Breaking down all the exes and oh's it's Steve Rivera and Jagen Salvias. This
is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Welcome back down
in the ballind of Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Jacin Zalish sitting in with
without my friends Steve Rivera, who's on the road. But I do have
another great friend here co hosting with me today, Dave Silver from A formerly
from k GUN and the U of A working in as a as a fundraiser
over there and now retired. You say, right, Dave, it's the
third part of my life, the third chapter we're in that we're in that
chapter. Yes. Anyways, we're trying to figure out what's gonna happen next.
But Dave, because he's retired, was availble to come in and sit
in with us for a couple of hours. So having a great time with
them. And now we've got one with breaking news. This is I on
the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so we
got some local NBA breaking news. The Phoenix Suns and Mike Budenholz are closing
in on a deal to make him the next Suns coach for five they're reporting
five years fifty million dollars. Dave, life is good for the NBA coaches
the world. We can maybe have Steve Kurr comments on at some point too.
So they get their coach who won an NBA title what a couple of
years ago, then gets fired after like maybe one year after he wins it,
right, and then sits out for a year, and here he is
back with with the sons. Who you know who orchestrated the Vogel exit?
Did you guys talk about that? Yeah? We're like yeah, I'm like,
okay, who messed this up? Right? I mean who messed that
up? Nobody did. They've got the three amigos or whatever you want to
call him that, uh you know, should be leading the team, and
they I don't know if they bring in a defensive minded coach, So I
don't know. It was a it was a mess from the get go.
But you know, we're talking about Mike Butenholzer from Holbrook, Arizona, small
town up in northern Arizona. Like, Okay, how do you get to
the NBA from there? Right? I Mean it's like whoa yeah one,
can you wikipedia him? Figure out where he was. Yeah, I mean
he went through I mean he had to play some college ball. I don
know if he was in the NBA. I'm assuming, you know, some
connection there, got into coaching and the next thing, you know, not
only is he a NBA coach, he was a fired NBA coach, won
World championship, but now back and now coaching in his own state. Similar
situation. You know, he's with Giannis. He's like, you know,
one of the great players, and it didn't work out. They had I
don't know, they had a bad stretch, and the Bucks have had a
lot of injuries too, I think getting a little bit older, so I
don't know. He's kind of running into the same situation in Phoenix. Yeah,
with Kevin and Bradley Beal and that group. Well, my guess is
they're going to welcome in with open arms because it just did not go well.
You know, they bring they bring these three guys in. You've got
Kevin Durant, They've got Bradley Beal, They've got you know, argu Devin
Booker, one of the great stars and young stars in the NBA, and
Devin Booker, and they were just kind of middling, you know, all
season long. Yeah, it just got to stay healthy. I mean,
it really is. And we've seen Durant kind of break down in the last
you know, five years or so, and bro Booker's had his aches and
pains, and certainly Bradley Beal didn't come in healthy at all. Right,
took him forever to kind of get rolling. They were, they had a
good stretch, but boy, they they got run out of the playoffs just
like that, Just like that. There wasn't able to find exactly where he
was, say he's from Arizona, but oh yeah, on that same page
it does say he is the head coach of the Phoenix So already that's funny.
Al right, Well, my Butenholzer, they haven't it's not been officially
announced by the Son, but believed to be the next head coach of the
Phoenix Sun. That was fast. I mean, Frank Bulgle got fired yesterday,
so you certainly have to believe that this this had been in the works
for a while for sure. Yeah, all right. And some other NBA
news, the Pacers head coach Rick Carl Carlisle uh find thirty five k first
public comments and criticisms of the officiating during the series against the New York Knicks,
right, he was shredding and then he made the comment that, you
know, the small market teams need to you know, need to be taken
care of better or whatever. And you knew he was going to get fined.
But I'll ask you, Dave, because I had this conversation yesterday with
Adam, and Adam's a different than I am, right. He's way more
tolerant than I am. Right. I wanted Patrick Beverley kicked out of the
league for what he did, you know, throwing the basketball not a fan,
not once, but twice. And then the thing that he did in
the postgame presser. He got four games. For that four games, I
know either of those were worth I don't know, right, and I don't
know what it is. I said a season, but you know, because
he's gone through this so many different times. I mean, I was talking
about the fact that the malice in the Palace, right, the fight with
the Pistons and the fans. I was walking into the sports book at the
Mandalay as that thing erupted, and I sat there and watched it. I'm
like, holy hell, So my thoughts of Patrick Beverley throwing the ball at
the fans went to having seen that, and I'm like, you're not.
You can't do that with fans. You just can't. And I don't know
how four games is enough for that. It hadn't to me, it had
to be twenty. Now Adam disagree, he said, I maybe ten or
whatever I said to me. Half a season or a season. You just
can't do that. It's just some things that cross the line, right,
I mean Charles Barkley, you know, back in the day. Things are
much different in the eighties, and there were fights almost every night, but
not necessarily with the fans. Yeah, and so when the fans get invallved,
that's where it's a little right icy, right, I don't know the
right. And then Jamal Murray gets one hundred thousand dollars for throwing stuff at
the ref. I'm like, you can't throw stuff at the ref. You
know. Pete Rose poked a poked an umpire and what are you losing?
