Speaker 1: Ka boom. If you thought four hours a day, hundred
Speaker 1: minutes a week was enough, I think again. He's the
Speaker 1: last remnants of the old Republic, a sole fashion of fairness.
Speaker 1: He treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as
Speaker 1: the rich pill poppers in the penthouse. The Clearinghouse of
Speaker 1: Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour
Speaker 1: with Ben Maller starts right now that it is welcome
Speaker 1: in the Fifth Hour with Ben at Mallard. Because four
Speaker 1: hours a night are not enough, we do this now
Speaker 1: eight days a week, Happy Friday, Friday Friday. This of
Speaker 1: course a spinoff of the Overnight Show, but only in
Speaker 1: the podcast format, so we can say naughty words. We
Speaker 1: can say bad words here on this podcast. Joined yet
Speaker 1: again making his way, and we're in a new studio.
Speaker 1: It must have had a little different We're in a
Speaker 1: new studio this week. May taking his way in from
Speaker 1: west of the four oh five. David Gascon is right here.
Speaker 1: Oh you have that little that sound, crowd ping, crowd boys,
Speaker 1: crowd always finds away in what's the four oh five?
Speaker 1: Things are just a little bit different here, as I
Speaker 1: know you are aware. My um my Tomahawk steaks are
Speaker 1: are nicely cooked and commonly basted with the guitarry hockey
Speaker 1: sauce and onions in the whole nine yards. And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I continue to bring in elite guests as we have
Speaker 1: one on deck as we speak, Yes, warming up in
Speaker 1: the on deck circle right now, So we don't have
Speaker 1: time to get into culinary arts. I will tell you
Speaker 1: I made, I made, I have perfected the Mallard pizza,
Speaker 1: the garlic onion, bell pepper Mark Mallard pizza. It is
Speaker 1: a masterpiece. I'm thinking about opening up my own pizzeria
Speaker 1: if this radi of thing doesn't work out, and I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna get into the pizza business. Is that good? Uh?
Speaker 1: And I was gonna send you a picture, but you
Speaker 1: probably would have been so jealous you would have demanded
Speaker 1: that I make a Mallard pizza for you. So I
Speaker 1: didn't do that. But we'll talk about that at some
Speaker 1: point over the weekend. We will get into that. But
Speaker 1: but right now, I am very excited. This is a
Speaker 1: guy who has been around. I've followed him at the
Speaker 1: Big Lead, I've I've only met him once or twice
Speaker 1: over the years. He's got a very popular podcast. Now
Speaker 1: the Straight Fire Podcast. Jason McIntyre, he's multimedia, he's it
Speaker 1: was part of the Big Lead. He sold the Big Lead.
Speaker 1: I'm sure we'll get to that at some point. He
Speaker 1: is a hot take artists. He's he's had some viral
Speaker 1: takes on Lebron and he currently loves Luca don Chick
Speaker 1: of the Dallas Maverige. I think you'd like to have
Speaker 1: Luca's child. He loves him so much. And he's a
Speaker 1: bit of a Clipper hater, which is troubling to me.
Speaker 1: But Jason McIntyre is his name. Hot takes is his game.
Speaker 1: So welcome in, Jason. And you've got this daily podcast.
Speaker 1: I know you've been doing it a while with iHeart
Speaker 1: the Straight Fired Podcast. And how the heck is it going?
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me? I mean you'd have to ask
Speaker 1: the Big Boss is how it's going. I rarely look
Speaker 1: at the numbers or asked for them. But it's hell
Speaker 1: of fun, man. We started back in August, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know it's it's it's fun during NFL, it's funduring NBA.
Speaker 1: We haven't got to the dog days this summer yet.
Speaker 1: Where I don't know, I guess I'm gonna have to
Speaker 1: talk about baseball every day. Uh, you know, basically, we're
Speaker 1: trying to capture the zeitgeist and figure out what the
Speaker 1: biggest story in sports is and hit on it and
Speaker 1: have a take. Um it's it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I can't recall a time I've had more fun than
Speaker 1: you know, when I started out at FS one in
Speaker 1: that's cool. And so do you have a battle plan
Speaker 1: Jason for the summer time, which is it's been called
Speaker 1: the dead zone in sports radio and sports conversation. So
Speaker 1: are you just gonna like, do the NFL upcoming? You know,
Speaker 1: a list that kind of stuff, and what is your
Speaker 1: battle plan here? Yeah? I mean I love the NFL.
Speaker 1: It's my bread and butter. I love gambling. But I
Speaker 1: figured we could probably just argue about Jordan and Lebron
Speaker 1: every day for a month and that might work. Uh.
Speaker 1: People seem to have I mean, you know when they
Speaker 1: do give me numbers on the pod, they're like, holy cow,
Speaker 1: this Steph Curry take it just went bonkers and drove
Speaker 1: huge numbers. I'm like, really, what do they say? Ben,
Speaker 1: You've been in radio forever. Play the hits. I'll argue
Speaker 1: with anybody you know back in when I was a kid.
Speaker 1: It's funny. One of my teachers, I think it was
Speaker 1: third grade at parent teacher night was like, you know,
Speaker 1: Jason's going to make a lawyer one day because he
Speaker 1: he loves to argue with me. And it was like
Speaker 1: third grade, and I was like, all right, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be a lawyer. And you know, then you look into
Speaker 1: it and you're like, oh, yeah, it's four more years
Speaker 1: of school after no shot of that. But yeah, I mean, like, listen,
Speaker 1: I love sports debate. It's fun. So, Jason, you mentioned gambling,
Speaker 1: and uh, I've heard stories a prolific gambler. Are you
Speaker 1: a chop dog type of gambler? How would you describe
Speaker 1: your gambling philosophy over the gut instinct or the team
Speaker 1: or the player? Uh? You always want the best number. Um.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I was back at the Big Lead,
Speaker 1: like you know, I started doing a weekly NFL gambling
Speaker 1: thing and I was able through somebody I knew, to
Speaker 1: get already laying to submit gambling picks. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: I was like betting against already laying for fun. And
Speaker 1: you know, Frankly Alread Lange was like on the Stern
Speaker 1: Show and things were going well for him, and then
Speaker 1: they deteriorated pretty quickly. Uh. And I eventually didn't know
Speaker 1: at the end of the season if already Lang was
Speaker 1: submitting picks or it was like the middleman, you know,
Speaker 1: his guy, Um. But you know, I'll put my numbers
Speaker 1: up against anybody. My NBA Playoff numbers this year not
Speaker 1: very good. Uh, but you know, gambling is so fun.
