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The Sports Junkies remember their favorite moments in show history.
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00:00So if you look at your calendar right now, it's May 4th, Star Wars Day, may the 4th be with
00:04you.
00:05It's also Jason Bishop's birthday, that's why he's not here.
00:07Happy birthday!
00:0956!
00:1156 years young, Jason Bishop.
00:14And it's also less than two weeks away from our Dewey Beach bash.
00:20Wow, is it two weeks away?
00:22It's building, it's coming, it's right.
00:23Yes!
00:23I mean, it's so close at this point.
00:25We're going to be broadcasting live from the Starbird and Dewey Beach Friday, May 22nd, Memorial Day weekend starting at
00:326 a.m.
00:33Gets going early, doesn't slow down.
00:36It's us, it's B, Mitch, and Finley, they take over at 10.
00:38It's all presented by Main Street Bank.
00:40So yes, the excitement is building and that is part of our 30-year celebration.
00:44We've got all kinds of things planned for the year, including some events coming up in the fall, some special
00:51giveaways.
00:52Today's, but today is actually our anniversary, and NBC4 did a great job doing a piece on us this morning.
00:59Thank you again to Tony Perkins.
01:00He reached out to me a couple months ago and said, hey, I'd like to do a piece on your
01:0530th anniversary.
01:07Thanks to Heather McDonough, the producer, everybody who came out here.
01:09We just watched it live during the commercial break.
01:12They did a great job of having us on the rooftop.
01:14It looked so good.
01:16It looked awesome.
01:16We didn't look good, but the background was good.
01:19That's how they made us look good, so thank you.
01:21We do appreciate that.
01:22You know, I think we often say, but Tony P is such a pro.
01:25You can see why the guy was on the national stage for a long time.
01:29He is just so good, so smooth, and he's always been super supportive of the show.
01:35Cosmic pro, always nice to us.
01:37Yeah, so thank you.
01:38Same off camera as he is on camera.
01:40Yeah.
01:40All right, we're going to play the audio of this.
01:42Obviously, you're not going to be able to see it, but the audio of the piece that NBC4 put together.
01:49Well, it's 514 this morning.
01:51You have been hearing their voices for three decades.
01:55No small feat in our industry, right?
01:57Boy, really.
01:57Today, the sports junkies are celebrating 30 years on the radio, in the DMV.
02:03I recently had the chance to speak with the four co-hosts and lifelong friends about their unique journey and
02:09sustained success.
02:11You never know what you'll hear from J.P. Flame, John Cakes-Aulville, Bish, that would be Jason Bishop, and
02:20E.B. Eric Bickle.
02:21The other day, for the first time ever, I did an ice facial.
02:24As I walked into the junkie studio,
02:27Gentlemen, gentlemen.
02:28What I already knew as a long-time listener, there's no shortage of opinions.
02:34But I learned a lot about the four friends who haven't strayed from a decades-long winning formula.
02:40Being themselves.
02:42The origins of the friendship.
02:44Because if I recall correctly, three of you knew each other first, and then, Jason, you came in later?
02:49Yeah, I mean, it's pretty amazing, unique.
02:51Eric and I grew up across the street from each other.
02:54John, right down the street, known each other since minimum kindergarten.
02:57And then, Eric goes to DeMatha, meets Jason, and we've all been friends since at least high school.
03:03It was just going to be the three of us, and Cakes, because he had his real job there at
03:07Toys R Us,
03:08he couldn't make the first taping, and so we called Bish.
03:13We said, let's call Jason.
03:14Let's get him in.
03:15And Jason was better than all of us.
03:17Jason was actually good.
03:19So it was like, we can't fire him off of a free show.
03:22We've got to keep him.
03:23And we've got to keep Cakes.
03:25When you started out, what was the plan?
03:27So you have this little cable access show, whatever it is.
03:32Did you envision, did you think, oh, we should do this for a living?
03:36It's like, well, what can we do with this?
03:38And what changed our life really was I reached out to Dick Heller from The Washington Times.
03:44He actually liked it, and he liked our story.
03:46He wrote an article about us, and that changed the trajectory of the four of our lives,
03:50because at that time, WJFK, which is 106.7, had just bought the rights to the Redskins,
03:56and they started a sports weekend, and they gave these four knuckleheads a shot.
04:00And we didn't know it would mushroom cloud into what it's become,
04:03but, I mean, we're obviously very thankful that we're still doing it after all these years.
04:07I was working for a courier service.
04:09I was driving around packages.
