This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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two, SAG and iHeartRadio Station Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody.
Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve
Rivera, He's jaggins awas got our guy, Sammy. What's your last name
again? Ska Sebolca. I just put your resumes of the ward night for
gusual last day. So, Jay, I was, I was, we
have we inched closure to a basketball game here on Saturday. You have one
tomorrow, right, is it? Yeah? When lay tomorrow? You see
Sandiego. So I was on the internet of the interweb last night and listen
and then this morning and just kind of on Twitter. You know the stuff
that you you you I saw some stuff at Grand Canyon. They beat uh
San Diego State, Yeah and uh a rank and yeah. So the first
time they've beaten somebody at home. I think it was. Uh, let
me ask you something, how would you have you seen their crowd? It's
a crazy I went to a game there. Frankin mcbula, the kid that
played right now, he was playing in st when he was playing at Saint
Edwards. He had a game there and back this was ten fifteen, Uh
five years no, five years. Ye, he's gone along. They graduated
from high school in twenty fourteen. So so you've seen you okay, five
six years ago it was he had a game there. Yeah, and so
we went up for that and even then it was not okay. So this
is what I was gonna go with there. Just this is random because it's
gotten a random Wednesday. And have you seen did you see videos? Oh
I've been to multiple game Okay, so goods good? So how I want
to compare and contrast and blah blah blah. So how would you rate uh
Arizona student section best? Not like that part of it? Part of it
you if you've been to that arena, the fans are right on top of
the floor. They're not on the on the side, on the side,
on the side, yeah, the right, I mean you're right on the
floor. So it's a it is a smaller group because it's a smaller arena,
but they're yeah, they're Arizona fan. Arizona's students don't do what they
do, don't do? Because I saw Kansas State stuff. Did you see
Kansas State video last night? Oh? Yeah, I did. I did.
That was crazy because the game winner. Yeah. And I'm thinking,
and I've said this for a long time because when I got here late in
the late in the eighties, and you've been here a long time to see
many games, and I guess at one time they did have the students on
the side. Did they have on the side? Yes? How did that
go? Oh? And that that was that was when I was in school,
and that was that was what what what the UVA used to do with
what the A had is the lower sections, well you remember what it used
to be, the blue and then the red. Okay, the lower sections
behind the benches were students. No, we're the fans. The other three
sections around the floor, so the ends on the other side were bleachers about
to the first railing, okay, but ten row, not twenty, no,
not probably ten rows concourse, not to the concourse about halfway up the
rail right was bleachers. And so that's that's when the arena, the capacity
there was fifteen and change because of that, and that's where I sat as
a student and that's when we rushed the floor when they beat U C.
L A and seventy eight. It happened really fast because the fans are and
they just ran. Well, that's kind of what happened, if sited Grand
Kenny. The only reason I bring it up, and it was brand this
is random, of course, is that everyone has the number one basketball team
in the country, and I don't think and maybe people will be pissed at
me that the student section represents the number one team in the country. Well,
well, and here's the here's the deal. It's sort of a yes,
no, I agree, and it's sort of a I was gonna tell
you why I think what it's a it's like a chicken and egg thing,
all right. The students want to be closer to the floor, they want
to be on the side, right, but they're not doing what they need
to do to get themselves tree on the side. You know again it you
know, we used to be around, you know, around the floor of
the court. But when they could sell those tickets. Now they're never gonna
it's never gonna go the other way. They're never gonna get those seats.
And we'll talk about Sammy because Sammy just said he should. They should do
that, but but it's not gonna happen. I know it's not gonna and
but part of it is they don't do enough. There are times when there
aren't enough. The students don't fill up what they have. The topic might
be a good one. We've got to call it higher on the air and
nine and the ball. Hey, I want to sign about the students section
for you back, Okay, let's hear it. Yeah, yeah, no,
I mean my presents. I'm a lifetime two stone and and stuff,
and it's always to me. I think we can have that atmosphere because of
the way it's structured, and it'll be interesting. They kind of compare our
school compare to other schools and the percentage of total seats that are a lot
of the students. When I was a student, U a for different things
under grads and grad school, you had to put in a lot of them.
You try to get a chance to go to a game, right,
the students and more of an elite thing, right, think about who's going
and stuff. So I would say elite students and elite citizens of all the
city and county suburbs stuff. So that I think is a big flaw where
you don't have the active crowds and the home field. Now I hear you.