Speaker 1: I think I got my first trip to Vegas, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, this is amazing. Hey, Jason, I know
Speaker 1: that one of the things that I first heard you
Speaker 1: talk about when when you actually came to the network.
Speaker 1: Were there the super contests? Uh in Vegas? Most people
Speaker 1: don't know what that is. Can you explain that for
Speaker 1: the audience? Yeah, you gotta pick against the spread games
Speaker 1: every week for the entires, and anybody can every week
Speaker 1: run And I think I was like top ten twice
Speaker 1: early in the season. But sticking with it, man is brutal.
Speaker 1: I always create her right around Thanksgiving because you know,
Speaker 1: you could stay harble every September October and then like
Speaker 1: the holidays come up, family trying orchestrate travel and you
Speaker 1: actually have to pay attention to your family a little
Speaker 1: bit and all of a sudden. Every year at Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: I just start struggling and that usually carries over. I've
Speaker 1: never cashed. I've come close, uh usually the top fifty cash.
Speaker 1: But as the as the super content US has expanded, UM,
Speaker 1: and now there's other sports books doing it, so there's
Speaker 1: multiple versions of it. UM. I think everybody's gonna get involved.
Speaker 1: They really, you know, this day, they've got to open
Speaker 1: it up so you don't have to be in Vegas
Speaker 1: and you can enter because I'm I mean in August,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to make that you know, five hour
Speaker 1: drive there, four and a half whatever, and then sign
Speaker 1: up for the contest, turn around to drive home, Like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to do that in the day. I
Speaker 1: did that last year. I left it like four thirty
Speaker 1: in the morning to beat the l A traffic. UM.
Speaker 1: And it sucks, but driving through the desert in August
Speaker 1: is obviously a lot of fun. See you are You
Speaker 1: are a unique guy, and Jason, I think you are
Speaker 1: the second person ever on Ben's podcast to actually live
Speaker 1: west of the four h Fire Freeway. So I want
Speaker 1: to welcome you personally as another guy west of the
Speaker 1: four or five Crew Way. We are an elite group
Speaker 1: of people. Ben condemns us. Uh, well, no, listen, listen.
Speaker 1: You know the landscape Jason in l A. There is
Speaker 1: the west of the four oh five, and then there's
Speaker 1: east of the four or five. That's like a point
Speaker 1: of demarcation in southern California. And I point this out
Speaker 1: to Gascon and he does not seem to embrace it.
Speaker 1: He pushes back on it. But if you've spent any
Speaker 1: time in southern California, you know, like that's the beach
Speaker 1: communities are west of the four h five, right, most
Speaker 1: almost all of them, and then east of the four
Speaker 1: oh five is mostly the working class people. That's where
Speaker 1: the working class people live east of the four oh five. Okay,
Speaker 1: so explainant the people west of the four or five
Speaker 1: don't work well, well, no, they have less less physical jobs, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: The people east of the four or five are getting
Speaker 1: gunk under their fingernails and they're you know, they're getting
Speaker 1: they're back pain all the time and that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And then it's you know, it's different west of the
Speaker 1: four oh five. It's suntane ocean, palm trees, cocktails. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's a different lifestyle west of the four oh five. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know again, I'm a newbie, so I'm not familiar
Speaker 1: with this line of demarcation. I will say it is
Speaker 1: a different vibe east of the four oh five when
Speaker 1: you drive to the Hollywood Bowl or uh you know
Speaker 1: you go to go even going to work, uh you know,
Speaker 1: on the Fox lot. But yeah, listen, he's just like
Speaker 1: taking shots at the west of the floor oh five crowd, Like,
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to come out for summer. Dude,
Speaker 1: this is far. I can't afford it. I can't afford it.
Speaker 1: That really, jealousy would be the reason I'm doing overnight series,
Speaker 1: JA said, I'll be overnight guy. Come on, man, I
Speaker 1: can't afford that. It's out of control here, my god,
Speaker 1: you I'm not exactly pulling in call and countered money,
Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. So I can you
Speaker 1: can certainly swing it. As a radio veteran out here
Speaker 1: in l A, I will just see this. Um. It
Speaker 1: is a different life than I grew up in. Like
Speaker 1: in the summer now we beach camp there at the
Speaker 1: beach like everyday practice. Yeah, you know, when I was
Speaker 1: growing up on the East Coast, we would make maybe
Speaker 1: two or three trips to the beach all year. Uh
Speaker 1: and now it's like, you know, we're they're probably another week. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Where did you grow up? By the way, we're in
Speaker 1: your childhood. Where I grew up? You know, I was
Speaker 1: born in New York, hence the next and Jets fandom,
Speaker 1: and then we grew up in Northern Virginia. My dad
Speaker 1: worked at the government uh in BC, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: Northern Virginia was kind of exploding, so we were out
Speaker 1: there just you know, firmly in the middle class. We
Speaker 1: took one or two vacations a year. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: we saw a lot of family members. You know, I
Speaker 1: was the first one in my family born in America.
