Monday, June 26, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jaken Zalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services Ensure your most Prized Possessions, katz R two SAD and iHeart Radio Station. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to While on the Ball. You know, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Vera. He's Jakin's awesome kind of guy. Jake sit in today, Welcome to

Monday. Hope you're endorsed because it sucks outside. Sucks outside. You didn't even say hi, you just I've been here thirty five years and I love too, so I love you so. And I don't even think it's hot. I'd rather be hot than like two degrees in Colorado. But it sucks today. I don't know all of a sudden, Well, it started yesterday and I told you, I, you know, my wife and my daughter and I went to a matinee at a part at part place. We come

out of the theater. You know, it's always nice and cool in the theater. It was three thirty, Yeah you were. And I stepped on the pavement in the parking lot and I thought somebody had set me on fire. It was I couldn't. And the thing is I golfed on Saturday. It seemed nearest. That's why I say it's like a all of a sudden it hit uh. And I love Tucson. I have no complaints about Tucson. Even it's one hundred and twelve. I just gotta get used to it.

I'm getting old. I'm just get off my launch, damn it. And it's really hot today. How hot is it home? My cha plays one hundred and forty five thousand. Probably, Yeah, it's a concrete jungle up there. Yeah, it's bad here. It's just it's I don't want to be miserable and all blah blah, but it's bad if you're indoors. Good if one six on my you know, my bring on my computer,

say that it's one or six to get one hundred and thirteen. Today, I think it feels like it at four o'clock is the hottest, you know, four between four and five o'clock because it you know, we've been we've been in it all day. Um, it's it's it's it's bad and it's weird because Steve, we've been this hot before, but it just feels hotter. Yeah, we're getting. I'm getting now, but you know, hey, it is what it is, man, we get it, and it's really luck. It's gonna be like for a week, maybe a week and

a half, and then it'll it'll start to go the other way. Well, yeah, it's really well. You also kind of get used to it. No, I'm talking about the swampy. Oh well yeah, ugly sluck. I do a stay inside, go walk them all, go to a movie typical. I'm all, that's old people's stuff. I'll still golf. I'll still go. I nearly quit the game on Saturday, but uh I rallied, but I'm gonna keep playing. I had an eagle on Saturday. You hit an eagle. I had an eagle. I had an eagle.

I no, yeah, I eagle the eleventh hole at at at arizlanda Nashville. I got. I got on the green in two and I I my second shot three wood from like two twenty and I stuck at about four feet from the hole and I made the putt. It's easier to be easier to believe that you hit an eagle rather than and it's I here, this is this. This people who've been who are scrub golfers like me. Well, we'll feel this. I was nineteen over on the day after, after ten

holes, nineteen over, I was shooting worse than double bogie golf. Okay, nineteen over, and then I fit. I played the last eight holes in three over because I had him eagle and a birdie in the last eight hole. You must have been dressed for you a kid. And it's like I was ready to quit after the tenth hole, and by the end, I'm like I was ready to play another eighteen. And that's that's a very common things. I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. Don't for

you, that's what I don't play. Okay, Hey, well, welcome to the show, everybody. We have a nice show today. Kind of wrapping up of a few things. Base Well, Michael ev who's now the new calls now the Sports and a full time sports columnist at the start. I'm Greg Hanson, who was the has been the calumnist for about seventy or eighty years and who is kind of retired but he's still doing his some part time stuff is Sunday Notes column, which he didn't do this last week.

We're gonna have to yell him and yell at him for not getting the notes column, but uh, Michael lives the full time sports columnist. Um, Jason Justin Spears is the is the you of a football beat writer, which means they'll also do baseball if they keep doing things the way they did. Bruce is still the basketball guy. And then Brett Farah's a friend of ours, is the new sports editor. Finley, Yeah, we gotta get Brett on so so. And you were interested in the column he just wrote about

Jay Johnson. Yeah, and Oney thinks when you send me that note this morning, I wanted to ask whomever he's been no better guy than him, to ask, is the what makes Jay Johnson tick? He kind of he kind of put it in the column, but you know, because he's this doesn't happen by accident? Would J Johnson is really good? He's really good. He's really There's a reason why Lhu went after him, right, And

yeah, exactly, And you know, I get it. You know, if you're an Arizona fan, you get bitter about coaches and players that leave and stuff like that. I stopped getting bitter about players a long time ago. Coaches a little less unless I really want them to leave um. And it's not so much said he left. I think it's the way how he left. Well, and you can't you can't excuse you can't uh fault him for for the money, right, the bigger program, better program, at

least perceptually right. It's it's I think it's I think you weren't here. Think back to when Larry Smith left. Larry, you know, he got the program going. You were you know, they were a top ten team, bat a sue a bunch of times in the USC came call and you blame him. I didn't blame him, but people didn't like was that they you know, they had played in the hall, in the Aloha Bowl and on the way home they dropped him off in La and he went and took

the job. Oh yeah, okay, and he didn't come home. I think there was more to it, even with the with the the good good good bye finger didn't he didn't. He can all that that had nothing to do with him. Believe what was that about. Oh, he just threw

