The Fifth Hour: Blitz Boys Reunite.. on TV!

Kabbooms.

If you thought four hours a day, twelve hundred minutes a week was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of the old Republic, a soul fashion of fairness. He treats crackheads in the ghetto cutter the same as the rich pill poppers in the penthouse.

Wow.

The clearing House of Hot takes break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben Maller starts right now.

In the air everywhere.

Back at it on another edition of The Fifth Hour with Ben Mahler and Danny g Radio. It is a Friday, but a day that is unlike any other. As we do this radio show five nights a week and on

Not comfortable with normally.

I don't normally do that kind of stuff being on late at night, I don't normally have to deal with executives and things along those lines.

But everything's been great.

Everything's been wonderful, and it will be on NBC Sports Boston, but distributed by NBC across the country and is scheduled if everything goes right here to be broadcast in New York on the SNY the home of the Mets, in LA on the Home of the Dodgers on their cable channel. Beyond all the NBC cable channels around the country and should be available on the stream as well on the Peacock, So we'll be everywhere.

Will Tom Looney be on the show?

Well, that's right, that's right, the voice representing the penny you talk about going out of my realm here radio and television's Tom Looney.

Here's Yes.

They wanted someone to challenge your comfort level, now Looney, they brought it me.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm gonna be the Vana White of the show. I will I will expose which side of the coin has been flipped.

Yes, yes, you will be the keeper of the coin, which is a very nice job, Tom, the keeper.

Of the coin. Yeah, so it is.

Yes, I realized that we're doing God's work and I'm happy to be part of it.

You Jesus.

So we are reunited, Tom. After how many years did we do the blizz? I've known you forever.

Since nineteen nights this last century.

Yeah, since the nineties.

Yeah, you were barely alive, right, There was Green Day on the radio when you live.

Yes, the Green Day was on the radio and I was I was there. I used to do my homework and listen to you on the radio and send you factes.

The facts of the day, the huge facts of the day. But you're gonna be with me every show. Tom will be sitting in a TV studio across the way from me there, and it will.

Be very exciting. It'll be cameras and makeup or have you been canning? Yeah?

As you know, I'm very self conscious, Tom, I don't look at all. That's why I've always done radio and avoided television. I am such a radio loser.

I'm very excited because I love the way I look. I can't wait for people to see me. I look just like my voice.

Yeah. Yeah.

So when we've met with the people at NBC, I was like, yeah, can I Can I wear a burka?

Is that possible?

My Tom's like, can I go in there and like like a tank top or whatever? And uh So we have the complete opposite approach. And this is also Tom. Now you're you've done some TV in the past. You were with the best damn.

Yes, That's why at the meetings you you never talked because we TV people do all the talking.

Yeah. Yeah, no, I just sit back.

Uh.

And there are a lot of meetings, a lot of a lot of production meetings.

You know.

I've kidded around for years Tom on the radio show about production meetings, right, Yes, very hard to do on my show because a lot of the guys don't show up, sometimes till after the show starts, so it can be difficult to have a meeting off no one's.

Actually there, especially such if you don't do the preparation, Yeah, it might not get done.

Yeah, so this has kind of been you know, I've been hoping something like this would happen. I didn't say anything to anybody, though, I think you've told more people than I have time.

I have, but I would tell you anytime I told anybuddy, because I gave you your word. I would just tell close relatives and a smattering of others.

Yeah.

So I told my wife has known about this, obviously she was locked in. But other than that, I told my brothers and that's that's about it. I didn't want to jinx it because you've known me a long time. Tom and I have been close to some very exciting jobs. Yes, yeah, I have been a finalist for big time media jobs and every single times up until this point. Not that I don't have a great job doing the radio show, but every time I've had something else.

That's like major like career.

Change, right they went with the skinny girl.

Yes, sometimes it was always at the last minute. Like I had.

I had a job at TMZ lined up years ago, and I told people because they called me said they were going to hire me, uh like the next the next day, and I'm still waiting.

It's been there.

I'm still waiting for that return folk call from the people at TMC.

So that's strange.

You know.