04:12I was selling Power Rangers.
04:13From Power Rangers to a powerhouse, people listened, and they've kept listening.
04:18Shows don't exist like that, where for 30 years, four local guys who grew up together
04:23are all in the same studio.
04:25And for 30 years.
04:27If you listen to the junkies, if we're having fun, you should be having fun.
04:30You're along for the ride.
04:31We don't try to be experts.
04:32We're grayer, balder.
04:34We just give you our opinions.
04:36We're just fans.
04:37We're just fans.
04:37We're just, JP hit on it too, trying to have fun.
04:40It's a crazy, like, one in a billion shot.
04:42But now, you know, being in 30 years now, we meet listeners who are listening with their kids now,
04:49which is kind of, it throws us a little bit.
04:51We're like, wow, we're getting old.
04:52But that's cool.
04:53It's a compliment.
04:54Like, people are like, I listened to you guys when I was in middle school.
04:56Now my kids are starting to listen to you.
04:58So that's an honor to hear that.
05:0030 years of callers, of interviews with star athletes, of hot takes.
05:05But the glue of the staying power?
05:08The friendship.
05:09It's a dream job.
05:10Sports junkies is a dream job.
05:12I don't think any of us are dumb enough to leave it.
05:14That's a key point.
05:16A lot of times guys break up, egos, whatever.
05:19I'm nothing without them.
05:21You know, and they might sit the same.
05:23I don't know.
05:24But that's the idea.
05:25That's what's special.
05:26It's the group dynamic.
05:27It's the four of us.
05:28Like, any time one of us is gone, there's always somebody on Twitter like, where's EB?
05:33Where's JP?
05:34Where's JP?
05:34You know, like, people miss it when it's all four of us.
05:37You know, so I think that's what, like EB is saying, that's the secret sauce.
05:42I think the thing that's unique about us is the friendships existed before the show.
05:47Right.
05:47And the friendships will exist after the show.
05:50We've been together for a long time, and we're blessed by that.
05:55They sure are.
05:56It is a truly unique story.
05:57Take a look at this.
05:58The journey is still going strong.
06:00Mayor Bowser recently presented the Junkies with quite the honor.
06:03Today, May 4th, is the day that the Junkies debuted on the radio back in 1996.
06:09And today is now officially Sports Junkies Day.
06:12That's so nice.
06:13In the district.
06:14That's so nice.
06:14Congratulations to them.
06:16And we were just kind of chatting about how the callers give them the business.
06:20Oh, yeah.
06:20You know, because people, you know, I mean, you always got an opinion.
06:24Right, right, right.
06:25I like that.
06:25And 30 years, there's a lot of material, you know, to hold either for or against them.
06:31And that's the interesting thing, because when you're together that long and listeners
06:35have been with you for that long, they know you, your family.
06:39Oh, they know everything.
06:40And as one of them said, they grow up with you.
06:42Right, right, right.
06:42And they've grown up.
06:43I've been listening to you since I was a little kid.
06:46Good for them.
06:46I mean, 30 years of anything is a long, you know, in radio.
06:50In radio.
06:51Especially in radio.
06:52It's a miracle.
06:53Because what's changed in 30 years of radio?
06:58Well, I can tell you.
07:00Yeah.
07:00CDs were really the rage in 1996.
07:05It's hilarious.
07:06You can tell she has no idea who we are.
07:08I was thinking that, too.
07:10Funny.
07:11You know that Tony knows who we are.
07:12Oh, yeah.
07:13The rest of the crew, not sure.
07:15But that's all good.
07:15Tony misses the show.
07:16I actually was just thinking about this, though.
07:18I think the first time, I guess they weren't able to unearth the video.
07:22So, when we moved to weekdays, Channel 4 did a piece on us with Suzanne Malveaux very early on in
07:32the first couple of weeks of us doing the nighttime show after we took over for the Greaseman.
07:37So, that's 1997.
07:39And it kicks back to Jim Vance and Doreen Gensler.
07:43And they also had no idea who we were.
07:47And they did their little small talk bit.
07:49And that's where...
07:50But again, we always mention later we got to know Vance a little bit.
07:53I'll never forget having a beer with him.
07:56God, it was in D.C. somewhere.
07:58Might have been like...
08:01It doesn't matter where it was.
08:02And he was just the coolest guy.
08:04He showed up at his motorcycle.
08:06That's how we showed up.
08:07He was definitely just a cool dude.
08:09Yeah.
08:10He had a lot of aura about him.
