Huffing & Puffing

Eight days a week, eight days a week from the Mallard Podcast studio deep in the north Woods. We're back at it and we thank you for finding the show, for supporting the podcast. The numbers have been great. We are here every weekend, even a holiday weekend, and we

are here for you. And you know by now if you're listening, chances are you are aware that this is a spinoff of the Overnight Radio show and it is only available in the domain of the podcast and the vast i Heart podcast Network the power of that, but wherever you get your podcast. So we thank you for spending some time with me flying solo. Uh. We have a lot percolating in the Fifth Hour world and the radio show. It's like intertwined. These things are intertwined. We'll

get to a the P principles. The P principles. We have the surprising request. The surprising request from a listener. It's really not a request, that's I'm not phrasing that properly. It's really a message from a listener of complaint. But I have to set the listeners straight. So I'll explain what that's all about. But we begin with final preparations. Now, if you have been listening to me over the years, you know that there is a ritual that we have

on our show. It was on the radio show for many many years, and then we moved it to the podcast, and then we shifted it to a YouTube platform. I'm referring to announce your pronouns Benny Versus the Penny, and the season is going to kick off next weekend. So if you're listening to this podcast on Friday, assuming there are no last minute hiccuffs and things don't go wrong, we will have Benny Versus the Penny. It's not going to be on this podcast unless something has gone typically wrong.

We are in conversations in conversations with others to put the podcast together, which is not it's not a party, it's the Benny Versus the Penny, which is a standalone show, will be a video a component to it, and we will yet again attempt to take down the sports books and we can remind you of some of the keys of that. Of course, as we point out every year on Benny Versus the Penny, that the sports book sets the opening line, but the gambling public is the one

that establishes the final line. A lot of people are confused by that, uh, and there's this overconfidence based on the gambling line. But we'll get into all of the different truisms of gambling and uh, you know, think in terms of betting a little to win a lot and the types of gambler that are out there. And one of the things that we stress on Benny Versus the Penny is to avoid being the one wearing the dunce cap right in in gambling, it's very similar to Wall Street.

They love the casual gambler, they love the Cambel casual gambler, and they call it get that dub dumb money right the book. He's love the school air, the square is the average unsophisticated gambler whose decision making is based on a hunch or some kind of manipulation. Uh. He might have a system, or you just watch some guy on ESPN or Fox or CBS or NBC say something said, Well, like I said it, it must be true. Uh, and then you you go down that garden path and you

end up getting some trouble. So we'll give you Benny Versus the Penny. I wish I had a big announcement now. A good talk show host would say, Hey, it's going to be at this time on this platform, so you better tune in. But that's not what we're doing. We're still working out the final details even at this hour, and it will be onwards and upwards for Benny versus

the Penny, and I am excited about it. I love Benny versus the Penny because that means football is in the air, all right, and we want to make you a professional winning gamble. Now, not a square, right we mentioned a square is the person that the casinos love. They love the square gambler. You do not want to be the square, right, You want to be a sharp. The sharps are usually members of a big syndicate. They have the the insider information and all that the weather, developments, injuries,

all of the important information. You want to be more like that? Not that. Am I a sharp? No, I'm not as sharp. Of course I'm not as sharp, but uh, I got a pretty good amount of information. I have access to a lot of information. So hey, that's Benny versus the Penny. And just if you've been asking, I know we've gotten some people that have been sending me messages on social media. What's going on with Benny versus the Penny? Uh? Is it gonna be back? Yes, it

will be back. Where is it gonna be? I can't say that yet. As I said, I can't say it yet, but you will be no worse for the wear you will find out follow us on social media. I will send it out on Twitter, I'll send it out on Facebook and even Instagram. And let you know. Now, if you listen to the radio show this past week, you you heard Eddie Garcia. Was Eddie happy on the Friday show or what? Eddie was so excited at one ft out the door, one ft out the door as he

is preparing for a vacation. Eddie's going to Washington d C infective and reminded if he didn't hear the Friday show, and I know this is on Friday as well, but Eddie did say, if you're a listener within driving distance of Washington, d C, Eddie is willing to hang out with you. He met Doc Mike in Chicago and Aida pizza while Doc ad a salad, which was was very awkward. But Eddie is going to be away. It's Eddie's wild vacation, which means the most important week on our calendar, the

most important week for sports talk radio. I'm gonna go out and say, for the rest of the year, is this mean week? Now? Why is that? Why is this the most important week? I'll tell you. The sports talk radio industry is built on the foundation of the NFL. We all rally around the National Football League, and it takes a village of people to put this together. Like the networks, they encourage you to take your vacation in

