This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jakin Zalis on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services. Make sure your most prized possessions katz R two side in iHeart Radio station. Yet, very good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, here jakmes As. We're by ourselves today. Is it Saturday? Yet? Almost? Almost? Soon? Man? I can't wait.
I'll take a nap. Yeah, we have a there's a scrimmage tomorrow, so I'll get to see some of the players at U of A. Right, you wouldn't have been working hard this week. See what it looks like, uh, you know, in live actions. So we'll see two weeks already, two week, three weeks, three weeks three, we're three weeks from the three weeks from the opener, well already, yeah, yeah, three weeks from the opener and au year Yeah, seven o'clock. I think
everyone was gonna revenge day. Yeah, that's exactly why I said that. Yeah, I agree with you. We need I should say we only needs, but like a fifty, you could say we you're a fan, I know, but fan boy. There's still a little piece of me that says you're you're still kind of a journalist. You shouldn't say we on the ring. Good that you remember that. Yeah, do you remember something you're from journalism school that is not a wee? I remember there's no team. Yeah,
there's a wee weakness. Yes, Hey, okay, cool, Hey, we have a different show today, A cool different show. A dream, A dream, a dream for any coach at the little league level. Right, Uh, we've got a mister Mills coming in, Males coming in.
He's the coach of the Marana Little League Softball juniors that got all the way to the Little League World Series, and not only the World Series, but I got any of the championship bracket of the world They got a full play, so they got to go up there and experience a full thing, played a bunch of games. And you know, if you ever coached a little league, your kid was in a little league, you know, somewhere in your mind the thought entered, how cool would it be without will support
or wherever without question? And so we'll we'll talk to Sam Meals about what that was like for him. Right, No, every little girl's dream where we coach's dream, guy's dream, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And then we have, of course of Jake Fisher trying to give us some his sound bites on whatever was going on in the world. Uh, you know, controversial with good straightforward. Yeah. You know, we always pick his brain for you know, because he had an experience that none of us
had. And e was to play, you know, major college football. There was a what was on the other day? There was a game on and because there goes Jake, He's on. He's on our show all the time. Oh really, I can't remember. It was a game. Yeah, it was a game from Uh it was a game from the It was the Mike Stoops time. Okay, I know that he probably saw it.
We'll ask him, and I remember got it. For some life of me, I can't remember who it was, but you know the goes number thirty three running around over there and uh yeah plays yeah, okay, okay, anything else going on we have? Uh we have, uh, just football. The guys are in Israel, I think now, I no, no, we're seeing We're starting to see pictures. They were in Jerusalem. Uh. The Bruce is sending is posting photos of various events. They're also posting
some photos. They had a dinner at at somebody's house, and they were at the the City of David. They were at at the Ventivity. Uh okay, there was a photo of Lumarbala who could barely fit in there. Where are you? Where are you seeing this? There was on the Twitter Twitter was Bruce's posting some stuff. I don't know who else, but I've seen a whole bunch of different stuff, but it is on Arizona site. One of Arizona's I haven't looked, I haven't paid attention to. Like one
was athletes for Israel. They were posting some stuff. Okay, I'm not sure who else. You know, it's funny when you're eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old or whatever you're seeing this kind of going play and come home. I know that's what it was in ninety seven day when they won the title, they went to Australia and they didn't want to go. They didn't want to go. They just didn't want to go. Let's go home. It's a long season. But then you get there and it's okay, I
guess we'll make the most of it. Yeah, you know, Arizona basketball is posting some stuff. Okay, I saw some of that that I'm look cool right now. Cool some airport shots, some train station shots, and as I said, Bruce, Bruce Past has been posting some stuff. So yeah, just a lot of you know, just a lot of background. I think there's still a couple more days before they play play any games.
But there was a picture that you know, they're going back into Israel and going through this checkpoint and there's a guy with a major weapon slung over his shoulders standing there. Yeah. No, those those are real moments, real moments. So I wanted to start the show a different way, and I think I may have asked you this recently, just in a different way. When was the last time you got you got turned down in the lastic effort to to save a marriage or the same save a relationship got turned down.
