Latest / The Ben Maller Show / The Fifth Hour: Cincy Postgame

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The Fifth Hour: Cincy Postgame · The Ben Maller Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Kabooms.
0:02
Speaker 2: If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes
0:05
Speaker 2: a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants
0:09
Speaker 2: of the old republic, a sol fashion of fairness. He
0:12
Speaker 2: treats crackheads in the ghetto gutter the same as the
0:15
Speaker 2: rich pill poppers in the penthouse. Wow to a clearinghouse
0:19
Speaker 2: of hot takes, break free for something special. The Fifth
0:23
Speaker 2: Hour with Ben Maller starts right now in.
0:29
Speaker 1: The air everywhere. The Fifth Hour with Me, Ben Mahlor
0:35
Speaker 1: and you a Brie production. So if anything goes wrong,
0:41
Speaker 1: Producer Brie is fully responsible. She is helping to make
0:46
Speaker 1: this podcast great again. Unless she's not. No, no, she's
0:51
Speaker 1: helping us out. She'll be on the millbag every once
0:53
Speaker 1: in a while, she'll be in the rotation, the whole thing.
0:56
Speaker 1: All of that very excited. More on that coming later on.
1:01
Speaker 1: This podcast, though, on this first day of May, is
1:05
Speaker 1: different than almost every other podcast we do because we
1:09
Speaker 1: have an opportunity here you and I together to go
1:12
Speaker 1: down memory lane. Nobody else has this content. It is
1:16
Speaker 1: green Light Go Time and here it is the official
1:21
Speaker 1: postgame show. Nobody else has this. ESPN doesn't have it, NBC, CBS,
1:27
Speaker 1: we have it right here on the fifth hour podcast
1:32
Speaker 1: the Big Malard Meet and Greet in Newport, Kentucky, which
1:36
Speaker 1: was held less than a week ago last Saturday at
1:41
Speaker 1: Strong's Brick Oven Pizzeria, which sits right across from the
1:47
Speaker 1: impressive Ohio River with the Cincinnati skyline doing its best
1:52
Speaker 1: postcard impersonation or I guess impression behind it. So you
1:56
Speaker 1: had all that, and before we get to the very
1:59
Speaker 1: juicy tam page six details, we did have a moment
2:03
Speaker 1: I want to share with you. I was debating whether
2:05
Speaker 1: or not to tell this part of the story, and
2:08
Speaker 1: I figured it's the podcast and why not. And based
2:13
Speaker 1: on the feedback I got when I talked to some
2:16
Speaker 1: of you guys, you enjoy crap like this. So I
2:19
Speaker 1: had a moment of panic. I flew all day on Saturday.
2:23
Speaker 1: I got off the radio, did the Friday podcast, then
2:28
Speaker 1: took a brief nap, went down to the airport, got
2:31
Speaker 1: dropped off by the wife, and was on my way.
2:34
Speaker 1: On my way, I had to fly, stopped on my way,
2:38
Speaker 1: made my way to Cincinnati, landed in a rainstorm. It
2:43
Speaker 1: was a wild ride out of Denver. More on that
2:46
Speaker 1: over the weekend, so I got up early on Saturday,
2:49
Speaker 1: and because of the time difference, it was very early.
2:52
Speaker 1: Didn't sleep very well. I don't sleep well anyway, and
2:55
Speaker 1: I was fired up, though I little pep in my step.
2:56
Speaker 1: I was excited. This was a big event. And we
2:59
Speaker 1: went It's the Strongs brick Oven Pizzeria for a meet
3:03
Speaker 1: and greet that we had been promoting again for a
3:06
Speaker 1: good amount of time. And I nearly retired on the spot.
3:11
Speaker 1: I had a mall maente where I thought, oh my god,
3:15
Speaker 1: what have I done before the hooton Nanny even started.
3:21
Speaker 1: Now you might be thinking, well, that's just hyperbole. You're
3:23
Speaker 1: just trying to create some drama on the podcast, and
3:27
Speaker 1: that is not true. I don't need to create drama
3:29
Speaker 1: on the podcast. It's a podcast. That's not it at all.
3:34
Speaker 1: There's no exaggeration, there's none of that. Again, no hyperbole.
3:39
Speaker 1: That is reality. Imagine if you will. I'm fired up,
3:44
Speaker 1: got up early, didn't sleep well, put on my nice clothes,
3:49
Speaker 1: put on my hat, and I go to the venue
3:52
Speaker 1: and I am standing in a parking lot staring at
3:57
Speaker 1: an empty building. Thicken, well, this is it right here.
4:04
Speaker 1: All these years overnight talk radio salt mines of conversation
4:11
Speaker 1: and it ends next to a shuttered pizza joint in
4:16
Speaker 1: northern Kentucky. It was the twilight zone. There was no
4:20
Speaker 1: one there. There was no one there. The restaurant wasn't there.
4:23
Speaker 1: There was not a single person there. I was the
4:26
Speaker 1: only one who goofed I've got to know, well, that
4:30
Speaker 1: would be your beloved gas bag because I typed in
4:34
Speaker 1: the wrong location. Of course I did. This is who
4:38
Speaker 1: I am. I am a man who can host the
4:41
Speaker 1: overnight show for a few hours in the dark, however,
4:44
Speaker 1: cannot successfully locate a pizza restaurant in the daylight that
4:50
Speaker 1: I had been again hyping up for weeks. I'm using
4:54
Speaker 1: the GPS as my fall guy because former Ohio State
4:58
Speaker 1: buck Guy Chris Carter taught me, you gotta have a
5:01
Speaker 1: fall guy. Gotta have a fall guy, very important. Now,
5:05
Speaker 1: eventually I found the correct address. They it had changed.
