This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services. It's sure your most prized possessions kat z R TUCSA at iHeartRadio Station. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jay Gonzalez and got our guy Ryan with us today and it's Tuesday. All I have to say to you, Jay is ding dong. The witch is dead. You Arizona is gone. We were just talking about that
too. That's funny. The big news of the day for us as journalists and stuff that. You know that that whole thing was dumb to begin with, a lot of people made fun of it. Our illustrious editor at biztus On magazine made us use it, which was fine. But and I think we're the only ones, honestly, when I would see my story change to yourson, necessarily, did you put that in it? We did every time? But and that's fine. I'm wondering because they did a study, right,
they did a thing, and I wouldn't put a whole mark. Yeah, I'm sure that was the one point five million dollars that look into that. Yeah, they put a lot of money. Did we know why they did it? Was? It was it was like just a you know for social media and stuff like that, just to you established a different identity,
you know, some stuffing that stuck out. There are so many other u of a's right right, University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, and so I think that there was, you know, even Auburn University, which is Auburn University, but you see the UA on their logo and stuff. So I don't know, I have to go back and look and see what they said. I'm sure there's an email that that's been what's been a few year, yeah, about three or four years, if not more. Let me
tell you a little quick joke. So back in the day Joe Turner, you know Joe Turner crazy is he had to be in school, probably still in school, and you know he was kind of witty and kind of funny but not knowing he's funny. Uh, Joe, where you a B A B? Yeah you ain't b being tucsone. I remember that. I remember that story coming out about that, and that's you know, yeah, that's
Joe but yeah, you know, I don't know. You know, sometimes things get overthought, right, and that was probably one of them, you know, And that was partly from a higher up that we whoever it is that said, and the guys under knees were like, but he's saying, the bosses saying, yeah, we're gonna do We're gonna do this. Yeah, and they did it. So yeah, it's it's got you. Arizona is gone. I don't know if they've officially changed their their their Twitter handle
yet gone back to something else? Is that what it was? That the Twitter handle was you Arizona and then like like uh, President Robbin's Twitter handle was you Arizona, press her ez on the end. So you know, we're gonna have to change all that. And that's now like you're gonna go back to something else. It's like what now you're messed up? Right now? People are going to look for you as you Arizona because they're used to
that that that's who they've bookmarked or that's who they've friended or whatever. I yeah, you did a lot of a lot of money spent on that to all go for not right, well, you a b and Tucson. You Arizona no longer. Did you see that? Uh? They were. I think Justin Spears and some other people posted that clip from Saturday Night Live when it came out. No, you haven't seen that. No, it's pretty funny. You gotta you gotta look it up. It's on Twitter. Look
up just I saw it from Justin retweeting it. But it's funny. It says you, basically says you Arizona. Sounds like, uh, what do you call it? Uh, you'd have to watch watch It's it's pretty clever, pretty funny. Those guys are Those guys are funny, a little over the top sometimes. Speaking of Justin, he'll be on the show today. Yeah, Justin's gonna join us. We tried to get him last week and he was busy with a big twelve media days and then we got loaded up
with guests the rest of the week. So we reached out to him today and so just so come on. We'll talk to him a little bit about big twelve media days from last week, as well as just kind of where things are. Oh. I did find out from Jeff bow, one of the sports information guys, that Arizona practice starts July twenty one, Wow, that's next week. Yep, July twelve days Monday. Yeah, yesterday's the sixty days Sunday Sunday twenty first. That's come a week up for that.
Oh excuse me, thirty one, oh oky, July thirty one. Yeah, we got another week after. That's a Wednesday, So okay, Wednesday, July thirty first practice, all right, but that's going to be open for the miserable days in the mornings, you know, I mean, well, I guess spring practices were open, right, so yeah, so I'm fun to be open. Yeah, with those fly spray and the swatters and the you know, well, we never we never made it to one in
the spring because they were doing the show right right. Well, we made it in the mornings where we take our hat and kind of sit by the watch watch them go go squinch up against the fence so you could get whatever
little shade was was out there. Yeah, so we'll see. But yeah, July thirty one, I Arizona football practice starts with the season uh kicking off against New Mexico on August August thirty, So let's five weeks from from practice to from from four and a half weeks from practice to the first game. Okay, yeah, I see it here Saturday Night Life skined I remember seeing that. I don't remember. I had never seen that. It's pretty funny. I calling today. Yeah, okay, stuff. We'll talk to
him more about that on the other side of about ten minutes. Yeah, okay, cool, And then we're gonna have the We're gonna have FC two Son on the next two days. They're in the playoffs, so John John Crowman, the owner and president of the team, will be on today.
