WEBVTT - Wheels Up 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:05.400 Boom. If you thought four hours a day, minutes a 0:00:05.440 --> 0:00:09.200 week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.880 the old republic, a sole fashion of fairness. He treats 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.760 crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:20.160 pill poppers in the penthouse, the clearing House of hot takes, 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.040 break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:28.720 Mallard starts right now. That it does. We are in 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:35.960 the air everywhere, the vast and powerful empire of podcasting, 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:40.720 The Fifth Hour with me Penn Maller, because four hours 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.400 at night in the overnight are not enough, and we 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.120 do this now eight days a week. This is the 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:50.440 Friday podcast. It is not a grab bass podcast. No, no, no, 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.239 this is a conversation podcast. This is a chat with 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:56.960 a friend podcast. But we are again joined by David 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.840 Gascon right over there there he is checking here. I'm here, 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:04.360 and I'm here, and I'm excited for this guest is 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:07.000 right in my wheelhouse for what he does. What he 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.640 has done us is Uh. This is a rare good 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:15.280 get by Ben Maller, and I applied you for this one. Uh, 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.840 this one is a good one, so I'm geeked up 0:01:17.880 --> 0:01:19.880 about it. Well, this guy is a friend of the 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:23.120 Mallea Militia. Very few people who have prominence will admit 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.399 to being a friend of the Mallea militia, but he is. 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.160 It's not currently an NBA play by play guy. For 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.720 twenty one seasons, this guy slaved over a hot microphone 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.920 with the Portland Trailblazers and called NBA games and it 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.360 was just a wonderful voice and the art. If you're 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.319 a fan of radio, and if you're listening to this 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.120 and you listen to the radio show, you chances are, 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.600 like audio broadcasting, anybody can do play by play, but 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:54.200 very few can do it well. And there's this just 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.080 not much I know of. It's better than listening to 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.440 a well broadcast game as a sports fan when the 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.600 broadcaster is on his game. And that would be the 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.720 man we're gonna talk to you today, Brian Wheeler, twenty 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:11.239 one season Sportland Trailblazers. His trademark call will have to 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.840 ask him about at some point. Boom shaka laka. I 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.040 love the alliterations. Though I love the alliterations. Guest on 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:18.639 what he would go on a rant? You want to 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:20.239 steal that from Wheels, you should do that with a 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.160 homage the wheels that you can play. Yeah, man, you 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.120 can't do like you can't take something from that guy. 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:28.560 You can't take you it's the games in the refriger 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.480 from chick Heer. And you can borrow. You can borrow, man, 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.320 you could, you can borrow as a tribute. Okay, So 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:39.320 were you good with because a few years ago, the St. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:42.720 Louis Cardinals walked off in Game six of the World 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:47.679 Series and Joe Buck paid homage to his dad off 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.480 the home run. That was sad, he said, and we'll 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.160 see you tomorrow night. That was kind of an homage 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.240 to his dad back in the World Series with the 0:02:56.240 --> 0:03:01.600 Minnesota Twins. Alright, so you're okay with with with knockoff? 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.160 Uh not? Don't consider it now. I'm not. You shouldn't 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:10.360 complatently steal it. But I have no issue with a 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.680 tribute if you will. And the other thing too, about 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:15.520 this guest gun. You know you're you're an old fart. 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.000 You're in your fifties, and you should know, like the 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:21.720 younger generation, even if you did a cheap rip off 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:27.640 version of Chickern, there's a generation plus of people that 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.880 never heard Chickern. The Laker Hall of Fame broadcaster in 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:33.480 his prime, and even if they heard him at the end, 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:37.200 chickend lost a lot off the fastball the last few years, 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:40.000 so you know, you could do a version. Listen. There's 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:41.240 some of the stuff that I do that I I 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:44.320 give a tribute. Some of the dumb things I say 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.480 are a tribute to my favorite radio guy when I 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:49.560 was a kid, Jim Healey, And I will quote little 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.040 sound bites that Healy would play on his show. And 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.840 but I'm not doing it to steal his his stuff. 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:57.440 He's been dead for a while, but I do it 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:01.160 as a tribute to to honor him. Um. So that's 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:03.760 my my posinis many way, we're getting carried away. Guest's 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:06.400 a bad job by you. Shame on you, all right. 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.600 So I intentionally and I was thinking, maybe we'll talk 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:11.720 about the NBA plus, but I'm more interested in Wheels, 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:13.320 and I'm more interested and I want to learn more 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.280 about Wheels. I've known him for a long time, but 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.400 I want to know more about his life and and 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:22.839 all that. Uh, and also the hot button issue involving 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:29.839 a certain broadcaster boy in Ohio and his situation going 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:33.159 on right now. So anyway, let's give it up now 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.200 for Brian Wheeler. He's on the beach right now. He'll 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:39.360 soon be back behind a microphone somewhere calling NBA games, 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.240 and if not, we will get to the bottom of it. 