This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzale Son Fox Sports
fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kt z
R TWU SA in iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to I
on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's
Jagonzalz. We got Sammy with us today on a Wednesday. Welcome, everybody.
Have a nice show. It's gonna be centric to maybe a little thanks
area. Yeah, yeah, but that's cool. A lot of stuff going
on up there, good stuff going on. We you know, if you've
been paying attention to the in season NBA Tournament, the Phoenix Suns are in
the quarterfinals of it. So we invited Tom Leander, their TV studio host,
to join us. Tom's a good friend of ours from way back in
the day when he was a Channel thirteen. So he joins us and talks
Suns with us about it. Yeah, and then we're gonna get hold Robino
from a shoe some over the weekend at the game, uh, you know,
kind of exchange. Pleasant reason that was about it. But there's a
lot of stuff going on beyond the football program, they too, looks like
are having financial issues mostly I think in the athletic department, not so much
the school. But we'll get to that. Yeah, I just maybe get
some clarifications on that. See what they're doing at a issue because they just
lost the offensive coordinator, right, he's been dismissed or let go or whatever
word you want to use. Yeap so, and oh it's been a good
guy, you know, he's Yeah, the publisher or editor of Devil's Digests
doesn't pool punches, right, he gives us a good perspective from up there,
which we like. I want to know what they're thinking after the beating
that they took because you know, no torque for the fork man. Well
you know, and and for them, it's a different situation than when the
seventy to seventh thing happened because Arizona, what's stuck with, had a coach
that they just wanted to get the hell rid of. I think ASU feels
pretty good about sure Kenny Dillon him even though he got his beans break.
Yeah yeah, no, no Saturday. It's a lot like this place down
here. You hope you put your hope in a new guy, a young
guy and see how he does and hope he turns into Jeed Fish. I'd
love to hear what he thinks about telling him and what you know. Okay,
so maybe they've that was their rock bottom and so we'll see, you
know what, you know, how they feel about the direction that they're headed
going into next year. Right, Okay, so we'll talk to him as
well, still talking about Arizona stuff. Anybody want to call please do five
to two oho four one six, seventy four forty. We love your calls
you if you haven't called before, please do. Hey, And just a
kind of like a selfish side note. Today's Wednesday. Uh, the our
competition, our friendly competition is off all next week, so we're on.
We're low next week on the air, all right. So if you haven't
heard us before, or you want to listen to Dave too, we love
you listening to Dave, you know, stick with us for this next week.
Yeah, give us a shot if you like our conversation. We're always
you know, we're just a couple of guys been here for a really long
time, and I mean like a really long time. Well I think about
seventy, well seventy in the business about seventy years together. Yeah, because
I was thirty five years and now thirty six years. You were in for
a while, but you're still in it now, so you know, seventy
years of a BS writing and whatever else you want to do. So yeah,
so we've always got you know, I think we we give you sort
of a pretty good just a fan perspective of local. Well some of us
do. I'm not. I'm not as delusional as you you make me out
to be. Steam you're the fan in the room. There was something that
something that came up yesterday about the fans, and I was gonna say,
it might come to me about you being the fan. But you know,
we need that perspective. You know, that's what you are. That's what
you know, That's what our show is about. Right. You try and
keep me grounded unsuccessfully, you know, I kind of do sometimes you say,
Okay, you're right. So I was at l to it right a
couple of weeks ago and one of my Facebook friends who I've never really met
in whatever, Hey are you Steve Vera. You're a big u a fan,
right, And I said, what gives you that impression? He got
me confused with somebody else, Well, give you that, Well, you
always write about them. It's as well, there's a difference. There's a
difference of writing about him and being a fan. Yeah, so people kind
of still don't. Well, And it's funny because really that's I feel like
that's what readers and listeners have come to expect. They've come to expect that
the media that covers the team is also a fan. And and old guys
like you were trying to hang on to the thing that no, we're you
know, we're we're impartial. Yes, we cover this team, We carver
them all the time, and in a sense we root for them because covering
winners is better than covering losers. But in your writing, you're trying to
be pretty level headed, even handed, unless you're a columnist or whatever.
