Monday, March 10, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services insure your most prized POSSESSI yets.

Hell, you good enough to moon everybody.

Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I was Steve Bavera and with me today is one of our usual guys. I'm good to see you as you do it, Okay, Blake, Blake Eager, Yeah, thanks thanks for having me.

Steve.

Did you was it?

You were obviously handling the WBC World Baseball Classic?

Did you was it? Did a met your expectations or beyond? I think beyond I mean, and you know, step back a little bit. You know, our tendance numbers weren't exactly where we would like to have them. It's a first time event, first time having Major League Baseball back in fifteen years. But you know, we we probably averaged roughly twenty five hundred fans per game. The Kids in the Park day were an absolute hit. We had six thousand

Cool, very cool, and maybe a return.

Maybe a return, Yeah, working through that logistically, because now you have baseball back in the Olympics in LA and twenty six, six, twenty eight, so it looks like the qualifier would be in twenty nine. But I think we would be a front runner for it and I would love to have them back.

Yeah.

Oh okay, yeah, I want to Throsty. I think a part of the issue was a little cold. Yeah, a little cold, and well we'll talk about that. You talked about fans. This is what I want to talk about today. You're a you're a U A basketball fan. You're a fan, You're a ticket holder from a long time, I think, right, m huh, and you've been doing it for a while. Uh, what do you think about the fans in McHale? What do you think about the fans the feeling of the fandom in McHale?

Yeah? What should be? And you did you hear Tommy's comments? I didn't. Okay, good, So you're I'm blasted, but going ayeah.

I would start by saying that, depending on the opponent, we could be considered one of the top destinations for a game. I think consistently, consistently we lack the type of energy that other places do. I mean when you're looking at Kansas, right, I think we could.

You did not hear any of his comments?

I didn't hear any Okay, okay, So, and you're kind of going in directions where I okay.

Yeah, I So I've kind of taken myself back, and I think you and I spoke about it on the game on Thursday. I haven't even I haven't gone back and watched the ASU game. Okay, I'm just getting, you know, uh, secondhand news from other people. But when I'm feeling like what I feel there is like when we played Houston and Iowa was there, or we played Iowa State fantastic, fantastic right when you played other teams. So I don't want to say subpar, but subpar.

Yeah, exactly, Jue, You've gone to many, if not all right. I look back at you sometimes and I think this is what we talk about.

So what are your thoughts? And I'm sure you read you read Tommy's quotes.

Oh yeah, everything Tommy said I was already I had already thought. I've already said to multiple people that asked me about the crowds and the atmosphere. And I'm gonna use Tommy's quote, there are steps between Arizona and the Kansas Major Iowa State. Yeah, Houston's and Houston's barely in their second year, and yeah they did their forehead.

I told I saw his quotes. Let me say this.

That's not the first time he said this. It's like the third or fourth time he says this that he kind of got on not got on the fans, but he says, these are these guys. We're here, and no doubt you you said it without being biased pretty much right, And it's only for the big games. That's that's the case. And we're in Tucson Lake games and all that. But

You didn't come today. You guys.

If you guys need to be what you say you are, show up and cheer the team. Right this is four three almost four years ago, three four years ago, and I'm thinking he's spot on. He's calling them out, and people's got it. They listened, they listened. But to your point, Blake, they only come out for the big games, and it's got to be crazy.

And even for the big games.

I looked back at you, yep, one of those big games, and we saw empty seats.

Where everywhere, almost everywhere near the near the top.

It's not just the top, there's there's spots in the lower bowl.

Near us, near us, right to the left of us. Yeah.

So, but the thing is, Tommy said a lot in that quote, right, he said a lot of Babe.

We talked about it, but he spot on.

He's spot on, and he's not talking to the people that are actually in the room. He's talking about the people that don't go, And I think it was the people that don't go.

We're the ones that were a lot of people were upset and they shouldn't be right. They're going to be right, Yeah, but.

