{"id":214439,"date":"2016-09-19T18:55:44","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T22:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/172.24.32.11\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/"},"modified":"2016-09-19T18:55:44","modified_gmt":"2016-09-19T22:55:44","slug":"a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/","title":{"rendered":"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

RUSH:  Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I flew into Kansas City for the funeral, the memorial, of a really good guy, a great, great friend of mine, from the days that I lived in Kansas City.  I was in Kansas City from 1975 through \u201984, it was ten years, and I met Ernie Mai, M-a-i is how he spelled his name. I met him around 1980, shortly after I had started working at the Kansas City Royals. Maybe before then. It was right around the time, \u201979, \u201980, in that area, and I\u2019ve told you about the shack that I lived in.  And it was. <\/p>\n

I lived in Overland Park, Kansas, which was considered a very upscale zip code, but not my part in it.  I was one of these people that bought a house that had no business buying a house. It was \u201979, it was \u201980, interest rates were 12, 13%, and the whole thought process was you\u2019ve got to own a house, you\u2019re throwing away money renting.  You\u2019ve got to buy a house.  I didn\u2019t have enough. I didn\u2019t earn enough money to own a house and keep it up and I didn\u2019t have enough money to really buy a decent house, but I got caught up in the whole home sale business. <\/p>\n

I met Ernie by way of the real estate agent that sold the house. Ernie was her next-door neighbor.  When I\u2019d go over to see her she introduced me to Ernie and his kids and we became fast friends.  Yesterday I was listening to people talk about Ernie in the memorial.  For some reason it just struck me what a crapshoot it is for everybody to make it in life.  It really is a crapshoot.  Making it emotionally, making it financially, making it career wise, nothing is guaranteed for the vast majority of people.  And it so depends on the people you meet in your life.  The kind of inspiration you get, the kind of hope you get, guidance from your family of course.<\/line><\/p>\n

Ernie was just the nicest guy and he worried so much that I had bought this house. He worried it was literally gonna fall in on me.  Routinely in the winter you\u2019d get 10-below nights in Kansas City and he would come over and look at the furnace.  His business, he was in the construction business.  He restored burnt-out office buildings and homes, specialized in restoring items destroyed by fire, properties destroyed by fire. <\/p>\n

And he\u2019d come over and he\u2019d just look at me. I\u2019d ask him about the furnace or the air conditioner, he looked like Jack Lemmon, by the way, he\u2019d look at me, just shake his head as though you\u2019re in a hopeless situation here.  You are living on a wing and a prayer that this thing is gonna stop working tonight.  And he was funny.  He had the greatest kids. <\/p>\n

In fact, I couldn\u2019t even afford a lawn mower, nor did I have the time to mow the yard.  It was 18-hour days during home stands. So he sent his kids over to mow the yard every two weeks.  They\u2019d show up in the car, get the lawn mower out of the trunk, they\u2019d mow it, smiles on their faces. I would do my best to get them Royals tickets when I could.  In fact, the oldest son, Dan, met his wife — their son just got married a week ago, you talk about a bittersweet, their father dies, Dan\u2019s father dies, a week later is their son\u2019s wedding.  It\u2019s a bittersweet moment. <\/p>\n

But I was thinking about the crapshoot that life is, because when I was living in this shack — I mean, it was not like Obama\u2019s brother\u2019s hut.  I don\u2019t want you to misunderstand, but I had no business being there. I couldn\u2019t make the house payment and the MasterCard payment together in the month.  They both came in the same 15-day period and I couldn\u2019t make them both so my MasterCard was always late and I ended up losing it for a while because of it. <\/p>\n

Anyway, going over to Ernie\u2019s house — even though my family was great, going over to Ernie\u2019s house and being welcomed there and hang around over there was one of those crucially important aspects.  “It\u2019s possible, you can do it.”  You know, I presented myself with a lot of obstacles to overcome by quitting college after a semester and behaving in business in ways that resulted in getting fired.  Well, I actually only got fired for insubordination once.  It\u2019s just the nature of the business. You get fired in radio. <\/line><\/p>\n

Ernie lived to be 88 and he was just always smiling and laughing, set a great example for everybody, everybody loved him, he had tremendous friends, and it was just a shame.  Everybody has to pass away, but he was important to a lot of people.  And I couldn\u2019t let the day go by without mentioning how much love I had for their family and respect.  A lot of them get away, go out to Beaver Creek, some on their way now, \u2019cause it\u2019s been a bittersweet couple of weeks.  I\u2019ve been to Beaver Creek out in Colorado, Vail and Eagle, used to be a member of the golf club out there.  Ego Springs it was named. It\u2019s actually Eagle Springs. <\/p>\n

But he was just one of these unique people.  We\u2019d sit around, for example, Ernie, he was a very successful guy, but there were still, in the neighborhood — I was across the street and a couple of neighborhoods away, but across the street and a couple neighborhoods away from Ernie were the really big monstrous mansions, and we\u2019d sit out in his backyard and look over at \u2019em and wonder what the people who lived in \u2019em did.  And I would say, “Ernie, don\u2019t worry, those people are in debt, you can\u2019t believe it.”  He said, “To hell they are, they\u2019ve got $500,000 of automobiles in the driveway.”  And we\u2019d chuckle and yuk it up and go driving through the neighborhood wondering what those people did. <\/p>\n

He later in life got interested in flying with the Oshkosh air show and was just in his element.  He had a nickname for everybody, too.  But I\u2019m gonna miss him a lot. His kids have become good friends as well.  It happens when you get older, you start losing people, really, really good people.  Anyway, I appreciate your indulging for me that couple of minutes.  <\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH:  Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I flew into Kansas City for the funeral, the memorial, of a really good guy, a great, great friend of mine, from the days that I lived in Kansas City.  I was in Kansas City from 1975 through \u201984, it was ten years, and I met Ernie Mai, M-a-i is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH:  Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I flew into Kansas City for the funeral, the memorial, of a really good guy, a great, great friend of mine, from the days that I lived in Kansas City.  I was in Kansas City from 1975 through \u201984, it was ten years, and I met Ernie Mai, M-a-i is […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/\",\"name\":\"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-19T22:55:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-19T22:55:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH:  Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, I flew into Kansas City for the funeral, the memorial, of a really good guy, a great, great friend of mine, from the days that I lived in Kansas City.  I was in Kansas City from 1975 through \u201984, it was ten years, and I met Ernie Mai, M-a-i is […]","twitter_image":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website","url":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/listentoit.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/","name":"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-09-19T22:55:44+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-19T22:55:44+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2016\/09\/19\/a_few_words_about_my_friend_ernie_mai\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Few Words About My Friend Ernie Mai"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}