This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jakin z Owes.
Now we have Brian with breaking news. This is I on the Ball Breaking
News on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, let's get it going.
First thing up, as Keivin Clark. She broke a record the other night
for the WNBA had two point one million viewers that followed her debut the other
night, the most watched game in over twenty years. Twenty years. Wow,
yeah, yeah, I mean the curiosity factor, woll the game fact,
just the whole I mean, the everything factor. I mean, you
know, it's just you look, you look at what I mean. People
want to you know, people want to see this, and she's doing she's
doing something that nobody else has been able to do. And so you know,
if you're gonna give her crap for all of that, then fine,
because there are some people who are you see, there was a there was
a clip of a file that she took. She's going down the lane and
she just got clob I saw that. I want to say, clover,
And I'm like, Okay, was there a little more a little something behind
that one or not? But and you know, everybody's you know, they're
gonna do the welcome to the w NBA thing and that's fine, you know,
And as long as she rolls with it and plays and still is good,
then fine. Well, Tarashi was quoted again yesterday or the day before
saying, uh, it's not like I didn't warn you about this, because
uh, it's not. She said. You're not playing against eighteen, nineteen
twenty year old girls, right, You're playing against women who've been in the
league, you know the game, who are crafty and whose jobs are on
the line right right right, And you guess what, little girl, you're
here to take my job. I'm gonna prevent you from doing exactly. You
know. I'm sure they don't see it that way, but you know what
I'm saying, at the context where where? And that's just the NBA too.
Look, and you know what it would be like. It's like that
in every league, right of course, you know, Major League Baseball player
comes up, you know, you know, gets to the plate, then
you know, pittrol buzz them and you know, welcome, welcome to the
you know, welcome major League Baseball or whatever. You know, it's there.
These people are competitive and they're they're in they're in these leagues because they're
ultra competitive, more competitive than you or I could ever be. And and
uh yeah, and that's why they're there exactly. It's funny because all you'll
have rickings. I'll bring up something later. Go ahead, Okay, guess
tonight she has her home opener, so we'll see if she does a little
better in her second game. She had a pretty rough, pretty pretty rough
night. Yeah. Well, they they're they're playing the New York Liberty,
which has Sabrina I and Escu, who is like the other chosen one,
right, you know, who came up through Oregon. Uh shoot, yeah,
and can shoot the hell out of the ball. You know, she
had a three point shooting contest against did she against Steph Curry and stuff?
So you know, she's helped generate some attention for all this as well.
So the two of them be on the court on opposite size tonight, so
there'll be a lot of people watching that one. Yeah, so that games
at four o'clock Mountain Standard time on Prime video. If anybody wants to check
that out. Let's move over to the NFL. One of the topics on
the NFL right now is the schedule release and one of the teams that they're
I guess there's some complaints about it. The Jets are heavy early on the
primetime, right Is he gonna be ready to play right away? Yeah,
yeah, he's gonna play, but you know it's like, okay, if
he blows out his thing again in the first game, you can have all
these Jets games coming on, then nobody's gonna want to watch. And they
got six six primetime games this year. Yeah, on the for not having
been any good in a while, so kind of crazy that. You know,
Hey, Aaron Rodgers moves the needle. The big game was I think
the first game was Kansas City Baltimore. That's gonna be the opening, be
a fantastic game. Yeah, rematched the championship, so we'll see if Baltimore
can get the revenge and yeah, take down the defending defending again. Yeah,
So let's switch over to g c U. Yeah, interesting news.
Let me find it lost theirical one second. Sorry, Grand Canyon is moving
to he is moving to the w c C, the West Coast Conference,
that will be starting in twenty twenty five, right, so one more year.
Right. That's that. That's the league that Gonzaga is in. They've
been in that, they've been in the whack. The glan Can's been a
little controversial, you know, because there are for profit college and people say,
you know, that's not what these you know, are supposed to be.
But you know, they've been playing there, they've been playing television one.
Colleges are not supposed to be for profit. No, they're not,
wonder Arizona, they're doing a good job of not being for profit. Congratulations
Arizona. You're doing exactly what you're not supposed to be doing. Well,
I did. You're supposed to make some money, aren't you. No,
colleges are supposed to make enough money to continue to operate. That's all.
That's what I try to do. But anyways, because I remember Luke saying
that he would he was never going to play Grand Canyon, and they never
did. No, they never did. But he was like in the later
part, I don't remember him saying that, but maybe maybe because uh,
well they've gone through some coaches, right because uh Marley one of our guys,
friend of mine, Peneal was there for a while before he because Marty,
Marty took him, took it over. And now they have a good
coach with the Bealpariso guy. Oh the shot at the shot Scott Drew.
Yes, no, no, no, no, Bryce, Yeah, which
you know, it's surprising that in the year or two if he continued,
he'll go back to what he was doing. He got fired at Vanderbilt.
