Shout out Weezer in town.
Over the weekend, attended Kilby Court with a bunch of children that were my son's age and younger, but showed up early. Didn't make the Friday night till which apparently was the best night. But Saturday, show up at about four thirty five hanging out with the youngs, and then Weezer plays and the other old showed up, so that was nice. You typically will attend to Kilby Block party from time to time.
Were you present at all? I was lucky enough this year. I heard from home. Oh you live close enough that you didn't have to.
I heard that concert while I was doing my garden last night, so it was actually kind of nice. And also Travis Tritt wasn't there. Yeah, Travis Tritt is he alive?
I think so shout out Travis Trick On a Monday afternoon.
Tony Parks, what's up, man, I'll tell you what I h I finished my Sunday nights the same way all the time. I usually prefer to spend it with Scott van pelt not literally, that'd be weird, but hopefully it's Van Peltz Center and last night hang it out about fall asleep and they say top ten plays. I'm like, hey, I'll check out the top ten plays. Who doesn't love the top ten plays? And then prior to number one, they said, let's go to minor league baseball. And I'm like, oh,
I wonder if the Bees are involved. Sure enough, I hear your voice in the background. And the number one play on se top ten was a Bes player making a great catch in the outfield.
Yes, that's awesome. Nico Cavadas, rob's a home run. Nico gets traded to this team last year. Middle of the year, Red Sox trade him him Matthew Lugo, who's now with the Angels.
Nico comes and he's a part of the team.
South Bend, Indiana kid grew up dreaming of going to Notre Dame, went to games baseball, football, watched Jeff Samarja. The whole thing has stories. Scholars, Yeah, good call. He dated a girl who lived in the Central time zone. He lived in the Eastern, which was ten minutes apart because they're right.
By the ball. Yeah.
So he has stories that are just endless and are funny. And the cool thing with him is I joke with him. Your timing is so great because you were always on time on accident because you would gain an hour and he would be like, no, I'd show up an hour early for stuff.
It was annoying. Right, So, when he's.
At Notre Dame, a coach named Link Jarrett comes along. They're one of the worst defensive teams, flips him around to being one of the best defensive teams, and he becomes very underrated, in my opinion, defensive player, first.
Base, mostly here and there.
But then they put him in the outfield, and I'm like, you know what, this guy could play some outfield. This guy, and you're watching it in workouts and all of that, You're going, this dude's I don't think he's I don't think people would look at him and think, oh, this is going to be a dynamic outfield player, a player in the outfield. And sure enough, yesterday he's out and right, I think that's his first game in right, this year's play mostly left. Most of the I have to go
back and look at it. Some of the games kind of blur together. But as it's going back, I'm like, Okay, yeah, I think that's going to get out. And then as I'm watching him time the leap, I'm going, oh my gosh, and then you see his athleticism, his ability to reach over.
He couldn't have been more perfect with the timing. It was awesome.
Man.
It was a great way. They lost yesterday.
They didn't have a lost like seven to one, but that was like a stellar highlight, one of many great defensive highlights for the team. But that was so cool to call to watch and then to know his background which led up to that moment.
How you know, if at all, how does that work?
Like, do you guys get a call from ESPN like, hey, we want to use this clip. I mean, are you aware that you're about to be calling the top play on Sports Center that night?
Or you weren't it in real time like the rest of it. I didn't know it would be number one. I thought, oh, that's got to be a candidate for sure. And what you do is in your tweets and all of the communication you hashtag sc top ten and Sports Center and all that and so yeah, and I immediately because the feed.
Here's what would happen this year.
I started saying, hey, look, when we get a really dynamic call, let's have a communications situation where we can get our call over the MiLB call because they always take home the home feed because that would just normally be on the home feed and that's short. I was like, no, like, let's get our call for big home runs and big things like that.
And so that was a gimme.
We had a good system and it got processed right away and then communicated to Sports Center right away, and it just increases your chances for something like that. To give love to Cavadis, to the Bees and you know, a whole organization.
So it was cool.
John Ollinger, John Oliver, excuse me not John Hollinger. He writes for The Athletic John Oliver hosts this show called Last Week Tonight on HBO. It airs every Sunday, and John's a really funny you know, it's a lot of satire, it's a lot of political satire.
But he did last night. He did an entire segment on minor league baseball.
And he had prior to a couple of shows ago because he went to Who's this super popular league baseball team that everybody crash Rocket City and there are okay, okay, he went to a game or something. He was like, this is awesome. More people should go to minor league baseball games. So he offered on his show to rebrand an entire minor league baseball team. He's going to rename it, he's going to give it a theme night, and they're going to create a mascot. And so last night, I
think they landed on the Erie, Pennsylvania baseball team. They're going to rebrand entirely. But he did this, and it was actually kind of cool. I didn't realize he was going to do this. He kind of made this plea like, if you live in a city with minor league baseball, go support these teams because they've done all of this research. And as a result of the research, they were going
to games. They were talking to front offices, they were talking to fans, and it was kind of like this last bastion of sport that isn't overly tainted with economic confusion and capitalists undertones. It's just like a pure way to go enjoy baseball. I thought it was kind of cool, like and obviously that robrates with you.
