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: 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: If you thought more hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of the
Speaker 1: Old Republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats crackheads
Speaker 1: in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich pill
Speaker 1: poppers in the penthouse, to clearinghouse of hot takes, break
Speaker 1: free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller
Speaker 1: starts right now under the big top we go. The
Speaker 1: weekend kicks off with another edition of The Fifth Hour
Speaker 1: with Ben Maller Still Standing, Still Standing, and we're back
Speaker 1: at it again. We're gonna have a conversation with a
Speaker 1: friend of ours coming up, but some news we must
Speaker 1: take care of here first. Joining us this week back
Speaker 1: from suspension. We'll get more to this on the Saturday podcast.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, to the complaints of many West of the
Speaker 1: four oh five, David Gascon. That's from the crazy time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm alive, I'm ready, I'm rocking and run. I drove
Speaker 1: to work. I'm like you. It's a great fucking day
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. Yeah, okay, this is the point out
Speaker 1: here that where have you gone? Ryan McBain, We all
Speaker 1: miss you. Where have you gone? He's gone? I kicked
Speaker 1: his ass out, all six ft five pounds of them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he did a great job. He deserves credit. The podcast
Speaker 1: has never sounded better with I am McBaine producing the podcast.
Speaker 1: Just dominating performances. Good. I heard you had some guests
Speaker 1: on that were not above the age of eighty the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks. It's a good job by you. Legends,
Speaker 1: legends of the game, legends are and they don't age you.
Speaker 1: They do not and unlike you, I do not have
Speaker 1: an age bias. I I love to learn and not
Speaker 1: have an age bias from my elder I love to
Speaker 1: learn from my elders. Tommy John it's a firecracker, right o.
Speaker 1: Tommy was wild. It was unfiltered, unfettered, like you know normally,
Speaker 1: I'll be one of the throwaway questions we all do
Speaker 1: it is, Hey, how are you doing right? How are
Speaker 1: you doing? Now? Most people take the how you're doing questions.
Speaker 1: I'm doing good. Thanks for asking. I asked Tommy John
Speaker 1: how he was doing. He then proceeded to tell me
Speaker 1: that he almost died from COVID. He was paralleled. Uh,
Speaker 1: he had some illness that he had, he was paralyzed.
Speaker 1: His wife saved his life. He went in all the
Speaker 1: details like he's just like throw everything out there. Was
Speaker 1: not expecting that. It was not expecting that. But he
Speaker 1: was great. Tommy was wonderful, and I do think you
Speaker 1: should be in the Hall of Fame. We talked about that.
Speaker 1: But well, he's got two eight once they claimed because
Speaker 1: he pitched so long and that that's not impressive. But
Speaker 1: he pointed out that he has the most and I
Speaker 1: didn't realize this. I looked it up. He's not it's
Speaker 1: not blowing smoke. Tommy John has the most not no
Speaker 1: decisions in baseball history. And so you figure if he
Speaker 1: want half of those no decisions, or even a third
Speaker 1: of those no decisions, he would have been way over
Speaker 1: three d winds and therefore hall of Famer. But I
Speaker 1: to me, it's closed. But then when you talk about
Speaker 1: the impact that he's had as the guinea pig Tommy
Speaker 1: John surgery and how many Hall of Fame pitchers have
Speaker 1: had their career saved because of Tommy John. To me,
Speaker 1: that puts you in the Hall of Fame one thousand percent.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's various ways that guys getting the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fames. Like Dick vital Is in the Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. I don't think he's anything to be celebrated
Speaker 1: on the you know, for you know, immortality. But Tommy John, yes,
Speaker 1: like that, you specifically have a surgery named after you
Speaker 1: to ramp up your your miles per hour. And the
Speaker 1: other counter argument to that is that, well, it would
Speaker 1: you rather be in the Hall of Fame in a
Speaker 1: dusty museum in Cooperstown and then people forget about you
Speaker 1: or like Tommy John for a hundred years. As long
Speaker 1: as this surgery is a thing, his name will be
Speaker 1: mentioned in news stories on the internet and radio and television.
Speaker 1: So and so had Tommy John surgery. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: Luke Garrick, right, Luke Garrick's been gone for a million years.
Speaker 1: I was a very that's a very bad as. As
Speaker 1: Tommy pointed out, he'd rather have the surgery than they
Speaker 1: and it's like Lou Garrick had but uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we still mentioned Lou Garret's name quite a bit and
Speaker 1: people are diagnosed with that terrible illness. Yeah, not sad,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's kind of wild, wild and crazy Weld
Speaker 1: And you know what's wild and crazy, the great Rob Parker.
Speaker 1: And we have an opportunity now to catch up with
Speaker 1: the man, the myth, the legend. He's our teammate, he's
Speaker 1: our brother of teammate. Here. We're all in the same family,
Speaker 1: the same umbrella at Fox Sports Radio. You see him
Speaker 1: on TV. He's a professor, he's a writer, he does
Speaker 1: it all. And I gotta tell you, Rob, You're like,
Speaker 1: it's like, where's wald Forget, where's Walda? Where's Rob? I've
Speaker 1: been following you as you have traversed the United States
Speaker 1: on this amazing summer vacation. How many towns, Rob, have
Speaker 1: you visited? This is unbelievable. It has been a been
Speaker 1: It's been great. Um, you know, obviously we were locked down.
