Breaking down the Hall, the exes and ohs. It's Steve Rivera and Jayden
Sammis. This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth theory. Okay,
welcome back to eyeing the Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve
Rivera. He's chicken sauce now with us, Sir Henry doing the breaking news.
This is Eye on the Ball breaking news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
He defeated the Warriors one O two to ninety nine to advance to the Summer
League Finals versus the Grizzlies, which will be today at five pm. Pella
Larson yesterday had twenty one points, four rebounds, and six assists, and
Kisha did not play because of his ankle injury. Oh okay, I mean
it looks like those two guys are doing everything they need to do to stick,
right. Just notice a matter of whether there's a spot for them,
right. I mean Pelly's he I mean, every time you see his stats,
he's done, he's done. The nice job. M hm. I
mean this was definitely his best game. But for us, Yeah, but
you know, you hope that, I know, I hope they both stick.
But when do Keisha didn't hurt his ankle. I didn't see that.
I think the game before the last games or two games ago. Okay,
yeah, not always, not that it'll hurt now because he'll be back ready
to play in two weeks, because they've already seen that he can jump out
of the gym and defend the different positions. But it always doesn't help.
Yeah, yeah, I mean you're on getting as many games and let them
see you as many times as they can. Sure they can say, you
know, we got to keep this guy. The one thing about him too,
he's he's very affable. He's not hard. He's not hard to like.
I mean, right, he's likable. Yeah, good dude? Yeah
all right, team wait, is there where do you is the game only
on NBA TV or do you where do you see at ESPN? Okay at
five pm? Five o'clock? Okay? Cool? Team USA basketball beat Germany
ninety two to eighty eight in their last exhibition game and Lebron led the way
with twenty points. Their first preliminary round game is Sunday Verse Serbia, and
you saw that they barely beat su Dan like we talked about forty five know
that happened Saturday? Yeah, and they were they were like, okay for
those of you who are betting on those games, and okay, but they
were like forty plus point underdog, yeah, right, and then beating by
what a point or a bat or a basket? Yeah, I don't know,
all I both you. You're gonna read too much into this. No,
I'm gonna read in it that they didn't give a crap about that game
and thought they could throw their uniforms on the floor and win, right.
And and you'd like to think, right, you'd like to think that when
the lights come on from the Olympics, right, that they're gonna they're gonna
give it. They're all every game and they're not going to take any games.
Well, that's the whole The storyline is going to be this. In
two weeks, right, they win the gold medal, No, one's gonna
be right exactly. The winness says, oh, that were just you know,
messing around. But if they don't win it, you can say,
oh, we should have seen it coming. You should have seen exactly.
There's two storylines here. Yeah. Lebron was selected as the male United States
flag bear for the opening ceremony in Paris on Friday, respect your elders.
So there's a male and a female. I didn't know that. I didn't
see who the female was, but it just popped up as I mean,
woul think it was like Simone Biles or something like that. Yeah, yeah,
did you see ESPN's top one hundred athletes top athletes of the twenty first
century. Now, who guess was number one? Blubon's in the top ten.
It's not number one. Biles is in the top ten, that number
one. He's in the he's actually number eight. Okay, top number one
athlete of the twenty first century, twenty first century, so that's twenty figures.
Ah, when did this come on? They've had it like that by
tens the last few weeks, so that any of them, they just had
the last ten last Saturday, number one. It's very surprising to me,
but makes sense. Tom Brady, he's in the top ten into Michael Phelps.
That's why it's kind of surprising to me. Yeah, I mean I
put him in the top ten. But I'm not like, okay, yeah,
you know, all right, yeah, gold medal. Yeah, it
was not my socks off. You know, maybe an undervalued sport because it's
not on TV. You know, every weekend it came. I was thinking,
that's kind of strange, and then they do another one that's kind of
strange, and the old top ten was We're not alone in thinking this.
A lot of the people that were kind of the critics said, this is
just a strange list of how they kind of put the people where they put
people. And the thing is no, no offense to you, Henry,
but the young people, a lot of the people working today in the media
business, what are they through? Young dudes, young women, Uh,
they don't know. They don't even know what happened twenty years ago. That's
honestly, weally agree. They don't know who Donna Summer. So that's part
of the problem too, that they don't see the grand scope of the entire
I'm sure I was like that when I was a kid. Willie Mays,
who what Yeah. Yeah, it's funny because I've told you about this immaculate
grid thing that we do where you do baseball things, and you know,
everybody on my grid will be nineteen eighty five and earlier, and everybody on
the the guys will the guys were playing today, you know, the young
guys. So it's money. Yeah, Willie Mays is always on my grid.
All right. Four players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday,
third baseman Adrian Beltray, catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Todd Hilton,
and manager Jim Leelands. I think that's deserving. Yeah, you know,
I guess I didn't realize, uh that Adrian Belchra had had such a career.