the summertime. Now a lot of people take vacation. I will take time off in late December because a lot of things shut down. So there's this weird dead period in football season. Is this weird dead football period in the middle of the season there, and Uh. The thing about it, all right is that's that's okay for like a week, but the beginning of the year, you want to get off to a good start. You want to get off you want to mean business, right, you want to get out of the gates, out of you know,

and feel good about yourself. It's like the way college football teams typically schedule money game is early on. Uh, they line up the hostess, schedule the cupcake, the apple pie, all of that because they want to get off to you start feel good and get a couple of wins under your belt before you start getting some difficult, more difficult competition. Well, the same thing goes on in sports radio, right, It's very important to get off to a good start.

You want to have everything clicking sounding good. Um, there's more commercials that you'll hear during this time of the year. So we've Draft Kings, which is a fine sponsor not only of the radio show but also the Fifth Hour podcast as an example. Um, so it's an important time here. But anyway is gonna be gone, and that means we will be stuck with Ned Flanders, the buckaroo, the man that believes he's God's gift to comedy, will be in

the news room providing us with sporting news. So it's one of those deals when he's in here, Brian Finley, give us twenty two minutes and we'll give you seven scores. That's essentially how that's gonna go. But again, it's the most important week of the NFL season, and we will have live, original audio content every single night during the weekend, and we'll hand over the baton. Eddie's handing over the baton to someone that will sabotage the show, So we

were guaranteeing that there will be sabotage. Also, I've got a number of messages from people saying, is that blind on Blind Octagon a real thing? Is that actually gonna happen? And if you miss the overnight show this week, we had a brew haa haa a Donny Brook a knock down, drag out battle royal if you will, between Blind Scott and Blind Sea Bass. Now, Blind Sea Bass is in Nashville.

He stopped calling the show for a while. All of a sudden, a Blind Sea Bass entered the Fray again and has returned to the show, and he's very upset with Blind Scott because blind Scott and Boston. According to blind Sea Bass was supposed to help him get a support dog, and then blind Scott like disappeared. I don't know all the facts, but I just know there's bad blood and blind Scott called up and he was like, Hey,

I'm not gonna I'm not gonna partake in this. And then of course blind Scott then talked himself into doing it. He talked himself into doing it, and I'm all about it. I think it would be a great week to do it. Blind Sea Bass Blind Scott the first blind on blind Verbal Octagon. If you're unfamiliar with the Verbal Octagon, it is audio fisticuffs and it's all like don'keet kong uh. It's one of the more enjoyable things that we do, and it's essentially a way to settle a beef. Be honest. Here,

we've had women in calling. We had Tammy and Montana, the late Genie in Medford in the octagon. That was one of the more famous ones. Pete and Pittsburgh versus the World was was great. We had real talk who was in an octagon back in the day. There's been been many different versions of the Octagon, but We've never had a blind on blind version, so I want to make that happen. I'm thinking Monday into Tuesday or Tuesday

into Wednesday. That would be the perfect set up. Three rounds, a knockdown, drag out steel cage deathmatch in the octagon. So hopefully that will we'll take place down. Meanwhile, let's get to the secret sauce, if you will, the Secret Sauce. So this is another one of those things I've been meaning to get to and I have not gotten to it.

A number of people have said, hey, the show that you do is a lot different than many of the other radio shows, which is which could be a compliment at its best, which means as good as all the rest or or could be a derogatory term at its worst, right, So I guess it just depends how you want to

interpret it. So I am going to interpret it that that is a compliment that if you've you've bothered to send me a message via social media or email and said, hey, I like you know X, Y and Z about the show, uh, and it's different and why is it different? What makes it different and all that stuff. So I've gotten a few of those messages and I meant to get to it, and we've had other things and so I have not

gotten to it. We certainly don't reinvent a wheel. And I'm not saying that what we do is any better than anyone else. Everyone has their own desires and own their their own taste and all that stuff. And people full of hot air, right, We're all full of hot air. We're all gas bags and blowhards with tremendous ounce of verbosity on the radio show. But to give you the answer, and I I used this in honor of Doc Mike.

We had actually considered putting Doc on this podcast Full Disclosure, Doc Mike, uh, and he was unavailable because he was traveling. And then I was like, well, maybe we'll put Blair and Made on. In fact, we had booked Blair and Maine for this podcast, and then Blair and Maine decided to turn his phone off at the time we were supposed to interview Blair made It's hard to interview a

guy when his phone is turned off, so that didn't happen. Um, So anyway, we got to the point, so I said, this is the time, said we have a little extra time now on this Friday podcast. So let's get into it. And in honor of Doc Mike, the keys to a good sports talk radio show, or any radio show for that matter, it's the P principles P E E. Now, this is not to be confused with the kiss method.

