This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Son Fox Sports fourteen fifteen, powered by Nova Insurance Services.
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Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Riveta, he's Jagan Gauls. We've got a guy Ryan with us today. I only have one thing to say to you, Jay, but I'm glad I'm not in school anymore.
That learning today got you. I know, I can't do it. Do you not have the I don't. I don't have the capacity, you know, the focus. You can't zero in on some.
Focus determination, you throw anything right out there. I don't have the patience anymore to go through all that crap again.
There's there's different ways of learning anymore, Steve. You can record stuff, you know, you know the I don't know if you use it.
I use that.
I use that pro not taking program. We don't have to take notes anymore.
No, I know. You just got to clean it up and go back and listen to it again. Yeah, Yeah, that's all I do. Yeah, that's still like repetition, like you will explain what we're doing well.
So for people who know what we're talking about, we're moving to a new studio here, they tell us by the end of the month, we're.
Moving to the east side, like George Jefferson to the northeast side.
We're gonna be over there in the we're moving. We're moving studios. So we went into took a look at the new studio today to kind of get trained on the board. Steve just kind of stood there with his mouth hanging open while I was videotaping the thing so that I could go back and re refresh myself and all the stuff that I was forgetting.
That didn't prevent you from your mouth though, but you just have a video.
But we did videotape the whole video of the whole thing so that because you know, I was getting in about every third word I know about you.
So right, Ryan, guess what you'll be taking some tests you and the guys that are in our great interns will be you guys.
You guys will get this so easy though. It's right, you guys.
This is what you guys do. Yeah, right, that's why you guys are young. You can learn me. I could give it, you know whatever.
I just don't know that that room is big enough for both of us.
You know, I know the colors because I could see those door blue right, and then you.
Different color that's purple. I'm wearing that shirt again that you thought was peach. No, no, no, no no.
In fact, in fact, I was gonna sit you because I saw you. The shirt says who's dressing you? Because they're doing a great time like that you made.
This is the same one you made a comment on the other day.
The other one was a peach one. That one's pretty pink. It's the same shirt you're that.
Oh no, I had a bright pink, have a bright But you notice this shirt.
You know, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, because I think this is this is more of a laugh. It is your wife putting some stuff together because you ain't buiting that. The pink one.
My wife bought me. This one my son bought.
Oh.
See the difference is this got the Nike logo. He's not gonna buy me anything. It's not Nike.
There's someone else's dressing you because you would not be wearing.
I yelled at the other day, Steve, I got I showed up for golf and I've got Nike golf shoes on with Adida socks. My I didn't think. I thought he was going to make me go home. I thought Adam was going to make me go home. I seriously did I converse and pumas?
Dress good? Play good? Who cares? Did you play any?
He said?
You can't play like that. I'm like, I'm like, like what I'm like, I'm looking at myself like a quick you can't have those socks on with those shoes.
Who are you raising out there? Back in the day, you were lucky to have socks and shoes with the holes. Exactly sixty years later, you're about you having a different I know.
My mom used to be the one yelling at me about my socks.
And that's my son.
What the hell is going on?
To wear clean underwear? Because you never know?
I never that never happened. Those things are dirtiest things I put him on yesterday exactly.
Yeah, okay, so I'm too too old to learn stick.
Look, it's very cool. Well, have some more capabilities. We'll have more than one phone line.
We'll know who's calling.
We'll know who's calling. We'll have more than one phone line. You'll be able to call us and you won't get a busy signal. Well, you know, take your call and put you on hold, and you'll be on hold for two and a half hours like you are for all those other shows.
Right today, we're hoping them full lines work today. Yeah, I think they will. Yesterday we struggled to a possible interview or whatever and we got it to work eventually. Yeah, So we're hoping because we have a pretty good show today.
Right. Well, one of the guests we were supposed to have yesterday, Alie Smith, the the daughter of the late Arizona football coach Larry Smith, but also the mother of a preferred walk on at Arizona, Mason Bray who. So we're going to talk to her about all of that, right being being the the mom of a player, being the daughter of a major college football coach, but that
was like growing up, all those things. Just we'll just have some fun with that because you know, Larry Smith is still there, very well thought of in this town, despite you know how he left with USC and stuff like that. Over the overtiming think people have softened about about all of that, and he was, you know, continue to live here, and he and his wife and family were always very well thought of. So we'll have it.
We'll have some fun with her, and then in the second hour at four fifteen, Amanda Beard is going to join us. Seven time medal winner, gold medal winner, uh two I think, two or three gold medal I think.
So she was the darling darling of one of them.
At the U of A. She's now she's been she was an assistant coach last year and got retained by the new coach this year. So we'll talk to her and of course get into the Olympic experience.