Right after they canceled the show with j T and May, I went, I got a call from them right away, went straight down there to the Pla del Rey and uh so they took me, took me around, was really uh you know, asked me what I wanted to do. Did I want to develop shows? I came up with an idea like ten different shows and put a lot of hard work into it. And then crickets just like what happened to you.

Just yes, no, no.

So I mean this was years ago when the Tiger Woods story, the scandal broke about Tiger Woods, and they were they were going to really put some money into TMC Sports and all that and try.

To get that going. So met they were very nice people. They were great, Yes, they are.

I do have to say that. And you know, earlier before you pushed record, we were talking about Andy Warhol first time for my first interview over there. I went and down and there was on that sunset first time I interviewed with them. And I'm sitting in in uh in the office of the big head hot show there. What's his name, Harvey Levin I believe would be the Harvey's office. Yes, and so if I knew, I didn't watch it on television very much, and so Harvey was

Yes, I remember.

We're painting. Yeah, it's it's a podcast. We're painting pictures, and somebody else. And so they came. I sat down, they sat down, and I looked up and I said to them, is that an original Warhol? Because Harvey's got money apparently, because there's an original Warhol on the wall. And Charles said, I was going to ask you some of your other interests, but now I know, yeah, because it could be a serio graph. A seria graph would

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I've had some other things that we don't need to get into here, but this nbfing NBC thing is great.

I yeah, we were worried, and I was I was more. Optimism is my oxygen. That can't just that does not describe you.

No, no, no, I am a pessimist. I think we're going to die one hundred times over and over again and right to Dante's Inferno. So this has been an ongoing process just to kind of get people into the loop. It's not, uh, it's not something that happens overnight where you get a television show.

You're all right, you're right, yeah, yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot of pilot, the other pilot.

Yeah yeah.

So but the entire time we were doing a pilot and then a second pilot, et cetera. You know, they all they had all these ideas and they put in all this production, all this time, and they even you know, we got a word at one point that it was more likely than not, but they wouldn't give us Vegas odds. And so it was all these vagaries that were always on the side of that it was going to happen. But we were always too we didn't want to jinx anything.

And then we also had we were given a date back in July that because you know, do a TV show or radio show, you have to have the most important.

We were given a date in the spring of July first as a deadline for a yes or a no. In July first came and went yeah.

So as John Sterling, the voice of the Yankees, I'll drop a name here. He was on this podcast and John Sterling reminded me that the most important part of all these jobs is you've got to sell the soap.

You have to sell the soap.

Right, yes, h Larry King used to always say, and Tom likes as well, you're in the advertising business, yeah, one hundred percent. You're selling at you know, you're the you're the filler between the soap. Commercials.

You're the liaison is the product.

You're the filler between five Hour Energy and body Shape.

Oh there's some great uh.

So, So, as you said, there was a date that was given and we were I was even optimistic at the beginning time.

I was like, well, I think this is you know, gonna happen.

And then the date came and went, and then the days kept adding up after that he did, and we would occasionally exchange messages like a you know, you would say have you heard anything, because I think you were planning a vacation.

And I said, right, yeah, no, I've not heard anything.

And then the other problem is you don't want to seem too eager or you're pestering the executives at NBC.

Oh yeah, that's yeah, that's I had a RoadMate in college that studied industrial psychology, and it's very important not to look too eager, but for them to want you and not you to look too much like you want them. Do not show up a half hour before an interview, show up on time or five minutes ahead of time, and so yeah, they're not looking too eager is very important in the world of industrial psychology.

Yeah, so we didn't do that, and it was actually the day that I had the Samurai sword accident, was the th that was kind of the day that this all became somewhat official. But then I still didn't want I still even when we got the green light that it was no longer a yellow light or a red light, it was a green light. Still, tom part of me was like, well, I haven't signed the deal yet, and until I got the deal, it could fall apart.

And then I got one of those emails about okay, you know, putting the contract together and it'll be an emails shortly, and then it wasn't shortly.

Yeah.

Yeah, So that was a little nerve wracking too. Yeah. Yeah.

So that so that was an interesting part.

