This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen.
Fifty powered by Nova.
Insurance Services Ensure your most Prized Possessed yets.
T having me Steve. A big show, a big show. This is Henriett. Have you met? Yeah, Henry and our close friends. We text all the time, mostly about you. You went to the you went to the games. That's right to the No. No, we've been on there to yeah baseball. Yeah. And he's a New Yorker. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's close to my heart. Okay, it's a big one, big happy family. Welcome everybody, Welcome back, Blake, big show. I think it's gonna be a fun show, informative show.
We have one of your buddies who said he was your buddy, Ray Flores. Yeah, he is my buddy, Kim Madair, very close, uh huh. And then another person who's close to you, Yeah, mister Dallas Howe. Dallas how I don't think i've ever I recognized his face, but not his name, but you know him from I mean he's Jack Howe's son who's on the Mount Rushmore of Tucson. He's a son in law for Andy Lopez. So yeah, I want to talk to him about some of his time that he's spent in Japan as a male model when he
was over there, and we'll get into that. What a combination, the son of Jack Howell and the son in law of Andy Lopez. Yeah, I mean he's a Nepo babyl Nepo baby baby. Yeah, that's tough for me to say, Nepo baby. There you go see three times. You're gonna have to explain what the hell that is to me. I'm too old for that. What is it? It's just me and you have famous parents?
Oh?
Is that what me? And the rest of your life is easy? Walk? Okay, cool, Cool, We're on the air, which is great. Look at us. Yeah, Henry is good at this stuff. Good job. Henry could get him a job, we'd be fine. But he's going back to New York. Yeah, New York. They said that, right. I mean that it is like a New Jersey accident with the New York. No, it's like you've got like your you were supplanted in like Iowa for a little while and then you went back and it's like too long. It's got to be
in and out. Yeah, okay, okay, never I'm not perfect. Well, good to see it, but maybe you want to call you can five two zero four one six seventy four forty. It's funny. After the show yesterday, Blake, someone texted me. Whatever our listeners, he says, please don't bring Blake back on kind of I read that. Well, let me finish. My god, he says. I've been listening for the last thirty minutes, he said, And I didn't know who you were talking to. Yeah, And I said, well, it's Blake
and he's been on that for a long time. I guess I need to explain who you are if you know. And again I don't know. I mean, I'd rather fly under the radar. I don't get all the negative publicity. You've come to the right place. We fly under the radar. We're only on We're only on the radio. Nobody listens.
Don't worry about it. So no cool. I think it's gonna be a fun show today, informative for nil reasons and local sports reasons with Kim and Ray and yourself, and then some have some fun on the other end of the four o'clock hour. So good, good, good Anything happened the last twenty four hours since I saw you last. I see more than I see most, which, yeah, that's a good thing. No, I mean not much. We're working on some things behind the scenes for film, trying to
bring here. So I know I always tease things on this show. But hopefully the next couple a couple of weeks, I'm able to announce. I know how those things go because you teased me for months and I was, come on, give me the information. No, sorry, hey man, you got information. I want to I want to be wanted already. ILL wore you down. I wore you down until you finally said, Okay, this is what's going on. The lasted too long. It is like courting somebody. How are you doing. I'm okay,
I'm busy. Well, well today we uh we had our guy on yesterday TJ just Kitz. We went uh. Registration started this noon and this afternoon I saw. Anybody who wants to get into the tour in November, now is the time to get in for a relatively well the cheapest price that you'll get into it. You know, really, I see relatively because if you wait two months you'll have to pay more than two hundred dollars. It's almost double right, Yeah, get it now. Yeah, okay, so we'll see.
We're gonna get a hold of Kim, Kim and Ray in about ten to fifteen minutes, so that'll be good. Did you see a women's basketball team you They is picking up more. Yeah, she's doing Coach Burke's doing a good job. Again. Well that's that's the funny thing. You know how panic is, Oh she dumped me on there? Or see anybody again? And by the way, you find somebody to move on this. They worried about who they were going to get. They found somebody pretty good. They're
worried about the roster. Just what they're filling the roster. Assistant coaches. Yeah, right when we closed the door yesterday, Yeah, we heard that Julie Brosey was going to be one of the assistants. Yeah, hit the ground running. I remember, go ahead, are your right a little older? She's a little older, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, but I know I know that family from Kelleen Foothills, and yeah, there's some connection there, a great family. I mean, obviously pedigree, whys
game you can get better than that. But this couple of years ago, I think I called Allie far Haaning because I was freaking out about the transfer portal and Tommy Lloyd and he's like, just oh before before I was just like he was just like relaxed, like they're they're gonna figure it out. Yeah, yeah, okay, But I'm I'm one of those fans that immediately starts panicking. Like when Basar went in the portal, I was like, is it it's over a collapsing him crying in a fetal position. Yeah, yeah, No,
there's always more. This university, in this basketball program has been on a long time. Yeah. And how many times in your lifetime forty year, forty two? Uh, that'll get us back to what nineteen eighty three ish, that's what showed up, I think, Yeah, so eighty fourty three four. So how many times in that forty two year stretch have you said this team sucks? Not many? Not many?
