Breaking down at all the exes and os. It's Steve Lamera and Jaden Summits. This is I Am the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to Whining the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Stevie's Jake and now I'm hoping Jay has breaking in. This is I on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. You know, it's a there's a lot of stuff, none of it like earth shattering stuff. But just stow did I say this? Uh? Do as well as do it, do
very well, like your job dependent on it? All right. Uh, just came across a little bit ago that the NBA Playoffs on television I averaged five point four seven million viewers, making it the most watched playoffs in five years. That sounds about right. Well, look at the bubble thing was disaster, Yeah, said NBA games accounted for fifteen of the top twel he most watched programs among people under fifty since the start of it. Wouldn't you
think that? I think they even said that the big concern was the markets, well, Denver not being a great market. But I think it was a great story. Yeah, it was a great story, and I think again, people, you know, the underdogs were winning, right, people love underdog. You know the Lakers went far the uh, the the heat went far. Um. Yeah, I think I think that that was that was the thing. Okay, um, let me see what do I want to do next. Arizona got a Arizona football got a commitment from a recruit
today. Um and do wah okondaia or something like that. There's some about that. You believe he's a he's a defensive lineman out of I can't remember where um six three two twenty is what he is, what he says he is, um and uh, he's he's committed himself to Arizona. The one thing you have to admit, and we've talked about this often, Jed is working his butt off. Yeah, he got the man. Jed is is doing a lot of things, uh, spending a lot of money, making
things happen. Uh. And if you want to compare him to someone, you can't because someone did nothing. He didn't do the work. But he's doing a great job of getting out there. Yeah, exactly, um okay Uh. Four Arizona players got All Region were named All Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association. Two of them, who you would think Geeko or Marian Chase Davis were first team, so that makes them eligible to be first team
or to be All Americans. Nick mcclorie and mac Bingham were second team All Region. So that's UH says, it's the second time that that Arizona's got four spots on the All Region team, and it's the first time that's twenty twelfth they won the College Series. There you go. Um, so here's an interesting one. UH, South Florida, who has been playing at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Stadium, are gonna build themselves a stadium on campus for three hundred
and forty million dollars um. They're gonna they're gonna do two hundred million dollars in debt and then one hundred and forty million dollars coming from sources fundraising and that time program. Yeah, decent program playing in the American Athletic Conference. I think very much would like to get into, you know, a big twelve in accat, but it's it's gonna be. It's kind of like on
the San Diego State model, right, thirty five thousand seats stadium. We both said you and I said, I think we agreed that would be that stadium would be perfect for Tucsons perfect. Well, you know when they ultimately when they finish the put chairback seats through the whole stadium, and it's they're doing a little by little, like the middle section under the upper deck is
chairbacks. Now you got the Lowell Stevens in that. Yeah, so what as you you know, the like when when they when they when they rebuild the west side, right, because they're gonna knock that down and rebuild it. The the the the the attendant is gonna dip the not attendants, capassit is gonna dip into the forties. Which is why I'd rather have a nice chairback seat than not somebody that I'm rubbing butts with, you know, and
seeing it, seeing it full, seeing it more full. Yeah, And a ticket hard hard to get it if you need to get the ticket right right, because let's let's say, let's call it. I know they said they had the sell out with Oregon last year. There were not fifty thousand people in the state, you know, or maybe forty five, even though
they may have sold all the tickets. You know, forty five thousand is probably about what Arizona is gonna max out at when when the builds the state right right, so that I think that's that's what what would it be? But anyway, South Florida, so you're gonna get get their stadium on campus. You know, we were talking about the uh, the uh the celebration in Denver. He said, ten people shut, the people shot shut.
But can you imagine if Vegas O Wednesday Cup tonight in Vegas. Oh well, I don't think it's pot Wow, I didn't even think of that. I'm thinking it's not popular because I'm not a hockey guy. But you're right, no, right nuts about their hockey team, their nuts about everything. Man, And that arena is on the strap. No, I get it. No, that's it's what. It's Tuesday, It's Tuesday. It doesn't matter what day it is in Vegas. Give a reason people to have a
fun time and then create. Man. So on the yield, Vegas, they they've got, they got the panthers tonight in Vegas. So with a chance to get there's no time for cops to be on. You do not want to be there tonight. If they hit it, well they hit it all right, Somebody asked Joe Burrow who he thinks is the best quarterback in the NFL right now? Who do you think? He said, my one? Well, two guesses, two guesses, and I'm probably gonna be wrong.
