This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Son Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z R two SA at iHeartRadio Station FI.
Good afternoon, everybody, Welcome to Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm the Maverick, your goose goose today.
No, actually have a request. What's that from our conversation just a second ago. From now on, I want you to give me a list of the questions you're gonna ask me every day.
That would be too much to ask for me, because you know I like to wiget and stuff that comes off the top of my heads. Well, I didn't have to get my questions to prove That'll take it out to.
Right right, right exactly, and I'll get back to you and within that I can answer any of these questions.
That's the world, that's the way, and you're talking. You can kind of fill people in with this, but that's the kind of the world we live in where we don't want to be shocked or surprised by a question.
Right and and and us as as writers, right and that's mostly when I'm time about us as writers. You know, we we want you hand can handed answers, not canned answers, candid.
Because you're gonna have a follow up from the follow up, probably gonna half right, okay, oh, by the way, and then they're not prepared for it.
I was just I'm just I'm rand you know, I you know I have to do I'm you know, you know, Steve and I both write for business on and I'm working on getting an interview, and the and the PR person for the person that I need to interview wants my questions ahead of time. I never did you ever what you say? I said, I don't write. I don't I don't write questions down before asking. So these are the things I want to talk about. And that's it.
Do you think that that would pooh pooh the interview without them knowing?
Well, if it does, sorry for them, then they're not in bustis on right right?
Right? So So I did this. I got screwed this one time, like four years ago. Uh, we had a new boss somewhere I won't say where, and uh, and the someone wanted questions before the interview, and I says, the media doesn't we don't do that, but we usually don't do that, and so she said, okay, she took me for anur word and trusted me right. Well, she went to and she went to a function, talked to a radio guy kind of like us. You may may
not know him, but somewhere else. And he said, oh, sure, we get questions told to us all the time, like and I'm thinking, you son of a you son of a gun. One you're lying and two where So she came back to tell me you were wrong, and this guy told me and I'm thinking, there's no way and he threw me under the bus without knowing that I was under the I was in front of the bus, and I'm thinking, it doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way.
And as I mentioned, you know, having been on the other side where I was the pr.
Person, did you ever ask it?
No, because you know the people that I worked for, they you know, who were going to do an interview. I said, well, can you get a list of questions? And I wouldn't even ask. I just say no, I'm not going to ask for that because you know they you know, these people that interview you, they want you know, Now, do I ask them? What are we talking about. Sure, you know, what do you want to talk about? Well, we talk about this, Okay, that's what we're gonna talk about.
And I'm not gonna Plus, I'm not gonna sit there and have a list of questions and ask those questions in order. Sure right, I'm gonna ask a question that's gonna lead to another question and another question and another question.
Sure. Sure.
So for those of you out there who have pr people and you tell them go get a list of questions.
Stop, Yeah, it's not it's not right now, it's not appropriate, it's not it's just not kosher whatever whatever the words are.
Again, we you know we're not. You know we're not. If I did that, then I'm just gonna send you an email. Here are the questions, answer those and maybe I'll use it.
Right. Well, the funny thing about is on this show that we do, and we're former journalists, we're now storytellers. Uh, people who come on and say, what are we gonna talk about? Well, this is what we're going to kind of the general area. And some have said, well, I can't really talk about this yet because it's not official, So we abide by this. Say it's kind of like
an embargo. We kind of we kind of just okay, we obligate, we were obligated to that for them to come on and be as truthful as the camera.
We don't.
We don't say okay, this, this and this, yeah, yeah, yeah, and people know that, people who listen know that we kind of just shoot off the coup. This is not as we are as we are right now, this is a descripted event.
I'm sorry, sorry to rant on that, just a little uh you know, a little advice for those of you who either you are a PR person or or you you have PR people, don't ask reporters for their questions. They're not going to and if they give them to you, then they're not real reporters. How's that. Let's just say that.
Yeah, okay, Well, so welcome today to Wednesday Show. I think we have a pretty good one. It'll be on the back end.
It on the back end.
Yeah. So we got Scott Scott H. McKee, McKee's say another name, different name. I'm glad we didn't. Scott McKey coming into a pretty good situation, we think, right.
Right, he's the head coach, he's the new head coach at cd O. Dustin peace Uh left the position after the state championship last year, so Scott McKee was his lead assistant. Got the Scott was also the head coach at Sorrow for a number of years, my alma mater, not while I was there. I think I could be Scott's father. But you know, he's now the head coach at CEO and he's got a team that's coming off a state championships, So we'll see how that's going for him.