Well, I've been in one relationship, Steve, for going on actual obviously forty years. So well, okay, yeah, I did at okay, at the air was on the Daily Star all right when when I left there, Okay, I wasn't on trying to say the relationship they were I got, I took I had I had accepted a job at the at the at the Star, I mean at THET I was getting a fifty percent pay raise,
okay. And I put my letter uh on on the Imagine editor's desk, my resignation letter on the Maagine editor's desk, and no I was on the executive editor's desk. I put on his desk. And he comes back to me and he says, what can we do to keep you? I says, too late, because I tried for promotion. Oh, he didn't get it. So I went looking for a job. Oh okay, okay, So you initiated. And the reason I asked this is the obvious reason
is the PAC twelve. I mean they thought they thought they had something in their hand, or they were cocky or whatever word you want to use. Well, they're a bit full of themselves, yes, and we've known that for a while. Though it started they were up. They started when Larry
Larry Scott showed up. Yeah, I used I have been using the word the word uppity because there was all that you know again, and and it's something that you know, Bobby Robin said to you know, to somebody I know very well, said, don't don't overlook the academic piece of this, and then they overlook the academic piece of it, went to the Big twelve. And I don't blame them for going to the Big twelve under the circumstances, but you know, the academic piece was a big deal to the Pac
twelve. It wasn't a big deal to anybody else. Huh. You know, people were thinking, why do you care about the academics, and it's these schools. I felt they had sort of a a common mission academically, and you wanted to stay together because but you know, in the end, you know that didn't hold together. But you know, reading what we're reading now, you know there's all the not I don't want to call it Monday morning quarterback, but now everybody's fast what was going on? Sure, it's
funny because you know how it always is. No one talks during the when it's going on because they can't. You're afraid of jobs. Blah blah blah. And even an Ashue Guy, a former Area Issue Guy coach, comes in and rips into the program, rips into Richard the a d ray Anderson. But dare him say that during the time, right, because he's got a job. But now no one's capable of no one's smart enough, all these things, and it's funny how all this stuff comes out after the fact.
Yeah, And because where I wanted to go with that is that apparently the Pac twelve, where they're gonna get thirty million, they were gonna get what they wanted. I had a deal for thirty million, what not what they wanted, but what they could have survived with. And then they asked for fifteen They told it and and they told George Flaff to go get fifty and I wasn't in the room. I'mon said, they threw him the finger,
the proverbial finger, you know. Yeah, Yeah, that's the main thing that we're hearing that a year ago, and it was before it was
before the Big twelve got their deal. The Big ten had gotten their deal, which the number was sixty five million, and somehow the Pac twelve thought, uh, you know, with UCLA and USC gone already thought they could still get fifty million dollars, and and the and the and that that's there's two things there that to me, that's a sign of having a bunch of presidents who just don't know what the hell is going on when it comes to
this. And then the second piece of that with the George Kleavkov, whose jobs should have been Look, people, we're not gonna get fifty million dollars. Thirty million dollars is the deal. Let's go ask them for thirty five and see what they said and getty and they yeah, and get whatever instead they said fifty and ESPN yeah, walked out the door. It reminds me a little of the Internet twenty whatever. It came twenty twenty five years ago, and nobody knew what to make of it. Oh, don't worry,
it's gonna go away. The newspapers started saying, no, then we gotta do this, and got to do that. And then by the time it kind of snowballed. It's swallowing up newswapers, every everything. And then by that time people are thinking, oh, maybe we should have done something different. Well, it's too damn late. It's too damn late, and it's already swallowed you hole it, did you know? I mean, look on you know. It's it's that it's that ugly feeling that we we always get
when we try and go buy a car, we're buying a house. You know, how much is how much do you ask for you know what negotiating. Negotiating is hard, and you know there's some people haven't stomached for it to some people. Yeah, I don't, I don't. I don't either. These guys were dumb. It turns out they were dumb. They thought
they were worth fifty million dollars. And then I wonder what they thought when the Big twelve said, Okay, we're good at thirty one seven, and like, oh god, weet thirty by that time was too late, right right, you know, let's see it's your come up. Please please let me a better husband please or boyfriend. No, sorry, dude, he's