the finger at Arizona fans. That was an eighty five that happened. Okay, that was because that was because he was on the verge of taking Arizona to the Bowl game for the first time in forever, and he was getting booed in a loss to uh to Ucla, and so he threw the finger at the That was the year before that, he didn't throw the finger and then left. What what what people were sad about is that he took the job and didn't even bother to come home with the team. And then all

the coaches. He took all his coaches with him and they all snuck out. Who stayed Marlins That was it. And that and all the coaches got out of town. You know, they did the Baltimore Colts thing. They snuck out overnight, cleared out the office. He didn't talk to the players that I don't know, but but they they you know, there was no good buys or anything. People were pissed. Okay, so it was that. Okay, I'll get that. But it's a great comparison because it's exactly

not exactly, but it's similar to smiler. Yeah. No, come on, if Gabrielle runs into George Clooney, your history, I'm done. I'm done your history. Yeah, he I don't blame there's about six guys. If they knock on our door, you know, my stuff is packed on them out of there in fifteen minutes or she's gone. He said, you keep that yea, yeah, you keep the house. I'm going with him and to live with him in Italy. I was gonna say stuff, stuff

happens. The word similar to that, stuff happens like that, you know where they get a better deal. Yeah, no, you can't. You can't blame him. But but you know, as as as as as Leve pointed out, Arizona got beat on June twenty first, and on June twenty fifth, LSU announced Johnson as their coach. That means that he was talking to them before sometime sometime during the College World Series. Did he ever did to but um, I love this. Did he ever talk to anybody locally

ever? Ever? Probably not, I don't know because he would have been quoted. We joked that he probably had somebody put all this stuff in a pod and shipped to get back his wife, his wife. I'm sure he was married. So say, just come on, just put just get all the overs, get all this stuff, funny like and get over here. Yeah. So we're eading cagn tonight. You know, I I look and you know my son who was in in the sports information office you know during

that time, and he helped with baseball and stuff. He loves J. Johnson. Well, he's good. He loves J. Johnson. He says he's a good guy, and I'll believe him. I'm not. If this was football, I might be a little more you know, h pissed about it, But I'm not. Well, let's kind of go through this real quick. I don't think Dick Tooy had it. Maybe he did not during our time when we covered him. Did he had a chance to leave? He did, He had a couple of chance too. I'm trying to remember.

I think, Um, let me think there were I think there were a couple of Big ten schools that came after he did have some opportunities. And I wouldn't know off something like if Richard told me, if you're listening to Snow or anybody anybody, I believe there were a couple of chances, um, and I can't or maybe it was one of the Florida schools or

he had chances to leave. And if anybody listening from the Smiths era, like uh luk our guys who are on the show often are you know, and again, did he meet with you guys when he when he landed, and after you got the jobs, need to come back and say goodbye. The other thing that pissed everybody off was that he was one of the coaches and like either the East West Shrine Game or the Senior Bolt, so he's on the sidelines of that as a coach, and well, of course kissed

some people off. Makes sense too. You know, my my advice would have been, your coach, don't wear any don't wear you of A, don't wear USC, just wear a you know, wear on Nancy double a or wear a PAC ten thing. That's tough. But he's sitting there in maroon pants. I could picture him. You had maroon pants, a white sweater with the USC logo on it. That's tough. You're running to your wife, Sullivan's what are you doing? Well, I'm no longer with you, Jay, get over it, already, get over it. Oh you

want some Georgia will buy? Okay? How mad? How mad would people have been if we had gone to compactible They would have been pissed. That would have been lost. And I was gonna bring that up because let's tell me, Okay, we'll see I'm not sure about that. You said, yes, uh, Lou, of course twice with Kentucky twice and he turned them down. And but you don't have that anymore, he would have laughed, I had certain Kentucky not screwed up. Right. Well, people here

are very provincial about being here. They feel like there's no better place to live. Sure, and we you and I know that's not true. You know, of course I told you this story before um Miller Miller had a chance to leave to Maryland, right, And one of the former colleague kind of TV person says to me, why would you ever leave? Tu Son, look at this and it was like April, it was nice. You know obviously, have you ever lived in Miami for five million dollars a year?

You leave because it's a perfect opportunity. I mean, I love two song, like I say, you can give me five million dollars to go to Miami or wherever, dude get the pod going. Yeah, but see, you know, I mean, I've been here my entire life. I've had I had opportunities as a newspaper back always and I did interview with a couple of places, and so what of my wife, we're both in news, but your two sons. We never we never felt that there was a

better place. And there isn't and there is, there isn't. Ray's family, Uh, traffic called us and and both of our families are here. There's some things. But if you're given, you're gonna give j Jay there's always one hundred and fifty thousand at that time or whatever. Yeah, and his wife about similar. Yeah, you're done. Wow. It was funny because after I got laid off at TP, I had already accepted a job at the city right. I got a job there, and like on my

literally this is no lie. On my way home, I got a call from San Diego Gas and Electric and I said, no, I've already taken

this other job. Had I not taken this other job, we might have wounded up in San Diego because I know that they were gonna pay me a whole lot more, because you know, and San Diego is one place that I could live, Um, but your family, but I have family here, and it would you know, even if with a great offer, it would have been an extremely hard decision because we at that time, we thought about all the things that we do that are because of we have family here.