That's a four to seventeen ish right. And then about a half hour later, we're gonna have m'hamma, ten year former U of a basketball player. He's coming in for the lude Olsen camp and he lives up in Phoenix, so we'll talk to him about all that and more. You know, he's very grateful for bringing him here and his life kind of changed because of it. We're also talked about about something that that he had. He had the Ludelsen Udlson like a tournament he bought his kind
of his kids from Mali or Molli Bali. Yeah, well he brought him in and they played like a big tournament right here. And that was like a two three year deal and we'll see how that turned out. I'm wondering if any of those kids played somewhere our state. Yeah, because there were kids then they were like fifteen sixteen. So we'll talk about about all that. Yeah, okay, we have Henry today. Hello, Henry, what's up?
Henry?
You're just days away from your school?
Yep, it starts twenty six.
Twenty sixth, you know. Okay, so you got a couple of days, a couple of the few days to have fun and have the crowd back. Yeah, okay, all right, so here we go, man, Yeah, another day closer to you, a football getting getting some good things. Yeah, Chister Burnette, his son a key on right. Yes, he's supposed to be doing very.
Well, also doing very well. And you know, I think you know, people said during the spring the tight end was going to be a very important position for Brent Brannan's offense. That there may be times when they line up three tight ends in an offensive set, which would be interesting because there was a time when Arizona were lying no off no tight ends in an offensive set, or we were always getting told they were going to and then they never did. So it'll be interesting to
see what what's going on there. But Kean Burnette. You know guys not I don't want to say the forgotten guy because he's a legacy, you know, with his dad having been here, people have never forgot about him. But you know, of the of the guys that came over from Servit, uh Fafida McMillan and Jacob Manu, keyum Bernet's sort of been the fourth guy. But if he steps up and has a big year at tight End and is a big part of what they're doing, he'll get all He'll get plenty of attention.
Yeah, so so we'll see. There's so many things going on, Uh, Jacob Manu, I think you have some bricking news on him to.
Well all these award nominations, right, we need to compile a list of all of them because they're like all over the board.
But there was more out today, right, Okay, so we'll talk about that on bricking news, h anything else.
So we need to talk about no, you know, Dodgers went again. Do you want to know that?
Right?
Let's end with that that conversation, listener, Bill, I had no control.
Tony went yard again. You know, we had that conversation with Jack regarding show Hey as whether or not he should be m v P, you know, on top of the fact that I don't think even I would give him the m VP for as a DH. No DH has ever gotten the m v P, and I I, you know, I argue, you know, Edgar Martinez, who was a career designated here for the for the Mariners, got into the Hall of Fame, and I don't know that I'd put somebody in the Hall of Fame for playing half the game, right.
It's well, it's kind of like, I don't know, did you see the controversy if there was a controversy with the USA Olympic and every can come in on this too, Lebron, it was the m v P right of the thing, and people were saying he really wasn't the MVP. Yeah, and maybe Steph should have been because of the last few games. But you know how it is because you've you've been part of it on both sides when you vote for those.
Things a few minutes before the game is over, a few minutes before probably or maybe even in that situation, probably before the fourth quarter even.
Began, correct, because I know what football they do to wait.
For, you know, yeah, the bowl games and stuff.
Yeah, so you got in fourth core ten minutes left, all the dramas still to be played.
And then maybe a kicker kicks a when your field goal and you didn't get to vote for him or whatever.
So what did you think? Did he deserve to be m v P?
I mean, stuff carried the last two games, but I think it's fair.
Look well to me. To me, that's it reeks of some of a thing that people were going to give him the m v P at the beginning, and the only way he wasn't going to get it is some somebody did something extraordinary outside of that. Because he was the name, right, Let's give it to Lebron, because he's the guy, he's the old guy. He plays all the time,
you know, he plays the whole game. Whatever. You know, let's give it to him unless something else happens, right, And I you know, and again what happened there at the end of that championship game. Was m VP worthy for Steph.
Curry back to Gas?
Yeah? So uh, you know I wouldn't have given it to him, I did, I say, and I saw the games, right, Look, did he have an impact? Of course? Did he have of Lebron? Did he have the most impact maybe you know, he held things to get other you know, he played well, clearly the leader of the team. But you know, could they have won it without him? Probably not, but they
wouldn't have won it without Steph Curry for sure. So I don't know, I don't know that, you know, he was kind of I guess you would say he was the default m v P unless somebody did something to override that, right, And and you can argue whether or not you thought Steph Curry did enough to override that.
Yeah. Well, and we were talking about the thing before with your who were talking about when he transitioned into that m.
V P.
Got oh, yeah, yeah, there was also something. I'm sure that's tough because it's like he's such.
A great player that they want to give it to him because he pitches and he hits, but he's not pitching, he's just hitting.
Has that Has that anything like this happened before DH?
