115 --> 00:00:53,435 Speaker 1: Trump's last thought before he dies might just be about 8 00:00:53,675 --> 00:00:57,795 Speaker 1: this coffee mug. He made his lawyers put a picture 9 00:00:57,955 --> 00:01:00,915 Speaker 1: of this coffee mug in the response to the government's 10 00:01:00,955 --> 00:01:03,795 Speaker 1: motion to keep him from taking the evidence produced in 11 00:01:03,835 --> 00:01:06,515 Speaker 1: discovery and using it to try to get somebody to 12 00:01:06,595 --> 00:01:10,595 Speaker 1: kill the witnesses, or kill the prosecutors, or kill the judges, 13 00:01:10,715 --> 00:01:13,195 Speaker 1: or kill the attorney general, or kill you or me 14 00:01:13,475 --> 00:01:19,235 Speaker 1: or whoever. Trump believes this coffee mug gives him permission 15 00:01:19,675 --> 00:01:22,715 Speaker 1: to take just about anything the prosecution has and write 16 00:01:22,835 --> 00:01:27,195 Speaker 1: another one hundred self pitying posts about it, or give 17 00:01:27,235 --> 00:01:32,555 Speaker 1: another interminable two hundred two hour speeches about it. It's 18 00:01:32,715 --> 00:01:37,715 Speaker 1: some coffee mug. It's the coffee mug. President Biden was 19 00:01:37,755 --> 00:01:41,635 Speaker 1: shown drinking from in a nine second video from eleven 20 00:01:41,715 --> 00:01:45,715 Speaker 1: eighteen last Thursday morning, and it has the President's picture 21 00:01:45,755 --> 00:01:49,115 Speaker 1: on it, but with those dark Brandon laser beam eyes 22 00:01:49,315 --> 00:01:51,675 Speaker 1: on it and twenty twenty four on it. And in 23 00:01:51,755 --> 00:01:54,755 Speaker 1: the video Biden SIPs and then puts the mug down 24 00:01:54,835 --> 00:01:57,915 Speaker 1: and kind of stiffly says, I like my coffee dark 25 00:01:58,235 --> 00:02:02,875 Speaker 1: and frankly as a shade or a burn. It's meh. 26 00:02:03,075 --> 00:02:05,995 Speaker 1: But to Trump, this was on watchable and a direct 27 00:02:05,995 --> 00:02:10,315 Speaker 1: assault on him, his Lord Almighty ship Imperial Trump at 28 00:02:10,355 --> 00:02:13,555 Speaker 1: it opened Pandora's box because to quote Trump's response, and 29 00:02:13,635 --> 00:02:16,675 Speaker 1: it is his response, no lawyer was stupid enough to 30 00:02:16,675 --> 00:02:20,395 Speaker 1: think this up. To quote Trump's response, President Biden has 31 00:02:20,555 --> 00:02:24,755 Speaker 1: likewise capitalized on the indictment, posting a thinly veiled reference 32 00:02:24,755 --> 00:02:30,355 Speaker 1: to his administration's prosecution of President Trump just hours before arraignment. 33 00:02:32,075 --> 00:02:35,955 Speaker 1: So Biden has a coffee mug video with a meme 34 00:02:36,475 --> 00:02:39,595 Speaker 1: created by Trump's cult. By the way, and that means 35 00:02:39,595 --> 00:02:42,035 Speaker 1: Trump gets to reveal the names and addresses of the 36 00:02:42,035 --> 00:02:45,595 Speaker 1: witnesses because the First Amendment right to try to destroy 37 00:02:45,675 --> 00:02:50,755 Speaker 1: representative government. Oh and to show everything the prosecution has 38 00:02:50,995 --> 00:02:54,555 Speaker 1: to Tom Fitten and Cash Patel. You know who these 39 00:02:55,355 --> 00:02:58,955 Speaker 1: swipes are, right. Patel is the crazy ex Devin Newness 40 00:02:59,115 --> 00:03:02,315 Speaker 1: flunky with the crazy eyes. And Fitten is the fifty 41 00:03:02,355 --> 00:03:04,275 Speaker 1: five year old guy who tries to look thirty five 42 00:03:04,675 --> 00:03:07,995 Speaker 1: by wearing overly tight polo shirts and makeup. And he 43 00:03:08,115 --> 00:03:10,715 Speaker 1: runs Judicial Watch, but he's not an attorney, and he's 44 00:03:10,755 --> 00:03:13,475 Speaker 1: trump top legal advisor, and he's not a lawyer, he 45 00:03:13,555 --> 00:03:15,835 Speaker 1: just plays one on TV. And he's the one who 46 00:03:15,875 --> 00:03:19,275 Speaker 1: tried to explain the Bill Clinton sock drawer case to Trump, 47 00:03:19,515 --> 00:03:22,635 Speaker 1: and it has become permanently fixed in Trump's mind that 48 00:03:22,715 --> 00:03:27,035 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton smuggled out secrets in his socks or inside 49 00:03:27,035 --> 00:03:33,115 Speaker 1: his cat socks, or or Clinton had top secret socks. 50 00:03:35,395 --> 00:03:39,835 Speaker 1: In the response, Trump attorney John he may have committed 51 00:03:39,835 --> 00:03:44,515 Speaker 1: some light treason. Loro writes that after Trump's weekend orgy 52 00:03:44,555 --> 00:03:48,955 Speaker 1: of threats against against everyone, not only should there not 53 00:03:49,035 --> 00:03:52,275 Speaker 1: be further restrictions on him, there should be fewer quote. 54 00:03:52,315 --> 00:03:55,835 Speaker 1: Defense counsel may choose to bring, on, for instance, volunteer 55 00:03:55,995 --> 00:04:01,075 Speaker 1: attorneys or others without paid employment arrangements to assist with 56 00:04:01,155 --> 00:04:04,715 Speaker 1: the preparation of this case. The government cannot preclude the 57 00:04:04,755 --> 00:04:10,115 Speaker 1: assistance of those individuals unquote, they want to give all 58 00:04:10,235 --> 00:04:14,835 Speaker 1: of the government documents they get to volunteer attorneys or others. 59 00:04:16,235 --> 00:04:20,035 Speaker 1: The volunteer attorney would be Patel, and the other is 60 00:04:20,115 --> 00:04:23,475 Speaker 1: Tom Fitten. And if Judge Chutkin is not still laughing 61 00:04:23,515 --> 00:04:26,715 Speaker 1: about this poor moron Fitten being described in this filing 62 00:04:26,795 --> 00:04:32,675 Speaker 1: as other, I'd be surprised. God, I'm still laughing. The premise, 63 00:04:32,715 --> 00:04:35,475 Speaker 1: of course, is that Trump could protect himself by leaking 64 00:04:35,555 --> 00:04:40,315 Speaker 1: things through Fitten or especially this nud Nick Patel, who 65 00:04:40,355 --> 00:04:42,715 Speaker 1: was the guy Trump made one of his official liaisons 66 00:04:42,715 --> 00:04:45,395 Speaker 1: to the National Archives, the one who boasted that he 67 00:04:45,475 --> 00:04:47,515 Speaker 1: was going to go into the Archives and just take 68 00:04:47,675 --> 00:04:50,955 Speaker 1: classified stuff and post it on a new website day 69 00:04:50,995 --> 00:04:56,195 Speaker 1: after day. Even if leakages were traced to Fitten or Patel, 70 00:04:56,235 --> 00:04:58,595 Speaker 1: Trump could say, as he always does, I told them 71 00:04:58,635 --> 00:05:00,755 Speaker 1: not to. They don't work for me. Fitten, who I 72 00:05:00,755 --> 00:05:02,995 Speaker 1: don't know anybody named Fitten. Now to get back to 73 00:05:03,035 --> 00:05:07,875 Speaker 1: the coffee mug, I give him this. Trump's response to 74 00:05:07,915 --> 00:05:10,955 Speaker 1: the government's motion to keep him from using discovery materials 75 00:05:10,995 --> 00:05:12,755 Speaker 1: to try to get somebody to kill the witnesses of 76 00:05:12,795 --> 00:05:16,275 Speaker 1: the prosecutors of the judges was filed by the five 77 00:05:16,315 --> 00:05:19,475 Speaker 1: pm deadline last night, and it is about as reality 78 00:05:19,515 --> 00:05:23,035 Speaker 1: bases as if Marie Antoinette were ordering grub Hub on 79 00:05:23,075 --> 00:05:25,835 Speaker 1: the way to the guillotine. And make sure it isn't 80 00:05:25,875 --> 00:05:29,915 Speaker 1: in a Biden thinly veiled capitalizing on it mug damn 81 00:05:29,915 --> 00:05:35,755 Speaker 1: it all. Jack Smith's office in turn, got its response 82 00:05:35,915 --> 00:05:38,395 Speaker 1: to the response back to the judge in a little 83 00:05:38,435 --> 00:05:41,875 Speaker 1: over three hours, and frankly, I don't understand it. There's 84 00:05:41,955 --> 00:05:45,795 Speaker 1: not one word about the Biden coffee mug let alone 85 00:05:45,795 --> 00:05:51,995 Speaker 1: the seemingly requisite ten to fifteen volumes. The government is 86 00:05:52,035 --> 00:05:55,395 Speaker 1: offering no compromises, acknowledging nothing in the Lauro Trump document, 87 00:05:55,515 --> 00:05:58,515 Speaker 1: noting only that quote the central purpose of criminal discovery 88 00:05:58,595 --> 00:06:01,835 Speaker 1: is to provide the defendant with materials necessary to prepare 89 00:06:01,875 --> 00:06:05,275 Speaker 1: for a fair trial. The defendant instead propos and order 90 00:06:05,315 --> 00:06:08,355 Speaker 1: designed to allow him to try this case in the 91 00:06:08,395 --> 00:06:12,875 Speaker 1: media rather than in the courtroom. There follows a page 92 00:06:12,875 --> 00:06:16,155 Speaker 1: of quotes from John Lurro's full Ginsburg on the Sunday Shows. 