Josh Allen or um um, Kansas City's guy Pat Mahomes. You don't think he would have said himself, No, he's uh, he's smarter than that. Yeah he did. He said, Pats, Yeah, dude's good. He said, there's no work. Who oh yeah? Who's who would you think? Who would you say? If I if I would say, I would say Pat Mohomes? Yeah? Who who? A second? Who? Second? I'm gonna go Joe Burrow. I'm gonna take Josh Allen just still not quite there when you need him to be well, because he doesn't
have a good group of people like these guys do. He's carrying the ball, he's running the ball, he's throwing the ball, he's doing everything exactly. Speaking of some NFL quarterbacks, George Kittle was on the Dan Patrick Show and he said he's confident Brock Purdy will be the starting quarterback for the forty
nine ers. It would make sense, a weak one makes sense. He's going to be the guy oh Man, guy coming out of nowhere, right, they ship Garoppolo off finally, which makes me say this, Jay, Okay, everybody's in love with what Tommy Lloyd has done, and so am I. He's done some great things since everybody boot pooed on him in March and April May. And he's got these guys to me being in this business, and I'm and I'm not an expert, that talent is overrated. I
don't know if you want to believe me, but talent is overrated. You have dudes who played Miami's a perfect example. They got they didn't win it, but they got there. And if you have a group of guys who are playing together and having fun and doing that, um, it's and tell talent can't be the only thing you have, no, of course, not no, it's chemistry. It's all that. It's all that stuff. It's
a big piece of it. I mean, it's always better, sure to have the best players on the field of the court, no doubt, no doubt. But if you don't have it, you can work around it. Well told, did that? Really? Well? You know, I remember the conversation I ad with him one time. I asked him, you know he was going out recruiting. I'm talking, he said, I can't, I'm on recruit. Said do you like recruiting? He said, what I don't like is looking across the field and seeing a team with better players a
week at And that made all the sense in the world. Noll. He was still trying to have the best players. Sure, but you know he did so much by not when he often didn't. That's the whole thing. He but that's who he was, dude. He he father Flanagan. He out he out coached guys a lot r he uh he uh, That's who
he was. He just he overcheered with the guys he had. Well about even saying that with rich Rod, right, because you know, rich Rod, how many times did is gonna have the best players on the field when they beat Oklahoma State down here, but they beat Oregon all they did ever? You know, you always thought he's gonna out coach the other guy. Let me say this, and I'll give you this example and again forgive me, but Sean Sean. How many times does Sean have better athletes than the
team? Pretty much every time I go for Yeah, exactly, that's kind of my point. Yeah, no, that is, And that's a that's a really good point. Talent's important, but it's not. It's not everything. You've got great talent? Great? What what did I bring this on? What were you talking about? What we're talking about? Brock Purty, How he wasn't right, not necessarily the most talented quarterback. But give me a winner, Give me a winner. He's a guy who went and did
did for them what they wanted, what they needed. Right, Well, look at look at the twenty fifteen year, fourteen year, all those great players. Gordon Uh, shimmy, uh, we gotta get hurt his foot. God, I don't want I can't remember these names. McConnell, who's stuck in the NBA now, who's still there? Yeah, Gordon McConnell. Yeah, the two guys who did a really good, fantastic player, but he had a lot of flaws. But of all those guys that you list,
McConnell, really yeah, absolutely all right? Um okay, uh. Speaking of some of these coaches, Terry donahueh is gonna get a statue at the Rose Bowl. Really yeah? He is the winning this football coach. If if not him, if not him, who right? I would even I could even guess John Wooden put him there too. He's got one putting him in the everyone put him outside the football stadium over at the baseball stadium. But he's gonna get he's gonna get a statue. They're gonna uh uh
unveil it on October twenty seven at the Rose Bowl. Uh and see a picture of where he said, again, I still remember. I still loved that game that Arizona beat him, like forty two to three or something like that. When when Dick Tomy rolled out a new offense, and when when Terry Donnihue saw it and he just stared down Dick like I thought we were friends. We are not today, not today today. And I love Terry
Donnihue. He was, you know, he was. He seemed like one of the regular guys him in vermil Yeah, also a friend of Tom. Yeah. But I remember that he'd beat in Arizona at the Rose Bowl at Troy Aikman and all that stuffy Rose Bowl. You know, Dick was running still running that h wish wish whish wish shoot and all that kind of stuff. And somebody in the press in that press comments after that game asked Terry
Donnehue, would you ever run an offense like that? And he said, I would never do that here because then I would be out of a job. The fans would run me out. And uh, that was right. I remember they Ben Griffith in Yea and from New Mexico and those guys Billy Rukier I think it was, and they Bobby Waters the quarterback from Smyear and all that stuff, and he just said, he said, I would never run that because the fans would not have it. That was a really interesting
comment that he would have made at that time. All right, umgame bo, you're gonna bring well, yeah, we'll bring that up in a minute. But the big US, the US Open, has starts day after tomorrow, and the odds to win the US Open Scottie Scheffler at plus six fifty, John Ram who won the Masters at plus nine hundred, then Brooks Keepka, who won the PGA and finished second at the Masters, at plus twelve hundred, and then Rory McRoy fourteen, Patrick Henley at sixteen. So there
you go, down. So I don't follow that stuff, you know, I don't. I don't frustration, So I just gotta got a text. We have took a couple of minutes the next statue to be built at you of a is it kind of like you know, he did well in recruity but not that well Mike Drea. Yes, yeah, could have to. Right. If they were gonna do one for Kendall, they already would have done one, right, true, true, Um uh, they're not gonna
do one for Dick because he didn't I get there. But the game of Field, Game of Field and a big poster out there, So yeah, I think I think mikeke Andre the next guy the pulling over at Hill and brand. What they should do is put it out in center field where the players have to run around it. Like, Yeah, I heard a great story. Who was telling the story? Um, I think was Billy Crystal. I was telling the story that the first time he went to Yankees Stadium.