too late. The comedy of airs. And then you know, and then that, you know, the Big they then they still thought they had a deal done on you know, last Friday morning for twenty five, for possible twenty five and and and you know, and they thought Oregon and Washington were in. And then they wake up and they find out Oregon and Washington have left the building. Let me ask you this, and I just just pumped into my head. Okay, so we've moved from the Pac twelve to this
to the Big twelve. In five years, there's another deal five years and well they're gonna start, they're gonna start negotiating them in five years. Okay, So so let me ask you, what if, what if there's a chance to return to the PAC twelve. Well, again, I think not
to the Pac twelve, but to the to the west. What I would like to see, and I've said this and what I would hope would happen, was that, you know, they'll they'll they'll organize the upper echelon on of you basically power of five football, and organize a regionally and then everybody saying everybody gets money and relax. Again, I don't have faith that's going to happen, because the Big twelve, I mean the Big Ten and the and the SEC are is such a powerful position. They're gonna try and grab
as much of it as they can. Or they're gonna say, okay, we'll organize like that, but we in the Big ten and we in the SEC get more money than you guys who are coming from the ACC and the Big twelve. Yeah, but I'm talking I'm talking more but organized the regionally yeast. But that's what I'm saying. You know, you take all the team. What I'm saying is that you got what eighteen teams. Now in
the big ten, you still got sixteen teams in the SEC. Those thirty four teams are gonna want a bigger share the pie than the other teams that are currently there, not that aren't in their league. And that may be how it happens, but I would like to see everything get organized regionally. Well, everybody does see that coming. And there's always that team like Florida
State or like USC which I've seen on Twitter. Now that's saying they blew it when they didn't give you a see a bigger share, because because you see what a bigger share just to make them happy, keep them in, keep them in step. No, they didn't do that. And you see Florida State say we're Florida State. We're the biggest piece out here in the ACC. We want more. Well, sorry, you already saying what you say. What what they need to do is the football needs reflects its muscles
and say, okay, TV networks, you want our product. Everybody. These these sixty four teams all get seventy million dollars and you can have us and it's an inordinate amount of money. It's a huge amount of money, but you get it all for seventy million dollars, you get a playoff, you get you know, and you givvy it up however you want between Fox and ESPN. That's the number. You guys, get your butts together, get in a room, figure it out, and you come back to us.
And when you got seventy or seventy five million dollars for every every school and of these sixty four however many teams it is. Now we're talking, then what's the TV you get? Then? And then but then if everybody is getting the same amount of money, then you can organize it by read what what po what? How much his bread? In your world? I just had I just had a sugar free rip beer and I think it's because but that. But that's that's what that's that's where you got. That's how
you got. You're trying to make everybody happy. They or you might say, okay, SEC and Big ten are currently getting sixty five. You give up, we get seventy five, You give fifty to all the others. That's the pot of money. You need to come up with it. If you don't do that, guess what we're gonna stream. We're gonna stream everything you don't get it. Yeah, but they're not gonna they don't want to do that either. That's a bluff. Let's call you. If you're gonna
make a bluff, you're gonna be able to form our own. We'll form our own. You know college football? Well, uh, you know streaming network in every game will be streamed and we're gonna make this much money because people are gonna buy it. Will you hould you buy it? That's a good question, right, you would buy it? See questions. You're not gonna not watch college football? Uh no, No, I'd buy it. I'd buy it, I guess, go reluctantly. But you'd pay as much
as you pay for direct TV, if not more. Yeah, and I don't pay for that. Yeah, well you're going to but yeah, actually I paid a lot for Comcast, which I don't want to. Yeah. Yeah, I guess maybe, yeah, maybe, but likely. Okay, Hey, we're gonna get a call here from coach Mills here and then we have Jake later, so we'll have some fun with this one. All right,
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Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera. He's jakins as now and if we have coach Sam Mills from the Moreno, Italy Junior softball team, Sam, how are you doing fantastic? Steja, How are y'all doing the seven end? We're doing well. How long was this summer for you? It actually feel like it flew by a very very fast, you know, day by day as you're preparing for these kind of things that it seems long, but now looking back, it just snapped the finger and now now it's August.