Of course, whether it's going a football game, you know, having a party and you have a big, strong family. Hugel is the only one that left. Well, they went, they went over to rock and roll and say in southern California. They went and lived in La. My two sisters. Everybody would do the same and giving the same. But but the bitterness. We'll talk to him level about the bitterness. We've seen the

bitterness. I went on and saw all the comments from Jed Fish who went on Twitter and wish Jade Johnson good luck in the tournament, and people lit up Jed Fish. Somebody said, this is the first is the first misstep you've made. You got to fix this. You know, people are telling to delete the tweet. People are saying, Jed you know you clearly don't. We thought you knew two son, You clearly don't. Stuff like that. It was pretty funny, That's really funny. That's probably what they were

going for to uh people. That's why I don't want Twitter. I mean, I don't already post anything because you could say blue. We didn't say d you said white. Why didn't see black? Black? When shut up? But I mean, come on, it was entertaining. This is bar stuff. You go to a bar and you talked to bart to your bartender, Well, you know, today I had a tough day. That stuff

was fun though it was entertaining. There are a couple of people sent you know, coach, you know, we get the idea it then, but most of them were like, you need to lead this, you're wrong. A lot of a lot of memes, you know, just you know, somebody shaking their head to say no, or you'll get that, get that out of it. Was a whole bunch of that. What's that? What's what's the mom saying? Uh, it's best to say nothing at all.

I feel really good to say he would just be nice. Yeah, we know your friends, but no, ye just call him up, tell them personally, don't don't tweet it all right. Uh, we got left coming up here, and then Troy Mike left coming up talk about his new job

as calumnist and uh, how he's gonna like that? And then Troy Hutchinson was up at the UH Section seven basketball event up in Phoenix, playing a bunch of games in the UH in the Cardinal Stadium, and so well he saw the all the players who coaches, all the coaches, we'll just get

his thoughts on that whole band. He's been coming at you a football recruiting because that's going crazy a good end that sometimes you know, Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to cover with with Troy, but Michael lev coming up and uh, well, we'll just talking about how much fun he's gonna have doing this job. So stick around for allow that We'll be right back.

For more than twenty years, the Window Depot has provided the best price and the biggest inventory on in stock vital windows, and now the Window Depot is more than a window store, offering homeowners and contractors a one stop warehouse offering interior and exterior doors granted in courts, countertops, in stock camintry, and

skylights to finish your project. Their team of professionals will help with everything from free kitchen design to custom orders from leading manufacturers like mill Guard and Geldwyn. Order online or find a location near you at the Window Deepot dot com. Where do you buy exercise equipment? Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona Health. Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes sense to buy your fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone else. At Arizona

Health. Our goal is to help you choose the equipment you need to reach your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you deserve. Arizona Health the lass and exercise equipment on twenty seconds just west of Wilmot. If you think now is not a good time to buy a refinance at home, think again. Interest rates are at all time lows on most loan programs, and Paul Volpi of Nova Homelands is ready to help you find the option that best

fits your needs. If you're looking for your dream home or want to get cash out to refinance on a current home, visit Volpi Team dot com. That's Volpe Team dot com. I'll call five six two six today. It's a new year and time to give a Creative Award to your student athletes Winter and spring awards seasons, as well as for grade school, middle school and high school athletes. Scholastic awards for those academic students just in time to recognize

all their achievements. Visit Creative Awards online at Creative Awards az dot com or visit their Idea studio at two twenty eight West Drachman Street in Tucson. It's also time to get your creative promotional products for the upcoming conventions, giveaways to promote your company and get your employees new apparel to look sharp representing you and your company. Come see Creative Awards to twenty eight West Drachman Street or online

at Creative awards Aze dot com. Next bain back pain, car accident, headaches, sports injury. Or Nelli's Chiropractic's goal is to help our patients achieve a healthy lifestyle. Combining chiropractic care with physical medicine modalities, therapeutic procedures and massage therapy not only reduced pain, but helps the body heal itself as well as provide other health benefits. Or Nellis Chiropractic. We use a natural approach

to improve an individual's health and wellbeing. Don't suffer any longer. Call or Nellis Chiropractic Today. The holidays are fast approaching after a difficult year. Wor sure everyone could use a little financial help. Pyramid Federal Credit Union is bringing back to holiday Helper Loan, a low interest, short term loan that can help get you through the holidays. In support of our community, Pyramid is making our donation to the Community Group Bank of Southern Arizona from each a loan.

For more information or apply online, visit Pyramid seu dot com slash Holiday Helper. All those are on approved credit. Other restrictions may apply Pyramid Federal Credit Union insured MCUA. Did you know sports cards that memorabilia are set record sales last month of nineteen fifty two, Tops Mickey Mantles sold for twelve point six million, Lebron James Rookie sold for five points six Also, collecting cards is a family fun hobby that can be very profitable. If you want to

start a collection or expand your collection, check out Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading card shops in the country and have served our local community for twenty five years. They are located on e Speedway. That's Showtime Cards streaming live on the iHeart Radio. Aham, This is I on the Ball with Steve Ribera and Jay Gonzalez on Box Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to On the Ball. He know, Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm

Steve, He's Jake. Now we have Michael ev the new sports columnists that they were gonna do SORR. Mike, how you doing, I'm doing okay? Guys, how are you. We're doing fine, Thanks for joining us. Tonight's the championship game of the College World Series of something you'll probably be watching intently. Jay found your column intriguing about the coach It was it wasn't so much about the coaches, It was about us as a fan base. You know that that people or what it's about it? Right? Yeah?

