Philly Love with Anthony Gargano

We are back at it yet again Friday, Friday, Friday, The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller as we bloviate the weekend away because four hours a night not enough on the overnight eight days a week. And before I get into Dad Day's podcast, remember that sharing is caring, and so give the gift of audio content the podcast and you guys have been doing a great job. I do thank you. The numbers continue to be solid for the podcast. I started this um well while back. I don't even

remember what. Time just flies by, and we didn't know if we we'd have a big listenership, and the the audience has continue to grow. And that's that's nothing to do with me, certainly, nothing to do with gag On or McBain or anyone else. It has to do with you, So we thank you and keep that going, keep that ship going, and the podcast will continue three podcasts a week. But the Friday podcast, which you've already found, available on

the I Heart podcast Network global reach of podcasting. Wherever you can get your podcast, you can find this podcast all the big podcast platforms. So on on Friday, we like to chat with someone who I like, someone I know, or someone I know nothing about. And I'm thrown into an interview with because somebody gets booked and I'm like, Okay, I gotta talk to this. But this week I'm gonna talk to one of my my radio oh uh friends,

one of my radio associates, a colleague of mine. We are excited now to welcome in a guy that you have heard for several years on the Fox Sports Radio National airwaves on Saturday. He also has been a long time member, believe over twenty years he has been bloviating on the local Philadelphia sports talk radio airwaves. And as someone that appreciates the art of sports radio, there's certain towns that do it right, and I like a little edge to my sports talk radio. Philadelphia is one I've

never lived in Philly. I've talked to these guys. Listen to it a little bit online. Boston. Detta work in Boston, New York the axis of sports talk radio where they'll throw down the chainsaw on their teams, and Gargano is a big part of it. Anthony Gargano, he does a midday show in Philly in addition to all of the stuff that he does at Fox Sports Radio. So I thought it'd be fun to talk to Anthony and chat with him about the inner workings of radio behind the scenes.

He's that very interesting career as a newspaper guy that went into radio. We'll get into all of it. Rather than me spoil the fun. Let's give it up now for veteran radio broadcaster and renaissance man Anthony Gargano. Anthony, thank you, thank you for doing this. Everyone is I want to get into the meeting potatoes at radio. So everyone is different here and I want to I want to talk to some shops. So what are the ingredients, in your opinion that make for a quality sports talk

radio Listen watch a great question, Benny. I gotta go authenticity, So don't give me hottakes, give me your real opinion. Uh, give me some fun cy when you're on the air, you're fun. Like I could actually hear of the smile along your face when you're doing your show, because the fun is an important piece I think of the program,

and I can hear that. And you'll not only give me sports and good sports because you know what you're talking about, but you'll you'll make me laugh, you make me smile, You'll you'll tell me what's really in your heart. I never feel like you're just giving me something that will watch me shock the world, because you and I both know that people remember not your sports opinions, but they remember little things. And I think authenticity is a big part of it. Yeah, and I agree with you.

I got to me and there are guys that do meet in potatoes sports radio and they give stats and all that stuff. But it's it is. You're absolutely the entertainment. And it is frustrating Anthony, because I'll you know, I do these rants the monologues every hour, and you do the same thing. I'm sure you're ranting Raymond on your show.

And Philly and I I've heard John Fox a bunch over the years here and we ranked and rave and then we'll make some throwaway comment about like a bologna sandwich that we ate the other day or something like that. And that's the thing that people remember. It's not it's not our opinion on Lebron James or the Yankees or the Dodgers. It's that other stuff that that really sticks with people. Relating. Right, you're gonna be relatable. As you said,

you gotta relate to people. Relatability. You took the word out of another I was just gonna say that. You know, that's something that is I think so crucial. Like they gotta feel like, oh, there's Dan then at the supermarket, like I'm at the supermarket, he's at the drug store, or he's got the kids out, and you know, they want either if they want to feel like, because radio is a very warm medium, they want to feel like they're leaving you in your home and they trust you

you're one of them. And I think that's a key component. Yeah, And the great thing, Anthony, at least I know in my case and in your case, I thought you've had some big time gigs in Philly, But for me, I have kept it real. I'm a man of the people, Anthony. I've never tasted the real big time uh money like when I know when Jim Rome or Colin Cowherd, when they when they sell their house, it ends up in the real estate page in the newspaper, right because a