5:10
Speaker 1: I had been giving out the right address, which I
5:12
Speaker 1: was happy about. So I found the correct address for
5:14
Speaker 1: Strongs just a few blocks away now, fortunately, and it was.
5:19
Speaker 1: It was pretty good. The scene changed. The scene changed.
5:22
Speaker 1: I parked on the street and then I was directed
5:26
Speaker 1: by Darla from Cleveland, actually Parma, Ohio. She said, just
5:32
Speaker 1: say Cleveland's okay. I said, okay, I'll say Cleveland, why not,
5:35
Speaker 1: And then I just said the town she's actually from.
5:37
Speaker 1: But Darla was sitting outside and she she said, well,
5:42
Speaker 1: there was actually some free parking down here, and she
5:46
Speaker 1: said sure, and and then she checked with the I
5:49
Speaker 1: think it was her husband. I'm not sure. I don't
5:51
Speaker 1: want to say that if I'm not. But she was
5:52
Speaker 1: with a couple of people who were fans of the show.
5:55
Speaker 1: She pointed out, Darla, she does not like the show,
5:57
Speaker 1: which I appreciated. I appreciated. She was very honest woman,
6:00
Speaker 1: real Ohio woman. There. You know, she's not going to
6:04
Speaker 1: tell you something you want to hear. She's like, nah,
6:06
Speaker 1: I don't like you know, I don't like this shit.
6:08
Speaker 1: She was very nice, and she told me where to park,
6:11
Speaker 1: and so I saved a couple of bucks and and
6:13
Speaker 1: then and that was it. And Darla told me if
6:16
Speaker 1: I did not mention her name, she was either going
6:19
Speaker 1: to punch me or cast some kind of spell on me.
6:21
Speaker 1: Bad mojo. So I avoided the bad mojo and park
6:25
Speaker 1: walked in. We were on our way and there it was. There,
6:31
Speaker 1: it was. I walked in out the main part of
6:33
Speaker 1: the restaurant. I didn't see too many people. I thought,
6:35
Speaker 1: oh boy, this is again go back to the twilight zone.
6:38
Speaker 1: I thought, what happened? This is not great? And then
6:42
Speaker 1: I kept going and I was directed to the back
6:45
Speaker 1: of the venue and there it was. It was just great.
6:50
Speaker 1: It was awesome, overwhelming, overwhelming. And people ask me often
6:55
Speaker 1: when I do these things, and we do a lot
6:57
Speaker 1: of them. This year's seems like it's going to be
6:59
Speaker 1: more than mo But we're going to Boston a week
7:03
Speaker 1: from today. We'll be in Boston, which is great, And
7:05
Speaker 1: so people ask me like, hey, you know, and sometimes
7:08
Speaker 1: they're concerned. They're like, Ben, like, why are you doing this?
7:11
Speaker 1: You got a good life. You live in SoCal, You're
7:13
Speaker 1: in the LA area there, You've got your routine, you
7:16
Speaker 1: got your dog Moxie that's got SAK issues. Why are
7:19
Speaker 1: you leaving right? Why go to a place like Cincinnati
7:23
Speaker 1: or a northern Kentucky places where the GPS occasionally gives
7:26
Speaker 1: you some bad advice and just says good luck, pal.
7:30
Speaker 1: That's flyover Country. That's always the elite West Coasters. That's
7:33
Speaker 1: Flyover Coast. And I understand the questions, and sometimes I'll
7:37
Speaker 1: ask myself questions like you know it's two thirty in
7:40
Speaker 1: the morning, only you know I'm eating something on the
7:43
Speaker 1: weekends I shouldn't have, And like what am I doing here?
7:46
Speaker 1: You know, traveling? You know there are reasons, first of all,
7:51
Speaker 1: perspective radio especially, and we talk about this from time
7:54
Speaker 1: to time in previous episodes Overnight Radio. It's a strange deal.
7:58
Speaker 1: It's kind of like talking in to a seial box
8:02
Speaker 1: and hoping someone somewhere here's the prize inside. I sit
8:07
Speaker 1: most of the time in a dark studio. I talk
8:10
Speaker 1: into a microphone. I hear a handful of regular callers,
8:13
Speaker 1: the same names, the same stories, many of the same arguments.
8:18
Speaker 1: We talk about the teams. All the coaches and the
8:20
Speaker 1: players change on the teams. The fact that the teams
8:23
Speaker 1: are still doing dumb things continues my entire life. I've
8:26
Speaker 1: taken calls from people complaining about the Cleveland Browns and
8:30
Speaker 1: the names of the players, and the coaches and the
8:32
Speaker 1: executive change. Even the owners have changed. It doesn't matter,
8:35
Speaker 1: or the Jets or whoever. So you begin to think
8:38
Speaker 1: that is the world, that is the entire world of this.
8:41
Speaker 1: It is not. It is a sliver, granted, a fascinating sliver,
8:46
Speaker 1: but a sliver like a crumb from a delicious pie
8:52
Speaker 1: that was out there. So then you go to a
8:54
Speaker 1: place like Newport, Kentucky, right across there from the big
8:57
Speaker 1: river and the city, the skyline, and going again. I
9:01
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, this was just beautiful, the weather, it
9:03
Speaker 1: was wonderful. Postcard it looked like a postcard. Somewhat forgot
9:07
Speaker 1: the mail. And you realize, oh, man, they're out there.