Maybe that first year, maybe that first year, his first year, because it was they were recovering from four to twenty four. But you can see at the end of that year that they were gonna get good. Yeah, and then there haven't been maybe twice, and I would beg to ask you which was the other year? Oh no, no, But even when they had done lap and penal. They went to the sweet sixteen. You know the NBA guys on that team, right, Yeah, So it's you know, it's forty
two years of run is pretty good. Another second last oh maybe his first year, maybe his first year, but he went to twelve and twelve. He went to twelve the second last year, maybe because it was kind of like filled with controversy. Yeah, it's just a lot of you know, okay, this team maybe okay, two or three, but forty two years that's pretty damn good. That's that's a really good Listen. We talked about all the time.
We're very fortunate as a fan base. Uh. And then the women's golf team won the big tournament, Yeah, tournament with just what a new coach, A new coach, Yeah, because the other one was swiped away from Texas. Yeah, I meant content took him from here. It seems. It's funny how well the Conte is the new aight to that new ad, he's the idea of Texas formerly assistant here under Jim Levon. Good how they take a lot
of the Arizona. It's fun out of it. It's a it's a it's similar to like an NFL family or a coaching tree right where you you you know what you know, and you're comfortable with what you know, and you know the product and it shows that there's talent and Theresa and I say that because he took well, he hired Sean Miller, obviously a long time guy here and then the you know, she was the coach here and she's now at Texas. So yeah, yeah, I got to get to get the news of golf coach on
she's from Mexico, obviously a very good one. Yeah. You know what a life to be a golf coach. Yeah, I mean you spend your day on one of some of the best golf courses in the world, right and say, hey, that swing, it's just a little to the right, You're good. Yeah, and you know, like so for me. So you get to that level, right, in that collegiate level, all those players have their own personal swing coaches, right, because it's I don't want to say a country club sport, but
it's it's in that same run. Yeah. So as a coach, you're really just trying to maintain a focus level, right, a mentality and a work ethic. You don't you don't really want to talk about swings. It's like a big league hitter is a big lead of Most of those guys have personal swing coaches. So you've got like Kevin Long, who one of the greatest hitting coaches of all time, not even arguable. Uh, you've a guy right. Uh when you talk to him, he's like, yeah, I don't, I don't.
I just don't want to mess them up. Right, you're trying to work on maybe rhythm timing, but not really mechanical fix So so no so coaching because you've done this managing as well, right, both Well, okay, so tell me what does a manager do? Uh, because you're not coaching. Maybe you are coaching, but even coaching at that level, they already know what the hell they're doing. They're good
at what they do. So what's that. It's more of a lineup dealing with the management dealing what is it you're you're you're dealing with a couple of different things, right what Uh? What your game plan is? Right, You're gonna have abc D depending on how the game flow goes. Uh, You're dealing with player personalities because that really needs to come from the mature. I understand that you're going to have some clubhouse vets that take care of a lot
of that stuff. But when it gets to a point, you've got to control that and then setting the example for the season and maintaining that example no matter whether it's well, wait, give me an example. So you're so from a baseball standpoint, you're going to training, right, your game plan has been done for the last six months. This is how you're going to execute. You have an idea of who that roster is going to shake out, and there's maybe two to four spots that you need
to fill. And then once that happens, you have to make sure that everybody in that clubhouse is bought in, no matter what happens on that same page. And then you're imagining game flow. Right, you're getting your assistant coaches, whether it's a pitching coach, whether it's hitting coach. This situation comes up, you already have two plans, right, They're gonna bring this guy in, I'm gonna have this guy ready to hit. This guy comes up, I'm gonna have
this guy pitch. So it's really just game flow. You're not trying to really get involved. You should not be involved on their personal mechanics, like their game thoughts is that the coach is just that's really the pitching coach. You're you're, you're, you know, you're you're empowering those the pitching coach, the hitting coach, the bench coach, those guys should be taking that. So so kind of like the assistant coaches here to a degree, uh, the the pitching
coach to the betting coach and any other coaches. Listen, you know whatever body's running. Coaches our closer probably to the players than the manager is, yeah, I think to some degree, right, I mean don't deal with them day to day.
Yeah.
And then you're trying in college and pros a little bit different, right, because you have to go from a recruiting standpoint, so you have to build this trust factor now when kids are maybe thirteen or fourteen. Uh, and then you have to maintain that throughout. So there's personality traits and you're gonna divvy up in coaches meetings. You're gonna say, Steve, you're closer with these three guys. I want you to stay with these three guys. I'm gonna
take that fourth guy. And I know it's not yours, but I'm gonna take that fourth guy because I know that guy's personality. I recruited him since he's fourteen. I know the parents, I know where they come from. So you just have to identify those personality traits. At the professional level, that manager has to deal with, a front office has to deal with, a GM has to deal with ownership, the president. Like that's the go between, right where a lot of times you're asking managers, why do
you make that decision? Or why is this guy playing? Sometimes his hands are you know, his handcuffs Jerry Jillson and Jerry Jones into it. Yeah, you're looking at Billy Bean, right, I mean he I mean he had to prove in Oakland that he's the one that's making those decisions really not the manager anymore. Right, No, No, it's spot. The thing is, they make tons of money to deal with that.
It's a good problem to have, right, I mean, would you rather wake up at three am and go to a coal mining job or would you rather be on the greatest golf courses in the world and just making sure guys are doing their best. I'll get back to you on that one. Yeah, yeah, no, but I think that same applies and the reason why I'm having this conversation with you. It applies to a lot of the levels even here, because the coach has to deal with stuff.
