Ben Maller

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Ben Maller

Show	The Third Shift
Station(s)	Fox Sports Radio
Time slot	2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. EST
Style	Sports radio
Country	United States
Website	http://benmaller.com

Benjamin "Big Ben" Maller is an American sports radio host for Fox Sports Radio, currently hosting The Third Shift on weeknights.

1 Early life
2 Broadcasting career
3 Notable Ben-isms
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Maller grew up in Irvine, California ^[1] and attended Irvine High School. ^[2] However the young Irvine student began to fall behind in school and consequently was placed in S.E.L.F. (Secondary Education Learning Facility, now known as Creekside High School), the city's alternative education program. ^[2] Nonetheless Maller managed to play high school football for the town's University High School while enrolled at S.E.L.F. ^[2] Aside from playing football, the S.E.L.F. high school student also had an interest in sports journalism and broadcasting. ^[2] After finishing high school Maller enrolled in Saddleback College in the nearby city of Mission Viejo. ^[3] He continued his interest in sports broadcasting and landed a job as an AM sports radio journalist.

[edit] Broadcasting career

Some of his career highlights include being a reporter for XTRA Sports 690am in San Diego in the mid-1990s and co-hosting the Ben & Dave Show on XTRA Sports 1150 in LA (late-1990s) and the host of Dodger Talk in 1999 and 2000. Maller joined Fox Sports Radio for the launch of the network in August 2000 as an update anchor/ weekend morning co-host.

In 2006, Ben signed a contract to be the "sports gossip guy," for FoxSports.com, providing daily sports rumors and notes to millions of fans each week. Ben Maller is also one of the select few radio show hosts who allow kids on the air.

In 2007, Maller became the host of The Third Shift on weeknights to replace Jorge Sedano, who left to do a show for WAXY, a local FSR affiliate in Florida.

On Saturday September 22, 2007, Ben, with Julio Flores, moved his Ben vs The Coin segment online, debuting with week 3 of the NFL on his MySpace page. Nearly two weeks later, with help from his brother, he also started offering the segment as a podcast, and on October 5 it became available through iTunes.

Maller has hosted shows with Terry Bradshaw, Jim Lampley, Tony Bruno, Jim Mora, Chris Myers, Dale Brown, James Washington, Tommy Lasorda, Ross Porter, Kevin Kennedy and many other sports stars.

[edit] Notable Ben-isms

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"How Dare you!"
"I guarantee it."
"Curse of the Benbino."
"Look at you!"
"Who do you think you are?"
"You Jackass!"
"Eli "The Punk" Manning" (retired)
"So there you go"
"I'm a freakin' MORON!"
"Get to the point!"
"It is what it is"
"In the air - everywhere!"

[edit] Trivia

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Big Ben read the starting lineup of the visiting Padres at Dodger Stadium before a Dodgers game with San Diego in 1999, when PA announcer Mike Carlucci was stuck in traffic.
Maller was the first local Los Angeles sports radio host to interview Mike Piazza after his trade from the Dodgers on May 15, 1998.
Maller has appeared in over 30 episodes of the "Sports List" on Fox Sports Net.
Ben has been on the air at FSR during every Super Bowl since 2001.
Big Ben grew up in southern California listening to Hall of Famer Vin Scully broadcast Dodgers games on the radio and then briefly worked at the same station with Scully.
One of Ben's radio role models growing up in the LA area was legendary sportscaster Jim Healy.
Ben's former weekend co-host at FSR Jason Smith now hosts a show at rival ESPN Radio
Maller's sidekick on the famous "Ben & Dave show," Dave Smith is now a host at rival Sporting News Radio
Big Ben worked with Patrick O'Neal who is now a popular anchor on FSN West
Ben briefly hosted a show with former MSG Network personality Bob Page
Maller hosted a show during the 2004 and 2005 NCAA Tournament's with Shaquille O'Neal's college coach at LSU Dale Brown (basketball).
Ben can't stand valet parking.
Big Ben is known around Los Angeles for his self-admitted reputation of being a tightwad when it comes to money.
March 26, 2005: Maller guaranteed that Arizona would beat Illinois when they had a 15 point lead with four minutes left in an NCAA Tournament game. Ben said he would walk to Tucson barefoot if the Wildcats blew the lead. Illinois won 90-89 in overtime.
Ben has been on the air for every holiday since he started at Fox Sports Radio
Big Ben lost a big bet when the Tennessee Titans pulled off the Music City Miracle on January 8, 2000. Buffalo had a 16-15 lead with 16 seconds left when Frank Wycheck completed what Ben has said was an illegal forward pass to Kevin Dyson who scored the winning touchdown.
In 2006, Maller won a World Cup pool by picking Italy
Big Ben has a weekly radio game show (TWIST: this week in sports trivia) that is one of his most popular segments.
As of December 2006, Maller was on of the Top Hundred story submitters on fark.com.
Big Ben also has a "intense" rivalary with "the coin" whom Ben faces off against when picking football games during the season
Ben Maller also has an intense bitter relationship with long time caller Spokane Gary. This stems from Spokane Gary's constant calling the show to say that former Atlanta Brave great Dale Murphy belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ben typically hangs up on Spokane Gary as soon as he hears the words Dale Murphy, and refuses to debate the issue, despite being called out repeatedly.
Became a fan of those same Tennessee Titans for the 2007 NFL Season when he asked his listeners to vote for which team he would be a fan of.