Yeah, it really really does.
That's why I think so many people who work in the Pacific Coast League. Steve and I were obviously close. Steve Cloukey and I so many of us that work there. That's why it's a clubhouse feel because it doesn't have some of those undertones you're talking about. You deal with far less of the unnecessary bs. There's always weird stuff you gotta dealt, but like, you get to really connect with people in a great way, and the fans too,
and the whole thing. And the fans love the players because we know, with the way it works, the chances of them being there next year are next to not because they're going to go to a different team, or go to the Major Leagues or go somewhere like it's just you shuffle the deck every year and the roster changes so much year to year, so they when they get a moment with the player, they love it. And
then on top of that, the ballpark becomes important. The mascot, the trends, the traditions, that the things like that make it great. Baseball's already great like that, but when you mix it in with something beautiful like what we had at thirteen hundred South and West Temple and now what we have in Daybreak, like it's you can't beat it because it's so special to be around. So I've worked in the NBA TV Radio, you know, mc PA. I've done all the different arts and worked in different leagues.
There's nothing like the field of minor league.
Base tell me.
And I don't have any data at my disposal with this. You know, my sincere hope is that the Millers endeavor to bring major League baseball here it comes to fruition. I just think it would be so great, and obviously through my prism, uh, last night, after getting through you know the NBA stuff, I watched Game seven on the NHL side, and then some of the Scheffler highlights I throw on Mets Yankees subway series.
My guy Bellinger goes deep, Yeah.
Grand Slam, Ultimate Yankee Stadium wall scrapers, and I just, yeah, just give me the lefty that can hit it, you know, just right out there.
Just give me the lefty that you know can hit it two hundred and fifty feet. We're good. But and I love that the Mets are good right now because Porter is gonna be like, hey, we have a chance, and then they don't because they're the Mets. But you know, I haven't watched a lot of baseball yet this year. I've been NBA playoff centric or whatever. But every time I tune into a game and really give it my attention, because it isn't a sport that's designed for the twenty
four to seven house of highlights like you have. If you're gonna watch a baseball game, it requires some focus and some attention. So it is a different Uh, you know, it's a different time in our society because we all have computers in our hand, and our intention spans are like this. And I noticed it with myself, like even if I'm watching a movie, like, wait, this is two hours long, I'm just gonna go watch the show that's thirty minutes.
Like, our attention spans are shorter.
And I don't know what that's done for the bottom line of interest for Major League Baseball. But do you have any insight as to the health of the sport right now? Not just the game that's a great game, but at the health of Major League Baseball.
I mean, I think you look at how you would compare it to other stuff like the NFL.
Clearly it's going to take a back seat. I mean, just you.
It has so many games, and when you talk about being there in person, it's a great experience. TV and radio is obviously different. It's one of those that you have on the background for radio if you want. You know, I've always loved one. I'll prep for a game if there's day games on, I love my Wednesday Thursday games. I'll have it on in the background, like listening to different broadcasters, just hearing the sounds of it's it's just nice.
It's nice to have.
When it comes to something that you are going to attach yourself to. You're not attaching yourself to it going okay, then can get out of the sixth inning, we get to the bullpen and that.
No, that's for the playoffs.
It's just because there's so many games that the attention span is not going to be there all the time.
So it's something to have on, something to have on like on a Sunday.
Night, like you're talking about, right, and so the the eat, sleep, breathe, every live moment. In terms of TV radio, I think that would be tough to ever compare it to stuff like it has with the NFL and things like that, but it is healthy. There is attraction to the star the game right now. There is attraction to the fact that they improved the timing of the game with.
The clock rules, now and you.
Can't throw over to first one hundred and fifty times, and like now, the game moves a lot better and it's actually more enjoyable as a broadcaster. There's some tempo now to the game and some feel, which is great.
You've noticed that.
Oh yes, it's glaring and I love it. I love it a lot, So there's.
Good to that. But I do think it's healthy overall.
And I think obviously the revenues look terrific in terms of the engagement and the attention to the game, But you just know that it's not to the level of something like the National Football League and some other major sport, and it's.
Just not and it doesn't It doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to you know.
And on the landscape of the hierarchy, it's probably still three.
Right.
It's probably football, basketball than baseball. Maybe hockey's gained some in roads, and soccer will probably always be on the outside looking in in this country.
That's kind of where I've landed on it.
Let me ask you this, even though I've asked you this before, as somebody who calls all these these games says work for the millers and understands the sport and understands our market. Are you confident that will support the Major League Baseball team should we get it?
Yeah, I am.
No, very confident because the same reason why they supported the NHL, and the same exact reason because I had a good friend of mine who's one in Chicago and then another one lives in Long Island, and he was like, it's not I've been out there. It doesn't really feel like a hockey city. I said, it's not. I'm not going to lie to you and be like, this is a hockey town.