No, That's what I'm saying. No, No DH has ever won it. And there have been some great ones, you know, Frank Thomas was mostly a d H. Yeah, a bunch of guys like that. But you know, but even those guys played the field some I just don't know that you should get, you know, an MVP for only doing one thing. And again, he's as good a hitter as there is in the major leagues. I think he leads. He leads the National League and maybe the Major leagues.
And homers, he's got a bunch of stolen bases, he's gonna be a forty to forty guy, all that stuff. But he's not in the fielding and he's not pitching. So I don't know. I don't know that you give it, you give you give it to somebody who's doing both of those things. And you know, and there's some there's plenty of guys to think of. You know, Jack mcgrider brought up, can tell Marte uh, you know, the guy for the Diamondbacks. I mean, I would I would hate
for him to get it because he's a Diamondback. But that's beside the point. The point being that it's kind of like if Showhy was doing this, just hitting and hitting like this for the Angels, the White Sox, you know somebody like that. Is he even in consideration for the m v P. Probably not so And and and again, as a as a huge Ober fan, I don't know that i'd give it that to him.
Yeah, I really don't. Well, let me write that down. What's today, August. Well, I said it yesterday too. No, I said it with Jack was on the phone. We had Jack on Monday. I said, I said it to him that I don't know that i'd give show Hey the m v P. I don't know who i'd give it to.
You know, you said, I don't know, just say you won't.
No, I don't. I don't know. I mean it's could tell Marte the guy, right? Who else is? Who else is out there that's having that kind of year? I don't know.
I mean Bryce Harper.
We have Bryce Harper, who's on my fantasy team, right, Elie Dela Cruz. You know, but he's on the team that's not it's not not great.
So you know, that's tough to do that, and that counts for me to to me, he should.
That always counts. How good is your team? You know, how good have you made your team?
Uh?
You know that's why you know when when they gave when they gave uh the guy from L s u U the Heisman Trophy. Last year's team wasn't even in a major bowl, right, and but they gave him. They gave him the trophy because he's from the SEC right over the guy who got his team to the national championship game. So that how your team does counts for me, and in this kind of stuff, it really does.
Right, Okay, you know what you need to get on? Did did they put softball back on the the roster of.
For next year?
Next year?
For Yeah, because they're gonna play in Oklahoma City? Remember, like, what are you doing? The Olympics are in l A. Why why can't you play it in LA.
We're gonna get on because he said he'd come back on And I spaced that too because you talking about the Olympics, Well there was no soft also, Yeah, we'll talk to him about that. Yeah, you know, because he's still out doing his clinics and he's helping the other other teams do well and obviously no no breaking.
Yeah, well I guess I guess. What I didn't know is that uh hosting city determined can pick sports.
Yeah. I realized I heard that at the U when they're doing breaking. This is if you're the host school, oh school, holdst the host of the event that's determined to.
Say you can you can pick a sport like that, like break down. You know the skateboarding was the was the I don't know if they're back. I know it was a it was a it was an Olympic event this last year, fifty one year old guy won to medal. No fifteen, No, but there was when they're a fifty one an old guy. Not there was an old guy break dancing. No, in skateboarding.
No, I don't it's not fifteen.
Maybe maybe I saw the number one, just like I'm dyslexic. You don't know it. There could be something like fifty. Well, because I said, like fifteen, Google doing on a on a skateboard breaking you google it. Okay, all right, we're gonna take our break. We're gonna we're gonna be back. We'll take your cass five two zero four one six seventy four forty. Both of our guests are in the second hour, So if you want to get on and get on the line with us in this next segment,
you can do that. Five to zero four one, six seventy four forty.
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Extreamly live I mean iHeart Radio while this is I on the Ball with Steve Bravera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
Hey, welcome back to on the ball Hero on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve, you or Jay. We have Henry with us fifteen more minutes for this break. If you like to call us, please do five to two zero four one six seventy four forty. We'd appreciate you gonna through the first hour. Our guests are on the back end of the second hour, right, So just to clarify with your skateboard.
Okay, I found I guess an Australian girl fourteen year old Australian girl won an Olympic gold medal in skateboarding this last year, so I guess I must have. I don't know what I saw. I swear I saw some at fifty one.
But the skateboard should have done the breakdancing.
There's still people talking about.
Oh have you seen the memes? The oh they're so funny, they're so funny to the music that she's dancing with and you remember Seinfeld with with what's her name? Who's the girl? Elaine? Her funny dances they put they put fantastic. People are funny. People are very funny.
Well, they're creative, but sometimes.
Yeah, they go overboard, you know, talk about goose like that. Talk about Goose exactly exactly. Thanks by the way, uh uh Nico for Colin, I hope you're after the show. Activity was fine for you, oh man.
So anyways, you have my Wednesday lunch and everybody's still fired up about football, can't we?