But Michael, you know, uh, this whole thing with j Johnson, because the other thing was that Jed. You probably saw Jed Fish went on and wished wished Jay. I mean it went wished Jay Johnson good luck, and people just like got all over him. You've been here long enough to know the fan base. Did you think that was, like Crappier, was highly expected? I would say that the reaction to Jed's tweet was expected for

sure. Um, this is a this is a multi layer kind of situation here, and I don't even think I got into all of the layers that exists that like contribute to the vitriol that people feel toward j Johnson. I didn't even mention how he took some players with him to Arizona and LF You're including a very prominent you know, hitter and Jacob Barry, who ended up

being a first round pick in lost year's draft. Who I mean, gosh, if she had been the first baseman, let's say, on the twenty twenty two Wildcats, I mean, who knows how far they could have gotten. Riley Cooper, the left handed reliever. He's been a huge weapon out of the bullpen for LSU during this run of Theirs. And a guy who can pitch multiple innings for you can basically you know, both writers and lefty, durable, reliable again, the kind of guy that could have used here

and here in two tund in twenty twenty two. And the other part that I didn't even get into, and I got into a lot of the feelings and issues that came up then and have lingered until now, was that, you know, Jay didn't say goodbye or acknowledge the fan base or the town or anything of that nature. And I just feel like, you know, we've been a good tr move to do that right, you know, like take out a take out an ad in our paper, say thank you too

soon. You know, I couldn't have done it without you last time in my life. So a better opportunity came along, you know, I'll never forget my time there. Blah blah blah blah. And he didn't do he didn't do that, and he took players with him, and he did something that no one else had ever done, which is leaves the ariors on a baseball program for another program. And I understand why people feel the way they

feel about him because of all those things. But given the time you've spent with him, which you've spent a lot of time, given the column, he's probably not that guy. He's not probably not a warm and fuzzy guy, not a guy who's gonna put his arm around you and say, you know, Michael, this is off the record, but you know, blah blah blah. He's not gonna be that guy who he's emotional or whatever. Man, that's a good question. Um, I don't know. I don't

know. I do know that. I mean, he's just really competitive, like he approaches his job like a lot of football coaches approach their job with a level of intensity and paroxity. That you don't always see him baseball. I mean, it is hard to it's hard to have that kind of makeup, and in this particular sport because it's such a long season. There's so many ups and downs, but you can't you know, freak out over every single loss um that you incur over the course of the season, because you'll

just carry yourself apart. But he manages to do it. And that's just kind of his his makeup and his approach to things. And I didn't get to know him on that level, you know, like the way he would to act with his players, but I always heard good things about it, and I know that his interactions with us were very positive and I could get him on the phone anytime I needed to, and he was very easy to

work with and all those good things. Um, I just think he you know, he had a little bit better advice, you know, yeah, from a pr standpoint, uh you know about you know, his sort of I did strategy that it would have smoothed things over at least a little bit. So so now you know, and this this with this column you and with what happened with Jed you and and not not that you're you're you're unaware of all this, but you know, writing columns now, it's gonna be

a whole different deal. Let me ask you when you when you you know, as a writer covering football or whatever. People complain about stuff, but they probably less complain about you than complaining about something you've told them. You know, you know the difference because they're not you know, they're not gonna be so upset at you. They're gonna be upset that, you know,

the UFA ran this play or they couldn't win a game or whatever. Now you know, you're in a position where there's going to be a lot of stuff being directed at you. We all know how how you know half half of would hand, half of the people who read hands and hate him and half love him. Are you ready for that? I hope so. Um. I mean even that column that you guys were talking about, the one I ran wrote the other day, I got some people on Twitter going, hey, that was a swing and a miss. Yeah, you know,

like you you you've missed the point. You don't get it? Um, which had you know what, that's all part for the course. It's okay, UM. I welcome the feedback. Um. Like I said, there were some you know, after seeing some of these comments, I was like, you know what I did kind of miss a couple of things maybe yeah, um, in the course of this column, because there there's just so

much to unpack. Um. And it was you know, sort of a little impromptu um when when they advanced, I was like, you know what, I feel like you need to write about this and kind of address some of these issues that have been lingering for two years now. Um. But they that's all part of it, you know, and that's cool and I welcome it. As I said on Twitter today, my hil in box is

open and I look forward to the feedback. And you know, hey, this is going to be something of a learning process for me, you know, as I kind of try to find my columnist voice, if you will. Um, not to get like two inside baseball here, but I was I was a really flowery writer, I would say when I first started out, like I'm merely twenty and I've definitely sort of evolved into more of a minimalist, like focusing more on giving as much information out there as opposed to