Like twenty games or something like that? Remember remember that in an argument and
didn't poke him on purpose, but he just, you know, hit his
chest. It's like, okay, you're out for twenty games, yea.
And Murray throws some stuff from the sidellines and I get it. He didn't
hit the ref, but he's throwing it at the ref. Yeah, and
they give him a hundred thousand dollars. I said, you know that changes
in his pocket, right, And I'm waiting for a good baseball screening match.
Haven't seen one. I don't think you have this year. Been a
while. The baseball arguments with the managers and the umps is usually classic television.
It is a crazy moment, but usually, you know, sometimes the
players. I remember over the years, you'd see a player go back in
the dugout and fire off some bats. Yeah, on the field, or
Loop Panella would run on the tear the bases out and throw the stuff.
You know, that was great stuff. Yeah, you don't see what what
Beverly did, especially with a fan. With a fan, that's the thing.
And he had some explanation, but I'm not sure I bought this.
Not good whatever it is. All right, it's going back to that Nicks
and Pacers series game free tonight about the tip off soon and then later tonight
we got the Nuggets going to Minnesota playing the Timberwolves. So okay, so
the the the home team won the two games in the next Pacers there,
So that's fine. But you talk about the Denver Nuggets and they lost two
at home. They're in big trouble, big trouble. I was, I
was shocking. I don't know. Maybe I haven't watched enough Minnesota Timberwolves hoops,
but they sure look good. Yes, and Anthony Edwards is amazing stories
this morning about it, comparing him to Jordan's already of course, so it's
gonna be interesting to see how his his career unfolds. Maybe this is his
first big moment those I mean, it's got to happen sometime, and they've
got a lot of talent around him and the Nuggets maybe they figured him out.
I don't know how you guard Jokic, but he's already won his MVP,
so he's got that racked up. Yeah. Well, and somebody said
that, you know, some that it looks like the nug at the Timbers
that quote unquote broke the code, you know, on on Denver and figured
it out, because to go in there to their place and take too are
you you said your Broncos fan? You still are you Nuggets fan too?
No? I'm a Spurs fan. Oh a little bit all over them?
And you're a baseball fan of Who Louis Cardinals. Woh, you are over
he's speaking of the Spurs. I did look it up. You must have
missed it, but Budenholzer was with the Spurs for like nineteen years. Is
everything from like a video coordinator probably at the beginning, Yeah, to be
in one of Popovich's top assistants. And there you go. So he's got
that in his all right. So he's got some chocolate chips in his in
Okay, So let's see what he can do in Phoenix. Yeah, all
right? And then some last second local news, the Cardinals have signed x
Jags wide receiver Zay Jones. Okay, so if there's any doubt as to
who the number two would be for Kyler Murray, they got their guy.
Yeah wow, I mean they got a wide receiver room now for sure.
Right, Marvin Harrison Junior and you know all these guys speaking of staying healthy,
man, I mean if he gets hurt again, yeah, it doesn't
matter who those receivers are, if they can't find a quarterback healthy can stay
healthy. Are you? Are you a Kyler Murray believer? Like I said,
when he plays, I am, but you know he's been hurt almost
every year. Yeah, so far. But he's fun to watch when you
know he's he's never not going to grow, he's not going to get taller
if he could be helpful. But it's gonna be fun to watch Marvin Harrison,
that's for sure. Yeah. I'm glad they got I was happy that
they picked him up, you know, and not traded that pick. And
just you know what, get some excitement on this team, right, Get
some guys that you can like, as you say, Murray's hurt so often
to saying like it's like he gets hurt, it's like, okay, now
who do you watch? Right? Right? Who do you watch? You
don't have a Larry Fitzgerald or somebody like that. So hopefully that you know
they got something like that. Not that I really care that much, I
mean, but you know, I pay enough attention to the Cardinals because they're
you know, they're they're here to know, to have an idea and to
kind of like, okay, you suck or you don't suck, right,
right, and you know that division is really good. Yeah, you know
when you get the forty nine ers in the rams every time you got to
play him twice and you know you gotta yet be able to compete. Yeah,
exactly, all right, that's it. Okay, that's all we got.
Got to mention. Arizona softball should be getting started here pretty soon.
I think it's uh maybe four o'clock or for a thirty game tonight in the
uh in the uh PAC twelve Softball tournament. They've got UCLA, which is
always hard, but you know, they knock off few CLA they do something
like that, and you know they're trying to host, like like the baseball
they're they're they're trying to host. So I'm looking this up right here.
It looked good last night. What was the final? Uh they eleven to
three. They crushed Washington. Oh no, they're the late game today.
