Hey Mickey

who knows? But uh, I like val I like Valentine's Day. I do. I just think it's a nice thing to, uh, to get involved with. Not that you have to have a date and go for the overpriced dinner and instead of getting a dozen roses for whatever it is, forty bucks now because you know eighty five, you know, get your Valentine's flowers a week a week and a half before. Really, it's such bullshit. There's no reason to pay that kind of money. They just they kill us. Same thing happens

when Italians cook the seafood dinner during Christmas time. My god, seafood shoots up to the point where it's like, come on, why. I understand these shopkeepers need more money and it's a perfect time to pump up a price. I get it, but I don't know they're all making money. Why why go after a certain type of person during a certain

type of holiday. Just doesn't seem right, doesn't seem right. Well, my flowers went out, and I'm happy to say it was not the ridiculous sums of money they charged for a day or two or four before Valentine's Day, so you know what, and then she goes would always do something he called the cheaters, the cheers bouquet. She would always come back with flowers from the supermarket for his girlfriend,

because you know, he had to apologize a lot. So when you buy your flowers from Ralph's or you know, Pigley Wiggly, whatever your supermarket chain is, girls could tell this is not really the flowers, you know, but what you really want, guys, is a girl that says, don't you dare send flowers? Don't you send me anything that's gonna die in six days? That's you know, one hundred and ten dollars. Don't let's just go to dinner with that money. Meanwhile, one hundred and ten bucks, what does

that catch your dinner anymore? I mean, really, it's just two weeks ago. I took Tutsi down to Money Line Pizza. Right. We always go there, Me and Andrew and the two dogs would eat there. And you know, it's not a not a big nut when you eat there. It's a pizza joint. But they also have pastas and salads and heroes, so you sit down. You know, they have something I

really love called the chef's board. It's got puttshoot, those salami. Uh, great cheese is buffalo mudzadel Uh, some peppers on his side, Cordny shones. I don't know why I'm saying it so far, little fucking pickles. They got things like that that you picked on. And they got the great cheese scamouche, which I think is really called Cavallo cheese, but we call it skimutz because it hangs from the deli counters in

this wax case and that's kumuz. But you know I did that, and I'm like, I don't know if she's you need all that, because who knows. Let me get a salad for myself. A Salahatsalami Mudzadel. You know simple regae. I'm not a simple oil and vinegar situation. And then I go just to make sure she's gonna eat. Let me get a little sided grilled chicken one hundred and twenty six dollars for me and my dog. Now, look,

I spend no expense for Tutsi, for Tutsi testarosa. But you know, if your woman tells you, don't you dare buy me flowers. Let's just go to dinner with that money, or let's do something together. You know, she's right, don't fall into the category. If I've got to get the flowers, it's voluntarist. Don't do that. Don't do that. I think women like when you do things on your own and make your own plan and skirt the whole tradition. I think that's more sexy, ladies. What do you think now?

Last night I got some shit. I had some shit last night. I went to Roccos game with my daughter Roxy and was great. He had a great game. I think he had twelve points, but it was the way he played. Some steals, some assists, and the gym was rocking. It was a home game. These guys are undefeated in the league, play two more game, one tonight and one on the fifth on wait, one tonight and one tomorrow, and I leave on the fifteenth. So he's doing well,

and Roxy's with me, and we're watching him. We hear the girls behind us calling Rocco's name, like, you know, like these cheerleaders are like mentioning his name. You could tell they like him. And I said, oh, I never heard this is great. Roxy thought it was so cute. So I felt I did not say this last night, right, No, I did the no. No. I I tape this before the game, maybe because I'm playing in my head so much.

I feel like I talked about it. But you know, they're behind us, and I tape me and Roxy on video, but like I'm angling the camera to get them about two or three steps above us on the bleachers. And I showed people that and apparently I'm a dirty old man and I shouldn't do that. And what are you

thinking it's so embarrassing. It's not embarrassing. You know. Here's what I know for a fact, because I've been in rock those shoes, and I, god do I wish I can go back to high school basketball and just dump me back to a day, a week, a game, a bus ride. I want to remember what that was like. I just, you know, the squeak of the sneakers on the gym floor brings me right back to that era. I see cheerleaders talking and I'm just, oh God, this

is the best I know. I live in the past, and I'm not talking about some guy who was like the best player on the team. I was all County. That wasn't me, But I just remember how great it was. So when I take videos and pictures and I'm already putting them together to make pictures for Rocco and maybe even a video for him when the season is completely done and I have time get it professionally done, I