big deal. When I when I just moved recently, no one even knows about it, right, No, if I didn't say it, no one would know about it because it keeps me relatable. But it's managements by design, by design, Anthony, it's their plan on that one. Man, I've missed out

all them, all the property. Yeah, yeah, I remember we had uh you know Mike North who used to work at the network on He was like the highest paid guy in sports radio in Chicago, um years ago, and uh you know, he tasted like the very top of

the money chain in radio. And I was like, I wonder that would be like I wonder if I would change, you know, I wonder I would be different if I made that like that, because you are what you are, man, You're you're you're all again, I go back to the world, Authanic And by the way, what what like, let's be real for a second. Unless somebody drop a voteload of money, right that you can travel the world and not work. You know, we're you gonna change that. You're not gonna change.

You're gonna love your teams, you're gonna love your family, and you're gonna have fun. Yeah, and the other two Anthony and I can tell from from listening to you. I mean, you have the bug, You've been bitten by the radio bug. You love it, you enjoy it, and it's like it's one of those things like this kind of a job where you can do it pretty late

in life. It's not like some of these other jobs where if you're you have a real job and you're laying down asphalt or concrete or you're working as a contractor, at some point you're gonna have to stop doing that because you know, it's physical labor. All we do is sit around and yap and rant and rave, which is kind of cool. Like if you can keep doing it pretty late in life, if you if you want, yeah, you log he lug around a lot of hot air

is the only problem. We're We're blessed. We're blessing that thing. I love radio. I do. I started out as a newspaper a journalist, and so then I transitioned over to radio. And I love to write and I still write my screenplays and written a couple of books. No whole thing, but radio connecting with people is awesome, dude, Like you just the warrant comes across and I talked to a

lot of callers. It's really called driven and so you and you learn so much and you know these people and it's a beautiful community that's not just you know, tweeted or texted. Yeah, and I gotta ask you know, you made the transition and successfully. They've been guys that have tried to get into radio. They just didn't have the gift forget. But when you were an honorable you worked at like this. I read you worked at the Associated Press in Chicago, and that's a big time gig.

The New York Post, I think you worked. I mean, these are some big, big writing jobs. Like what got you to cross over to radio? Is there anyone that said, hey, you'd be good on radio or is this something you always wanted to do? Now you know? It was? Um So I'm in New York and I wanted to be a foreign correspondent. I wanted to transfer out of sports. I went for an interview at the New York Times. They said I had to leave the New York post to get cleansed, and I had to go to a

like a real newspaper with a news department. So I got a job at the Philiphia Inquirer. And I'm at the Inquirer and I was in sports and I fill did for a week because newspapers you don't make any money, so I'm looking to hostile make a few dollars and I go fill in at w I P and like that. Two weeks later, the guy goes, you want the midday show and I got no, man, I'm a writer, blah

blah blah whatever. And then like they're like, well you're sure, here's the offer, and it was like double my salary, which I was like, oh my god, not newspapers, you're making a lot. But uh, the first week I did it, I read immediate regret. When the guy said to me, you sound like you should be caught in pepperoni on

the Italian market. I was like, I'm a journalist, an English major, and like, nobody can't you know used to be coming pepperoni, dude, let's let's because I always getting annoyed Anthony, because you know, you have a very distinctive cadence, which is great I think it's wonderful and it's it's authentic. But there there are some guys that do this that are the professional deep voice talk radio host and those guys just always getting it. It's just weird. It feels

weird to me. You gotta to me, you gotta have a little a little more personality to it that you can't be just a big voice. You gotta go up and down right like your voice go up with excitement when you're truly into something, and then you know it's a Cadie, right, isn't it? Isn't it like a um? You know, if you think about a song, right, your voice should be up and down should be it shouldn't be just flat right like either as good as you know you listen. There's some great people in our business.

We have blessed pikes that you know, you can introduce movies, you know in a town long ago. You know. But I think I wonder he is there sub success exactly exactly. You don't want to have the monotone voice and it is a musical instrument that that's all we have in talk radio is our voice. We don't have anything else. We play bumper music for thirty seconds or something like that.

