Tuesday, February 25, Hour 2

Breaking down all the ipsays and ohs. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.

Hey, welcome back to my in the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. I'm busy, busy afternoon. Now in studio, we have mister Aaron Crowley from The Color Guard Classic joining us with Blake Eager. Oh he doesn't need it. I don't think he's. Oh fine, yeah, hey today, so fine. Good to see you to the busy guys. You're busy in that you're busy now, I don't getting ready for your tournament and about end.

A little bit.

Yeah, and Blake here is with the WBC and they start Sunday.

Yeah.

Great sports week for the Rodeo is just finished. Yeah, you start here in a few days. You start right after two young dudes. I wish I had your guys career.

I think we're occupying a little hotel space too, right.

We are.

Yeah, and we had to we moved our event for their event the date that we were supposed to start the week and they're starting, and we knew how important Color Guard is to the community, so we actually moved it up and that's why that Wednesday's off because they have their pro am and then our Thursday night is a night game. So totally conflict with anything with them, okay, because there could be some audience interaction, I would hope. So, yeah, you want you want both of them going to the

Yeah.

Yeah, in your time, we haven't talked about this. How many people you think you're going to show up in totality?

Hope?

I mean it would be great if we could have twenty five thousand in totality. Yeah, I think that's a realistic view. If we could get that, that'd be great.

And for you, Senior Eric, probably thirty five.

Oh really for the three days to the three days okay, And that's pretty that's pretty u comfortable. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, we've we've been between the nine and ten each day, yeah, last yeah, the last few years, so okay, okay, and it's at least the ticketed right, So who see if we get that many bodies.

Yeah, I say twenty five and that's including a lot of yeah tickets out there that are making sure there's butts in the sea, correct ye.

Right, So we were talking about the weather. Look how it is right now? Right, I need a lot of wood to knock on.

My well.

You were talking about maybe a little cool next week. Yeah, we're not gonna even talk about it.

Weather seventy three whatever, and you've had you've had great weather, so we So it's funny. I think of it in two aspects, because of the tournament play itself as important, that is, but our two program days. So the last three years we've had weather issues on our Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Yeah, heavy rain, yeah, yeah, but that makes for like you know, remember when you had that and the pictures and all that and not that it helps, but yeah, it's it's during the Cool Guard Classic, they came out and it was still cold and they still played and ye had snowball fights.

And that's yeah. A few years back. I think it was not even the year that we had snow. We had some lighter snow earlier in the week and it stayed cool enough behind all the hospitality since it didn't have Sunno.

Right, right, it's funny.

You guys have never met before, and you guys, as I know, most of the Conkey stores too, Yeah, like Dan Lintel and all those guys and then yeah, but Dan's taken over. I think he's in charge of Centurions this year. So yeah, I'm pretty sure he is so nice. Tom Clark's been one of my close friends of mentors from lunch he see is one of my favorite.

Yeah, the man, what are these things that we've talked about before and I've had re floors and all that. How everybody comes together like you are skipping Wednesday because of that? You know what I'm saying. It's everybody's pulling the same rope to success. We're trying to.

I mean, I think not just from our standpoint, our job, the authority's job, so there's on sports churism film authority is to uplift and promote and market the communities that we represent. So, I mean, I said it before, but the color Guard's ingrained into our DNA of who we are. We don't want to we don't want to mess with that. We want to make sure that we're creating success as much as as possibly can the same, right.

I mean, I think that's and we've got some bigger restrictions with the PGA tour and and kind of win oh short and get seedtled out within them. So, I mean, I know that kind of plays in because you're right before the book festival and the tournament and the tournament or the PAC twelve tournament you know now, but you know what I'm saying, it's kind of like the small

Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy.

I mean, especially coming out of you know, COVID a few years back, where a lot of the restaurants were utilizing the tent structures. Right, it could be outside but there we could a different day. But yeah, So trying to find and maneuver that capacity of where we could get our structure built.

Well, you're in a big small town, yeah, you know, everybody's.

Million and a half a rural area, right yeah, right, right, So so where are you at now with things?

Because you're starting a week a little more than a week.

Yeah, So we've got we're officially on property Saturday, but we've been there for a while now with our structure builds. So our events start to kick off Sunday. So we have an AMM event on Sunday. So we got a bunch of amateurs that come out and I scramble.

Have each of you slept? I mean no, I did.

