This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagonzal Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions Kati z R two SAA at iHeartRadio Station. Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Riverta. He's Jagan's Us. Got our guy Kevin in today with Eleon on the substitution rotation we have It's bring your Kids to Work days Worthday, Bring your
kids to Workday a Leon. I'm more commonly known as Jeff Jeff there you switch you here to call him? Yea. I think we're gonna just call him Jeff. Okay, Jeff, much easier calling me. You can call me. Just don't call me late to dinner exactly. Okay, guys, Hey Tuesday. We have a pretty good show today. I think we do pull the rabbit out of our whatever. You know, Terry Francon has been
a good friend of the show. You know, we get him when just a third time we just called him and he says, yeah, ill do it, and he does it. So Kerry frank Cone is going to be joining us here at about three twenty. He's, uh, you know, he's sort of retired. I've been reading uh, you know, a bunch of articles he's he says, he's not actually totally retired. He's still probably
gonna be doing some stuff with the with the with the Guardians. But for now, I think he's, you know, he's you know, he's he's had continuing health issues, so I think he's going to make sure that he, uh, you know, gets all that taken care of. But I just read a story that he's he's making himself available to the new manager at Cleveland, you know, sort of on an as needed basis. Well, well, what are you doing? Cool? Well, we do know that
he's in Tucson and he's enjoying. The weather was nice, eighty two degrees beautiful today. You look like you're for camping or something. You know, I was chilly, imber, Look on, do you even know who I'm talking about? Documentary? Yeah? Okay, cool, Okay, we got anybody want to call? Please do We'll pay attention to the lines. Yesterday we didn't do it so well. We were bad, well, you know what, we were bad in a lot of respects. Yesterday we we we
kept we kept a guest waiting. You know, we were just we were terrible. Yeah, it's okay. We survived another day. Today is a new day. Yeah, five, two, four, one forty. Give us a call. If you haven't ever called us, give us a call. We'd like to hear from you. Yeah, let us know what you think of our crazy show. And we're gonna make sure we do call Terry Terry when we're supposed to Terry, did you already give him the old I just tasted him and he said he's ready to go. Okay, great,
great, So see what happens. And then we have on the second hour, who we are Alena Playo. Haven't you know she's been here five years and this is the first time we're getting her on the show. So okay, I think we're kind of jerks about this. But uh uh you know, they got a huge game tomorrow. I think Texas is right, yeah, fifth, I believe right, I mean coming in ranked fifth tomorrow. Uh, to players on a here, it's a it's a it's a second
game of a home and home. Uh and and so uh, you know, trying the women's team is trying to get a lot of Hike for this game. It's a big game for them, Uh, you know, an opportunity to make some Hey, you know, they they're winning games, they've got a nice record, but they haven't looked great. And I'll just say that they haven't looked great, but you never know, right They they dominated San Diego last week. Uh. And I said on the show that defensively
they were unbearable. I mean, they just handcuffed San Diego. But I just offensively, you know, I got some questions about this, So we'll find out tomorrow. Texas is ten and oh coming in coming in to McHale tomorrow. And Texas has that long time reputation. It hadn't it hadn't really been in Texas that we've known of over the last few years. But now it's coming back right right, you know. But Arizona's gotta they gotta they
got us. They look they got to work cut out for them. In the in the PAC twelve u c l A's ranked second, USC is sixth, Colorado was eighth, Stanford is ninth, Utah, Utah is eleven. Well in the in the top twenty five. Yeah, yeah, no, I that's that's crazy. And yeah, there's a lot of great players in the Pac twelve. Yeah. I just saw one from Utah, Utah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was actually looking that up right now. I saw her highlights. Y Yeah, me too, and they were raving
about right against South Carolina. Yeah, the USC has this fret true freshman who's scoring thirty a games. So you know, they got the workout out. It's gonna be. It's it's a hard league. I mean, you want to talk about the hard league that Arizona had in football, It was nothing like this sure, and so you know, and I think this is you know, the Arizona's young. They you know, they're they're working in some new players and I think ideas trying to you know, get get players
who are gonna stay and be and be developed. And she's talked about that. So this may be a tough year for them as far as the wins and losses goes, but she's hoping they make a lot of progress. Yeah, Okay, a lot of a lot of turnovers still going on in Oklahoma on here, or at least people coming in now right for you. Breaking news about that. Yeah, we're doing some transfer stuff, some more transfer stuff, players going in, players coming out going all that from all over