But it's it's all about the del me. But when you made the transition, I know, back in the old days when I got into radio, there was like a cold war when I would cover games between the newspaper guys and the radio guys, and they didn't like each other, and there was a lot of a lot of fighting and stuff like that. So when you made the transition, were you supported by your friends who were journalists or were they like, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? Yeah? I got a lot of that what

are you doing? You Jordan, the dark side? You're in that. Luckily I always kept it real with people like I, you know, I like people by nature saw you know, and so I generally was just more ball breaking than you know, serious. But there were like a couple of guys.

One guy who actually liked he got along with shut me out, man, I was I was the true enemy, and I'm like, yo, dude, you know, let me say, guy, listen, I respect that what you did, what you do because I did it so and I wouldn't steal your stuff like a lot of time times they would be upset with that, will blame them where you take somebody story here it on the air, and I like to make And I know you're like this where you know, you give credit Billity, you give exactly where your source material is,

who you got it from, if you if you got it from somebody else, you read something. You gave him some love for doing the game. And I think that's why a lot of newspaper guys fell a certain way. Plus, you know, you go from doing the same job and all of a sudden it's a very public thing. It's

like this and jealousy involved there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and there's and there's more money, as you said in radio than there is in Journalisabeth, you worked at the New York Post, and that I love the New York Post. I've never lived in New York. My brother lives in New York. But I loved the Post. I've read it online for years and years and years. So what what was it like behind the scenes, how they make the hot dogs at the at the New York Post? Anthony

was it may It was the greatest shot. So I had the greatest job that you can have in newspapers. So I initially started covering the Mets, which was the worst job, all right, you saw a lot of bad baseball alright, Like it was like they were in terrible. So then I went from doing that to write and we had a we got a Sunday newspaper. Murdoch bought back in the paper and we added a Sunday edition and so they needed someone to write like five thousand

words stories. So I became, uh that writer along with doing all other stuff like if the next played the Heat, I covered the Heat in the playoffs, right, So I would always do the national stuff, which meant I was on the road like three hundred nights a year. And the only I love. My editor was a great guy named Greg Gallo, and he used to get it at me because I love to write and I love to kind of string words together and I find it like artistic and whatever. And he seelling me take your bake

panties off, or your right a right Anthony. But it was awesome because I used to be like, they go where you at. I go. I'm in l A. And they're like, why don't you go off to Portland's go up to cover this game, cover that, go write about this, And I would give my geas and and I would just Globetrot and I covered a lot of boxing and I would write these long pieces and I got to

go hang with Jordan for two weeks. I just following the bulls as as they were the rock stars, right, you know, with all the coaches, pat Riley, you know, Phil Parcel, like I do all kinds of stuff like. It was interesting. It was a really cool job that you learned as a journalist. You're you're really inquisitive, like, which is why I love doing that job because I learned so many different things. I met so many different people, and I wasn't I didn't had to criticize him. I

was just writing stories. So it was more like a profile of tell you know something, and so they lay into their world. You got have pancakes and down at the mc NAB's houses Chicago, and you know, you do all kinds of things with people, and it was it was a lot of fun. It was more it was fun because it was artistic, but it was also fun because you got to me only. I love to travel, so I was on the road all the time. I would sit next to Ben Mallor at events. That's right,

we sat together for the people doing the story. The Dodger Phillies game years ago. I was trying to think what year that was. Everything runs together for me, Anthony, though I don't like before you before you turned into a movie star. You look like, Yeah, well I might have been a lot heavier at that particular a moment in time as I trying to remember exactly when that was, But uh was that? That wasn't like the Matt Stairs time was it was that before that? It was a

Matt Stairs. Oh my god, as Joe Buck says, oh my god, great one of the great moments in Philly Sports issue, one of the worst for the for the Dodgers. There into the upper part of the pavilion. I was pissed. Yeah, I was. I was. I thought that team man Joe Tory was the manager of the Dodgers, that was the team was going to get to the World Series and then had to wait another twelve years or whatever, thirteen years whatever it was too to get back. But that

was insane, man, That was in uh crazy time. But when you were I would go by to the post. So you're working on the post, like, how does it work? You tell me how this works? They give you a company credit card. You just do whatever you want or do you have to check back. And back then it was awesome because back then the budget for the Sports department, the travel budget was three million dollars. So you know that's late nineties, early two thousands, right, so you know

we could go everywhere. I mean there was no listen and I was I and I stayed in my hotels. I didn galage them, but I stayed. I traveled nicely. And then you build up all those points Marriott Hill and you name it airline miles. You know I'm going I'm traveling to Europe for free because I was on the road so much and then you know everything. The only thing I would have is that to have these expenses, actually have to felt your expense report. So I would

be on the road more than anybody. So I would come home and I was I'm not the most I'm like Oscar Madison when it comes to, you know, keeping all the receipts and everything. So I got crumpled up this in the hotel receipts before everything was online. And then so I'm trying to make heads tails of it. Oh yeah, I'm in Denver this day. Oh wait, did I spend a hundred miles at the bar. I can't, I can't do that one, all right, what about this one?