Yeah, so let let's start at the end. You got to the World Series, which is which is the goal. You're made it into the championship bracket, you know, which again, you know, it's just a hard thing to do. Talk talk to us about getting to the world you got you got there, the experience that that you had, and the kinds of things that that that that the girls and and you know and you guys got to see got to experience, got to do well, just fills in on
some of that experience. Was it was humbling to get the opportunity certainly one of those things that just grateful that the girls got that experience, and as a coach, they just kind of sit back and see the smiles that come along with with everything that they got to participate in. You know, it
was it was a whirlwind. Once you arrive there in Seattle. They they have you, you know, trying on uniforms and getting fitted and you know, filling out ESPN questionnaires so that you know, they can make sure they let everybody know that I think every girl's favorite singers, Taylor Swift and and you know what they what their favorite dinner food is, and you know,
favorite TV show. It was. It was fun for the girls to kind of sit down and and sill that out and hear their response and then have him laugh about it when they were talking about it when they were watching later on. So we talked about having kids and pood plaid sports and this is kind of a dream come true. At foreign a parent and any coach, at what point did you kind of have time to pinch yourself and say, God, look at this, look at what we're doing. We're winning State,
We're going to the to the to the Nationals and TV. I had to pinch myself along the way multiple times. I think it hit me which was a neat moment was during the opening ceremonies and we're sitting there standing on the field looking around and you've got ten teams and when they started singing, you know, four other national anthems from Mexico, Canada, the Philippine, Czech Republic, and then obviously are fantastic star Spangled banner, which was emotional
and just a neat moment. You know that that was I think one of those pinching moments where like, we are at a world series, this is best competition out there, and it was probably one of the times that I pinched myself along the way. So so you you got you're you're there and you're you're getting ready to play games and whatnot. Oh, you know, with all, as you said, all the other stuff that was going on, at some point, you guys have to start thinking about games, right.
Was there was there any nervousness among them, you know, oh we're on TV or you know, we're playing for the world World Championship, you know, nervousness among the girls that you got a sense of, or did they just kind of take it all and we'll here, let's play. I mean, how how did how did you sense the girls were handling all that?
No, there definitely was a sense, and it's it's one of those things in hindsight, you know, You're we were just kind of thrown into it as such a you know, we won regionals and within you know, less than twelve hours, we were on a plane to Seattle. So you're just you're you're really just kind of rushing through the moment. But you saw it in the dugout and talking with some of the girls during innings and those
kind of things. It's like, oh, I'm on ESPN, you know, and you heard them say little little things like that, and you're trying to be the calm, reassuring voice. Hey, it's just a game. Everything's fine, you know, don't worry about it. Everybody, you know, makes mistakes here and there or whatever. But it certainly was was prevalent and a reality we had to work through. And I think each girl handled it in their own way, but at some moment, I think every single
one probably felt something different. Obviously. I mean I even cut myself going and talking with the Empire and then all of a sudden, I'm staring up into the campus. I was like, oh, yeah, what am I here to talk about? You know, it was just one of those surreal moments of oh yeah, this is on TV. It was. It was
pretty funny. It's funny because I was watching it today, the Little League World Series, uh in the West part because they're getting ready to play in Williamsport and the coaches getting miked up, right, some of you guys get licked up, and I'm thinking some coaches are down and it's bottom of the sixth they play sixth ennis, and I'm thinking, if I'm a coach, I'm sure there's a time in there where I'm gonna be pissed, you know, and the camera's gonna be on me. But you're not. You're you're
coaching twelve year olds. You can't be you know what I'm saying, you can't be. Yeah, we, I guess, I don't know if I want to say we luckily at the juniors level didn't have the mics on us, so whether for better or worse, uh, we didn't have to go through that. But still with you know, the TVs and microphones along the side, you know certainly what you were yelling out and whether it was instructions or anything. You're like, Okay, I just want to make sure i'm
I'm saying this the right way. No, yeah, okay, I'm gonna get a chair in my asking you this question. But your daughter's on the team, you're at the World Series, you know, excuse me any you know any moments you had with her to talk about, you know, the goal that you know you two had achieved together, you know, on this team getting into the World Series of coaching player, I'm getting goosebumps just you saying that I walked up to field in tears with her we after our last
game get into Canada. I just kind of took her aside and talked with her, and it was a special moment I'll always remember with her and just being able to thank her for letting me coach her. And and you know, obviously all the girls you create a bond, but when you have your own, your child there, I mean, that's why I got into coaching, was so I could spend more time with my kids. And to have that with her was was so special and very reflective as looking back on Regional
and all the hard work that we but in how difficult is this? And we see it all the time when you have a coach and and and the daughter or the son plays and that fine line being tough but not tough, you know, because you have other kids to coach, you do, and you know, I'm surrounded by other amazing you know, coaches that help out along the way. And so I think we each play our our roles, you know, Chris Beck, Jason names of Brett Winter, Jim Sayer.