He's a huge Yankee, I grew up and said the first time he went to Yankee Stadium and he saw the monuments out there, and he thought, as a little kid, he thought those guys were actually buried there, like the tomb. Yeah, they thought those were their were their tombstone. And then he thought, God, I can't are thinking to bury Mickey mantle out there. If you're a little kid, right, that's what you're gonna think. Sure, right, Sure, that's pretty funny. I know I
heard that story. Just what you got? What else you got? Okay, so good. We'll talk about boomer stuff after. Yeah, yeah, we got a big game boomer to talk through the break, all right, So let's go take our break. We'll be back and we'll think Kelly Pearce from FC Tucson Women, and then we got a I think a fun big
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the country and have served our local community for twenty five years. They are located on EA Speedway. That's Showtime Cards streaming live on the iHeart Radio Whip. This is I Am the Ball with Steve Ribera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to you on the ball here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Robara, He's jakeaz Oss Now unfo, we have Kelly Pierce FC two stun women soccer head coach, Kelly, how
are you o? Very well? Thanks for having me another year, another soccer season. What are your hopes? What are your dreams? Well, a little better than last season. I think we've struggled a little bit with the women last season, so we're looking for a little bit of redemption this season. So you've got you had your first first match al Paso. It was last week. What did it look like to you? You guys want seven to one, But what did it? What did it look like to
you? Be on the score? I mean, it was excited to get that many goals, you know, that was something we struggled with last season. So definitely a great start and a lot of new faces and a lot of people scoring, not just relying on one player. So that was nice to see. It was refreshing. So so last year. And I teach you all the time all you do is win. Last year, I think I even sent you a note how did this happen? You didn't win it? But what did you learn from it? Because you know, when you
win all the time, it's becomes common. Well, I hope I never get that way. I'm always paranoia. I'm always looking at the opposite everything that could go wrong. Um, you know, negative Nancy, I guess. But you know, I think last year was a struggle for many reasons, and I think it was a learning experience for a lot of us UM. But there's a lot of talent. There's a lot of talented teams out there, and I think seq Sound is somebody that everyone targets UM, so
we are aware of that and hopefully better prepared. The season did a lot of them come back for this year as well from last year. Yeah, we always get a lot of returners and current college players, a lot of the post college girls that you know, look forward to this all year. Um, a lot of them and their maturity is awesome and brings a huge bonus to the team. And then a lot of new faces as well. So it's a good lick. Yeah. So that's where I kind of wanted
to go with it. If if they were there last year, they understand the hate, the hurt and the pain of not going to where they needed to go and wins or whatever. So they know, they know and they know the expectations. Yes, absolutely, a lot of us. We joke that we have a little bit of PTSD from a few games that we really should have finished on top and you know, kind of let it go at the end. So, um, we that's always in the back of our
minds. Well, as you said, you know, you kind of take a look at you know, what you did and what you got to fix. So when you think about that, I mean, what were the things that you felt you needed to address with the team for you know, to get ready for this year. Well, I think in the final third just executing and finishing putting the ball the back of the net was the obvious one, but also just things that you don't you know as a coach. On
me, I didn't think of like game management going over that. But then you got to remember, you have a bunch of players coming from a bunch of different places with different experience, so everyone looks at things differently. So just the game management and time management in a game and just overall management with
it, especially when we're at home, and how to finish. Is that like a not a not a new thing for you, but I'm sure because you review every after every game, after every season, But was that kind of a new thing for you to review after not winning it at all? Um? I think for this level it was like we kind of go over that stuff with my high school girls, but um, at this level, just you know, I didn't think I needed to, and I clearly you
know I do, and that was my job. So yeah, I'm definitely a learning experience from myself and my coaching staff, and we all kind of looked back like, well, so we've gone over it, and every player that was on the field or a part of the team is well aware of it. Yeah, yeah, I'm curious. Okay, so you've been doing this a while now, not a whole lot with the FC two Sons, and you were a fantastic player at every level. How has the game changed
for you or maybe the girls and the women now have they? Yeah, I think it's involved a lot. I think there's more opportunity. They have more opportunities and experiences that like exactly like FC two Son women you know, um, that didn't come along until I had three kids and in my thirties, and now they have this opportunity. So I think that's a huge part of it. And I also think just how it evolved tactically on the field