We'll just kind of talking about, you know, the organization as a whole, the road together, the road and stuff, and then we'll talk to their coach tomorrow afternoon and talk more about the team and the how they got to, you know, how they got to the playoffs, and then some expectations. They're hosting a playoff game. So it's this Friday at at Keno. So uh well, so we'll have a couple of conversations about FC two Son. It's nice to have a Tucson team and some playoffs we had the
road Runners, the Sugar Clulls weren't very good this year. They wrapped wrap up their season on Sunday or Saturday on the road. Oh Okay, let's see that's on the road. Yeah all right, yeah, they lost their last home game, this last something like that. Yeah. So so anyway, so let's talk to FC two son in the second hour with the John Promin. So I was watching the watching the Back End of the World, the at the World, the Barron der Roman Derby. Luckily I didn't have
to hear the beginning with the I miss it. I missed the national anthem, but man, it hit social media immediately, So I asked, I asked somebody on that because I don't know even who it was. Was it Roseanne bad? Was it Carl Lewis Bad? Know it was. Here's the thing about it. She's allegedly a singer. Carl Lewis is not a singer. Roseanne bar is not a singer, you know. And I think rose
Bard did what she did on purpose. Carl Lewis thought he could sing and couldn't this this is this is an actual singer, and unfortunately you know you're hearing. No, no, it was just key. This is terrible. It was like if you and I you or I went on saying, you know and and we have no you know, no no pitch. No. Yeah, I mean just it wasn't smooth, right. I saw some of
the guys laughing when they were listening to it. Was awful. You feel bad now because she she's she tweeted out that she was drunk and she's got an alcohol problem, and how she checked herself into rehab today. She apologized for it and said she was hammered while she while she sang that yesterday, and she recognized that's it. She's got a problem and she's trying to do something. Did you see did you hear it? I heard about the first three or four bars and said, okay, I've heard enough, and I
didn't listen to the rest of it. And I did catch the end of it because my daughter, my daughter played that at the table at the dinner table yesterday before you heard the end of it, and I'm like, oh my god. So I went to start to hear the beginning, you know, here, the whole thing, just for the show, really, and I couldn't get I couldn't get past. Oh, say, can you see did you listen to it? Yeah? I watched. Did you list all the way to the end? Yeah? So did she like react like I
screwed this up? Or did she have any reaction. Okay, So when it first started, I thought it was ESPN because the sound was kind of like in and out. But it just kept going and she just she was like, it sounded like she was slurring some of the words at some point she was trying to drag out some of the some of the words. She was just trying to do her own spin. It sounded like, sure she was no Whitney Houston, no no, so but at the end, she didn't like, you know, think God, I'm done, I'm sorry I
screwed this up. I think she just she like touched your ear at one play that maybe she lost her earpiece or something. I think she didn't know sure, Okay, I was kind of had know that it was. She had to have sure, and then people let her know that it was Aul as you know how social media can be, and it was you. I mean, I think at one point I had like six tweets in a row on my feed that were the video for singing the song. Yeah, and
I'm like, this is obviously really really bad. But yeah, somebody on Facebook who's typically negative, I said to him, just be negative. And I guess, yeah, she was bad because I did like, you listened to the first few and I'm thinking that's that's not right. Yeah, and I said, okay, I understand now, yeah, okay. But anyways, so then I watched Then I watched the end of the series. It
was a really good home run derby. Yeah. So let me say this, I can't remember three or four four probably skinny dudes, hidden, lanky dudes, just lanky dudes. He's not he's not Jose or the Philly dude. Yeah or what who? Right, Gunnar Henderson the shortstop for for the Oreos. I'm thinking, who won? Who were these dudes besides? And then they're like, there're number two pencils. Yeah, and they're hdden there hidden about four hundred fifty feet yeah yeah, yeah, swinging the crap out
of it. It was crazy. It was fun. But I you know, I I got home from the from the show. My son was at the house because he was coming up for dinner. He had it on, you know, Adam, and because there was a Dodger in it, well he would have watched it, but Jascar Hernandez was in it, and so he obviously had it on and he had a rooting and skinny dude, well, he's not. He's not a big dude, but he's not a skinny dude. He's I don't know, he's a guy now he's no, he's
no junior of Guerrero junior, you know those. He's not one of those big, big, bulky guys. But he's not. He's not. I mean, he was of the guys. He was maybe I don't know, the second or third biggest guy of the eight guys in the group. To me was like, holy craps, dude. You know, he's a he's a he's a bit of a power here. He's he's The Dodgers picked him up for this year. He's just on a one year contract and he's playing really well. He's been a stud for the position and outfielder. He's mostly
a left fielder, but he'll play. He plays all the outfield positions. I guess maybe doesn't play center. But he's done really well. He's on my fantasy team. Oh you didn't care, you're happy kill him your kod wearing off. Yeah, it might be just that's kind of scary. That's kind of scary, just in time for football season. Might have a chance. But he he uh, you know, he won it. And it was cool and it was exciting. You know, the last hit that would