places. Washington just lost her Bet Cup. Quarterback he left, he's not going to the game, So we'll see what happens. No one's happy. Aren't happy anymore. It's you know, you see guys. You see guys frans and who are playing. They're starters, they're on good teams. You know, a bunch of Ohio State guys are leaving starters, including their quarterback. You know, the starting quarterback at Oklahoma has left. I mean,
somebody else the offensive line. It's not just it's obviously not just about playing time, but how much more money is there out there for these guys that they're saying, Okay, I'm gonna throw you know, all the work I've done over here to go play one year over there to collective page. Let me ask you dumb questions because we have two kids in the room here. You think it's generational. And I say that because do you think it would
have happened twenty years ago as well? Give given the circumstances, I'm gonna I'm gonna completely stereotype the the guys, young guys of today, because I think I saw his head not so old. I refute that I you know, I have a few of those that are around my house. You know, it's this, it's this idea of you know, instant satisfactor. It's been it's been for a while, right. It started with the millennial group
and then whoever whatever the generation blank is coming after that. But it's kind of like been a you know, I want my job to be great and I want to make a lot of money, right right, That is partially true, but I do think that like if I mean, how many times have we spoken to to former players and coaches who are like, man, I wish I had that, n I l I would have you know, let's get this call real quick. Partially true. Oh you're on the air and I on the ball. You want to have to turn off your radio?
Yes, please turn off your radio. Hey, hey, thanks for pay attention to the phone lines. I'm never listening when you guys a get out the phone number. I felt lucky when you did a lot of ticket or go fishing or something, right, and we get some of that, We get some of that if you hit it. Yeah, yeah, hey, I think ANFAA football man, I got to pay attention to the product because a lot of these dudes jumping ship are going different places like that dude
from OU this is this would be a third school. But it's gonna start tainting the product. Like who wants to watch a bowl game with you know, half the starters on a previous roster gone Like it's it's uh, it's gonna catch up pretty soon here. That's a good point. I agree with that, because the bowl games are part of the product. They're they're historically they've been fun. You know, people get sick. There's a lot of
a lot of opinion. People get sick of them. But I you know, I'm I'm I like them, and I do I get disappointed when the best players aren't there. There's a paradox in college football because it's like at the beginning of the year, it's like, hey, we're playing for a ball, we're playing to this, we're playing for that, and then once bull season comes around, even the coaches are like, well, I don't really consider this a big deal, Like come on, man, like what
are we playing for? Why am I supporting this team? You know, why are we supporting this school? Are we what are we trying to do here? So I think college football is is kind of existed in this kind of paradox situation for a long time. And I think the fans are going to start walking because you know it's too shifty. Yeah okay. And by the way, you win the word of the day with paradox, so you'll be getting your gift certificate in the middle. I appreciate, appreciate it.
Good points, good points, Yeah, good points. Well think about you know, and and and actually, you know, the truth is that you know, Bowl games aren't well attended. No, no, they're not right. No even even you know, championship games or you know the New York six year six games and stuff like that. If that team, you know, how many Oregon fans are actually going to go to what are they in the Cotton Bowl? No, they're in the festival and they're gonna play Liberty.
Yeah, well if Liberty might show up, but not Liberty is going to show up, right, But how many fans do they have? Sure? But like exactly what you said about the Liberty fans showing up, they did not expect. They might not have expected to be in this position starting the year. Oregon their goal is their national They didn't get to their goal. Yeah, but that's the disappointing. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. But I don't think it's the fans that are like, oh, we have
too many transfers leaving. It's like, well, I don't want to watch this game anyway. I'm disappointed. Right, Yeah, so back to your back to the discussion. I think it's an opportunity thing for the kids. Yeah. I think I think if the kids of the past had had the opportunity the kids now do, we would just have we would have this exact situation with less obviously money and stuff like that. But back then we would have the adjustments now and be a lot more stable. I think so.
