|
|
| Ben's Takes | |
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
Saturday, March 09, 2002
Sports Radio For Tugboats  By Ben Maller I have talked about the magic and power of radio and it showed again this weekend. During the 7am Eastern hour of the show I do with Bob Page on Fox Sports Radio a guy called in from Pittsburgh. It turned out he was actually listening to the show via XM Satellite Radio from a tugboat in the middle of the Ohio River. He was halling empty barges back from West Virginia to Pittsburgh so they can be filled with coal again. This guy said he spends 21 days at a time in the tugboat going up and down the 981 mile river.   The Ohio River flows through or borders six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. He says he listens to Fox Sports Radio quite a bit on his XM Satellite Radio in order to keep up on what's going on in sports while he is on the river. He even wanted to rip John Dowd over his treatment of Pete Rose. As I have said in the past, the coolest thing about this shift is being able to entertain people who are working the overnight shift even those guys on tugboats.  permalinkFriday, March 08, 2002
Friday Thoughts, Opinions and Notes  By Ben Maller I'm looking for a surprise team in baseball this year. The Florida Marlins and the Texas Rangers have my attention at this point in spring training. Davey Johnson would be perfect for the Boston Red Sox. Johnson, like many of the Bo Sox players, has gotten paid a lot of money while doing nothing. Sammy Sosa has joined me in disliking Barry Bonds. Umpires Frank Puli, of the National League, and Rich Garcia, of the American League, were placed on two years probation. According to documents obtained by the New York Daily News, the umpires were disciplined for ``associating and doing business with gamblers and bookmakers,'' in violation of Major League Rule 21 - the ``best interests of baseball'' rule. This make major league baseball look really bad because they banned Pete Rose for life and let these umps continue to work games. They should have been thrown out.  Andres Galarraga is back in Montreal. The Expos couldn't get Tim Wallach and Gary Carter to come out of retirement. Former Dodger gas thrower Allen Mills is back in baseball sort of. He also is in Montreal.  Az Hakim agreed to a five-year $16 million dollar deal to play with the Detroit Lions. Hakim has great speed but hands of stone. Mark Chmura is talking comeback with the Washington Redskins. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel Snyder tried to get Dexter Manley back on the football field. What's more embarrassing to NBC: A.) Tape delaying the Olympics B.) Showing XFL Games C.) About to air arena football league games or D.) All of the above? Michael Lasseter, 33, was sentenced to five weekends or 10 days in jail and 500 hours of community service this week after pleading guilty to misdemeanor trespassing for delaying thousands of passengers when he ran the wrong way through the Atlanta airport. The judge also barred him from attending Georgia football games.  Michael Jordan is said to be the best player, Phil Jackson the best coach and Wilt Chamberlain the most dominating player in history but Chucky Brown is the NBA's greatest journeyman. Brown is playing for his 12th team, the Sacramento Kings right now and even has his own fan club.  How have the Toronto Raptors lost 12 straight games? Lenny Wilkens should the get the boot! Marv Albert of TNT was given a free card for Starbucks coffee during a broadcast this week in Seattle. The Sonics' owner happens to run Starbucks. I thought payola was against FCC Rules?  Pat Douglass, Ben Howland, Bill Self, Tim Floyd and Larry Brown all figure to be candidates for the UCLA Basketball job when Steve Lavin is fired after the NCAA tournament. Ben Maller Trivia Question of the Week: What team had the highest RPI ranking to be left out of the NCAA Tournament?? It was good to see UCLA doesn't need any work on turning the ball over. The Bruins appear to be the best in the country at that. Billy Packer, of CBS Sports, had some strong words about ESPN's movie "A Season On The Brink" about Bob Knight. Packer said the movie is a piece of garbage and said the network should be ashamed to show the film. I agree. ESPN keeps pushing the limits and one of these days they are gonna go too far. It's bad enough we have ESPN the Magazine and the ESPNZone. Depaul should be one of College Basketball's best teams. They have a coaching vacancy now and are said to be interested in Ernie Kent from Oregon and Rick Majerus of Utah. The NCAA Tournament will have a new look this season, sort of. Teams have a better chance of playing closer to their homes. Growing up in Irvine, I used to attend Anteater basketball games from time to time. This was back in the Billy Mulligan days when Scott Brooks and Tod Murphy were the big stars. Those Irvine teams were fun to watch but could never get in the NCAA tourmanent because of Jerry Tarkanian and UNLV.  Here is hoping that the Pat Douglass coached Anteaters led by Golfers are generally well off doctors, lawyers and athletes. So why would a judge find them not liable for a poor shot? People say it's boring to watch baseball on TV. Well, you can't tell me that watching a hockey game is not more boring than watching a baseball game. Flyers C Jeremy Roenick, on the NHL (Detroit Free-Press) NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA players are not the only ones in sports that have unions. Now comes word that skateboarders at the X-Games are in the process of forming a union. First Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and Mark McGwire retired from baseball. Now this stunning news from the Iditarod. Someone stole Osama Bin Laden, sort of. Not that anyone in management at Staples Center gives a crap, but it should be noted that the security staff in the red jackets at Staples is among the worst in the USA. Before Chris Mortenson, ESPN's NFL insider, was Fred Edelstein who is still around but he's facing some serious jail time. As far as I'm concerned, a New York City man was sentenced to one of the worst sentences you can get. Your not going to believe what a judge told him he can't do. CLICK HERE  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 night listen to my show from 10pm till 2am along with Jason Smith on your local Fox Sports radio station. (heard coast to coast and around the world.) Ben Maller Trivia Question of the Week Answer: * The highest rated RPI team ever left out: #33 Oklahoma (1994). Write Back:Send Ben Maller e-mail by CLICKING HERE! permalink Thursday, March 07, 2002
