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Ben Maller Show Best of the Week · The Ben Maller Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Maller
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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  Speaker 1: from 2 to 6 Eastern, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. And to find your local
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  Speaker 1: station for the Ben Maller Show at foxsportsradio.com. You can
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: find it there. Or stream us live every night on
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: This is the best of the Ben Maller Show on
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  Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
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  Speaker 3: We'll go to Los Angeles, LA.
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  Speaker 1: Big roster news after months and months of chatter.
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  Speaker 3: The decision is in.
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  Speaker 1: Is Aaron Donald, A, not returning to the LA Rams, saying,
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  Speaker 1: I can't play anymore. I'm cooked. B, no comment on
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  Speaker 1: my future plans. Or C, you can ram it all
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  Speaker 1: day and you can ram.
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  Speaker 3: It all night.
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  Speaker 1: Survey says the answer is C. You can ram it
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  Speaker 1: all day, and you can ram it all night. So
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  Speaker 1: if you didn't see this, Aaron Donald humming bars there,
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  Speaker 1: and he's out of retirement two seasons away, and he
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  Speaker 1: has returned to the L.A. Rams for the 2026 regular season.
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  Speaker 1: Our long national nightmare is now over.
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  Speaker 2: Wee!
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  Speaker 1: Football player signed a contract that used to play football. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: that's exciting. Listen, I like the Rams. I hope Donald
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  Speaker 1: does well.
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  Speaker 3: I'm tired of the story, though. Tired of the story.
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  Speaker 1: I am. 35-year-old defensive tackle. And the good news is
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  Speaker 1: he's going to get out of poverty now because he
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  Speaker 1: no longer has to worry. That one-year contract for $ 20
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  Speaker 1: million with playoff-based incentives, that contract could push the deal
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  Speaker 1: up to $ 30 million. So it'll be okay. One-year $ 20
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  Speaker 1: million contract to come back and play, and then up
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  Speaker 1: to $ 30 million. I've not seen the fine print on
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  Speaker 1: what those incentives are. Good luck. Now, reports claimed that
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  Speaker 1: this went down to the wire. Did you see this
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  Speaker 1: bull crap? Yeah, the reports were like, oh, my God,
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  Speaker 1: Donald left the Ram facility on Sunday without telling the
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  Speaker 1: organization his decision?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was the reporting.
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  Speaker 1: There were doubts, legitimate doubts about the comeback before he
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  Speaker 1: agreed to return less than two hours later. Maybe he
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  Speaker 1: had to go to Chipotle or something like that, get lunch.
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  Speaker 1: He went out and had a nice lunch, and then
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  Speaker 1: he came back, and he said, ah, psych, I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to play. All right, so that is a good jumping-off point.
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  Speaker 1: Let us discuss the question. Defensive tackle Aaron Donald waiting
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  Speaker 1: until the 11th hour to return to the LARMs. Was
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  Speaker 1: this legitimate, the way it's being portrayed? Was it legitimate,
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  Speaker 1: soul-searching by Aaron Donald, or manufactured drama? So I've got iPad,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Thousand Island Dressing, and Autopsy Report. And I do not
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  Speaker 1: have a fork in my mouth, but other people may.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so A. All right, listen. Oh, it's a flosser.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: That's all right.
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  Speaker 3: It's a flosser. It looked like a fork. That's very
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  Speaker 3: odd to talk with a fork.
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  Speaker 4: In your mouth.
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  Speaker 1: I love it. In my peripheral vision, I looked across
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  Speaker 1: the glass, and I saw what looked to be a
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  Speaker 1: nice fork.
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  Speaker 3: In the mouth. Just chewing on a fork over here. Well,
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  Speaker 3: some people enjoy that.
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  Speaker 1: It's, you know, why not? All right. So, again, the question,
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  Speaker 1: you got defensive tackle Aaron Donald, and he waited until
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  Speaker 1: the 11th hour, returns to the L.A. Rams. Was this
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  Speaker 1: legitimate play? deep soul-searching or just manufactured drama. So, A,
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  Speaker 1: spare me the Hamlet routine with Aaron Donald. I do
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: not need the Hamlet routine with Aaron Donald. It's not
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  Speaker 1: that deep. To play or not to play. Stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop, please.
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  Speaker 1: All right, this was not soul-searching. This was manufactured drama-o-rama.
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  Speaker 3: It's humbuggery is what it is.
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  Speaker 1: By the Rams. You get a little side here. The
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  Speaker 1: key part of this, the reason Donald waited here, he
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  Speaker 1: did not want to do training camp. The man said, no,
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  Speaker 1: ixnay on the camp, eh? And that's why. He skipped
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  Speaker 1: out on training camp. And we talked about this. I'd
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  Speaker 1: been hearing this for a while, that there were three options.
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  Speaker 1: Assign immediately. and show up and go through all the practices.