Keep it simple stupid. That's the kiss method, which is from the Navy, and I love that and I use that quite a bit, and it's it's true, keep it simple stupid. But this is the P principle in honor of Doc Mike, a regular caller to the show, who has pointed out many many times that he enjoys drinking bodily fluids. And he is convinced, and and Doc has has said this off the air as much as he said it on the air, that he believes he will live to be a very very old man. Doc's getting

up there in age now. When Doc called me, he was in his mid mid mid age. Now he's getting up there. But he swears, okay, Doc Mike swears that he's gonna gonna live to be like a hundred ten hundred fifteen or older than that because of because of urine. But anyway, the P principle get to the point. Please, the pre principle is passion. That's the p right. You can't fake it, and that's a big part of the secret sauce. If you have disinterests. I believe this is

true in anything in life. It just happens that my chosen profession is radio or broadcasting in general. But if you have disinterest, it will show in your work. And that's true whether you're an athlete, playing in a game, whether you're a truck driver, whether you're cleaning toilets, waiting tables, working in an office. If you're disinterested, that will show. People will know that you're disinterested, and that uncaring attitude is toxic. It is absolutely toxic. So passion is a

big part of this. And I had a program director that drilled this into me early in my career and it's something that I it's very important lesson and it oozes out. It literally oozes out on a regular basis. But this programming out there, he pulled me aside. He said, listen, Uh, it's very difficult to keep an audience. But there's one thing that you can do is be authentic. Have have

the passion right. And he said he's listen. If you have apathy and disregard for the things that you're talking about. Why would a person listening I want to keep listening. That is the biggest way to turn the dial or to turn off a podcast and go somewhere else. That is the click. And that's not the click you want. That's not the click of approval. That's the click of I'm gonna go find something else. And it is true

right there now, there's there are droughts. I'm not gonna sit here and lie and say that every single day is wonderful. There are droughts when the sporting news is not as sexy, it doesn't have the razmatazz, it's not as exciting, but it's never barren. Now, I lived in an era of sports radio where it was barren, and that was back in the stone age, before social media, before the Internet and all that stuff. And we're all looking for content. We're all going down the same avenues,

the same highways and byways trying to find content. But there was a time when people just depended on newspapers and there was the AP, sports Wire and Sports Ticker, and I worked at the mighty six ninety. I started as an intern in San Diego and worked my way around, and that was the Sahara Desert. That was as barren like the Sahara Desert, uh and it was very difficult. At times you had to wait praying there would be some kind of ap breaking news message that would carry

you through the day. It's not like that. Now. There's a whole lot of places to look. There's more places to look than ever before. But there's there's good stories out there. But again, that ties into passion. It ties into passion. You gotta have the passion. If you have apathy, you're done. You're done and again, and not for just sports, but for anything else. The second thing, as the p principles provided to you exclusively on the fifth Hour with

Ben Mallory, Enthusiasm. Now that might not mean what you think that. To me, what that means is you have something to say. It ties into the passion, right, passionate enthusiasm pretty similar, But enthusiasm. I put that in the category where you don't want to be on the fence. Okay, you don't want to be on the fence that you're not in Switzerland and you have the good cop and

the bad cop. You have the good guys and the bad guys, and you don't want to be walking down the middle of the road and just go through the motions and you not not have an opinion. Now you shouldn't fake an opinion. But if you don't have a strong opinion about something, and I believe this to be true,

what are you doing? Like? It drives me crazy. I've worked with people over the years and I'll bring something up and I'm excited about it and they'll be I don't occur, And that ties back into the pay passion apathy, right, you don't want to have you don't want to have. The apathy that is the destroyer of fun is apathy. You don't wanna do that. So that always drives me nuts. But it's enthusiasm, right, and genuinely have enthusiasm and don't fake it. And also you gotta pay attention to detail

and all that stuff. Have a little bit of vim and vigor uh with with your statements. I mean, that's also all tied into enthusiasm. And the final part of the pay principle of sports radio is in it tayment. And this is the most important thing. And I don't listen to a lot of sports talk radio because I work in the business. I listen to a little bit.