He started with the Dodgers, so you know, I know of him,
so I first goot, he didn't seem to me like that level of
guy. But then you look at his numbers and his achievements, and you
go, yeah, Todd Hailton was as good a hit her is anybody right?
That guy was just always getting base hit. So I'm okay with him.
With the other two, Jim Jim Leland, sure right, he's one
of He's won a bunch of championships, Joe and Joe Joe Maher is the
one I'm thinking, okay. He was a popular guy, very likable guy.
Did he do enough? Did you see the video with Leland and fighting
with Barry Bonds when Barry Bonds was that that's that's great, awesome stuff.
Don't tell me what to do I'm the manager here, blah blah. It's
like a sort of when when when he goes to the goesund and yelling at
Doug Rout during the World Series. That's a great video. In fact.
Uh, one of the young guys that that I'm on a thread with tweeted
something out about something about a manager doing something. I said, that's nothing
watching this right, oh my beer kind of thing. T n T intends
to continue its relationship with the n b A by matching Amazon Primes offer for
the NBA rights to what degree though, right do we know? I mean,
are they gonna well, they continue to have the show that they had
because that was the attraction for them, Right, Anybody can do the games,
right, you get announcers, they do the games. To me,
it's what you offer on top of the game entertainment, right, you know
what what's your what are your you know, what's your studio show look like?
For instance, I still watch as much as I don't like Pat McAfee,
I still watch Game Day on Saturdays instead of the Fox whatever their show
is called. Yeah, you know I still watch Game Day. Now Pat
McAfee is making me edge, you know, flip the channels now and then
do you watch the Fox one? That's what I'm saying. I flipped that.
You know, I don't, But when Pat McAfee comes on, I
do flip the channel because I don't. He's got nothing that I want to
hear. But he's right, right, But you watch the Fox one specifically?
No, No, I watched Game Day don't know, but you don't
watch the Fox thing? No, do you watch foxing? That's why I
asked. No. I watch both, but I don't watch like you guys
watch it. I just watch it just to see what they say for whatever
reason. But Anthony swears about swears about the Fox one. Yeah, very
good. He's a football guy. I don't like urban Meyer. You see,
that's mister bitterer. Mister bitterer, you're missing out in a lot of
good world out there. I think I think urban Meyer is a big time
Well see, you don't like uh, and I don't like Pat mc so
what are you gonna watch Church dayline? Like Chili? But you are that's
the same. It's the same thing, look and that and that's how I
am. But see, like like a I mean, I will actually turn
on if a game is ending an NBA game is ending. I'm not watching
anything else. I'm flipping channels and the Studio show is coming on with Berkley
and and those guys. I'll watch that because I think they're entertaining. I
think they're funny, think they're entertaining. I love Barkley, you know.
Uh, you know, when I'm watching Game Day, I don't want to
hear from Pat McAfee. I'm interested to see what Nick Saban's gonna do,
like and I don't listen watching what when he's on. It's like watching World
Championship Wrestling. And that's not what Game Day to me, right, that's
not to me, that's not entertaining that when I watch Game Day, I'm
trying to one, you know, hear about games and what's going on here
about players and I you know, I like their features and all that stuff
they always do, the one that makes you cry and you know, all
that stuff. That's what I want to watch. I don't want to hear,
you know, I don't want to have some guy in a tank top
up there, you know, yelling and screaming and YadA YadA, yadda.
You know that's me that that that's just what I want to watch my son
loves Pat mcwe thinks that's the best part of the show. Right, But
for the same reason I'm not. I'm just Urban Meyer, just a cringe
week. He doesn't like you should put put on a take top and a
yell at people. We got a minute, so you gotta go. What
do you got? I just got The Packers quarterback Jordan Love won't participate in
any practice or games until they reach a contract extension. No can I hear
that? Aaron Rodgers continues to be Aaron Rodgers right with no camps and yes,
why Aaron Rodgers be Aaron Rodgers? Okay, we got to go forg
out. We had the short segment because we're gonna get Jeff Hammersmith coming on
here in about about four minutes, So stick around for Jeff Hamership. We'll
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the iHeartRadio WAPP, This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay
Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. Hey, welcome back to AN on the
Ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jacob Zaus.
Now all on the phone. We have Jeff Hamershmith former U of a football
hitter, defensive back and all that stuff you missed, you miss it?
Whatever do you miss hitting people on the field? You must yeah, I
mean yeah, I don't know who knows what? Yeah? No, I
do. So now you're times that I would like I'd like to put my
face through somebody's face. Would be nice once in a while. So now
you're able to coach kids? Uh, let me ask you this because football
is kind of like you know how to player, you don't. How do
you teach football to those who kind of are I know, how to play,
but need to get better. You know, it's it's very just the
very fundamental basics part of it. I mean, it's just it's a lot
of walkthroughs and a lot of going through stuff and going absolutely crazy when the
kids can't figure it out. Well, no, no, let me say
that you have to figure they don't. I did. I coached junior high
last year and the kids were like, I had that guy. I said,
you did not have that man once? So whatsoever? So to my
point I said it, I said it in a little bit meaner way.