clever lines or or or whatnot. And and as I sit down and kind of you know, write different pieces, I feel like I need to find a balance between those two. So that'll be a bit of a process. But again, happy to have everybody along for the journal, so let me kind of go back to Jay Johnson, walking back just a bit because because I wanted to ask you even before Jay got ahold of you or for us today. Um, what makes Jay john tick other than him being just wanting

to win so much? Rich Rod was like that and we all know how that turned out, because they hate to lose. But let me take you say this, having played baseball, having know a lot of a lot of good baseball coaches. Um, his success is not by accident. This doesn't happen by accident. He's not good just by accident. He's very good. So the guys must love playing for him for some reason. So what makes him tick? And too, I'm assuming you try to track him down to

explain why he left. I think the second point, I don't think I ever went to those lines kind of them, and to some degree, I'm kind of of a mind that they're gone, They're not here anymore, They're not really part of this. This is more about, as as we was mentioned at the top, kind of about the feelings that people here have about him and that whole situation. As the question number one, I think there's

a couple of things. One is just how thorough he is, how much he prepares for each and every game, film study, scouting reports, you know, you name it. He's on top of it. So that's one thing. And I think another is just his eye for talent. You know, Nolan Gorman and Matthew Libertore I think are a couple of good examples.

I think they're both with the Cardinals right now. The guys that Jay had, you know, his recruiting classes who completely blew up and became too good to get to campus, you know, ended up being first round picks and quickly became major leaguers like Ryan Campos, the catcher at Arizona State, the one time Arizona commit, great hitter, left handed hitter who also happens to play catcher, just in another example of like Jay is able to see something

in baseball players at an early age that he can identify, and he knows that these guys will will pan out and become really good players. And I think the other thing is he really loves and advocates for college baseball. Like I don't think he's someone who, you know, his ambition someday is to coach, you know, to manage the New York Nakles, you know.

I think he's like kind of the pie piper of college ball. And he's really good at going into the living room and making a convincing argument to someone who might be on the fence about you know, what's the best path for them, you know, to go into the draft or to go to college for three or four years. And and you can win people over. And as a result, he gets a lot of really good players in his program and he wins a lot of ball games. All right, So what are

you looking forward to the most with this new gig? What the what excites you about this job? Well, as I was in my previous stop for about six months of serving the sports that are kind of notice like, there's certain stories that are just going through the cracks, you know. Um. You know, Greg Hansen, our long time columnists, is in a you know, slightly different role now he's only writing, you know, two times a week, um so, and he writes about high schools a lot.

He writes about team of college. But I think there are a lot of stories in those areas that are are not being told good stories. I think there's a market um out there that's being underserved. Um. And so I'm

going to try to tell a lot of those stories. Find those stories about, you know, whether they're just uh student athletes who are excelling on the field, or they've got some uh, you know, some something going on in their personal life or family life, or they've overcome some obstacles, um, those sorts of things, or something that I'm really looking forward to on top of, you know, just being another voice when it comes to like,

you know, the big stuff. You know, like you of a football and you and even you have a basketball, which I haven't written very much about at all over the years, and that that'll be fun and interesting to kind of dive into. And I'm sure the feedback will be very favorable. Uh, this novice coming in from uh, you know, from from the corner here, UM, firing up some shots when it comes to basketball. But um, the main thing is just you know, I want to

I think we need to tell more stories. That's kind of what this is, this big is all about. UM, the main job that we have. We have this huge community, we have all these high schools, we have prominent successful junior college athletes, and we need to we need to serve

the community. UM those stories. So let me you've been here a few I might be six seven years right now from a big market and you know the market LA's big time stuff, and you become friends with a lot of your subjects Jed included, I would assume I don't I'm maybe reading too much into that. You're close to Jed Jet mentions you you can have recovered him for the last two years. How is it going to feel when at some

point you're gonna have to get on him and be tough on him? Same with Tommy although you're not you're not a Tommy guy because you're not there every day. How is that going to be how you think it's gonna be? Yeah, you know, look, I wrote some critical stuff about Dave laon um this past baseball season, the former pitching coach who would let go by the program. That was hard. It was really hard to do that because

Daid Laon is a great guy. I love Dave l Like everyone who's ever met Dave Lawn loves him Um. And he wanted to be a book one time, you know about up at the Maggios that I that I devoured and the kids that would be really good and it was, Um. I mean, he's a great dude. So those things are hard. To me, the way I always put it and look at it is am I being fair? No? I mean that you never want to get personal, you know.

I try to use like data. You know, if someone is not getting the job done, and you know, and and they're being paid a lot of money to do a job, you know, you can always kind of go to the bottom line, you know, the results and point to that. And if, you know, if I ever cross that line into the realm of unfairness or you know, not being fair to to the subject, then they have every right to complain about it and reach out to me and we can have a discussion and you know, maybe they'll all be the

error of my way. Yeah, but not now. You get to write what you think, not just what you know. So there's a little bit, you know, there's a little bit of fuzziness in there, right, I mean you can I mean, yes, you're gonna want You're gonna want to be able to back it up with with data and stuff like that. But in the end, it's like, Okay, this is what I think, and I think this guy sucks, and you can say that even if

somebody else doesn't think that he does. Right, Yeah, I mean maybe I look, I would even with the nil um era upon us, where you know, you can sort of argue that players are getting paid, you will not see me write a sentence like that about his student actletes probably ever, right. You know. Now with coaches it's a different story, right, you know, because I mean they're high profile, they're highly paid.

