Pretty live. I mean my heart radio whip. This is I on the
Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports Sport Teams. Hey,
welcome back at to us tell you in the ball. I'm Steve, He's
Jake Jason with the breaking news. Yes, I on the ball, breaking
news. Okay. Um. One of the most accomplished UM sluggers in Arizona
baseball history, outfielder Davis has been selected as a second team All American by
the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association today. Yep, I don't know why he's
not first team, but okay, um again one of the prettiest swings ever
in Arizona. He had some bombs out there. Um love seeing him.
Uh didn't like wait he finished, but obviously, uh, you know,
well deserved I think right, Yeah, okay, Uh fourth standout Wildcats picked
up all regional honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association. Um his first basement,
Kiko Romero and Alfield or Chase Davis who picked the first team selections,
will shortstop Nick mcclargery, um In Alfield Mac Bingham or in second team recognition.
Right, we had those guys that that was announced yesterday, but well
deserved for those guys. Again, Arizona was a good team. They just
man just didn't have the pitching to do anything with all the hitting that they
had historic kidding, you know, hitting a team with Kiko Romero setting a
record for our bis, the Arizona men's basketball program and head coach Tommy Lloyd.
And now it's the signing of Lithuanian Paul Yes Morauskas to a national letter
of intent. Yeah, that came out about two weeks. Well it was
that, yeah, he committed or the Actually I don't think it was ever.
It was like sources saying yeah, yeah, yeaha so it's official.
Now he signed his letter, He's coming. I think Tommy's a rosters set
a passport you for you? Well, seven seven in national players again,
I think they were eight last year. Work there? Yeah about that seven
or the first seven or seven this year? Friend? Uh? Some national
news. The Washington Wizards and Bradley Beale will work together to find a trade
for a three time All Star if the team elects to reset the ross in
your future? When was the last time the Washington Wizards were good. It's
been a while. Let me tell you. I guess who was an assistant
coacher A friend of mine. A friend of mine went to school with him
college. He was the GM. One of the reasons why they were that
good. They just released him in April. And guess who's whose assistant coacher?
Jb Oh, that's right, that's right. I forgot that. Why
did they think he was with He's with Washington. No, he had been
with the Tea with Wizards. He tried maybe to get this out, but
he's still there because I was the boss. No, No, Milwaukee,
Milwaukee, Okay, all right, yeah, um, Bradley Beel just played
on his first um year of his new five year, two hundred and fifty
one million dollar contract. By the way, he also has no trade cause
in his deal, so he can kind of pick where he wants to go.
Well, our guy Jody Aylor mentioned that he should be sent to the
Phoenix sunse for he'd be great with Booker and uh, if you, I
don't know what they'd have to give up or whatever, maybe Aden or whatever,
but to go run ahead if it can make it work, that would
be a very nice trio. Um. I don't know how much how much
defense it is gonna be played, but a lot of scoring. Most of
three guys. Defense. We don't need no stinking defense. I don't know
about they didn't have any of the last Okay, Rico Hines is joining the
seventy six ers as an assistant. Um College. That's the name we haven't
heard of this time UCLA, Right, yeah, yeah, Raven's first pick
first round picks A Flowers recent agreement on a four year deal for a fourteen
million, fully guaranteed contract with a seven point two million signing bonus to be
paid in twenty twenty three. He imagine what was he? Who was he
making last year, you know in college? Probably a lot, but you
know, yeah, but I mean seven, All of a sudden, you've
got seven million dollars in your bank And I know he doesn't get it all
because it's taxes and you gotta pay your agent and YadA, YadA, YadA.
But still, all of a sudden you look at your bank account and
there's seven figures in there. What the hell? What's that? What's that?
Gotta be like? Man, can't tell you what are you buying?
First? Jason? Um, I need a car. I'll probablyout by my
dad a car or a new house or something like a car house. Yeah.
They played an old clip of on Dan Patrick Show, they played an
old clip of Big Poppy and uh and um uh. Dan Patrick asked him,
you know what's the nicest car you know you bought or you you you
ever owned? H you know when? And he said a Lamborghini and and
perhaps he goes what color was it? He goes which one? He had
a white one and the yellow one. He didn't say that, and then
he said which one and then so then he asked him, you know what's
the fastest you ever drove one of those? And he said, in the
Dominican Republic on a road he got it up to two hundred miles an hour.
What the why? Just because he could? Yeah, he said,
because you could. He said, you couldn't do that in the United States.
