John Rush tackles the hysteria around AI, breaks down housing market myths, and debunks the media’s spin on Jaguar’s rebranding flop. With special guest Ben, they challenge economic noise, call out activist-driven politics, and throw shade on the MLB—all while praising the Savannah Bananas as the true MVPs of summer.
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes. With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 14 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job first. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 05 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Ben hanging on over the last hour. Ben, we kind of left off with the whole, you know, AI conversation, which I want to continue because I don’t think we were quite done. And then also talking about the, you know, potential, you know, housing bubble, which I’ll get to as well. But, you know, back to AI. Yeah, I think there’s going to be some changes. Am I as worried about it as some? And even the last commentary, it’s interesting. You were talking about it in the commentary at the top of the hour. It had a lot to do with AI. And I think AI, Ben, I look at it just like I do any other tool that has come along all the way – We can talk about the car. We can talk about the toaster. We can talk about all sorts of things, Ben. And, you know, you could say each and every one of those things that has come along, technologically speaking, is a good thing or a bad thing. It’s all in how it’s used. I look at AI very much the same way.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s what I was thinking over the break. And that guy with the Colson Center, he was talking about, which was like coincidental. Ironic, yes. Nothing wrong with the little synchronicity. Exactly. Yeah. Look at the gun. You know, the gun’s neutral. That’s right. The other side of it is, and who’s managing it? You know, is it for warfare, which, you know, might have been avoided? And then, so it’s the morality of the person and their values. And I’m thinking, you know, Part of that, too, I think it comes down to morality. And then in terms of the technology, where is it going or where is it going to be? It reminds me of during the Iraq war, this guy Rumsfeld was talking about unknown unknowns. You know, there’s what you know, and then there’s things that you’re not quite aware of. So, you know, I think it might be like some kind of four-dimensional chessboard one move could throw so many things off and we do that anyway with cars guns houses you name it so i think it potentially can make a pretty significant shift yep
SPEAKER 04 :
I agree with you.
SPEAKER 08 :
And economics about how things supply, demand.
SPEAKER 04 :
I agree with you. And again, I’m one where I look at it differently than I think even some, you know, quote unquote, you know, church experts, conservatives and so on might look at things. Ben, I am not one bit afraid of it at all. I’m also not somebody that’s just, you know, head over heels, gung ho over it. Again, I look at it as a tool. I guess, you know, back when I was, you know, still turning a wrench and You know, Ben, working on cars and so on, and a new tool would come along, and you’d look at that and say, wow, that’s going to make my life easier. So you buy it, and guess what? It did, if used correctly. So I look at AI very much the same way. I don’t look at it for a replacement of anything as much as a change in things. And will there be a change, Ben? There’s always… always changes in the workforce when it comes to how things are done and things become more efficient as time goes by. And that’s a good thing because as things become more efficient, that typically frees workers up to go do other things that maybe they’ve been needed in anyways. And what people have to do at the end of the day is keep an open mind and not get pigeonholed.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And I’ve seen where, like, with roofing, I had to get a roof. I didn’t call your guy that sprays the oil on because it was too far gone. Gotcha. But there’s these guys. They can take like a satellite image or a drone image, and they can quote your roof. They could be in South Africa. And then so I can see that as a you could make one estimator. do so much more right with that level of automation and but you know we’ve already kind of got a a the economy’s always the rate of change within the job market and markets and products right in my opinion it’s kind of like a an ice cream on a hot day if you don’t handle it you know if you don’t get busy that’s right before you know it there’s another problem coming that’s right behind it that’s exactly right and so it to me in a way it just creates more aggravation more frustration and stress not that it can’t be helpful i think it’d be a great design tool like for look if you’re making a car some of them as you know probably more than me they’re a pain in the ass to work on so you have you end up being contorted around the thing and buying specialty tools for something that if it was designed better, it’d go together quicker, be more reliable, and easier to fix, which in a way we had that 40 years ago. And we decided, well, that’s not good enough. We’ve got to change it up. And I don’t know how much we really won in that area. That’s a good question. We created jobs for repairs, but… it keeps a lot of people that buy the cars broke. Well, it does.
