WEBVTT - Ted Sobel 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:05.480 Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:09.280 week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.920 the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.800 crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.240 pill poppers in the penthouse, to clearing house of hot takes, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.080 break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:31.240 Maller starts right now, nine nine night. The light is flashing. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.760 That that on air light is flashing, and that means 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.080 it is time for another addition of the Fifth Hour 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.159 with Ben Maller, because four hours a night are not 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.920 enough eight days a week. And we thank you for 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.800 subscribing to the podcast. We're finding it first of all, 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.839 listening to it, telling friends about it. The only marketing 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:54.640 budget we have is none. We have no marketing budget. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.200 But with the way we promote the podcast is to 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.560 make a fuss about it, get you to tell friends, 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.000 and of means we don't care anyone that might be 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.080 able to download the podcast, spread the words, spread the gospel. 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.120 And I like to say, and I believe this is 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.960 true that if everyone listening, if you listening, and the 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:14.760 other seven people listening, so we have eight people that 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:18.520 download the podcasts. But if all eight people tell eight 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:21.399 other people to listen to the podcast, and then those 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:24.760 eight people do actually download the podcast, we've now doubled 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.800 the audience. We've doubled the market share. It's that simple. 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.640 It's mallar math and that's the way we do things. 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.520 But this week we start the Friday podcast. I am 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.840 very excited to talk to somebody who has known me 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.880 since I was a teenager when I first started in radio, 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.760 and has been very kind me over the years as 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:47.080 I navigated my way as a radio reporters to hang 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.840 out in press boxes with this gentleman. And he has 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:53.720 a new book out and I said, you know what, Ted, 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:55.560 I gotta promote this book, your friend of mine. Not 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:57.840 normally I don't do these book interviews. I don't normally 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:00.320 do these book interviews. But it's really just telling story worries. 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:02.520 That's all it is, telling stories, and that's always a 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:06.480 good podcast. That's solid podcasting, broadcasting in general, telling stories. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.919 And so the name Ted Sober, if you're in southern California, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.440 you likely know who. That is a staple of the 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.400 l A media scene. He worked in news radio at 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:20.720 the iconic KF WB as the sports director for many 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:25.160 many years. Currently he is nationally known as the studio 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:28.640 host for the Sports USA network. I think that's what 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.760 it's called. But he does the NFL and college football, 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.680 and I believe they've got the NHL rights now on radio, 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.440 and he is called minor league hockey. He lived in Wisconsin. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.760 Uh did some University of Wisconsin hockey broadcast back in 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.160 the day, worked for the Mighty Ducks. He's been all 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.280 over the place. I've known him for a very long time. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:52.919 He's got a new book out called Touching Greatness, and 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.200 Ted has had a very interesting life. He has met 0:02:56.240 --> 0:02:59.639 pretty much everybody who's anybody in the sporting world. But 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:03.120 it's not just about sports, and more importantly for our purposes, Ted, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:07.760 you are part of the fs ARE Alumni Association. We 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:11.360 were briefly teammates. How long it's been a while. How 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:13.480 long did you work It wasn't long. How long did 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.080 you work at Fox Sports Radio, Ted? I was there 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:22.000 Ben at least two shifts. Seriously, uh I was there 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.800 for a handful of months. I don't remember exactly, but 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:29.800 uh I left around Thanksgiving after I did some things 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.080 in the summer, So it was just a handful of 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.760 months there. It was just bad timing, that's all. And 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.040 plus U, I was only working the very very late 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.560 overnight shifts. And when I say overnight, you were long gone, 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.120 so you know, even the sun was a rumor at 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.680 the time, and it just didn't work into my My 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.000 body was saying, what are you doing? You're too old 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:52.520 for That's what I tried to listen. And you've had 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:56.600 prime radio jobs, right, I remember you on kf WB 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.040 and you were like the prime time guy and all that. 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.720 But three years but who's counting. But the overnight, though, Ted, 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.880 That's that's where you really get your hands dirty. In 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.320 the overnight you are insane. I would have been I 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.800 would have been laid out in a casket decades ago. 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:17.919 Well we're all headed that way one way or another. 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.080 But uh, you know what I mean. Yeah, we wanted 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.160 to delay that as long as possible. So we now 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:26.479 we have known each other. You have known me Ted 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.400 since I was a teenager, since I was a teenager. 