But down the Dominiment Republic, he said, he said, there's a
road somewhere that there's no traffic and it's straight and you can go as fast
as you want. He said, he was going two hundred miles an hour
for about five minutes. That would never do that, Never do Quarterback Kirk
Cousins has confirmed that he doesn't expect to have a further contract extension talks to
this office. He's been meaning he set out to play in the final year
of his deal and he's going to be scheduled to being free agents the next
off season. Chris, Chris our guy in the country. Stay will love
that hat because he's not a winner. Okay, guy, he doesn't win
enough money for for Chris, it's like, I don't know how he's been
getting paid, but money he's been getting paid. But he's a really good
agent. I guess it's called the Tony romot. I guess. Yeah,
a lot of a lot of yards but no championship. Well again, there's
probably what maybe fifty good professional quarterbacks in the whole world, and if you're
considered one of them, and if you're number forty nine, right, you're
making a bunch of money. Well it's what's the doctor thing? You know,
you go to school and you're the second to less guy to graduate from
the school. What they call you doctor? Doctor? Still the doctor absolutely,
just don't operate on me. North Carolina has legalized sports Campbell. Ye,
yes, some more degenerous the bill. The bill was signed. Roy
Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, signed the bill today. Um he
signed it at at where, the home of the Charlotte Hornets. It's a
big deal. They've already said that eight arenas and stadiums in the state will
be able to host sports book betting will launch no later than June of twenty
twenty four, so they'll get it going just in time for U for football
next season. They got to put some things together. Um and uh,
it says it's a brick and mortar. Oh, they've allowed online betting.
Okay, brick and mortar betting has been has been legal since twenty nineteen,
meaning you know, sports books and stuff like that, but you will now
be able to do online betting, which makes it a whole lot to You
can bet anytime anywhere, unless you're in the NFL. You can't bet from
your your team facility, so we know that, right. Yeah, well,
yeah, you know there's a lot of that. You're starting to see
a lot of stories about concern that too much gambling is going on by players
even though they know, yeah, they're not supposed to. Yeah, they
know you can get kicked out of the league for it. I think I
also make today about a player losing like eight million yeah for dollars, didn't
name the name? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like, that's
the same. Can't you know, how does that even? Like you can't
risk it? But you know they do. You know, Um, I'm
pretty sure if I'm making twenty million dollars a year playing basketball, I can
probably stay away, Like there are other avenues to make extra income if you
really need. If it's about the income, then you've got a problem.
It's not about it. It's about the jew Yeah, I guess so.
Yeah. Um. The Portland Trailblazers reported that they are not interested in trading
Damian Lillard right now. So damon name, what is the name? Keep
coming up? It's good, it's really good. I know he's get some
guys they need Portland. It's not going to be the team. The guys
they have more work to do than most other teams. Yeah, it's it's
like the It's like the it's like the the Anaheim Angels or the Los Angeles
Angels too. The best players in the history of baseball on their team,
Yet they don't go out and get other guys to make the team really good.
Why not? I mean they tried CJ and him for a while,
that didn't work, and then they got dremmy grants, um, and then
that didn't work. It's just one of those franchises. Yeah, it too
was cursed. Come on, they gave up on Michael Jordan. They didn't
go for him, they went for somebody else, say samboe. Uh,
there's been a lot of that going around. Just they don't They're just not
good at it. They're good when Damon was there, Damon I think for
a little while, the Trio Blazers. Yeah, yeah, um, okay,
do you have an else? So? So I had something today on
Facebook after looking up stuff. Uh, did you see that the athletic did
a group of their top seventy five? Ish? I think he could have
been more than that top basketball players. Did you see my note? No?
Okay, So how high do you think that is? Zulas? Probably
about fifty eight? What about you? Senior? Sixty two? The god
I want to see thirty five, But I don't think that. I don't
think that's right. Let me let me go to what because I thought I
thought it was he's in if he's in the thirty, it wasn't. I
don't think it was likely to get drafted. Sixty five, okay, sixty
five? So someone had said all the comments that that, well he didn't
have a good draft, he didn't have a good gonebine, depends who you
talk to. But he's sixty fifth. He's not going to get drafted.
H Then they say, Yokis wasn't it was in the late second round.
Right, But even if he came back, Jake and Jason, he is
who he is, right, he is who he is whether he came back
or not, he'd still have the same m O next year. Right,
he's not coming back. No, he's not coming back. But he Everyone
says, well, some page and the players us to come back and blah
blah blah. The extra year doesn't mean anything. You are who you are.
I see you. That has always said it. You only have to
get one guy to like, right, if one team likes, he might
get drafted. Right, Well, look at look at and I'm not going
to compare the two. Solomon Hill a pretty good player, a marginal player,
yeah, an NBA player for that long. Okay, you never think
that who had a better creator zone? Who Zulus or Solomon Zulas? Easy?
Right? Yeah? Yeah? So why was Solomon Hill a better NBA?
Just that's it, that's it. Yeah, how you fit in,
Yeah, where you fit in. You're smart, you're you, or that
you can acquire. Sure, but Zulas had a way better career than he
almost had a lot of guys put the school records points in the game,
right, I mean who had a better who had a better career? A
Zulus or Aaron Gordon Zula's career right, yeah, who's a better player?