93 00:06:16,275 --> 00:06:20,915 Speaker 1: The rest of it is, you know, legal stuff, precedents 94 00:06:20,955 --> 00:06:23,715 Speaker 1: and stuff like that, about how no court ever gives 95 00:06:23,715 --> 00:06:27,395 Speaker 1: the defendant the right to put everything on TV. But 96 00:06:27,515 --> 00:06:32,155 Speaker 1: on page five. Jacksmith's office did, matter of factly reveal 97 00:06:32,315 --> 00:06:35,075 Speaker 1: a nugget, and it's unclear to me if they know 98 00:06:35,195 --> 00:06:38,235 Speaker 1: something of Trump's plans or they are just guessing based 99 00:06:38,275 --> 00:06:43,115 Speaker 1: on uh, how he's behaved every day of his life 100 00:06:43,155 --> 00:06:46,915 Speaker 1: so far. Quote. The court should not grant a protective 101 00:06:46,995 --> 00:06:49,795 Speaker 1: order that would allow defense counsel or the defendant to 102 00:06:49,915 --> 00:06:55,555 Speaker 1: disseminate evidence such as snippets of witness interview recordings, no 103 00:06:55,595 --> 00:06:58,355 Speaker 1: matter how short, misleading, or unlikely to be admissible at 104 00:06:58,355 --> 00:07:01,435 Speaker 1: trial under the Federal rules of evidence, and claim that 105 00:07:01,475 --> 00:07:04,995 Speaker 1: it supports some physician the defendant later may make in 106 00:07:05,075 --> 00:07:08,675 Speaker 1: pre trial motions or at trial. The goal of the 107 00:07:08,715 --> 00:07:14,275 Speaker 1: defendant's proposed protective order prejudicial publicity, is antithetical to the 108 00:07:14,315 --> 00:07:18,235 Speaker 1: interests of justice. And then jack Smith, Thomas Wyndham, and 109 00:07:18,275 --> 00:07:22,195 Speaker 1: Molly Gaston conclude the defendant has proposed an unreasonable order 110 00:07:22,195 --> 00:07:24,435 Speaker 1: to facilitate his plan to litigate this case in the 111 00:07:24,475 --> 00:07:27,795 Speaker 1: media to the detriment of litigating this case in the courtroom. 112 00:07:28,395 --> 00:07:32,195 Speaker 1: Normal orders should prevail. No oral argument is necessary. The 113 00:07:32,195 --> 00:07:35,515 Speaker 1: court should enter the government's proposed protective order end quote 114 00:07:35,555 --> 00:07:39,955 Speaker 1: the end not ninety minutes after that, Judge Chutkins scheduled 115 00:07:39,995 --> 00:07:43,475 Speaker 1: a hearing, so that probably means there will be oral arguments. 116 00:07:43,875 --> 00:07:46,715 Speaker 1: She gave both sides until three pm today to agree 117 00:07:46,755 --> 00:07:50,395 Speaker 1: on when before Friday of this week. Trump does not 118 00:07:50,475 --> 00:07:53,715 Speaker 1: have to be there. And that's the real problem that 119 00:07:53,795 --> 00:07:57,595 Speaker 1: while to any other defendant in the history of the world, 120 00:07:57,755 --> 00:08:01,115 Speaker 1: this legal action would have registered as Jack Smith's shot 121 00:08:01,235 --> 00:08:06,115 Speaker 1: across Trump's bow, I am filing to protect the evidence 122 00:08:06,595 --> 00:08:08,995 Speaker 1: rather than filing to try to get your pre trial 123 00:08:09,075 --> 00:08:13,795 Speaker 1: release revoked or a gag order imposed. I'm doing that instead. 124 00:08:13,875 --> 00:08:16,915 Speaker 1: So you get the friggin' hint, dandie, so I don't 125 00:08:16,955 --> 00:08:20,235 Speaker 1: have to do it, But dementia Jay Trump is not 126 00:08:20,515 --> 00:08:23,075 Speaker 1: any other defendant in the history of the world. He's 127 00:08:23,155 --> 00:08:27,235 Speaker 1: like a less realistic Charles Manson. Trump does not take hints. 128 00:08:27,475 --> 00:08:31,275 Speaker 1: He just sees his streak being extended to yet another 129 00:08:31,355 --> 00:08:36,035 Speaker 1: day his streak. This would be day twenty eight and 130 00:08:36,035 --> 00:08:38,515 Speaker 1: eighty of his streak, his streak in which they have 131 00:08:38,635 --> 00:08:41,915 Speaker 1: not gotten him yet, and with each new day he 132 00:08:41,995 --> 00:08:44,715 Speaker 1: is just that much more confident that they never will 133 00:08:44,755 --> 00:08:49,835 Speaker 1: get him. Trump will push this, and unless Judge Chuckkin 134 00:08:49,995 --> 00:08:53,675 Speaker 1: literally gags him, he will break whatever she orders here. 135 00:08:53,955 --> 00:08:56,955 Speaker 1: And he will precipitate a crisis, and instead of preempting 136 00:08:56,995 --> 00:08:59,595 Speaker 1: the next Trump crisis, the government will as ever be 137 00:08:59,715 --> 00:09:05,435 Speaker 1: reacting to it. And he also will bring up the 138 00:09:05,515 --> 00:09:09,475 Speaker 1: Biden dark gross thinly veiled, capitalizing on it mug and 139 00:09:09,515 --> 00:09:12,595 Speaker 1: his next speech, or it will be the entirety of 140 00:09:12,635 --> 00:09:17,955 Speaker 1: his next speech, the one this weekend in in who knows, 141 00:09:18,075 --> 00:09:28,475 Speaker 1: who knows where, intercourse, Pennsylvania, who knows. There was a 142 00:09:28,515 --> 00:09:31,955 Speaker 1: little other news about Smith's prosecution, and I wish I 143 00:09:32,035 --> 00:09:35,835 Speaker 1: understood it. I've got that odd spidy sense feeling going again. 144 00:09:36,595 --> 00:09:40,955 Speaker 1: His lawyer tells CNN that Bernie Carrick had his meeting 145 00:09:41,075 --> 00:09:45,315 Speaker 1: yesterday with the prosecutors. Tim Parlatori said Kerck discussed quote, 146 00:09:45,315 --> 00:09:48,435 Speaker 1: what the Giuliani team was doing, all the efforts they 147 00:09:48,475 --> 00:09:51,155 Speaker 1: took at the time to take all the complaints of fraud, 148 00:09:51,395 --> 00:09:53,235 Speaker 1: to see what they could do to chase them down. 149 00:09:53,635 --> 00:09:57,915 Speaker 1: Parlatori insisted, Kerck defended Giuliani and that Giuliani will not 150 00:09:57,995 --> 00:10:00,315 Speaker 1: be indicted. And how in the world you could say 151 00:10:00,315 --> 00:10:03,475 Speaker 1: that if Giuliani is an unindicted co conspirator. I don't know. 152 00:10:03,795 --> 00:10:07,275 Speaker 1: I have to confess I am confused against something else. 153 00:10:07,635 --> 00:10:10,355 Speaker 1: We don't know about is going on with Carrick and 154 00:10:10,395 --> 00:10:13,275 Speaker 1: Giuliani and Jack Smith, and I'll be damned if I 155 00:10:13,315 --> 00:10:16,595 Speaker 1: have a hint as to what it might be. I 156 00:10:16,635 --> 00:10:20,395 Speaker 1: also did not see CNN asking Tim Parlatory anywhere in 157 00:10:20,475 --> 00:10:25,595 Speaker 1: this if Bernie Carrick really is unindicted co conspirator number six, 158 00:10:26,075 --> 00:10:31,435 Speaker 1: remember that there's also a rift brewing between Naturally, it's 159 00:10:31,475 --> 00:10:36,315 Speaker 1: been like a week Trump and the new lawyer between threats. 160 00:10:36,355 --> 00:10:39,155 Speaker 1: Trump spent the weekend demanding a change of venue. Turns 161 00:10:39,195 --> 00:10:43,115 Speaker 1: out John Larow went on a legal podcast Sunday and said, quote, 162 00:10:43,195 --> 00:10:45,715 Speaker 1: we haven't made a final decision on that issue at all, 163 00:10:46,275 --> 00:10:48,115 Speaker 1: and that as an attorney he had to be careful 164 00:10:48,115 --> 00:10:50,915 Speaker 1: about changes of venue. And they said just gone viral 165 00:10:50,955 --> 00:10:53,195 Speaker 1: when Trump went back out and again demanded a change 166 00:10:53,235 --> 00:10:56,275 Speaker 1: of venue. And by the way, I missed this yesterday, 167 00:10:56,315 --> 00:10:58,875 Speaker 1: and I apologize to you. The new venue they want 168 00:10:59,275 --> 00:11:03,795 Speaker 1: is West Virginia because John Lauro says it can provide 169 00:11:03,835 --> 00:11:10,035 Speaker 1: the kind of quote diverse jury Washington, DC cannot. A 170 00:11:10,035 --> 00:11:12,755 Speaker 1: lot of people were actually confused by that quote, thinking 171 00:11:12,835 --> 00:11:17,915 Speaker 1: Lauro meant diverse in a twenty first century or even 172 00:11:17,995 --> 00:11:22,155 Speaker 1: late twentieth Century Way. No, he means diverse, as in, 173 00:11:22,595 --> 00:11:25,675 Speaker 1: he can impanel jurors in West Virginia who are slightly 174 00:11:25,715 --> 00:11:29,675 Speaker 1: pro Trump, along with those who are insanely pro Trump, 175 00:11:29,835 --> 00:11:39,075 Speaker 1: along with jurors who are named Trump. That's diversity. There 176 00:11:39,115 --> 00:11:42,035 Speaker 1: was also minor movement yesterday in the Fannie Willis Fulton 177 00:11:42,075 --> 00:11:44,995 Speaker 1: County case, but while indictments aren't expected this week or 178 00:11:45,075 --> 00:11:48,955 Speaker 1: next to the latest, nothing is imminent. Trump's second bid 179 00:11:48,955 --> 00:11:51,315 Speaker 1: to get the special purpose grand jury and its work 180 00:11:51,435 --> 00:11:56,275 Speaker 1: thrown out as unconstitutional was dismissed yesterday, and the Atlanta 181 00:11:56,315 --> 00:11:59,115 Speaker 1: Journal Constitution says it thinks the earliest day for indictments 182 00:11:59,155 --> 00:12:03,955 Speaker 1: is Thursday because quote, some suboenaid witnesses have yet to 183 00:12:03,995 --> 00:12:08,515 Speaker 1: receive their forty eight hour notice to testify behind closed doors. 184 00:12:10,075 --> 00:12:13,075 Speaker 1: And I don't know what Jack Smith is talking about 185 00:12:13,515 --> 00:12:17,755 Speaker 1: trying the case in the media. Trump's spokesmodel and parking 186 00:12:17,755 --> 00:12:21,435 Speaker 1: lot attorney Alena Haba went on Fox and the host said, 187 00:12:21,875 --> 00:12:24,955 Speaker 1: you called Fannie Willis quote corrupt, and she corrected him quote. 