And then once once the everything was agreed upon and we we went back and forth. Uh I believe they call that haggling, Yes, a little haggling, And that went pretty well. And then I flew back to Boston to tape some promos and things for the TV show and meet with everyone back there and had a great time. Went out to a to a power power dinner, like a power dinner type thing, which was kind of cool.

I met Nice at NBC.

Did you did you stop fasting it to power dinner and order something good.

Well I did, but I can tell the story now that I didn't tell before. So I flew back on a late Tuesday night. By the time I got to Boston, it was after midnight and we had a production shoot that was scheduled for the following afternoon, but on my body clock, it was the time I'm normally sleeping because you know, yeah, weird hours doing so. But the big problem that I had was that my bag that had my wardrobe for the TV shoot was lost by American Airlines.

You know, I assume they didn't want me to wear my my.

T shirt and my shirt radio clothes exactly. So now, like the clock is ticking right, So I get to the hotel.

Around one in the morning, and I'm like, hey, I emailed the guys.

I'm like, you know, sorry, and American Airlines is like, well, we'll get your bag back, but we don't A we don't know where it is, and B we won't get it for about three days up to three days up to weasel terminology. So I'm freaking out. I'm like, holy crap. Uh So then so then what happened was my wife came with me on the trip. So my wife was there, and then one of the executives, Shohn in NBC, we went out shopping. As you know, Tom, I cannot just go down to the to the regular store.

I'm a tall guy.

Oh no, yeah, you shop were Doc Rivers shops the big and tall men.

That's right.

In fact, I had before I turned on Doc Rivers. I famously ran into Doc Rivers at a clothing store in New York years ago.

And well, the reason why I love that story is because you're in New York. He was. He the coach of the Clippers at the time.

No, this was actually before he was coaching the Clippers. He had played with the Knicks, but he was a broadcaster at the time.

And I knew how did he know your name that?

Well?

I knew him when I covered him when he played at the end of his career in the NBA.

Wow. So I guess because of your part of your brand as your eyes. He walked in, he said, Hi, Ben, Yeah, it was really cool.

I mean, and Doc, listen, I think he's a terrible coach and he'll never coach again.

But he's a great guy. He's a debonair guy and all that.

So I did run into him in a clothing store in Manhattan and he he remembered me. And as you know, Tom, that's the most important thing when somebody who's famous remembers you that, oh.

The famous people say your name, Pat O'Brien is to name my name. I used to get so excited. I used to you know, drink beer in high school with my friends and watch sup Portland Trailblazers of the NBA Finals. Who was who did Portland playing in the NBA Finals?

Was?

Yeah, Oh my god, I just remember back and then it just just you know, as a kid late night, and Padd O'Brien was probably when it was on a delay, right eleven thirty at nine, unchilled two.

Oh no, my memory.

And I'm not a Laker guy, but those Lakers Celtics NBA Finals, Yes.

All that too.

Yeah, Patt O'Brien at the top of the old Boss with the progressive at the half giving like tennis scores or something.

He just the voice of our childhood said our names.

Yeah, it was great, And I also loved the life lessons that Pat would give out randomly, and he did not even uh they weren't even like really life lessons.

He didn't know.

He just was tossing out random thoughts about the business and certain things you should ask for and things like that, like little Mukets.

Well, boy, could he have a chip on his shore? I remember he used to refer to me as JT's spare tire. Well the first time, even even his insults, just I just loved that he knew who I was, it would insult me. It was fucking great.

Yeah.

The first time I met Pat, He's still he was still drinking, he was you know, he was Yeah.

Oh the fun Pat, Yes, yeah, it was the party Pat. Yeah. Was it Actuity Hollywood or whatever? Show?

Yeah?

Oh yeah.

So we were at Dults in Burbank. Who and I missed that place to this day. And that was my bar in my twenties, was Dults in Burbank and it's it was just wonderful, just just absolutely.

Great and conveniently located across the street.

Yeah, it was right across from the radio station, so we would all go there before the show and after the show.

And a great place to people watch too, because there was Kiss FM was there, and there was a soap opera that I don't know what soap. I don't remember what soap opera was taped in our building. But boy did we have a great cafeteria because they needed to keep those fancy people happy.