Well? Yea wow, okay you could you could put up a Zulus's career
with a lot of a lot of them. Yeah, even like Tom Tilbert
and them, Judd Buschler, right, they were very good players, right,
but to the to the the level. Yeah, I don't think jud
j Bushler was you know a Pac twelve or pack Den scoring Champa. Right,
not to pick on JD No, no, no, no, but
he had a great career. Was Judd was a good solid player, good
fundamental player like Luke Walton kind of guy. Right, Yet you know both
of those guys got into the league. And oh I wanted to say,
because I pushed this yesterday with a photo of Bill did you see the Bill
Walton thirty on thirty? Fantastic great stuff you make if you if you,
um we all know him we've had him on the show Lovable, polarizing.
Either you love him or you hate him. We've spent some time with him.
I thought, if you watch it now, you how he can you
not love Bill Wong? How could you not love Bill wall It's it's a
four I thought it was like a two part it's a four part series.
Wow, yesterday was you you? It's like a book. You'll want to
watch the next one? You want on one? I saw the final one
yesterday and it almost brought you to tears. And all the stuff that he
had to go through. Did you know he was going to Stanford to become
a lawyer? No, exactly for stuff. There's stuff that you that he
lost everything, that he lost everything. Uh, that that he was a
point where Luke was going to help him financially to save the house and stuff.
I mean, come on, this is stuff that you don't know.
Wow, right, she was suicidal? Talks about that. I remember,
I kind of remember that because all the injuries and stuff and and his Yeah,
he had nothing left. Wow. It's a fantastic story. Fantastic story.
It's hard to watch him walk, right, it's painful to watch He
talks about that with the injuries and how that all went through in the in
the Celtics stuff with Larry Bird. Just it's just an amazing story. I'll
watch it, you know what. I'll watch it and then you'll get it.
We'll go get him to come on the show and time. Yeah I
was, I was trying to get that to happen. Yeah. So yeah,
you'll watch it and we'll see what. Okay, all right, sounds
good, sounds good. Um, just real quick, um, Uh,
both the ESPN and UH and the Atlanta Journal Constitution have done sort of an
investigation into Georgia football players and their driving habits and lack of driving skills.
UH report is that in the in a few months since that wreck that to
to UH football players drag racing, two people got killed. Um. There
have been ten more moving violations among Georgia football players in a total of three
hundred since since about twenty sixteen, all all under Kirby Smart and that the
feeling is that they're if they're whatever they're doing, they're not doing enough to
get these guys to not do that. So so I talked about something else
about the nil stuff. But um, um, yesterday we had Hill she
she made some great points about the nil what it initially do you think?
Do you think? And this has maybe a conversation with those sides after the
after the guest that it'll eventually get to where they initially intended it for.
Well, you'll get to sign autographs, you'll get to do things. Not
that they have to bring you here because they're gonna give you a little money.
I don't know. It's hard for me to think that they'll ever put
that back. I know it's hard for me to think that, yeah,
all right, let's check out. We're gonna come back. Lonnie TAVERTI push
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Alls. It's Steve Rivera and Jakins Sommis. This is I Am the Ball
on Fox Sports fourteen differing. They welcome back to winning the Ball here a
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera alongside partner of Jakin's office, and
I want to probably have Lonnie Tiberti, the Push Ridge Christian Academy, former
coach and athletic. And how does that sound? Well's the first time I've
been announced that it feels good? Apparently? Well, yes and no,
I mean I'm gonna be sixty three in September. Um stepping down his ad
was something that I just knew it was time to do. That kind of
a mutual thing on the girls basketball part. But yeah, it's um,
it's it's the right time. And boy, you guys were saying talk about
memory lane. I can take you down more memory lane than you probably want
to go. That's more here. That's why we're here. This is what
we do, Lonnie, this is what we do. Um. So,
so you know it was there a time that you kind of started thinking about
this that you know, you say it was just time. Um, you
know what, what were some of the things that went into your sense of
all that. Well, I actually had signed a letter of intent to come
back, and then about I would say about a month before the girls basketball
season was over this year, I just had that feeling in my gut of
like, I don't want to compare myself. I was going to tease you
and say I talked to the general manager of the Warriors, and remember he
said, if you can't put everything into it, you got to get out
of it. Well, and in reality, I don't know him, but
it was just one of those things where there's so much that goes on as
an athletic director at a high school, and especially if you're going to do
it the right way, where it's twenty four to seven, it's Saturdays and
Sundays, and that pace of life. I just was going, it needs
to be somebody else. And at the same time, something came up that
I'm going to be doing that I'm excited about. But it was the right
time, and that was the thing that was just stirring on my heart.
And there's a family situation that we're helping out, a family that's seeking asylum
and they live with us and twins running around our house that are about two
years old. They call me Papa, and so I wanted to spend more
time in that situation too, until they finally get their husband over here from
Africa. So life has kind of called you. Yeah, yeah, that's
right. Well, so you know, the twenty years it just like you
know, we were talking about, is that a long time or is it
not? Right? Um? Does it? Did that seem like a long
time to you to be in that job and doing what you did? Well
when I look back on it, yes it does. And then again it
seems like it just was yesterday when some of the memories that I have happened.