SPEAKER 04 :
Although, Ben, and I’ve talked about this on the weekends, we also nowadays live in an age now whereby you can hop in pretty much any car. I mean, any car that’s on the road today, the age of the fleet is about 14 years or so, a little less than that. And, Ben, in that time frame, prior to that, you typically traveled coast to coast with some sort of something extra, tools, whatever. Reality today, Ben, is you can hop in any newer car and drive coast to coast and put fuel in it, and you’re going to get there and back with no problems. I mean, there’s always that exception where, you know, something happens on the road and there’s a problem, but rarely is that the case. You keep your car maintained, that thing will run from coast to coast no problem.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good point. Yeah, and they last long.
SPEAKER 04 :
Way longer. Way longer.
SPEAKER 08 :
On average, it used to be like if you got more than a couple hundred thousand out of a car, but having said that, Just for conversation, I saw a guy the other day. I didn’t meet him, but I just saw it online. He had a 76 Kenworth semi, and he had 4 million miles on it. Wow. Well, A, yeah, but he probably, it’s like buying a teardown house. He probably rebuilt the whole thing. The frame may not be original. You don’t know.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah. No, exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
He’s putting engines and axles and all that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. So before I run out of time, jumping over to the housing bubble end of things, I watch so much – when it comes to the experts, quote-unquote, Ben, and social media and so on, and is there a housing bubble? I think in different parts of the country you might see some bigger adjustments than others. I don’t see any way, shape, or form anything similar to what we had back in 2008. I think if that were the case, that would have already happened. There’s so many naysayers out there that I think want to see And they want to see real estate drop out because, frankly, Ben, they’re the guys that typically swoop in after the fact and buy things for pennies on the dollar. So I think there’s a certain amount of these quote-unquote experts that would love to see that happen. Now, do I see Colorado in a bubble? I wouldn’t say a bubble. Will there be some adjustments in Colorado just like there are in other areas? Yeah, I could see that. But I will tell you this, Ben. There are areas, even in our area, where even if that happens, it won’t in those areas. You happen to live in one of those.
SPEAKER 08 :
Say that again. I’m sorry. I glitched a little.
SPEAKER 04 :
There will be adjustments in the real estate market, as always. And a lot of people, I think, want to see a bubble burst because they come in and swoop up at pennies on the dollar. But there will always be places, especially here in Colorado, like the area you live in, where no matter what’s happening elsewhere, your prices aren’t dropping because in Evergreen, especially, you live in an area where demand will always outstretch supply.
SPEAKER 08 :
I just saw it today. What’s funny is these people had this big Mayflower truck, and it’s stuffed, full of stuff that they largely don’t need, but they have anyway, and they moved it in. Well, the road that it has to go to is real narrow. So they had to rent a U-Haul, smaller truck. To transfer over and go there. to shuttle it all up there. And I’m like, I just want to have everything in one U-Haul.
SPEAKER 04 :
And Ben, again, and for everybody listening, transplants especially, we have this thing here to the west of us called mountains. Ben happens to live in them. Some of us live up against them. Some of them live way away from them. And Ben, those mountains are much like the ocean, other than you can’t live in the ocean. I mean, I guess you can on a ship, but the difference is you can live in our mountains, you can’t live in the ocean. But the reality is the closer in Colorado you are to the mountains, the less chance of you have being in any kind of a quote-unquote real estate bubble.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think I’d agree with that, yeah. It’s like, hey, if you… Like, I came home last night from Denver, and there’s nothing like the temperature was… I think it was 44 degrees on my way up. And I’m like, oh, my God, this is so much better than Texas. Have you ever been to Texas? This time of year, it’s miserable. Oh, it’s miserable any time of year. And if it wasn’t for air conditioning, I digress, but the whole place would have way less than half the people.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, I agree with you on that, Ben. I think you’re 100% correct. So anyways, getting back to do I believe there’s a real estate bubble in Colorado, the way I’m going to answer that is it depends on where you live. And yes, I could see some adjustments in some areas in Colorado where there may be some haircuts taken on, properties i do not see an all-out bottom falling out and you know prices dropping you know hundreds of thousands of dollars on houses i just don’t see that happening so if you’re somebody out there waiting for that to happen in colorado i’m afraid that frankly you probably have even ridden that as long as you can, because my feeling, Ben, is, and I could be completely wrong in this, but I think the Fed’s going to cut rates at this next meeting at the end of the month, because there’s no meeting in August, and I don’t think they want to wait until September. I will be shocked if they wait till then. Jordan Goodman and I will argue about that tomorrow. But I see the Fed doing at least a quarter, if not a half a point, later this month. And if that happens, then, of course, real estate mortgages will change. And as the mortgage rate starts to come down, everything I just talked about, pretty much goes away because you’ll loosen things up to the point where there’ll be more buyers than there are sellers.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think I agree with that. I hadn’t thought about it that way. But the Fed is always late to the party.