think I'm doing the right thing. He's gonna love to see his coach, you know, making fun of them in the heart a log getting pissed off at one of the players, and he's gonna even like the fact that there were a couple of cheerleaders above us who were mentioning his name. I don't care what people say. I know in my heart I'm not filming them because they're I don't even want to say it. I'm just filming them because they're mentioning my son's name a lot. But I get cold of dirty old man. This is not

you're embarrassing the kids. Why why? And I told Roxy, I'm like, your father was so crazy like Rocco, Yes he likes girls, but he's not really vocal about it. I'm the one who goes you didn't see the cheerleader with the brown hair, with the with the blonde streaks. No, you don't know her. She's like this high, this tall, this you know. I don't. I don't know who you're

talking about. I would know every cheerleader. And when God, when there were timeouts on the court and me and Kenny, my buddy Marv would sit there and the coach is telling us what we gotta do in this time out. This is very important. I want number two going here for is gonna cut across. It should be an open layup. And all we're doing is looking at the cheerleader's Sue and Nino, Jamie Powers, Jennifer Stewart, Kathy Craiger. And there was a drill down a drill. There was a cheer

where they bent over and yelled our names out. And when the hot cheerleader like Sue or Kathy or Jamie or Lisa Royd. It was another one. My goodness, she ended up marrying Mike Cestaro, the half back on our football team. When they called your name, oh my god, it was everything. I don't know. These kids don't seem to I don't know what it is to me. That was everything I told you in the past. I used to have my friend Ronnie Misseli go across the court.

I'd say, commute, see that girl four steps up to the right of the girl in the purple, get her number. Tell a number forty four wants to call it. I had all the numbers on my sneakers. You know. The narcissism was gross. But had a ball, had a bull. But am I wrong to want to tape that stuff for prosperity? I don't think so. Not enough is said for not only fathers who make every game, but fathers who end up watching every game through one eye or

through a camera lens. Not enough is said because if somebody else was taping the whole game, I wouldn't bother. I'd be right there, two eyes on every play. But no, I've got to work the camera. Delete something that was in a good play, Exit out, come back, you know, record again. It's it's a little daunting, but it's worth it anyhow. I don't even know if we're going to be here in the next seven years. You've heard about this killer asteroid coming. It's called a city Killer. Why

are four twenty twenty four. They say it could hit Earth, it might even hit the Moon. But then when you get to the fine print, they go, well, it's just over a two percent impact probability on Earth. Okay, then should we really be worrying about this. It's the size of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and they say it would have around a one and forty eight chance of striking the Earth on December twenty second, twenty thirty two. So forget climate change, forget anything else. You're worried about

the city Killer, the asteroid that's apparently coming here. And if it hits the moon, well, I mean, Denver can completely screwed. But they're doing simulations on YouTube what have you. If you look at it, be careful to look at it because it's very scary. You know, It's just it's like a goddamn Roland Emeric film. It's just a disaster flick. You gotta be careful when you watch this. But something that has a two percent chance of hitting us, that would be like me warning you I might start dating

beyond cosen. Sorry, why, well, I think I got a two percent chance if I get nearer. So, but the newspapers love putting this shit out there because you know it is what. It is so biblically raining here in Los Angeles, and it's been raining for a week or so. But today I have to go into my storage unit jackets. I have a couple of leathers that I have to wear because you can't wear a hoodie out there. You your hoodie gets soaked. It's bad. It's really raining hard,

and I don't know. I wanted to call. Yesterday, I had a guy come in and fix my ceiling fan in the dining room. The cord broke off inside the whole unit. And he came and he did his thing, and I gave him twenty bucks. He's like, look twenty no, I said, come on, take it, No, I saides, come on, I believe in the twenty dollar bill. I believe in that for years. When you see a bartender, you're give him that ahead of time. So when he sees you coming,

makes your drink right away. I believed that with Dormant. I always give a doorman twenty bucks. Sometimes, when I was really being an asshole, I would have Chico give him the money instead of me, because I thought I was Frank Sinatra and Chico was Jilly. I know it's stupid, but yeah, Palla corrupts whatever you want to say. But yeah, it's awful out here today, And I'm like, do I even call the handyman to come back? Because the fan

was fixed? But it's only fixed in the sense that it comes on, but only one speed, the fast speed where the fan is shaken and napkins blow off your table. The other two speeds then I fixed. Do I clone back? I feel like it's like, I feel like you come here and think, what an asshole You're worried about the speed of your fan. I don't know. I'm up in the air about it. But nothing's gonna happen today. But

