Monday, June 3, Hour 2 - podcast episode cover

Monday, June 3, Hour 2

Jun 06, 202453 min
--:--
--:--
Download Metacast podcast app
Listen to this episode in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episode description

Guest Co-Host: Javier Morales, AllSportsTucson.com
Guest: Michael Lev, Arizona Daily Star Sports Columnist

Transcript

Steve Rivera and jaygn Salez. They have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Stage Jet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming live. I mean, iHeartRadio Wapps. Hey, welcome back to win the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Javio Moreles. Now we have Kevin breaking news on

the ball, breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so some of our listeners may have heard between the breaks, the Era Wildcats women's basketball program is going to participate in the twenty twenty four Women's Acrosher Classic. They're going to join Vanderbilt Cal in Michigan State in the event. All the games we played in the Akrocher Arena, and that is gonna be the championship game is gonna be Wednesday, November twenty seventh. Those are like those big

events that you want to see Arizona in. Men are used to doing that, the women not so much. So that's that's great when we were telling that they can actually play Cal in the tournament. Let me let me ask you this because we talk about this for basketball, men's basketball, specifically Big twelve. Arizona's gonna be in the top three at least that's what we're kind of predicting. It's gonna be tough. It's gonna be a lot of fun to be tough. Though. What do the women following in this the Big

twelve? There's some good programs in there also, Baylor, Baylor, you know, Oklahoma State, Kansas now better, Kansas is better. Kansas State obviously not as as you know, I highly thought of as the Pac twelve, but there's still some competitive programs in there. So if they finish top five possible. I think it's possible. Especially with who they have coming back, the core of what was that team that made it to the NCAA Tournament, I think they do have a really good chance to finish top five and

the Big twelve. The Wildcats track and field team is going to wrap up their season at the outdoor NCAA Championships at Hayward Field, Oregon's campus. Uh This will be starting to Wednesday, June fifth, and ending Saturday, June eighth. There are six tickets for the Wildcats that they've punched so far. It's going to be Sir Jonathan Simms, Jan Vasquez, and Trayveon White, Austin as well as the men's for by one hundred team that made the championship.

I'm upset with I'm upset with my parents not naming me, sir sir. Yeah, isn't that like something? There was a football player here, yeah, right, yeah, his whole name, but I remember and then I know you guys want to talk about a little bit about the Brian Peabody basketball camp. It's gonna be going on for the next four four weeks there, Yeah, four weeks. Peabody of PEMA have your nos all about it. He's close to that program. Yeah, he he's He's going to have

it four weeks. It started today. There's four sessions. Uh, every week is Monday through Thursday. So the sessions that's going on now is going to go through the Thursday, which is a sixth and then you have next Monday, the tenth of the thirteenth, and the following week seventeenth to the twentieth, and then twenty fourth to twenty seventh. There is information to register for it. You have to go to just hoops dot org or email Peabody at Peabody Hoops at gmail dot com. I coach at Giago or I have

coached at Geya Goo Intermediate. So I coached like fourth and fifth grade players and I took them to this last year and it's unbelievable how much they learn and how much they go over and it's like boom boom boom, boom boom. There's no there's not a lot of breaks. It's like we're going from one drill the next. And I think a lot a lot of the kids like that and it helped them out. I think I think if you, if you're a coach of a youth team or your parent of a youth player,

you should check it out. Because Brian Peabody, he's been a success there at PEMA with the way his teams. What are the things that Ali Skagg said that I don't think people know enough about. And it's kind of like we go well with Richard and all that. How do you become a better player? Repetitive it's all motion, proper mechanics, bay well, but going to the motions all repetitive and repetitive, repetitive. You can't get tired of doing the same thing a number of times. Ground Balls. I know

when I played, my dad was hitting me ground balls constantly. I couldn't hit it worth a lick, but because he didn't pitch to me, but his ground balls ground balls, ground balls under different circumstances. And that's how you become better. The more you play, the better you are. And that's why games And you know this. I'm sure Candre was this philosophy too. You get you win games on Saturday, you win them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from the stuff you learn and the work you

put in. It's the ten thousand hour O right to give me, explained Malcolm Gladwell, he has I forget the number of hours too fancy for me. It's like a said number of hours that he believes if you spend ten thousand hours doing anything, you'll become a master at that thing. Ten thousand hours playing makes sense, ten thousand hours knitting. Yeah, shooting a basketball is one of those things. Do you have to do it properly? Yes,

you know what I'm saying. I believe part of it is doing it with intent and like you know, yeah, well, let me tell you. Like Jim Purick. You've seen him hit the ball right, his his strow, his swing is like horrendous, but it's his swing and he's fantastic. Does that make sense? So he must have done that ten thousand hours. Yeah, like Sean Marion the same thing. Yeah, with a shot,

with a shot. Yeah, yeah, you know it's it's uh, it's like Mike be A. Remember when we covered the team, like sometimes the late at night I at Michel Center for whatever reason, we were there outside him and Josh he was just shooting the ball, shooting and who knows how long they were there. Yeah, that's what it takes. Yeah, yeah, can't be tired. No, I don't want to do it. No, you gotta do it. Yeah, well if you want to be