9:10
Speaker 1: You walk into the restaurant. You go again, up a
9:12
Speaker 1: couple flights, just stare. Oh, actually one flight, stairs, a
9:14
Speaker 1: few steps, and suddenly kabboom. Actual humans, not voices, not
9:22
Speaker 1: fake avatars on social media, people smiling, waiting. Some have
9:28
Speaker 1: driven many hours, some have flown from various corners of
9:31
Speaker 1: the country. Some have clearly made questionable life decisions to
9:36
Speaker 1: be there. And you realize, ah, you know, this thing matters.
9:40
Speaker 1: It matters to them, and that's important. Which it's flattering
9:46
Speaker 1: and slightly terrifying at the same time, because I'm really
9:48
Speaker 1: not that interesting. I'm not. Secondly, I do like seeing
9:52
Speaker 1: new places. I am a child of doctor Seuss. Who
9:56
Speaker 1: the hell is that, you say, Well, I grew up.
9:58
Speaker 1: My mom forced me to read Doctor the sous Box,
10:01
Speaker 1: Green Eggs and ham Sam. I am, You're off to
10:05
Speaker 1: great places, right, That's one of the lines from Doctor SEUs.
10:07
Speaker 1: You're off to great places. Today is your day. Your
10:10
Speaker 1: mountain is waiting, So get on your way. Oh the
10:13
Speaker 1: places you'll go and the people you'll see. And not
10:18
Speaker 1: a Doctor Seuss quote. But life is all about the
10:21
Speaker 1: stories you pick up along the way. You don't get
10:24
Speaker 1: a lot of stories sitting on your ass in an
10:26
Speaker 1: empty room and not interacting and going out and seeing
10:30
Speaker 1: the world. I had never spent any real time in
10:34
Speaker 1: this part of the country, and it's beautiful, and I
10:36
Speaker 1: mean that's sincerely. The trees were stunning, green, big forest
10:41
Speaker 1: all over the place, real trees, not the decorative shrubs
10:45
Speaker 1: pretending to be trees that we have here in southern California.
10:49
Speaker 1: The skyline of Cincinnati, that was the biggest city I've
10:52
Speaker 1: ever been to. But the fact that it was hugging
10:54
Speaker 1: the river and you had the beautiful bridges, the mosaic.
10:57
Speaker 1: There's a lot of history there too. There's older cities
11:01
Speaker 1: have character. And yeah, I went down a rabbit hole.
11:04
Speaker 1: I read about the old mob days that swamp Billy
11:08
Speaker 1: told me about and some of you other guys have
11:10
Speaker 1: told me about in Covington and Newport, Kentucky, because that's
11:14
Speaker 1: what I do. I like history as well. I also
11:17
Speaker 1: enjoy going places and immediately in this case looking for
11:22
Speaker 1: ghost old gangsters and some old brothels or just random
11:27
Speaker 1: pizza and sometimes all of that. Now, the third reason
11:31
Speaker 1: would be gratitude. And this is where it gets a
11:33
Speaker 1: little uncomfortable. And the reason is because I am not
11:37
Speaker 1: built for sentimentality. I am built for a sarcastic takedown
11:43
Speaker 1: of an NBA player or a football coach or a
11:48
Speaker 1: baseball player that's not doing his job. And yet it
11:51
Speaker 1: is real. It is real the people, and you know
11:55
Speaker 1: who you are. If I interact with you and you
11:57
Speaker 1: came out, even if it was for a couple of second,
12:00
Speaker 1: is there a couple of minutes whatever, you showed up
12:04
Speaker 1: and you came out to that event, and you give
12:07
Speaker 1: me something I cannot manufacture in the studio, you give
12:13
Speaker 1: user feedback, some rip Marcel and Brooklyn or something that
12:17
Speaker 1: we're doing on the show. And often you'll give me
12:20
Speaker 1: feedback without even saying a word. And you give me
12:23
Speaker 1: some energy, you put fuel in my tank. You give
12:27
Speaker 1: me confirmation that is ridiculous, nonsensical, overnight sports talk carnival.
12:34
Speaker 1: There is a connection there, and it's again, it's odd
12:38
Speaker 1: because oftentimes you don't know what you don't know, and
12:41
Speaker 1: I cannot fully give that bag. I try. I try
12:45
Speaker 1: to make this the priority of the company. Doesn't pay
12:47
Speaker 1: for these things. Sometimes a listener will pay for them
12:50
Speaker 1: or some of the cost, and I can go out,
12:54
Speaker 1: I'll shake hands, take some pictures, sign a few autographs.
12:57
Speaker 1: I can talk about your dog, your job, your kids,
13:01
Speaker 1: your favorite team that'll inevitably break your heart. However, the
13:06
Speaker 1: truth is, you guys have given me a career, a
13:11
Speaker 1: real one, not a well he tried career, A sustained,
13:16
Speaker 1: long term he somehow keeps getting away with this career. Listen,
13:21
Speaker 1: I was the fat kid, you know, like everyone else,
13:24
Speaker 1: I was bullied. Everyone was bullied. I think that's all
13:26
Speaker 1: that happens at elementary school. They're bullying factories. And I was.
13:31
Speaker 1: I was, you know, the fat kid. You know, some
13:33
Speaker 1: dopes were goofing on me on the playground often, and
13:36
Speaker 1: I just wanted to grow up and beat the guy
13:38
Speaker 1: in the magic radio box talking about sports. That was
13:42
Speaker 1: the dream. And should I have dreamt of being a lawyer,
13:46
Speaker 1: a doctor, a financial star on Wall Street. Probably I
13:52
Speaker 1: didn't dream of being an astronaut maybe for like a day,
13:55
Speaker 1: or firefighter or police officer every once in a while
14:01
Speaker 1: that would happen. Never social media influencer. Thank god, that
14:05
Speaker 1: job did not exist when I was eight years old.