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.440 But Brian, welcome into the fifth hour here with Ben 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.599 Mallory and David Gascott. He'll chime in here in a 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.440 little bit. But I guess most importantly, you had some 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:54.440 health issues. How are you feeling? You know, you know, 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.720 it's it's kind of weird to be, uh watching Blazer 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.680 names and not calling them, so that it's a bit different. 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:04.000 But you know, uh, trying to get help back in 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.520 order and hopefully at some point back calling games in 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.600 the NBA for somebody. So it's, uh, you know, it's 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.599 kind of a different environment, but you know, trying to 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.279 make the best of it. Obviously, the whole COVID thing 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:18.840 that we're all dealing with, it's uh, you know that 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.760 that makes many things interesting too, but you know, trying 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:24.960 to keep things as normal as possible. And how's your 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.080 health going. I know you had some some issues there. 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.359 You've been battling for several years here. You feel like 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.800 you're you're getting close to turning the corner on that. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.320 I know there's a lot of Blazer fans that are 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.760 tuning into this, that are dying to get they gotta 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:39.600 get some Wheels updates, and they want to know what's 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.320 going on. How you how you've been, how you've been feeling. Yeah, 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.160 I think I think certainly, uh, turning the corner on 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.680 some things. And uh, there were some uh you know 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:53.400 things that the COVID uh, the deal kind of installed 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.320 a little bit. I've got a beautiful pool, for instance, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.919 it's right in the apartment complex I've moved in a 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.640 year ago. Uh, but for the most part, since it 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.680 was a brand of complex a year ago, by the 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.919 sound of the pool got ready. It was kind of 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.040 close to the winter months. It's an outdoor pool, so 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.000 they said he did, but you know, they really didn't 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.360 have it ready before things get cold. And then it 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.520 started open up. And then all of a sudden, with 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.599 the restrictions on uh you know, all the social distancing 0:06:19.640 --> 0:06:21.719 and so forth, they really has it over all summer 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.880 and we've got some beautiful days. So if I haven't 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.000 really haven't been able to take advantage of that, for instance. 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.400 So so there's you know, some some things that probably 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.000 would have helped push the health situation along even further. 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.479 But but you know, I think what I haven't able 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.600 to do, at least on my own, I think I've 0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:40.520 you know, created some good, good improvement of a little 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:42.080 bit more to be done, but I think at least 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.280 we're headed down the right path. Nice. Sorry, So obviously 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.640 you're you're a basketball guy, had a life, and you 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.520 will continue soon in the NBA. At some point somebody's 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:53.400 gonna hire. You can get very lucky, but we'll get 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.279 to the playoffs. But I want to start as a 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.279 fellow broadcasting. We all have pains. Were in front of 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:01.200 a live microphone. You've done radio for years. He did 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:03.680 talk shows in addition to the play by placed off. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.000 What is your opinion of the firestorm that has been 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:10.280 taking place with Tom brennman uh And as we're talking 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:14.320 here the the I guess former Reds broadcast he's been suspended. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.160 At the time we're talking, he has been removed from 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.920 the NFL. On Fox, he was caught on an open 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.760 mic saying a home of phobic slur. What's what's your 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.960 take on how that all went down? Yeah, I mean 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:32.640 they kind of saw it on Twitter last time like 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.520 everybody else did, and then heard what happened, and I'm 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.000 just surprised the many times said obviously veteran broadcaster, I 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:41.800 remember being in Chicago when he first kind of got 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.560 his big major league break doing the Cups games, when 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:47.280 Mary Carey was still around. And obviously he's had a 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:49.400 great career since then. It's still not still not an 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:51.520 old guy. And then he respect but you would think 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:54.160 that he'd known about, you know, the the you know, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:57.040 one of the common things that you're talking about any 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.760 time in front of a microphone and sums a live microphones. 