So I got I was doing a show with Phoenix today and they asked me, what do you think the excitement is in Tucson?
So I get out.
You get out and you talk to your guys and your group. I apparently haven't talked to enough people out in the real world to get the vibe of real excitement. I'm getting a tempered excitement.
Hmmm, what do you get? No, No, I think people are pretty fired up, you know. Well, look, I mean the fans that I hang out with are fans who are who have been stung by previous seasons like I have been, you know, and so they are tempered in their in their excitement. They're worried that you know, uh you know, maybe they're you know, like, you know, are they expect can well the expectations get to be too much for this team, right, and that that's certainly got
to be a concern. On the other hand, what you see about this team or what you think you see about this team and how they how they approach, and what what's written about them, and what what we see is that this is a group that maybe doesn't phase by that you know, who knows, who knows what it is?
We won't know until we get there.
Right and you know, and we're having fun talking about you know when when we had a chance to talk to Dwayne l. Keina at that at that media day, and he and he was talking about the fact that the ninety nine team, coming off the twelve of one season, that the coaches knew that they weren't as good as everybody was saying, and then they had decided to go play Penn State in the opener and and and he said, we just knew we weren't We weren't ready for that. We were in over our heads.
Do we play that?
Yeah? We did?
Because I thought his answer, and I was there with you, I thought his answer was brilliant and very honest.
Yeah, No, he said that, and you know that they were in over their heads. There was a reach to to play that game. He said, we didn't have Chris McCallister anymore. And that was enough enough said about that you know, and Penn State played a different brand of football than LeVar Arrington and some of these.
Games right right right lebar Ariton's right. I was gonna say, Jesse understood, but lear Yeah, yeah, and yeah, they their eyes were bigger than the stomach.
And then and then, as you know, as Dick said, uh, I know, I don't remember if he said this publicly. I know he said it to me that he said Keith Smith Smith got hit so hard in that game that he was done for the season at that game. Mostly yeah, mentally, mentally well, he was mentally just he just never recovered from it. Is basically what he said.
I also can remember maybe Anthony or whoever covered the team back in the day can correct me. They didn't hit.
Much before that, Yeah, that's what you said.
Before the preparation, but didn't want to get hurt.
Well, even if they had, Steve, nobody was going to hit as hard as the Arizona got hit.
Okay that day, So let's go, let's go there. I think the fact that they played Oklahoma last year in December, uh, that benefits them to see kind of get them ready for what you had because it's going to be a different brand of football. It's going to be a tougher, stronger type of situation where you it's not gonna be the the you know, the U c l A's or whatever. It's going to be a you better be ready.
Yeah, yeah, you know, and you're gonna face You're gonna face offensive defensive lines that are different from what you face. You know, everybody's got an offensive line like USC as opposed to you know, just USC and maybe Washington having.
That and not on an occasional weekend, every weekend, every weekend, yeah yeah, every single weekend.
So yeah, you know, you make a good point too that that they did get a whiff of it in the in the in the Oklahoma game and even in the middle of the game, right because they were kicking their butt and Oklahoma came back on them and just manhandled them for you know, for two quarters, and then Arizona took took it over in the fourth quarter and it's kind of like, oh, that's what we've got to do to win this game, and then they did. So that's why I say, you know, you just don't know
until you know. And it's funny because again, what what Dwayna Keena said about that ninety nineteam. It's gonna always stick with me because it'll always be a you know, we think we know, but we don't. But coaches know, players know, right, These guys know if they're going to be good or not, and they may and if they're not, if they think they're not going to be good, they're certainly not gonna say that, but they me know going in you know, guys, we're we're we're a little full
of ourselves. You know, we're not We're not as good as we think we are. So it'll be interesting to see how this team approaches that, what they feel like, and what it's gonna look like. And the thing is, we're not gonna find out till game three.
Right, right, and you know you're right, you're right, And then that's what either the bubble will bust, oh maybe not much what you'll kind of get a little a little prick there, but you'll know at least how good you're gonna be or could be.
Right, because if you get blasted by Kansas State, it's kind of like, okay, you know, what do we do now? Whereas if you go in there and either play a really good game and lose or even win the game. I'll give you that.
It's okay. So what game was the Mississippi game? It was their game, Okay, So let's say that happens. Right, Let's say that happens. Gives you hope, gives you hope, you stay closer. You're a player two away, even though you played horribly, you're still there.
Yeah.
So I think if they give them that, this is the spread the same, because they said maybe a few much ago, it was like seven and a half, some like that their dogs.
Let me see if they got one. But you know, because I remember coming out of the Mississippi State game, I was so mad at it, at Jade de Lord. I was really mad at him because they had a chance because because I'm like and then I thought, well wait a minute, let let's let's let's back up here a second. And Mississippi State needed all of that to win that game. And I'm like, okay, well, you hate that they lost on the other end, you go, but they played that bad and still got that game into overtime.