And you're saying, because we've talked to some people, they would have wished that. No, I think that's true for any eighteen twenty year old. Happened earlier. Yeah, in the twenty years now, but we're gonna be more stable in ten years and are now sure. No, I both sides have can be right, and guys have always transferred. It's harder to transfer now that's so easy. Yeah, we're saying, Okay, it's it's easy to do. So I'm going to the car. I don't think he got
his names, but to his point, who was the third time? Was that the Oklahoma on the guy from uh, you know, Clemson, Oregon State and he's headed back. He's visiting Florida State this week. Yeah. No, it's a it's an opportunity to play and get a little bag or when you can. Yeah, you know, we'll see what happens, because eventually some of these guys aren't going to make it in the pros. We all know that, right, Yeah, they're just not. There's not enough
opportunity there. So I don't fault them. But it's changed the landscape. Well yeah, no, and and you're right, I mean what you know part part of what's changed is ouh young lele Right, Okay, he's a good he's a good quarterback, not a great college. You've said that alone. He might, you know, he's going to get a shot at the
NFL. I don't know if he's an NFL quarterback, but if somebody's gonna go ahead and pay him seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, you go quarterback in Florida State, He's gonna take that because that'll he he can do something with that to set himself up for life. Right, It's not. It's not life changing money from the standpoint, he's going to live off the seven to fifty the rest of his life. But you get you get a chunk
of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. There's a lot you can do with that to set yourself up for life. And you know, if if he's looking at that and saying, well, this is the most money I might ever make as a quarterback, then he's gonna take it. I'm not faulting these guys for any of this. I'm just saying, this is what's happening. And when when you think about, you know, what what studies have
said about you know, millennials and younger that. And I've seen it, you know, I mean I've seen you know, friends, friends of my kids. Sure, they take a job and they work the job for a year and it just wasn't good enough and they weren't making enough money. So they go to the next job, and the next job and the next job. It's like, you know, I just remember working when I got hired at the start, I thought I'm working here forever. Yeah I didn't, but I thought I might. No. No, it's funny, but you
but you're right. I think one of the problems we have too. And I tell Kevin and the kids who show up in this room, just because you're going to school and get a degree, that means Nava, you get a degree, You're not gonna automatically get hired by somebody. You gotta you gotta have the scale, but you also have to make it. Making connections is the number one thing you can get seized the rest of your semester or whatever. If you're good at what you do, they're gonna find you.
It's just like it's just like the singers of the world if you could, you know, if you're good at what you do, you'll get you get drafted, and they'll find a place for you. Exactly. Yeah. And I think today's point company loyalty, at least for my generation, is probably at an all time low. Right, Like, once you get in the door, you really they really have to make you love there, right,
once you get in the door. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's the same thing with football, Like I mean, once you get in the locker room, I mean it's on the coaches to make you love that school because there's there's nothing you know, automatic and what makes you and what you know, what does that playing time? Yeah, we have some good We saw some good players here that have come and gone, right, well, obviously
most recently a few have come and gone. But you know, you think about some of those players, and we've talked about it in a number of times, and particularly that you know, the the the DeAndre Ayton group. You know, none of those guys that I think we're here for Arizona. They were here to get there without question, you know, get there, get their time, and get get some get some visibility, and get on their way. I didn't think I didn't think one of them cared about the
uniform or anything else. Uh, you seem you feel like Tommy's getting that piece of it done. You feel like these guys like I think, you know, Caleb Love who's going to be here one year, but I feel like he really wants to make Arizona, help Arizona win. I think because he's at Arizona sure that pleasure. I think he he and Tommy recognized this bringing him in. Is he needs to change his not legacy, whatever word, he needs to change his image, perception, perception of who he is.
Because he's doing that, he's going to be at the end of the year, right, right, Let's see if it holds form, because I think we talked about this yesterday or maybe even Bruce talked about it. Okay, we're in December now. As we get and I've seen it, as we get closer to March, the seniors or the guys leaving, I gotta get mine. Numbers. Numbers matter, but if you're good enough for your numbers don't matter. You can play it or not. Just that. Let's
say, let's say they're being talked about. Okay, this guy's a lottery pick. Now, how hard is he going to work those last two or three weeks of the season. You know, does the packed off turn, the grind of the PAC twelve tournament mattered to them, Does the grind of an NCAA tournament matter to them? Because I've seen players give it, you know, give up in those you know, in playoff situation, because you can tell they're just tired of the grind and they're ready to move on,
and they do that. Yeah, all right, let's take our break. Terry Francona will be joining us. We'll talk about what he's doing in his quote unquote retirement. See what he's up to he's been here in town. We've seen him at a bunch of basketball games, and we saw him on the road at where do we see him on the road at Michigan State. No a duke. Here's a duke. So chairs awaiting for us to get a call. So we'll givem a call and have to be back with him
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Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth diff. Hey, welcome back to my the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. Here's jacinsaus now on the phone. We have two time World Series champs and Arizona Arizona Men's basketball is biggest fan. Terry Francona, how are you coach? I'm good, guys, How are you fine? Thank you? You're world Trevorer. I saw you Durham, North Carolina. I saw you the last weekend. Man, what a life? You know what when I said I was retiring.