No, it's not. It's not. People were learning the game as the season went along. By the way. It doesn't make them less of a fan, doesn't make them not intelligent.
Yeah, it just this is not a place where kids played a lot of hockey. We can just call it like it is. But they supported it because it was their team. They love events, and they they are totally engaged with this community. So I knew the moment the NHL came in, I was like, oh, yeah, they'll totally get behind that team. And then, as it turned out, they did, and I thought it was great with the way that people were able to just say like, oh okay, I'm learning about this part of the game. And you
know what, Nat was never a hockey fan. Tough are off sides icing and just like that loved it, big Blackhawks fan. Good went to more Blackhawks games than any other team in the city.
It was awesome.
But for a lot of people here that can be the same thing, and it's another great enjoyable experience. Here's the other thing. It would own the summer. It would absolutely own the summer. So would it sell out every game like you would say the NHL, Well, no, you have eighty one.
Nobody sells out. Everybody sells baseball.
Like that's I love it when people are like, I could see them having a tough time selling out every game.
Nobody does.
Well, yes, and nobody does. And so you get two months of dicey weather. You've got a lot of games. But I do think you would see a ton of great energy and passion towards it, like you were seeing energy and passion towards now the the Utah Mammoth so.
And summer night's here rule I mean amazing, you know, Like that's one of the things I love about the soccer experience. And I tease those guys over there because they're always like, hey, you come to the game. I'm like, is it's seven degrees yet, because I'm not coming until it's warm, because I'm not sitting outside in cold weather, but a warm Utah summer night out at America First Field. Even if you're not a soccer fan, you will enjoy the experience. And you don't have to be a baseball
fan to go sit outside. You talked about the sunsets at the new Ballpark last time.
Grab a hot.
Dog and a pop whatever your thing is, and just enjoy the experience. One more thing here and then we'll talk about what you guys have coming up. So Rob Manfred has said we are not expanding until the new CBA expires.
The good news is that's next year.
Yes, So December one, twenty twenty six, the new CBA and Major League Baseball expires, and then we'll see what they do as far as expansion on the rise. And we know the cities, Nashville, Portland, the usual suspects. There's always the possibility of the Arizona Coyotes being owned by an idiot and needing a new home and suddenly sal a kaz hockey.
There's the Tampa Bay stuff that's out there.
The A's look like they're going to Vegas, although that's not done. What's your understanding about where we're at in the process of getting baseball here to our market.
Yeah, I'm not being a homer with this leader in the clubhouse. Leader in the clubhouse.
And by the way, you know, there's a ton of variables that come with stuff like this over time, so things can always change. But I think they're the leader in the clubhouse because all the circus, all.
The nonsense is out of the way.
If you're going to expand, it is the place because you have the ownership, you have alignment with where they're going to have the stadium, all of the details on how they're going to fund it, all the nonsense, all the headaches, all the forty seven chain emails, and the hour and a half long meetings, bureaucracy. Yeah, oh my gosh, the last minute, Oh crap, Hey, by the ways, all
that stuff gone. And there is something too, having already put so many other plans in place to then let this be a smooth landing, as.
Smooth as you can have. Steah.
Now, the other thing I try to tell people too, because think well, how long do you think it would take. I'm like, well, you got to remember when Tampa and Arizona had their spansion teams, it was four years later. They had opening day four years when it was like if I remember it was announced, it was like four years later.
That's so that's a gap.
So it would have to be hey, we're expanding, Hey, this is where we're doing it. I don't know if it would be four years, but that's what it was back then, So that takes some time. The other thing is if you expand, so people look at what happened with Ryan Smith and the Utah Mammoth. Now, great work to quickly turn it around, I mean amazing, Like they
deserve a ton of credit for that. It was also easier that it was a purchased team, right because now everything it's not straight turnkey, but a lot of things are done in this situation. Where are your minor league affiliates, where's your spring training facility? Where I mean there's I mean the stadium. Obviously there's a ton of things that all come into play with an expansion team, So.
All right to them before you catch a break.
The Saal lid Bees and Miller Sports and Entertainment invite all to celebrate the grand opening of the sal Lake Bees Team Store of the Ballpark at America First Square. This is tomorrow, May the twentieth, one one one South Ballpark Drive.
First of all, great address, easy to five.
It's my mom's pass code for her phone, so she can't forget, you know where.
I probably should not say my father's cell phone on air, but it is amazingly easy.
New merch, great.
Deals and more. Besteam store dot com. Tell me what do you want our listeners to know?
Oh man, I'll tell you what. Like I love with what they're gonna have with this new team store. Obviously the new gear and all of that, but the varieties of the new gear, you know, a ton of different stuff from a great women's apparel. You're gonna love it. For Like, I'm wearing this polo and this is what the old gear. I haven't looked on a new one as well. But then all the different hats, that's what I like too. So I don't know about you. I was never a flat bild guy. I just didn't look
good in a flat bill hat. I looked like a train conductor. I didn't look like a cool train conductor. I looked like a weirdo train conductor. So I think there's a natural expiration date. Like I was a flat brim guy when I was younger. But whenever I see any dude that's over thirty five, like wearing a flat brim hat, I'm like, oh, give it up, Like it's not a good look.
