WEBVTT - Mel Kiper, NFL Draft Expert 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:07.120 Welcome to another edition of Is This a Great Gamer? 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:09.719 What with my Hall of Fame Dad, Tim Kirkshon, I 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.800 am Jeff Kirkshon, and we're going to three episodes a week. 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.320 That means the middle episode will be our interview in Today. 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:22.000 With the NFL Draft kicking off on Thursday, April twenty fourth, tomorrow, 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:29.160 we have Mel Kiper ESPN NFL Draft Guru beyond gurus, Dad, 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.440 How were we able to get him right before the draft? 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.560 Well, look, I know Mel pretty well after all these years, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:39.040 and I've done a bunch of radio shows with Mel. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:42.239 He and dary Noka do a baseball Well, they do 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.120 a radio show, they bring me on to do baseball. Look, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.800 Mel's from the Baltimore area. I've known him for a 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:52.200 long time and he's he's a very very generous guy 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.080 with his time and his information, so he was more 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.240 than happy to do this. I'm just glad we got 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.360 him because once the draft starts, Jeff, I'm sure there 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:06.000 is no talking to Mel Kuiper because his head is 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.960 filled with heights and weights of tackles from Boise State. 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:12.800 I don't know how he does it, but it is 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:14.680 truly remarkable. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:17.399 And it is remarkable how much recall he was able 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.480 to have of all of his love of the game 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:22.680 of baseball, whether it was today's game or growing up 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.880 as you mentioned dad in Maryland, his favorite players, a 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.800 crazy famous Hall of famer he ran into in a 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.679 place nobody expected. Mel kiper joins, is this a great 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:36.679 game or what let's do it? 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.280 It is draft week in the NFL, and our guest 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:45.160 this week is my friend mel kiper ESPN Draft expert 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.200 mel This is my son, Jeff. 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.840 Honored to be with you guys. That Jeff, your father 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.080 always took time during the busy baseball season when I 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:54.960 know he was swamped, and he would have got a 0:01:54.960 --> 0:01:58.640 call to come on, Darian mel and sim never said no, 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:01.160 never let us down. He came, He had a wealth 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.440 of information, never rushed off. It was amazing. So Tim, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.000 I can't thank you enough. We both land the pleasant 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:08.200 living crab cakes. 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:08.440 Right. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.119 We love baseball, we grew up with it, and here 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.320 I am with tucking football, which is you know, nobody 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:15.440 would have thought back a long time ago, that's what 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:16.840 I would be doing all right now. 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.600 We might not ask you a football question today, and 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.959 we will buy We will get to baseball in a minute. 0:02:23.000 --> 0:02:25.160 But please just clear up a few things. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:25.519 Okay. 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.679 Do you eat a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:29.440 every morning? 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:33.560 Explain? Please? All right? Almost every morning? Sometimes like this 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.520 time of year, you can't get pumpkin pie. You know 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:40.160 there's a Safeway delivery coming right now, But the bottom line, 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.520 you can't always get them, and the pumpkin pies are 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:45.760 kind of seasonal. So when Kim will make a pumpkin 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:50.800 pie homemade, I don't like it as much. So she 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.280 makes great food, but pumpkin pies have to be a 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.679 certain way for me and where I don't eat them. 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.800 So no, I can't say it's every morning. It's probably 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:00.720 eight to nine months out of the year. That's what 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.720 I do then, is I make my own brownies with 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:04.399 my fat free whipped cream. So I have a little 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.000 alternative plan brownies I just made because I don't have 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:08.800 any pumpkin pie in the house right now, so I 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.480 have to live without it for three or four months 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.200 and survive. But I'd say nine months out of the 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:15.000 or eight months out of the your pumpkin pie, not 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.480 just in the warning. I'll go through a pumpkin pie 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.480 and every day day and a half. Now, what is 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.960 wrong with you? Do you just love pumpkin pie? Worse? 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.919 It is just who you are. Worse food, Tim, It's 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.920 even worse, Jeff and Tim. I don't eat the crust. 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:34.440 I just eat the pumpkin. I have fat free whip cream. Say, well, 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.520 what's the method to the madness. All the hydrogenated oils 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.840 are in the crust. Okay, So I stay away from 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.680 the crust, don't touch the crust, just eat the filling. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:45.640 And then I have my fat free with ready whip 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.600 whipped cream. And that's a fat free milk. And that's 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.520 what I do. That's how I good bye. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:53.800 Listen. Now, I have never felt so connected to a 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.640 guest before because every Thanksgiving season I always get the standard. 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.560 Are you gonna have any pie with your whipped cream? 0:04:00.640 --> 0:04:02.680 Because I like to fill it up to a point. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:05.200 Where you can't even see it. Jeff, if I have 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.480 a piece or two of a pumpkin pie, I'll go 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:09.320 through one can of whip cream. With just a piece 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.840 of two a pumpkin pie, I go through two or 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:14.080 three cans a day. That's not a lot, two or 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.160 three cans a day for the rate I do radio 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:18.920 in New York with the you know, with Roethliberg and 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.880 d Pietro. They send me so coming on twenty five 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.719 to thirty cans of fat free ready whip whipped cream 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:29.599 because they know how I need that that whipped cream 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.320 for my pump I can't eat pumpkin pie without whip 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:32.760 cre If there's no whipped cream in the house, I'm 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.760 not eating pumpkin pie. Pumpkin Pie without whipped cream is 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.120 like Kirchin without baseball, without the draft. Ainy doing it. 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:40.960 So at the end of the day, it's gotta be 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.280 them melded together with a glass of fat free milk 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:45.960 because you need that as well. So it takes three 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.080 to get it done, and without that, I got nothing. 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:50.920 I had to mail you brought up Kim, your wife. 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.200 When I emailed you this afternoon to make sure you 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:57.400 are okay for three o'clock, I got an email back 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.719 from your wife. Is this clear that she runs your 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:01.719 entire life? 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.599 Without Kim, it wouldn't be a life anything. I don't 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.400 know what would be happening. I certainly wouldn't be doing 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.040 a podcast with you right now, wouldn't be having anything 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.000 going on that we do because technically I have no 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.280 clue about any of this stuff. My father Eve said 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:16.640 when we started. You just worry about answering the phones. 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:18.599 You talk to your customers, you talk to people getting 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.200 your reports, and you do the work. I'm gonna handle 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.000 all the things business wise. Kim does all that. I 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.440 don't have a clue about anything. If something happened now, 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:27.800 I'd be going back to Kim to come fix it, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:29.680 because I wouldn't know where to start. I'll probably hit 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.120 a button and screw everything up. So No, without Kim, 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.400 there wouldn't be any operation here, and certainly my life 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:35.839 would have been a lot different. Mel. 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:37.880 Is it true you've never written a check? 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.920 Did I hear that properly? Never written a check, Never 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.320 use an ATM card, Never use an ATM card, written 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:48.640 a check? No, no fans I ever have. No, that's 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:50.400 not a lot. That's the truth, and Kim can attest 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:51.359 to that. No, never have. 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.760 Well, I have to say I married my wife Emily 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:56.080 back in twenty twenty two. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:57.400 She is incredible. 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.120 She handles her taxes, our finances. I'm starting to become 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:03.960 like Mel, a little bit inept in anything. 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:05.240 If I had. 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:06.960 To see how much money was in my flooral one, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.599 k I wouldn't be able to figure it out. She 0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:12.680 just says, Hey, text me that code that just got 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:13.680 sent to your phone. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.279 I'm getting that way. Hey, I don't know where a 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.160 dollar of it is. I couldn't tell you, Kim, that 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:19.919 was where it all is. If I need it, I 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.880 got it. I don't know where a dollar of it is. 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:23.480 I can tell you that right now. If you said, hey, 0:06:23.560 --> 0:06:25.240 if you needed something, you need a load, I love to, 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:26.320 but I don't know where to have to get the 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.080 money anyways, So fuck him. 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.520 So Mel, is it true you don't know your cell 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:35.200 phone number or you didn't know your cell phone number? 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.560 Well, the cell this is the crazy part. I use 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.640 Kim cell. It's my cell, and Kim's like text to 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.159 Kim cell. Because I don't care about cell phones. She'll 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.440 get the message. I'll respond, I have a cell phone 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.720 right in here that I only take to the draft. 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.200 Now I'll give that number out to my friends. I 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.320 say call it, they call it all year. Once the 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.680 dress over and I come back from from Green Bay, 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:56.479 it goes in here and I never check it again. 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.400 So any any messages come to that cell phone never 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.680 get checked. After I get back from Green Bay. It's 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:04.360 only for five days, that's what. Or when I go out. 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.320 When I go out, I take that phone with me 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:09.080 in case of an emergency. Right outside of that, I'm 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.400 not checking out that kim Sell only or emails. That's it. 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.800 And you have a landline in your house, well, yeah, 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.000 we have landline there. 