14:08
Speaker 1: Radio was the goal. And somehow, through a combination of
14:14
Speaker 1: good timing, stubbornness, a complete lack of marketable skills, and
14:19
Speaker 1: no other option, we have been able to do this
14:24
Speaker 1: most of my adult life outside of six months and
14:27
Speaker 1: twenty six days. And that's on you. And now let's
14:30
Speaker 1: talk about the event itself, because this is the official
14:33
Speaker 1: fifth hour postgame show of the Malor Meet and Greet,
14:36
Speaker 1: and I am contractually obligated to overanalyze everything. So the
14:41
Speaker 1: venue strong, fantastic, the pizza outstanding. I'm a crust stop
14:46
Speaker 1: I love crust. I admit this. I have tried to master.
14:50
Speaker 1: The bubbly crust at home doesn't happen. If the crust
14:54
Speaker 1: is bad, the whole pie collapses like a poorly managed franchise,
15:00
Speaker 1: like think of the Jets, something like that, the Browns.
15:04
Speaker 1: So this cross elite, crispy, not arrogant, chewy, not needy.
15:10
Speaker 1: It understands its role. The pizza knew what it was doing,
15:15
Speaker 1: and I respect that. I absolutely respect that. So I
15:23
Speaker 1: set you know, I set up or I guess the setup.
15:28
Speaker 1: The setup was in the back again. I went up
15:31
Speaker 1: some stairs and yeah, there was a little stage in
15:35
Speaker 1: the back. There were some outdoor tables, there was there
15:37
Speaker 1: was a bar, there was room to roam. It worked.
15:40
Speaker 1: It was really perfect for what we needed. It felt
15:42
Speaker 1: like an event, not just a gathering. And there is
15:45
Speaker 1: a difference. Now one has intention the other. You know,
15:50
Speaker 1: there's some folding chairs and like, what is this? We
15:53
Speaker 1: had hosts. I gotta you know, I don't do shoutouts,
15:56
Speaker 1: so it'd be wrong of me to say, boy, I
15:59
Speaker 1: really like Cindia and Steve. I thought they were really
16:02
Speaker 1: good people, incredible, very welcoming. They loved this pizza place.
16:07
Speaker 1: Cindy was telling me a story like Cindy and Steve
16:10
Speaker 1: would go to this restaurant and they loved it. There's
16:12
Speaker 1: some other locations in the Cincinnati area, and they loved
16:15
Speaker 1: it so much. They became friends with the people that
16:18
Speaker 1: owned a few of the locations, and they ended up
16:20
Speaker 1: opening up their own pizza place. So they have other
16:23
Speaker 1: jobs in real estate and whatnot. And they loved the pizza,
16:27
Speaker 1: so they own it. And I'm so happy. I love
16:29
Speaker 1: those kind of stories. It's great. They were very kind patient.
16:33
Speaker 1: They had to deal with me, which should earn them
16:36
Speaker 1: some kind of metal. I tried to stay out of
16:38
Speaker 1: their way. Now to the attendance, very important. I used
16:43
Speaker 1: what I call Roger Goodell NFL draft math, which is
16:47
Speaker 1: highly scientific, completely fabricated. We estimated the Malor meet and
16:54
Speaker 1: greet attendance was approximately three thousand, three hundred and thirty
16:58
Speaker 1: five people attended, give or take. That included anyone within
17:03
Speaker 1: a five mile radius who happened to be awake, asleep,
17:07
Speaker 1: or vaguely aware something was happening around the corner. Now
17:11
Speaker 1: I stand by that number. Do not fact check it.
17:14
Speaker 1: I'm like Diana Russini, Do not fact check the story.
17:18
Speaker 1: I am not going to stand for this. Do not
17:20
Speaker 1: fact check it. Now, we had people all over I'm
17:25
Speaker 1: telling you had Oregon, Colorado, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, the Carolinas, Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana,
17:34
Speaker 1: plus the locals from Ohio and Kentucky. That is twenty
17:37
Speaker 1: seven percent of the Continental the United States, each of
17:41
Speaker 1: those states represented. That is not normal. That is not ah.
17:45
Speaker 1: A few people showed up. That's effort, that's planning that
17:50
Speaker 1: I'm going to build a weekend around listening to a
17:52
Speaker 1: guy who argues with Marcel and Brooklyn at three in
17:57
Speaker 1: the morning or wherever it might be in your time.
18:00
Speaker 1: And again, it's flattering. It's also concerning now to the
18:03
Speaker 1: moments the Dixter, Dick and Dayton. This is why we
18:07
Speaker 1: made the pilgrimage. Well over twenty years of calls, a
18:11
Speaker 1: voice in the night, a relationship built entirely on conversations
18:15
Speaker 1: about what Pete Rose, Bernie Cozar, the Browns, the Indians,
18:20
Speaker 1: the Reds, the Buckeyes, etc, Etc, Etc. Etc. All of
18:26
Speaker 1: it through a microphone and a phone. And we had
18:29
Speaker 1: never met. All those conversations about the Kettering Bancho society,
18:32
Speaker 1: the strummers, hours and hours. The Dixter shows up in
18:35
Speaker 1: a suit. He had a green I think it was
18:38
Speaker 1: a green shirt. Looked pretty sharp. You could tell this
18:41
Speaker 1: was a big event. He had his church clothes on.