SPEAKER 04 :
These guys especially are big time, very late.
SPEAKER 08 :
And on a different face, by the way, for answering all those questions, because I’ll get a lot of information in my mind and I’m like, Well, who’s got an answer to my questions? It’s John.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Because I like how you kind of reason this all out. Because it can be difficult or confusing.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, there’s a lot of info that’s always coming at us. And I have conversations among these lines with even other family members and such, Ben, because there’s so much information being thrown at us, which can be good or it can be bad. But you have to decipher through some of that and look through it, and there’s a lot of noise. I don’t know how else to say that, Ben. There’s a lot of noise. And what I mean by noise for all of you listening is all of these naysayers that will be out there talking about this, that, or the other, and this is happening, and this is crashing, and that’s crashing, and blah, blah, blah. Ben, I can remember several years ago people talking about and telling you that the used car market was going to go south and don’t buy anything right now because you’ll be able to buy that car for a lot less money in several months. Never happened, and I said that at that time, that it wouldn’t.
SPEAKER 08 :
I agree with that 100%. Well, I didn’t know what was going to happen with the used cars, but that signal thing, I call it signal to noise.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, it’s like when you’re in the middle of liming. You turn your radio on, and it’s like maybe if you’re lucky, you’re going to get a futures report on grain in Kansas, but you’re going to get less and less out of Denver. So you’ve got a new signal coming in to override the old one. So it’s always that. signal-to-noise thing on information. That’s right. And the vested interest, you know, the bulls and the bears. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Who’s giving you the info?
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, they want to psych people out for their own economic advantage.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s right.
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100%.
SPEAKER 04 :
100%, Ben.
SPEAKER 08 :
I always wonder about that. Whose benefit is it for me drinking their Kool-Aid?
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s exactly right. Great point. Ben, I’ll let you go. Appreciate your time, as always. Great questions, and I never have any issues answering those sorts of questions along these same lines. This is another one that I wanted to talk about earlier. Glad Ben called in because this dovetails into it. And I’ve seen folks posting, especially conservatives posting. This is another one where you need to know the data before you just start jumping in and posting. Now, while I don’t agree with the ad campaign they came out with, we’re going to talk about Jaguar for a moment. Jaguar is what I should say. All of us as Americans say Jaguar. There’s all sorts of articles out here this week talking about how bad their sales are since their rebranding, quote-unquote. Now, there’s more to that story, though. That’s the problem. While those numbers are true, that yes, their sales, in fact, are way down, you’ve got to dig deeper. The reason their sales are down is because part of their rebranding is they’re going all EV. They’re changing the entire lineup of cars. meaning there’s very little inventory in the system, and when there’s no inventory, there’s nothing to buy. So naturally, sales are going to drop significantly from one year to the next because there’s nothing to sell. Now, will the new cars sell as well as the old? That’s going to be the real story, is when they start rolling out the cars that quote-unquote people are anticipating, and I’m not sure that they’re anticipating it as much as they just want to see what Jaguar is going to do next. That’s my take. I think there’s a lot out there saying, hey, all you conservatives, no, Jaguar’s not down because of the rebranding. They’re down because the plant was shut down and they didn’t have any cars and there wasn’t anything on dealer lots and so on. And wait till the new stuff comes out. You’ll see it’s going to work. Well, I’m not sold on that either. So I’m not on Jaguar’s side, by the way. I think their rebranding thing was totally utter nonsense. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen a car company ever do. And I don’t think in the end it’s going to pay off. But there’s always a but. But I’m also not going to be somebody that’s going to be talking about or posting about how bad their sales currently are because of the rebranding. Because it’s not because of the rebranding. Now, it’s a part of the rebranding and the fact that they’re coming out with new lines of cars that go along with the rebranding. But it’s not the commercials and the launch itself that’s causing the lack of sales right now. So I want to make sure I’m very clear on that because you’re going to see a lot of people posting that their sales are off and they’re going to blame it on the rebrand. Nothing could be farther from the truth because the data doesn’t back that up. So as I always say, back to what I was talking about even with Ben a moment ago, deciphering that quote-unquote noise that’s out there from what’s really going on or the signal, as Ben said. So the reality is for a lot of you that may be listening and may have even reposted something along the lines of Jaguar and their