Right exactly, Okay, no cool. On day two of practice went on today.
We were too busy doing other I have no idea what went on over there.
So they were doing the interviews. You'll start seeing stuff on Twitter. Yeah, so we'll see about that. We talked about this a little yesterday with with Polito. He's going to be missed. I think, uh is kind.
Of well, he's good enough to be a starter, of course.
Yeah, and a good player, you know, a good player with more experience. Uh. You know, some people are hinting things blah blah blah. If you don't know, don't.
Say, don't. Yeah, yeah, you know, he's a he's still he's still a young guy. Don't speculate. If you can report it, report it right right. If you know, you know and and you can you can with uh, with certainty, report then fine. But you know, understand, you know, as we say, these aren't professional athletes. Get well, they're sort of profession they're starting to be a professional athletes.
But journalism still journalism, it is.
And and just to do the right thing if you're if you're looking into, you know, if you want to know, or looking into what happened to me. Look, it's good enough for me to know that he's not gonna he's not gonna play. That's it. He's not We're not sitting around waiting, well, is he gonna play in a week? Is he gonna play six weeks? He's not available this year. If it's an injury, fine, If it's some personal issue, then whatever it is, you know, let him go off
and deal with that. So, but yes, he is gonna be missed. When you're talking about a guy who would be starting on the offensive line, when you know how hard it is to come across offensive lineman, Yeah, it's gonna be he's gonna be missed.
Yeah, no question. Okay, So we'll talk a little about that as well as we move forward day two and then as you know, as we get close to the first game. So we're gonna move moving in about a month less than a month apparent. Yeah, yeah, so that should be fun. I hope you learned everything you need to know. Right, better food up that way, then you have better food, more and more expensive food.
Well, they shut down the McDonald's up there.
Did you know that. I didn't know that they're rebuilding it.
They knocked it down and building the new and I pulled in the other day and there's like a fence around it, and so got to have McDonald's really go up that way.
Yeah, if the kids, the kids will be going up there now, so behave yourselves.
The pizza place, there's the basils there, there's.
The restaurant, and the the restaurant up above the Walgreens. You've probably been there. It's like a yeah, above the Walgreens on the corner north west corner. Uh, there's I want to say it's a seafood type of plate.
God man, I know there's Italian place right, Uh something Babels Basils Basils. No, right around the right in the same parking line, something vina.
Or peanut peanut, peanut pena viva viva peanut. So I got something like that. So it's gonna be good for us. And there's a lot of stuff on that safeway area. Oh yeah, there's the nine Stein's over there, Chinese place. I can give myself a bucket of can't up huh good safe chicken. You like it to, I dig it? Okay, And if you guys want to sponsor, we're available. Yeah we are restaurants. Okay. What's going on? What's going on?
A lot of swimming stuff today Olympics. I'm sure you have with breaking news, right because we were kind of like out of there.
I heard a bunch of stuff that Kevin Durant was was was with somebody, Well he was, he was what do you call it trash talking the sudan players, Kadie, what are you doing?
Really?
Yeah?
Well I thought he got into it with Keishaw Johnson or something on Twitter or or so.
No, he apparently during they caught there's some I guess some video of him dogging, you know, the Sudanese players I'm like, what are you doing right?
Come on, man, Yeah, it's like South Point talking crap about.
Greenfield exactly exactly, Yeah, yeah, you're no your well, well, well, what it tells me is that they were a little concerned about how close Sudan kept that game because they you know, they were really I mean they were, they were never they weren't in it, but they weren't getting blown out. And I think they think the Americas, after after how close they came against them, they thought, Okay, we're going to go out there and kick their asses and make make sure that they know that that was
an accident what happened the first time around. But the Sudans, they wouldn't go away. They kept hanging in ten, twelve, fourteen points down and didn't go away. So who knows what? Who knows it was on his mind? You know what? Excuse me be better than that, Kevin.
Yes, well, you know I didn't see that.
I didn't see much Olympics today other than to know that the guy that I that I picked to when the golf tournament is in forty fifth place out of sixty.
But the the kod is back.
There's only sixty guys and he's like in forty second or forty fifth place or something like that. They've got Shane Lowry this week in the Olympic Golf tournament. Okay, yeah, because I've used up I've used up all of the West guys.
But you just said he's not getting a gold medal.
He's not. He's not.
There's a lot of breaking dows that would log on God Baseball, the inchels angels done. You have to see you don't say all right, I don't want to still, just will save it. We'll save it for he's here to save us, not to hurt us.
Save it for what do you call it? Yeah, did they have a late practice today or something? Or no?
Sometimes okay, yeah, you just not see his.
Mom just seeing the stuff getting posted. Now it's getting reposted, that's what it is.