I said I was going to start doing some things that I never did before, and because I always felt like I had somewhere to be. And so I took three of the coaches down to the Arizona Duke game, and then the next day me and one of the other coaches one to the Penns they Michigan football games. So it's I'm playing on doing some of that stuff now. Well. And so obviously you're like a huge sports fan of really all sports, cause first you're going to basketball games, You're going to football games.
You think you're gonna Are you sick of baseball? You thinking to go to some baseball? I'm not. I'm not sick of baseball. I actually love baseball. I just I just was running out of gas. And I think there's a certain way you need to do the job. And I don't think I was doing that my you know, doing that anymore. And I didn't want to overstay my welcome. I didn't want to do it for the
wrong reasons. And so now it's time to maybe focus on like you, Like I said, my next road trip will probably be going to see the U of A play somewhere that's the extent of my road trips. Nice. Nice. In fact, I think a lot of people would envy you, especially in the profession of coaching and managing. You called your own shot,
and that doesn't happen very often. And you know, about in about June, I was really starting to wrestle with you know how I felt about kind of my longevity doing this, and I was kind of starting to aggravate myself. I was like, okay, you know, ye in, ye out, because the players don't deserve that. And when I told my bosses in about the middle of August, it really helped me. It freed me up. And I also told them, I'm like, hey, guys, you guys have been so good to me. I said, go find your next
manager. You know, don't tiptoe around me. You don't, there's no reason for you to do that. And and I wanted them to enjoy trying to find the next manager, because, like I said, I I was to the point in my career where I think I had enough. They weren't, and I didn't want to penalize them. So and to their credit, they went out and got a really good manager. He's young, he's going
to be really good though. You know, you talked about how you felt like, you know, you weren't giving it what you thought you should be giving it. But you know, in the end, did you do all the things or get or you know, I don't know if achieve is the right word, but sort of get to all the landmarks you wanted to get to, both as a player, you know, and as a manager, and you were like, Okay, I've gone as far as i'm I can take this, and now it's time for me to go. I mean,
how did you feel personally about what you had accomplished in baseball? No, you know, and I really never thought about that. I mean like, as a player, you know, I got hurt so early in my career that my goals drastically changed. I went from want to leave the wag and heading to just trying to be valuable enough to be on a team. And then as a manager, I would say, and every manager probably answered the same way that unless you found a way to win every game, you didn't
fulfill all your goals. So, you know, and again, you know, people talk about legacy. I'm not too sure I'm all that worried about that. I gave everything I had, and I tried to do the best I could. And I know I respect the game and I love the game, and the game was so good to me. So again, I'm I just thought it was time, and like I said, I didn't want to do it for the wrong reasons. Hell, if you ever get to Boston
and you have to buy a beer, shame on Boston. Well you know, I've been back there a few times and I've heard that, but I've been not that is not the equition yet. So we're gonna have to see you should Well you probably don't have to buy one here, that's for sure. So okay, So aside from aside from you know, all the games you're going to and that kind of stuff, you know, what are you
doing with your time besides that? Now you mentioned off air that this is the time of year you wouldn't be doing a whole lot anyways, But you know, what do you plan to do? Well? So when the season was over, I had my normal, I had my shoulder replaced, and I had a couple of hernias that were fixed. So and that that's that's been something that I've done like the last four or five years, And it really sucks because I was spending the whole winter trying to get healthy, and
then I'd go back and do the season again and get beat up. So I want to get healthy first, and then I want to you know, I want a golf. I want to go do some things that I've never done. I'm I don't know how much I'm going to miss baseball, and I won't know that until the season starts. But it doesn't scare me like I'm you know, I hope I missed it a little bit. My goodness. I've did it for forty four years and I and I love it,
but I just thought it was time. And I I know I'm not the smartest person in the room, but I gave it a lot of thoughts and I felt pretty good about it. So I asked this of coaches and players all the time who have kind of gotten out of the business. Uh, cause you your competitors. So that's what you do in YouTube, competitors at the highest level. So what are you going to do to fuel that fire?