I mean it's funny if somebody in the we're teaming up with a snoop dog irisona Ble and one of the Benchi look ast me today when we were walking to a garage and he's like, how's your sleep schedule? And I was like, I just wake up at one am and then my brain's like, whoa did you remember to do this? And then three hours later I'm like, yeah, I don't remember what I was thinking about.

Yeah, it's it's it's a four to four to five hours sleep right now. And it's almost the exact same thing. I was up at two thirty the other day and I'm.

Like, from a cold swept did I do that?

Yeah? It wasn't you know I've had I've had a few of those. This one was like I got some stuff to do.

Yeah, it's it's starting to I mean it's getting it's the exciting time now, to be honest with I mean, most of the stuff that we're still going to worry about it, but there's if there's things I'm worrying about now it's not right.

Well, that's that's the thing you you have, and I'm sure both of you guys have this army of people helping. Oh you you're part of the concustators. They're you know, on there, your combat people.

Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely mean there's fifty fifty four of us that have been you know, working our tail off for the last year. That helps, and then the other two hundred plus members that we have that that that helped throughout, and then our volunteer base. I think we're up over four hundred and fifteen volunteers.

Yeah.

And without them, oh, it doesn't We're not doing it.

I know that from our tour because we need those people to hand out things and metals and directions and YadA YadA.

There are a handful of volunteers that we have that know more about our golfe meant than Yeah, some concuisittors.

I mean, it's no shot against them, those volunteers.

Yeah, yeah, and they want and they want to be part of them. Yeah, they want to be part of it. There was something I want to ask, uh, oh, no, it'll come to me. You know how these days are when you get older Uh, well, it's funny really quick about the two events going on because we both have to answer to somebody else and that's a PGA for you guys and MLB for us.

So we get I'm sure you get the same thing where people are like, well, we'll just do this, and I'm like, yeah, that.

Doesn't work that way. It sure sounds great.

We have to get approval and then we have to get another piece of approval, and then we have to go through this because people are like, well, just do this, and I'm like, yeah, that's not how it works.

And I know you guys have been dealing with that forever. No exact same thing.

Yeah, that's exactly.

And we've got our tour liaison and our tour official that we have Kevin Diaz is phenomenal, so we come to him with, hey, so we want to do this. Can you run that up the food chain for us and find out if we can?

Yeah, gotta get approvals for approvals. I just had to read those conversations. Yeah, yeah, I love it. It's fun. So what's what's next. What's the pressing thing?

Because you're selling tickets still, yeah, and our concert that's the biggest thing, right, now I mean our most of our hospitality ticket packages, we still have some available.

So I mean if anyone wants to to come.

Out to Club sixty two, our Trophy terror so those are our two biggest all inclusive mostly all inclusive trophy terars.

You got to buy food, but you get the drinks. Those are still available. Court hold our classic that is on Fairway sixteen.

Yeah, so from that one you actually get to see the t shot and then approach shot into the parking.

Is that's what you guys are in.

We're on eighteen eighteen, okay, yeah, and then you get to see the fairway in on eighteen. So it's actually it's a great spot.

Yeah it is.

You have a beautiful backdrop, so right, that kind of helps there. Now we're on eighteen and.

There's a lot.

It's not the it's not the waste management crazy stuff. It's it's the you know, hey, how are you?

Yeah, it's our version of it, right, so yeah, Well as rowdy as sixty five year old people could get.

Well, it's interesting. So the and we're trying to figure out.

It's exactly right.

Well, I'm living right there.

That's that I had a way better time at the color Guard than I waste management. I had the worst day of my life the waste management. I love the color guard. Yah, it's not my favorite up there. But yeah, no, the the whole our whole seventeen. So it's kind of our signature par three that we finished.

We've done a little bit more of a wrap job on that one with with regards to hospitality, and that's one of our ticketed items. But the Champions Tour players have come accustomed them too. There's there's heckling that goes on. Yeah, yeah, there's it's it's a little bit more uh yeah, less reserve.

Okay, there on eighteen because I just got the call from Vands called him in there.

You baby love it. Yeah yeah, we're on eighteen. So we've got a command of there onything and that's fantastic. That holds fantastic. It's a beautiful You get to see you guys.

Coming up and and you know, like I said, i'd like to be Uh what's the guy said?

I wanted to be.

God, don't get old. The guy who watchs like you know, he's uh, you know God. I just loved it. We'll find I just had his name earlier. Uh, no, fantastic time. So is there a best day to go besides the championship game or in championship the final Thursday Friday.

