Tuesday, May 14, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez sound Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat Z R TWU SA at iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, Welcome Town the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. You're hearing my voice again at the start of the show because Steve has abandoned us again for the day. Ryan, I do know what to say. He's actually headed up to you see,

he tries to tell us he's not a fan, right of stuff. He's going to the Reds Diamondbacks game because he grew up a Reds fan. So he's trying to I don't have a team, Yes you do. He's got you know, he's taking the day off from the show to go to go check out the Reds. But I've got a very able guest co host with me today. George made is one of our great sponsors from Showtime Cards Trained. Welcome. Thank you very much, very excited, appreciate you being here

and filling in for Steve. I know you'll kick his butty. You'll do a great job. But Georgia again has this sports card business We'll probably talk some some memorabilia stuff as we go through through the day. It's baking, you know, work well into the baseball season. So who's hot, who's not in the NBA playoffs and all that kind of lots happening in sports right now. Yeah, a lot of cool stuff, but we put together a

great show even without Steve. We're gonna bring in Brian Jeffries at three fifteen, the Voice of the Wildcats, on on twelve ninety. He'll be doing his last home PAC twelve baseball series this weekend when Oregon State visits the Arizona It's a huge series. Arizona needs to win one game to win the Pac twelve championship. So one we'll talk to him about the series, but we'll go down memory lane talking about, you know, the old days, the

old six pack. You know, when it was a PAC twelve in Northern and Southern Division you had Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Call in the league. We talked about that a little bit with Chip Hale. He can signed kind of nostalgic about it, right change, this is it, this is the farewell and this is it the farewell Tour We've talked to Brian at the end of football season about last football season. We

talked about it as being the last basketball season. Now it's baseball and this is the last one in a huge, rich history of a PAC twelve baseball between USC as U, Stanford, Oregon State, Arizona, all winning national championships during during this time. So we'll get Brian in here and we'll go through some of that stuff, you know, wax a little nostalgic on that, and then Arizona softball starts in the in the Arkansas Regional on Friday.

We'll have Kenzie Foller. Quinn Nora is Kenzie Foller from her day's pitching at Arizona. She's also an ESPN Softball softball analyst who will be calling the Stanford

so the Stanford Regional this weekend. She won't be with you, of a, but she'll be up with Stanford. But we'll talk to a little bit one what she saw from the OV this year, maybe a little bit about her regional, Stanford, one of the time teams in the in the tournament, and then just overall, you know what what we can expect to see in the NCAA Tournament in college softball, so a lot you know, all this happening in the next uh, this coming weekend, so we'll get to

all of that. Sounds like a busy time. Yeah, it is a busy time, right, Yeah, so go ahead. It's also great, you know we talk about softball. What's happening in women's sports. Obviously with Caitlyn Clark. Today's our first w NBA game sold out, so we're going to see if that's affected like softball. Yeah, well let me ask you. Let's let's go there with with your business with Kaitlyn Clark, right, you know, is there anything I mean, what what? What? Yeahs

out there and what's it? What's it look like? Right now? We never used to sell women's basketball cards. Now they're coming in and see, you know, paying seven hundred dollars for an autograph, So it definitely has the fact that it and we hope to see you know, it continued. So and obviously she would probably be the number by the seller. But you've got others now, right, and even some of the players who've been around for a while now they're getting the attention because of what it's going into,

like women's gymnastics. Livy's doing right, she's doing her own things, so maybe I'll ask her, is there someone that's coming up in softball that week and potentially see catapult the sport right, right, And you know the softball has been been pretty big because of ESPN, Right, But to take the next step in terms of the collectibles market and stuff like that, that's a

different step. I mean, what we saw with Kaitlyn Clark these last couple of years in cooking and women's college basketball, it's unprecedented, right, that just doesn't happen. The sponsorships, the media, the sellout events, it's just it's tremendous. Yeah, I mean we can go back. I mean we can name name women's basketball players from way back. You know, you can go all the way back to Cheryl Miller, right, so really one of the first pickers. But you go back beyond that, Nancy Lieberman and

some of those kinds of names. But you going way back back. But none of them ever brought what Kaitlyn Clark has brought. And part of it is certainly the social media aspect of it, the amount of media attention that that that she generated. But there were other players that came along the way, you know, Sabrina and Esca, the girl from from Oregon, right, Kelsey Plum. You know some of these players here, right, Diana Tarassi, some of who have been around a little bit, and it's sort

of like, okay, kate Leclark brought it to another level. Now. You know what you hope is that it kind of spreads a little bit, right for all of them, that everybody gets to benefit from this, and it will. I mean they're even today they're chartering planes for them. You know, they used to write coach right, so it's it's definitely changing the sport. Yeah, it's very commitment sport. Okay, So what's what what's Kaitlyn Clark memoryle you know, cards or whatever basket sold fifty dollars card car

then would have been autographed in every tegraph card okay ye. And then just like a base rookie cards, fifty dollars were sold out numbered cards or you know, they go up from there and you see one one selling upwards of fourteen to twenty thousand dollars. Wow, Yeah, it's a lot of money. Yeah, it's big, you know, and they're talking about our contract. She's only making seventy eight thousand who cares. She's getting an endorsement.