Speaker 1: My family family came from the Caribbean. So, um, I'm
Speaker 1: definitely you know, David tried to call me. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he was going unicorn, but I'm definitely unique
Speaker 1: in the in the sports media industry. Uh. Now, a
Speaker 1: lot of guys with the Caribbean background who have the
Speaker 1: last named McIntyre but are definitely not Irish. Uh So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a kind of a unique in unique background. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: You you mentioned when you talk about gambling with you
Speaker 1: being in those super contest analogies and that, and we
Speaker 1: are heading towards the golden age here. I know from
Speaker 1: talking to different people the advertising in sports media, which
Speaker 1: has already started, but once this fully matures, I mean,
Speaker 1: you've been in the business a while now too, So
Speaker 1: what are we looking at here? For those of us
Speaker 1: that work in sports media with all the gambling money
Speaker 1: that's gonna be the sports wagering. Once California and in
Speaker 1: some of these other states that haven't yet legalized it
Speaker 1: get into it, it is gonna be the gold rush,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be huge, is it not? It's been saying.
Speaker 1: The one example somebody gave to me recently was, hey,
Speaker 1: so Adrian Woddarowski is paid by ESPN, right, what happens
Speaker 1: if Van Duel says, boy, if we can get access
Speaker 1: to everybody woad tweets out too and Instagrams two and
Speaker 1: Facebook's two. Boy, that's a lot of customers who are
Speaker 1: die hard sports fans hanging on his every word. What's
Speaker 1: just top fan Duel or draft Kings from saying or
Speaker 1: Fox bet, Hey, WHOA, We're gonna pay you ten million
Speaker 1: dollars a year. We're gonna double your salary. You now
Speaker 1: work for us. You can still break your news, do
Speaker 1: your thing, but it's your Twitter feed sponsored by fox Beet,
Speaker 1: and now everybody who gets your feed and your news
Speaker 1: it's all through fox Beet. Why why would that not happen? Ben? No,
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think it's it's insane. It's
Speaker 1: good for all of us. Like guys, well, we're not
Speaker 1: I'm not at level. You're more of that. I'm not
Speaker 1: listen event. There's only one would there's one schefter, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't know that Peter King is gonna bite on
Speaker 1: this kind of thing, rapaport, you know. And then you
Speaker 1: get down the list, and then you get to like
Speaker 1: the fless celebrities like us, and they're like, oh, we
Speaker 1: can throw this guy a couple of million bucks because
Speaker 1: guess what. Ben Muller as a radio show that's everybody's known,
Speaker 1: and he's got a die hard following every night, and
Speaker 1: his podcast numbers are good. It's coming, Ben. We just
Speaker 1: have to be patient, right, Yeah, that's the hard part. Patience. No, patience,
Speaker 1: I don't but you know, it's a little bit different
Speaker 1: of the beast. Hey, Jason, I know that obviously being
Speaker 1: a die hard Jets fan, you haven't had any kind
Speaker 1: of excitement since Venny Tista Verdi broke your heart in
Speaker 1: the a f C Championship game against the Broncos. Back, Um,
Speaker 1: are you having any kind of of I guess reminiscence
Speaker 1: about getting a guy that you guys have right now
Speaker 1: and bolting with Sam Darl Do you feel like was
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson coming and he is a savior? All right?
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest, gas Gun, that's fake news, the
Speaker 1: Vinny test of Verdie stuff. Okay, did you forget about
Speaker 1: the Mark Sanchez era? Mark Sanchees went to two damn
Speaker 1: a f C title games back to back. Those are
Speaker 1: those were threats? Those weren't threats to me to win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl? That the Jets that season were actually good.
Speaker 1: The last Jets game that mattered Jets stealers an FC
Speaker 1: title game. I think it was twenty four nothing at
Speaker 1: one point, Sanchez Santonio Holmes. They storm back and the
Speaker 1: Jets they just the defense needed one stop. And yes,
Speaker 1: I've replayed this game in my head a million times.
Speaker 1: They needed one stop and Big Ben keep chewing up
Speaker 1: like four or five six yards. Levian I think it
Speaker 1: was Levian Bell. No, no, I'm sorry it wasn't Lean
Speaker 1: bell Um. But they could not get the stop, they
Speaker 1: could not get the ball back Steelers win. Um. I
Speaker 1: thought Sam Donald could get them somewhere. Man, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie. I was out front driving the Sam Donald bus.
Speaker 1: And you know I was wrong about Adam Gaze, way
Speaker 1: way wrong, embarrassingly wrong. Um. I'm hopeful that pretty boy
Speaker 1: Zach can make this happen. I've called him zac Efron
Speaker 1: multiple times, by the way, but doesn't even look like
Speaker 1: zac Efron, like he looks like he's years old. I
Speaker 1: firmly believe the Jets have something now. I like this
Speaker 1: new coach, Robert Salah. Um. I just feel like it
Speaker 1: feels like the perfect time with the Patriots sinking, I
Speaker 1: think two was a big fraud. And um, I'm still
Speaker 1: not a hundred thousand percent sold on Josh Allen. I
Speaker 1: think the Jets come back. But yeah, and it's it's
Speaker 1: been a wrong three decades now. You bring up the
Speaker 1: situation with with Zach Wilson and and obviously being a
Speaker 1: little wrong on on Adam Gaze, And I'm happy you
Speaker 1: did do that because Ben and I have worked with
Speaker 1: a colleague that you are are obviously close with now
Speaker 1: and that's Robert Gara, and we need I need your
Speaker 1: help because I feel like you have corrupted Bob in
Speaker 1: this way where every morning Bob has these tweets that
Speaker 1: echo straight fire. It's just like these takes. I'm thinking, like, man,
Speaker 1: Jason's rubbing off on Bob's so much. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's I don't know if it's me or it's
Speaker 1: Rob Parker. Because Rob Parker's takes are so damn hot
Speaker 1: these days. You know you're gonna drop your phone look
Speaker 1: at at the damn thing you gotta where of admits
Speaker 1: to hear these crazy, insane Rob Parker rants, which makes
Speaker 1: no sense, but you know he's a buddy, so he's
Speaker 1: afraid to have me co host with him. By the way, Gascon,
Speaker 1: I know you know this, Ben, I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know, Like when Bruce starts out, Parker gets to
Speaker 1: pick who he wants is his is his co host,
Speaker 1: And there was a time when he would pick me,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, let's bring in McIntyre. He don't pick me
Speaker 1: anymore because Lebron you name it um. But you know, listen, Rob,
Speaker 1: Rob's got some good take. Rob where that is that's
Speaker 1: pretty interesting takes. He's a little in on on the
Speaker 1: Lakers to the point where he can't see straight. You know,
Speaker 1: He's like, oh, yeah, it's the Laker, this guy. Um,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I'm working on him. Um, but I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be all right. Because you work in multiple
Speaker 1: dimensions television, digital, and radio, what's your preferred medium? Well,
Speaker 1: that's a great question, and Ben, it goes back to
Speaker 1: your West of the four oh five. You want to
Speaker 1: live out here, you need three or four revenue streams,
Speaker 1: which is why we working like a dog. Fox Digital TV, radio, podcast. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, each of them is different and has their pluses.