good, yeah, it wan't be great. Yeah, justin Jefferson and the Vikings, I finally agreed to a contract with the terms being four years. When one hundred and forty million dollars and yeah it's it's the highest paid non quarterback contract in NFL history with one hundred and ten million dollars guarantee you. And then we have a padres infielder by the last name Marcano. I'm not

going to do him a disservice by attempting his first name. They believe that he is actually facing a lifetime ban from the MLB for potentially placing bets on the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that he played for last season when he was injured with a torn a cl he made some bets and that sportsbook reported to the MLB, and now they're looking and investigating into that he was with the

team. Correct, he majored on the Pirates, who he was signed for at the time, and he was on the al kind of like a Pete Roase thing. He bet on his own team. Correct. These guys are are told numerous times not to do that, right, I mean, you have to think every time before the spring training starts out, either a meeting or manual or it's you know, hit into their brains enough where you don't do that. And I just don't understand why somebody would take a risk on

their whole career over something like that. It's just I hope, I hope something happens where he's cleared of it. For the reason it's not it's not confirmed yet, right still, Yeah, So I just hate to see a young guy throwing his career over something like that. Yeah. The same thing with John Taey Porter in the NBA, kind of throwing away what could have

been a seven figure eventual earnings for him. For I believe it was like two hundred thousand dollars or eighty thousand dollars he would make it on these bets. So yeah, it's really curious decision making. Yeah. The twenty twenty four college baseball super Regionals have been set u with Florida just winning their most recent matchup about an hour ago. I believe, so state one. Yeah, so of the sixteen seeds, how many events? How about about what?

So we have we have number one Tennessee versus Evansville, number two Kentucky versus number five teen Oregon State, number three Texas A and M versus Oregon, number six, Clemson versus Florida number eight Florida State versus Norman Regional winner. So there's still two games I believe that are that are unresolved, the Norman Regional and the Chapel Hill Regional. LSU is playing North Carolina? Is that okay? The North Carolina say three three seats, four seeds, four

seat okay? Because you didn't do the four or the five? Who's the five seed? Who's the five seed? Because you didn't mention the five? Yeah, there's I think they're still in competition. This this is just the

list of the matchups for the next round that I'm looking at here. But yeah, it looks like it looks like there are only one, two, three, currently three teams that have made it through that are unranked or at least not numbered by the It's gonna be interesting if L s U beats North Carolina, then West Virginia play L s U. I think most likely at L s U right, even though both teams aren't aren't seeded. This has

happened before, I don't know. Yeah, where both teams win and again and they beat or they come out of regionals where the team is or another the host was was the seed. So how many do you know? The sixteen season? Is Arizona the only one that has that? Wake Forest lost they were a seated team. Okay, they lost the day before Arizona, the day of Yeah. Yeah, so Vanderbilt was not a seed, no,

because it got to be two. So I'm just curious because Arizona Arizona obviously needed to get not needed to, but but it was good enough to get to the next round, and they were seated well enough to get to the next round. Yeah, it looks like Oregon won the Santa Barbara Regional, so they weren't They weren't seeded. Evansville won the Greenville Regional, they weren't seeded, and Florida won't beat Oklahoma State and they were four. Five.

There's five. There's Kansas State in the out of the fayv of THEE Regional, West Virginia out of here, out of Tucson, Oregon out of Santa Barbara, Evansville out of Greenville, and Florida out of Stillwater. Yeah, okay, what else you got? Caitlyn Clark is the w NBA's Rookie of the Month. Okay, yeah, I don't know. Maybe well Reee has done fantastically well. So it was a brink, right, is id't brink? Yeah? Yeah, it's hard not to pick Caitlyn, but Caitly,

I'm calling her by her first name. But did you see the game of the weekend? You got more stuff? I don't have any that was okay, So let's go kind of go there if you want. I'm gonna mention the McAfee. I saw that this morning or heard that this morning. What did you make in the weekend game? And I saw it out of curiosity in the w n b A. Yeah, I did not catch it. It was where she was bumped and I saw the foul. I did not catch the game. Yeah, what did you think? And how do

you think they're treating her? And you can just be careful what you say because we don't need anything. I've been I've been talking about this with my friends all year. I think I think you're saying kind of like a similar I think it's unfair what some people are saying, where some people are putting this in a way where it seems like the whole league is again it's Caitlin Clark. All the players hate her, and you know they're all jealous,

which I don't think is true. I don't think. I don't think that. I think some people are saying that about the situation, which is not fair. They're generalizing. I think in reality, we're seeing a situation similar to when Lebron entered the w A or the NBA. Certain players took it personally because either he's taking minutes from them or money from them, or that's

how they see it. And so yes, they're going to have a little bit of envy in that way, but that's probably like a handful of players throughout the entire league, and so I think that it's a miss it's a it's a it's a miss communication. I feel like between the media and the players and well being in the media. A new Javier, we know that's possible because she's great for the game. I think anyone that loves basketball knows that, and so I think it'd be a small small number of people that

are envious of her. Can we can we not generalize it to I agree with you, but let's move it to like real life stuff. You have this hotshot person coming into your company, and you have people who have been there a long time, and I've seen it where or the people that have been there a long time resent the new kid on the block and treat them like crap, like crap because well, you didn't earn your chop, you

didn't earn the lead. It took me forever to do this. So it's not just in sp and I see it a lot in sports, but I see it in real life too, just where. And it's an envy thing, it's a jealousy thing. Just do your job, I mean, just do your job and shut up and watch watch them thrive. I mean, what's the It's not affecting you. It's like a Karen you know, well, he's pantence to your world before you start worried about other people's worlds.

