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The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Ever wonder what really goes on at a small-town morning radio show?
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett and Best Friends is your daily dose of real callers, big laughs, and unforgettable characters straight from QCountry 925 in Show Low, Arizona.
The Morning Brew with Chris Bennett
Morning Brew Moments: Lottery Luck and Championship Calls
What happens when a turtle becomes a dad at 135 years old? Can lightning really strike three times for a cancer survivor turned lottery winner? The Morning Brew tackles these heartwarming stories and more in our latest episode filled with community connections and unexpected moments of joy.
Chris Bennett kicks things off by announcing his upcoming comedy birthday bash featuring America's Got Talent finalist Ryan Neemiller at the Show Low Elks Lodge on July 26th. Then we dive into our Talk About Something Good Tuesday segment, sharing the remarkable story of Goliath, a 500-pound Galapagos turtle who recently became a first-time father at the age of 135! Just as touching is the viral video of an elephant saving a drowning gazelle, demonstrating the extraordinary compassion that exists in the animal kingdom.
The good news continues with the mind-boggling story of David Serkin, a Canadian cancer survivor who defied astronomical odds by winning the lottery three times in a single year – totaling over 2.5 million dollars! With odds of one in 33 million, it's a reminder that sometimes extraordinary luck finds its way to deserving people.
Things take a serious turn when Fire Marshal JD Pepper from Timber Mesa Fire Department delivers a critical warning about extreme fire danger conditions, with single-digit humidity and high winds creating perfect conditions for wildfires. Community vigilance is essential during these challenging summer months.
The highlight of our show comes when state championship referee Brian Lang joins us in studio to discuss the critical shortage of sports officials and how listeners can get involved while earning extra income. Brian pulls back the curtain on what it's really like to officiate high school sports, the challenges referees face, and even good-naturedly rates common workplace violations from "no penalty" to "major technical foul." The conversation wraps with our favorite redneck Paul from Beaumont facing off against Brian in a World Croc Day trivia showdown!
Ready to referee? Looking for good news to brighten your day? Or simply want to stay informed about your community? This episode delivers all that and more. Subscribe, share, and join us again tomorrow for another serving of The Morning Brew!
From the Horn Auto Center Studios Chris Bennett and the Morning Brew, Janine, you there.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am, yes, I am. How are you?
Speaker 1:I'm good. How are you doing on this Taco Bout, something Good Tuesday.
Speaker 2:Very good, and you know what? And I've heard rumors that you just have this killer birthday bash coming up and some surprises, huh oh yes. Chris.
Speaker 1:Bennett Comedy presents my stand-up comedy birthday bash. It's going to be July 26th at the Show Low Elks Lodge. Doors will open at 5.30. Show will start at 7.00. And tickets will go on sale next week. But the headliner for my birthday bash, Janine, do you ever watch America's Got Talent?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:He was in season 14. He was the third finalist. It was Ryan Neemiller, also known as the cripple threat of comedy. He is hilarious. He was on the same season as Cody Lee. Do you remember Cody, the really good singer that was autistic?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I do.
Speaker 1:He was on that season, so we have Ryan Neemiller from America's Got Talent joining us for my birthday bash. Wow, oh my gosh, pretty exciting. Hope to see you there.
Speaker 2:Very cool. Yeah, that's going to be a good one. Yes, how cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it is Talk About Something Good Tuesday, so do you have any good news stories for us?
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, you know what? It's just beautiful, a little hot up here and stuff, but I don't know. We've had nuts. We've got some really, really cute ones that I wanted to share with you that are going viral, that are not like local, but I love this one, okay. Now coming to us from the Miami Zoo. Okay, this is adorable Goliath, a 500 pound Galapagos turtle. You got to look at the pictures. He became the first dad this month, at the age of 135. Yeah, yeah, being that Father's Day was just Sunday, right, a spokesperson for the zoo called him living proof that where there's a will, there's a way. So he's a 135-year-old dad and they've got the cutest picture of him his face, looking at one of his babies teeny little baby turtle.