Did you guys see I don't know if you guys saw. It was late
last night, but Jason Kidd and journalists and reporter last night kind of butt
in't butt heads, And so Jason Kidd and it was probably the guy that
covers the Mavericks. He's been around. They obviously knew each other, and
he asked them something along the lines of Carrie Irving and Luka Doncic's the last
couple of games not performing in the clutch as well as maybe they they should
expect. And Jason Kidd was I mean, he kind of took it maybe
the wrong way, but it was more kind of like he even said,
like, why don't you guys write something pos but in your guys are conversations
Like he's trying to just do his job of like report level headedly as though
like that journalist he may I don't know where he's from. I don't know
who he is, but he may be a Dallas Maverick fan for all we
know. But his job is to report on what he's seen and what people
are talking about, and that's what that's why he asked the question. I
think sometimes coaches and even players don't even wrap their head around like this is
our job, this is their job. That's kind of strange coming from Jason
Kid, who's been in a short and I think he may have just been
like kind of ticked off because maybe the question because maybe he's ticked off because
those butt heads didn't play very well. But to be fair the reporter,
I mean, Luca and Kyrie have been very good in of course this year
in this year, and so I think the question was phrased a little poorly,
so he had a problem with that, But it still kind of brings
back to the point of like he's just trying to kind of get to the
bottom of what that is. Like what why I mentioned this yesterday because because
I follow the Warriors, Kyle caught me at the Athletics had the same issue
with Thompson because Thomson he hasn't been playing, has been playing the well.
Him and Wigans haven't been playing well. So he brought that up and Thompson,
who's you know, Kevin like is just a shy, yeah, quiet
guy. He went off on them and he wrote the kit was fantastic called
because it was like, you know, two paragraphs of quotes, but how
how he isn't this guy and he's you can tell that he's his season is
way, his career is wayne right, and and how he needs to step
it up. I mean, whether he believes it or not, it's true,
sure, but he does. You know, you get and when you're
in a corner, what do you do? You fight? Exactly fight,
And that's what he kind of did out of character, but he gave him
credit for doing that, because maybe that'll kind of bring him out to Yeah,
And I think with when it comes to players, especially like Clay who
he knows he hasn't been playing well and there's a lot of expectation on him
to get back to quotes this splash brother, Clay Thompson. I think a
lot of that in athletes. It just comes out all at once. There's
a lot of pent up like I'm not anger aggression, but it's just like,
man, I want to do my job well too, Like I don't
I don't need anyone telling me more. And that that's the part of being
an athlete, though, sure have to they have to live with that,
sure, and and and and you know, in all fairness, the media
that that athletes have to deal with today, there's one, there's far more
of them. There's far more of them who don't know what the hell they're
doing because they've never been through journalism school or that. And and then you
know, then there's some confusion about who's really media and who's a fan site.
So there's a lot of things that these that these athletes are having to
deal with. And you know, they see these fan sites writing nothing but
nice stuff about them, and they kind of expect everybody should be doing that
when it's not your job. Sure, it's not my job. It's not
Justin spears job or or Michael Lev's job or Doug Haller's job to do that
even handed. If you're a columnist, that's a different diffeent thing, right,
And you knowists, Steve, you know they have positive and negative things
about but they're not they're not. They get to have an opinion, they're
swayed. They get to have an opinion. I think as as someone and
you guys do to that read a lot of really good sports reporting, like
that stuff sticks out, like the Athletic does a really really good job.
And a lot of fans like all my friends that root for you of a
are all my friends that root for the Cardinals or the Suns. Like they're
not going to the Athletic to read the Phoenix Suns news or NBA news.
They're going to, like you said, the fan sites have been like,
oh is my team succeeding? Oh awesome, and let me read about it.
They don't really want to read what's really happened, but it could be
positive or they don't want they don't want to read the as as uh as
I said, the even handed stuff that that kind of gives you the good
and the bad side. But that's what makes sports fans great, I guess.
And then they come in sports fans are and then they come in with
their little comments. You're a tool anyway. You know you're a tool anyway,
take the sky high. You're on the R and I and the all.