sales being way off, I would probably go back in and delete anything I’ve said along those lines because it may come back to bite you. That’s all I’m going to say. Reason being is because their sales aren’t off because of that. It’s a result of because they shut the plant down. There’s no cars on lots and so on. But that’s not in a direct relation to people being mad at the commercials. I do think there’s enough people mad at the commercials. I don’t think their rebranding of the company is going to work. I don’t think their move to the EV end of things, especially now, is going to work. That’s me. I’m a car guy. I just don’t see that paying off in the end. But I’m also not going to come out and say, yep, their sales are tanking because of their ad rebranding. I’m not going to say that either because it’s not true. I’d be lying if I said that. So, again, be careful. with what we repost and what we go out and find, and because we like it, and we frankly would like it to be true, I would like no more than to come on air and tell you guys, yep, Jaguar sales are off, and they’re only off because their rebranding stunk, and that commercial was absolutely awful, and they haven’t sold a car since. I can’t say that, and I won’t, because it’s not true. Their sales are down because there’s no inventory. So it’s no different than any other product that’s out there. When there’s no inventory, sales are going to fall off because there’s nothing in the box to sell. So once again, as conservatives, we have to be careful what information we throw out there that may or may not be true, just like the left does at times when they’re wrong just as well. So those of you, though, that are on our side, on my side, I’m always careful that we post the right things and say the right things so that we don’t look stupid and have egg on our face at the end of the day because, once again, Jaguar sales are not off just because of the rebranding. It’s a multitude of things, mainly because they don’t have any inventory. And, again, I am not here defending Jaguar. I think the rebranding thing is stupid. I think the way they did it is ignorant. I think it’s a big mistake. Whoever was in charge of it ought to be fired. But that’s another conversation for a different day, and we will see moving forward how well this pays off or does not pay off when it’s all said and done. One more thing before we go to break that is disturbing at best is Democrats – The party itself is really coming down hard on Democrat politicians to literally fight back, and they’re demanding more aggression when it comes to things that they’re doing inside of the party. In other words, they want you to almost take up arms or cause enough ruckus, if you would, that you even get arrested at times. That’s what they’re asking their politicians to do, and politicians are even asking back. It’s utter nonsense. And as I always say, shows you that the left doesn’t really care about people. Because if they did, they wouldn’t be demanding that. They wouldn’t be talking that way. But the reality is they are. And that was a story that Charlie had sent me. I read it as well. But that is not how this is supposed to work, folks. Just because you’re not winning doesn’t give you the right to have violence. That’s not how this works. And on our side, I’ll say this. Our side doesn’t do that. You know, we weren’t winning for four years. You had Joe Biden. We weren’t winning. Did we violently protest and run around anywhere doing the things that your side now wants to do? No, we did not. We did not. But now your side wants to basically, quote unquote, take up arms against our side because you don’t like Donald Trump and what he’s doing. You know what? You lost. Suck it up, buttercup. That’s on you. That’s on you. So, again, we went four years with Joe Biden. It’s your turn now. That’s how I look at that. That’s called politics when it’s all said and done. Veteran Windows and Doors is up next. And Dave would love to help you with your Windows and Doors. And last month’s special, which I’m sure he would honor right now as well, was 35% off up to three windows, 40% for four or more. Give Dave a call today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 02 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. My son Richard joining me now. And I didn’t, Richard, I didn’t even see if there was any sports going on over the weekend, so I didn’t know if you wanted to touch on that or not.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is the lowest time of the year. Well, I should say not that. It’s coming up to the lowest time of the year because the only thing going on is Major League Baseball. You did have soccer this weekend, which I know we’re not even going to get started on in the show because you and soccer, like, don’t go along. Yeah, we don’t get along. Yeah, you don’t mix very well. So there was that. There was a hot dog eating contest on Friday, which is always just, I mean, depending on who you are, it’s either gross or fascinating or maybe somewhere in between. And then, yeah, you had a little bit of baseball. But, yeah, this is the quiet. Well, we go back to this every year. Baseball should take advantage, although I did find myself, and this is fascinating, watching Savannah Bananas baseball.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, those guys I can watch. Okay, you just said something that when it comes to baseball, because of what they do, their style, and I know some baseball purists probably would hate both of us for saying this, but it’s like watching the Globetrotters back in the day. I enjoy them.