Okay, Yeah, okay, all right, Well again you want to call. I think we have well, I don't know. We're going to get to a break here in about three minutes, but today I think our phones are gonna work. Okay, Yeah, five two oh four, one, six seventy four forty. First up will be Ali Smith in about five eight minutes or seven minutes.
Are either you guys are degenerate enough to bet on that Hall of Fame game tonight.
No, it's it's I thought about it. I was like, oh places bet tonight just for fun?
Well, Caleb, we heard from Pat Field and Caleb uh uh what's the last name?
Billiams?
Williams is not going to play. But none of these guys are gonna play. So I don't I don't know what you make of it. How can you bet on that? Right?
If? No? No?
Not?
How why why would you bet on it?
Well, there's yeah, we know how, but why you know, why would you want to bet on that unless you're just like you're bad. You need a phone number, you need one eight hundred.
Next step, Yeah, take all advice from you. You need a next step hold though, yeah.
Yeah, okay. I was just starting to go through Michael Lev's five takeaways. He's tweeting out five takeaways from every practice. He says he's going to be at every pree.
So he said, is it from today? Yesterday?
This was from today? Okay? So I just posted this with time at three o'clock. So he says, the quarterback battle appears to be wide open. Four quarterbacks. Rayden Dorman Anthony Garcia, Adam Demonte, and Cole Tannenbaum all got reps with the two's said, all had their moments. I wouldn't be surprised if Garcia, who has a background with the coaching staff, eventually wins the title. But this one is a long way from interesting stuff. And you know that
that's important. I mean, we saw it right. You know, if norf Feed is not the number two quarterback last year, who knows what all happens to that team? When when de Laura got hurt? Sure, so you know that's a that's a big deal. Trading Stukes was back on the field. He missed. He missed the first practice. The running backs did a lot of work, he says. Tedor McMillan seems
like a man on a mission. The rehabbing wide receiver around a series of sprints right in front of us as a temperature inch toward one hundred degrees late Thursday morning, t mac and head strength coach Colin Carroll have been attached at the hip. The only the McMillan quote unquote pulls the gronk and doesn't play this season is if something goes wrong with his recovery so far, so good. Yeah, because remember Gronk could have played and chose not to that last year.
I think, didn't Adam Hall kind of go to the same thing. Yeah, injury and then they tried to at the last minute and then because.
Steps needed him and it didn't work.
It did work out then that his career was kind of ended. Yeah.
So yeah, so we're not going to get gronked with with t mac which which would be nice.
Yeah, but you know what I mean, he still got work to do.
He still has to have a good year, you know, to be under consideration to get drafted if he wants to get drafted high. So he can't not play and then think, okay, we're going to take it, you know.
Yeah, he starts to show that he's worth it, right, although you know that he has crazy ability.
Yeah, absolutely absolutely.
Okay, let's take a break. It's already within one minute.
Alie Smith Farmer still the daughter of the Lake head coach Larry Smith. Oh, we're joining us talk about her family, which includes a walk on a football player at the University of Arizona. So stick around.
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Steve Rivera and Jacon Saliz they have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports. Big yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming live I the IHID Radio app.
Hey, welcome back to Why in the Ball Here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty on Steve RIVERA. He's Jacin Sauce. Now on the phone. You have Alice Smith though Arizona football.
Mom.
How proud are you? Missus?
Miss so proud, so so proud? Thanks for having me even day. Yeah, it was very last minute. I mean we you know, he was kind of offered as a walk on in the spring and then he had to go through you know, a bunch of like a process. So we just found out he had to go through the appeal process because the grades were not well like
you know, early on in high school. So he made up for the end, but we still had to go through that, and we found out Friday that he was approved, and so they called and said, we need you down here Sunday. So we packed up and came down here in forty eight hours. So it's been really exciting for him in all of us.
Very nice and he had a fantastic senior year. If I can remember, Oh, well, what would have happened had he not shown up here? Would you have gone to to like a school somewhere else?
Yeah, we were looking at maybe like like a one year school out of it. Like we knew, no matter what, we just wanted to get out of Phoenix. We wanted to get you know, all of us out of Phoenix. And so yeah, if Arizona didn't happen, we were looking a few one you know, one year colleges, one or
two year colleges Midwest area. So, I mean, no matter what, we knew, there was going to be an opportunity for Mason, you know, because he did not play his third year of high school and that didn't help him with recruiting. So but yeah, his senior year he fought, he won the starting position. You know, he had excellent grades all year, he was an amazing leader. He was injured after the third game and missed I believe three games, and then he came back and brought him back and they won state.
And you know, that's all you can ask for, is high school football player, right.
Right, So, so, so what's what's the well we're talking about masonbry right right, what's the opportunity for him as a preferred walk on on?