People have a tough time looking in the mirror and having a realistic conversation with the selves. You're you're spot all of that to mean, you talk about our current climate where we're at to have ownership and your mistakes is almost unheard of these days. And so as a fan, you should take pride in what you do day in and day out for this club. And you should listen when somebody of Tommy's stature comes and says what he says,

When I say, and I think want will agree with me, you can agree with me or not. When I say Arizona's not a blue blood, I mean it realistically. We've had that conversation and do you agree. I agree with you, But these people think they are, You're not. You know, I think I'm Brad Pitt. Guess what I'm not. I just just the way the world is. And you can't overthink this that you're better than you think you are,

And I think the question is like for me as a two sewn in and looking at what we currently have, and I'm talking about across the sports spectrum, we want to stand up and we want to complain about the things we don't have and not recognize the reason of why we don't have them anymore and not willing to change.

Right.

You're a perfect example of it. And you just had an event with Major League Baseball. You want baseball, we want baseball, we want baseball. Oh here's baseball.

Yeah?

Oh I couldn't go yeah, Oh sorry, yeah, sorry I couldn't. It's like, hey, these were the most affordable tickets you possibly can. You had Manny Ramiers on the freaking field when Brazil won, going crazy. You had stephie Graff and Andrea Gatacy and that's outside of the fans. And then you look at that field and you're like, there's big leaguers all over the place.

And it was a ten dollars ticket. Here we go. So we got to call it. Hello, you're on there around the ball. Who's this?

This is Vic Vic?

Here's the gustel that Well, I'll tell you right now, Tommy can go suck a big one because guess what his team is playing like crap? And he watched the cut. It was it was that timing Blake. See, you can say how great Kansas is and say, hey, that's a great environment, but don't bring the Arizona crowd into it.

It's that timy.

You've lost five, five.

Out of eight you're coaching suck. You can't defend the three. Everybody, some five eight guys from Arizona State goes off on you for thirty and you're gonna talk crap about the crowd.

Dude, come on all that?

No, Vic, So, I mean, I think the question on eart standpoint is that Kansas had a they haven't had very good year and they're still running that gauntlet and.

That's okay, that's okay. I can't talk about the guy at the bar that leads with a hot chick because he's fricking porked over a whole bunch of money for it. I just have to deal with it. I just have to deal with it.

So you are you saying timing was not good?

Now, timing was horrible for him to come out and say that. And like I said, if he would have said, hey, Kansas has a great environment, second to none, it's awesome, that's cool, and leave it at that, But then to bring the Arizona fans into it, then that's that's what bad times.

Vick.

I love you. You know that.

I see you everywhere. You on my autograph here, every time I see you. Thank you. But how many games do you go to a year?

The man probably about six.

Have you been impressed with what you've seen.

At times?

Yeah?

That I was State deal was great, Duke was great. So yeah, they were pretty good. I just came from the I just came from the football game, twelve o'clock game on a Monday, and it was pretty cool. So I was impressed.

Yeah, well that's that's softball. They're running, they're running well. So I Vic, I hear you. I understand that.

And I didn't see Tommy at the softball game.

Did you look where's this sorry at? So do you think he should be at every other sporting event?

He should be at a few. He should darn well be at a few.

Yeah, yeah, Okay, I got to make sure someone doesn't piss in your break breakfast next time.

Dude.

I like I said, if you were, if you were out there winning and you were second seed and ready to roll next week this week, but we all know what we're going to say in this radio show that they can't go any farther than second game in the Big.

Twelve and maybe second game in the tournament.

You're gonna say at geeve Blake going, I'm going to say.

I'm glad you did.

But this is a town and you know this, but Vic your your Sonan who left, But it's back Blake, You've been to the games. This is a front running town. Yeah, all over across the board.

It's a million and a half people that we struggle with drawing crowd to support our local communities in our economic impact.

Would you agree?

Oh, definitely definitely.

But so I mean sod U s La.

I mean I lived in La and went to see I used to go to more UCLA games in my.

Ucla But hell, if I'm at Ucla, I'm not going to drive two and a half hours to the game.

That's my first au.

But that's an excuse if I at nine o'clock starts or an excuse.

Okay, So if he if like today.

Twelve o'clock game, I was there at the softball game.

I mean, we're.

Gonna get We're gonna get you a job. You gonna get you a job. Big, thanksfully call. I appreciate you.