And so they go to the West Coast Conference with with Zaga, Saint Mary's,
Santa Clara, all those guys. So, yeah, that'll be good.
It'll be interesting. Seattle University is also going with them to bring the
conference to eleven full members for full teams for the first time in its history.
Okay, just adds a little bit of competitiveness. What else you got
over to the Lithuanian Basketball League former Arizona Fordlis Cubilis Cubllis, you say his
name, he wins the MVP. No, go back, get up and
do your thing. You wouldn't know what it is, Okay, So go
ahead and say what he was to say, you were going to say that
he's he won the m v P of his league, the league he grew
up watching. He became the m v P in his first year. So
this is Tubellus. He's saying this to them. They kicked that's his voice.
Okay, that's his voice. But actually he kicked their asses and he
became the MVP of his hometown, hometown league. Well, good, good
for him. What kind of new I mean he was gonna get he would
he would do well playing overseas and you know these players who come here,
they get this experience, this high level experience, you know, in places
like Arizona whatnot. You know, Helena Poayo, she'll go to she'll go
over to you know, overseas and she'll play and she'll be a star.
Reese was a star in Australia and in Australia Astralia. Right, so she's
going to anottle league now, but she was like the MVP there right well
right, so you know, and he's probably making a pretty decent living over
there. They love their basketball over there, and he's a hometown guy,
right, so you know, good for him. Mom's cooking goes a long
way. It does it? Does you see his his brother graduated there was
he was one of the was it with his son who graduated? Yeah,
so good for Zulus. Happy for him. Yeah. I think in twenty
seventeen eighteen he made sixty four percent of two pointers, of two pointers and
triples. He he kind of did that his whole career. In terms of
triples. He was a decent shooter from the three. That's the only thing
that was missing from his game because he was not a long distance shooter.
Now he's still in that same range. You know. Uh, he's probably
never gonna play in the NBA. He's just not an NBA athletic guy.
Let me ask you something. Are you almost done here? So Peterson sends
me a note. Uh, I'm sure you saw the thing on Twitter where
that Johnson Keyshaw. Johnson had a great workout. He was your workout guy
for the combine. He jumped out of the gym. No shock there.
He did a lot of the intangibles really well, no shock there. But
now he has to play basketball, right, So I guess. I guess
at a game he and I he said, who's gonna who's gonna get drapted
ahead of one of the or the other. It was Johnson or Pelle And
I don't remember this. I said pell Pelle and he bet me twenty bucks
and I said, okay, And then he got this news that he was
doing really well. A combine to me, Okay, what does that mean
someone's gonna like you because you can jump out of the gym all I So,
I don't remember that, but I'll hold to the bet. And I
you know why, I never would have made that bet, at least in
my mind. I don't think any get drafted. That's the only reason I
said that. I said, I don't remember this because I don't think either
one will be drafted. But if I made the bet, I made the
bet. I don't think he's gonna get drafted, would you. I don't
see. I don't see Pella getting drafted. But he is. He's been
on has not been on any and that's why, and that's my point.
He's fantastic, being gifted. But is he an NBA guy? Well,
you know he you know, he's he's he's like he's a guy that you
would You're not gonna go get him in the first round, but you know
that you can put on your bench and he can be useful. Do you
get different? You get those guys as a free agent. Yeah, that's
my point. You bring yeah, you bring him in, or you get
him in as a second round pick or whatever. And you get him in
and he say, Okay, you know, we've got some use for this
guy. But that's you know, that's what it takes. So that's my
whole point. It also takes being in the right place either one. Oh
yeah, of course, you know Michael Wright, all these guys between ers,
whatever, and we'll see more power to them if they do get drafted.
I just didn't think they would get drafted. Yeah, now I hear
you. And again you know, you just get you get you. It's
like the NFL drafted. You know, if you're going to get drafted in
the seventh round, you might as well just go as a free agent.
So you can pick a spot right that fits, fits, that fits.
You know, there's a there's a room for you there. You know that
that's what you have to do. The last thing I got is we're switching
over to the PGA Championship Tiger Woods. He's a four time PGA Championship winner.
He carted one over seventy two, so he's I guess he's way back.
Yeah. Well, Xander Shoftley shot at nine under par sixty two,
which is just crazy. I mean, and you got him this weekend.
I picked it. Well, my boy, he hasn't got the memo that
the Jiggins always curse. We'll see how that lasts. Yeah, he's uh,
now he's not. He doesn't know that that that the tag is on
him, So we'll see. Uh, we'll see what comes up there.
But uh no, I think that uh you know, look, you know,
here's here's I was having a conversation with some folks about the Live Tour
players Brooks, Koepka, Bryson to Shambo, and Kepka's kind of up there.
He's in the top ten today. But I just can't help but feel,
or think or theorize that these live guys have sort of lost their edge.
