Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio WIB. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to I in the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is Tim Bentley from TMC. It's been a low Hello, it's been well since you've been in. You were the Friday guy and then Jay decided you wanted to come back.
Jay wanted to come back, and I'm thanks for reviting me. I wanted to sneak in here and then talk about running and we did that for last ten minutes.
Yeah, that was by accident.
What a great day. And I on the Ball history, Yeah, and we had JV was great.
Right. We would have Marcus Medelson here for the Maccabie games here in Tucson, so that's coming up pretty soon. We decided to talk to him. What's going to happen, what's going on in about two or three weeks. I think it's like June, do you have that up? Twenty second?
Twenty first, it's tours in July when us I'll tell you that's coming up soon though, and they've had them before Downtown.
July July, well July, and it's a couple it's over a couple of weeks.
Okay, cool, So we'll talk more about doc uh when he comes on about four seventeen. Good to talk to JB too. Two back to back. Some of the big centers here in the U of A history history, Loring Woods and today JB.
And you are on a roll man, it's your Rolodex.
Let me tell you, summer's gonna suck.
Your rolodex is on fire.
Summer's gonna suck because that rolodex is going to die a slow death of trying to use people to try to get used, use it to get people to come in.
Let me ask you this.
We've we've been talking about you know, uh, JB talked about his mom and being a kid, and you know we've been talking about coaching and making an impact on on kids' lives. What does what does that mean? Or you know this audience, I just lost my train of thought.
Was I saying you did you? I'm contagious. That happens to all the time.
I did you had surgery? Now I have surgery, and now I've totally forgot. I was gonna ask you.
About it, but that happens to be Jay and I on a Friday, maybe it's a Friday we go to that guy you know, that guy you know. But it comes to me too. All the time I'm thinking about that subject we were talking about. Here you go, are you're gonna go with? You're talking about kids and be talking about the uh the impact on something. No, you forgot. I totally welcome to my world.
It's funny because for the six months I haven't been here, and I mean you, I'm here for a one time.
I joke about this, but I know it's serious. I forget names. Damn You're lucky. I remember yours because I you know what, Tam, I gotta call Who's Who's.
I know?
So I'll probably think of it in a minute and right in the middle of the games.
Anybody I want to call, please do five two, o, four, one, six, seven, seventy four forty will take your call now as we have time before we get on with mister Medlson. So again, any coaches, I want to talk about philosophy. I love talking about philosophy, coaching philosophy, whether it's running or baseball or football. Because today's kids are tough I'm sure every generations has these issues, right and it's always better or
worse before. But you know, coaching today's kids, to me, would be very difficult given the nil given the Hey, coach, I make more than you or just as much. Are you gonna tell me to do this? And if you tell me and I don't like it, guess what I'm gonna do.
What I worry about sometimes I'm gonna leave.
They're gonna leave, and you know, so there's you know, there's the sense that they didn't have to work as hard to get to that fund and they've been giving it right away, and so it's I worry about. We talk about this age group all the time. This you know, like sixteen to twenty two year olds that are knuckle heads.
Hold that thought. Oh you're on there and on the ball. Who says.
There's a jim?
Jim? What's the word?
Man? I forgot?
Hey, you should come into and help us out here because we are just one big Well, come forget with us.
Come forget with us. Fifty Jim. I didn't know you had a sense of humor.
Yeah, I do. I actually robust.
What do you what do you got for us?
Well?
A couple of weeks ago, I tried to delve into the question about what's his name?
Oh no, the guy with the deal, that football player.
For God's sake, it just won't come up.
Lebron James, Ron.
James, Thank you God. I just could not get that out.
We're all going through it. Go ahead.
I was asking the question and I wanted to get the temperature on the room as to what impact Lebron James has had on three levels one basketball, two sports, and three the culture. Wow, Like I'd like to hear people address that question in those areas. Is positive or negative?
Stick around?
Because and that would do it if you just want to say positive or negative?
Okay, sticker, stick around? Give me the three kept Can we answer this? We'll do it, not not at length, but we'll try to because I think we'll have different opinions. Give me your give me your.