And you know, and you're putting together your expense report. But it was it was crazy. It was wild. I mean I used to man, I my travel alone was like, you know, ten times my salary my travel. So did you know, now, Anthony, I, Anthony, I remember. I think it was Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. I had heard a story from a writer that he had like the most Marriott points of all time, Like he had stayed at the Marriott, so you know, that was the only hotel chain that he would stay at when he traveled.

And he worked at the Boston Globe forever, and he had this massive amount of Marriott points where he could have just gone anywhere. I assumed you had a similar massive amount there. Did you stay at the same hotel chain all the time or would you change it up and stay at different hotels? No? I you know, I stayed at the same hotel. And it's funny because it's

true I had a massive amount. And probably Bob ran because he coached, um, he covered the NBA, so I'm sure he did a lot more playoff the whole thing. But it was the greatest because I mean they treated you like golds. Like dude, you know, there was uh baskets of fruit and all kinds of things in my room. Like I had a buddy of mine, so I'm like in my twenties, I got a body of mine who worked for an airline. He flew for free, so he we would meet everywhere. Like I got a dude, I'm

going to I'm going to Denver. So then I would get in my room and I had the upgraded suite. He'd come to hang out, and there was a time where he looked at the basket and he sees a thing of hummus and he goes, Yo, dude takes some hummus and he throws the hummus. I don't know if he's doing that, and it hits my laptop. Bust my laptop. Now I gotta go get a new laptop. I was covered like broncos jet and whole thing floated off for the humus that I got for free at the Marriott

in the bandsket. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. So you were remember that movie from about ten twelve? Was it within the last fifteen years that it was the movie that George Clooney was up in there like that? Was you right? You were up in the air? Man, you were just flying. I kept at a fun job. He was. His job was the fire people.

Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven p m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Another time I was in Denver. I get woken up. There's a knock on my door. Now, you know, I had to go out at night, right, So I wake up. I'm, you know, in the room work city on Man. I opened the door. I see this beautiful girl right in my doorway. I'm going, who she says Anthony, I go, yeah, she was, Can I come in? I was like yeah,

you know, like I don't know. I rubbed the band and brush my teeth. Right. What was does she takes over her her? It was like a jacket was winter was doing the playoffs and she's got like Alazer outfit on, and I'm gonna wait a second, what's going on? There and she was hot, cause Betty like she was hot. I'm going away, something's up, right, And then she says,

can I use your phone? I go guys, And the next thing she was, I'm in the room and then she hands me the phone and it was these radio dudes in the morning because they wanted to do the Jets, so they thought I was a member of the Jets media, so they they came to my room. So then so that way she was cool hanging out. How about the next day, this girl naked horse. This girl was just a random trip a drink. It nice, that's it, just one of the one drink the day. That's that's all. Yeah,

I got you all right, uh Andy. So now let's get back to the radio stuff. Man, I love I'm learning all about you here. I'm learning all about bouncing over all over the place a little bit. So in the radio stuff. Now, you said you do like mostly in your local show and Philly a lot of calling stuff and that kind of thing. But I haven't seen some viral videos online from you ranting and raving and all that. Have you, either as a newspaper guy or

as a radio guy. Have you had an athlete or coach that snapped at you like a famous incident where one of these guys just lost there. But what was the most famous one that you recall? Ibby Valentine and I when I was a writer, we almost got a fight. Uh what was that about? What? What did you do? What did you write that? Eating that? Like? No, Bobby V was it was a very political guy and he was always trying to win you over again whatever whatever

way to use you. He tried to use you. He once had time of a sort of who I love carn me up and say, y'all you gotta go ease. You m the you know work with Bobby V. What's you? And I was friends with the this hitting instructor that was under Dallas Green staff. Anyway, long story, I picked up they fired him and I and I picked up for him, and we got into a shouting match. And in fact, one of the Mets players, Johnny Franco, says no, because there's a Franklin then if you died his I

