WEBVTT - The Fifth Hour: Seattle Screw Job 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:01.520 Cutbooms. 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.440 If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:09.240 a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:12.560 of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.560 treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:17.119 rich pill poppers. 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:18.440 In the penthouse. Wow. 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:22.360 The Clearinghouse of Hot takes break free for something special. 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:29.400 The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now. 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.440 In the air everywhere. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:36.120 The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Mahler and Danny g 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:41.080 Radio and a Happy Friday Morning to you. Finished with 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.919 the radio show a couple hours ago. I walked out 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.080 of the studio and I said. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:49.040 All right, I'm gonna come in here. 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.280 I'm gonna come back to the podcast studio, the remote 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:53.240 podcast studio. 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:54.360 And I had this big plan. 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:56.800 I was going to tell all these stories about Santa 0:00:56.880 --> 0:01:01.720 Benny and all that stuff. And however, I've made an 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.880 editorial decision on this edition of the Fifth Hour podcast. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.760 I have decided that I need to get back on 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.959 my bully pulpit. And even though I did four hours 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:17.400 of talk radio last night and I used the soapbox 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:21.120 to rant and rave about what happened in the NFL game. 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:26.160 It was such a whack a doodle finish to the 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.240 Rams Seahawk game last night in the beautiful Pacific Northwest 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:33.640 that I have decided that I'm going to rant more 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:35.520 about that. I have some more thoughts I want to 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.360 share with the class. And you're part of the class, 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.479 and we will give you the holiday schedule as promised 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.959 later in this podcast, which includes Hanukkah, which is going 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:50.320 on right now, so Lotka's Jelly Donuts and then with 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:54.520 my wife's family Christmas cookies. She bought eggnog. I will 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.960 not be partaking in that, the whole Norman Rockwell thing. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.080 We'll have that, But. 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.960 Right now, in this moment, let's get the party started 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.640 with a little audio therapy. Not radio therapy. This is 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.919 podcast therapy. It's therapeutic. It's just what the doctor ordered. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.240 It's group counseling. It needs to be done because of 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:19.880 the Seattle screw job that took place last night. Now, 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.760 I don't work for the Rams. You know that I'm 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:26.040 not a show for the Rams. You know that, although 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:30.080 no Streudinis might disagree, I'm not. I don't make any 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:32.080 money when the Rams win unless I bet on the 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.240 game and I did a small bet, nothing major in 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.600 that game, and Seattle was actually favored by one and 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:40.160 a half to two by the time the game kicked off. 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:42.400 I need to talk. 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.680 About this because what we watched was not football. That 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.639 was a magic trick. It was sleight of hand. The 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.720 NFL pulled two points out of a hat like a 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.520 street hustler with a bent deck of cards back in 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.680 the old Times Square in Manhattan. Now let's say it's slowly, 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:02.440 because I know there's some people there that might be 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:07.560 listening on Park Avenue in New York wearing headsets. Now, 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.760 if you're in the replay center in New York, you 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:14.120 have the headset and then a blindfold. The referee blew 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:16.000 the play dead whistle. 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:16.919 That's it. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:21.079 The universal signed for stopped playing football. Now, that's it. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.800 And everybody did the Rams stop. The Seahawks stopped, even 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:30.519 Zach Charmoneau, who came over there, and he slowed down 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.160 like he hit rush hour traffic. And he wasn't in 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.920 a hurry. The play was dead. He grabbed the ball, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.840 but he wasn't in any hustle. It was finito. It 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.480 was done, and somehow the modern day Penn and Teller 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:50.480 went abra kadabra. The NFL handed Seaheadle two points, like 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.480 a complimentary mint at the end of a bad meal 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.400 when they give you the bill. And by the NFL's 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.760 own rule, I went back and I looked because I thought, well, 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.600 maybe I got something wrong here by the NFL's own rule. 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.800 And I know reading is hard for some spelling is 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:09.640 hard for others. I learned that every week on the 0:04:09.680 --> 0:04:13.600 show and inadvertent whistles. According to the NFL's own rule book, 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:19.400 an inadversive inadvertent whistle ends the play unless the action 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:24.120 is a continuation already in progress. Key phrase already in progress. 