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  Speaker 1: There was that option, and then play in the regular
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  Speaker 1: season games. There was don't go to training camp and
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  Speaker 1: then sign and then play in all the games. There
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  Speaker 1: was also an option of don't go to training camp,
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  Speaker 1: don't sign right away, and wait and see and make
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  Speaker 1: sure the Rams are as good as the hype and
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  Speaker 1: then sign with them as a late season addition.
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  Speaker 3: You'll have to keep in shape. and then come back and.
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  Speaker 1: Play at some point around week eight or nine of
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  Speaker 1: the regular season, and that will be that. All right,
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  Speaker 1: so Donald spent the summer, and even before that, before
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  Speaker 1: the summer.
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  Speaker 3: Giving the Rams, if you read the.
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  Speaker 1: Reporting here, it was the bachelor finale treatment from Aaron
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  Speaker 1: Donald here. And then he finally accepted the Rose, and
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  Speaker 1: I was shocked. Not surprised at all. I was getting messages.
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  Speaker 3: Did you see?
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  Speaker 4: He signed!
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  Speaker 3: Oh, my God!
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  Speaker 1: My buddy's arrested. A, I'm not that into it. The
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  Speaker 1: Rams don't necessarily need Donald. This is an add-on item.
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  Speaker 1: The Rams are so good, Seattle's freaking out. They're signing
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  Speaker 1: guys that have all kinds of issues and are broken
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  Speaker 1: down up there in the Pacific Northwest or facing legal ramifications,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: all because they're trying to catch the Rams because they
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  Speaker 1: know that was a fluke what the Seahawks did last year.
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  Speaker 1: And so the Rams are, it was before they added
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  Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. So they didn't need Aaron Donald per se.
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  Speaker 1: And Miles Garrett, when he showed up and they traded
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of draft picks and whatever to get him.
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  Speaker 3: So fine.
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  Speaker 1: You got Miles Garrett flashing all the jewelry. And Donald's like,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to come back and play. I'm not
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  Speaker 1: going to come back and play. And then Garrett's out
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  Speaker 1: there flashing all the individual awards, no team awards because
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  Speaker 1: you play for the Browns. And Donald got seduced to
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  Speaker 1: come back into the nightclub for one more dance under
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  Speaker 1: the disco ball at the nightclub there. And so if
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  Speaker 1: you look at it, being completely transparent, this is the
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  Speaker 1: greatest defense ever assembled. based on record of individual accomplishments. Now,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: does that mean, if you look at the iPad, no,
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  Speaker 1: I'm serious.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, you're just being a Homer Maller.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: You're being a Homer.
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  Speaker 2: No, I'm not.
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  Speaker 3: No, I'm not. Look at the resume. Look at that
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  Speaker 3: bull crap.
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  Speaker 1: You people love your little accomplishments. Look at all the accolades,
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  Speaker 1: defensive player of the year, here, there, and everywhere.
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  Speaker 3: Revamped secondary.
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  Speaker 1: The Rams went out and bought the Chiefs secondary that
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  Speaker 1: won all those Super Bowls. They got those guys. Now
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  Speaker 1: they've added Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald. That's unbelievably craziness.
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  Speaker 1: Greatest defense ever assembled. Wonderful. Frame that, put that up. Now,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the problem is always eventually you actually have
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  Speaker 1: to play football, which is always just a buzzkill. You
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  Speaker 1: actually have to play the freaking games. And Donald is 35.
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  Speaker 1: Last I checked, he has not been cryogenically frozen the
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  Speaker 1: last two years. He's not hanging out with Ted Williams'
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  Speaker 1: brain somewhere in Arizona. Okay, that's not happening. So the
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  Speaker 1: Rams are betting on muscle memory here. They're betting on
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  Speaker 1: muscle memory here. Over father time. On a one-on-one tackle, Joel,
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  Speaker 1: muscle memory will take down father time, and so we'll
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  Speaker 1: see if this works. But if Donald comes back here
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  Speaker 1: and is merely mortal, think of him like a Clark Kent,
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  Speaker 1: all right, wearing a suit and glasses and all that stuff.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, fine.
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  Speaker 1: But if he's not, that's not good. It's passable. They're
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  Speaker 1: betting on Superman up, up, and away is.
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  Speaker 3: What they're betting on.
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  Speaker 1: The hype machine, if this is Clark Kent and not Superman,
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  Speaker 1: goes right in the ditch. Right in the ditch is
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  Speaker 1: where it goes there. So if someone else, and.
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  Speaker 3: This is, I love the fact there's no margin for error.
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  Speaker 1: If someone else hoists the Lombardi trophy at SoFi Stadium
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: in February of 2027, Valentine's Day, I believe is the
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  Speaker 1: date of the Super Bowl, then the Hollywood production is
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  Speaker 1: a E-F. Epic fail is what it becomes for the Rams. So, hey,
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  Speaker 1: I'm all for it. Every team should be like that.
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  Speaker 1: We're all in. The Rams are all in. They've got
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  Speaker 1: the fossil of Matthew Stafford, who they squeezed out an
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  Speaker 1: MVP last year. At this point, Puka Nakua hasn't been
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  Speaker 1: suspended for going around like a vampire and biting women,
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  Speaker 1: so he's still able to play. So you got that.