Speaker 4:Yeah, very cute.
Speaker 2:And then there's that other viral one that a lot of people you've seen it, but it is so awesome where that elephant saves the drowning gazelle.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I have seen that.
Speaker 2:The school in Guatemala. Yeah, he literally picked it up by its horn, lifted it out of the pond and saved it from drowning. And it was super, super cool. Elephants are just amazing.
Speaker 1:They are Amazing. Yeah, all right, janine, here's my good news story. How's this for a streak of luck? David Serkin from Alberta, canada, is a recent cancer survivor, and not just that, he's now a three-time lottery winner.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:In just one year, he has won the lottery three times. In late August he won $500,000 playing Lotto Max, and then three months later he hit a million dollar lotto. What the heck, I know, holy moly, I want to rub this guy for good luck. And unbelievably, he just won another million dollars, all while beating the odds of one in 33 million. He did this all in a span of three months, janine.
Speaker 2:How in the world?
Speaker 1:I don't know, is he?
Speaker 2:just playing nonstop, crazy, crazy. But even if somebody plays nonstop, that's wild.
Speaker 1:I know he says he bought the winning ticket while gassing up and figured what do I have to lose? And his friends were shocked. Obviously you and I are shocked. And when he told them, their response they're like not again. And his wife, she still can't believe it, but they're enjoying the ride. Literally his last win. He took her to Hawaii with the winnings.
Speaker 1:And this time they're heading to Newfoundland, so they're traveling the world with his lottery winnings. And here's another fun fact Janine, he also won $250,000 10 years ago. Oh my God, this guy is the luckiest man in the world and he beat cancer.
Speaker 2:Wow, this is just nuts. I got to look him up. What's his name again?
Speaker 1:His name is David Circuit.
Speaker 2:What a great, great story. How cool is that?
Speaker 1:There we go? I want to go buy a lottery ticket now, yeah exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:What a cool story. What are the?
Speaker 1:odds One in 33 million apparently yeah exactly Well, Janine. Thanks so much for having fun with us on this Talk About Something Good Tuesday, and we'll talk to you later.
Speaker 2:Hopefully, everyone's having a great day, all right?
Speaker 1:Chris, bye-bye, bye-bye. Good morning. It's the Morning Brew with Chris. Who's this? Good morning, chris. It's JD JD Pepper, our fire marshal with the Timber Mesa Fire Department. Do you have a fire marshal minute for us? You?
Speaker 5:got it, brother. Hey man, listen up, Everybody out there 90 degree plus temperatures. Today, on June 17th, we're in the single digit territory. We're in single digits for relative humidity. We have some high winds today and our area is in red flag. Okay, we've been doing so great. Everybody out there has been helping out. We have some high winds today and our area is in red flag. We've been doing so great.
Speaker 5:Everybody out there has been helping out. They've been calling in when people have fires or they're doing work they're not supposed to, they're not under permit. They're calling in. They're getting us to check them out. Sometimes they're on permits and they're okay to work if they've got the right tools and they've got the right equipment to put fires out. But everybody's been doing really, really good. Right now we are in our extreme danger point. Today, that's today. We've got some weather coming in. I think probably within the next I would say 10 to 12 days. I would think I'm going to take a look at the forecast today. But listen, you guys are doing great. But just keep in mind if you see something, call it in and let us check it out, because the sooner that we can get our guys on it to put something out like a little stardom or side of the road or somebody burning something in the neighborhood. Get us out there. We've got extra crews out there patrolling today, so let me know and we'll get it put out.
Speaker 1:All right, JD, and do we just call 911, or is there a specific number we should call?