I don't disagree. Yeah, but there's no there's no real solution because
you said, tell me what you were going to say. I mean,
it's a solution, but you got to offend a lot of few exactly who
have had it for generations. And then if we I mean, if you
were to give you know, the kids showing up to the football games a
chance to go to at least two games per year, you know what I
mean, it would be and say, hey, this half of this arena
is for the Duke game or for you know whoever. We would smash any
other school. But when you look at all the other ESPN games, things
like that shown and the kids jump in, not sitting down, and you
look at ours, just silver haired individuals, it's kind of chilling. And
they know to stand up at least and not until the first baskets made for
the opponents. But other than that, they're they're tired out after that,
right, you know, you're you hit it on the head at least in
your evaluation. Yeah, And I don't know why I brought this subject except
to see what I saw last night I Kansas Stayed and Greg Kenyon because it's
exactly what you said back in the seventies. The bleachers, people jumping on
the it was crazy last night. And you see Cameron right, you see
the students standing on top of the reporter and that's but that's that's made for
TV too. It's kind of like what you were saying in the seventies.
I mean, the depth of them was not that much, but they're standing
up sideways and it's crazy made for TV. But it's a lot of crowd
like Arizona's older on that side, younger on this side. And again and
you know the collar just mentioned the structure. You know, the seats on
the ends are far away from sure court, you're behind the basket. There's
a gap. They've now stuck two rows of prime seats in between the you
know, the the the seats, the end seats. And you know for
school whether they call that area scholarship ro as well. So it's it's different,
but nonetheless structured. The way it is, the place can still be
sure loud and raucous, and the students can be can have an impact.
Yeah, you know, you know, I'll call them out. I look
up and I don't see the student section full. They weren't there this last
weekend. They haven't been there for the I'm talking full to the top one
game this year. There have been empty seats every single game. So you're
gonna say, semi, oh, well, I fully agree that, like
you have, Cameron, you have if it sounds when Jay went to school,
they were so close and they were there. It's where they felt like
they were part of the game. I think a big issue with the way
the student section is set up now is that it goes upwards and if you're
you're twenty rows up, it's a great seat to watch the game, but
you don't feel like you have an impact. You don't feel like, oh,
I'm I'm here to like make my case as a great fan. Like
when you're when you're three to four rows and you're even if you're even if
you're right next to someone man, you feel like you're there. You feel
like you're meant to be there, and you can and you're allowed the entire
game. And I will say to today's point, though, michale is one
of the loudest stadiums that I've been at in a long time, and maybe
it's the acoustics in there. Maybe it's just we put on a good brand
of basketball. But there's some things that if if in a perfect world,
I would change. I would do a lot with that, with that crowd.
But let me say Sammy, because I'll say the student section has made
an impact and does make an impact. It just doesn't do it every game.
Sure that's the problem. Let's take this call. Hi, You're on
the air and I on the bottom. Hey guys, sorry George here.
I don't know if you know you're uh so, no, what I did
that. I was sitting in the student section area, like I think I
was just off to the right, you know, like there's the the section
behind the basket, and I was off to the right a little bit.
Literally. Some guy was like, sit down down in front, down in
front, down in front. I'm like, hey man, I'm cheering.
Man, I'm here like I'm here to like be a fan and like make
noise. And they and they just they hated it. Well, when did
you When was this this year or previous years, last year, last year.
Here's the thing and another thing. So the students, it is what
it is, and I've been here since eighty seven or since eighty seven,
and everyone talked about the blue hairs, right, those guys are gone.
They've been replaced by new blue hairs. The people who have its just kind
of turns and turns turns. Uh, And he's right, there's it's never
gonna change because those seats are pretty much vested into the people that have had
them forever and they ain't going to give those up and is not going to
give up the revenue from all that. But you know, George, thanks
for the call. I appreciated. The point I was trying to make,
though, Sammy, is that there are games and I expect this weekend to
be one of them where the student where the student section structured as it is,
has a huge ym knock on the game. And my argument is it
should be like that. If you're a great student section, it should be
like that every game, whether it's Morgan State or Wisconsin or Duke. And
they don't do that. That said that said, the students are going to
be gone, they're leaving. No this weekend, I think it would be
they'll they'll be here this week then after that, Okay, with the break,
I thought this week today is the last day of classes, tomorrow's that
day or reading day. And understand what you know, what what your your
your your comment on you know the structure there. They're far away, they
are, I get it. You know other student sections just closer. But
other student sections aren't. Don't don't have a basketball team that generates the fan
interest in Arizona's like case you student section sits on top of the court,
right so because they can't sell those seats to anybody else. But but again,
the student section can have and has had an impact on a lot of
games, but they don't do it all the time. And you know,
you look up in the because when those bleachers were around three sides of the
court, when if you didn't if you didn't get there for for seven o'clock
game, if you weren't there at four o'clock when the door's opened, you
didn't get one of those seats, and then the overflow of the student section
was in the upper deck as it is now. Well, we got another
call. Hi, you're on the air and eye on the ball. Hey,
it's Tommy Sue, the Indiana apologist speaking about student sections. The bottom
line is this, you're not going to move your student ticket your season ticket
holers out of their seats, especially in the age of n I L,
because they're the same people that you're hoping are going to fund your in I
l UH. Indiana has the same problem. They put the students in the
bleachers at the end. And in this case, if you have ever been
to Assembly Hall, which is a strange building, they're a little bit closer,
but you know you're not going to move your season take holes out of
their seats, and exactly right, and that doesn't even have anything to do
with n AL. They were never once they moved them away from the side,
they were never coming back. Yeh didn't in the past. They spotted,
they put them in spotty situations. I think they were in spots and
then they said that ain't working because it was too many spotties and the and
and it was just not working. Too many times the students would stand up.
