Yere's fun fact. If you ever have the chance to go to any sort of professional stadium, don't touch the grass. They get super salty about that. So you got to stay on the outside track because if you put a toe on the on the grass, you're gonna get some kind of hairy eyeball from somebody. Jesse Thomas knows he is the producer, the brains of the operation when it comes to keeping jackets. Yeah, well, I mean I was
gonna right. That goes without saying, Jesse. Come on. He keeps the guys on and keeps them on track for the most part during the broadcast, not just in spring training, but also throughout the baseball season. And Jesse, how long have you been doing this?
This will be my ninth season with the.
Rockies, but you've been doing this job for various sports prior to that.
So I've been engineering play by play broadcasts since two thousand and two, right out of the only job you've.
Ever had has a grown up in terms of like what you're doing.
Yes, wow, So I've done thousands of play by play events over my career. But yeah, I did Nuggets and Avalanche for a decade over at altitude came over with yeah, ay, Rod knows well about that and yeah, and then I came over when a position opened and Jerry Shimmil helped me out and here we are.
So what is your favorite sport to work in?
Yeah, hundred percent. It's a little because we get to see the cities that we go to.
All because you have so much time in each city.
That's correct.
We're not you know, going to the arena, getting on a plane, going to the hotel and then you're flying in the middle of the night and all that stuff. So being able to see the country and experience all the ballparks and all that stuff has been.
Priceless for me.
So what is your favorite city other than Denver to work in?
Miami?
Miami?
Really?
Yeah, I love Miami and I really like Anaheim. And Milwaukee's super sneaky too. I got Milwaukee is fun. It's a sleepy but it's awesome.
It's super cool. I told people this. And the rn C. We went for the rn C and they had because Trump was almost assassinated the week before, so they expanded the security and really cut off a lot of businesses. It was really unfortunate what happened to Milwaukee. During the RNC it was not at its best, but when Chuck and I went to the Milwaukee I was like, this is a great talent.
It reminds me of old Denver. Yeah, yeah, it really does, before Denver became what it is now. And granted I'm there during the month of good weather that they have, but it's it's pretty fun.
I like it, yeah, exactly. So I'm wondering if you guys have any questions about what it's like to travel with the team or be in the play by play booth or any of that stuff. Now's the time to text us on the common Spirit health text line five six six nine er. Somebody just pointed out the steamroly thing. It's a baseball zamboni. There you go. Yeah, it's the bambony, is what it is? Much like the Bambino.
I dig it.
Yeah, I have a question. So a listener text me and said, did Jesse share with you his way Moos story? So you got into one of these big brothermobiles that are flying around? What was that?
Like I did?
Eventually this is more of a Jesse's a bonehead store O good.
But I'll be happy to.
Share it because listen, why not So I'm staying in a compound down here off of Scottsdale Boulevard. Churches are Scottsdale Road, which is basically the Colorada Bulevard of Scottsdale.
Right, so I fire up the old waymo app and I'm having a few cocktails.
Headed gonna go downtown and do my thing, right, old town Scottsdale. Pipe in the address, no problem, all the directions gave him the gatecoat to get into my little complex, right, uh huh.
Well do you see the problem with that? There's there's no intendant at in Yes.
And so I'm sitting on my patio and I poured myself another glass of wine, and all of a sudden I started thinking, well, Jesse, you are dumb?
How and oh man?
So I started getting all these alerts from Waimo and they said, sir, you will have to meet us out on the curb.
And I'm like, you are just dumb, Jesse. Goodness gracious.
So I mean I was gonna ask, like, how does the WAIMO put in a gatecode?
So that's that's it doesn't Yeah.
That's already a problem. So have you done it since then?
Yes? And it works.
It's quite the experience once you get over the look of it from the outside with all the spinning cameras and the bells in the whistle.
Yeah.
Now, there are some horror stories out there of people getting locked in the Weymo and then honking uncontrollably and stuff like that.