I take it back. You've got you've got Utah taking on Stanford that starts
at four thirty and then at seven thirty. Uh, you've got Arizona and
u C l A. But they crushed Washington. Watching it last night,
and speaking of coach Candrea, he was there, yeah, up at Stanford
and in the stands. They interviewed him during the game. It was kind
of fun to hear him, and you know, put a lot of praise
for Caitlin Love, former player, and it was good. She's done a
nice job. But the thing is, she hasn't done a spectacular job,
right, she looks every bit like she can. Uh, you know,
she didn't make it. They didn't make the tournament last year for the first
time since you and I were young. But uh, you know, by
by all accounts, you know, she she's well liked by the fans.
She's she's running a good programs, she's well liked by the players. You
gotta have players, actually, in some point, you gotta have pictures.
Yeah, and that's where they've struggled, that's for sure. And you know,
apparently some of the recruits coming in include a really good picture which they've
kind of had that reputation for a number of players over the last few years
and just hasn't panned out again. Injuries and who knows why people come and
go sometimes in college athletics, and so she has to deal with that too.
But you know, watching watching their line up last night, it reminded
me of some of those old Candrea lineups where every person in the order was
somebody who could contribute, right. There weren't any weak spots in the order,
and they've got that. And not only do they have that, but
they've got it defensively as well. They're a really good defensive team. They've
had the Defensive Player of the Year two years in a row. But you
know, you even get to the bottom of the order and there's still got
people who can hit, people who can get on base. They're fast again,
they're they're out there center field or shocky you know, I asked Adam.
Yeah, Danny Martinez, And you know, Danny's the director of operators
of Danny. I know we throw names around you people always comparing to who's
the next Mike Jordan one? And I said, is I think it's Megan
Shaki? Is at her name? Megan Shakis? Is she you know,
Caitlin Lowe, you know, running around in center field, batting lead off
and doing all those things. And he kind of well, like, I
hate to put this on her, but yeah, you know, there's a
lot of feeling about that. I mean, there's so much history there.
When you go to Hill and Brand and you look at the names on the
on the on the scoreboard out there on the fence, and you can't help
but do that. You help, but think well, you know, two
thousand and four we had this and Jenny Dalton did this and Jenny Finch and
I mean, you know, there's a lot of people to look up to,
and when you come here, there's a lot of pressure. I mean
we used to joke about that with even with the men's basketball, there's so
many names in the rafters and the next generation's coming in and it's hard to
live up to that. It absolutely is so. But anyway, so they've
got they've got UCLA coming up. You say, he was the conference champion,
number one seed in the tournament. Arizona came in as the five seed,
beat the four seed Washington last night. But they played really well.
They pitched well. Uh you know, one eleven to three, U says
always formidable. So you never know. But you know, Arizona gets past
this one, that might be the key to get into to get into host
here. Nice. Yeah, because he'll win brand again, much like I
Corbett Field's a great home field advantage fans. And again the time of year,
there's something special, you know, late in May early June when those
games pop up right right, So we'll see what happens there. So keeping
on that and then we'll be sure to talk about it on Monday. All
right, We're gonna go ahead and take our our next break. We've got
Kevin Guy. He's uh. He and his wife own, you know,
Kathy owned the Tucson Sugar Sculls in the Indoor Football League. He's the longtime
coach of the Arizona Rattler's multi time champion. The two teams play each other
today. I know Kevin doesn't have any mixed feelings about this. He wants
to beat the hell out out of the Sugar Sculls. So we'll see how
that goes. But we'll talk to Kevin and see how things going on,
both with his team and the Sugar Skulls. So stick around for Kevin Guy,
head coach of the Rattlers. The Windows Depot is more than a Windows
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This is I On the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. Welcome back to On the balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm your host, Jay Gonzalez, my usual partner, Steve Rivera's on the
road celebrating his birthday again one of many. And I've got Dave Silver for
our former former sports director at Kagan. Been a fundraiser with you a the
last few years and now he's retired, he says, So we'll see if
that's real. But U and on the on the phone. We've got Kevin
guy wearing two hats, right, Kevin, owner of the Tucson Sugar Skulls,
but also the head coach of the air Zona Rattlers and your team.
Two teams are coming together for big game tomorrow. Kevin, how you doing,
I'll do it great, guys. Thanks for having me all. We
appreciate you being on. So let's first talk about your season so far.