Um, they're they're grown up here to win that they're grown ups, they're professionals, right, and so they're they have opened themselves up to screw me um as a result of facts. So if that's gonna that is going to happen from time to time, you know, like if football, you know, barring injuries to pay go four and eight this season or something, then I think that Jetfishes opened himself up to criticism and actually would probably acknowledge that

himself, you know. Um. So you know, like I said, actually I'm gonna try to be fair even if I have to criticize somebody. Well, you always have to be the right, you have to be. That's one of the requirements of the whole thing. So Michael, thanks a bunch. When do we are you gonna write to two three four times a week? What Twitter your schedule? I don't know yet. That's still I figured out I would. I would guess something along the line of three times

a week. Sometimes it's going to be maybe long takeouts. I'm still going to cover baseball to a great extent as well. And as I mentioned on Twitter, this is all going to kind of really get rolling towards the end of July, after I take a little time off and get through the MLB Draft here coming up. So okay, I'm looking forward to it, and I thank you guys for having me on. Wait. Predictions for tonight. Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna stay Florida wins it. I just I don't

know. It felt like yesterday that Alice was kind of running out of pictures, but maybe that was a strategic thing, you know, they just fitted the game was out of hand and they were just gonna go to the back of the bullpen um. But yeah, even if that does happen, that will be history repeating itself because the exact same thing happened to Jay in twenty sixteen, winning the first game of the finals and then losing the next two. So we'll see great. Thank you, Michael good Links a much man.

Looking forward to talking to you about stuff going down the road. Appreciate it. Thanks. Michael left from the Arizona Day, the start a new venture for him. Congrats, very cool new columns. And we haven't heading I mean like forty other guys that coming along and written columns like Jack mcgruger and other guys. But nobody, wait a second, there's another newspaper here for a long while. You guys don't even count. I know, I

know that's how you feel. We did, but there hasn't been a different lead columnists for forty years, early eighties, nineteen eighty three or something. Yeah, it'll be fun to have Michael around. Let's he's a good friend. Zako. All right, let's hit the road. We'll take a break. We're gonna come back. We'll take your calls five two zero four one six seventy four furday. We'll talk about the milestone that we hit on Friday. So's were you back? Oh? You and me? All right,

Jason don't have been here a little bit of that. You love them anyways, appreciate it. We'll be right back. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly 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 the Loved 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 five at gmail dot com. Hey Walcat Nation, Jake Fish,

you're here, I gotta tell you about my winning team. Over at Arizona Health Insider, I was able to get a custom private health insurance plan with no deductibles, no co pays, nationwide coverage, and I get to pick my own doctor for less than two hundred dollars a month. If you want to avoid getting gouged on the exchange and you want real health insurance, call Arizona Health Insiders five two zero eight five zero six eight six six five

two zero eight five zero six eight six six beardown. What's your goal a new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college. Pima Community College can help you make Someday today and reach your goals affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from and financial aid available, it's time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for the career you want. Pima offers free career exploration classes so you can choose the

field that's right for you. Learn how at Pima dot edu slash someday. Is it hot in here or is it just me? Honey? I always think you're hot, but it's June and we all know it's going to get hot in Tucson. It doesn't have to be hot in our house, honey. You should call picture ROCs Cooling, Heating and Plumbing. They have the solutions for us for all your air condition needs. Call five two zero, four four zero or zero six nine or visit us at picture Ks Cooling,

dot Coming and Clumbing. Need more affordable auto and home insurance while making sure your family has the courage it needs when mayhem happens. They've got you covered at the Edmund Marcus All State Agency. Go see Edmund Marcus. He's born and raised in Tucson and a proud graduate of the University of Arizona. He's been an All State agent for twenty five years and has an award winning agency

which takes care of his clients. Home today at five two zero three two three nine three three three for an auto and home quote and let him save you money and make sure you have the courage you need. You're in good hands with the Edmund Marcus All State Agency. Do you want to be part of a winning team? A Team Secure? He is looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and events staff to be a part of our team.

We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest sporting events and concerts for over twenty years. We want you to join the action. A Team offers a fun and exciting opportunity to work in the sports and entertainment industry, with flexible schedules that are perfect for those looking for a part time job or a second income. Come be a part of a winning team the A Team. Apply online today at A Team security dot net. This is I on

the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio while just surgery I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to one on the Ball. You know, Fox Sports fourteen fifteen on Steve, He's Jay. We have left thirteen minutes. If you'd like to give us a quick call talk to us. So whatever you guys want to talk about. UM, but you have some news I think

yes. Yes, we ad a bit of a milestone on Friday. If you're somebody follows our podcast because you know, and we know a lot of people listen to us. You know when we're live and what now you can listen to us on either on the radio or on the iHeart Apple. We also post our podcast and on Friday we hit twelve hundred podcasts that are available on the iHeart website. UM, one thousand and two hundred, Steve, which is pretty cool. It's a it's a it's a nice number. Yeah,