And horse racing, they call that there was a bad trip and then the next time they play or he runs, the horse runs, you say it can't happen again. So if he has smooth sailing, they're gonna win. And that's what there was one who did outside of the the USC game, the USC game, and then they had a chance to win that one too, So.
Uh you know, I uh, it's it's an eight point spread right.
Now, so it's still it stayed the same, stated very.
Much stayed the same. I think, no, it wasn't. I think it was nine and a half earli to come. I think it came out at nine.
I thought it was like half.
But anyways, it's eight right now as of today.
Would you take today?
Mm hmm, yeah, I take those points?
You take the points?
Yes, yeah, I would take those points. Yeah, it's more than a touchdown.
I bet you.
I bet you.
I'll bet you that it goes down to about six and a half.
Yeah, it a touchdown by game time. Yeah, today, i'd take the eight points. I would. You know, it's minus one ten So yeah, I don't know that I'm.
Gonna do it now, but I know but if you if you were to do it now is the thing.
Now's the time, right if you if you're gonna if you're gonna bet the game, you're gonna Yeah, you want to you want to get those.
Points, especially if you're a U A fan who's optimistic, because that's a pretty good number over the seventh.
I learned my lesson because I remember when we went to uh do the b y U game, jeed Fish's first game. We got to Vegas and the you know, then new Arizona fans were coming, and the the over under on wins that year bounced up right and was or was the points spread? No, the points spread? The pointspread on the game. We got there and all of a sudden it was, you know, something you wouldn't beat.
So because because there was a lot of because there were a lot of they know, a lot of everyone fans are gonna come into town to bet on that.
But there were still bore b Yu fans. I think, yeah, so what was they didn't remember? They didn't cover, They didn't cover, but they gave you right. They didn't cover wins in the in the first you don't know what I'm talking about.
The game. The game, Yeah, we thought yeah, and then you leave the building you're.
Thinking, hmm, there's something there. Yeah, and then there wasn't that much there.
Then they lost to NAU Yeah, and then they got blasted by or is it the other way around? They got blasted by San Diego State and then they lost to NAU and it was like, oh no, yeah, oh no, it's worse than we thought.
And it was right, and then you kind of think, well, he needs more talents, better talent.
Uh.
The funny thing about it is the guys who left outside of uh uh, Gunner Cruise didn't did Okay, what's his name went to Old Dominion or whatever it went. The quarterback who got hurt against UCLA.
The quarterback oh, oh god, I can't think of his name.
No, no, no, the kid who transferred him from Fida of a Cloud, Jordan McLoud. He left in a pretty good career. Uh. You know, things happened well for other people other places.
Right, yeah, you know it again, it sounds to me like you Jed went't got a bunch of good guys and so they you know, they succeeded elsewhere. But man, that was a tough thing to go.
Through, right, and you don't think it was gonna happen two years later You're gonna be going to a good bowl, a.
Good bowl game and beating Oklahoma. So now, I you know, it's uh, I don't. It's hard because Arizona fans again, we're we're generalizing again, right, So when I say Arizona fans, I'm gonna say majority, maybe a vast majority, a large majority of Arizona fans who have been Arizona fan say not as long as me, because there aren't many of
those left around your group. But guys, you know, people who have been fans for twenty thirty years, you know you've gone into seasons like this expecting the best and you've gotten the worst. And so we're suspect, we're we're we're a little dicey in terms of thinking. We're just don't feel good about getting, you know, one hundred percent on the bandwagon because you feel like you need you might need to be in a position to break your fall.
Well, you need a lifeboat.
Yeah. So while while I know the fans that I hang around with are really excited about getting the season started and they can't wait for it to start, there's also a little bit of I don't know, hesitation isn't the right word what you would call.
It, let me ask you. Because you hang you hang around with the cool kids, your son and those guys. Uh, they've they've seen in the last fifteen years, when did your son kind of start to kind of.
He was pretty young when you say five, six years old now, but you know than that, so I mean where he would get upset at losses and stuff.
I'm talking six, okay, So so in the last twenty twenty five years, twenty three, twenty five years, there hasn't been a whole lot of happiness, right, So how how do they feel? And they're generally It's.
Funny because I don't know that I've had that conversation with those.
Guys, because you know, Ben, Oh my god, I've been call him Ben, Henry hasn't seen enough, hasn't seen enough. He's seen misery actually more than you've seen happiness. Right, how do you you talk about you're excited about the season, but realistically, who do you think your hopes are? And you're too young. You're too young. You're not his son's age, you have, he has six years on you.
I think anything worse than nine and three would be pretty disappointed.