and positionally. I think it's just grown a lot. You know, a couple of weeks ago, we were on the radio and the host thought, you know, you just throws defenders in the back when you don't want them to throw something up basically, and for me, that's the complete opposite. Now defenders are quite skilled in a huge part of the game. How much teaching do you do, uh, you know, with your team, with this team, because this, I mean this is developmental. You're trying to
get these players to be better. So how much teaching goes on versus I don't know if if there's a difference between teaching and coaching, but you know, when you're trying to get them to play a certain way or you know, just do something a little better than they did before. I mean, how much of that goes on? Yeah, I mean it does. In
this level. It's there's a broad spectrum of levels and talent. We have some high school girls that are out there training and that's more of the teaching and instructing and them just watching and getting to have the opportunity to be out
there with those experienced post players and current college players. Again, I think it's a lot of just getting everyone to respect the process and understand the process, and just getting everyone the cohesiveness I guess, and everybody gelled together because we have so much coming and going. It's not just the same twenty girls. You know, there's a revolving door of thirty plus girls that it's coming and going. So it's more managing on our ends. Um, you know,
who's the right personnel per game? Oh how hard is that to have, you know, differ different people all all the time. It's super hard. The hardest part of it is not knowing who's going to be there. I mean, injuries always happened, but usually travel in the summer is a big thing, and so that's a huge obstacle for us, as well as some girls just coming back from college. We have, you know, to some local Kay Conley who's just coming back today actually to play Tomorrow's just graduated
from college yesterday. So it's just constantly trying to manage that group and what personnel is going to be there positionally. Yeah, so I guess it's a big weekend this weekend. I got a text earlier from FC twos on the big game this weekend, tickets and all that. Well you got tomorrow and Friday, right, Yeah, we have tomorrow against Arsenal and that's the five dollars ticket day, um, and then Friday we have Delsol and both are huge games. Delfo's always you know, a long time rival of ours,
and then Arsenal as well. But last year, you know, we struggled with them quite a bit, so we're looking forward to having another opportunity, especially at home. Obviously, you know, the wins and the losses are you know, you play to win and that kind of thing. But well you know, what, what else do you measure success by it? At this question, at this level, with this with these players, honestly building the relationships I have with these girls that have so many long term relationships.
Some are you know, former teammates of mine that I get the opportunity to
coach now. And I think that speaks on what we do at FC twos on and how we run things and the fact that they all continue to come back, and I think that's a huge asset to the program and overall, just like the relationships I think are huge for me, the girls checking in with me throughout the year, not just during season, but you know, throughout the year, sending me updates as our colleges going on, or some are having babies, and just seeing the overall success and them off the field
is it's really cool to see. I don't think I've ever asked you this question, but but I will because I ask a lot of the coaches and Jay and Jay, here's me ask this. You've you've found a lot of success and it doesn't happen by accident, But what do you think what do you think on yourself? Is the secret sauce that you provide? Well?
I don't know if I have the answer. I think, Um, something that I do really try hard every year, no matter what level I'm coaching, is to relate to the girls and to connect with them, not just on the field, but off and just being able to understand that you just can't treat everybody the same. You can't coach everybody the same. Everybody responds to things differently. I look at my own kids as an example, and they're all completely different and I know that as I'm parenting. So it's kind
of similar with coaching on the approach you take with it. And I think that's something I've gotten better at and will continue to grow hopefully with. But I think that's a huge thing is just getting them to trust you and to respect you at all levels. Well, you know, these roles especially don't have to be here. We're not we don't pay them. They are choosing to show up and missing work and missing you know, opportunities of vacation and family, um, and they still show up for us. So I think
that's awesome. Well, you know, it's it's funny because that you talk about all that, because just you know, last segments Steve and I were talking about you know what it takes for a team to win, and it's not just having the best players, right, You got to have a culture, you gotta have a coach, you got to have all these little I don't call a little. All these intangibles are things that you can't really see. And if one of those for you is that you relating, you feel
like by relating to your players that you get more out of them. It's an interesting perspective from here. Yeah, I think that has definitely played a role for a lot of my success. I know, speaking from high school alone, I know a lot of times we work you know technically player for player maybe the best you know team on the field. But we believed it, and they trusted each other and believe in the process and had that fight in them. I tried it and still with everybody in same with this team.