She's making millions, millions and millions millions. Okay, let's say, okay, she's got her her rookie debut tonight, Connecticut's son sold out. Okay, let's say she takes that Jersey signs it. What does that sell for? That's that's a that's a tough question because nobody knows, you know what, Yeah, Michael Jordan, but somebody'll pay right, Yeah, yeah, Michael Jordan has sold upwards over ten million dollars, but this is her first

one. So it's just tough to say. You know, it could be ten thousand dollars or it could be one hundred thousand or half a million. We don't know. Well, how does okay, how does the how does that market get set? I mean, what what has to happen? She she has to sign it and put it up for sale, or somebody gets it. You put it at an auction house, and then whatever someone's willing

to pay for it. Usually the rare stuff. Every time it's resold, it's sold for a hiring value, so it always usually appreciates the good stuff. Yeah, okay, if you're if you're lucky, lucky enough to be outside the locker room. She walks by, she signs a jersey and hands it to you. What are you doing with it? What do you what are you trying to get for it? How? Oh? A couple of thousand dollars? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, she's she's the top. She's really a couple of thousand. Yes, not ten, not

twelve, not fifty. Well, it depends game used or not game US. If it's a game use jersey, Oh, then you know, then it's fine. She's you know, she's walking to the locker room. Yeah, and then she does the you know, like the soccer player and you have jersey. She's got sports bronze, so she's not naked, and she

signs this, she signs the scenario he's creating. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out, you know, Okay, you know, what is what is somebody going to be looking for if they if they get say that, like, in my professional opinion, I would say five figures, so at least ten thousand jersey. Wow, there's a lot of money. Yeah, we've never seen never nobody else in women in all women's sports, we've never seen it. You don't golf is you know, they've had some LPGA that

that have been like national sensations, but not like this. Right, this is just I mean even we were watching tournament games, betting tournament games, and it's just it's really changed things for sure, And I mean, and we hope it does it with softball and others. Any value to any of the Women's Olympic soccer jerseys of any of those ever been out there? Those are? Where are the you know, where are those at? Like I'm thinking of nowhere? Nowhere? Ye? Who you know scored the goal through

off for Jersey? Did that? Did that? Never hit them? Fetching I don't know, I don't know on that, you don't see it often, but not fetching those you know, ten thousand dollars you know, yeah, maybe a couple of thousand on those Yeah, on those. Okay, interesting just but but still unprecedented, right for Jersey to go for ten thousand dollars. You go, Okay, that's never happened. Never happened, Yeah, never happened. We we love it. Yeah, it keeps going very

cool. Good for them, they well deserved. Yeah, and it's great for the business, right absolutely. I mean when people are there's something else to collect, right, that's got to be great for the business. When they're coming in and asking for a cards and we're sold out. Wow, yeah, yeah, Okay, all right, all right, well let's uh, well, let's let's we've got a couple more minutes. Lets Stelvin. It's baseball season. It's baseball season right now. I mean, I know

I've asked you. I need to get a show Hay card at some point, but you know who's out there that's get you. I haven't gotten it yet. Okay, one more invite. You know, in a baseball season, I think I don't know if we've had this conversation before. A baseball season starts. When somebody gets hot, they're playing well there, you know, their value goes with that. Or does somebody lose value if they're off to a horrible start. How does that work? Yeah, obviously it's based

on player performance. So if they're hot, they're doing well, you know, the card increases. They can be hot like Mike Trouts are off fire and then he gets hurting. Right now, it's the fourth fifth time they in a row, seasons in a row, that he's gotten hurt. People are starting to lose. Interesting, I'm not going to you know, invest in him, so let's go to Otani, you know, and he's well loved. He's kind of the face of MLB. You've seen the the uh

gambling allegory. What did that do? Anything? It did? It dropped it and dropped it twenty five percent? Wow, it was that. MLB was kind of smart. They swept it on their right, yea, because he's the face of the sport and his you know, he's he's up there again and people are asking so did he come back? Oh yeah, absolutely, yes, Okay, yeah, who else is out there right now early in the early this season. That's uh, you know, people that are

the people are asking for. There's a lot of young rookies. Like today, people were asking for Bobby Witch Junior. Normally you don't not see no lesser as Corbyn Carroll. You know, they're your young rookie people are speculating on it to invest early by them, hopefully they have a great career. And they just came up in Pittsburgh Paul Skeans skreens yep, oh great. People love him. You know, he had a pretty good outing, right yeah, Well he's pitched one game and his card goes to oh yeah,