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  Speaker 1: All right, meanwhile, speaking of Seattle, let's now head to
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  Speaker 1: the Pacific Northwest where several of you reached out to me.
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  Speaker 1: For some reason, the 12s love the show. You'd think
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  Speaker 1: they wouldn't like the show, but they love the show.
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  Speaker 1: So I got some emails after the Seattle Seahawks had
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  Speaker 1: added defensive back Trevion Diggs. Remember they signed him, Trevion Diggs?
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  Speaker 1: They signed him, former Cowboy. defensive back, and they signed
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  Speaker 1: him not that long ago, like within the last couple weeks.
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  Speaker 1: And I was skeptical. Of course, I'm always skeptical. It's
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  Speaker 1: kind of my default position on this. And so, well,
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  Speaker 1: the news came out with roster cutdowns around the league
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  Speaker 1: on Sunday. One of the surprise moves, the Seattle Seahawks
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  Speaker 1: have said, bye-bye! They have temporarily fired defensive back Trevion Diggs.
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  Speaker 3: So I guess all those emails, can I write back
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  Speaker 3: to you and do na-na-na-na-na-na?
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: Now, supposedly, this is where it gets even better. So
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  Speaker 3: supposedly it's not a problem.
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  Speaker 1: Goodbye. Oh, no, not a permanent goodbye. The GM, John Schneider,
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  Speaker 1: John Schneider, came out and said the Seahawks intend to
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  Speaker 1: bring Stefan Diggs' brother, Trevion Diggs, back to the practice
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  Speaker 1: squad in the Pacific Northwest. And he waxed loquacious John
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  Speaker 1: Schneider about the players and the coaching staff. They just
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  Speaker 1: love Diggs.
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  Speaker 3: Love him.
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  Speaker 1: They dig him. And he just needed more time to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: acclimate himself. Acclimate himself to the Seahawks uniform. So as
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a vested veteran, from what I read, these things are
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: never wrong. So Diggs does not have to clear waivers.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: He is free to sign with any team's 53-man roster
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: or practice squad. before returning to Seattle. So he can
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: go somewhere else, and that's it. Pretty sure that there's
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: not a big market for this guy. I'm just saying.
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  Speaker 3: All right, so the question.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Seattle says that, hey, they love Trevion Diggs. Big fans.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Of course, they also let go of Trevion Diggs. And
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: so that's the deal. So Seattle says they love Trevion Diggs,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't an NFL team show love. This is
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  Speaker 1: going to shock you by actually giving the player a
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  Speaker 1: roster spot that they love.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: I know. Oh, you're such a boomer, Maller. I know.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: I know. I'm from the old country.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Yes. Sounds like some of the conversations I've had with
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: program directors. Well, we really think you're good, Ben. Not
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: good enough to put you on during the day or
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: pay you real money, but we think you're—thank you!
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  Speaker 3: Just give me the bird. Just give me the freaking
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  Speaker 3: bird already.
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  Speaker 1: All right, so to answer the question, again, Seattle waxing
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: loquacious about Trevion Diggs and how great he is and
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. And my point is they generally give
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you a roster spot if they think that way. And
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  Speaker 1: the answer to that is bingo bango. Seattle thought Trevion
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  Speaker 1: Diggs was hamburger helper. Oh, my God. Diamond in the rough.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Big name and put them out there. Just add some
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: water and presto, you got instant NFL starting level defensive
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  Speaker 1: back in the rotation. The reality, false advertising. That's soft soap.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: It is soft soap there. You're not good enough. John Snyder,
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: what he's doing is he's pouring Thousand Island dressing on
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  Speaker 1: top of the story there and needs time to acclimate,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: which is code for you're not good enough. right now
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: so let's put some dressing on top of this and
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  Speaker 1: soften the blow.
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  Speaker 3: Because if Seattle believe.
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  Speaker 1: That Trevion Diggs could still play at a high level
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: based on their suck bag secondary that he would absolutely
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  Speaker 1: be on the 53-man roster right now not handed a
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: RSVP at the kiddie table of the practice squad is
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: it possible this is one that Jerry Jones got right
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Maybe Jerry Jones actually knew something when Dallas dumped the
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: guy that had 11 interceptions and was all pro a
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  Speaker 1: couple years back.
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  Speaker 3: Think about that, 11 interceptions.
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  Speaker 1: You talk about the NFL, how fast stardom evaporates in
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the NFL once injuries mess with the margin for error.
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  Speaker 1: So this guy was the toast of the NFL a
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  Speaker 1: couple years ago with the Cowboys. Now he's battling for scraps.
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  Speaker 1: It's wild. That is not trying to acclimate yourself to
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the roster. That's the NFL moving you straight from the
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: showroom over to the bargain bin. is what that is.