I do you go, and I can't wait to hear what the rest of the game says.

Okay, thank you, thank you. I think we're gonna get another call. Here, we got another call already. Hello, you're on the airline the ball. Who's hello, you're on the airline on the ball.

Hey, Steve Carlos, Carlos Carlos, Hi, thanks for the call. Hey.

I read one of your posts over the weekend about fans and and it was maybe you know, they was so negative or whatever.

I can't remember what you said.

Yeah, I just said it's basically the the I mean, lack of a better term, the ghetto banter just saying that we suck. You know, I understand being critical, I get that, but this is not being critical, you know, saying that we don't you know, our transitioned or slower or defensive is you know, defensive looking so good? Different than just badgering on the team and a coach. And I'm totally guess that to me, that's not.

A fan base.

I mean we've done Carlos, You're not wrong. I mean we've had the same conversation.

Uh.

You go on the message boards and it's a it's a peak and valley situation where the blame always lies with the coach or with Caleb Love, and it's his consistency after consistency, which I understand is a fan you want to go and air out some grievances, but at some point we're still going to be a four seed in the tournament and we've done a pretty good job of turning the season around from our early start.

Carlos, I know you did that.

But here's and I don't post this very often or respond to this because I think it's frivolous, but if Carlos or Jim Bob, Jim Bob who gets on the on the on the Facebook post or whatever, you don't wellcat whatever, and they say these things, what does it matter?

What not?

Not?

What does it matter?

What are they trying to prove that they know basketball? That they just want to say that because you could go outside your house and yell yell it to the rooftops and guess what, no one's going to give a crap, just like no one should give a crap about this on Facebook. Does that make sense?

Yeah?

I mean the only reason why I do is because people do want that.

No, no, no, no no. Why do you think they do it?

Because you were, you responded to it, you you did it, and you can't you get because you're tired of it.

But what do you think they get out of it? I don't know.

And usually it's the type of people that doesn't go to the games. Is not a booster, you know. They they're basically again getting the little feet of we lost or what the stats were, and they might you know, watch a little bit on ESPN or whatever. But most of those people do have nothing invested into this.

But I just think some people.

Are just you know, wired negatively. They don't know what it is to coach. I've been coaching for thirty years and people think, oh, yeah, let's go, you know. And at the same time, you know, we had three guys, three starters that left last year that were pivotal players, you know, huge, and now we're making the adjustments and they want us to be first place. Don't ever lose a game, and then if you didn't win by thirty, you won horribly, right.

You know, I just don't get what the purpose of doing it is. It's therapeutic for them in what way? Because maybe they don't listen and I'm not getting in personal spaces here, but maybe they don't have that at home. Maybe they don't have an outlet, and that's their way of we'll call controls. That's their way of getting their point across and feeling like they're adding something to society.

Well, here's like being at the keyboard. This team needs to rebound better. V Show needs to play better. Caleb loves these to shoot better.

Period.

No crap, no crap you and everybody knows that. Why I post it? Yeah, I mean in game decisions like Carlos is talking about. From a coaching standpoint, nobody understands that. Nobody really sees it, and they put all the blame on one person, and then they go up and say the same three things every single time. I can't believe Calebs. I can't believe Caleb's taking that shot. It's like that's what he does. Like you either love him or hate him. But hell, I'm glad he's on our side.

Right Well, Carlos, you're gonna have to save us from our Facebook people.

I don't know, man, I mean, I don't know if I mean, I doubt anyone keeps track of me, but I never react. I read those posts and I have to bite my tongue. You go, whatever, what do they know?

Whatever?

What do they know?

And it's like, you know, I see I got a little tib But what you are talking about before about you know, attendance and stuff like that. Have you guys ever been to the pitt New Mexico.

Yeah, yes, it's ridiculous. Oh, Carlos, I see this all the time. What's embarrassing about Tucson is you have albert Querque and El Paso that support their sports more than we even come close to supporting oursel Well, let.

Me also say this, Carlos, because I grew up in that area. It wasn't like that it hadn't been like there forever, and they even have worse fans because they thought they invent They think they invented the game, and they haven't been to the second weekend of the tournament ever. But it's only good when they're running good. And like everybody else, if you're running hot, they come and show up. But if you're not. That was a ten thousand, nine thousand.