absolutely, oh yeah. A lot of times they're they're sold higher on speculation than actual performance, so they sometimes never meet what what you know, even if they play well, they're like, you know, their cards are selling just so high above right, that is right. Somebody that's come up like that. Who do you remember somebody who just immediately as soon as they hit the one shot up in the air, the one I remember, and it

was crazy with Steven Strasburg. That was maybe a decent twenty eleven, but he was just you know, he's the number one overall pick. He was a pitcher and went to Washington Nationals. His cards, everything was just fired. He did Arizona Fall League. Here they're selling out games over there, and then halfway through a season he gets hurt. That's never it just never come back, never came back. Interesting. Interesting, Wow, it's it again. It always fascinates me. How that? How that? I mean,

you gotta love it? I mean, do you? We love it? And the fanatics has evolved now they bought they bought tops, so they're trying to bring the average sports fan to become collectors. You know, and even if we could get a small percentage of people. It's another radio or to you know, going to a hobby shop and pick up some cards or autographic memorabilia. Hey, we love that right now? Do does does a card get valued like locally? Like say it's a guy his car is more

valuable in Tucson than if he was in La or somewhere. Yes, what I like to call it is like regional pricing. So it could be like Benedict Mathren. You know, they sell higher here because you know, Indiana Pacer, but you know someone in in Texas might not really care. But you know, yeah, he's okay, he's an average, you know, above average basketball player, but we absolutely love him here. So there's like a little yeah, down to the sentimental value of all of that interesting stuff.

Wan so too, I got I gotta bring up his nick because he's on my fantasy based on fantasy now exactly, So how much did his value increase when that increase time? You know, obviously you're going from a small market team like San Diego Padres to the Yankees, the biggest market team it goes on. It's after a pretty good start. He is and he plays exciting and he's just you know, plays with a lot of passions. So

people like to collect the mookie bets is another one. So when we love, you know, my wife would kick me out of the house if he came over on her list. He's on her list. I love him. He would be kicked to the curve and showed up at her door. But there's there's a few guys like that, but he's one of them. She loves him. She she, I mean, she's you know, I've always got the Dodger games on at home every night, every game is on, and if he's coming up to bat, she stops what she's doing and watching

him. Here. The other day, he had gone like, oh for fourg and I tell him. I was telling her that he sucked, and she really took offense to that. Don't talk. She was really upset that I called that. I said that he sucks. Anyways, all right, I'm with her on the exactly. Well, George Modis from Showtime Cards, I'll be sure to visit his place up on Speedway. We'll talk some more about some of this stuff. But coming up, we've got Brian Jeffries,

a voice of the Wildcats. He'll be calling the last Pack twelve baseball home series. Oh let's packed tall baseball series for the University of Arizona this Thursday, Friday, Saturday with Oregon State coming to town and then you know, heading into the postseason, but last ones at High Corbett for the PAC twelve. So we'll talk to him and as I said, we'll go down memory

lane talk about the old six pack. Brian's been here since the late eighties, so there were some great teams that have come through since he's been around, So we'll talk about all of that. So stick around for Brian Jeffries. We'll be right back. The Window Depot has everything you need to create the kitchen or bathroom of your dreams. Browsye aisles of instock cabinets available in a variety of sizes and configurations and instantly elevate your space. Today, visit

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fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just Surgeon. I on the Bar, Welcome back to the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm jacon Zales, my usual buddy, Steve Rivera's on the road today, he'll be back tomorrow. I've got a guest co host in here,

George Miners from one of our great sponsors, Showtime Cards. And on the phone, we've got Brian Jeffries, the voice of the Wildcats, the voice who will be calling the last PAC twelve baseball series for Arizona coming up this weekend with Oregon State coming to town, and almost poetic that Arizona's got a chance to win the Pac CULF championship this last one, Brian. But welcome to the show and thanks for being here. Okay, George, great to

be with you. And yeah, it's going to be on weekend, not only because you've got a championship on the line, but just the fact that this tip for the PAC twelve in terms of regular season games, this this is the last three you'll see on the Arizona campus and it's kind of odd to think about, kind of sad to think about, but it's coming to an end. So closing it out with a championship, boy, that would

be sweet. Well, you know, you know we've talked to you about you know, at the end, we talked you at the end of the football season about the last football season. We talked to you at the end of the basketball season might have been the last basketball season. But for some reason, baseball has a different feel to it, just kind of a you know, it's been kind of a warm and fuzzy sport for Arizona particular.