You're in the kind of unfamiliar position of being three and three this deep into
the season. I was looking at the standings and those kinds of things,
Kevin, and it seems like you kind of created a monastery, went out
and got all these new franchises, new teams, and now they're good and
they're they're making an impact in the league. So tell us a little bit
about the Rattlers and how things have been developing for you guys. Well,
let me let me address what you said at first. You know, I
do wear a couple of hats, but I have not had any say at
my dinner table in the last two or three years. So these Gothy's definitely
uh tightened tightened the ropes on me here. But you know, just just
looking at the league, you know, we we've really grown over the last
few years. Uh. You know, I've played a you know, a
small part and help them go out and recruit some of these ownership groups and
and and and try to put a solid league together. And you know,
but what's happened is is, you know, I think when the Arizona Rattlers
came uh to to the Indoor Football League in twenty seventeen, you know,
we left the Arena Football League, which is now trying to start back up
and they're not really doing a good job of it. And you know,
it bought some credibility to the Indoor Football League. And you know, I
think you saw some of the owners decide, hey, we're gonna jump over
to the Indoor Football League. Some of the experienced coaches jumped over. And
you know, we've created parody. We've finally figured out parody. And when
you look in the last seven years, we've had seven different champions and you
know, for us this year at the Rattlers, we you know, we
really hit the injury bug right out the gate. And I don't think I've
ever had this many injuries in my career. Right for over twenty years,
going on twenty five years, you know, and when you build a team,
you build it down the middle with your center, your quarterback, you're
running back, and on defense, your nose guard, linebacker, safety,
and then you go out and find the players that can play the perimeter and
and right down the middle on both sides of the ball is where we've had
all our injuries. And we've had about eight or nine injuries, uh in
those areas, and it certainly has affected our play early. But we've got
back on the win streak the last two weeks. We're still waiting on a
couple of guys to get back in the lineup, and we feel pretty good
about where the direction we're heading. And and you know, just you know,
I talked to coach uh Billy back last week. You know, he
kind of hit the injury bug. When you lose a quarterback in football is
such a you know, league that's driven by the quarterback position, and we
both lost our quarterbacks early in the season. Uh. I know he You
know, Billy has been a phenomenal head coach in this league. You know,
you go back and you know, one of the reasons why Kathy and
I decided to hire him is because his track record over the last couple of
years, he was winning. His coach over the last two years in the
league, had the best record, and you know he uh you know,
lost his quarterback after I think, I think on the third game, and
and has been struggling but also changing his roster in and out. So but
it's really about how you play. You're not gonna win the championship and and
and and uh you know, March April May. It's really about June,
July and August and and uh, you know, two experienced coaches here,
we understand that, uh both you know, this game tomorrow night is such
a big game for for for both franchises. So you know, we'll see
who got healed up the most the most after a bye week. Last week,
both teams were on a bye week. So uh, I'm sure that
he's got got some surprises for me and I got a few for him.
So it should be a great game. You know, you mentioned you know,
your your your wife Kathy, who runs it runs the Sugar Culls organization,
and uh, you know, this is the fifth year of the organization,
which just that in itself says a lot about the fact that you guys
have been able to you know, to keep this uh, keep this franchise
here and keep it, keep it going, and keep it busy. People
are coming out to the games. But you come to a week like this,
Kevin, do you become more of a Rattlers coach and less paying attention
to the Sugar Skulls or you know, how how does that work for you
kind of being in the middle of all this. Well, I think the
plan originally was, you know, we were winning a lot of championships,
you know in Phoenix, and my owner, Ron Shirts, was only about
build a brand, build a brand, and you know, he wanted me
to also work on my personal brand and uh, and he's a great guy
to work for, and and we wanted to grow the league. And so
I went to him with an idea of years ago, back in eighteen and
and I just said, hey, I think if if we could put a
team in two soon, Me and Caafy just really loved to So we were
doing a lot of vacations and tucsone came down. You know, our daughter
just graduated last night from the u of A. And and she's been down
there for the last a little over four years. And and and you know,
we We've always loved Tuson, so we wanted to you know, we
wanted to bring something that worked in the space of entertainment and Tucson. We
thought spring and summer. Uh you know, I thought it worked really well
because in between Arizona basketball and Arizona football, and I thought it would be
uh, you know, a great space for entertainment and and uh, you
know, the plan all along was for me to come in help build relationships
in the town. Uh, you know, but at some point that this
was going to get turned over to Kathy and she was going to run and
we did that. And if we know, COVID was going to hit,
right, you know, and you know, uh in twenty twenty. I
mean we started in nineteen. COVID hits the next year. You know that
that was a major blow. But but you know, at the same time,
it was a blow to everyone and and just the timing network out.
But you know, we really appreciate everyone and Tucson that that has supported the
team and and uh and that's what we signed up for. We signed up
for five years, you know, with with with the with the least with
a TCC, and we wanted to see how it would work in the community,
and and uh you know I know that. Uh you know, I
I as as I'm slowly kind of back down, and I still come down
in the off season and help with some of the sales and business and and
and and it's tough. I mean I will I'll be the first one to
met when when we play in Phoenix. It's just another game for me in
that building. Uh that's what it feels like to me when I come to
Tucson and you know, I'm coaching my team and you got Kathy that has
her team, and and you're sitting down on that field and you're you're coaching,
and then you know, you look up and you see a guy that
you sold a sponsorship to or some season tickets to. I mean, you
know, it's it feels different. You know, it feels tough, and
and uh you know, Uh that's why we've always tried to go out and
hire a coach and let him coach the team. Uh. I don't have
anything to do with football, and uh, other than discussing the hiring.
When when when when Kathy is going to offer the job. But once the
coach is hired, it's it's his team. And and you know, uh,
certainly, you know, if anybody's got and and I spent a lot
of time, whether it was Dixie, whether it was seeing coach Coleman,
any of those guys have always had, you know, uh, the opportunity
to pick the phone up and call me and ask my advice if they needed.