Yeah. I think she's so much in the public eye, so much of a person that's like carrying this image and people's like the media and people say, well, she's she's she's the one that's gonna make the w n B a great And here you have these players who've been in WNBA the last few years, some of them like more than ten years, and they see that and they're like, well, what about us? We sure we had great calls? Real quick? How you're in the air on the ball. Hey

buddy, it's Rick. How are you. I'm good. How are you doing. We're doing fine? What you got? What you got for us? Got about a minute? All right. First of all, I think all these players that may are being hard on Caitlin they would love to have her on her team. Number one and number two is you know what you said it earlier. There's a little bit of newcomer and be coming out.

But what she's done is she's elevated everybody's else's opportunity to have a better play of living, and she's gonna get knocked around and she's gonna give it back and by next year all this stuff will be blown over. I totally agree. I think over time it's gonna go too much out of everything. Yeah, no, I totally agree with Thank you, Rick. No, I agree with that in time, and it'll eventually say, and you know what's gonna happen, Like we see other people in businesses, Oh my bad.

Yeah, sorry for treating you so badly. It was a flake or foul we're talking about. This is a commotion about it. One flagrant foul. And I know there's a lot of physical play involving Kaylyn as well. But the big situation with the Chicago skyplayer, I believe it's it's a hip check. Yeah, it's a hip check. And so it's Caitlin Clark and that's the story. And there was video before that of looked like Caitlyn was kind of clearing her out with her with her elbow. She didn't really elbow,

but she was clearing her out. Here's the other and then she says something up the court when she was run up to the court. But still, I mean, you know that doesn't you know it doesn't, doesn't You know, it shouldn't end up with somebody hip checking you. Sure, it should just be cooler heads prevailed. But their competitors, No, you're on the

money with that, and that's what they do. They compete. Yeah, and they want up, you know, mark their territory in terms of don't mess with me here because this is what I do, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk more about this on the other side. We talked to Michael lev here after the break. The Window Depot is more than a Windows store. The Window Depot is a one soft warehouse with everything you

need for your complete Homer model shot. The aisles of pre built cabinets in a variety of colors, granite and courts, countertops, sinks, highlights, and hardware. To complete your project. Need a custom order, we can help. Our designers offer free design services and can special order everything you need for your kitchen our bathroom remodel today. Shop the Window Deepot dot com or find a location near you. The Window Depot more than a Windows store.

Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato rock materials. I needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I called Eric at Dorato Rock. He found out the amount and color I needed and boom, it was taken care of and at a great price. How do I know radio commercials work. I heard one of his on the radio. Dorato Rock Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including decorative rock, boulders, gravel, soil, and

sand for residential and commercial use in the Tucson area. They are locally owned and have been around for more than fifteen years. Give them a call at five two zero four zero zero four two three three. 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 leading edge and exercise equipment. On twenty second, just west of Wilmot. Did you know sports cards at Memorabilia are setting record sales last month of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle so for twelve point six million Lebron James Rookie so for five point 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 show Time Cards at Noble Home Loans. We believe everyone

deserves the opportunity to enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership. Paul Volpi is ready to help you find an option that best fits your needs, whether you're a first time or veteran home buyer or want to get cash shout with the refinance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs to meet your unique

situation. Visit votebeteam dot com that's volpe team dot com or call five two oh six one eight five six two six today n MLS three oh eight seven, aerzon a b K nine oz two nine four two Equal Housing Opportunity, how to commitment to Lyndrixyn. Credit rates and available loan programs are subject to change with unumbers. We're into twenty twenty four and it's time to think of recognizing your employees, salespeople, managers, team members and agents with a Creative

Award for the great job they did in twenty twenty three. Come visit Creative Awards beautiful showroom with over one thousand items to choose from, located the two to twenty eight West Drachtmann Street, or visit their website at Creative Awards az dot com. Celebrate fifty years in business and see all the creative products they carry, from recognition to promotional products and premium gifts for your special clients. Give Creative Awards a call today five two oh eight A two eighty six seventy

seven. It's that time of year, summer in Tucson. Time to take control with Temperature Control for all your air conditioning needs. We'll keep you cool during all the hot streaks. All ye you have to do is stay in control with Temperature Control, where we handle everything you need with prompt response, affordable pricing, and sound solutions. We also excel in plumbing and electrical work.