People behind them were saying, no, we hear you. That's there's
too much, too much revenue, don't you think don't you think that you're
hoping that your your season ticket holders are going to contribute to your NIL.
If I'm not getting my basketball tickets, you're not getting my money. Right,
right, exactly, absolutely appreciate you. No, it's yeah, and
you and in that sense, in that sense, you know, the schools
are between the rock and a hard place. Do we break, do we
make the money, or do we have you know, students losing their minds
closer to And I only bought that up because of what I saw last night.
And you said you've been there a couple of times. Yeah, to
me, the place is just crazy. It is. And but you know
what you mean, Yeah, but division went basketball new to them, that's
one. You know, they're fairly good, right, they've been pretty good.
Yeah, it's a smaller arena, so it doesn't take as many students
to make a mess of the place. And it isn't it right now?
And it's in it, it's the thing, and it wasn't I mean again,
you know that game I went to several years ago, they were crazy.
They've been like that since they opened that arena back whenever g CU opened,
Like that's that's been their mantra. That's been their thing, and like
we've had I used to play high school basketball games there and like the arena
itself is very very nice. Yeah, it'satively new. Yeah, No,
it's pretty new, but it's they do a really good job. And as
a fan there they have there's not a bad seat just because it is.
It's not it's not as small as maybe some people would think, but they
fill it every time. It's really good and it's one of those arenas that's
really steep, so you're like on the top of the you feel like you're
on top of the court, like a Matt Court kind of thing. It's
it doesn't have an upper deck, but you know how Matt Court was built,
like straight looking auditorium or whatever. They're straight down. That's that's Those
are great because you can just it just goes crazy. Okay, you no,
I just Steve, you killed a whole and I didn't know what I
was gonna say a minute in the whole segment. All right, real quick,
Glenn Parker coming up. We're gonna talk about that eighty nine Arizona Oklahoma
game where Arizona Arizona wanna want a barn burner and just talk about you know
what it's like to play against Oklahoma's. Arizona's going to in a couple of
weeks, so be sure to come back for Glenn Parker. Ah right,
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Rivera and Jagen Saliz they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's sports stage
yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming live. I mean, iHeartRadio. Wap Hey,
welcome back to whining the ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve
Vera, He's Jacinsaus. We're trying to get a hold of Glenn real quick,
but the phone is newarking quote. Whatever reason he should be calling a
second now good. And one of the reasons why we brought them on is
to talk about the Oklahoma game when we were thinner and younger and he was
bigger and stronger. You know, I had just turned thirty when that game
came around. I was twenty five, because that was in September of eighty
nine. I was twenty five. I was man, I was sliding towards
I was about ten years away. Your parents probably hadn't even met, No,
definitely hadn't Oh man, I don't even want to hear that for sure,
but that you know, you know, we talked about that game a
whole bunch, yo. So they showed they've been showing the kick on Twitter
a lot with Doug and Doug Toro, And you're right. I think Larson
said that he hit it, and Larson said missed it because it looked short
and it was. It was dump. There was a thump to it.
Yeah, it was about the order to just over the over the thing.
Yeah, yeah, barely. Well, I you know, I was watching
it because by that time we're down on the side of right, So I
remember watching it from I was on the correct end of the field. I
was on that end of the field, but we were on the side.
Yeah, and the same thing. He hit it, and I'm like,
I don't know, that's to make It wasn't that far too. It was
like it was forty yards, Yeah, it was forty one yards. Later
in a story I heard, I heard Doug say that he was hurt.
He had I think it was a hip or or a hamstring or something like
that, and that was as far as he was going to kick it that
night. Well, it's funny because we've had. We've had Doug on before
and we've talked about this, you know, a lot. And we had
John k Nees as well. John Yees was was a kicker. He's the
kicker we long kickoff guy, and he was the holder, but he could
kick longer, right. And then they had Miller, I think Josh Miller
at the time the punter, right, but I can't remember Doug being a
blong kicker. It was not. And that was also people forget this.