I don't have a problem with it. It's just that I'll have a problem. I don't look good in it.
I just don't look like you have a smaller face. Yes, you need a big jawline to look good in a flat person.
Yeah, apparently you gotta have a big fat face or something, and you need.
To be younger than thirty five.
All I know is every time I put one on, I was like, this just does not look good. So nice curve bill hat. I like the forty seven series, all that stuff they have it. It looks great. So I always say it, if you need it, they've got it. If you don't need it, they've got it. So go get it.
There you go.
The Best team Store come out out tomorrow, grand opening the Bees Team Store at a new ballpark in America, First Square. All right, Tony stops spout ity courtesy of our friends at Courtland Roofing. They're re roofing and roof repair experts with over twenty years of experience. They're family owned and operated called Cortland Roofing. Today they've got this great offer, So if you feel like you're in the in the market now for a roof replacement, give them
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This is launched high in Deep to Rite by Daniel Johnson, going.
Back as gavanas at the Wall Laps Up and he brought it back. Hey, rocking on the short.
Sidewall over by the right Bill pull Man, Kenny tuck it Away.
Tony Parks is live in studio, good enough to join us two weeks in a row. Easton Folster, who's the executive director of the UGA, will join us in a little bit. Scottie Scheffler was with his third major. Easton has requested space to talk about the Knicks he gives even though he's a local guy. He's a fan of the New York Knicks. But we will talk little golf.
Tony fi And now finishes nineteen tied for the nineteen over the weekend and takes home an extra two hundred k. Must be nice to finish nineteenth and something and make two hundred thousand dollars. Let's get Tony's mic on right. Yeah, that's all you gotta do, top to top two hundred k and be like, you know, I'm not the best, but I'm not the worst. I made two hundred thousand dollars. That's a good weekends, a great week top twenty at a major.
So have you had a chance to meet Tony just the nicest kid. Yeah, I've crossed pass with a little bit.
He and I know a lot of the same people, all right, crazy, Yeah, but no, I've never really gotten to know him, but I know of him, and we've been.
Around each other before. We know who each other are, if you will. Although he who.
Tony Parks, is that the voice of the Bees, I'm sure tell the guy who did the produce.
Race all those years Tony probably came out to a game or two of the ballpark, I would.
Imagine, Oh yeah, he and his absolutely, But obviously you had that great connection with Ron McBride. Yeah, yeah, so it just good people that know good people and and yeah so I and I've always been a huge fan of always.
Rooted them on. Do you play golf? I don't know this about you.
Do you ever play any golf? Do you watch at it? Don't watch it so much. I've got so much going on, but like I track it. I keep an eye on it. Yeah, yeah, I like to follow it. And then to me, it's always about the who you know. You and I always had such odd schedules, so we never golf together, and even when we were at the tournaments or whatever, like, we would be offset on the timing that we're in the air. So but yeah, you'd be the kind of guy. I'm not just being nice. You'd be fun of golf with.
Just hang out, talk with for eighteen holes and joke about Britton Johnson for at least three of Oh, we.
Can do that even if we're not playing golf. I will tell you thank you. First of all, I think I'm a good time on the golf course.
Yeah. Absolutely.
If I'm not playing well, I tend to be a little grumpy. I have changed my view. First of all, there's an economic factor that comes into play if you're breaking golf clubs left and right. So my goal this year, and I've told my buddies, so I play golf with the over under for broken clubs is one point five, So I'm gonna give myself grace to maybe break a club. My goal is to just not break more than one. And so far it's only May. I have not broken
a golf club yet. But as I started, look, I am an aging competitor trying to understand my real lot in life. There's no reason to get competitive when you're play monopoly with your eight year old nephew. You don't need to throw the board. Okay, that's dumb, and you're out there to have fun. So I'm just trying to enjoy the journey instead of getting frustrated if I don't play well. But once I started really honing in on golf and like this is fun. I love the challenge,
and I started getting better. I bought new clubs, took some lessons. When that endeavor wouldn't pay off, and I would have one of those rounds where I'm like, have you ever done this before, clubs would fly and I've definitely not a good time when that happens. But I am learning, Tony. I'm trying to evolve and be better and kind of keep the tantrum to a minimum. I uh yeah for me.
So here's where it happens. You know you're not good, you go out there, Hey, you're having.
A good time. You know it's all good. Then you actually start to improve.
Then you actually see like wait, I'm shut that out, like I've I've kind of got that down. Then you sit there and waste thirty five minutes in a conversation with the buddy talking about how you dropped one perfectly on the pool table on six at Nibley or whatever, you know, whatever your story is.
And then I'm going and that was thirty five minutes.
I'm not getting back, and I really obsessed about that more than I should have. And then I go out there and start perceivingly regressing, and then I started feeling myself get frustrated.
