This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Want to take part in the show called up Steve now went five two oh four one, six seventy four forty.
Hey, welcome back to my on the ball here, Fox Sports torteen fifty. I'm Steve. You're Tim.
Hello.
No, we have Henry and Matt in the building. You can call us. You can call us anytime. I will a real quick in this creek news.
Well, this is I on the Ball. Breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
The Raiders have hired Pete Carroll as head coach this morning.
I don't know, I don't know. I think it's a good deal good I don't know. But you think he's obviously a winner.
He's a winner. You know.
Tom Brady's in there, you know, making a you know, probably making his voice heard for a small percentage that he owns.
He's probably driving the bus more than we think.
Sure, And you know Pete Carroll's you know, excited, you know, he's ready to go.
He's he's seventy does he say seventy four?
Wow?
Bel Chick's about that age too.
Yeah, maybe seventy one seventy. Carol's older than Belchi. Yeah, just a little bit.
But but you know, if you look at them, probably nice Bridge coach, you know, true Antonio Pierce was there before.
And you know kind of was same old.
Yeah.
I think he got the raw, you know, the wrong end of the deal on that. But but Pete Carroll, you know, it's it puts him in the news. It's high profile. Tom Brady, Pete Carroll. You know, can they get can they get some folks excited about coming there? I think that's what this is about.
So Vegas, we'll see. Arizona has scheduled a home and home series with Washington State starting in twenty twenty six and Pullman in twenty twenty seven. Football, right, yeah, football.
So I saw this news today and I'm thinking this is big news today. I mean, they played Washington State forever and now they're making it. Okay.
I got an email today but announcing this, so it.
Was like alert. It was like high alert.
Do you think you know it's we're at TMC, you know TMC Healthworks, We we sponsored, we get in there and so I get those emails. You know it's okay. I mean I think it's it. Uh locally, probably satisfies from some folks.
But.
Okay, I know I won't be back. I won't pooo. We've got some big college basketball games this weekend. Number seven Houston takes on number twelve Kansas.
And is it at Allen Fieldhouse at Kansas?
Yeah?
Should we go? Oh? Number six Tennessee at number one Auburn and number thirteen Texas A and M at Texas.
Yeah. I love the big games.
My buddy Dave Otam is a big Houston fan, ran track across country. Dave oteh them he used to coach.
That week for Ust.
He probably did, but he's he's my Houston insider, he says.
He says they're good. They know how to dribble and shoot.
That's what should you should do when you play basketball. It's like, would you guys run? They're not a run?
They're not. Yeah, they're they're good runners. What makes them good? They're fast?
Yeah.
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts anticipates wearing a knee brace for Sunday's game versus the Commanders after he injured his knee last week versus Thoriums.
Knee brace meee, based, I don't care. I think they're going to be the Washington General.
You know, how many years ago is it that they started putting knee braces on everybody preemptively? Remember nineteen eighty six, eighty six. But I mean he had hurt, he was hurt. But you know, they they started putting those knee braces on every lineman, every player, you know, I mean, how how long has it been since you know there's been you know, a horrible knee injury career ending you know, So those knee braces are so good.
I don't think it's going to hinder him at all. I make him a little bit more confident.
Yeah, we'll see, we'll see. I still like Philly. I don't know why because your guy Barkley.
Yeah, on Barkley three hundred yards. He's got to go to the His initials are SB. He's got to go to the Super Bowl.
Right, Draft Kings, you get the Draft Kings Special. Yeah, SB to the SB.
Let's go. Arizona softball players Dakota Kennedy and Reagan Shockey were named to the All Big Twelve preseason team.
They're going to They picked the finish third I think in the league in their league, in the conference, which is pretty good. We'll see what what happened?
Who's Oklahoma?
Yeah? No, no, they're not in the Big twelve all right? Texas Texas, Uh no, I don't know. Do do you have anything there?
I can find it? Yeah, I just would be curious.
You know, all those teams I think owe a debt of gratitude.
To Oklahoma State one, Texas Tech two, Arizona three.
You know Texas Tech is that they have the girl from Stanford who's getting paid million dollars so to pitch.
Well, listen, those teams, Oh, a debt of gratitude to the U of A Wildcats those early night sure, you know every one of those schools.
Grandfather, Yeah, the grandfather, Mike.
Andre you know they you know, which is great. And I've talked about this.
I love those those secondary sports, those track and softball, those those kids. Theres are all the accolades and all the nil they get, but they do Arizona.
Yeah, no, they just surpassed them totally.
And for baseball players, Mason White and Brendan summer Hill were named to the All Big twelve preseason too.
All right, so we'll see how good they're going to be. Their rank to the top twenty top, there's so many of them.