Speaker 1: So I have friends all over worked all over the country.
Speaker 1: So I love to get out in the summer. I
Speaker 1: love to go to ball games and and and and
Speaker 1: eat some good food and drink some beer with some
Speaker 1: buddies in the stands, you know, where I'm not working.
Speaker 1: So so I would say I've been to New York, UM, Philadelphia, UH, Atlanta, Denver, Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Richmond, Virginia.
Speaker 1: It's been an epic ethnic summer. Have been to tens
Speaker 1: that's more cities than I have visited like the last
Speaker 1: ten years. Rob, I mean, my my good. Now, now
Speaker 1: was this all planned out? Or was this like scattershot?
Speaker 1: Did you have did you buy all the plane tickets before?
Speaker 1: You just buy them as you win? Like that's a
Speaker 1: lot of travel there. You're a veteran traveler from your
Speaker 1: baseball writing days, right, so you're you know how to
Speaker 1: play the game. But did you have it all planned
Speaker 1: out before you're just gonna wing it? Oh? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: It's got to be planned out because you know me, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm always trying to save a buck. So I gotta
Speaker 1: like I'm always trying to play on my trips, get
Speaker 1: the cheapest flight available, you know, make it all fit.
Speaker 1: Then it's gotta be you know, wrapped around ball games,
Speaker 1: you know, Like that's the other part. So I just
Speaker 1: can't show up to a city if if a team
Speaker 1: is not playing. I want to at least if I'm
Speaker 1: going to go to St. Louis, the Cardinals have to
Speaker 1: be playing, you know what I mean. Or if I'm
Speaker 1: going to Chicago, one of the two teams have to
Speaker 1: be playing. So I had it all planned out, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I had to make a couple of adjustments
Speaker 1: because sometimes these airlines, when you buy your ticket too
Speaker 1: early in advance, they change the times and they don't
Speaker 1: always work out. But it was epic. I ate more
Speaker 1: food and champagne, and I was getting people tweeting saying,
Speaker 1: what's your cholestero all level? Because every time I look,
Speaker 1: you've got lobster and steak on your plate and you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So, uh, it was great. You're
Speaker 1: the You're the ambassador, Robber. Everyone loves you that way.
Speaker 1: How often did did people and you were in the crowd,
Speaker 1: You're sitting in the fan, you're a man of the
Speaker 1: people there. How often did you get recognized where people like, hey,
Speaker 1: that's Rob Parker, Wait a minute, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1: It was it was, to be honest, Ben, I gotta
Speaker 1: say this, It was amazing and how many people I
Speaker 1: wanted to get a picture who recognized me just sitting
Speaker 1: in the crowd with my buddies, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: who uh came? There were people. Now I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you this. I was in d C the night of
Speaker 1: the shooting outside the stadium. I was inside the stadium,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you that story. But that night before
Speaker 1: all hell broke loose, three fans via social media found
Speaker 1: you know song following my my feed that I was
Speaker 1: in the ballpark and said hey, what section are you
Speaker 1: and can I come down and get a picture. I mean,
Speaker 1: just nice people who are in the ballpark themselves, who
Speaker 1: just wanted to say hello and grab a picture. So
Speaker 1: so it was it was amazing how many people were
Speaker 1: so nice and just wanted to say hello. But that
Speaker 1: night was was unbelievable. We're having a great night. The
Speaker 1: padres were in town, tattoos was four for four at
Speaker 1: that point. It was a great night, comfortable, I don't know,
Speaker 1: the drinks were flowing, the hot dog three, you know,
Speaker 1: it was just perfect. And I'm there with three of
Speaker 1: my buddies, who are the biggest baseball fans going. So
Speaker 1: we're we're enjoying our time. My best friend Fred lives
Speaker 1: down in Maryland. So all of a sudden, we hear
Speaker 1: the shots, and I look at my friends and I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: did you that that was Those were gun shots? You know,
Speaker 1: like it was no doubt in my mind that there
Speaker 1: were gun shots and not a car backfire and or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I look up. We were sitting first base side,
Speaker 1: so we had a clear shot of you know, uh,
Speaker 1: the concourse level on the third base side. So I
Speaker 1: look over to where I hear the shots, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden you see people running for their
Speaker 1: lives to the exit. I don't know, uh, dave or
Speaker 1: been Have you guys ever been to the park in
Speaker 1: Washington or not? I have not been there. Okay, So
Speaker 1: center field is like the main entrance in and out
Speaker 1: right like where the subway is, and most people coming
Speaker 1: through center field, So people are running from the third
Speaker 1: from third base to the center to center field to
Speaker 1: to the exits. So I'm like, what the what the
Speaker 1: hell is going on? Then I looked down on the
Speaker 1: field and they're no players, no umpire, nobody in the dugout.
Speaker 1: So I said to my friends, man, something's happening here.
Speaker 1: We need to. We need to get out of here.