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.840 Everywhere's landlines. And why there's method of the madness there too, 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.040 because I know very few people have landlines. They come 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.360 crazy when you do radio shows, Tim, if the com 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.040 rex is an issue, then I have a landline to 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.360 do a interview one rather than the cell phone. So 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:31.680 I always had it for that. Right now, we do 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:33.640 it on the com Rex, but the comraxes down for 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.560 some reason. The landline rather than a cell phone because 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.240 cell phones are frustrating because sometimes they just don't work right, 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:43.040 you know, sometimes you'll lose this connection. So I kept 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.840 the landline for that reason. I'm old school with that too, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:49.000 and probably don't have many percent contents of the country 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:50.840 ten percent of the country. I don't even know what 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.160 percentage of the country has a landline now, but we do. 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:57.360 You know. Our guest last week was Syracuse former head 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.480 coach Jim Beheim, right, I'm a Syracuse graduate, and in 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.560 order to get him on the show, I was told 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:08.559 to text his wife, Julie Beheim. And the funniest part is, Mel, 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.080 I have Julie Beheim's number, not because I was reporting, 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.000 not because I was doing that. It's because I was 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:20.840 the mascot at Syracuse and while a student, I had 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:23.880 to do an event for the Jim and Julie Beheim Foundation. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.880 And she said, I don't want a mascot. 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.080 Driving all the way out there and spending money on gas. 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.240 I'll pick up the mascot. So I said, a shotgun 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:37.120 with Julie Beheim for an hour there and an hour back. Thankfully, 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.240 I wasn't dressed as the orange in the car. 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:41.920 I went as Jeff. But that is why I had 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:44.200 her number, so we were able to set it up 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.280 through Julie. That's a great story. Oh my gosh, that's 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:49.520 exactly the way it is here. Everything goes through Kim. 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.079 It's amazing. I always say, if you're going to overachieve, 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.360 overachieve in marriage. And I majorly overachieved. 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.320 Absolutely all right, So Mel, where did your love of 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.880 baseball come from? And at what age and where did 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:02.520 you get it from? 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.240 Father was baseball along to him. He played, you know, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.439 coming up through the ranks, thought he could maybe even 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:09.559 move on, but then he got hurt his shoulder and 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.200 give up baseball, but ended up coaching and playing. I 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.280 just was brought in that environment of baseball, and you 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.520 loved the sport obviously with the Baltimore Orioles and grew 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.440 up with you know, an Earl Weaver, and then watched 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.160 the Orioles all the way through, with the great Brooks, 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:26.920 Robinson and Frank Robinson and Belanger and Boog pal At 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.080 Sha Baron, Paul Blair playing that shallow center field, tracking 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.440 the ball better than anybody. So when you have all 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.160 those so then in the four twenty game winners and 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:36.360 growing up with Jim Palmer when he was coming along, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.600 and Palmer, McNally, Quaar and Dobson the last four twenty 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.560 game winners, so you know, just all the great base 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:44.880 and a huge fan of earl Weavers obviously, and then 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.160 we had the Cal Ripken era. So it's just been 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.040 you know, when you grow up in that environment of 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.960 winning and all those personalities and all those Hall of 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.160 Fame players, it was easy to be a great baseball 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:57.720 fan ironically, I was a big Dodger fan too, Tim 0:09:57.760 --> 0:09:59.840 and Jeff. I love the Dodger. I loved everything in La. 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.880 Grew up a big Rams fan, not a Colts fan, 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:05.320 early on, a big rant love Roman, Gabriel, Myron, Patios, 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.320 Lest Joseph and Jack Snow, the fearsome, forsome love the Rams. 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:14.080 But then the Dodgers, going back to Walter Austin, then 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:18.000 Tommy Lasorda so Albuquerque. As you know, Tim Kevin providing 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.400 all those players to the LA Dodgers through the minor 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:24.040 league system, and then going through when say and Russell 0:10:24.120 --> 0:10:26.600 and Lopes and Garvey and you had Jaeger and had 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.880 had Toy Cannon, Jim Winn and all those great players, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.679 and Rick Monday and then the pitchers. All the guys 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.360 are Andy Meshersmith during those Andy Meshersmith days, going back 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.920 to Tommy John before Sandy and I was and Sandy 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.520 Kofax I always did. But then those great pitchers and 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.040 then Mike Marshall and all the things hether wentber, the 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.440 kinisiology major Mike Marshall was and all. So it was 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.960 just the Dodgers name at the Dodgers and the Orioles 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.920 two great organizations, the love. So that's the how I 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.679 grew up with with those entities kind of. I remember 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:56.719 keeping the score of the Dodger games when I was 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.640 a kid up every game, final score, winning pitch, and 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:02.560 I kept that all the way through and any notes 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.240 about the game. Back in those days, you couldn't watch anything, 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.600 so the radio, I'd be listening to the Dodgers against 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:10.319 the Phillies. I listened to Philly broadcast. So you had 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.240 to try to. Radio was a big avenue in a 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.800 big vehicle to be able to listen to these games. 