Hey, gentlemen, and I say that loosely, and missus Steve,
this's got to be written. It's got to be ritted. I love your
brothers. Hey, I want to just listen to your intro here. You
know, Jed Fish had a great year, totally uninstanted, and coaches and
people they're familiar with sports. You always want to have high expectations of your
team for this year, next year, or whatever. But I would like
to warn the fans we're going into a whole different environment playing football next year,
and probably football more so than other sports because you play so many fewer
games. Your competition is going to be different, recruiting is going to be
different, and have more All I would ask about fans is to have realistic
expectations of the ball team next year. Yes, you want to expect him
to do the best. But on the flip side is you've got to give
him an opportunity to continue to grow and so that hopefully Jed will be around,
Hopefully university will figure out a way to pay him and keep him afraid.
He may go to Florida in a couple of years. But long and
short of it is, I just wish the fans would have more of a
realistic expectation of the football team, not to deny them expectations, but also
it's a different environment, so we work around that. Well, well,
I think it's like Miss America, what are your wishes? Well, world
peace? Good luck with that, Rick, Good luck with that Rick,
because I think realistic expectation is where you kind of mess up. And you
know this. You're saying this because that's what you wish for. But fans
here and anywhere, realistic has nothing to do with anything. Well, I
know, but unfortunately, if you're not realistic, then you have tennessity to
say things. Really don't have information on comments and that's where we you know,
And here's the stepbok Arizona one games that here they weren't effected by something
more than five maybe six and so, but we still couldn't fill the stadium
right. Well, and you've seen this, You've seen this. You've been
here a long time, if not forever, You've seen that happen forever.
Well, when I was a Jim LaRue with football coach, when I was
a kid growing up. Okay, so you guys don't even know who he
is. I know who he is. And he tells me how old you
are? Yeah, all right, thank you anyway, that's my limited knowledge
for the day, gentlemen, thank you, good week. Appreciate you,
thank you, thank you. Uh yeah, Rick realist. I think he
would have said, you wish that would happen? Yeah, you know,
but but yeah, yeah, but so now you know, look I've been
saying that too. You know that that Arizona fans have to realize who we
are, right and and and that you know, Arizona's not you know,
Michigan, Ohio State or any of those, and you know, things happen,
so you know, you just you just you just have to come to
grips with that. And you know, can Jed sustain what he you know,
what he did today or even improve on it? Maybe? You know,
Arizona's had some shots at it before and hasn't been able to do it.
So, you know, just have a have a realistic expectation of you
know, what you can see now. I for one, am excited about
what I what we might see next year. Right, you know, we
were just talking about that today at lunch. You know where we sit today,
Where we sit today, I think the favorites for the Big TAALP Championship
next year are Utah, Oklahoma State in Arizona. Yeah, I don't disagree.
Who else besides that, you know, maybe a Kansas or Kansas State,
Right, but Kansas and Kansas State are kind of like Arizona. Wait
a second, so you how long has it been since you ever said Arizona
isn't a hunt for a conference title? Nineteen nineteen ninety eight, or after
the after the ninety eight season, right after the nineties. So I thought
that after the after the twenty fourteen season. In fact, I remember going
into preseason of twenty twenty fifteen when Arizona had everybody back from the twenty fourteen
team on new Solomon uh Scooby, right, you know the receivers that I
thought, why isn't anybody talking about Arizona because they were not, and then
they were. They went into the pooper. Yeah, it's not into the
pooper. They got into a bowl game, but they weren't. They didn't
contend for the Pack Belt championship. Yeah, if the season will win,
the season ends, assuming if you ever wins their bowl game, they may
get a bumper two in the ranking. But as it stands now, you
of A would be the highest is the highest ranked out of the teams that
would be in the conference next year. And so if you're just talking about
it, theoretically, sure, you of A would be the best team in
the conferences and certainly among the favorites, which, as you said, Steve,
we never get to say. You don't get to see how know,
which is great, Which is great. Okay, Well, we're gonna go
to break. We have a different show today because we have Tomney under at
three thirty five ish, right, so we don't have to rush away,
but we will right take the break. Now come back for a shorter period.
We'll take your calls. Yeah, and then come back at three thirty
flight with Tommy. It sounds great. Play on play, play on play,
Ye Joe Trump the verse, It's going down fake it's a flax streak.
The Homi's got that we collab creations black gas and they don't doubt.
I'll put it down, never slouch as long as my credit can vounce.