188 00:12:25,115 --> 00:12:28,075 Speaker 1: I said, there are corrupt das and ags. Do I 189 00:12:28,155 --> 00:12:33,315 Speaker 1: believe Fani is politically motivated? Absolutely? They are backed by sorrows, 190 00:12:33,355 --> 00:12:36,755 Speaker 1: many of them as you know, I would point out 191 00:12:36,755 --> 00:12:39,075 Speaker 1: again these are the genius lawyers who have yet to 192 00:12:39,195 --> 00:12:43,075 Speaker 1: win a case for Trump. I mean they just lost 193 00:12:43,155 --> 00:12:47,795 Speaker 1: what a fourth different case to e. Gene Carroll, the 194 00:12:47,835 --> 00:12:51,435 Speaker 1: original forced sex case, then the appeal, then her second 195 00:12:51,555 --> 00:12:54,915 Speaker 1: defamation case against him that they wanted to throw out 196 00:12:54,915 --> 00:12:56,675 Speaker 1: and the judge said no, it can proceed. And now 197 00:12:56,755 --> 00:13:00,475 Speaker 1: Judge Lewis Kaplan has thrown out Trump's defamation suit against her, 198 00:13:00,635 --> 00:13:03,835 Speaker 1: which boiled down to she defamed me when she said 199 00:13:03,835 --> 00:13:06,875 Speaker 1: I raped her, because that's not what the jury said 200 00:13:06,875 --> 00:13:11,355 Speaker 1: I did to her. When you say you didn't rape her, 201 00:13:11,555 --> 00:13:16,475 Speaker 1: you were only found liable for sexually abusing her, you 202 00:13:16,515 --> 00:13:22,955 Speaker 1: should probably shut the f up. And two other Trump 203 00:13:23,035 --> 00:13:26,795 Speaker 1: things happened yesterday. There is a second food reference besides 204 00:13:26,835 --> 00:13:31,235 Speaker 1: the Biden coffee mug. Trump has started a contest to 205 00:13:31,395 --> 00:13:34,875 Speaker 1: quote when a special dinner with him and I doubt 206 00:13:34,875 --> 00:13:38,035 Speaker 1: this was deliberate, but if it was, I'll actually applaud 207 00:13:38,075 --> 00:13:42,715 Speaker 1: whoever did this. To illustrate the special dinner contest, his 208 00:13:42,875 --> 00:13:46,835 Speaker 1: social media people have repurposed an image just the image 209 00:13:46,835 --> 00:13:52,195 Speaker 1: of him, taken from nothing less than his twenty sixteen 210 00:13:52,315 --> 00:13:56,515 Speaker 1: dinner at the Jean George restaurant in Trump Tower, down 211 00:13:56,515 --> 00:13:59,635 Speaker 1: the street from me, where Mitt Romney fawned all over 212 00:13:59,675 --> 00:14:02,795 Speaker 1: him in hopes of becoming Secretary of State. The cut 213 00:14:02,795 --> 00:14:06,395 Speaker 1: mitt out of this picture. It's Trump that was also 214 00:14:06,435 --> 00:14:08,755 Speaker 1: a special dinner. Turned out the only thing on the 215 00:14:08,795 --> 00:14:13,835 Speaker 1: menu that night was Mitt Romney. And on social media, 216 00:14:13,875 --> 00:14:18,395 Speaker 1: Trump also tried to blister Hunter Biden's former business partner, 217 00:14:18,795 --> 00:14:24,875 Speaker 1: Devin Archer and got his name wrong, called him Kevin 218 00:14:25,115 --> 00:14:30,475 Speaker 1: Archer and misspelled Kevin k e v e n k 219 00:14:30,635 --> 00:14:35,315 Speaker 1: e v e n Besides which, Kevin Archer was the 220 00:14:35,355 --> 00:14:38,635 Speaker 1: guitarist who co founded the one hit wonder band Dexi's 221 00:14:38,715 --> 00:14:43,075 Speaker 1: Midnight Runners. And of course you remember the title of 222 00:14:43,195 --> 00:14:49,675 Speaker 1: Dexi's Midnight Runners one hit right, Come on, Eileen Cannon. 223 00:14:57,675 --> 00:15:00,755 Speaker 1: Also of interest here, I was once suspended so gratuitously 224 00:15:00,755 --> 00:15:04,115 Speaker 1: that two hundred and fifty thousand people signed a petition 225 00:15:04,195 --> 00:15:07,915 Speaker 1: to get me reinstated at MSNBC. And I was once 226 00:15:08,035 --> 00:15:11,715 Speaker 1: suspended so gratuitously elsewhere that cab drivers in New York 227 00:15:11,835 --> 00:15:14,955 Speaker 1: slowed down to yell their support at me, and all 228 00:15:15,035 --> 00:15:19,795 Speaker 1: the TV columnists wrote nice things about me. But never, never, ever, 229 00:15:19,915 --> 00:15:22,635 Speaker 1: have I seen the kind of outpouring for a suspended 230 00:15:22,675 --> 00:15:26,715 Speaker 1: broadcaster in any field comparable to the love and the 231 00:15:26,875 --> 00:15:31,835 Speaker 1: rage that has followed the Baltimore Orioles baseball team's suspension 232 00:15:32,195 --> 00:15:36,115 Speaker 1: of one of its play by play announcers. For well, 233 00:15:36,115 --> 00:15:37,955 Speaker 1: if you don't know this story yet, you will not 234 00:15:38,155 --> 00:15:41,955 Speaker 1: believe what for. I have been texting all of my 235 00:15:42,075 --> 00:15:46,275 Speaker 1: baseball announcer friends since like yesterday afternoon about this story, 236 00:15:46,315 --> 00:15:50,915 Speaker 1: and I still don't believe what for. That's next? This 237 00:15:50,955 --> 00:16:09,115 Speaker 1: is countdown, This has countdown with Keith old Woman still 238 00:16:09,155 --> 00:16:11,955 Speaker 1: ahead on countdown. Ever had somebody you had never met 239 00:16:11,995 --> 00:16:15,675 Speaker 1: completely change your life in a positive way and have 240 00:16:15,795 --> 00:16:20,835 Speaker 1: that change resonate for like forty four years? Where's it 241 00:16:20,955 --> 00:16:24,955 Speaker 1: just me? The saga of the Adler letter coming up 242 00:16:24,995 --> 00:16:26,755 Speaker 1: first time for the daily roundup of the miss Grants, 243 00:16:26,795 --> 00:16:30,875 Speaker 1: morons and Dunning Kruger effects specimens who constitute today's worst 244 00:16:30,915 --> 00:16:37,475 Speaker 1: persons in the world. Bronze Piers Morgan, remember him? The 245 00:16:37,515 --> 00:16:40,235 Speaker 1: guy CNN fired Larry King to make room four and 246 00:16:40,275 --> 00:16:43,395 Speaker 1: then he personally collapsed all of CNN's primetime ratings and 247 00:16:43,435 --> 00:16:47,275 Speaker 1: they still haven't recovered. The phone hacking guy from England 248 00:16:47,435 --> 00:16:51,355 Speaker 1: or Iceland. I don't know he's writing op eds for 249 00:16:51,395 --> 00:16:53,755 Speaker 1: The New York Post. Now I suspect this pays twenty 250 00:16:53,835 --> 00:16:57,275 Speaker 1: or twenty five dollars headline of the latest one, don't 251 00:16:57,355 --> 00:17:03,395 Speaker 1: cry for Meghan Rapino and humiliated USWNT. Hopefully, somewhere the 252 00:17:03,435 --> 00:17:05,915 Speaker 1: Post is explained to its m bulb readers that the 253 00:17:05,955 --> 00:17:09,075 Speaker 1: acronym refers to the American Women's World Cup soccer team. 254 00:17:09,275 --> 00:17:14,835 Speaker 1: Continuing the headline, They're a bunch of unpatriotic losers. Pierre's 255 00:17:14,915 --> 00:17:20,395 Speaker 1: Morgan says. Alternate accurate headline, Immigrant Piers Morgan, hated by 256 00:17:20,435 --> 00:17:23,875 Speaker 1: the country of his birth, rails against the nation he envies, 257 00:17:24,195 --> 00:17:29,155 Speaker 1: but which fired and humiliated him. The runner up, Kaylee mccananey, 258 00:17:29,515 --> 00:17:33,955 Speaker 1: now appearing on Fox quote news quotes, quote non commentary 259 00:17:34,035 --> 00:17:38,435 Speaker 1: programming to say things like this yesterday quote when I 260 00:17:38,515 --> 00:17:41,715 Speaker 1: watched this shocking Devin Archer testimony. Then blah blah blah 261 00:17:41,715 --> 00:17:43,955 Speaker 1: blah blah Biden this blah blah blah Biden that then 262 00:17:44,035 --> 00:17:47,235 Speaker 1: quote I learned a lot from that hearing. There was 263 00:17:47,315 --> 00:17:51,835 Speaker 1: no hearing. I suppose we can't be certain Kaylee mcananny 264 00:17:51,955 --> 00:17:55,235 Speaker 1: lied about that. She could just be way more stupid 265 00:17:55,315 --> 00:17:58,435 Speaker 1: than we all thought, and that was plenty stupid. There 266 00:17:58,475 --> 00:18:01,755 Speaker 1: was also no video, so when she said she watched 267 00:18:01,795 --> 00:18:05,995 Speaker 1: the testimony, Kaylee mcananny either lied about or was you know, 268 00:18:06,115 --> 00:18:09,755 Speaker 1: way more stupid than we thought ten seconds ago. There 269 00:18:09,795 --> 00:18:13,715 Speaker 1: was also no testimony. It was a transcribed interview. So 270 00:18:13,915 --> 00:18:18,275 Speaker 1: Kaylee mcinanny either you get the point. There are good 271 00:18:18,355 --> 00:18:21,955 Speaker 1: liars and bad liars, and then there are the Kaylee 272 00:18:22,035 --> 00:18:26,795 Speaker 1: mcinnaneys of this world. But the winners, the Baltimore Orioles 273 00:18:26,875 --> 00:18:31,915 Speaker 1: and CEO John Angelos. This family has been a surprising 274 00:18:31,995 --> 00:18:35,715 Speaker 1: disappointment running what was once one of baseball's best run franchises. 275 00:18:36,075 --> 00:18:40,355 Speaker 1: But something John Angelos either did or countenanced tops all 276 00:18:40,435 --> 00:18:44,035 Speaker 1: of the rest of it combined. The website Baltimore's Sports 277 00:18:44,155 --> 00:18:47,915 Speaker 1: Pub reported yesterday that the Orioles excellent young play by 278 00:18:47,955 --> 00:18:52,075 Speaker 1: play TV announcer Kevin Brown was first taken off TV 279 00:18:52,195 --> 00:18:55,355 Speaker 1: broadcast as of July twenty third, and then taken off 280 00:18:55,395 --> 00:18:58,555 Speaker 1: all broadcasts as of July twenty seventh, and has not 281 00:18:58,715 --> 00:19:04,235 Speaker 1: returned because of something he said on the air. Oh no, no, 282 00:19:04,355 --> 00:19:10,275 Speaker 1: what now? This is usually racism or homophobia or worse. 