Yeah, there's second in the Big twelve. You saw that.
Excuse me, you're not with me on Monday. We're gonna have chip Hail on Monday. So we'll see what he says. See what he says. That's all I got for You got okay? And he goes in the ESPN or anything like that.
Is there any Is there any news on Patrick Holmes, Patrick mahomes the news or homes homes?
Anybody home?
I told you last out. My mom is a big fan. She and her husband watch every Chiefs game. They make sure they watch it. It's it's it's kind of fun to watch it.
Goes I.
We make what time is the Chiefs game on? And so I have to look it up for her and she knows and and they love it.
So like a Facebook post what time did the Cats play? And what channel? And come on, I know, just google a damn thing. As long as the time it took for you to ask the push on Facebook, you can just google it.
Get out of my yard, Vera, you up the computer.
That's that question? Just google?
And it was a basketball Go what time? Get off my Facebook? Steve Rivera, It's Friday. Come on you don't have to be cranky on this. You kind of go to a cool basketball game tomorrow, come on.
And you know, going on Texas Fighters at O C.
Texans.
Yeah yeah, the Texans they were pretty good. They were all right. It was a weird summing it was.
They were injured by them.
Yeah yeah, yeah they beat didn't they beat somebody? They beat? They beat Buffalo early. Ye no, no, no beat in the playoffs, yeah, they beat the Chargers. Chargers, right, the Chargers were kind of mediocre. Yeah, yeah, they were kind.
Of It came out earlier. Las Vegas will host the college football playoff in seven.
Yeah, what do you think about those games? And I mean it's I know, and now it's it's regular, But Vegas, are you fantastic? I think so, too fantastic.
I haven't been there for a big game like that, but you know Arizona games. I've covered some big fights, but not for this. I guess the Final Four is going to be there too sometimes.
I so we used to go every year to Vegas to watch the first couple of days of the final the first weekend of the Final four.
Oh yeah, just Vegas is set up for that.
Yeah, yeah, I did that COVID year. I think it was whatever use and or the year after COVID. It wasn't. It wasn't what I thought.
It was a little friend.
It was just, you know, I thought it'd be more fun. And you're watching games, and you're sitting there and watching games, and you could do that in your living room.
But you're not in Vegas. They're not.
Yeah, but that's what you know. If I'm gonna be Vegas, IM gonna pay poker. I'm not gonnak am I gonna pay. Yeah. Well, have you been to Circa?
I have?
Not fantastic really, No. I love I'm a blackjack person. I love to play blackjack.
Watch games at the black jack table, watching games.
On my phone app, my blackjack phone app.
I could do that. You're in Vegas? Okay? Anything else?
Have you either one? Have you been to Vegas?
Yeah?
One time.
When you're really young.
Did since you've been here?
No?
Not something? I've been here.
How about the Grand Canyon?
I I went to those two on the same troops.
Okay, but have you been to the grand Kids?
So what's the big you guys are seniors, what's what's the one big Arizona thing that you've done in your time, and you're both from out of town.
I have a I have a story about this.
So what's the one big thing you've been? Have you gone to Mexico? I've been to the Grand Canyon? Did you go to Mexico?
I went to Rocky Point years ago, Cabo Rocky Point.
Who was it? Maybe Kobe? Kobe's family went to Rocky Board too, Yeah, I think he went to Colo.
Yeah, okay, all right, Well what's what do you got, Steve?
No, that's no nothing is no no basketball, no basketball.
He's just sitting in his corner, grumpy over there. I don't want to go to the Grand Canyon. Last two months? Due, come on, let's go.
Yeah, we'll take your drive, take a drive. No, mine was. I lived in DC right covering. I was at the USA Today in nineteen eighty nine, so they had the president inauguration. I think it was Bush Senior, and I stayed in it was freezing. I didn't go, and I was there for half a year, so I didn't do much. I'm like Matt, I didn't do much. I just went to Georgetown, hung out with my colleagues and went to a few you know, bullets, games. There were bullets at
the time. And uh and so my last weekend I was there, I went to the Smithsonian because all of them.
I went to all of them.
Because I didn't want to say I lived there and didn't go to them. So I got passes to all of them and ran through some because I just I wasn't interested one. But I ran because I had to get through the whole day, get there, got up early in the morning, see.
The Constitution, the original Muppets, all that stuff.
All over that one day. I don't remember what I saw, but I went that one day. Uh yeah, yeah, it was. It was at a time where it was a lot of crime. Yeah, Mayor, Mayor Berry.
You go to d C.
Now, it's you should.
You should, if you know, if you if you can get out there, it's it's a cool place.