We're screaming yellow at each other. Two astros Can Cavin Nitty and who was the other guy? I had to be the second baseman who was yeah? And Cavin Ny and BJR walking by, and then the next thing, you know, because they were playing the Astros and and Tom McGraw was with the Astros. Now that's right. I walk into the other clubhouse and then Cavin Inny goes, mom, man, you dude, I was going to knock out Bobby V I started, Hey, Bunny, Bobby say, well, like he he

was a colorful dude. But there was a lot of guys that, you know, we would they yell at you. I remember being definitely afraid of ourselves, but he would scream at you. And then you know, when you're a young reporter and you gotta go ourselves, Like, you know, I'm thinking, who am I to be challenging this dude about football? Right? Yeah? You know, like they're they're it's the bullie pulpit. Back then, it was way more like in your face. Now it's more docile or it's more

social media driven, where you know, there's Twitter beefs. Back then, they were like real be I remember seeing guys fighting, fits, fighting, knocking people out. It was crazy. Yeah. Yeah, so you you covered the Mets in the were you there? We were there when Dallas Green was there, and then obviously Bobby Valentine there one of my favorite New York Post headlines.

I was doing stuff with the Dodgers and they were playing the Mets in the midnight and the Rico Bronier years of the Mets, and when he was I went to Watertown, Connecticut to do a story where he was from, and I ate with his parents. That's great, it's random. I love that. So it was like Rico Bronia and Todd Hunley and the Mets were terrible, and uh, they had traded for Jeff Kent, who at that time was like a you know, he would come over from the Blue Jays and then I think he was the David

Con trade. He'd been there for a little bit, but he was like a utility guy when he started with the Mets, and I remember they moved him positions and and against the Dodgers and he had like a bunch of errors on It was like it was like a Saturday day game and he butchered the ball. Yeah yeah, yeah. So so anyway, it was he was terrible and the fans were booing. You know, it was ter It was hot, you know, August and the planes are flying over the landing at Laguardy. It was a nightmare. So so they

interviewed you. Probably a guy that did it interviewed Dallas Green and he made some flip it remark about Jeff Kent's defense, and the headline on the post the next day was Kent Field and then it was great and it had a picture of him bobbling the ball on the back page and then it said, you know, Dallas Green's quote was like, uh, something like I forget I'm paraphrasing, but it was like he was as bad at third base as he was a second or somebody was great.

It was awesome. He just buried the guy. I loved it Field. Yeah, it was all that. Yeah, it was the best. It was all sides of stuff. I'll give you one du And so I'm in spring training. I was I was dating this girl and I'm I'm sitting

next we're at it. There was only one place to go was Port St. Lucy and and so we're at this at this bar in Port St. Luci And next thing, you know, alex Ochoa remember that name, and yes, all right, or don't Yese had just affected from Cuba and they were in there and I knew Alex and there was somebody else too. Anyway, the girl I was with, let's say she was welling down and she and and so you know, it was whatever. She was a lovely lady.

He starts saying stuff in Spanish and she starts turning red. Now she was Spanish, and she understood him right like so and then then she gives me the the interpretation, right like, she gives me what he said in translation and enter the translation. It was pretty loose, right, so you know, I started barking at him, I'm gonna break your you know, your au mission that you're never gonna play shortstop blah blah blah blah blah. You know, with

one of those. It was crazy, but it was funny, right like, you know, and then I'm gonna gonna bust I gonna buck stop in shortstop. I don't track with any apology. It was no big deal. But it was just funny, how you know, like it's just real life. Back then, it was really real life. I had. I got a buddy of mine, in fact, was the Sixers equipment manager for like thirty five years, and he goes, dude,

he goes, the difference. When I first started, he started like eight mintage AI years right, like, you know, crazy stuff the end of Barkley and Ai today, He's like, the biggest difference is the noise. Back then, when you're going on a bus plane, all the guys are together, it's loud, and guys are mocking each other, having phone

breaking stone, busting stone, the whole thing. And now everybody's just on locked phone or headphones, and it's so different and just dudes way more like Plug did professional whereas back then it was like, you know insanity. Yeah, Ai falling asleep outside his hotel room, like outside the door of his room, curled up in the ball in the hallway, sticking enough just to in the hallway. You bring up a muld have been at five o'clock in the morning.