283 00:19:11,195 --> 00:19:14,555 Speaker 1: Not with Kevin Brown, not with the Baltimore Orioles, not 284 00:19:14,675 --> 00:19:19,755 Speaker 1: with this idiot CEO John Angelos. The website Awful Announcing 285 00:19:19,795 --> 00:19:23,595 Speaker 1: reports Brown was taken off the air because well before 286 00:19:23,635 --> 00:19:26,555 Speaker 1: an Orioles Tampa Bay Rays game, Brown read on the 287 00:19:26,595 --> 00:19:29,595 Speaker 1: air a set of statistics about the Orioles passed one 288 00:19:29,715 --> 00:19:33,275 Speaker 1: lost record against Tampa Bay. The statistics had been included 289 00:19:33,315 --> 00:19:36,635 Speaker 1: in that day's media notes, written and issued by the 290 00:19:36,675 --> 00:19:39,795 Speaker 1: Baltimore Orioles team. They were then made into a full 291 00:19:39,835 --> 00:19:43,475 Speaker 1: screen graphic by his bosses on the TV crew, and 292 00:19:43,635 --> 00:19:47,835 Speaker 1: Kevin Brown's crime was reportedly saying on an Orioles telecast 293 00:19:47,875 --> 00:19:51,515 Speaker 1: that quote, the Orioles have won more games against them, 294 00:19:51,635 --> 00:19:58,355 Speaker 1: the Rays, than the last two seasons combined. Unquote. That's it. 295 00:20:00,075 --> 00:20:04,355 Speaker 1: That was Brown's crime reading stats given to him by 296 00:20:04,395 --> 00:20:09,355 Speaker 1: the But wait, there's more enough that CEO John Angelo 297 00:20:09,435 --> 00:20:12,315 Speaker 1: should get himself a cat scan today because he should 298 00:20:12,355 --> 00:20:14,555 Speaker 1: no longer assume that he is right in the head. 299 00:20:15,035 --> 00:20:17,195 Speaker 1: This is from the Athletic and I'll just read it 300 00:20:17,235 --> 00:20:20,595 Speaker 1: as is. Quote. Multiple sources briefed on the decision say 301 00:20:20,675 --> 00:20:25,235 Speaker 1: ownership has enacted a new policy mandating that their broadcasters 302 00:20:25,275 --> 00:20:29,835 Speaker 1: wear only team gear when on air, which has rankled 303 00:20:29,875 --> 00:20:34,155 Speaker 1: some that snafu led to Brown filling in on radio 304 00:20:34,235 --> 00:20:37,875 Speaker 1: after his comment in the Rays series because another broadcaster 305 00:20:38,035 --> 00:20:41,875 Speaker 1: got in trouble. Broadcasters have also been reprimanded previously for 306 00:20:41,995 --> 00:20:45,075 Speaker 1: mentioning past Orioles players who are no longer with the 307 00:20:45,155 --> 00:20:50,795 Speaker 1: team unquote seriously. So they suspended him for reading something negative, 308 00:20:50,995 --> 00:20:52,835 Speaker 1: but they had to use him on radio because they 309 00:20:52,915 --> 00:20:56,555 Speaker 1: suspended another guy for not wearing an Oriole's logo shirt. 310 00:20:57,595 --> 00:21:01,115 Speaker 1: This is a major league sports franchise and, by the way, 311 00:21:01,475 --> 00:21:05,835 Speaker 1: having a renaissance season, leading the American League East with 312 00:21:05,875 --> 00:21:08,635 Speaker 1: the second best record in all of baseball, and their 313 00:21:08,795 --> 00:21:13,435 Speaker 1: idiot owner Angelos has spat all over it by punishing 314 00:21:13,915 --> 00:21:18,315 Speaker 1: his excellent lead play by play announcer for complimenting the 315 00:21:18,395 --> 00:21:21,235 Speaker 1: team on how much better it's doing this year against 316 00:21:21,275 --> 00:21:25,075 Speaker 1: a really tough rival. I have been on the wrong 317 00:21:25,235 --> 00:21:28,275 Speaker 1: end of a number of BS suspensions in my forty 318 00:21:28,315 --> 00:21:31,675 Speaker 1: four years in radio and TV and digital, and not 319 00:21:32,075 --> 00:21:35,435 Speaker 1: one of them has been as BS as this one. 320 00:21:35,515 --> 00:21:40,795 Speaker 1: It is stupefying, even for an idiot like John Angelos. Oh, 321 00:21:40,835 --> 00:21:43,475 Speaker 1: and so is the Orioles response to the reports about 322 00:21:43,515 --> 00:21:45,955 Speaker 1: what they have done to Kevin Brown. According to the 323 00:21:45,995 --> 00:21:50,035 Speaker 1: Awful announcing site. The Orioles quote dispute our reporting that 324 00:21:50,155 --> 00:21:54,795 Speaker 1: any suspension took place. Yeah, I had one of those 325 00:21:54,835 --> 00:21:58,435 Speaker 1: two years ago. My employers were too cowardly to even 326 00:21:58,435 --> 00:22:00,755 Speaker 1: admit they had suspended me, even though they took me 327 00:22:00,795 --> 00:22:03,075 Speaker 1: off the air for two weeks and made sure all 328 00:22:03,075 --> 00:22:05,555 Speaker 1: the other employees knew it. And when I tried to 329 00:22:05,595 --> 00:22:08,395 Speaker 1: cover for them, because I knew what bad publicity they 330 00:22:08,395 --> 00:22:11,435 Speaker 1: would get, I said I was willing to say I'd 331 00:22:11,475 --> 00:22:14,435 Speaker 1: taken vacation time just to cover them, to save them 332 00:22:14,675 --> 00:22:18,395 Speaker 1: the embarrassment they would and did endure. They told me 333 00:22:18,435 --> 00:22:22,155 Speaker 1: not to say that. In a logical world, Kevin Brown 334 00:22:22,195 --> 00:22:25,675 Speaker 1: would be reinstated with an apology and Major League Baseball 335 00:22:25,715 --> 00:22:31,795 Speaker 1: would reclaim the franchise from this messianic moron owner John Angelos. 336 00:22:32,275 --> 00:22:35,395 Speaker 1: But of course this is not such a world, John. 337 00:22:36,195 --> 00:22:39,995 Speaker 1: We are the Orioles. We have never lost a game. 338 00:22:40,475 --> 00:23:00,835 Speaker 1: Angelos two days, worst person in the world to the 339 00:23:00,915 --> 00:23:04,595 Speaker 1: number one story on the Countdown and my favorite topic, 340 00:23:04,795 --> 00:23:07,515 Speaker 1: me and things I promised not to tell. And I 341 00:23:07,555 --> 00:23:09,555 Speaker 1: was reminded of this the other day, and what a 342 00:23:09,675 --> 00:23:16,515 Speaker 1: juxtaposition against the Orioles. This is about genius management, So 343 00:23:16,595 --> 00:23:19,235 Speaker 1: I thought about this the other day, and I thought, well, okay, 344 00:23:19,235 --> 00:23:21,115 Speaker 1: and that's a good enough excuse to tell the story 345 00:23:21,395 --> 00:23:26,275 Speaker 1: of this letter I received sixteen thousand, one hundred and 346 00:23:26,395 --> 00:23:29,595 Speaker 1: ninety four days ago that changed my life, and that 347 00:23:29,755 --> 00:23:33,115 Speaker 1: still startles me whenever I read it, and I read 348 00:23:33,155 --> 00:23:37,195 Speaker 1: it a lot. This is the story, and it is 349 00:23:37,235 --> 00:23:41,475 Speaker 1: a long one of the Adler letter and the hell 350 00:23:41,595 --> 00:23:43,915 Speaker 1: through which I had to go just to read it. 351 00:23:44,915 --> 00:23:48,035 Speaker 1: The letter falling into my hands on the night of Sunday, 352 00:23:48,075 --> 00:23:52,355 Speaker 1: April eight, nineteen seventy nine was like the PostScript to 353 00:23:52,395 --> 00:23:55,315 Speaker 1: a breathless five hundred page novel that turns out to 354 00:23:55,355 --> 00:23:57,715 Speaker 1: be a million times more exciting, more interesting, and more 355 00:23:57,755 --> 00:24:00,475 Speaker 1: important than any of those five hundred pages or the 356 00:24:00,475 --> 00:24:04,635 Speaker 1: five hundred pages combined. We had driven by that point 357 00:24:05,235 --> 00:24:09,275 Speaker 1: around nine or ten hours. I do not believe I 358 00:24:09,355 --> 00:24:12,595 Speaker 1: ever actually expected to die on the trip, but I 359 00:24:12,755 --> 00:24:16,275 Speaker 1: was at least a dozen times absolutely convinced that George 360 00:24:16,275 --> 00:24:19,075 Speaker 1: and I would wind up in the hospital. He and 361 00:24:19,115 --> 00:24:21,715 Speaker 1: I were college seniors, gone home to see the defending 362 00:24:21,715 --> 00:24:24,595 Speaker 1: two time world champion New York Yankees opened the nineteen 363 00:24:24,635 --> 00:24:27,435 Speaker 1: seventy nine baseball season, and then back on the road 364 00:24:27,475 --> 00:24:29,795 Speaker 1: for the four and a half hour trip from the 365 00:24:29,835 --> 00:24:33,555 Speaker 1: parking garage at Yankee Stadium to the rural wilds of Ithaca, 366 00:24:33,635 --> 00:24:37,155 Speaker 1: New York. We had done this countless times, but I 367 00:24:37,235 --> 00:24:39,715 Speaker 1: did not know, as I got out of my dad's 368 00:24:39,755 --> 00:24:44,235 Speaker 1: car and later on into George's, that this trip had 369 00:24:44,275 --> 00:24:51,275 Speaker 1: two previously unimaginable components. First, at that hour, the Adler 370 00:24:51,355 --> 00:24:54,555 Speaker 1: letter had already been sitting in my mailbox at my 371 00:24:54,635 --> 00:24:57,675 Speaker 1: apartment at two hundred and seven Delaware Avenue, Ithaca, New York, 372 00:24:57,875 --> 00:25:00,795 Speaker 1: for at least one day, maybe two. And I did 373 00:25:00,795 --> 00:25:03,795 Speaker 1: not know the other thing, and only found it out 374 00:25:03,835 --> 00:25:06,195 Speaker 1: as George told me about it at the ball game. 375 00:25:06,435 --> 00:25:10,115 Speaker 1: His father had yelled towards him as George backed out 376 00:25:10,155 --> 00:25:14,075 Speaker 1: of the driveway that morning, George, there's rain in the forecast. 377 00:25:14,475 --> 00:25:18,555 Speaker 1: Drive Carefully, remember I took off your snow tires because 378 00:25:18,595 --> 00:25:25,275 Speaker 1: it's spring now. The midpoint of the trip to my school, 379 00:25:25,355 --> 00:25:29,155 Speaker 1: Cornell and his Ethaca College, more or less, was a 380 00:25:29,235 --> 00:25:33,155 Speaker 1: McDonald's restaurant in Liberty, New York, and we stopped there 381 00:25:33,195 --> 00:25:35,555 Speaker 1: and got a late lunch or an early dinner. And 382 00:25:35,595 --> 00:25:37,795 Speaker 1: I was sitting facing the window and George was sitting 383 00:25:37,835 --> 00:25:42,795 Speaker 1: facing the counter, and as we ate and mumbled. I said, George, 384 00:25:42,955 --> 00:25:45,835 Speaker 1: you have a really bad case of dandriff Or did 385 00:25:45,875 --> 00:25:51,075 Speaker 1: it just start really snowing? George wheeled around to look 386 00:25:51,075 --> 00:25:55,035 Speaker 1: out the window. Uh oh. We wrapped up our burgers 387 00:25:55,075 --> 00:25:57,275 Speaker 1: and took them with us and literally ran to the car. 388 00:25:57,795 --> 00:26:01,315 Speaker 1: My father and his goddamn snow tire obsession, George shouted. 