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  Speaker 1: All right, last word to more comings and goings in
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  Speaker 1: the NFL. We head now to Nashville, Tennessee, the music city.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: At some point, we've got to do a Mallory meet
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: and greet in Nashville. We've got to get to Nashville. Soon.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: We've got to make that happen. Yeah, absolutely. And we
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: can all stay at Clay Travis' house, you know, our
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: old boarding guy. I'm sure Clay will put us up,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: no problem. Unless he calls the cops. Anyway, the Titans,
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, waving Will Levis.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Bye-bye!
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Will Levis has been let go over the weekend. One
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: of the many roster moves around the NFL. Ending his
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: three-year run. He was the 33rd overall pick. The top
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: pick in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: And Ixnay on the quarterback A.
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  Speaker 3: He gone.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Tennessee reportedly tried desperately to trade Will Levis, and nobody
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: wanted him.
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  Speaker 3: There was no market.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: That's depressing. And Levis became the starter when he was
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a rookie, and Ryan Tannehill sucked at a time you
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: cannot suck. And so there you go. Actually kept the
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: job in 2024, Will Levis, briefly. And some of the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: online chatter. saying that Will Levis was set up to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: fail in Nashville. I love that. Just no accountability. Blame
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: somebody else. Blame somebody else. All right, so the question,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: who deserves more of the blame? We'll play the blame game.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: I love the game. It's the blame game.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: All right, so who deserves more blame for the quarterback
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Will Levis failure, the belly whopper that he did? With
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the Titans. Is it the Titans organization or is it
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Will Levis himself? All right, so my default position. Now,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: very rarely do I go away from my default position
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: on this. My default position on this is stop blaming
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans in this case. Will Levis was given
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a great mitzvah, an opportunity to play as a rookie,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: meaningful NFL snaps, to show something.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: And did he show something?
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: No. He just wasn't good enough. That's what he showed.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: He sucked at a time he cannot suck.
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  Speaker 3: That's it.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: The autopsy report on the quarterback experiment in Tennessee reads,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: faulty wiring upstairs. Now, he did get hurt in the
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: middle of that, but my God, Will Levis was your
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: classic central casting quarterback today.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: Relatively big, strong arm.
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Some said rocket. He has a rocket launcher. Okay. Looked
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: like a million bucks Will Levis on the catwalk, walking
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: off the bus, doing a pirouette there. And then they
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: had to show up and the actual football stuff took
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: place there. And the stat of stats, the mother of
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: all stats with Will Levis in 2024, 16.3%. of his
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: plays in 2024 resulted in either a sack, a fumble,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: or interceptions. That's impossible. 15% of the time it was
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: a sack, a fumble, or an interception. He was a
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: gridiron piñata is what he is. And Tennessee couldn't trade him.
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: Think about this.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: They couldn't even get a bag of gumballs. Not even
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: the good kind of gumballs. They couldn't even get crappy
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: gumballs for Will Levis. And he gets tossed straight into
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the recycling bin. Now, is he going to find a
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: job somewhere in a practice squad?
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, probably.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: He'll find work somewhere. But barring a Hollywood plot twist,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Will Levis goes from a guy that at one point
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: was being tagged as a top 10 pick in the
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: NFL draft to currently unemployed in his chosen line of
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: work at age 27, and the Wikipedia page. You look
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: at Will Levis. Now, he's given us good talk radio.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Will Levis has given us good talk radio. We will
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: forever be grateful for Will Levis, coffee mayo guy.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Remember?
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Will Levis, coffee mayo guy. Liked to put the mayo
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: in the coffee, which I think was a joke, and
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: then it became a thing, and he became like a
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: brand ambassador for mayonnaise. And then he was also the
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: victim of a Eastern European hacking group that put a
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: sex tape of Will Levis all over the Internet. So
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: he's more known for those things than he is playing quarterback.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: And just flying like he thought he was Superman. There
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: were a couple times carrying the ball with the Titans
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: where he got hit and did the old helicopter. Got
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: hit in the air. Boom.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: Show weekdays at 2 a.m. Eastern, 11 p.m. Pacific on
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: Hey, it's Covino and Rick from Fox Sports Radio.
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: Now, in addition to hearing us live weekdays from 5
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: Sports Radio, we're excited to announce... a brand new YouTube
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: channel for the show.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Yup, that's right.
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: You can now watch Covino & Rich live on YouTube
• 19:03
  Speaker 5: every day. All you gotta do, search Covino & Rich
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: FSR on YouTube. Again, go to YouTube, search Covino &
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: Rich FSR.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Check us out on YouTube, subscribe, hit that thumbs up icon,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and comment away. A story that has been years and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: years in the making. I have had many, many... People
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: reach out to me over the years trying to do
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: some kind of voodoo boogaloo to get rid of the
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: owner in Anaheim, and it's not that the witch is dead,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: the witch is dead, the witch is dead. However, a
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: changing of the halo at the Big A, Artie Marino,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Artie Marino.
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: Exiting kind of. What?