Yeah right, So.

I mean yeah, But and then what gets me too is we are kind of guilty of that because our stands are not we should be sold out. And I'm used to our stand being piled out, even with worse records, and I'm like, why are we not sold out today? That thinks they're just too expensive, you know, or I don't know what the reasoning is. But a big doctor too, is those nine o'clock games I don't mention any games a.

No question, No question, I re questioned.

Just for the purpose of the show was to called or text to someone to give me some numbers on the numbers four season tickets. I didn't get a response. But let me tell you it started happening at the end of end of Sean when he had those bad two three years and you can see the people start showing up less and less and they even had to run ads. When was the last time you saw ads? And then and they started showing ads because he wasn't getting the crowds. Yeah, he also wasn't winning a lot.

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Breaking down all they says it, ohs. This is I on the ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty eight.

Hey, welcome back to a The about hero Fox Sports Sports is because the I'm Steve Rivera, You're Blake Eager, and now.

We have somebody on the pot who's this. Hello, who's this this? Charls Charles? Give me your thoughts.

Well, I'm with Vic and a lot of what you said. Okay, I'm a season ticket holder on football and basketball. Great, I go to all the games Iowa say. The people from Iowa were saying this was definitely a bucket list, that this was someplace that you got to see, loved it, and Texas Tech was the same thing. Those seats up at the top. The problem with that is those games are sold out. You go to the Arizona website, they're sold out. But you go to Vivid and you get

So So let me ask you. You you make.

A great point, and you're probably very You're right, you're more than right. So you're once in a year and you go to the games. You go to the games, right trump.

I go, I don't miss a game.

Okay.

So and I have Blake here too, who doesn't miss a game too. So you're in the building. You're in the building, and there's thirteen and a half fourteen thousand, right of a fifteen thousand? So do you do you have issues with the way the crowd is?

And hold, how old are you older?

I do?

I'm I'm actually I'm a young fifty.

Four years old. Okay.

So you're part of the kind of the group just entering. Sit the hell down, you know, sit the hell down.

Be quiet. You know what I'm saying.

No, no, no, no, don't But they're they're young, they're.

In the building, I know. And that was my problem my first three years, I barely became a season basketball season ticket holder like the last three years. And uh, that was my problem was right away, I'm getting cold, sit down, sit down, be quiet watching a game. And I'm like, and now I picked my spots when I could stand up and cheer, and I have to stand out in the in the lane. And yes, you're right, like that's one of the biggest things. I take friends

And then you know, we'll let me tell you charuck. That's that's who Tommy's talking about. The atmosphere and the excitement needs to change. He showed up last game one night. I looked at you. I can't remember which game. There was empty seats at the top, and Tommy comes out. It was the it was a seven o'clock game or six o'clock game when the fans hadn't shown up yet, right, it was like ten minutes left or five minutes.

Stuff.

There was a lot of empty seats and I even posted something on Facebook and he looks around. There's it's like ten thousand people. Did you go to that one? It was very apparent that it was empty until.

And everybody got there. And he's talking to.

He's talking to the people, show up early, have fun and get these guys going.

You can't show up early because I mean, here's well, here's my problem. This might not be everybody's problem, but it's so expensive in there to show up early and have a beer or popcorn. And you're you're talking one hundred, two hundred dollars for two people. And and I could go sit at uh at dirt Bags for an hour before the game and spend forty dollars, you know, I mean Friday, the same thing, all of them. It's so expensive in there too.

Yeah, what Charles is saying, spot on. I mean, you're Charles, You're right about this. Like the cost inside the stadium for an average fan a twosonin is substantial. Like you can't afford going there and having a beer, popcorn. Let's say you get get a hot dog, I think a sausage or polish dog. Is like fourteen dollars, right, Like who can afford that soda?

Soda if you get it in the cut tim Bucks. But also I noticed the souvenir cups because I get one every year, I have to get one or two, and I noticed this year they're like paper cups. They are so thin they went they I have a bunch of them in my cupboard and the new ones are paper thin. So you're getting less and less the products. The teams are going down that we're not getting the top recruise. I mean, yeah, the one and done. Maybe that's not the way.