0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:02.680 So uh so I'm a little surprised that he took 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.320 a chance at saying something that obviously it was not 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.520 something he wanted to get out over the air and 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.320 for public consumption. But uh and it's amazing how you know, 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:15.440 one little well maybe not little, but but one slip 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.600 up that was not intended, uh could you know, could 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.880 pretty much do damage to a long established career. And 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:24.720 so now he won't be on Fox chances out of 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.320 the Red suspending, and he probably won't be back with them, 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:30.520 he would think, so he may be uh maybe on 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:32.040 the sidelines for a while. And he even said it 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.600 in his goodbye last night when he finally figured out 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:37.880 and was told what had happened and was leaving the 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:39.240 air that he said, you know, I don't know if 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:41.280 I'm gonna be back on and and I think he 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.960 pretty much knew that, you know, this was this could 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:45.720 be a very damaging thing. And I think we're starting 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:49.120 to see the ramifications of it today. But yeah, it's 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.120 it's it's a you know, it's really I mean, I 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.920 can also, uh, you know, talk about what happened in Zacarbento. 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:57.360 Grant Napier, a guy that I worked with for a 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.199 lot of years when when I was with the Kings 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.760 and have known for quite a few years, and um, 0:09:01.800 --> 0:09:03.920 and he puts out a bad tweet and it cost 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.560 him as job with the Kings. So these days, you know, 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.000 we're you know, we're we're certainly in a situation where 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.679 it's as a sensitive society, people who don't want to 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.800 have things said and and and make it a fashion 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.600 about either you know, a race to create a color 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:21.320 or whatever it might be. And I can certually understand that. 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.679 And I think, um, when you're the public situation where 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.000 it's the air waves and people can hear it, or 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.199 see it. Um that becomes very very damaging if you 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.600 if you have a misstep, and I think you know, 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:35.440 people are finding out that years of hard work to 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:39.000 put a career together, um in one one fell swoop 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.480 that can be changed very very quickly in a very 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.360 negative fashion, and a random is faly that today and 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:47.360 may make it even more as as this fully plays out, 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:49.959 be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.280 Show weekdays at two a m. Eastern eleven pm paciffect 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.520 on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.280 and Wheels. The fall up on that and it's it's 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.120 a good point. But I remember when I first got 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:03.480 into the business and I was talking to some of 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.560 the old timers and when you would make a mistake. Now, 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:08.600 obviously Brennaman, you can't be saying that, what are you 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:13.320 doing but a typical run of the mill mistake. You know, 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:19.200 chances are people consuming television or radio, you know they're listening. 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:21.839 We we deal with this all time and talk radio 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:24.520 where people listen, but they don't listen to every word. 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:27.800 They hear just a small percentage of what we actually say. 0:10:28.360 --> 0:10:32.160 And so but but with social media, you just play 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.160 it over and over and over again. Right, No, social 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.520 media has been around for a long time, but it's 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.960 it's a much different landscape in recent years especially. It 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.640 feels like even though social media has been around for 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.920 you know, twitters started in the first decade, the late 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.679 part of the two thousands, uh, and Facebook's been around 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:54.360 a little longer than that. But that's the difference, right, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.560 I mean, if you make a mistake now, even if 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:00.960 most people don't hear it, then in you get it 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.400 saved on on Facebook and then or Twitter or whatever, 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.000 and then it just keeps playing over and over. You 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:07.520 know what I'm saying. Wheels you understand. I mean it's this, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.720 that's that's the game changer in a lot of this 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:13.880 where if you say something, even something that most people 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.040 don't hear when they're listening originally, it just comes back 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.920 and haunts you. Yeah, I think it was also changed, man, 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.640 is that uh uh? You know when I was in Chicago, 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:25.360 you know, Harry carry it is in his latter years 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.000 had all kinds of faux paused on the air to 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:30.719 varying degrees, and people kind of just said, oh, that's 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:32.319 just Harry, you know what I mean, It's just kind 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.640 of I mean, here's a guy who one time, you know, 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.120 sat on the Arne Price in it more than once. Uh, 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:39.079 you know, there would be a fly ball and uh 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.559 pop up or something, and and there's uh a Mexican 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:44.480 short stuff for the for the cups trying to make 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:46.960 the catch and and uh, you know, all of a sudden, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:49.840 you know, you can't see the ball and it drops 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.319 for a hit, and there's Harry's saying, how could a 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.600 Mexican guy lose the ball in the sun? Now, don't 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.360 you know? Can you imagine if I'm saying that to 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:58.600 day and she'd get away with it. But you know, 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.680 at the time, people like, how do pretty funny? You know? 