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.880 Now Charboneau, the running back there does not stop to 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:34.520 pick up the ball until way after the whistle after, 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:40.800 not during, not simultaneous after. That's not continuation, it's not 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.600 that's a sequel. Nobody asked for its. It's hilarious to 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:48.360 me watching the replay, and I watched it, I don't 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:53.719 know seven thousand times. The second that whistle blows, whistle, whistle, whistle, 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:59.320 everyone freezes. It's like a middle school dance when the 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:04.159 chaperone flips the lights on. It's also like musical chairs. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:09.080 The music stops game over. But the NFL said, nah, eh, 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.240 I think we'll keep dancing. Well, Seattle, you're allowed to 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.000 dance the Rams. No. And here's the kicker on this. 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.280 It isn't even about the officials on the field. They 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.400 actually got the call right in the stadium, the Seahawks 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:24.200 were preparing to kick off to the Rams. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.320 They got the call right. They called the play dead. 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:28.560 They did their jobs. 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:33.560 The disaster was cooked up by the instant replay brain 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:38.719 trust in the Big Apple, the Wizard of Oz behind 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.400 the curtain, pulling levers and pretending this is all you know, 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.960 this is all kosher, that it makes sense. And but wait, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.440 there's even more. Now, how about the absurdity of advancing 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:55.520 a fumble ball on a scoring play. Now, that's supposedly 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.200 banned in the fourth quart it's illegal for boton, it's 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:03.440 against the rule, except apparently, when it's a two point conversion. 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.480 The Seahawks need a little bit of a booster, a 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.520 little booster shot. 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.320 There you go. It's funny how the. 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.000 Fine print always opens up like a trapdoor, the NFL 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:17.360 handing the Seattle football team two points like a TSA agent, 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.360 waving one guy through while everyone else gets friss like. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.719 What the heck? And this wasn't missed. 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.080 It's manufactured, is the word I will use. And let's 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:33.680 not ignore the snuffleufigus wearing stripes in the corner of 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:37.080 the room. Who's chatting with the HeLa monster? Okay, they're 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:40.640 having a conversation. And then over there, I believe the 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.800 is that a giant oversized blue whale that just swam 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:48.400 into the room. We already talked about the Puka Nicool 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:51.920 horsehead in the bed on the radio show last night. 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.200 The league sending a little bit of a message. You're 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.839 gonna talk out of school, out of class, you're gonna 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.560 talk about the referees. Well, suddenly the rule books can 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:06.839 get flexed like a yoga instructor. The Rams should have 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:09.720 won the game thirty to twenty eight in regulation, end 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.720 the game, roll credits, that's it. Instead, we got a 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:19.960 blown call that changed the outcome of a lot of stuff, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:20.840 a lot of stuff. 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:22.680 Whether it's the division, who knows. 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.440 What's going to happen the final few weeks of the season, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:30.480 but the division, number one seed, number one in the NFC. 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:34.440 A call so bad it belongs in the hall, not 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.800 that hall, the Hall of shame. Right next to the 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:42.880 infamous replacement referees, the past interference reviews that vanish into 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:49.200 thin air. Now was this malfeasance? Was this incompetence or 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:50.840 was this intentional? 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:52.440 Right? 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.120 That's the question hanging in the air. 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.520 Like Kim trails back on the old Coast to Coast 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:04.320 with Art Bell and you know the spin is coming, right, 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.000 and I've already started to see some of it. I 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.680 cannot wait. I'm gonna go to bed here a little bit, 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:11.920 and by the time I get up, it'll all be 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.320 bouncing around the echo chamber the League press release, which 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.680 will be a gigantic word salad. And by the way, 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.960 I don't like salads. I don't like salad, but it'll 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:26.720 be a word salad. Correct application of the rule as 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.760 it is written in Phase seventeen of the rule book 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.920 after a further review. Spare me, I'm gonna puke in 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.599 my mouth. No justice, no peace. This one's going to 0:08:38.720 --> 0:08:43.360 echo for days. The Seattle screw job, the Rams got robbed. 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:48.720 Case closed. Now you say the case is closed, but 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:50.319 you think I'm done. 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:52.480 Hell no, hell no. 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:58.040 Let's address my coffee drinking seahawk loving friends. So I 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:00.000 mentioned I did the radio show a little while ago. 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.760 Oh I got done. I had a little bit of 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:05.000 a down stretch, kind of reset the battery there for 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:06.360 a little bit, and then I come back. 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.360 Into the remote studio to do. 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.200 The podcast, and I made the mistake of opening up 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.080 my email, my inbox, and then also went on. 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:16.000 Social media, some of the social media stuff. 