I mean it's dh Yeah.
Yeah, oh that's why you were. Did you do any Yeah, like, oh, would you stay at a hotel there?
No?
No, okay, just like yeah, it was cold. I'm sure my son you still live there. He lies in Baltimore. Now, yeah, no, it's it's nice. A lot of historia history, of course. Yeah, that's where you take the subway.
Right, take the trick the Metro Metro.
No.
I lived.
I went to school at any U and I I did not go to the Grand Canyon until I have been many times, but that my first time to the Grand Canyon was like my sixth year living in Flag stuff. I just we didn't go and I was an hour and a half away.
Yeah, I've never been. I've never been.
No, it's it's it's it's cool, cool and beautiful, but it's you know, you really need a kind of a destination or a reason to go.
Yeah, you know, it's.
Probably like living next to Disneyland or living in southern California, Like.
Hey, do you go to the beach every day?
Now? Well, I don't know, Matthew, do you go to the beach every day?
But you do? Like, yeah, that's why a month Henry goes to the Eiffel Tower, I wish goes to Central Park, Central Park, go to Trump Trump Hotel or whatever.
That Columbia Circle, right, isn't it Columbus Circle, Columbus Circle.
Yeah, yeah, I don't think you lived too far from there.
I'm like, yeah, twenty minutes.
Yeah, yeah, I was just in New York City November I went to watch the New York City Marathon. We were talking about Nico Montonie's and I went to watch the New York City Marathon where he was one of the elite athletes, and and.
It was beautiful, but it was so cold.
Yeah, you know, and it's you know, it was just really yeah, and it's you know, they talk about Chicago being in the windy City, but any of those streets that have those big buildings, it just hits you right ways.
This is a dumb question because do you like your hometown lived?
Do you like it there? Yeah, because I don't know anywhere else.
Yeah, But the people, the people, because you're not I'm not a New York dude, You're not. I I enjoyed the people, Yeah, because you're not in New Yor dude. And you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, you know, come on, you know you kind of know what a blah blah blah. You know, I'm not telling you anything. You don't know that you know.
You know, because of Henry's trying to he's got to go back there and live. Don't get him in troubles, Steve, He's got to go back. Sam is going to be listening to this podcast, and they're gonna like Henry Henry.
They're gonna get a cell phone. He's gonna get his cell phone's gonna blow up.
Okay, let's take a break. Let's take a break. Come back with Damien. He'll call us and then we'll talk more about sports.
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WAB. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Hey, welcome back to my in the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera. In today with me is Tim Bentley, Yo yo yo, Henry, and now we have Damian Lamino comes k Old TV. Damien, how are you?
I'm doing great? Guys?
How are you great? Great? And should today day of did I get lucky?
No?
Come on, man, I'm sitting in the station parking lot trying to stay warm.
No.
Best, I gotta say, I have not been too fond of these temperatures of late here in Tucson, trying to keep warm, which just tells me that I am now a true Tuson. And because like anything really realistically below like seventy two, I'm free them.
Yeah. We talked to the Colorado Beat right right, and he says it was fourteen below and cold level.
We didn't we didn't know what below meant. Yeah, when he said it was fourteen below, we're like below what?
Yeah, and Colorado's coming here.
But Colorado's coming here, they probably don't want to go back.
Yeah, I wouldn't blame them. I mean, they got a little bit of different perspective. But you know what, it's all relative. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still flipping cold.
So I'll ask you, because I've lost the people that it's been cold relatively, not that cold compared to other places, obviously, right, But would you take one hundred and fifteen or would you take maybe thirty for an extended period of time?
Oh, one hundred and fifteen for sure. See, because here's the thing. I've been out here long enough where once you break triple digits, until you get to about one twenty, it all feels the same to me.
Plus, you know, there's so many people, you know, pools, you know, like you can you can find a pool to sit next to, you know, I.
Mean, it's easier to cool off and get warm.
So I'm yeah, I'm with you. Although I did live in Phoenix the year that I was one hundred and twenty six.
Yeah.
See, that's too much. Team, that was too much.
It sounds like litboro.
Hell, where are you from originally?
Originally I'm a so cow kid. I'm from the suburbs of Los Angeles, so out there.
Uh.
And actually, as we're watching the wildfire coverage, I was looking at it recently, and I guess, like a week ago, one of the uh, one of the hard warnings, like the northeast tip of it was literally like two blocks away from my aunt house. So there was some there was some nervous, uh, nervous confusion going on with the family back there, but it all worked out and they were they were lucky enough to to be able to
stay and not have to evacuate. But obviously, uh, everything else that's going on in the Pacific Palace Areas area and the new fighters that have sprung up have been just absolutely traumatic.