If I don't hear from them, I assume everything's going well. Uh.
But the focus has been more on the business side. And and and
we really appreciate too soon. We really love being down there, and I
think it's great for the community. So tell, how do you feel this
rivalry that you know, you want it to be a fierce rivalry between the
you know, the two cities, but then you've also got Northern Arizona up
there. How do you think the rivalries have developed, uh with these three
teams in the state. You know, that's a great question. I you
know, I We've had our way uh with with with Northern Arizona in regular
season, but we've struggled, you know, twice, they've beaten us in
in the playoffs at the at the Rattlers. You know, Northern Arizona and
Tucson I think have developed into a great rivalry as well, I don't know
who's one more. I would say it's probably around five. Maybe one team
has a win, maybe one more win than the other. But uh,
you know, I think that one was the one that kind of caught everybody
by surprise. It was because they went out and hired you know, less
boss. He was approven, experienced Arena Football League coach and and uh uh
you know, he came in and hired one of the coaches off my staff,
Rod Windsor, and and I had actually talked to Rod Windsor, uh
sat down, you know, he played for me, he's he's worked for
me on the coaching staff, and I originally talked to him about being a
Tucson head coach before uh we moved on to Billy. But Rogers, you
know, Rod felt like he needed another year of being an assistant coach before
he felt like he was ready to be a head coach. And and and
then uh, you know, Billy came available. But I think that rivory
in state. I mean, when you look across the United States, Arizona
is the only state in the country it's got three teams. And you know,
we recruit nationwide, so it's not about just getting you know your players
from a pool of players from the state of Arizona. But certainly it helps
when, uh, when you find a local player. But I think this
the state has really taken to the Indoor Football League and and UH and the
league, and it's really helped the league continue to grow. All right,
So tomorrow, Oh go ahead, Dave. I was just gonna ask you
mentioned the players. I've always been curious is where these players are coming from
and how you do scout them? Do you? I mean, where do
you look? Where do you look to first to find players for indoor football?
Well, that's great question. You know, traditionally I can only speak
how I do it. You know, other coaches may have a different philosophy.
But I go after NFL cut guys and what's best of left over from
college football. And you know, there's plenty of football players out there.
There's a lot of schools to play football, and you know, it's really
this. I've always told people that our league is a league of opportunity.
It's a developmental league. And you know you've seen the XFL, the USFL.
You know that now they've merged, but you see those type of leagues
start up and it's hard enough to run a team, much less to run
a whole league. So UH and and and teams seem to always go out
right away. We're gonna pay the coaches X, We're gonna pay the players
X. But they haven't sold one ticket, one sponsorship. And you got
to find a way to put butts in seats and and uh and pay the
bills if you're going to run run a league. So sometimes I think these
other leaguess get too far ahead of themselves. They put the horse the cart
before the horse. And but you know, we we you know, at
the Rattlers. Since I've been the head coach, we've put fifty four players
in the NFL. We've probably doubled that uh for players that went on and
played it, you know, like Canada or XFL USFL. So we've always
looked at ourselves as the developmental league. We got a great business model.
And that's why you see these teams stay uh in business. And you know,
we're committed, you know, to UH to making this league work.
And you know, we have owners calls probably every two weeks across the country,
and you know, we got some exciting news that's gonna come out,
you know, next year, you know that we're gonna announce going into our
season. So we just continue to grow. And you know, you know,
Jay was with us those first couple of years at the Sugar Sculls and
and he's certainly seen this this league grow, and you know, but I
do think it's it's in a great space for entertainment and Tucson when in the
spring summer, you know, in between the two sports and when things get
hot outside and it's one hundred and ten, one hundred and fifteen, and
people want to come in and air condition and and and and have a drink
and watch a football game. And you know, it's more than just a
football game, which it's about, you know, the the engagement for the
fans, the fan experience during the game, and we try to make the
game exciting as possible. So it's you're not just coming to watch a football
game. It's like maybe, I mean, you know, to watch an
entertainment event and you got a football game going on at the same time.
Now, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring this up to that I'm I'm gonna guess
you're you're not gonna feel horrible about this, but you know, the Roadrunners.
It looks like they're headed out of twoson that might be a little bit
less competition for the entertainment dollar, at least at the beginning of your season.
What kind of impact do you think that can have when you guys down
the road, Well, it's gonna be interesting, you know. And and
who knows what's gonna happen with the road Runners. I mean, you know,
they say they're leave it, they say they're staying. You know,
I I'm for anything that's good for two Soon, And if that means the
road Runners staying, I would, you know, certainly love to see that.