And I hear a lot of people that are more worried about getting stats in and being the smartest person in the room, and they put entertainment as a secondary thing. And that is a huge mistake, a huge mistake, and it ties back to the the times we're in right now, right And as as much as I said you can get all kinds of status you want on the internet

and all that stuff, it is true. Uh, And if you're going to tune in, whether it's this podcast or the radio show or just any kind of audio program or for that matter, of television, you are giving away the most valuable thing you have. The most valuable thing you have. We say it all the time is your time. You don't know how much of it you have, you don't know when it's gonna end, and there's a finite amount of it. So for you to give some of your listenership, some of your time for a program, you

gotta be entertained. Right, Well, what's the point of doing it? You you got the daily grind, the nine to five, the the rat race, and so you want to be part of something and and spend a little bit of time, a little bit of time where you're just you're enjoying yourself.

And if you can combine those two things, which I'm not saying that we do, but if while you're working with a lot of truck drivers that listen to the show, that are going all over right from sea to Shining Sea and beyond, and I always love when they I'll get a message from a truck driver and be like, hey, you know, I listen to show and it helps me get through four hours of my horrifically terrible drive going from Kalamazoo to tim Buck two and it's you know,

terrible and all the stuff. So that that is pretty cool. I do appreciate that. Uh. Now, the mail bag is on Sunday, as we press on here on the fifth hour, so the mail bag is on Sunday. But I did have one message that cannot wait for the mail bag, so let's get into it. Let's jump into this a little bit early. Dan who lives in southern California. Now he says he lives in Westwood, which is a very bougie neighborhood. If you're not familiar with geography in California,

that is where you see l A is located. I think you could probably know that if you're a sports person, because or you should know that rather because the Wizard of Westwood, John Wooden, and with that is the actrop. Dan wrote in. This is actually um about ten days ago, and I didn't get to it last week, so I'll get to it here before I forget. So Dan wrote in, and he was ripping my obsession with the Code of

the West. Now this is another one of those things, another one of my michigas, as my late grandfather would say, where I will reference the Code of the West on a regular basis, and I think it's an important thing and it's it's something I model my life after many of the the laws, if you will, of the Code

of the West. And I look into that. And so anyway, Dan in Westwood, he wrote in and he said that I the Code of the West is nice, but John Wooden's seven point Creed is better, and that I should credit wouldn't because what Wooden did was better than the Code of the West and all that stuff, and I should talk talk more about John Wooden's seven point Creed. No, I wouldn't passed away. A number years ago, I was lucky enough to have Wooden as a guest on the

radio and very cool. And I love the stories about John Wooden. The last couple of years of his life. He lived right near the Fox Sports Radio studios and the Sherman Sherman Oaks neighborhood of of l A. And he lived up in the hill and he come down and eat. And I heard from multiple people around Fox Sports Radio that they'd run into John Wooden, greatest college basketball coach of all time, and Wooden would be eating like fried chicken or a cheeseburger and fries, and and

they're like, well, I can't believe he's doing that. He's like nineties something years old and here he is eating the most unhealthy diet. And I love that because when you get you get to a certain age, you don't have to worry about the long game anymore. When you get closer to the pearly gates, you no longer have to worry about, Hey, is this gonna hit me in ten years or fifteen years or twenty years, Am I gonna be Okay? No, you don't worry about that, So

I John wouldn't live that anyone. Get back to the story. I'm sorry, Dan, I gotta carry away there anyway, So Dan again points out that John Wooden seven point Creed throughout the lengthy Here, I'm gonna give you some of the the cliff notes Virgin here the seven point Creed is better than the Code of the West, and he wants me to use on the show. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. All right, So I will engage you, Dan, and you're

listening to the fifth hour. So I have dug up the the John Wooden John Wooden's seven point Creed, and I also have, of course the Code of the West. And then we'll do a side and by side comparison. Now I admit going in, I'm biased. I am biased. I've heard of the John Wooden seven point Creed. But the Code of the West resonated with me. It resonated with me more I I attached myself to it as the pearls of wisdom UH in life. But I'll give you the John Wooden seven point Creed first, and then

we'll give you the Code of the West. So the seven point Creed from John Wooden, UH number number seven is pray for guidance and count and give thanks for your blessings every day, would be grateful. That's essentially what he's saying with number seven. Number six was build a shelter against a rainy day. You also had to make friendship a fine art. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible. So a lot of religious undertones or overtones,

depending how you look at it. Make each day your masterpiece. Now, that is the most famous of the seven point creed of John Wooden, that is the one that has had legs. Make each day your masterpiece. Uh. There's also help others and the final part of John Wooden's seven point creeds be true to yourself. Now, make each day your masterpieces great hell paying others, Yeah, you should help others, be true to yourself. Those are all good things. Good books,

