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Thursday, August 1, Hour 2

Aug 02, 202454 min
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Episode description

GUEST: Four-time Olympian and seven-time medalist Amanda Beard, now an assistant swim coach at Arizona.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Breaking down all the exes at all. It's Steve Lavera and Jagen Salvez. This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty.

Speaker 2

Hey, welcome back to my in the ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay. Now we have Ryan with breaking news.

Speaker 1

This is I on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 3

Let's start with a little bit of news from the MLB Angels. Centerfielder Mike Trout is going to be out for the rest of the season after suffering another meniscus tear on his left knee just so, oh so.

Speaker 4

He tore it again. Yeah, oh god, I mean you want to talk about a guy that doesn't deserve that.

Speaker 5

Yeah. One of the best players in a long time.

Speaker 4

Yeah, I mean one of the best. I mean, arguably the best ever. But he's not going to go down as the best ever because he didn't play it. You know, he had many injuries, didn't plan on the championship team, all those things. I mean, God, you only get one shot at this man. It's just too bad that it's turned out like that for him. I feel bad for the guy. Yeah, I mean, he's got gazillions of dollars. But you know it's still you know, you're an athlete, you're still all about that stuff.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 3

I think he just he just had a rehab not too long ago and he exited the game after like two innings and then now it's I mean, now this season is done.

Speaker 5

Wow, feel bad for him.

Speaker 3

A little bit of news from the Olympics. Katie, like I said the right, yes comes, the most decorated American woman in Olympic history, won her thirteenth medal, breaking a tie with swimmers Natalie Coughlin, Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres.

Speaker 4

Well, we'll talk to Amanda Beard about Katie Ledecian. Right, somebody's trying to ask what makes you different?

Speaker 5

Right? Right now? That's exactly what I wanted to ask.

Speaker 4

What's about her than you've been able to do all these things right? Right?

Speaker 2

And she's a coach, right, So she's trying to find that brief person that's right because every coaches, well, go, I was gonna ask you a question.

Speaker 5

I want to ask you that now.

Speaker 2

So so we know that talent wins games, but it also loses games too. More important a very good coach or very good talent, Oh, there's one thing I've mad, there's one thing I've heard in this business that's.

Speaker 4

That's tough, because there have been some I hope Tuck Seeson is not hearing. But that guy wasn't incredibly talented. Look at the player he turned out to be, right, he was the player that turned out to be both through coaching and just his own determination.

Speaker 5

Right.

Speaker 4

But then we've seen some really talented people come through here, so and not this squat.

Speaker 2

So you're gonna kind of go the way I thought you might go with Alisa that I went with.

Speaker 5

But you have to have some talent.

Speaker 2

Sure, But but if you're a good coach. The one thing, the one thing I've learned, one of the many things I learned, coaching matters. Yes, and Frank Bush, Frank Bush, I think he's a fantastic. If he's not on the on the on the mountain Rushmore way, you're missing something because he's that good. Right, They play They play hard for people like that, They played hard for Loot, They played hard probably for Dictomy.

Speaker 5

A dude who just coached overachievers.

Speaker 4

Right. But but I but I go back to, you know, a conversation, just a brief conversation, I had I had with Dick is when I was doing this recruiting and I said, I said, do you like recruiting? He goes, no, he goes. What I know, he goes. What I don't like is looking at the other side of the field and they've got better players than we do. Sure so, so talent does matter a lot, no question, right, no question you but you know, But Dick is a perfect

example a guy who proved that coaching matters too. You don't have to have the most talent did guys? Sure always to win? But it sures how does helps us? It's almost like fifty to fifty to me.

Speaker 2

I think it's sixty forty because the coach. The coach has a lot to do with it. The thing about it, Steve Kerr, Steve Kerr, he's the coach of the USA team. I have to preface this. Best players on the planet at least that we think, right, what is he doing to coach these guys? Yeah, he's managing them, right, Yeah, not coaching them, he's managing.

Speaker 4

But yeah, yes, he's managing.

Speaker 5

What are you going to teach?

Speaker 4

Well, the coaching piece and comes in, Okay, this is how we're gonna play you know when when you know, when Scott Thompson was on last week and talked about his practices, now he's running practices like loots practices, And I'm like, these guys are you know older guys, the older guys multi millionaires, been playing NBA NBA for years. What can you teach them? Well, he's not trying to teach them anything. He's just trying to put them together to play a certain way stuff.

Speaker 5

And you know that's why coaching matters.

Speaker 4

That that respect, coaching does matter, but also it helps to have that kind of talent.

Speaker 5

Sure, you know, sure to coaching.

Speaker 2

Coach, how many times have you seen there was a here what a pick a sport that they didn't do anything with that talent?

Speaker 5

Yeah?

Speaker 4

I mean yeah, there were some times, you know, after all the ten win seasons, that's for sure.

Speaker 5

Yeah. Or in basketball, yeahs kinds of basketball.

Speaker 4

So there's that, you know, yeah, you know, you know what, it's like, there's no wrong answer to that. Yeah, It's like, there's really no wrong answer to that, because you know, if you have if you have great talent, you can still suck, right, and we've seen that, or you or you can have crappy talent and you can still be really good. So you know, it's it's yeah, it's a it's a chicken and a kind of thing. Which you know which which comes first? Which do you have to have?