I was like, don't, yep, don't not worth it.
You don't have the money to keep up with this game anyway, Like, don't, just don't because I don't want to spend the money to get the left I just don't.
Yeah.
No, And it's a big time crunch. I mean, excuse me. It's it's very time consuming. So it asks a lot of your time, it asks a lot of your paycheck. It's not a cheap thing to do. But yeah, as you start to get a little bit better. The other weird thing is there'll be a round where something clicks in your head where you're like, I've got to pull down with my left I've got to get my left hip out of the way. And then you're like, okay,
I'm doing that and it's working. And then the next round you show up and you're like, okay, pull down with your left, get your left tip out of the way, get the shoulder turn, and none of that works, and you're like, Okay, I've got to recalibrate and figure out what I have to do today, even though what I had to do last week does it's not working anymore because and that, honestly is what is addicted me to
the sport, right, the mental challenge. And I didn't have really a competitive outlet because I last played competitive basketball in my twenties.
I broke my leg. I'm like, I'm not doing this anymore.
So I was like looking for a competitive outlet, and that's what golf is kind of okay, has been for me.
So here's what I love about play by play every day is that's what it is for me.
Uh huh, Like I compete with myself, Like I have a vision, I have preparation, I have everything that you know, fundamentals. I love the art of constantly an effort or with an unquenchable thirst to improve and to just minimize the distance between where I am and where I want to be more and more every day. That to me, there
is nothing like that. You wake up with that fire, you feel that fire, and then you you know, let's say, let's say you had a good day with it like you would on the golf course you have a good day.
Cool thing is you got another game tomorrow.
Let's say, you know, didn't go quite as well as you thought and for whatever reason, just didn't feel right, didn't deliver it right, I don't know whatever, you know what, got another game tomorrow.
And I love that about play by play. But if you mispronounce the name, you're not breaking your microphone. No, I'm not taking off the headste do you miss a call? And you're not breaking your equipment? What's the you know what? This is a dangerous question.
Whatever. It's Monday.
Let's just get asked like, have you ever witnessed a local broadcast or meltdown? Yes, you feel like you can share it? No, I didn't think so That's why it was a dangerous question.
No, it is trying to see.
The toughest one was where somebody would be upset and you could actually understand why they're upset, and then other times it was like, no, you're you're taking it out on this person and you're justifying your behavior. The hardest part I think in this industry was me saying you've explained your behavior.
Are you excusing your behavior? Well? No, but.
Yeah, okay, so you are excusing your behavior, right, because if anybody ever treated you like that, you would cry in a corner for three months. And okay, right, so you chose to treat them like that because they're.
Them and you're you, and you knew these.
People over here don't have the courage to in any way rectify that.
How the slight inkling that I know who you're talking about, and just watching the defensiveness, watching the and then watching the fear based proposition, it's like, don't, don't, don't, don't, but you know what you did.
It's just because I care so much. No, No, that's not it. Passion is not poor behavior.
You're telling a truth to mask the truth. So let's talk about the truth. And that was always like yeah, that was always a tough one. But no, but there were times where people would be frustrated or mad and they're just mad about the situation and I'm like, yeah, I'm like no, no, hey, you know like you care, you're into it, it matters to you. And in those situations, I was always like, great, you know what I mean.
Like that to me, like if a golfer's upset is mad about the situation, fine, but if somebody's competing and they're you know, completely a detriment to the to other people and things like that, and then justifying it and then couching it is but we're still a team, and no you're not. And you're successful in spite of that behavior, not because of them.
Like I always get a kick when I hear like, no, it's just it's just overly passionate. Oh so he's an ass, that's what you're saying. Like you'll like Draymond Green's overly passionate, Like I love Draymond as a player, but when he when he when he crosses that line. Passion is not an excuse for poor behavior.
Well, it's it's like, Okay, Michael Jordan slaps Steve Kerr. Right, guess what Michael Jordan did owned it? Yeah, he owned it. And Phil Jackson also there was like accountability to it.
Right.
So to me, you're going to have emotions, boiler, You're going to the big thing is do you take responsibility when it happens? And do you and then you you have a commitment to improved successful behavior going forward. Right, Right, So everybody's always like whenever the well, they'll they'll show a coach meltdown on a player and they'll be like, Hey, is this good coaching or is this abuse? I'm like,
is their trust between the two? Because if there's trust between the two, now it's coaching because the player knows you care about them, and that's why you're also upset because you care about them.
Now there's belief here. Yeah, But if.
They don't think you care about them, then they think you're just putting on a show.
Then they know that you're just acting out of line.
Now what you're doing is actually a detriment to the team rather than a benefit.
Yeah, so there you go. No, I got you all right, Tony.
When you last joined us, it was last Monday when hope was prevalent in the market. That last Monday night, we were all going to be gathered around our televisions or our radios because we had a live on ESPN seven hundred to listen to Mark Tatum revealed that the Utah Jazz were going to draft number one overall, therefore draft Cooper Flag and therefore bring hope to a market in a fan base that right now, if honest does not have a lot of hope.