389 00:26:02,475 --> 00:26:05,675 Speaker 1: Within an hour on the outskirts of Binghamton, New York, 390 00:26:05,715 --> 00:26:07,755 Speaker 1: three or four inches of snow had reduced speed to 391 00:26:07,795 --> 00:26:10,595 Speaker 1: just above single digits and visibility to next to nothing. 392 00:26:11,195 --> 00:26:15,075 Speaker 1: George was a meticulously good driver, didn't matter. We spun 393 00:26:15,115 --> 00:26:20,035 Speaker 1: out a full three sixty loop the loop. We're going north. Oops, 394 00:26:20,035 --> 00:26:22,635 Speaker 1: we're going west to oncoming traffic. Oops, we're going south 395 00:26:22,675 --> 00:26:24,635 Speaker 1: into the cars behind us. Oops, we're going east into 396 00:26:24,675 --> 00:26:26,835 Speaker 1: the ditch next to the highway. Hoo boy, we're going 397 00:26:26,875 --> 00:26:31,115 Speaker 1: north again. I think we spun out six or seven 398 00:26:31,155 --> 00:26:34,395 Speaker 1: times on the highway alone before we got to Binghamton. 399 00:26:35,675 --> 00:26:38,435 Speaker 1: There was some sola scene, seeing other cars in both 400 00:26:38,475 --> 00:26:41,475 Speaker 1: directions doing exactly the same thing, and concluding that George's 401 00:26:41,555 --> 00:26:43,675 Speaker 1: father could not have had the time to remove all 402 00:26:43,755 --> 00:26:48,715 Speaker 1: their snow tires too. We were not far north of Binghamton, 403 00:26:48,795 --> 00:26:53,155 Speaker 1: still skidding, still spinning, George swearing NonStop. When he interrupted 404 00:26:53,235 --> 00:26:55,475 Speaker 1: himself long enough to ask me what time it was, 405 00:26:56,275 --> 00:26:58,275 Speaker 1: I had to hold my watch up to the car 406 00:26:58,315 --> 00:27:02,275 Speaker 1: window to get brief flashes of illumination from the highway lights. 407 00:27:02,635 --> 00:27:06,995 Speaker 1: A little after seven, we skidded again. George swore loudly 408 00:27:07,395 --> 00:27:09,955 Speaker 1: put the Ranger game on. I'd do it myself, but 409 00:27:10,555 --> 00:27:13,435 Speaker 1: we skid it again. By now I was getting kind 410 00:27:13,435 --> 00:27:16,395 Speaker 1: of used to it. I turned the radio literally before 411 00:27:16,475 --> 00:27:20,475 Speaker 1: George regained control of the steering. I found the Rangers station, 412 00:27:20,595 --> 00:27:23,475 Speaker 1: the one in New York WNAW. If you had told 413 00:27:23,475 --> 00:27:25,195 Speaker 1: me that night that a little over a year later 414 00:27:25,195 --> 00:27:28,275 Speaker 1: I would be broadcasting on WNAW, my first thought would 415 00:27:28,315 --> 00:27:31,915 Speaker 1: have been, so we don't get killed tonight because George's 416 00:27:31,955 --> 00:27:34,275 Speaker 1: father took off the snow tires. That's nice. Oh and 417 00:27:34,315 --> 00:27:37,035 Speaker 1: I work there and I'm not a ghost. If you 418 00:27:37,195 --> 00:27:39,955 Speaker 1: told me that night that the Adler letter was waiting 419 00:27:39,995 --> 00:27:42,475 Speaker 1: for me back in my snow covered mailbox in Ithaca, 420 00:27:42,555 --> 00:27:46,235 Speaker 1: I might have pressed George to go faster, and they 421 00:27:46,315 --> 00:27:51,035 Speaker 1: might never have even found our bodies. The storm, as 422 00:27:51,075 --> 00:27:54,955 Speaker 1: storms often did in those long gone days, somehow boosted 423 00:27:54,995 --> 00:27:57,555 Speaker 1: the am radio signal from New York, and though we 424 00:27:57,555 --> 00:28:00,995 Speaker 1: were two hundred miles away from the transmitter, Marv Albert 425 00:28:01,035 --> 00:28:05,275 Speaker 1: and the WNAW Rangers broadcast was clear as a bell. 426 00:28:05,395 --> 00:28:08,435 Speaker 1: The traction even seemed to get a little better. But 427 00:28:08,555 --> 00:28:13,555 Speaker 1: we both knew the ordeal that lay ahead. The exit 428 00:28:13,835 --> 00:28:21,515 Speaker 1: from the highway at Whitney Point. It amazed us, as 429 00:28:21,595 --> 00:28:24,555 Speaker 1: it amazes the students there now, as it must have 430 00:28:24,635 --> 00:28:27,835 Speaker 1: amazed the students who went there a century ago. A 431 00:28:27,875 --> 00:28:31,075 Speaker 1: century and a half ago. That Cornell University, which I attended, 432 00:28:31,075 --> 00:28:33,715 Speaker 1: at Ithaca College, which George attended, were both an hour's 433 00:28:33,795 --> 00:28:37,355 Speaker 1: drive away from the nearest highway. There was, in fact, 434 00:28:37,355 --> 00:28:40,315 Speaker 1: no access to Ithaca, New York, by anything more than 435 00:28:40,355 --> 00:28:43,715 Speaker 1: a two lane road. It was legendary on the Cornell 436 00:28:43,755 --> 00:28:47,675 Speaker 1: campus that old Ezra Cornell, the barely literate railroad tie 437 00:28:47,715 --> 00:28:50,915 Speaker 1: preservative tycoon of the nineteenth century, decided to give away 438 00:28:50,995 --> 00:28:53,355 Speaker 1: nearly all of his fortune, which today would have been 439 00:28:53,395 --> 00:28:55,715 Speaker 1: at least a billion dollars. And he told a friend 440 00:28:55,755 --> 00:28:58,955 Speaker 1: he was going to open a university where anyone can 441 00:28:59,035 --> 00:29:05,315 Speaker 1: study anything. His friend reacted in horror, They will stampede 442 00:29:05,355 --> 00:29:10,235 Speaker 1: the place. Ezra Cornell laughed, Wait, you see where I 443 00:29:10,475 --> 00:29:15,995 Speaker 1: put it. Ezra Cornell's little geographical joke was still vividly 444 00:29:16,035 --> 00:29:19,875 Speaker 1: alive one hundred and ten odd years later. The easiest 445 00:29:19,915 --> 00:29:21,715 Speaker 1: of the roots to his university was the one that 446 00:29:21,755 --> 00:29:26,115 Speaker 1: took you from Ithaca to Whitney Point. Whitney Point the 447 00:29:26,155 --> 00:29:30,075 Speaker 1: capital of the metroplex there Whitney Point, Lyle and Center Lyle, 448 00:29:30,635 --> 00:29:34,035 Speaker 1: also known as the Calcutta of Broome County, where nearly 449 00:29:34,075 --> 00:29:36,515 Speaker 1: three thousand people live atop each other in conditions so 450 00:29:36,635 --> 00:29:40,595 Speaker 1: crowded that every person barely has his own square mile. 451 00:29:42,075 --> 00:29:44,275 Speaker 1: Once you got off at Whitney Point, you were at 452 00:29:44,275 --> 00:29:47,555 Speaker 1: the mercies of Route seventy nine, where if traffic were 453 00:29:47,675 --> 00:29:49,875 Speaker 1: light or the driver's adroit you might make it back 454 00:29:49,915 --> 00:29:52,875 Speaker 1: to Ithaca in thirty minutes, but if you got stuck 455 00:29:52,955 --> 00:29:56,955 Speaker 1: behind somebody, it could be an hour or two. Or 456 00:29:57,595 --> 00:29:59,955 Speaker 1: if there was an April blizzard and George's father had 457 00:29:59,955 --> 00:30:02,435 Speaker 1: take it off your snow tires, it could take you 458 00:30:02,475 --> 00:30:05,875 Speaker 1: longer than it took Antarctic explorers to reached the South Pole, 459 00:30:06,235 --> 00:30:08,475 Speaker 1: and you'd see more snow and ice than they did. 460 00:30:10,075 --> 00:30:13,075 Speaker 1: I believe George and I skidded making the left turn 461 00:30:13,195 --> 00:30:15,755 Speaker 1: off the highway, but he managed to stay on the road. 462 00:30:17,355 --> 00:30:20,595 Speaker 1: The radio signal was not quite as fortunate. Within minutes 463 00:30:20,635 --> 00:30:23,635 Speaker 1: of leaving the highway, WNW began to compete for space 464 00:30:23,675 --> 00:30:27,355 Speaker 1: on George's car radio, with some audible noise that the 465 00:30:27,435 --> 00:30:31,755 Speaker 1: radio could suddenly pick up from his turn signals, Make 466 00:30:31,795 --> 00:30:34,675 Speaker 1: a right, and Marv Albert was being drowned out by 467 00:30:34,715 --> 00:30:39,955 Speaker 1: a loud kick a Jim Vickers cross the click punk 468 00:30:39,995 --> 00:30:45,595 Speaker 1: fans slashers click click. Within minutes after the first spin 469 00:30:45,675 --> 00:30:48,915 Speaker 1: out en route seventy nine, mercifully with literally no other 470 00:30:48,995 --> 00:30:53,155 Speaker 1: cars on the road, the woo woos arrived. We never 471 00:30:53,195 --> 00:30:56,675 Speaker 1: figured out what they were, but they waxed and waned 472 00:30:56,795 --> 00:31:00,195 Speaker 1: so slowly that at first I asked George why Ranger 473 00:31:00,275 --> 00:31:04,275 Speaker 1: fans at Madison Square Garden were chanting woo woo during 474 00:31:04,275 --> 00:31:08,675 Speaker 1: the game. George was too busy swearing to answer. The 475 00:31:08,675 --> 00:31:11,595 Speaker 1: snow was now horizontal, and as it danced towards us 476 00:31:11,595 --> 00:31:14,995 Speaker 1: in George's headlights, it was hypnotic, and the Ranger broadcast 477 00:31:15,035 --> 00:31:19,755 Speaker 1: now sounded like this, Vickers crossly woo woo woooo pock 478 00:31:19,795 --> 00:31:24,355 Speaker 1: fan slashes click click, damn it all to hell, woooooo 479 00:31:24,635 --> 00:31:28,035 Speaker 1: titlandson holds with the same woo woo son of a bed. 480 00:31:30,555 --> 00:31:33,635 Speaker 1: The trip from Whitney Point had taken well over an hour, 481 00:31:33,675 --> 00:31:36,795 Speaker 1: and we were not halfway there yet when the inevitable happened. 