Yeah, Well, to my point, because you were a guy who like
was a torpedo. Chuck Cecil was a torpedo. I don't think you teach
that. You know, Daryl Lewis was a torpedo. Just these dudes are
instincts? Are you? You played differently and now it's the game is different.
You got to kind of wrap up you. You went and tackled the
guy. Well, we used the man, Chuck, we used our hellmetal
lot. I think they would they would have thrown us out our freshman year
of college. Probably Chuck would have never been with the Packers. Yeah,
you're right, because it's a totally different game now, and so now that
you're coaching high school, how do you how do you teach that? You
know? It's uh, I mean the helmets they get put on these guys
are like crazy and protective, which is nice because my son's why I am
and I'm glad he has something protective, but it's but yeah, it's it's
the everyone's teaching that that Pete Carroll crazy alligator tackle where it's if coach told
me was alive, he's probably rolling in his grave right now knowing that you're
that we're teaching how to let the running back get in front of you and
then grab the legs from behind. And that's the way high schools teach it
now. And I still don't teach it that way. I still break every
rule I guess and say you got to get your head in front and they
and it's crazy. So well again, you know, you know, the
times are changing, Jeff, and you know you got to play at a
time when football was football, and then you know those of us who saw
that, it's like what are we doing? But you have to you have
to roll with it. You know, the rules are different and all that,
you know, to Steve's point, though, you know, because let's
say, you know, you said your tea, you're coaching freshman. You
got a kid who says, I want to play football, but I've never
played football. What's the first thing you tell them? You know, it's
just the safety part of it, Just that that part of it. I
think that's the best thing is we we would teach a lot of fundamentals up
front before we even got to the point where they're, you know, hitting
or doing it. And they I don't think they hit real hard anyway,
but but you really have to teach the part of keeping your head out of
it and and that that fundamental part first. And and it's it's hard because
when you get there and somebody has a I mean everyone could. When you're
going and you're running with a helmet and he had this other guy has a
helmet, he's running right at you, then what are you going to do.
It's like it's like going into a fight and someone gives you a knife,
Well you might as well use it, and they gave it to you,
so you just kind of it's kind of with a helmet. You're kind
of running and they're telling you not to hit with your helmet and kind of
grab on to him, and that guy is gonna put his helmet right in
your chest. And that's just you know, it's it's hard. It's hard.
Sports is sports is hard. It's no fun. I mean it was
fun when you hit me. Now, of course I can't. I don't
have a great memory anymore, but you know that's just part of it remembers
for us today. Well, that's the problem. I sometimes I forget the
steven whatever you guys accused me of that told me I blamed Larry Smith,
I blame McDuff Ellerson, I blame all them. That's funny. That's funny,
all right, Jeff. You're looking forward to the Big twelve and football
in the Big twelve for for Arizona. I looked. I was just telling
my son. I looked at that thing. I'm like, what is going
on? It's that is crazy. Yes, I'm I'm my brother. My
brother is a DV coach at Oklahoma State, so I'm kind of we're in.
We don't play them next year, but it's just it's just a crazy
You look at it and there's no usc U, s l A or I
just tried. I'm like, oh my gosh, I grew up a whole.
I don't know. That's hard. It's hard, but it but it's
gonna be exciting. I mean it's gonna They're gonna be there's some really dang
good teams in there, and it's gonna be tough. Right. Are you
gonna plan because you're you're in the Denver area, are you gonna plan to
see a game or two from from that area? Yeah, you know,
I'll go see the Harlans and I'll and go cheer on Arizona and sitting in
the Harlan's executives week that should be fun. I'll do that some of the
ones. I think I can get to Canada. I think I think we're
at Kane State. I looked at it today a little bit and uh,
but yeah, no, it's I wish Colorado. Last year I went to
the Colorado game. I did the homecoming. It was fun. I got
to I got a few games in and it's just great to see people.
I got to see, I mean everybody with the CU Boulder game. So
that was fun. So you played for a Quina, as we all know,
we've talked about him before, but for the people who didn't listen,
less time what what what the what are the kids the players now are gonna
get from Akina in his new position. Oh, he's the best they get,
they get the best coach in the country. No matter what he coaches,
He's already proved it. He's he could probably coach O line and be
he would coach the he would coach the he would coach this little JV team
and and they would win every game and it wouldn't even be close. He's
just one of those guy. He has that about him that you just want
to play for him. And he's you know, he's gonna have success obviously
wherever, and uh, I'm excited for him to do that. And then
he has I'm sure rich Ellerson will come out of the bushes somewhere and sneak
into a practice or or almost every practice probably so he but he's gonna have
support. He's got he's got a I mean, yeah, no, that's
a good group that that that staff is a really good group. Brennan did
a great job, Brent did a great job of putting that all together and
and that's that's awesome. So we have a great staff when you just look
at it. So we know Duanne we've covered him, we've seen him here
on the sidelines here, we've talked to him a number of times. Uh,
without no give us what's his secret sauce, because it's either you guys
playing hard for him because you love him, and that's kind of like the
extra motivation or what is it? You know, I think he's he's he's
knowledgeable, but he's just h you just would you just want to you know,
you you'd take a take a bullet for him. You know, he's
one of those guys. He's just like a dad figure. He's hard as
hack on you, but he knows you when it's all said and done,
he just loves you up and and this has a special way. But I
wish I had, I mean, I wish I had more of that.