You know, everybody in the game that day, he didn't matter. You know. That's the amazing thing about ball players and anything. I traveled a little bit with the Dodgers back in the day, and I was a young guy and they kind of embraced me, some of the guys in the bullpen, so they take me. I got to tag along with them and go out a few times. You know, I'm not I'm an introver. You're you're an extrovert Anthony. I'm an introvert, so for me, this was like an eye

opening experience and I loved it. I have great memories of that, but I was amazed. I was in my probably late twenties at this time, maybe mid twenties. So I'm traveling with the team and you know occasionally and they take me out and uh, it was actually in New York one of the trips, and these guys were out. We were they were club hopping, you name it, bars, strip clubs. Got back to the hotel at you know,

it was after the sun had risen. It was a little after like six in the morning, something like that, and I'm just beat and the dot. The Dodgers had a day game with the Mets that day, and so we you know, go out to the ballpark and I'm having like a zombie and the guys I was hanging out with that were completely slashed that we're just boosting it up. Uh, And I said, well, those guys can't pitch today, and uh, they got called. You know, one of the guys got called into the game and even

like a one, two, three inning. I couldn't believe it. I was like, this is this is amazing to me that these guys are able to perform after living that life. It was just a few hours earlier we were out and getting back in a taxi cab getting back to the hotels and saying, how those guys are wired that way?

The truth man, you know, I listen, I saw a Stone drunk one night, right blacked out of his mind and he a vegs day dropping forty wanted at a new game, right, like just incredible, such a great player. It's true, like those dudes that you know that was that was like a right of passage too for a lot of guys. You want to out you you know, you shampled the town. It was very more. It was a lot of social now where it hurts who was

obviously longevity its found, pick care of their bodies. And you know you can look at Brady and that's why he's so great. Yeah, yeah, he doesn't. He doesn't go out much. He's get some some interesting things. As far as the great fruit that you mentioned Port St. Lucy, I got a great story of out there. Anthony all appreciate this because spending a lot of time in Florida for spring training. So when I was doing stuff with the Dodgers. They had an executive, Tommy Hawkins, the great

Tommy Hawkins, wonderful guy, played in the NBA. Great guy, very personal guy. And we were in Virio Beach and I've never been to Viria Beach before, and so Tommy's given the lay of the Loveland you know, I was I was doing radio there and I had we were doing it back to l A. So it was late at night, but on the weekends we had some time to go out and try to mingle. And I was single and the guy was doing the show with were single. So we asked Tommy Tommy Hawkins were like, hey, where

should we go? And Tommy named this bar in in Vero Beach. He said, this is the place, this is the place everyone goes to. Uh, you know, it's a few miles away from Dodgertown. Go there, have a have a great time. Boy, there's beautiful people where. He's really selling it. So we're all excited. My, my, me and this guy Dave that I was doing the show, and so we show up to the bar and we're thinking, yeah,

this is gonna be great. You know, we were in Florida. Here, beautiful women, the whole thing, and the youngest we're in our mid twenties. The youngest woman in there was I think like sixty four or something like that was it was insane. We were like, wait a minute, what that That was the young hip spot in uh in Florida, at least in that part in Via b There was not going on socially there in Vio Beach. Anthony Beck in those dodge in town, Yeah, man, that was. That

was a great place. They've been in Florida now for like twenty years or something like that. A lot of it's crazy how fast time guys goes by. Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific. It's me Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast, Inside the Parker for twenty two minutes of piping hot baseball talk featuring the biggest name to newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics for the Eyecast, we've got all the bases cover.

New EPI souls drop every Thursday, So do yourself a favor and listen to Inside the Partner with Rob Partner on the I Heart Radio app or wherever you get your podcast. But you mentioned the movies. I gotta get into that anything. I don't know a lot about this. So you've written screenplays and whatnot for for Hollywood, and and like, how's that? How's that work exactly? Have you had anything big picked up that I don't know about that I shouldn't know about. Uh. Well, we did a

movie called I don't know if you've heard it. It's called The Mighty Max, The Mighty Max. Okay, all right, it was. It's about the first female um uh basketball team, Maculotti University cafee Rush who um made a really cool, really really really cool who uh say, won the first women's national championship. Her husband was Eddie Rush, the referee, and it was cool. So anyway, we did that movie. I have a couple. I had a lot of camp mrs.