08:11He definitely had some charisma.
08:12Remember Coach Chris from what I think the highlight of our career when we took on the Junkies who drew
08:19almost 9,000 fans out to the auxiliary field there at FedEx Field?
08:22You should have wore your Turkey Bowl jersey today.
08:24Oh, we should have done that.
08:25That's right.
08:25That would have been funny.
08:26I don't have one.
08:27I gave mine away.
08:29You gave yours away.
08:29Yeah, yeah.
08:30I think I have one left of the two.
08:32I have both.
08:33I'll sell one of them.
08:35Chris was also catered at my house when we had one of our New Year's parties.
08:39We had Chris and then he had some NFL buddies.
08:42And we had like a legit staff there.
08:44That was a big deal for us.
08:46Coach Chris, what's up, buddy?
08:47How are you, man?
08:49I'm doing well, guys.
08:50I just really wanted to congratulate you on your longevity, man.
08:55That's so awesome.
08:56And to have been a part of that, man, was one of the highlights, one of the coolest things of
09:00my life.
09:01Wasn't that fun?
09:02I'm old with you now.
09:03Went going from, you know, coaching high school ball to now I'm in the college ranks, man.
09:07And, yes, I've cooked for JP at his house.
09:10Just a pleasure, man, to have been a part of you guys' lives.
09:13Honestly, because I remember I said this somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I said, you know, if we lose, we
09:20have to kill ourselves.
09:21We can't lose to, like, females and football.
09:25Yeah, that would be a horrible ball.
09:25No disrespect to women.
09:26I think that they're probably superior to men in most ways.
09:29But physically, like, we can't lose.
09:31Like, we probably have to commit a mass suicide.
09:33Did you think, when you first saw us, did you think we were going to pull it off?
09:41I actually did.
09:42And if your memory is as great as mine, I gave the final score leaving the locker room.
09:50I don't remember that.
09:52I gave the final score leaving the locker room right when Cakes turns off the light accidentally hitting the poster.
10:00I remember those first few practices, though.
10:04The thing about it was, for those that don't know, when we were on WHFS, we did a bunch of
10:09promotions, and we had this idea.
10:10It was like, okay, instead of a powder puff game, you know, let's freaking play a tackle game against this
10:17professional, women's professional football team, the DC Divas, that's always trying to get on the show.
10:22And it was the four junkies.
10:24Well, that doesn't fill out a football team.
10:25And then, like, our producers, CK, who's now our boss, that still doesn't fill out a football team.
10:30Then we threw in, like, the homies who used to do movie reviews on the show, and that still didn't
10:34fill out a football team.
10:35Then we found, like, other people that worked at the station.
10:37There were some big dudes on our team.
10:39Oh, yeah.
10:40Like, Jim Jester, huge.
10:42We had, like, I can't remember the guy's name.
10:43We had a couple guys in the sales department that were, like, earth movers.
10:47Like, they could move people.
10:49We had a legit no line.
10:50Right.
10:51We did.
10:51We did.
10:52We had the hogs.
10:54You had a 6'4 wide receiver.
10:57Oh, yeah.
10:58Like a skinny guy.
10:59Smelly Steve or whatever.
11:01Dirty Steve.
11:01Yeah, whatever.
11:02Dirty Steve.
11:02Didn't he, like, drop a touchdown?
11:04Yeah, I feel like he dropped a touchdown or there was, like, a penalty on a touchdown.
11:08I mean, we filled out.
11:09Look, it was a weird unit, but we filled out the squad.
11:16Yeah, yeah.
11:16No, it was awesome.
11:18It was so much fun, man.
11:18I really want to thank you guys for that.
11:20What a highlight.
11:21So, where are you coaching now, Chris?
11:24I coach at Stevenson University in Owensville, Maryland.
11:26Oh, nice.
11:27Very good.
11:28Very cool.
11:28Very cool.
11:28Good to hear that.
11:29And then, are you the head coach?
11:31The assistant coach?
11:31What are you coaching there?
11:33Running backs coach.
11:34I recruit Northern Virginia.
11:35I recruit Florida.
11:36Nice.
11:36A lot of the South.
11:37Nice.
11:38Very cool.
11:39Well, it's always been a pleasure.
11:40We have fond memories of that.
11:42And, truly, I think the career's been all downhill since then.
11:44So, thank you so much, buddy.
11:47Take care, brother.
11:48Thanks, Chris.
11:49Yep.
11:49All right.
11:49Good to hear from you.
11:50Coach Chris.