You know, everything I've ever done, Like when I go play golf, I try to win, or you know, if I swim in the backyard, I try to compete against myself. That's probably never going to change. But but again I think I was actually looking forward to to not having that hang over my head because again, forty four years, man, that's a long time, and sometimes it kind of burns you out a little bit.
And and I think that's where I had gotten. Oh well, I think I heard in one of the press conferences when you when you did announce your retirement that you're looking forward to, you know, getting around to about spring training and not having or even before that, and not having to worry about you know, players, a roster, you know, you know who you're signing, who you're not signing, all that kind of stuff. So on the one hand, it's probably very stressful, but then you know that
was part of your life for so long. You know, you're not sitting here worried about, you know, should we have gone and tried to get Show or Juan Soto or something, and now you're kind of like, I don't have to deal with any of that. Well, just to be completely honest, I don't think those two guys I would have been really really worried about anyway. I don't think that was probably going to be in our wheelhouse.
But I get your point. I mean, I'd be driving, you know, somewhere in Tucson during the winter, and I'd pull off the road and make a note of something I knew I wanted to say to our team in spring training, and I didn't want to forget it, so I'd pull off. And so it's always not too far from the front of your mind.
And now I'm able to let go for the first time. Well, so like when I went to the Duke Arizona basketball game, excuse me, guys, I was able to fully enjoy it and take it in and not think, Okay, when this game's over, I got to go make this phone call or I got to go do this, and I really enjoyed it. Well, if I'm correct, one of the last times we spoke to you were headed to to get with the team is during COVID. Remember we cut you on the road somewhere en route to Cleveland I think it was.
And then did that help you kind of me? You realize, hey, being away from baseball is kind of okay. No, no, it really didn't. I just the last couple of years that started getting harder, and some of it was probably some of my physical you know things that were happening to me that that didn't make it easier. But again, I just it just I think it was just time I started to feel where again, like
a burnt out feeling. And and and I guess said, and they were paying me so well, and I loved the guys I work with, and I loved our players, But like I said, I just didn't want to do it for the wrong reasons. Yeah, yeah, So this is something I like to ask because you know, I'm a native from here. Uh, you know, been here my entire life. You were actually in school at the U of A at the same time. We're about the same age. You're a few months older than me. But you know you're from somewhere
else. But yet you know you're here, You're here in town. You know your your dad played baseball, so you know you've probably traveled a bunch. Why Tucson. Well, I grew up in western Pennsylvania in a small town called New Brighton, and it was a great place to grow up. I mean great, you knew everybody, and and and I wouldn't change it for the world. And you know, when I came out here as an
eighteen year old, it took me a little while. I mean I was homesick and took me a while, but once I got used to it out here, this kind of became home. And for a lot of good reasons. I mean, it's a it's a wonderful place. I like the idea that just about everything revolves around the university. I think that gives the city of Tucson less of a kind of a snarky attitude, and I think it
permeates throughout the throughout Tucson, and I really like that. I was on the internet today and just randomly saw some clips whatever it was, and it was it was the Boston New York rivalry of all the fights and stuff. Could you talk to me real quick a guy who have no idea of how that was, How big of a rivalry was it, and how crazy was it? Well, I'll tell you it was so big that Jon Joe Torre was their manager who I really respected, but we would never talk on the
field. I would always go meet him out behind in the tunnel because fans did not want to see that. And so again, I you know, it was what I thought was so good about it? What were the players? The players on both sides were so good and I got a big kick out of that, but I didn't get you know, and unless they start rewarding you for extra credit when you win, or you get docked more when you lose, it's still well, you know, we didn't change our rotation.