Speaker 1: The written word doesn't carry the way that used to,
Speaker 1: but man, um, it is awesome when you write something
Speaker 1: and they put the right headline on it and it
Speaker 1: just mushrooms and everybody hates your guts. Obviously, podcasting there's
Speaker 1: no rules, right, I mean, I'm I'm relatively new to this.
Speaker 1: When I was in college, podcasting did not exist down
Speaker 1: Joe Rogan's making on a hundred million a year, so
Speaker 1: you could do whatever you want on podcasting. TV obviously
Speaker 1: is the glamorous one where you feel great. You feel
Speaker 1: that rush when the you know, the red light comes on,
Speaker 1: and um, it's super exciting. And radio, of course, UM,
Speaker 1: you really can have some good rants. I had an
Speaker 1: epic Toronto Raptors rant where I just totally can I
Speaker 1: say bad words here? And I just took a ship
Speaker 1: on the Raptors. I was so pissed that Kauai got
Speaker 1: lucky when Durant and everybody got hurt, and I just
Speaker 1: unloaded on those guys, just a torrent of diarrhea all
Speaker 1: over the franchise and like, I got like all these
Speaker 1: death threats from these losers in Toronto, um, and I
Speaker 1: had to block of them on my Instagram and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. But um, radio, you could you get a
Speaker 1: really good lather going. Man, it feels good to just
Speaker 1: unload on someone. Yeah, radio is just a different, different
Speaker 1: beast obviously, because you know bench show, it's like at
Speaker 1: certain times of the of the hour, you really can
Speaker 1: get after it the safe harbor space. But with that
Speaker 1: being said, who's your favorite person to work with? We're
Speaker 1: talking about Fox FS one and obviously on the digital side,
Speaker 1: because you've worked obviously with some some big that's a
Speaker 1: load of question. Yes, that's a loaded question. I mean
Speaker 1: I think if it's if it was your least favorite
Speaker 1: to work with, that's a lot easier of a question, um,
Speaker 1: but a favorite to work with, you know, Like listen,
Speaker 1: Bruce had is a lot of fun. Coward obviously is fun. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, on on the digital side, I've been doing
Speaker 1: some fun stuff with Jeff Schwartz. Um. You know. On
Speaker 1: on the radio side, yeah, I think I've hosted with
Speaker 1: kind of intimidating guys. Like when you're sitting next to
Speaker 1: Steven Jackson or Matt Barnes and you know, these are big, tall, millionaires,
Speaker 1: tattered up, not looking like guys that I went to
Speaker 1: high school with or college. It can be intimidating, but man,
Speaker 1: it's fun when you start vibing with them. Uh. Karen
Speaker 1: Butler really good guy. A lot of NFL guys. Will
Speaker 1: Blackman's awesome. And I just know I backed out of
Speaker 1: the question by naming like fifteen people, who's your favorite listen?
Speaker 1: I could throw it out there. I could go either
Speaker 1: Bob Gara or Gavin Kinsel one of the two. Oh,
Speaker 1: those guys are good dudes. Man. I will say, have
Speaker 1: you had Gavin on the pod lately? I have not.
Speaker 1: I love Gavin Gavin and Bob are always great. Gavin,
Speaker 1: I feel like it's easier to get worked up if
Speaker 1: you veer into some Clay Travis territory. Gavin will get
Speaker 1: fired up. Bob a little less easy to get worked up.
Speaker 1: Maybe if you took a shot at Kobe. But you
Speaker 1: know that's not ever smart dude, Jason. It's weird because
Speaker 1: the dynamic behind that network. I know you're not there
Speaker 1: all the time, but it is either Laker or Dodger Town,
Speaker 1: and god forbid one of those teams loses, Like these
Speaker 1: guys won't show up to work or they'll just show
Speaker 1: up with diapers and and and obviously handkerchiefs and and
Speaker 1: it's embarrassing grown asked men right complaining about their team losing.
Speaker 1: I mean, Matt, maybe we should all get behind the Clippers.
Speaker 1: You know, I haven't seen here's a funny thing. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen a damn word said about NBA ratings for
Speaker 1: like three days. Lakers are out. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: building my Knights around suns nuggets. Everybody on the East
Speaker 1: Coast is happy. I mean, you get to go to
Speaker 1: bed early. No disrespect to jazz clip paper clips, but
Speaker 1: nobody's like I gotta stay up till twelve o'clock to
Speaker 1: watch you know, kaw While Leonard and Paul George. Ben
Speaker 1: am I getting the vibe here. You're a Clippers guy.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller
Speaker 1: Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific
Speaker 1: on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not just a Clipper guy. I'm a
Speaker 1: Clipper live dog. And by the way, you was a
Speaker 1: Jets fan, Jason, you should have empathy for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: The Clippers are essentially the Jets of the NBA. And
Speaker 1: for you to throw dirt, I saw what you said
Speaker 1: about the Mavericks against the Clip. You were all over
Speaker 1: the Mavericks. You were you were riding with Luca don
Speaker 1: Check my man. Come on willing to say right now, Ben, Luca.