Well wow, well, because he, like like Adam was five years old for the ninety eight season, So I don't even know how much of that he remembers right now the twenty fourteen season, which was the last great season, and.
That's yeah, that's more pressionable impression.
And we had and we had such a great time, and he is actually he was actually working in the athletic department at that time, so you know, he got the full he got the full force of that one. But I just don't know, you know, I don't know. It's funny, we haven't had that conversation. Okay, what do you think is gonna happen? Are you excited?
Are you?
You know?
Are you has he been? I know they haven't been jaded enough or been hit hard enough to be you, to be you? But but you know, and the kids like, look at Henry nine to two is really okay, haven't haven't felt the pain enough?
Well, he's experienced the downs. He fully experienced the downs of the MCA Macavick years, and he fully experienced the downs of the Sumbling years, so he knows the bad side of it. And you know, he loved, you know, the Rich Rode years and we all you know, had great time with that. So he's had some of that, but you know, not the one game from the Rose Bowlt thing and.
It's not any different than basketball. Ye look at look to how they have you were, what when did you decide to come here four or five years ago?
Any spring?
And okay, so recently, but before that, I mean the basketball program was very good in the thirteen fourteen, fifteen, right yep, and then kind of hit that loll his final years. Did you remember those times with Arizona basketball?
I remember when they lost the Buffalo Yeah.
Yeah, And that's kind of like the slide. That was the end of the kind of like the beginning of the end of Sean.
And I remember a little bit of the man.
Yeah, and that was still kind of there was still training water there with a good team and how did that get go? So now you're kind of building up again and how exciting How exciting can you get about basketball?
But without waiting for something bad to happen, which is what we do right right, And that's what a lot I think, that's what a lot of fans right now. Football fans have been around a while. Yes, they're excited about this season coming up. They feel good, like there's a really good team there, but they're waiting for something had to happen.
It was a comma.
But but what if you know, what if they you know what if they're two and two, they get beat up in those two games and then they lose their third one. Now you're two and three and you're headed for a five and seven seas.
No, you already know what's gonna happen. Oh, Britain's not the guy.
Yeah, Oh of course, yeah, he can't coach.
Yeah, but we'll see, we'll see in circumstances of events though that schedule, right, if the schedule was flip flopped h with with New Mexico and a U and then the flip flopped, yeah, and you had you had Kansas State and Utah at detail end.
Right, Oh, this could this could be. We're gonna be in great shape when we get there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, we're again. We're just we're just waiting for something bad to happen. All right, let's take her ware to come back. We can still take your calls five to two zero, four, one, six, seventy four forty in the second hour. We've got Scott McKee, then you head coach at defending state champion cdo uh and then Mo tang Garreluple join us at four forty five, So stick around for all that.
You're Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Lout is an insight to how he built the program into
a national powerhouse. Want one Email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com.
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Learn how at Pima dot Edu. Slash someday breaking down all the exes and ohs. It's Steve Rivera and Jayden Sammis. This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth.
There, hey, welcome back to Twying the Ball here on Fox sportsporteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, Peters Jakins, DAWs, got a guy, Henry Top fifteen minutes. What do you guys think? Guys, give us a call? Are you optimistic? Are you hesitant?
Are you are you waiting for the shoot to drop?
I didn't say that. I still think overs I know, but Steve I feel do we get your prescriptions back from the party.
You know, I yeah, I feel like I need some anxiety medication, right, I think, I really do.
It's not way early, but it's about the quarter. But you gotta I think, I think, I think there's gonna be okay.
I'm gonna make an admission. I'm gonna admit something.
Hello, my name is Jay, go ahead.
I was you know, I was real good friends with Dick Toma. Right, we played baseball together all those years and I considered him a very pretty close friend. And going to the going to Arizona games, and this is after I was done being a reporter. Going to Arizona games, I would get stomach aches, I'd get i'd get i'd get I get worked up about attendance, like there aren't enough people here, right, I'd get upset that people weren't
coming to the games. And then i'd get you know, you know, the losses and you know, the the anxiety of those games. It was really hard. It was really hard on me. It's hard to go to those gays because he was such a good friend, and I didn't want him, really, I didn't want because there were so many people around who thought he was. He wasn't the guy who didn't have an appreciation for him and what he was doing here.
I hate to say this, those who listened, that's how Tucson is right.
And it bothered me, So no, no excuse. But when they lost a game that they shouldn't have lost, and that happened, and it happened quite a bit, yes it I mean it physically affected me. I'll get sick to my stomach over losses like that. But like if there was a big game and there were forty five thousand people there instead of fifty, it bothered me, you know.
And it's just kind of a weird thing because you know, I you know, I've never been in a position where I had a friend who was involved in something that was such a big deal to me, right and and and he was such a good friend and he was and I knew he was such a good guy.