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.040 And I'm going to say this slowly, clearly, and I 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.400 believe with perfectly polished, a perfectly polished golden hammer. For 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.120 my friends and those that are regular fans of the show, 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.480 some of you I met at the Seattle meet and 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:31.920 greet we did in twenty nineteen. 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.320 But those of you chiming in from. 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:39.240 Seattle wagging your fingers and declaring that I've gone full 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:44.160 tinfoil houtguy malor you boys think that I've lost my fastball. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:50.000 You're calling this a conspiracy rant that what are you doing? 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:51.840 You're laughing at me. 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:58.640 You're saying that it's like I've seen sasquatch wearing ram 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.280 colors in the end zone. Listen, Regardless of all that, 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:07.120 here's the inconvenient truth. You j'rer bronis. You jackwagons can't 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:11.160 handle and all of you you fall on the spectrum 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:12.080 of Mama Luke. 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:13.640 Yes. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.600 Yeah, let me explain the inconvenient truth. 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.880 A lot of things feel true long before they're actually 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:26.240 officially stamped approved by the people in charge. This is 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.360 all stuff that comes out in books years later. History 0:10:30.480 --> 0:10:33.840 is littered with examples. This is not fringe, this is 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.679 not outer space, this is not street level reality. 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:39.160 It's not any of that. 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.239 I'm not doing remote viewing what we witnessed in Seattle 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:47.840 last night as we're doing this podcast early on this Friday, 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:51.320 the nineteenth day of December. But you look last night, 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:55.960 that was the metaphorical bloody knuckles is what that was. 0:10:56.840 --> 0:11:02.360 It was NFL street justice I get. In my opinion, 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.360 it was payback with a smile for m wide receiver 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.720 Pooka Nakua, who sent out a comment on social media 0:11:10.240 --> 0:11:13.400 and then deleted it after the game. But Pookah is 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.480 the guy. He listened, he poked the hornets nest. He 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.040 went out of two and twenty five yards receiving, two 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.040 hundred and twenty five yards receiving and a couple of touchdowns, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:23.680 and yet the NFL is like, listen, you poked the 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:29.880 hornets nest live on a live stream Internet stream and surprise, surprise, surprise, 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.280 he got stung by the hornet's nest right there, Well, 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.079 the hornets in the nest, you prod the hive, don't 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.160 act shock when the bees come buzzing. 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:43.760 And now I know the game. You know some of you. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.720 Are playing, not all of you, but some of you 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.280 are playing. Some are just rage baiting. 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:50.760 I know. 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.880 It's like, hey, let's poke the mallor hoping to get 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.600 a reaction so you feel alive. Right, you get five 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.360 minutes in your sorry ass situation. 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:01.880 I want to I'm gonna bust mallards chops, That's what 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.480 I'm gonna do. Okay, I'm not talking to you. Okay. 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.040 I enjoy busting balls as much as anyone. I love 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:09.679 hitting buttons. It's fun. 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:15.280 I'm amazed how people get so upset over sports takes 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.040 on an overnight show. However, here we are, it still 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.520 happens all these years later. So I'm not worried about 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:26.240 the rage baiting morons. Right, the ones I would like 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:28.240 to address, and if this is you, you fall into 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.120 this category, this basket, the ones that actually believe this 0:12:32.280 --> 0:12:36.640 nonsense about there's nothing to see here. And when you 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:44.360 label anyone who questions it a conspiracy theorist. Congratulations, you 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:46.320 have just won the booby prize. You are drinking the 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.040 kool aid of the CIA. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.320 That's right, the CIA. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:59.320 Yeah, I went there. Buckle up, buccaroo. Now, while the 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:08.439 CIA did not technically invent the phrase conspiracy theory. 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:08.560 Didn't you know that? 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:13.520 Way back in nineteen sixty seven, so we're talking almost 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:20.920 sixty years ago, the internal CIA the Dispatch, recommended using 0:13:21.000 --> 0:13:26.679 the term conspiracy theorist to discredit critics of what the 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:30.560 time was a very big report, the Warren Commission, and 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:35.080 so the memo from the CIA, it actually helped popularize 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:41.199 the term as a weaponized slur designed to shut down 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:45.960 any kind of debate. You cannot question anything. 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:48.760 Because you will be given cooties. 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.680 You're going to be called a conspiracy theorist and shutting 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:56.120 up a lot of people. You shut them down any 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.760 kind of debate by making skeptics sound unhinged. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:01.120 How dare you? 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.800 And no, I am not wearing tinfoil headphones. It is 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:11.840 documented history. It's the same playbook as the NC double 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.000 a years ago. 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:16.160 They were facing their ruin. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:21.520 People were suing them, people were players, were dying, their girlfriends, their. 