Yeah, no question, no question. Now let's go back to your world here. So I'm sure you're busy, are you You're kind of still the one man band or are you?
Yeah? No, I'm I'm one man banding and and loving it. I guess is you know, as as much as one can I got I got help when I need it, though, like I am in a fantastic position where you know, it's it's a one man banded situation, at least on paper, but the station offers me and affords me to help when I needed, which, as it turns out, it's kind of a lot. So they do well by me, no complaints.
Go ahead and tell me, well, hey, Damian, this is Tim Bentley. I was the coach at Saint Augustin Catholic High School. You came out and did the story in the Red Beard rally for coach Boule.
Yes, sir, sir, how are you.
I'm very good. Good to talk to you.
I'm gonna tell Nico Montoniez and Marcus Matanio that I.
Talked to you today.
Nico is is you interviewed him. He's now a two time Olympic Trials athlete and running pro and living in Mammoth. So I that shows up on my Facebook page every once in a while, so think, yeah, small town huh.
I love that. I love stories like that because.
I mean, I think it's just so cool to be in the.
Environment where you can see the foundation, lay the foundation and then watch the athlete or student or whomever just thrive like that. For you as the coach, I can't I can't imagine what that's got to be like for you.
Yeah, we're really proud.
It's it's a more rewarding that the fact that they're great kids, you know, well actually nice young men now and then they'll still check in and they'll they'll ask for advice, but now it's about mortgages and refrigerators and stuff.
Like that, and and and all that stuff.
But we were talking earlier about you know, your commitment and you know, kind of finding and turning over those stories here in Tucson.
You know what fires you up.
You know, there's the basic stuff, but what fires you up on the on and when you're looking for stories, just.
The cool little nuggets about folks that no one else has unearthed. You know. The it kind of gets almost cliche with you know, certain athletes having to overcome certain trials and tribulations and obstacles because we as just humans and the human condition go through that on like a
daily basis. And yet there's something unifying about that. So it never gets old for me telling those stories about kids and adults and athletes who who see a challenge and conquer the challenge because if nothing else, at the end of the day, it's just inspiring. And I love those stories.
And who's inspired you most recently?
You talk to cool people all the time, but who's who's stuck in your mind the last couple of years.
I'm okay, so this is going to be so last week and and Steve, you know, we were both there, just I didn't get a chance to interview him, but just being in the presence and listening to the stories of doctor j at the benefits for the African American Museum of Southern Arizona, just because it's timely and it's it's so you know, just a week ago that was
just awesome. That was just awesome. You talk about challenges, inspiration, and just this presence of a man who has seen it all, done it all, and whose legacy you know sits as one of the top.
On the mountain.
Just absolutely mind blowing. And I don't use those words lightly because I know that can be a cliche too, But just being there and being able to absorb his knowledge and listen to how he overcame whatever he was up against to become the guy he is. Yeah, you just gotta love moments like that, So you know those things like that, that's most recently, that's what stuck with me, and I just really enjoyed that time.
So when you have a story like that, because you know I was there too, do you are you able to maybe just use that as the story and forget about the other ones because you can maybe expand more on that.
Absolutely, absolutely, which is what I pretty much did on that night. And I was only there. I was only able to be there for the first half of the the talk, but it was enough for me to be able to grab a lot of just good nuggets and tell a pretty cohand story about a guy who grew up to become a legend.
Yeah, tell the story real quick. I had Bob Elliott here maybe two three years days ago, just as he how it went, and it was very successful obviously, But I couldn't remember the name he got, doctor J because they couldn't. He didn't want to be the professor.
Because you didn't want to be the professor. With his high school friends, right, one of his best buddies, a teammate of his who they basically what was it? They started off they were ribbing one another and the buddy of his was basically talking about how his play was so clinical that he was just the doctor. And the response was doctor J calling his buddy the professor. And
I don't recall why it was professor exactly. I don't know if it was, Uh yeah, I don't remember that, but I just remember the friend describing the play as clinical, so you might as well be the doctor. And then that just that name just stuck.
Right, and it's probably one of the best, if not the best nicknames out there.
I'll tell I'll tell you, I'll tell you. What's funny, was that, like one of our one of the folks that worked with me, who is not a sports fan, and if I'm not mistaken, probably is a gen z uh just kind of put in perspective in terms in terms of age when she wrote up the notes, because she had been talking to somebody who had mentioned it. Uh she wrote up the notes and put doctor d O C P O R. Julius Irving thinking that it was like a medical thing, and I had to pause,
and that just cracked me up. Okay, so this is generation we've reached, the generation doctors.