Did he know that that you were such a good friend?
Yeah, I think so?
Like how I mean, I mean, you know, I'm saying, hey, hate Jay, you want to go for you know, not that I mean, but.
No, would get invited to their family events and stuff like that.
We were friends of his, Okay, ok yeah, okay, yeah, I'm a little surprised.
Yeah, no, we were friends, and yeah, all all this because of the baseball team, right, you know it he had you know, if he had an event and he invited the guys from the baseball team, would I'll go, you know, so you know I considered him, you know, a friend. I'd see him and would you know, you know, say hi, you know what I mean? We just you know, I mean we didn't go to the movies together, right, No, no, yeah.
But so this was how many years after the fact, after you were the journals?
Oh, you know, all through the nineties?
Okay, so shortly after shortly after.
Because we were playing baseball together when I was still a report. So let me ask you this.
So in the late nineties, right, because he was up and dow out right, and that's no revision's history. Everybody would say, oh he was, he up and down. So at any point along the line in the later years, did he sense that things were shaky? Well, you weren't that close enough to know.
I wasn't that close to know. And remember I told you that when we played baseball, we didn't talk football with him unless he brought it up. Right, except that one time that I stopped five years later, what the hell happened in ninety four, you know, or after the ninety eight, after the ninety nine season, it was like, what the hell happened there? And that was when he told me, you know, Keith Smith got his face kicked in and he wasn't the same the rest of the year,
you know, stuff like that. We had a few of those conversations, but we didn't really you know, talk about football anytime around me because I felt uncomfortable bringing it up. Sure, of course, now if he wanted to talk about it, I'm all in would have the conversation that it would be.
I would be surprised if he did bring it up.
And he really didn't. He separated his personal life from the football, which as any coach would with or shut or should, right. But but you know, those games were hard because I'd getn't I'd get pissed at the fans for not showing up. I'd get you know, I'd be
upset if they lost a tough game. You know that that that that that ninety eight season was incredible and then when you know, we thought they were going to the Rose Ball and then you SLA went and crapped all over themselves at Miami, and all of a sudden we weren't going to the road ball and and and those kinds of things. Let's take this call. Hi, you're on the air and I on the ball. First, guys, radio, you need to turn off your radio.
I was trying to do. I couldn't get to it fastnuts.
Okay, what's up, Jim?
Well without it without getting into Jay's game time gastrology over the u of a football games. I too was a big Dick Tomy fan. And in fact, I'm not sure how it happened that just can generally, I happened to be on at the moment in time where a lot of these things happened. I was sitting at a a basketball game with my friend of mine, and we were sitting right next to mister Lyve and Goood back in the day, and somehow the word got on, are you trying to.
No, No, you're radio. I think you're read your radio on? You see are we here the background on your radio? Turn it off?
I got it?
Okay, Sorry about that?
All right, go ahead, go ahead. You were sitting next to liven Good and then.
What well, the word got around that, you know, it told me wasn't the guy to take us to the next level? And I thought, what level was that? Yeah, I mean Dick told me gave everybody their money's worth every year he was here, and he entertained the hell out of him right right, and had a pretty successful track record track record doing it. And so who did we have next? Mac of It? I remember calling it. I remember calling into a show like yours on the
on the other station. Well, what was that guy's name that ran that talk radio late in the afternoon.
Were you talking about Gabe Mike Gaberson?
That may have been. Anyway, we were all commiserating about the the the events and a couple of years into the mac of It thing, And when I called in, I said, I told him what just what I told you? And I said, you know what next level was that? I mean, Dick told me could go out and get kids that we're driving beer trucks and win football games. Went on the offensive line. Anyway, Well, I think.
Jim, you you described the situation perfectly, uh, Jay, and you were close to it. You know, I was a fan. I was not a fan of a writer, but I was doing basketball but exactly he had those moments. But I think at that time in the situation, people thought the same thing that he said, Dick's not the guy that's gonna take us to the next level. And you're right, Jim, what level that meant? And now in revisions history as you look back, you'd die for that guy? Right?
Yeah? What level was that they were? There was an ephemeral hallucination they were having about about their own expectations that were not to be met.
I hope you're not talking about the UA fans.
Well, there are a lot of people have fallen into that category, but at that moment, I'm talking about the local intelligensia.
Yeah. Oh, you're right, you're on. You're spun on.
So I have one more comment I would like to make, if you will allow me ahead, Padres are catching up with your Dodgers.
Oh man, Well, well, the Dodgers got Mookie back. They're not going to lose the rest of the year. So there you go.
That's belonging.
You know.
How many games in the football team honors schedule? Eleven twelve, twelve scheduled games? Okay, I'm going to say eight games that will win eight.