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:23.160 Wives, were suing the NCED double A. 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.920 It was called something else, but they came up with 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:31.280 the term student athlete, just pulled that out of thin air. 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.880 It was a phrase cooked up to avoid paying workers 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:40.200 comp a cute combination of words ugly motive, ugly motive. 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:43.520 And they did that for so long that people thought 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.680 it was legit. They didn't realize it was a hustle 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.400 by the nc Double A, and they kept repeating it 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.880 even to this day. While players are being paid wads 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:57.640 of cash, more money than Alf and Fergdog get paid. 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:59.920 To do the show, which is not much, not much. 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.560 But they just give them wads of cash and say, here, 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.440 play football for us, play basketball for us. And they 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:09.240 still people still use the term student athlete. And here's 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:13.840 the malor money line. It's not a conspiracy theory in 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.760 terms of the NFL stuff or really anything, if it's true. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.240 It's not a conspiracy theory if it's true. So let's 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:21.680 talk some football. 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.760 What do you say, because the NFL has already released 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.960 the hounds, it's gonna get worse. Later I mentioned the 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.880 word salad is coming from the NFL. They'll be sending 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.640 it to Pro Football talk. And then Florio will post 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:40.720 it and he'll go nutso and all that stuff. So 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:43.960 we know that's coming, but it's already started. Like suddenly, 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:50.000 out pop the rules experts, right, the rules experts like 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.160 jack in the box lawyers. 0:15:53.160 --> 0:15:54.400 And as they pop up. 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.840 And you know, spin the thing in the jack in 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:01.280 the box, they spin themselves dizzy trying to spit polish 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.960 a rusted broken call now one of my favorites, and 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:07.520 I wanted to share with you here on the Fifth 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.640 Hour podcast, and I quote, this is somebody that worked 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:12.240 for the NFL. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:13.960 I don't think they worked for the NFL anymore. They're 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:14.840 former referee. 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.280 The quote was, whether a whistle is blown or not 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:23.360 is completely irrelevant to the two point conversion that was 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:28.160 given to Seattle. Completely irrelevant was the line, so the 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.720 whistle is blown or not, it's completely irrelevant. That is 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:38.080 higgely piggly nonsense, is what that is. That's not analysis. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.560 That's called gas lighting. One oh one call him the 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:44.640 gas man whoever said that. And for those that are 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.240 playing along at home or at the gym, or at 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.720 work or in your car, gas lighting, I think we 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:53.160 all know what that is, but some of you might 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:57.480 not know. Gas lighting is the manipulation of people into 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:03.680 questioning their own reality, into doubting what their eyes saw 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:08.160 and their ears heard, and what we all heard, every man, woman, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:12.840 and child, clear as a church bell whistle, whistle whistle, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.280 And so that might be the dumbest thing ever spoken 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:21.920 by a human with some kind of credentials to their name. 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.480 The NFL wants to have it both ways. Heads they 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:32.480 win tails. You are cuckoo for cocoa puffs. You're crazy, 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:38.280 crazy crazy. You're on the chew crazy trade. You are 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.600 when players from both teams let me repeat this for 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:45.320 those of you a little slow. For players from both things, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.560 maybe you're on the spectrum. When players from both teams 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:54.119 stopped playing at the sound of the whistle, including the 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.439 numb nuts who casually strolled over to bend down to 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:03.480 pick up the ball. Two full mississippi seconds, one mississippi, 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:08.000 two mississippi after the whistle, that is no longer a 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:13.480 clear recovery by any reasonable definition known to humanity. 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:18.679 Beast or zebra or lizard, person or the grays. I 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:21.880 don't care. If whistles and rules are now. 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:28.000 Open to interpretation, then congratulations, Come on down, We've got 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:32.359 ourselves a rule change. So from here on out, the 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:36.159 lesson is ignore the whistle. It's not just play to 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:41.160 the whistle, it's played through them. Pretend they are hood 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:47.040 ornaments and they're there for decoration. In fact, why even 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:52.800 bother having officials save money. Just let some guy from 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:56.760 Long Island who's in New York blow an airhorn when 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.600 the play is over like a monster truck rally, watch 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.280 out for the grave digger. By the way, and to 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.240 everyone parroting the rule book, because I have seen this 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:11.600 already too this morning. They're parroting the rule book like 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:17.760 it's this scripture. And welcome to the oldest argument in sports. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:18.440 It's really in. 