But actually it goes back twenty three years from the beginning of push Rich
and seventeen years as athletic director and the twenty three years in the girls basketball
program in seventeen years as a d But yeah, and it goes back even
before that, seven years at a place called Grace Christian School that maybe Jane
knows because we used to play Saint Gregor's as we know it. And that's
where I got my start literally thirty years ago in uh in education athletics.
So so let me ask you about about you know, because I look at
I look at the teams that that you're that you're playing now that you know
you've you've moved, I think you guys are three a correct in sports.
You know back when you know, when I was you know, you talk
about seventeen years and my son started at Saint Gregory fifteen years ago, so
that's when I first became familiar with you. But even in that period of
time, you know, you guys were playing you know, Desert Christian,
uh you know the Gregory School and you know the small schools Now, I
look at your schedule. You've got you know Sabino and CDO and and Ironwood
Ridge, and talk about that growth period and how you got to there.
You know, from being the small school that you were to you know,
being more you know, kind of middle of the road and playing some of
the some of the bigger schools in town. Yeah, that's that's quite the
journey twenty three years ago when we were when I first came over, um
it used to be Teliverty Christian. They played at Man Football. And the
very first year that we played football um Brand McFarlane, who was actually a
trainer for Tony LaRussa when he was with the White Sox. He was our
ad the first six years and the very first football game that we had was
on a Saturday morning because we had no lights, we had no stadium seating
on either side. There was a dirt road coming into the campus. And
the team that we were playing that very first game on a Saturday morning and
it was so hot, was Bobby Kievree and they rolled our team forty something
nothing. They were big, they were huge, they were well coached.
They end up being in the final four, might have been at close to
championship that year. But it started back there where we were in two A
and sometimes we were going to Hayden and Salmon Well away for our region and
other times it was going to the Tombstone and bisbeeing in that direction, kind
of depending how they would divide it up every two years. But you know,
you go along and you try to play better competition. In the summertime,
our girls basketball would be playing the sal Points and whatever, so we
probably got a little head start and playing bigger schools, but we stayed in
two A for a long time. And then in twenty fifteen is where things
really changed. And that's the year that AIA was gonna go a three year
experiment and they were really talking about football where they wanted to put teams down
that have bigger schools that hadn't had success, and they were talking free and
reduced lunch and all this formula. Well, in twenty fifteen, we had
a tremendous sophomore class and we knew, gosh, we can't be playing there
for the next three years with these guys, and so I remember talking to
Troy Cropp, our head coach, and I said, hey, we'll be
maybe five hundred, but we'll be playing teams like Flowing Wells and other schools
you mentioned, and we may not make the playoffs, but what a great
experience it's going to be in the regular season, and so we kind of
bit the bullet. We went into that two fifteen season. We played Benson
the very first game at two A school, they beat us at their place,
and then we won thirteen in a row and won the state championship that
year and had this unbelievable run beating Lake Havasu in the final four almost two
thousand kids in their school, and Northwest Christian in the championshi ship. But
that's that's when it started. And if you'd have told me that we were
going to win the state championship that year and then two years later play cast
Stile in the state championship as well and losing a close game to them,
I would have said, you know, what drugs are you on? Because
never in my wildest dreams that I think that we would be playing for a
five A schools and not really thinking about it. It's not like we run
through everything, but it's it's kind of the norm now, and so that
that has been something where you just know it's out of your hands. The
right people come along, the right kids, and you watch it happen and
you're a part of it. So I was just going to ask you if
you can give us some lights, and you did, what are you going
to do? And I asked this about the former athletes and administrators who are
in this game. What are you going to do to kind of carry you
through in your competitive juices? Well, it's funny used to say that,
because this isn't really out there. So you're making me say stuff that I
haven't even told the Pushbridgid everybody there. I don't mind. I am.
I am going to be working with the school called Premier Prep. It's brand
new. Marty Roth has been working with the Volunteers Basketball Organization in the last
few years. He was a longtime assistant at Amphi and then the head coach
at Sabino and he and I had go back thirty years. And so let's
say online in person school that's really trying to cater towards athletes and playing in
the Charter School League as well as the Open League and even has a basketball
team that got invited to the YBL circuit for this next year on the boys
side. And I'm hoping to start something on the girls side, whether it's
in the Charter School League, you know, and eventually at wherever it would
go. But I've been at six practices this summer with that group that's going
to go to Grand Canyon this Friday. But I'm going to be a part
of that school. And we're really the two facility tators that are really starting
to school from scratch. That's um based out of Phoenix and a couple of
people that were with the Leading Edge Academy school system and they're the owners of
it, and we're the branch that's starting in Tucson. Wow. So then
this is that this is all You're not retiring. Well, I'm taking social
Security. I can only make twenty one thousand something, which they were glad
to hear that they would hire me before that exactly. And and yes,
and so I'm not retiring. I'm just not. I suck at golf and
I'm not that fype of guy that would be. I mean, I'm going
to be involved in something and and I'm I've met these eighteen to twenty guys
that have been practicing and that have been part of this organization. They play
club somewhere else, but they play their high school with us, and it's
our school. And you know it's funny. In six practice, I've fallen
in love with these guys, and I needed to have that because it's it's
tough saying goodbye to something that you've been a part of twenty three years.