You know, we got scored on last week embarrassing and that's in the first like fifteen seconds and that could have turned spiral for us really poorly. And our girls responded, you know, they got the ball and bounced back and end up tying the game on the road. Um you know, so that's again speaks for their their character, right, No, yeah, no
question. Okay, if we could go back to last year, because we did not talk to you after, you want another title with South Point and I think you had struggled early and then you found your way, is that right? Yeah? Um, latching it a little bit. You know, we had a little you know, a couple of the bumps along the way, But I think that's always good for us, having a little adversity and some challenges and a little you know, humbling for them, just because you
know, the target center back and sometimes it's good to lose. So I am a firm believer in that. And we have that happened, and I think it always pays off in the end. Well, and again you know that we talk about this pretty much every time, the number of championships that out Point seems to win every year, particularly in the you know, in the women's sports, you know, softball and all the you know everything else. I mean, you guys, you keep having to hold up your end
of the your end of the show. I mean is that I don't want to say it's pressure, but you certainly have to feel like we really have to do something good because everybody else is doing well. Yeah, I mean the competition gets better and better every year, and the targets target gets bigger and bigger every year, and we're aware of that. So it starts from the day tryout start. You know, I'm building that mindset for them and
getting them mentally tough. And you know, every year is different in different challenges, and again every team is continuing to develop them. Bro, there's a ton of good teams in town. It used to be mainly Phoenix, you know, ten years ago, and now it's Two Sons really the ones dominating. If you look at the last several years, how many teams from Two Sons were actually in the playoffs on all levels. So I'm obviously competitive.
I don't like to lose, actually hate it. So now that drives me and pushes me to be successful for the girls and to push and push them to that level as well. I think that's your secret sauce. If it's not your If it's not your secret sauce, it's would be that might play a role a little competitive there, No, But that's what makes you a winner. I mean, that's what it makes everybody a winner. They have to do something like have to hate to lose, right, yeah,
yeah, Like I said. A lot of the girls you know that that have been We're trying to Laura and Priscilla and you know, Kate and even we had a little PTSD, like I joked about earlier. But that's something that you know, was a little traumatizing for us. Um so a little throat punsion. Hopefully that never happens because knock on wood, but that's something that does motivate us and drive us. Learning from one last thing again before
we let you go, tell us your games again. And the ticket prices, yes, they are five dollars a fives twenty cents today and you can get that I'm online or even go on Instagram and you can see it on two some women. And then Friday, same thing at Keno Bowl Games, seven o'clock and hopefully we'll finally see you guys there. One of them last year were bad. So'm still waiting. You know what, we're all guys. We go to we go to bed at like seven o'clock at night.
You know, we have our tapioca right after the show and we hit the sack. We'll do that. Well, okay, we'll promise, we'll see You'll make a point. Good look this weekend and we'll talk to you soon. Good look, all right, thanks Kelly, all right, thank you. Here she does win and make us look bad because we don't go. I'll have to put a little sunscreen and get out there faut a little. Well, we can moisturizer. All right, you're such a baby. Okay,
let's take our last break. We'll take your calls five two zero, four, one, six, seventy four, forty. We've got a fun big game boomer to talk about that came up a little bit ago, which I think is actually kind of funny. He's the one that I liked that you go. He's just making this stuff up as he goes along, but some of it makes sense. So we'll be right back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for newly forty years.
Now. Take a look back at the Ludolson 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 beloved coach. Lessons from Loot is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. What
one email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Hey Walcat Nation, Jake Fisher here, I got to tell you about my winning team over at Arizona Health Insider. I was able to get a customed private health insurance plan with no deductibles, no co pays, nationwide coverage, and I get to pick my own doctor for lessons two hundred dollars a month.
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security dot net. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeart Radio app Just Surgery I on the Ball. They welcome back Twining the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen on Steve Va. You're Jay Gonzalez and we have an eighteen minutes great a lot of time for a couple of conversations here. Yeah, you have one and I have the last second one I thought might be okay, cool? Well, really again, we love big we
love Big Game Boomer. He's been on our show a couple of times. You know, he does his rankings and all that kind of stuff of positions and stuff. But then he comes with some offbeat stuff. And he came up with one today that I thought was really fun and really funny. College fan bases that are exactly alike college I thought, hold on, I thought, there, whim do different one Top one hundred best college football media personalities. You saw that one. I didn't see that one. Okay, so
go ahead. Fan bases that are exactly alike. College fan bases that are exactly like, like I'll give you, I'll give you like an obvious one, right, Ohio State in Oklahoma. Right, the fans are the same. Okay, just okay, we should win the national chail here. We're all about the football. Yeah yeah, okay. Another one in Michigan and Texas. Okay, right, I mean you think about those fans and there there's something Georgia and LSU Okay, okay, So that that's some examples.