Speaker 5

First?

Speaker 4

You have to have some talent. But if you again, if you don't have the coaching to go with it, well it's its way.

Speaker 5

It can get waste.

Speaker 2

I'll give you this, Calipari, Caliparti the best talent in the last ten.

Speaker 5

To twelve years. You're in year out. What's he done?

Speaker 2

What is he showing for it? These kids are already NBA players. They're just staying there for a year because they have.

Speaker 4

To, right, and it's your job to pull them together for a year, make them better, right, I hear you?

Speaker 5

All right?

Speaker 3

US women's basketball they took down Belgium today eighty seven to seventy four, and they earn a spot and next week's quarterfinals.

Speaker 5

All right?

Speaker 4

What the line was on that? Give me idea?

Speaker 2

What next step is the line? Those women's basketball leave it alone?

Speaker 5

Leave it alone?

Speaker 4

You know what I did? Bet on a women's basketball game, uh, an Iowa game with what well it was? I bet on an CCAA tournament game that Iowa is in, but only because only because we were actually we went to it was when we were up at the final four is a women's final four game. We were up at the final four and we went to a bar to watch the game, so we were gonna watch the games. I thought, I'm gonna watch the game. I'm gonna have some juice on it.

Speaker 5

And I did, and I hit it. He's trying to make it sound sensible.

Speaker 4

I think I think I had something on the number of points on Kaitlin Clark's points and then the over under on the game practices.

Speaker 5

Hello the problem.

Speaker 3

Yeah, God, if you really want to bet, there's other things like handball and.

Speaker 4

But hey, you know, I mean I thought about I want I thought about putting some money on the US against Sudan. I thought that, okay, that they'd come out and kicked their asses because of how close they made their last game, and to make a point, they did, the line was twenty nine and a half when they did. They never even got to that. I think the most they led by was twenty twenty one, so they never even got there. So I'm glad I didn't do that either.

I've saved myself some money by by a sensible dude silence on that one.

Speaker 3

Okay, well let's move on, please, let's good at news out of the Olympics. Simone Biles is downing two new jewels at the Olympics. She won the all around gold Thursday evening, come in the first gymnast to win two nonconsecutive titles and the first woman to own two Olympic All around gold medals since sixty eight.

Speaker 2

Whoa, So she's she's overcome a lot, right in the last four years she had I don't know what is it probably equivalent to the yips, but beyond that because we've seen I'm just saying that because that's the phrase. I know, we've seen those people not recover from yips, which you know, it's it's a lot of it's up here between the ears, between the years, and you find something that just kind of gets to you and then you have to overcome it.

Speaker 5

So very cool for her.

Speaker 4

Yeah, so no, I I yeah, I mean it's congratulations to her. And I guess the the other US girl, what's her name, Sony Lee? I guess she won the bronze. Yes, won, Yeah, so good, good on them. Very cool putting on a show.

Speaker 3

Yeah, they're taking a lot of attention on like social media and stuff. Just yeah, yeah, it's it's great to see. Let's move to the NBA. Some news. Gordon Hayward into his NBA career after fourteen seasons.

Speaker 5

He's retiring. He's retiring.

Speaker 4

He just was playing like three years ago at Duke. Remember he was the he's the guy who had you know, I mean a Butler.

Speaker 3

They're playing like.

Speaker 4

He was at Butler playing against Duke in the National Championship. Didn't that seem like, yeah, about five.

Speaker 2

Years ago, fourteen years ago, at least ten years ago. Yeah, and they did it twice. In fact, they've been to the plant four more than Arizona has less. Why do you need to say that, it's just a quick fact. Why do you need to say that a quick fact? Perspective? Baby perspective?

Speaker 4

Ryan, Come on, man, you know what, I'm not talking to you the rest of the day.

Speaker 5

Okay, okay, wait till that happens at the new stadium.

Speaker 3

Would be in the middle, man, Now tell him. I think he was the one that actually almost hit the shot almost.

Speaker 5

Yeah, he almost a half part shot that would have won the game.

Speaker 3

Yeah, he was a boo, good player for for about fourteen years. Well, the last thing I have is just some news out of training camp today for Arizona. Let's see all All Star Arizona star receiver t mac He continues his rehab on the sidelines. I still no time to able get his return.

Speaker 4

Somebody posted a video of him doing you know, sprints up and down the up and down the sideline.

Speaker 5

You know, they're just gonna be careful. You have to be. They have to be.

Speaker 2

They have to be for a lot of different reasons. Did you see yesterday yesterday this morning the Olympic boxing with the with the man.

Speaker 3

Or the they called the or the woman called the match because.

Speaker 2

She didn't want to face the guy or the girl or you know what I'm saying, Yeah, because it's transgender. I don't know if it's transgender against women or I don't know what the phrases because I didn't read destroy. But she just she got hit and she said no, I'm not gonna do it. Yes, that's just not right.

Speaker 5

I mean, I don't want to go political or whatever on you, but that's just not right. I didn't seen that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's all kind of all over you see that she just in after forty six seconds she got hit pretty hard.

Speaker 5

This is not worth it. Yeah, it's not worth it.

Speaker 3

And it's not.

Speaker 5

It's not, it's not.

Speaker 3

It was like five seconds into the end of the match.

Speaker 5

And she just forget it.