Pro Basketball is number.
One, depends number two is no, no, no, no no. We'll go one at a time. Basketball. Uh, everyone in the the younger generation has him as the best player of all time, right of course, maybe under thirty under is.
They fight between Lebron James and.
And fight Okay, yeah, at that era, but our guy was Michael Jordan. Right, So basketball, I'll give him a nine because I'm not that eraro. I covered Michael Jordan. I saw him play a number of times. So to me, he's fantastic.
And the impact he's had, I think is that commitment to greatness. He wants to be great every day and I like that, and kids like that they look to that commitment.
Okay, And that's our opinion. Whether it's debatable, Okay, I give that.
Yeah. I think there's a lot of opinions out there.
Sure. Okay, So next question sport in general, sport by sport.
What do you mean, well, just the idea of competitive spirit.
Well, I mean that he's fantastic, Right, He's fantastic. He plays well, plays hard. Obviously, he flops and all other stuff, but that's who he is, uh, sport, I give him. I give him like an eight to nine. I don't know, he's fantastic.
So, and I think, you know, we were hung up on Jordan being six and oh and and and you know Joe Montana four and O and Terry Bradshaw four and O. You know Lebron James was in the finals nine or ten years in a Row and so this this this this level of greatness for so long. You know Tom Brady, you know now we talk about him being great and he's had some losses. So it's it's opened that door to have some losses and still be great.
Good good answer.
So the third level is cultural, Well he keeps what impact on the culture.
So Jim, you and I are you're a little older than me. We also grew up with Muhamad Ali. We had Jim Brown, guys who spoke out in certain things exactly people and people who spoke out. And then we have a generation that Michael Jordan did not speak about stuff because you know, Republicans buy shoes too, Democrats buy shoes too. Uh So there's that and Lebron speaks out right and and a lot of people don't like that he speaks out. Well, hey, speak out, Maybe what do
you have to say? So that I don't know, he's very good at it, obviously.
I think he uses a platform for good. You know, he's you know where on which side you're on? True, But I mean, I don't think that he's malicious. And I think that he's shown if you asked about the impact he's had on sport. You know, he's showing them what a what a high level athlete and how they can harness multimedia opportunities, you know, brand opportunities to become you know, one of the top athletes of all time.
What do you think.
You're asking me?
Well, unless, yeah, I was gonna ask you what do you think? And one why the question?
He forgot The question I have to follow this up with is I'm looking for an answer to this question, and that is why are NBA ratings viewership at all?
Yeah? Yeah, Okay, I don't know. If he's the king of all time.
And he's a you know, the best athlete, the hardest worker, and the most competitive and has had a positive influence on the culture, what's what's going on with basketball?
I think there's a burnout one and they don't play basketball. You and I and Tim and whoever saw it maybe twenty years ago, thirty years ago, forty it's different now it's it's it's perimeter basketball, and it's kind of boring to.
Watch, but yeah, it is somebody's making money to because I.
Like the more strategic approach where you pass the ball up for a better shot Bobby nin style.
Yeah, and it's now outside ball, it's still I know. Here's I'm guilty of not watching the NBA specifically until the playoffs and the now that the Goolden State Warriors are. I really don't have a team or I don't care, but I still watch it. Just watching basketball.
You know, the idea that a guy can run down the court and jam the ball in the basket. It's great, it's entertaining for about twenty minutes. You probably it's the same thing over and over.
They carried the ball to you. Don't worry about it.
Well, you probably saw your own question or ask you to answered your own question.
Well, look, I grew up in Indiana. My best friend growing up was mister Basketball of Indiana, and he was well they billed him as the next coming of Jerry West, who was. He went to Purdue Jerry Nichols, and he didn't get very far with this program. He dislocated and hyper extended his petular ligament and his knee and the
NIT playoff his sophomore year. He was back when you could not play until you were a sophomore, and he had about this was his first real coming down and he had about fifteen sixteen points and was just lighting it up and the third or second half at that point and did a reverse layup and just tore his leg all up. You could see his petula halfway up his thigh on TV.
So everybody in their car wherever they're listening to just grab their knee right now.