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:33.960 Full disclosure. I would actually like to thank you because, uh, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:35.440 you know a lot of you know, there was some guys, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:36.840 not a lot, there were some guys that kind of 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:38.600 gave me the cold shoulder when I started and I 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.360 was out covering some Dodgery games and stuff around the 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.640 town when I was nineteen, and you were not. You 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.440 were pretty cool all along. And uh, I love the 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:51.520 way you say that. That too cool, just pretty cool. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.640 He remember, you sort of earned the cold shoulder at 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:56.919 times too, So let's let's be honest with the folks 0:04:56.960 --> 0:04:59.800 out there. Well, I disagree with that, and I do 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.320 have to agree with that position at all. I was 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:06.400 just because I got lost one time at Dodger Stadium 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:07.880 and I didn't know where to go, and I followed 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:09.920 somebody and they turned out to be the biggest asshole 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.360 that I'd ever done with. But other but other than that, no, no, 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:16.280 it was not you with somebody else. I don't know. 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.279 I had not been in the bowels of Dodger Stadium before, 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.039 so I had I gotten lost, and I figured, well, 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.080 there's another reporter, so I just kind of follow them 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:26.440 and they all know where to go and get out 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:29.120 of here. And then it turned out to be the 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.440 the one, the one guy who hated me the rest 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.800 of my life because of that that activity. But but 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.080 you have covered the l A sports scene. I mean, 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:38.839 you've seen and done it all. I know you've got 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.400 a book. We're gonna talk about that, but go to 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.760 book again. Oh it's the I think it's called touching greatness? 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.040 Is that right? Look at look at that? I got 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:49.159 it right, and I got it right in front of 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.120 me here. But that But now, I started in the nineties, 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.720 you were, you were covering the game's way before that, 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.680 and so what kind of paint the picture for those 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.480 that are wondering when the how much did it change 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:05.080 from the seventies, eighties to the nineties there and obviously 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.000 today it's a totally different situation. But when you when 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.400 you were covering like the Dodgers in the nineteen seventies, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.000 compared to covering the team's you know, the years for 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.680 what was it like then? Was it obviously was a 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.400 lot different. There wasn't the internet and all that stuff. 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.240 So kind of paint the picture what that was like? Well, 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.479 first of all, not just the Dodgers, any team. They 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:26.520 wanted us there. Now they don't even want to know 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.800 we exist, So it's a big difference, you know, just 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.920 the fact remember food was free to the media then 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:38.360 because they absolutely needed us in the house. Remember I 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.880 tell us everybody, and people never think of this, but 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.640 it is the most important thing when it comes to 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:49.360 promoting sports. From a media standpoint, it is the only business. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:51.560 And I mean you talk about movies, you talk about 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.960 anything else that gets free twenty four seven publicity and 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:59.960 they don't have to spend one penny, not one penny. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.960 And it's the only business on the planet. It probably 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.400 in the universe, and maybe every universe. So they wanted 0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.240 us there because if we're there, we're giving them constant 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:13.560 free publicity. By the second, Now, if you were a 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:17.160 shoe store owner and you had somebody from the l 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:19.800 A Times, for example, say I'm gonna come over to 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:22.880 your place every day at six o'clock, right around the 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:25.880 time you close, and just find out how your sales went, 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:28.640 and and talk to your people and what kind of 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.840 what kind of patrons did you have today? Blah blah blah, 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.160 and we're gonna write a little story about you every 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.280 single night. I would send a limo to that person. 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.760 And that's who we were for the sports, uh, for 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.280 any club, whether it was college or pro. So again, 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:45.960 now they don't need us as much. But in the 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:49.720 seventies of bent, I started in nineteen seventy three, my 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:54.040 first credential. Uh. It was it was to a point 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:58.120 where if you had access to the room, they you 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.080 were wanted in there, not by every player, but by 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.640 the organization. And it was so different. It was it 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.880 was accommodating. It was, Hey, what can we do for 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.120 you now? Is say, how can we get you the 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:13.280 hell out of here? And maybe never give you a 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.000 credential again. It's a whole different ball game. Yeah, and 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.280 you you one of your good friends. And I was 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:22.120 reading in the book. I knew you had known Paul 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:23.800 old in a long time. I didn't realize you met 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:27.920 him in school, which you talking about. Yeah, and l 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:29.880 A City College. And for those who don't know, Paul 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.760 Olden is the public address announcer for the New York Dickies. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:36.000 But I I for for me, for me, he's the 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.960 he's the Kingman rant guy. He's the guy that recorded, 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.319 for posterity's sake, the Tommy sorta rant when he flew 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.959 off the handle over Dave Kingman, Uh getting out. And 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.280 and I've heard stories said that there's other rants that 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:55.640 in those days that weren't recorded from Losorda. You you 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.720 were there covering the Dodgers with Tommy? Is that true? 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.680 Can you confirm deny that there were other rants that 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:04.680 did not get saved, that we're actually better than the 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:08.079 Kingman or the Bibacua. Well, let's put it this way. 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:09.480 First of all, I love the way you said. Is 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:11.760 that true? You said a little bit like Healey, But 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.640 that's okay, Jim Healey. For those of you who don't know, 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.440 classic legendary radio voice in l A and My Hero 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:22.920 and My Hero, you know it? It uh that one 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:25.920 was a classic because the way it happened, because of 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.920 the timing of it, and because I always loved that. 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.280 Tommy used to say I never used an F word 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.280 in my life, and that was, like you mean, in 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:38.160 the last five seconds, Tommy was. He was a classic. 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.160 He was unbelieved. You never knew what moods you're going 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:42.200 to get him in, except for he was always in 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:45.920 one specific type of mood, and that is I want 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:49.280 the attention mood, and he got it at that time. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.120 I am sure he didn't do it intentionally, he just 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.200 lost it. And by the way, in a future volume 0:09:54.280 --> 0:09:57.319 of Touching Greatness, there will be a chapter called what's 0:09:57.320 --> 0:09:59.720 your opinion of Kingman's performance, and I got the whole 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.640 story exactly what happened and why it happened that day, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:09.040 But no, I never heard any specific one. I mean 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:11.840 I've recorded him a thousand times. He you know, he 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:14.320 drew an F bomb in there, of course, whenever he 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.640 was in the mood, but not like that. I never 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.480 I don't recall anything being would have stood out to 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:24.240 this point. And remember in those days, there were times 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:27.360 when maybe radio was not in the room at the time, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.040 so that would be a good question to ask uh 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.120 newspaper writer who covered them regularly in the early days, 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.400 because they may have gotten had a few really classic rants, 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.600 but nobody was there to record it, so it didn't 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:42.720 really matter. Yeah, And what I remember from covering the sort, 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:44.559 I was there at the end his last few years 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.520 when he was managing the team, so he'd already established 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.199 himself and he was this bigger than life personality, and 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.000 which he always was. But having won the World Series 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.440 a couple of times and having success and all that. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.800 But I remember ted when we would go into the 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.680 locker room to interview him, and if the Dodgers had won, 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:04.800 we'd get jolly happy Tommy. That would be bouncing off 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.200 the walls. They he was, you know, in his office 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:09.880 there he'd be standing up in front of his desk 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:11.959 and want to talk to everybody. And then when they lost, 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:17.760 he would be downtrodden behind his desk and usually eating 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:19.840 some kind of food that he had in his office 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.200 and and spitting all over the microphe. I remember having 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:26.199 to clean my microphone because Tommy spit. Yeah, there was 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:30.720 a lot of garlic on my microphone. Freak. It was 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:34.160 like a red sauce. It was. It was wild and 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.400 of course, of course I was sort of selling it 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.800 back in the was the eighties, right, he sold pasta 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.680 sauce at And then also he had a diet program 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.400 that he was well sure, he also had his own 0:11:45.400 --> 0:11:48.360 wines too, you know, which was pretty pretty neat stuff. 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:52.040 But that was that was much later on. Look, Tommy, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.720 if you didn't smell garlic, then Tommy was out of town. 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.240 I mean, it was always classic to walk into that 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.800 room into his office after a game. You get the 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:02.600 closure you got to him, the more you could smell 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.440 his breath and uh, and you're right, there was something 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.960 about him eating slowly in front of us after a loss. 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.040 He seemed to be I'm going to enjoy the food 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.040 more than your damn faces in this room, the way 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.080 it always seemed to be. Yeah, Now, all I do 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:20.120 want to get to the book touching Greatness. And you've 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.280 got some of the stories about all these you know, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.760 the sort all the great characters that you've covered over 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.559 the years. Being around beginning. I am jealous, though ted 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.400 I I'd love to write a book someday. But then 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.640 I found out how much time you spent on this. 