this rain here's something I'm thrilled about. A lot of people thought Marvel Studios was really going to get back to making fewer films but more high quality films. Right. That was the edict, That was the word and now apparently people who've seen Captain America Brave New World, the word is out. It's absolute shit. It's very, very dire over there at that studio because the Great well, I want to say the great, I mean in his mind, the Great Anthony Mackie. This is his first big screen

crack at Captain America. And no, it's awful. And I could have told you it was awful. Matter of fact, I said it a week ago on the show. No one wants to see a black Captain America. I'm sorry. It doesn't make me a racist, that just makes me cognizant of people's opinions. I don't even think black people are calling for a black Captain America. I really don't. But there we go, movie studios. I just think, enough with the superhero comic book movies. Stop feeding the nerds.

You've gotten enough. You've gotten more than your fair share of movies that you know, I know, made you shut the door in your room and hold up that comic book with one hand. I know. But this shit movie is really important because Captain America films on their own, I understand, do very well. But this one they're saying is the worst by a wide margin. I'm not gonna say it's only because he's black. I'm not gonna go that far. But I just think they're going to the

well too often. And you just can't plugging people into a superhero role because you want to satisfy DEI standards. And that's exactly what this was about. And a guy like you know, Mackie, isn't going to admit that, because then he'd have to know that, well, I'm not really good enough, but they needed somebody black in that spot. He asked to know that. Come on, man, it's it's ridiculous. They got a guy in this movie that's supposed to be the comic relief. He's not stupid jokes like should

I make your phone tech larger? Really? Who wrote that joke? Christ? It's so bad? And of course you got Harrison Ford in there. You know what, Harrison Ford replaces William Hurt. The both of these guys, as great as they were in the eighties, they're not great anymore. They mail it in now, William Hurt and Harrison Ford. And this is not like to put them down. They've always only been themselves. Kevin Costa plays Kevin cost Harrison plays himself. William Hurt

does as well. When you go to some other actors who changed their face, they look, their accent, their walk. That's a different kind of actor. I like those actors way better. Harrison Ford now is an eighty year old man who you can tell maybe he has his wits about him when he's hanging out with his wife. I don't know, just being his typical wry self. Could be a fun guy to sit around with. But you throw him in a movie or a TV show, I can't watch what's it called shrinked? I can't. I can't watch it.

I just know that Harrison Ford is doing it for the money now, for the paycheck. His heart, his passion is no longer wrapped up in acting. So he's in there, and you know what, Look, Harrison Ford had a tremendous run. He was very good in the eighties, tolerable in the nineties. We don't need him now, we just don't. We've got to stop acting like he's sorely needed in movies. He's not water Break, which sounds weird with all this water down. But oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you

more about Chelsea Handler. Yesterday I began to tell you, and I kind of pewed it out, but I really listened to the podcast with her on Armchair Expert and really got to like her for just how silly she can be and the thing she says to people that the prank she plays on people, and she plays some big pranks. When you've got a lot of money, you can do huge pranks that last a long time. And it reminded me of this is kind of in vogue now because Kanye West has a website that's selling one item.

It's a Nazi swastika T shirt, white background, black swastika. I don't want it. I'm not a Nazi. I love the Jewish people. The Nazis were fucking awful, but there's something in me that wants the shirt. It has nothing to do with my feelings towards the Jewish faith. I love my Jewish friends. In fact, I put them right after Italians. I really do. We have a lot in common with family and this and that, And I wish my family had more jew in that. I wish my

father and mother knew had more Jewish qualities. I'd know more about money, I know about the market. That the market in our house was where they were selling the best steak, the best plant. That was the market talk. It wasn't about what's what's what does this cost? Now? How much is this? It's a different world. So it's not about me being anti Jewish. No, but why is it I want that swastika shirt. Obviously it can never be worn, just like my Trump shirt got me PEPPI

sprayed and punched the swastika shirt. No, of course, not horrible, but I do harken back to that dinner I had years ago in New York City with a guy named Ralph Schaller who was a big execut well not exactly. He owned a meat company Shaller. I think it was Shallar meats, like you know, the best beef, pork veal. Ralph Shaler supplied so many New York restaurants and stores with the best coal cotts, the best steaks, the best everything.

So we go to his house for dinner. He's a wild man, and I knew that he was an avid hunter, I mean a big like big game elephants and shit, that kind of hunter. And I know that he would beg these animals and drain them of their blood, and he would ship the blood to the artist Peter Beard, who, if you don't know, used to do a lot of artwork with smeared blood instead of paint. And that blood was animal blood. Well it was supplied by Ralph Sharlow.