And that was a cool building.

Well, that was the building. I was in the elevator with Rodney Dangerfield then, uh oh wow. I didn't say anything, but but he was.

It's hard to not. Yeah.

Usually well, and I met Ricky Martin because well we used to. We used to see a lot of those A list music people because they were visiting rick D's next door.

Yeah, I was there. I was there Tom the night. The handsome kids were there. Wow, and there was.

The building was wrapped with teenage girls that were of course back back in the day. And we also had in those you know that before the interweb and all. Yes, it was big and social media, but Warner Brothers right across the street, and we'd see the cast of Seinfeld sometimes would be in there, Drew Carey show, big shows back in the day. I mean there was there was much. Fritz Coleman would come in there sometimes from Channel four, who.

By the way, who was also a This is why you don't have to have a meteorology degree. You know that's in l A. You do not need a meteorology degree. You might lately.

But when we were growing up ped.

You know, it was Sonny, here's your five day four cast, son son son, Son's son back to you, Paul, And so they would have stand up comedians and women with large brestuses and yeah they still have still they still Oh yes, k kel nine shallow five years. And Fritz was a stand up comedian from in the improv back in the heyday. And then his night job was weather matter.

Yeah, great storyteller but loved and he did that job for like thirty something years probably he was the weather guy at Channel four, so we we ran it to him. So this show, Tom, is that the Benny versus the Penny show is. It's not just like.

A local show. This show is going to be on everywhere. This is what it is.

Well, you just mentioned or lost in Los Angeles. That's a good start.

Yeah, we're gonna be on every major market.

We're gonna be on in in Philadelphia as well, Tampa.

I think he mentioned we don't have the list. Do you have the list in front of you.

I don't.

I mean we've just picked this up through casual conversation at the meetings.

Yeah.

I don't even know where the show is gonna be on, but it's gonna be distributed in all these regional cannons and it will air.

From what I was told. Maybe I'm wrong on this, I shouldn't speak of it, but it's gonna air.

Friday, obviously that's the big day, and then Saturday it will air.

Atilaire, right, probably he's on Friday, it's before the games start, so on Sunday.

Yeah, yeah, today, Saturday and Sunday. So do we do?

We know what we're gonna Are we going to cover the Thursday game on the show? I suppose this should be done at a TV meeting on the podcast, but you know what we're gonna even.

Well, I will pick the Thursday game, but it will not be part of the show because the show is not gonna air till Friday, so.

We will we will not have to worry about that.

Okay, we pick every game, and you're the keeper of the coin. Now, will you be wearing your referee outfit tom as you have of course regularly on television. I can't go a night when I walk into the building in Sherman Oak's there to do the overnight show, and they have all these TVs on.

Oh and you see my Boner pill commercial?

Yes, well I don't.

I see you out of the corner of my eye and then I see you walking out on the field, and yes, I see a cut to Doug Flutie and Frank Thomas. Did you even did you meet those guys or were you filming your part?

Separate separate?

No, I didn't get to repay, so no, I did not. We didn't film that on the same day.

But it seems like you know them because on television with them, Yes, all the time.

Have you seen my Johnny Rockets commercial which is put I didn't even know Johnny Rockets had commercials until I until I filmed them. No, if you haven't seen it, you can go to my Twitter page and I have it pinned.

Well. I remember you did you were a TV dentist. I remember that, Yes.

L I bank, Yes, yes, And I'm doing a series of commercials now for Native Wings. It used to be Hurricane Grilling Wings, which is all over the Northeast and southeast. Yeah, and so will I have a new series of those coming out. I'm just the voice of that one. I was the face of that one as a play, I was playing a sportscaster. People don't realize the depth of my talent.

Well, that is difficult for you, Tom is H. And I love that you're doing your day job. You're doing news.

Would you consider that the day job? And I love that you do the looney news.

Yes, I am allowed to give the I have full editorial control, and I am allowed to write it and deliver it my style. In other words, I'm allowed to make it all about me, which is really I have a program director who likes what I do. Normal journalists and news people don't inject themselves into the story. I have a hard time not doing that. So either here I am with fancy writing, or here I am, you know, with the fancy drop. Hey it's loony. Oh did you

Oh? You have the NBC shows.