He probably puts a roster together, right, and then he has the assistant coaches actually working up and coaching to a degree is not okay. You put your feet here, your arms here, and the guys already know all that stuff. They're already good at that. That's why you recruited them, right. You just don't want to screw them up unless it's drastically bad. You want to kind of figure their mechanics out. But you need the kid and you and it's more
of a mental coaching than it is physical coaching. Yeah. Yeah, So let me give you a scenario, like how often you've shown up to work and said the show that I do today could either end my career or further my career. Like how often does that happen on a day and day out basis for you? Twice a year? Maybe? Okay.
So those guys when they ride a lineup or they're making decisions on who that's starting five is or football starting eleven, whatever it is, that's their livelihood, especially in football, right because you don't get so many games, so that kind of. I think that kind of stress level going into that position doesn't allow for a lot of those
coaches to get creative as some other people would. So the outside looking in, or we call it backseat quarterback, isn't always on the front of their mind because every time they put a lineup in or they put they put a lineup on that field, that could be the end of their career or it could further along their career. Right, that's a lot of stress. Okay, we'll talk more about that later. Let's go on to take a break here, We'll get a hold of Ki and Ray Floores. They're
going to be together on this call. Discover all this and more.
Discover with Soul Casino Del Sol, the Soul of Tucson.
Are you ready? Enterprise of Fasco Yuki Tribe.
The Window Depot has everything you need to create the kitchen or bathroom of your dreams. Browseyisles of instock cabinets available in a variety of sizes and configurations and instantly elevate your space. Today, visit a showroom and let our experts guide you whether you're choosing for ready to go designs or creating a custom masterpiece. We can help you select the perfect wood type, color, and style and top
it off with unique hardware to complete your love. Find a location near you at the window deepot dot com. 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 and 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. Tip we'll call at five two zero four zero zero for two three three.
At Nova Home Loans, we believe everyone and 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 out with the refinance Nova has a variety of home loan programs to meet your unique situation. Visit voltpeteam dot com.
That's Volpe team dot com or call five to two oh six eight five six two six Today n MLS three oh eight seven arizon A b K nine two nine four two equal housing opportunity, Got to commitment to Lyndrix syn credit rates and available loan programs or subject to change.
Don't notice? Did you know?
Collecting sports cards is one of the fastest growing hobbies around. Whether you're looking at chart or expand your collection, Showtime Cards is your ultimate destination.
As one of the leading card shops in the country.
We've been serving our community for over twenty five years with the best in sports cards and trading card games. From rare fines to the latest releases, Showtime Cards has it all. Check them out at Showtimecards dot Com or visit them on e Speedway and discover why collectors everywhere truy Showtime Cards for their passion.
Richard but All Law office defending Arizonans for over thirty years and a Wildcat fan for over sixty. If you need an experienced criminal defense attorney, call Richard Briccall five two oh seven to four to Zho twelve thirteen, broud sponsor.
Of Eye on the Ball.
Go cats, got bugs, termites, bees, or rodents, Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert pest management specialist. US can't run or hide 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, termitespees, or rodents serving Tucson
and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today.
Why is mining so important? It's the foundation of everything that defines a society. Everything you see is a product of mine, no matter when, no matter how, no matter why. Every society on the planks have developed, thrown, and modernized based solely on the minimals. A process that's windlining is so important.
Gondibibm dot com.
The Window Depot wants to help bring your dream kitchen to life. As a family owned and operated business, we pride ourselves on offering the best prices, the biggest inventory, and exceptional customer service you won't find.
At the big box stores.
From premium cabinets to stunning courts and granite countertops, faucets, hardware, and sinks, our designers are here to guide homeowners every step of the way, all under one roof. Find a location near you, or shop online at the window deepot dot Com. The Window Depot more than a Windows store.
This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just search I on the Ball.
Hey, and welcome back to I I on the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Vera with me today. Is Lake Eager? That very waiting for us? And uh Kim Adair. I think it's on the line as well as Ray Flores or we're trying to reach Ray Kim. Are you there?
I'm here. I'm here, but I can't I couldn't get Ray on, but I'm here.
Okay, okay, maybe we'll talk to Ray after after we talk to you briefly. Welcome to the show. I was good to talk to you, Kim.
Thanks for having me. Nice to be on.
I got two and had Ray been here been a trifective for me to the heavy hitters of local do goods. I'm minor league compared to Kim's like big league all star level. Hi, Cam, it's Blake, Hi.
I appreciate that. No, we're all big league all Star.
Well you guys, guy, You guys are all to get you what the thing is? You guys are we are the world? Whatever that song was. You guys are always holding hands to make Tuson a better place.
Right.
Well, yeah, I mean why shouldn't we we? I mean everybody should be trying to make tisan about it place as they can. And you know, a rising tide lists all folks and there's and that space for success for everybody. So we should all be working together to make this place even.
More amazing, right right. And one of the things we wanted to talk about, and I think we'll talk to you for about maybe seven minutes and then get ready on as well, is the big nil move that you guys are doing to help the University of Arizona. Can you kind of explain that to the listeners?
Yeah, and it's not just in IL, it's really just to help student athlete programs generally for the University of Arizona, and you know, the landscape of college athletics has really changes, of course the last few years, and we want to support and help one of our biggest partners, you know, at the Snookgog Arizona ball which is the University of Arizona.
They are so important to this entire community. So when we were trying to think about how we could add and you'll talk to him, I'm sure about that shortly, and then we kind of jumped into really start hosting fifty to fifty raffles to support student athlete programs and scholarships at the University of Arizona.