And you still have tickets, call them Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we still have tickets for So call guard Classic dot com for for our tickets. There's general mission tickets and then Dove Club tickets would get you into the clubhouse. Yeah, and some viewing from the eighteenth hole there. But the big push right now is our concert. So yeah, c Q Fest Stack. I'm getting my hips ready so you won't break one. A little bit of Ice, Ice, Tone Loak and Rob Bass for Friday night and then co Wetzel.

Right, I'm sure that's been pretty Both of them have been pretty popular both nights they have.

Yeah, so this is the first time that we've done two nights. Yeah.

So last year was fantastically Midland on Friday Night, which over at the the til Park.

The racetrack was a perfect setup.

So we've made that a little bit bigger to accommodate a larger fan based this year.

So so my story for Bisinus song with you. You know you've seen that place a thousand times, every you know, every nook and cranny, right, because you had to make sure everything is right. Uh, just a dumb question because I know the answer. Probably Would you do this again? Because you guys switch every year, right we do? Yeah, I would because it's it's fun.

I mean, it's it's it's hard, it's a ton of work, but I mean it's an apps blast. And if we can hit close to the numbers that I'm tracking and hoping that we can hit from a sales standpoint, and what we can give, I mean, it's worth every bit of nightless sleep to be able to give back the way that we can.

I think the numbers I used and you may be better than what I'm going to say. Seven hundred thousand.

Yeah, that's what that was our last year's community impact. Between us, the tour and Color Guard, we were able to give back to the Tucson community over seven hundred and fifty thousand, And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. One hundred percent. I mean, as I mentioned when you, when you and I were talking about in the article. I mean one dollar changes of life, So anything above that we're winning.

Yeah, and I'm sure you will aware of this. I think this these guys, these guys the color Guard, the Classic, there's no better partnership because it's right in our wheelhouse for the testing and all that. Because I guess now they're going to forty forty five, forty five forty five and you have these great stories of the people coming in their survivors. I mean, come on, you're gonna either cry or or be happy for their success.

You know.

It's the partnership with col of Guard because you know, we've had corporate sponsors in the past for you know, the Tucson Open, you know, back in the day and when we were Center match Play, and those are great institutions.

But I think the.

Fabric of what color Guard by Exact Science does and getting to hear the stories and how they utilize this platform to showcase their survivors and caregivers so they bring them out for the entire week. I think they're going to try to host over four hundred and fifty this week for the tournament and one of our exemption picks

Oh yeah, yeah.

So we got a few of survivors that had reached out asking for him to be able to participate based on on his affiliation last year, and then also some affiliate with FAMO members and colon cancer.

So I mean that just makes it all so so blake. When you were growing up, who did you watch? Who did you see? When you were like, it was these guys, right, yeah, so anybody that you kind of signed up, sorry's going to be here.

But you're talking about from golf.

I mean you grew up.

I mean we grew up in a kind of a golf family too, So you're you're telling this there they they've aged out or they're passed away.

But like Lee Trevino and oh yeah yeah, yeah yeah. But but even now the guys that it's like, who do you have?

Who do you have? You have? The crazy bearded John Daily.

He's been going some surgery he's been the last two years.

Yeah, I was gonna say, but when he's here, it's like, oh, it's yeah, his following is Yeah, it's a show.

What about the what about the pro am? On the celebrity side.

So we are and it hasn't been fully announced yet, but Barstool Sports is going to be doing a little bit of a challenge, kind of a three hole challenge with some of the pros, which will be a pretty cool social media following there.

So they're going to going to do an influencer thing.

Okay, but for our celebrity stuff, we we've kind of gone away from the celebrity challenge component. It was just too hard to facilitate to bring them in or yeah, yeah.

And it wasn't. I think it's more influencers that people are firing.

So it's not necessarily like getting Larry Fitzgerald to come out and play golf.

That's a good fall Instagram girls right now.

I know, no, and I don't. I don't do that. I don't know, so I don't know those guys are anyway.

So yeah, right smart smart, Yeah, yeah, no, you guys do it, do it right? Yeah, three straight days sports. I mean we've got again, going kind of going back to our age group. I mean there's a few. Oh you have the guys from well last year. Who's Stuart saying bad the previous year? The previous year, who's the the spend spend Miguel On Hell yes, and he was.

Yeah, he's a fantastic dude. Oh yeah, yeah. He always has a cigar smoking slog. He's always yeah yeah the time, just still Wills still wears metal spikes. Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah, I love it. Did you fix the He's not big enough for heavy enough to do any of that, right, I mean that's the problem though.