I'm gonna have to go back and watch the the Howard Stern movie.

Oh my god, private parts, b Yes, private parts. I used to listen to that. I used to listen to the station in the far off distance under my covers with the transistor radio. The late night guy was named Baby. I I am Baby six to six NUMBERBC. I thought he was great. Howard thought he was terrible. Howard would always make fun of him because Howard came in, stopped playing records, just started talking. And then I thought that was amazing. I just I just wanted to be a

Well, the stern thing is rather wild too, because he's done a one eighty like the way he started and the way he operates now. You talk about changing your personically.

Yes, he has. He a lot of what he hated he's now become. It's pretty, it's.

Interesting and apologized to all the people he used to make fun of. And I think because your part of being entertaining on the radio over the years, and you maintain the immature part of your personality, and so you mock things. You mock and you joke, and you mock and you mock like you're in the cafeteria in high school. And that's a lot of what sports talk has been over the years, and FM morning shows like his and

And he made his fortune though based on what he had been and now he's well.

He also was always a great interviewer, and so what he really concentrates now on is interviewing and that really that that means a lot less mocking. And I just follow some of his interviews on Instagram. Uh they post him and God, he's good. I sall make that guy. I won't say what his name was, but he's a TV guy who covers the Dodgers. And then they'll the game will be over and they'll throw to him and they'll say, Dodger's a gun. And that's the kind of insight we give you here the Dodger.

Now, will we be giving that kind of insight on Bennie versus the penny? Will well you.

Well, yeah, you will break it down, shake it and bake it, sauc and toss it. Give us why the point why the point spread is what it is. You'll be giving us your pick, and then I, as Vanna White, will reveal the penny pick and then we will see how well you do with your saddleback college partial degree against an an animate object.

Yes, So the great thing is it's it's a rivalry. This rivalry goes.

But you think about great rivalries like Ohio State, Michigan US.

I want to know about this because on your little radio show, you've had a rivalry with this penny. How many years have you won? How many years has the penny won?

Well, we don't need to get into the minutia of that, but this started. This started about twenty years ago. In fact, we had Turk Stevens on Turk.

Was that's how old it is?

Yes, that's how old is The original coin was Turk in the early days of Fox. At some point it was originally Ben versus the coin, and then we we changed it and.

So it has so it had kind of a rhyme to it.

I like it, Yeah, Benny versus the penny's gotten more poetic, yesh to it.

Yeah.

But in fact, I told you one of my top five quotes before we got on here. Andy Warhol's life is a series of images that change as they repeat themselves. And so yeah, I mean we've done Benny versus the Penny over the years, and but you know it's kind of it's the same the same. The games are different obviously every year and all that.

This is a side card ques.

You're a favorite quote.

By the way, it to you, well, just as a quick side note to that. Online you can go to Andy Warhol's grave and it changes color every fifteen minutes because his quote was also in the future, everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes. And you hear that. It's probably the most often repeated quote of anybody ever, more

You you hear that a lot.

Now you've got to update the reference, right because now it's like, how long is the social media life span?

Yeah, fifteen misuses less than that, maybe it's more than that.

I don't know, but it's like you, it just depends on which person it is. Remember that got the homeless guy who who did voiceovers for a while for the Today Show that would come to Ohio. Yes, and then there was another one, how'd your kids? How'd your wife? And how'd your husband too? They're ripping everybody around here. Remember that guy, I don't, I don't, Oh my god. If I send it to you, you probably will, Oh my god. He was legendary for fifteen minutes now here.

My favorite quote of all time, Tom, and I've given you this over the year. My favorite quote of all time is a quote of a guy who's street.

I think we're going to drive down to go to work now to do.

The TV show w Fields okay, And his quote was he's an early Hollywood he's a comedian and actor and an alcoholic and you know old Hollywood guy. He said, if you can't dazzle them with brilliant, it's baffle them with bullshit. That was I think that's one of the great quotes of all your career in Mike, there no brilliance, just bullshit. And but it works either way. You can either you dazzle them or you baffle them.