Kim, you know, you and I for this conversation, and I wouldn't be where I'm at without you. So I'm grateful for everything you do for the that's Kim, That's I'm being honest.
You give me way too much.
That's not true, way too much credit, not only from a mentor standpoint, just from just an overall perspective in life. But you're always at the forefront of change and positive change. How did this come about? And can you just take us through kind of the process and the steps of from start to finish.
Sure, And you know, I can't take credit for a great ideas. You know that I didn't come up with. This was the brainchild of Race Flaores and you know, wanting to help and support the University of Arizona and knowing that here at the Newdog Arizona Ble, we have the same types of you know, commitments, and he had
this idea. We've done fifty fifty rapples at our kickoff luncheons and at the snow Jog Arizona bull for the last few years, and we thought, why can't we be doing this to also support student athlete programs at the University of Arizona. I mean, they have a fine night you know wallet there to help support these athletes, and it's getting more and more difficult to do that. So he thought this might be a really good way for us to make an impact. Yeah, make it a win
win for the whole community. You win half the plot and then the other half goes to support the student athletes.
Right right, Because you know, the one question I get a lot with nil and I don't have any of the answers because I'm just me, is where does the money go? Who gets it, who benefits. And I used to just say call you of A and they'll help you. So this at least you know, you know that if you spend five, ten, twenty dollars whatever, they know they have a chance of getting some back or if they win it. And then helping the kids exactly exactly.
I think sometimes you know, in the in the climate of college athletics, there's a lot of asks like hey, write a check for this or help us with yes, and there's and it's sort of like you see that money and it kind of goes away. At least in this instance, there's an opportunity to actually, you know, win some big pots over the course of the year and you know, get some of that money back in your pocket. Well at the same time helping student athletes and so I think it's really a win.
Win for everyone.
And it's a creative way to try to attack this problem and while bringing together, you know, partners within the community to make it happen.
One of the things that you guys have done so phenomenal over the years, and that's that's going from the Nova home loans to barstool to now Snoop Dogg. But can you kind of update the public on how much you've given back from a financial standpoint and to the communities and nonprofits.
Yeah, so, we are actually celebrating our tenth anniversary this and so in those ten years we've given back, I think the number is close to five million dollars to charity, and that's a number we're really proud of. We want to continue to make an impact here locally with our charitable giving so that we can support those that are making such great strides in our community and helping our friends and neighbors with some of the difficult challenges in
their lives. And it's sort of you know, it's a real pleasure to be able to work hard on an event like the Snoop Dog Arizonable every year knowing that when it's over, the best part of the actually happens in my right checks out to charity. And in fact, our charitable grant application is now live on our website at the Arizona bl dot com and people nonprofits can go there and apply for our charitable grants this year.
Yeah. So I think I've been to the check presentation of time or two to do a story or too. U. There's no question that they appreciate anything, right, and you give them significant amounts of money to help support their causes, which of course again they're they're very grateful for even when you give them the checks, right, Kim, you can see that the smiles and the happiness.
Yeah, it's like it's the best. I mean, it's really why we do. What we do is to make this impact on our community and be good, you know, citizens of Southern Arizona. It's when we get that chance to be able to have those big, large ceremonial checks and hand them and take pictures with the charity, and then knowing that they're going to take the real checks home to make an impact here with our friends and neighbors. It's just it's awesome.
That's the best job in the world for the sake of equality. We're going to get a hold of Ray after we talk to you in about three minutes, right, We've got them in oother three minutes. So I assume what your four months removed from Snoop Dogg Bowl. I'm sure you already do you read from the next one.
Yeah, we are already in the planning stages for the next one. We were just in Las Vegas the past few days with our Bold colleagues at our annual Bull Season Conference. We got shared a lot of great ideas, learned a lot of great ideas and are really excited to come back and even you know, even increasing excitement and innovation around this year's game. We've got a lot of fun things planned. It's so excited. He wants to
be more involved in the planning. He really had a great experience when he was here with us a few months ago, and we're excited to see what the future. Burum.
Yeah, I mean you you're saying the next Arizona BWL. So, I mean Kim and her team, Eric and Dell and Lusette and Ben went from the Arizona Bowl to the New Year's Eve Bash and New Year's Bash and then straight in the World Baseball Classic, and so you guys have been kicking button taking names. What's the next thing up that the the public can get involved with? Kim?
Yeah, So really, the next big thing that we will be doing, well, we're gonna have a thank you party for all of our volunteers that have supported us this year. That's a big deal. But for the public, it's our kickoff lunch and which will happen in October, and you know, that's when we really start gearing up again for all of the events that happened at the end of the year around the game, and people can you know, start signing up to be involved and help us make this
a reality again this year. And so it's just the planning. But that's the next big event that we'll have. And of course before that, you know, sometime in June or July will be you know, handing out some big checks to charities again. So you know, we've got to to list forward too as well.
So this and I al think we'll go back to it one last time before we leave kind of reminds me of the Result Bowl in as much as you guys are the like the little bowl that can right or could, and you guys have to come out think out of the box. You're in Tucson, little Tucson, and you have to come up with ideas how to make this happen and keep it surviving.
Yeah, we're scrappy, you know, and I say that with full pride. I mean we have to be. Complacency is not a word that we believe in. And we have never felt like we had the opportunity to be complacent or comfortable. We're always looking to be better every year
so that we can do more for our community. And so yeah, we're scrappy and keep looking really hard to come up with some fun ideas every year and keep our community involved and excited about what we're doing, and then bring in those fans who are going to spend money here in southern Arizona and support our restaurants and businesses and help us get back to charity.
