You're listening to the down beat on ninety seven one the free, Today's gonna
be different. We're partying all damn day here. Ninety seven won the free
sipping champagne at six am. I never thought I would really feel this joy
than tasting champagne in the six am hour. No rundown, right, no
rundown. Besides, we are gonna do picks with glenns at eight with Ranger
fan Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite, because you was kind of our letter,
yeah, sort of. You know, don't fight it, just let it
happen. Uncle Rico is awesome. After John guys from the White Lotus and
been watching Napoleon Dynamite, Big Ranger fan, Well, join us. You're
gonna pick a couple football games. We'll probably do it faster than we normally
do it. We'll have a pick with the Glen as well, because it
just picks with Glenn's and the Glens are in second place. We're gonna do
ours tomorrow, right, is that what you were saying? I think was
rammed through ours quickly. Yeah, we'll just do it quickly tomorrow. Also
have our Ranger's predictions from last night and we'll get through that a little bit
later in the show as well. Yeah, see if anyone got a point,
Oh, there's some points coming, hot dog, there sure is.
And also we want you to send your talkbacks in all throughout the show.
Call us two one four or eight one seven seven, eight seven one nine
seven one or text all damn day. We will introduce to you at seven
o'clock the wheel which will have a lot of chaos on it, the Commissioner's
Wheel, the Commissioner's Wheel of baseball, Manfred's wheel. All right, at
seven, at seven, we'll tell you what's on it. Maybe we'll spend
it, maybe we'll add some more to it. Oh no, I don't
like some of the things on there. Well, I at any of it.
It's it's danger. I like taking talkback. Yeah, that one's easy.
That's an easy one, you know, to take a talkback. That's
gonna be fun. Okay, So we got a wheel that we're gonna be
spinning all throughout the day, and you got a chance to win cash straight
up from us, assuming you have venmo more on that at seven, Danny,
you tease this out of the first segment. You are the longest tenured
lifelong Ranger fan on this show, in this room, since I'm thirty five,
I bet there are some people that are listening right now. Well that
might be an assumption already just stop right there, that doesn't track Danny.
I bet there's a lot of folks that have been in the room around another
person when maybe the highlight that we all I know, I dread dreaded seeing
of the ball flying over Nelly Cruise's head, the Rangers being one strike away
two times from winning their first World Series in twenty eleven, or people or
that being brought up and and a person being so affected by it where they
say, dude, don't even say no, stop talking about that, or
they'll post a photo or something like that, or just allude to it and
they talk about how they can't stand to see that, and you think,
ah, you're just being dramatic, that's just you know, you're you're just
doing bits or whatever. I don't know that that is, and maybe to
a certain extent that's true. But for me personally, I know that it
does sting still when I would see those highlights or hear people talking about it,
or I don't want to I don't want to go back and watch Game
six of twenty eleven, or even though yeah, just Game six, you
just that that just makes you feel kind of yucky because unless you had spent
your entire childhood and adult life investing and caring about this franchise, which I
think is one of the most profound things Kevio's ever said, they're just a
bunch of strangers wearing the same clothes on you spent you know, a bulk
of your your freaking lifetime investing in these strangers that wear the same clothes and
then feel what it felt like that night when you were that close. Unless
you were that kid that lived in a rural town in Texas that your one
trip to the metroplexa year was to maybe go to six Flags and get all
stinky and sweaty all day, and then your parents dump you off at Arlington
Stadium and you're sitting out there and it's one hundred and eight degrees and you're
sitting on metal bleachers getting the back of your legs, you know, second
degree burns on the back of your legs, and your little kid shorts watching
some garbage team that's getting pounded by the White Sox. But you love it.
But you love it. Yeah, and it's basically a dollar to get
in, and then going through what we went through to get a team that
was good enough in the nineties to actually make the playoffs and thinking, wow,
this is what this feels like. We're actually okay with this. We
won one playoff game in three appearances, and then you make it to the
late you know, twenty ten, you go to that World Series and you're
just happy to be there. None of us gave a damn that we didn't
win that World Series. I stayed the night that they got eliminated, the
windows open and watched the San Francisco Giants and Bruce Bochie celebrate on that damn
ballfield for an hour after the final pitch, just soaking it all in because
I had never been to a World Series game before. I'd never seen somebody
win a championship before. I will be damned if I was gonna put my
hat in my hand and walk to my car and be sad. It was
awesome. But then twenty eleven, the expectations were height and your team was
better. You did what you did in the playoffs, You freaking got the
Yankee demon off your back and advanced to the World Series. You know,
the year before, but you know, getting the Yankee demon off your back
and going to the World Series the first time, but the way they ran
through the American League and make it to the World Series, and then what
happened seeing David Freeze scramble around those bases and make it to third on a
triple after what happened to Nelly Cruise and right field, and then you know,
they had a chance to win it in Game seven, but it didn't
happen, And that just stuck with people. And I just really feel like,
now I really believe this, and I hope this is the same for
everybody else that felt that way in November October November of twenty eleven, that
what happened last night, I think I can now hear about Game six,
I can watch that moment happen, and I'm not gonna feel a damn thing.