He does rounds of TMC. He's down there doing babies on Saturday. You never know, you never know, but well he's super talent.
Tell him about your gen Z experience with Star.
Trek oh So, Damien, I work. I'm the director of Marketing and Communications at TMC Health and and I have a I have a wide variety of folks who work for me, and I do have a gen probably what's what's after?
Yeah, gen Z for sure.
And she was we were talking about uh being able to immediately translate languages and how cool that is, and I said, yeah, it's kind of like Star Trek hunt. She just gave me this blank stare, like what and I'm like, no, they had a communicator on their chest and it just it was like the coolest thing, Captain Kirk.
And She's like she had no idea, all.
Right, So how does that make you feel when you come up something like that?
It made my knees hurt, dude, just like my I'm like old, my back hurt right after that comment, and I'm like, my knees hurt, and then all my hair fell out, and.
Then you're like, where's my cane?
Right right? Beat me up, Scotty, just beat me up the hell. So, David, David, we have some time talk about basketball. Are you keen on these guys? Are you okay? Are you patient?
Well?
What do you think?
Patient? Patient with the capital P. I think that's that's been the testament of this season is how patient, at least Tommy Lloyd has been consideration of the non conference and then you know, this first quarter of conference play because and he he made mention of this, if anybody had told him after the U c l A loss that they would just start breathing through at the time they hadn't lost to Texas text they were six and zero,
that he wouldn't have believed anybody. And I don't think anybody would have believed that they would go on the run at there on. Currently, I you know, I still feel that this team goes where Caleb Love goes. But that's just kind of the nature of the build up, of the of the of the work of this team.
But when it comes down to it, the patient and it's hanging off now right like they're starting to figure some things out now and it and it might not have come as quickly as anybody would have wanted or expected. But let's let's take a step back and think about seasons past here where they've come hot out the gates
only to kind of nosedive towards the end. And it's like they've flipped the script a little bit in this twenty twenty four to twenty five season and that makes it not only different, but darn right exciting to see how how much further this team can go as we as we continue on and press on here.
So so let me ask you, okay, get Caleb out of the mix, because we already talk. I agree with you that you know, as this team goes, he goes, which is you know, very inconsistent. But who has to be the guy uh not named Caleb who has to really come through?
I mean, at this point all eyes turned to JAYD and Bradley as far as I'm concerned, you know, I think he has asserted himself as but the facto team leader while the spotlight kind of circles above Caleb Love. Also, that being said, if you would have told me that Henry Theysar would be having this kind of a breakout season, I wouldn't believed you either, given you know who else they had on the roster. H So kudos to him, But but I think ultimately Jayden Bradley, Jade and Bradley
will lay the foundation to direct the team. Caleb blog will push the team down that road. If that, If that analogy makes sense, Yeah.
So you emphasize you being patient. What makes you nervous about this team?
Everything is there, like you're like, oh no, if that it could go all off, It could go off the rails if this happened.
Is there anything that is there? One thing? Or is it just everything?
I mean, you know, it's like you just mentioned, it's consistency, turnovers, just be able to find the rhythm, keep the rhythm throughout the entire forty minutes and not letting your foot up off the gas. And we talked about this before and again going back to cliche. This is almost cliche, but there's a lot of peaks and valleys where you feel really secure with how strong this team is playing, and then they let up and it becomes much closer of a game than you would have thought, like ten
minutes ago. I mean, how many times have we seen that within this course of justice, this winning street that they've been on. Right, So it's like cardiac cats, but opposite, because they're starting off strong and then they're tailing austin the end versus starting off week in the beginning and having to dig their way out, which is a story that we've read many times in the last few seasons. Wouldn't you agree?
Yeah, you have no question.
So is there is there a tell that they have for you?
Like if if something goes off the rails, let's maybe a little quiet and you see it and you're like.
Oh, here we go. Do you have a tell?
Do they?
Does a team have a tell to you?
I mean, see, what do you think? What do you think of that?
Uh? Tell? Well, when when Caleb goes south, I mean when he starts chucking them up and then he goes you know zero fo four from the three point line, not just in a matter of ten minutes, in a matter of three minutes.
I was gonna say, a shot selection and Russian when they start rushing like forget it. Uh, you know, the time to kind of maybe turn away for a few minutes before before Timmy calls the time out and they have to.
Course correct Texas right once they got out their pace.
Uh and and once they get up against the defensive wall that does not allow them to play according to plan to the point where they have to improvise a little bit. Then it gets relatively scary, and that that is something that we have also seen in years past that have also proven be I mean, let's be realistic here. Their downfall in the tournament at least, right, and it's it's an ailment that I'm not sure they've found a cure for.