They've you know, they've pretty much always been good. You know, a lot of you know, fan following, they've won some national championships, and it's kind of like everybody's sport, right It's not too big, but it's big enough that it matters to people in this town and it has for a long time, and now it's coming to an end. But you know, you got this Oregon State Series where you know, again, as we said,

Arizona's got to win one game to win the championship. But how big of a deal it is this for Arizona sort of to be the last ones? Do you think? Oh, I think historically that's something that you'll look back maybe, you know, with fondness, or I can think of a couple other adjectives other than that, it's not going to be anything and in any of the sports that the last championship. I think once we get a

few years down the road because the conference that will dissolve. I don't think anybody other than the people that may be played in that game, or you're avid fans who certainly remember some of those games, I don't think it's going to stand out because it was the last one. It's I think for Arizona, the bigger picture is to win this one and what it could do for them in terms of possibly hosting a regional here in Teissan, or you know,

just getting themselves in a great position for a regional coming up. So I look at it that way. Maybe I'm wrong about that, Jay, but I'm just not one that's gonna if Arizona wins the championship, I'm not going to say, well, that was great they won the last one. I think of all the others, the great teams they've had, and all

the great success they've had, which can still continue. It will be in a different conference, but you know, they'll still be one of the best baseball programs in the country no matter what happens this weekend or this season. Right, Well, let's first talk about Oregon State. What what do we expect to see from those guys? I mean, they're good they're all's. They weren't always good, but they won, They won national champions back then.

They've been good since then. What what do you know about them? And what can we expect to see in these three games? Yeah, you know, you're right, they weren't always good. And then a guy that then Pat Casey came along to be their head coach and they figured it out. He I think some of the Northwest schools for a long time thought they

had to recruit kids out of California to win. And of course they were taking the back seat Arizona, ASU, USC, Stanford, UCLA, cal those schools were getting the best players from southern California, you know State, Pullert and Lungach. I mean, the Northwest schools were way down the line. Well, Pat Casey figured out that he could win with Northwest kids, and he still recruited California heavily, but he found the best talent in Oregon

and Washington and a guess what that got that program going. That's been good ever since. And so they were favored to win the Pac twelve this year. They still could win the Pac twelve this year. They had the best player in the PAC twelve and Travis Zana. They have an outstanding pitching, they hit the ball like nobody else in the league. And it's just amazing that they've lost twelve games. In fact, I was looking back at their losses today, Jay, and they've lost twelve games, eight of them by

two runs or less. And so that's how close they are to even having a better record. And I think a lot of people forget outlived this Oregon State team really is. And so the Watcats, you know, they're gonna have to play their best. This is not the home field is certainly going to help, but you know, Oregon State's not coming in here thinking that

they are the underdog in this thing by any means. Hey, Brian, So speaking of home field, if someone that doesn't hasn't gone a game all season, what do they expect to, you know, go out there the last last games of the PAC twelve. Should they go out there? What kind of ambiance is going to be out there? What's the atmosphere going to be? Like, well, I Georgia, it should be electric all three games. You've got three six o'clock games, so the heat is not going

to be a factor. You're playing for a championship. There's so much on the line. It is the last three home games. Sparring a possible regional host site, and so the baseball crowds have been great this year. Arizona draws twelve thousand fans this weekend, so you know, if they draw twelve thousand, they would leave the PAC twelve in home attendance, and I think that's a pretty special marks. Yeah, but they but they need twelve to thousand over the three games. We'll see if they can get it. I

think it's certainly possible. But the atmosphere should be great. I think the place will be as full as it possibly can be. I mean, High COVID's a big, big ballfield, but if you get five six thousand people in there, that can be an intimidating atmosphere. And it will be interesting because Oregon State is a losing road record this year and so they played They've only lost two home games, but they've had some struggles on the road,

and it's a big High COVID, it's a big ballpark. Oregon State's a great home run hitting team, but trying to get it out of High Covid is a challenge. So I think there's a lot of factors there that could just make this weekend really good. But again, wild they got to play their best. They've got to pitch their best and play out standing defense, and they're going to win a game, two games of three games. Yeah, I mentioned to Chip that. You know, I've been to three games

this year. I've loved to have gone to morrow. I'll be going this weekend. But every time I've gone, I've gone and I've seen Clark Candyatti throw, and I see him throwing, I think, okay, if Ara Zone has got a better pitcher than him, who start? You know, who's the first night started? Then I want to see who that guy is because he's been very impressive to me. But this first matchup on Thursday night, I mean that's a big one. You know, Arizona wants to get

this championship thing done and not have to think about it beyond Thursday. What do we expect from that pitching matchup on Thursday night? Well, you know, if it goes according to plan, and I don't see any reason why it's going to change. Jackson can't goes for the Wildcats, and he's been there Friday guy all season long, one of the PAC twelve leaders in strikeouts, and like every pitcher on this Arizona staff, they just don't walk many

guys, which has been a major key to their success. The team leads the nation and the fewest bowks allow for nine innings. And then the twist all of this if Oregon State, and I'm sure they're going to go with Aid and May was an Arizona Wildcat last season and he transferred up there, and he's five and zero having a great year, and you know, so