Where were you and what was your reaction?
When you heard that the Utah Jazz were not drafting one or two or three or four, but they had I hesitate to say they had fallen to five.
Now it was their floor. They couldn't fall any further.
But if you look at the numbers, they were most likely to draft four or five. That's what the percentage just said. Of course, the hope was one, where were you when you heard the news? And what was your reaction?
In my wife's salon, we still have a salon in our place here, and I was getting a beard trim, and I was sitting there and my phone on.
The yes on the ESPN seven hundred app.
I had it sitting there, and as I was sitting there watching, the TV was on, but it's on delay and all that stuff. Anyway, as I'm sitting there and I hear on the the app the Utah Jazz, and I just went WHOA. And I didn't say well, because I was like, it was more that I knew the reaction of the fan base knew I was coming would be overwhelming and local medium members. I knew it would be a massive blow up because the Jazz in years passed let's say, like the Darren Williams thing or when
they fell to six and then they traded. But when they fell to six, they weren't trying to get the one. I mean they were, you know, they just weren't dealing with a great team. So I was like, all right, this is the one time, oh you fell, that's unfortunate. But they moved up to three, they traded whatever. In this situation, they were going all out for the whole thing. I mean that this was the objective here. So when they went to fifth, I knew there would be a
reaction of disappointment, a reaction to people being upset. Where I just always shake my head and roll my eyes. Is the this is rigged, this is fixed, This whole.
Thing is this and that.
And I thought, man, way too many years ago, and by with the Knicks not being the number one pick, way too many things have happened where teams who have no benefit to the league to have the number one pick.
I've had the number one pick.
I can make far more of an argument that if the league's rigging this, they're doing a really bad job.
Yeah.
Yeah, Now that's not to say that there haven't been some things where you kind of go, all right, Lebron leaves Cleveland, they get one.
Chris Paul leaves New Orleans, they get one.
And honestly, look, I think it's intellectually embarrassing to discuss the potential of what is literally called a lottery to be rigged. Like if you've ever been in any sort of drawing, you know the deal, You get your a little ticket, you hang out, you're like, maybe I'll win this, and then the drawing takes place and your ticket number isn't called it's just bad luck. It doesn't mean it's fixed. So I have no space for any of that. I think the one thing that led to this outcry wasn't
necessarily the Jazz falling to five. I think it was Dallas getting one after they moved on from Luca and so I think a lot of people were drawn the line like, hey, keep the Lakers relevant, trade Luke at LA and we'll take care of you.
Now that's also dumb.
But I do think one of the things that stings if you're a Jazz fan, it's not that you weren't able to get luck to move up and you're at five. I think it's your two of your Western Conference peers. You're already far behind Oklahoma City. You're already far behind Denver, Minnesota. I could keep going, You're already far behind so many teams that have good players now and mechanisms to add good players later.
That the fact that the Spurs are able.
To add the Dylan Harper kid, when the MAVs are able to add Cooper Flag. It's two more Western Conference teams that now you look at that and you say we are light years behind them as well.
I think that that probably adds to the sting. Well, I think it definitely does.
Like part of this has to be that you have to look at yourselves and saying, you know what, whatever this process had been, it hasn't gone as well as we want. Even if you want to say, well the process, you know, the plan wasn't to win yet it's like I got it. But while this process is put together, what has been the most positive part of this process?
To me?
It's Will Hardy six year extension because I think he's the right guy. What what is it? There's no identity, there's no culture. Okay, okay, you were planning on losing out, that's fine, but you haven't. I haven't, and somebody else can come on and be like, I've seen this from this guy and that from that guy. I still I haven't seen enough yet that makes me go, you know what, that right there, that here is going to move them this direction. I remember in the Queen years, in the
early Queen years going, Okay, they got something. They're big here, and they're defensive oriented, and they've lost nine in a row, but they have an identity and there's something moving this direction now, okay, And in this current situation.
I'm not just trying to be critical.
I know they're doing it differently than Dennis and Quinn and Kevin O'Connor back in the day.
I'm not saying do it the way they did it. I'm just saying.
Throughout all of this, hey, you've garnered a lot of assets. I'll give you that, and you I think have the right coach right mind. But now it's making everything else come together. So when you did this to bet on yourself that you were going to get it right now, you got to put it to work, and that might mean moving up, and that might mean spending more than you probably wanted to if it's the guy that you believe is going to turn this around.
But you miss on this pick.
And you I mean, if you do, if you Dante ExHAM this thing, and I'm not saying they will, but if you Dante ExHAM this thing, you prolong this process.
Yeah, the number one thing you have to do is draft.