We handle everything you need. Give us a call at five two oh eight one five five six six five or visit our website at tempdash con dot com. And remember, stay in control with temperature control need concrete, hard Works Concrete has it. We have more than twenty five years of experience with all things concrete. Installing sidewalks and patio floors are our specialty, and handle

masonry work and retaining walls. We're locally and family owned. Just let us know what you need, how you want it, and we'll take care of it. Leave the hard work up to us. We're a hard Works Concrete. Call us at five one two nine six' two five six six zero or visit our website Hardworksconcrete dot com. We'll put the work in for you. Gout bugs, termites, vs or rodents, Arizona Pests Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pests Control is your complay desert pest management. Specialist tests

can't run or high from Arizona Pest Control. They use only the latest and most technologically advanced methods of pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects on the environment. Let Arizona Pest Control get rid of your bad bugs, termites, bees, or rodents serving Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation. Today, Dreamy Live. I mean, iHeartRadio Act. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera

and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back, joining the ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Tabo Moreles and now on the phone, we have Michael Live from the Arizona Daily Star. Michael, how are you. I'm doing fine. How are you guys? Fine? Let me just go straight to the question, what the hell happened this weekend? Yeah, of course, I mean that's what everybody wants to know. Regarding Arizona baseball, a very disappointing ending to the season.

Kind of those games kind of felt like those Oregon State games first two of that series a little bit, where they just didn't go flat. They didn't do anything very well. I think that, you know, getting off to a bad start in both games kind of staff their energy and confidence a little bit, even though I mean they had proved throughout the season that they could rally from from any deficit. There were some key plays in that first game

that they they had gone the other way. Guys, had you know, made better decisions out there in the field that might have been a different story, but it was not. Just wrote a column for publication today talking about expectations, you know, and at the beginning of the season they were low. By the end of the season they were high. And I think depending on how you look at it is how you feel. Yeah, yeah,

it's a good yeah. No. In fact, I guess I'll have to read the column, and I don't know if this will spoil spoiler alert, but when you go back and you go on to grade the season overall, start to finish, how would you do that or what would you give it? Yeah, I would say maybe like a B plus something like that. I mean, look, they're picked to finish ninth in the conference. Okay, I mean take those preseason coaches pulls for what there was, but that's

what people thought of them, right. I think D one Baseball in their season three view had Arizona finishing ninth in the conference. They won the conference, you know, I mean, they won the FACT twelve regular season, they won the FACT twelve tournaments, they earned the right to host the regional So in that context, I would say great season, right, But they

set a standard during the year. They raised the expectations with their play, so in the context of kind of how the season ended, where they were positioned, it is disappointing. Uh. You know, if you just looked at, you know, like what was expected of them as a host with the record that they had, you'd probably give them a you know, a

D right or D minus. But I'm trying to look at the big picture here of the entire season, what was expected them from them from the starts as well as you know, like, what is this like a positive step forward type of season for the program? And I would have to say it was, Yeah, I agree with you on on all those points. One thing, and then the eight walkoff wins that that kind of rose the well, the the fan interest level, and yeah, expecting like they're going to

do a walkoff win almost every week. But you look, you look at that they want eight of them. They could those they could have went the other way too, right, So that so they they were playing on the on the on you know, on the edge there and they were able to win those games. Pitching was a big difference as the whole year with three guys being first team All Conference selections, and then the pitching kind of just didn't wasn't there in the in the Tucson Regional. Like you you pointed out

in one of your story about their walk totals. Just why do you think that? Why do you think that happened in that case where they're the pitching kind of let them down a little bit or failed them in the Tucson Regional. Yeah, well, I mean the walk total in the first game was an absolute outlier. They had not It's like that pretty much the whole season. The example I gave on social media was Dawson Nests had three walks the whole season, and he walked the only two battery face the last two battery

season. Well have face. As a collegiate player, someone who's made I think eighty nine appearances in Arizona uniform, it's a bummer for him to go out like that. You know what is it? It's probably nerves, it's pressure, it's facing really good teams that have disciplined hitters who know how to

take a good at that. So it's all of those. And then with Cam Walky the next day, I mean, he only walked one batter, which is about part for the course for him, but he also gave up a home run two home runs, right fact, and you know, like Arizona really had not given up a lot of long balls. Season hadn't proved a lot of pitches, you know, right down the middle for hitters to take out of the park and invade themselves. The Wildcats did not hit a

lot of home runs. Crazy stats where you they lasted a home run Hary corbet Field on April thirtieth. Eight straight games Yaro home runs in their home park. If you're not getna hid for hour Bridge, which they didn't really do this season either. They were under two eighty for the first time since

nineteen ninety four. Got you gotta compensate for that with power or stolen basins or something, and so there really wasn't a lot of life to that offense towards the end, right, I think Mason White hit that walk off home run against UCLA. Was that the last one or close the last one? I think it was the Grand Camp I think it was Grand Canyon on that twenty four to eight game. Actually, really Garan Caulfield hit a home run

in that game. That was the last one. I mean, they hit a lot, you know, they hit a bunch on the Arizona Utah Road swing. They hit some at the Pactoral Tournament. But you know, they're not hit any your in your home park for that many games in a row. I mean that sounds like as much of a statistical anomaly as anything, but it's also indicative of an offense. That was the way I put it in the column was like, never great, this even at least by Arizona