Yeah, audience, our audience, get the big game. Get the big game.
Yeah. Well, but every year for years, six or seven years, the Indiana Pacers would have him out for another tryout because Jerry was a good guy. He could play the hell out of the game, but he just was so fragile.
Yeah. Well, Jim, thanks for the tough questions.
I hope you can be interested to find out what. Maybe you hit the nail on the head. Maybe it's just boring.
I think it's just somebody is making money because they're there met somebody some you know, TV network or streaming that they're making money somewhere, and so because they're giving and be more and more money.
I'll give you this though, it's not about ratio. Well, in two weeks you're gonna find and this my guess, I could be totally off the wall, which of course that happens.
Okay, I got.
You we're going to figure out Wait, hold on, let me finish this. Let me finish in two weeks, we're gonna find out that these two teams Indy and likely Oklahoma State, likely Indie. No one's gonna watch it. You think people are gonna watch Oklahoma City and Indiana sgay baby, let's go Yeah? No, I mean because there's no peel. I mean, come on, the markets are horrible.
Okay, very well said that. You're headed right to the point I was wanting to make. I'm most concerned in all of this is what's going to cause the likes to go off in college football. And I think you just hit the nail on the head and don't know it. It's gonna be a championship game between Oklahoma State and.
Yeah. Yeah, I get it, I get it, I get it. But that that is that's out in the boies Jim, and.
People are gonna go, I don't even give a damn.
And win, Jim, that's not gonna happen in your lifetime.
And mind not the way they're they're setting that up.
No, Well, the way they've set up these conferences, they are so geographically spread out. Yeah, I think it is going to happen.
Well, well, twenty.
The college playoff game this year was down. The ratings are down twenty five percent over last year.
Yeah, well, if it happens, Jim, you'll take me out for a coffee and all. Yeah, thank you very much for.
All All right, Well, who was that? I forgot that.
That was Jim.
Thanks Jim, Yeah, James, thanks, all right, thank you guys.
Oh no, that's cool. Hey, he'd been sending me this question for a while. I forgot, of course, I forgot. That's I think that's the Friday team. Yeah, forgot. Forgetful Friday. Forgetful Friday. Don't forget to call in, don't forget to come in.
What is the phone number to call in?
Well, we can't get a call any because we're gonna give a guest. But after the guest, it's five two oh four one six seventy four forty. Let's take the break now and then come back with mister Marcusman's.
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio just search I on the Ball.
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and with me today is mister Tim Bentley.
Hello.
Hello, Now on the phone, we have Marcus Mendelssohn from the JCC Maccabi Gaines. How are you, Marcus?
Good?
Thanks, good, thank you, Thanks.
For having me.
Yes, of course, an exciting time for you guys downtown right. Yeah, it's gonna happen in a few weeks.
Yeah, we are Lett London two months away. Plans in place that all the different teams are working hard and we are super excited to be hosting this again for the first time here in too.
Yeah.
I was gonna say, god, twenty five years to me, it seems like you was like ten years ago just feels like I can't I can remember going and yeah I remember twenty five years. That makes me only forty two. Cool, I'm good going there. So how did it come back? How do you guys get it to come back?
So it's been the plan for a little while of the JCC. You know, it's these games have been going since nineteen eighty two. The first ones were hosted in Memphis, Tennessee, with only a few hundred athletes, and they've grown and grown and grown, and it's been in the plan for a little while here at the JCC for them to come back, and this was the right time.
Did you have to bid for them?
So whilst I wasn't the one involved in that process, it's an ongoing conversation with the JCC mccaby team nationally and every single summer two currently two, previously three, and hopefully once again in the years to come, it will be back to three or more hosting these games every summer.
So, yeah, when you put these games on, you know it sounds the athletes coming from all over the United States?
Is that?
Is that what's happening here?
Yes?
So they are predominantly North American delegations representing their communities jcc's, which are Jewish community centers across North America, so including Canada, and historically many international delegations have been involved. The Israeli delegation come every year. We have multiple delegations from Canada, historically places like Mexico, Argentina, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and more.