Speaker 1: So we decided to get up from our seats, head
Speaker 1: to the concourse and we're gonna walk out, you know,
Speaker 1: through the center field exit as well. So when we
Speaker 1: get up and start walking on the concourse and we
Speaker 1: turn left, all of a sudden, people are running towards
Speaker 1: us and screaming like it's a horror movie. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, there's a shooter in the ballpark. That's
Speaker 1: exactly that's what I'm thinking. I'm fearful for my life.
Speaker 1: Me and my friends, we strong arm our way into
Speaker 1: an office like the consent when they were ward the
Speaker 1: concessions out of like you know, keeping up with people.
Speaker 1: We push our way in. We wind up in a
Speaker 1: closet which like eight or nine people and in there,
Speaker 1: I swear to You've never been more scared my life.
Speaker 1: We're thinking, do we need to push something up against
Speaker 1: the door in case the guy is trying you know,
Speaker 1: the shooter is trying to come in, and it's this
Speaker 1: guy gonna kick the door and then shoot us all
Speaker 1: like for real. We had no idea. And when you
Speaker 1: see people running towards you, what else are you to think? Right?
Speaker 1: Why would you be running away from the exit? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. And how long did you stay in there? Well,
Speaker 1: twenty minutes, it felt like three hours. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: That was a young kid with his dad. They got
Speaker 1: separated from his mom and sister. He's under the desk
Speaker 1: like a little boy. We're trying to talk to him
Speaker 1: and say everything's gonna be all right. We just the
Speaker 1: whole time, we saw no police, no security, no announcements
Speaker 1: from the nationals, nothing like that, Like you're on your own,
Speaker 1: try to figure it out. And uh, it was a
Speaker 1: scary scene. And eventually we saw we come out of
Speaker 1: the closet and we're still waiting in the office and
Speaker 1: then something flashes up on one of the TV screens
Speaker 1: that it said, you know, everything is under control, you
Speaker 1: can you can exit the stadium now. And then we
Speaker 1: started to walk out. But what a what a what
Speaker 1: a crazy crazy night. Be sure to catch live editions
Speaker 1: of The Ben Maller Show week days at two am
Speaker 1: Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app. Be sure to catch live editions
Speaker 1: of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern
Speaker 1: eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app. And so the shooting happened on the
Speaker 1: third base side, as I remember, and it was they
Speaker 1: said it was outside the ballpark, but it was right
Speaker 1: near the ballpark. Is that what they claimed happened. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, you know, there's no walls there, you know,
Speaker 1: it's just like offending, so you can hear the shots.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure if someone wanted to shoot into the stadium,
Speaker 1: they could, you know what I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing.
Speaker 1: It's not like an enclosed stadium. It's it's open. So
Speaker 1: that's why people were fleeting because I'm sure they heard
Speaker 1: the bullets and maybe even saw sparks, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, and thought someone was shooting into the stadium.
Speaker 1: Why they came running towards us. We had no idea
Speaker 1: because after we got out and we found out that, uh,
Speaker 1: there was not a shooting in the ballpark, and there
Speaker 1: wasn't a gunman in the ballpark, and it was two
Speaker 1: guys in cars shooting at each other outside. It's still
Speaker 1: to me didn't make sense unless somebody yelled, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, if you've got a crowd and somebody yells, hey,
Speaker 1: there's a shooter, or somebody starts to run, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, other people are just gonna run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember when that that terrible shooting happened in Vegas
Speaker 1: or the guy in the window. There After that, there
Speaker 1: were a lot of ballparks that were very concerned about
Speaker 1: you know, some something like you know what you described
Speaker 1: might happen, happening or whatever. So it's it's wild. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you went back after that, you you you went
Speaker 1: back to games and stuff, right, You're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I went to I went to, uh to
Speaker 1: a White Sox game. I went to a Cardinals Cubs game.
Speaker 1: I went to a Red Cardinals game. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean baseball. To me, that's that's uh our utopia.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a great escape. It's a great place
Speaker 1: to go. And we thank god haven't been involved in
Speaker 1: you know, off like that in the ballpark. And now
Speaker 1: think about it now where uh, you know, years ago,
Speaker 1: there was no as we know, you know, metal detectors
Speaker 1: and all the stuff that we have now, so it's
Speaker 1: safe as ever. And that's what my thought was, like,
Speaker 1: how in the world did the guy get a gun
Speaker 1: into the building? Do you know what I mean, like
Speaker 1: that was the thing because many years ago, yes, you
Speaker 1: know that we could. I once I was covering the Knicks. No,
Speaker 1: it was it was it was the Knicks. And I'm
Speaker 1: leaving Luguaria Airport and I'm late for the flight. I'm running.
Speaker 1: You know, this is no security, no no check nothing.
Speaker 1: You just ran to your gate. I swear to you.
Speaker 1: The plane door had closed. I banged on the door
Speaker 1: and they let me in. They don't those things. Could
Speaker 1: you imagine that? Like that's how it can Yeah, well
Speaker 1: that had to be even like when not eleven happened.
Speaker 1: Every everything, but even before that, I mean there was security.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like it wasn't insane. They just asked if
Speaker 1: you had you'd always had you remember they when you
Speaker 1: checked into the airport, there has anyone touched your bags?