Standard. So you know how fans are, You know, they know what they know, and they follow it at the end when things are going very well. When you saw that the regional would be these four teams, and Joe Blow, who doesn't really follow it, Look, okay, West Virginia and West Virginia, what do they know about baseball? Grand Canyon, we

should be beating them even though we're losing to them. And then Dallas Baptists a smaller school, but they're a baseball school, and people who don't know, and then you're thinking, and then you're thinking, if you're just a normal fan, you're thinking, how did these two teams beat us? Well, Michael, I think even some of the coaches said that, yeah,

that was the region of death. Yeah right, yeah, if you look now, RPI, we are not in love with RPI as a metric, but it is a way of kind of comparing the team side by side right. If you look at the rpas and heading into the region, Dallas Baptist was seventeen fourteen spots higher than Arizona, so they easily could have posted a regional right and West Virginia was thirty seven, so they were only six spots behind, and they were a three seat, so we had one of the

highest two seats and one of the highest three seats. West Virginia went nineteen and eleven in the Big Twelve this year, even though they missed were missing their star player JJ Weatherholt for like a month of the season with a hamstring injury. And on top of that, Grand Canyon you could argue to be was like the worst four seed they could have possibly faced them because Grand Canyon

did not care. We was not going to be intimidated by facing Arizona because they faced them all the time, not going to be affected in any way, shape or form by the weather. They play in practice in that weather all the time, and they know the dimension at High Covid Field because they played down here all the time. So you put all those things together and it was a very difficult challenge for Arizona that they obviously were not up to.

That mean, uh, you know, I think D one baseball, right, it is the toughest regional in the in the nation, proved to be. Yeah, and then Steve has a question for you about some of the peripheral little stuff. Oh yeah, okay, okay, So so I don't cover games like you know anymore. You cover them a lot. Levin and Javier was there your theory. Javier is one of the theories. One of the things that he came up with that there may have been too much

pressure playing at home. You have your home fans. Uh, you have your your field. Uh, there's a you know, you've got these teams coming in, and maybe there was some factor it fixed me upon wrong. It's just the fact that they you know, they're coming off two weeks in a row, they win a walk off, huge walk off wins, and then they're coming home, they hearing about how great there are the family, their families are all there there. I just felt like, and it's a

huge crowd if they're not used to that. I mean, they're just a big crowd, but not an eight thousand plus crowd. And I just think that kind of they laid an egg. If there was a factor to that, Yeah, I just thought that for some reason they couldn't match that. That use that word again, that expectation going into that scenario is that do you think there's something to that? I think that it's a good theory. They definitely played tight, right, They didn't seem to have their usual like

verve and energy. And again I think a lot of that had to do with getting off to a slow start. You fall behind in the first inning in both games. You know, it kind of affects affects your psyche a little bit. But I would I guess my accounter argument would be this is this is what they wanted. Yeah, exactly, that's exactly what they wanted. Like they wanted to be at home. Uh, they love playing at

High Corbett. There. They get to use their weight room, they get to use their own you know, batting facility, they get to sleep in their own beds, all of those things. It should have been a huge advantage for them, and it was not. And again, when you look back at this season, that's one of the things that you end up being disappointed about is that they did all this work. The things that they wanted and then they couldn't take advantage of thee Yeah. No, I totally agree,

totally agree. Look at look at West Virginia that they come from all the way across the country and they I mean that that's a good team and they handled their business. They took care of business. I didn't see very many flaws in that team. You know, they're not playing at home, they're playing away. They never got a test to play Arizona here this is this year. Let me let me ask you if I can, because you guys know Chip and you guys spent a lot of time with him. Was

he in his demeanor? He's a good guy, right, he doesn't really show his emotions or maybe I'm wrong, I'm thinking too much. How was he? Was he disappointed? Was he? What was he? And and you saw the internet, you know all the Twitter and blah blah blah that people were saying, you know, what the hell I mean, fire fire trip, which makes no sense, But your thoughts on that, Yeah,

that's a common refrain comes to Chip. But a lot of people just didn't like to hire from the get go because they thought it was sort of an easy way out. Just hired an Arizona guy who won't leave Ester J. Johnson left. Doesn't have any college experience, and there really isn't much he can do to change those people's minds except go to the College World Series. Maybe he even has to win the College World Series to completely win them over.

But he, you know, he's pretty steady. His demeanor doesn't change that much. You guys, gets frustrated at times. There are times in his post games, well press conferences or interviews where he's a little bit short and you can tell that he's perturbed and not happy with the team. He's actually been I think better about that the last two seasons than he was the

first year. I think the first year he wasn't used to how quickly he would have to talk after the game, like maybe there was a longer runway when he was in pro ball. But I think Chip has done a great job and he's proved to be more adaptable then you might have thought for someone who's, you know, nine fifty nine turning sixty. He he changed the pitching coach and he's working behind He's been working behind the scenes and getting nil

going for baseball. So I think he's a very open minded and smart guy, and I really truly think that he will figure it out. His recruiting class ranks for the next two years are pretty darn good. I think they're twenty four class's ranked twenty ninth by Perfect Game, so to me, the ears pointing out Yeah, Like you said, though, postseason is going to be a big factor with him because they have lost five in a row under him, right dating back to the Coral Gables, and they haven't been close