That was also the first year you couldn't use it. Goal kickers couldn't use
the tea, right, yeah, And I actually did at the beginning of
the year. I did a story on that because that was a big deal,
right because look, you know, everybody talks about what a great kicker
Max the Dayhouse was, and he was. He was, but he could
kick fifty seven yards because he was kicking off tea sure, you know.
And that was the first year I heard him on the other program on in
the House because the next year they were doing it in the pros and he
couldn't use the t yeah, so I mean, yeah, I couldn't even
be just that. It didn't affect him, really, he said, because
he always practiced he did because all those indahouse kickers didn't really do well in
the NFL. Well, then I'll have to get him on and say,
what the hell are you talking about, because he talked about not using a
T and doing okay, yeah, this was nineteen eighty ninety nine, eight
nine. Okay, yeah, but you know we had john NY's on the
trip. But I remember my story that I did on that john Nees talked
about how you know, he wanted to, you know, in preseason practice,
he wanted to like take a little like something like a little piece of
paper or a little dot of some sort to put on the ground to know
that that's where he wanted to put the ball. Because I said, my
question was, how do you know since there's no TA, how do you
know where to set the ball down? And he, you know, he
showed me the technique, but he said that he had tried to do that
and they said that was against the rules. He couldn't, oh really couldn't
run out there with like like any kind of like a paper dot or something
like that mark or or anything to put on the field. And he said,
so he told me how they do it, and if you see it's
it's a long explanation, but there's a way to do it, so you
know where the balls supposed to be. But that was a big deal time
because those guys have never had to do that, you know, look down
and put it on the team. You're good. Yeah, yeah, I
know. Those are the good old days. Thirty you were talking thirty five
years ago, almost eighty nine, almost thirty five, four years ago.
Yeah, yeah, that was you know, I remember that game, and
and it was people would have hated that game right now. Oh it's boring.
Sixty three, yeah, boring, and it was it was I don't
remember, it'd be bored. I remember my dad who came to visit.
It was late September, early October, just and they had just lost.
We talked about that. The butt beat a text, the text, but
James Gray ran all over them. Yeah, and you're thinking, how good
this is, this team gonna be not gonna be right. And then they
came out because it was the first Oklahoma, the first year Oklahoma coach.
It wasn't after Barry Switzer. Barry yeah, oh god, I had his
name just a minute ago. That guy, that guy and uh and they
came in and it was. It was, you know, six to three
games like you expect it to be. But and again Dick told me kind
of game and and uh, you know, Glenn was one of the first
guys I went and talked to. And I think maybe even the first guy
went and talked to in the locker room, because I remember, you know,
it was that locker room underneath the north side of the stadium, and
would go in there was just a big room, is really what it was.
It really was in a locker room. Their locker room at that time
was at McHale. So they'd come walk over to the stadium already dressed,
but it was a place where they could meet. It wasn't really a locker
room. And would go in there and there'd just be chairs over the place
and guys would be sitting around. You just go up and talk to somebody.
I remember the door opened and across the room I could see Glenn Parker
and he's sitting on either on a stool or a chair, and he's got
like he's got he doesn't have his head between his legs, got his head
down and looked like he had just been through a war of this sort.
And and that and I went up and talked to him, and that was
basically my lead that he looked like he had just been through some sort of
uh you know, yeah, probably they probably were. I mean, it
was a tough game, physic, physical game. Why don't we try him
one more time? Can you can we call him? Well, well,
we'll keep talking. But you know, it was, uh that that just
struck me as like, Okay, here's you know, here's a game nobody
scored, but you knew that these guys had been in a game sure,
And I couldn't tell you anything that happened during the game except for that field
goal. Except for that field goal. Well, I remember that after Arizona
kicks the field and there's there's like a minute left in the game, and
Oregon was still running I mean, Oklahoma's still running the option because that that's
what they ran. They couldn't they still couldn't, you know, they weren't
going to throw the ball down the field to try and to try and uh
to get down there and and and and score that they you know, and
and it just did happened. I mean, they ran three or they ran
four plays, and that was that they were out of time and right so
so the and just watching the film amit on Twitter. Uh, everyone's excited.
It was less than a minute left, right, less than a minute
left and going crazy and Dick running onto the field and everybody get out of
the field because a fifteen yard penalty right would give them more. Uh yeah,
you know, because they could have gotten an un sportsman like penalty.