18:43
Speaker 1: Also slightly lived in, possibly disheveled, possibly dishevel You know,
18:47
Speaker 1: Dick's at the age you get to it. You want
18:49
Speaker 1: to live long enough so you can just say I
18:50
Speaker 1: don't care and Dix at the age now where he's like, hey,
18:54
Speaker 1: I seventy eight, he's like, I don't give a crap anymore.
18:57
Speaker 1: You know, do what I want. The shirt may or
19:00
Speaker 1: may not have had sauce on it. I'm just saying,
19:03
Speaker 1: I'm not here to judge. You know, I've got my
19:07
Speaker 1: own issues. He had a sandwich. I'm told he attacked
19:10
Speaker 1: the sandwich like it owed him money. And I respect
19:13
Speaker 1: that because I do the same thing. I do the
19:15
Speaker 1: same thing now. The moment when I walked in and
19:18
Speaker 1: saw him and he saw me, the look on his face,
19:23
Speaker 1: all those calls he was working at Low's and Dayton,
19:25
Speaker 1: all those calls, and that was it. That moment we connected.
19:31
Speaker 1: That's the payoff, that's the jackpot, that's the bonanza right there.
19:34
Speaker 1: And that's why you get on the plane. That's why
19:38
Speaker 1: you deal with the bull crap, the rental car where
19:40
Speaker 1: they gouge you, the hotel check in, the overpriced plane tickets.
19:44
Speaker 1: Because for him this was a major life event that mattered,
19:50
Speaker 1: and for me seeing the reaction, it sticks with you.
19:54
Speaker 1: We talked about the show he had mentioned Coop and
19:57
Speaker 1: Lorraina and why were they not there? And I said,
20:00
Speaker 1: well they didn't. You know, they didn't have the chance
20:03
Speaker 1: to come because it's expensive and things like that. And
20:06
Speaker 1: he had mentioned Eddie and he was bummed out Eddie
20:08
Speaker 1: wasn't on the show. So I called Eddie Garcia so
20:11
Speaker 1: Dick could talk to Eddie. And it felt like worlds
20:15
Speaker 1: colliding in the really best possible way, which means as
20:19
Speaker 1: good as all the rest. I got to meet Lisa
20:21
Speaker 1: and Rob, the fine couple. Rob's a big fan of
20:25
Speaker 1: the show. Lisa, Yeah, she's a Jets fan. No, she
20:28
Speaker 1: likes I think she likes the show as well. Rob
20:31
Speaker 1: had this really cool Pirates jersey on I complimented A
20:34
Speaker 1: complimented him on it because it was like style it
20:37
Speaker 1: I'm not a Pirates fan. Good looking jersey, like the
20:39
Speaker 1: old school, like Roberto Clemente type style jersey. And they
20:43
Speaker 1: work in a factory like real work. They drove Dick
20:48
Speaker 1: from Dayton down to the event, and I thanked him
20:51
Speaker 1: for that. I saved me some time I sit behind
20:54
Speaker 1: a microphone and complain about the quarterback, etc. They actually
21:00
Speaker 1: do stuff, They build things, they make things. They are
21:04
Speaker 1: the backbone. You work in a factory, you drive a truck.
21:08
Speaker 1: That's that's what moves commerce in the country. I am
21:14
Speaker 1: the appendix occasionally useful, mostly just there for decoration. Andy Furman,
21:20
Speaker 1: that Andy Furman radio legend, showed up, my guy, former
21:25
Speaker 1: Fox Sports radio morning host. He still does the show
21:27
Speaker 1: on Sundays. And I did have to punch Andy Furman
21:33
Speaker 1: per the request of Brianna her instructions. I didn't want
21:37
Speaker 1: to do it. I love Andy, and I had to
21:40
Speaker 1: do it. I may or may not have put Brianna
21:42
Speaker 1: on the phone with Andy at the event. And yeah,
21:46
Speaker 1: that was that was it. Because you say, well, why
21:48
Speaker 1: would you punch Andy Furmer? Say, well, I complied. You know,
21:51
Speaker 1: if a woman tells you to do something within reason,
21:54
Speaker 1: you have to be obedient and as long as it's
21:58
Speaker 1: not something ridiculous. Andy's the guy. Remember I talked about
22:01
Speaker 1: in a previous episode, You gotta have a guy, gotta
22:03
Speaker 1: find a guy. He's the guy. If you need something
22:06
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, he can line it up justin in Cincinnati.
22:09
Speaker 1: A man that will never smile, a trivia savant, a
22:12
Speaker 1: professional level online troll, and someone that I believe is
22:15
Speaker 1: listened to Fox Sports radio more than any boss I've
22:18
Speaker 1: ever had at the company was there. I was concerned
22:21
Speaker 1: he wasn't going to show up. Some of the guys
22:23
Speaker 1: were like, he's not going to show up. I said,
22:25
Speaker 1: I hope he's there. Just Josh. What a What a guy?
22:30
Speaker 1: This Josh Just Josh A talented musician, very creative guy.
22:34
Speaker 1: He's part of the show. He's been with the show
22:36
Speaker 1: so many years. He's part of that weird folksy musical
22:39
Speaker 1: ecosystem we have. He teams up with Jay Scoop of course,
22:42
Speaker 1: Dick and Dayton with the ohio Aal. They performed. Gary
22:46
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh, he's a regular listen to this podcast. He
22:50
Speaker 1: said he was going to show up. I thought, well,
22:51
Speaker 1: you know, that's a long drive. He said he was
22:53
Speaker 1: going to bring cinnamon rolls. He brought cinnamon rolls. Now.