So it is an international contingent. What what's the scope of the Games? What what what events? And what what games will athletes be competing in in a couple of months here?
Sure, So there's a whole bunch of sports soccer as I would call it football, but soccer. We have flag, football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, tennis, dance, golf, swimming,
the whole range. And we have a program called Star Reporter for those who may not necessarily be sports people but still want to be involved in around it, and we're shaping that so that they can really be a part of the experience and they can do sports reporting and interviews and nowadays you know, social media based video reporting and can still really be involved in meet fellow teams from all over the world.
Yeah, yeah, no question. You're a veteran of the Games, right, you played in there ideas.
I represented the MCCABI Great Britain team twice so two thousand and six in Phoenix, two thousand and seven in Orange County, California, and came away with the Golds the first year is still for the second year.
In football, in football. Nice, well done in football?
Are you so?
I know?
Are you working for these events? Are you in Tucson? Are you two soon based or you with the company?
I am okay, yeah, no, I'm too so based. I work here at the Tuson JCC. I've been in town for just over a year and thoroughly enjoying myself.
From from where originally from not originally because.
I know, yeah so originally originally from Essex in England. I spent a year and a half in South Florida working at a JCC near Fort Lauda, though Oka And yeah, no I'm here.
So you came from Florida to here? I did, Okay, So I was gonna say, I was going to say, how you enjoyed the heap of South Florida is a different type of heat? Uh?
So you're kind of a different type of heat enjoying it?
Yeah, of course, of course, Uh how do you? How do you And You've been prepared for this for a while obviously, right, for a long time.
Yes, so I've been working on it for a year, but the team have been working on it probably close on two and a half to three years by now.
Did they kind of search you out and say, I know, I got a guy, We got a guy who might be able to pull this baby off.
I mean, I am one part of a really experienced, an amazing team. It was one of one of those conversations that just happens I had experienced in the games, you know, But there are people who are part of this team, including our games director Josh Shanker, who has been involved in these multiple times, our CEO Todd Rockoff, who has hosted the games in previous communities and was very very keen to bring it back here too soon.
I'm curious, you know, you've seen it in other communities and your director has seen it, participated and help plan in other communities. What does Tucson have that makes it, you know, a good place to.
Host these games?
What?
What? What? What does Tucson have the lens of self to it a successful games?
So in the year that I've been here an incredible community. The community spirit is amazing, and that's without the community behind you, these games cannot happen. Whilst we have a professional team working on this day and day out, we also have a huge number of volunteers community leaders who lead our various committees. You know, without these games, with transportation and food and the volunteers and countless other committees,
these games don't happen. So we have an incredible community spirit that everyone right now is coming together, and we are still in the lookout for volunteers. So if anyone listening is interested, please reach out to JCC and I'd be happy.
To talk to you.
I was just going to go there because I know if I say something, I'm going to screw it up. But could you give us give us the site one and to the dates when these are going to happen.
Absolutely, So the games are taking place between July twenty seventh and August first, and we're going to be using sporting venues across town. The JCC is going to be acting as the main hub. Yeah, we we're welcoming almost a thousands teenage athletes, hundreds of coaches, delegation heads, and potentially up into the thousands of spectators as well, whether they're family members or friends who are traveling into town. And that's something that I was hoping we would touch on,
because this really is for the entire community. This isn't just for our members here at the JCC. It's tying in people from right across Tucson and further afield. And one of the really exciting things for Tucson it's that we're estimating around a four million dollar economic impact into the local economy.
So it really is I'm sorry giving the number event, what's the number again?
Well, really a four million dollar impact locally for the community.
I was just going to say, you know, I was going to ask you that question, so I'm sure visit Tucson or whoever. The people you had to deal with, UH, love you for that because you know that's great.
Yeah. They've worked really really closely with the team to help us scout out various locations and we're going to be using hotels across town, sporting events across sporting venues across town, and with you know, local restaurants and transportation and the hotels. It really is tying everyone in.
I'm curious, how how do people qualify for these games? Is their qualification and how far out do people start to qualify? And when they get here are they is this the championship? Can they go on to the International Games from here?