Right. No, he's talked about that too, is getting that big lead, so just in case the collapse does happen, that they can survive that. And he's done that a couple of times too. Let me ask you outside of I think you're in your fifties, lower fifties, if not fifty yet. I'm in my sixties now, but I think the most unhappy.
You're gonna be, I'm gonna be forty five, and like, I'm really really so I appreciate the opportunity to pretend as if I'm wiser than I am.
You.
We want everybody to be in their fifties, yes, yes, older, you get. We want everybody to the way we.
Talked about this, how long you've been in two soon then twenty or seventeen around?
Wait, what is it? What do you guys think?
What I said seventeen.
Thought twenty one.
But okay, well we'll almost put the difference there. It'll be it's eighteen, it'll be nine. See in July, I think, wow, yeah.
Okay, okay, and you've and TV is not an easy business, but let's go there too. So I was talking about the sixty year old older guys. The crowd has not been as generous as it has been in the past, in part because the time starts you too, or the TV people must hate that because they're finishing their eleven and you're coming gone.
You know what that was. That was really more of an issue the last few Pact seasons. This season, I've been I've been, for the exception of like at least in conference games, the exception of a few games that have tipped off eight or nine, it's been relatively manageable. And the reason why is because the ones that have been the latest have been on the East Coast, so we've been able to have that time difference Act is
kind of a little bit of a cushion. But for the late games, yeah, I mean it's it's like, actually, it's nice because then I don't have to rush and I can just watch and enjoy or know my pants one or two.
And then what I guess overnight?
What kind of your story the next day exactly?
Then come back the next day and uh, and then do the friendly recap knock on wood.
Yeah, okay, well one more you go. One.
No, I was I'm thinking, Damian, outside of the U of A sports what what are you tracking on in the in the city. What's the state of the state sports wise? What are you tracking on here in town?
Okay, let's talk. Uh, well, we can talk about a lot a lot of things, really, the Suns and and I find the whole Jimmy Butler Miami debacle super soap opery and the fact that the Suns you know, are right there in the mix to land Butler potentially, uh, is just fascinating to see what that would even look like and how much more beneficial that would be to the team and whatever kind of run that they're trying to make out of a season that, for all intentsive purposes,
seems like it's kind of like nose diving. You got the Diamondbacks trying to do their best to make moves. The Corpy Burns signed was awesome, only to be followed up by Sasaki signing with the Dodgers, which I think is comical. Uh.
And isn't there payroll like two billion dollars right now the Dodgers?
Oh my god? Yeah, No, Actually, yeah, that's not even like an exaggeration. It's it's it feels like it's not it is up there.
It's up there.
Given all the moves they've made, I mean like they're on the hook for like billions of dollars between Otani and Yamamoto alone.
Yeah, but not like twenty forty two. So come on, that's like, that's.
True, that's true.
That's part business planning. But no, man, it's you know, what about the state what's that?
Yeah, go ahead, the state of Arizona.
No, I'm just gonna say the state of the state of Arizona sports. It's kind of fascinating right now, you know, with the rye as of ASU football and with what Brent Brennan is you know, really attempting to do with with the Wildcats, combined with the fact that you know, there are rumblings up north that you know, maybe potentially reportedly some small backroom discussions are talking to potentially bring back the NHL to Phoenix or to the Arizona Uh.
And then whatever the mess the Cardinals are in that that's always something to watch for, I guess. But yeah, it's an interesting time for sure to be covering sports in the state.
Well, I'm sure the people at KOLD are looking for you, so you better get in the building.
And I'm just hiding out in my car in the parking lot.
Turn off the heat to put on your jacket and make a run for it.
I guess got you.
Huh, I guess it's that time.
Thank you, Damian. Appreciate it. Always appreciate it, Damian Alma KLD Sports. Let's take a break here. We're probably a little over come back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now.
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This is Eye on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen. Finding I want to take part in the show called up Steam Now went five to two oh four seventy four.
Hey, welcome back to Ie on the Ball Hero Fox Sports Sports Shift. I'm Steve Bavera. You're Tim Bentley. We got and that in house. Did your use this is your knees just hurt?
Oh my god, I just my my, my, my backs are aching and my knees. We asked, so the corectal uh, the col of Guard golf tournament, which TMC is a sponsor up as well, their their commercial mentions, their their concerts.
Yeah, and.
So Vanilla Ice is one of the guys. And I'm like, all right, Vanilla Ice, Ice Ice baby. And we asked these you have a seniors if they knew who Vanilla Ice was, And Matthew.
Goes, who.
Heard?
I don't think you're in the target demographic for the Cola Guard.
No call it.
What about the other guy?