We didn't do things like that because I just didn't believe in that. Do you do you have any kind of an ongoing relationship with Dave Roberts because we don't know about the you know, the role he played in that, you know, in that ALCS when you guys came back to beat the Yankees. I mean, you know he's a manager. Now did you run across him much? Do you guys? Ever? You know, reminisce and have
a beer over over all of that. We haven't had a beer. But every time we play in spring training, you know, when the game's over and everybody's kind of walking out through right field, I put my arm around him and we have a good laugh together, and I mean a warm, good laugh because that is something that will stay with me my whole life. And he is such a good I call him a kid. He's a man, and he's doing a great job. But he's just such a good person
that you know they say good things happen to good people. Well he kind of lived that out. So you say that, bring it up, because right we talked to Matt and Meilboch a couple of weeks ago. We had Pete Williams here last week. We're going to talk to Curve soon. And you you let me say this, all good guys who have this competitive fire in them. Just because you're good guys doesn't mean you're not pain in the
next beat. Does that make any sense? And I hope so? And so I don't you know, I think you have to be true to yourself, and I think you can be a good person and find ways to be honest with players without beating them over the head or making them feel, you know, like crap. I watched the Kurr all the time, and I have so much respect for how he does things and the things that come out
of his mouth. And I see Matt mull balk out of the games all the time, and I marveled that, you know, he went his whole career and never lost the game at McHale and he's just such a joy to say hello to. So that's you know again, they're they're good people. And that's what makes it more fun. Well, and then now you have a school coach a lot like that. I'll tell you what. They hit a home run, man, they they hit a home run. This guy is I mean, you know when loud Olsen came here, I got season
tickets in nineteen eighty three. In fact, I was telling Steve Kerr that the other day, and they were up a little higher than they are now. But with Tommy here, they are in really good hands and it's exciting and I love it, man. I mean I know when they're playing, and my schedule will revolve around that. That's cool, all right. So I got to ask you, what do you got to do to get the
seats more towards the center over there? Because it's here, like you're like four seats in from the end, and so we all know that, you know, more towards the center costs more. So you're gonna buy those out from those guys? What are you going to do there? Way? And not to be too silly, but I think he had to wait for somebody to pass away, or you know, those seats are hard to get. I'm pretty happy with one. I'm at I love It's one of my funnest
things to do. And it's just a treat that I kind of treated myself because me and my buddy Bill have been going to these games, like I said, since nineteen eighty three, and it's just really special. And with Tommy in town, it's gotten special again and it's exciting. You might want to just give him a hint that you have a name a facility named after you at High Corbett. Maybe that gets you in a little bit. Yeah,
you know, you know, Tommy came. I don't know if he told everybody, but he came to Cleveland for a couple of days and in September, and he said he wanted to kind of watch how we did things. In the first game, we got to beat so bad our backup catcher had to pitch four innings, which had never happened before. But we stayed there till about two thirty in the morning, and we talked and we talked, and the coaches just ate him up. They couldn't get enough of them.
So his personality, he's pretty infectious. Yeah, no question, they are in good hands. There's no doubt about that. We'll see what happens. So just what do you think about the team itself, because you've now witnessed them against Duke and now with Wisconsin. They are so incredibly deep that because you know stuff's gonna happen. It's a long year and guys get banged up and things happen, but they seem to me to be situated to handle that. And I mean, I give them credit, man, this is
not a powder puff schedule. They're getting after it. I mean they got to go. You know, they Purdue on the road, they got some games that are at neutral sites, but they're playing really good teams. I just think I just think it's exciting. I mean, nobody has a crystal ball, but that's kind of the fun of it is to watch the journey and just see how these kids do and and it's exciting. Man, Yes it is. Well, Terry, thank you very much. Appreciate the time.
But we'll see you at the base of the basketball games. You better believe it. Thanks guys, haven't been week okay, you too, Thank you much. Thank you. Last time I asked him how do you get a baseball? So if he knew that, I guess he'll still be exactly yeah, exactly, good great guy. I'll always always pray to us. You do see him around, you know, around the basketball program and just all the sports. Right, you're about the same age by sixty four,
what are you now? She's four. He's like four months older than me. But I think he's made a little more money. He's in a different tax break. Yeah, a little bit, yeah bit. Okay, all right, thanks, thank you Kerry for joining us. We'll be back. We'll take your costs by zero, four, one, six, seventy four, forty. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era
in my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's the Loved Coach. Lessons from Newton is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one email media Steve dot Rivera ninety five at gmail
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Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Hey, welcome back to the ball, Gerol, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay, get Kevin got Ilion ilion elyon Early on Ellion ellon eleon he as we say, that's taking piece out for me I'm from northern New Mexico. Jeff, you got a twelve minutes if you guys want to call five two oho four one six four forty. We already had one good color and maybe make it a second one. Yep, yep, talk about whatever you guys want to talk about.