You know, they plan on the Live Tour where you know, they've
got their money, there's no pressure to win, you know, every week
and compete and stuff like that. Then they come to the PGA Tour and
come to the and playing these majors, and all of a sudden, these
guys who were grinding every week and it's like, and you haven't been do
you lose your edge? And and I kind of think you do. I
think from the normal people like you and me, you think they would.
And I don't disagree with you because every week you're you're you're playing for your
your food, your survival, right, your survival, uh, and the
survival is what do you want to eat? Cavia or something. These guys
you've got there one hundred million dollars and you know, no no pressure.
And I think that I just feel like that that kind of matters. I
don't know, I could be wrong, but I feel like that anything else.
I have one from Channing Fry, former U of a basketball player,
you know he does his T and T stuff in the basketball podcast. He
was telling made a story, uh, telling JJ Reddick to do not go
for that job. It's a kiss of death job. Channing Fry, Oh,
wow, because a kiss of death. Every coach they've had in the
last few years goes there to get fired because of obviously the main main event
guy is Lebron and you have to kind of stir the right. It's a
place where you go to get fired. Wow, he says, don't do
it because it's it's a no work situation. And if you go there,
like if you're JJ Reddick, you go there and do a bad job,
you have a tough time getting another year. Yeah, so no, just
pick your pick a better spot. That's stuff. Don't go there, pick
a better spot if you want to coach. Interesting, very interesting who JJ
Redick. He hasn't gotten the job. I don't. I don't know.
But but the thing about it in the in the NBA, if you're respected
by the players as a coach, they'll play hard for you. If you're
not looking. With in Phoenix, they didn't. You can you can hear
reports that they're they didn't really respect the guy. They didn't play hard for
him. That's for darn sure. You know Steve Nash over there with the
with Brooklyn and some of these other coaches that you just go in there and
they say, I'm getting paid, don't tell me what to do. I'd
be a tough job, even Steve, even Steve Kerr, who had some
great players, this last few years have been very difficult for him because you
know he's got you know, Green and Draymond Green and these guys who are
just kind of paying you know, Okay, big pain in the butt.
Well, good job, good job. All right, okay, we're ready
to hit our next break. We're going to have Matt Mordino come on.
We'll talk about some Arizona recruiting, football and basketball. A lot of stuff
going on with all that. So mattel join us. He is from Rivals
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on the ball on Tucson Sports Stage. Chef Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey,
welcome back to iining the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve, He's Jake. Now on the fun we have Matt mod and Go
Easycats dot Com. Matt, how are you doing great? Guys, Thanks
for having me back. You must be a very busy man with portal and
recruiting and all that stuff on two sports. Yeah, I mean it really
never stops these days. And you know, something that we'll see if that
eventually gets remedied, because it's not just me, because you know, I'm
out a bunch of high schoo this week and check in on spring spring football
for a lot of programs, and there's coaches all over the place as well.
And you know, saw a few members of Arizona staff within the last
couple of days and they're all out on the road, and so even coaches,
you know, they never have any time off. It used to be
this was a little bit of a slower time of year, and it's just
not that case anymore. It's kind of a year round thing. And you
know a lot of that has to do with the portal, but everything kind
of impacts everything else, and so yeah, it's kind of a year round
deal now, covering recruiting and figuring out where everyone's going to go at all
these colleges. So you know, one of the things big things everybody's waiting
for here. Maybe maybe not. It's sort of a recruiting thing because you're
trying to recruit this guy back is you know, Caleb Love whether or not
he comes back, and then how that affects everything else, right, because
you don't you know, you don't know what what happens there, But what's
the latest? What do you know? What do you think? Uh?
Where's that headed? Yeah, I mean I think nobody really knows for sure
until you get all of the information. But you know, the combine has
been going on, and you know there's different invites going out. You have
some guys that go to the G League, you know, combine and they
get pulled up and you've seen someone like Lookie Ellis go through that process,
and Caleb Love has kind of been caught in the middle of that, and
obviously not getting an invite to the Big Combine is notable because you know a
lot of people who are making those decisions about who goes to that are the
ones that are going to be making the picks once the draft comes around,
and so I think you can kind of glean something from that a little bit
and get an idea of kind of where he stands in the overall picture.
But if you're not a guaranteed first round picks, I'd be very hard pressed
if I'm in that position to say, yeah, I'm going to stay in
the draft. But I know there's that appeal and sometimes players only need to
here from one team that hey, we're going to take you, we seek
your first round talent, and that's enough for them. But that just hasn't
been the buzz around Caleb Love. You know, it's he kind of is
what he is, I think as a player, and so it feels like
a lot of NBA teams have kind of decided what he is and there's not
a ton of first round buzz with him right now, and so I think
the feeling is that he's going to eventually come back. I think there's obviously
different things that can change in the eleventh hour, and you know, it
could go different ways, and sometimes it's just you know, however, they
wake up that day and they feel like, you know, not never mind,
I want to stay in the draft. I want to I think I
have a shot. I think I'm counted enough to play in the next at
the next level and get drafted, and you know, things can change,
but at least kind of reading how everything has been so far and how it's
played out, it just feels like it's going to eventually lead to him coming
back, which will obviously be very big for Arizona, and you know,
give them a proven player once again at that position, and then someone who's
into the battles and did a lot of good things this last season. I
would imagine that money might play a factor if if not, because I'm sure
he's going to get paid well here in IL, I wouldn't have any figure
because to me, he's not He's not going to come home. Unbelievable.