And we've got pretty good at disguising the bullshit as brilliance at times because we've stolen the brilliance from others like w C and Dusty Baker's inside.

Well, of course, and that's as we are reunited, Tom. For all those years we did the Blitz and all these the wild interviews, the great lines, your famous four run home run when I.

Was before goad Slam.

Nobody else, nobody has else had that content.

By the way, I think it was Mookie that hit that back in the day.

Yeah, no, I don't.

I think I think it was I want to say it was Jared Salta Lamachia. No, really, it was Jared Salta Lamachia.

But who knows. It doesn't really matter who hit it.

Remember that and all the Fox people. We had to interview, all the NFL people, Joe Buck, Aikman, Aaron Andrews, all those.

Jim Mora who didn't know he was on the air, Jim Morris, Jim Mora yeah, oh yeah, because the elder Jim More couldn't have been kinder. We used to work with him. He loved under Jim Mora, who was who was not speaking too highly of us while he was waiting to be on the air, but he was already on the air.

Yes, yes, we were getting by Jim Mora.

Yeah, Aaron Andrews. When we interviewed Aaron Andrews, it seemed like she may have heard my impression over the years, at least from the attitude Andrews impressionally at Vowels.

Some of those people definitely did not want to hang out and talk.

And then there were others Kurt Warner who would call in early. Yeah, yeah, Kurt was nothing but class. With Kurt Warner and Darren Darren Sprolls, who was on too often.

We had him on.

I think back to back, back to back weeks. That was great, hey, and I got something off that I pulled a looney. We had Dick Stockton on and he was great, well, Dick.

Dick Stockton was always I liked that he laughed at my jokes. I would say, you know, something important is happening, except for right now. When you hear the voice of Dick Stockton.

Well, very down to earth I've had him on this podcast and very down to earth guy like he went to Syracuse but as he said, he went to Syracuse before it was Syracuse. Well, right, like a normal school and it did you know he was in a class. I think with Marv Albert and guys like that, wow or before it became that was why it became what it became.

But he had a line.

We we had all these guys on the blitz that we did together to promote the Fox games.

We had some before and some after the game.

So the guys on were before before the game would be trying to get you to, hey, here's why you need to watch this game. And so Dick Stockton would always call the worst fricking game that Fox had, right because he.

Was getting older and thank god they captain, but they didn't give him the best games anymore.

He was doing dog food games every week and everyone knew it. And by the time you get late in the year, I mean, it's just why are they playing these games?

Because they're on TV? Exactly, they are on the schedule. One of the other Stanza was the one that SAIDs on TV. But week one we have the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Commanders.

A week one is a treaty. I do not know that that will get a lot of TV. That might be a mention. We might not, you know, because of timers. This is a half an hour show. It's not going to be an hour show. It's gonna be a half an hour show.

Because and then there will be this voiceover, which will probably be me. Because of time restrictions, we could not get to the Washington Commanders and you guys, we move ahead in the broadcast now A yeah.

But Dick Stocked in his line which I have used on Benny Versus the Penny since he said it all those years ago to us on the Blitz because he was promoting I remember the game. I even remember the game. I remember the game because it was such a shit game. It was the forty nine ers, who were terrible before this is when they were changing coaches every year. They like Kelly one year, Jim tom Sula. It was just brutal. So Mike Nolan, yeah, Nolan was. It was just a

So it was a terrible game.

A bunch of guys were heard it was late in the season, but Dick Stockton has called the game on Fox. So I was like, Dick, why should anyone want to watch this game? I gave all these numbers about how terrible the teams were. Why would I even want to watch this game, and he very calmly said, Ben, stats tell you what has happened, not what's going.

To happen, and that.

I use that line very good all the time. It is a wonderful line. It is a wonderful line.

And it's great.

That's a great politician right there too.

Very good.

Yeah, Yeah, it's wonderful because it also applies to the gambling world, which we are part of on Benny Versus the Penny Least kick Out and now on the games. And I'm gonna be handicapping these games as I've been doing for years, and oftentimes I will pick horrible teams because you're getting value, because you're getting points. And I can at any moment if you press me on this, why are you picking that team?