I really just put my mind in that place of what what's that gonna
feel like? When you see or hear about Game six, or somebody talks
about it, or you see the video of Nelly Cruz or you see the
Cardinals, you know, celebrating winning in seven, I'm gonna be like,
yeah, cool, Yeah, I'm fine. Like you said about Bartman was
forgiven when the Cubs finally won their World Series in what was the twenty sixteen
Yeah, it's over, man, The demon is exercise, the ghost is
buried. Twenty eleven, doesn't matter anymore. Now it doesn't matter anymore.
I don't care. You can talk about it all you want, and I'm
just gonna look at you and with a little seat and grin in my face
and go all right, I'm bulletproof. I won. We won. Yeah,
Mike, over where you grew up in Florida? Did you have the
Dolphins won? Were you old enough when the Dolphins won Super Bowl? So?
No, so you have seventy three was their last Super Bowl. I
was born in seventy six, So I've never You've never had that. I've
never won a championship, like as a fan. Yeah. Ever, I
think the MAVs. I think you were here long enough and you were almost
sort of working with them. Yeah. No, And I like I've told
you guys, I mean it's in i''s not about me. But in Florida
there was only the Dolphins. I told you guys. Yeah, you know
there was no other the only other what professional sports team was the Bucks?
For for my life, it's the Heat. Well, they didn't exist.
They killed when they came around the eighties. Yeah wow, I mean the
Panthers didn't exist, the Lightning didn't exist, the Jaguars didn't exist, Orlando
Magic didn't exist. Just the Tampa Bay Rays didn't exist, and the Bucks
didn't exist till seventy seven. Yeah, so when I was born, the
only Jesus, It's weird. The only professional sports team was the Miami Dolphins
in the entire state of Florida, which is really kind of bizarre study of
expansion and you know, human relocation to Florida and how they were you know
in the seventies or eighties, are like, what are we doing? And
they all the teams that have either relocated or been given expansion teams there.
But yeah, all we have is the fans. So I have the Dolphins
on like a different level in my world. That's the on my only real
whatever team anything else. They're they're late ads. I consider them, and
I do consider the Mavericks and the Rangers. I don't have a baseball team,
so they didn't grow up with a baseball team. Yeah, and the
closest I had. I loved the expos and then they disappeared, you know,
they turned into the Nationals. So there's a lot of stuff that I'm
going back to my childhood. But that's just kind of where a day like
this will take you. I think sometimes I remember, So I grew up
weirdly. I like call the local teams, but I grew up Packers fan.
It's all ever new. It's who my dad liked. Okay, so
my dad's always liked so a Packers fan. But now I watch the Cowboys,
and I want the Cowboys to win, you know, every time I
watch them. But the I won my first championship. Okay, like we
have ownership in it at dab Reselt. But that night Super Bowl thirty one,
the Packers win, and I remember because I didn't really sleep in my
bed. I slept on the couch pretty much growing up, because they had
a rubber sheet on the couch. Yes, I like the that's said,
it's just better TV, better TV access. You know, you have to
mess with the cable box. You're still walking the big huge satellite. The
point is I remember that night my dad going, don't ever forget this,
No, one can ever take it away from me. You're eight years old,
you think you'll never remember that, but I did. I remember that
forever. And then you go through all these years and I remember you talking
about just the going to the ballpark for you, getting dumped off for me.
You know, my parents, I can't tell you how many times Dad
would just make our day and being my brother six years younger than me,
okay, and a Sunday, the Sunday two thirty game, you know,
and it would be like eleven am, and again we're two hours away,
and Dad goes, let's go range your game, and we just get the
car and go. We're like, that's the best thing he could have said
today. And I remember how long was that the drive? About two hours
or so, maybe two and a half, yeah, depending, you know,
but like what a cool thing to wake up to on a Sunday,
the jet and had planned or we would go on it for they, you
know, on a Friday night or a Saturday every once in a while,
but you know, not all the time. It was the rare thing.