You know, I've always had a healthy relationship with Bob, and you
know, I think the road Runners have been good for uh, you know,
for two Soon and and but you know, if they decide to leave
and and and certainly you know, it's funny because you know, when when
some of that stuff started, we started getting a lot of emails like we
were getting blamed. This blew my mind. We were the Sugar Skulls was
actually getting blamed for the road Runners leaving. And I was like, we
got nothing to do with it, you know that, you know, we
heard, we heard the news when everybody else heard the news. But you
know, I thought that would but I'm sure if we are some of our
fans would probably think that had something to do political if if something happened with
us. But you know, the truth of the matter is, you know,
Tusigon has always been in college town. And and what I've found through
the years is there's a lot of people that have made this comment to me,
you know, through the years that hey, you know, everybody loves
U of A. We love U of A. Our daughter just graduated the
last night from U of A. We love U of A. But some
people get tired of just watching college sports and they want to they want to
see some type of other entertainment. I think the Roadrunners and Sugar Skulls,
you know, has brought that to Tucson, and you know, and given
given the fans of Tucsigon, you know, a different experience. So you
know, if they move on, and obviously we would be at the time,
you know, the the only tenant that uh that that that would be
at the TCC. But I think the t c C would probably tell you
that, you know, they would like to bring more concerts in and and
and in in that space so that's usually what the buildings do. I don't
know, I haven't talked to them about it, but you know, you
just you just never know how it's gonna fact. And you know, for
us, the Tucson Sugar Sculls, we've been really working hard. And Jay,
We've had a lot of offline conversations about this, but we've been really
working hard to try to put the Sugar Skulls the only sports team in Tucson
that qualifies for a gaming license. We have really been working hard on that
for over over three years now. And uh, and and it's one of
those deals where just where's where's you out with with with how political it is
and and uh, but that that's something that's doable and uh, you know,
I see it being a positive thing because it keeps the dollars in Tucson.
And and so we'll continue to work on that and hopefully we'll have this
wrapped up in the next six months. All Right, Well, a big
game, big game tomorrow at the at the Arena. Twoson Sugar Sculls Arizona
Rattlers. Should be a lot of fun six oh five at the Arena.
Tickets can be gotten on the Sugar Sculls website, or you can just go
walk up and get yourself a ticket to hang around. Should be a lot
of fun. Looking forward to the game, Kevin, I'm not going to
ask you for a prediction because I know you'll say we're gonna kick their butts,
but I don't know. Hey, I got some game time decisions.
You know. I think that favorites the Sugar Sculls for sure. All right,
Kevin, Well, good luck tomorrow. I guess you know, I
no, you know what not good luck? Hope. I'm hoping the Sugars
Caills beat you guys. I'll just be rude and say that I hope,
I hope they sell it out, and I hope everybody screams and yells at
me for three hours. So I would love to see a great atmosphere down
there. All right, sounds great, Kevin, Best of luck, say
Hyars house for me, and congratulations on your daughter graduating. She was a
little girl when I met you, guys, so it's hard hard for me
to believe she's already a college graduate. Unbelievable. Right, she got her
degree in law and minor Spanish and and uh sports management. So I'm excited
for proud dad, gratulations he's worked hard for. Yeah, proud dad.
All right, Kevin, thanks a bunch of you tomorrow, Thank you,
see you guys, thank you. That's Kevin guy Uh, head coach of
the Arizona Rattlers, owner with his wife Kathy of the Tucson Sugar Skulls,
and it all comes together at their enda tomorrow. We we didn't even know,
you know, I was with them the first year and we weren't even
trying to handle that, right, how do you handle this? And we
had, you know, we had some discussions about okay, let's do let's
not do this, let's do this. And I think it's come to a
point for now. He's the coach of the Rattlers. They're playing the Sugar
Skulls, and that's that's it. It's a big family affair. It's good
that the franchise is you know, stable, it seems like. And you've
got some good leadership. Yeah, in both areas with with the wife and
yeah, so all right, they've come a long way. Yeah, Okay,
take our last break. We'll be back. We'll take your calls.
Five two zero four one, six, seventy four forty how's reminded. The
guy who's trying to think of is Ross Tucker. There you go to announce
her. The guy who was on Dan Patrick's show talking about this NBA NFL
thing but played at Princeton, played in the NFL, and he was the
one who said that Austin Rivers is full crap. Okay, all right,
let's take our break. Five to two zero four one six four forty Fine,
give us a call. 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
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teamsecurity dot net. This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay
Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the
iHeartRadio app Just Surgery I on the Ball. Welcome back to all here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm jacon Zales, my usual host. Co host
Steve Rivera is on the road for one more day. He will be back
on Monday. He's celebrating his birthday in Vegas, so I guess we'll let
him do that. I've got Dave Silver. A lot of you want to
say, the older folks, but you know, our generation guys know you
was the former K gun sports structor for a lot of years through the eighties
and nineties into the two thousands, Right, it was a long run.