losses most of them. So I think he's going to have to go have a deep run, go to the World Series, and like you said, even win the World Series, and there has to be multiple trips for people to actually believe that he's the right higher. I think. Let me ask you this, Michael, the core fans. You know how you have your Arizona basketball fans, you have your football fans, and they're rabbit and they're

crazy, whatever. What's the baseball fansom like, Because if you have a lot of people saying Chip's not the right guy, or is it just a you know, smattering of fans or is it a big group, It's hard for me to tell. My followers. Some of them are really smart,

some of them get it. They understand how baseball works. They have some perspective on like the history of this program, and other people just they just they wear their hearts on their sleeves and they get mad when they don't win, and they have certain ideas about effort and things of that nature that I think are way off face. This is not an issue of the guys aren't

trying hard or that they don't care. Is baseball is hard, and you know, the deeper you go, the hard quality of opponents your face and you know sometimes you know you don't have it for a couple of days in a row, and that's all it takes. Right you drop out of the postseason. But I agree with you on your overall premise that now established himself. Now it's all about the NCAA tournament. How far can you get in the NCAA tournament is how you're going to be judged, right, which is

a sad way to look at it, But that's too sodden. That's kind of sports everywhere you are. So okay, Michael, thanks to look forward to your column tomorrow. I guess it's competing tomorrow or will be online today. It will okay, okay, will please check it out. Good by to the points that I just made, but some additional ones as well. Great. Thank you, Michael, appreciate you. Thanks Michael. Thanks. Let's go to break and come back and talk more about all this on the

other side. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludelsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot, it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's

beloved coach. Lessons from Loot is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. What one email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Hi, this is formal Wildcat Leman Huntly with Arizona Health. Imagine how home GM can change your health, your comfort, and your time. Arizona Health is everything you need to transform your personal space and your life. We off a complete line of cardio machines, multi gms and

freeway equipment. I'll certify fitness experts and technicians will set you up with the right equipment and training to get you started to keep you going. Visit our share room today at twenty second in Wilmot, Arizona Health the lead edge and exercise equipment. What's your goal a new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college. PEMA Community College can help you make Someday

today and reach your goals affordable on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from in financial laid available, It's time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for the career you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you can choose the field that's right for you. Learn how at Pima dot Edu slash Someday right here, we're going to state up here.

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 Rocks Cooling, Meeting and Plumbing. They have the solutions for us for all your air condition needs all today by two zero four nine two zero seven four eight or visit us at picture Rockscooling dot com. Picture Rocks, Polling, Cheating and Plumbing. Ready to save but not

sure where to begin? Take the Pyramid Federal Credit Union ten thousand dollars saving Challenge and we'll guide you along the way. Say five hundred dollars over six months as a member and you could win big. Watch your savings grow to help you reach goals like buying a car, owning a home and more. Visit Pyramid FCU dot com Slash ten k challenge to get started today. Been really insured and cua? Do you want to be part of a winning team?

A Team Security is looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event 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, breaking down all the excess at alls. It's Steve Rivera and Jagin Salves. This is I on the ball on Fox Sports fourteenth. Hey, welcome back to ying Thebaull Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera's he's Javier Morales and we got a guy Kevin with us today. Oh, we're going to take some calls. We've got fifteen minutes five two oh four, one, six, seventy four forty. Got a good call

from Rick earlier. I thought he hit his points perfectly, But I thought about Lev's stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing his story because I kind of agree. I'm kind of in agreement with all you said, and in your observation you kind of paraphrased it differently, and I like how you said it, yes the second time where it was just kind of maybe not distractions, but I mean because it happens, it happens. Yeah. Oh your talking

about in basketball when they play on the the West Coast. Yeah yeah, yeah, where they have you know, families there and all that stuff. Yeah, I I'll agree with you to some degree. I didn't at all. But I kind of agree with you. I just think that it was just like a perfect storm the expectations, Like Michael lev was talking about playing at home, crowded, a large crowd. Let me give you this one great teams or and you can give me a one scale of one ten.

Or maybe they just weren't good enough. I don't think they're I don't think that was the case, because they they did win the PAC twelve regular season in conference tournament, so they're they're they're a good team. But I mean you're talking about not good enough against the other three teams over here. Yeah, to get through this, Yeah, I can see that where you can see that Dallas Baptists might have been a better team. West Virginia definitely.