there's gonna be a little extra instead of probably on both sides. I think that were teammates with him here last year certainly would like to beat him, and not for any reason other than they just want to win the game, right, And I'm sure he's going to come down here thinking, hey, you know, maybe I wasn't as good at Arizona and now I blossomed into this outstanding pitcher and I want to show my stuff. So there's a lot that I think is going to go into that, probably more from Aid May

side than Jackson Camp. I think it has the makings again of a great matchup a mantra. All right, So we got this series coming up Arizona, you know, safely in the tournament. We'll see if they, you know, if they do well enough and get it, get an opportunity to host. Right now, the RPI is is is a little low for that, But I don't know how the PAC twelve champion doesn't host. So I would think that, you know, if they can win the league, they

would get that. But we'll we'll, you know, we'll leave that to the powers that be. So let's go back in time a little bit. You you came here to me sort of at the height of the city, the old six Pack, the PAC twelve Southern Division. You had the Bay Area schools, the LA schools, and the Arizona schools playing in the league together and that was just us, for lack of a better word, just

fun year in and year out. All those teams were good every year when you walked into that What was that like for you to start calling those games and seeing the competitiveness of that league? Well, I think all you have to do is look at this, Jay, Stanford, USC, Arizona and ASU are four of the ten winningness programs in college baseball history. And that's all you have to know right there. They even though for a lot of those years they've played each other twice, and they beat each other up all

the time. They are still for the winning his programs in college baseball history. And so that tells you right there how good that six pack was. And in particular when it started out. I mean when I first got here, it was, you know, USC was the team to beat under Rod Data, right, and you know Stanford got good under Mark Marquiz and you know Jerry Kendall and Jim Brock, and I mean, you just had these

great coaches and these outstanding progra grams. I mean Bob Mulana when he was coaching at Cal, they ran the bases like I've never seen anybody, you know, they would steal two hundred bases a season. I mean, it was. It was just crazy what a lot of these teams would do. And it was fun because of that, because you you had and primarily I think of the great offenses that were part of the six Pack, and that

made it high scoring games. You have the illuminum bat. For those of us broadcasting the games when it went four hours, that wasn't exactly you know, what you were cut out for on a week daily basis, But it was a lot of fun because they were they were wild, So I missed

those days. I think because of the emergence of Oregon State and now Oregon that the in Utah got good this year, that the conference is a little more balanced, and I think that's that's helped that make a better conference than you know, when the six Pack broke broke up, there there were a few years where it just didn't quite right. Was there was there a let's let's keep it to the six pack? Was there a favorite team that you had so you got here, what eighties, six eighty seven? Right,

yeah, I started doing. My first baseball season was actually nineteen, I want to say eighty five. Okay, So from then until the six Pack broke up in ninety eight, favorite teams that you saw, whether they were Arizona, Stanford, whoever. You don't say ASU, but but you know the teams that you know that you remember that stick out to you. You guys that had a bunch of guys who went to the pros or whatever. Well, I mean the other teams. I mean, honestly, I don't

think much of the other teams. I mean, I think of them, but I don't There's none of them to me that I think will they they were all really good, right, So I can't tell you like there was one. I just think of that when I got going and when we got for example, nineteen eighty six when Arizona won the national championship, which was there third at the time, and that was my first time going to Omaha, and that was Todd Trafton, Chip Hail, Steve Strong, Mike Senny,

Tommy Heinzoh. I could go on from there. I mean, those guys were always special to me. And I'll just give you a little personal side note that when we were over in Berkeley this year, Todd Trafton shut up at the ballpark and I probably hadn't seen him, and he said he hadn't been a Tissan maybe in over twenty years or something, and that just brought back all these great memories to me to sit there and Bobby Ralston was

with him, even though they didn't play together on that team. You know, Traptmon was on that team, and just it brought back all these great memories of those guys, and for me being in Omaha for the first time at old Rosenblad Stadium, that's always going to be one of my favorite teams. Anytime you win a national championship. It's a favorite team, but because it was the first one I got to be at, it's the most special one for me. Yeah, you know, I got to cover that eighty

nine team that unfortunately didn't get out of its own regional. But that team, you know, with all those major leaguers on that team, you know Lance Dixon, Scott Ericson, J T. Snow, Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffin playing shortstop instead of pitching, right, I mean, that team was incredible And I remember covering that team thinking, how did these guys not win their regional? And it was it was disappointing, But you look back on that team, that team was the first one that I think won the

won the six pack outright, right, I think I believe so. And you forgot one You forgot one name there, Jay, You've got one name that played right around there, didn't I don't remember he was on the eighty nineteen or not. I know he played with those guys. See my memories a little fuzzy, and that's Kenny Lofton. Kenny Lofton, but he hardly played, right, He he came up and hardly played. And then the next thing you know he's in the majors. I don't believe you have to

go back and check the record books. I don't believe he ever had an at bad Arizona. I think it's simply a hitch runner, or maybe he played some outfield, played in games, but I'm not sure he actually had an hat at. But yeah, that's one of the great trivia questions. I still have a box score somewhere that has that has Kenny Lofton, Scott Ericson, Trevor hoppin JT. Snow. I want to say, I'm Kevin Long. Kevin Long was on that team, right, he was the center

fielder on that team, I believe. Okay, so there you go. How about that for one one game? And I've still got that box score somewhere because when you look at you know what those guys went on to do when Kevin Long is still in baseball. Uh. And of course Kenny Lofton, as as you just mentioned, even though he was not a baseball star at Arizona, he certainly became one of the all time greats. He did he did well. Brian, this was fun. I appreciate it. Uh,