Speaker 3

She's like, no, Wow, that was that was kind of a headline. I think that was just like this morning or something.

Speaker 5

I didn't see any of that.

Speaker 3

Let's see uh trade on Stukes. He missed practice yesterday, but he was back in the lineup and intercepted Fafita during the seven and seventh period today. Celestein he's competing for a starting spot in the secondary. He had a pass break up during the final team period.

Speaker 4

Well, I saw and I saw that they put in they they they they They're not gonna move Savigne over to left tackle. They put in They've got another guy starting and right in in left tackle, in h.

Speaker 6

In a.

Speaker 5

Spot.

Speaker 4

Yeah something Rhino something or other. That's a nice name for a offensive lineman, the Rhino. But you know, yeah, I mean, and I think Brent Brandon made the point yesterday said we've got time, you know, we're trying to get somebody in there and see if see if that works, then if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. But you know, you want you want guys to be kind of in their comfort zone. You don't already be doing

patchwork stuff. Yeah, you know right out of the box that guys play where they've been working on and find somebody else who can get in there and do that job.

Speaker 5

And that's what you need to do. So I like that he's doing that.

Speaker 3

Yeah, thirty thirty days to kickoff?

Speaker 4

Yes it is, man, Yes it is. We're in the month, Steve, We're in the month when football starts. We are in the month.

Speaker 3

I guess, especially what three three weeks for? I guess for week zero? Actually, officially, what what if we ever?

Speaker 4

We haven't settled any of our bets over the last like year half, So are we just gonna wipe the slate? You owe me some lunches.

Speaker 2

You oll me a bunch of lunch, one lunch, and you owe me a lot of cash catch weekly bets.

Speaker 5

Oh that's right. I gotta go back and track that.

Speaker 4

I owe you a lunch, probably probably cover your your entry fee, right, knowing that too, Yeah.

Speaker 2

That that's already because I beat your beat. Youre as pretty bad?

Speaker 5

Did all right? I'm right, pre rolling do that math okay, a free roll. Yeah, you gotta do the weekly.

Speaker 4

Yeah, it's like I've got it. I've got it. I've got it in the computer. I get I'll figure it out.

Speaker 5

Don't don't.

Speaker 4

Well, I know, but I want but I want some other lunch like for you. No, I won I won something on the taking the over under for Arizona Wind last year.

Speaker 2

Paid the paid the end. We paid. We paid that. I took you tost with you and Jason. We went to over here Rosticos.

Speaker 4

Was that was that for that?

Speaker 5

I ain't buying you pre luved, not what I owe you. I just you. Because we're gonna go.

Speaker 2

We're gonna go south on the south side because yeah, okay, so you're gonna do with the catch that you don't want me this year though.

Speaker 4

All right, hey, let's take a break looking forward to this Amanda Beard of Olympian, former olymp not a former, she's being an Olympian.

Speaker 5

She's in she's in Arizona.

Speaker 4

You have a assistant swim coach swim at THEO, a very prominent guests. We'll love it and love to have it her on. So we'll be back with a man to beard after the breakstick around.

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Speaker 1

Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WAPP, This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacinzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 2

Hey, welcome back to watching the ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jaginsauce held the pune. We have a man the weird seven time Olympic medal winner, Amanda. How the heck are you?

Speaker 14

Oh?

Speaker 6

I'm doing awesome. How are you guys?

Speaker 5

We're fine.

Speaker 2

We had Frank Bush, we have Frank Bush on the show last week. We got the dude is the smart dude?

Speaker 5

You know? Come on?

Speaker 6

Oh right? Isn't he great?

Speaker 15

Love?

Speaker 6

Love that I got to be with him for the amount of time that I did.

Speaker 2

Yeah, So we'll get back to that in a little bit. Are you watching? And if you are, what's got you intrigued?

Speaker 6

I am. I'm watching as much as I possibly can. I'm not waking up at two am, yeah, because I'm waking up for morning practices too.

Speaker 14

Still, so.

Speaker 6

Catching up on the prelims of the swimming stuff when I wake up for morning practice and trying to balance watching the finals and semifinals right around my lunchtime while I'm I'm still jumping the pool swimmer a little bit and I'm loving it. I was super pumped to watch the two hundred breaststroke today. That's my favorite an event. It's my personal favorite. So I'm glad that we're bringing home and gold in that event.

Speaker 5

So when you.

Speaker 4

When you watch, are you watching as somebody who competed? Are you watching as a coach? Are you watching as a spectator? You know what, how do you how do you watch these these events?

Speaker 6

I think that that's a that's a great question. It probably goes in and out of all of those things. I have moments where I'm just a spectator, cheering everybody on. I have moments where I'm kind of critiquing some people's strokes and and how they're how they're swimming. Yeah, and then as an athlete, you know, it's it's it's weird watching it still versus being there and around that environment. So still kind of weird to just be a spectator as well.

Speaker 2

Are you Does it bring back great memories or what kind of memories?

Speaker 6

Yeah, great memories, And I love my swimming career. I had a blast. I thought it was fun. I got the opportunity to have a really long swimming career. So so yes, great, great, great memories. It starts to like bring up like oh the yeah, the food in the Olympic village and like the how the housing, all that kind of stuff, just like all the little details that

you might not necessarily think of. It starts to stir like all these little stories and things that you know you've forgot for the most part.