That's all. Couldn't case me say. For more than twenty years, the
Window Depot has provided the best price and the biggest inventory on in stock vile
windows, and now the Window Depot is more than a window store, offering
homeowners and contractors a one stop warehouse offering interior and exterior doors, granted and
courts, countertops, in stock, cabinatry and skylights to finish your project.
Their team of professionals will help with everything from free kitchen design to custom orders
from leading manufacturers like mill Guard in Jailwind. Order online or find a location
near you at the Window Depot dot com. Steve Rivera here to talk about
Dorato Rock Materials. I needed a lot of gravel from my driveway, so
I called Eric at Doroto Rock. He found out the amount and color I
needed and boom, it was taken care of and at a great price.
How do I know radio commercials work? I heard one of his on the
radio. Dorato Rock and Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including
decorative rock, boulders, gravel, soil, and sand for residential and commercial
use in the Tucson area. They are locally owned and have been around for
more than fifteen years. Give them a call at five two zero four zero
zero for two three three. Where do you buy exiqui Arizona Health Arizona Health
Arizona Health. Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes
sense to buy your fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone
else. At Arizona Health, our goal is to help you choose the equipment
you need to reach your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you
deserve. Arizona Health the leading edge and exercise equipment on twenty second just west
of Wilmot. At Nova Home Loans, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to
enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership. Paul Volpi is ready to help
you find an option that best fits your needs. Whether you're a first time
or veteran home buyer, or want to get cash out with the refinance.
Nova has a variety of home loan programs to meet your unique situation. Visit
voltpeteam dot com. That's volpe team dot com or call five to two oh
six eight five six two six today in MLS three oh eight seven Arizona BKO
Ninez two nine four two Equal Housing Opportunity got a commitment to Lindrix syncreditic rates
and available loan programs subject to change. It's summertime and the summer leagues are
wrapping up. Volleyball, softball, baseball, swimming, and pickleball are coming
to their season end. Come down and visit the cool and relaxing Creative Awards
idea center to pick out your awards for the champs and MVPs. It's also
time to replenish your corporate apparel with new Polos caps and safety t shirts with
your corporate logo to make your team look sharp. Creative Awards also has a
large selection of brand names like Nike, Eddie Bauer, New Era, and
car Hard just to name a few. Believe it or not, its corporate
holiday gift season time for your clients too, with over one hundred thousand items
to choose from. Come visit Creative Awards, Inc. Two twenty eight West
Drackman Street or online at Creative Awards AZ dot com. Did you know sports
cards at Memorabilia are setting records sales last month of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey
Mantles SO for twelve point six million, Lebron James Rookie SO for five points
six Also, collecting cars is a family fun hobby that could be very profit.
If you want to start a collection or expand your collection, check out
Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading card shops in the country and
have served our local community for twenty five years. They are located on e
Speedway. That's show Time Cards. The Secret Savings Account from Pyramid Federal Credit
Union is an account you pay yourself and save oh right. It's set up
as an automatic transfer for any amount and the transfers add up over time.
You can save for a down payment on a dream vacation or an emergency fund
and the best part for withdrawals. Your Secret Savings Account can only be accessed
in branch or over the phone. Visit Pyramid FCU dot com slash Secret Saving
to learn more. Federally insured by NCUA. It's that time of year Summer
in Tucson. Time to take control with temperature control for all your air conditioning
needs. Will keep you cool during all the hot streaks. All you have
to do is stay in control with Temperature Control where we handle everything you need
with prompt response, affordable pricing, and sound solutions. We also excel in
plumbing and electrical work. We handle everything you need. Give us a call
at five two oh eight one five five six six' five or visit our
website at tempdash con dot com and remember, stay in control with temperature control.
Need concrete, hard Works Concrete has it. We have more than twenty
five years of experience with all things concrete. Installing sidewalks and patio floors are
our specialty and handle masonry work and retaining laws. We're locally and family owned.
Just let us know what you need, how you want it, and
we'll take care of it. Leave the hard work up to us. We're
Hardworks Concrete. Call us at five one two nine six' two five six
six zero or visit our website Hardworksconcrete dot com. We'll put the work in
for you. Gout bugs, termites, bees or rodents, Arizona Pests Control
will hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert pest management Specialist's
can't run or hide from Arizona Pests Control if they use only the latest,
most technologically advanced methods of pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects on the
environment. Let Arizona Past Control get rid of your bad bugs, termites,
bees, or rodents serving Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go
to azypast dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. Steve Rivera and Jacob
Solids they have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Station SAT Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to you. I'm involve on Fox Sports
forteen fifty on Steve, He's Jay send me with us to about eleven minutes.