So it's just it's hard, it's a hard thing to do, and and
uh he's just he's got it. And uh yeah, it's a it's a
special deal. I Mean, there's a lot of great coaches that I've been
around, and from Dino Babers to Ellerson's and to all the great people I've
been around, and and he's and he's just a special He's just special.
He has a way of way, I don't know, just a way of
making guys want to go, you know, lay it on the line for
him. So should he have been a head coach somewhere or why? Why?
Why do you think he hasn't been? Is he just like I am
shocked that that hasn't happened. Uh, I don't know. I wouldn't be
surprised if he was offered some jobs. I think maybe working you know,
a school and having to work up and I just I don't know. I
think he's always been he would be great. I just don't. Yeah,
I don't know why, but but I think he's just such a great coordinator
or whatever. He does. Coach quarterbacks, he coached eb defense, he
could coach anything, and so, yeah, but I don't know why.
You know, it's a I think his own reasons and and uh, and
I sure I'm sure there's he'd never said anything, but I'm sure he got
offered some jobs. I think he did. Remember we had talked to him
last year when he first got here. He kind of mentioned that he says,
well, I love what I do in this position, that there was
no need to get a head coaches, And I mean a look at the
places he's been right, you know, Arizona, Texas, Stanford. I
mean, it's not like he's been in some slouch places and trying to work
his way around it. And it's like when Rich Ellerson was at Arizona and
he's a phenomenal coach and and to get to get to be a head coach,
he had to go to Southern Utah and that's where I was dumb enough
to follow him. But it was kind of you go to Southern Utah and
then he becomes you know, and then you build yourself into being a head
coach. And Dino Baber is the same thing. Dino was phenomenal as a
coordinator, and then he had to go down. I don't know where he
went till I got He went to a smaller school and then worked his way
up. And I think that was just the key of he just always offered
some really good jobs and it was hard to go down. You see what
he's capable of. Hey, I know, you got to go coach your
kids. Uh, you don't have to run any laps for us. He
stayed clean. Way he's not done yet, no doubt he's not done yet.
Exactly. I haven't started the st period yet and I'm going to get
these kids saying a special words thanks man as always appreciated. Good guys.
Okay, he mentioned Dino Babers went to Eastern Illinois, got his first head
coaching job there, head coach of Bowling Green. Then he ended up at
Syracuse. Yeah. Yeah, well you work your way up, you know,
and do a good job exactly. All right, let's take next break.
We're to come back and we'll take your cast five to two zero four
one four forty. Stick around. 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, Lessons from Loot, it
was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches
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A Team security dot net. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera
and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast
on the iHeartRadio app. Just surgeon. I on the ball. Hey,
welcome back towards the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Riverta.
He's Jigansaus. You gotta guy Henry with us the tack of a second
and Henry Henry we got we got a lot of time. We got twenty
five minutes. Yeah, to get out early for Jeff. Jeff had to
go and do his stuff. Okay, cool, you guys, plenty of
time to call. We have a lot of open space here five to zero,
four, one, six, seventy four forty Always good to talk to
Hammer. Yeah, he's funny. Henry was doing some work out of the
buzzer just and I just wanted to keep your hand finger on the dump button.
Didn't need it though. Nice job, Nice job by Jeff. Appreciate
that, right, Okay, good time. We got through another day of
kiss. So I'm just I'm watching some of the chatter on on on Twitter
about Lebron James and what is her clutch player? Is he not? Because
he's the one that kind of, you know, let him to win these
last two games. You know, he did some things and you know,
and clutch and you know, there's been a little bit of a knock on
him from some of his playoff, you know, appearances that you know,
at the end of the game he wouldn't you know, he didn't pull him
out, pull him through and stuff like that. But is he a clutch
player? Is he not? The is the discussion? What do you think
that's a good I have a couple of answers for you. I don't know
because I don't watch him enough. However, these are from critics for like
who Joe blows? Yeah, you know, there's a few media people in
there and stuff like that. So so this is the funny thing about what
we do for a living. We talk about sports. Maybe we're critical at
times. Maybe people think I'm critical all the time and and to you,
to you as well, what the hell does it matter what we think?