Speaker 1: If you have the bags may possession. That was always
Speaker 1: like they asked you a couple of questions and that
Speaker 1: was like the but that was it. But there was
Speaker 1: no other like security or anything. And and and that
Speaker 1: was the case in ballparks forever. But now I feel
Speaker 1: safe when I go to a ballpark or sporting event.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing. If I go into a club.
Speaker 1: I want them to pack me down. Do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? I want to go to a metal detective.
Speaker 1: I want to know I'm in a club and nobody
Speaker 1: has a gun. Yeah, you wanna think you wanna at
Speaker 1: least believe you're gonna be saying. So. Of all the
Speaker 1: ballparks you visited this summer, best ballpark food was blank.
Speaker 1: Best ballpark food was commiskey. I'm that's not commisc what
Speaker 1: is it? Guaranteed? Rate Park was pretty good? Uh, Cincinnati
Speaker 1: was very good. No, I didn't have a chili dog.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry it's not I did not. But but in Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Have you guys been to Cincinnati once? Yeah? I was
Speaker 1: there one time years ago, but I have not spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time there. You were, you were the
Speaker 1: Reds beat guy. You lived there, right, that was your town, right?
Speaker 1: I lived there for for two years. And you got
Speaker 1: that Montgomery in ribs. Oh my god, there's a boat
Speaker 1: house and then there's the original restaurant. And of course
Speaker 1: I had some ribs, not at the ballpark, but I'm
Speaker 1: selling that some great food I saw that. What makes
Speaker 1: the Montgomery Ribs so much better? Why is that such
Speaker 1: a wonderful place. That's better than all the other rib places.
Speaker 1: You know, like it's it's it's house cook fall off
Speaker 1: the meat, fall off the meat bone, you know, fall
Speaker 1: off the bone kind of thing. Very tender and just
Speaker 1: the sauce. You know, I don't know what they put
Speaker 1: in it, but it is delicious. You can you can
Speaker 1: you It's like you come back to Cincinnati, you definitely
Speaker 1: want to get some ribs. And and they had a
Speaker 1: they had an offshoot place up in Detroit, uh in
Speaker 1: suburban Detroit that used to feature the monk goom we
Speaker 1: in ribs. And I used to get it there too,
Speaker 1: and they just I don't know, you know how something
Speaker 1: just tastes right, just taste good. That was That's the
Speaker 1: montgomer In. I don't I'm not. I don't have a
Speaker 1: contract with them. I'm not an endorser for them, but
Speaker 1: I swear by their friend. Well and Rob, we we
Speaker 1: actually have the same diet, which will upset g you
Speaker 1: you as I understand it. You know we've nosed over here.
Speaker 1: Is you like your your steak well done right, butterfly
Speaker 1: cut or whatever. I'm the same way, yeah, medium, Well,
Speaker 1: I just take a little ben a little paint just
Speaker 1: a little bit, but you got a butterfly cut it
Speaker 1: so that it cooks day. You can't eat the meat
Speaker 1: bleeding and all that. Yes, yes, but Rob, you and
Speaker 1: I are different compared to Ben. Ben likes his meat
Speaker 1: charcoal black. I like it very you done? Yeah, oh,
Speaker 1: you like it very well done. I say, I like
Speaker 1: I like my I don't want my steak to be
Speaker 1: Even when I get a hamburger, I order always say
Speaker 1: well done, but not burnt. There's a difference between like
Speaker 1: cooking it or just having a little bit of pink,
Speaker 1: you know, in the center, but not then you like
Speaker 1: it like you want to meet unrecognizable Yeah, well what
Speaker 1: I do, Rob is I I'm not a vegetarian or
Speaker 1: vegan or whatever, but I like that. And I see
Speaker 1: the blood or any like, I think I'm actually eating
Speaker 1: an animal. When it's it looks like the tires on
Speaker 1: your car, I'm like, okay, it's you know, it's something else.
Speaker 1: So I've convinced my you know, or if it's or
Speaker 1: if you had a sandwich and it had a tail
Speaker 1: on it, you might take okay. Rob. With you traveling
Speaker 1: so much all these Major League Baseball parks, what do
Speaker 1: you feel like has the best I guess energy or
Speaker 1: ambiance these days, because it feels like your fans obviously
Speaker 1: getting back in the stands and the Dodgers in Astro's
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, Chavez Ravine has been packed.
Speaker 1: What's it been like across the country? You know what
Speaker 1: baseball is is back as far as fan was every
Speaker 1: game I went through the crowd, the stadiums were packed,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think St. Louis is a baseball
Speaker 1: capital of the United States. I can't get over. Everybody's
Speaker 1: a Cardinals fan. They love the Cardinals. Everybody wears red.
Speaker 1: It's a small market. I think the car I think St.
Speaker 1: Louis is a twenty three largest TV market, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But they don't run like a mid
Speaker 1: market or a small market. They operate like a major
Speaker 1: Like a major market. They try to win, and um,
Speaker 1: I'm impressed in any town that can run two football
Speaker 1: teams out of town. I got to declare as a
Speaker 1: baseball capital of the United States and just think about
Speaker 1: what St. Louis. The only thing that people in St.
Speaker 1: Louis care about it what the Cardinals and the Blues.