Wild Wild Web  By Ben Maller Every pro and college team has its own website to help promote its product. The great thing about the internet is it gives fans the chance to voice their feelings about their team. A brief search of the internet and I found a number of odd and fun sites. If you know of any other obscure fan sites let me know and I'll post them on this site. Here is the list: Laker Haters DodgerBlues Cubs Suck Cubs Fans Anonymous White Sox Hater's Quiz Red Sox Fans Curse of the Bambino Red Sox Suck Jets Suck Dallas Cowboys Suck Green Bay Packers Suck Minnesota Vikings Suck Miami Dolphins Fight Song** This is not a hate site just a cool song permalink Wednesday, March 06, 2002
Big Ben's LA Hoops  By Ben Maller It was great to be in person to see the Lakers play the Nets last night. Because of my studio work at FOX Sports I have been unable to get out to as many games as I would like. Sure Kobe Bryant was not there and Kenyon Martin and Todd MacCulloch of the Nets did not play but still it was a competitive game not the most exciting but a possible preview of the Finals. Everytime I go to Staples Center something strange or bad happens. I wonder if other people have these same problems. After paying $10 bucks to park in a lot 3 blocks from the arena I started walking to the building only to have one of the parking attendants demand that I move my truck. He told me to pay him another $10 bucks or else. The Idiots running the lot told me to park my truck in this one space and then they decided it was to big so I had to move it. What a pain in the ass.  I had a chance to see alot of old friends and people in the media that I used to see on a regular basis. Some of those people included Lawrence Tanner the public address announcer of the Lakers, Paul Sunderland who has done a great job filling in for Chick, KCAL 9's John Ireland who I keep hearing will be back at KXTA very soon, David Vassegh former producer of America's best sports talk show the "Ben & Dave show" now the great producer of the McDonnell Douglas show and a future talk show host at ESPN 1110am, Isaac Lowenkron the future star of KXTA, Mark Willard the solid reporter for KMPC 1540, Tony the guy that does the rotating signs at Staples, Tony the radio engineer, Norm my old friend from my stringing days, Mark Myers another old pal, Doug Krikorian of the Long Beach Press Telegram and the McDonnell Douglas show and Michael Roth one of the guys who runs staples. I could go on and on listing the good folks I ran into at Staples. After the game In the Laker lockeroom I waited to hear what Shaq had to say. He came out in a big daddy suit with the old school cap on. Shaq as always was very mellow and you had to almost be on top of him to hear what he had to say. The big fella said he feels old now that he is 30. When asked why he said its from the 10 years of pounding he has taken in the league. Shaq said off the court he can't party like he did when he was 24, he has to take better care of himself. When asked what he would do to celebrate his birthday Shaq said he was going to drink. Watch out Salt Lake City where the Lakers play the Jazz tonight. permalink Tuesday, March 05, 2002
Clippers Need One More Kidd  By Ben Maller They are the second youngest team in the NBA, yet the player the LA Clippers need most is just a Kidd. The Clips should do what it takes to make the NBA's MVP this season a Clipper in 2003. Jason Kidd is a free agent after next season and, at the age of 30, will be everything the Clips need. He's a veteran he's unselfish and he's a winner. Kidd is averaging 14.5ppg to go along with 10apg and 7.3rpg. The most important stat of them all is this one: the New Jersey Nets of last season, without Kidd, were 26-and-56, the league's 24th worst record. With Kidd the Nets are 39-19 the 5th best record in the league and the best overall record in the Eastern Conference. A Clipper team with Jason Kidd, Quinton Richardson, Darius Miles, Michael Olowakandi and Elton Brand would contend for the Western Conference title. There has been talk that Kidd will talk with Tim Duncan of the Spurs, who is also a free agent in 2003, about both of them signing with the same team. Duncan was supposed to go to Orlando during the summer of 2000 to play with Grant Hill on the Magic. Hill left the Pistons but Duncan went back to the Spurs for a short term deal. There is no chance that this can happen because of the salary cap.  If the Clippers truly want to get to the next level, then they should take that big step to title contender after next season and bring Jason Kidd to Staples Center in a Clipper Uniform. Ben Maller will be at Staples Center tonight to watch Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets play the Los Angeles Lakers. permalink Monday, March 04, 2002
THE BEST PICTURES OF THE WEEKEND FROM BEN MALLER.COM ARE HERE FOR THE LATEST RADIO RUMORS & NOTES FROM BENMALLER.COM CLICK HERE permalink Sunday, March 03, 2002
BenMaller.com Popular With The Armed Forces
 By Ben Maller My brother the boy genius Michael aka the webmaster, just changed the service that keeps track of who is using this fine website and how often, I was excited to learn that this site has been linked to ArmedForces.net. Over the past few days this site has been viewed by service men & possibly some women in the middle east I assume helping to fight the war on terror by kicking Osama Bin Laden's ass and also by troops who are stationed in Europe. I hope you guys enjoy the site keep up the good work and if you would like me to add anything feel free to drop me a note at BigBenOnFox@yahoo.com  permalink |
 |
|