I just saw the one of the guy in the parking lot and it just kept doing a donut in a parking lot, but very slow speed.
If you're smart enough to actually order one, which I apparently am not, it's quite the experience and I recommend doing it at least once.
Everybody needs to ride with our robot overlords.
Maybe we'll make that a part of our afternoon today. We'll go take a Waimo ride somewhere just to say we did it.
Now, it's my understanding they are still monitored by humans at all times, right, I don't.
I think that's still the case.
But that's like our alarm company. When our alarm in our house goes up, like hours later, somebody calls and is like, hey man, and something happened at your health Yeah, you're like, oh good, okay, great, And.
They'll only go certain in a certain area down here. You can't just order one, and like if you're in Paradise Value, you can't order one. You can the only certain zip code I think you can get away.
I've heard that they cannot do interstate traffic yet.
Yeah, I think that's right, because it did.
I guess it just moves too fast or something. I don't know, but I have to say a couple areas where Phoenix is superior to Denver number one, very few homeless people, but I'm guessing in the summer it's unbearably would probably yeah, I mean, well, more people die from heat related stress than they do cold related stress every year. That's a fact. But it's very clean, and the surface streets here are very efficient. They are you don't have to get on an interstate to get from one side
to the other. And Phoenix is geographically ginormous.
It's huge. It's insan understand. Yeah, it goes on forever.
It's like Houston, like, and this is the only place you better get on. And if I've got passed by an old woman in a Bentley going yeah, there's eighty the other day, you know what I mean, Like, yeah, there's that's the tail two people that they're either going twenty or eighty.
Well, I am. This whole area Scottsdale reminds me of Naples, Florida. A lot of money down here, obviously, like a ton of money in Scottsdale. I told Chuck today, I was like, dude, I't want to go to a thrift store because I've bet the thrift stores in Scottsdale are a little up coat. Seriously, this is a thrift store tip for those of you
who may want to thrift at some point. If you want to go to the best thrift stores, go to the richest neighbor you could you could find and go to their thrift store, and you're gonna find.
All kinds of Scottsdale's.
Yeah, Scottsdale is it. Let's take a very quick time out. I've got some questions for you. I took away mow and the driver looked exactly like my dad. I'm not sure you were in a Waimo Texter. It could have just been your dad's car. We'll be right back questions with Jesse Thomas right after this. Keep it on KOA. Can I just say a big thank you to all of you who are getting the text line to give me thrift store information in Scottsdale because I am doing it.
Chuck's already like, oh God, here we go, Mandy, I'm actually streaming you in North Scottsdale Cave Creek. Moving here from Wyoming was the best move we ever made. Also, we can easily pick up Koa over the air at night and early in the morning. That from Joel Jesse. Cars doing twenty or eighty sounds like superous in the mountains to me. We used to have this thing, and when I lived in Southwest Florida, you would just see like a car being driven by knuckles and a white
poof of hair. Do you have that here as well?
You do? Yeah, sun hat, nothing but hands, yes, just the knuckles.
Yeah.
Sometimes when I get bored, I go out to the supermarkets and watch all the old folks look for their base puties.
Just for fun. That's good, good, good.
Well. I used to joke that the Fort Myers Costco probably like sold more brand products pound for pound per capita than any other costco in the country.
Ran in ointments are really big down here.
Yes, yes, big big ointments. I do have a question from a guy who said I have a question for Jesse. I've tried to text the guys during a Rockies game, but I never hear back. Why is that glad you're on today with Mandy? You guys don't have the text line.
No, we do not have the text line. The best way to do that would be to tweak directly at me.
Yes. Yes, if you have the Twitter, you can text Jesse at broadcast Jesse Broadcast, Jesse at Twitter, and then he will make sure the guys get to it. Maybe they can actually address this on the air. I have a question for you. Are you a Denver guy because you work for the Abs, you work for the Nuggets, so you're a Denver kid born and raised.
Yep.
So would you ever be wooed away by another franchise?