have tied tied it was off the wall. So that was cool. It was like he hit it and you're going no, yeah, it was because he did go into a butt in the playoffs the time earlier. Yeah, in the earlier round. Uh and uh and uh you know, and he wins it. So that was very cool. That was very far for a million that's what it wasn't a million bucks. His wife was happy, she was she was on the field. She was like smacking him and kissing him and you know, like, okay, man, go get a room,
Go get a room, and then pick up the spend a million. Yeah, get the suitcase and go. So that was fun. I enjoyed that that uh again, the Dodger guy winning. I enjoyed that more than I probably enjoyed any of the home un derbys that I've seen in the oil or at least. I mean, there was those ones when I get it,
Mark McGuire and those guys were all roided up and stuff. But you know, those were fun when there was I remember the one in Fenway Park up at Fenway, and you know, and Sosa and McGuire and all those guys are hitting balls, you know, out into the street, you know, over the over the big green monster. Uh. And so those things were those things were fun. Uh you you find out after the fact why they
were fun, but they were fun to watch. This one was fun to watch, as you say, to watch these guys, they are just average guys, right, you know, hitting four and fifty tree and just kind of the motor mechanics, the way they're swinging, the way they're swinging the bat. They're swinging the bat differently. Now they're swinging the bat to get you know, is again to get to launch it and to get balls up in the air. And he especially do that in this context, it's fine,
right, Okay, So that was cool. Uh. So we have more breaking news with UA players maybe, Yeah, a couple of things locals, local, local girl. So there's a lot of stuff going on, even though we heard the dog days. Yeah, and we're and we try to chase down sources people. We did again today from the skin of oura I was like ten thirty and a wait a minute, we haven't even started looking for guests for so we thanked Justin for for jumping in today. And
John Perlman for jumping in today. You know, we have we put together a good show with those guys. They're good guests. I'm interested to talk to Justin see where he's at on on the Big twelve move and how that's looking. Yeah, and he did have a story, uh that we kind of knew but not kind of confirmed. Brian Jefferies will be back. Yeah, he talked to Desiree yep, and she said he'll be back. So
that's good news for everybody who loves Arizona. Yeah. Well again I had we tried to get Brian on the show for that reason, like what's going on? And he's first he said, I'm taking a break, but second he said, just so you know I am. I'm coming back. We've just got to get some some things lined up. So we've known, we've known that. I didn't know whether or not it was something that we could talk about, so we didn't, but Desiree did so so we know,
you know, they've just got to again move some pieces around. Right, we just bring pregnancies on the show, exactly, exactly, Okay, that's good. Fifteen minutes it was to Justin and see what he has to say. All right, sounds great, We'll be right back. The Window Depot has everything you need to create the kitchen or bathroom of your dreams. Frowsy aisles of instock cabinets available in a variety of sizes and configurations and instantly elevate
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Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just searching I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to the ball here on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're Jacobs Aus not a phony of Justin Spears, the beat rider from the air, our day
star Justin. How are you? What's up, guys? Good afternoon, Good afternoon. Hey. Have you ever gotten a dui and a golf cart? So Arizona? Then you Arizona? You ever see those invisible carts around? Man? I'll tell you what. People in Tucson, Arizona, they drive like they have nowhere to be. You know, you think you're poison So driving on Arizona where the trafficking is bad, but people are just annoying and in the way. Or drive in l A where bumber to bumper because
so many people live there. Well, so now you believe what I was telling you right about invisible drivers, invisible cars whatever. I have no idea why I told you that. Back in about a year ago, he said, what are you talking about, Steve. Watch there's a bunch of invisible cars, people waiting for cars that don't come. What the hell just turned That's for another day, Jessin. Good to hear from you. You're getting ready. You're doing your exercises for a long season. Yeah, ready for
the long season. And I'm getting ready for the season by playing video games. Guys. Yeah, even well about this. Yeah, the Sports just dropped a new video game, College Football twenty five, and now Arizona football fans and fans everywhere can fire up a gaming console and put on this game and they could throw touchdown passes from no defeat to the teamax. It's really cool, man, It's really a special game. I think EA Sports did
a great job. But you know, you know, outside of that, man, I mean playing the video game, going to Big twelve Media Day, looking up all these preview magazines, just kind of getting the gauge up where you know college football is at going into this year, especially with conference re alignment, and I think it's safe to say this is probably the most anticipated football season in Tucson, Arizona, and I would say at least five
or six years. It's funny. I think you had a pull on Twitter like that, didn't you or you had a question like that on Twitter.