Great to talk to Terry Francone. It was great. He's again always uh, you know, just generous with his time with us. We've had him, you know, over the years. You can tell he's enjoying life right now, just hanging out, going to ball games. I mean, how about that trip right he said he went to the Duke game that went up to the Pencil Michigan football game. You know, that's that's why he worked
as hard as he did. Sure that you know, in the end, he can do whatever he wants to do, and you got to respect, you know, a chance to do all that. It's very cool. It's always it's always great having him back in the building for basketball games. It's all the famous alums coming back. It adds it adds a palpable buzz to the building. Well yeah, I mean because you think, Okay, here's this guy who's done all these things and he's here to watch. Yeah,
you know your team you must think where something this year? Yeah? So, but yeah, he sits in the he's in the front row. It helps to have a schedule like they have to be. You know, Skurt would not have come had it not been for Wisconsin. He would not have gone to Duke if it wasn't Duke, obviously, which is great because it's going to continue to be this way this weekend. I'm sure there's gonna be
some people Purdue. Well, this stretching three games, Steve, I mean, do you recall actually, let's come, let's say four with Wisconsin, you know, yeah, I mean outside of outside of a Nancy Double a tournament, but or or a Maui Classic or something like that. Just r a stretch of four regular season games like this. Well, you can push the five FAU coming up in Alabama, we had Colgate, Okay, then okay, then it was Wisconsin, Wisconsin, Uh, Wisconsin, Purdue,
Alabama FAU. Well back in ninety seven eight, Well, we'll talk about it. We'll take this call. Hi, you're on the air and I on the ball. Hi, guys, it's Jim. What's up? Jim? Well, I wanted to call while you were there and and fess up for my bat against you daw lit a while three weeks ago. But he thought Utah would dominate the line of scrimmage and they did not. Yep, they did not. And that's where that's where the game went for Utah.
They got they got man handled, and I didn't expect that. Yeah, I mean, and and nobody's dominated the line of scrimmage against Arizona all year long, now, nobody, not USC Washington. I'd say line of scrimmage was you know, a push. But they had Michael Pennix, who should have won the Heisman Trophy and they and you know, and they won that game. Mississippi State didn't dominate them. In fact, it looked to me
like they really dominated Missippi State. They just made too many heirs. USC didn't dominate anybody all year long, so you know, uh that that's what set this team apart from the others. Yeah, it was a little bit hard to tell where that line was going, and I mean the line in the stand. But it's obvious now that the University of Arizona football team owns the line of scrimmage for now, right you know, they right now they
have that yeah. Because now the other thing I wanted to get out a little bit is, you know, watching all these developments with the FACT twelve going in the way of history, I've got a chink that two or maybe three five star players and what we've gone to immense expanse of real estate here that isn't covered by very good opportunities. What do you mean by that? I think two or three five star players are going to end up at the
University of Arizona that wouldn't have otherwise. If if it's back twelve, it state in back Oh yeah, yeah, Well that's been the question from the day that USC and UCLA announced that they were leaving the PAC twelve. It's like, okay, you're playing in l A. You got all these players that play and they love playing on the West Coast and their parents get to go to games and stuff like that. How many of them are going to want to travel that were all their all their road games are the closest one
is miss is Nebraska. Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna be anxious to lead son in Arizona to goes sit in the stand a foot of snow in my butt. Yeah, you're right. You're right, correct. I think that boat. I think that bodes well even more so for Jed and his recruiting average. And I think it'll take a while for us to see how that develops. But I think that's a thing. I think it's already developedment. I think things are moving at the speed of thought. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right. Thanks from thank the momin All righty man, thanks for calling. Appreciate it. See you. So to go back to your question to me about the scheduling, there's two times that I can remember, but it does include the Maled Classic. So in ninety seven ninety eight, after they won the title, they had everybody back right, and it was the preseason number one they came back from from the Maled Classic. They lost to Duke in the championship game.
Then they played Kansas here if you remember they lost. They went to Texas and they won. No, not that year, they lost ninety seven. That year it was a great game. I remember that game. They went to Texas. One there at Baylor they won their How I remember the Baylor game was the Tuna Fish Girl. What's her name is Jessica Simpson? She sang the national anthem. Wow, she was eighteen nineteen at the time.