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:02.640 So so it's like, you know, I just think that 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.000 I don't know, I don't know if our if our 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.920 you know, senses a fewer were different back then, uh, 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:12.480 in different days. But but I do think that, um, 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:19.480 people's people sensitivity for anything that you know, resembles something inflammatory. Um, 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.640 it's heightened to quite a bit. So, so I think 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:24.520 the things that maybe would have just been written off 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.959 as I didn't really mean that, he just you know, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.559 just being funny or whatever. I mean, you know, the 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.000 late Great chicker. Uh you know. I was told that 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.800 was on a Lakers team plane one time, and he's 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:37.679 walking around the plane and then a bunch of the 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.120 guys are playing pretty high sta game of poker, so 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.400 he's kind of observing it, and Rick Flox asked him, 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:43.959 he chick, do you want to you want to get 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.480 in on it on the game? And he was he was, oh, no, 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:48.400 nor know what he goes asked about, you don't be 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:50.560 farninging is no, no, I couldn't keep up with you 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.240 color your color boys. And he wanted to look at 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:55.679 the rest of the guys. Did did he just call 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:58.560 his colored boys? And you know, and they laughed about it, 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.440 you know, but you know, I think I think, you know, 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.880 ignorance or just you know, somebody who's not maybe not 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.240 up to date with the times or whatever. That's that's 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.320 those no longer a good excuses anymore. And if something 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:12.000 like that had gotten to be public in the past, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.440 I mean, the great chick heard in the head, you know, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.200 who knows that might have been effected if people found 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.000 out about that, you know, during the time when it 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.760 could have been I think of that again, it's been 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.840 said today that could have been real, real trouble. Yeah, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.600 you're right. You know, I remember Harry Carey at the 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.840 end watching w g N that when Hideo Nomo was 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.720 pitching for the for the Dodgers and it was not 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:37.000 you know, he had some issues with that and uh 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:41.600 and also remember the Chick. He had that incident where he, 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:43.640 you know, a guy was hanging on the rim and 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:47.920 uh he said, uh, I think he said, somebody's hanging 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:49.600 on the rim like a monkey or something like that. 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.320 And it was just yeah, I mean it was and 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.040 and both those things did get swept away. Now, you're right, 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.199 the wheels. That's a great point that that today you 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.920 remember remember of the old, the old, the old Norman 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:04.720 m l A. I remember the show, remember the old 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.680 show bowling for dollars um that was on and then 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.400 Chip as the host of the of the program. And 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:13.600 now he it was something that people I think just 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.200 discovered over time. I don't know if he even did 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.880 it intentionally. It was just something that just came out. 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.600 But a white guy would go on the show, you know, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.120 and he'd say, you know, hey, where do you work? 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.240 And you know he did talk about it, you know, 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.520 before the contestant would start doing his bowling. But a 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:30.200 black guy would come on and very often he would 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:34.200 say do you work? You know? So you know what 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.920 people went as, Oh, he's assuming that the you know 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:38.880 that for sure the white guys are always working, but 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.800 maybe it's a black of that. Maybe he doesn't work, 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:42.600 you know, so I gotta I gotta check that, you know. 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:44.920 But he would he wouldn't always say that the black guy, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.120 where do you work? He would often to say do 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:49.600 you work? I mean, so, so this is I mean again, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.760 I think people uh you know would sometimes say they 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.480 wouldn't necessarily say it was it was okay, it was right, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:57.960 but sometimes just laughing off it. Uh that's just you know, 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:00.280 he's just he's just thinking about it, you know whatever. 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.080 But I it's or it's the case, you know, for 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:04.960 that to be for that to be the case. So 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.160 so yeah, we're here in the public forum and you're 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:10.120 you're saying or doing things on the air waves, uh 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.800 that maybe years ago you could have gotten away with, 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:16.320 UM you better be up to speed about about what's 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.960 uh what's okay to say, and better get educated about 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:23.480 what what people um, you know, consider uh proper way 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:26.720 of going about things, because you know they definitely have changed. 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:29.640 And uh, and and everybody's got to change with that. 