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.439 Life, the spirit of the law versus the letter of 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:26.400 the law. By the letter of the law, I'm sure 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.760 you can futs around and find something there, find something 0:19:31.160 --> 0:19:32.520 that the NFL got right. 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:33.920 But by the spirit of the law. 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:38.239 NFL players are trained from Pop Warner on up. 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:39.479 We're talking Pop Warner. 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:45.000 That's when they hear a whistle, the play is dead, period, 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:50.200 end of sermon. The play is dead if the whistle 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.239 doesn't blow. And we'll just look at the game last night. 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:58.280 If that whistle doesn't blow, multiple ram players dive on 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:03.560 all of They all dive on the ball be a dogpile, 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:08.600 and you know they're like seagulls dive bombing, drop French 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:09.520 fry on the beach. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:11.720 So did that happen? 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:17.040 No? No, you know, have we gone bonkers? 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:17.159 No? 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.280 Have I joined the Flat Earth Society? No, I've not 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.119 joined the Flat Earth Society, although they still send me 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.920 emails every once in a while because I blamed Kyrie Irving. 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.360 We did a thing about the flat earth and then 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:32.439 the or the Actually, the flat earth people do not 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:33.000 send me stuff. 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.680 It's the hollow earth people. Excuse me. The flat earth 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:36.520 people don't bother me. 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:39.760 The hollow earth people who were a subset when we 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:41.720 talked about Kyrie Irving and the flat Earth. 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.440 Those people reach out to me every once in a while. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:50.479 But I'm just refusing to pretend that water isn't wet 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.560 because some rules analysts told me it's dry. 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:57.439 Carrying the water for the NFL. The whistle has to 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:58.560 mean something. 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.800 It has to or the whole thing, the whole operation 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.720 for Gayzy, which is the word of the week for 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:08.880 Gayzy seems to be. 0:21:08.880 --> 0:21:09.440 The word of the week. 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.640 I feel like I've used it a lot and there's 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.840 a lot of things. I'm not rushing to conclusions. I'm 0:21:13.840 --> 0:21:17.800 just selling you. I'm telling you that there's a lot 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:19.320 of stuff going on in sports. 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.000 Right now that is for gazy is what it is. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:25.280 All right now to the holiday radio schedule, by demand, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.119 by demand, I have waited to This is not the 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.760 end of a podcast, but it's getting closer to the 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:36.119 end of the podcast, and we will, for ratings purposes, 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:42.440 push back the Santa Benny version of this podcast until Saturday. 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:43.600 I have some things I want to share with you. 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:48.639 About my experience, which I love so much, of climbing 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:53.600 to the top of a fire truck and playing Santa. However, 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.600 you know, I would assume, because you're listening to the podcast, 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:01.200 you're a high level p one that I by nature 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:06.080 a worker bee. I don't like time off. I don't 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:11.240 trust time off. Time off is it's like a suspicious 0:22:11.400 --> 0:22:15.760 relative who shows up unannounced to your house, double parks 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:20.600 in the driveway, and somehow still complains about parking while 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:22.520 also eating all of your food. 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.240 And I had this happen. I've had this happen a 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:26.640 few times. 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:31.320 I've had people over and they've just gone wild, right, 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:39.040 just absolutely gone wild, and it's maddening. Absolutely maddening is 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:39.680 what it is. 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:40.520 And so. 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:47.960 Every once in a while, even the most stubborn awks 0:22:48.800 --> 0:22:51.280 has to leave the plow in the field and walk 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.240 back to the barn. You know, this is my passion. 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.200 The overnight show, what we call the Ben Mallor show. 0:22:57.240 --> 0:23:00.600 It's not really a job. It's not a paying job 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:01.280 at Pizzo. 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:01.560 Okay, but not. 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:04.000 I could be making more money if I did a 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:06.040 daytime show, I'd be making a lot more money. But 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.600 it's an audio sweatshop, right, It's a nightly assembly line 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:16.040 of piping hot takes, crazy calls from people like hollering 0:23:16.160 --> 0:23:23.400 James and blarn Maine and Lucky Tony rants, Mallard metaphors, mallarisms, 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:28.239 all that stuff. It rolls off the conveyor belt in 0:23:28.320 --> 0:23:33.320 the factory of hot takes while most of the world is, 0:23:33.359 --> 0:23:36.560 at least our side of the world is drooling in 0:23:36.680 --> 0:23:39.960 a pillow, or at least auto pillow. Now I like 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:43.240 it that way. I have more editorial freeman freedom at night. 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:47.720 I don't have people my boss is harassing me. I 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:50.480 thrive under the cover of darkness. Think of me like 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:55.119 an audio raccoon with a microphone, rummaging through the sporting 0:23:55.400 --> 0:24:03.640 news trash at three am and loving every second of it. However, 0:24:03.840 --> 0:24:06.720 here we are, I have stacked up comp days the 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:10.040