22:56
Speaker 1: I am a skeptical type. I'm always in a show.
22:59
Speaker 1: Me Stadum and Gary had really hyped up these cinnabuns.
23:03
Speaker 1: These cinema roles has really just been amazing and all that.
23:06
Speaker 1: And when I hear food hype, I'm like, eh, these delivered.
23:12
Speaker 1: They made it back in one piece. I put it
23:14
Speaker 1: in my carry on bag. They made it back and
23:18
Speaker 1: I ate them pretty much all week. I had one
23:21
Speaker 1: on my birthday, which I believe is the highest honor
23:24
Speaker 1: I can bestow on pastry I did not have. I
23:28
Speaker 1: did not have cake on my birthday. I'm gonna have some,
23:31
Speaker 1: hopefully tonight. In this weekend, I got to mention this.
23:34
Speaker 1: So there was a young lad, seven year old kid
23:38
Speaker 1: named Davis who made my entire weekend right up there
23:45
Speaker 1: with Dick and Date and all these other wonderful moments.
23:48
Speaker 1: Davis made a welcome sign with his dad Randy, and Randy,
23:52
Speaker 1: by the way his shirt, a lot of people complimented
23:54
Speaker 1: his shirt. It was about the book nineteen eighty four
23:58
Speaker 1: and it was just wonderful, wonderful statement on the shirt Randy,
24:03
Speaker 1: and it was so great. Randy's was a huge fan,
24:07
Speaker 1: and he said, listen, my son, Davis, he really does listen.
24:12
Speaker 1: Seven years old and he's already demonstrating superior taste. And
24:17
Speaker 1: I don't know that I told this to I know
24:20
Speaker 1: I didn't tell it to Davis. I might have mentioned
24:22
Speaker 1: it to Randy. I don't think I did. In my head,
24:24
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, well, this is the most this is the
24:27
Speaker 1: greatest honor you can get because the thing about kids
24:32
Speaker 1: is you haven't quite learned yet when you're seven years
24:35
Speaker 1: old how to give what we call as adults white lies.
24:41
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. You know how as an
24:43
Speaker 1: adult you don't want to burst someone's bubble, so you'll
24:47
Speaker 1: give them a version of the truth, but not the
24:49
Speaker 1: whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's a little
24:51
Speaker 1: thing that makes life go kids up until a certain
24:56
Speaker 1: age I'd say, based on my work with my kid,
25:03
Speaker 1: I would say somewhere around eleven to twelve, and then
25:07
Speaker 1: it starts to go away when you're seven years old.
25:11
Speaker 1: You're honest, I don't want vegetables. I'm not eating the vegetables.
25:15
Speaker 1: You don't fake it. There's no being political. You either
25:22
Speaker 1: like it or you don't like it. That's it. And
25:24
Speaker 1: you say what you believe. And if you have a
25:27
Speaker 1: conniption fit because your mom or dad makes you eat vegetables,
25:30
Speaker 1: I've been there. I've been there, Davis, Okay, I know
25:34
Speaker 1: it's not great. And so Davis liked the show. He's
25:37
Speaker 1: very kind and he has a tough spot for a kid.
25:40
Speaker 1: Right there were only a couple of kids there and
25:43
Speaker 1: he was one of them, and the other kid a
25:46
Speaker 1: little older, so I was can't close the deal Neil's
25:49
Speaker 1: son anyway. Therefore, listen, I trust Davis more than most
25:53
Speaker 1: media critics. If a seven year old says they like
25:55
Speaker 1: the show, I'm in got to mention Angelina from Wisconson,
26:00
Speaker 1: who dragged her husband, who clearly wanted no part of
26:05
Speaker 1: this event as he sat in the corner of the room,
26:07
Speaker 1: futching around on his phone. I get it, I get it.
26:11
Speaker 1: He's not into the show. This is a tremendous reversal
26:16
Speaker 1: of what normally happens. The typical dynamic at these things
26:20
Speaker 1: is the husband drags the wife who is like, why
26:24
Speaker 1: am I here? What is going on? And all that?
26:28
Speaker 1: And Angelina, who's always so sweet and so kind. She
26:32
Speaker 1: brought a shirt which was really great. She didn't have
26:35
Speaker 1: to and it had Newport, Kentucky on the back of it,
26:38
Speaker 1: and I will treasure that very cool as a souvenir.
26:42
Speaker 1: Angelina has emailed the mail bag many times. She has
26:47
Speaker 1: sent me a recipe or two, the cookie recipe, which
26:51
Speaker 1: I do need to make. Angelina, you reminded me of
26:54
Speaker 1: it and I have it in my inbox. And I
26:56
Speaker 1: got to meet Angelina a couple years back at the
26:58
Speaker 1: Minnesota meet and greet, which meant she got. She's one
27:00
Speaker 1: of the few people that has meant both hollering James
27:04
Speaker 1: and Dick and Dayton. Very few people. There's only I
27:10
Speaker 1: think three of us that have done it, that have
27:13
Speaker 1: done that that get maybe Jay Scoop, although not at
27:16
Speaker 1: a meet and greet, not at a meat anyway, we
27:18
Speaker 1: talk life, Angelina, and that's that's what these things are
27:22
Speaker 1: all about. It's not about sports, it's not about anything else.
27:25
Speaker 1: It's just you know, catching up, finding out what makes
27:28
Speaker 1: you tick, and you can ask whatever you want and
27:31
Speaker 1: I'm there for you. Scott from Northern Kentucky. What a
27:34
Speaker 1: What a cool dude. This guy is so cal transplant.
27:36
Speaker 1: The only guy wearing a Dodger hat that I saw.