Yeah.

Now it's uh, I mean we've got a great field starting to come together. So Stuart Sink will be back, Steve Stricker, Bernhard Langer, Ernie Els.

It's their huge names easy, yeah, and that's yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, you remember these kids or as a kid, you ran them golfing, and they're not too much older than me.

No, and they can still move the golf ball to them and these guys are sure crazy good.

It'll come to me once.

That's a one great thing about golf though, it's it's it's almost I don't want to say it's ageless or timeless, but I mean you can play into your seventies, maybe a little bit into your early eighties. Like I would love to see that in other sports, Like I want to see NFL like stend into the Champions League and they've got just guys just just in the straight flag.

Well in your in your area that you have coming up. Who's what's the age rage for the World Baseball Classic? It's it's baseball, So it's.

Yeah, you've got a lot of young guys for like Brazil and Germany. Those are you're you're talking Andrea Agacy and Steffie Grafts kid just that fresh out at usc Manny Ramirez's son, Dante Bouchett's son, and then you're looking at Columbia's roster. It's kind of a mix, right, Jose Kantana, Gio Urschelo, those guys are all into that like late twenties, mid thirties, in that prime age.

Okay, that's it's crazy following baseball too.

I'm a pretty big baseball fan, but you know, watching the sons of guys that you.

Know, yeah, that we grew up going like come on, Manny's being manny.

Yeah, let's go.

We've got to take a break here and come back and talk more about all this stuff.

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

Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera and with me today color Guard Classics Aaron Crowley and the World Baseball Classics. Mister Blake Eager. Where are you from, although also we're both from Tucson. No, no, no, your other.

Job, oh Southern Arizona sports tourism in film authority.

And then mister Aaron is one of my brief sponsors with RBC.

RBC Wealth Management. Yeah, thank you guys, thank you very much, big, big time. This is I love this time of year.

I like November, the weather and all that stuff before we get ten days of you know, ten days of which are already passed that right, Yeah, it's going to be in the eighties. I think it is in the eighties today, a will be for a while. Yeah, hopefully it'll be in the mid seventies next week for you guys. Perfect time of year, I mean, just perfect time. Yeah, I love it. Yeah.

I just think it's wild for the amount of things that we've been I mean, like Tucson has shown out and has continuing show out for like like six weeks in a row. It's crazy, right, And that's why I was posing for us, Like, you get a week long professional sports.

When's the last time.

Tucson had a week long literally a week long from Sunday to Sunday of professional athletes in town.

Yeah, you know, yeah, and then there's basketball. You get the road Runners going on right now, the road is going to start, yeah, yeah, looking to end.

Yeah, they're going right now. Yeah.

Did you guys get out to the rodeo?

I did Sunday? Yeah, perfect day, another one of those great days.

Packed, absolutely packed. We were out there. Uh So in twenty eighteen two so key sitters.

Were Grand Marshall Hu and so for one hundred year they brought back as many Grand Marshals as that's awesome. We got to the executive director, Jeff Hell and I road in the back of Oh nice cool. He's the second year and he's like his second year way he waved, he needs to get better. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Was it just a dead fish?

Yeah, dead fish? No, No, just town.

This town, you know it's it's Maybury sometimes, you know, because it's it is what it is.

But it has a lot of cool stuff. I mean, come on, it does. Yeah.

I think it's just getting better and better too, right right, No, we just got to keep it. If you can you talk about the future, is this a trial?

But what is this? Can you talk about the future? What do you want me to talk about? Which if you knocking out of the park, will you be back? If you don't knock out the park, will you be back?

If we do really, if we if we succeed in our venture with this, we're going to be in really really good shape for three more events. Uh and potentially a couple of teams, a couple of teams.

Right, we talked about that really good shape baseball could be back.

I hope, I really hope to be able to announce something here in the next month. And now, Steve, I told you that for like seven months. But hey, I did do it. Listen, we did deliver, right, I mean I did deliver.

I was all of dis asked for everything. You got the story what it was, I just come out, should tell me.

Yeah, So there's some things happening right now behind closed doors that are really good.

Tucson is it?

You know?

I got here in eighty seven and it wasn't a dusty town. It was just you know, a little slower. Now it's like mad.

Let's go.

Well, when Aaron and I were growing up, you had, I mean we I'm just talking from a baseball standpoint. You had spring training, you had Triple A Baseball. Tucson's the home of USA Baseball, and you had I believe we still had an Arizona Fall League team down here, and I think, like in a blink of eye, that's all gone, you know, and so thank goodness for I mean, like the road Runners being here, that's huge, The Sugar Skulls FC Tucson like, well.