Okay, Kim, thanks a bunch, Kim. I've got one serious question. So I mean we're on the air, you can you can ask it honestly or I answered honestly. Now, every office pool we get into and I get into him always in first place until the last day, and somehow I lose Is it rigged? Is our office pools rigged?
Is it just me?
Do I need to find a different office space? Are we still okay?
Blake? If you look at that, you're in first place, I'm always in last.
Yeah, it was, it would a little differently.
That's a good point, all right, my friend. And I guess I have it too because now he's one of my partners here. Yeah, and Steve keeps. Thanks for telling me now, thank you, Kim, appreciate it all right, thank you. Yes, yes, we're going to get a call here from Ray. I think any moment now that was that was nice to talk to Kim. But we got right Ray. Are you there?
Yeah, yeah, I'm here right, Ray.
Good. We just obviously I spoke to Kim. Let me ask you something. When you started this thing, you talked to me, I think maybe ten months ago, nine months ago. You came up with this idea. You said to me, I said, what a fantastic idea, and you said, well, you gotta go through a lot of hoops. How was it getting to this point? Actually?
I started this almost two years ago in just trying to put together an idea to be you know, professional, because the professionals, I'll do it. You know, you go to an MLB game, Oh yeah, you go to you know a lot of the professional sport and they're in there there and I'm like, well, why can't we do it? And then I had seen that ASU and the Sun Devil Foundation or whatever they are, had one for a while.
I don't know what happened to theirs or not, but I think there was just you know, the the unknown about the gaming laws, the responsibilities of where and what, and the and the need to have a really sophisticated nonprofit partner to make this work, one that's goals and charter were aligned with the concept and and we're just really fortunate that we have that with the Arizona Bowl team here. I mean, you know, it's a hard act to follow Kim Madera on a phone call like this
because she just they just do. They're doing so much good sports in this community and education and whatnot. I mean, they do the teacher awards every year. I've know, I personally have had been involved when they've given awards to teachers. So doing good for the community. And then you know, you guys know I had sports tars in my background.
We play sports on our TVs. Hoors Fars went through this kind of dip you know where everybody, you know, when Direct TV and Dish were competing and everybody could get them at home, and they were they were giving free Direct TV out to people that signed up, and all of a sudden, you know, you have all these TVs and like we had bars full of TVs and they weren't that important anymore. Hors fars took a hit
for a while. Now all of a sudden gamifying sports with everybody betting on apps and all that, and I'm not I'm not weighing in on what that means. But let's face it, a lot of people, you know, bet on sports and it's growing every day all of a sudden. You know, those kind of things like game offying sports
is an important part of the experience. So just think now when you go to a U of A game where if you're involved with U of A athletics, there's a gamification to this that actually could win some money and actually could do some good. I think that's the benefit of it, all right, Like somebody's gonna be well, somebody's gonna win money, and the other part of the
money's gonna go do some good. There's no loser in that in that, unlike betting on you know, a DraftKings or something where you're definitely gonna lose money if you don't win, and you're not gonna know anybody else it does that goal goal goes to a private company and not to the athletes. This is going to a good cause.
It's game of fine for a for a purpose and I'm really happy that it finally came together, and it was a big chunk of it was the leadership of the u of A identifying new models and new revenue stream opportunities, and it just all married together and Kim's nonprofit team and whatnot solved for the legality piece of it, we developed the software and the branding at all and Desiree, Tony and the team at the u of A have
been great. You know, it's gonna take some time to build up team, but I mean probably probably, we're probably looking at it could be an easy fifty to one hundred thousand dollars a year that could come from this, just on the most minimum amount to the YouTube U of Athletics every year, just from what we're seeing already in our first week.
Yeah, I think Ray's true superpower is seeing like ten steps in front of everybody else and then being able to kind of understand what the tasks are ahead of and getting the right people in the room. I raids Blake.
I'm just I'm ten years younger than every older than everybody. That's why that's not true.
That's true.
I mean.
I was just thinking that maybe I know Ray from the back of the day. I'm wondering if you're a pretty good book pool player, because if you play pool, you're not shooting for the shot you get, You're shooting for the shot you want.
Still, my eyes went bad, you know. I mean I was a pretty decent pool I probably play poker better now than I play pool. But no, I look, you know, you look at what we're at right now, Steve. And we've talked about this before too, Like if we only had this team on before spring chaining left right, if we had a Kim Adair in her role, we had a Blake Eager in his role, if we had Cody
Ritchie established like he is now, Ali Farhank. I mean some of these folks now that are putting these deals together, like, I don't know, man, we might add a really good shot of turning the turning the tides and keeping Spring training here now that we're fighting for our place in the sun amongst sports. I think unique applications like this, like the bare down fifty to fifty go to Beardown fifty fifty dot com. You know it's gonna be running.
You know, if the raffles are running, we're gonna stay consistently running. Throughout the summer and whatnot, the Arizona Bowl, the World Baseball Classic. You know, I just heard about you know the it was in a visit Tucson meeting. Heard about the Big Garment Race that could be, could be a huge marathon coming to Tucson. So but again
we're all connected now. Felipe and the visit Tooths on Team Nicky, they work with Blake, Blake works with Kim, Kim works with you know, Kevin at the Sugar Skills. Kim works with with you know are you know Hoffing at the Bob at the at the Roadrunners. And then you've got guys like us in the private sector going, hey, we love this for our businesses. Let's figure out how can we help. And then we bring Raymond Wabel to
the table, we bring the government to the table. If we had this kind of energy and the kind of public and private commitment that we have today, back when Spring Training was waffling, I think I think we'd be in a better in a different light right now in this town. But you know, there's hope and uh, there's progress.