I mean, you know, they they're all awesome. And so I think between the balance of us working with our own daughters and that also knowing how to approach each one because we've we've been together for you know, I think four or five years, that that helps you know who who needs to go talk with that one at that time, at that moment. So it's a
it's a good balance. We talked about your being in the regionals that you had, you had the home field advantage, they were here, But at what point did you think you guys had a chance to do this, you know, to get to the World Series. Yet you thought you were good enough and if I could act to that. Was there a game in there where you were maybe one out, two outs away from not going or advancing. Yeah, no, it was, you know, I'll tell you a
little bit about that. But like the moment that I felt like the team was ready and prepared. It was pretty neat. We was about a month out from regionals and we sat them all in the dugout and I took a Washington postcard and handed it to each one of the girls and I said, I want you to write a note to yourself, as if you've already won
regionals. I want you to describe how it felt to win regionals. I want you to talk about a play that you might have had in regionals that you know was the game winning catch or home run or you know strike, you know, striking somebody out. And I said, I want you to hang this up on your mirror and every day I want you to look at it. I want you to touch it. I want you to say, I'm going to Kurtlyn, Washington, which is where you know it was held.
And I was like, you you visualize that, you verbalize it and said it and it was it was. There was like a special feeling in the dugout. It's like, you know, you're kind of as a coach is like, how are they how is this going to be received by the girls. It's going to be goofy or whatever. But there was a buy in with smiles on their faces and you could kind of sense that. And fast forward to the regionals and in game two, we faced a tough Washington
team and we actually lost. They beat us ten five, and it was one of those moments where as a coach you look in their eyes and in their faces and every single girl is like, we got this, we got this, We're going to do it. We have a goal, We've put in the hard work, and we're going to do it. And that was just rewarding as a coach to see that response. And then we went back
and won five straight to win out the regionals. It wasn't easy. We had a tough game against Nevada, we won two to one against Alaska, and then we had to go back and beat that Washington team twice in the championship. But and you did, and you did right, So yeah, you know, so you know, Steve and I have talked and you can
you can plug this into you know, teams at all levels. There has to be a certain you know, obviously you don't have a locker room in the Little League, but you know, there's a lot a feel in the locker room, a feel among the players to be able to do things like this. You can have all the talent in the world. Father players hate each other, you're not gonna you're not gonna win championships, or you can be less talented than others. But if your team is you know, very
together and all on the same page, you can achieve more. Did you get that sense from your team that there was there was this commonality that they all had, uh you know, playing together, liking each other. Uh, you know, no drama, all that kind of stuff. Was there a sense of that? Oh? Really, there really was. I mean, they their friends off the field as well. You know, they're they're
just a tight knit group. And you know, they've got amazing parents, They've got amazing you know, extended family that you know, we've got to know throughout the years. And and that family extended not only just the girls,
I think is just such a fantastic support group. And couldn't be more grateful to be associated with each one of those girls and their parents, and you know everybody that comes up to support us at the Games, and that was supporting us here and you know Marana Southern Arizona when we went off to
the World Series. So so you know, we're both parents. Like we said, Uh, then you win the regional here and you think, we know, we've got to come up with money to get to Seattle or how or how is that because you know it's not cheap, Well, it's it's fortunate, Little League. When you go to the World Series, all of the players and coaches, their expenses are covered. They take care of the flights, the food, the hotels, accommodation and everything, which was a
huge benefit. And then there were some you know, amazing people and group that helped to you know, chip in to you know, make sure. I think every single one of the girls had parents there during the week, if not the whole time, at least we're able to go and watch them play. And you know, there was just an overwhelming amount of support. Get parents there or they could experience to vote with their girls. Okay, so when when did this group of girls win a stake championship somewhere? Well,
we've got to ten of them headed to Morana High. We're trying to get the two they're going to Ironwood and cdo they need to come come and stay in Mirana so we can foster that championship there. But you need to see that's exciting. So let me ask you, where did you come up with the postcard thing? I just one of those inspired I'll give it my one, my one good idea as a coach for my entire career. I