You know, what's what's he hoping for you know for this year or next year and beyond. I mean, what, what's what's the approach right now and what can you expect to uh see as he as he goes through this season.
Yeah, well, great question. The first thing he has to learn this whole offense. You know, he he actually ran a really good offense in high school because his head coach was Dat Kill, who came from you know, numerous other programs in college and is now at the Seahawks. So Mason got really great experience with learning that offense and all I know was super complicated. So I feel like that already puts him ahead because he is phenomenal
when it comes to reading offense and reading defense. And I mean he's a smart, smart quarterback, so you know, it's in his blood. I mean, this is a kid that I can tell you from a very young age he started writing his own playbook, you know, and he's left with the football. So but this year, I think really he's focused on just really getting a foundation and getting you know, to know the team. I'm very grateful that this team is so family because that's exactly what
Mason needs. And learning the offense and you know, getting grounded in school and you know, all the practices he's had in his life so he can get to this point.
Oh so, I think one of the questions we wanted to ask is you're excited in the East Spring when all this started. How excited were you one? Because he's kind of coming back home at he's home for you too, right giving your daughter was Larry Smith. How would your dad feel about this?
Oh my gosh, myar We keep thinking about that. And you know, this morning, Mason was at be a practice for the very first time, and you know, I got a photo of him in the Arizona helmet and I just thought, oh, my gosh, his dad, my dad, Like you know, there's such a legacy here between you know, my dad and then his father too. And the really cool thing as Mason is number fourteen exactly like he's wow.
But you know, my dad, like, Mason is the youngest of five other boys within my family, not me, but you know, I have a brother too, and there's five boys and one girl. And I'm when Mason was very little, maybe two, when my father was still alive, and Mason's on the floor and my dad looks down at him. He goes that one I go what he goes. That's the one that's that's going to do something far. I was like, he's two. Dad, He's like, he's the one.
So that's how that's how it starts with those guys. You know he's born, you know, you know, it's going to be my star.
That's what he said. I'm like, well, and he was like really sad as a kid. He was like really chunky, and like we have a brother son, Heath and I do, and he's really tall, lanky, and then Mason's you know, Mason's tall, but he's way more sick. So so he was right. My dad was right?
Is it? I mean, as you as you're trying to figure out what to do, I mean, how hard was it to I mean you want I mean, was Arizona the place you wanted to end up? Or where were you just looking for any opportunity? I guess I know if that's the right way to ask that. But how important was this for you guys that he wind up here?
Extreme Well, I think this is the best place for him, you know, considering with what he just went through, you know, with his you know, he unfortunately passed away four months ago, and all he's ever won, and it was that his son played at Arizona, and ironically, Arizona reached out and you know offered Mason, you know, I mean whatever you call that as a walk on. But he didn't even know about it. So Mason got to tell his dad that Thursday, and he's.
Passed on Saturday too, well right before.
So he's died knowing his son got that opportunity and you know, for his healing. For I mean, my family's here. You know, we have a lot of support in Tucson. I know, you know, old players, alumni, half the staff, you know, they know Heath, they know Mason, so you know, I just think it's the best place for him. And he came home, well, you know, I had to drive him down here. We're actually putting rid of his dorm. In about an hour he gets to go in his
dorm finally. So he's been staying with you know, my my mom lives here in TUSA, so we've been staying with her till we can get him. But he's been you know, down at you a ail day and the first day he came home and he just goes, Mom, everyone's so nice to be Yeah, yeah, no, but he just said, it just feels like family. It feels like home to him, and he feels safe, so I think it's a perfect place for him.
Let me ask you, can your mom cook? Because if she can cook, guess who's going to be there.
She can cook. But yeah, I mean, Mason's one of those who eats every few hours, so you know, she's got to cook a lot of stuff. But yeah, I mean the nice thing is that if he needs anything, you know, my mom's here, and then my other son and I are moving down here in about a month back to Sucson.
Oh wow, wow, okay, cool, yeah, cool cool. We talk about your dad a lot on this show. Given the history of the coaching staffs here, good and bad. Your dad was a really good one obviously. How old How old were you at the time that he was coaching, because he was followed by another good one? Didn't tell me right, correct?
Yeah? So I so nineteen eighty So I was nine or ten years old. Not to tell you my age, but I was about ten. So you know, a lot of those guys like Ricky, you know, all those old guys suck, Mike. I knew them, you know. I was running around on the practice field when I was ten eleven years old. So it's been nice because they have always still been family. And yeah, I mean, I know, you know, they're so proud. I know every you know, everyone that knows the whole situation with Mason and football is.
You know, we're just so super proud of the work he's done and the effort and just being locked in so you can get here.