I saw, Oh yeah, it was like, this is the most anticipated arizon A football season since And what was the reaction, Well, a lot of people were going with, you know, nineteen ninety nine, after the nineteen ninety eight season where they went twelve and one, the I think the rock solid year where he had Teddy Bruski and all of those guys on the cover, and then I think that was the year where they got mopped by ten State. Is that correct? No, that was after the twelve and
one season. You know, I would honestly say this is probably the most anticipated season since twenty eighteen, just because, you know, when Kevin Someone was first hired, he had all the buzz from coaching Johnny Manzel and he's inheriting this great quarterback in Khalil Tate who's gonna take college football by storm. And then shoot about two quarters into that era, we quickly realized, well, Khalil Tate and Kevin Someone's not gonna be as good as we thought it
was. But still the expectations in that offseason with Coviell Tate on the Sports Illustrated cover Arizona, you know, with with Kevin someone as the first year head coach. There's a lot of excitement, But I'm very confident in saying that. I don't think this new optimism that Arizona fans have is going to
be quickly put to rest, like the Kevin sumone are. I think with the nucleus, the guys they have on both sides of the ball, and with Brent Brennan and the staff that he has, there's just a different feel to this offseason. I think it could be a magical year in Tucson. Well let's go, let's go to the Big twelve as a whole. Because you're a media days Utah you know, picked to win the league, but
you know five teams, including Arizona, got votes for first place. You know, there's been a lot of the narrative, I guess has been it's a very even league and there's a bunch of teams that have a sh this. You know, as you talk to media members, as you talk to the coaches, went through all of that. You know, what did you come out of there with in terms of Okay, who are the teams to
keep an eye on this year? Well, the good news about Arizona and three other new schools going into this league is you don't really have anything to compare to from last year with the with the opponents right, So it's so hard, especially with the Transfitportal era, it's so hard to you know, figure out how these teams stack up against each other. Because you know,
Colorado was voted to finish I think eleven in the league. They would not surprise me one bit after spending the entire offseason getting a bunch of offensive linemen and the transit portal to protect shad Door Sanders. I mean, that was their biggest need, was whyman, and they got it on both sides of the ball. So it honestly wouldn't surprise me. A Colorado turned some heads this year and they have a really good year in year two under Dion,
So you know, I could see that happening. A lot of people gave me gup when I picked Iowa State to finish second in the league. And I'm telling people that Iowa State is returning ninety percent of their starters. They I think, you know, had a really great record last year. So you go, you go seven and five and you bring back essentially your entire roster. I think Iowa State is going to be a force to be reckoned with, and I think they have you know, one of the top dbs
in college football. I think that, you know, Arizona, they have a realistic shot at winning the Big Twelve this year. And I say that because, you know, you look at some of the hardest games they have on the schedule. They're all near the top, with Utah on the road and of course Kansas State and that non conference game. But you know, outside of that, you know, I think Arizona's going to be favored and
essentially every game this season, maybe not UCF. I think that's one game where Arizona could go down to Orlando and potentially trip up that is the Space game, which is a big deal for UCF. So there's a few games that I think Arizona will have trouble in, but you know, if they can figure out those games, and we saw them, you know last year, when the going gets tough, Arizona figures out a way to you know, kind of clamp down and figure out a way to compete in the game
and win. Even you know, that USC game last year, you know, a top ten team on the road in triple overtime. They were so close. But from that point forward, Arizona was just a winning machine. And I think that'll carry over into this season. And you know, good news for Arizona. They don't got to play Oklahoma State or Iowa State or
Kansas or some of these other teams until potentially the Big Twelve Championships. So I think Arizona, the way the schedule is set up, if they can survive those early tests at Kansas City and now Yuka, I think that Arizona team could conceivably win ten more games or ten games this year. So you mentioned your second pick. Where did you put in Zona and who'd you have winning it? Probably obviously winning at Utah? But who did you have Arizona?