guess I don't know. It just it just came to me. I was like, there needs to be something they can do and see every single day so they keep their eye on the mark. And that's that's what I came up with. And the cool part was we took those postcards with us and then they put them in the mail and send them back. They sent them back to their their homes and we're able to receive them once they got back home. That's so cool. Well, that's a nice lasting memory. And
maybe what is your lasting memory from this? It's hard to sum up in in one I think just the softball. I don't know outside of the team and family and all that, but was just the softball community and experiencing it from a worldwide perspective. When you hear Banish being spoken in the dugout in check and the Philippines, and to meet players and coaches from all around the world, you know that that to me would be hard to rectlicate in anything
going forward. And you know you're on a bus after a game and you got girls from the Czech Republic in Canada and Arizona seeing and justin beaver baby baby at the top of their lungs. You know, just you know, you can't those are those are things that they're just one that will will be with me for a very very long time. Okay, coach, great, have you on the show. Congratulations coach No, Steve Kay, thank you, appreciate the opportunity. A lot of fun thing. All right, thank
you very much. Well, we'll see you in about four years. I guess let's put it on the calendar. All right, thanks so much, good afternoon. You know that's cool. That's that's a dream come true for coaches and kids and all that stuff. You know. I mean, you know, I was the I was the one of the coaches on my son's twelve year old team, right the team that plays for Williams. We don't even get out of districts. But you know, you had that little thing
though. I think we're really good, you know, we have a chance at this. Yeah, and then you get out there and you play and guess what, everybody else is really good too. That's my lasting memory of my little little league team. We played in the state tournament and then got beat, got beat. It was tough stuff. Okay, let's let's take a break. Okay, maybe get some calls in there. We'll get some calls. We'd love to hear some little league experience. There've been some teams
I've been very much in another World Series, very much so. Some teams that got to the regionals this year. Canyon View, the twelve year old team got to the regionals this year, so you know, one state. So I would love be here here from some folks five two zero four one six seventy four four. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you'd know it's been successful for newly forty years now. Take a look back at the
Ludolson era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Loot is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. What one Email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety
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to the podcast on the radio. Hey, welcome back to twy on the Back here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, he's Jay. We have about twelve minutes. You'd like to give us a quick call five two o four one six seventy four forty that'd be great. That'd be great. If you want to talking about your little league experience, that'd be cool. Yeah, I we'd love to hear that. There's been a lot more than five. I mean, well there have been in the various World Series.
I know, you know when you're talking about teams that have been to Williamsport, there have been two two right right, the Vosburg Ex team and then UH team in eighty five. Yeah. I did a twenty five year reunion from those guys. Yeah, and he showed me Tims. It was a lot of fun. The one thing, this is, what are you guys talking about? Well, our girlfriends us talking about it. Well, you know, I had a I had a weird, just a crazy trip covering
that team. Because are you are you told me about that? It was a crazy you had to get their name or something. Well, in in all of our in all of our uh uh, we just didn't think too because at that time at the paper, it was a single elimination tournament with eight teams. Single elimination. You lose one game, you're gone. So our our management didn't think that maybe we should go cover them to to where Williams. You didn't go to December the day. No, no, we
didn't even think about that. We just had them call in and so they so they qualified for Williams Sport they're going for So they get there. Nobody thought, you know what, maybe somebody should be there. So they win, they win their first game. Now they're gonna play for the national champ for you know, the American National American Championship, and so you know the games in the afternoon, they win, and I'm in the office working doing
whatever I'm doing. It was a summer, right, and they said, hey, we need somebody to go, and you're in because I was at guy Steve Emery, probably Chuck Kramer, Ramer sevem co manage because an internet somewhere. I don't remember this, but okay, you were, you were an Internet but you weren't news. Were you in news in sports? Well? I started sports right before that, maybe a couple of weeks before. Okay, I hadn't been in sports. I went over to sports after Sam