Well, Bobby march On earlier and he outlined it perfectly, And here's the deal. And I hate to use this team as an example because right now they are the best example of roster construction under the new CBA, which has allowed teams that play in cities pretty similar to ours build up. Some really good teams are going to
be good now and be good for a long time. Now, the one outlier can And this is why this exercise is a little bit difficult, because you could look at Detroit, you can look at Orlando, you can look at Oklahoma City, you can look at some of the teams that are in cities like ours and we're in places like this not too long ago, and try to draw parallels. But the one failure with this exercise is Okacshay. Detroit has Kaid and Orlando as Apollo, and the Jazz don't have that guy.
I like Lowry, I like Lowry a lot. He's not one of those guys.
He is not a franchise you know, He's not a franchise building block.
He can play really well for a really.
Good team, and the Jazz could trade him and he would start for probably any team in the league. Maybe not a fully healthy Boston Celtic team. But you get my drift. So where the Jazz have failed so far and where these other teams have succeeded. Like Sam Presty turned Paul George into Shae and other pieces and a bunch of draft capital, the Jazz so far have not turned Donovan or Rudy into a cornerstone. They turned Donovan into Lowry and some other pieces and some draft picks.
Of course, they got Walker and the Rudy deal, which is a nice piece. But if you're going to move off of Donovan Mitchell at twenty five, who's probably about to be named first team All NBA, or Go Bar at twenty eight, who loves Salt Lake and didn't want
to leave. If you're going to move off those franchise changing pieces, among the things you receive in return, whether it's a tangible piece like Shay right away or a draft pick later on, you have to find the guy that you can build around, and they have not found
that yet. So if you can turn Paul George into Shea and then you have some lean years with him as the cornerstone and you can see that he is one of those dudes, then all you have to do is draft right around him, and then it gives you the ability, with some deals you know, to be able to bring in and as Isaiah Hartenstein or an Alex Caruso who guarded Yokichen Game seven. But they draft Chet, they draft Isaiah Joe, you know, they bring in Casin Wallace,
Aaron Wiggins, Jalen Williams. They knocked that one out of the park. So yes, Sam Presty turned Paul George into shea. But he also has this crazy hit rate on his draft picks. So the problem with the Jazz isn't only that they haven't turned Donovan Rudy into a star. It's there are legitimate questions about Isaiah Collier and Keyante George and we need to see Taylor Hendrick Selti and Cody Williams by all the analytics just had a historically bad
rookie year. So it's twofold, okay. So if we look at all the teams that have built, and now we're in a position where they're playing high level basketball in cities like ours. You've got to start with ants. You have to start with Shay, you have to start with kid, you have to start with Polo and then build from the ground up. The Jazz haven't been able to do that.
Attendant to it, if we're honest, they have not hit on their picks, Tony, No, since Danny, you know, Danny kind of took over the reins.
They just haven't.
I had a Jazz fan asked me how is it the Sacramento Airport yesterday and ran into a couple different the Salt Lake residents, but one of them was a Jazz fan as well and was talking about the five pick and this and that.
What do you think?
And I just said, well, they can catch up in terms of gaining ground from where they have been up to this point. But when they made the wholesale change three years ago, I thought, Okay, no, you're turning the page, and I'm totally fine with that. I would not have predicted that they've made what I would consider very little to know for progress. So so for you to lose that's one thing but I do not see a ton
of forward progress. And I know that we're supposed to be positive about the Jazz and there are NBA team and no, I'm just I'm going to be very honest.
I'm looking at it going.
I get that the plan wasn't to win, but I don't see other things that tell me this is a surging direction forward here, here and here. And when I when I see that, I say, Okay, you can gain ground on that with hitting draft picks and all of that and catch up from the distance that I thought you would be at. But I am curious as to why. I'm curious as to why three years. I mean, there's there's really nothing to show for this. We've got a ton of assets. Yeah, I know you've had them for
a while. You know, we've got great draft picks. Yeah, I know this isn't your you know, I know this is a.
Really good one.
But you've had some nice picks here and some selections to make up to that point. So you have room, you have weapons, you have opportunity. And I still think, and some people disagree with me on the Will Hardy thing, I'm like, no, I think this guy's magnificent.
I do. I think all of his principles.
I think the fact that he wildly overperformed with that that team he had what three years ago and then two years ago, I mean, that was amazing Spence. And then they flushed out and said, Okay, we're gonna bottom out, We're gonna do it this way. Okay, But now I got to see something in that process that tells me, here is the light, Here is the direction.
Here is the momentum.
You know, It's like anybody who's gonna go to the gym or make a whole major change in their life. People may not see it right away, but you can feel and see the momentum that's around you based on different decisions, you know, different opportunities, different habits. They may see them under the surface. I'm just telling them I don't see them. And I've watched as much as I can and I don't see it. So I'm hoping for them that in the near future this can be turned around.
You nail the five pick, or you move up and you nail the pick and then you start really seeing some surge go in the right direction.