Yeah. So yeah, whether it's five two hundred thousand and fifty thousand,
I don't know, but I'm sure that's a factor as well. I mean
you have to think, you have to think about those things. And again
that's where I'm talking about. If you're not a guaranteed first round pick and
you're not slotted into yeah, I'm gonna be on a roster, I'm gonna
be making you know, a sizeable amount of money at the NBA level,
why not come back? I mean you're seeing some of these players reportedly getting
up to two million dollars to play in college. I mean, you're just
not gonna get that, you know, as a second round pick, or
if you're a free agent and you're gonna have to battle and really try and
fight to get a roster spot in the NBA, why not get two million
dollars if some team is going to be you know, involved in doing that
and want to give that to you. Washington just pulled a guy in as
a transfer portal player that is importably getting two million dollars. And so,
you know, if you're gonna be getting if you're talking about those types of
numbers, even if you're talking about you know, two hundred and fifty thousand
guaranteed or whatever, however it's gonna play out in the nil space. You
know, if you're a player that's on the fringe and it is not going
to be a guarantee first round pick, why not come back to college,
you know, be a star player for whatever team you play for, and
you know, maybe make some good money in the process. And so I
think that is the kind of the big X factor in his whole whole deal.
And I think that's a big part of why you're seeing a lot of
players test the waters because they can, you know, they can go through
this entire process, gather all the information that they need and return to school
and go, you know, I'm gonna collect my ANIL check and I'll be
just fine, and now I know what I need to work on and what
I need to improve on for next year. And I think that's why you're
seeing so many players because they're definitely were some head scratches when you saw that
list come out of you know, early entrant NBA players and you're like,
oh, I didn't think that guy even had a shot. But if they're
gonna allow it, and they're gonna allow you to go to go through the
process and come back to school, you know, why not. And so
I definitely think the nil element is kind of even as the playing field in
a lot of ways. And you know, it gives players a reason to
go test the waters and feel it out, and if not, they can
come back and still feel like they're making money and you're helping their families in
a lot of ways. And then that's you know, what their ultimate goal
is and they want to be able to, you know, make a living
and so and al makes that possible. And a lot of people have different
opinions on what it means for the game and what it means in college athletics,
but you know, it is a big part. You can't overlook that
element of this whole thing. So I don't know, are you over thirty?
Now how old are you? I am over thirty. So you you
reach the rivera age of being cranky about all this we're getting. We're getting
We're getting there day by day. So does this make you cranky? All
this stuff? I mean it does, I mean in a lot in a
lot of ways. It's just there's just a lot more layers. And the
thing is like, you know whatever, I guess the FBI case kind of
showed what was going on before and it was not It's not necessarily only different
from what was going on before. It's just a little bit more on the
surface, I think, and so there's different things that are in play,
So it just makes it a little bit more, a little more steps you
have to get through and decipher and kind of weed through to figure out what's
kind of going on and how decisions are being made. And you know,
in a lot of cases it's just coming down to straight up numbers and who's
gonna pay me the most, and that takes some of the fun out of
it, I think for a lot of people, so suchial people in my
position, and obviously fans of you know, our website and subscribers of our
website and people who follow these things, and you want to believe, like,
hey, no, they're picking this school because they love the school and
they love the staff and they love the fan base and they want to be
a part of this thing. But it's become less so of that, and
you know, that's just kind of part of this whole deal. And we
talked about that before, and you know, it's it's not as much about
that. It's especially for transfers, it's a lot about what are what are
the numbers? Let me know those numbers and then I'll make a decision.
We're talking to Matt Modano from goisycast dot com as well as rivals. Some
man on the football side, you know, coaches are now being raided on
their you know, transfer portal recruiting, uh and and how that's going.
Arizona's got some guys. There's still some guys hanging out there. Elijah Badger,
the receiver from from a SU is looking at three schools that all have
sort of a a jedfish connection. You know what we're what, how well
do you think Brent Brandon has done and what's left for them to do?
Yeah, I think they've done a really solid job. I think there's obviously
some more players that are out there. And that's the thing is, just
because of the transfer portal window close doesn't mean that you're gonna see transfer recruiting
stop. There's still a lot of players in the portal. All the window
was was just that players could no longer enter after you know, May first
and so. But there's still a ton of players in the portal and there's
gonna be a lot of players that eventually come out on visits. But I
think a lot of the work has been done up to this point. You
know, Elijah Badger is obviously the big name that's still kind of out there
for Arizona. He'll be making a decision very very soon before the end of
the week, and Arizona's right in the mix of it. And it is
funny that you mentioned the Jetfish connection, because they're all you can kind of
it's the six degrees of Jetfish. I guess you know, everyone kind of
has a little bit of a of a connection to Elijah Badger. It sounds
like Washington is probably out of it, out of the picture at this point.