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Well, the news came out. If you didn't see it,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: perhaps not. Artie Marino, longtime terrible owner of the Anaheim
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: baseball team, is selling the Angels to the guy that
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: owns the Rams, Stan Kroenke.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: And the Angels, the most valuable.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Team ever sold in baseball, which proves winning doesn't matter.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: The Halos will be sold for $ 4 billion.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Yikes.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Now, Stan Kroenke, the largest independent landowner in the United States,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: part of his operation, his empire of sports and entertainment,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: they will acquire, we are told, a controlling stake with
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: a deal expected to close sometime in early 2027. Of course,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: keep in mind, there's a work stoppage in baseball that
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: will not impede the The agreement to sell the Angels,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: it is pending Major League Baseball approval. If you've seen
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: some of the people baseball has approved as owners, it
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: doesn't seem like the bar is that high to clear.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: So Stan should be all right. Stan, the man, already owns,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: as mentioned, the Rams, the Denver Nuggets, and the Avalanche,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: the Rapids, some Premier League team, the whole thing. He's
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: got a little bit of this, a little bit of that,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and a lot of money. Now Kroenke issued a prepared statement.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: And in that prepared statement, he claimed that the Angels are, quote,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: a storied franchise anchored in a great market and promises a, quote,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: exciting future. A lot of empty platitudes in that particular
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: statement from Marty Marino. But that is a good jumping
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: off point. Let us discuss the question. How much better
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: off are the Angels today simply because Stan Kroenke is
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: is going to replace Artie Marino. We'll keep it simple.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: So I've got Greyhound Bus, Buzz Lightyear, and Goodyear Blimp.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: And we will combine all of these things together, and
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: we're going to have some funfetti cake. Because the feedback
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: I've gotten already from you, who reach out to me
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and harass me via the email, you've already let me
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: know that this is one of the great days in
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: your life as a sports fan. which is very odd
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: that just a rich guy buying the team from another
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: rich guy qualifies as a great day, a wonderful mitzvah.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: But here we are. That's how bad the angels have been.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: So my first thought on this, I do agree. I
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: get to, there's no real hyperbole. This is a, it
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: feels like a liberation day in Anaheim for a sad sack,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: pathetic franchise. And that's what the angels have been for
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: years and years and years and years and years. And
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: the angel fans, a hearty bunch. Uh, Do I see
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: a parade? See, if I was doing local radio, I'd
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: set up some kind of parade. We'd have a parade
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: down Main Street, USA there. What fun would that be, right?
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: You can declare yourself born again, born again, fan of
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the Angels. There you go.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: And symbolically, you know what you have to do? Symbolically,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: you have to attack the Artie Marino statue. Is there
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: an Artie Marino statue? It seems like there should be,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the way Artie ran the Angels there. Take your sledgehammers.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Get a bulldozer from a construction site and knock yourself
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: out there. The greatest day for the Halos since the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: O2 World Series against the Gigantes back many years ago.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: That's an entire generation. Think about it. A generation has passed,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and the Angels have been futile on the field.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: Wild, wild.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: A generation of kids have been born, grown up, made
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: it through college, and the Angels have sucked their whole lives.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: So I am Benny Brightside. I am Benny Brightside here.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: I genuinely am happy for my friends that like the Angels,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the long-suffering fans of the Halo there. I'm happy for you.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: You've endured this horrific blight of bad baseball, and you've
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: been fed a constant diet of fertilizer hoagies. I know
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Coop's excited. He dusted off all his angel gear. He's
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: so excited there. He can wear it again. There's no
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: longer shame. There's no longer shame in that. And to
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: go from Artie Marino to Stan Kroenke, it's kind of
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: like going from a 1970s Greyhound bus to a Gulfstream jet.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: It's just a big-time upgrade there, big-time upgrade. And Kroenke,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: who I've known about Stan Kroenke for a long time.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: He's been around much older than I am by a lot.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I remember I was talking to a buddy of mine
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: about this years ago when the Rams were in St. Louis,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the late, great Joe McDonald, legend. And L.A. radio legend
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Joe McDonald, he knew Stan Kroenke pretty well. Stan was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not really involved in sports too much back in those days.
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: And he's like, well, Stan, you got to move the
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Rams back to L.A., Stan. He actually did. Now, Joe
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: died before that happened. But Stan actually bought the Rams
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and moved them back to L.A. and the whole thing.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: But anyway, listen, here's the deal. The guy's an introvert. Fellow,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I'm an introvert. He's an introvert. So that's a good thing.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: And he lets his money do the talking. And it's
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: worked out pretty well. And that money's got a big
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: booming voice. It does. A very shrewd businessman. Of course,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: you can be a shrewd businessman when you have unbelievably
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: huge amounts of money. He's worth around $ 24 billion, give
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: or take, depending on stock market. And he tapped into
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: that sweet nectar of Walmart money early on through marriage.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: And you would have Seem to think that Stan Kroenke
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: sees the Angels as they are.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Well, they're undervalued. It's a big market, Southern California, and
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: there's real estate involved in that. And whether you keep
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the Angels in Anaheim or you move them somewhere else, you...