482 00:31:37,395 --> 00:31:40,635 Speaker 1: George kept a steady slow pace ten or fifteen miles 483 00:31:40,675 --> 00:31:43,915 Speaker 1: an hour tops. He really was a great driver. He 484 00:31:43,995 --> 00:31:46,635 Speaker 1: did not accelerate, he did not turn. Yet all of 485 00:31:46,675 --> 00:31:50,075 Speaker 1: a moment, his green nineteen seventy Dodge Dart decided to 486 00:31:50,115 --> 00:31:54,275 Speaker 1: make an abrupt left at about a forty five degree angle. 487 00:31:54,955 --> 00:31:57,395 Speaker 1: We were off the road in seconds and headed for 488 00:31:57,435 --> 00:32:00,115 Speaker 1: an unscheduled visit to the front porch of a farmer's 489 00:32:00,115 --> 00:32:01,635 Speaker 1: house that had to have been set back at least 490 00:32:01,675 --> 00:32:05,755 Speaker 1: two hundred feet from the road. Here find the heavy 491 00:32:05,795 --> 00:32:09,595 Speaker 1: snow worked to our advantage. It slowed us, then it 492 00:32:09,715 --> 00:32:13,835 Speaker 1: stopped us, just two or three feet before we would 493 00:32:13,875 --> 00:32:17,595 Speaker 1: have flowed into this guy's house. However, since we were 494 00:32:17,635 --> 00:32:20,835 Speaker 1: in Richford, New York, birthplace of John Rockefeller, by the way, 495 00:32:21,395 --> 00:32:25,595 Speaker 1: or we were in Caroline or Caroline Center or Slaterville 496 00:32:25,755 --> 00:32:30,435 Speaker 1: Springs or wherever the hell we were, the homeowner emerged 497 00:32:30,995 --> 00:32:34,155 Speaker 1: bearing not a gun nor an attitude, but genuine concern. 498 00:32:35,115 --> 00:32:36,915 Speaker 1: In fact, he heard the Ranger game on the radio 499 00:32:36,955 --> 00:32:40,195 Speaker 1: and asked me the score, which is when I noticed, 500 00:32:40,195 --> 00:32:41,955 Speaker 1: at the moment we had left the road, the woo 501 00:32:41,995 --> 00:32:45,235 Speaker 1: woos had stopped, and the waw signal was as good 502 00:32:45,275 --> 00:32:47,315 Speaker 1: as it must have been in Madison Square Garden in 503 00:32:47,355 --> 00:32:51,555 Speaker 1: New York. The farmer helped us push the car back 504 00:32:51,555 --> 00:32:53,355 Speaker 1: on to Route seventy nine, and as we got in 505 00:32:53,475 --> 00:32:59,315 Speaker 1: he went and said, warre you snow tires. George started 506 00:32:59,355 --> 00:33:02,675 Speaker 1: to swear again. I took over and explained about George's 507 00:33:02,675 --> 00:33:06,915 Speaker 1: father never been up here as he George started the 508 00:33:06,955 --> 00:33:10,075 Speaker 1: car back up and now drove even slower. Within a minute, 509 00:33:10,075 --> 00:33:14,195 Speaker 1: the woo woos were back marv Alvertamsel Messina. Woo Woo 510 00:33:14,195 --> 00:33:21,555 Speaker 1: whoo where the Rangers lead. Woo woo woo. We got there. Finally, 511 00:33:22,955 --> 00:33:25,715 Speaker 1: George was actually going to try to drive up the 512 00:33:25,835 --> 00:33:29,115 Speaker 1: hill that led to the other hill that led to 513 00:33:29,155 --> 00:33:33,395 Speaker 1: the Delaware Avenue hill where my apartment was. Calculating that 514 00:33:33,435 --> 00:33:35,675 Speaker 1: I had pressed my luck sufficiently, I told him just 515 00:33:35,755 --> 00:33:38,115 Speaker 1: let me out at East State and Mitchell and I'd 516 00:33:38,115 --> 00:33:42,155 Speaker 1: make it from there on foot. Thankfully, George's father had 517 00:33:42,195 --> 00:33:45,435 Speaker 1: not removed the sure grip souls from my winter boots. 518 00:33:45,915 --> 00:33:48,155 Speaker 1: I actually went to my radio station first. It was 519 00:33:48,195 --> 00:33:50,195 Speaker 1: literally a two minute walk from there to my apartment. 520 00:33:50,475 --> 00:33:53,275 Speaker 1: I lingered at WVBR for fifteen or twenty minutes, and 521 00:33:53,315 --> 00:33:56,795 Speaker 1: then hiked back. The Rangers had won their game from 522 00:33:56,795 --> 00:33:58,875 Speaker 1: the station I had called George's apartment and he had 523 00:33:58,875 --> 00:34:01,555 Speaker 1: made it back there. And I took my first deep 524 00:34:01,595 --> 00:34:04,475 Speaker 1: breath since the McDonald's in Liberty, and I reflected that 525 00:34:04,475 --> 00:34:07,715 Speaker 1: it was only six hours until my next class, and 526 00:34:07,795 --> 00:34:11,835 Speaker 1: guess what I was gonna cut. I stopped off the 527 00:34:11,835 --> 00:34:15,235 Speaker 1: snow on my porch at two hundred and seven Delaware Avenue, 528 00:34:15,555 --> 00:34:18,395 Speaker 1: and I opened the door and I dumped my bag inside, 529 00:34:18,795 --> 00:34:21,195 Speaker 1: and then I reached into the mailbox and I saw 530 00:34:21,235 --> 00:34:31,995 Speaker 1: it immediately the return address Adler WCBS, CBS Radio, the 531 00:34:32,035 --> 00:34:35,755 Speaker 1: division of CBS Inc. Fifty one West fifty two Street, 532 00:34:35,795 --> 00:34:38,195 Speaker 1: New York, New York one zero zero one nine two 533 00:34:38,235 --> 00:34:42,595 Speaker 1: one two nine seven five four three two one. Lou 534 00:34:42,835 --> 00:34:48,755 Speaker 1: Adler was radio news in New York City in April 535 00:34:48,835 --> 00:34:53,395 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine. And this was April nineteen seventy nine. 536 00:34:54,355 --> 00:35:01,795 Speaker 1: I could barely breathe the Adler letter. What was in 537 00:35:02,555 --> 00:35:07,035 Speaker 1: the Adler letter, which it's plains why five decades later, 538 00:35:07,115 --> 00:35:09,035 Speaker 1: I know it by heart and can tell you exactly 539 00:35:09,115 --> 00:35:12,915 Speaker 1: where it is at the moment. That's next. This is Countdown, 540 00:35:19,235 --> 00:35:21,875 Speaker 1: resuming the number one story on the Countdown and the 541 00:35:21,915 --> 00:35:27,275 Speaker 1: several lifetimes contained. On Sunday, April eighth, nineteen seventy nine, 542 00:35:27,355 --> 00:35:32,275 Speaker 1: I survived nine or ten eight hundred hour drive in 543 00:35:32,315 --> 00:35:35,395 Speaker 1: a blizzard, right after my friend's dad had healthfully removed 544 00:35:35,475 --> 00:35:39,435 Speaker 1: the snow tires from my friend's car. I had lived 545 00:35:39,435 --> 00:35:42,355 Speaker 1: to resume my desperate bid to graduate college in two 546 00:35:42,395 --> 00:35:45,035 Speaker 1: months and get a job somewhere in radio in three months. 547 00:35:45,075 --> 00:35:47,955 Speaker 1: And against all odds, amid all the snow and mess, 548 00:35:47,955 --> 00:35:50,475 Speaker 1: there was a letter waiting for me at my apartment 549 00:35:50,795 --> 00:35:54,395 Speaker 1: in silent snow inundated Ithaca, New York, a letter from 550 00:35:54,555 --> 00:35:58,955 Speaker 1: Lou Adler, the news director of the leading all news 551 00:35:58,995 --> 00:36:04,435 Speaker 1: station in the United States of America. Lou Adler had 552 00:36:04,435 --> 00:36:06,995 Speaker 1: begun I'm on on WCBS the year I was born. 553 00:36:07,835 --> 00:36:10,395 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty seven, the station went all news, and 554 00:36:10,555 --> 00:36:13,515 Speaker 1: it immediately became the best all news station in the country. 555 00:36:13,715 --> 00:36:16,875 Speaker 1: Lou Adler co anchored the mornings and eight years earlier, 556 00:36:16,915 --> 00:36:20,395 Speaker 1: he had become the station's news director. He was the best. 557 00:36:20,915 --> 00:36:24,195 Speaker 1: His co anchor, Jim Donnelly, was the best. His sportscaster 558 00:36:24,275 --> 00:36:27,235 Speaker 1: at Ingles was the best. His reporters were the best. 559 00:36:27,315 --> 00:36:29,955 Speaker 1: His weatherman was the best. His traffic guys were the best. 560 00:36:30,075 --> 00:36:34,395 Speaker 1: His jingles were the best. I listened daily in high school, 561 00:36:34,875 --> 00:36:37,155 Speaker 1: and when I was home from college, I did not 562 00:36:37,315 --> 00:36:41,835 Speaker 1: take literal notes, only mental ones. My college graduation, if 563 00:36:41,875 --> 00:36:44,715 Speaker 1: I made it, was seven weeks away. I had never 564 00:36:44,755 --> 00:36:46,955 Speaker 1: worked on television in any form, but I had been 565 00:36:46,995 --> 00:36:49,995 Speaker 1: on radio two or three thousand times by then, and 566 00:36:50,035 --> 00:36:52,475 Speaker 1: I thought I was pretty good at it. In the 567 00:36:52,515 --> 00:36:55,875 Speaker 1: preceding months, I had flooded every radio station in every 568 00:36:55,915 --> 00:36:58,755 Speaker 1: major market in the Northeast with a demo tape and 569 00:36:58,835 --> 00:37:01,515 Speaker 1: a resume. I figured I might as well start in 570 00:37:01,555 --> 00:37:05,075 Speaker 1: my home of New York and not eliminate a potential job, 571 00:37:05,155 --> 00:37:07,515 Speaker 1: no matter how long a long shot it might have been. 572 00:37:08,435 --> 00:37:11,035 Speaker 1: If I wasn't good enough to work there, I concluded 573 00:37:11,115 --> 00:37:13,635 Speaker 1: I should let the people who ran New York's radio 574 00:37:13,675 --> 00:37:17,355 Speaker 1: stations decide that, since that's what they were paid to do. 575 00:37:19,555 --> 00:37:23,235 Speaker 1: To this point, they had decided that By not responding, 576 00:37:24,395 --> 00:37:26,995 Speaker 1: I got a few nibbles from some of the smaller stations, 577 00:37:27,035 --> 00:37:29,635 Speaker 1: but as April eighth turned to April ninth, I had 578 00:37:29,795 --> 00:37:33,995 Speaker 1: no job prospects. Other friends were getting offers in Waterbury, Connecticut, 579 00:37:34,515 --> 00:37:38,635 Speaker 1: and Laconia, New Hampshire. Thought of which and nothing against 580 00:37:38,635 --> 00:37:42,595 Speaker 1: either of those cities filled me with terror. And now, 581 00:37:42,675 --> 00:37:46,395 Speaker 1: after this ordeal by snow and without snow tires, after 582 00:37:46,395 --> 00:37:50,395 Speaker 1: the WNW whooo's and Georgia's father's near fatal decision to 583 00:37:50,435 --> 00:37:53,035 Speaker 1: remove those winter tires, here in my hand was a 584 00:37:53,115 --> 00:37:55,635 Speaker 1: letter from the man who was, to my mind, the 585 00:37:55,635 --> 00:37:59,635 Speaker 1: best radio newscaster I had ever heard. Obviously it would 586 00:37:59,675 --> 00:38:02,595 Speaker 1: be a rejection, But even in that moment, even at 587 00:38:02,635 --> 00:38:06,515 Speaker 1: my age twenty years, two months and change, I was 588 00:38:06,715 --> 00:38:10,515 Speaker 1: awestruck not only that lou Adler had replied, but that 589 00:38:10,675 --> 00:38:14,675 Speaker 1: he alone, of all I had written to, he had 590 00:38:14,675 --> 00:38:18,075 Speaker 1: been the one who replied. I believe I did not 591 00:38:18,275 --> 00:38:21,995 Speaker 1: remove my parka before opening the envelope. I did put 592 00:38:22,035 --> 00:38:26,315 Speaker 1: on one lamp in my apartment, and I read WCBS, 593 00:38:26,435 --> 00:38:29,595 Speaker 1: CBS Radio, a division of CBS Inc. Fifty one least 594 00:38:29,635 --> 00:38:31,795 Speaker 1: fifty two Street, New York, New York, one zero zero 595 00:38:31,835 --> 00:38:33,715 Speaker 1: one nine two one two nine seventy five four three 596 00:38:33,755 --> 00:38:37,795 Speaker 1: two one April third, nineteen seventy nine, mister Keith Olderman, 597 00:38:37,835 --> 00:38:40,275 Speaker 1: two hundred and seven Delaware Avenue at the New York 598 00:38:40,315 --> 00:38:45,035 Speaker 1: one four eighty five. Oh dear, mister Olberman. This will 599 00:38:45,035 --> 00:38:47,875 Speaker 1: reply to your letter of March twenty seventh, with which 600 00:38:47,915 --> 00:38:51,955 Speaker 1: you included a tape of your sports work on WVBRFM. 601 00:38:53,075 --> 00:38:55,235 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to know what a man can do 602 00:38:55,395 --> 00:39:00,835 Speaker 1: by listening to a brief tape. I stopped. Wait a man, 603 00:39:02,115 --> 00:39:07,435 Speaker 1: wait which which? Oh me, I'm just a kid. Sometimes 604 00:39:07,435 --> 00:39:09,075 Speaker 1: it's hard to know what a man can do by 605 00:39:09,115 --> 00:39:10,955 Speaker 1: listening to a brief tape. But I must tell you 606 00:39:11,195 --> 00:39:14,875 Speaker 1: I was excited by what I heard of yours. I 607 00:39:14,915 --> 00:39:18,875 Speaker 1: think you have exceptional talent and poise considering your age 608 00:39:18,915 --> 00:39:22,515 Speaker 1: and experience. You read well, and you write well, and 609 00:39:22,595 --> 00:39:25,755 Speaker 1: you know how to use tape. If the short tape 610 00:39:25,795 --> 00:39:28,675 Speaker 1: is truly representative of what you can do, and if 611 00:39:28,715 --> 00:39:31,715 Speaker 1: your knowledge of sports is broad, and if you can 612 00:39:31,795 --> 00:39:34,835 Speaker 1: perform under pressure well, then I feel you have an 613 00:39:34,875 --> 00:39:40,835 Speaker 1: excellent future in this industry. By this point, my heart 614 00:39:40,875 --> 00:39:43,475 Speaker 1: was beating so furiously I could hear it. I was 615 00:39:43,515 --> 00:39:45,955 Speaker 1: this close to hearing it make the woo woo sound. 616 00:39:47,035 --> 00:39:48,995 Speaker 1: I think it might be a good idea for us 617 00:39:49,035 --> 00:39:51,435 Speaker 1: to meet. Let me know when you can make it 618 00:39:51,435 --> 00:39:53,995 Speaker 1: to New York. I have nothing here for you, and 619 00:39:54,075 --> 00:39:56,355 Speaker 1: I know of nothing solid. But if I feel as 620 00:39:56,435 --> 00:39:59,395 Speaker 1: strongly about your potential after we meet as I do now, 621 00:39:59,635 --> 00:40:04,915 Speaker 1: a meeting certainly could do you no harm. Sincerely us 622 00:40:05,035 --> 00:40:14,955 Speaker 1: see Adler, Director News, Operations and Programs LCA slash PP George, 623 00:40:15,075 --> 00:40:17,275 Speaker 1: I screamed into the phone. Can we drive back to 624 00:40:17,315 --> 00:40:22,475 Speaker 1: the city right now? He swore. I read George the letter, 625 00:40:22,795 --> 00:40:26,075 Speaker 1: He paused, No, we shouldn't go tonight. You're not going 626 00:40:26,075 --> 00:40:27,915 Speaker 1: to see him tomorrow. Wait till you get your appointment. 627 00:40:27,995 --> 00:40:29,955 Speaker 1: But Jesus, this is like the manager of the Yankees 628 00:40:30,155 --> 00:40:32,195 Speaker 1: asking you to stop by the stadium and bring your 629 00:40:32,195 --> 00:40:36,675 Speaker 1: glove and bat just in case. I think I got 630 00:40:36,675 --> 00:40:39,315 Speaker 1: to sleep at sunrise. I had read the Adler letter 631 00:40:39,435 --> 00:40:42,395 Speaker 1: twenty or thirty times, and not until the fifteenth or 632 00:40:42,395 --> 00:40:44,875 Speaker 1: so did I stop expecting it to have turned back 633 00:40:44,875 --> 00:40:49,515 Speaker 1: into some courteous form letter rejection badly xeroxton slightly off center. 634 00:40:50,795 --> 00:40:53,755 Speaker 1: Slowly it dawned on me that my own assessment of 635 00:40:53,795 --> 00:40:58,715 Speaker 1: my radio skills were not predicated on ego or even 636 00:40:58,755 --> 00:41:01,315 Speaker 1: the context of what else I could hear in Ithaca, 637 00:41:01,595 --> 00:41:04,235 Speaker 1: which was then the three hundred and fifty first largest 638 00:41:04,275 --> 00:41:07,875 Speaker 1: radio market in the country. Good, but still three hundred 639 00:41:07,875 --> 00:41:12,315 Speaker 1: and fifty first. I cannot now describe the sense of 640 00:41:12,435 --> 00:41:16,555 Speaker 1: validation except to say that I half seriously considered not 641 00:41:16,955 --> 00:41:19,435 Speaker 1: taking Lou Adler up on his offer to meet him 642 00:41:19,435 --> 00:41:23,555 Speaker 1: at CBS World Headquarters, black Rock itself, where Bill Paley 643 00:41:23,555 --> 00:41:28,315 Speaker 1: would be working upstairs, because short of offering me a job, 644 00:41:28,355 --> 00:41:31,195 Speaker 1: there really was no chance mister Adler could do or 645 00:41:31,235 --> 00:41:34,955 Speaker 1: say anything more that could make me feel better or 646 00:41:35,035 --> 00:41:38,395 Speaker 1: more confident that my dream of becoming a sportscaster would 647 00:41:38,395 --> 00:41:42,355 Speaker 1: not lead me to starvation or to Laconia, New Hampshire. 648 00:41:44,355 --> 00:41:48,555 Speaker 1: In fact, in person, Lou Adler found more things to say. 649 00:41:48,675 --> 00:41:50,755 Speaker 1: If I had an opening for a sportscaster right now, 650 00:41:50,795 --> 00:41:54,315 Speaker 1: I would seriously consider you for it. I would hesitate 651 00:41:54,355 --> 00:41:56,715 Speaker 1: because of your age and your lack of practical experience, 652 00:41:57,035 --> 00:41:59,995 Speaker 1: and then I'd probably do it anyway. He was as 653 00:42:00,115 --> 00:42:03,675 Speaker 1: warm and supportive and informal as his letter had been, 654 00:42:03,715 --> 00:42:06,515 Speaker 1: structured and serious and tempered. Let me take you on 655 00:42:06,555 --> 00:42:10,075 Speaker 1: a tour. We saw the live studios, the production studios, 656 00:42:10,075 --> 00:42:13,995 Speaker 1: the writer's area. I wasn't just speechless again, I was breathless. 657 00:42:14,955 --> 00:42:17,515 Speaker 1: And you should probably recognize this man by voice, if 658 00:42:17,555 --> 00:42:21,955 Speaker 1: not by sight. Keith Olderman, Meet our sports director Ed Ingles. Ed, 659 00:42:22,755 --> 00:42:26,875 Speaker 1: this is Keith. This is the fellow with the tape. 660 00:42:28,275 --> 00:42:31,155 Speaker 1: Ed Ingles took a moment that his eyes widened. Hi, 661 00:42:31,795 --> 00:42:35,035 Speaker 1: what a tape, Jesus, Lou, don't tell me you've hired him? 662 00:42:35,195 --> 00:42:39,235 Speaker 1: Did you fire me? I must admit I thought for 663 00:42:39,235 --> 00:42:42,195 Speaker 1: a second it might have happened. I did not shrink 664 00:42:42,435 --> 00:42:47,155 Speaker 1: entirely from that fantasy. Lou Adler laughed, No, Eddie. Then 665 00:42:47,195 --> 00:42:51,595 Speaker 1: he paused, it was irresistible. Not yet. We went back 666 00:42:51,635 --> 00:42:54,355 Speaker 1: to Lou Adwer's office. Have you got any job prospects? 667 00:42:54,955 --> 00:42:57,035 Speaker 1: I explained that a month earlier, thanks to a chain 668 00:42:57,075 --> 00:42:59,875 Speaker 1: of recommendations that stretched from my internship at Channel five 669 00:42:59,955 --> 00:43:03,435 Speaker 1: Television the year before, through a young ABC sports executive 670 00:43:03,515 --> 00:43:06,835 Speaker 1: named Bob Bob Iger. I think it was to a 671 00:43:06,875 --> 00:43:08,595 Speaker 1: friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. 