Um. Around the PAC twelve, he had calin UCLA basically the same fans, which sort of you know, like they feel that should be good at stuff, but they're really not. They think they got high academics and that should matter, but it's not winning a mini games enigma because they don't give a crap. Yeah, here's one Miami, Miami, Miami Florida, and Miami Florida. Would you compare them too? In the PAC twelve you will
see Oregon Oregon. Okay, okay, yeah, flashy, yeah, you know yeah, yeah ye, maybe a little a little more style than the substance sometimes. I like that, right, I thought that was a good one. They say that, no, you know, he just has it, just has a chart. I said that, okay, I said style substance. Why that was good. Here's what I had to think about this one because it was like, I don't see the comparison. But then I
thought about it. Alabama in Duke basketball. Well, Alabama because they think they have to put a birth right to the national championship in football every year, and Duke because they think they have a birthright to the national championship in I thought that made sense totally. I initially didn't because I thought Duke sucks at football, why would they compare to it? But then again, they're fans. It's about their fan bases that the whole um. I thought this
was funny because I was looking for ASCU all over the board. Issue in Colorado as the same basically the same fan base. I don't know, um issue fan again, they think that they should be good at everything, and they're not good at the issue. Yeah, and Colorado just kind of yeah, you know everything, Yeah, I think, so tell me that issue your perception. Let's they just you know, we're Phoenix, we're big, we got we got seventy thousand students that are at our university. We should
be offes experience. Give me an experience that happened to me four or five years ago. So covering the Arizona football game down up there, UH a issue party one. UH, we do all the interviews, we go into elevator and there's three issue student students there in the radio covering the game. Kevin to the elevator. They have no idea. Who the heck? I am right? So we're going down it's late and they says, you know
what, I'm that I don't live in Tucson. Stinks down there, And I'm thinking, here's three little punk kids, gotta be twenty one years old. And I was going to get into a conversation with them and say, what gives you that idea? And aren't you guys kind of getting out? If I were an editor or somebody who would hire you, I wouldn't hire you just for hearing that. And would you take the job if it was in Tucson? I guarantee you, Jake, they're taking a job in Tucson,
Arizona. And I'm thinking, who the little punk's talking about? You're right, you know? And talk a little talk a little crap, and then I would do you need a job? Yeah? I would have let him up. I seriously would have led him up. All right, there's another couple, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, right, m okay, all right, Yeah it's a good one. Okay. So um Indiana Kansas basketball, sucking football, good at basketball. I think they're God's gift in basketball, got
it? All right? Um? All right? So oh TCU in Utah. Right. I thought that was a pretty good one. You know, they've got pretty good. They've gotten pretty good at football. You know, they kind of new kids on the block as far as that goes. Their fan bases are kind of like, yeah, he's done pretty good with this one. Okay, all right, who does he compare Arizona? Man, this is tough when I tell you what's gonna be obvious? Basketball? Kansas? No, Kansas was it was Indiana? It could be too Kansas,
but you're close obvious, you're clothes Texas? Could you already use Texas? Kansas? And Oklahoma? Who Oklahoma's already starts with a K, Kentucky Kentucky because of basketball? Yeah, they're the same, yeah, right, football, Their football is kind of basketball delusion. It's not the right word I'm gonna use. But because look, Kentucky's fantastic, obviously, but Kala Party is taking it, really taking it tough by the by the fan base.
Now, yeah, because they want to get rid of him. But did you see my out like forty million millions and they're not as good as they used to be, obviously, And to me, I've always said this, and he's the most overrated college coach around all this talent. Yeah, nothing to show for it or a little to chaufeur, right, which is welcome. You're right. It was at a really good comparison, That's what I saw that and that's why I said, we got to talk about this great,
great comparison. He did the pretty good time with this, pretty sure that we put that on the list. Yeah, well, well I'll mention it in the when I post the podcast. But I thought that was really good. Okay, So we have two men that anybody want to call, please do. But I have a question for you. I was just kind of doing my reels on Facebook and bubbaball and I saw George, couldn't you asking a question talking about athletes? Talking about athletes? And let me go
to the beginning and he says this to a guy. He says, you don't want kids love athletes. Why do you love an athlete? Why do you like athletes? You're asking me that, Yeah, I'm asking you now, why do you like athletes? Then I'll ask you why do you love sports? I don't particularly like athletes. I love sports, Okay. Why do you love sports? Um? Because I think there's drama and winning and losing, and it's just fun to compete. I'm a bit I'm a little
bit of a competitor. No, no, yeah, I mean not personally. I mean I haven't played a lot of sports in my life, and you know, in high school and stuff like that. But I've always wanted to win, right, That's that's why you put juice on it, right and right. And I love underdogs. Yeah, I love seeing underdog. So I love seeing guys, you know, achieved like that. So I think that's part. And it's just I love the you know, you put a game on, you don't know what's gonna happen. That's what I love
it. Okay, that's what And he says, you don't why people love athletes because they follow their dreams. They get to do stuff that people don't usually get to do. You know, they're talented. It is great. That's why I thought it said. They're probably right. I loved athletes because god, they got to do. When I was a kid, I love Pete Rose and he used to do things. Just a simple dude who worked his butt off and ran fast and get the ball. And you're thinking,
God, I wish I could be like him. Yeah, And you know as a kid I did. As a kid, I did love athlete. I did idolize. I don't know if idolize the right word, but I really there were athletes that I wanted to be and that stopped when I was about well no, no, okay, and then that's it and that was
it. Well and then at that point I love teams. I love the Dodge, Okay, I love the wildcatskay m, dude, you kind of grew out of it, right, I grew out of or you realized you were gonna be like like I'll say, I have never to this day. I bought a player's jersey because it was the player, right. I mean, I don't even I take it back one Johnny United, But that was because I wanted a jersey to wear at our Turkey Bowl that we have every
year. I thought, because everybody's getting jersey, Okay, there's one jersey that I'm gonna get. It's gonna be Johnny United. That's a jersey that I bought. But other than that, I never I've never bought an Arizona jersey. I never wore an any kind of any kind of a number of an Arizona players, even on a T Shirt's take this call higher on the airnin on the ball. It's it's crazy that that that you're talking about this.