So we need people like us doing what you're doing, championing on the media, bringing awareness to people, because it's hard to tell people the story right when your knee deep every day.
Right, So let me ask you, because thank you for doing of course, of course, all right, let me ask you something. So so you give the website, let's talk about that, and I have a quick question. So you're doing it now. I think there's a drawing here soon too. But is it just going to be if you're at the football game, you're gonna do that, or is it all collective through the whole year? How does that work? Game by game, season by season one?
It's going to be, well, I think to you of a, I mean it's up to them, right, It's not up to me. I just we just you know, I invested to develop the software and give it to them, like that's kind of my thing. And then there's a you know, obviously you've got a credit card company that has the charge fees for credit cards or whatever, and Kim not charging. She's just riding checks to the winners into the and to the non you know, to the athletes stuff that
they're going to do. It's gonna run throughout the year. Right now, it's running like an eleven day or so program. And then as the season gets back, it will probably be every home game will be one announce for football, and then basketball will maybe change to where they're announced
on home games. So I think it's gonna it's gonna be up to them based on their schedules right now, they're running it so that it's probably gonna be every like two weeks or so, eleven to eleven days to two weeks, you know, and I think there will be there.
You know, there's probably gonna be a thousand dollars one by somebody, a thousand dollars going to the you know right now this week going to uh going to the athletic program and the athletes that they and the things they need for these athletes that you know, a lot of these Olympic sports that are great for our community. They bring bed tax, they bring they bring travel, they bring food and bever sales. But you know they're not
they're not part of the big NIL capture. So you know, our track team are our gimmis, our our baseball team even even soccer softball, these teams that don't have the big NIL money or the big TV money, UH, this is going to be another way to help them. So I'm really glad it happened. I'm thankful for the new you know, the leadership at you to get it done, and to folks like Kim and Blake and everybody that helps put sports on the map in Tucson.
Yeah. I mean, one thing we were talking about yesterday right with Nil, at these bigger schools, maybe with the potential of losing other programs, whether it's swimming and JAPS, syste and what what Ray's doing in the area and Kim and the Juve is thinking outside the box to maybe secure some of those funds to keep those athletes
on campus, to keep those sports on campus. It's it's a huge effort when everybody comes to the table and works together, but when it actually happens, people see that progress and they see the proactiveness of it, and it creates a It creates a different culture that we talk about all the time here in southern Arizona, and Ray hit on it earlier. It's there's a lot of change that's happening right now behind closed doors, and Raise at the forefront of it as a community leader, as one
of the public and private sector leaders. But to be able to have somebody like Ray and his team at Cicharo, but just Ray in general kind of leading that charge. We're really really fortunate. So I want to say thank you Ray for everything you've done. I mean, big thing with this where World Baseball Classic doesn't happen without Ray and Candae with ci Charo making sure that everything was catered at the highest level for MLB standpoint, and just
being there to be able to be an advisor. So thank you again, Ray, No, thank you.
And look, guys, I promise you there's a little bit of greed in it. I'm not dumb guy, I mean, you know, not as numb as my wife thinks I am. But there's a little greed because look, people staying in Tucson in hotels that don't have kitchens where they're cooking, they're going out to eat. So I love to see
things that generate bad taxes. See things that generate bad taxes, big groups of sports coming to town to play, family sports, youth sports where multi generation's mom, dad, grandma, aunt, uncle come to Toothson to watch a kid's soccer tournament for a weekend. Those kind of events drive bed tax and when you look at bedtaxs, when you look at sales, when you look at what happens in room nights and Tucson.
We were very much telling visit Toothson. I'm a board member, I'm proud of what they're doing with the LEEP in that group. Hey, guys, look at those dates. Four out of the five biggest dates for travel and bed tax sales, bedroom and room nights in Tucson are tied to the university and sports.
And visitors coming here for.
That homecoming, parents weekend, things like that that are tied to sports. That's generating beds and nights, people eating out, people going to store, shopping, spending money. That trickles down to everybody. That's why sports matters, you know. And people that don't understand it, they really need to get more foundation of information on their financials tied to sports. It's not about oh, you know, we're just all we care about is you of a win.
Yeah, we want you of a to win.
But you based an economic engine, sports economic engine. We need to be respectful of that at all times.
That's that's the thing. Give me the website. You have a drawing soon, tell me about that, just real quick. The website. Where can people go to either buy or whatever?
Beardown fifty fifty dot com, ww dot beardown ear down fifty five zero five zero dot com, bear down fifty fifty dot com.
And you'll find out everything you need to know there.
Right, you'll see QR You'll see yep, you'll see QR codes. You gotta be in Tucson. You gotta be in Arizona. You can't be out of state. Sorry. Uh, there's the website has GEO tracking on. It's an Arizona gambling.
Uh.
You know there's rules to the game. So uh, you got to be eighteen and above, but it's on there and I got to be eighteen over to win.
So okay, no, great, Greg Grey. We'll talk more about this as we spend some time you. You'll come in and visit. You'll be the new Blake a time or two this summer. Okay, thanks, Thanks.