No? Obviously No, I actually had Utah finishing fifth. Wow. Okay, yeah, yeah, I think you know. Listen, I think Cam Rising is a great quarterback. I think Bran Heathy at the best tight end in college football. But I just look at those other teams and I like Oklahoma State a lot. I think they have probably the best linebackers in college football, uh and Nick Martin and Oliver. Then you also have the best running back in football, and Olie Gordon and Mike Gundy is such a
veteran head coach. I think, you know, he kind of views this as a golden opportunity to kind of stamped Oklahoma State as a premier program in the Big Twelve because they've been, you know, finishing, you know, second fiddle to Oklahoma and Texas for all of these years. Now the Big Twelve is open for the taking. And I really like Oklahoma State and with the Cowboys have for this upcoming season. And then I asked, I have
Arizona finishing third. I put them to finish third in the conference. And like I said, I think the schedule that they have can allow them to put together a very memorable stretch of games to potentially even get into that Big Twelve championship. And you know, it's crazy to think, guys, that here we are. You know, I was at Allegiance Stadium, that's where Big Twelve Media Day was, and you know, the last time I was at that stadium, Arizona was opening up the season against BYU to start the
Jetfish era. And to think how far this program has come since that point pretty remarkable. Now it's time for Brent Brennan and his staff to get this roster that they're inherited and really set the tone for the rest of his tenure. No, I hear you. And it's funny because there's so many different
opinions about what can happen. Right, as you mentioned you they've picked Utah, has picked Utah, but everybody's all over the board, which again, it's it seems like that's gonna make it fun, as much fun as we've maybe had in a football season since twenty fourteen, even right, and that that was sort of an unexpected, really good fun time. I don't know
that who saw that coming. I know I didn't. And you know, we talked all through that year about how twenty fourteen was as fun of a football season as we could remember because you know, the ways some of those games were played. There was the Hill Mary and there was you know, the Washington game, and you know, and it was kind of nobody saw
them winning ten games that year and then they did. So, yeah, you're right, but again I caught you know, I speak with caution because I'm that guy who's seen all those ten when seasons turned to muck you know, the year later, so you know, I expect to be fun.
You mentioned Iowa State. I think you know, we had we had the beat writer for Kansas State on yesterday and he said, don't underestimate Iowa State like you did, because he said, that's a tough place to go win because we're asking, you know, tough places to play, and they said, you know, Iowa State is really undervalued or underestimated in terms of how hard it is to win there. And so absolutely, we're you know, we're kind of looking at that and saying, wow, okay, you know
that, and Arizona doesn't have to play that. You know, we were looking at the schedule and it's saying after they play Utah in Kansas State, every other conference team that they play is rated below. That was picked below Arizona in in the uh in the Meeta Pole, which that says a lot for you know, for what you know, where where they could work they could wind up. Yeah, and I think you need bringing up the twenty
fourteenth season. You know, there were so many moments in that year that could have gone the other way, right the Hell Mary game, you know, there there were some other games that year, but you know, but there was also some games that could have gone in favor for Arizona, right if Leonard Williams didn't come in and block. I think it was Casey scalleron field goal. Arizona would be you see it or USUS. So that was
just such a wild season. But I think that you know, Rich Rodriguez, you know, had such a a lightning and a bottle type of season, and he didn't execute when it came to recruiting, right, and you know, in the years after that, Arizona was getting the okgs the are kind of guys, which is a friendly way of saying two star recruits, and you know, every now and again you get those the Scooby rights right right, the linebackers who come in and just are underrated and didn't really get
looked at. But you know, I think the recruiting really reflected Arizona with you know, the end of the Rich Rodrigae the era, and they were just kind of they they were who they were. They were they were a seven and five team that was going to consistently get to a bowl game.
But you know, by Arizona fans standards, that was totally okay. And then you know, the program completely got derailed and then Jetfish comes in and revives the program and shows the entire world like, no, you can win at Arizona, and rather than you know, all those players following Jet Fish over to Washington are going elsewhere, they decided, you know what, Yeah, we can win at Arizona. We got a really good team. Let's
stay locked in for another season. But Brent Brennan has to learn from his predecessors and use this season as a way to set himself up and have a long and successful future. You know, if you have success this year, make sure he you're able to capitalize on the recruiting trail with high school prospects and also transitportal guy, and I think they will. They're doing a great job getting Texas prospects. They got eight kids from the twenty twenty five recruiting
class from the state of Texas who are very talented. And you know what, the fans are going to look at the Big twelve recruiting rankings on twenty four to seven sports dot Com, and I'll tell you what. Don't look at the ranking, look at the offers, look at other schools that are recruiting these guys. And Arizona's that recruiting sec Big ten in other Big twelve schools, So not only is Brenton Brannan doing a great job, you know, staying in the moment for this year's team, but I think his staff
is doing a really good job in the future as well. But if they can go out and have another successful, magical, memorable season for Arizona football, I think that could really propel them moving forward. What was who was the last time and I covered this long time ago with you, the last time they had two good consecutive seasons and you said, Okay, they get some room, I thought after the Southern Championship. Yeah, and you thought to get some legs, you think, to the advantage of the recruiting.