Yeah, no question, we wanted to ask you twenty years or twenty three
years, however it's been, how has the game changed? And maybe your
style to comedy? Wow, you know, as far as style there was,
I would say for me personally, and then I'll give the overview of
what I think is the challenge for all coaches. I would say, for
me personally, I was a man to man guy and almost thought as an
insult if you did anything else and excused if I lost to somebody, if
they played a junk triangle in two or one, you know whatever, And
really as time went by, just saying, you know, I got to
be adaptable to whatever is out there that gives us the team the best chance
to win and just swallow some of your pride and just realizing, let's find
the best way to do it. But I'd say the biggest change is not
so much on the court, and that I was literally talking to a friend
the other day when we were winning state championships and early in my coaching career,
and it didn't realize how fortunate I was. Back then. I was
really tough on the girgles. I mean, I think I pointed out every
mistake they made in a practice. You would hear me constantly talking during games,
and I look back on it and I'm going, I can't even come
close to that now. And yet I have more issues going on probably now
that you see for all coaches and personally than you did back then when I
feel like I was a little bit of an ogre. And I think the
real issue is this is back then, the parents that we had, they
trusted you that even if you didn't do things exactly the way they want,
that you cared about their kid and they really would tell their kid go talk
to the coach and they would absolutely need to step in if things didn't go
right from that conversation or you know, some time going by. But I
think that's what hurts. I think all kids would fall in line with the
leaders on the team and the ones that are really going for it, but
with great intentions. I think parents get too involved and the short circuit what
is kind of should be a natural thing of growing in learning things the hard
way in an environment that's going to be the best one they're going to probably
be in for the rest of their life and you know, going on to
work and beyond when they leave their parents' homes. I think that's the biggest
change. Basketball's still about fundamentals and players making plays and stuff like that.
Well, now that I have you and Jay both coaches, and I being
a parent of some players, I think, and I'm being very serious with
this, the worst thing to happen to kids today are their parents. They
don't let them be kids and let them learn from the coaches. Well,
we that is so true. We actually had a mandatory parent meeting at push
Ridge that we do and through this organization called three D Coaching, they did
a survey one gentleman did and he talked to high school athletes, a ton
of them, and he asked what was their most disappointing experience in athletics,
and it was something like seventy percent of them said to ride home with the
parents. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. We didn't. And we didn't say
that to try to make parents feel bad. We were trying to let them
know, hey, partner with us. This is a tough thing that we're
trying to do, you know, And and here's how you can help.
So I would agree with you. That's just I don't think they realize the
damage they're doing and how they're actually hindering what they really want for their kids.
Yeah. All great points. And I think you know what, whether
you coach you know, T ball or Little league or whatever up you know,
up to high school or you know, into college, I mean that
that is the deal. It's like, as a coach, you just want
your parents to let you coach, and if they have issues with it,
then you know, deal with the kid. And the whole idea to me
has always been, you know, you're growing here and experience of this and
this is where you get away from your parents and the way they you know,
try and and drive you. But I man, everything you said there
just made so much sense to me, both as a coach and as a
parent, you know, and I was that parent that you know if my
kids never had issues like that. But I'm pretty sure if they would have
said, Dad, I'm having this problem with this coach, I'm able to
you to go talk to the coach. Uh yeah, yeah, so will
you be It's interesting way you're moving to online, but still still, how
will this affect you in terms of being a coach or an administrator with the
parents or is it different. Well, really, what it is is uh
a gentleman I name Marty Rolls and myself. We're really talking about twenty to
thirty five kids or so um that would be meeting three times a week and
we're they're making sure they're on task of their online assignments. Then we actually
add some classes to it, and then with weight training and things like that,
and then there's one day a week where it's they can come in and
get tutoring, work on their game, whatever it is we do. And
then they have Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and it's really catered towards those
kids that are in club, you know, in the year round and trying
to help them out with their schedule. We even have some gymnasts, some
girl gymnasts that are going you know, they're checking out of school at noon
a lot of times to go and you know how grueling it is, and
it's like, wait a minute, this might be a whole lot better for
you to not be always making up stuff, but being able to create your
own type of schedule with the two of us making sure we're that kind of
life coach, you know, social, mental, whatever we need to be.