no, it is. It is. I mean that means you can go way back and they're all available and listen to our shows. How do they find it? Uh, you go to you go to the iHeart website iHeart dot com search for I on the Ball and you can get to our podcast page and you you can go back as far as you want it. We've had Steven Er a couple of times, Terry Francona a couple of times, Bill Walton, umb Mike Bibby, a lot of a lot of a lot of you know, a lot of you know, obviously a lot of

your A athletes. If you you know, we talked about your high school, you can go back and find them, do you know, do a search. Um, we put that up every night after after the show. Um. It takes about an hour or so to get it up on up on the site. And then lately, over the last I don't know a few months, we've been posting it on our Facebook and Twitter pages, so you can just easily find it there. But the best way to find it and to go see the directory of all the podcast is to go on and

uh and uh onto the ihear website. Now look, wait, we you know, we really appreciate you guys listening to our podcast because that's a big deal. Um, we're there, you know, I mean, we're there every day. And you know it's funny because you go you go see the

numbers. There's almost as many people who listen to our podcasts on the weekends as during the week because you know, people are like, Okay, I missed this one or I missed that one, and they go back and listen to listen to a podcast from earlier in the week or or way back, you know. Um, and you know, like I said, sometimes, you know, we will have high school athletes on our you know, on

our on our podcast. If you want to go back and oh, you know, Jimmy was on this radio show back in you know, two thousand and twenty two, twenty two. Go look for that. You can hear them, you know that kind of stuff. That's what that stuff is good for. Right. No, it's been h I didn't think i'd lost five shows with you, five five podcasts. But hey, you know the world, the world is doing. I grow on you, man. I married to my wife going on going on thirty three years. We're gonna have to

change your name from Jay the fund guy. You grow man. You people love me. Sometimes this is not Sometimes there's some people out there who go like, what the hell are you doing? Yeah, because we're coming up against maybe three years here, three years bears in September September of three years and then but we were a year together. The other press about Yeah, yeah, I yeah, um, if you're welcome. Yeah, it's been

fun. But you know, if you if you if you ever miss a show, just go back and look for you you know, you ever looking for something to listen to on your drive to Phoenix or whatever. Um, you know, give us a listen. Go back and listen to one of our podcasts. And we try to make it entertaining to give us some permissions as long as we remember names were good. That guy, you know that guy that's way of Jason googling it from or he knows what we're talking about.

We're so badness. But twelve podcasts very cool and and we'll put something tonight. I think you need to put some tonight on the kind of success

that we're saying. Numbers wise from those podcasts and our listeners, right, our listener, our list the people, the number of people listening to our podcasts is really grown, which tells us probably the number of people who are listening to us right now is really grown quite a bit, which which you You sent it to me earlier today, and I was very surprised because what I tell some of the people I talked to, some of the advertisers, UM, I was way under selling it, yeah, way underselling. Yeah.

So those a lot of people out there listening, and those those advertisers go on the podcast, right right, so they can hear it here. Yeah, yeah, right. Our local ads run on the podcast because um I hearts you know, inserts some uh some national ads. During the second break each hour, we we added those out so you get all the if you're an advertiser, and if you want to be an advertiser, I certainly reach out to us. But our advertisers, we leave those ads on the

podcast and so people hear those as well. Yeah, no, it We've been fun so far. Uh. Summers are a little hot and difficult, but we've gone through two or three of them. Our best best time was when we are on the best time every times the best time. But when we had COVID, we had everybody available because no one was doing anything. Yeah yeah, yeah. We started this in the in the middle of twenty

twenty, and it was it was a crazy time. Um, everything had shut down, was it twenty twenty twenty, middle of May of twenty twenty, and uh so you know it's uh, you know, yeah, but I think I think though, once they started listening to us. It grows on them too, because we're just dudes talking about sports, local sportsmans most of the time, most of the time. Right. And then our guests. And I was with somebody yesterday said, you guys have some pretty good

guests, isn't. Yeah, but it's sometimes it's hard to find it hard to finding them. You know. Well, look, we're trying to have conversations, and we've talked about this. We want to have conversations about what's going on right in front of you. You know, do we do we go back to issues you know that are you know a week all or whatever, But mostly we're trying to talk about what's going on to do, right, So that's that's really what we do. That's the FCC right now.

Yeah, that's the gist of our show. Hi, you're on the R and I on the ball. No, it's Richard. How you guys doing today, Richard, we're doing. Man, it's hot, isn't. It's hot out there? It's so bad. Hey, Lio, you know all this talk about this bitterness about Jay Johnson leaving you know, um, you know, hey, look look it's all about rejection. You know, you've got to be able to handle rejection. That's true. And look, I mean look take these the Yokohoma Sooners as an example. I mean, you

know, we lost our great coach, Lincoln Riley. He took he stole our highs con trophy quarterback with UFC. And uh, but we're not bitter. I mean we're not bitter. I mean we this an arrest warps red, but we're not there. Yeah. Yeah, I heard he if he crossed the state lines and there are orders to not only arrest him, but probably heard him. Well, we'd like to run him up a little bit. Not too bad, jay. So so when when Switcher left? Uh? And so when Switcher up to the Cowboys had that? How was that?