It just didn't happen. No, it didn't. None of the ten wins seasons were close to that. The next year you almost have to go back. When you're talking about back to back really good season, this is gonna
sign. I don't think you were even born justin you know, eighty six and eighty seven, No, eighty five and eighty six, No, eighty six, Shoot, the last two years of the Smith's last two years, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, because eighty five they were only like seven and five first, yeah, and eighty six, yeah, Jesus before I was born only crap, you know. But okay, look, okay,
ninety ninety three was the festival year. Ninety four they actually went eight and four, but they had a miserable loss to Utah in the in the crap Freedom Bowl, and and so that was, you know, that ended on a huge down. Or so they've never honestly, cannstantly say they've never had back to back great seasons. Something bad always happens the next year.
You mentioned the Penn State loss after you know, in the ninety nine season, you know, the the twenty fourteen, you know, twenty fifth they brought everybody back for twenty fifteen, and that season went to crap early with injuries. They with injuries and stuff, right, and then there was the ninety four season. After the solid, rock solid season, they started on ninety four and scrapped to be Georgia Tech in the opener of the next year.
And then they were just never all that good that year. So it just hasn't happened. So that's why, you know, I'm sitting here thinking only bad things can happen here from here on, you know. Yeah, And honestly, though, good news for Arizona people going you know for their team going into the Big twelve is you know, even though Arizona's good, there aren't going to be games where the Wildcats are falling asleep, right. I think in that game against Stanford last year, the fact that they didn't
have any chance there. There was nobody at that Stanford game. Yeah, and Arizona was just kind of a sleep. It was library like environment. Every single game that Arizona's gonna be playing in on the road, no matter where they go, it's going to be a rowdy crowd because people in the Big twelve, guys, I don't have you heard about this, but they really do care about the sports, especially their football. So hey, just
let me ask you. We've only got about a minute or so. How was the vibe different or was it a Big twelve media day versus PAC twelve media days that you've gone to. You know, just a a sense of excitement, a sense of urgency, whatever you want to call it. What was that like? Compare the two Well pack Twell media to day was in a hazy nightclub called Zooke, and you know, we were sitting there finishing up our work and they were like kind of telling us, like, hey,
guys, sorry, we kind of have to let you go. We're beginning to open up for the night. I'm like, oh, that's why the fawn machines are going up, because this is a night club at nighttime, not the site for Packfroll media Day. And then the twelve media day was at a Legia Stadium, the host of the Las Vegas Raiders. So I think that really shows you the difference between the Big twelve and the PAC twelve. It felt like Arizona hit the big time, like they arrived,
they had a seat at the big kids table. And I'm not saying that the PAC twelve was always the little kids table. You know, once upon a time, as you guys know, it was a very prominent confidence but due to terrible leadership over the last you know, decade plus, the PAC twelve fell so behind it, and the Big twelve got ahead of them and started adding a bunch of teams, got teams for four different time zones, got that great media right to deal with ESPN and Fox, and it's just
it's a new era. You know. It sucks what happened to the PAC twelve. It really does. I'm always going to ride for the conference champions, but it was time for Arizona to figure out a way to stay with the big boys of college athletics, and this was the right move. And Big twelve Media Days in Las Vegas, the two day events that Allegiance Stadium, it felt very big time in comparison to the nightclub Media Day last year. And hey, the PAC twelve they still did their thing this year.
They had Pack twelve after hours in like a little tiny, like sweet lounge in a Las Vegas hotel. They had Washington State and Oregan State there, and Conference Commissionersteresa Gold said, hey, we got an open bar because there's anybody who deserves a drink tonight. Well, they still have the humor. So Jay Justin, how old are you now? I am twenty nine, twenty nine, and let me sound proud of you. You know why you
sound older, a little bit more jaded, and I like it. I'm learning from the best guys, grumpy little kid like did I like to get to hear from you? Justin? Hey, always a pleasure, guys, Thank you, thank you. Hey. I'll go back to some of the history to the christs check because I have the media guys here at seventy three seventy four. It looks like seventy four to seventy five looks like the best
back to back years eight, nine two, nineteen nineteen two. Right, But again it's one of those seasons, okay, the second night, the second ninety two seasons I think was seventy five, right, seventy four and seventy yes, seventy five year, seventy five, seventy five okay, no, no so, seventy three, eighty eight and three, seventy four, nine and two, and then nine and two, okay, the nine the second, the seventy five season, that was the That was the season that
Arizona Arizona went into the ACU game nine and one. ASU was ten and oh and Arizona loses twenty twenty seven to twenty four field goal Mexico. That was a crazy game. I remember that, an unbelievable game. They had a guy, They had a guy, New Mexico had a guy, No no, Steve something or other, and he went into the NFL. He and he threw the ball I was at that game was an afternoon game. Threw the ball all over the freaking field that day. Nobody thought New Mexico
was coming in to beat Arizona, and it was an incredible game. I remember being at that game. And and but Arizona loses to Asu. ASU's undefeated Arizona's tenant nine to two, second in the whack. Asu goes to the Festival of Beasts, Nebraska and made a name for themselves in Arizona head went nowhere so again again a season that was a great season, but it ended in disappointment. And then Jim Young a year later, five and six, well we gotta go. We'll talk more about this. Yeah, okay,
all right, we'll right back. 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
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hot and sticky. I can't stand this humidity. I'm melting. So you can either check for hot flashes than duck or call Picture Rocks, Cooling, eating and plumbing. It's not hot fleshes. We're calling Picture Rocks, cooling, eating and plumbing right now at five two zero four, nine, two zero seven or eight and plumbing. Steve Rabera and Jayden salads, they have their eye on the ball. On Tucson Sports Stage, Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to I'm about here Fox Watch sporteen fifty.