So every every community has has a has a different system. A lot will hold tryouts within their local communities. We're going to be welcoming about forty one different delegations coming in and I know many of them go through weeks and months of trials and yeah there you know, to trimutete and participate in the games. The athletes are Jewish and something you know special to add these are the largest youth sporting events for Jewish teams annually around the world.
And but that's the beauty of bringing in the entire community where our athletes a Jewish, but everyone else involved is from every corner of the community. And there are opportunities to go on to participate nationally and internationally with various Jewish delegations at different sets of games.
You wanted to mention the history some of the history of of Tucson regarding you know, seventy years institution.
Yeah, yeah, this is a really important years for us here at the Tucun Jay It's seventy years since the Two Sun Jewish Community Center was founded. It's thirty six years at our current site. And you might think why is thirty six important? In Judaism, numerical values links to words are very important, and the number eighteen links to the Hebrew word of thigh, meaning of life. So thirty
six is double life, which is quite significant. And as I mentioned earlier, twenty five years since we hosted last in Tucson.
God, I mean twenty five years to be again, I can't remember. I can't imagine twenty five years ago. But when I went, you had opening ceremonies. I think, so you do have a bout that, right, Yeah.
So one of the really special parts of the Games is kind of an Olympic style of ceremony where all the teams walk out to big crowds, big music, waving their banners representing their local communities. And you know, I still remember it walking out waving our Union Jack fly representing Great Britain, and just the cheers as you walk into an arena as a teenager, when everyone is there to support you and you're there to make friends from all over the world, it really is special.
You know, you talk about community involvement in community fans, you know, what kind of competition level, what kind of performances should we or could we expect to see from these athletes.
So you know, some of some of the players that come to these games are serious athletes, and whilst sport is kind of the driver to bring our participants here, it really is the community spirit that makes the games what they are. But you know, from what I understand and from the people I've spoken to across the country, we have some state and national level athletes coming into town. So anyone coming to watch will be in for a treat.
Could you I know you didn't mention the website. You talked about going to the to the JCCSA. Let's go to that. Give us a website school just the dot com because they can find everything they want you there.
Right, absolutely, So it's jac C mccabi twuson dot com.
Right, you can find the volunteers if you want to go there. You can talk about you have a lot of different areas to go for that because how many I'm sure it takes a few hundred to help pull this off.
Well, yeah, we our volunteering platform actually went live today and there's been a great uptake in the various volunteering opportunities, and we estimate around a thousand volunteering time slots time slots available.
So the more the more, the merrier. Yeah.
The site is easier to navigate. I was just checking it out, so yeah, you know Tucson.
Yeah, every everything, everything you need is on there, breaks everything down volunteering. Q and A takes you into the registration sift and.
There's a way to give. So there's there's lots of good information here.
Yeah, so let me ask you how Let me ask you your age if you don't mind about forty something?
Uh well maybe by my voice, I'm fecty too.
Yeah, but you're sixteen years ago, you say when he was a teenager.
I thought I was talking to some guy.
Wait about age.
Congratulations or sorry, I'm apologized now, But what I wanted you was talk about you as a kid playing because I thought this was a while ago. What it meant to you to be a gold medal winner, civil win or winner?
Sorry can you repeat that?
Just what it meant to you because you're you're a You're next champion is what did it mean to you to do this and accomplish what you accomplished.
You know, I think for me, I flew halfway around the world to do this and to represent you know, the all essentially representing my country. For you know, it was special.
It was special.
I you know, I played week in week out growing up and to win was amazing. But the following year to lose in the final was very humbling. But what made it so special was even though we lost in that final, that same evening we went out and hang out with the team who were the local team in Orange County who beat us, and we went go karting and to go go karting with the team that just beat you in a final, going from tears to laughter within the space of a couple of hours, that's what
makes it so special. And I'm still in contact with some people that I played with and that I met from back.
In the day.
Well, I was going to say, the friendships you build and stuff like this.
That's the beauty of sports really of just participation at that age, you know, sixteen seventeen, those are lifetime friendships.
Right right, And you know, go ahead, I'm sorry, no, no, that's fine.