Like I said, I got here in eighty three Olson's first year, Cats
were in the top five, I want to say, in the rankings,
and then they lost or they tied California. I remember as we were moving
to that season. Yes, Ricky Hunley senior year, Yes, so I
got to witness all that. It was a great It was a great time,
and like I said earlier, it was kind of a just a good
time just to kind of be here as the program was growing and these coaches
were arriving and things started to build. Yeah, and it's built to now
they're headed to the Big Twelve. Yeah, so that's the end. And
yeah, so that's why I wanted, you know, fer Antonia, I
wanted to bring something up. What are you most looking forward to and going
to the Big Twelve and what are you most dreading about going to the Big
Twelve? If there is anything. Yeah, I don't know if I'm really
dreading. I think, you know, we're not players, we don't have
to worry about the travel situation. I'm I'm kind of just anxious to sort
of see how the schedules are going to play out. Particularly basketball. We're
so used to kind of having you know, the Thursday Saturdays or Wednesday Sundays
kind of games, and I guess the Big Twelve, they seem to play
a lot of games on Mondays every day of the week, and Wednesdays in
the league is so so huge that yeah, I think we're gonna have to
get used to that. I'm hate to say this, but I'm kind of
glad the PAC twelve network is not going to be involved anymore. And I
do have ESPN Plus right, which I think many of the games will be
on there. So that's going to be good obviously, just new teams coming
in us going to visit these places that we've never been. But look,
just looking at the basketball, it's going to be phenomenal. So, Okay,
you had a fundraising job at DOVA. Did it involve any you know,
like sports trips and things like that where you would take donors or anything
like that. You do much of that? Well, personally, no,
because I wasn't really working for athletics, right, I know you were working
for athletics, but so I didn't do it that way. But there there
were situations though, where I would piggyback on events. I would go in
my role and I would go to a Stanford game and we would put together
I would get donors to come there to those games because a lot of people,
even though they weren't maybe necessarily big athletic donors, they were donors to
our school or to our college, I should say, and we would try
to get them and sometimes sports would be the attraction. I can say that
happened a number of times. I went to a number of places in the
Pac twelve, especially Okay. So anyways, getting back to what are you
looking forward to then? Going to the Big Twelve, I mean Kansas basketball.
That's going to be good. I mean having them either come here or
Arizona going there is going to be terrific. And that conference has been so
good the last five years or so, Houston emerging, you know, as
a real national power, and the football again bringing BYU back into the loop.
They're so popular, especially in the state of Arizona. It's going to
be a huge game when they come in every year. Yeah, yeah,
that will be one. You know we were talking about, you know,
a Zona. They had scheduled this Kansas State football game long ago as a
non conference game. Now they're in their league. They're still going to play
the game. It's not a conference game, but Kansas State's one of the
favorites in the in the Big Twelve this year, right, so that's going
to be a huge game for Arizona in terms of gauging, right, where
are you are you going to be? You know, and they got to
play it on the road, so they're going to probably be underdogs, but
you know, what they do in that game could go a long way towards
people feeling does Arizona have a chance in this league this year or not?
Yeah? And with the team feeling too, what the players are gonna go?
WHOA, Maybe we you know, we were not ready for these guys,
or or maybe we are we are prepared. So you know, we
look at all the message boards and things like that this time of year,
and there's all Facebook pages with the big twelve, right, everyone's kind of
welcoming Arizona and welcoming these four schools to come over. So I think it's
gonna be fun. I mean it got a little stale after a while.
I mean, how many times can you go to Oregon State? Yeah?
But also too, from a former employee standpoint in development, most of our
alumni are on the West coast. On the West coast, that's going to
be a tough one to lose. Those Seattle trips and those trips to the
Oregon and the Bay Area in LA on top of Phoenix, which we'll still
have. But those are big, big donor centers, and that's what would
bring them out right, Well that's coming to these games. That's an interesting
aspect of that because we talked about that back when you know, the the
realignment actually happened. Is that, Okay, all of a sudden, Arizona's
not going to LA two or three times a year or or more. As
you said, you know the Bay Area, you know, see, I
mean you would go on those trips. I went on a when I was
working at TEP. We had a sponsorship and I went on the team playing
the donor plane to the Oregon State game, you know, and there were
two hundred you know, Arizona fans on that and it's like, and that's
just a little small one, but that's about all the fans that are in
Oregon, that are in Portland and Corvallis and Egene and stuff. I mean,
that's it's going to be difficult losing that LA trip. There are probably
I don't know twenty thousand alums in southern California the number exactly, but it's
one. It's a big number. It's a big number in Seattle, the
Bay area. Those are big yeah alumni. Huh yeah. Well I'm looking
forward to what I what I've been saying is that. I feel like Arizona
should should be at least with football more competitive in the Big twelve than they've
been in the Pac twelve. Now they've had you know, a year here,
a year there, and a year here and a year there. I
feel like with what they with what given credit, what Jedfish built here and
what Brent Brannan has come into as the new head coach, if he can
keep this momentum going or at least maintain what they've done, that they might
win a league title. Yea, you know they can in the next Maybe
in the next year is maybe this year, who knows? And that you
know, with with what's being done with the with the playoff and the expansion,
right, I feel I want to put it this way. I feel
they've got a better shot to get in the playoff through the Big twelve than
what they've had having to play USC, Oregon, Washington, you know every
year in the Back twelve. That's all coming well in a couple of years.