Pollock and okay, yeah, yeah, yeah you were there. That was a year after that noise. Okay, So they say, hey, we need we need to send somebody now, and they're like, what the hell? So they put me on a ten pm flight out of Phoenix. Okay, so it's a red eye, red eye of Pittsburgh, puddle jumpers to to uh to Williams Sport. I get to Williams Sport race. You know, I got no sleep, right race to the Little League office. The gout a credential for me. I, you know, go over and the
game is about to start and I covered the game. Didn't you spend more time with them after the game? After they lost? So then they win again. So now they say, now we need a photographer because they played for the champions. Wait wait, so you went there and saw them win. I saw them win. Okay, Okay, I saw them win the American champil that's right, because they they win. So now they say, now we send a photographers. So they send Benji Sanders, the photographer on
the same deal. You had, the exact same fly. I got him at the airport. We raced over to to to the Little League office. He gets his credential. We raced to the stadium and we get there in time for the you know, for the start of the game. And we cover the game and they played, Taiwan played, Taiwan got beat bad. Taiwan had a bunch of eighteen. That's what. That's the one thing they always talked about these guys. Look, their picture was bigger, The picture
was bigger than me. And he had hairy arms. That's what. That's what they said. That's what they said. He picked up his catcher and he held him like a baby, you know, just like he heild him on his step like a baby. That's so so Now, so I, you know, I gotta do the you know. So they asked me to a game story and then do a color story on the kids. So I go to their dorm, you know, because they've got dorms. So I go to their dorm fully expected. Walk into this dorm and they're gonna be
crying and upset. They're jumping on the jad having a party. They're having a great time. They did them. It was I was I felt I was more sad about it than they were for that. But I thought that was such a great thing in that and I'm sure the photos the photos were perfect, oh yeah, and that they were just having a great time and they loved being there. They had a great time. So I just went up to each kid and asked for their favorite memory. And that was my
story. I just did a you know, every kid on the rosters, easiest story. But but so who's the coach? I can't remember. I had to. If I could have google the citizen, I would do that because I remember we had pictures and all that. A lot of a few of them have passed away. I have the newspaper clipping somewhere because okay, because my dad before he passed away, gave me a box. I'm he saved all my sports clips to your death. Yeah he was. There was
a big guardboard, Bob, you know I still have it. Have been a hoarder. I don't know what he was doing. Man, I'm gonna see if your can kind of google, you know, from your natually do all this stuff. If they can find that. But it was great. I loved it. They were having a great time and it was a great story, and I felt really good about it at the end because I felt like they weren't having it great. Their kids being kids. Kids are being
kids, you know, it's that's what it's supposed to be. You know, we get nervous, we get upset with Sure, I'm not saying they didn't care because they cried on the field. Sure, of course. We got to the doorman, they were I mean literally, I thought somebody kid was gonna break his neck because they were jumping from one bunk bed another. Something like that happened that a couple of years ago. They were doing that. But it was great. They you know, I love those kids.
Or a couple of them went on to play. You know, they were good, you know, high school baseball players. But it was a great experience for me. It's it's one of my highlights as a sports writing Yeah. No, those memories are fun and it's an easy story to write because when they're there to have fun and quotable, and the coaches are fine and they're just not a worry in the world. They didn't worry about what they were saying. I was having to it. You know, I loved this
and you know, this was a great time. I loved the you know, that's a cool bucket list story that that's you should It was one of those things that you know, and not a lot you know, not everybody gets to cover that. It's all of these teams are from small towns and stuff like those reporters. They're not at the New York Times in the lap stuff there weren't you know, the airs on a daily Star and the Kurpland newspaper, remember, you know, And it was a blast. I had
such a great time. But and then back then it was had a great time. They gave me a clip from the it was ABC. I remember they showed him an ABC on the VCR and it was just nothing. Not how they do it now. It's it's a production. Yeah, yeah, it's a big product. It wasn't near what and the stadium is much not I mean I got to the stadium, right, I got to the stadium and it was leaking water in the bathrooms and stuff like that. It was it was you know, you know two or three, right, there's two.