I've been fortunate enough most people that in this business have to do that I've been for I mean, never say never, but I'm happy where I'm at.
So I've been blessed to work for the teams that I grew up watching.
So that's actually really cool. Is it challenging for you as it is for the fans when we have the last two seasons that we've had, does that just make it kind.
Of a different perspective doing what we do?
Like are you know, we just be professional no matter what happens out in the field. And obviously you want him to succeed because you get to know him, and you travel with him, and you eat with them, and you know all those things, and so you have a rooting interest. But other than that, we still try to stay as professional as possible.
So, who are favorite players you've ever worked with or gotten to know over the years that you've been doing this.
Charlie Blackman, you know, he is the best. Let's see, Carlos Gonzalez was a pleasure to be a cargo.
Seemed like he was fun mm hmm.
I mean he's like anybody, you know, it's it's like anything. You know when to stay away from him, and you know when they're two for their last seventeen, yes you kind of you know, stay away and keep your head down and all that stuff. But yeah, there's really nobody that sticks out that has been horrible.
Well, which was like, who the favorites are? I mean the people that you're always glad to see.
Baseball players in particular are a lot more friendlier than the other two professional sports.
How you worked with.
Yes, you know my husband Chuck, who's here as well, he worked for the Minnesota Twins franchise team in Fort Myers and talked all the time about how you know, he would be carrying programs and guys would say, oh, do you need me to sign those? And then just stop in the hallway and sign a bunch of programs. And you don't necessarily have that same kind of access or relationship with professional football players or professional hockey. It's just a different vibe. Why do you think that is?
Is it the links of the season? Is it the boys of summer? What is it?
That's a good question.
And the link to the Obviously baseball's kind of its own animal because of the amount of games.
Yeah, did you play?
And gets such a tight group from the forty man rots to the traveling twenty five.
Everybody's with each other.
And if you're part of that traveling group, like we're blessed enough to be if you you better be nice otherwise.
They won't keep you along to keep you around.
Yeah, I guess so, I mean that's Is there anything that sticks out for you as a moment that you will never forget because you get to do this job.
Yes, the wild card win at Wrigley in twenty eighteen.
I believe it was. Yeah, was incredible. They won it in thirteen innings.
It was freezing and to see all the Wrigley faithful go home heartbroken was you know, I'm more of an agony of defeat, guy than a thrill of victory, in case you don't know that about it. Yeah, So anytime you get to stick it to opposing fans, I'm all about it.
Watch him cry.
Yeah.
Yeah. I ask Jesse if he needs an assistant, Yes, person.
Says he work technician.
I'm taking applications for headphone technicians.
Headphone tech which does that just involve being the finger to hang the headphitest.
My headphones in at the beginning of the broadcast and unplug them at the end of the broadcast.
That's it. You know what's funny, Jesse, is that we get to do this every day. I mean, you get to do it here every day, but I get to do this job every day. And whenever we bring people to the Rockies games, we always have the opportunity to bring him up to the booth. And when you do it every day, you forget how cool this is. I mean, I guess you've seen people just come up pie eyed and get to just live the experience.
It's funny.
People always ask me if the amount of visitors we have, you know, interrupts us or No, it's the opposite. It actually keeps me grounded and keeps me focused and really makes me not take anything for granted when you especially the little ones that come, Yeah, their.
Eyes get so big and it's the coolest thing they've ever done.
And maybe we just got off of a twelve day road trip and won two games and all that stuff, and you're a little tired. It's great to get some perspective with you know, yep, with the visitors.
That's why I always try to remember when people are coming to the studio and they're like, this is so cool. You forget how cool it is when you don't do whatever.
Lucky.
Yeah, we're very lucky. All right, Well we get back. We are going to talk to Jimmy Sangenberger. I'll let you talk later. Chucky's what did you wanstk.
An input to that.
We've brought people up here and our relatives and stuff, and I have some of the best pictures.
With Jack and Jerry and our friends are just like, their eyes are so big.
It's like the Christmas you know,