What was It's hard to Its hard to say like this because there were so many aspects of being in you know, in a sports family like that, where your your dad's you know, a major college football coach. You move, you moved some successful one, you moved from from places everybody knows your dad. You walk into restaurants people know him. You know, you're running around on the field with people, as you said, Ricky Hunley and Chuck Cecil, people who are on TV and in the newspaper all the time.
As a little girl, a little kid and not specifically a girl, but just as a little kid seeing all that did that was that normal to you? Did it seem normal to you or did you know? You were in a situation that not a lot of kids are in.
It was very very normal. And I think I like because I had this staying all through childhood that like Saturdays, I couldn't do a friend, I couldn't work, I couldn't do anything on Saturdays because that was our game day. And so as a coach's family, like you live for Saturdays, and you know there's a mindset you wake up anxiety and nerves and you know it's so you know a lot of my friends throughout my life have really come to understand Lee Valley alone on Saturdays. And now it's
been since Mason, you know, been playing high school. It was like that on Friday. As the mom of a quarterback, you know all those nerves too. So I mean I've been very fortunate to you know, this job and this life and the coaching world. You know, it's great. You know, there's a lot of perks to it. You know, there's also a lot of negative to it. You know, your life is in the limelight. It's hard to really check people sometimes.
Yeah.
Yeah, you know, they love you one second, they hate you the next. So and that affects everyone, not just you know my father, to affects that whole family. So you know, I have a soft spot for other kids, you know, other families that come from this world because nowadays, you know, it's a transfer portal and people are fired all the time. Like you know, back in night Day, I think it was pretty normal that you had a
job for an average of about five years. Now I think it's maybe two thirty, right, So yeah, it's it was just it was amazing. It was. I was very fortunate and you know, been around football players and all these brothers I've had my whole life, and you know, now we're older and they still are families. So you know, it's a bomb that never goes away, whether you're a player or a coach or you know a family that age well.
That age you talked about ten in nineteen eight, but you were probably in your early teens when your dad decided to leave and you already built all these friends here. How was that for you?
Oh, it's great. Well, the nice thing is that I was also an athlete. I was a swimmer. I swam me around for fourteen years of my life until college. So you know, with min dad. I remember when my dad was interviewing for USC and he came home and he sat Astanta as a family and said, how do you guys feel about moving out to la And I was like, yes, you know, I wanted to live in California, and my mom, you know, not everyone else in the
family was really for that. Yeah, but obviously we ended up going there and it was a great experience, and I think it helped me because I was an athlete that I you know, met friends fast. I got really connected, you know, I got into my group pretty quick, so it was easy.
So I'm sorry, where did you go to college?
I went to college in State Elizabeth though.
Okay, okay, so you stayed in the Okay, did you swim there?
I swam there for a year and then I was done.
Yeah, yeah, okay, okay. So Jay always talks about this too. You have. So your dad was here and then he left and he went to Missouri. But guess what happens. You came back, your mom came back. Now you're coming back. He came back. Tucson must be a special place.
It is. We can't stay away from this place, you know. So when my dad got hired at Missouri, my mom and dad had a place in Tucson, and so when they left her there, they they held onto that place and because they knew they always wanted to retire in Tucson, so that's what they did. And I've been in got Staff for the past eight years, and now that Mason's here and I don't have to live up there anymore,
so we're all coming down here. Plus with the circumstance, I feel like we all need to be close for that healing part with both of our boys.
So let me tell you something. Let me give you a secret. You part already know. It's not as stuffy down here.
That is, It's true, true, but I will say it's not as clean, not as clean as well.
There's that we're working on it.
We're working on.
Down the roads.
Yeah, I get out there for you.
And I'm like, yeah, And downtown's gotten much better too, though, you got to give us that. We've got to very nice downtown again. So it's very I see that. Yeah. So so as a mom this year. So you know, I mean, the likelihood that Mason's going to get on the field is probably not very high, and he's got you know, he's got to work his way and stuff like that. But you're still gonna be out there going
to the games, uh, like you know, like you did before. Uh, what what Saturday is gonna be like for you now? With your son on it on the team.
Well, if he's not playing, and it'll be fine, I mean, nerve anxiety. If he's playing, it's you know, it's a whole different ball game, a whole different mindset. But you know, we've always been Wildcats from the heart, and we've always followed Arizona my whole family. I always have, so have the you know, our boys, especially Mason. It was cool. He's had this Arizona banner up on his wall in his room at home for eight years and it's now going to be in his dorm. Yeah, and all his
you know. So it's very exciting. But you know, as a mom, I'm just here for support and to push him and keep him accountable and make sure he has fun, because, more than anything, this experience should be fun for him. Yes, you know, I know he's been very humble since he's been there. He's not the hot sat on the black anymore like Yard high school. So it's good. You know, it's a process there. He's got a great roommate, so he's been blocked in.