Speaker 1: If I'm starting a team anybody in the NBA, I'm
Speaker 1: going Luca Donches first. Now are you thinking? Listen, Luca,
Speaker 1: if did you watch those games later in the game,
Speaker 1: it was Tim Hardaway Jr. And other guys that were
Speaker 1: making big shots for the Mavericks where they were beating
Speaker 1: the Clippers. It was Luca was Luke was chilling at
Speaker 1: for the first three quarters of the game. Listen, and
Speaker 1: they lost to the Clippers after having a two nothing.
Speaker 1: How great is Luca? Come on and entree too? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, listen, I felt Luca he was like questionable
Speaker 1: for Game seven because his back was hurting from carrying
Speaker 1: the damn franchise for the first few quarters of every game.
Speaker 1: I think thirty five, ten and seven against Kawai and
Speaker 1: Paul George wore the best wing defenders in the league.
Speaker 1: Just what quarter he got? He got tired? Like, I mean,
Speaker 1: sorry that boban And and Chris STAPs porzingis who like
Speaker 1: who who'd rather hang out at the local bar. He'd
Speaker 1: rather hang out at a watering hole than he would
Speaker 1: in the paint, whereas seven foot guys should be. And
Speaker 1: I was complaining, like Luca, donte you know I'm all
Speaker 1: about that guy right now. I mean, you get how
Speaker 1: about this, Ben, If you swapped Kauai and Luca and
Speaker 1: you put Kauai on the on the MAVs, what's that
Speaker 1: series four old Clippers? Well, Kauai didn't show up for
Speaker 1: a couple of games too. I mean that's be I
Speaker 1: I mean Kauai he played very well at the end.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of games Kauai was kind of
Speaker 1: going through the motions too. It's that's by the way
Speaker 1: porzingis he was at the ballet Jason. You're supposed to
Speaker 1: appreciate a man that but wait, hold up, Ben, who
Speaker 1: are you taking over Luca to start a team in
Speaker 1: the NBA? Age obviously matters salary a little bit less.
Speaker 1: So well, I'm not only worried about about ten years
Speaker 1: or something. I think the problem people making sports is
Speaker 1: they're concerned about, you know, what's gonna happen. Luca might
Speaker 1: stink in five years. You don't know. I mean, these
Speaker 1: guys just you don't know that. You know, you can't
Speaker 1: assume that Luca is gonna continue down down the path
Speaker 1: that he has right now. And and it was Trey
Speaker 1: Young has has led a team further than Luca in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. I wouldn't pick Trey Young per se. But
Speaker 1: if if winning is the goal, I can get anybody
Speaker 1: to put up stats. That's you know. Following the NBA,
Speaker 1: there were guys on bad teams. I remember years ago,
Speaker 1: when I started covering the NBA in the nineties, there
Speaker 1: were guys I covered the Clippers. They were horrible, and
Speaker 1: there were guys who were putting up great stats, empty
Speaker 1: stats because the team was terrible and all that. And
Speaker 1: then you know, listen, I'm not in fully in love
Speaker 1: with Luca. The stat domination is great and all that,
Speaker 1: but I gotta I gotta see more. Now, more importantly,
Speaker 1: you are. You are Also, why did Luca slander? Then
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not gonna stand for that. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: I don't follow a ton of athletes on on the Graham,
Speaker 1: but I follow Luca. Dontage, man, I like this guy.
Speaker 1: He is so talented. So when you you you were
Speaker 1: covering the NBA eight, I'm sure you saw it. In
Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties, Mike, we all realized Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: didn't win jack Squat until Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: showed up. Michael Jordan was putting a monster numbers in
Speaker 1: the eighties and getting his butt kicked by the bad boys,
Speaker 1: and everybody's like, oh, he doesn't have help. Well, how
Speaker 1: could we're not saying the same thing about Luca Now,
Speaker 1: I mean Lucas kicking the ball to Dwight Powell and
Speaker 1: Maxi Kleiber. You wouldn't know him if he delivered door
Speaker 1: dash to your house tomorrow. I mean, like, has no
Speaker 1: help whatsoever. I mean again, Magic Johnson came into the NBA.
Speaker 1: He's dishing to uh, Norm Nixon, Kareem abdul Jabbar. Oh,
Speaker 1: let's just grab James Worthy like Magic had the perfect setup,
Speaker 1: like Luca Dontage. I know I've gassed him up too much.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, trash him now, No, trash him. I'm just saying, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for every Michael Jordan's there's ten other guys that had
Speaker 1: great stats and never never took it to the next level.
Speaker 1: Jordan did. And I you know this idea that it
Speaker 1: was all because of Pippen. If Pippen hadn't been there,
Speaker 1: who's to say somebody else wouldn't have come along. It
Speaker 1: would have helped out. Uh, you know Jordan, And you're
Speaker 1: a Knicks fan. Christops Porzingis was like God's gift to
Speaker 1: the Knicks when he was in New York, right, No,
Speaker 1: he loved him. They wanted to. They wanted to give
Speaker 1: him a statue and a ticker tape parade in New
Speaker 1: York because he they did. I mean, they loved Porzingis
Speaker 1: and now another st Actually, but I did want to
Speaker 1: mention here and I know you are even though you're
Speaker 1: a Knicks fan, you are a huge Lebron James guy.
Speaker 1: Am I am I correcting that you have you a
Speaker 1: watch pool idic about Lebron. I mean, wax poetic, maybe strong,
Speaker 1: but I think undeniably like I can appreciate his greatness.
Speaker 1: I was never a Michael Jordan's guy, but I appreciated. Man,
Speaker 1: this guy's a killer. Larry Bird Okay, I born in
Speaker 1: New York. I automatically hate all New England teams. I
Speaker 1: do not like Larry Bird. He's awesome. Larry Bird's a killer.
Speaker 1: I don't really like Tom Brady. But man, that guy's
Speaker 1: freaking good. He's just a winner. He's clutch. Um. I
Speaker 1: never loved Lebron with the heatles um. I just the
Speaker 1: story that he can go to any franchise and instantly
Speaker 1: they're in the finals is pretty much something that we
Speaker 1: haven't ever seen before in sports. Like winning a title awesome,
Speaker 1: but he won, and then he leaves and he gets
Speaker 1: back to the finals. Then he goes to l A
Speaker 1: and wins another championship, Like have we ever seen this?