I didn't. I didn't know who that was. I don't know, but no, Ice Ice sized baby. He lost a big lawsuit to queen.
I recognized, all right.
Matthew, I feel validated like that.
Yeah.
I don't know, really he was, Yeah, he was all right, all right, Matthew, thank you. Save my knees start hurt. My back hurts. Oh my goodness. What was your very first concerts, Steve, speaking of eighty one eighty two? Nice Mine was Charlie Daniels wait here it was nineteen seventy nine.
Ever went down to Georgia. No, no, no, never went down to Georgia.
Was a big hit.
That was big at that big times urban cowboys.
So my buddies and I we were playing golf of all things at Reed Park, Randolph, Randolph Golf Course.
Thought pulled up, thought, you're on the air, nine on the wall. Who's this? Hey, so Howard you you made it on the show.
Yeah, I'll start the week next week to preview, Uh, the other game. This is our warm up game where they're gonna be our starters will be able to sit and then Henry will go crazy.
Yeah, Henry and maybe Martinez will get some time.
Yeah, and even that that that benchwarmer. And we have to start because we don't have we don't have the big guy Crevised. I mean I saw that guy in preseason.
He just is so bad.
That guy we had to use.
Oh he's a project, he's a project.
Yeah, but are you a little worried project?
With the big game on Monday, are you worried that we may be.
I'm gonna be there sitting in a good seat at center court. I'm gonna I can't wait.
No, go ahead and ask the question. No, no, you're talking about you may not show up for Saturday. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So I'm just thinking, are they are you? Are you worried about the game on Saturday?
No, I'm not worried trap games for this No, they're going to be concentrating that this game. They're going to be favored in the teams. Right, I don't know what the the sprite as they do it close on like NBA games, they're gonna be fifteen. You know they can they could They literally can roll well, talent can roll the ball out for this game. He goes, but you better be concentrating when when when when Monday comes around?
So are you happy this season or what's your what's your mood with the.
Sound they're doing good.
They're one with your sons, with your sons, all.
The sons are. We'll just have to see. There's there's a little bit less than half the season, you know, you never know it's it's so they're pros. Anybody can win on any night during the regular season, right, it's just how it goes.
Yeah, Damien. In the last segment, Damien Alexander was excited for Jimmy Butler. Possible, possible.
What do you think he's just he's thirty five years old. I mean, come on, and he's a little taller. But we need like a six to nine power forward or they really need to have Kevin Garnett, e shoose Me Durant play the three. That's the ideal thing. And you can even put bull Bowl out there because we have such good guards. Bull Bowl can be the four because he's a stretch for and any guy now that we
got Richard's were in good shape. Yes, yes, he's like he's he's like a he's like a boor man's persingus what they call a unicorn where he can hit the three pointer. And no, he's people love him all around the country.
They cheer for him.
I mean they really like him.
He's great.
He's very likable. He's a nice guy. Like Charles always said, his dad was so funny, you know, you know, the late manout ball. He was such a nice guy and really funny. That's what Barkley always said. So he had a ring and but Bob Elliott. I loved watching Bob Elliott, you know, in person in the seventies when he was playing and and and you know, I didn't go. Was it a mops and you were there, right, Steve, No.
It wasn't. It was It was really control. About five to seven hundred people in there.
Hali Verdi does a good job.
Yeah, it's we said, we do events there and they do a good joice.
Yeah, that's cool. It's retro cool.
I'm just used to seeing Julius. It was the golf tournament. I think it was the Bob John Denver. I think it was like in January or February. The pro am. I followed Doctor j around and Merlin Olsen. He was playing I think with Merlin Olson, and I could care Oh, my wife is pregnant with our son.
It was nineteen ninety.
Three beginning really Oh yeah, my wife was seven months pregnant with our kid or six months, and we were following him around, and you think I could care less. I could care less about Merlin Olson and all the autograph seekers. I just got Doctor Jay's autograph and it's like it was great. And my wife. My wife works at the u of A and she goes, Oh, I bet Bob Elliott. You know he's really nice.
Did you remember seeing you still have that signature?
Oh?
Yeah, I got it actually graded too, I got it greater. Yeah it's great. I got it graded and sent it off and yeah, I got a signature, and I'm gonna sell it.
How much?
Well, you know, any signature, especially when it's been authenticated. It's funny because I got this other authenticating Noel Ryan. He said, no, but it looks exactly like Nolan Ryan's signature. I don't know I got it. I just found it on a card somebody else had it. It's you cannot copy some of these guys signatures when you can see you know what I mean, They just have a way of doing it. You could not. You can't copy it.
You didn't answer my question. How much is it worth?