We're there with them every day and making sure they stay on task.
And then if they happen to be girls basketball players or boys basketing players,
he and I are coaching them. But it's open to anybody in town,
even if they're not an athlete. But that's what it's geared towards is trying
to make a unique schedule and a high brid model as opposed to just everything
online and then don't go to your sports somewhere else. The interesting model that
you guys that look like you're putting together. Boy, it'll be interesting to
see how this turns out for you all. The best of luck with that.
Well, yeah, I'm excited about it and we'll see where that leads.
Well, thanks a bunch for joining us today. Can I do one
thing? Absolutely? I would just like, since I'm going to be leaving,
I would like to say, and that's not like they're all going to
be listening, but since I'm old and I don't remember everybody's names anymore,
I just want to say thank you to all of the coaches and all of
the parents. And we've had fantastic parents and the and the student athletes that
Push Ridge that have made the last twenty three years great memories for a lot
of people in the city of Tucson, but specifically me and the others involved.
I just thank you to the push Ridge family and thank you to you
guys for allowing me to do that. Well said Lonnie. Best of luck
with all of that. Thank you, joy, guys, appreciate it.
Be well, be Wellni TAVERTI. Well, that's a that's an interesting concept,
uh that they got going up. Yeah, you know, you know,
at some point we'll have to see if we you know, we get
him back. Just ye, that's going, Yeah, that's going. Yeah,
okay, all right, let's go and take our our last break of
the day, and uh, well, thank your comments any of that.
You know, we were talking about parents and coaches. Man, that's a
that's an issue that goes all the way down to I mean seriously, down
to t ball. Oh yeah, down to keyball. So let's let's go
and take the break and we'll come back and uh take your calls five to
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Streaming live on the I Heart Radiom. This is I on the Ball with
Steve Ribera and Jay Gonzalez on Box Sports fourteen Fifth Day. Hey, welcome
back to on the Ball here on Box Sports fourteen. Cookie, I'm Steve
rob He's Jakensars. Got our guy, Jason. What's your last name?
Jason Day day day? Okay, I can't remember through you're reading your resume,
but put them. He put them in your context, and I've got
a first name in my contact. Appreciate that I know who I'm talking about,
the one that brought him here. It's okay, Jason, come on,
he's my guy, Jason. That's all I need to know. Okay,
I got a question. First name, basis, did you coach much
lady Okaya or okay or just through your kids playing sports and stuff like that.
What was the worst parent experience that you had? And that's something that
you did something or maybe it was maybe it was something you did. This
is kind of funny, but it's kind of strange because you know, I'm
gone so much for basketball, blah blah blah. I don't even know.
It is kind of stupid. So my kid, my youngest son, my
youngest son was playing tea ball after playing soccer. But he was like eight
six years old whatever it was, and he was halfway decent. And I
was gone for basketball. But I came and I was still coaching the kids,
and I was gone for a little like a week or so. So
some other and I had an assistant and some other parent, some other parent
kind of kind of helped out a little. And I guess he figured my
my wife at the time single because I was never around. He was scamming
on your wife. So when I came back, when I came back,
he was like, who's this dude? Who's this dude? You see my
wife? You know, I tried to move and I'm no, I was
just like I asked her, who does he think he is? That's who
we're going to go. Yeah, to be it was the funny story.
Doesn't come on with the girl. He should be flattered. Yeah, I'm
saying, come on, dude, I'm going to go for a week,
you know, man boy. So that's why, coach, you need to
mark your character one of the story. That's the story. That's just that
was way way off from where that was gonna go. But I love,
I love I would do that today. And you know, in fact,
our guy what's his name with the kids, him and his wife, Um,
right right, I'm sure they're still doing it. Oh yeah, no,
they're right. I would love to do that just because I love hanging
out, you know, teaching kids. You don't think I see him out
that because he's the he's the he runs the stack computer for the Sugar Sculls.
Plus I golf with them all the time. He said, the business
is going great. Oh, I'm it's a perfect idea, perfect idea,
and you know, teaching the kids how to do things, and it's it's
all repetitive. Um, I mean, can I say go ahead? And
say what you're gonna say, not ahead. So I took us screenshot of
something that YO kids said last night. I hope I did at least.
And it's and it's perfect for perfect for anything. Okay. So he was
quoted last night or the day before. I just played basketball. I don't
jump high, I don't run fast. Basketball is about teammates. When I'm
open, I score when I'm not. I pass. Yeah, simple basketball,
isn't it. Yeah? Right, you hit the ball, you throw
the ball, you catch the ball, right exactly exactly, breaking it down
into the simple thing. Come on, and I'll just go because we talk
about this year all the time, twenty seventeen DeAndre Trier all kinds rustics.