Speaker 1: That's it. And they had they had an A B
Speaker 1: A team, Right, and whoever that's one of the great stories, right,
Speaker 1: whoever owned that St. Louis A B A team, They
Speaker 1: still get a share of the NBA TV money grandfather did. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: they did it for a long time, like twenty five years.
Speaker 1: Finally the NBA was like, we can't continue this, so
Speaker 1: they made the guys settle for like an eight hundred
Speaker 1: an eight hundred million or five hundred million to any agreement,
Speaker 1: but it was put for forever. It was. It was
Speaker 1: the most ridiculous contract that the NBA could have signed,
Speaker 1: where they were going to get, you know, a piece
Speaker 1: of the TV revenue forever. All they had to do
Speaker 1: was keep their patent. There was the spirit of St. Louis.
Speaker 1: The guy's brothers owned the team and they were genuss
Speaker 1: I mean to get them. But back then, guess what
Speaker 1: the TV revenue was. There was like a hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy five thousand a year. You have something, Yeah, nobody was,
Speaker 1: nobody was paying attention to. That's crazy, crazy, crazy, all right.
Speaker 1: So you gotta talk some baseball. Rob can't rob hardcore baseball.
Speaker 1: So I heard, I heard that you have been trashing,
Speaker 1: sullying the name of the Dodgers after they acquired Max
Speaker 1: and trade Turner from the Nationals. Now, how is that
Speaker 1: a bad move? How? How how did the Dodgers do
Speaker 1: anything wrong? Rob? I'm not sure. All I said is
Speaker 1: I think the Dodgers have turned into the evil Empire
Speaker 1: now that they've taken it over from the Yankees. They're
Speaker 1: the ones who have a payroll that's a hundred million
Speaker 1: more than the Yankees since when the Dodgers were counting
Speaker 1: Tenney's before and now all of a sudden, they don't
Speaker 1: care what's going on. Who they want Trevor Bauer, here's
Speaker 1: forty million dollars. Whatever we want the National League, uh,
Speaker 1: Cy Young will pay him. We want to go get Sherzer.
Speaker 1: They heard that the Padres were close, and they went
Speaker 1: out and said, well if you everybody, even Ben mallor
Speaker 1: if you want them. You know, like anything, the Dodgers
Speaker 1: are now bullies. They run baseball. They whatever they want
Speaker 1: they get. But you you know, being a baseball guy,
Speaker 1: that it doesn't make. It's not like the NBA where
Speaker 1: if you have if if Brooklyn hadn't and you you
Speaker 1: were all over the nets. But if they if the
Speaker 1: injuries hadn't happened, the Nets would have won the championship.
Speaker 1: I think we can all agree with so. But in
Speaker 1: baseball it does, and you can have the greatest team
Speaker 1: in baseball and because it's uh the way baseball set up,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. You can still lose it that the
Speaker 1: team with the most talent doesn't win every year. So oh,
Speaker 1: no doubt. I'm just saying, but the Dodgers have had
Speaker 1: a change in. What people used to hate about the
Speaker 1: Yankees is that, See, this is the thing. You know this,
Speaker 1: when you have a lot of money, you can cover
Speaker 1: up and you can throw more money on bad money.
Speaker 1: You could cover up your mistakes. If your Kansas city
Speaker 1: and you signed somebody that doesn't work out, that's gonna
Speaker 1: hurt your franchise for a while. That's what big money
Speaker 1: team liked it. Though I'm not meta. I give them credit.
Speaker 1: They want to win again after that what was at
Speaker 1: thirty one or two year thirty one year drought or
Speaker 1: whatever it was, or I did it yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: And the way I look at it, because I was fine.
Speaker 1: When when you're talking about when Peter O'Malley, O'Malley family
Speaker 1: owned the team, they didn't spend any money. The ticket
Speaker 1: prices were very cheap, but they didn't spend any money.
Speaker 1: And then when Fox took over, they spent a lot
Speaker 1: of money, but the team wasn't very good. Even though
Speaker 1: they spent a lot of money. They went out and
Speaker 1: brought you know, big name player Gary Sheffield, Kevin Brown,
Speaker 1: those guys, but they didn't win. And then when McCourt
Speaker 1: owned the team, they went cheap again, and then they
Speaker 1: didn't do anything. So the way I look at this
Speaker 1: is not gonna last forever. At some point the Dodgers
Speaker 1: will be sold and somebody else by the team, and
Speaker 1: likely not. But I an't want to enjoy this rob
Speaker 1: as someone that follows the Dodgers, because I know this
Speaker 1: is not the way it's going to be, you know,
Speaker 1: forever and ever. This is only a temporary situation where
Speaker 1: they're spending all this money because at some point they're
Speaker 1: gonna do you do the books, the bookkeeping, and be like, hey,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, what are we doing here? So right?