You know, being wanting to watch that. I mean, having a pretty good squad out there.

And also I'm sure the people that involved, like the realle, those people have a care or have a want to make this thing happen.

I just think you have so many people pushing in the right to like it's the first time that I felt and this is probably m might be putting my foot in my mouth a little bit that, Uh, Tucson's being proactive and not reactive, which I don't ever remember a time like that. And and I think we have a lot of positive momentum.

And I know you hate that word.

No, no, it works in this yeah, in this regard right, not when on offense is gelling together, right, But no, I mean it's great.

Yeah, it's great for us.

You guys are paying attention than Yeah, I agree with.

You, I think.

I mean, our partnership with Lapalona has been amazing.

Yeah, I mean who would think it, right, who would think? But it's ideal. It's a great place. You already have the traffic situated, the parking situated. Yeah, and that's what people would think it's taken care of.

Yeah, I mean, and not this is not a shot at Omni.

I mean we've had over our sixty year history of running golf tournaments, thirty nine years at Omni on and off, and I mean it's it's a great facility and a great golf course. And yeah, you know, I was, you know, first thinking and when La Palomo was brought into the conversation, and there was a couple of other venues that we were looking at too, but you know, it's one of the prestigious clubs in Tucson, right, So from a golf standpoint, you know, they don't need us. Not that Omni did

Had with them.

I gotta give you guys a ton of credit to because I think when you made that change and the decisions behind closed doors and you made that change and you picked lat Plum, I think a lot of people in public were like, well, how's that going to work with the three Nines? And it doesn't make sense, and like there's not a up. Every person I talked to that went to that event that year said the same thing that it was absolutely phenomenal. You guys did such a phenomenal job with.

That, and tell us the situation now because you're using two nights, right, Yeah, so we're operating off of all three nine, So we've got if you're familiar with the Courser's Ridge, Hill, Canyon are the three nines that they have.

A little bit tough.

But so you talked about you're gonna be a Fox at least two or three days. Yeah, we've got three games on Fox Sports, so and you're gonna be on the Gulf Channel. So so tell me, you guys are showing the city showing you know, these things, that's kind of invaluable property views.

I mean, you can a week long commercial of how beautiful in March.

Yeah, you can't pay, you can pay for it?

Yeah, yeah, no, no, sorry, we should. Yeah, especially I.

Mean with you know, having you know, nationalized television games for for you guys, and having people, you know, cheeks in the seats. Yeah, I love the cheeks in the seats, empty stadium type of picture. Hey, look how beautiful this can be? And then the same for us. I mean not that Lappelom is not beautiful in its own right, but when you put hospitality structures and you've got that backshop with the grass, and I mean how it all works together.

Sure?

Sure?

And do you know those numbers obviously with viewers and things like that, not sure.

I'm sure it was pretty well viewed.

And yeah, I don't have the exact numbers of yeah, I mean it's yeah.

Yeah, and for you it's going to be worldwide, I would assuming worldwide.

Yeah.

So they just finished the other they finished the other qualifier in Chinese type A, and we were we were all over it like everything that we were on the outfield signage, we were on the scoreboard. We were on the runner and we're on the ticker right now on MLB every single spring training game. So that viewership. And so we've got three games on Fox Sports, and we've got three games on MLB Network and uh, I mean

You have you have people who watch baseball, right uh, and and you have people who watch the national out there there's national teams, national teams. What's more powerful? It's a tough question to ask and only explain why. So the final for the last World Baseball Classic, when you had USA VERUS Japan drew ninety nine point five million views. Now a lot of those viewers were from Japan. So

It's phenomenal. Yeah.

For golf, and I know you see the guys walking around to get to their places. They're they're pretty friendly. Obviously. Now their careers are kind of now that's the kind of like the country club career of what they do.

Very.

Easy to easy to find and maybe get a signature. Yeah.

More so.

Yeah, I think for a couple of reasons.

Ones, the crowds aren't as as large, right, so I think it's a little easier and more comfortable more comfortable, and and they know why they're there, and they know the impact that this tournament still has, and and the fact of the work that we put in to put it on. They're very appreciative of that because it gets them the opportunity to keep playing.

A game for life.

Right, No, no, yeah, And it's less it's less stressful to them.

Right. And they still have groupies.