Oh, you know, it's just to the right person. I see a lot of the ones graded his rookie card. But his rookie card. Remember he's fifteen hundred dollars. But I most people pure card collectors, they wouldn't want an autograph on his rookie right, you know what I mean, I wouldn't. Mine is just a random nineteen eighty one or eighty two card that's worth about forty or fifty bucks. So it's worth about one hundred and fifty or two depending on who. You know what I mean, you got it.
It's only worth what someone's.
Going to pay for sure, of course. Well, Howard, thanks for calling in, Thanks for getting it.
Oh yeah, well see got call you monday.
Thank you. Right, cool, We got about five We got five minutes probably, Yeah, if you want to call. Howard's our one of our regular.
I know, I like how I wonder if his wife, Howard, is your wife still man to you that you made her walk around the golf for us when she was seven months bygg?
Is she still with you? Howard?
I know?
Well, if you want to call it five to four one forty uh to it was kind of a slow Friday.
Yeah, no, I was.
I was telling you that I played golf with Charlie Daniel. We played with him.
Yeah, we were we were fourteen years old and and uh we were playing. They paired us, my buddy and I. They paired us with two guys for the no, no, no, for uh, we were just we just walked on him.
Oh, he was here for the concert.
And he gave us. He gave us passes.
Devill, Georgia. We got a call. Who's this, Hey, David's Jim Jim Jim? How you doing good? How are you? Thanks for the call.
I'm fine. I don't want to share my sour puss attitude with it.
I just noticed.
I just wondered if anybody noticed that the UH championship football game with ratings were down almost twenty five percent.
Yeah, well I saw that.
I think I saw that too.
Why what do you think?
Why do you think, John?
I think I know exactly what it is.
I think all of those conferences and all of those teams started out in geographic regions.
Well that's all blown up.
Now with you know, Washington playing a big ten UCLA and a big ten and so forth, and they end up with two teams playing that that are domiciled two hundred miles apar part in the Midwest. Well, and at that point nobody gives a damn.
Well out that.
I'm with you a little bit.
But I also think it was it was the inauguration day, it was the day after big football games, and I think they need to do a better job of positioning it as an event game early.
I'm one hundred percent on what I said. I think that's exactly it, and I think the cure for that is to get the seeds.
They're going to have to change the way they no question, I agree with you, no question.
They see the playoffs and it's going to have to be so that it's impossible to end up with that matchup two hundred miles apart.
Yeah.
Well, it's like the March madness, you know. They they want regional games to start off, but they want to end up with the match what they want.
I know, this was a very very difficult situation because the seedings were totally screwed up.
They didn't know what they were doing right away. They you know, well twenty.
Five is huge.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Down twenty five million a year before to nineteen million this year.
Did you watch it?
No?
You didn't.
Why I had other things to do?
Yeah, okay, well there's one last person. Okay, Yeah, thanks, thanks Jim. Thanks for the call.
Thanks Jim.
We're gonna have to go here.
You're welcome.
You don't YouTube, Jim, Hey we got about two minutes, wasn't it. Okay, So I was watching something on Facebook today. I guess with the attendance that you it hasn't been very good right years past, you know, fifteen thousand, but I think it started doing to wayne in in the end of Sewn's time and and maybe came back a little for Tommy's first year. But there's twelve thousand, eleven thousand in the building, a lot of empty seats, and people are wondering why why that is, Well, you're gonna
go to eight o'clock, nine o'clock game. No you're not. People don't it's too late for the for the crowd.
Well, and you used to have a cadence to those games.
There were Thursday, Saturday, Thursday Saturday, and you could kind of map your Thursday game, but you could go to a Saturday game. But now it's on a Tuesday night and it's nine o'clock, and it's it's it's a little late.
And we've talked about the older audience in there too, so it's.
Always been an older audience. So so that's the case. We'll see. I guess that's sold out, right, they came out, Yeah, they came out to I'm sure Monday night's gonna be one of those sold out games. Depending even though it's late that one hasn't hasn't been said. Yeah, so we'll see and that's gonna be the game of the year to this point, to this point. Yeah, and then Houston comes in in next month, so we'll see what happens. Uh. And money's kind of taed.
I guess, well, money's tight, you know, and there's just a lot of options, and the product isn't stellar, you know.
No, no, And let me tell you something. People care about that if you're not going to crush people or be really good, they're not gonna go watch right, I mean fickle.
Right, And I think that's you know, no, no that you know, not throwing anybody under the bus. But you know, Tucson is can be a fair weather team, fresh weather fan.
You gotta go there, Henry Okay, Thanks Henri, Thanks Henry Heny, Thanks Matt.
Good luck at the game, Matt.
Thanks to