I don't think you'll actually be joining Jeff Fish. I think that'd be
a big surprise. Talking to a lot of different people and kind of hearing
some things behind the scenes. I don't think that's going to be the destination.
So then it comes down to is he going to go to Arizona?
Are going to go to Florida? And I think, you know, the
way it sounds are now, Florida feels like it's probably in the better spot.
But I don't think you count Arizona out. I think there's a lot
to be uh excited about. If you're if you're Elijah Badger. And you
look at the situation at Arizona, you look at the quarterback spot that's very
solidified. You look at the players you're gonna have around you, especially offensively,
you know, to be able to kind of play off of someone like
Teto McMillan and some of these other guys that they have offensively. I think
that's a big deal for someone like Elijah Basher and similar like we were talking
with Jamian Martinez from Oregon State when they're going with Miami. I think the
positive even if Arizona doesn't get Elijah Badger. I think the biggest thing that
you can really look at is that Arizona's playing ball in terms of NIL because
you look at David Martinez, you look at you know, Elijah Badger,
and and there's NIL is a big part of this. You're talking about cools
Miami Florida that have NIL, and you know that's gonna be a big part
of this equation. I just mentioned what I mentioned about transfer portal players and
how much that's at the four up for a lot of them. I think
it's a great sign that Arizona is getting involved with these recruitments. It's not
I think I think the fact that burn Brandon and his staff are doing a
good job and setting involved is a good sign as well for the future and
what they're going to do recruiting wise. But I think the bigger messages that
Arizona's involved with some pretty premiere NIL programs and that tells you they have some
money to spend, which is a very good thing and if you're Arizona,
a positive thing for the future and at least the investment going into the football
program and what it could become under Burn Brandon. If they're already getting involved
with some of these players and becoming a finalist for some of these players,
so you know, are gonna you know, garner some big NIO money.
So I was before you went went there with NIL, would you happen to
know? I know, I haven't asked. Only Jay has what Arizona Arizona's
budget is with that, with that overall, and you said they're being competitive,
so it must be pretty good. There's numbers that are going to plot
it around. Is the number one question that you try and get answered behind
the scenes, that nobody talks about it. That's stilled the big hurdle when
you look at when you try and cover this stuff. When you look at
all these things, there's agents involved. Now there's nil, collective is involved.
Everyone's protecting the numbers unless they want it out there. So it's not
as prevalent as you think. There's not people that are like throwing those numbers
around maybe hear about it after the fact. I think the one thing that
I've kind of picked up along the process and talked to some people, especially
earlier in the off season, was that there's some high dollar figures that are
thrown out there, and that it ends up being a lot smaller than what
people think. So if you're hearing a million dollars, you're probably not the
person's probably not getting a million dollars, so they're not talking about that that
high. I think those numbers get blown up que a bit, but it
is still significant money that's being spent in the hundreds of thousands for certain players.
That's come up quite a bit, and that's kind of been the norm.
Is you're talking about a starter level player. There's a couple hundred thousands
of dollars that you're talking about when it comes to nil, and so it's
been interesting to kind of hear some of the numbers around as far as hard
concrete facts, people just don't and gives that up. It's very it's still
pretty secretive. I think we're going to get to a point in time where
that becomes less of the case and we're talking about contracts and numbers and it's
all public information and people are going to know exactly what's going on. We're
just not there yet, and so so I don't have numbers for you because
it's very closely guarded. People just don't talk about it. You can ask
players outright and they won't tell you. It's it's something that you know,
people don't want to talk about their money. And as much as it's a
big part of this whole process, it's it's still very much under wraps,
you know, a couple of years into this whole Nile thing. And that's
one of the issues going forward right there. In a lot of the what
they're talking about in terms of rules around NIL. One of the things the
NCAA wants, I think at least, is for there to be some sort
of reporting so that kind of everybody knows what they're dealing with. Whether that
come to fruition, I mean, it's like so what you have to tell
how much you make in order to make it. I don't know how they're
gonna ever say that that's that they can do that. Yeah, I mean
eventually. Feeling is and talking to different people who are involved at different levels,
and obviously it's still very much speculation. But the feeling is I think
that around for people around college athletics is that it's going to look much more
like the pros. You're gonna have maybe a salary cap, You're gonna have
people reporting these numbers. It's it's gonna become a lot more public and people
you're gonna know what you know, test Roe McMillan is making or no Fafida
is making, and you're just it's just gonna be well known. And how
you get to that point. We'll figure that out, I guess as it
goes on and we'll see how it plays out. But the feeling is that
that is eventually what it's gonna become. It's going to look a lot more
like the pros, and you're gonna have you know, there's already a lot