Hey have fun this weekend. Uh, you know, shed a tear for everybody because it's a it's you know, it's sad to see you go, but you know it's been it's been a great run for Arizona in the in the league. And we'll see if they can pull off a Pack twelve championship with here in this last weekend. That'd be great. Thanks guys, all right, thanks a bunch. Has Brian Jeffrey his voice of the Wildcats. He'll be calling that series Arizona and Oregon State Thursday, Friday, Saturday,

all six o'clock games. Get out there, just for for nothing else. The dang sunset. Oh man. You see if you're sitting in the anywhere, you sit over there and you catch the sunset at High Corbett for an Arizona game, it's awesome that. I think they'd love to get crowds of five, six seven thousand out there. It's a big stadium, they

can fit a lot and it should be a blast. And again win one game, and uh, you know, we were making we were making plans to go to the Friday game, and my daughter goes, We're going Thursday because they could win it on Thursday and I want to be there when they win it we day, So get out there and and uh it's a it's a great time too. And you know what the four hour games are thing of the past, you know, I, uh, I one of one of I told you won those three games Clark Kanyaty was like a forty two

game or something like that. Two and a half hours, forty five. Those are great and the beer they got beer. So all right, let's take our breakword and come back. We'd love to take your calls five two zero four one, six, seventy four to forty. If you want to go back on memory Lane on Pac twelve baseball, I would love to do that. If you're planning to be at the stadium this week, would love to hear that. So excuse me again, give us a call. Five

to two zero four, one, six seventy four forty. We've rab back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Loudolsen 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 LUT 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. Hi, this is formal while get lemanhuntly with Arizona hellth imagine how home gum can change your health, your comfort, and your time. Arizona Health is everything you need to transform your personal space and your life.

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Make sure your home is cool come full all summer long. Routine maintenance can often prevent major breakdowns. All us before the first sign of trouble. All today five two zero four nine two zero seven eight or Picture Rockspooling dot Com. Jason Rocks and Coming, Steve Rivera and Jacin Salads. They have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Stage Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifty Welcome back down on the balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Jacin Zaliz. My

buddy Steve Rivera is on the road. He's going to the Reds Diamondbacks game tonight, you know, claiming he's not a fan, right, he says he's not a fan, but he's going to the Reds game, you know, And in full disclosure he grew up a Reds fan, so he's still got it's they're still tugging at his heart, still tugging at his heart a little bit, but I've got George Moda is the owner of a showtime cards here. We've been we were talking some some baseball memorabilia stuff in basketball too,

but George one of our great sponsors. So George is here with us today. So thank you for being here, George. Pure But we were, you know, we're kicking around this. You know, some of this history of Pac twelve Pac ten six pack baseball, which you know growing up here was just just awesome. And even before that, you know, Arizona in the whack with a SU, a lot of great times there. I

mean, some of the players and we saw come through here. Barry Bonds played at a SU, which gives me one more reason to hate the guy. But you know, Rachiel Jackson, Rasseel Jackson was at ASU, A lot of these guys who we saw on It's not that it's the end of bag college baseball here, and you know, it's just the end of the Pac twelve fact. Just like you said, it's the chapter closes and new chapter opens, you know, and he's like, it's no big deal.

It's yeah, end here and you start over here. I know, still tugs at the heart for no finish line. You know. But remember going to those games, you know in the old six pack and every series against every team was a battle, you know, you know because even we mentioned a su Arizona, USC and Stanford know all in the among the top ten. But col was never a slouch. And and uh and uh was never a slouch. I mean there were some great, great battles and some of

those games they were awesome. You know. There'd be at Sansett Field, which was the field on campus. There were times when they would have to the seats would fill up and they would actually sit folks out in the grass and fall territory, you know, and that if at ball of the ball went in, there was like going out of play because there there would be ten thousand people there in the place set sat like seven. Right. So

a lot of great times. Even before that that was built, they played some games at High Corbett did they high for the for the beer for the situation? Right when when when they found out that they if they were off campus they could sell beer, they were going we're going, you know, the the Diamondbacks and and and the Rockies, you know, spring train and had left. So they said the stadium was sitting there. It said, that's a perfect venue. It's a Major League Baseball spring training venue. It