Speaker 1: A guy go to three different places, be the driving
Speaker 1: force behind it everywhere and winning championships like it's unheard of. Practically,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of in awe of his greatness, and yes,
Speaker 1: I have him as the greatest player of all time.
Speaker 1: I'm at Michael Jordan guy, So I'm not I've not
Speaker 1: been swayed by Lebron James. But with the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: you will admit that he is a declining star with
Speaker 1: the Lakers. He's been there three years. The first year
Speaker 1: they got to the lottery, he got hurt. The second year,
Speaker 1: to me, that Bubble championship, I don't put a lot
Speaker 1: of stock in that because of what happened with the
Speaker 1: with not traveling in no home court road situation, So
Speaker 1: I don't put a lot of stock in that. And
Speaker 1: then this past year he got hurt again. So he's
Speaker 1: been in l a three years. He's had injuries, and
Speaker 1: two of them first round playoff exit and also a
Speaker 1: lottery appearance for the Lakers. That's you know, that's not
Speaker 1: to me, that's not over the top amazing. And if
Speaker 1: you look at the age, if you look at the
Speaker 1: cops Jason, then you know it's it's gonna be kind
Speaker 1: of more like when Kobe was at the end and
Speaker 1: he was you know, he had lost it, and Kobe
Speaker 1: got hurt a lot, and the Lakers were terrible. Like
Speaker 1: to me, Lebron's declining entity at this point, and the
Speaker 1: Lakers seemed to they seemed to be convinced that he's
Speaker 1: just gonna be the same Lebron, you know, the way
Speaker 1: he was four years ago, next year in the year after.
Speaker 1: I I don't see that happening about you. Naturally, he's
Speaker 1: gonna be declined in his age. But it's funny because
Speaker 1: what he's doing now. Michael Jordan had already quit twice.
Speaker 1: He bailed on the NBA twice because he couldn't take it.
Speaker 1: Like he wins three titles, goes to the finals three
Speaker 1: years in a row. Michael Jordan's like, oh, I got
Speaker 1: over time, exhausted, Like he went on last dance and
Speaker 1: said that three straight trips to the finals and you're exhausted.
Speaker 1: Lebron went eighth straight and he never never quit. Now now, yes,
Speaker 1: his body's breaking down. He's thirty six. But I just
Speaker 1: want to remind people after Game three, I was actually
Speaker 1: a Game three at Staples. Lakers are up to one
Speaker 1: in that series. Nobody, not one soul said Phoenix has
Speaker 1: this series, They're gonna be fine. Lebron and A D
Speaker 1: are clicking. A D had thirty four in Game two
Speaker 1: and thirty four and Game three like they were gonna
Speaker 1: probably roll in five or six over Phoenix, and then
Speaker 1: he D goes down and it's like, well, there goes
Speaker 1: the season. Uh So, I mean, I don't think anybody
Speaker 1: expected Lebron to be able to carry you know, Dennis
Speaker 1: Shrewder and k c P and Mr unreliable Kyle Kuzba.
Speaker 1: I sit by the way Beniel like this, I said
Speaker 1: on an undisputed that Kyle Kuzma, it's about as reliable
Speaker 1: as the WiFi in my basement, and like apparently it
Speaker 1: got back to him and he was ticked off because
Speaker 1: I know some people kind of need the Lakers. Cacusa
Speaker 1: didn't show. Jake Crowner made six damn three pointers in
Speaker 1: Game six. Cocus would made like four in the series,
Speaker 1: I think three or four in the series, like Kuzma
Speaker 1: doesn't deliver. Nobody expected Lebron to carry that corpse past
Speaker 1: the Suns, who had the second best record in the league.
Speaker 1: Right Well, Lebron, though he said it himself. He was
Speaker 1: gonna put on his shoulders. He implied the shoulders were
Speaker 1: made to carry the Lakers, and he didn't do that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the Lakers say that as opposed to we're
Speaker 1: gonna get her asses kicked, like Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: You know, well, well, no, you could be like Kawhile
Speaker 1: Letard and not say anything. Kauai. You know when the Clipper,
Speaker 1: when the Clippers fell behind too nothing into the matters,
Speaker 1: he didn't really say like, we're gonna come back and
Speaker 1: win the series. He just like, you know, he just doesn't.
Speaker 1: He's like a robot, are you well. I like him
Speaker 1: as a player, but he's you know, as for what
Speaker 1: we do, Jason, this is not good. Kauai is not
Speaker 1: radio friendly, he's not podcast friendly. Lebron is very I'll
Speaker 1: give Lebron credit. He I have on a slow day, Jason,
Speaker 1: over the years here at night, you know, I'll just
Speaker 1: go to Lebron. He'll still He'll say something crazy, stupid, whatever,
Speaker 1: and I can get a segment out of it. So
Speaker 1: I would like to thank Lebron for that. But Kyle Kuzma,
Speaker 1: they were listen, they you saw us, They were leaving
Speaker 1: Kuzma open. I mean he had he had some great
Speaker 1: takes where our shots where he was like open, he
Speaker 1: didn't make them, and the Lakers left Jake Crowd as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, he was making him, you know, he didn't
Speaker 1: make He didn't make him early in the series, but
Speaker 1: by the end of it he was knocking down. That's
Speaker 1: a good it's a good point. Early in the series
Speaker 1: they had a d back there, right, and so the
Speaker 1: rotations are easier when you got Anthony Davis on the
Speaker 1: back line. And then listen, Cameron Payne was blowing by
Speaker 1: Lebron like he was in cement shoes. And it's a
Speaker 1: lot more difficult to play defense if you're Lebron or
Speaker 1: k c P or any of these guys when you
Speaker 1: don't have Anthony Davis back there. Look over your shoulder
Speaker 1: and Andre Drummond, who you know, struggles to tie his
Speaker 1: shoes and chew gum at the same time, Like it's
Speaker 1: just a different animal. And the Lakers they got deep
Speaker 1: panted um. I'm hopeful that they can come back next year.