Right right, So you must be very happy to be back and kind of reconnect with some old friends and just uh enjoy Joey Life back in Tucson.
Yeah, absolutely, I love it here. I just found the house yesterday, so we'll be down here in about a month.
Great, Well, thanks for joining us. This is a lot of fun.
Yeah, thanks again you guys, and I love your show and I'm sure we'll run into each other again, right.
Yes, yes, and say hello to your mom. She was a guest on her show a while back when we talked about a shu and how much your dad hated.
We could talk, we could talk hours about.
Well, hold on to that thought because they'll be playing them later on here. We'll be back.
Maybe another time. But thanks you guys. I appreciate it.
Thank you. Charlie Smith, mom of Mason Bray.
That was very fun and again a sport you talk about a sports family, right, you know, the whole life was built around. Very cool. Glad to see that they're coming back to Tucson. All right, man, let's let's go take our break. We're gonn come back. Will take your calls fight to you because we can. We'll take your calls five two zero, four one, six, seventy four forty If it's a buzzer, would love to hear from you.
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Live, ny iHeartRadio, WAP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to One of the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, Pjake, got our guy Ryan with us today. We have sixteen minutes if you guys want to call. That was a lot of fun.
Choose a lot of fun. You know, it's funny because a lot of times you forget that these coaches have families and a lot of times little kids, right or teenagers or ten year old kids you know who are going through this when they hear that, you know, people booing their dads or their moms, you know, saying stuff
about it. Now in today's world, you know, with the social media and all that stuff, and that there's these little kids that are going through that stuff, and it's kind of like, you know, you forget about that and how that stuff might affect you know, those those kids, because I mean, you know, it's actually kind of a funny story. You know, one time when I was when I was covering football. One of the things I had was a was a Friday Picks column. I was bad
at it then too. I'm sure I would predict all the top twenty. Back then it was top twenty instead of twenty five top twenty college football games. And I knew around the time that Pete Rose was getting in trouble for his gambling stuff. So every column I had some sort of a comment about Pete Rose, and you know, just some snid remark because I didn't like him. So finally, at some point during the season, somebody writes a letter to the editor. We had letters to the sports editor
that ran on Sundays. Soon writes a letter to the sports editor ripping me for being a jerk and called me a jerk in the letter for uh for calling you being so mean to Pete Rose. And my mom calls me and wants me to get the lady's address and phone number so he could cook. So she go beat her up.
You don't call you don't call that.
She literally she called me, can you get the phone number of that lady. I want to find out who she is, and I want to go kick her ass. And I'm like, Mom, relax, Okay, probably that's part of the job. I've got to call him. My pictures in the paper, people are gonna say things about me. Yeah, but she shouldn't be calling you a jerk in the newspaper. I kind of am, you know, kind of I to diffuse that. I said, yeah, no, I'm fine with it.
No big deal. She was.
She was hurt by that. But that's sort of the you know, the same thing with kids, right sure. I mean we all think, you know, when we think about Larry Smith, we will think about the time that you know, he alleged I wasn't at that game, but where he you know, supposedly flipped. I was at the game. I just missed when we flipped off the crowd. You know, it's like, you know, these kids are going through that too.
They're hearing people say stuff about their their parents and their and stuff, and they have to they have to deal with that.
Yeah, yeah, no, I can. I can understand that completely. It was good to talk to her. Yeah, and we'll talk more about about about U of A obviously down the road, looking forward to maybe talk to her mom and getting issue stuff that will significance.
Uh.
In about half hour we got to get a man of beard, yes, talking about the Olympics, looking.
Forward to that. A lot lot more Olympic Olympics news coming out today. I didn't, I didn't. I was busy today, Steve. I didn't see hardly anybody. Watched a little bit of the golf this morning. That was about it. Do I know when Chase Fighting is playing again?
No? I don't.
Yeah, so you know, i'd like, you know, I kind of keeping.
Still in or she's.
Yeah, well no, she's got she's got the individual ten meter platform event that she's in. I just don't know when that is, you know, I don't even know where they are. And the diving stuff, you know, there's all the swimming stuff going on, you know, just there's there's so much stuff going on. Hardy to keep up with it. Now, Like I said, you can watch all the sports. I mean, you've got archery, you can watch.
I saw some kayak. I saw some ping pong yesterday. That was fun sport.
I love the kayaking, the bad minton, the there's so much stuff. Breakdancing. Have you watched any of the breakdancing? Neither there's breakdancing is the Olympic sport? Did you know that it's break dances? And again break dancing is Olympics sport. But baseball and softball are not, right, But you.