If they just played that way, that team would have been fantastic. One
ball, get to the open, guy, shoot when you open. That
team didn't know how to do that. You know. It's funny. Um,
last night sitting around watching TV hit getting ready to hit the sack,
and I was your channel surfing and came across the UCLA you of a back
twelve tournament championship game, which which from this year this last year, okay,
And it was in the second half and you know, and you know
because I when you know, when I the time I saw it, you
know, I saw it live. It was right in front of me.
Uh, you're not watching it because you're you're not watching it because you're not
doing the stats. Ye yeah, yeah, no, that this is that
up in Vegas. I'm not doing stats. I'm I'm watching the game,
but you know, kind of caught up in the atmosphere in the whole bit.
But watching the watching the game on TV like that. You really got
a sense of that with with Tommy Lloyd's team, right, is that you
had five guys on the court and it didn't matter. You know, kyl
and Boswell was on the court, uh, Kurk Creaso was on the court,
you know whoever. And you you watch Tommy Lloyd's offense, offense and
he's not just his offense, but you know, everything that they did was
so simple. It's really simple. For the ball will find the open,
right, It's really really simple. It's that you get the ball and if
you're open, you take the shot, and if you're not, you get
it to somebody who is open or might be open. And you watch how
they passed the ball and you go this is not that hard. Uh.
And maybe that's why he was able to be so good so fast, right,
right, because I think he simplified the game for these guys. There
wasn't a pack line defense, right or whatever, you know, whatever it
was. It was just these guys were out there running basketball probably like they
played growing up, you know, on the on the playground, after having
not been able to play that way before. Right, That's why that's that's
part of his secret souce. I mean, he's he's not coach, But
like I said, you have a you have a dad who's strict and do
this and do that, uh, and then you have a step dad who
says, no, you can have ice cream at eleven. Don't worry about
it. Yeah, you know it's fine, right, and you get to
say, hey, look we can stay up play. But you remember the
shot that that um the name Rainy hit, the three partner that he hit
escentually won the game game right, And you watch a plan and I ran
it back a couple of times just to see how that played. Paul found
him. Yeah. Right. There was a ball came off the came off
the rim. Pelly Larson tossed it to somebody who tossed it to Rami and
then he just made a quick step up, you know, and a step
back jumper, and he made it and it was like the ball found the
open guy. And and that's that's what's so simple about what Tommy Lloyd does.
And I don't think people realize how simple it is because they've been so
used to the uh yeah, the structure of what Sean Miller was doing.
Yeah, and let me say this, I think Yukon did that too,
where they played as a team. Maybe not in the same situation. They
played as a team, and teams win championships and all that cliche, but
it's true. It is true, one hundred percent true. Look at Denver
didn't do this to the extent that Golden State does it because Golden State,
you know, can have a two footer and they pass it up for a
three ft three pointer. But but they had the two guys Murray had.
But the other dudes complimented every every situation. And I know we bring this
one up at but the DeAndre Ayton team, they had arguably or at least
a guy who was in the discussion for the best player in college basketball,
and yet they were terrible with two dudes that were pretty dulling, right,
and they were terrible in that in that NC Double A tournament game because everybody
had to get theirs. And then you you know, then you go to
this, you know, and I get it aarzone lost the Prince in the
whole bit. But you if you go watch that UCLA game, you know,
you see LA had some stars, you know, uh you know,
Uh, I'm Jimie Hawk, is Amri Bailey, you know all those guys
they were really good. They were missing one of their they were missing Yeah,
good player. But nonetheless you just watched watching it on TV versus watching
it in the arena. Um, you see how simple really it really is
what Tommy Lloyd does. Why then you feel you feel like, okay,
they're gonna have a bunch of new guys again this year, and they're they're
gonna run the same stuff and do the same thing and probably win a bunch
of game. And that's and that's what makes them special. Uh, here's
the problem with this whole situation. And he said this on the podium,
Uh, you can have you can go twenty five and seven, you can
go thirty three and two. If you don't win in March. You're gonna
be crushed. Yeah, because that's when it matters. No one will remember
the Duke game, No one'll remember the Alabama game. Unless you do well
in our arch. You're not you're not great on anything else. And you
know, Arizona fans need to be ready that Arizona's gonna lose some of those
games, oh very much, so very much so well, you know,
and us talking about it because it's even you know, it's gonna be on
Twitter and Facebook saying what Yeah, No, they're gonna listen some of those
games. But you know what, they're gonna be better for playing. And
that's the that's what's bothering. Why other schools, that's the point. Why
schools and now that's Arizonally did it for a long time too, won't play
those games. Play them because you're gonna be better for that, and you're
gonna be beating cal State. You know, Southern Louis subisious or somebody totally
get it, totally get it. In fact, I'll just bring this cautiously.