11:51I'll never forget, we had Tyrone Drakeford.
11:54I don't know if you guys, some of you guys might be too young to know, but Tyrone Drakeford
11:58played in the NFL.
11:58He was coaching us.
11:59Ratcliffe Thomas, who was a star at the University of Maryland, played in the NFL for several years.
12:03He was coaching us.
12:05I mean, we had a legit staff.
12:08He was coaching just a bunch of clowns.
12:10And a little football experience.
12:12And I needed a wristband, because I was terrible at knowing where to line up.
12:16Yeah.
12:16I did not know where to line up.
12:18There was one play.
12:19Look, I was a running back.
12:20We had about three plays.
12:21There was one play where Jason handed off to me, to the right.
12:25I ran to the right.
12:26Everybody else went to the left.
12:29Everybody.
12:29During the game, that happened?
12:31Yeah.
12:31Yes.
12:31Well, who was wrong?
12:33I think Jason and I were wrong.
12:35Yeah.
12:35I think everybody else was correct.
12:38We prevailed.
12:39We took care of the business.
12:41It was one-sided, as it should have been.
12:44Yeah.
12:44Thank God.
12:45I'll never forget.
12:45I've told the story many times.
12:46But on the very first play, I did have some anxiety.
12:49I'm like, you know, this team had won championships.
12:52They were organized.
12:54They were very organized.
12:55They wanted to kill us.
12:56They had, you know, we had a couple NFL guys.
12:59They had Daryl Green on their side.
13:00Daryl Green was helping to, if he wasn't coaching, he was promoting.
13:04And he was just on their sidelines.
13:06And they had this girl.
13:07I'll never forget.
13:08The very first play, I was going up against this woman.
13:11I was playing tight end.
13:12And she was like one of the linebackers.
13:13And she was dating.
13:14Was his name?
13:16Ridgewell.
13:16Do you remember him on the Ravens?
13:17He was a linebacker for the Ravens.
13:20Don't remember.
13:21Hartwell.
13:21There was an Ed Hartwell.
13:22Ed Hartwell.
13:23He was a badass.
13:25She was dating Ed Hartwell, right?
13:26And just as a built woman, right?
13:28And she was athletic.
13:30And I'm going, and, you know, here we are.
13:32As we're lining up, I'm going, I don't know, man.
13:36She's as big as me, okay?
13:39And I go, we're going to find out real quick.
13:41And as soon as he said, she came up, and she jacked me right in my face mask.
13:47But she is a woman.
13:48She doesn't have man strength.
13:50And so then I was like, hey, what are you doing?
13:52And I didn't even block her.
13:53I just threw her to the side.
13:56And I went, okay, we're going to be fine.
13:58We're going to be fine.
13:59There is a physical difference here where we're going to be fine.
14:02While they're better technically than we are, we're going to be just fine.
14:06I think I was more nervous about the turnout.
14:09Because it started with just an idea and a goofy meeting.
14:12And then it built.
14:14No, it built so much momentum.
14:15Like, all this, we had a band at halftime.
14:17And, I mean, we had pads.
14:19Like, none of us had helmets and pads and uniforms.
14:22And it, like, blew up.
14:23And then I remember showing up.
14:25I was like, holy crap, there's thousands of people here.
14:27No, no, I'll never forget, we outdrew Georgetown that night.
14:29Yeah.
14:30Georgetown had a basketball game.
14:31We outdrew them.
14:31I can't remember who they were.
14:33And it was kind of a rainy, drizzly day.
14:34Yep.
14:36Hey, it's Brett.
14:36It's a rainy, drizzly day.
14:38You guys are going to beat the Divas.
14:39I'm not sure what.
14:41We're going to win.
14:41I don't know if it was Channel 9, but some of the local news were down there.
14:44Yeah, they were there.
14:45You know, covering it.
14:46Was there a high school band?
14:48There was some sort of band?
14:49I don't remember.
14:50No, I think we had some sort of, like, up-and-coming.
14:53I mean, because Lisa Warden, who was the program director.
14:56But there was also an element of, like, a marching band.
14:58There might have been.
14:59We had a live donkey there.
15:01Yeah, I mean.
15:02A wild scene.
15:04What a circus that was.
15:06Definitely one of the highlights, though.
15:08All right, let's go back to the phones.
15:101-800-636-1067.
15:12I know.
15:13It's so tragic.
15:14This is a weird bit, you know.
15:16It's not often we look back.
15:18Like, it's a job.