I'm here to help shoes to play.
Thanks. Thanks. We got to go appreciate it. We'll come back and talk more about it. But I thought this idea when he's talk to me about it last year and trying to help, I think that's a pretty good idea. Yeah.
I mean, like, honestly, from a community leader standpoint, Ray is a connecting dots Alie Edmund Market, like all those guys are are here to progress us forward, and that thought process that they're having right now gives us an advantage, right and it puts us in a place where maybe other schools don't have that, but it gives us a competitive advantage. We got to go. Thanks Inry. 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 Loudolsen 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 lut is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one Email me at Steve dot
RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Where do you buy exercise equition?
Ma our Zona 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.
Lead it and exercise equipment.
On twenty second this quest of Wilmot.
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 affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from in financial laid available, It's time to earn the degreeer 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 PEMA dot edu slash Someday.
Hey Tucson, Steven Arry here, and I've got a tip for you. Want to be in good hands while cruising the desert or kicking back at home, then you need to call my friends at the Edmond Marcus All State Agency. These guys are the MVPs of home and auto coverage. Whether it's a fender bender or a leaky roof. They've got you covered. Don't fumble your chance to save. Call them today and score big on your insurance With the Edmund Marcus All State Agency, You're always in good hands.
Visit them at twenty seven nineteen North Campbell or call them at five two zero three two three nine three 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 an exercise equipment On twenty second, just west of Wilmot.
Craving Tucsons is best Burger. The Fourth Avenue Legend is back, Lindy's on Fourth is celebrating twenty years, and Lindy himself is back behind the grill. We've got new mouthwatering burgers and great daily drink specials. Don't miss our upcoming twentieth anniversary Summer Bash and year end celebration. So come down to Lindy's on Fourth or order online at l fourth dot com. Lindy and Tucson's Best Burger are.
Waiting at Pyramid Federal Credit Union.
We believe less is more. Let's peace mean more money in your pocket, Less hassle means more time for what matters, and less stress means more confidence in your financial future. Pyramids Lessons More philosophy is coming to your neighborhood with a new branch opening at the Tucson Spectrum Pyramid Federal Credit Union, where Less is More federally insured by NCUA, an equal opportunity lender.
Streamy live on the Ihearts Radio while this is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Eye on the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera. You're break eager, got Henry at the controls here and we got about the nine minutes. If you like to call, please do. Good stuff from Tim and Ray. A lot of stuff going on in this town, and I gret I get it. You know, I'm a little older than you guys, and maybe a little bybe a lot, but the generation that's right behind me. You guys are doing some pretty fun stuff. I think you're out of the box. You have to
with that, Well, you have to, of course. That's what makes this town a little bit more progressive. Progressive, I mean, I hope so right, we I mean we. I think people talk about Tucson in the same breath as Austin or Portland. And it's not that it's not that so, but I think you can talk about in the same breath as El Paso and Albertquerque, and you look at both those towns and their light years ahead of us. Well, you're funny you say that, because no one in this
town would believe you. No one would believe you unless they went to see it, Because I drive through there, go to safe all the time, and I'm thinking, I see the stuff, and I'm thinking, you'd never Tuson would never admit that, first of all. Yeah, but you can't deny it with what they're doing. From a sports stand I don't disagree with you, and I'm saying saying this with sincerity. I'm sorry to say that. And you know this from an alpacaret standpoint, You and m tied into
University of New Mexico is tied end to everything. And that's it's it's a love affair. It's the same love affair up there that this one is down here. They just do a little bit more. In fact, in fact, this is something silly. When I go and visit my relatives and go see the sites, I hear the commercials for NIL. If you're with us, you know, be I don't have anybody knocking down my door to get innile commercials.
I don't know. You don't know by anybody from the University of Otherwise saying hey, you love the Wildcats, help us out. I hear them them over there all the time. Yeah, And I'm sure they're everywhere or across the country in college towns, but I don't hear them in town. Yeah. And I mean, and you bring up a good point. Albertquerque and Two's don't have a lot of connection from because I guess you can consider both of them college
towns or at something very much. But I mean, Albertquerque from a film standpoint, from a professional sports standpoint, kill it. They kill it absolutely. I mean, they are tendancies out of this world, and we're almost the same size, right, So why why wouldn't we try to mirror what people are doing successfully here, and I think that's what we're trying to do right now. Here's the funny thing. They kill it with Triple A baseball, with isotopes. Yeah, USL Championship, soccer, soccer,
and tell me they kill it with soccer. I know there's not much to do, but guess what in Tucson here, there's not much to do outside of soccer. We had probleming on yesterday, right, I wasn't As you asked me who to bring on, I said John, because I talked to him. We've got a wait. So Jonathan does a great job, but he doesn't have the same attendance that you'd like them to have. Yeah, I mean that's that's gone through some fluctuations. I mean, thankfully John is a
probably as loyal as they possibly can come. So he's still here and what he's doing, he's working with the I brought FIFA to the table for all of us to work on, uh hopefully becoming a World Cup training site. So we're we're I mean, there's nothing there to be said, but it's one of the things that we're worth trying to get it. So yeah, I mean we've got a lot of positive people and a lot of great people here.