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: You love buying land and land becomes even more valuable
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: when you put a baseball stadium in it and put
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: apartments around it and things like that. Develop a shopping
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: center and hotels and all that stuff. And so it's
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: kind of like what he's done with the Rams at
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: SoFi Stadium and that whole area in L.A., which is
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: a whole to do with all kinds of things going
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: on there. You'd imagine he'd do the same thing, and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: he's so rich, Stan Kroenke, that when this guy takes
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: a bowel movement, it's $ 4, 500 for one bowel movement. Yeah,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: he goes to take a whiz, it's like $ 1, 000. It's
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: pretty crazy there. Hallelujah. All right, keeping the theme of
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: the hour going here on the Ben Maller Show. So
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: another angle to this, what does the future hold? For
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: the Angels understand Cronky. So looking into my crystal ball
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: as a distant relative of Nostradamus and close personal friend
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: of Nostradamus, the term here, it's an old TV show,
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: happy days. Yes, happy days are here again. The Angels
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: actually could sniff a playoff spot instead of sniffing the
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: worst record in professional baseball, which is where they have
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: been Going neck and neck at this point in the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: season for the last couple of weeks here. Last couple
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: of months, actually, as the worst team. It's between them
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and the Rockies at the very bottom there. So we
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: see in the crystal ball Stan Kroenke going full Toy Story. Like,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: think Buzz Lightyear. With the angels to.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Infinity and beyond! To infinity and beyond!
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Just like that. So first things first, of course, you
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: need to do the right thing. And that is in
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: organizational exorcism. And you have to fumigate the entire... Franchise
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: anything associated with Artie Marino and this era of the
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Angels must be fumigated. It has to happen there. And
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the argument has been the Angels are one of those
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: sleeping giants in terms of the amount of people that
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: could go to those games, support the team and that
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: they are in a place people want to play. Prime
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: location in Orange County. Mike Trout loves it so much,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: he doesn't care the Angels haven't won his whole career.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: He lives in Laguna Beach. He can go surfing and
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: golfing and do whatever he wants, and it doesn't matter.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Nobody pressures him. There's no real accountability. It's been great.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: The surf and turf right there.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Hallelujah.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: And it's a big market. So Stan Kroenke, he did
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: not all of a sudden become oligarch rich and make
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: money on top of money. by thinking small. So you
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: figure he's going to think big there. And there's no
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: seven-year rebuilding plan, all that bull crap. That's all a scam.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: The angel's been pulling that scam. We're building. No, you're not.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: You're not building anything. Forget the ceremonial prospect canoodling. There's
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: no canoodling needed here. Stan Kroenke, I believe he's 79.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: And when you're 79, you're not thinking, hey, let's have
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: a seven-year rebuild. You're in bonus time, and you might
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: as well enjoy that and lock into bonus time. And
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: so I think the Angels are— the American League West blows.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: So the Angels, I'd give them three years. I think
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: it should be next time they come back, they should
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: be a contender. make a couple of good moves, and
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, if you actually are trying, you
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: can make the plus. There's four slots you have. You
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: have the division and three wild cards. The bar is
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: to be 500 in the American League. You're a playoff team.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: You can't get to 500?
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: Come on!
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: It should be in the playoffs the next time they
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: play baseball, whenever that is. 2028 or 2029 or 2030,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: they should have a chance to To be a playoff team.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: should at least be a playoff team and then that
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: I think at some point here they win another championship
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: and so Stan Kroenke he has been the owner of
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: the Rams they won a championship the Nuggets championship Avalanche
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: have won the Stanley Cup and even the Premier League
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: team has won as well so he's got that going
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: for him so good for him And he's not merely,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: you look at Artie Marino, how bad he is, we'll
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: get to that in a second, but Stan Kroenke, not
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: merely the Angels' new owner. It's like an actual adult
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: in the room, which they have not had, it would appear,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: for some time here. And do not be surprised, though,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: if the endgame involves a major real estate deal with
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: a spectacular stadium development, state-of-the-art, with a giant Big A,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: like they used to have back in the, 1970s in
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: their stadium, and they do that, and Stan Kroenke can
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: fund the whole thing. That's what he did. People don't understand.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: You can't get anything built in California because of the
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: People's Republic and the woke politics in California, but Stan
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Kroenke's got so much money. He just built SoFi Stadium,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and with minimal contribution from anyone else, he just put
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: his money together there, and Because you look at underneath
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: the baseball romance.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's baseball.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Still, this is the ultimate rich man's game. It's the
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: ultimate rich man's game when it comes to real estate.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: And that's what this is about for Stan Kroenke. Of course,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: it also means you're going to have some success on
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: the field. The baseball team attached to the real estate.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: Last word.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Let's now go to the better story, which is in