15:19You've got to show up every day.
15:20But it is 30 years.
15:22It's a great accomplishment.
15:23Thank you again to Mayor Bowser, Sports Junkies Day in D.C.
15:28Not sure what that means for anybody out there.
15:30I don't think it means anything.
15:31I think it means we can park on the street and not get tickets today.
15:34We've got a proclamation today.
15:36And thanks again to NBC4 for doing the nice piece on us.
15:40All right, let's go to Mario.
15:42Let's go to Mario in Fairfax.
15:44Hey, Mario.
15:45What's up, man?
15:48Hey, Junkz.
15:49Congratulations on 30 years.
15:51Thanks, man.
15:51Appreciate it.
15:54I was a contestant on a talent show that you guys had back in 97.
15:58It was when you guys were doing the evening show.
16:00Yeah.
16:02Off of Main Street in Fairfax.
16:04What was your talent?
16:06I was the male stripper.
16:08You were the male stripper?
16:11How did we throw tomatoes at you?
16:13Or the rotten food?
16:14It might be the most radio call ever.
16:16Garbage or something.
16:17How excited was Lurch?
16:20It was, you guys had like a female producer or somebody who was part of the show back then.
16:25Amy.
16:26And I did like a striptease for her.
16:28The whole point was to go meet Howard Stern potentially.
16:30Borderline sexual harassment.
16:32Maybe do it with Robin.
16:32Yeah, we had a girl named Amy that answered the phones.
16:35Well, how did you think you were going to meet Howard?
16:37Did we have like a trip to New York or something associated with it?
16:39Yeah, it was a trip to New York to meet Howard Stern.
16:42The person who won was the person who could say redskins backwards.
16:47Backwards talker.
16:48Backwards talker, yeah.
16:49That guy was good.
16:50That guy was sick talent.
16:51That guy, yeah.
16:51That guy was super talent.
16:52Did we also have a guy that claimed he could vomit on command?
16:55Yes, it was Ray the Puker, I believe.
16:57Rest in peace.
16:58I believe he's passed away.
17:00He was a long-time listener of the show.
17:02That can't be good for your body.
17:04Yeah.
17:04I just remember that backwards talker because they were like ahead of me and they ended
17:08up winning, I think.
17:09Hey, dude, what were your qualifications?
17:11Were you like a legit stripper or you were just like some guy that was full of himself?
17:16No, I did legit stripping in college.
17:19It was like stripper grams, so it was kind of like goofy, jokey, not really serious.
17:23I remember when I did the strip for the girl, one of you guys was like, how does his body
17:29look like?
17:30And somebody else goes, he's kind of hurting.
17:32He's kind of acting.
17:33He's got a hurting, flabby body.
17:35So you're like a seven that was a stripper.
17:38A seven might be generous.
17:39Yeah.
17:39Yeah.
17:40Yeah, maybe a 7.5.
17:42Okay.
17:43All right.
17:43We'll take it.
17:44It's not an eight like you back in the day, EV.
17:45He's close.
17:46Not many were.
17:46He's trying to approach that number.
17:48Mario, thank you so much and thanks for staying in touch and presumably listening all
17:52these years.
17:52We really appreciate it.
17:53Thank you, pal.
17:54Absolutely.
17:54Congratulations, guys.
17:55Thanks, man.
17:56Thank you, sir.
17:57Appreciate it.
17:57Very cool.
18:00Literally, now that you say it, maybe I do remember embarrassing.
18:03Amy a little bit and having the guy dance for her.
18:07I don't remember the stripper.
18:08It's goofy that we all were blown away by the backwards talker.
18:12I do remember, it's crazy.
18:15I remember we focused on Gus Farratt and he said like, Ed or F.
18:19Ed or F. Sugg.
18:20I remember it like it was yesterday.
18:21And we were just blown away.
18:22But his brain was wired in a way that he could just do it instantly.
18:25Yes.
18:25That's the way his brain worked.
18:27Yeah.
18:28Yeah.
18:28Very cool.
18:29Gus Farratt.
18:30Yeah.
18:31Ed or F. Sugg.
18:32Give it to me.
18:32Ed or F. Sugg.
18:33Ed or F. Sugg.
18:34He nailed it.
18:351-800-636-1067 is the number.
18:38Celebrating 30 years of the Junkies today and throughout the year.
18:42Coming up next, let's get into the sports page because the Kentucky Derby was awesome.
18:46You had some Game 7s in the NBA.
18:48We'll get into all that next here on the Junkies.
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