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:17.360 I did it with football to lay in LSU games. 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:19.480 It would be fading in and out. You'd be listening 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:21.560 on Saturday night to those games. And I did it 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:24.320 with baseball. A father always had a radio with him. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.520 He'd go to bed, he take the radio, listening to games, 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.960 listening to baseball, listening to whatever was going on, and 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:33.839 he was listening to sports talks, sports talk even back 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:35.679 in the day. So radio is a big part of 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:37.720 my life in the early years as well. Well. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:39.720 Did you ever meet Brooks Robinson? 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:44.400 Frank Robinson? Yeah, what was that play? And it was unbelievable, Brooks. 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:48.839 I ran into Brooks at Joseph Banks shopping for turtlenecks 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.880 and sweaters, and I'd begin there would be Brooks Wacani 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.640 there and with our talking and he loved and he'd 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.360 be We had our seats at the at the Ravens 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.840 Stadium at M and T Bank, you know Steve as 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.600 he was right above us, okay, and you know all 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.079 the people there, and look up, Brooks was right there 0:12:05.600 --> 0:12:07.840 up talking to Brooks during a football game, right up 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.480 in Steve's Steve box. And I'd go up even at halftime. 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:12.520 Steve was say, come on up, and Brooks would be there, 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:14.440 and Gary Williams would be there, as you know Tim, 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.040 So you know it was great you. Brooks was, I say, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:23.400 the nicest man of any sports personality figure player of ever. 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.720 I've met a lot of different sports figures players, and 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:29.000 Brooks was, as you know Tim and Jeff, I mean, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.640 he was one of a kind and the nicest, most 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:33.480 humble man I've ever been around in my life. For 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.240 the greatness of Brooks Robinson were number five at lockraven 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.160 Optimists because of Brooks Robinson, Okay, I mean that's you 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.319 know Brooks round Jim Palmer Ward twenty two early on, 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.160 Jim So you were numbers of your Jim Palm or 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.120 Brooks Robinson, you know those. Later on, I was a 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.600 big Burt Jones fan. Loved that number seven. You know 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.719 Burt Jones growing up, you were up. But think about that, 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.840 John Yanitas. Burt Jones with the Baltimore Colts should have 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:56.760 had John Elway. One of the reasons why the Colts 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.400 left town. John Elway didn't become a Baltimore Colt. He 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.200 was traded to the Broncos without earning your course's knowledge. 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:03.839 I was gonna go work for earning your course in 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.200 the cults that fell through because of that, And then 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:08.120 five months later I'm working at the ESPN. I had 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:09.959 never been to the ESPN if it wasn't for that. 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.360 So it's crazy how history would have been rewritten for me. 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:19.680 You know, mel, you're just. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.920 Talking about baseball. You sound like so many other people 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.240 where you're almost transported back to being a child, right 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.560 Like there's a and nothing against football and basketball and 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:36.480 all of these sports. But isn't there something beautiful about baseball? 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.800 Recall a memory you were talking about your dad keeping score. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:43.000 Take us back to young mel Kiper when you were 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.400 at a game and something just really stuck out to 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.760 you that made you think, Wow, is this a great game? 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.440 Or what I think? I think? Well, first game I 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.880 went to was the sixty six World Series. Wow, that 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:55.840 was the first game I start as five six years old? 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:57.719 Say six, I didn't even turned six, or yeah I 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:00.720 just turned six. And then you go to think tim 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:02.120 and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Jeff, you 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.600 and Paul Malader's first game. I think one of the 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.080 first games Paul Malolder played was a stadium and I 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.360 was out there watching that game and Paul millarder and 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:12.520 I said, boy, he looks like he could be really good. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.480 And look what Paul Malod developed into. So yeah, I'm going. 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.720 And I remember I used to love double Nothing was 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.520 better for a kid than a double header. And back 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.200 remember we had the true double header, and I loved 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.080 one the double headers. A Memorial Stadium and my aunt 0:14:26.200 --> 0:14:28.800 lived right off of the rhetor Aorunda stadium. So go there, 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:31.840 park there and walk over, go there after school at 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.680 Calvert Hall, whether it's weekends or whatever. So now I 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.560 went to probably as a kid, roughly twenty five to 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.240 thirty oriel games a year as many as I could 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.560 go to at that particular time. So yeah, always Opening Day. 