Then you know some of us go to therapy. Some of those people needed and I suggested, but with sport and and tough times in your life and traumatic times in your life. That's why I'm so enamored with the with the Cowboys, because that particular time in my life was was really a tough time and one of the best eas that I had at was Troy Aitman,
Emmet Smith, Michael Irving. And then it rolled into the ninety seven UM Wildcats team, and sometimes we draw back to that kid, right to that kid and that happiness, and then it brings that and then it draws us back to being kids again. As much as the hustle and bustle and deadlines
and grinding out in seventy hour weeks. We still got the sport and that we slid vicariously sometimes through that and sometimes it's a little crazy and delusion of wildcats cowboys, but it draws us back to that that goodness that we had. That that said, it's led us down and gave us more mental issues
and anxiety as men. But I found, you know, through therapy that that's why you know, I'm a big cowboy fan or a wildcamp fan, that in those turbulent dark times, those were the things that you know, that were balanced for me, that I could count on, that that were there for me. Having Sarah get fathers like like Dick Tomy and Jimmy Johnson and stuff like that. You you love the sport for it, I'm gonna start to cry there. He even day justice nobody can do with a man.
I was a brave fan so so, but but you know, with baseball, you know, you grow up and realize it's fairy tales in Santa Claus and it's not real. So, Mike, how old are you? I am forty, so you were fourteen at the time, about fourteen at the time when all this stuff was going on fourteen fifteen, yeads all middle school like eleven to fourteen, man, like yeah, end of elementary when it's going into high school. Man, it was. It was crazy. But you know what I mean, I got sports and I I wish I
could transfer that going to my kid and they could understand. But you know, the cowboys, he might not be a kid by the time that happened. But let me say this to you, bring up again, you bring up, You bring up a great point, Mike, Mike, you bring up a great point. And let me say this, because Jay and I are old school. We listen to old school music. And one of the reasons I like it is because it brings us to our childhood, the great times of our lives. But what it was, we weren't paying bills,
we weren't chasing the rainbower, but we were just living. Is that kind of the same thing where you listen to that, to the Commodorees or to the birth wind and fire you thank god, I was only twelve and I love that music. Here, Oh no, it could even be like the beginning of a song that even as in the soundtrack of a movie. It'll
make you. It's the nostalgia is crazy, and it's crazy the fantasy world we could tap into, or the time machine we could tap into just by listening to something, watching something like you tube is a is a crazy, uh time capsule sometimes with with some things like I could let my YouTube run and it's all related and it reminds me of a time and a place and when actually things were good. It's not like things are good now, but uh, at a turbulent time was that was the only thing good. You
guys are part of that. Though, Bear down, all right, we'll help you take them. We'll take your co paid. We'll take your co paid right now. Hope you take your insurance. That's look, man, Mike went deep right there. It was good. But it was very good because he makes a lot of sense because you know, as he was talking, I was saying, Okay, what were the things that mattered to me
when I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen years old? And I will say even though like I don't go out and buy players jerseys all my time through blame ball though you know, um what my numbers on my uniforms literally whatever those I got numbers based on somebody, right, like I uh in a in a I played uh. When I was a teenager, I played on baseball team, and I wore Davey Lopes. No, I knew I was gonna play second base. He was fifteen. I knew I was gonna play
second base. So I said, I'm gonna wear Davey Lopes number. Another year, I was a catcher, right, I knew I was gonna be a catcher, so I wore Steve Yeager's number again, wore number seven, you know, for the Dodgers in the in the in the mid eighties, and you know things like that. Um, you know, I I you know, for some reason, I loved number twenty two. And I don't even know why I loved number twenty two. Yea, I don't know what I did. And then for some and somewhere along the line, six became
a favorite number. I think because of Steve Garvey right as a manager, not a manager, as a coach at the at Saint Gregory. I'm now, I'm in my fifties, and we got new we got new uniforms, and I took a number six. It's been painful, you and you and Miguel, Oh my Sonson will never see thee we won the World Series just a few years. Oh yeah, but that'll be another thirty three years. But I thought that was a good topic because people fall in love sport for