So I get to Schalla's place on the Upper east Side, beautiful building with a white building with one red door like Elizabeth Arden, just a red door, and everything in this apartment was so wrong or illegal or both. I mean, I'm looking at end tables that are are you a plate of glass, but they're being held up with a gigantic elephant foot real taxidermy elephant, if you forget the size of the elk and the moose and everything else on his wall. He had a great room in Manhattan.

It's a three story townhouse that would just marvel any hunt or anywhere in America. And on top of that is if that's not enough. At one point he says, I got to show you guys something, and he takes us around the corner from the kitchen into the dining room and there's his back wall where there's a long picture about three feet long and about ten inches high. Because it's a group shot, it's a big group shot, not of a ball club, but of a klu Klux ku klux Klan rally. Ku klux did I say ku

kux Klan? I used to say klu klux Klan as a kid, Ku kux Klan meeting with the hoods and the torches and a tree with the noose and a person hanging in from that tree. It was very unsettling. Nobody would want that art or that picture in the house. But can I tell you something. I couldn't stop looking at it because I couldn't believe that this country was ever at a point like that. What they call strange fruit. Billy Howell, they called black folks that hung from trees

strange fruit. That's why that song I didn't know. As a kid. I loved the song, but I didn't know that's what it meant. You can't want the picture, but there's something about it that I wanted to keep looking at it. And then the piece the resist stones said the Frenchman looked under your plates that were eating That china you have under it had a Nazi symbol. It was china from Hitler, not from him specifically, but it was Nazi China. Even that china had the swastika on

the bottom. Wow. I mean, we weren't told ahead of time, we weren't warned, we knew he was eccentric, et cetera. But yeah, man, crazy, crazy. I forget why I got to this point with Uh. I was talking about Chelsea Handler and different, oh, different things she's doing and the way okay here, I know why Kanye has been just talking Jewish hate and Nazi love and he just will

not quit. And it reminds me of when me and Michael Lwoit is that the New York Daily News would just feel like being a couple of pricks, and we'd be in an elevator headed down, and when someone walked in the elevator, we would do this ridiculous back and forth where there'd be silenced for a second or two, and then Michael or myself would say, I get the fact that you think Hitler was misunderstood. I completely understand

that point. MY only argument toward that, and then the doors would open up and we walk out as if we were having a really, really good discussion about Hitler. It was so crazy, but we heard people huffing and puffing as we left, or we'd walk in an elevator as people were there are really, Is that right? Yeah? No, I know he was a painter, but I didn't know Hitler was such a great painter with it was watercolor. Oh oh my god. Matter of fact, his watercolor pictures

should be in a goddamn museum. That's how wonderful hit was is a painter, Sistra Floor. I mean, we drove people crazy, but we also did something that made only us laugh, and I love it to this day. When we had an enemy of the column or someone that said something about the column we didn't like. You know, we used to do or I used to send them canned hams. I don't know what they cast back then, twelve bucks whatever it was or not only canned hams.

When a person gets them, can you imagine their face? What am I who? And there's no return address, just a canned ham in your mail. And then on top of that, we'd send we'd find these magazines where you could, you know, subscribe to magazines and which magazines would you like? And you pay whatever, twenty bucks, fifteen bucks a month whatever it was, not even a month, probably thirty bucks a year back then, and we pick out the worst

magazines for someone to want to read. Same day surgery, you know, hot rods or the stupidest things, and then we'd send it to somebody we hate. So they always got these magazines or they got a can Ham. I love being in charge of ship back then, even we used to do this thing where you know, back then there was people needed press for a book they wrote. You know, when you write a book, you feel so empty and lost. You need publicity. People have to talk

about the book. And back in the day, there wasn't many avenues to publicize your book. You would hope that a newspaper would do an interview with you and that would make it. Oh, it would be so great. My book got written about and people are reading the paper. Even when I wrote my second book that I was interviewed from my own hometown paper Newsday. That stuff means a lot. Nowadays, you just put it on social media. You get all their hits and clicks and like you need.