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: losing locker room, the losing locker room. And so the question,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: how are we going to remember the Artie Marino ownership
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: of the Angels? What stands out here? It's going to
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: stand the test of time with Artie Marino. Now, he's
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: not fully leaving from what we understand. He'll still be
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: haunting the Angels as a minority owner of the team.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: If he was an NBA person, they'd say he's a
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: minority governor. but the baseball people haven't gone full woke yet,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: like the NBA, so they still call their people that
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: own the team owners. So a minority owner. So here's
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: how I'm going to remember Artie Marino as the majority
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: owner of the Angels. Artie was running his own IHOP,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: and he loved serving hotcakes, mistake hotcakes, stack them high
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: to the sky, mistake after mistake after mistake. Now, you've
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: heard of the Midas Touch. I assume you've heard of
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: the Midas Touch at some point here. Marino, Artie Marino
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: had the Saddam touch. And it's really fascinating to see
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: how this all played out over the years with the Angels.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Everything baseball related that this guy touched turned upside down,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: inside out and completely backwards.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: It's fascinating.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: They signed Josh Hamilton, which would not have been a
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: problem if he hadn't had a Coke problem and not Coca-Cola. Okay,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: so that's one thing. Albert Pujols arrived with much fanfare
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: in Anaheim, which would have been a great move. The
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: gold standard with the St. Louis Cardinals, Prince Albert. And unfortunately,
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: they didn't check the fine print. His warranty had expired
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: by the time he touched down at the Big A.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: which seemed to be a bit of a problem. Bit
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: of a problem. Then you have the creme de la creme,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: the Mona Lisa, Anthony Rendon, who had the double whammy.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: Not only did he seem to hate baseball, he seemed
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: to hate fun.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And he signed him. Because he played well for a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: month for the Nationals and they won the World Series.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: So they gave him this ridiculous contract to a guy
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: who didn't like baseball, didn't want to play on the
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: West Coast. All the boxes you don't want checked, he checked.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: It's almost impossible to think about that three in a row,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: free agent signing, and then also the fact the Angels
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: had two of this generation's greatest players, Mike Trout and
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Shohei Otani, together for years and couldn't win anything. They
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: didn't even get bupkis, the Angels, with those two guys
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: on the team. And Artie also had the gift for gab.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: I'm going to remember this. One of my favorite quotes
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: since I've been doing talk radio from an owner was
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Artie Marino just this year. and it was just great.
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Remember Artie talked about the fans in Anaheim, and he
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: said the Angel fans don't care about winning. It's rather
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: odd that an owner would say the fan base doesn't
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: care about winning, but he said the real housewives of
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Orange County, the moms of Orange County, they just want
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: cheap tickets. They want affordable snacks at the ballpark, and
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: they want a safe place for their kids to watch baseball.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: They don't care about winning. Seems like an odd position
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: to take, but Artie said it, and we're glad he did.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: It gave a great quote. However, my favorite Artie Marino story,
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: my favorite story about Artie Marino... was how thin-skinned he was. Now,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: the Angels haven't gotten much media coverage. They always complained
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: about that, even when I was around there a lot
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: back in the day. Oh, we're not getting the proper
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: amount of attention, and they bitch and moan and all
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: that stuff. So far.
• 34:48
  Speaker 3: Well, there was a guy named T.J. Simers, the late,
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: great T.J. Simers, who was a buddy of mine.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: And T.J. was a rabble-rouser, columnist, like a real columnist.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of soft columnists now that don't really
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: hold anyone accountable. And they go, whee!
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: He wasn't like that.
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: He was an a-hole. And he leaned into his inner a-hole.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: And he would say things that were accurate. But generally,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: in polite society, you don't say these things. And he'd
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: rip the angels all the time. And he took some
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: shots at Artie Marino, TJ Simers, in the newspaper. I
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: guess one too many times. I say that because Artie
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: decided to punish TJ and not just TJ Simers, the
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: entire media contingent by moving the main press box where
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the baseball media sit from the standard position behind home
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: plate to above the right field foul pole. You're literally
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: closer to the pearly gates than you are home plate.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: You can't even see home plate without needing some kind
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: of neck massage to turn your neck. And boy, let
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: me tell you something. Boy, did that work out wonderfully
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: for the Angels, who went from partially invisible to fully
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: invisible for the L.A. media, who did not make the
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: trip down there because you were better off. If you're
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: going to cover the Angels, you're better off just watching
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: from the Goodyear blimp and looking down. You had a
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: better view from the Goodyear blimp. Unobstructed. Of course, the
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: ultimate punchline is Artie wins. Artie wins. Owning a major
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: sports franchise is an idiot-proof piggy bank on steroids. It
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: just is. And this is more evidence. Artie Marino turned
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: a purchase of the team. He bought the team. Let's see.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: He was terrible. He bought the team for $ 184 million
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: in 2003. He is now selling the team for a
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: $ 4 billion valuation. That is nearly 22 times the purchase price.