They suck? Well, stats, Tom, tell you what has happened, not what's going to happen.

Uh.

And that is a great homage, a tribute to the and.

As a shout out to our friend Dave Smith. There was the Ben and Dave Show, Sporting Dave Show over the years, the sports god. He always said, you know he would he said, no matter what the stats tell you, never bet on a dog bleep team. Right, right, And so even if everything is in your favor, be very careful if you're gonna put your hard marked, hard earned money down on a dog shit team, which good advice.

The yeah, I mean, I've gone the other way oftentimes because to me, my one of my big criteria when I look at a game is I want to I factor in the the hype for certain teams, like our teams overhype, like for example, this year, the Chicago Bears, to me, are way over hyped that the Bears for the worst team in football last year, and there's a small chance that Justin Field is going to be great this year. I the way that ESPN and some of these national guys are talking about all our life.

They get so excited if Chicago might be good, So it's like Notre Dame all our life. They just get so excited that this might be the when I say they In general, there tends to still be this nostalgia with the Chicago Bears from I don't know when, not our life, except for a small throwout statistic one year with Jim McMahon, right, yeah, and but yeah, I agree

Yeah, it's rags to riches and that whole thing. They love that. But to me, you gotta show me. I'm gonna.

I like the motto of the State of Missouri, I'm gonna. I'm gonna show me, don't tell me.

You got to show me.

I generally look to teams that are overrated and get a lot of public attention, a lot of the money and the handle as we call it, on on a certain game, if it's if it's flipped one way, like of this week, here, this first week, next week, here, the first show that we're doing. I look at that certain teams, I say, what are we doing here?

That's crazy?

And now, so when you take a look at that first week just for fun, yeah what because you're cheap. So it's always very important to ask you where you would put your money here. I want to ask you about a game. First of all, Bengals at Browns. I never trust the Browns.

Yeah, I don't. Oh, I don't trust the Browns. But Joe Burrow's got a bad calf.

And you look at the the comp or not the comp but the the history and history, as Dick Docton said, tells you what has that been not But Joe Burrow, even when he's been healthy, has played his worst football for some reason against the Cleveland Browns. And have a pretty good defense, they should be able to mess around with Burrow. The offensive line for the Bengals is not

Okay, okay, And you would put your money on the Cleveland Browns in your cheap So that's important to know.

Not Now, keep in mind on we bet we predict every game. Now, there's certain games that the cream of the crop. There's certain games that.

Are Okay, I got to ask you about this one though, Jacks at Colts and it's only minus three and a half right now or a plus three point five with the Colts. Why so little? Aren't the Jaguars ten times better than the Colts?

Yeah, well they're on the road and so normally on the road.

Factor that in, and there's some history between these two teams where Jacksonville normally beats the Colts at home, and in Indy they don't play they haven't played particularly well. But yeah, but no, listen, I will be taking Jacksonville. I hate I trying to find a way to bet underdogs as much as I can. The main reason I'm going to take Jacksonville and I don't do the whole any versus in here.

But we know we don't.

I just wanted to pick those two guys. Yeah, I guess the main reason why you're gonna take Jacksonville because no one can name the Colts quarterback.

Well, no, the guy his name is Anthony Richardson, and he started I think like a dozen or so games at Florida. He's hardly played any college football and he's very as you would say, Tommy's a green banana.

I think that was your analogy. Yes, you would use about players that are kind of yes, and actually.

That's my own. By the way, I didn't even steal that, which is you.

Know, what do you say, is there a Tomato analogy that you can make? Also, Toma, not necessarily the agreement that is perfect though for him. And uh, yeah, there's some boy with Atlanta and Arizona and Washington. There are some no name quarterbacks that are starting in week one. Yeah, there's a pack of hungry puppies, the flotsam and jetsum that will be out there.

But all right, well, well listen, we're ended here, tom I'm so excited.

Any other final thoughts here on this unbelievable opportunity which we are going to begin and hopefully the beginning of something that will last a long time, we hope. But we've got to make it good. People actually have to watch or else we won't be on that long. So we need you to watch, We need you to get all your relatives to watch. And yes, we can then achieve the impossible. We can achieve the impost it's us against the world, tom, us against the world.