But back then, we used to have thirty forty books a week that would land in our cubicle in our mail room. How do we what do we do with these books? So we decided to just open them up and take the most ridiculous, boring, stupid, passage in a book that meant nothing, and write that, include that little clip from the book, and say, let's say the book is called Anchors Away, Anchors Away, We'll hit Newsday, we'll hit the Bonds and Noble Tuesday. Here's a snippet, and

it would be the worst. It could be a book about like Pearl Harbor and the excerpt would be so Then we walked toward Jimmy's locker, knowing full well it would be empty. But what else we do at a time like this? And people were looking, go, why would I buy a buck that this is not exciting at all? I don't know. Am I the only person who would do things to just excite myself? I don't care who was looking. But I love Chelsea Handler. This is why I'm starting to love her. Forget the politics that this

was twenty five thirty years ago. We never know who she voted for. We would just like her free spirit. So I'm trying to get back to that. And I love what she did when she broke up with the big hotel owner Andre BelAZ. This guy's worth millions and

millions of dollars. They dated in twenty eleven and twenty thirteen and when they broke up, and this guy owned Chateau Marmont, the stand Dard, which I mentioned the other day, the Mercer Hotel in New York, Chiltern Firehouse, major, major money, and they had a very toxic relatetionationship, according to Chelsea, and she would look through his phone because he'd be out late because he worked in restaurants and clubs. And I know how girls get. I've had my phone look through.

It sucks. It's the worst. But sometimes women who do that put themselves in their own prison. And I would tell them, you got yourself locked up in a prison. I don't have the key for you didn't need to go through my drawers and look at old pictures of girlfriends. You did that. You're in a cell. I don't have the key. But whatever, she had a reason to feel that way, so woman's intuition wins out sometimes. Anyhow, she got so angry at him and unhinged during a breakup.

He had this gigantic estate in upstate New York, and she went online and found thirty five Linden trees that she imported from Germany, very extravagant, and she bought them and had these people plant them on his estate seventeen on either side of the driveway as it leads up to his you know, insane compound. And every year she

didn't know the leaves had such beautiful blooms. Every year the leaves would change and then bloom and it would be so gorgeous, and andre Blase would always call her and say, you know, I can't believe I lost you. Do you want to come up and see your trees? And she'd say, Nope, not interested. I mean, it's cold hearted. It's also fun to be that unbridled and just don't not give a shit and have the money to have the fuck you money to do that to somebody. That's a lot of fun. I wish I could get to

that point one day. I would love to do something that grandiose. The most we did back when we were kids was take a four sales on someone else's lawn or better yet, an open house signed and put it on some poor, unsuspecting people lawns and they have no idea. We'd throw a couple of balloons with strings on the sign and its people would show up at noon, and

these poor people had no idea what to do. Sometimes you just got to amuse yourself because people around you just aren't that amusing, but you guys are always amusing. Cutting the show a little bit short. Thirty one oh eight got to go to Rocos second to last game, and wow, I can't believe it. Tomorrow, well, Friday night is his last game. And I went so fast that I just can't wait for a place for him to play in the postseason and doing all over again next

year on varsity. What a great what a great gift that was. And oh, by the way, as I'm at the gym last night watching his game, this kid comes up to me, look different, kind of familiar, coach, And I tell you, there's something about being called coach that just melts your heart. And it's this kid who was so great with Rocco. Him and his brother were the best tandem every season. I drafted them both, Lucas and Eli Gonzalez, the Gonzales twins, Speedy Gonzales, we called them.

They were great, and I'm like, what are you doing, buddy, And he's like a bigger kid. Now, you know, he's seventeen, he's not thirteen or twelve anymore. But I would draft Lucas and Eli first, because if you get one kid, you got to get the brother. That's the rule in little league sports. So I already had Roco. My first pick would always be the Twins, and I felt I got all I need. And then one year I got this kid named Jagger, who Lucas and Eli told me

I should get. He's a good left handed quarterback, which is not too common. I draft, I take the kid. We had a great few seasons. Lucas was so good. If he had to leave early because he had a baseball game, I let him. He played one half then split, but we'd have a twenty ninthing lead. I said to Lucas last night, how where's Uh's Jagger? Jagger's great. Jagger's here at North Hollywood. He's quarterback. They were ten and zero. I said, you kid me. He goes, yeah, he's great,

and then he goes, you know what. Whenever I whenever I look at that that record and know that Jagger was the best on the team, I always wish man if me and Rocco signed up, the three of us could have just been crazy together. I said, I know, Lucas, I just I want to rock her to play football. But his mom put the put the concussion thing in his head and he didn't want to do it, but

uh I miss it. But man, there's nothing better than being called coach and a kid remembers you and hugs you twice because he remembers how fun it was to win and to learn how to play the game. But the way I coached wedding came first and we won. I'm aj Benza. That was your daily Unfiltered podcast for February fourteenth, Happy Valentine's Day twenty twenty five. Will talk to his Monday