Don't want the coach and Bush talked about that the whole city. Yeah, that makes that makes sense. No softball, right, no softball.
No softball, baseball. But there'll be softball and baseball next year. Yeah, But the way I think softball is going to be in Oklahoma City when the rest of the Olympics, some most of the Olympics are going to be in l a Oh. Is that really they're going to play softball at that makes in Oklahoma City?
That makes sense.
I don't know, it doesn't to me. They got soft there's good softball stadiums. But that's all over in LA.
On a normal day in LA. Just to drive around, oh god, that's going to be a mess. But now you have Oklahoma City. Just concentrate.
Yeah, but if you're an Olympic softball player, you're not really where the Olympics are. I don't know, Steve, I don't know. I would I would have thought that you could play softball at USC Stadium or U c l A Stadium or.
All those places. Yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. But I don't know lot l A. I hate l A. Here's a disclaimer.
Driving around, Oh god, I mean I wouldn't live there.
What's the word for you? Then?
I mean I like going there.
But yeah, I like l A driving around.
Oh no, see when I when I when I go to l A and I'm in traffic, it's just to me, it's an accepted part of being in l A. I don't I don't deal with it all day. You know, all my life, you know, every day of my life, so I don't mind it.
I'll give you a story. It rained one saturday. It was a little play the u USC and U C l A. My then wife we had a party in engagement to go to on a Friday. It rained. It took about four hours to go seven miles. Seven miles.
I've never had that happen. Oh, you couldn't get off the freeway wherever that.
Because everybody was trying to do that, and that was everybody trying to, you know, find a spot to get up. No, no, it was not good. And I remember training day.
Let's take this car. You're on the air nine the ball.
Hey, j hey, Steve, this is done done?
What's going on?
Oh? I got a couple of a couple of comments on the Olympics. But as far as softball goes, there's no stadiums in LA to support softball.
But there's college there's that.
You got, you got.
You can only see like eight hundred people at the u c. L A Stadium. Looks like it's in a park. It looks like it's in a city park.
It's not.
It's not as big as Rita Hillenbrand. The only place that can support Olympic softball is Oklahoma City, and especially the way that they've enlarged that that stadium to hold as many people as they do.
Yeah, yeah, no, I think it's a smart move. But I kind of agree with Jay in terms of everyone's in LA, why not just they play there?
It's sad. I mean, it is sad that they're not in LA like everybody else. And but then here's the only I forget which Olympics it was. I think it was in Atlanta and they had like river kayaking or something, and it was like three hundred miles away.
Yeah. The other thing about that is that if if let's say you're a spectator, right, you want to see the softball and you want to see other sports, well you got you Either you're either going to go see softball or you're gonna go to l A. And so that's the only thing about that is it I.
Did's tough unless they could find like a minor league baseball stadium that they could convert for the Olympics, someplace that can hold four or five thousand.
Well they did that. Where was that? Was it? Tokyo? They had softball and they did that. They played you know, they did the thing like you know where we used to do when you know we played softball on a on a on a baseball field. That's that's also not good for the Olympics. You need you need a stadium. I just don't know how big the USC and US and and UCLA stadiums are.
Come on, come on, Jay, USC doesn't have softball.
Oh I love it. That's how much I know Dan Don, That's how much I know there. So there you go.
All right.
I mean, we're not an idiot.
You could find you know, I'm sure there is the minor league baseball park that they can convert. But then you're gonna have to pay off that baseball team to take their stadium for a while. Yeah, and then you're gonna have to rebuild the whole field.
Yeah all right, Well then that then that's the answer, right, that's why they're doing it at.
Yeah, because there's no there's no other stadium like that that can support the amount of people that are gonna want to go.
Well here, here you go. It's a thirteen twenty eight thirt thirteen hundred.
Yeah that's not very big. Well yeah, I was just looking that up too. Yeah that's not very big. Oh they're like.
Nobody goes so it doesn't matter. It's not like they pack it anyway.
Right, Which is strange because you were just saying, Jay, they're one of the Juggernauts of the Ball.
Yeah, they're one of the top programs in the country and they have a thirteen hundred seat stadium. Come on, man, They're as blue blood as you can get in softball.
And that's what they have because that's that's because that's all they.
Need right right, because you know, look at football.
Two people they can play football at the at the at the softball stadium.
They're all traffic.
I tell you, well, look what Look what's happened to Arizona softball. They used to play in the corner of the field over there, and you look at the old pitchers when Kendrea first got here, and it was like a backstop. It was back in the middle of the field. That's where they played. And then they and then they grew the program and they built Rita and then they added the left field bleachers. Yeah, I think they need to put some bleachers on top of the building in
right field. But yeah, I mean that would be another thing.