SPEAKER 07 :
It is. And so for those of you, I guess we’ll set it up. You don’t even plan on talking about this, but we’ll do it, right? So for your listeners that don’t know, the Savannah Bananas are the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball. And what we mean by that is they are an exhibition baseball team that started a number of years ago. They actually played in kind of like a minor league. They’re made up of minor leaguers and ex-college guys, and they play four different teams. kind of on a rotating basis, but basically what’s happened, and I would encourage folks to go check them out because they really have a fascinating story and their owner is fascinating. They essentially created their own brand of baseball. And so all the games are roughly two hours long. You cannot start an inning once the two-hour time limit is up. There is no bunting. Not only are you out, Dad, if you bunt, you’re thrown out of the game, which kind of makes it fun. If a fan catches a ball that counts as an out, so the fans are involved in the game, right? So it would be a fly ball. I don’t know if it’s on the home run if it counts. Maybe it does. I’m not entirely sure. But I know for sure on a foul ball that kind of goes on the first baseline or the third baseline. if a fan catches it, they’re out. If you do like a trick to make a catch, right, or you throw the ball between your legs and then you throw it to first base, that counts as a point. And so the only thing that matters in, I think it’s innings, I’m not 100% on the rules, but basically you can get runs by getting points. And so really the only time runs matter is I think the last inning runs matter. And then There’s no mound visits, so you don’t have any of this in between. If you step out of the batter’s box, I’m pretty sure, again, it’s either an automatic out or you’re thrown out of the game. There’s a designated hitter. They call it the golden hitter. And at any point in time, it doesn’t matter where, you can call up basically your best hitter to hit against the best pitcher. They do dances. They do mini concerts during the middle of the game. They have old MLB players. For example, this weekend they were playing in Boston where the Red Sox play, right? Fenway Park. And so they had some old Boston Red Sox players actually pitch for them and hit for them. And now, right, these are guys past their prime, Dad, and maybe not even big-name guys. But it’s just fun. And they don’t always win, right? Other teams can win. It’s not rigged to have the bananas win. There’s a guy that is the tallest hitter, whatever, and so he plays on stilts.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, that’s funny.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I think he pitches on – and it’s like you said, baseball peers, I think, hate it. And I think a lot of – some even parents and baseball coaches hate it because they, like, will pull up to the batter’s box in, like, a little mini car, right, like a little kids-powered, battery-powered car. Like, they’ll drive one of those up, and they’ll dance, and, like, the umpires will – it’s just wild and crazy, and it’s fun. But they are getting viewership, Dad, and most importantly – Well, they’re now being televised, which is crazy for, again, a Harlem Globetrotter type thing. But not only that, Dad, they are selling out not only Major League Baseball stadiums, but they are selling out NFL stadiums. Wow. The Rockies, for example, they’re coming here in August, and I think they’re here for two nights, I believe, one or two nights. It was a lottery system to even get a chance to buy a ticket.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 07 :
Which is crazy. And the one thing, they don’t really do really high ticket prices either.
SPEAKER 04 :
One thing we didn’t mention, Richard, like the Globetrotters, they want to make this more of a whole family entertainment type event, correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, they want to make it to where if you watch baseball all the time or maybe you don’t watch baseball at all, maybe you’re grandma and you just have seen your grandkids play, but you can still come and have fun with it. Again, you and me are not baseball guys, never were. It’s not a sport that moves overly fast, and I think that’s sort of what did you and I in. But I think you and I would get a kick out of it because there was just some fun pieces to it as far as, Actually, there’s no base on ball. So if a ball gets past the catcher, for example, the batter can run at any point in time.
SPEAKER 04 :
Got it.
SPEAKER 07 :
But you don’t have to wait for it to be the last pitch. So, yeah, they make it fun. And to your point, they really do encourage it to be a whole family experience. And it’s something where at a time, Dad, where baseball, honestly, Dad, this will be fascinating in the next year. And the reason being is because after next season, it is very likely that the Major League Baseball players will be locked out and they will have a shortened season. And the reason being is because Major League Baseball is the last major sports league here that doesn’t have a salary cap.
SPEAKER 04 :
And they need one.