Speaker 5:Oh, absolutely, that's what 911 is for. Don't call your local station. The guys might be out doing training or something you know, running extra calls or whatever. But if you see something, call it in right away. Even it could look it might be nothing, but if you see smoke, call it, because we're going to get out there. We'll assess it, we'll put it out if it needs to be put out, and we'll take the proper measures with law enforcement. If they're needed, they'll do their thing. So I just want to say we're on high alert and I appreciate it, everybody helping us out and helping our community out, because we're all neighbors and we're helping each other out by keeping our town from burning up.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you, jd, and thank you for everything you and all our firefighters and everyone at Timber Mesa Fire Department do for us. We love you. Thanks, brother, I appreciate it. I am so excited to have a guest in studio. It is Brian Lang from Snowflake, arizona. He is also a state championship official and you might have seen him reffing or officiating a lot of games around the high schools here in the White Mountains. Brian, thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 4:No, I appreciate you bringing me in. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how long have you been a referee and officiating for AIA and high school sports?
Speaker 4:All together going right around 20 years, between a few in softball Just finished, year 15 in basketball and year 6 for football.
Speaker 1:Nice and I understand that last year and for the past few years we have had a shortage of officials and refs for all athletics right Big time. And so what does that mean to you guys? You said for basketball season, you said normally refs do how many games.
Speaker 4:You can get a couple nights in, so maybe four or six games, right. Right, there's guys and ladies that are doing sometimes 10 to 12 games.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4:Five nights a week because they'll play Monday through Saturday only because athletic directors need to move 12 games. Oh my gosh. Five nights a week because they'll play Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday only because athletic directors need to move some games because of the shortage of officials. Not everybody can play on one night.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly. And so if someone wants to be a ref, who should they contact? And we have sports coming up this fall. Is it for all sports? If I want to be a ref for a specific sport, how does that work?
Speaker 4:So it's on the AIA website. So it's aiaonlineorg, and then there's a section for becoming an official. You fill it all out. You do have to have a fingerprint card just because you're around high school kids, right, right and then you sign up, you send it to the area that you're in and that area commissioner will be in contact. Everything comes through email, through your official portal, for your assignments.
Speaker 1:Nice, and it pays.
Speaker 4:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's a great way to stay involved in sports. If you still have a hunger for sports, be involved in your community and make some uh, some extra money on the side as well.
Speaker 4:right, absolutely that's how I got into basketball. My wife was like, hey, we could use a little extra money around the holidays.
Speaker 1:And now, 15 years later, I love it brian, you have officiated some state championship games, some big level stuff, so I thought we would play a game, uh, where you'd officiate some workplace violations. Okay, I'm gonna give you some workplace violations. You tell me if that's a penalty or a minor penalty, major penalty or no penalty. You ready, ready, microwaving fish in the break room oh, that's.
Speaker 4:Uh, that might be a minor one, but not a 15 yardyarder. No it might only be a 5 or a 10. Just a 5 or a 10? Really, I think that's way worse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, eating someone else's labeled leftovers, oh that one's bad.
Speaker 4:That's a major malfunction. Yeah, that one's bad.
Speaker 1:I think that's a technical foul.
Speaker 5:Would you agree Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Saying let's circle back more than five times a day. Let's circle back to that. Let's circle back to that. Yeah, that's just because you don't have any answers, so that's probably a bad one, so yeah, let's give that one up there too so about a 10 yard?
Speaker 1:penalty for that one all right, leaving a passive, aggressive post-it notes in the break room some of those can be funny, so so no penalty.
Speaker 4:I'm not sure that one's a penalty, because that's yeah, depending on the note, those can be funny all right, and last one bringing hard-boiled uh, hard-boiled eggs to the office that's worse than the fish for me. That's worse than the fish for me.
Speaker 1:That one's worse so that's a major uh, I think that one's up there okay, perfect that was work that might be an unsporting foul, unsportsmanlike conduct. I'm the person bringing boiled eggs to the workplace. Well, brian, that was workplace violations. If you'd like to be like Brian Lang and be a referee or official and get paid for it, join him and go to AIAonlineorg. Yee-yee, yee-yee. It's everyone's favorite redneck from Beaumont, texas. It's Paul from Beaumont. How are you doing on this? Talk About Something Good Tuesday.
Speaker 3:I'm doing pretty good, man. The rain stopped. Maybe the ducks won't land on my fence today. Yeah, it's crazy man. It's been crazy, it's just been raining way too much.