I took a softball class that was taught on their field and it was just it was like playing in the park. You know, you the face Northwest, I remember face regular bleachers, yess, And you know we had softball class. There.
Uh, you go into some pretty tough classes.
I did. I took a badminton class and look for that got you exactly exactly.
Hey, I got a question for you guys. You guys have talked to sports people from all over and everything. We've had Olympians on the show. What is it about the Olympics that these commentators always say, whall? You know, it's it's the Olympics. I know the Olympics are big, but some of these athletes have a very short window to be at their best. So what is wrong with
the World Championships or something like that. I don't know, not that there's anything wrong with that, but they make the Olympics out to be such a big deal.
It's the history.
It's in the four year every four years and yeah, and it's.
Only every four years, and the build up to it, right, you know, some people don't get that window. Yeah, you know some people who just their.
Lives, people just miss that, they missed their peak by two years off.
And it's like, you know, they they they you know, they set their lives on the course to get to the Olympics, and so you know, it's I feel like it's a it's a tremendous amount of pressure. And we were using the example of let's say you're one hundred meter freestyler and that's your only event and you and you come out and it's what takes you a minute to swim that or a minute and a half or whatever it is, and you go and you swim that in a heat, and then you don't make the next level,
and that's it. For four years you've trained for that, and then it's over in a minute and change. However long it takes you swim one hundred meters, you go. I mean, the pressure of that is incredible.
But here's a here's a good Olympics story. I was watching the other morning and it was it was ladies archery, and I thought this lady was wearing a fanny pack, but she wasn't. I don't know where she was from. I don't know what her name is. She had a little bucket hat, the back was flipped up. She had glasses on, and I thought she had like a pouch. And she's like six months pregnant. Wow, there's a little Olympian in there.
That's too cool. I hadn't heard of that one.
And he and he and that little kid and somebody better tell him and drill it into him. Dude, you're an Olympian.
You were there, you were there.
His name is Zeus, Yeah, he's That's what they got.
Or if it's a girl, they could name her.
Paris the professional state as always. That's pretty pregnant, lady in the you know, the Olympics, that's that's a crack up. Who would have thought? I mean, good, you know, I mean, I know, I look like I'm wearing a fanny pack.
That shirt. Thank you.
I appreciate this. My son thinks you could have got Okay.
Okay, no cool. And we got maybe three minutes left. Do you want to give us a quick call? We could take it. If not, don't worry about it. We've got next hour.
Getting and I mean, you know, to to Don's point, the you know, the Olympics are a big deal because they I think there I know from a TV standpoint and all that and all the money that goes into but in terms of I think the competitions, I feel like they were a bigger deal back when it was uh the amateurs, oh yeah right, and it was like you you felt more attached to them because you knew that.
You know, they grew up. You know, now you've got Lebron on the court, You've got kd on the court, You've got all these professionals playing, and you know in all these sports. Back then you knew, you know, for the moment part this was it. You trained, you were in this one Olympics and then you were done.
But it only happens, maybe it happens in other things, basketball, baseball, golf, what other sports that have have the pros of the pro hockey? You know, hockey, Okay, winter, I'm not a big winter guy. It's too cold.
But you know, the you know, even the skaters and and even the gymnast uh Steve, I mean that, you know, I mean Simone Biles is by no means an amateur. Right, She's making a lot of money doing what she's doing. You know, good for her, but the point being that she's not an amateur. And and you know the tennis players, right, you know again, so it's it's it's it's a it's
a festival of professional athletics, is what it is. Not for the kayakers and those you know, some of those sports, but you know, most of the sports these people are doing you're doing it for making money.
Let me throw this that you too, because you know, we talk about when we were kids, and you're talking about when you were talking you were younger much right. As you get older, your sense of wow, your sense of wow, this is cool kind of fades because you've seen enough of them when you're a kid. I'm sure if you when you're in your high school gym back in the day, or his little kid, Wow, look at this place. Now, it's just a just a disabiliting do you understand?
Hundred percent? I think of the first time I walked into Michael Cinner and I'm like, holy crap.
Now it's kind of like okay, yeah, yeah, right, And that's kind of the sense I get here. Yeah, you get this just all the time you're thinking, no, it's just normal.
Yeah, I hear, You're yeah, you're absolutely right. And when you see these great things and you see them over and over again, then they're kind of yeah, they become.
Your immune to it normal.
Right. All right, we'll take our break. We're to come back breaking News with Ryan. Then at about four twenty we'll have Amanda Beard. We'll talk some more Olympic stuff with her. You know, she won a whole bunch of medals. I'll ask her where she keeps them, right, and just get some of her thoughts. And she's still on the coaching staff at Arizona, which is a really cool thing. We'll talk to her about that as well. So are you sure you stick around