A lot of people who love Sean before he left team says, well,
he's a winner. Yes, he had a lot of wins, but
more than fifty those games came up again, came up against Northern Arizona or
lower. Those are fifty sixty wins that that we know the quality of games
were not very good, right, No, it wasn't. Those are bad
schedules for a long period of time, and and and you hated to see
it. So I'm loving the schedule, man, regardless of where the games
are. Guess, you know, playing people they're gonna talk to talk about
him on ESPN and on Fox and and everywhere else and CBS and the big
games. Those are gonna be games that you know, Arizona is gonna be
you know, in in the spotlight a lot this coming year. And I'm
really looking forward to that. Uh, you know, I'll be interested to
see what Tommy has to say about it. As you know we get close
to the season, he's had a look at his team. You know,
of course he's gonna say, you know why we're going in there to win
all those games. We're playing them because they're good for our team. Right,
I'm looking forward to here. It's great, it's great, and he's
it's the Gonzaga model, it's the loot awesome model to play him early see
what you need to work on, right, See how tough you're gonna be?
Yeah, and I say tough just how good you need to be,
right because I don't know if they're gonna be tough again? No again,
I mean you know what was it? You know the ninety seventh season,
Right, they didn't they play North Carolina like they played in the second,
second, third game? Yeah, I remember that Miles was not available,
right, he wasn't available yet they went over they went over to North Carolina.
No, they played Charlotte, right, No, they played in Springfield.
It was the Hall of Fame game. Okay, but it is on
the East Coast. So they go over there and they win that game.
Yeah, and who knew? Well, the thing is, that's when Michael
Dickerson, who's this kid? Yeah, I mean yeah, he had played
well before, but he had to step up because Miles was not a round.
Right. But you know, you can you can see some things and
it's like all right, you know, and then you know, winning the
game like that early sure gives you hope the whole rest of the year.
You say, no matter what, we were able to do that, you
know where we're capable. Yeah, and then if it fifth in the league,
fifth in the league, or so bad when Luke Luke punted the ball
at the Oregon State game, crazy crazy times, crazy times, And how
piss they were after he missed it on that too. I can't remember.
I can't. I don't think that was that your It was a your year
of eighty eight ish when he got pissed, got pissed after losing the first
couple of games in Oregon. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, eight
No, eighty eight years they only lost three games. No, no,
well maybe it was eighty nine when they went to Oregon. They lost early
and he was they were playing hard, blah blah blah. But that year
that was the blow up was in cal and Staff. Remember they lost the
plast two. Yeah, Phil Johnson went went crazy in the locker room,
and then they started winning. Who knows. We never know what's gonna set
you off. Yeah, that's gonna set you up. I mean, come
on, yeah, no again looking forward? So all right, so I'm
gonna tell my little my my parents story. Okay, so I'm coaching.
It's the first year that the kids are pitching. Okay, so we were
past coaches pitched the kids. So they're maybe nine years old, eight or
eight or nine years old. So we had you know, you always have
the one or two kids that aren't very good. They don't play much.
And but this one kid, he comes up to us during the practice.
Can I try pitching? We said sure. So he gets up there and
he pitched some batting practice and he was fine and everything, like nine maybe
nine. Okay, So so we're at last game of the year, um
and we're just playing games. Don't mean anything, right, So we put
the kid on the mound. He goes out to We put him to go
out to pitch. Okay, you're gonna pitch this game, last inning.
You're gonna go pitch. And his dad comes flaming out of the bleachers,
comes screaming at us at the dug out. What are you doing? You
put in them out there. You're gonna embarrass him. You're gonna ruin I.
You're gonnambras him. He's never gonna want to play baseball, guys,
sir, go sit down, Yeah, just go sit down right now,
all right, don't you do not come over here and do this. Sit
down and let your kid play. Kid strikes out the side. He struck
out the side. He threw strikes, struck out, the side, came
off, the came off the did you hear back from the no? The
words did not gy. I looked at the bit, I looked at the
bleacher, sees this guy gonna come and apologize for us. He did not,
And I said, that's a bad dad. Yeah, oh yeah,
of course that's a bad dad. It's funny you see those, uh those
there's things on Instagram where the coach goes out and tells the coach tells the
player, you know, it looks like you're gonna be somebody other than a
baseball player. All that. But the kid and the kid probably did this
day. He probably still thinks about that day. Who's both of the little
kid? Okay, he's parting little barrass because the dad. Yeah yeah,
but the look kid probably thinks about that day that he went out and pitch
for the first time and did what he did. And the coach already talked
about this. I know we have very little time, but the drive home
it's the worst time because your parents as well explaining can you explain yourself blah
blah blah. Yeah, enough enough of that, Yeah, all right,
there is there is pre baby. Yeah, we are preaching, man,
we are said, definitely are okay. We had a good time. Hey,
Brian Jefferies is on tomorrow. Just let you know, Steve, we're
gonna have him on. We'll wrap up some of the you of a bill
be school year right and how they did so, we'll get Brian on along
with another great guest. I'll be sure to be back tomorrow. Wills see
you tomorrow. I'm running through the world like a running back up Wolls running
running back out. Thirty thousand people in here and a me