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.240 Or also they could they could find some trouble that 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.040 they weren't they maybe weren't asking for him. Yeah, and 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.480 and uh, that's a that's a good point also. So 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.440 well let's talk about you. It's all about you Wheel 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:43.320 As you started, you grew up in Southing. You grew 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.680 up in southern California, right you, I know your Dodger 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.760 guy and and and all that, but you you spent 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:49.920 a lot of time in Chicago. I think you went 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.400 to school there and you've bounced around. I mean, you've 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:54.640 been in Portland forever. But before that, right when you 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:57.440 were trying to get that big break, you worked in 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.400 several cities around the country. Right, you had the pickle 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.840 play by play slash broadcasting career early on, where you 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:07.760 you had to move quite often, right when you were 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.240 getting your feet settled and trying to find that gig. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:12.360 How many cities have you lived in over the years 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.960 as you try to get the gig that you finally 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.120 got in Portland. Yeah, not as many as you know, 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:19.800 as just for some folks I was looking, I never 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.480 really had to go to you know, to a really 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.560 really small town to get experience, which I thought I 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.240 might have to do. It seem like that's what people 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.000 would have to do to kind of get the first 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.440 break and get some experience. And but I, I was 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:35.400 was actually born in Chicago. We moved to l A 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.760 when I was two months old, back to Chicago for 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:40.520 family reasons after my freshman year of high school. So 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.320 I finished high school in Chicago at USC It was 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.520 my dream school, and I got accepted there, but I 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.160 couldn't take a Illinois State scholarship out of out of there, 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.200 and I couldn't get a California State scholarship because I 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.960 wasn't a resident, so the tuition would have been to 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:56.920 you know, to daunting for me to handle. So so 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.720 I ended up going to Loyal Chicago and then stayed 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.240 there to to do the Loyal Games even after I 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.840 graduated and got my first broadcast opportunities there, and uh, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.919 you know, I started to apply for NBA jobs and 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.200 kind of found out early on that a lot of 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:13.960 the nview teams but my college work was pretty good, 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.440 but they wanted me to you know, prove that I 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:17.879 could do and be a games and I said, well, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.440 that's why I'm applying for the me a job. And 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.160 so somehow I knew that I might have trouble getting 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:23.919 into me a job if I couldn't somehow get some 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:28.080 and be experienced. So Seattle offered an opportunity, uh for 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.600 me to go there and work for the Sonics flagship 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.280 radio station, and I could do the pre up and 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.760 postgame show, and even though it wasn't play by play, 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:37.600 at least it was a day to day affiliate with 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.400 an NBA team, which helped. And then after a couple 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:42.879 of years in Seattle, Sacramento had an opportunity to go 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.840 there and do the same things I was doing in Seattle, 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.000 but I could also add a chance to be a 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.800 fill in for the main radio play by play guy 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.720 wh would miss some games like five to ten every season. 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:56.679 So I finally got to put some NBA games on 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.640 a on a resume, a shade, and then that led 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.639 to the oportunity after three years, it sacremental to to 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.760 get to Portland, and um, the glazier jobs are Lazier 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:07.480 up for twenty one year or so. So it was 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.560 a good, a good run and I never really had to, uh, 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:12.240 you know, kind of go to the small market. I 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.040 unfortunately stayed in some pretty good sized markets and got 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.320 noticed and did talk shows along the way to and um, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.480 you know, host duties as well. That's some TV every 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.119 down then. So but but radio played, I played was 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:25.840 what I always wanted to do, and basketball in sport 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:27.719 that I enjoyed the most. So I was very fortunate 0:18:27.800 --> 0:18:30.280 that I could say that I, you know, I'm about 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.119 a dream which not everybody gets a chance to do. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:35.560 And hopefully I have another opportunity to know, to continue 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.000 that dream somewhere else down the road. Here be sure 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.760 to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.680 at two am Eastern eleven p m. Pacific. Hey, Brow, 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.159 what was the toughest job with all of this? Was 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.320 it actually just getting into the door and getting a 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.160 crack at this? Was it legitimately calling an NBA game 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.920 because the speed and the talent and making sure that 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.520 because the limited opportunities you almost think, for an instance, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.160 were hey limited at bats? I need to make sure 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:04.439 that I'm making good quality contact and I'm getting on 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:07.680 board right, So, like, were those things in between the ears? 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:09.880 Were you thinking about that or is it just about 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:14.119 trying to make those connections, having someone like you and 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.800 advocating for you to to obviously you know, reach your 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:22.000