Yeah, And as far as just simply being positive and believing the messages that are probably you know, it's just propaganda coming out of the organization, and you know, like I can't roll that way. I can't just call something other than what I see. And yes, the organization wants you to believe that the rebuild is on track, and yes, at times they plan a story where it's like, oh, hey, just so you know, we haven't been rebuilding. We've been
tearing down for three years and now we're rebuilding. That's so insulting, Like, no, you started the rebuild when you traded away two stars in their prime and a really good coach left and a really good roster constructor left. That's when the rebuild started. The clock started three years ago, not now. Okay, So you can't just propagate messaging through you know, team owned media or try to plan a story in the d news of the trib and then
expect me to not see what I'm seeing. And look, nobody, I want the Jazz to win as bad as anybody. I mean, look, I have a dashboard. I keep track of how many people listening to which segments and how many people listen to which interviews, and when Donovan and Rudy and that team was kind of making their way through and having a little bit of playoff success early on, and then you know, the interest in the Jazz was
through the roof. A lot of people were listening to the NBA segments in a way that they just aren't right now. It's better for my business if the Jazz win. I'm as frustrated as anybody for everybody, and I can't just be positive about something that I'm looking at right now without a lot of hope. Because when you look at teams with draft capital future ability to add pieces via the draft, Oklahoma City's at the top, and Oklahoma City isn't just in a position where they're going to
be able to add pieces in the future. They're awesome right now. They should win the championship. Then you have teams like Brooklyn. They're in the same spot as the Jazz. The Houston Rockets have ten draft picks coming their way. They just made the playoffs with a really, really good team. The San Antonio Spurs have nine future picks at their disposal. The Detroit Pistons are on this list, the Sacramento Kings,
the Orlando Magic. So teams that are already good are in the same area the Jazz are with draft assets. So it's one thing to say we have draft assets. Okay, that's great. There's a tremendous amount of pressure on them to get this thing right this offseason.
Yeah.
Now next year is going to look the same as this year. There's no scenario. I mean, there are rumors about San Antonio two or Affiliate three. Maybe they can move up, maybe they can grab another lottery pick. But we need to see Taylor healthier. For fair Cody, I mean, he's got years to go. Based off what we saw last year, I don't know if Keantae George is a rotational piece for a good team. Isaiah Callier, you can't
have your lead guard shooting twenty six from three. I like Lowry, I like Walker, and that might be it. I think Philipowski showed some things down the stretch.
Yeah, But if.
The best pick you've made is the one you've grabbed thirty two and the chances that you had in the lottery in the mid first round you've struck out on, it indicates they're still miles and miles to go.
Yeah, And the comparisons you make to the other teams, I think it jumps out because the first thing I saw with The reaction was, they will never help us small market tape. Well, I tell you, the Temper Nuggets are recent champions, right, and I know they're not like small smallmerker right. But the Milwaukee Bucks are resa champions. The Spurs won five of them. They put together a good run of winning, consistently winning the Jazz by the way, in the nineties one it's on more teams. Jordan beating
the finals came from small markets than big markets. I still don't call Phoenix a small market, but I know that it's not considerate that in the NBA landscape is not but anyway not the point. It wasn't a major destination if you will, for NBA free agent and all that at the time. So when I look at it, I say, no, I think all across the board.
If you want to say it's all even, it's not, okay. I get it.
Some places are probably more wished upon by a free agent than say, Salt Lake. But when I look at the way teams have been able to build championships, build championship teams, I look at the way that they were
able to do it with culture. I look at the way Mike Malone was able to do and I know it just got let oh, which is stunning, by the way, but how he did it with Denver and I watched him in the years where they refused to be consistent with defensive habits, then at least weren't terrible in that area. Boom put a ring on their finger, Like I watched it all come together for others. And there's no reason this place couldn't fan support everything you could want in that way.
And it's a competitive league. I got that, and I'm not.
Saying this team should be in that position now, but I did think they would be more along than they have been. I did think that they would be at a bigger step in this process.
It has surprised me.
If san Antonio is willing to move too, or Philly is moving to move is willing to move. Three do you put marketing on the table? You put Lowry on the table?
Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna bet on that being this cornerstone piece to the ultimate future, then yes, yes I do. But but with that said, you better be ready because if I'm them, I want Lowry, I want to swap and I want a future at basement.
That's the basement, all right, Ton before I say you loose, reminder of the saal Leig Bees and the Miller Sports and Entertainment invite all to celebrate the grand opening of the sal League Bees Team Store at the Ballpark at America First Square, coming up tomorrow, five o'clock PM, one one one one South Ballpark Drive new merch, great deals and more.
Go to Bees teamstore dot com. What do you want our listeners to know?
Man, get in there, check out all the latest and the best gear. You're gonna love all the different types of hats that they have, tons of hats las of a house, which of course is great. Those are a copa hats, copa jerseys, all the different. I'm sure they'll have a ton of different looks on the variety. The rebrand with the new gear that you're going to see out there, they did a wonderful, wonderful job with that. I like all the new hats. But whether it's hats, jerseys,
T shirts and more. I've always said it, Yeah, if you need it, they've got it. If you don't need it, they still got it.
Go get it. Father's days around the corner. Get it done. That's right. Great to see you, my friend.
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