Yeah, that's okay, and are you would you be happy with that?
Well, I'd be rooting for that nine point I know you will be.
But if there eight and four at the end of the year, let's say eight four and they beat a s U, are you happy.
I said, I'd be wishing for that ninth win?
Okay, Okay, Yeah, I agree with Jim, all right.
But I think realistically that's that football conference I think is much better than people saying this.
I agree you're going to do.
You're going to consistently run into competent, productive teams, right physical and if you're down at all, if you're not on your mark every week, you're gonna get your budd eat.
Yeah, for sure, for sure, all right, Jim, Hey, thanks a bunch man, as always appreciate it.
Jim's spot on. I think that, you know, twenty four years later, twenty four years later, after people people long for for that for that guy.
Right right, did they forget? They didn't really go? Ahead?
Right right?
Hi, you're on the air and I on the ball.
Hey guys, what's happening today?
Rick?
How are you well?
I'm trying to stay I'm trying to stay out of my waist.
Steve which is a smart thing. Here's another guy who's been around for a long crye. He knew these guys too. Have you been listening, Yeah, I just.
I'm on the I'm on the road. I finally caught up with your radio here. Okay, I'm in distance.
Now, so number one number one. Uh, you know what, I don't care where you are in the country.
Uh.
Fans are fickle, and if your coach doesn't do what they think they're supposed to be doing, they're going to whine and cry and ask for somebody else. But people forget too. They did this to lude Olsen.
They almost ran Loot out of town.
And uh.
But one thing I've not I knew about Dick told me. And I wasn't really that close with him, but he was always very gracious and probably more important, he was probably one of the most loyal coaches I ever heard, I ever heard speak. He took care of his player and he treated them with respect, and he was loyal. And I tell you what, that's a you know, coaches talk about it, but Dick emulated that philosophy, and he was, you know, nothing more than just he was just he
was such a class act all the way around. We don't. We don't take that. We take that for granted, and we shouldn't know.
You did at the time. Let me ask you. I could be wrong with this, but were you close or at least knew Stoops better?
Yeah?
I probably knew Mike.
I probably knew Mike better because you know, when Dick was there, I was in the middle of twenty other things.
Uh.
And but when we were, when I.
Was in the restaurant business, I was able to I made friends with a lot.
Of sports players, a lot of sports teams, and uh, I got to I got to know Mike and Mark, kim Kish and all those guys much better simply because I had more time to spend with him.
Did you think that the fans treated Mike fairly?
The difference between Mike and Dick Tomy and Mike was the most introverted personality for a head coach I think I've ever witnessed. He just did not like he was a football coach, and he did not have the personality to be able to deal with the general public. And he was also much more temperamental. I think Dick was much more mature, and I think that showed up and
the way Mike interacted with different audiences. Mike was very much his intensity level was on all the time, and people just didn't know how to deal with.
Yeah, right, accurate, fair I think, thanks Rick, thanks for calling about a couple of minutes.
And then there's and that's all the things that we've all we all thought about Mike steps. There's somebody who knew him that it just being the head coach was really in his in his DNA right.
And to go back to something he said, because I've written the story a few times, Uh, fans everywhere are exactly what he said, fickle and and we kind of generalize, but I think it's to the to the fairness of the fickleness, because that's who they are. Albuquerque. It's like where are USA.
I don't have a fan. I don't have a problem with fans being upset if you don't win enough, right, you're paying mine. You go see these teams, you you know you're behind them, you support them, you put your in some of you some people put their heart into them. You want them to win, and you're upset when they don't. And that's perfectly fine. But by the same token, you know, I feel like, well you need to support them win
or lose. Right, if you really love this team, or you really you know, a fan of the team, when they lose, you don't go away. Maybe you're not as happy, but you don't go away. And you say I'm not gonna come to the games anymore because you suck. Right. Look, for example, how long has Nebraska sucked since you've gotten to the Big Can Yet they sell out all their games.
So to my point from earlier and to your point now, does that happen here with the you suck, I'm not gonna go.
Yes, all the time. There were twenty thousand people at the Kevin Sumlin games, right, And I get it. I was as unhappy as anybody else with what was going on with the program under Kevin Sumlin. And the same and the same goes for what was happening what happened with the program with John mcvick. But I was still
at every game. I still went to every game, and maybe maybe I was unhappy and I walked into the stadium thinking Arizona had no chance to win, but I went and and that's to me, there's there's nothing wrong with having that expectation from your fans, and that gives you more incentive to try and win. So I don't know, but our fans, you lose, they don't, they go they
go away. And that's yeah, But not all fans are like that, Not all fan bases are like no, no, and you're right, right right, We got to hit out. We're gonna be back, uh Henry. Henry is gonna have breaking new so be sure to stick around.