of GM types within college athletics. There's a lot of people within these uh
you know, programs that are now considering themselves general managers. And so if
you look at a lot of programs around the country, they're kind of going
more towards that model where coaches are kind of coaching, and then your talent
evaluators, your player personnel people are really the ones going after the players and
saying, hey, these are the players we're bringing to you. Now you
go coach. So it's kind of starting to see those wheels turn a little
bit more after college level, and I think it's only going to be more
so the case as we keep going on in these years and as the game
continues to change and shift, And I do think it's eventually just going to
become a lot more public, and you're going to know kind of exactly what
everybody's making in NIL and well that eventually becomes an actual contract and they're making
straight up getting paid to play for college programs. We'll see, but I
think it's going to become a lot more transparent. And I agree, and
I think, again, what you're just alluded to, I think everybody evolved
out to see it become a lot more transparent because there's a lot of gray
area right now. And if there's a gray area, we know people in
college athletics will try and work within that gray area. So I think the
hope is that eventually becomes more black and white and more clear, but just
not there yet. Even if it becomes black and white, as you were
speaking, I'm thinking there's still going to be players and boosters who are going
to be in those handshakes that we used to familusly talk about ten twenty years
ago are still going to exist even with their contract. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean, I think that's always going to be part of the game,
and it's going to be there's gonna if there's a way to get an advantage,
there's gonna be someone who wants to figure out how they can get that
advantage. Yeah. Okay, well, Matt, thanks a bunch, good
luck, spend the rest of this sea relaxed this summer. At some point
we'll see, We'll see, Okay, maybe July. You we'll focus on
July. Okay, thank you, Thank you, Matt. Matt more from
Goeasycats, Uh, let's go and come back and then talk about more.
There's some stuff going at Pima that we can get to real quick. If
you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty
years. Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book,
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they have their Eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Stage. Chef Fox Sports
fourteen to fifty streaming live on the iHeartRadio wapp Hey, welcome back to I
on the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay.
You got thrying with us today. We've got fifteen minutes exactly to give us
a call got left in the program. Five to two oh four one six
seventy four forty Just a couple of quick things I found out just now.
First game in the tournament lost lost to Vegas, to the j C and
Vegas. So now they have a work cut out for that double domination tournament,
I think. So. Yeah, yeah, district tournament. Good enough
to play in it. So, but they lost their first game. And
then there was something for breaking news the shortstop. You wa short stop and
you see the Mason. Mason is now a Dick Howser Trophy semi finalist.
He hit he hit a massive Yeah you're talking about the other day. Yeah,
I think it was a big dude. He's not a big dude,
and I mean he it was like it went like four to seventy and if
you it was one of those homers where is he lefty too? Yes?
Left he's a lefty. One of those homers where you you know, when
you're watching the video from behind the picture and he hits it and you just
go, oh, that's gone, because you just knew, what's that?
What's the guy? I forget his name? Uh surprised the center fielder for
UB A couple three years ago, very good. Yeah, not not a
couple of last year. Was I think two years ago? Okay, I
know what you're thinking of, and I can't think of a swinging swing.
Yeah. Yeah. Chase Davis even the baseball name, right, that's a
baseball name. He was fantastic. Yeah. I would maybe google him to
see if you find out where he's at and how he's doing, because he
was one of those lefties that you'd say, God, I wish I could
swing the ball like him, swing the bat like very cool. All right.
I remember watching him a couple of years ago when I went to a
lot of the games he was. It was like you had to stop what
you're doing to watch him right to play because he was one of those great
players. Okay, Steve, you're gonna get a chuckle out of this.
This just came up on on on on Twitter and reposted by by Darren Ravel.
It's it's uh the amount of money bet on various sports in at Colorado
sports books. Okay, okay, not a surprise. Right at the top
of the list basketball and I think it's pro basketball because then they've got a
category for Incy double A basketball. So two hundred and thirty million dollars on
pro bat basketball, one hundred and two million dollars on NCAA basketball. Next
is tennis tennis, twenty nine million dollars bet on tennis. After that it's
ice hockey, which you know they got They got the Avalanche, you got
team. So the twenty two million on hockey, twenty one million on soccer,
and I'll give you thirty guesses at the next one. Well, that's
just where the trick ques. Fourteen million dollars bet on this in Colorado.
I don't know ping pong? Oh? Really, table tennis? You bet
on pin? I guess, And here's the kicker. It's higher than baseball.
Wow, Colado, thirteen million dollars bet on baseball? Doesn't it surprises
me? It surprises me. But remember where the Olympic headquarters are in Colorado
Springs. How much of a degenerate you have to be? Let me one
ask one. Okay, I've never bet on table tennis ever. It's funny.
It's funny because I play, obviously playing, uh and TJ plays.