Oh for sure. They stays all in ys like wait, Freddy couples.

Is He's like numbers?

Could I can I look like Freddy? That was the guy I was trying to figure out you came up with the run away. He walks like, oh, that's ready.

Ye no, I You know, with LPG and Ebsen, we supported some of their tour events and got to play in the Proram, which was a phenomenal event that we were really lucky. But Darren's point the golf world is so the ability for them to be welcoming is exceedingly special because they do the pro ams right, so they're out in the public and they know how much it means for those communities, especially for this because will is unbelievable.

It would be the Champions Tour. I mean, like that would be my dream, would it not?

Yeah?

If I could play?

Yeah, yes, And that's and typically I mean with it being a three day event, there's no cuts and you've got to feel right yah, yeah, you're I think just from a deliverable standpoint versus you know, the regular tour that may have depend on the event itself one hundred and twenty five right right with with Caddie's personnel. Then you've got to feed all those bodies, Like, there's a lot that goes.

Into that aspect.

So I think we can go a little bit over the top, and we typically do because you know how important this is we don't, you know, you want to.

Make sure we take care of it. So what's your duty? What like, Yes, come Friday, Saturday Sunday, are you walking the course kind of like cocktails?

No?

Just kidding, Yeah, you know, I need to be stressed doing it every day.

There'll be some components to it.

I mean, I think our Friday Saturday of this week that we start to kind of build out the structures with with our team here now and kind of take over the golf course and get it ready what we call show ready for our Sunday amm. I'll have a little bit of stress around that, just making sure that you know, if there's loose ends that we can make sure we have those tied up. And then our first like real event that takes place. We've got our special Olympics on Monday, so we've got Monday.

Three, a three hour event.

And that's another thing that's just very special phenomenal. So we've got I think fifteen players. They'll be playing the three whole Challenge and that's awesome. Just under one hundred players. We'll be doing our putting challenge, so we're going to have I think two hundred and fifty lunches serve that day to parents guardians, which is awesome. And then we have our our parents party for our program on Tuesday night,

I mean, from that point on, it's it kind.

Of is what it is right right, No, that's going right here, and then Sunday it's like climber's remorse and you're halfway through the mountains. I don't want to do this anymore. You get to the top, you said, God, I can't wait to do it again.

Yeah.

It's definitely a different stress level now at this position than you know, my first This is year nine that I've been doing this. But you know, our our rookie year is longer days. Oh yeah, you know backbreak my bags Felipe Garcia of rookie last year.

The yeah. So yeah, all these guys have been through the ringer. Yeah, yeah, right, everybody does it.

So it doesn't matter what your walk of life or where you come from outside.

Of it, we all kind of go through.

Who's who's the guy next year? I be talking year most likely Dan mental okay, you you're.

Talking about it right, Yeah, over centurions. I think this.

Yeah, if he does not do something horrendously wrong next week, then most likely and.

You never know that you don't know about Dan.

Dan lose Canada that way, So yeah, you know that's uh, that's kind of who's who's next line?

So he's my assistant tournament chair this year, right right? Tell me real quick, I know you've got to go.

Yeah, maybe not. Maybe you can stay say tell me, uh tickets all that stuff?

Where to go, how to get.

Tickets color Guard Classic dot com. You can go for golf tickets. You can access the concert tickets from there as well, or you can go to r o c qfest dot com. Come out support that if if golf doesn't work for you Friday, Saturday, Sunday and you want to come out one of the concerts, come out Friday night or Saturday night.

That's yep, really till park. Tell me, can you have perishable snuff? We do, so we've got Saturday is.

Our title sponsor, which is awesome, partnering with Community Food Bank basically bought the gate. So either bring a perishable food item or you can make a five dollars donation online to the Community Food Bank and you get a free general mission ticket on Saturday.

That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, cool, that's really cool. Who's that? Can you see the sponsor? You can see?

Yeah, color Guard.

So color Guard bought the bought the gate on Saturday with partnership. But again it just goes back to their desire to be involved, though they're not located here in Tucson. From a corporate standpoint of intertwining and the fabric of our community.

And so it's just like I show you what a fantastic marriage with them. All week I saw color guard hats, you know guard hats blue, the blue ones. It has like four. Yeah they're no one, you lose one, yeah exactly, but you know they're everywhere. It's like you, guys, I'm sure you're gonna have merch. Yeah, well, I mean we aren't.

But the World Baseballs and Major League Baseball well yeah, yeah, yeah, nobody wants my merch. I couldn't even you won't even take the hat I tried to give you.