I'm Steve, you're Jay. We have a riding in the best. We got ten minutes. You guys want to call and reminisce five to two oh four one six seven four four zero. So I'm gonna ask you some quick questions. So we talked about them. Going eight and three seventy three is in ninety four nine and two six on one in the WAC, the seventy five nine and two five and two in the WAC losing to only new mixicoling issue. And then and then Jim Young goes five been six, seventy and
seventy six. That was his last year. Was he forced out No, he was not forced out. He he surprisingly went to Army. Oh okay, okay, that's when he went to Army and I was the head coach. As the head coach, Okay, that makes sense, And I you know, people were like disappointed. That text tells me how much I'd know about Yeah, I mean, I mean the five and six was a disappointing season. Now, they did beat ASU that year, which was the first
time they'd beaten ASU in like twenty years or something like that. Not twenty but a long time. What are you talk about seven in his final year. Yeah, no, it says they lost to Issue ten twenty seven to ten in seventy six. Oh you know what, it was seventy four that they gave U. Right, Okay, that was the time I rested the field ten and zero, ten to zero. Yeah, I've rushed the field on that one. Yeah, okay, But he had beaten ASC, so
people were happy with him. But it was kind of a you know, it was kind of you know, they had gone ninety two was the disappointing season. He wasn't forced out, but he did leave on his own to go because a better offer. He was more of that guy and we've had him on the show too. The thing was Army, you know, it was kind of at that time. You know, Army was sort of a bigger deal than Arizona, right, and he is a he was a Midwest
guy, you know, he's from that area. So I think it was you know that so and this was this was the chance that so as a kid, and I didn't follow it that great because New Mexico sucked him that in football. But this was the time that the issue was the king, right, Oh, totally the king. And they never capitalized it to be more of a king in the Pack ten pact. They did not, and they had every chance. Well yeah, but all it all went to hell
in a hand basket when Frank Kush got fired. Okay, that makes sense, That's what it was. You know, Frank Cush was the legend. He was there Bear Bryant, right, he had he had he had run
the show in college football in Arizona all that time. And then he got caught, you know, punching a a player, punter in the chin, you know, on the sidelines, and uh, he got called Outfred the I mean, Phoenix divided itself for a long time over that because of the people who are going to support Frank Kushnam what he did, and then the people saying, you can't do that no matter who you are, sure, and they ended up firing him towards the end of A towards the end of
the seventy nine seasons. So tell me, because I don't remember this being just a teenager. It was just before Schumlacher or or before what he has. I don't remember when what he haz tuish. It's yeah, this was this pre this, Yeah, this was in the God, what do I want to say the seventy I want to say the seventy nine season, seventy nine or eighty maybe eighty maybe nineteen eighty, I can't remember. Eighty one,
that's what it all went down. Yeah, yeah, and and uh man, I don't but he got fired and that just that killed everything. Now that you know again, A you had some good years in the big in the Pac twelve, they went to two Rose bowls. Arizona soiled one of their rose bulls by beating them that year in eight six. But they stopped being that, you know, and then and then and again. The
whole thing was they wanted to keep being that. What they were in the whack and they went kicking and screaming to the pack, to the pack. Then Arizona made them, you know, the regents made them go because Arizona was going. And John Shaffer, who was the president of the u OF at the time, he drove that and and and mate brought, as you, kicking and screaming with them, and they just never it just never kind of regrouped and became anything. So that's what happened. Yeah, okay,
makes sense now. Even though I was here gun here in eighty seven. I talked to Frank Cushion eighty eight. I think it was for a story because uh and I talked to him about the change in the guard because they had owned it right for a long time, and then Arizona's came through and started beating him on the regular right. And I can't remember what the story was back in the day, but he was glowing about Arizona. It kind of makes sense too, because his former place was treated him. Yeah,
his mine bad. I just looked it up. He got fired in October of seventy nine. I was the tail end of the seventy nine Fine season. Arizona ends up beating a sc that year in the last game of the season, I believe on a on a field goal, right, Yeah, they kicked the last second field goal in that game and Arizona. Arizona went to the to the festival that year, played Pittsburgh Dan Marino and and and then and then Tony Mason got fired after that year because of the because of
the cheating scandal. Still he passed away years ago. Yeah, he passed away years ago. And so, uh so, you know, so you're everything changed, Well, you're I can say this public. I think your brother depends. My brother was on was one of his lawyers, Yeah, because he's I think we had a beer time together. He telling me his his lawyer was Bill Healy was his lawyer, and my brother was like a co counsel on that. Yeah. Yeah, so my brother defends Tony Mason