Grand Canyon has their number. I think they went for last six games right at High Corpet So yeah, in that sense, yeah, they might not. They might have been the fourth best team out of that field, right And guess what. Sometimes that happens. Yeah, you know my guy vic Vic who jokes with me every now and again, but it's sometimes serious. You know, Uh, these guys should be better or whatever. Sometimes you're not the best looking guy in the room. Sometimes you get into the room

and you're not the best looking guy. Just how it is. And we're talking about it. How how many day? Like a three day span? Yeah, you know I'm much gonna happen in three days that might not be expected. Let's take this call. You're in the air, eye on the ball. How's it going? This is Brian, Brian. I was at the games, all the games this weekend. Give me an explanation. What did all happen? Our weaknesses finally showed. You know, we weren't a

great hitting team. And you know, this team could not pile up the runs like the teams that we saw. And we you know, if we have to play from behind for three four runs, we're in trouble. And that happened immediately in all the games. You know, we got behind quickly and we don't have the offensive power or whatever to come back and win a game. Yeah. Now, if you watched, if you watched a lot of the at bats, I wouldn't quite call on quality at bats. Swinging

a lot of bad pitches, taking a lot of pitches. I don't know how many strikeouts that were in the in the Saturday morning game, our Saturday afternoon game, but there was a lot and a lot of a lot of looking strikes. Brian, let me ask you, because you follow sports and you and you're you're well spoken about it in the disappointment category, tell me about that for you. Well, it's it's it's always disappointing because the team you want didn't win. You know, we we we we got what we

wanted. We got the home regional. But if you would have watched this team all year long, I mean you look at our last five or six home games we played at High Corbett, we got hammered and for of those losses, the two Oregon State games and the two tournament games, we got to be bad. And if we couldn't keep the game closed with our pitching staff, there was no chance we were going to win a game. We're

not outslugging people, right. That was a great point that lev had, Like the last eight home games and the home run they had some time we hits, but they didn't have any hits or one thing. Yeah, yeah, you know what, And if Mason White doesn't hit home run, that's kind of sad. The smallest guy that one of the smallest guys in the team is your power guy. Yeah, yeah, he's he's legitimate. I mean, I mean you watch people some of our supposedly physically bigger guys,

you know, just weren't big power hitters. And one thing too, I know, like Tommy Splain had a difficult time this year, but one thing two people have to remember remember last year he was surrounded by a lot of great hitters on that team last year. Yeah, well, and so it's it's it's when you don't have that kind of hitters around you, you don't get those pitchers anymore. Yeah. What I thought was interesting in the very first day of the press conferences, West Virginia was up there and one of

the players said, they don't have Chase Chase Davis anymore? Do they? So they even they even know that, like he's not on the team, that that he's he's the guy that they were thought of last year when they were here, But he's not there anymore, don't They didn't think about a player in that category. So did you hear the interview with Dulan lev Or No? Yes, I okay, So so give me a grade front to back, front front to Now how was it the season? Oh? You

know what I thought? I thought it was an excellent season. I mean this if this team was picked to finish ninth in the conference, you know, we had no idea where we were going to be. We wanted a new pitching coach. We've run all new pitchers. Basically, our our lineup turned over with with graduation and people being uh uh going in the draft last year. So I think, you know, anywhere in the top two or three would have been great for me. But they wound up winning the conference

and the tournament. I mean, it was a very successful year. Now the thing that Chip has to do was try to find more pitching because he lost his three studs, and also try to figure out where am I going to find some hitting? So you're so now that yeah, and now Steve's going to open up his wallet this summer for the ni L then get some players here. I can't even I can't even spell N I L, So you're not, you're not. And then someone spotted me the N and the

LU. So you're what do you think about Chip? The right guy? The good you know? Yeah, I mean, you know, to me, he's fine. I mean he's been to the tournament is three years, Okay, I know, Jay Johnson got to the World Series twice, but that first time basically was the players from that Lopez had you know and so, and then after a few years and built back up. And it's so hard to judge it now because of this nil that. You know, it's it's every year is different, you know. It's like I said last week,

every sport is going to be a crap shoot every year. Yeah, the rosters are going to turn over fifty sixty percent. That's unfortunately the way sports is now, right right, Well, Bill, thanks for the call. I appreciate you, thanks for listening. Yeah, so, so you guys, you guys, and I like it that people, well he had the previous coaches and I think that we I've heard this before. You know, he had add these ship had Ship had Johnson's blah blah blah. Don't

you still have to coach? Coaching matters, right, They got to play hard for you to believe in you. You still got to coach, whether you have how many teams have you covered where you saw some pretty good talent but it sucked, Right, It's like Steve. It's like Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr. And if you guys say, well, I could coach that team. No, you can't guess what because you have to deal with a bunch of personalities, and you know how difficult it is to coach a bunch

of personalities. It ain't easy. No, Steve has been at it so long, Steve Kerr that he knows what to do in certain situations, and he's a people person. He understands the dynamic of people. So Chip has to do these things. And you talk about a da bringing in new people, all of them have to have these people skills and be a pretty good

coach because it's constant turnover. I think that he has learned. Now she's still what seven eight years now your tenure, so I think she's learned learn how to handle that situation of coming off to the National Championship appearance, on how to handle players and how to how to address the exactly because I think she's learned a lot over the last three or four years, so I think

she knows more what to do. Uh. Chip Hale is like, like Michael lev point out, he's he's he's this is his first time as a college coach, so he's he's adapting. He's getting some good assistant coaches, which any good coach will get a good assistant coaches. One one complaint that I laugh at is, uh, Chip Hale's lucky he's got a good pitching coach. Well, guess what. He's the one that hired that pitching coach and he relies on that pitching coach to do what he has to Do's saying