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:36.320 You said three this is a three year project. How 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:38.440 many hours do you think would you estimate that you 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.080 put in? Because you didn't have a ghostwriter, I saw 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.760 this was all you cast for the friendly ghost. Unfortunately, No, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:46.840 you know what, I don't want to count the hours 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.240 because if I do, I'll probably shoot myself that time back. 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:54.120 All I know is that and and I and I 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.920 thoroughly am prideful about doing this because it's not an 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:00.560 easy thing. But remember, it depends on kind of book 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:05.640 you're writing. I did something about literally decades of my 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.360 life from the beginning and trying to remember stuff that 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.000 I wanted other people to know of. And I've told 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.480 these stories forever and everything. But I should write a book. 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.200 One day I finally have and I got to the 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.960 point where there were so many things I had to 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:24.720 look up. It took hundreds of hours, no exaggeration of research, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:29.080 because I wanted everything to be one thousand percent accurate, 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.360 the date, the time, what exactly happened, if it had 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.560 anything to do with the story. And that's what took 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.119 as much time as just writing itself. I'm talking hundreds 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.960 of ours. And how often was your memory a little off? 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.000 You have a very good memory, But I they I've 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.640 read STA again exactly, but I read study. I read 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:51.200 studies like that what we remember and then like the 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.680 timing is usually awf a little bit like version of 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.079 what we remember is not completely right. How accurate was 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.360 the memory the mind of Sobel looking back? Keep your 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.440 life in the damn good question? You know what? It 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:07.280 was actually very good. I'm a little surprised myself. Um, 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:11.120 you know, I took some notes about twenty years ago, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.160 and I thought, Okay, if I'm ever gonna do this, 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.760 let me write down a few things. And I literally 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:21.320 had several just plain white sheets of paper where I 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.040 would scribble a little note on just to remember something 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:25.760 and throw it in a file and put it in 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:29.000 the drawer and totally forget about it. And I literally 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:30.680 forgot about No. I remember he's good, but I could 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.640 remember where the notes were and and and I finally 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:35.960 found him. I was like, oh, yeah, here's the book, 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.120 all these scribbles, and that's pretty much how I started. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.640 It was not some organized, great, perfect outline or anything. 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.000 It was like, I want to write about Don Drysdale, 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.280 I want to write about Lasorda, I want to write 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:52.080 about Jerry West And it was whatever that little specific 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.320 note was put on a scribble sheet and put away. 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:59.000 So um. But no, my memory was actually very good. 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.800 But I want to pacifics where it would really because 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:03.600 once you look it up you see a box score 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:07.600 from fifty years ago, it brings back memories that you 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:11.040 would never ever recall. Yeah, and I've known you for 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:13.640 many years, but obviously I don't know your entire life 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.080 story and all that. And now you know I now 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.520 I have the the full volume, which is like it 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.320 or not, and it is appropriate me at the very 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.040 beginning here, uh that you go in And I didn't 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:30.200 know that Jim Tunney, the legendary referee when you were 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:33.520 in high school in l A. He was your principal 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.080 at Fairfax High School? That is uh, that is crazy. 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:38.800 Did you know was he in official at the time 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:41.320 he was the principal was of course yeah, oh he 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.680 was the deed of NFL refs. He was our principal. Absolutely, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:46.800 we used to talk. He would stop in the hallway 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.080 in high school and every you know, a sports guys, 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.520 other people who run into sports. I didn't even know 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.360 what the NFL wasn't remember. It was not the NFL 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.280 like it is now. It was it was not the 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.920 national pastime like it is now. Every was baseball then 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:03.880 and and everything else was okay whatever, if you enjoy it, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:08.160 good for you. Um. It was so different. And he 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:11.400 would stop, and sports guys would like to get him, 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.760 like during a lunch break or whatever nutrition and he 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:16.680 would stop and we'd just all be talking. He but 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.600 do you covered the Packers Bears game yesterday? You know 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.640 that kind of stuff? So absolutely, and I and I 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:24.840 hate it up because I was totally into it more 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:28.600 than most. And he invited us, and I was fortunate 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:31.080 to be one of them. And I basically wouldn't allow 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.520 no answer to the fact that if you, if you, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.880 you might even be too young to remember Sports Challenge, 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:40.000 the old dick Enberg Game Show. Do you remember that 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.280 at all? I've seen clips on the internet, but it 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.880 is before my time. That's what I thought, Well, not 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.720 from a different generation, the classic show. I mean the 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.920 first show. They had Joe DiMaggio and and and UH 0:16:52.000 --> 0:16:54.880 and Jerry West and el Jim Baylor and Duke Snyder 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.320 and it was unbelievable. Uh and those are the guys right. Well. 