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Saturday, February 02, 2002
BenMaller.com's Top 5 NFL Coaches  1.) Brian Billick, Ravens: Is arrogant and self centered but a great football coach. Needs to dump Elvis Grbac or he could drop out of the top 5. 2.) Steve Marriuci, 49ers: Great personality and a hell of a football coach. He's been the guy to help turn the Niners around after the fall from greatness. 3.) Mike Holmgren, Seahawks: Turned the Packers into world champions and will win big in Seattle. 4.) Jon Gruden, Raiders: Took over a team that quit and has turned them into winners. Best young coach in the NFL. 5.) Dick Vermeil, Chiefs: Helped the Eagles and Rams get to Super Bowls. The Chiefs will be in the Super Bowl before he is done. Note: During my radio show last night on Fox Sports Radio, I said that Mike Martz the Rams head coach was not among the top five coaches in the NFL. This list proves my point. I also like Butch Davis of the Browns, Tony Dungy of the Bucs and Andy Reid of the Eagles among others. permalink Friday, February 01, 2002
Friday Thoughts, Opinions and Notes  By Ben Maller It's interesting to note that since Don Nelson was named coach of the Western Conference all-star team, the Lakers have won their last two road games by wide margins in Atlanta and Orlando. I wonder if Phil Jackson started coaching again.  The Clippers jumped up a few notches in my book with back-to-back road wins against Dallas and San Antonio. I watched the Spurs game on the dish at the Fox Network center, boy does Elton Brand look like a stud. How in the hell did the Bulls trade this guy? Doc Rivers said this week that he is going to stay with the Orlando Magic. Rumors have the Knicks interested in hiring Rivers as their next coach. Larry Brown of the 76ers has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nuggets and Knicks jobs. Brown said this week that he is going to coach in Philadelphia next year or not at all. Ben Maller Trivia Question of the Week: What is the record for most turnovers in a Super Bowl? Tim McCarver will join the San Francisco Giants broadcast team this season. McCarver will remain the network baseball analyst for Fox Sports. This is another example of the cheap ass angels who didn't even contact McCarver. One industry source this week told me the Angels are having trouble hiring radio broadcasters for one main reason: They are cheap.  If Dante Bichette is a regular part of the 2002 Dodgers, then Dan Evans should be sent to Kabul. James Baldwin has a bum arm and had trouble finding a team before the Mariners stepped forward. The Pittsburgh Pirates gave Pokey Reese the chance to start. The Dodgers who really could have used Reese low-balled him. Reese is now a member of the Pirates. Jeff Shaw one of the classiest guys in all of baseball and one of my favorites said this week he's probably going to retire from the game. I wish Shaw the best of luck. He's a great man and baseball will be worse off without him. Just when you thought it was safe to go to a major league ballpark. The San Diego Padres signed 38 year old outfielder Pete Incaviliga to a minor league contract. Inky hasn't played in the majors since 1998. I'm guessing he has no chance to make the Padres roster. I'm not a fan of soccer, but I wanted to say that Todd Saldana is getting a raw deal. The UCLA men's soccer coach is being forced out because he turned out not to have a college degree. Saldana has a 43-17-4 record in three seasons with the Bruins and has led the team to the NCAA tournament each year including the national semifinals in 1999. Did you know?? that there are only five remaining Division 1 universities with separate men's and women's athletic departments. The Nevada State Athletic Commission only hurt themselevs with their surprising moral stand against Mike Tyson. Reports say that the fight could be worth over $150 million dollars. Now Los Angeles or some other city will get the cash.  HBO plans to terminate Sugar Shane Mosley's contract after he lost to that stiff Vernon Forrest. Friends of Mosley tell me his head has grown two sizes in the past year. Watching Oregon beat UCLA by 29 points was nice. Hearing the host of Bruin Talk try to defend Steve Lavin was priceless. Mike Riley joined a very toxic situation this week when he was hired as an assistant coach for the New Orleans Saints. Dan Hampton, who was a star with the Chicago Bears in the late 80's, is a candidate for the Pro Fotball Hall of fame this week. Hampton was arrested this same week for a DUI. My favorite ex-football player other than Terry Bradshaw has a new gig. Tony Siragusa was hired as a special correspondent for the Super Bowl by Access Hollywood. The Goose has the tough job of covering all the parties in New Orleans. The NFL is proving, yet again, to be the no-fun league. According to sources, any player who wears a crossed-out Reebok hat will face a $100,000 dollar fine. Many players have deals with Nike and aren't allowed to wear another logo. Doesn't the NFL have other things to worry about? Players for the St. Louis Rams get two free tickets to the Super Bowl and may buy as many as 13 more for $400 each. They also receive one free room at the family hotel for their guests, and there are a limited number of seats available on a chartered ``family'' plane. Everything else comes out of pocket. The Super Bowl champions will get $63,000 a player, up $5,000 from last year, while the loser's share remains $34,500.  The White House anti-drug advertising program will break two anti-terror ads on the Super Bowl in the biggest single-event government advertising buy in U.S. history. Media buying sources say the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy will likely pay over $1.6 million per spot. A local sports station in Los Angeles sent their afternoon team to New Orleans this week. One problem though, there equipment didn't show up. I'll let you guess which station that could have been... lol Justin London ranked as one of the top three line backer's in America by CollegeFootballNews.com picked UCLA has his school. Fresno State offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig who helped coach David Carr into the possible top spot in the NFL draft is leaving. Ludwig is taking the offensive coordinator's job at Oregon. This season Fresno State averaged 501.7 yards and 40 points. The Bulldogs became the first team in history to have a 4,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard receivers and a 1,000-yard rusher.  