Honestly, to be the critic that Lebron James, the guy who scored most
points in the history of the game, right, that he's not a closer
or whatever? What the hell? Who cares what you think? Well?
I, well, I frankly think some of the some of the athletes themselves
care at times. The athletes I get that thinking that why are you going
to him because he's not the closer. No, No, the athletes care
what people think about him, no question. And that's my point too,
is I will follow them. What the hell does what do I care what
Steve thinks or what they do well? Like KD I was just gonna say,
Kevin Durant, you know who's had You're known to have burner accounts and
go on and respond to people saying to me, you make millions upon millions,
you make generational millions. It shouldn't it should not. You know,
if somebody's giving your crap, like Luke pointed at the scoreboard at that one
time, you point to your wallet and say, yeah, I'll point to
the scoreboard first and then say you guys shut up. Yeah we've we've kicked
your ass for a long time. Yes, not just tonight. But but
again, you know, we know that athletes do care, no question.
We're all we're all sensitive. You know, they go on and especially with
them with media now and they're you're more opportunities to be in the media,
whether they're doing their own podcasts and those kinds of things, to be able
to go on and say, you know and answer back to some of this
stuff, and they do it and I guarantee the people that do the Chris
wish they were there. I mean, did you think that Pete Rose gave
one crap about what people said about him? No? No, Joe Morgan,
you know your red guy's regis. They didn't give a crap. But
the athlete today does. We we didn't know because we didn't have Twitter,
right, they weren't in the media where they weren't you know, scrutinizes.
But they are every single day by so many people who are so called media,
whether it's on Instagram or Snapchat or Twitter or whatever. I'll give you
what more to that. We'll about to get to the I think we talked
about this. Okayo, Hi, you're on the air, on the ball.
Hey, this is done. How you guys doing good? Done?
How are you a all right? I think that today's athlete in all sports,
they've been babied their whole way through. They've been told how great they
are and how far they're gonna go and all these things, and then when
they get when they get negative reactions, they take it personal. I agree,
I totally that's a very good point. I totally agree. I mean
they're all I mean, all these baseball players and stuff. There are all
club team players. Yeah, so let me ask you both. Let me
ask you both the question I was gonna ask. Okay, now that the
kids are getting paid not a little, a lot, Ano, they're kind
of pros in a professional way, right and we're columnists or whatever, and
we're doing this job. Are the fair game for criticism? I think so
so too. I do too, more so than they were before. Right,
Well, you can't do the Gundy thing and say go after me.
I'm forty years old, I'm a kid, that's all you know. My
quarterback's making one point two million dollars. Yea, absolutely, yes, I
think you're hey and not not invendifferent than you know. Let's say you've got
a nineteen year old who is in the NBA. Now, just because he's
nineteen doesn't mean you can't rip him if he's in making NBA money and playing
the professional game. These kids are professionals, now, don't you agree?
Not? I agree. But in the last year or so, there have
been a lot of people in the met on Twitter and other places when they're
trying to you know, criticizing kids that were transferring out of Arizona or not
coming to Arizona and people going, hey, give the case, He's just
a kid. And the thing is is they're not just a kid because they
have they have their handlers that do whatever it is that they do and everything
else. So you know what, if that's what you want to do,
you're going to take heat. And that's what they need to learn. Yeah.
Don I think you make a great point to our because we were against
that, right right, we were against what you just said. Done.
I get I get what you said. Uh, they weren't getting paid at
the time when they were getting The kids making the decisions weren't getting paid at
the time, And depending on the people criticizing the moves, they were more
bitter about them leaving. I think, yeah, but you know what,
check the check the AAA bylaws. I read an I read an article a
couple of months ago the A I A in their rules. Now they have
language about n I L and the kids. The kids can get money,
but it's not supposed to be about their athletics. Then I L. So
here it is the A I A has already set it up for the high
school kids to be paid to play. And then you you have what you
have in Tucson. When I was a kid, the Tucson teams played all
the Tuson teams. Now South Point doesn't play any Tucson teams. They didn't
even play Studio this last year. I think, well, they played Marana.
The first game was Marana. The first game this year will be Marana.
Well it's, as you said, though, it's changing, and it's
changing like right now, right because and only when they when they solve this
issue about you know, the revenue sharing stuff like that, will you know
that all of them are getting money, because right now you're just guessing.
Okay, we know Caleb Williams was making a whole bunch of money at USC,
so he's fair game to say you suck, yeah, right, Whereas
the right tackle at Arizona. Maybe that's a bad example because I think the
right tackle Arizona was doing well. But you know, the center at Arizona,
you don't know if he's getting anything more than his scholarship money, so
maybe he's not fair game. But there's going to be a point where it's
like, Okay, these guys are these guys are pros Now they're earning money
playing the sport, and that's when they I think they become fair game once
they set it up were NCAAA affiliated schools or whatever they call the organization.