SPEAKER 07 :
It seems like the Dodgers and the Yankees that just spend money, that do these deferrals, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Which, by the way, to me, that’s what makes the game not as fun nor as competitive. And I know baseball purists are going to be mad at me for saying this, but I’m not a baseball purist. I’ll just say that straight up, guys. In fact, I am one. Let me say this, Richard. I am… a guy that I like sports, I like watching sports, I like going to games and so on, when they’re enjoyable. And I know a lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, MLB for me personally is not enjoyable. I’d rather go watch the grass grow than watch a baseball game, and I mean that sincerely. They’re just not fun. Savannah Bananas, though, by the way, really fast, and you said this, but they have sold out every game since 2016.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it’s a fascinating thing. And you said it best, Dad, though. At the core of sports, right, we talk about this. Yes, is it big business and is there more to it than that? Yes, there is. But at the end of the day, Dad, they are in the entertainment industry, right? And if they don’t entertain us, then we are going to tune into something else that does entertain us, right?
SPEAKER 10 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. And I’m not saying that you need to compromise and you need to make all of Major League Baseball like the Savannah Bananas, right? So that you have kind of people would call it gimmicky type of stuff. I’m not saying that. But you do have to be mindful. And like you say, the salary cap provides parity or at least the opportunity for parity. Look at the NBA. They used to not have a salary cap when David Stern was there. Well, Adam Silver has come in. They’ve done some different things. And they’ve actually created a salary cap of sorts. Well, not of sorts it is, even though you sort of spend it. But they’ve just put rules in place. And I don’t want to bore people with it because it’s really complicated and convoluted. But by doing that, they’ve had a new champion every year for the last, I think it’s like seven years. I don’t think they’ve had a repeat champion ever. for a number of years. And that makes it fun, right? Because that means that your team should have a chance. And that’s what all sports fans want. And that’s what drives revenue, right, Dad? I want my team to have an opportunity to win the championship.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
For the longest time, basketball, I never felt like the Nuggets could do that because they were a small market team. Well, now that’s sort of shifting. And honestly, baseball has always thrived on the idea that you can be a small market team if you’re well-run. Well… Baseball is sort of transforming into, you put it right, the haves and have-nots. And if you are a billion-dollar organization, you can sort of spend your way out of anything that you want to. But if you’re not, good luck. And I think that that’s where they’re going to run into some of this stuff with some of these people. So back to the Savannah Bananas, it’s fascinating. Honestly, I encourage your listeners. Go look them up on YouTube. They are just a joy to watch.
SPEAKER 04 :
Richard, really quick. They have 10 million TikTok followers. 10 million.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re crazy. 10 million. They are a prime. And honestly, they almost didn’t make it. I believe their owner, Jesse Cole is his name. Him and his wife, honestly, kind of like a lot of these entrepreneurs. They almost went broke. They had to basically pull everything that they possibly could to keep it running. But they kept outside investors out. And as a result now, they are, again, they’re super profitable. They’re not willing to change certain aspects of their game. And they don’t feel like they’re a gimmick, Dad, right? They feel like they are baseball, but they’re just fun. And I think that’s what people are looking for, right? On a Saturday night, here’s something to be said, Dad. July 4th, a holiday that used to be synonymous with baseball, right? Like you would tune in, the ballpark, America’s pastimes. I believe on ESPN, prime time was Savannah Bananas. Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Amazing.
SPEAKER 07 :
I mean, how crazy have we gotten in the world to where… A time that was, again, meant for Major League Baseball has been brought to an exhibition team where these teams don’t cooperate.
SPEAKER 04 :
Actually, if MLB was smart, they would figure out a way to incorporate some of the Savannah Banana games, I guess you could say, the team itself, incorporate them into some of the entertainment of what goes on, in my opinion. In other words… What I’m getting at here, Richard, is much like the Harlem Globetrotters, I believe, back in the day, did a lot to help the NBA when it was all said and done. I think the MLB could do the same thing with Savannah Bananas if they’d look at it correctly. I guarantee you they’re not, though, because purist baseball guys probably look at Savannah. These guys are just a bunch of jokers. They shouldn’t even be on the field.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, here’s what I’ll give you, Dad. The MLB All-Star Game is coming up here. It used to be the winner… got home field advantage in the playoffs, right? If the National League won, they got home field. If the American League won, they got home field. They’ve done away with that because they didn’t feel like it was right to take away from the regular season and all the other stuff. Why not this? Why not get Major League Baseball’s best and have them play the Savannah Bananas?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, that’d be fun.
SPEAKER 07 :
And banana ball. Yeah. And just have fun, and you give these bananas, because it would get rady.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, yeah, big time.