672 00:43:08,635 --> 00:43:11,595 Speaker 1: I had met everybody at the radio network of United 673 00:43:11,595 --> 00:43:13,515 Speaker 1: Press International, and I was supposed to go back and 674 00:43:13,555 --> 00:43:17,875 Speaker 1: see them about working their freelance as summer vacation, relief 675 00:43:18,595 --> 00:43:21,555 Speaker 1: for the year ahead in sports and in news. Oh, 676 00:43:21,595 --> 00:43:24,595 Speaker 1: that would be ideal for you, lou Adwerer said. It's 677 00:43:24,595 --> 00:43:27,435 Speaker 1: a tough place to work. They don't pay well at UPI, 678 00:43:27,515 --> 00:43:29,995 Speaker 1: but it's here in the city, and every other radio 679 00:43:29,995 --> 00:43:32,115 Speaker 1: station in this country will hear you on the feed. 680 00:43:32,795 --> 00:43:35,795 Speaker 1: That's where we hired ed from at Ingles. So if 681 00:43:35,795 --> 00:43:38,835 Speaker 1: we have an opening, he smiled broadly, I can poach 682 00:43:38,875 --> 00:43:40,595 Speaker 1: you and get you here in less than two weeks, 683 00:43:40,635 --> 00:43:46,795 Speaker 1: can I. Mister Adler then suggested that CBS station in 684 00:43:46,835 --> 00:43:49,275 Speaker 1: Atlanta would be needing a sportscaster in a few months. 685 00:43:49,355 --> 00:43:51,195 Speaker 1: I'll stay on top of that. They already have a 686 00:43:51,235 --> 00:43:52,795 Speaker 1: copy of your tape. I hope you don't mind. I 687 00:43:52,835 --> 00:43:56,195 Speaker 1: made several copies of your tape. If UPI does not 688 00:43:56,315 --> 00:43:58,475 Speaker 1: work out, I am confident you will be offered a 689 00:43:58,515 --> 00:44:01,195 Speaker 1: job in Atlanta, and maybe quite a few other jobs. 690 00:44:01,555 --> 00:44:03,275 Speaker 1: I hope I've been of some help. Stay in touch. 691 00:44:03,435 --> 00:44:05,235 Speaker 1: It's one of the privileges of this job to be 692 00:44:05,235 --> 00:44:08,195 Speaker 1: able to help. But frankly, you're not going to need 693 00:44:08,235 --> 00:44:13,075 Speaker 1: that much help. I may have taken the train back 694 00:44:13,115 --> 00:44:14,955 Speaker 1: to my folks house, or I may have just walked 695 00:44:15,115 --> 00:44:20,755 Speaker 1: the twenty miles or floated. The UPI job worked out 696 00:44:20,795 --> 00:44:23,875 Speaker 1: full time. Two months later, at the first game I 697 00:44:24,035 --> 00:44:27,355 Speaker 1: covered for money, I walked into the press box at 698 00:44:27,435 --> 00:44:31,635 Speaker 1: Chase Stadium and there was ed ingles, thank god you 699 00:44:31,675 --> 00:44:34,315 Speaker 1: went to UPI. The way Adler went on about you, 700 00:44:34,395 --> 00:44:36,235 Speaker 1: I seriously wondered if he was planning to bring you 701 00:44:36,315 --> 00:44:40,195 Speaker 1: in and kick me out. The Atlanta offer Lou Adler 702 00:44:40,355 --> 00:44:43,635 Speaker 1: arranged came, I turned it down. About a year later, 703 00:44:43,675 --> 00:44:46,155 Speaker 1: I got a call from Adler's assistant saying they were 704 00:44:46,155 --> 00:44:49,035 Speaker 1: going to need a new afternoon sportscaster at WCBS and 705 00:44:49,035 --> 00:44:51,915 Speaker 1: would I send a new tape. But by that fall, 706 00:44:51,955 --> 00:44:54,995 Speaker 1: when the job opened, Lou Adler was leaving WCBS to 707 00:44:54,995 --> 00:44:58,355 Speaker 1: become news director and vice president of another New York 708 00:44:58,435 --> 00:45:02,235 Speaker 1: radio station, WOR. His successor would choose somebody else for 709 00:45:02,315 --> 00:45:04,675 Speaker 1: the job. Just as I heard from the people who 710 00:45:04,715 --> 00:45:07,355 Speaker 1: ran the radio network that the WOR folks had started 711 00:45:07,355 --> 00:45:11,315 Speaker 1: the year before. It was not coincidental Lou Adler had 712 00:45:11,355 --> 00:45:17,115 Speaker 1: sent these people starting this new network my tape there 713 00:45:17,275 --> 00:45:22,155 Speaker 1: is inevitably from the distant future a punchline in two 714 00:45:22,155 --> 00:45:24,875 Speaker 1: thousand and six or two thousand and seven, when Countdown 715 00:45:24,875 --> 00:45:27,235 Speaker 1: had become the highest rated cable news program that wasn't 716 00:45:27,275 --> 00:45:31,755 Speaker 1: on Fox, an email appeared in my inbox. I could 717 00:45:31,795 --> 00:45:36,795 Speaker 1: not believe the name of the sender, Lou Adler. He 718 00:45:36,875 --> 00:45:39,435 Speaker 1: began just as formally as he had in nineteen seventy nine. 719 00:45:39,435 --> 00:45:43,315 Speaker 1: He actually felt it was necessary to remind me about 720 00:45:43,355 --> 00:45:46,515 Speaker 1: his letter. He said he watched every night, and when 721 00:45:46,515 --> 00:45:48,515 Speaker 1: he found other viewers of the program, he told them 722 00:45:48,555 --> 00:45:52,475 Speaker 1: the story. Proudly, he said. He asked if I remembered. 723 00:45:53,915 --> 00:45:57,595 Speaker 1: I wrote back immediately, remembered. Remembered. I told him I 724 00:45:57,595 --> 00:46:00,115 Speaker 1: still had his letter, and I still had the sense 725 00:46:00,155 --> 00:46:02,795 Speaker 1: of confidence it had given me that it was central 726 00:46:03,035 --> 00:46:04,835 Speaker 1: to my decision to more or less give up my 727 00:46:04,835 --> 00:46:07,275 Speaker 1: sports career at the age of thirty eight and try news. 728 00:46:07,555 --> 00:46:09,475 Speaker 1: And I told him the whole driving back to Ithaca 729 00:46:09,515 --> 00:46:14,035 Speaker 1: and the snow tire story just for fun. Lou wrote 730 00:46:14,035 --> 00:46:17,035 Speaker 1: back again within minutes. He had just retired after running 731 00:46:17,075 --> 00:46:19,955 Speaker 1: the mass communications program at Quinnipiac College, and he said 732 00:46:19,955 --> 00:46:21,955 Speaker 1: he had had a strong sense of his career having 733 00:46:21,955 --> 00:46:27,555 Speaker 1: been the proverbial punch into a pail of water. Now 734 00:46:27,595 --> 00:46:29,995 Speaker 1: it was my turn to reassure him that the people 735 00:46:30,115 --> 00:46:33,075 Speaker 1: like me who he had supported and taught and broadcast to, 736 00:46:33,235 --> 00:46:37,835 Speaker 1: had long since begun to support and teach the next generation. 737 00:46:37,955 --> 00:46:40,275 Speaker 1: And that generation was already supporting the one after that. 738 00:46:40,355 --> 00:46:42,795 Speaker 1: And there would be people in this business beginning their 739 00:46:42,795 --> 00:46:45,995 Speaker 1: careers after both of us were dead who would owe 740 00:46:46,035 --> 00:46:48,195 Speaker 1: a debt of gratitude, whether or not they knew it 741 00:46:48,395 --> 00:46:56,675 Speaker 1: to Lou Adler, as I always will. Lou Adler died 742 00:46:56,715 --> 00:46:59,995 Speaker 1: five years ago at the age of eighty eight. There 743 00:46:59,995 --> 00:47:03,875 Speaker 1: are letters and photos in the hallway that leads in 744 00:47:03,915 --> 00:47:07,635 Speaker 1: from the front door my home. They are from Barack Obama, 745 00:47:08,395 --> 00:47:29,915 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden, and Lou Adler. I've 746 00:47:29,915 --> 00:47:31,715 Speaker 1: done all the damage I can do here. Thank you 747 00:47:31,755 --> 00:47:33,635 Speaker 1: for listening. Here are the credits. Most of the music 748 00:47:33,715 --> 00:47:36,515 Speaker 1: was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray and John 749 00:47:36,515 --> 00:47:40,395 Speaker 1: Phillip Shanelle, who are the Countdown musical directors. All orchestration 750 00:47:40,475 --> 00:47:43,675 Speaker 1: at keyboards by John Phillip Shanel, guitars, bas and drums 751 00:47:43,675 --> 00:47:48,435 Speaker 1: by Brian Ray, produced by Tko Brothers. Other selections, including 752 00:47:48,515 --> 00:47:50,675 Speaker 1: some Beethoven You'll hear now and again, have been arranged 753 00:47:50,675 --> 00:47:53,475 Speaker 1: and performed by the group No Horns allowed. The sports 754 00:47:53,555 --> 00:47:55,955 Speaker 1: music is the Olberman theme from ESPN two. It was 755 00:47:55,995 --> 00:47:59,435 Speaker 1: written by Mitch Warren Davis, Curtis c VESPN Inc. Musical 756 00:47:59,435 --> 00:48:02,515 Speaker 1: comments by Nancy Faust. The best baseball stadium organist ever. 757 00:48:02,835 --> 00:48:06,835 Speaker 1: Our announcer today was my friend Jonathan Banks. Confidence supplied 758 00:48:07,595 --> 00:48:10,555 Speaker 1: by lou Adword. Everything else is pretty much my fault. 759 00:48:11,275 --> 00:48:13,355 Speaker 1: That's countdown for this the nine hundred and forty fourth 760 00:48:13,395 --> 00:48:16,475 Speaker 1: days since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 761 00:48:16,515 --> 00:48:20,035 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Arrest him again while 762 00:48:20,075 --> 00:48:24,075 Speaker 1: we still can. The next scheduled countdown is tomorrow. Boltons 763 00:48:24,155 --> 00:48:26,595 Speaker 1: is the news warrants till then. I'm Keith Olremman. Good morning, 764 00:48:26,875 --> 00:48:44,275 Speaker 1: good afternoon, good night, and good luck. Countdown with Keith 765 00:48:44,315 --> 00:48:49,355 Speaker 1: Olreman is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 766 00:48:49,515 --> 00:48:53,555 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 767 00:48:53,595 --> 00:48:54,515 Speaker 1: your podcasts.