I didn't know he plays. And we're gonna have a tournament at the house
someday soon. But yeah, if you're betting on I wouldn't even know who
I want to wear? What? What would you bet on? Just a
player? Just yeah? Match? Okay? More was bet on table tennis,
then on baseball, then on golf in Colorado, then on M M
A. And there's a lot of gambling on M m A. Right,
isn't that crazy? Yeah? I wouldn't tis. I wonder what levels too?
Did you even get to watch it? Where do you watch it?
Uh? Yeah? No? Remember are they betting on ATX throwing and and
and and hornhole? You know, maybe a little curling, you know,
from the Olympics. I love curling, But fourteen million bucks bet on table
tennis, like pickle ball's not on there? Because that's exactly I mean.
I still make fun of the fact that a dearly departed friend of mine,
right right, uh who one time bet on women's Olympic hockey women's Uh they
could be back. And you know, in Vegas, we were in Vegas
for something and uh, and there was a women's Olympic hockey game on the
board and you bet on it. And to me, that's like a level
of degenerate that it's hard to surpass. But if you're betting on table tennis.
I think you. I think that surpasses that. I almost feel like
I want to go bet on that and just keep the ticket, right and
not even even if I win, just keep the ticket. Just I once
bet on table tennis and just and just frame the ticket. Okay, I've
done I've done that though, I've framed the ticket. Yeah. Oh,
I have a I had to make a like a frame thing for my brother
with a program and a photo and his ticket. Uh. When American Pharaoh
ran in delmart after he won the Triple crinst and I've got this ticket and
I didn't cash it, and I've got the I took a picture and then
he had the program still, So I put all that in a nice little
frame I have. I have the ticket from the Triple Crown to them,
two two dollars winners from the Triple Crown from Bill from Belmont because Bill Baffort
got it. Buy two winning tickets. Don't cash them. They're worth you
know whatever, four bucks whatever. Yeah, but don't cash them. Just
bring them back to me. Have a middle frame there. Yeah, cool,
very cool. Anyway, did you see it start? Did you you
read the Athletic every now again? Yeah? So there was a free preb
from Dana O'Neill on Bafford yesterday or last night. A very good story on
just his thoughts on the whole situation everything with him involving Churchill downs. He's
kind of moving on from it. He's hoping that the next year they man,
he's gonna kind of be low profile when it comes to that. He
has a chance this weekend. I don't know if he'll win it, but
uh, he has a chance. His first horse, the Favorite, is
out out, so he has another horse called the Imagination, So maybe he
wins it. I'm not sure I'll bet it. But what what what do
you think, daven what's gonna How's he? How does he get back into
that well? I mean and will will he? This will always be his
reputation, won't it. Yeah. Yeah, he's seventy one years old.
He could he could train until he's one hundred, right, you know,
because he's that guy and d Wayne Lucas is like in his eighties and he's
still doing it. Uh, it's gonna follow him, obviously, but he's
still one of the best trainers and outside of Churchill and a few of the
trainers inside the room, Uh, he's still Bob Bafford. He's still one
of the best in the business because he my guy's here. White men and
Watson have horses with him, fantastic horses with him, and a lot of
owners of horses. You know, if I had that money, because guess
what's where it's going. That's where it's going. A guy who can win,
and he's a winner, and he's done a lot of things. Uh,
this happened unfortunately. Yeah, but you know, Uh, I hate
to bring the name up, but I will. Uh. The other U
a grad who had the he had the player Placher had the one you have,
the favorite in the last pretty in the last derby, he finished fifteenth
or whatever. He got in trouble last year for stuff. He just wasn't
at the Kentucky Derby. So it's just you know, the level of trouble.
Yeah. Uh, but he's he's still one of the best games.
They love him in California because all he does is win. Yeah, and
and and he's still I mean, his name still rings. I think the
question will ask you ask that same question to d because now she's been in
it for two years. She knows the players now and she probably better answered
the question because she knows she's talked to him, she spent some time interviewing
him. So I mean, we'll talk about that time. Well, she'll
be on tomorrow. We'll talk about about that and talk about the breakness.
You know. I'm not even gonna be home when it when it runs,
so I don't know that I'll eaven bet on it. Yeah, it should.
It's the thing got to be. It's not as exciting as the last
few years because, uh, you know, Dan might win it again,
but the the field is a lot smaller. Yeah, and the excitement is
not gonna be like it was two weeks ago. You see what who was
it? Jason Kelsey said the other day about Secretariat. No, I want
to smack him in the head. What do you say said that? He
said, there's no doubt Secretariat was juiced up. No, I didn't see
that. Yeah, And I'm like, you know what, you need to
get your face kicked in by Secretariat? All right, stand right, stand
right there, let's Secretary kick you right in the nuts, because I mean,
come on, man, that's what that's like. That's like, you
know, that's like saying the pope was juiced up? Right? I mean,
it's secretariat is like royalty in all sports. Who said this is Don
Travis Jason, his brother brother, Yeah, on a podcast, and I'm
like, what do you Why would he say that? And what context?