To do it.

But at least I got to go see Aaron Gordon, you know, I gotta see I gotta see Nico Man, and I got to see all these guys that we're gonna be in the NBA.

What's you know, guys, what's the solve? Yeah, I mean you've you've got a problem. In two sons, we love to point out the problem, sometimes we don't point out a solution.

Uh.

I think to George, to Steve's point, I think once we're there, we have to be more engaged with what's happening, and that maybe that means standing longer.

Maybe it doesn't.

Maybe it means being louder, right, being present and like one set earlier, that makes a lot of sense. I think when you yell at a fan to show up more often, but the prices are not affordable, somebody has take ownership. Then on the other side, so there's got to be a happy meat in the middle. And when we're getting hit with nil dollars on top of our

Right.

If we're able to now bring all those up others up. You're starting to solve a solution a little bit. And that's all you're asking for, is well, three hours a week of your time.

You're going through it right now.

And you just mentioned the softball and baseball and side not sidewinders, but the road Runners and.

The two sugar skulls, all of them. Have all of them.

I'm assuming the road runs, I don't go roadrunners have space for more people.

Yeah, one hundred percent.

And the Roadrunners, you're looking guys on the ice right now that are going to play in the NHL that season. You're looking at first rounders. And I'm not a huge hockey for like, if you asked me about the NHL, I'm gonna sound like an idiot, but like, going to a hockey game is a great experience, right, Mostly you get to watch white guys fight, right. So one, that's the reaction. I'm hoping you have two aspens in here. That's what I mean.

I'm not saying any hold on going and ex because I think you were. He kind of re jumped your your thoughts on the present thing.

Oh yeah, We've had this similar conversation in one of my classes. It's one of the other classes, and we're trying to figure out how to fix Arizona basketball. And he mentioned you go to dirt Bags forty bucks and you have a almost the same experience that shouldn't be a thing, that shouldn't be a thing to where you're having the same experience at dirt Bags as you are at McHale Center, and maybe even a better experience.

So r o I R O I is important, right, return on investment? Yeah, I want to. I want to. I want to. I want to create a memory when I go.

Okay, so if you spend one hundred bucks on your food, drinking all that stuff and you have a good memory accomplished.

I think for me it is I mean one of the things that's changed for me.

When you go on site now when they have the dust DJ out there, it feels like an atmosphere.

Right.

I want to feel like I'm going a to college campus where young people are there to have fun and it's engaging and there's energy, And I want a good product that's going to have a chance to win every game it plays.

I don't I go ahead, Well, I was just going to continue. You know, I'm a student I've been going for three years. Yeah, it's there's no fans. There's no fans in the student section anymore. It's just students who show up for maybe a half. They want to use basketball ball. I mean across the board, across the board. You know, students aren't fans anymore. They want to go to say they win. They don't want to go because I want to see Arizona basketball win. Yeah, it's not

Yeah, it's ridiculous.

You have almost an eighty percent chance of winning when you go to a game against.

And by the way, by the way, you're not always going to win because you're not always the best team.

Ya.

No, I mean this weekend, they thought they were going to be Kansas. They pay them well, they didn't win. That that they're to be Houston, they didn't win. Guess what those teams are fantastic, Oh heroes. I traveled with the team for twenty three years, went to different places all over the country. I've always said to Stanford, I went to do last year just to get the experience Kansas a few times.

Arizona thinks highly of themselves.

These are people that don't go to other venues to see how it is. And there was another thing I saw that it's a little stale in the room. It is the entertainment you talked about the DJ. I'm wondering if I'm sixty, I have no problem with the music and all the kid music blah blah blah. I'm wondering what the older people do the crowds because they don't.

Know that music. You know what I'm saying.

You know music, you know music because people are in the billion sixty five years old. They're playing stuff that you listen to one and do you think they get that music?

No, not at all.

Hey listen, and this is coming from a coaching standpoint.

We don't know what we don't know.