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.280 Would all make sure we went to Opening Day if 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:48.760 we always could. But playoff games. I remember being out 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.360 there when it was snow flirring at some games. Yeah, 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.080 at Memorial Stadium. I love Memorial Stadium and also what 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:55.680 I loved as a kid, and Jeffy, I don't think 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.000 you ever and most kids will ever see this. I 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:00.640 love to be able in September to be in an 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.760 oral game on a Tuesday Wednesday and see the outline 0:15:03.760 --> 0:15:06.240 of the football field, knowing it on Sunday I'm gonna 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.440 be watching the Baltimore Colts play. It was just a 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:10.240 great feeling to be in that stay and knowing, Okay, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.120 I love what I'm seeing here with baseball, and then 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.440 on Sunday, I'm gonna be watching a Baltimore culture. I 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.200 just saw the Colts. Now I'm watching the Orioles. And 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.480 those stadiums where they were dual purpose multi purpose was 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.480 great for a kid. It was just a great feeling 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.720 and you don't get it now because it's great. Hey, 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:25.680 I love these stadiums. I love what they do. But 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:27.560 it was also great for a kid to be able 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:29.840 to sit there saying, boy, it's like you're home away 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.600 from home, and I'm going to be back on Sunday 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:33.800 here watching the Baltimore Colts play in this Saint on 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.440 the same field, same stadium. That's what I loved. And 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.040 a lot of kids, I think, don't have that a 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:39.840 level of enjoyment anymore because of that. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.520 Yeah, your memory transported me back and help me remember this. 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:46.720 The nineteen ninety nine World Series. I was six years 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:49.920 old when Tino Martinez hit a Grand Slam at Yankee 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.920 Stadium ninety eight. Okay, so I was five years old, 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.960 and isn't it amazing? I remember the roar of the crowd, 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:00.520 the excitement around that home run five. 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.120 But that's what baseball does, is it captivates you. It does, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.000 And the memories, early memories I have. I remember being 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:10.560 even playing when I was a kid down at Mount Pleasant, Okay, 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:12.600 Mount Pleasants Field, up at York Wood We used to 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.920 play up at Yorkwood Field up there, and then down 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.360 at Mount Pleasant. So even as a player, you remember 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.000 when you first, you know, had that bat in your hand, 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.360 had that glove on your and it's the first thing 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.520 I ever knew was baseball. And going to games when 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.720 I was probably even earlier than that. What I remember 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:29.720 is that one, but I may probably was dragged out 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:31.840 to a game earlier even even that, and then after 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:33.480 that it's once it's in your blood and you love 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.720 it and it's just something about to be able to 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:37.640 sit there like on a Saturday and that Tim knows 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.080 this would help in terms of getting that love and 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.120 that passion and that looking forward to we didn't have 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.000 games on every night, I could go in there and 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:48.200 I have it. I love watching the late night games 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:49.880 because that's when it frees up time for me, is 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:51.760 at ten thirty eleven o'clock at night, and I love 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:54.240 watching the West Coast games. I love that because everything 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.480 calms down, the phone's not ringing. I'm not don't need 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.120 anything else to be done from the ESPN standpoint, and 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.560 not going to relax and enjoy that. But as a kid, 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.080 the only games we had were Oriol games, and then 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:07.080 we had Saturday. As you know, it's him two fifteen, right, 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.400 Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubeck, you know doing that two fifteen game. 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.439 That's the first time on Saturday afternoon at two fifteen 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.800 Eastern we had a chance to watch the National League 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:19.520 or other teams. Then Monday Night Baseball started where we 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:21.960 were just watching the Orioles. So you really look forward 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.920 to that Saturday afternoon. They gave us a doubleheader was great. 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.600 But that Saturday afternoon at two fifteen Eastern with Garagiol 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:30.840 and Kuebec, it was one for the books. And then 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.240 we remember all the great broadcasters, and that's what I 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.880 always remember as well. Those were the ones, those individuals 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:39.880 I think contributed to the love of our of the game, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.760 the love of the sport. Were the great broadcasters as well. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.919 That I always say, the voices of the sport, the 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.399 voices of football, the voices of baseball. And that's something 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:51.959 that in your memory bank forever. And luckily you can 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:54.240 unfortunately you can go to the internet now and pull 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:55.840 those games. Not do it a lot. I'll go back 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.439 and watch a game, a Coke game from back at 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.280 the Memorial Stadium. Remember the Christmas Eve game against the 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.720 Raiders in the late seventies, an overtime game ruined my 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.720 Christmas when we lost that game. You remember the Ghost 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:09.720