And one other thing that is really important, the reason why you and you would want to get your real. Not you, Ben, but you the listener, both of you and your relatives. You'd want them to watch. Is because we're doing God's work.

Yeah it is.

And really, when you think about how important picking NFL games against an inanimate object, a piece of US currency, old.

Abe, pay no attention to the hurricanes. Watch us.

Don't worry about the cost of milk going up or the loaf of bread or buttery.

We're taking pictures of how much it's costing for gas. And just watch us and stay home and stop driving.

You'll save money because you will not be spending money while you watch and listen. Radio is great. We love radio. I'll forever do radio. Fill have me and you as well.

Absolutely radio.

But TV's just radio. But it's got pictures. So a company, thanks, thank you. So it's just like doing the radio show, except.

A radio show from nineteen thirty eight. I got a lot of it's like radio.

I I brought up the story. Actually it's kind of this. I feel like Bob Barker a little bit. Not that I've just died, but I met Bob Barker when I was in college. There was a college radio conference, which I don't even think they have anymore. But it was at Universal City Walk. They had a get together there and Bob Barker was the keynote speaker. He was hosting the Prices Right and Bob got up there and we were like, why is Bob Barker here?

It's a radio conference. But Bob had started in radio.

Ah see, that was great for you guys to know.

Yeah, he started in Springfield, Missouri. He think he told the whole story about how he'd gone to Florida with his wife at the time, and then they went to l A and he hosted a nighttime show on kN X in l A. And somebody that was hosting, not hosting, one of the production people at Truth or Consequences the game show heard Bob Barker's like, Hey, we think this guy's pretty good and we want to hire him. And so that's what led to him doing Truth or Consequences, and then that led to Prices Right.

And one of the advantages of doing radio in Los Angeles was just how i you know, when the best damned sports show period was in development, you know, a sports show that wasn't going to take itself seriously and George Greenberg Box heard a guy on the radio who wasn't taking it seriously. And I think I was the first one hired with best dam and you know, it was one of the advantages of being in radio in la is you know, they don't you know, they don't

All right, Well this it can be a lot of fun. I can't wait to get started. It's going to be a great time all season long. And again, we need your help on this. You've been great. I really feel Tom and maybe you'll you'll say I'm blowing smoke here. But a lot of this is because of the people that have followed the show and supported the show and people that are.

Oh yes, a matter of fact, of course, it is because some of the producers of the show listen to us when they were in college back east. Now they're muckety MUCKs, and so.

It was it was pretty cool when I went back to NBC Boston to meet with the people there, and a lot of them would hear the overnight show, like the last hour because they.

Live far away.

They'd have to drive in from out you know, Hampshire or wherever into Boston, and so they'd have a pretty long commute and they'd get up early and get at you know, kind of a run on the traffic, and the overnight show ends the last hour of the five am hour in the Star.

Well, it's great catching up to me.

And one quick thing I want to tell you because you'll like it because it's a compliment. It's about you, right. Well, yeah, when I was talking to my big muckety muck friend at George Greenberg, who was once the big hot shot at Fox, were in the entire sports operation, who plucked me off the radio and put me on best him. I you know, remember how I told you. I told very very few people about what we were up to, and George was one of that very small list of

Fat I appreciate it because one time Eddie Garcia told me that he was at a party with an executive from Fox who said I was terrible. Uh, and then I asked Eddie to name the person, and he refused to name the person. And I was thought like, why would you say that, Why would you pass that along?

What kind of a douche canoe? Would you beat the pastor? But he did and it's fine, and I.

You and I both had very positive mothers. Yeah, my mother Tuts used to always say, pass along nice gossip. If somebody says something nice behind someone's back, pass that along. Yeah, if someone says something negative behind someone's back, there's no reason to pass.

That all exactly. It's just Eddie. Stop Eddie.

Yeah, just a little lifelesson. Anyway, Well, listen, I will see a lot of you this football season.

Tom.

I'm sure we'll have you back here again. And right good to me here all right, the great Tom Looney going. Thanks Tom, thank you so much,