different reasons. Yeah, for whatever. You know, when you asked that question, the answer for me, it wasn't easy, right, I'm not really sure. It's just I've always been interested in sports, from listening to the Dodgers and wanting listening to him on the radio every day and rooting for them to win, right, Winning always felt better than losing. Yeah, And so I think without question. And then I started playing Little League baseball when I was eight because I was young. At that time, that was
the youngest you could play. And so now I'm playing baseball when I love baseball already. And then you know, look, here's the thing. And Kelly Kelly, we talked about her with the Secret Sauce blah blah blah, and I know she's intense and it she's very good at what she does, but it's funny and invariably good coaches say this, the pain of losing hurts more than the doing of joy of winning. And sometimes you just don't want
to play because you could lose and the pain is unbearable. Yeah, you'll ask me, if you'll ask me, think about an Arizona game, gonna go to defeat and I'm gonna go You're gonna go to a defeat. Think about the game. But it has me to think about the game that sort of matters most to me, that was most important in any sport. And I'm gonna go to a loss. I'm gonna go to a loss that costs Arizona a roseball. Did you remember go to that loss to UCLA in nineteen
ninety eight. I'm gonna go to that loss to cal in in nineteen ninety three. Those are the two the first games that come to mind when I think of Arizona games that had the most impact on me. I was at the national championship in basketball. I was there, But yet that's not the first thing on my mind when I think about an Arizona game. That everybody has a different trigger. But but I agree with you. You remember the
losses more than you do the victories. Yeah, and it goes to the point of why do we watch sports because you want to win because it feels so good, But there's something a little about you that says, you know, the losses matter more like you said, Yeah, they're just more painful. I remember in ninety nine, ninety nine, Uh, well in ninety eight they lose, they lose to Utah. Right, it's a devastating thing. And you go to every locker room and you've been there, They say,
what do you remember? And I was this as well. You remember seeing the other guys celebrate there. It's not gonna happen to us the next year. Well, it always happens to the next year. You just you can't avoid it. Pretty much, unless you're very fortunate to win two in a row or whatever. It's almost unavoidable. Yeah, pretty much, it's
always happen. It is. It is, and especially if you're a I mean, look, if when you're an a on, you just think when the big game comes out, right, the game that you have to win. I hate to say this, but I'm gonna say it. If you're an atoning fing, you expect to lose, and if you win, oh, it's like awesome, it's great. It's a surprise. I'll give you one, but you expect I'll give you one. Duke in twenty eleven, Yeah, you go to you go to the West Tournament. Right in Western
Tournament, Duke is very good. You're thinking, okay, we're here, and then you and then you're like, are go out nine? Yeah, but then you lose to Yukon and you're thinking it just happened. Yeah, somebody, you know, somebody posted that Jamal Horn three point on Twitter the other did I watched that over he would never have to buy a drink again, but now no one even knows where he's over and over and over again.
Yeah, and you go, man, you know, but again, you know, I think about that happy lost to UCLA in nineteen ninety eight. You know, one bad quarter of football in Arizona would have could have been a national champion that year. Yeah. Well, imagine you're talking about Jamal Horne missing that shot. I remember Johnson Hid missing the shot against Wisconsin and the trajectory of the shun Miller era. Yeah, that would have changed
changed everything. It would have changed everything. He'd still be here, it's still oh h oh yeah, and it'd be more painful covering him because man, yeah, you might be right now, but you know it is what it is. Yeah, things happened for a reason. Might be right, all right, that was fun. It was a big, big quick da quick. Kelly Pierce, Jenny Dalton Hill had some fun conversation there. Yeah, Kelly's Kelly's got wisdom beyond her years. Yeah, both of them,
both of them. A good day with the women. I thought I didn't realize she had a bunch of kids. I thought Jack Donald was very insightful. Yeah, well, she have a really good perspective. We're talking perspective from one of the top players, not only in theirs, one of the top history of sopball. Very fun. Correct. We'll be back tomorrow for more of this, so I'll be sure to come around listen to the podcast, and uh we'll be back to me day. Thirty thousand people in here and all me some people