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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WIP. This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Hey, welcome back to Why I'm About here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

I'm Steve Rivera.

In with me today called Classics Aaron Crowley and the World Baseball Classics. Blake eager, Let me switch gears real quick because we can always go back and talk to what you guys were talking about. But you guys are big UA fans, and we've talked a little about it, Senor Blake. Did you see that that Duyna keenas leaving the program?

No?

No, yeah, this last night. He's going to Texas. He's going back to Texas. My cousin might actually text that in our in our family group chat and I might.

Yeah.

So that's kind of a huge blow. That is because you know, he was beloved here.

They even said if, if, if he could be the head coach, you know, and that's how much they loved him. So he's going back to Texas. He came from came from there before to join Stanford. He was at Texas a while back. Now he's gonna work with Nissa and Niss and you know the former defensive coordinator here. Yeah, and obviously more money. But this is where he he said, professed, I love this place. And then yeah, well no, no, always right, And what are you going to say, right, what are you gonna say?

Can't? Yeah? Right, I mean that's there. Yeah, what do you think about the program? Let's talk about you get what do you think about the football program? Struggle with it?

Because you're you're a fan, right, yeah, don't be a fan, you won't strug.

That's that's the hard part. I mean, I think the.

I think it's it's just a tough spot for us to because I think I think I've heard you guys talk about it.

I mean I think you know we've got some there's some ceiling.

Yeah, and as fans, we don't have that as expectation, right, the ceilings to to be the best.

It's like once every ten years you get there.

It's hard, right, Yeah, I think that's the hard part too. And and and then you throw the nil in it. I think the cost to be a fan, right, it continues to go up and up and up, which is which is tough. Is your love different for football than it is for basketball? Yeah, quite a bit, doesn't even richa No, I mean there's certain sports that I just don't. I mean, like, I I'm not a huge college people are going to run me and rake me over the calls on this one, but I'm not. I've never been

It's a way of life.

Yeah.

And and to Aaron's point, and I think you've probably heard at least Steve talked about it, and Steve and I've talked about it a lot. The expectations for fans and Tucson, like you have to live that life to have those expectations, And we're trying to do it in reverse where you have those expectations, but you're willing to live that life.

That's that's well, well sends right. Basketball is a little different. Yeah, that's completely different. Yeah, complete different, completely different because it taste it's tasted that. Yeah, it's tasted that, which we've had success for for quite a long time. And I think the fan base here, I mean again there's tradition. Yeah, and so I mean it's the the BYU game.

A good buddy of mine that I played basketball with it with your college is one of their assistants for b YU.

So I haven't seen him in twenty years. Oh did you have a chance to talk.

Yeah, we grabbed dinner Friday night. Yeah, and then Aaron.

Aaron was chanting after the game at him, Yeah you're too blue.

Yeah, it was there. Its fault. Well, you guys have been you guys have been in that arena for a long time, go to games. To me, it was just a big disappointment because it happens from time to time UCLA comes in.

Well, I mean I think this was I was actually talking with Dvance about this because that's what we have season tickets with. But I mean our expectation from where the PAC twelve was, and not that it wasn't a great league, but it was generally one or two teams and then maybe another one that would give us, you know, some competition, and there's times that they beat us, and most times we beat ourselves, specially at home. It's a

Yeah we played pretty darn well, Like it was not like, yeah, you just put it to Kansas. Yeah, yeah, well let's let's go there. Because we talked about it before. Are you more comfortable this year than you have been in the previous years as they move forward? Move forward this year?

So I would say yes, as this season has gone along, I would have said absolutely not. I think like a lot of us the first you know, fifteen games this season, like and it wasn't even just who we lost to.

With You're the guy. You're the guy. So there's one vote yes with Kayleb.

Yes, I'm saying of late, the fact that he's getting to the free throw line and he's attacking the basket. We're gonna We're gonna live with him shooting some nights going one for eight or threes, one for nine, one for ten, like that's gonna happen.

But if he gets in the basket, I think that's a a better team there. There were forty five to one to win it all last week through now thirty three. They got better odds actually really to go yeah, because they they they're okay, the it's the if thing. If this, if that correct, if that happens, they're gonna be pretty good. Well that's three ifs that you gotta rely on, and that's you need more ifs. We talked about Talenton, Yeah,

So I think overall season though, the expectations going in was one of oh yeah, absolutely, I mean one of the highly regarded Well then he transfers.