So when you're saying that we think highly of ourselves, Steve, you're absolutely right, and we need to have a little bit of a culture shock, and maybe that's what Tommy's trying to do at this point. So I just got a text from the person I asked him about the season tickets estimate for me guess guesstimate seton tickets holders in the UAO basketball out of the fourteen thousands of the I think it's fifteen fifteen o.

Six. Okay, wait, we phrased it season ticket holders.

All those fifteen thousand people who suppose they go, how many of those are season ticket holders?

I could do.

I couldn't tell you, Okay, I couldn't tell me six thousand. Why you say.

That, I don't know.

I'm taking a stab in the dark.

It's ten thousand out of the fifteen, so that means fifteen five. That means five thousand available per game, available per game. Yeah, And they like I say, I covered loot for a long time, A little. That's just sean half the time.

And I couldn't remember them doing ads come and buy tickets, and they still do and come and buy tickets because there's tickets available, tickets available.

And I gotta go back. I'm making the same argument that one made. If you're complaining about the product on this field, that's going to be a four seed in March madness, we's a that's a well, that's a first class problem to happen.

Well, let me say this. I posted today. They're no longer in the top twenty five. They hadn't been a few weeks in this year. It says if they were ten, what would have matter, If there were seven, what wouldn't matter? Now they're not not even talk twenty. It doesn't matter what The rankings don't mean anything. And some guys, some guy comments he may listen to the show. He says, that just means we suck, and I think, no, mean that's exactly So my response was, it just means you're spoiled.

Yeah, you're spoiled.

Playing in the PAC twelve, where you're seeing two three opponents a year that really should give you a run for your money. Where now, when you're playing in the Big twelve, every single game you play in is most likely going to be the second or third best team you would have seen in the In the PAC twelve, I mean you had a chance to win every single week. Now you're five and seven right in the last or your two win seven in the last seven games.

And anybody who didn't see that coming, and I wrote you said it over and over again.

Look, I go to a room and I'm the best looking guy, and if I can't pull a girl who may be not pretty or whatever, I'm going kind of weird with this, uh, and then going to it, going to it, it'd be sad. But if I go to a to a room and there's a lot of juke girls and they don't want me, I'm expecting that, right. I expected then to lose a lot of games on the back end of this.

Yeah, because it's a better team. It's a difficult Yeah, it's a difficult schedule. But I will ask this, out of those five losses, how many of those five losses did we not have a chance to win the last

Even then I believe almost every fan kind of fell.

You're a revenge game at home, and they haven't lost at home in the senior game and forever. There's a circumstances of events too. Let's take a break. You can stay for another twenty before. Yeah, it's a good conversation. Thanks everybody.

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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ramira on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.

Well, welcome back to I the Ball. Here a Fox Sports Sports you fifty I'm Steve Rivera. You're a blake eager and we got one at the controls these If you guys want to call, you have about twelve minutes.

Give us a call.

Five two zero four one six seventy four forty. I just got a text one with my friends. Kind of no stuff going on. Tommy was mad because the fans didn't stay until midnight on Senior Night. Listen to speeches that nobody knew about. He's kind of been, you know, insightful. What we gotta call. I'll say the rest of later. Hey, you're on the air and iine the ball.

Who's this?

Hey?

This is Bill? Bill? What's the word?

Hey?

Hey?

Uh?

You know do them. One of my past lives, I got to go to a lot of games and a lot of a lot of places. I've been to Big ten games, SEC games, ACC games, and two Sons not that kind of town. It's just not going to support the school the way that Tommy wants. And Tommy wants that cloud going crazy like the Duke game or the Texas or the Iowa game. He wants that every game. Because that's why it is, is the fact that I don't think if they're playing in Wolford or you know,

Show me.

And that's why it's going to be and that's why Tucson is unfortunately.

Yeah, I mean, Bill, we we talked about this before. The difference between how we recognize ourselves and see ourselves when you go to the SEC or the big ten, especially from a football standpoint, it's a completely different world. I've had the you know, I've had the opportunity to go to the Florida, Georgia largest cocktail party in the

Yeah, well, first, there's that song. They're not like that first.