Kentucky's football team has been banned from a bowl game next season and lost 19 scholarships over the next three years. The odds are that Alabama will not face the same amount of sanctions when the NCAA makes their ruling later today. Fox Sports Net's 21 regional sports channels showed a 10 percent increase in total-day average audience in 2001 and 8 percent in prime time, giving FSN its best year since launching in 1997. FSN, now available in 78 million homes, released ratings data Tuesday showing regional ratings up 10 percent for its pro baseball coverage, up 23 percent for hockey and up 11 percent for basketball. One would have to think the launch of Fox Sports Radio had alot to do with helping getting the word out that there is life for sports fans other than ESPN.  Harry Kalas a man with the best set of pipes in all of radio was elected to the broadcasters wing of the hall of fame this week. Kalas is the voice of the Philadelphia Phillies and also NFL Films. Fred Roggin is changing the face of radio. I heard a promo for his show the other day that had a prerecorded voice give out the number. That's the first time a show promo in the history of radio has had to give out the digits during a :30 second promo.  Now a message from our sponsors... A friendly reminder to listen to my radio show this weekend on your local Fox Sports Radio station. It's me along with Bob Page at the Fox Sports Update desk from 5am till 8am(est) Saturday morning. Sunday morning from 4am till 7am I'll be back again. (Heard coast to coast) Sunday I'll be working with Steve Mason on the "We Are There Weekend show." During Super Bowl 36 (heard coast-to-coast and around the world.) Ben Maller Trivia Question of the Week Answer: Buffalo had nine turnovers vs. Dallas to set the record in Super Bowl XXVII. Check back tomorrow for Ben Maller's SUPER BOWL LOCK!! permalink Thursday, January 31, 2002
Pats Do the Right Thing  By Ben Maller Tom Brady had the magic touch that got the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl and now he'll have a chance to finish the job. Coach Bill Belichick did the fair thing in allowing Brady, who is healthy, to start. Brady was the AFC's third-rated passer and is 12-3 in his last 15 starts after the Patriots lost the first two games of the season with Drew Bledsoe as quarterback. I have a feeling that Bledsoe will see some playing time in this game anyway, but at least, at the start Brady deserves to be the man. Its' that old cliche: "You gotta dance with the girl that took you to the dance." Someone in Hollywood has to make a movie about Brady. He was the 199th player drafted two years ago and threw just three passes last season before stepping into the hot seat. Belichick should get some credit for having the balls to go with Brady over Bledsoe. On paper, Bledsoe is the $100 million dollar man who was the first player drafted back in 1993 and has played in the Super Bowl before. The key for the Patriots, in this game, is going to be their defense anyway. The Pats have no chance of winning a shootout. The only hope that New England has is for the defense to slow down the St. Louis offense and hope the game ends up in the low 20's.
permalink Wednesday, January 30, 2002
Gilbert Is the Man to Save the Halos  By Ben Maller Dennis Gilbert, the one time super agent for the likes of Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla and Danny Tartabull has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Anaheim Sports President Tony Tavares. I'm sure that Michael Eisner is a regular reader of Ben Maller.com. Michael hire this guy! Gilbert is one of the sharpest minds in the game of baseball. He's currently a special assistant for the Chicago White Sox and he gets it. Over the last few years, I have had the chance to talk with Gilbert many times and believe that he has what it takes to make the Angels and Ducks winners. Of course, this is assuming that Disney gives Gilbert a fair chance with the payroll. The Halos have been a joke since Gene Autry let his bitch wife Jackie Autry run the ball club. Also, sources tell BenMaller.com that the Halos are very close to announcing their 2002 radio team. Both Mario Impemba and Daren Sutton left for jobs in Detroit and Milwaukee respectively. permalink Monday, January 28, 2002
Big Ben Predicts Steelers Collapse
 By Ben Maller It took four long months of getting my head bashed in from Pittsburgh fans for my analysis to come true. As I said all season the Steelers were overrated and would be exposed. During the course of my radio show, I brought up three main areas that the Steel Town boys were weak in.  1.) Kordell Stewart: The six year bust for the Steelers looked like the real deal this year. We all know a dog can't change his spots and a stiff QB will always be a stiff QB. Stewart warmed up by tossing six Interceptions in the final two regular season games. In the AFC title game Stewart tossed three interceptions including a pair in the final three minutes.  2.) Kris Brown & the Special Teams: Brown missed an NFL high 14 field goals during the regular season and followed that up with a missed field goal in the AFC title game. The Steelers' coverage teams had been a concern all season long and the Patriots exposed them during the big game when Troy Brown returned a punt 55 yards for a touchdown. 3.) Easiest Schedule In the NFL: According to teamrankings.com at the end of the regular season the Steelers had the 31st toughest schedule in the NFL. Pittsburgh had not been tested all season long. The first team to challenge them was New England and we saw what happened. Of course there were some things I did not expect to happen. I thought the Steelers would be able to run the ball. I was stunned that the Pats held the Steelers to just 58 yards rushing. I also didn't expect the Pats to win without getting a few breaks. They were penalized twelve times to Pittsburgh's three.  Bill Cowher now joins the elite class of coaches that can't win the big game. Dan Reeves, Marv Levy, Marty Schottenheimer and Jim Mora are also members of this elite club. Now the Steelers have some serious questions to answer heading into next year. How can they trust Kordell when he choked in the big game? Do they draft a stud QB? Pittsburgh also does not have a breakaway running back. This is going to be a long of season in the Burgh. permalink |
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