to the death. I'm like, Rick, it's over each he chated and he got caught, and I get what they were doing was commendable. What they were doing was they were they were faking airline vouchers and getting that money and giving it to players, you know, for things like you know, just money to eat and jobs and things like that. At a time, when the players weren't getting anything and so, but they got caught, you know, the Daily Star. I want to polite surprise on his reporting on
that. I was working at the Start at the time, so that was a whole lot of fun around the dinner table at our house. Yeah, well, I think, uh, I don't know if the didn't the Republican, I'm the Republican, the Star get a because I know Kimball was working on some stuff. Yeah, but a couple of guys got it. Can't remember their names, but yeah, they want a Pultzer on that. Then the Mason and the coaches got criminally charged for fraud, you know, for
what they were doing. And they they they got they went to criminals. And that's where my brother was when one of his defense attorneys and they all got to quit. So I can still I can see there were like thirteen criminal charges against Mason or something like that, and he's talked about how he won. He beat he said he beat the arizon A Daily Star thirteen to nothing, a funny quote something like that, seven to nothing. Whatever.
Interesting time, you know, because you had the community who really loved airs on football program. But on the other hand, you know, they got charged criminally for some stuff, and the air zone got put on probation, and that was the end of what ended up being the crap of that was the air zone got put on probation after the eighty at the end of the eighty three season, they were not allowed to go to Bowl game for two
years and they were off TV for two years. And so these players, you know, five years after this stuff happened, are the ones that got punished. And that was the Ricky Ricky, Huntley, tom Ton and Cliffe eighty three season that they went into that season ranked Sports Illustrated, ranked and fourth in the country or something like that, got off to a great start
and ended up going seven to three and one. I want to say something, you can remember this and you can't remember our guests, because Steve, that was a very because you're influential time in my life. You know, we talk about you know, I could go back, going back to nineteen seventy three. That was the year that I was old enough to start going
to football games by myself. I was fourteen years old, and we would We lived in a neighborhood where the bus, the city bus, came right down the street and we would get on the bus and go to games, and so I didn't have to have my dad take me to a game anymore. We could just go. So from seventy three on, from seventy three till today, I've probably missed six home games at the moment, and you have them all chronicled in some some video stuff. So, yeah, and
then I used to Yeah, I used to make videos. I used to. I used to record the Larry Smith Show and at the end of the year, I'd make a you know, a five minute highlight video that's called being a geek, totally total geek Steve. Someday, someday I'll run through my video Uh, my video library. There's some funny stuff in there. But you know, we used to. I used to do that. It was fun and it was it was a little hotty than mine. How did you find your lid? How did your lid find you? That she loves
football? Okay, she loves, she loves, she loves she loves that she loves football. But initially she loved the social aspect of football. For all of us, you know, football season was a chance to get together on saturdays or tailgate parties and stuff like that. But she loves the cats and and you know she was she was the uf A grad tune and stuff. Her family wasn't you know. They weren't a big sports family. And she became that when she hooked up with me, and I think that was
a big reason why she loves me so much. Get a room, Get a room. Just still do it? Though. Okay, good for st hour, interesting for star too much information I have, Steve, You're you're saying the same thing my kids said. They say, how come you don't know? Or like my daughter rach would say, how did you forget to pick me up? But you know the score of the nineteen eighty three Arizona ASU football game? Totally? Yeah, right, totally seventeen fourteen. It's
like what you'd call me on seventeen fifteen. It's like a huge text me in the morning. It says we were guests, Jay, did we go through this already? We did? But we said how many times have we sat here? And I can't remember who the guest is on? Like coming on in ten minutes? Yeah, the seventy three three and one, blah blah, what the hell you got that? Right? You need that cognitive test and hey, Ricky Hunley had a big impact on me. Okay,
Ricky, you're out there, Lamont, if you're listening. Ricky had a huge impact on my life. Those are my early days, coming right out of college. It was a lot of fun. This concussion didn't happen. Your concussion didn't have after exactly. Okay, let's go all right, let's take a break. We'll be back. Brian is here to break breaking news. This report is sponsored by All State