really does. It's a great facility. And they said, let's go there, and they did, and immediately the crowd started coming. They've been leading attendance in the Pac twelve. Yeah, since that's awesome. Since it's been uh, I think I know the twenty twelve team that won the National championship played there. I think there was one or two years before that, so maybe twenty ten, twenty eleven. So even next season, they're going to continue to play there, right, Oh yeah, Yeah, that's their host

that's their home stadium. And you know, it's it's funny because other schools, particularly in the PAC twelve, have taken that model. ASU hasn't also had an on campus stadium, and they're not Phoenix Municipal for the same reason in Utah, you know, Chip explained to US yesterday. Chip Hale explained us yesterday the reason they was only played at ten o'clock in the morning on Friday and Saturday last week and then Sunday night because the minor league baseball team

baseball team process, so they share the stadium. So and the Triple A team gets first priority. So Utah is in, you know, a bigger league facility. So they do that and for you know, to sell beer, bigger crowds, bear facilities, beer, baseball on hot dogs. That's

the perfect thing. So it makes sense they had to do it. Yeah, you know, and you go to High Corbett and you know, if you want to get a seat and get a chair, back seat under the under the shade, you can, or if you just want to sit out in the bleachers and what's it's general admission or yeah, general admission for the bleachers, but there's reserve seats, you know, behind home plate, there's box seats, right, I mean we're going to be there on Thursday.

Home plate. Yeah, it's it's a great it's a great place to watch the game. You know, I grew up going there, you know, going to the Toros when they got here in sixty nine, I think, wow, and they were the farm club of the White Sox for early on. Do you think they failed to build that ballpark like it's you know, facing the wrong direction as opposed like TP faces the other you don't get the

sun actually in the bat I think it's I think it's perfect. I think now, yeah, I mean yeah, you know with the TP they built that so that you had the view of the mountains in the you know, in the outfield, you know. But I mean that who knows, they built that back in the forties, so I don't know why they built it that way, but they did. But you know, it's it's fine.

You know. I like it too, I guess. I mean, I've I've had I've been for it. I've played a few games there when I played in the city League baseball or tournament championship, and it was fun. And I remember there ever being a problem with you know, with the sun or anything like that, you know, and the facilities, you know, improving it and the sun goes down behind the Terry francona batting facility in the trees and stuff like that pretty early on, right within the first couple of

innings usually, So it's not it's not bad at all. It's a it's a great place to go watch games. It's a lot of fun. So nice you go. Do you go to many of those yeah, I mean a couple of years ago tickets. Oh wow, okay, the third because it was a really good view. I mean you're definitely getting I mean, like you said, said, give it a couple of innings and yeah, yeah, it's it's it's a great place and you know, the background is

great, and it's just it's just a good facility. I do. I will say that I do not remember the grass looking like back then when I played on it. Like it does not. They really take do a nice job with with the facility and and and you know they've improved the concessions and the restrooms, the locations. That's why Tail location over there. It's it's easy to park. I mean, look, you're gonna walk a little bit, no matter what I'll give you. I'll give you a tip. Park

out there by the annexed fields, beyond the right field fence. There's always parking out there. That's why I park every time. And one you don't get hit by a ball. You know your windshield is not going to be busted and into it. It's easy to get in and out of there. So that's that's a good place to go. Let's get out there. Yeah, they do have ticket deals. By the way, this weekend, for

a game, you can buy two tickets for twenty for twelve bucks. It's bucks a ticket, right, normally I think it's eight or ten, like ten bucks a ticket. There's so two bucks two tickets for twelve or for if you want to buy a ticket to all three games, you can get all three games for twenty four dollars. So they've got those things going on. Nice, we're all gonna get out there and break that record. Yeah, let's go, man, Let's let's get out there. Have some fun.

It should be fun, all right, George, NBA playoffs, Man, what's going on? I know some big games tonight. You know a lot of these series tied up to too, so it's interesting. You know the Denver the Denver series, Yeah, you know Denver Minnesota Minnesota started off. You know, they went into Denver and won two games and like everybody's thinking, Anthony Edwards is the next Michael Jordan, right, and they're gonna sweep the chance And no, they went back to Minnesota and they won.

They took two backs. Yeah, I was I was watching one of the one of the Twitter accounts that I followed. I think it's covers dot Com was saying that that after after after a couple of games of people just being all over Minnesota to win the series, now all the money is coming in on Denver after after winning those joking going on, nobody's beating on Minnesota anymore.