Sure, sure, no, I remember that. It was like to no
avail, but they did kind of get back and then you know they ran
the clock out. Yeah yeah, so yeah, no, it was,
it was. It was a great night. I mean, look, I
yeah again, I've always told you. I mean, well, while I
was able to do my work, you know, you know, in a
very impartial way, I thought. I still thought it was so cool that
they beat Oklahoma because we had gone the year before, and I think they
got beat by ten. But it was never again, it was not,
it was not. They were never in the game. And did you did
you do you remember much that trip up there, because I don't. I
just remember the field on the crown, Yeah, the crowned, and that's
pretty much all I remember at Oklahoma. I remember that Greg Hanson I got
lost in Oklahoma City because it has. Oklahoma City had had one of those
beltways, so basically a freeway that closed around them of the city. We
did two laps before we realized where we were supposed to get off. I
don't remember when I was driving, Greg was navigating, and all of a
sudden I realized that, Greg, I think we've seen this exit. What
were did we miss it? And you know, and back then, you
know, right, you had a map, you didn't have the GPS,
sure, and you know because where we got onto the freeway was on the
opposite side of Oklahoma City from where the Norman exit was, So it basically
did a lap and a half to get to get off at the Norman exit.
But I do remember walking up and thinking, for as prestigious blue Blood
or whatever was, it wasn't there that it was at the program of the
stadium was a rickety old wood stag. As you say that, That's what
I was thinking, because I don't remember much of it. I wasn't really
impressed, would remember of it was. I just remember the Crown. It
was small. The Crown day. You stood on the sidelines. You can
look across the field and you can you can only see the guys from the
knee down, He's down. It was very strange. Uh. And it
was slippery that day it had been raining and the Arizona guys didn't know how
to deal with. I don't remember the press room. I don't remember that
at all. I don't think there was one because I remember going to the
locker room. What do you mean to see? We had to watch the
game from the press from the press box. Oh, it was tiny.
I can't remember that. Yeah, it was. It was. It was,
it was, it was. It was a tiny little place, you
know, Like I said, it not not not an impressive stadium for sure,
not for being They've done a lot with it since then, but sure,
and that might have actually been No, I was gonna say the first
time I ever actually was on astro turf was that the Sun Bowl in eighty
five. But you know when the few times that i'd been on on astro
turf during that during that period of time, and I remember, I want
you to walk down on the field to see what it was like, because
but that crown was so crazy. Yeah yeah, but you know, here
we are thirty four years later or whatever. You know, I'm a most
surprised that they not you know, never did play again. Yeah, especially
when Sooops got there. Well, you know what would you want, Well,
well, you don't want to play. It's like this, it's like
the Tommy Lloyd thing. Yeah, you don't want to go back and deal
with that mess. But but you'd have thought that the fact that Arizona beat
him, that they want to come back and they do that, try and
do that again. You know, Well, the coaches I can't remember.
Probably Dick knew them, but not that well, yeah, the new coaches.
But you know, I remember going up and talking to Barry Switzer and
again thinking, this guy's a legend, right, this guy, you know,
this guy's legendary. He's you know, we're we're in we're in the
high rent district of a football blue. Did you ever get a call?
Had to be maybe you were out of the beat already, but maybe nineteen
ninety Griffith was the offensive coordinator, Ben Griffith, uh and and there was
Dick was having issues or I can't remember remember what it was. Well,
the offensive coordinator was having Ben was having issues because they leader fired him and
getting a call to the paper because that's all you there's no internet and all
that's sorry, get calls that Barry Switzers was gonna try to get a job
here. Never heard that. I got a call like that. And then
guess what you have to do. You have to chase that. You gotta
chase him down. So I had you could you knew it was kind of
frivolous. And like when Rick Patina was coming right right right here? Was
that he was? That was that restaurant mar So you got old man.
So I remember saying, how stupid is this? But now I'll have to
make a couple of quick calls. Well you go back to you go back
to when when when Dick was hired and and there were all these coaches,
you know, uh Bruce what's uh yes, uh Earl Bruce from Ohio State.
He was like the fourth jack now and all those guys that were coming
here right for that, and then Dick Tomy ends up in the He was
like the fourth or fifth guy, right, yeah, yeah, he was
down the list. So let me see here is so yes, yeah,
can we just get him on at the next break? Yeah, yeah,
I haven't called us at three. Okay, we'll go to break. We'll
go to break now, time to call us in five minutes. Let's go
take a break, Sammy, Let's go. Uh, Steve will get to
get Glenna Callis and we'll have Glenn Parker here for the next second. So
thanks for bearing with us out there, so we'll be right back with Glenn
Parker. Well, don't I came here tonight. I've got to feel something
right. I'm so scared of kids. Off allowed my chair and I wanna
get down stairs. Clowns they letting me joke us to the right here.
I have stuck in the middle with you, youse. I'm stuck in the
middle with you. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's
been successful for newly forty years. Now take a look back at the Loudolsen
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net. Streamy Live, I mean, iHeartRadio Waft. This is I on
the Ball with Steve Bravera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox sportsporteen fifteen. Hey,
welcome back to IM about Jerold Fox Sports, Steve Roberto, he's jaws,
got Sammy work at the board. Just an update real quick. We're gonna
talk to Glenn tomorrow in the second hour. He had a meeting to get
to, so we're gonna move him to the other side. We're also gonna
have Doug Faft tomorrow. So a lot of things about Oklahoma tomorrow. Right.