I went to two three games a year maybe, And my parents because back
in the day before beIN Laden ruined everything back in the day. You could
bring in your own like you can ring out a cool you still can't bring
in a cooler. Actually you can ring in like bottles of water, but
you could bring in soft rinks. You couldn't bring in alcohol. You got
about alcohol the game. So my parents would stop at a gas station.
They'd get a six pack of Mountain dew bottles, okay, and they'd tell
me and my brother to start chugging. They'd buy beer, and then the
Mountain new bottles were green, right, so you can't really tell. And
they're in the parking lot here we are just kind of pouring out mountain dew.
I mean, my brother just chugging mountain dew. Okay, I'm about
to go crazy on you, like a spider monkey chip and just pouring the
beer out and then getting beer. And they're putting beer in the mountain dew
bottles and siphon and get into the mountain dew bottles put them in the carrying
cooler. And my god, we'd save twenty bucks, you know, amazing,
And it was just twofold because it's gonna get you guys jacked. Oh
my god, for the game, which is fine, like we want you
to crash hard on the ride home or when we get home and we put
Kevin on the plastic couch. But for now, get jacked. Make some
room in that bottle because Daddy needs it. Also, growing up in the
time where and with parents and you know, in the country where we bought
these mountain dew bottles, you're going to drink every drop, whereas now in
modern parenting, I'm not letting my child mountain. We're just buying the bottles
and pouring it out on the damn ground, toxic neon. This is just
a waste. This is a casualty loss. You know, cafe sure,
sure, remember old enough to handle it. And by the time my brother
was old enough to like know what was going on, or I was old
enough to know what was going on to explain to my brother six years younger,
like I'm elevenies five, and I's like, we got to do it
now, Like it's all like a challenge, like sandwich mountain dew you could
drink because we hate these bottles empty. So mom and dad could get tanked
on this account being a whiz by Decatur. And how old are you,
dude, I mean under before pubic years. Okay, So eleven, give
or take. Yeah, an eleven year old just wired kt your dad being
like, chug it, finish it, don't waste the new room and being
in a crowd like that was an event where you're from where I'm from.
Yeah, I mean for any kid, that's an event, but a little
extra even you're not around that many people ever, and all of a sudden
that and it was just it was spectacular. And that's why. That's the
that's the whole thing. Baby. There's something about baseball two that has a
little bit of that old school thing that I'm kind of talking about. It's
probably also it's probably the first game you really ever play with your dad.
Yeah, you know, you have a catch and that's just it's easy.
You can do it in the yard. You need a glove and a ball,
and it's a great way to connect with your old man. And because
it's not like a super competitive thing where you're playing against each other like one
on one in basketball or something like that, it's just something that starts with
you at a very young age. It's leisurely. It's the pace of it
slow, so there's time for conversation. There's time for Yeah, it's a
talking sport. But yeah, much much like Kevin. One of my best
buddies parents were massive cowboys and Rangers fans out in Knox City, and they
would invite me to go on there. They've made one or two trips a
year, and invariably when you know, ten, eleven, twelve years old,
they'd invite me to go with them to Arlington to go to six Flags
and then taking a Ranger game. And we would pile in the back of
their country Squire station wagon, which is basically the family truckster from from vacation,
and we'd sit alarmingly riskily in the back of the station wagon while Walter,
his dad's got you know, a giant tall boy of yellow belly in
his lap, cruising going eighty nine yeah lucky strikes to get to Arlington,
and we're just sitting in the back of that thing doing God, just do
what kids do, playing grab ass, talking, playing cards, farting,
whatever you do. And then you'd get to that ridiculous stadium and you didn't
know any better. You thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
You thought Arlington Stadium was the greatest thing in the world. If you came
from where kevioh and I did when you that was your only exposure, and
you loved it. You're out there watching a bunch of guys with mustaches and
beer bellies wearing matching powder blue outfits play a kid's game and you're loving it,
and you fall in love with it, and you follow that stupid ass
team your entire life and it, and the only thing you hope for is
what happened last night. Hell yeah, And that's where the tears come from,
part partially. Yeah, I got someone else now in the free catline.
Who knows where tears come from? A proud Texas tech graduate, ladies,
gentleman Emily Jones right now, Oh my god, good morning, Hye
you guys, Good morning. There she is, Gym. So, I
actually flew home. I got home about five thirty. I flew home.