It's crazy. And then we talked earlier about how like you know, player performance or performance affects cards at the Edwards cards after those first two games, sword, right, you know, now they settled back down. Yeah, Now people are people. People bought high and now the little bug by that right absolutely, yeah, yeah, I call him the next next Michael Jordan that I mean, they were annoying to him. Yah. You know, people are saying, oh, he's got the same shot, he's got

the same yeah. Yeahs the face of you know, and we hope that would happen, but it's you know, yeah, do you getting back to that that whole business. Do you root for certain guys like that that that they're value? You know, honestly, we do, we do. We we root for As a as a hobby shop owner, I do root for what's good for the hobby and then sometimes even my own personal collection. You know, if I'm holding a big card, you know, and I want

this player to do well, you know. For Yeah, well you're talking about Ben Math Now he's got a little more value. And what about TJ McConnell, right, he's getting a lot of attention. Yeah, I was just taxing. David Miller was in town, the ex assistant coach here at Arizona. Good for him and TJ are best friends, and I you know, I bought him some cards and gifted him some cards, and I was

like, look at TJ. He's like unbelievable. Yeah, you know he you know the same thing he brought he brought them back, you know, the Pacers. Yeah, you know, this game was tremendous on Sunday. Yeah, so and that series is also to to that that comes on here what at five o'clock and you don't see him, you don't talk. But now that he's on the playoffs, TJ McConnell's you know, national news right right, what big dude for Denver? I kind of think of his name

joke. Yes, what big value, big value on that guy. Yes, yes he is. You know, I just don't see how he creates any excitement though. I mean, he's just kind of a big lumbering and he doesn't sign. Yeah, and he doesn't want it, you know, he doesn't. He's like, oh my one day, I don't care. I just want to win the championship. He wins a championship, I don't want to go to the para, don't want to go home. So, yeah, you're right, he's not the face. You know, we really

don't want him, but he still sells because he wins. Yeah, because he wins, because he went He's winning these awards and stuff. But you what did you make of that? They're making a big deal of of of a lebron being at the Cleveland game last night, and you know that there's all the speculation exactly where he gets drafted by Cleveland so he can go back and play there. But people are making a big deal, Well, he went to the Cleveland game, so he must be coming back. Absolutely,

I don't know. I mean, they're even talking that he could possibly go to Atlanta because they might draft uh Bronnie number one. Because that's ridiculous to me, absolutely ridiculous. So who knows if the Lakers drafted him second round. But don't you think, don't you because don't you think though that a fan would be upset if you draft Brownie James because he's not that good. He shouldn't be in the NBA. He's not ready, he's not right,

is he? We don't even know if he's good enough to be in the NBA ever ever, exact absolutely not draft So you say, well, we're going to use a draft pick on him so we can get Lebron, who's thirty eight, thirty nine, whatever he is, so you can get another squeeze another year or two out of Lebron. Would you do that? No, I wouldn't do that. That's it's like like a publicity thing, right, What would you be upset as a fan? Though? If Lebron James

is who's your favorite market? He's your favorite your Mavericks. Okay, if the MAVs were to were to say, we're drafting Bronni so you can bring Lebron over here, but they make you happy. I don't want Lebron. I mean, yeah, he's a he's a great player. But we got a good team we don't need, right, No, that was that was a game last night. I can't believe that. You know, so you never know what happens. You know, we had the game in the first

quarter and then it just kind of in the fourth quarter. You know, you guys have the game. It's what were they the ones that like didn't make any free throws last night? Yep, twelve something. I mean, he never misses, and he missed the clutch free throw and I ultimately cost them the game. He's had trouble just this playoffs with free throws, Like you expect him to go up there and make him and yeah, you know,

he's playing hurt. And sometimes when you're playing hurt, the adrenaline, but once you stop and slow down take that free throw shot, it could affect you. Well. Left the last series when they played the Clippers, I think there was one game he had like the cold or like the flu or something, and he was still playing. Like you're like your knees hurting you. You're That's why I love him, though they'll go out there and do that. You don't like Kawhi Leonard, He'll take a seat for anything.

Yeah, yeah, no, I hear you. So what do you what do you think tonight? With the next to me, the most fascinating series is The Next Pacers. I love that series. Been paying attention to that watching TJ. McConnell. I really hope the Pacers pull that off. But same day, can you imagine a fan was playing Mathern was playing on the tem Yeah yeah, he was healthy, and yeah yeah, some some frier zone the fans. But you know they they're they're there are too to

Minnesota, Denver too too. Both of those play tonight. I think Cleveland, I think Boston will close out Cleveland tomorrow. I think that one's done. Yeah yeah, and then I mean, people ain't a big deal in Cleveland won the second game up in Boston and the oh guy here comes, Boston's gonna kill him. You know they're gonna kill Yeah, they certainly are. And Boston is probably gonna win the East, right, I mean they should, they should, they should, but you know, you never know.

But you know, you get into those series, man, and any any one of those teams, Yeah, I mean the only you look at the you look at the the eight teams that are left in the only team that you think can't win it is Cleveland, right, I mean, any of the other seven teams could conceivably win it. You know, some have better better chance than the others. All Right, we got to get out of here real quick. So we're going and go to break and we're gonna come back. And Ryan have breaking news.