27:40
Speaker 1: He was one of the blue Dodger cap. His wife
27:43
Speaker 1: a very nice woman as well. She's a veterinarian, and
27:46
Speaker 1: they were, you know, she was giving me some advice
27:48
Speaker 1: about Moxie's paw situation, which by the way, is ongoing.
27:52
Speaker 1: The socks continue to be on and so far are
27:55
Speaker 1: doing the job. Scott is a guy that grew up
27:59
Speaker 1: in the area I live in and loves Kentucky and
28:03
Speaker 1: not moving back, and I get it. It's picturesque, it's
28:07
Speaker 1: much cheaper, and it's a pretty nice, pretty nice place.
28:13
Speaker 1: And he helped doing some boots on the ground scouting
28:17
Speaker 1: to try to find a venue, and I thank him
28:19
Speaker 1: for spending some time doing that. Joe the ghost Hunter,
28:22
Speaker 1: another show legend, confirmed there are probably ghosts around there.
28:28
Speaker 1: I chose to believe him. I did not investigate. Steve
28:32
Speaker 1: from North Carolina made the trip and that one hit
28:35
Speaker 1: me right in the nostalgia, right the fields, as the
28:39
Speaker 1: kids say, nostalgia. Me and him go way back. Now.
28:42
Speaker 1: He dragged his daughter. He drove from Wisconsin down to
28:46
Speaker 1: Kansas City for the Malard meet and greet we did
28:48
Speaker 1: at the Old Brooksider, which was the venue that had
28:52
Speaker 1: the Mallard chicken fingers back in twenty twelve. Now it's
28:56
Speaker 1: the Landing in Liberty. This was before and that was
29:01
Speaker 1: the event Jeopardy Al held court Doc Mike drove down
29:05
Speaker 1: from Chicago basically commandeered the room like he was running
29:10
Speaker 1: for mayor, signing autographs like a conquering hero. And now
29:16
Speaker 1: fourteen years later, there's Steve again, same loyalty, same energy, brand,
29:22
Speaker 1: new Falcon shirt, well maybe not brand new but he
29:25
Speaker 1: did have a Falcon shirt on standing out of the crowd.
29:29
Speaker 1: That's the kind of stuff you don't forget, right this
29:32
Speaker 1: guy fourteen years ago. Steve was at the event, and
29:35
Speaker 1: he even gave me some great advice on a park
29:39
Speaker 1: to check out in Covington, Kentucky. More on that over
29:43
Speaker 1: the weekend, I appreciated He actually casually mentioned that he
29:46
Speaker 1: had done the WKRP in cinc Naty tour some of
29:50
Speaker 1: the great venues where they had b roll and moments
29:56
Speaker 1: from that iconic sitcom back in the in the seventies,
30:01
Speaker 1: in the eighties, and so you know, it was cool.
30:05
Speaker 1: It bothered me that I didn't get a chance to
30:08
Speaker 1: do it, but I'm happy that he got to do it,
30:10
Speaker 1: and I didn't have a lot of time, and I
30:13
Speaker 1: love that show. So I'll have to go back, if
30:16
Speaker 1: for no other reason, just to do the WKRP tour
30:19
Speaker 1: around Cincinnati. JT the Wingman, he rolled in from outside Knoxville, Tennessee.
30:24
Speaker 1: Of course, he gives me the name, and I always
30:25
Speaker 1: forget the name, and I butcher where he's from in
30:28
Speaker 1: the mail bag, like it's my job. JT brought the
30:32
Speaker 1: same energy that he always is known for the kind
30:36
Speaker 1: of guy who walks into a room and instantly upgrades
30:41
Speaker 1: the vibe in the room. Okay, total mench, but not
30:45
Speaker 1: a minch on the bench. He's active, he's involved, he's fun.
30:50
Speaker 1: He's in the game. Like EA Sports, He's in the game.
30:53
Speaker 1: You need a few JT the Wingman types, and JT
30:58
Speaker 1: he stayed for a few hours, drove back to Tennessee
31:01
Speaker 1: and then drove down to the NASCAR race. About that one, yeah,
31:04
Speaker 1: JG just it's just really good because we got a
31:07
Speaker 1: lot of introverts and JT is an extrovert and a
31:11
Speaker 1: lot of the people just sitting around like doing their
31:12
Speaker 1: own thing. And he's a spark plug. He's a spark plug.
31:16
Speaker 1: And he's been to five of these, which I guess
31:19
Speaker 1: is tied with Supermarket Steve. Supermarket Steve complain, I've been
31:22
Speaker 1: to five. Okay, fine, it seems about right. Supermarket Steve
31:27
Speaker 1: and his wife's Tira Massou. They've they've had some great outfits,
31:32
Speaker 1: Warn Malard themed shirts and stuff. So but JT the
31:35
Speaker 1: Wingman just wonderful. Don't forget. I also had Bluegrass Andy
31:40
Speaker 1: from the Bluegrass Guy or whatever his name is. I
31:43
Speaker 1: forget fellow radio guy. He's a DJ on the radio
31:47
Speaker 1: in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We swapped war stories, a few
31:51
Speaker 1: of them. That's what when you get around radio people.
31:55
Speaker 1: You used to tell radio stories. Some note, taking note,
31:59
Speaker 1: can hairing, all that stuff. Of course, most radio stories
32:04
Speaker 1: over the years end up about what bad remotes, broken equipment,
32:07
Speaker 1: weird callers, the whole ecosystem. It's kind of like therapy
32:12
Speaker 1: with worst lighting. We also had Liam who came on by.