Yeah, I was at that first Big Ten game when Nebraska played Ohio State. They were down by twenty seven. It was rainy, it was aferential, drownt down for nobody left. They were down by twenty seven and a half. I happened to be in the tunnel where the team was coming up the field and then Nebraska.

Fans are telling Boklean, you got them right where you.

Want them, coach, you're going to get him in the second half. And they came back and won that game in.

The second half.

And I've never seen anything like that in my life. Because Tucson with the rain come in that heart that had been fifteen hundred people in the stadium.

Yeah, you're absolute, right, Bo.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely we are.

So you agree you can't identify yourself because you don't know who you are.

Yeah, you you haven't seen what the other edge of the sword is or side of the sword is. You know, we were talking about this, and I can just speak about the opportunity that just happened with the World Baseball Classic. You know, Monday night last week, we had a little bit of weather, right it was, it was chilly, and I knew, like Bill said, I knew that was going to kill our chances of bringing in a large crown,

I mean? What what are we.

Well, all of your callers that have called to that were passionate, and you can hear the passion in their voices, but it's like, what about me? What's in it for me? You know?

And I grew up here.

I've been going to games. I'm a flame Wells grad like you, Blake. So I've been going to games since nineteen sixty nine. I've been going to baseball, football, and basket well ever since then. I was in the last game at Bay Down Gym and I was at the first game at Michale. So I've been going to games my whole life. And it's and I'm going to continue to go to games the whole life. I'm gonna continue to sport the team, you know in the school. But those guys like you know, I want a winning product.

But you got to be.

There on the games when it's when you're playing NAU or when you're you're you're playing someone, or you're or you're having a down season, you've lost the injuries or whatever. You know, you couldn't get a ticket during lout Olsen's time. People used to call me all the time, are you using your tickets? Gonna?

If you're not going to go?

Call me?

You know, it's not like that anymore.

It's not like that.

And and the prices, the prices are a redeal. I know the guy running concession there now, and that's what I used to do. And it's it's expensive. It's it's a costly ticket to go.

Bill, we probably don't want to go down the air mark model that they have right now. But you're one hundred percent right when you know, yea from a from a wholesale cost perspective of what's happening there. Like people get mad at you of A and UVE really doesn't have a ton of control on the on the cost surplus piece of it. But Bill, you're spot on with everything you're saying. And it's great to hear that from another f A little caberro.

If you go to if you go to a pro game, you know, Diamondbacks game, the price of beer is outrageous. Price of parking is outrageous. The dog is outrageous. Like you talked about the polar sausage at u of A, that's that's a big ticket item now, you know. And so but it's like that's kind of the world we've gotten into. So I don't, I don't. I don't have an answer, but I'll keep going and keep shutting out my books.

So I know it's it's Once we create a solution for this, I think we're all going to be very successful in life because this is a really difficult problem to understand how to change.

Thanks to the show, guys, Thanks, thanks, thanks for calling in all these good perspectives.

We got another call, Hello, you're on the air, and one on the ball.

Hey, I just had some some some ideas. You know, I'm kind of going to uh JR.

Is my name A?

Yeah, No, I was thinking, I mean, I would, I'm I'm I'm.

A school principal.

And we got we got the amazing opportunity to have kids go to the World Baseball Classic for free, you know what I mean. And and it filled up the stadium. It was a meaningful experience for the for the kids.

You know, So your first and foremost the spla thank you so much for coming out and bringing the kids out. I will tell you right now that we blew Major League Baseball and World Baseball Classic socks off by doing that and it was unbelievable to have the kids in the park. And I think I said that in an article that we're creating future twoson ins or Southern Arizona

Yeah, and I grew up, you know, eighties and nineties as a kid here going to the not whole section where we honestly had season tickets as kids for I think it was two dollars a game. I'm not saying to go that that cheap, but that was a huge significant area of the at that point. It was the north end zone that was filled every single week, regardless of we played at a very inexpensive cost of the families who ended up having to shell out money for

G R, thanks for calling, Thanks for listening to the show.

Yeah, I'll go babe it on Chris Rogers too, But I.