They have an employee plane that I jumped on so I could get home to
my family. So I was supposed to play home later today on the family
plane, and I decided to jump on the employee plane so I could get
home to my to my fam. You got home forty minutes ago, yep.
I unpacked my bag and I just made a Starbucks run from my fam
and uh, yeah, I haven't slept, but I feel great. Emily.
I will say that real quick. I saw a tweet a photo that
you posted of you on the the employee plane, and I've spent the greater
part of your career fighting my natural instinct to sexualize you. But considering everything
that you have gone through in the celebration of and the magnitude and the emotion
of what happened last night, you look freaking great. Oh thanks, seeing
you did, I was like, Emily has just been run through the ringer
of this entire playoff run. And it's three in the morning, and that
lady is on a damn airplane and she looks like she just walked down an
f and runway. Ah, well, you're sweet. It was. It's
been such a fun run. It was tonight was just ridiculous. I don't
know that I've even like comprehended it. I sat on a toilet in chase
Field and cried by myself for a little bit n after the clubhouse celebration.
Yeah, I mean, it's a'ting amazing. You guys like it's nineteen seasons.
I've done this, and I thought about leaving, and you know,
retiring and how long do I want to do this? And you know,
I have my kids like send me text messages and they're celebrating, and you
know, it's just like God, it's so thinking cool and it's like,
you know, I don't know, I don't know what else to say.
It's just such a cool thing and experience. And I'm so she's so what
she was so p it was a P word. I'm so pit now it
was p r. I'm so proud. Proud. I don't think it was
proud. I'm so again prejudice. I'm so prejudiced. Yeah, goes for
the first time today. I'm so prejudiced. I wonder if battery ran out
on her phone. I know, I think this is what. Oh,
she's back. Hold on, Emily, what's the code word? So we
know it's you and it's not someone pretending to be you. Ari, what
just happened? Did y'all hear that? Yeah? Yeah, you said we
couldn't hear you got cut off midward. It's all good. I like how
you mentioned nineteen seasons because we talked in that very first segment and we are
just jaying around in partying. We have champagne in the studio all day long.
But that's one of the first things we mentioned is the longest tenured ranger
who was the clerk, right, And he didn't even play in the game,
but we just talked about all of you guys and Nadelle, you know,
doing this since nineteen seventy nine, and John Blake. I even John
Blake crossed my mind, but you did as well, and Danny brought you
up and god, I can't believe it's nineteen years and that puts you pretty
high up on the tenure list. But I'm just so happy for all of
you. What was so I didn't see you on the field? Were you
on the on the field right at the end of the game. Yeah,
So we go, we were down in the tunnel to kind of go and
wait for you know, the people who get to go on the field to
do postgame interviews, and so we're watching from I'm basically looking under seat to
see the final inning and then we go out there and you get to kind
of soak it all in and try to get as many interviews as you can
before you know, they do the podium stuff, and then get as many
interviews as you can before they go into the clubhouse and then Boach does the
toasts and then they pop the champagne and everybody goes nuts and yeah, and
then everybody goes back out on the field to be with their families and kind
of take in everything. And it just was you know, it's just been
such a ridiculous run and you know, so much fun and also so exhausting.
I mean, we left town on September twenty fourth, and we've played
six home games in that span, and so it's just been it's been nuts.
But you know, I'd love this team all season long. But you
gain a new appreciation for them when you when you're when you spend as much
time with them and with their families and you see them so much. You
see how hard they work and how much they want it, and to see
it payoff like that last night was just so stinking special. We're having Mimosa's
up here this morning and can get bored, Yes, spend time over to
Addison down rocking the coffee right now since I'm going on zero sleep. Oh
we're double fishing memosa in one hand and coffee in the other. That might
be in my future. So you didn't sleep on this damn plane ride home?
Was everyone partying on that thing too? No, No, they weren't,
and you know, we don't. They don't serve alcohol on plane rides
home because we have to drive. So I had had a half of a
bottle of wine that I did not drink in my hotel, so I took
that on the plane with me and Dave Raydon and I poured ourselves a glass
and cheers before we took off. So yeah, there wasn't. And we
did have a tiny small champagne toast on that plane, But no, I
wasn't. There wasn't. There wasn't any hardcore parting partying. Everybody was obviously
excited, but you know, I mean it was just so late, and
knowing the day I had ahead of me today, I wanted to be fresh.
What's today? Fresh as you can be on zero paper? What's today?