Speaker 1: I mean, if you tell baseball fans that the Dodgers
Speaker 1: pay roll is to ninety million and the Yankees is
Speaker 1: two hundred, isn't that a little shocking? Come on, let's
Speaker 1: just unch a little shock by the big difference. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: they've Dodgers have been handing out massive contracts. I think
Speaker 1: if you visit Dodger Stadium, Rob, you could get twenty
Speaker 1: million a year at least just by if you talk
Speaker 1: to me, and I would take it, Rob. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you, speaking of taking it, what's up with
Speaker 1: the Mets. I covered him and I've watched him over
Speaker 1: the last two years. But Kumar Rocker was a beast
Speaker 1: for Vanderbilt. And for him to go on round number
Speaker 1: one to the New York Mets and then for them
Speaker 1: to pull the rip cord on on him because of
Speaker 1: elbow concerns. Is that more on Rocker and him not
Speaker 1: disclosing information that's putting into his arm or do you
Speaker 1: think that's on the Mets? And do you think they
Speaker 1: did him dirty? You know what people are asking, and
Speaker 1: I think they just want to say the Mets are
Speaker 1: penny pictures. But I don't. I don't believe that because
Speaker 1: if their owners, the owner has two or three billion dollars, right,
Speaker 1: they got an owner with money. There's no reason why
Speaker 1: this guy is a is a dynamic picture. There's no
Speaker 1: way that they were hoping he's gonna be the next
Speaker 1: White Gooden, you know what I mean, Like seriously of
Speaker 1: that caliber. We saw the guy picture complete game. Was
Speaker 1: it extralyting no hitter in the college world. I mean, dude,
Speaker 1: you can't be any better than that. But is his
Speaker 1: velocity did go down last year, and there's some concern
Speaker 1: and and I think that you know, when you're gonna
Speaker 1: make a financial commitment, that's why you have doctors. I
Speaker 1: don't think it is over money. I just it's hard
Speaker 1: for me to believe that a guy that with that money.
Speaker 1: They just gave Lindora a gazillion dollars. Okay, look so
Speaker 1: so it can't be over over six or ten million dollars.
Speaker 1: You just gave somebody three sixty, right, I just don't
Speaker 1: I don't buy that. I saw what the Angels did
Speaker 1: two years ago with Otani, and he had elbow concerns
Speaker 1: and the Angels didn't care. Yeah, but the difference is
Speaker 1: Otani if if the elbow wasn't issue, he could still
Speaker 1: hit not as a picture, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I hear you, but but you have to there
Speaker 1: had to be some issue. I don't believe they didn't
Speaker 1: sign him over money. I just that's just that's the
Speaker 1: guy you want, right, He's electric, he can sell tickets,
Speaker 1: he's he's he's all you're looking for, right, I just
Speaker 1: why would you do that? And then uh and then
Speaker 1: have a two or three billion dollar owner and then uh,
Speaker 1: you know, pull back on ten million dollars. I don't
Speaker 1: believe that. And then I also say, you see, Scott
Speaker 1: Borrows came out after that, and of course he's the agent,
Speaker 1: and he ripped Baseball and said that he actually brought
Speaker 1: up an interesting point that it's one of these these
Speaker 1: situations where I the player doesn't sign Boris. His argument
Speaker 1: is they need to The rule, he says, is unjust
Speaker 1: and all that, and that the like Rockers should have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to sign with another team. And there's there's
Speaker 1: no chance Baseball is gonna do that, right Rob, I mean,
Speaker 1: because then you just have to know who will not
Speaker 1: sign because they don't want to play for a team
Speaker 1: that drafts them, and then you know, wait and sign
Speaker 1: with the team that they want to play for, right, right,
Speaker 1: then you're gonna have an issue absolutely. Otherwise, then don't
Speaker 1: need for a draft that there would be no need
Speaker 1: for a draft, right if that if that were the case,
Speaker 1: and you could balk at the team and just say, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want to play there, or I'm injured, and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you're healthy for the team
Speaker 1: you want to play for, Right So so yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think that that's going to happen or change
Speaker 1: anytime soon. Yeah. Now, as far as you know right now,
Speaker 1: he's snapped. We're in early August, so you you've try
Speaker 1: You've seen more teams in person than I have this
Speaker 1: this summer, so I've got now. I still believe the
Speaker 1: Dodgers will finish ahead of the Giants. They have. They've
Speaker 1: been wobbly, the Dodgers this year, even though they've got
Speaker 1: all that talent, if injuries, they have not performed up
Speaker 1: to my expectations. Evenly have a good record. I think
Speaker 1: they will catch the Giants, But if you look at
Speaker 1: the playoffs, the Podres have fallen off to the side here,
Speaker 1: even though they're still looking at a playoff spot in
Speaker 1: the National League. I still say the Dodgers, and I
Speaker 1: think the way it's looking now in the American League,
Speaker 1: tell me if I'm crazy here, just it's the White
Speaker 1: Sox and everybody else I'm not buying. I know the
Speaker 1: Red Sox have a great record, but that's to me,
Speaker 1: that's a smoking mirrors team, the Red Sox. So I
Speaker 1: think it's it's if it it, it's in the top teams.
Speaker 1: To me, it's the Dodgers in the White Sox in
Speaker 1: the in the World Series where I think just spot on.
Speaker 1: When it comes to the White Sox, I think by
Speaker 1: far they're the best team. They loaded, they got a
Speaker 1: great team. I was against Tony LaRussa getting that job.
Speaker 1: I thought that was talk about the good old boy network.