When they blow up the NCAAA and they put everybody on a wage scale and
everybody that's on scholarship get X minimum and blah blah blah, then it's that
is fair game. Don Let me ask you. I don't we talk off
the area every now and again? What do you do for a living?
If eve don't mind he's asking, you don't have to say, I wor
I work on the internet. Okay, Internet, okay, so that's why
it's big enough for me. But would you be comfortable in in criticizing the
kids under your conditions? Uh? And then the kids at the u of
a conditions in a role of media take your time. Well, you know,
I think they're fair game. I don't know how much I would want
to criticize the malarkey that that price Sock did right before he left for Washington
when he posted he posted the screenshot of buying his Arizona jersey, which if
if a bunch of people bought it, he got money for it and then
he was out the door. That's fair game for me. You you if
you do. I think if you do crappy stuff like that, I think
it's fair game. I think that's fair legit. That's absolutely legit. You
know, if you do if if you do it that way, if you
if that's how you want to do business, then you're fair game. I
think that if if a kid is out there and he's trying, and the
coaches are going to put the best guy that they have available out there,
and let's say you have a left tackle that's getting beat like a drum week
after week after week, I don't think that's fair game to beat that kid
down. But if but if they're out in social media and posting cryptic stuff
and they're asking for it, if they're out there asking for it, then
they should get it. Yea. And people do. People give it to
them. Yeah, oh yeah, okay, thanks Tom. And I think
going back to your going back to your mic gun toy point, there are
gonna be coaches that go, hey, point that stuff at me. I'm
the one making the decisions. And the thing is is, you know,
dude, you know what he's getting paid. He's got to be responsible.
Right. There's gonna be more of that coming up, I believe for sure.
And I think, and I've said it before to you guys, I
think sooner or later, some of this nil stuff is going to get tied
to contracts that guys are not going to be able to leave. If you
leave, not only are you giving back your car, but we're coming back
for sixty percent of that money of while you were here. Well, I
think that's where we're headed. Yeah, that players are going to have to
sign contracts to come to the We're gonna they're gonna have contracts, and they're
gonna have to get bought out if they want to go to another school.
That other school is going to have to buy out whatever's left of that guy's
contract. It'll be interesting the first the first contract like that that comes up,
right, I think. I think I agree with you, don I
think it'll happen. Hey, Don, thanks about you, man. I
appreciate all good stuff. Take care, guys. Delia, what were you
talking before you call it? I don't remember I was saying to your point,
blah blah blah, I forget maybe someoney, Oh you're talking about where
the guy where the athletes care about what people say about it? Yeah?
Right, right, right? Right? Do they care? Sure? Of
course there was something going there. There's that. There's always been athletes who
care, sure, but they've not always reacted right right, Yeah, and
then there are fans who go over board, even in house, where they
go yell like uh, Westbrook and all these guys get chip tried it all
year and they just try to get them out of the arena and things like
that. I'm not in their shoes, so I don't know people, you
know, if we had spectators here and say, Rivera, you suck blah
blah blah for the whole hour, Okay, I get it. Yeah,
you know, you get booed, you get booed. You know, hey,
because even that Steve, I've always you know, watching college athletes,
I've never been one to boo. I mean, I sentiment and you know,
come on, you know, but I don't yell, you know,
come on, No is a terrible throat do that. I don't boom guys
like that, you know, but there are people who do, of course,
and it's very you know, when it happens around me, it's very
distaste. You see it now if you if you're a spectator and games that
have the numbers, well because of the people are gonna start doing that because
yeah, well you see it in Vegas where they're covering you know, the
the last second, or yelling and they didn't cover in a basket or whatever.
You see it more and more. Yeah, no, yeah, you're
right, I mean, and it's gonna yeah, it's gonna trickle down now
too, because people are gonna say, come on, I know you're making
four hundred thousand dollars, block that guy. Yeah, you know that kind
of stuff, you're gonna I guarantee you're gonna hear. You're gonna hear a
lot more of that, no, no doubt. Yeah, okay, No,
that's good. Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see how that how
that develops over time, because you know, we are still most of us,
I'm gonna say most are still in a in a mindset that these guys
are still pretty young. But now when you hear that, you know,
Shador Sanders is making X's door Sanders, you better damn we'll play sure like
you're making X. Sure because it's my money, right, it's not just
my ticket money, it's money that I've given to the program. Sure,
you know, whether you've donated fifty dollars or twenty dollars or fifty thousand dollars
if you I've asked you this already, and maybe a caller you can call
in with us. If you had money, would you give it to the
players? And you said, you do what? You don't know? I
know, I know I have the same response. I don't know, because
I'd have to be an overzealous fan who's really tied to the school or the
player. But then I'm thinking, I'm still thinking, I don't believe in
what you guys are doing. It's it's it would to me. It'd be
like anything else. Somebody in the athletic department. He's gonna have to sell
me run giving money and for what which is what they've always had to do,
right, Okay, we need this money for the stadium, we need
this money for the locker room, we need this money for scholarships. You
don't know if you're gonna say, well, we need this money because we
need to pay this player, because if we don't pay him, we're not
gonna get him. Or I'm like, well that's a roll of the dice,
because you even if you get him, how do we know he's gonna
be any good? You know? And I think I think people are gonna
have to be or not. Are gonna have to be Are gonna be a
lot more selective? Yes, well, okay, you're Jay and the guys
still come back with you, Well, you got to give X player.