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.400 I was invited by Mr Tunney as we called him 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.760 of course then and Jim now that he's a friend, 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:06.160 and he's I think he's ninety two years old now, 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:08.760 and he's just a phenomenal guy. And he's one of 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:10.600 the endorsers of the book, by the way, and he 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.000 was the one to open the door to get my publisher. 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.800 So that's a big deal of what he's meant to 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.359 my life. But at the time Jim invited me, as 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:22.240 I almost insisted on it, to be one of UH 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.080 six guys that from Fairfax High in l A. To 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.399 sit down and be one of the the pretend UH 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.240 superstars on the show. It was before the first airing 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:36.320 of the show, and they had to do the angles 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:39.479 and check out the video clips and make sure everything 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:42.480 was working perfectly. So it was the practice show that 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.160 I was on, and I sat in Tommy Hendrick's uh 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.720 seat at Former Yankee and he was there for the 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.800 first game, and then after that we got invited to 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.760 the actual taping of the first two shows, and it 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.560 was it was just that that show was unbelievable. I 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.720 mean it was because they had you know, almost everybody 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.680 who was anybody was on that show, including Jackie Robinson 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:08.119 was on that show. Yeah, And I mean I like, 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.600 I you told the story that in the book about 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:14.000 when you were a kid meeting Ted Williams at a 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.400 uh what a store somewhere he was a Sears Yeah 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:21.680 he was. Was he signing autographs or something like that? Ted, 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:26.000 This is like nineteen sixty one or two. Um, he 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:30.080 had just retired and he was there to promote everything 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.119 in those days. Been for a couple of years, maybe 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:35.000 five years, I don't know. He signed a contract with 0:18:35.080 --> 0:18:38.880 Sears around the time he retired, and everything said Ted 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.639 Williams on it, and forget baseball. I mean we're talking 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.200 like he was a big hunter and fisherman and stuff 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.399 like that. So the entire sporting goods department at sears. 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:50.359 It said that Ted Williams name and his signature was 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:54.480 on everything. It was Ted Williams, barbecues, it was Ted Williams. 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.359 Whatever's anything there. So my father heard he was gonna 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.600 be there. And this was in uh in Hollywood, here 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:04.800 in l A. And he says, I want to take 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:06.600 it and go meet Ted Williams. And I said that'd 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.719 be great. And I was in a little league at 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.399 the time. So we went there and as we're going 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:15.040 through the store, um, my father looks at his watch. 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:16.640 He goes, you know what, has run a little late. 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:19.040 And we look over and Ted Williams is standing up 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.480 and he's starting to walk out like he was done. 0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.920 And so whatever he was doing was he was finished 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.520 with his shift. And when he was finished, he was finished. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.280 And my dad hustled over and he was not exactly 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:33.640 an athlete, and he hustled his ass over there and said, 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.560 Mr Williams, please stop for one second. I want you 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.080 to meet my son Teddy. And I and I hustled 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.520 with him and and he looked down he goes, oh, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.920 it's very nice to meet you. Another Teddy ball game. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.359 He shook my hand and walked away. He wasn't rude. 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.960 He was just leaving, you know. And to me that 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:54.320 was like that was the first touching Greatness moment. Even 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:57.040 though he didn't sign an autograph for me. I didn't 0:19:57.040 --> 0:19:59.240 ask him. I mean, he was literally walking out the 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.040 door and he was very nice. But but Kurt, you know, 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:06.920 real quick and and I looked at my father and said, 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:08.600 this is like the greatest thing of all time. I 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.560 just shook Ted Williams hands and that gave me that 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.040 feeling like, you know what, I don't want to hang 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.359 out with Joe Smith on the on the street corner. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.199 I'd rather hang out with Ted Williams. And that was 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.840 the start of things, and touching Greatness is evolved decades later. 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.320 Look at that, And that's cool because if we have 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.520 heard stories that Ted's been gone for a while, what 0:20:28.600 --> 0:20:33.040 you've heard stories that he had been very aloof at times. 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.280 So that's cool that he at least stopped to acknowledge 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:39.240 a kid in the in the series the aloof Athletes, 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.879