Doug kicked that game winning field goal in the eighty nine game, so
a little chat about that. Yeah. So I don't know if you want
to get back to the basketball situation just because it was created some calls and
some thoughts. Well, the thing about it is that regardless of all of
that, McHale is still a hard place for the teams to come and play.
Sure it can be sure crazy, Sure it would be loud. There
have been times, you know, I have told the story when when that
Florida game Mark Mark Lions, Yeah, makes a basket the game in the
game, the guy who's calling the game for me, when I'm doing that,
he's literally screaming into my ear, like about to my ear, like
two inches from my ear, and I can't hear it. You know,
no, no, that it's funny. But for the book that I wrote,
and I was talking to Montgomery, coach Montgomery from Safford, he talked
about him playing here and blah blah blah, He's just Steve. They had
some pretty good players. That was the difficult part of it. That's the
hard part. Not to disminister the crowd because there, he said, they're
very bright and they know the game. But when you're playing against those type
of players, it's tough to win here. Well, here's the thing,
and I've always thought this is that the crowd the home the home court advantage.
It helps the home play home team players more than it hurts the visiting.
In fact, I think a lot of a lot of players who if
they're competitors, they want to come and play. Sure, hell they want
to play in that atmosphere. Sure you you know, I who on the
Arizona team, didn't want to go to Duke. That's why I was just
kidding that as an example, you're going, you're the underdog, and I
don't know, and I've said this agnauseum. So they're with the team.
Arizona is fantastic as a dog, fantastic as a dog. You give them
a favorite role, they're horrible. Honestly, the tournament. The tournament is
exactly that they won the tournament because they were. They were underdogs all the
whole way through the way through, after the second, after the first game,
second game to Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, all these teams,
no one expected it. But the year later when they were the favorite,
we know how that went. That really sucked. No, No, but
you but you know, I hear you a guy, you know again,
somebody who competes at that level, because you know, if you're playing college
basketball, you're even a much more of a competitor than most of the guys
you ran through in high school. Sure, as you move up and you
know in where you're playing, you know, like you and I never had
the chops to be able to compete from a mental standpoint at say an NFL
level A level or Major League Baseball level. Those guys that they're made different.
Sure, of course, those guys want to play in those situations.
They do as competitors. They want they want to go in there and want
to conquer that. Sure. Sure, no, it's like, well we
talked about when we asked how what did it feel like? That's that's a
big deal because we we would never know. But like the guy from Philly,
the guy from the game, Brice Harper, that's that's every day they're
used to this, and you know we would never know, and we could
pretend to say, well, it must be tough, must be nerve wrecking.
These dudes do it every day. But again, you know the flip
side of that is if you're the home team, you know you can get
some juice out of that. Oh yeah, right, I said, you
can play a little harder, play a little better, play a little more
confident. Sure, when you know the crowds behind you. Sure, we
look at look at what San Francisco did to Philly over the weekend on the
road beat the crap out of them, And was it before the game?
Who knew or what did you think phil Philly or San Francisco. Who's a
better team? You would think that Philly the only lost one. Yeah,
playing at home, and played at home and went in there and said,
you guys let them up. Yeah. So home field is as good as
you wanted to be that day. Yeah. Now, so yeah, that
that and then and you when people talk about home field or home court advantage,
it's more about the home team is going to you know, get something
out of it, and you're really not affecting the other side. No.
In fact, let's go over the last couple of seasons. It hasn't been
a great schedule. But the u c l A game last year probably a
huge game, right because it brought to back the guy for the spinner Guy,
and it was crazy, you know, it was crazy. And there's
been a very few though, a few games like that. Well, and
that's just because well because the Pac tap has not been very good, sure,
and that's part of it. You know, even Oregon the last couple
of years just hasn't been all that great. In spite of the fact that
Arizona lost to some of these teams in terms of that team walking on the
court. McHale wasn't just for No. And it wasn't the last five years
of Sean. It's been a while, but think but think back for I
think back to those years when Duke was coming here, when you know,
oh, come on, of those teams are coming when the place was Michigan
State, Yukon, Kansas, North Carolina, North Carolina and that was just
a tobaccle. Yeah. Yeah, but it didn't start out that way at
the start of the game, No, was not. And in my time
too, that ticket was probably the hottest ticket you could get before the before
the game, right you know that that that festival tournament, it wasn't a
tournament at that time. Of the single game when when Kansas came down,
that was and that was like a week night if I recall, that was
nuts. You know. So I wish they would They're not gonna bring it
back, but I wish they would have that four game, four team,
two game set. That was a fun four days. That was a that
was a celebration of basketballs town. You know when when they were doing that
was that it was called the Fastball Classic. The fastball. The two is
a four team tournament. Good teams, very good teams, like classic teams.