32:17
Speaker 1: He's a producer board op at WLW, one of the
32:20
Speaker 1: iconic radio stations in America. He works on the Tom
32:24
Speaker 1: Brennanman Show. Yes, that Tom Brendan, the old NFL on
32:27
Speaker 1: Fox broadcaster. He's back in broadcasting, does some college football
32:31
Speaker 1: TV stuff. Tom does a radio show. I believe it's
32:34
Speaker 1: in the afternoon in Cincinnati. Anyway. Liam was great, sharp,
32:38
Speaker 1: young guy, knows the business. Always cool, always cool to
32:42
Speaker 1: chat with. Andy and Liam a couple of radio people
32:45
Speaker 1: as well, and Andy Furman, as we mentioned, because they
32:49
Speaker 1: get it. They understand the whole thing. This radio thing
32:53
Speaker 1: is held together with duct tape, caffeine and Lougi's and Lougi's.
32:58
Speaker 1: And then there's Brandon now Brand and then came up,
33:00
Speaker 1: big smile, genuinely excited. You could tell this was not acting,
33:05
Speaker 1: this was not faking it. He thanked me for coming
33:09
Speaker 1: to town, said it meant something to we never thought
33:11
Speaker 1: it would happen, and that really was nice and I
33:15
Speaker 1: felt legit authentic. That's the part that hitch you. He
33:19
Speaker 1: casually mentioned his wife can't stand the show because of
33:22
Speaker 1: the bells. One of the reasons, which frankly is totally fair.
33:26
Speaker 1: The bells are aggressive, they have a personality, they are
33:30
Speaker 1: not subtle. Now here's where it gets very on brand
33:34
Speaker 1: for me. I had eaten my pizza. I loved it.
33:40
Speaker 1: I wanted to save some room because we were going
33:42
Speaker 1: out to the Reds game most likely, and I was like,
33:47
Speaker 1: I gotta save some room. I want to eat some
33:48
Speaker 1: other great food. And so I ate about half the
33:52
Speaker 1: pizza and I had about half of it left. And
33:55
Speaker 1: there was a logistical problem because I was going across
33:58
Speaker 1: to the baseball game. I couldn't leave it in the car.
34:01
Speaker 1: It wouldn't last. I couldn't take it into the Reds game.
34:06
Speaker 1: I couldn't bring it back to the hotel because I
34:08
Speaker 1: didn't have time. The game was about to start. So
34:10
Speaker 1: this is the kind of high stakes drama, o rama
34:13
Speaker 1: decision making that you have to deal with as an adult.
34:17
Speaker 1: These are adult decisions. So I gave it to Brandon. Now,
34:19
Speaker 1: Brandon hesitated, of course he did. Accepting pizza from a
34:24
Speaker 1: radio dude you just met that feels like something you
34:28
Speaker 1: really need to think about in process. However, eventually he
34:31
Speaker 1: took it, and I hope he enjoyed it. I hope
34:34
Speaker 1: he enjoyed it. It was good. The cross was really good,
34:38
Speaker 1: was outstanding, and if you're going to inherit my pizza,
34:44
Speaker 1: it should be a positive experience. So yeah, these type
34:47
Speaker 1: of people are why I do this. Not for the travel,
34:51
Speaker 1: not for the pizza. The pizza was good, not for
34:55
Speaker 1: the stories about getting lost, although those are inevitable. I
34:59
Speaker 1: do it because it reminds me that this thing, the show,
35:03
Speaker 1: the podcast, the nonsense, it's not just noise in the dark.
35:07
Speaker 1: It lands somewhere, all right, and every once in a
35:11
Speaker 1: while you get to go see where. Now we're going
35:16
Speaker 1: to continue this. I know I've gone a little along
35:18
Speaker 1: than we normally do on the Friday podcast, so I'm
35:20
Speaker 1: going to talk more about this on the Saturday podcast.
35:23
Speaker 1: And I did not mention a few people who are there,
35:26
Speaker 1: some of you I will completely forget. I apologize. There
35:29
Speaker 1: was a special VIP tour that may or may not
35:34
Speaker 1: have included some really big names like Robbie and Queen,
35:39
Speaker 1: Roxanne and Tommy and Neil and the whole thing. So
35:44
Speaker 1: we will have more stories from the Naked City that
35:48
Speaker 1: have never been told before and wait for tomorrow's podcast.
35:52
Speaker 1: I want to give it all away on the Saturday
35:54
Speaker 1: podcast because I have three podcasts too. We get the
35:56
Speaker 1: mail bag on Sunday. Anyway, on that note, I enjoy
36:00
Speaker 1: the beginning of May here on this Friday. Be safe,
36:04
Speaker 1: whatever you got going on. Thank you, Thank you, Thank
36:06
Speaker 1: you everyone that showed up to the Ohio meet and greet.
36:09
Speaker 1: I think I've posted all the photos. Maybe I've got
36:12
Speaker 1: a few more I can post. And if you guys
36:14
Speaker 1: have any that I didn't post at are really good man,
36:17
Speaker 1: that would be great. That would be really cool. There's
36:21
Speaker 1: a couple people that took photos like team photos, and
36:24
Speaker 1: I didn't. I only got one of them, So if
36:28
Speaker 1: we have a few others, that would be really cool
36:31
Speaker 1: as well. So send me an email if you want
36:33
Speaker 1: Real fifth Hour at gmail dot com. Real fifth Hour
36:36
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com that also works for the mail
36:38
Speaker 1: bag as well, and we will talk to you next time,
36:45
Speaker 1: as Dick and Dayton would say bye bye