I think you're about to ask anything else, And absolutely there is there's something really really special amongst everything else, well two.
Special things, if I have a couple of yes.
So every single team who comes along with their coaches participates in something called JCCS and that's something that really helps out participating teams realize that they're part of something much bigger and it's a really big Jewish value that we have called tiku Alam repairing the World, and it's JCCKES is a service project that they do to give
back to the local community that you're visiting. And we're really really excited and we're planning some really special opportunities here for the teams for them for them to do this not just with their own delegation, but with each other, their new friends and their competitors that they've met during the week. And they'll be spending an afternoon morning, some of their time whilst they're here and too soon giving
back to our local community. And the other part I wanted to mention is something called j c C mccarby Access.
That's something that's been through a three year pilot and we are truly honored to be the first, the first community to be hosting the Access Games where they are a part of the games every year moving forward, and these are for teenagers and young adults age twelve through twenty two with intellectual and developmental disabilities where they have their own program with catered activities and sports for them, and then they also participate in unified sports with the
rest of the game's athletes to show that this really is about community and coming together.
Very nice, very nice. Well, Marcus Mendelssohn. Good luck to you. We'll probably touch you again maybe sometime early July. Just to blind people, how can people go? Is it cost to paid watch? How does that work.
That for local community members that there is no cost. We would love all of your listeners and their friends, their families, their colleagues to volunteer. You have to be eighteen and above to volunteer, and if volunteering isn't your thing, just come along and cheer on our athletes. To the website everyone and click the registration button. It's that simple. My contact details are on the website as well, so if you're not sure, give me a call and I'd be happy to talk to you.
Thanks a bunch of Marcus. We'll talk to you against sir.
Luck Marcus, Thanks for sharing that very amazing.
Thank you so much and have a great week you.
Too, Thank you very much. Yes, great, great stuff. Got twenty five years and I'm old and.
Fleur years ago. You're about our age, right, Marcus. Yeah, I'm thirty two, exactly.
To be Marcus thirty two down older.
I'm sorry, I'm thirty.
Two, thirty two because he did to me, didn't you sound older?
Well, but you know he did say that he as a teenager. He competed in two thousand and six. I can't do math. Come on, I get two bucks in my pocket. I one dollar, two dollars. Let's see your break.
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This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Want to take part in the show? Call up Steve now went five to two oh four, one seventy four forty.
Hey, welcome back to my the ball. If here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Them Steve Rivera, you're blake.
You're not blake, Tim, That was a cool, cool guest. Yeah, Mark, you know he's talking about he's thirty two.
Everybody.
You know.
When I was in high school, I competed at a at a national cross country race, UH Sacramento, and it was called Kenny it was. It was a shoe store regional meet, national meet. And you know, he talks about the camaraderie that he still feels. I still have friends from that meet, from other schools and other states that came, and there's there's an impact that these games, these types
of games bring for other athletes. You know, the benefit of the community is great, but you know what resonates with me is the impact that makes on the athletes. Oh yeah, your community or your country.
My son, my son, my oldest son was twelve at the time, I think it was he was part of it was on the state best Soccer Kids and they went to Minnesota up and you you know, you do anything for your kids, right, You're selling shirt, you're selling whatever you do. You went in Minnesota to play and there's a bunch of it was a Beverly It was the bad news bearers in my mind, it was like, okay, whatever, and then we're pretty good. But you know, you're thinking
of this team. They go to Minnesota and they win games, and I'm thinking, how are they doing that? And then win games and what they win games and then they find themselves in the championship game against the Cuba or I can't remember, it was the Brazil Brazil. I'm thinking my son's team, who plays goalie, And I'm thinking, this experience itself is like it was fantastic for me. Imagine
what it was for the kids. You know, I can't get too excited, but now I'm getting excited, but I'm thinking, if that weren't me, it was like the Little League World Series. Sure, when you're going when you're doing that and you're thinking, God, I can't believe that we're here playing in front of this, these people in front of TV. Because guess what you dream of exactly that moment. So for then them, I'm not sure if that's that big of a moment, but so's pretty good, pretty big.