It reminded me of a mini Comiskey Park. Just it was old, and you know, there were their beams in the you know, in the seats and stuff like that. I remember that, you know, and they they they've dulled it up really nice for ESPN. Sure, No, no, it's it's a fun time for the kids and all that. I didn't I didn't realize that the girls softball team played there too, because I was
watching it today with girls Majors whichever ones it was. It was today and they were playing in Williams Sport. I said, I guess they used it the facility before they changed over to them with the boys. It's a it's a it's a massive facility with practice fields and stuff like that. But back then it was the one stay and that was it. Yeah, you know, and that was it. No, no more power and more power great,
great for the kids. Uh And maybe we could talk about this down the road if we get you know, more high school more literally naturally, the Cactus team that went with Bosburg and those guys, my little league Gosbar team played against them the year before they You said that, you said that Bosberg wasn't on that team, and they were pretty good and a bunch of
those guys they won. Yeah, they went who was the Hispanic guymbers that there was another guy with must tell Mike Fembers and there was had to be another Mike Fembers was that he was a little left handed. Pictures Stu who had a ball to end all. Yeah, and he was he was their ace. And the next year Bossburg was the number two pitcher on that team, but he was their ace. And what I remember was he they they would he had he was he had an asthma medications. They wouldn't let him
use it. Oh, because the drug STUF and there was a big controversy over you know, interfected him. But they also played Taiwan and they also got their asses kid. Yeah, Tian Taiwan used to own that thing. But you know, very fun, very fun experience. And I can only imagine the spectacle that it is now with with you know, with the ESPN and wits, because back then all they all that you saw on TV was the championship game on Sunday. I'm going on Saturday. That's it. That's
the only thing that that was televised was the championship game. Now now they've got regionals, you know that they're that are on ESPN, So a lot of fun, a lot of fun, a lot of dreams of those kids, do you man, you know what I know ed? Bosberg went on to play, you know, in the Major and stuff. One of those kids you made, they some of them played high school stuff. That's their memory. Yeah, sure of course their athletic. There was another guy,
and I'll have to come up with the name. Maybe i'll uh, and you st Mark's Yeah, that's it. Yeah, he was. He was on that. That's the guy was saying. Yeah. He played at that point with Bossburg and also played it. He was also the Major And and you think, who do we talking about these girls here? Uh? At some point either they get burnt out or catch up up. We're gonna We're
gonna see. You know, when when you play, when you have a team to get there's one or two girls in there and they go or players, I should say, whether boys or girls, they go on and do great thing. Well, I'll be a great picture or a great hitter. I saw I covered something at the start of The Citizen fifteen twenty years ago, and there was a little girl, a little blonde girl with a ponytail. She had to be eight ten years old. And I'm taking this little
girl could play. I mean, you don't see little girls who can physically play and they look great. And then she turns out to be the kid. Uh, I can't remember Foothills or somewhere in the Northwest. And then she plays at Stanford and they have the sisters, the sisters, and they're unbelievable. If Hobbiers listened to me, they're just the bostrooms, the bunch rooms. These girls are just amazing. I'm thinking I would draft here tomorrow.
Yeah. No, it's it's it's yeah, no, I mean, it's just it's it's great to see them because you know something, like you said, some of them stop, but some of them keep playing and they go right. You know, Eddie Bosborg, right, played in the Little League World Series, you know, played in the College World there's only one of three lay in the Major League. Only one of three dudes. Yeah. Yeah, we've had him on the show a few times and these we
talk about it all the time. Yeah, very cool. Yeah, it's just it's a it's an experience that I hope that at least with the with the Williamsport piece of it has gotten too big where it's not fun for these kids, nobody. But if you're able to have a pool play and you're able to stay there, now you get to go play some you spend some time. It's not a one and lose one and go home, go home, right right, right, No, that's that's always always should have been.
Yeah, we maybe we would have survived, but yeah, okay, so this is a good first hour. We're gonna have what are you gonna breaking news? Yeah, we've got some breaking news and more discussion of all the realignment stuff that's leftover stuff that's going on. And then Jake and then Jacob will remind everybody coming out of our show, uh, the airs one
of Cardinals first preseason games tonight at seven o'clock against Denver. Right after our show, we go into the Cardinals the pregame show and then they kick off at seven o'clock on our station right here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. So we hope you'll stick around for that. We've got Jake Fisher coming up at three fifteen and breaking news here at the top of the hour, so I'll stick around for all of that.