Speaker 1: Just I will say in the bubble, fully healthy Lakers,
Speaker 1: role fully healthy against the Sun's up to one. Laquers
Speaker 1: were good. I don't necessarily think the sky is falling,
Speaker 1: but they can't weather another twenty games without Lebron. I say,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to start the load managing. And remember
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan was retired by thirty seven. I mean, he
Speaker 1: came back when he was thirty nine as a fossil
Speaker 1: with the Washington Wizards in my backyard, and he couldn't
Speaker 1: even drag that team to the playoffs, you know. So, um,
Speaker 1: I just think the hay giography over Jordan is a
Speaker 1: bit much. Ben. You go online and these guys act
Speaker 1: like Michael Jordan never missed a damn shot. How soon
Speaker 1: we forget that Donald Royal of the Orlando Magic picked
Speaker 1: his pocket and went in for a dunk. And when
Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic you're laugh at Gascon this happened. It's
Speaker 1: on YouTube. We scrugged this away. Oh, because he had
Speaker 1: played baseball. He only came back for twenty games. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know Donald Royle picked his pocket and dunked, and
Speaker 1: the Magic knocked the Bulls out of the playoffs. But
Speaker 1: somehow that doesn't count against George. But I think to
Speaker 1: be fair though, Jason, you would agree, especially with the
Speaker 1: Jordan's and Lebron talk is that most people only worried
Speaker 1: about the contemporaries. They lose, they lose their nature of
Speaker 1: an argument because they don't have that kind of roll
Speaker 1: decks of content. Like you could talk to Brussard about
Speaker 1: basketball and he'll start picking guys off. You know, Oscar Robertson, obviously,
Speaker 1: Creme Al dul Jabbar, Jerry West. These guys from yesteryear
Speaker 1: are guys that put up monster numbers and they played
Speaker 1: in a different era. You put them in today's game
Speaker 1: with obviously the rough housing that's not that was permitted
Speaker 1: back then. Now it is not. These guys would be
Speaker 1: lighting people up. I mean Jerry West point in an
Speaker 1: era with no three point line. Okay, let me ask
Speaker 1: you this. Uh, and you meant you referenced. I'm a
Speaker 1: big Knicks fan. What is Patrick Ewing in today's NBA? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean he would be getting lit up. He would
Speaker 1: be played off the floor. Uh. He doesn't have the
Speaker 1: mobility of Gobert. And that's tough because you say that
Speaker 1: to a guy like Hussar and you get defensive Well,
Speaker 1: Patrick Ewing would have been shooting threes and that's that's accurate.
Speaker 1: He would have been shooting. You know, some of these
Speaker 1: guys like, I mean, you want to go back to
Speaker 1: those Celtics when they won fifty titles in a row
Speaker 1: with Bill Russell, Like, well, they're nine teams in the league,
Speaker 1: you know, you you find those highlights the black and white,
Speaker 1: and it's like a bunch of white guys. You know,
Speaker 1: no disrespect, But what does Zach Lavine doing in the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixties? Is he's averaging fifty a game? I mean,
Speaker 1: is he putting a fIF sixty game? I'll tell you
Speaker 1: right now. Ain't nobody in the nineteen sixties could check
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine to save their life. But and he's not
Speaker 1: even a top fifteen player in the league right now.
Speaker 1: Not to be fair, though, what would happen with guys
Speaker 1: like David Robinson and Hakeem Elijah On. I mean, those
Speaker 1: are guys that played a host game is a true
Speaker 1: big So what would happen to them in today's game?
Speaker 1: We don't have many guys like Robinson. Well, the only
Speaker 1: thing is Youing was more lumbering. He was really good
Speaker 1: defensively early in his career with the box. But I
Speaker 1: think a larger one would be Okay, I don't know
Speaker 1: if he would be um like Rudy Gobert, but he
Speaker 1: can at least score. I'll say this about Yoki and
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. If you watch that game this week, it's
Speaker 1: like they're not even looking inside. They're just like, oh,
Speaker 1: we'd rather have Austin Rivers jack threes and composo. It's like,
Speaker 1: if you at least go inside, you can get automatic points.
Speaker 1: With a larger one, the defense has to probably help
Speaker 1: a little bit, and those threes for Jay Crowder or
Speaker 1: whoever on the Suns or Nuggets are a little bit easier. Um,
Speaker 1: I think. I mean, I would guess a larger one
Speaker 1: would be better than DeAndre Ayton right uh, and probably
Speaker 1: better than Rudy Gobert. I mean, the game has just
Speaker 1: changed so much. But I'll answer the question since Ben
Speaker 1: did not. If I had to start a team now,
Speaker 1: I would take Kevin Durant over Luca Don ten times
Speaker 1: at a ten times, like there's no there's no ifs
Speaker 1: ands or butts about it, Like there's no question in
Speaker 1: my mind. And Kawhi Leonard Kawhi Leonard is a two
Speaker 1: way player. Luka Don is an offensive threat. That is it.
Speaker 1: You can't get stopped from Luca don Chech. He doesn't mean,
Speaker 1: but if you're building a team, you build somebody with
Speaker 1: on the back line. They could get those blocks the
Speaker 1: way Anthony Davis does. I'll just say this. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of people are like, oh, James Hard not
Speaker 1: James Harden, Kevin Durant is amazing. Well yeah, no, ships
Speaker 1: your lock. You know, Kevin Durant is amazing. That being
Speaker 1: said Gascon, think back to is okay see dives Okay. Yes,
Speaker 1: he could get a lot of wins. He could often
Speaker 1: get to the finals. They were never able to win
Speaker 1: a chip. Now I know what you're gonna say, Well,
Speaker 1: Luca hasn't won a series. I totally get that. I
Speaker 1: don't know if Durant had by twenty two, he might have.