Speaker 2

So talked to her about the window of opportunity. That's something that well, she had a lot of windows.

Speaker 4

Right But let me ask you this because let me ask you this first, because I always ask this of like when you know, we talked to some like a major League baseball player the first time you went to you know, walked into the major league stadium and you went to the mound or went to the batter's But what was it like for you the first time you went to the swimming venue at your first Olympics, whether it was for a practice or the actual event, just the feeling that you had described.

Speaker 6

That for us, Yeah, well, you know, especially for something like swimming, you don't walk into these big venues with all the seating for something, you know, like if we don't do that like a regular like baseball, basketball and football does so for me, walking into an environment like that and just the sheer like mass of like the stands and just the media areas things like that, you're just like wow, like it's just makes you feel like really honored to be able to be there and represent

your country. And yeah, so I think that's kind of that feeling of just kind of like the jaw drops right.

Speaker 2

Well back in the day, I think you're in nineteen ninety six, you were like sixteen, probably one of the youngest ones to ever do this. Were you intimidated by anybody and you were kind of one of the darlings with the little stuff.

Speaker 6

Yeah, I would. I would classify myself more as like naives less so which kind of worked into my uh, into my advantage. To be honest, like, I didn't. I didn't get as nervous as I probably did my my later Olympics after that, But walking out there and being so young and just kind of like, okay, cool, tell me when I'm suppsed to go, just kind of just being like a little big dog bouncing around.

Speaker 2

So, how was it going back to high school after that?

Speaker 6

That was weird? I'll be honest, that was That was a weird time. That was hard for me. I it was a huge growing couple of years for me, just not only as an athlete, but just as like my character and who I surrounded myself with. I found out real quick like when I came back that I had to to really support myself with like the right people around me that had my best interest in mind and who you know that that that you see a lot

of people have trouble doing that, you know. So that and being so young, it was I went to the Olympics between my freshmen and sophomer year of high school. So trying to manage that and normal social issues that you deal with at that time was fairly overwhelming for me.

Speaker 4

Well, and as Steve was mentioning, second, you know you talk about the window, right you got you got in at very young age, you got to go to multiple Olympics. But for some people it's like, you got one shot. How how do you how do you as an athlete, you know, handle that in terms of Okay, I'm gonna go to this one and then okay, I got I got one more in me, Then I got one more in me after that. You know, how do you keep the window open or how do you keep it from shutting on you very quickly?

Speaker 6

That's hard. I was very blessed. I got to participate in four Olympics. I did try for a fifth. I missed making that team. Uh I. The amount of people that I saw at one Olympics and then I never saw them again was quite was a lo But I think you can't dismiss the how much of an honor it is to be a part of a team and to participate in something like that. So making one Olympics while a lot of us, yes, we kind of get

a taste of it, and then you want more. Making one Olympics is amazing and you shouldn't discount that and should definitely make sure that you're giving yourself all the love and the props for doing something so amazing. For me, for my window being so much longer, it didn't come without a whole bunch of ups and downs mixed in with throughout that. So I again this goes back to

like surrounding myself with great people. I had this support system of people who really had my best interest in mind and wanted to make sure that I wasn't only healthy as an athlete, but I was healthy as a human. You know. I was enjoying life and having some normalcy and living like the teenager that I was supposed to be.

Speaker 2

So let me ask you a question, and don't take it wrong. No, So the deck, we're seeing what she's done. She's unbelievable. I saw a thing a couple of days ago. She's a freaky competitor. She loves you must be a pain in the in the neck competitor because of what you've done for how long you did it you must love the competition. That's kind of where I didn't want to offend you.

Speaker 6

I don't think that's a sense of at all. That's a compliment for me. I will be the first to claim that I am highly, highly uberly competitive. I like to win, I like to play. I like to you know, it's like one of the like we were joking around before we got on air, like getting old is hard, Like I keep coming to like reality that I'm getting older because I want to jump in the pool with some of my athletes and like throw down and race them.

It's like still my competitive juices, but I can't. But my brain goes there, like how how can I get myself to the point of just being competitive? So I nobody likes playing card games with me or anything with me as I just did too, and I got to get.

Speaker 4

We're talking to Amanda Beard, a four time Olympian gold medal winner, all kinds of stuff like that, how old are you kids?

Speaker 6

I have an almost fifteen year old boy and my daughter is eleven.

Speaker 4

Okay, what do they know about your Olympic career and what do they think?

Speaker 14

Yeah, good question.

Speaker 6

They are really into sports, but they both play tennis. They're both tennis players, so they kind of took the dry land route as far as what they know for my career. They just know that mom was a good athlete and I was a swimmer. They know that I went to the Olympics and have medals, but we don't really talk about it, you know. I want them to pave their own path. If they asked me questions about it,

I'll talk about it. I'm more so helped them, like with their athletics from a a mom's side and having like some insider knowledge I guess of just kind of preparing yourself with all their you know, recovery and eating and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2

So these athletes today are getting bookoob dollars. You have a number of number of medals. Were you born twenty years too early?

Speaker 6

Yes? And no. I mean I feel like there was probably some benefits to not being around some of the social pressures that they're dealing with. Yet it comes with some dollar signs, but they're also dealing with a whole other level of expectations and pressures that I don't necessarily I don't know if I would have wanted that. I mean, yeah, the money's fun. But at what costs are these athletes getting those extra dollars for?