I don't know, I don't know, and and and why why would you?
Why would you go after horse? It has been dead for like thirty
years. Yes, he'll go after dead people or did horse come on?
Man? Ah? God? Well oh he said it on the podcast.
Yeah, on the podcast. Yeah, okay, yeah, you'll have to
go look that up. People with radio shows and podcasts you can see whatever
they want. God, I mean the horse that I here to defend himself,
well, who knows? Well, probably not, probably not. Have
you ever seen the movie the Disney movie that came out with Diane Lane very
good. Yes, this is corny, but it was fun. You know,
the only thing that bugs me about the movie is that is that the
the the horse racing scenes weren't at the actual tracks were of those races took
place? Right? I think I looked it up. They ran them at
oh god, I can't remember where. But what like the Belmont was not
there was not be yeah whenever you yeah, but you know, but it's
a it's a corny movie. But this is gonna sound weird, but Secretary
was kind of like a hero to me. It was just like that horse
is so damn good. And you know, I was what I think I
when I was fourteen, when thirteen years old? When oh yes, when
well that summer I turned fourteen, that summer seventy three and uh and uh
god, how do I? How do I? How do you? Well?
Of course we know that with that, we couldn't remember nineteen or twenty
twenty four yesterday. Well, those races can pop up on my social media,
uh you know, all three races at different you know, different times
on TikTok, on my Facebook feed, on Twitter and stuff. And I
just watch that every time, especially that that that that Bellmont Stakes. I
mean just like just talk about an athlete that just kicked a crap out of
everybody and just left no doubt about its greatness. And that was that was
so cool, right right, you're gonna watch I know you're not, probably
won't watch this the Tyson Tyson fighting. No, I want to because I
hope he wins. And I don't know about winning because I'm sure the punchers
are gonna be legit. Yeah, but how legit? Will it be?
Right? Yeah? Because he's not the other guy's not too likable. Yeah,
and that's funny because Tyson's not too likable, but he's unlikable. He's
becoming you know what made him likable the movie The Hangover. Let's take this.
Let's take this, cust Hi, you're on the Aaron on the ball.
Hi fella, it is your buddy, Jim. Hey, Jim,
what's up? Well? I heard you actually talking about baseball for a few
minutes and wry Walker's name came up. Yes, he's one of my probably
top two or three favorite players of all time. Really, why why is
that? Well? He was such a gifted, well rounded athlete. That
guy in one year hit forty nine home runs and three sixty three I think
it was, yeah, and spool twenty bases. Yep. You I got
to see him up close and in person down here at you know, at
the Reed Park, Yeah and the Diamonds when we played. And spectacular athlete.
He didn't look the part, but he could move, he could jump,
he could run everything well. And he had one of those he had
one of those really pretty left handed swings just a beautiful swing. He could
swing three quarters and hit it out to center field. Yeah, yeah,
no, I I liked him a lot because for that part, and also
because the Rockies were never really ever a danger to the Dodger. So but
he was. I hear you. It always is, Jim, feel my
pain, feel my pain. Every day in this room thinking Dodgers. That's
that's turned into a money laundering operation. It is like, whoever can spend
a trillion dollars will win the baseball this year. Well, they're not guaranteed
to win it, but they're they're doing very well, as well as they
should be. Uh, they went through a tough stretch, but all of
a sudden they are Steve. They don't have their pitching set up, Yeah,
but they're going to shortly. Yeah, they're starting to. If no
one else gets injured, they're gonna be just amazing. Yeah yeah, all
right, ja, and we got to hit the road, top of the
hour, end of the show. So thanks for calling. Appreciate it,
yep, thank you. By Yeah, No, they he made the pitching
is the key to the Dodge and they're they're they've got a patchwork staff right
now. But what's happening is that they're kind of the back end pictures are
getting some really good experience and pitching really well. Walker Buelder just came back.
Clayton Kershaw is still on the you know, on the shelf for now.
But if they get you know, some of their stud pitchers back,
they're they're gonna, yeah there the other they're like a six like a six
game lead in the West, and they start a series tonight with your Reds.
So we'll see what happens your Reds, Cincinnati Reds. You know they
are. You're trying to hide. You're like you like that guy that's got
the bottle of booze in the paper bag. You don't want anybody to know
you're drinking it what you're drinking. But you're you're, you're, you're,
you're, you're, you're drinking the red You guys don't believe me, but
uh as they say, you couldn't care less. You know you do,
you know you do. You're just trying to convince everybody. You're trying to
keep that rapid. As a non sports fan, kind of all right,
I headed out to the the uf A Gang tonight. I at least I
am Steve's bailed out on that, but we'll see how that goes. Are
trying to clinch the back off championship tonight and if they do, uh,
you know, good on them. So we'll see what happens. Uh.
But see at the ballpark. Hope there's a bit crap and then we will
see you back here tomorrow. We're gonna talk some horse races, so be
sure to come around.