And they'd play and then they play with Sunday or the next you know.
Yeah, well they play on a Thursday, give a day off and
then come back to the next and the next day. And it was dou
It was the big time people coming into Duke. The best one that stands
out eighty eight season Duke Florida, Michigan State in Arizona in a in a
at Mchael Center. Yeah. But when you're Michigan, you know, because
in those tournaments, they always pick one team to kind of be the sacrificial
lamp of it. And when that team is Michigan State, that tells you.
I mean we're talking jud Heathcoke, Mike Krzyzewski, and Norm Sloan.
Uh where the coaches and and Loot were the coaches of those. Yeah,
they just have a big party in between games on the resorts and kind of
just came during Christmas time and they would love to come because of the weather.
Look at the weather. Uh, fantastic time. But I mean Maryland
came down here for that, Michigan came down here for that. So,
but they eventually just said, you know, it's it's too difficult to put
on now and one teams didn't want to give up two of their game two
of their games to come to and play them at McHale. Right, yeah,
I guess like back then, scheduling and record mattered a little more than
it does like now. Yeah, and so you guess you could see but
like man having like the four best teams, and I guess the Maui kind
of has that be Still there are eight teams. Some games aren't great.
But if you had like like you said, if you had a Kentucky,
Kansas and Yukon and u V, like, that's awesome much if you got
those teams to come. But not not not anymore. And they and they
changed rules too, because back then those two games counted against your allotment the
games, whereas now you go to Maui, it counts as one game.
The call, you know, that's what the call or whatever. So you
go to Maui, you're gonna play three, but it don't be because it's
a special event like that on a neutral court, it counts. It only
counts as one game against your schedule. And still like if you had it
here, that other game that you is not playing in would still be packed.
Yeah, it was, yeah, because they were playing was still playing
that night. Like if you came to the first night of that festival tournament.
The first game was Michigan Florida, Michigan State tick back it was it
was. It was Michigan State, Arizona, Duke Florida, and then Michigan
State Arizona double header. Okay wow, so literally like a final four.
So then the second day it was Florida and Michigan State in Arizona and Duke.
Yeah, that's a long time ago, long time. It lasted until
about two thousand. Bobby passed. Lout's wife lost. They lost it.
The only one that they lost was that week that year. I think I'll
never forget that in Mississippi State. Yeah, I'll never forget that because right
before Christmas. And this is a story I think it made the book.
So and my attachment to Loot. So Loot was never close to people.
He didn't get close to many people. So they had just lost the time
before. It was the semi final game because ROZs coached the championship game.
Because everyone says there were thirty eight in Rod's because ros lost the game.
So that semi final game, she had been very ill of his wife,
Bobby U and he was going to the hospital all the time to go check
on her, spend most of her time with her when he was not coaching.
So and typically like me, because I didn't have a deadline to write
my stories the Star diad, so I'd walk with him to the car,
him and him and Bobby when she was around that night, he was walking
to the car by himself and we were and I knew it was very difficult
time. So I walked with him to the top of the stairs of the
ramp and after doing maybe three quick questions, and he says to me,
Merry Christmas, Steve. And I'm thinking he'd never ever acknowledged stuff like that
ever, like never, It was never like sentimental, and I think he
got something serious is gonna come. And that was right before Christmas. He
took his leave of absence and she passed a week later. Because he would
never ever Yeah, New Year's Day, he would never ever do that because
he wasn't was a touchy feely guy. Now, yeah, that was the
time that you know, No, two thousand two thousand, yeah, you
know, and that that was the you know, if you ever want to
say that, Look, Arizon basketball has been great for a long time,
but there were some glory years. Oh yeah, right, without going with
that period of time, just let's say from early nineties, well, late
late eighties into two thousand and one and yeah two well two thousand and three
if you don't remember, because the weekend, the weekend you went to Aanaheim
to watch them play Kansas. Remember they played Kansas and they lost to Kansas.