SPEAKER 07 :
It would get eyeballs drawn to baseball, which is what Major League Baseball means. I highly doubt they would do it, but it’s sometimes that it takes a team in an organization like the Bananas. to maybe spur on some change for the better.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, absolutely. Great segue. We’ll come right back. Ridgeline Auto Brokers coming up next. If you’re looking for a new used car, look no further. And again, I get questions all the time from folks on, hey, what car do I buy for such and such? What truck do I buy? And so on. In reality is, folks, I can usually get a response back out via text message, email, and so on. But if you want to just have a conversation, because this is what they do on a daily basis, call them and talk to them. They have as much experience with this as anyone. They’ll have the same type of conversation with you that I have, and all you have to do is go to RidgelineAutoBrokers.com and find them.
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SPEAKER 04 :
All right, we are back, and it’s that time of the week where we do new car reviews. We’ve got a couple to do this week, Richard. We both were in both of these vehicles, but I’ll start with the 2025 Santa Cruz, and I will say that’s a Hyundai Santa Cruz is what I should say. We drove the limited all-wheel drive. This vehicle came in at a… A Monroney price of $4,500, fully equipped. And I’ve talked about this vehicle on Drive Radio numerous times because people will call in and ask, you know, what do I get? You know, what options do I have? I don’t want to buy a full-size, you know, pickup truck or, you know, the medium-sized pickup trucks like, you know, Tundra and Colorado and Ranger. What other alternatives are there? I just need to pick up bed for some things periodically. Well, the Santa Cruz has got you covered. And what I mean by that is even the load itself. It comes with a retractable cover on the back, Richard. So it’s much like, think of it this way, it’s like having… an SUV only with the ability to put a lot taller stuff in the back, yet having all of the same interior creature comforts you would get out of an SUV with the same power of an SUV, all-wheel drive. And I will say, if there’s anything about this car, Richard, that I really enjoyed is, A, it’s very comfortable, very quiet, and it runs fabulous.
SPEAKER 07 :
It does. It is a fabulous running vehicle with that turbocharged engine, especially, as we always say, Dad, At our altitude. Correct. It just works great. And you said it best. It is a small SUV, basically with no back end, which gives you some extra functionality, right? Because you can put some taller things in there, as long as they’re not super heavy, right? This is not a, you know, full, you know, half-ton, three-quarters-ton, one-ton pickup, right? This thing’s not hauling several thousand pounds. No, that’s right. However, it’s not meant to be. But if you do, you know, you did go pick up, I’ll be honest, I actually picked up a safety the other day, 500 pounds. This vehicle would haul that. I think it has a max payload of about 1,400 pounds. Yep, it would haul it just fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you could stand it up and you could put tie-downs on it. Ours did come with a really nice locking kind of a built-in tonneau cover, right? Yes. You could put some stuff in the back. It was easy to pull and easy to slide, which made it easy. There is some storage in the bed compartment. It is not an overly large vehicle. vehicle truck because it is a truck on the inside um at least for the back seat passengers the front passengers are just fine um however dad if you’re looking for a lot of the creature comfort that comes standard and as you mentioned all-wheel drive this is a vehicle for you right
SPEAKER 04 :
No, it’s got everything that you could ever want in that size of vehicle. And for those of you listening, yes, this competes with like the Ford Maverick. The Ford Maverick, I should say. The Honda Ridgeline is a little bit larger vehicle. Now, I’m going to say this, and Hyundai, I know you hear all these reviews. Here’s my only complaint. I think it’s a little bit high-priced for what you get at the end of the day. And let me explain, folks, when I say that. This particular vehicle, granted, this was the upper end, and it’s in the low 40s, 42,500. You can spend about $4,000 more and buy a Honda Ridgeline. Nothing against this particular vehicle. So, again, Hyundai will listen to this. But great vehicle, Hyundai. But I think when you’re trying to compete in the marketplace and have an edge, that price difference, in my opinion, Richard, needs to be a little bit farther apart. That’s my only, literally, that is my only negative with this car. It’s one of the first things I even told my wife when I got in it. Outside of that, is this a car I would own? Absolutely. I just wish the price was a little lower, Richard.