You know, you're wearing a uniform, it has your name on it, it has your maybe your city or something. It's you know, right when I coached, I would always tell kids, they said, coach, I don't feel like running around them.
I'm not a runner.
I would say, hey, that you need to represent your school.
You need to represent your community doing.
Something, whether it's the doing basketball or being in drama or volunteering, doing something and represent you know, representing your community. Uh is the value I think that comes out of these games. You know, not only competing at a high level, but you're you're you know, you're you're part of something bigger.
So how much resistance did you get when you said you gotta you gotta do this, you go do that?
Oh?
I was I've been in sales for a long time. I was very persuasive. We would have fifty or sixty kids out for cross country and.
Track every day, and how many how many stuck it out?
Most of them? You know, it was it was you know, it was a ton of fun.
You know, we would eat a ton of pizza and provide good experiences and and and great you know competition. You know, the whole goal is to make good kids. You know, provided you know your kid got to go there, and and you know you you want everything for your kids, so you nurture them, you give them opportunities to rise to the occasion and learn to.
Be great, but also then to learn to be humble.
Yeah, yeah, no question. And that was just the start of of many things that he was able to do, you know, just kind of like, Okay, this is what you could be capable of. And then as you get older, they're going to Spain, they're going to Germany to play and blah blah blah. You're thinking, okay, but you know it starts early, very costly, blah blah. And I'm sure people who have kids like like like Sun it ain't easy. Well, and it's financially tough.
Sure, you know.
And so it's that's why I'm an advocate for kids, you know, getting into an activity, multiple activities at school, play soccer, do track, shoot hoops, play baseball, do lots of different things, and then the thing that they love will come to them, you know. But multiple sports, multiple activities growing up.
Sure, thanks for better people too.
I think, hey, are you going to the Are you gonna be at the race tomorrow?
Oh no, no, I was was there last year?
Right?
Yeah, we have our crew going. I'm not because I can't really help given my situation with lifting and things. Like that. So I'm not gonna go sorry to say that'sture. I have fun. It was, it was, it was very impressive. And go ahead and tell what you're talking about.
Oh, I just it's they meet me Downtown five k and Festival of Miles but by well TMC is one of the title sponsors, but it's it's a great community event.
Yeah. No, I was very impressed. Uh, you know, Randy does a great job. Randy, that's where I met you, right, you come up to me and I got some history and Regio, that's okay, leave me alone.
Get out of here, a little guy. I'll be I'll be announcing down there, So come and say hi.
Yeah, yeah, you have a good band that Joe.
And the little closed. One of my friends will text me there.
But yeah, yeah, yeah. So she's a lot of fun. Uh, and that's awesome. Of the friends I've known for a while running. Hey, you're running, okay and part of TMC and you have this contingent of runners, right, so what do you hear? I worked there? Run there. We have a group there, right, it's their TMC run shirts.
Run TMC Baby un.
Run DMC is somewhere out there. Yeah. No, that's very cool, and he's it's very cool. I mean a lot of different levels too, young, old, high school, older.
Yeah, festival miles, there's a mile race for kids, there's a mile race for high school kids.
There's a mile race that's open.
There's a five k it's kind of a badge of honor to run it when it's one hundred degrees and get it done. And there's you know, free entry into the children's museum if you've got family and kids, and there's a beer garden and you know, all kinds of activities.
It's it's not all day. I mean, it's a four hour deal.
It starts at five with some stuff and it's over by eight.
Yeah, that was the whole thing. It's funny because I've known Randy for a while, but we've never seen him in action. And I look at him and doing that is that's what I must look like.
Tour.
You got it all over the place, right, and you're just kind of getting on mic.
Okay, I just get on the mic and I just tell people where the bathrooms are and how you know how to cool put your.
BIS on the front of your shirt.
But it's a lot of fun and I you know, we've been talking about through history and time and stuff like that, but people will always see community. Whether back in the day it was bowling leagues or going to the Elks Lodge. People want to have community, and Tucson has really done a number of getting people outside to get them moving. There's lots of great activities. You know, there's the Maccabi games we're talking about. There's you know, Joe Blair wants to put basketball courts in a park
so that kids can play year round. You know, Tucson has our unfair share of fit activities that you can do here.