Then he hit those threes right in exhibition games, he couldn't miss. Oh, this guy is shoot this. We need this, and he hasn't hit a three whatever.

That was watching the exhibition games and a couple of the non conference when we first started off.

Yes, I know it was against lesser competition.

I wasn't really looking at what the score difference was, but the way that we played, in the depth that we had at least how they were playing, I was like, Wow, this is this is the team we've been looking for.

Right and then and then reality hits You go seven deep, he's got seven you know because seven I've talked about it with you, with everybody else. To me, they're playing with the kind of a hand point behind her back. You don't know about del orso you don't know about Townson.

I mean you gave a perfect example of del Yes, nothing in the first half and get eleven points in three minutes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, and you need that.

You need that.

He has to have that. Yeah yeah.

Who was uh, who's your X factor? Everybody quized everybody else who's the X factor for moving forward? It's kJ Lewis. Yeah, that's two kJ Lewis. Yeah, and he hadn't been great because of his risk. I guess he wasn't wearing his wrist. But I even say that the BYU game was the point in his defense. I mean when we got five fouls. Yeah, yeah, great offensive game though.

Yeah.

So then I mean that's that's the other side of that, right, I mean, and he's been starting, he's been showing that the last month or so.

Yeah, you guys are going to be busy this week. Actually, you won't be in give me any And I asked this a bit, right, anything less than a X is going to be disappointing this year.

I think, based on on how we've done in the Big twelve, and I know the Big twelve down a little bit. I think a Sweet sixteen. If we don't get to Sweet sixteen, I think, okay, well that's year they did. And there's still does support they always will be. But I mean I think what we ran into and the timing of of how hot Clemson was at the time, I mean, it's it's kind of hard again getting back and going from a fan to a fan of the game who got you.

In There's nothing realistic about people that come in here. That's for you.

National championship. There you go double digit when national championship came.

I just hope they have fun. Steve, who kidnapped you?

For you?

What do you think I mean? I'm gonna say sweet sixteen. I honestly think it's a lad eight. And I know it's crazy for me to say that, but watching these guys play throughout the season, watching them develop, I think we're a tough matchup against anybody. And if you can play the way we've played and you're losing or you're winning those last two minutes, you can beat anybody in the country. Okay, sorry, I gotta take the scam. Likely calling me apparently they're my best friend because they call.

Me all the time.

Yeah, but potential calls me all the time. Who does potential participant? Oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, So we'll see what happens. I know you guys, are you know at the games all the time? I see you guys often. I'm not you so much now I know where you're at. There's only two more home games. I see you all the time. You just don't see me.

Yeah, you said you listen at the issue game it's going to be crazy. I hope it's not one of those you know, they're going to give Hurly his stuff. They are, I mean, but not to be They're going to be monitored now oh yeah, last two games. Yeah, I would agree with you completely.

I still think that the question, and we've kind of, you know, teeter back and forth on this, but is Hurley coming back next year?

I doubt it. I doubt it.

I would say twenty percent that the most, at the most. Even then I don't think so. Yeah, I don't know if he wants to.

Yeah, you can kind of tell, can't you tell?

Any coach's comments and his demeanor that you know, I'm going to burn down the house?

What does it matter?

ACU is such a conundrum to me, Like, you're the largest school in the United States. You should have one of the largest NIL packages and wells to go to. But it's just like, I mean, their football team wasn't supposed to be good. They got they got a great coach going to be and he stays there. That program's I mean, but he did say that's his dream school. But I mean, come on, like, but you should be paying for coaches at any elite level you should be

We've always said this, and since I've been here at least eighty seven, I'm sure before me it's a sleeping giant, sleeping giant and it still can't wake up.

Maybe and what if?

What if this last year for Arizona State was what happened to Arizona last year? It was that one off. I mean it might be.

I mean there's there's again going back to you know, I think the SEC big tent money wise, like how hard it is to actually repeat that if you don't already have the foundation built to a place to replace, to replace.

I mean it's a cream model, right Wu Tang they're going on in their last tour. You know what cream is, Steve No, I do not cash rule is everything around me? Cream the money. That's what you're the you're the music guy than you very much, Casey case No. But I mean, like it's true, like to Aaron Sport, you it's you don't know, especially with a s U, it's probably going to be a one off. I mean they've got a

I'm with you guys.

Thanks guys for joining us. We got to go appreciate it.

Great.

Yeah, great, thanks Kobe.

Try not to talk so much next Yeah, please keep it down.