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, and with that price increase, if you’re wondering what do I get, you get some more creature comforts, right? You get a little bit more. The touchscreen on the side is a little bit different than some of its competitors. Some more creature comforts as far as, I think, heated and ventilated front seats, if I’m not mistaken, Dan. You get some of those extra features that maybe you deem as more important to you and you would rather have than more room. So if this sounds interesting, folks. It really is an interesting car and truck if you haven’t seen them. Head to your local Hyundai dealer, check it out. Again, 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz, and let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, next vehicle we have on tap, we did a review of recently. Again, both of us were able to drive this car, 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan, and that is their smaller SUV. For those of you that might not know the Volkswagen lineup, it’s their smaller SUV. You can buy these, oh, pretty much in that low to mid-30s, depending upon how you equip it, which exactly trim level you end up with. And I will say, Richard, love the size. Love the layout of the agronomics of it inside and all of that. Had no issues whatsoever. One complaint, one complaint only with this vehicle. And again, Volkswagen, I know you listen to these, so I appreciate you letting us have the vehicles and test drive and give a review and such on them at our altitude. Maybe it’s not the same at sea level, but our altitude… The way the engine and the turbo spool up, you need to count to two before you pull out into traffic. In other words, if you can’t count to two, don’t pull out because that’s about how long it takes for you to actually get things wound up. Once you’re doing that, the vehicle runs great, but it’s got that much turbo lag, which I don’t know why.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and I don’t think it does that in reading, as we always do, right? We prepare, we read what other people have to say. It seems like that’s a consistent theme. And so I think they can probably fix that with some tuning. Outside of that, this is actually one of my more favorite cars for this year. It’s redesigned, all new for 2025. They’ve given you a really big center console. touchscreen and depending on the model you get it’s either roughly 13 inches or 15 inches and dad you can get this if you get the top of the line SEL you can actually get front massaging seat for less than or for just over $40,000 I think ours was the SE which sat right there in the middle like you said about $33,000 $34,000 but depending on the turbo lag and it may not be a big deal for you this was one of my more favorite cars just because it felt It just felt really high dollar. I don’t know how else to say it. You got in and you just kind of felt like, man, this car feels like it’s worth more than… Agree.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, that one I will agree with. I had comments from people even that have not seen the new redesign, as you mentioned a moment ago, that had similar things to say. And again, Agronomics and all of that, loved all of that. And now, going to the price, I mean, personally… Would I buy this car even knowing that it’s got some turbo lag that potentially could get fixed with an update or what have you? I wouldn’t stop. I mean, I would not not buy this car because of the turbo lag because for the price, Richard, you get a lot of vehicle for the price.
SPEAKER 07 :
And especially the SE trim that it gives you power adjustable driver’s seat, synthetic leather upholstery, power liftgate, interior ambient lighting that you can change. Again, some features that you don’t get on a lot, even some luxury cars, right? Right. $100,000 cars out there that you can’t change the interior lighting color. True. But with this car, you can. And again, folks, if you’ve seen a Tiguan before, I encourage you to go check out the new one because for that five-passenger vehicle, and they have taken out the optional third row, Dad, so that’s not even an option. So if you’ve got a family of four and was able to put kids in the back seat, in the second row without too much issues and booster seats, I encourage you to check it out because this is kind of the urban SUV of choice for a lot of people out there because it gives you kind of the best of both worlds on all accounts. So I encourage folks, check this out, Dad. Take the family because it truly is a family car. I think everyone will enjoy it, again, especially the fact that it’s redesigned for 2025. 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan. And when you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, and as I always say, I need to remind everybody, we’ve got reviews going back multiple years. We’ve been doing this for, oh gosh, a decade plus. So reality is you’ve got the ability to go look at some of those reviews. A lot of people look at vehicles that are a year or two old buying used cars, which, by the way, that’s fine as well. And the reality is a lot of these reviews will fit that particular buyer as well. Richard, as always, I appreciate it very much.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep, sounds good. See you later.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, have a great night. With that, we’ll go to our break. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning. Any trouble with your AC, give them a call today, klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 04 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. All right, that’s it for Hour 2. Hour 3, I will talk about the big, beautiful bill. We’ll be back and go over that here in a moment. Don’t go anywhere. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
When Your Car Lasts Longer Than Your Political Convictions
John Rush tackles the hysteria around AI, breaks down housing market myths, and debunks the media’s spin on Jaguar’s rebranding flop. With special guest Ben, they challenge economic noise, call out activist-driven politics, and throw shade on the MLB—all while praising the Savannah Bananas as the true MVPs of summer.
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