Speaker 1: I know, he's friends with the owner, he's retired, he's
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, you know, I thought this was
Speaker 1: gonna be a disaster because on opening day. You heard
Speaker 1: what happened right on opening day at the ballpark? Yeah,
Speaker 1: did not? Did you hear what happened with Tony? Know? Well, Tony,
Speaker 1: there was a couple of times in April and May
Speaker 1: where they were the guys that LaRusso is not gonna
Speaker 1: make it through the season. They were like, he's gonna
Speaker 1: be out of here. He messed up opening day. Opening
Speaker 1: day when when the White Sox uh took the field,
Speaker 1: Tony LaRusso walked up to the top step of the
Speaker 1: dugout and he yelled out, hey, you damn kids, get up,
Speaker 1: my lord. Uh how it took me away to get there,
Speaker 1: but we got there. We got there. How great? Is uh?
Speaker 1: Is uh? The like Ryan Storf? He's so he was
Speaker 1: so bitter all these years that he fired LaRussa and
Speaker 1: let LaRussa go like and it's like the early eighties
Speaker 1: that it doesn't matter LaRussa at his age, he still
Speaker 1: wanted to hire LaRussa again. No matter what. LaRussa could
Speaker 1: do anything, and the owners got his back and he's
Speaker 1: going to continue as the obviously White Six have a
Speaker 1: good team. But it didn't matter like all these people
Speaker 1: were criticizing LaRussa and you know, Rob, as long as
Speaker 1: the boss likes you, that's all that matters, right, That's it,
Speaker 1: and that that is really that is the perfect example.
Speaker 1: I remember Larussia got busted for d u Y right
Speaker 1: before that they knew they vouched for him, right, they
Speaker 1: act like they didn't care. Nowadays you can d u
Speaker 1: Y and stuff that that that that reflects negatively, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, and it hurts people. But but
Speaker 1: Tony seemed like, as long as the owner loves you
Speaker 1: and whatnot, he's going to be good. But uh, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, they already had a good team. They made
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year. You remember they lost the aids
Speaker 1: UM and I thought they were a good team last
Speaker 1: year and they've gotten better, so I expect them. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm sticking with and I know the Padres
Speaker 1: have had a lot of injuries and other stuff, But
Speaker 1: I say that the Dodgers don't catch the Giants. I
Speaker 1: said that the Dodgers and Padres meeting the one game
Speaker 1: wild Card, and the Padres beat the Dodgers, and the
Speaker 1: Padres beat the Giants ultimately because they get their pieces
Speaker 1: back and they get healthy again. And I'll go with
Speaker 1: the Padres and the White Sox well as a bold prediction.
Speaker 1: Fernando Tatis is all banged up. He's got his shoulder problem,
Speaker 1: this problem. He's unbelievable. I know he is. He not
Speaker 1: an incredible player, come on, though, he's fun to watch.
Speaker 1: There's so many good players like you can look at.
Speaker 1: Uh in Fernando Tda Junior Vladimir Guerrero Junior with the
Speaker 1: Blue Jays is awesome. That was a lot of there's
Speaker 1: a lot of good young players. Now, Rob, I know
Speaker 1: it's not sexy, but why do you think nobody's talking
Speaker 1: about Tampa Bay. I mean, they have one of the
Speaker 1: best run differentials in Major League Baseball. They don't have
Speaker 1: a starting pitcher with ten wins or more, but their
Speaker 1: first in the American League East standings. Because because that's
Speaker 1: that's a bad franchise and a bad location, and baseball
Speaker 1: has gotten it wrong with Tampa Bay. You know, Tampa
Speaker 1: was great for spring training. They need they needed to
Speaker 1: have one team in Florida, not in Miami. And you
Speaker 1: know Miami. You know, you know many football games I
Speaker 1: covered uh Lyon's Dolphins down in Miami where they couldn't
Speaker 1: sell out. I mean, I just can't like like people
Speaker 1: talk about Miami and Sports Town. I think it's awful.
Speaker 1: Um but I I think, um, baseball should have had
Speaker 1: one team in Florida, and that team should have been
Speaker 1: in Orlando, should have been at Disney. And about this,
Speaker 1: like when all those people, you know, you make your
Speaker 1: trip to Disney for four days or whatever, for a
Speaker 1: week with the kids, one of those or two of
Speaker 1: those nights would be a baseball game. You would have
Speaker 1: and people would could could figure out one of my
Speaker 1: team playing down there, Do you know what I mean
Speaker 1: when you with your trip? Yeah, I think that would
Speaker 1: have been the best thing. I don't know what they
Speaker 1: were thinking. It's it's also it's like Vegas right with
Speaker 1: it's a destined people go to now Raider game that
Speaker 1: they will this year once the crowds are allowed back
Speaker 1: in the Yeah, I don't even think the Raiders gonna
Speaker 1: have a home field to so to speak, because of
Speaker 1: all the people like if right, if your team is
Speaker 1: gonna be there, you'll scalp the tickets, right and people
Speaker 1: who own it will will sell them. It's like being
Speaker 1: at a Charger game. You know it's gonna be bad
Speaker 1: at the chart now can you rob the Charges? And
Speaker 1: they've got fans this year and they played in this
Speaker 1: little soccer stadium and there were you know, there's a few,
Speaker 1: you know a few few seats compared to it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have six how many seats are at that stadium
Speaker 1: in Inglewood, sixt it's a humongous. They got the super
Speaker 1: Bowl there and it's gonna be Arrowhead Stadium West Like
Speaker 1: it's gonna be even worse than it was before. It's
Speaker 1: it's bad. No, I agree, And it's a beautiful place
Speaker 1: from what I see, and I can't wait. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go online and get me a section, I
Speaker 1: mean a seat. Uh capacity seventy thousand before the super Bowl.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have it up to a hundred thousand. Wow.