You get to kick back and chill today. Well, I'm going to
get my kids to school, I'm gonna h do some things around the house,
and then I'm gonna probably meet some girlfriends for lunch, and then I'm
going to take a very long nap. That refrigerator is not going to reorganize
itself. Fair I get that pantry is probably a mess, just disorganized,
odd numbers for four days, non alphabetized plates, odd numbers everywhere. Who
was a did you see anyone? I don't know, like like the weirdest
person you saw cry or being emotional, or just something you saw after the
game in the locker room, whether it be a a hug between people,
are just someone having an introspective moment. I mean, what's something that you
saw and you even took a moment to just sort of say, Wow,
that's something I never thought i'd see. Well, I mean, I think
I think Marcus on the field, him getting so emotional. You know when
I got him right after I think Ken Rosenthal had him first, and then
I got him right afterward, and you know, he was kind of tearing
up, and it made me tear up. And you know, to see
that out of a guy like Marcus, who is you know, so routine
oriented, He's just he's the same guy every single day, had been for
the last two years. And so to see that, like that sense of
accomplishment and relief and really just pure joy was really really cool. And then
you know, Josh Fores and I have a little thing that we do before
every game and I tell him, you know, I love you and I
believe in you, and it's kind of joking and then he says, thanks
Mom, And so you know, he I hoked to him and I'm like,
dude, you you were do you really if you were just on the
mound for the final out of the freaking World Series? And he'd be like,
I know, dude, can you believe it? And I mean it's
just, you know, stuff like that is awesome. Then you know,
Adulis and Jose and you know those guys that have that have fought through so
much and you know, just knowing them as people, Uh, it's just
it brought me so much joy to see, you know, ultimately them them
live out their ultimate dream, you know. And it's like y'all were talking
about this so that you can't you can't you ever take that away from them.
You know, they'll have that forever and ever. And you know,
one of the things I was sure to ask and I told the and that
I told Julie and and and Jeff and Mike this yesterday when I talked to
him, that it was important to me. I didn't really think of much,
but you know, I wanted to be sure to ask, like what
it meant. You know, they haven't been around for but this fan base
has been waiting forever for a championship, and what was it like to be
a part. You're you're the ones that did it. You're the ones that
brought it here, you know, and you know, every one of them,
to a man, you know, doesn't take that for granted. And
the fact thought it was, you know, pretty f and cool that they're
they're the ones, they're the ones that pulled it off. They're the ones
that did it well, they did it, and it was an incredibly magical
night. I'm jealous, but I'm just happy for you that you were there,
and you know, congrats to players, but dude, congrats to you
and the front office and all your friends and the people behind the scenes and
just the thousand people that this is their livelihood. I mean, the truth
is, Emily, you were never going to play major League baseball. Neither
was I. And this is the closest you can get in to dedicate kind
of your professional life to this and have the ultimate achievement, and having to
happened last night has just got to feel good. So congrats to you.
And uh and everybody so cool, Thanks you guys, and you know what,
and congrats to those families. I mean, you know, a million
times like being married to a Major League Baseball player or or staff member,
coach, whatever. I mean that those guys go through, these women go
through the grind their families, like I mean, it's it's it's insane,
the things that they that they do and and the stability that they provide at
home so their husbands are able to go out and do what they do.
And I have the ultimate respect for for those women and those kids. And
uh and and you know, the parents who have done everything to make these
dreams possible for their kids. And it's just it's such a cool thing for
them, it's such a cool thing for our fan base. And I'm just
so excited for for for us, I'm excited for anyone who who's ever you
know, been invested in this, in this team. It's it's a it's
a special thing. And like we said, can't take it away as far
as now, you're a champion, Emily, you are a freaking World Series.
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. That's ironically, that is the first
thing my daughter asked me this morning when I will correct where's your ring?
A? Mommy? Are you going to get a ring? Like? I
think so? Baby? She's like, oh my gosh, so cool.
Hell yeah, get that playing, Emily, We love you. Get some
rest. We'll see it's the pride tomorrow. Okay, be good, all
right? Okay, So today at simply Jones. So today at nine to
am, every iHeart station in America is debuting at debuting the new Beatles song,
The Final, the final Beatles song. Mikey, did you know this?
Yeah, nine o'clock. It's called now and then. Yeah. I
was in the meeting. Yeah, okuite cool. So the Rangers got here
a year after the Beatles broke up. I think it's pretty fitting that the
day that the Rangers win the effing World Series, that the Beatles released their
final song. We have a Texas Rangers Championship song that I got inspired to
do last night before Game five with the full confidence that they were going to
win. That sucker. And it is inspired by the Beatles, and we
will hear it next