We want you to give X player x amount of money. And he said
no, but I will give it to the locker room. But I need
to make sure that it's going to the locker right, because when you do
that, there's something tangible that you know you've given your money for, Whereas
if you're giving it to you know, Joe blow quarterback and then Joe blow
quarterbacks to comes to Tucson, he's red shirting, and then he sexually assaults
someone. I'm like, well, what the hell? Right, that was
a waste of money. Good luck a and anymore from me, right,
you know. And and that's the kind of thing that you're going to start
to see people dealing with, and and and the and the universities are going
to have to be you know, the programs are gonna have to be a
little uh careful about how they do that. Again, there's gonna be the
time when they're gonna be sharing the revenue. So everybody gets a paycheck from
the U of A. So that's not that doesn't affect, you know,
because the revenue sharing is from you know, the big pot, and so
you don't know where. You know, well did that pot of money come
from here? Or here? Here? Here? But you know when you're
talking about, you know, a contribute to our nil collective so we can
give it to you know, no Fafita or tamac or whoever. Now you're
saying, okay, well what if no Ifa goes off and does something terrible?
You know, I don't know that. I want to, you know,
have my name connected to that, you know. But no, it's
a different world we live in. And I think that to Donnie's point,
I think, you see, it's gonna be something like that where the contracts
uh sixty percent or whatever percentage give it back. If something does, they're
gonna be talking about Wilken. Then I want some guaranteed money. Well didn't
you didn't we miss something about two weeks ago when the uh some school in
the east said that they're gonna be employees now that they've passed another rule.
Yeah you google it, and so yeah, they're going to be start to
go where they can be that they can be now whether or not they are
gonna be Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, I mean it.
It's God Steve Man just figuring all this out. The funny thing. Who
we're all with, Dan, Dan really Uh, we're both near the age
of getting out of this business and in years, right, it's been a
few more years. But I'm kind of glad. I'm kind of glad.
I love this job. I love this job. I'm sure you do too.
Yeah, but but it's gonna get more complicated than what it already is.
It's complicated, and sometimes it gives me a headache. Yeah, you
know, to try and keep up with all the stuff that's going on.
You think about guys like you know, like like Wilner and John Wilner and
uh, you know the national writers to the Canzano's, you know, the
Pat forties and Dan Wetzel's and Ross Dellinger who's like this that's his beat now
is all the business stuff, you know, And you think, you know,
he's going to congressional hearings and and you know, reading lawsuits and stuff.
And I'm like, that's not sports writing to me. Sports writing is
going covering the game on the weeknd going to practice and covering and talking about
players and coaches and things. That's sports writing. But Ross Dellinger, especially
him, you know, who's sort of the you know, one of the
you know, more versed uh national writers on all of this stuff. That's
all he does. Now. Does he go to games, Yeah, he
goes to games, but he's going games to cover all this stuff business,
right, the business side of all this. You know, Wilner hasn't hasn't
done a game story and I don't know how long, you know, because
he's he's busy doing this stuff and it's become such a big piece of you
know, covering sports anymore that you're right, i'd be I don't know.
I you know, if it was the old days of the newspaper, right,
everybody's got a beat, and somebody said to me, you've got the
financial beating at college athletics, I'm like, no, I want to go
cover football, to go cover back. Sorry, got to do it.
Yeah, you know, I mean I I you know, I would get
I got pulled in a few times because you know, over at the paper
they knew I was big sports fan and stuff like that. I got pulled
into a couple of you know, small projects where they needed a news reporter
voice in it. But also, you know, I had to have a
sports you know, a sports writer side of it too, And and uh,
to me, again, that was covering news. That was that wasn't
covering sports, you know. I mean I was happy to do it because
there was sports related, but I didn't feel like a sports writer covering that.
I felt like a news reporter, you know, covering that stuff.
It's a different voice. Yeah, you're approaching a completely different way. You're
not thinking about players and coaches. You're you're thinking about whether it's a crime
or you know, some sort of an issue that uh, you know you
have to do. I mean, the thing that I'm talking about is that
I got pulled in to do a piece where we got ahold of the depositions
from the from the lawsuit by Ben Lindsay against the u of A. You
remember he sued for his for his money in his contract, and there were
a bunch of depositions that told the story of why he got fired, how
he got fired, that you know, the all the behind the scenes stuff
that went on with hiring Loot. And we did a three part series on
that, and it was really interesting stuff because it was like stuff that you
didn't hear. But they all, they had all, they had all been
deposed, everybody from Lude Olsen to Jack Rickord, you know the citizen guy
who was was covering to uh George Khalill was one of them, you know,
people around the athletic and we read all these depositions, and he read
it. And I was in the news department at the time, and I'm
reading that stuff like I was covering the courthouse at the time, So I
was reading it like a courthouse. This is got to be the early nineties,
lad, It would have been in the It would have been in the
mid eighties, mid eighties. I remember that. Well, you must have
been just starting the newspapers. No, I started in eighty and seventy nine.