And I got a lot of mrs. And I got a couple right now that are hot, and I think we got a shot. One is called The Bottom, which is it's about loosely based off of the group called the Junior Black Mafia in Philadelphia in the eighties. Gangster movie. And I got another another show, a TV show that's getting traction. Um it's called in Blood. It's imagine it's the seving is nineties six Philadelphia, and it's a precursor to the jb M. And it's Game of Thrones meets

like Scarface, right, so it's beats the Godfather. So it's got uh, Italian gangsters and African American gangsters and Jewish gangsters and the whole crowd of this world of bikers that really existed in Philadelphia. They all intersected during the seventies and eighties, um when casino gambling comes Atlantic City. So I had known a lot of these characters growing up there, and so I wrote these pieces pretty authentic

and it's pretty cool. So I think we got a I think we got a good shot at that's supposedly happening. I got more, I'm hoping, but we'll see. Yeah. And so how's it where you have an agent or I assume, how do you sell these things? What's the what's the key is selling the producer? O. There's a producer that that's that deals with all the studios. So I worked with the stuff through a producer who's really well known as a bunch of projects. So it's the producer. They're

the ones that I'm just the writer. I'm just the you know, I'm the nobody that comes up with the story and writes the story and then you know, hopefully, but the one supposed to go in the pre production suits. So we're we're it's it's a long grind and we got shut down by COVID, so it's it's it's pretty crazy. But I love the film world. I love film. I love story. That's probably my true passion, which is other

than sports, which is storytelling. And are you more nonfiction as opposed to fiction when you're writing this stuff or is it either way? Go either way? Yeah, either way, And the fiction people like anytime you write it. Um, since it's not a documentary, you know, you're you're gonna you're gonna have to take literary license to make the story really you know, a lot more interesting. And that's sort of that's so to speak. But um, but the great stuff is is that when you meld a reporting

background with creative writing, it gives you a lot. Right. So, you know, I was I was at a couple of jails. I was up in a couple of you know safe houses that the thaying rooms, talking to these old you know retired or whatever, gangsters, and you get stuff that you can't even make up, right, Like the beauty is if you know, when you really like research the story and talk to those that lived in you get stuff that you you realize you can't even make up. If

they trust you, they they into the world. It's it's really kind of cool. So, I mean some of the stories I I barely even have to dress up for cinem You just gotta organize and put them together in a narrative form. But it's it's really interesting. It's it's a it's a pretty cool. That's cool. That's cool. I think what we need, Anthony, is like a you should

write a movie about sports talk radio. There's gotta be something in sports radio that and you can go on the big screen and give it the make it a thriller, you know, like a caller. I've had I've had guys on my show, Anthony. I had a guy in Chicago that sent me a bloody goat head in the mail because he was a big He thought the Cubs were jenks the curse of the Billy goat, and so he bought part of a goat farm. This guy doc Mike and sent me bloody goat actually a couple of bloody

goat heads. It got to a point, yeah, it got yeah, yeah. And so it got to a point Anthony where the mail people at Fox at I Heart here in l A, We're We're like, we can't accept mail for you because it was like there was like stuff coming out of the box that was disgusting and they were like, you know, so so I had to tell the guy said, you gotta stop sending this because I'm getting in trouble with the mail rooms. So what are you doing? And uh,

it was it was a nightmare. But anyway, I've kept you for way too long, Anthony, I love you, man. And and and now promote promote promoto. You're on Fox Sports Radio obviously on the weekends, but that's on Saturday, right, He's still on Saturday. And then what about the radio show in Philly if the fans want to listen to you on your local show with the Anthony Gargani Agano Show, right,

which is what mid days in Philly? Is that? Right? Yeah, chen am the two pm Eastern time Ninete five The Fanatic. And then I'm at Anthony el Gargano on Twitter and uh at Anthony el Gargano on Instagram. So, yeah, I appreciate keep an eye on maybe the movie ship and I would love for you to talk about and we we talk further about it. But Betty, I love you, man, You're you're just great people. Oh you're good too. Man. I love you, and I'm glad we met years ago.

And when you become the the movie hits and you'll be out of the red carpet and in Hollywood, I'll go hang out with you. We'll go to Google schmooz. It's all right, all right, man, Thank you, Anthony