Speaker 1: So it's beautiful thousand people. Now the big question is
Speaker 1: will I be allowed to go to radio road? Rob.
Speaker 1: I've never been allowed at radio road for a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Never been allowed, well, I never never. Never. They've always
Speaker 1: said I had to hold down the fort, you know,
Speaker 1: and and do the overnight back here. But uh, I
Speaker 1: gotta go this year. It's in it's in l A
Speaker 1: radio row. I gotta go l A. Yeah, you're going.
Speaker 1: You're going. Absolutely the last time, the last time we were,
Speaker 1: and we were we in Miami, Chris and I what
Speaker 1: a shocker, Will arguing on the air and the people
Speaker 1: from I don't know serious X and put up a
Speaker 1: billboard message saying, hey Chris and Rob, keep it down
Speaker 1: over there because we are about something the radio road
Speaker 1: everybody heard of. You're the odd couple was supposed to do.
Speaker 1: That's part of the deal exactly, exactly. You know that, Rob,
Speaker 1: as we wrapped this thing up. I know you're doing
Speaker 1: Inside the Parker. Um, you're a weekly podcast and you
Speaker 1: got to MLB brow. How's that going for you? It's
Speaker 1: going really well. It really is get a chance to
Speaker 1: take a look. We cover black and brown major league ers,
Speaker 1: and you know, we just try to get people another
Speaker 1: look at the players who they are, uh you know,
Speaker 1: where they're from, what they're into, you know. So we
Speaker 1: don't cover games, we cover just the black and brown players.
Speaker 1: And the reception has been great, UM, and the the
Speaker 1: site is growing every day. I'm really proud of it,
Speaker 1: and we're developing people. We we we have one of
Speaker 1: our first interns, um. She started We only started to
Speaker 1: site April one, and she graduated from college, intern with
Speaker 1: us for a couple of months and already got her
Speaker 1: first full time job. So that's the kind of stuff
Speaker 1: I'm proud of, you know what I mean that I
Speaker 1: can help develop future black and brown baseball writers as
Speaker 1: well as got some of that at USC to right.
Speaker 1: That's right, Professor, Yah, Yeah, that's great. I love teaching,
Speaker 1: I really do. USC has been a great experience, so
Speaker 1: I'm I'm appreciative all right, I know, we gotta go
Speaker 1: Robert quickly. Here. Lebron the other day complaining about the criticism.
Speaker 1: I can't. I mean, I know this is just t ball.
Speaker 1: It's up for you here, but I mean, what is
Speaker 1: Lebron doing? Serious? I mean, the Lakers have had a season.
Speaker 1: What are they doing? But but he made it like
Speaker 1: people are going out of their way because they think
Speaker 1: the team's old. I mean, like, like, I just don't
Speaker 1: even get it. Like, and if you're Lebron, what do
Speaker 1: you care? So what if somebody didn't think it's a
Speaker 1: good rosh for a good team. I don't know why
Speaker 1: he's so bent out of shape. Nobody took aim at
Speaker 1: him personally. Dude, you just hire I mean, you just
Speaker 1: filled the roster with five or six guys thirty five
Speaker 1: or older. What NB eight? What NBA team is winning
Speaker 1: a championship that way? I just you can't keep young
Speaker 1: guys healthy. Can you look at young all the injury
Speaker 1: and you really fully expect that this team is going
Speaker 1: to be healthy come the end of the season, to
Speaker 1: come on, this is not possible. Yeah. My theory is
Speaker 1: the reason he's so upset is because it's personal, because
Speaker 1: he's actually he's admitting by complaining that he's the one
Speaker 1: picking the players, and so that's all right, he's the
Speaker 1: general manager, right yeah, yeah, And so this is a
Speaker 1: personal attack at him because he's the guy that wanted
Speaker 1: to play with Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony and wanted these
Speaker 1: guys to join him in anyway. I know, you gotta go. Rob.
Speaker 1: We love you, man, You're the best the odd couple
Speaker 1: obviously for our brother on Fox Sports Radio. There a
Speaker 1: teammate on Fox Sports Radio. And we will we can.
Speaker 1: We gotta have a meal at some point here too.
Speaker 1: We gotta get together. Yeah, now I'm ready for that,
Speaker 1: matter of fact, definitely. And Ben Man, tell your wife,
Speaker 1: I said. Aaron tell Us said, hello, And I hope
Speaker 1: that we get all get together soon. Okay, all right,
Speaker 1: well we'll make it happy, all right, Thank you, Rob?
Speaker 1: All right, all right, miss a gascon. You guys all right,
Speaker 1: take care. Thanks for