Okay, And then that year and then the twenty twenty two thousand and one when they were really really good, probably my best team that I thought they were. They had gone to Maui, they had won Maui, They went to Purdue, they lost to Purdue. Out there. It was just like a whirlwind trip. I remember going to Hi, coming home real quick, going to Purdue, and then they played at Connecticut. And remember the
Connecticut game. Yes, that was the Bobby that was the Ludolfsen didn't show up for the game trip and that was the goaltending called by Barristeros Palastos and with Lauren Woods. So that was the significant significance of that. And they played l a shoe one. So in Illinois. They went to Connecticut, loss and played at Illinois. So that was a crazy time. Yeah. So it's back to those fun, great, great times, right, and having a bunch of games like that in a row right where it's where it's
the norm. It's not right, right, I mean, this stretching game is crazy, No it is. But guess what, they're the best team of the country. They really are right now. So no excuses. Yeah, you know, no excuses. Every team wants to beat them now. Yeah, well interesting because you know, I was talking about this article that came out Sports Illustrated today and uh who wrote Kevin Sweeney, right, yeah, Kevin, Uh yeah, Kevin Sweeney. Okay, there are seven unbeaten
uh yeah, you know Power five whatever basketball teams. Arizona is one of them. So he was he was picking, okay, who when is each one gonna have its first loss? And he picked their little news to to to produce score? Does a score? No, he just said, you just said that the you know, uh he said first loss, you know, December sixteen versus Perdue. But you know, saying that, look, they've done all this and if they win all of those games, you know,
they could be undefeated for quite a while. Sure, you know, because U C L a USC are are showing that they're just crapped. Sure, right, And there isn't anybody in the league but you and I and you said this is gonna lose a game. You're gonna lose a game. No team has goun undefeated in the Pac twelve or Pac ten. Ever, there was only another three twenty games seventeen and one. I was seventeen to three times, right, an, there's twenty games. Yeah, you never
know. I mean, come on, remember the USC game when they Bibby and and Miles and all of them went to USC and that that shot that Spanish hit, Yeah, and it should have gone out and it popped in and fell and they they won. I was at one of those, the ninety two team. Uh they were. They were in the Bay Area the last weekend and they had Calkel and I my wife and I remember that game. I remember that the guy that Todd Boseman, the head coach, he
just got in trouble. He had just gotten the job because he got got fired. Yeah, and they and they lost that and I remember being at
that game. I was at the Why maybe I'm the guy because I was at I was at the one loss in the in the conference loss in the eighty eighteen Obviously that was covering the team that lit and that team, so you know, it's hard to do no, even even good Stanford teams that had a chance to do it. They I said that to Montgomery, I don't know, fifteen twenty years ago, you have a chance to go on and he looked at me like, shut the hell up. What are you
bringing the scrap for? You know, how gonna happen? Because you know it's a it's a dumb question, but it's a legit question. I mean, there's just a game that just things don't happen. For travel, you got to get to the somebody plays out of their mind. You know, you see it all the time. But you know, this game with Purdue though, this is fun, you know. I know. I got kind of way late at my breakfast meeting this morning, like how do you get
Peacock? You know, because the game's on Peak, you know, And I Toldally, I said, if you're a Comcast customer, if you're expindited, and I think if your cocks as well, you get it as part of your pack. He had no idea, he'd never even been on it. And I'm like, you know, and then you got, excuse an older dude, what what is it. I'm a big Peacock dude, because
because I can get all the datelines I could ever want on Peacock. And then Dan Patrick's on Peacock, so it's like the first it's like the first streaming network on all my TVs. So so you have a lot of people at the house this week, and we might we might actually we do because we're we've got I got I got things going on this week. I got
a graduation this week Saturday, well it's actually Thursday. Then we're throwing the party on Saturday during the game after and then we've got a first birthday or my grandson on gon to be a Gonzales. We're gonna be feeding a lot of people. Man, this is like, dang the familiar you never even knew exactly coming in. They're coming in, man, coming in hot, because coming in hungry. Well open the food. I mean, I mean we're talking back to back party. So well, one's at our house and
one is at my son's house. But we live in the same neighborhood, so okay. So but yeah, it's like trigger treating in the Gonzales. Are that Julian man, He's he's gonna be a year old on Saturday? Crazy crazy crazy, Okay, So good, good first hour, Yeah, very good. A call or to yep stick around. We're gonna get Helena Playo. Got it again. I can't believe she's in her fifth year here.
We're gonna get her on and talk about this big game they've got with Texas tomorrow, tomorrow, right, and then we'll take your calls after that, five two zero four one, right, breaking news here at the top of the hour with excuse me, with Kevin. He's all over, right back, all over on the ball. Just fin don't believe, just win, Believe, Believe,