Speaker 5

Right?

Speaker 6

No?

Speaker 4

Yeah, I hear you, and and all the attention, right, I mean, because now you know, you watch the Olympics, you can watch everything. You know, you can watch We're saying, you can watch the archery, you can watch the kayaking. Where before it's kind of like the Olympics would come on and you had the track, the swimming, the gymnastics, you know, the basketball, and it seemed like it was a little more concentrated. Were Now everybody's on TV, everybody's

on social media, everybody knows what you're doing. Uh, I mean is that what you think? Does that add to you know, what these athletes are dealing with?

Speaker 5

Do you think?

Speaker 6

Oh, I'm sure it does on some level. But I also think it's really cool that that there's more Olympic love to be giving out right, because there are such amazing athletes that are participating in in this event that in the past it'd be really hard to seek out trying to figure out how to watch those kinds of sports. It's just so now like, yeah, you can watch you know, table tennis and rugby. I mean, this is the list

goes on. So I think the fact that we have access to the athletes also helps make more make their sport more visible, which is always a good thing.

Speaker 2

So we're talking about this and we've talked about other sports. So you have the decky, you have the other swimmers. What separates them and like you to become who you've become? Is it just the determination? There's got to be some athletic athleticism all that. What's the recipe?

Speaker 5

Yeah?

Speaker 6

I think, goodness gracious, I think the recipe comes in all different sports. But I think you guys nailed it pretty good. Like with the competitiveness that you have to be really competitive and you have to be very kind of stubborn, strong willed. Athletes have to be somewhat selfish. You know, you're taking care of yourself because you're trying to perform and do the best that you possibly can. So trying to figure out how to be selfish, splash

and still humble. Yeah, I mean I and I think just nerves of steel, Like walking out onto a pool deck like that and you know the French crowd is going nuts for Leon and it's loud and it's wild. How can you kind of center yourself and have all that noise fade away. And I was really good at that. I know a lot of these athletes that are doing this are great at that, as well as just being able to kind of get into your own little brain

and everything just as that chatter just goes away. And that's that's super important.

Speaker 2

So let me I asked these questions, and Jay kind of shakes my head because I like this question. Though you've been doing this a long time. You have been doing this long time. Did you still get nervous? Probably in the beginning, but at the end, this is what you did for a living. Did you get nervous even in the big competitions or was it just like this is who I am, this is what.

Speaker 5

I got to do.

Speaker 6

Yeah, No, I definitely got nervous. I mean I learned how to channel my nervous energy into adrenaline and then figured out how to make that last throughout my race and not just like be super nervous and then like go crazy and then waste all my energy. So I learned how to kind of harness that and use it to my advantage. But I think rbs are good. It's one you still care and two it's good to kind of it's like fueling, filling your school tank.

Speaker 4

Yeah, but along those lines, you know, you had your first Olympics, which you were probably that was probably the one you were most nervous at, right. Then you had a second, then you had a third, then you had a fourth, and it's like, you know, how was it did the approach change as you went along or were you just you know, using the experience of the last

one to help you with the next one. I mean, how did you do that and how did your how did that progress as you went through these different Olympics.

Speaker 6

Yeah, well, I think being able to have a lot under my belt as I moved throughout my career was very helpful. But then also there was a part of it that would put kind of expectations on me, which then kind of would build up more nerves and in

a different kind of bucket, I guess, you know. So the idea of having to perform and bringing home you know, records and medals and trying to not become a failure in your brain, right Like, so there's that kind of nerves that definitely increased throughout my career, and then the confidence of I've been here, I know what I'm capable of. I know what I can do that those nerves kind of helps me a little bit more so.

Speaker 2

Now you're an assistant coach at Arizona. Congratulations you've been retained. Like I said earlier, we talked to Frank not too long ago, a few days ago in fact, and he's one of the special coaches.

Speaker 6

Right.

Speaker 2

You guys played hard for him or swam hard for him. What separated him from just being another coach? And because now you're trying to be a coach.

Speaker 6

Yeah, I think one one thing that I think is really important is coaches. Great coaches don't just care about like for swimming or any but for swimming the times that the athletes were throwing down You want them to

really have an identity outside of the pool. Our athletic director Desiree said something that really stuck with me, and she called it the wedding factor, and it was are these athletes when they leave your care right they graduate from college and they go off, are they going to call you when they get married or get a job or have a baby. Like to do a lot make that lasting impression on these athletes. And for me that's really important because then along with that comes like a

great mutual respect for each other. And I always felt like if I respected my coach and my coach respected me, we were going to do great things. Right, Like, I'll work really really hard, I'll do anything my coach asked me to do if there's that mutual respect. Because I literally handed my career into the hands of those coaches, and to do that, I have to have the utmost respect for those people, which I was very lucky that I did for all those coaches.

Speaker 5

Makes sense, makes total sense. Well, thanks very much, welcome back to you Bay, Thank you, and we'll see you on campus soon.

Speaker 6

Right.

Speaker 4

Yep, thanks so much, Amanda, appreciate it.

Speaker 6

I'm around here all the time. Time come find me.

Speaker 4

Set that two am alarm.

Speaker 15

All right, okay, hi will.

Speaker 5

Thank you, appreciate you.