these things. You you can see it on Twitter all the time, like, oh, he's he's lucky that they got Kevin Vance. Well, he's hired Kevin Vance. He put him in a position to get make them successful. I don't know any thanks for calling. You're on the air is done. You must have gone to the game too. I saw you on Twitter? Or did you? Actually no, I didn't make it out this weekend. I was going to. I think I mentioned last week I said I called him when I first saw on Twitter that they were sold out game,

which was awesome to season. But you did you did comment on Twitter about something. I think that Chip is the right guy. You know a lot of people there, a lot of people are chirping. But Chip has been making the adjustments year by year. You know, he went on he got him, he got him a pitching coach. That that I think better suits the way he wants to do things. It's just a matter of getting the

hitting and getting more pitching now. But I think Chip is the right guy only because I don't think there's another job that that Chip is gonna want. He has a house here as long as he wins. And and like, like you asked, Brian, if this hes In was a success, you know, I go what Brian says. You know, we don't know what we were going to have. I think we lost him. We lost him, call back, we got to We've got some time. So yeah, yeah, coaching matters. I think he does a great job. He's a

good guy. I think the guys play hard for him. And who would have thought this right? Who would have thought this to this point? Uh, he's he's mister U of a baseball too. I mean, let's not forget that he was. He was Kindle's favorite, you know, favorite player. A lot of a lot of the former players would acknowledge that that he's he's mister U of a baseball. He wears he has red and blue in his blood. He and he's he wants Arizona to be successful. He's very

determined. I was in the press the clubhouse. Last week when they had the selection show, he was walking around like like expecting father in there. He knew it was going to be in the in the tournament, but he was he's so driven to want to have this, this program be successful. Yeah, and his parents, his players pick up on that. Sure he was. He talked to the players. They they they they get along with

him. I think I think he's a good hire for Arizona. I think he's gonna do better as he goes on, just like a deal will do better as she goes on. Yeah, don you got to cut off. So if you want to give us a quick call back, we have a minute or two to take another call. Anybody who wants to call on you can five to two zero four one six seventy four forty. And to me,

coaching matters. Obviously talent. Talent's a big thing. Obviously you win with players, but it's not always the case where some of the best teams. Look look at the NBA right now. The best team out there has

probably been all year is Boston. Minnesota is there. They think they were a four seat or something like three or four seat And it's not always a case where talent gets you there, no, and there There is a legitimate concern about him recruiting because he doesn't have a college recruiting background Chip Hale, but he's been able to hire coaches that can recruit, like Trip Couch and like Kevin Vance. Is a young guy, relatable, and I think Chip

knows scouts through his major league background, his extensive major league background. So I think some people have to just give him some time and don't be so you know, you know, not giving enough time to prove himself as a recruiter. He's only this is only his third year. So let me. It's only to ask you this because I asked have the same thing. So we know the basketball fans how they are? You know, I love you until they don't. Football, it's kind of we don't know who they are

loyal, but they're not a baseball A baseball what's the loyalty factor? If you have ten guys, how many of them really care about you? A baseball In a sense, I kind of lost to train of thought to ask you the question. But they're not all they're all loyal. There may be seven seventy percent percent because it's a it's a different group. I don't know any I don't know anybody, no one, no one. I don't think it's ever asked me, just even knowing who I am. How's the baseball

team gonna look? Never? I get that mostly about basketball, basketball, and to a degree, some women's basketball, but yeah, I don't. I don't get that for baseball. But who are all these people we saw we saw Friday? Yeah? Were they familiar faces? I couldn't see. You know, I don't Lev goes a lot more games than I do. I can't. I couldn't recognize a lot of the people that were there because there were so many people there. No, I think I think the people

get on the internet and all that stuffy. They're just kind of fans for the moment and want to just talk a lot of crap. Right, And they're there, since they have a keyboard from they know everything that's Arizona should be doing, which is if they're they're entitled their opinion of sure, sure, but not you know some of the things that that you hear read,

it's just like, where's it coming from? Give it some time, man, He's chip Hale's only been here for three years and he's done things like like was it don Don just mentioned that he's made adjustments year to year so far in those three years, right, well all the year. And I said this to my other partner, my real partner. Uh you, you didn't hear very much tripping about his coaching because what he was winning, right when they were winning the show. Last couple, they go away until they

don't, right, and show up until they don't. So okay, same thing with the deal that's your. You hear a lot the last month of the season season because they were winning, right, yeah, right, winning the big and the most important part of the season. Yeah, winning cures a lot of things. Uh you hear. You didn't hear much about Tommy until he's losing, you know, final game or whatever, Clemson. Uh but that's the nature of the Beast too. You. I mean, you

get paid a lot of money for for big decisions. Yeah. They can take it, yes, and I'm sure, oh maybe a couple of them don't like to deal with it, but it's part of it. Okay, Thanks guys for coming in, Thank you, hav your for sitting in. Thank you Kevin. As always, we're gonna have Matt Reynelson back for one more day before Jay comes back. On Wednesday. Thanks guys,

Transcript source: Provided by creator in RSS feed: download file
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android