Whether it's what do you mean by that, we have.
Our unfair share of people that you know are active and engaged in our community.
I really believe that unfair share.
We have more than our you take out an average, we have more. I think we have a higher average of people that are active. Of course, so I always say we have our unfair share of people.
Not super saturated, but we have people doing a lot of.
People doing a lot of things.
You know, Tucson is a runner friendly city, it's a bicycle friendly city.
It's if you haven't learned by now, Tim, you have to talk to me like like a little kid, I forgot and this comes after this. Could you explain that please? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, so that makes sense.
Yeah, so you see it, you know, you see it out in the community and you know, people playing sports, and you know it's it's that's what I love about too soon. That's one of the reasons, one of the reasons why people say I love they love.
Touson when you here's the difference. And I grew up a small town. Obviously, people know that. When you drive around. Do you see enough kids playing as you go home? Now, it's kind of time, but it's gonna get hot here. You don't see him on the courts just too hot, right, it's.
A little too hot. But you see kids, and you know, did.
You grow up that way? You know, at the park, chasing, chasing, you know, I group in the park playing ball, I playing ball.
We did.
I grew up in Wichitak, Kansas, and you know, everything was you know, run to your friend's house, it was it was at sports, baseball, all those things. It's a different time, I get it, you know, but it was more structured, a little bit more structured. I you know that it's it's a challenge that I faced with being a coach. Is you know sometimes kids get committed early to a sport. You know they're eight, nine, ten to
one and to one sport. Yeah, and I've said this before when I when I had college coaches called to recruit my kids, they always ask does your kid?
Does this kid play multiple sports?
And they wanted to see that they do because.
Just because it makes them a well rounded kid. You know, they can disengage from the main sport, be a good team. And you know, you hear it all the time on you know, NBA and NFL, like, oh this this this elite pro athlete was also on his baseball team and helped his friends, helped his team win a state championshi or he was the state she was the state champion long jumper.
And it's coaches like that. They like.
That competitiveness across sports. But then there's also science that just says that kids that age that more cross directional sports they're playing is better for their bones.
Some coaches wouldn't agree with you because they want to specialize, right, they want to specialize. And I'm not that guy. I'm not that guy. It's funny. Last night I was watching softball, I don't know if it was UCLA or TEX like one of those. And they're identifying with this one one girl, one woman, I think whatever position. She's got a nursing, she's going to nursing, and she's a four point zero. She she does all these all those other things, like
holy crap, she wants to read this. And she she's a band. She plays in the band. She's a drummer. And I'm thinking, God, I guess her parents must be retired. But she's brilliant, you know what I'm And she's an elite softball player. I mean, I'm sure there's more stories like that than not, because all these people, all these women and men at are overachievers.
Listen, I work at a hospital with physicians who often are also Olympic trial athletes, who world class pilots.
Because are over achievers.
Successful people in sports. You know they are achieve greatness at a lot of different things.
Yeah, you have no question. And the one thing that Ictual said this before to a number of coaches. They understand teamwork. And if you have a good team, you have good teamwork. Right, you don't have jealousies. You don't have I'm sure you do in different spots, right. But but good teams make good champions.
They make great champions, and they make good teammates and good competitors, and they hold each other accountable.
I think that's part of the too, you know, the big part of it.
You know, you're recruiting an eighteen nineteen six seventeen, eighteen nineteen year old kid.
You want to make sure they're a good kid. Yeah, well, part of the toos. And I'm sure you played ball and I played ball, and you have a team. You don't want to disappoint your your buddy, so you try hard.
I mean you play hard.
Yeah, you don't. You don't want to disappoint you. You don't want to disappoint anybody, especially when yourself and your buddy who's playing next to you and says, god, I screwed up exactly.
So I think there's getting that.
Tucson has our unfair share of talented athletes, and you know, just a good, good community and good atmosphere.
To succeed with that. We got to go. God, it goes by fast.
Thanks for having me, Thanks for having me back.
Thank you