Speaker 2

Amanda Beard, Olympian, seven time medal winner.

Speaker 5

Yep, that's fun. Yeah, she's got a lot of energy.

Speaker 4

She does a lot of energy and what she'll make.

Speaker 5

She doesn't know what getting old is. She's only forty, she's forty two.

Speaker 4

I hit her up. That's crap, all right now, I don't mean that, Amanda. Hey, so all right, stick around. We're gonna take your cause five two zero four, win six, seventy four, forty and wrap this up.

Speaker 2

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Speaker 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez soun Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgery I on the Ball.

Speaker 2

Hey, welcome back to Finding the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 5

I'm Steve. He's Jay Ryan with us. We have fifteen minutes left.

Speaker 2

He'll be monitoring the phones, so he'll give us a call.

Speaker 5

Five two.

Speaker 6

Oh.

Speaker 4

What's the longest you ever swam in a full You'd never like to swim a link of a pool or at a city pool or something like that.

Speaker 2

Probably when I was a kid, But I mean that's no. This is said, I have a pool. I don't get in it.

Speaker 5

It's a money pit. Yeah.

Speaker 4

Well wait, we have a pool and I get in it two or three times this summer.

Speaker 2

Yeah, come on, now my family uses it. I wish I could bury that thing. You can't, I know, but it's why do it?

Speaker 5

Let all the water bury it? It's you know, it's trouble. It's trouble. I wish I could. That's yeah, but so.

Speaker 4

But no, no, I mean, you know, growing up I lived, I lived on the South Side. I would go to the Mission Manor Pool. It was a big pool. In fact, it was the I think it was the only Olympic size.

Speaker 5

Is still a pool still there.

Speaker 4

I have no idea imagine it is. I know it wouldn't be right. It was a city pool because it it was a city part and they used stop it. And so I remember as a little kid, and we moved from over there when I would have been eleven years old. So I remember so that trying to swim and swim the length of the pool and I couldn't.

Speaker 2

Yeah, you know it's a good swimmer, you were not, because no, did we talk about this earlier this week.

Speaker 4

And I you know, my parents made me take swimming lessons and those I took at the Pantana well Puts the Jesse Owens Park now just be called Pantana Park. But I've never considered myself a good swimmer.

Speaker 5

Yeah, no, it's it's difficult.

Speaker 2

There's those athletes are dedicated their yeah, in shape, their everything.

Speaker 4

And when you when you see what they do, and you know, like you said, you know they swim of fifteen hundred meters. I mean that's a mile.

Speaker 2

Yeah, that's a that's a mile as long as I've walked.

Speaker 4

Yeah, I don't walk a mile, right, No, I do what's in a while. I prefer to bike or drive.

Speaker 2

But sure, yeah, no, no, no, those swimmers are crazy good athletes in their own way, right.

Speaker 5

Yeah, you know, I mean they are unbelievable.

Speaker 4

When when you see that, because there's some athletes like that, you know, the marathon ors, and you know, some of those things are the you know, I don't know, it's it's nuts what they do. But swimming to me seems like it would be the hardest of all. The breaststroke, I mean, holy cow, or the butterfly, you know, those two those two strokes you go. How can you do that for that long? Yeah, you know, it's it's nuts, but that's fun. That's fun with the man to beer.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it was. She's energetic. I'm sure she's a good coach. I have to you know, you got to believe in their coach. I think we talked about, Yeah, you gotta believe in your coach.

Speaker 4

Yeah, got a call. Hi, you're on the air and eye on the ball.

Speaker 15

Hey guys, Hey, welcome back Steve Howard. How and good and I hope all your uh leaving your mom and all those things you gotta take care of when Okay.

Speaker 5

It's good, Thank you very much.

Speaker 15

Hard Yeah. So yeah, swimming, that was a pretty good swimmer. But at our age now it's a little bit tougher.

Speaker 4

I don't even know if I can float.

Speaker 15

With both of my knee surgeries. I really haven't gotten good went after because I went in our pool today because I'm working. I'm almost done with my garage. We're putting the fancy tile corey tile floor on it right now and we were ninety percent done.

Speaker 5

Well, good for you. How you been Howard?

Speaker 15

Okay, good, good good. Everything's fine from that fall. And then of course I think about when when when Steve had the funny thing, well j sell from three.

Speaker 4

Feet Well, you know, you gotta do what you gotta do about I'm not sure.

Speaker 15

No, no, too bad. They couldn't do the triathlon right because of the crowd.

Speaker 4

They do that.

Speaker 2

I thought they did that yet they they became okay yesterday, but still haven't done it.

Speaker 15

Okay, Oh you're probably right they were.

Speaker 5

They were waiting and waiting. I thought yesterday was funny. Click they did it.

Speaker 15

Yeah, well good.

Speaker 5

Yeah, yeah, we'll see. We'll good to hear from you, Howard.

Speaker 15

Yeah, because that is the probably the toughest thing of the three Viking swimming and running.

Speaker 5

How'd you get to eat? Cool? Well? I went swimming.

Speaker 15

Hey, congratulations too on. You're going to be moving in in thirty days or something.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's when you play. We went there today. It's a very nice facility. We'll have to be nicer with our stuff.

Speaker 5

Yeah, we have than we are here. Yeah.