There was the number one seed. That team, I don't know if
you know this, that team spent the most weeks at number one one then
any right, that well it was nothing. That team was on the cover
of Sports Illustrated that any team he ever have. Yeah, and you would
have never ever thought that, but that was that team. Yeah, and
that's why my kids, my son and his my godson cried when that was
two thousand and three, right, yeah, two thousand and three. Yeah,
they lost your Kansas. We didn't. We didn't actually we didn't go
to that we you know, we were watching it and that during the game,
thinking didn't get right. During the game, we're setting up flights and
hotels and tickets. That's how you know they're gonna lose. Well, then
that was two thousand and three, and then uh, and then a year
or two later the real debacle happens, which with with Illinois lose a fifteen
point lead in the last four minutes. Yeah, the beginning. As soon
as you start looking at flights and well, we're going, well the years,
the ninety seven year, we did the same thing. But that remember
they were playing Providence in the in the lead eight, right, because they
knocked off Kansas. They're playing Providence. You must have been calling during that
time because that we were too. That went to overtime. We had done
it. We were setting that up. They had a nice lead, right,
we were setting up our flights and hotels and stuff for that. Yeah.
So they survived that and then they got to the final four. That
may have been one of the that Kansas game. Well, I still think
they won it in the first round because they were dead in the first round.
I can sell Alabama. So just the stuff that remember, right,
we can't remember Steve like yesterday man, Yeah, puse kind of you're in
it. You're in it. Yeah, yeah, you know, just all
all those things that somebody just pointed out, Sean Miller came and played here
in the Fistbal Classic with Pittsburgh nineteen ninety one. I think he was a
point guard for pitt Yeah, and he came and played here, yeah,
in that in that tournament. That's crazy, crazy stuff. Just you know,
some great players that came came through here and were part of that,
And I mean, this whole town looked forward to that. It was kind
of like everything else stopped during the because it was a four day It was
a four day stretch, right, You'd have press conference games, then the
in between days there was a big, a big banquet where all the teams
would stay up in town of Canyon and then there was a giant banquet there.
No, the banquet was always a La Paloma, but stayed at the
Canyon and then the finals. It was it was a huge celebration of basketball
in this town. And that's when students weren't here right well, And that
was the other thing. The student tickets would get sold to the public,
so that was that was also a thing where fans who didn't have season tickets
go to those games. And that made it even more nuts because now you
had you had, you know what, three thousand or two thousand fans who
didn't ever get to go to these games and now they were coming to see
duke. And you know in all these schools Maryland, Maryland with Gary Williams
came here, he was he was a cock ahead. He remembers that one.
Well he was one of the most cranky guys and he was, he
was cranky, but there, you know, it was. It was an
incredible, incredible period of time for for Arizona basketball. So Sean came in
eighty nine. I'm just doing and that was that. That was the year
that what's in Jerome, what's his name busted the busted the backboard. If
you ever seen throw it, throw it down Jerome. He was the first
one to shatter a backboard. Was in a game. No, it didn't
happen here, but it was that season because because because John Miller was the
one who threw him that pass on the dunk where he then broke the backboard.
Wo Man. So it was eighty eight Michigan State they played December twenty
ninth, and then the Thirtieththers Duke. Yeah, it was in the eighty
seven eighty eight season. It would have happened in nineteen eighty seven. That
was the December of eighty seven, the magical year. Yeah, yeah,
we need that back. We do. Yeah, that would take out,
that would take a miracle. He's just not gonna go do that anymore.
You know. They'll go play again. They'll go playing Maway, they're playing
the Bahamas. They'll do the well in the schedulings. Well because well and
now you have you have conference games and yeah, that's what I was about
to say. Yeah, if, if, if this would be cool,
if you had that same kind of tournament, but you had Kansas and a
Baylor back to back in a back to back weekend where it would be you
know, Tuesday, Thursday, whatever, Because it's gonna feel like that come
regular season. Yeah when we go to car Yeah, yeah, you're gonna
miss a lot. But when you're a doctor, you're doing whatever you're doing,
you can come. You could fly some of my dad's for it,
or my younger brother when he wants to, if he wants to do that.
Not I man, you'll never be calling the doctor. You're not.
You're not never No, so sabby uh public Yeah, So what did you
want to grow up broke being a journalist man because okay, so this is
ideally. So I grew up playing sports and I picked the wrong one.
I was really good at basketball, and I was vertically challenged. I was
like five eight max, that's and but I was a really good soccer player,
and I was either going to play soccer or basketball in high school.
And I went and played basketball, football and ran track all the ones where
like you kind of want to be tall, long legs. And then when
I was like, yeah, I'm not making it uh anywhere anytime soon,
I was like I was really good at I was a really good writer at
the time. So I was like sports and my dad I used to turn
off like the local broadcast for Sons and deep X games and we would just
do it cool because we were like, we saved your take? Did you?
Did you take it? No? I mean my mom probably has my
mom probably has something somewhere. But that's where the dream began, and that's
where and this is where we're at. So stuck in this room with old
fat guys. It's this crazy little thing called love by Queen, which we're
gonna go to break. All right, well, let's head to break.
We're gonna come back. Sorry we didn't get Glenn Park Well we will get
him tomorrow, so we'll be back and Samuel'll have breaking news