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: What other investment can you have that goes up 22
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: times in that amount of time? 22 times in 20 years.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: 24 years or 23 years. So every wrong decision, the
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: thing you were supposed to do, you're supposed to zigzag
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: and you get a $ 4 billion pot of gold and
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: you don't even sell the whole team. You're still going
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: to be around there and you're going to be hanging out.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: And so it turns out the Saddam touch happened. The
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Saddam touch finally at the very end became the Midas
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: touch on the way kind of out of town, but
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: he's still going to have a corner office somewhere and
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: he'll still be hiding in the shadows and go boo.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: He's like the poltergeist. He's still going to be hanging out,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: but Stan Kroenke. is now going to be the owner
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: of the Angels.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maller
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: Show weekdays at 2 a.m. Eastern, 11 p.m. Pacific. Now,
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Maller's Mountain of Money.
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: Lord, that's a lot of money.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: Do you have what it takes to get to the top?
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: Probably not.
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: All right, right to it.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: Let's welcome in our contestants. We have... We have Skilly.
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: Is that his name?
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: Skilly in Rochester wants to play.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Hello, Skilly. Welcome. Hello, Skilly. What up?
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: What up?
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: What up?
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: I'm here. All right.
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: You ready to go? Who do you want to partner
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: up with? You got me, Ben, Cooper, Lorena.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: I'm going with you, bro. All right.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: We're in it. We're in it, Skilly. Hold on a sec.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: You're going to play our game. We have J.C. in
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Sherman Oaks who's back.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: Hello, J.C.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Hey, how are you? What's up, JC?
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: Who do you want to partner up with?
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: You got Lorena or Coop?
• 38:27
  Speaker 4: Cooper.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: You guys have the same initials.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: We're going to win this. JC and JC, let's go.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: Let's get to it quickly. What do we got, Coop?
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: Hurry up. Hurry up.
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: All right. This is the Barry Gibb edition of Mallard's
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: Amount of Money. He turns 80 years old today of
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: the Bee Gees. We have the categories Massachusetts, Night Fever,
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Staying Alive, and Tragedy.
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: Skilly, you were on first. Which category would you like?
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: Staying alive, baby.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: Staying alive. All right, and JC, how about you?
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: Tragedy.
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: Tragedy, all right.
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: All right, very good. We'll do staying alive. These athletes
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: all had near-death experiences. Are you ready, Skilly? Let's get it.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Are you in New York or Minnesota? Go.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to find out.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: New York.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: Here we go.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: New York. All right. 45 seconds on the clock.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: We're on our way.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: And go.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: Greatest golfer of all time. Yes.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: Quarterback for the Steelers was in a motorcycle accident.
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: Ben Roethlisberger. Yes. Bicycle rider. Tour de France.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: Female tennis.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: Sensation who's African-American. She's now, I guess, back playing tennis again.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: Serena....
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Yes, that is correct. Basketball player, played for the Clippers,
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: the Lakers, almost died. Yeah, look at that. Buffalo Bill,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: defensive back, he almost died on the field.
• 39:49
  Speaker 3: That is correct.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Offensive linebacker for the Chiefs in the 1970s.
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: No, no, in the 1970s. Oh, that one, baby.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 40:01
  Speaker 3: That's pretty good. Two hundred and forty. And that's good.
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: Good job.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Willie Lanier was the other name, right?
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: OK.
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: J.C., we got tragedy, right?
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 40:14
  Speaker 4: These athletes were all involved in a tragedy. Forty five
• 40:18
  Speaker 4: seconds on the clock. Let's begin. Died in a helicopter crash.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: Murdered his wife and her lover. Running back for the Bills.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: Murdered his wife.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: This was a quarterback for the Titans.
• 40:35
  Speaker 4: He got killed by his mistress.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: First name?
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: This was a pitcher for the Blue Jays and the Phillies.
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: He died in a plane crash, I believe. He was
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: flying his own plane. All right.
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: Catcher for the Yankees who died in a plane crash
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: back in the day.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: This guy was a pitcher for the Marlins. He died
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: in a boat accident.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: Oh. All right.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: Tight end for the.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, bad job. Really bad. Ninety. Ninety. All right.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: J.C., we're at.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: By the way, it was Steve McNair. And Roy Halladay
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: was the pitcher. Roy Doc Halladay.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: JC, do you want Night Fever or Massachusetts? Night Fever.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: Night Fever.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: These athletes were known for really enjoying the nightlife.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: 45 seconds.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: Let's begin. Boxer nicknamed Money. Floyd Weather.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: This was the tight end for the Patriots. White guy.
• 41:46
  Speaker 3: The guy that didn't kill someone? Okay. This guy's nickname
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: was the worm on the bulls. Yes. This guy was
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: the wide receiver for the Giants, made the one-handed catch.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: Wow. This guy was a quarterback drafted by the Browns.
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: His nickname was money.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: His name is, I don't know.
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: Oh, we're out of time. And you lost. We win. Skilly,
• 42:14
  Speaker 3: you only need to want a great rest. You get
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: a golden ticket. You get a golden ticket.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Way to go.