Wut blame Chris. Uh No, it's very packing that people, right, I think that, and it's not gonna get any better. N I l Apparently high prices of the food, high prices of the ticket. Apparently I have a credential, so I don't know about the prices, but if I had, if I had money, I'm trying to convince my son,

No.

Yeah, it's a heavyweight boxing match. Yeah, we got to go buyby last call. Hello, you're on the air and one on the ball. Who's this, Hey, Steve Howard, give me something.

Here's the real quick thought. Of course, uh, I usually agree with Vic because he's a Monday man. But he's wrong a lot because you've been saying it's like Tommy is he really is a good coach. And if it was just harping on the people not staying well, then that's a pick them. You know, that's a personal decision. I would have sayd if you're going to stay up that late, you're gonna stay especially.

As U.

And you're right the big the conference where and they're just tough. Everything's tough, and people don't know just because we're not in the top twenty five. We're still in the in the middle of the fifteen or fourteen in the net.

I eat a ken pump and and you have a fans.

Better realize what that means.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

Hey, you're a four seed right now we're predicting, like, who cares if we're in top twenty five, you're a freaking We're terrible.

How can you be terrible? Before? Say, go into March? Yeah, the first year in this conflict exactly.

I think the fifth I think they're a pig fish. They were a pig fish. So you know, you can't have it all. You know, you got to identify who you are first. And you're not that guy. You're just not that guy.

Thanks.

How Thanks, We're gonna get ready to go. There was something I'm always forgetting. I'll tell you how much time we got left? About two minutes perfect, Okay.

Can I tell you a personal story, but braklef okay, So I'm gonna show you guys in this booth all right. Uh so it's today, was like I would like treat yourself. You ever watch Parks and rec Yeah, okay. So I was like, hey, I'm gonna get a haircut, get a massage. Perfect, right, So wake up, work out, go and get your haircut.

Right.

And so she's trying to fade my side of the hair. Okay, I'm gonna take my hand off. It is literally the worst haircut I've ever had in my life. Like I look like Gary Oldman in the Fifth Element. It reminds me of my aunt Doris. My aunt Doris was ahead of the team Stirs in Cleveland. She drove a Lincoln town car and smoked a cigar. I'm not saying she knows where half is buried. There's a good chance she knows where half is buried. This is the worst haircut.

So she just destroyed.

Oh it's awful once, just just yeah, And like I could not believe when she got done, I was like, what what did you just do?

Why did you just do this? Is this your regular person?

No, it's it's a person I went to because I had I went to Supercuts.

I shouldn't. Oh wait wait wait so so so which side did she start?

All?

First started on my right, she started on my left side, and she was trying to she was trying to blend it, which I wanted her to fade it. And I kept going, okay, like this is gonna take forever, like take one and a half and go up, like just fade that side piece. And so then I wasn't looking because her arm was in there. And then she got done, and I was like, what in the hell just happen?

Why does she do the other side? Then the same The other side's fine, I'm following, but.

She started because I think at that point I was like, just get this over with, Like I was like, please.

Just be and like it's Arizona. Just get this overweight. Yeah, like one hundred percent.

And so then I was like, uh, you know, I'm so frustrated, flustered, and I'm just like complaining the whole time. And I complain anyway, but then I go to pay and I can't believe he's charging me for this haircut. And then I go, you know what, I go, I'm sorry, but I'm only gonna tip you three dollars.

In my mind, I should have been like, yeah, so your wife hasn't seen it yet.

Oh she saw it, and she laughed, Aly, so it's gonna be hat city. And then she tried to go, no, I'll just go I'll go no, Blade, I'll go, skin, I go, why would you do that?

It's gonna take even longer scross first down. I don't know. She was flustered. I don't know.

It's the worst to say. I gotta go back to my barber. I screwed up, man. Well maybe he can't fix it. There's no fixing this, Steve. This is my life. For the next three months. I'm gonna be a recluse, not coming out of the house.

I gotta take meetings with ownership, a gonna wear a hat. Hey, why are you going to this funeral wearing the hat? Yeah, one hundred perc.

I'll figure that out right, all right, Thanks for having me. It was good stuff, good stuff.

We gotta go to break come back, breaking news, and we'll have Halveo Morales talking more about this.