Actuals, Oh really, what were you doing in the mid eighties and
not sports? I went. I covered news up to minute until eighty five
news news, I mean nineteen eighty So you were that was a news story
then. Of course, Oh you know what. I might have been in
the sports department, but they got me on it because I covered the court,
right right. So that's why that's why I'll have to go look back
and see when that ran. I've heard, because it wasn't. I think
there's a late eadies because a guy named Mark Turner, Remember Mark Turner?
No, he was no, you know what is backwards? Mark was covering
courts. I was in sports. So this had to be in the eighties.
It was late eighties. That's why it reminds me of It was in
the summertime. Mark was Mark was covering in the federal courthouse. I was
covering sports. But it was it led to that trial that they had and
Ben Lindsay got a bunch of his you got a bunch of his money.
But we we wrote about the you know, the depositions were public record,
right, We wrote a three piece thing on and it was like it was
the thing from the firing of Ben lin Well, the Ben Lindsay season thing
He's firing and Lout's hiring. Yeah, right, because it was just that
one year and yeah, I said, you're going out to find Luke.
It's funny, I told you the story. I think I have. Uh
So my book, my third book, the Box Book, in the Cool
Book. It came out with pe do you have an extra? I need
one? So for by the price for by price. So that came out
a few months in. I get a call from my publisher. You probably
heard the story. I got a call from my publisher, Steve. We
have a disturbing thing to talk to you about. We got a call.
He was very adamant that there was a fact, that there was a big
fact in the book that was totally incorrect. And I'm thinking, pissed,
what could it be? And he says, what could it be? He
says, well, it's on page twenty four and you write that the team
was four and twenty four and probably at the lowest point in basketball history or
whatever. Blah blah blah. And I'm thinking, it's true. What's wrong
with that? I said, who would call you on that? Some guy
named Ben Lindsay. That's who they said. I said, I'll never mind
forget him. No, that's why he's calling. He's complaining I never heard
that. But it was like, who would call and say that? Look
that up. It's in the forward And actually, uh, Briden Jeffrey was
part of Brien Jeffery's kind of forward because Sean Elliott did the forward and it
was like, what could have been? What could have forward? At the
bottom of the thing. So who would have called you on that? Ben
himself? And I was like scared of crop. Funny, that's I have
never heard that. Yeah, I do have two of those. I think
one my wife got from you and got got it signed by Luke, and
then I got another one that same year. That's true because I remember that
from my niece. I've got to those things. So yeah, I'll tell
you what, well, I'll have to look it up. I'll have to
see what they're going for on eBay. They were going for a lot one
time, I know at one point, and I missed that boat, missed
that train. I definitely did. Okay, hey, good show. We
just got a couple of minutes. No more calls. We can't take more.
But uh yeah, okay again tomorrow Dan Dan Grera was going to join
us. I get get. I want to get a knee deep into some
of this stuff about coaching hires and just the atmosphere out there for all of
this stuff, because you know, you hear about seventy seven million dollar buyouts
and you know, uh, and what are you know, what what kind
of position are are I mean you, I mean, as you said,
why do you use these and everybody knows everybody. Yeah, you know,
and and apparently you know there's a business to it because people like Dan Guerrero
are working for him, right, and then and they are you know,
and I'm sure I'm sure Coach X are calling these guys, yeah, saying
hey, hey, get me in there, get me on the list because
I'm interesting. Yeah, because that's what these guys are trying to think.
They're there, they got clients, and they're trying to get that highed.
And here's your question to you, your your coach, your ex coach,
right, and I'm the reporter, says, have you talked to any of
the schools? Uh? Have you talked to X school about the job?
Right? And you can say no, I haven't, No, I haven't
without line, without line, right, because that guy has because exactly,
it's it's it's a it's a big game. It's a game. And I'd
be interested. I'm gonna be interested to see what what Dan says about that.
He's a friendly guy. We had him on once before fun he and
so, uh, well, we'll we'll go through all that. But it's
fascinating stuff is the business of college athletics becomes more and more business. I
mean, we're just talking about how we really don't want to do with that,
but we're gonna do it tomorrow, so make sure to stick around.
Dan's gonna be on at three. Was a good show, A nice job.
Yeah, and thank you Jeff Hammerschmid for keeping it clean. Thank you
Henry for the work today. And we will see you guys tomorrow