you know. That's that's great. And he mentioned the Bible here and all. I have nothing against all of that. But the Code of the West, for Dan and Westwood, the Code of the West blows the doors off the seven point creed. Right. I'll give you some of the the tenants of the Code of the West. It's no when to draw the line, No when to draw the line? Is that not an important thing in life to know when to draw the line. I say yes, I say

yes on that, remember that some things aren't for sale. Yeah. Otherwise, don't whore yourself out right that you don't. You don't have to whore yourself out for everything in life, in business, you gotta have pride. There's there's there has to be some kind of limit, is what I'm trying to say. Now, there's also this part of the Code of the talk less and say more, which is a version of what I learned at my Heart University. When in doubt, keep it out. When in doubt, keep it out. But essentially,

less is more ride for the brand. Now, what does that one mean? Does that mean the family? Does that mean who you work for? Does that mean all of the above? Also on the Code of the West, when you make a promise, keep it And that's important. You want to be a person that is reliable, dependable, and all that stuff. Also, be tough but fair. Be tough but fair. That's an important one. Also, you don't want to be the carpet that people walk all over, right, But you also don't want to be a hard oh

that everyone hates. And as soon as you leave the room, they're like, what an asshole that particular person was. Holy crap, So be tough but fair. What's not to like about that? Uh. Here's one I use all the time. It's a very important one on the code of the West. Do what has to be done, do what happens, what has to be done. And to me, that means it's not always

gonna be beautiful. It's not always gonna be pretty, it's not gonna be great, but you gotta do it right, you gotta do it, do what has to be done. There's also always finish what you start. That's an important one and it ties back to don't cut corners. You should not cut corners. That's a bad job by you don't do it. Uh. And so that's important. And don't

give up. Finish if you start something, whatever it is, whether it's a radio show or a project around the house at d I Y do it yourself project, finish what you start. Uh. There's also take pride in your work, which is another important one. If you're gonna put your name on it and put your blood, sweat, in tears into something, then you should take pride in it. You should absolutely take pride in it. And if you don't,

that's a bad job by you. And then the the final tenant of the good Book, the Code of the West is to live each day with courage, and that's important too. Uh do what has to be done is to me the most important finish what you start, which is the same. It's kind of one in one of the same on that, but but many of those are again just to recap Dan, we did decide by side comparison as I expected. As I expected, the Code of the West wins the day. The Code of the West

wins the day. Anyway, we're gonna put the baby to bed. It's a holiday weekend. We will have a more original audio content if you have the podcast now before I forget. If you would like a personalized mini Mallard analogue, I can do that for you. On Cameo, I haven't promoted Cameo in a while. Every once in a while somebody will said, hey, I'm I I'm a fan of the show.

I want a cameo. And if you got a birthday coming up, if you're you know somebody who's a fan of the show and you think they would appreciate it, uh, we would love to do it for you. It's a personalized video message. I typically try to do these things in Mallard monologue style. Uh. So you you gotta give me a little bit to work with, but we will do it for It's not free, doesn't cost that much. I haven't raised my rate uh in a long time, so it's been pretty pretty consistent. I raised my rate

one time because Cameo took more money out of it. So, uh, it's nothing I'm gonna get rich on anything like that. But you can't send us a request on Cameo would love to help you out. Also, don't forget Instagram, Ben Maller on Fox. You can check out some photographs and other random things on Instagram. The Facebook page, that's what we use a lot for this podcast. The many of the emails that we get, most of them come from the Facebook page that are posted on the show Facebook page,

which again is Ben Mallard Show. And every Tuesday, typically early in the day, I will send out a request and say, hey, wow, how don't you send me questions? We need to fill up a mailbag, and inevitably we will get a number of questions. And now people have been emailing the fifth Hour email address. The Fifth Hour email address if you have not written that down, it's real Fifth Hour at gmail dot com. That is exclusive for this podcast. So if you have a question, you

don't have to wait until Tuesday. Much like the lame jokes that we do on the radio show, if something pops into your head on today, like today's today's a Friday, and if something pops just send it or Saturday or Sunday and we'll use it possibly for the next next podcast. Can't guarantee it. Get a lot of email. We try to go through as many of them as we can.

We do have some time restraints. Typically the person I do the podcast with is demanding two uh to wrap it up, or has some other podcasts which he thinks is more important that he needs to work on. So but on this podcast, uh, you know, we we try to get as many as we can, but there are time shows. Anyway, we'll put the baby to bed. Have a wonderful, glorious rest of your Saturday. We hope you

enjoyed the podcast. Here the p Principles in honor of Doc Mike and slaying John Wooden's seven point Create Compared to the Code of the West and all the other things that we got to We'll catch you on the Saturday edition of the Fifth Hour. Aloha