Speaker 1:Well, Paul, today I have my friend Brian Lang out of Snowflake, who's an official and referee for high school sports. Have you ever been an official or referee, Paul, or are you just the guy that yells at the officials and referees?
Speaker 3:I just yell at them because I'm not running all that way.
Speaker 1:What's your favorite insult for a ref?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, I never wanted to get kicked out the game.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so keep it radio and family appropriate, I'd be like.
Speaker 3:Are you blind?
Speaker 4:What's wrong with?
Speaker 3:you man Like on the thrill. Is that like that should be like a requirement? Go get your eyes examined.
Speaker 1:But that's probably the most common insult you guys get as refs, would you say, Brian? I mean mean the nicest insult. Are you blind?
Speaker 4:yeah, and it's again because people have blinders on for their kids or for their teams, right or like I see you know that's a foul, that's a foul, that's a foul it is what it is.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing. Like brian was explaining, the rules are different for high school sports, right? And so a lot of times you know people have blinders and they're rooting for their team and they just don't understand. So you are not blind, right, brian? I do wear glasses.
Speaker 4:He wears glasses. If I took them off.
Speaker 3:I would be in a lot more trouble.
Speaker 4:Uh-huh.
Speaker 3:Sometimes them refs got blind as well.
Speaker 1:Hey Paul, you feeling smart today. You want to take on a ref, for Are you Smarter Than a Redneck?
Speaker 3:Well, I guess you're going to be the honorary referee and see how this goes right.
Speaker 1:You got it. It is now time for. Are you Smarter Than a Redneck? Today is World Croc Day. Paul, you're going to be taking on referee Brian Lang to see who's smarter a redneck or a referee at high school sports.
Speaker 1:Here we go. If you know the answer, say your name. That's your buzzer. These are multiple choice. Which of the following is true about the behavior of crocodiles? One crocodiles are herbivores and primarily eat plants. B crocodiles can live both in freshwater and saltwater environments. C crocodiles are nocturnal and only hunt at night. Or D crocodiles give live birth instead of laying eggs. Paul Paul B they live in fresh and saltwater. They live in fresh and saltwater. You are correct you ever see a crocodile in Beaumont.
Speaker 3:No, I've seen all of them. Well, yeah, I have, because we've got what's called Gator Country. They used to have TV shows, right right, and yeah, I think they got a crocodile there, but they got a ton of alligators.
Speaker 1:All right. Next question In which of these animal categories do crocodiles fall? Is it A birds, b reptiles, c mammals or D amphibians? Brian.
Speaker 3:Brian Reptiles.
Speaker 1:Is it reptiles? We are tied at one apiece. This last question will determine who's smarter, brian. Crocodiles are A carnivore animals, b herbivores, paul.
Speaker 3:Are carnivores. A, b, urban, paul, our carnivores, they are carnivores.
Speaker 1:He is smarter than a referee. Sorry, brian, you are not smarter than a redneck today. We have been talking to Brian Lang this morning. He is an official for high school sports here in the White Mountains and, brian, you guys are looking for more officials this season because there's a big need for it. And what's great about this? This is an extra source of income. Go ahead and tell us how people can make some money by officiating high school sports.
Speaker 4:Well, it depends on what sport you do. Your highest paid is football. It pays $89 a game and then it drops all the way to your freshman JV games, where you're, you know where you start and where you learn, um, and that pays 52 50 a game. So anywhere in between there, dang Nice Plus, you get some mileage. You have to travel.
Speaker 1:Nice, and how much is the mileage Um?
Speaker 4:it's safe. So if you live in Sholo since that's where we're at now and you do show-lo game, you get a flat rate of $12. Okay, If you travel outside of your area, it's $0.50 a mile.
Speaker 1:All right. If you're looking for a side gig or some extra income or something extra to do with your time, consider being an official and referee for high school sports. We need your help. Go to AIAonlineorg to fill out the form and for more information. Brian, thank you so much for.