Speaker 15

I lived on corner Swan and Sunrise for twenty four years, running one place for a year and then my house. I would live there for twenty two three years, just down south of that.

Speaker 5

That's where we'll be, Okay, Okay, thank you see you man? Yeah? Cool. We hadn't heard from Howard in a while.

Speaker 4

He called. He called the day you were gone. Oh did he Okay, he said he didn't miss you.

Speaker 5

Well, it's a long line. It's a long line. Was it last week? Monday? Monday? Oh Monday?

Speaker 4

When yeah?

Speaker 5

When you're yeah yeah yeah, so no, you know, back back to the swimming thing.

Speaker 15

Uh.

Speaker 4

I also think it's it's a you almost have to have a certain kind of body, certain kind of you know. I don't know. A friend of our our kids was a swimmer and you just looked at me. He walked by, and you go, you can swim, you know, the shoulders and that stuff. Let's take this call. Hire on the air and eye on the ball.

Speaker 2

Yes, Nico, you're getting older. Your voice is changing. You're like Peter Brady.

Speaker 5

Okay, okay, Well what's going on? Nico? I can't even teach your name?

Speaker 15

Go ahead, get shared in.

Speaker 5

Yeah, thanks, thanks. We had two women that took us two women. Yeah, you knew Nico would be on that.

Speaker 14

Hey, man, find her mind?

Speaker 4

Man, what's up?

Speaker 5

Nico?

Speaker 14

What else Collin is?

Speaker 15

Man?

Speaker 14

You guys got to do me a favor.

Speaker 6

Man.

Speaker 14

Oh, you gotta get the guy that won the silver medals and skateboarding.

Speaker 13

Arizona.

Speaker 2

We probably okay, okay, all right, did you hook us up or talk about some cyclist too, like a mountain biker?

Speaker 5

Or was this the guy that you talked about?

Speaker 14

If first sow that was Kevin Parraza the prior to soon and he's ax?

Speaker 5

Okay? Did he was he in Paris?

Speaker 14

They do that, okay, but he might be for Team Mexico if he was.

Speaker 2

Okay, all right, we'll we'll we'll check that. So the Mesa guy Mesa is a skateboarder.

Speaker 4

Yeah, I can't remember his name.

Speaker 14

Man, early in the morning, I watched it.

Speaker 4

Okay, all right, we'll look for that.

Speaker 5

Were you a skateboarder as a kid? I'm sure you were.

Speaker 4

You're still You're still a skateboarder now.

Speaker 5

Aren't you?

Speaker 14

And a border once in a while you were.

Speaker 5

You a breakdancer?

Speaker 14

No, okay, I'm a Mexican and half Italian?

Speaker 5

Okay, that you could have been a break down. Hey.

Speaker 2

By the way, what do you think about you looking forward to uh football?

Speaker 5

I know you are you and your death.

Speaker 14

Man, I told you, Man, I got low expectations.

Speaker 5

I think they went, Yeah, that's right. You're crazy.

Speaker 4

You're wrong, Nico, You're just wrong.

Speaker 14

I'm telling you this, man, Kansas State, Utah, that's you could easily be two and two.

Speaker 4

Well yeah, no, yeah, I think they will be two and two after those, after those four games, but then they should be favored in the rest of their games.

Speaker 14

Oh no, So but if they go to and too, man, you know, walking in that stadium is going to be empty.

Speaker 5

I don't know. It depends on what the two and two looks like.

Speaker 3

Right.

Speaker 4

If they can get blown out at Utah in Kansas State, yeah, that our fans are going to say, oh god, it's terrible, We're not going. But if you know, if they if they look good, you know, we'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 14

Let me ask you this, were you impressed with the Washington crowd last year?

Speaker 4

Was I impressed with the Washington crowd? I? Uh, probably no, because I think I think it got declared to sell out and there was still a lot of empty seats, so you know, probably not, But it had no because I remember a zone's getting their asses kicked in the second half, and I and a lot of people left, and then all of a sudden, they scored a couple of touchdowns and then they had a possession to tie the game, and I remember sticking around for that and going,

this was a better game than anybody thought.

Speaker 3

You know.

Speaker 4

There's so many people had left by that time. Yeah, so no, I'm gonna say no, our crowds sucks sometimes they do.

Speaker 1

It sucks out.

Speaker 14

Last year, man, they were good, and it was like, why can't we fill this up?

Speaker 6

You know?

Speaker 5

Yeah, it's it's the way it's been nic before.

Speaker 4

You get their skeptical Nico. They they were like me. They didn't they Arizona didn't realize. They the fans didn't realize they were good until the last home game and then that home game. Then that game it rained like hell, we froze and yeah and we got wet. That was yeah, it was fine, stuck around for all of it. Absolutely.

Speaker 14

Hey, man, if you ever have the new a D tell it a lowder the price on beer. Man, I'm going broke by.

Speaker 5

Hell, my name is I have a problem.

Speaker 14

Yeah, maybe I'll meet in a meeting or something.

Speaker 5

Right, right, different meetings, all right, man?

Speaker 4

Thank you?

Speaker 2

Okay, because that was different. He's getting older. Hey, did you see that note on Sean Elliott.

Speaker 5

Yes, I just saw it. You just saw it, because it's been twenty five years since that.

Speaker 4

What is that? Was that?

Speaker 13

The one?