It's just getting everybody to move in that same direction. Well, I think when you first came on the show a few months ago and we talked a lot about that, let me ask you, I'm hoping you were gonna be honest with me since here, what is Tucson lack in that department to bring to bring and or maybe help pull the rope if you're going to be I don't know, Like you said, I don't know anything about al Paso, but you know, to al Passos in the same boat, they have both Triple A and USL championship in the
same stadium. So what So what what's the magic? What do you need? What kind of magic do you need? You know, I think the forefront thought process from the public sector and then somebody with some capital on the private sector that are both working simultaneously and to pull something off together. And I think you have that right now. And I don't know if we've and this is a
so I think we have it right now. I mean, you just had two people on a phone call that are doing it together, whereas before you didn't you know, and I wasn't That's unfair for me to say because I wasn't around, But yes, I mean I think there. I mean you we lost a lot more than we gained, but we're trying to fight in different directions, think outside the box and more people holding that rope. Yeah, And
we had this conversation earlier. Right, it's the same model, get off your butts and go to the games, but we're missing a connection, like why aren't people going, Like, I don't care what you say. SC two sounds great. People went to the ice cats. That's that's clubs, that's club hockey. But it's great to watch, right, Like we don't have the opportunity to see higher levels, So why aren't we supporting these And if we're missing something we didn't know from the general public, like where are we
getting our information? Where's the source coming from? And I think people are trying to figure out those answers instead of just putting the blame on people. Well, here's your here's your your publicity. Why don't you go? Yeah, why don't you go? Yeah? That's the reasons why, And we talked about it. I would love to have a survey sent out to everybody asking why, right, why don't you attend. I mean, why didn't you go to this? Why didn't
you do that? Whether it's food, ticket prices, whatever, it's across the board. You know, we have We're lucky enough to have Broadway in Tucson, right, Not a lot of cities have that like you. And this is an arts thing. You can have that, right, You've got realta that's great to You've got all these great things. If you don't go to it, what do you think is going to happen. It's going to go away. But if you're not going to it for a specific reason, let's let's understand what
that is. So maybe we can change the narrative there, sure, sure, or pivot or pivot yeah, or pivot to something else. Maybe it doesn't work here, right, I mean you can have those conversations at different points, people going, oh, I don't need to go after that because I know this slot's going to work really well in this area. So now everybody else has to travel up north or they
have to go somewhere else. But you know, when we're talking about creating partnerships, Las Crusis is a perfect city, right because it's close enough to help, it's right next to our passes close enough to albur it's kind of that middle point. Why haven't as a Tucson market because we always try to think about, oh, we're gonna get California. California's not coming here. There's no need for them. Yeah, so why don't we create a stronger partnership with Los Crusis.
Why hasn't that been done? Funny thing about you say that it's about three and a half hours to Albuquerque Lost Crusis and four here for three and a half three Okay, depending on how if you want to go eighty five miles an hour, but yeah, it's closely. It's the same distance. And let me tell you, do you know this better than me. There's a lot of recruitment going on in Las Crusis up for the kids here in Tusso. Yeah, for tone, missie, Oh, I think for
a long time you're talking about baseball and softball. A lot of Tucson kids ended up at those schools, and especially in New Mexico State. I mean you had look at short coach all Gonzales. Yeah, yeah, there's a there's there's more than Gonzalez. There's a lot of people. Yeah, you have tons of people over there, But no, I think that's that's a heck of a move. In fact, I'm just thinking about something now for the show. Because there is a connection. There should be a connection. It's
only three and a half three and a half. You say three and a half hours, I'll say four because I'm not going to go fast. Do you the speed limit when you drive on the house? Seventy seven probably is more? You ever get in the left land or do you try to stay in the right lane? I do when I'm passing. Yeah, yeah, I mean obviously, but do you write it? I hate that worse right, I hate those people. What is the what's the top mentality there?
They don't because they don't think. They don't care about No, No, they just don't think. They don't think they're doing I get to piss off people. Where do you would you rate let's say, Tucson drivers, where would you rate them?
Uh?
What time of year?
Now?
Horrible? See I've said this, and I said this publicly on the show, and I told this to Justin. He had no idea until I do.
So.
I see a lot of invisible cars this time of year. Yeah, and you probably don't know what I'm talking about. You're at a the four way stop sign or stop sign, and you wait, and you wait behind a car that sees as invisible cars, no one's coming, but they take a minute to see if anybody's coming. But they see the cars, they're not coming.
Just go.
So I've got to say this. I think in the last week driving home, I've seen like four terrible crashes an intersection like the moan, Yeah, the one by Davis Montan that happened maybe two seconds before I got to that intersection. And I'm going, what does the deal with people trying to run? Like you see a yellow light thirty feet thirty why are you trying to run it? You're gonna get to the place to the place a
minute earlier, Like, I don't get the mindset. And I've we've all done it right, We've all and I don't want cameras to come back. And I know we're getting off topic here, but it's a topic that I think people are interested in talking about. We are we are consistently rated in the worst drivers in the United States, probably as we should. Mean it'll get change that it'll get better in three or four weeks, maybe because we
the people a lot of people aren't from here. Yeah, and that's kind of the problem, and not that it's a problem problem, you know. I don't want to sound poopool on it, but it's true. Yeah, the city turns into a kind of a mortgage slower paced type of thing, and it turns better. Here's a question I was going to ask you, and let me do. We got to go about a Minuteyeah, okay, okay, real quick market study. Has anybody ever done a market study of what our
population changes? Is between our we should I mean, that's why Why don't we have to keep that thought? Keep that thought because we have other ideas. That's a good idea. All right, let's go