Speaker 1: I think it went to the finals at four. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is certainly up there. Uh. My thing with Luca,
Speaker 1: I know he makes everyone better? Does Kevin Durant make
Speaker 1: anyone else better? Well? And the thing about the rant
Speaker 1: we used to kill him right with Oklahoma City. It
Speaker 1: couldn't get over the hump, and he that reputation, and
Speaker 1: then he went to Golden State obviously and changed it.
Speaker 1: But we have limited time left, JA and I must
Speaker 1: bring up the big lead. You are. You were known
Speaker 1: as the guy you you helped create the domination that
Speaker 1: was the Big League, and you sold it. I am
Speaker 1: immensely jealous. I had a website, my own, my own
Speaker 1: name on it, and I did pretty well. I had
Speaker 1: a pretty good following, and I made some deals with
Speaker 1: Yahoo and Fox Sports. I never I never made the
Speaker 1: big like the big money, and and many people have
Speaker 1: have said, why didn't you? I'm a bad businessman. You
Speaker 1: are a smart businessman, Jason, you know you are. You
Speaker 1: kind of walked me through the mindset of me, because
Speaker 1: that had to be, I would say, a tough decision.
Speaker 1: You obviously did very well financially. But what led you
Speaker 1: to finally move on from from the Big League? Uh? Well,
Speaker 1: you mean sell it or at the end about to
Speaker 1: sell it, and then obviously eventually you left. It's it's
Speaker 1: so funny this idea that like I made all this money.
Speaker 1: First of all, that's not totally true. Like, yes, it
Speaker 1: was mentioned in the New York Times seven figures got it, okay,
Speaker 1: But it's not like I cleared uh twenty million bucks
Speaker 1: or the volume or anything like that. Like, come on, um,
Speaker 1: not the volume hasn't sold, but you know they're getting
Speaker 1: tons of money, and Clay Travis did well. Um listen.
Speaker 1: It was very fortuitous. It was at a good time.
Speaker 1: Like everybody talks about disruptors right now, like Airbnb is
Speaker 1: disrupting the hotel industry. Well, my website kind of disrupted
Speaker 1: newspapers at the time. And you know, we weren't stealing
Speaker 1: all their uh readership, but we were stealing enough that
Speaker 1: it mattered. We had a young audience and this company
Speaker 1: had approached me. It was like, hey, we want to
Speaker 1: rent you with the option to buy. So we'll rent
Speaker 1: you for a year and if we see the numbers
Speaker 1: in the income and blah blah blah, we'll buy you.
Speaker 1: And I was like all right, uh. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because when I had that, two gentlemen in sports media
Speaker 1: came to me and we're like, hey, don't do that deal,
Speaker 1: do one with us. And it was Dan Lebottard and
Speaker 1: Jason Whitlock. And they were friends at the time. I
Speaker 1: don't know the friends anymore. I mean I think I've
Speaker 1: told this story and like they were like, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: hold off on selling. And I was like, seeing the
Speaker 1: numbers these guys were telling me, uh, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got the wife and we got a kid on
Speaker 1: the way. Sorry guys, And of course they were not
Speaker 1: thrilled about that. Uh. Selling it was was a good feeling.
Speaker 1: Uh but again, like then you know you're a grinder
Speaker 1: like I am. Like you sell it and then you
Speaker 1: go to bed and you wake up just like everybody else.
Speaker 1: You put on your socks. I don't sleep with socks.
Speaker 1: You know, you put on your socks, you brush your teeth,
Speaker 1: you go downstairs, just like, all right, what's next? Like
Speaker 1: I'm not the kind of guy who's gonna sit there
Speaker 1: and do like a massive victory lab because I sold
Speaker 1: the website, Like all right, you gotta keep grinding away,
Speaker 1: like it's weird in this industry. Ben I I'm I'm
Speaker 1: almost certain, uh knowing a little about you that I know,
Speaker 1: Like you're never like, alright, that was an amazing show.
Speaker 1: Let me kick back and relax. It just doesn't work
Speaker 1: like that. You know, You've always got to keep going.
Speaker 1: You want forward momentum. I'm personally never satisfied. My wife
Speaker 1: thinks it's a little bit unhealthy, but like, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I just I'm not in the mood to like give
Speaker 1: up like I'm trying to. I'm trying. I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to get like gascon and work out and become monster.
Speaker 1: But I like sports. You know, I just don't know
Speaker 1: that there's an endgame for me. Now. Maybe when I'm
Speaker 1: like sixty something, I'll chill and want to retire, but
Speaker 1: like I'm feeling in my prime. Uh, and I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna keep working, whether it's website, digital, podcast, TV, ready whatever,
Speaker 1: Like I got time, and what are the other options?
Speaker 1: What am I gonna do? Like none of my friends
Speaker 1: are retired. You know, I can't play golf every day.
Speaker 1: I'm not great at golf, but it's also boring as shit.
Speaker 1: Um and like you can only play tennis so many
Speaker 1: times a week, you know, I do pick up basketball.
Speaker 1: Like if you had no job, like it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: that great. You'd probably be unhealthy. You play video games,
Speaker 1: you know, you probably start hitting on with then everywhere.
Speaker 1: Like I just like working, and uh, I really just
Speaker 1: end up going to continue to uh try to kick ass. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well you're you're doing a great job. I thank you
Speaker 1: for coming on the podcast. I think we're wired the
Speaker 1: same way. You just want to keep working. I don't
Speaker 1: look back and listen to the show, and I just
Speaker 1: move on to the next thing. So anyways, straight fire.
Speaker 1: You can hear that every day, five days a week. Yes,
Speaker 1: early in the morning, drops early in the morning. People
Speaker 1: can listen to it on the way to work. And
Speaker 1: thank you, Jason, Yeah, thank you. And hey, congrats on
Speaker 1: you know, building a massive audience. Man, you're I mean,
Speaker 1: you do huge numbers. They tell me at Fox like
Speaker 1: your numbers are massive, So congrats man, thank you. Be
Speaker 1: sure to catch live editions of The Ben Meller Show
Speaker 1: weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.