Speaker 4

Was that what you're talking about?

Speaker 2

No? No, no, what?

Speaker 5

No, do you look?

Speaker 4

I saw a note that said that today is the twenty fifth anniversary of his kidney transfer.

Speaker 2

Oh god, twenty five years. I was out there when that happened. They should be out there to go do spend a week there in San Antonio. No, no, no, I'm talking about he was he wears those watches.

Speaker 5

That tells you, Oh, wasn't that.

Speaker 4

Yeah, we talked about because it must have been that on Monday. Oh yeah, that he he had No, he had an Apple Watch and the Detective and a regular heartbeat and then and then he had they went he had he had to have heart surgery. Right, Yeah, No, we that We talked about that. Okay, Oh is that that? You're dude, You're like four days behind on that one.

Speaker 5

Man, No, I've seen it, but I was on the road.

Speaker 4

Yeah know you were. Yeah, No, we talked about that on Monday. And that was crazy, you know.

Speaker 2

Because he's coming, he's scheduled to come for the Loot camp and you guys talking about Mike is Mike is the one that's handling him.

Speaker 5

So I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 4

And then well he posted today that it's been twenty five years since yeah this is kidney and he came out. It was a post about the kidney stuff that we talked about when we had him on the show a while.

Speaker 2

Because he's goin an advocate for that, right yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, no, twenty five years. I remember it well, Arizona. The citizens flew me out there for a week, went through all that.

Speaker 5

It was.

Speaker 2

It was I love San Antonio. Just a weird time you went out there for his so the surgery, well for the whole week is he just he just found out. He flew me out there and I spent the week out there talking to doctors and all that stuff when newspapers used to do stuff right, right, it was it was crazy because you know, he was Arizona's favorite son, you know, especially at that time for the Spurs, you know and all that.

Speaker 4

Yeah, you know, yeah, I remember that. I probably read your stuff.

Speaker 2

Probably you don't remember it. It's okay, okay, well let me tell you something.

Speaker 5

We got three minutes.

Speaker 2

A lot of you guys on the other side held that thought the way their second little brother didn't kick.

Speaker 4

My god, oh my god.

Speaker 5

Follow my follow up story.

Speaker 2

The funny thing about this Jay, the funny about your wife worked for our side, and she contributed a lot to your financial situation on your family.

Speaker 5

So you shouldn't poop poo the citizen just.

Speaker 4

Sometimes they didn't read you.

Speaker 2

You should have in fact, in fact the star now miss is the citizen?

Speaker 4

Yes?

Speaker 2

Too?

Speaker 5

Good paid?

Speaker 2

Or two papers in the city, right, was a good thing. Good makes everybody better.

Speaker 4

It is a good thing.

Speaker 5

You know.

Speaker 4

It's funny because when we when we got married, and we got married at this big old church at Saint Peter and Paul over there on Campbell, and you know how the ushers always saying, you know, you come in and they're gonna see you, and they say, they say, you know, Brider groom, right, it's which side of the church you're gonna sit on? Instead, they were going, are you star or citizen? It was pretty funny. It's pretty funny.

And I also remember there were some people there were there were some actual people who thought it was stupid that we were dating, because one was because we were competing papers.

Speaker 2

Well, but you guys didn't cover the same thing. No, I was a sports Sydney Summers and sun and run the same thing.

Speaker 4

But there are some people who made comments about that, how can you how can you date you know, somebody from the citizen or how can you date somebody from the start?

Speaker 5

My wife?

Speaker 4

There are people who thought that it was kind of like what are we in, like, you know, Selma Alabama? You know, you know, we can't have inner interracial marriage and interracial dating, inner paper datings or something like that.

Speaker 5

I don't know. I'm surprised you even notice anybody at the Citizen. They're below us.

Speaker 4

We can't, no, we can't, no, no, you know what, because there was there was a cause that we were all committed to, and that was getting more minorities in the German. That's how I meant, That's how I man, that's how we met.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but let me say something, and this is I'm saying this with all truthfuls. There were some people on the other side I know who they are, who thought that of the citizens people that we were, we were not as good as them or or or whatever.

Speaker 5

I was got a name that doesn't shock me.

Speaker 2

Actually, you were second on my list, you're second on my list.

Speaker 4

I was, and that's not true because you know why, because the citizen reporters that I competed against, who we're all good, who were well on new side. There was a Mary boost A Monte was the cop reporter Ed Humes that you know covering the courthouse.

Speaker 5

Uh did you say, David David.

Speaker 4

Dave Tyble covering cops. And then you know guys like you and uh and uh Anthony Anthony came more Petreusca right, you know those guys that you know over in sports, Uh, Jack Ricord, you know, covering basketball. So no, I you know I had respect for you guys. I thought you guys were good and then you kept what you did. You you guys kept it. You know, we kept each other on each other's toe.

Speaker 5

Had to be. Yeah, Okay, good show, today show, thank you.

Speaker 4

And Howard and Amanda Beard, thank you so much. And Elie Smith you're talking to. This was a fun show.

Speaker 5

So it takes two good women to make the show work.

Speaker 4

Hey, if you if you're just if you're just getting here, check it out on the podcast. It's worth your time.

Speaker 5

Ali wants to see that.

Speaker 4

Okay, all right, Hey, we'll talk to you tomorrow.

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