Well he had already been retired. Also let him see you at the door. Okay, okay, yeah, no, well he he retired after seventeen years. Who placed him was the guy that gives gibbs? And then there was played them the next year, right, Okay remember nineteen Yeah that was when Jamal Holloway didn't play yet broken his leg the Lake and Oklahoma started a second or third stream defensive back named Chris Nelson. And so it was a great game. Now, I mean we had to run the ball every

down pretty much because Chris didn't pass it. All right. It was the remember the book, The Life and Crimes of the Oklomba Football. I'll tell you what. There was a lot of NFL players on that football field that night. Yeah, there was a lot of great players on both sides, football Lynn Parker, John Fah. There was a lot of players on that team, both those teams. But anyway, hey, rejecting happens. Yeah, we're all going to be rejected. I mean, Steve knows women are

gonna leave us. We have to get over it and just move on. Right, we've been talking. I gotta tell you, Richard, there's still a girl and a girl from high school that I'm still really upset at. And nothing. My life, my life's been great, and you know she was. You know, it's never been. But just the way that thing went down, it still sticks in there a little bit. But he's not bitter, Richard, He's not bitter. No. Well, I'll tell you I sure can't go back to Oklahoma, that's for sure. There's a few

women back there that, you know, like to get my scalp. I'm pretty sure were streaming so long and they forgot about. It doesn't even matter. I don't know those restraining owners were probably still yeah, there might be. Thanks for being the listener, Richard. We appreciate it. Thank you. It's it's kind of funny. Uh so, yeah, okay, So

that there's that. We have about four minutes. We got about another couple of calls in you if you want going back to that though, you know, I don't remember, and maybe I was, but I don't remember the way I remember it today. Let me put it this way. Maybe it's revisions history. I don't remember being that upset about Larry Smith going to USC right if he had gone to more of a lateral move. But even back then, and I would have been let's say that was nineteen eighty six,

so i'd have been twenty seven years old. Even back then, I just didn't feel you had trade, but you had to. You had to. Maybe I wasn't I but today I don't think, you know, I don't feel that way. And I did feel that way about Jay Johnson's like, oh yeah, I guess you had to important enough to me as a fan. You had to have been about it with with the thing is he jumped to the prettier girl in the conference. Yeah, that was that was the

thing. And he wasn't I'm sure he wasn't treated well here when he came to play. Oh no, no he was not. He was not. Hig you're on the iron I on the ball. Hey, how's it going today? What's up, Brian? You guys talking about coaches that lead? Yeah, you know, I don't. I don't. I could care.

I don't care about a coach leading. If they want to lead to better themselves, why not because the first chance to uh, when they don't do well, everybody's complaining and they're fired, So why not strike by the ironside? Yeah? I agree again. You know, an L shoe was gonna double their salary or more than that and their facilities. And now with with n I L, I'm here that doing very very well. But you know, I mean, the only thing I did not walk about what J Johnson

did, it's not come back and talk to the players. Guy. You know, I think that something that coach should always do. Yeah you know, yeah, and those players knew this was going on while they're at the college. Serious, Well you're doing think made a difference now because you're not playing for the coach, you're playing for yourself and you're playing for the school. You're you're talking way too much sense, Brian, You're you're making way

too much sense, and all of that. It's killing you. Probably what the two beers I already had today, have a third a third, you'll even make more sense. I'm gonna happen, I guess you. Something's wrong with me. I probably won't be able to call back for a month now. Okay, you're growing up, thank you, thank you much. But that bitterness, and I'm saying this not directed to UJ or to just to

those it's more a reflection of them than it is to anything else. Right, It's like, yes, like you're you've got your own sadness yours. That's something and this just triggers it. Right, Yeah, but got you know, But it was funny that there's so many, so many people who lit up or Jetfish. Yeah, I mean there's some people who don't feel the same about jet Fish because of that, which is crazy. Hey, jet Fish has bigger issues than this. Yeah, and it's a quarterback and

trying to win some games. Yeah, no, it's crazy, but it is what it is, and that's what the But that again. You know, that's what we do. And social media has unleashed all of that and now you know, you deal with all that stuff as it comes along. You know. Look, I mean, I'm gonna be interested to see, let's say things don't go well this football season. You know, what's the fan reaction going to be? You know it? I mean, I think let's let's say let's say they went what do you mean, let's say they

went Okay, they won't won an eleven his first year. Let's say they'd gone three and nine last all right, and now they go five and seven. People would be happy they go five and seven this year. People are not going to be happened. I think Jay and I don't know the skids. We don't have it. What we guess we do, but it can't see it. Um just how they go five and seven, you know, the way they go five and seven, because there could be some pretty good

teams in LUSA, the serves in a football you don't. I think there's a lot of people dug in that they that back because they went five and seven last year, they better be in a bowl game this year. You know, I think there's a lot of people like that. All right, let's take our breakway and come back breaking news at the top of the hour with Jason. We'll be right back. Believe they just don't believe that. Just don't believe that. Justin