So it's gonna be It's gonna be interesting. Can you imagine we have
a playoff game at Arizona State? Oh God, you know it comes.
I don't know Oklahoma's coming to tie right coming in Auburn. I don't know,
it's gonna be It's gonna be huge for these college towns to get a
playoff game. And the money, you know that that's a whole other factor,
but that's gonna really increase big time. I'm just trying not to get
too far out over my skis on this one, right because because you know,
I mean, I you know, I grew up here, right,
and I've told you that we've got all the heartbreak stories over the years.
Uh, you know, the close calls to getting in the Rose Bowl and
stuff, and the Rose Bull is kind of so far off my radar anymore.
You know. The only way you get into that is if you get
into it through the playoff. But I feel like there's a better chance of
that than the chance that they've had where they were sitting in the Pac twelve.
Yeah, it's going to be interesting because you know, at least of
all the preseason comments that we've been reading, you know, they're giving high
hope to Arizona and that they could be one of the favorites, and you're
bringing you know, you're bringing along Utah, right, and you know,
who knows what Colorado is going to look like certainly Utah is going to be
good no matter what league they're playing in Colorado, and I don't dislike Deon
Sanders, I don't. I mean, I I've never been a big fan
of all his flash and dash kind of stuff from the time he was a
player and even when he was at Florida State. I've never been a big
fan of that with pretty much anybody out of But I don't mind him.
I don't dislike him. But why I do. What I don't like is
how he's handled the stuff at Colorado and they are they're sliding into that neighborhood
where Arizona State sits at the you know, the head of the street.
I'm Colorado's becoming a big villain to me because of all this. And you
know, you read about how the players, you know, the players talked
about how they were treated. You know, when he came in, and
I get what Dion did and what he's doing. His job was to make
Colorado football a success and make it more exciting for for their program and stuff
like that. And I guess he would come and done that here. I
would have said, well he's a jerk, but he's our jerk, right,
But I'm really starting to view Colorado sort of a villain program that I
don't root for, right, and who knows the way they handle things with
his kids and where there's some social media posts about hey, if you're an
offensive player and you want to come contact me, won't even contact I mean,
it was it was weirdly handled, right, and players have come and
gone it's ridiculous. And then his son going on and you know, ripping
on a on a guy who just said I didn't get treated very well.
Yeah, you know, just leave it alone and instead, you know,
now here's you know, and then Dion comes back and says, you know,
my son's going to be a you know, a first strong draft pick
quote about you, you know kind of thing, and I'm like that kind
of stuff. I you know, I don't have a stomach for that.
I know you're a young guy. I mean, what do you what do
you think? One? Do you does that bother you at all? Or
do you what do you think of all of that? I mean, I'm
a very old school typic even though I'm barely turned twenty one. I'm into
the traditional kind of EBB and flow of college what college football used to be
right, even even as I tried to adjust to what it is now.
Yeah, I don't. I don't like that. There's some part of sports
too, and maybe I'm old, I'm even older. School is to be
humble and to have some humility, right, and Dion has never had that.
He never said he even when he was you know, playing baseball and
football. So I guess you have to take that if you're going to hire
Deon Sanders, that's what you get, right, that exactly, And like
I said, I'm it's none of it is surprising to me that that that's
how he's uh, he's running his program and that's how he's doing things because
you know why it's worked for him. He's built a hall of fame.
I mean, he was a great athlete. But in addition to all that,
his brand quote unquote, his brand is huge. And so that's why
he got the job. If he hadn't been Dion Sanders, the character,
he doesn't get the Colorado job because he hadn't coached long enough, right,
And so Okay, that's what you asked for, that's what you signed up
for. And if you're Colorado, like I said, he's their guy and
he's going to be their guy. Sitting over here in Tucson. I'm like,
I'm not sure I like that all that much. And you know,
I hope we kick your ass every time we play. You. You know,
he's not old school by an by any means, and it probably ruffles
the feathers of some of the other coaches who've been around for a long time
and handle things differently, right right, I'm sure, I'm sure it does.
But you know, we'll see, you know, this year, tell
us a little bit more, you know, canny coach or can he not
coach? You know, everybody thought, oh, he's you know, he's
off the charge, and then he went four and eight, right, A
lot of just could have gone in there and gone for it. So yeah,
so I don't know, but you know, they're they're in the league,
so we're gonna be seeing them if we're not getting rid of them.
And in fact of all the of all the the the cities, where the
where the where the teams are, Oh, we got to get out of
here. Color you know, Denver is the best trip. Ye we have
we have alumni in college, yeah for sure too. So yeah, it's
the best road, all right, Hey, Dave, thanks a bunch,
appreciate you being here. This is a lot of fun. We're gonna have
to do this again. We will since here. I'm available, but available.
W A nice job on the board. Thank you. Everybody had a
great week. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for being here.
Steve will be back on Monday. We'll be back with some great guests,
so be sure to come back on Monday. Have a great weekend, everybody