If we got a call before we get to Guliander. On the other
side, it'd be interesting to hear what you guys have to say. What
are we talking about before Fafita and t mac sec Oh yeah, nobody it
buzz that was that was during the break. Yeah, but the rumor mails
already started. Stupid. Yeah, I don't remember, Steve, already we
were talking about uh, mainstream media sports journalism. You don't know what yeah,
what that looks like? Now? Yeah, no, I think you
hit it on the head, especially for like you said with or we said
last week with the Fox girl, what's your name, Chris Thompson, what
I asked? I think it was, Uh, it was it was Kevin.
I said, is she a journalism major? She's not a journalist.
And that's part of the problem, right, they don't know the things,
the standards that you Well, there's lots of people who call themselves journalists or
media that are certainly not trained, right, I mean right, anybody can
call themselves media just by having a website and you're out there and you've got
a little bit of a platform or whatever. But you know that's not doesn't
make you a journalist. Yeah, and you know, I hate to be
hoity toy about this, but I'm going to be hoity toy. I went
and studied how to do this. There's a way to do it, in
a way not to do it. Sure like anything else. Well, here's
another issue for Sammy, because you're going to get out into the real world
and have to find a job. And I've said this to other internts before.
You're not competing against guys like USh, You're competing with former athletes who
are or taking that Joel's jobs too. Don't get me started about that,
because they're not journalists. Rob Gronkowski is on is on one of the one
of the NFL. It's like he show yeah and that there's a guy that
looks like a complete fish out of water. I love Rob. He's a
great guy thing, he's a great personality. But he starts talking and you
go, yeah, guy, dude, you're kind of goofy, you know,
but that's what they're shooting, shooting exactly. Well, I think it's
different if you get like, I don't know if you're on Sunday nights or
Monday nights. If you guys watch the Manning cast. When you watch that
like that, that's cool because they know and have played the game for so
long and they know the intricacies of the sports so well to where if you're
trying to learn or get new insight, that's cool. Or like Greg Olsen
in the Box, he's played it and he's able to articulate it intellectually to
where people watching can be like, oh, he knows this is good.
But there are so many other people and and I like what, it doesn't
matter the platform ESPN, ABC, Fox, whatever, that just because they
were an athlete or a famous act or a famous other They think they can
break down the game or give people their two cents when it's not really good.
Right, Like they're going, like, who is it that's gonna pay
Tom Brady three hundred million dollars? Fox, I think you know to be
you know, to be a a an analyst. Okay, he was a
great quarterback. He's been great at all the things that he's done. But
how do we know he's gonna be great at that that he should be getting
paid three hundred million dollars. He's gotta paid three hundred bion dollars because he's
Tom Brady, not because we think he's gonna be any good at what they're
gonna ask him to you. It's it's similarly, sorry, similarly to win,
and maybe it's a little different. But when athletes try and go back
and coach, right, Michael Jordan tried to coach su Magic Johnson tried to
coach Bill Russell. He was kind of coach. He was kind of in
the middle. Pete Rose, yeah, you know, he was never a
great manager. And it's like there there are very few people that are able
to be able to do both and a lot of it in the NBA you
see are point guards or in football, it's a lot of quarterbacks that can
go back and coach because they they see and know the game so well.
It's like Jason Kidd is a very good basketball coach, but he was a
way better basketball player. Yeah, well he looked more, you know more
recently, after three games, people thought Dion Sanders was a great coach,
and nine games later they're like one dream, how good it is? Good?
She will find out. Yeah, we will. She find out.
And you're seeing a lot of people jump ship they are purposely or otherwise.
That was in my breaking news on Monday. Oh yeah, we didn't get
to it. So we talked about James are still no I know, yeah
they're yeah, but they're jumping from everywhere. Well, well the transfer portal
has opened, and it's like, yeah, I mean they're like horses running
out of the barns and including a bunch of starting quarterbacks. Another one.
Yeah, and so this wasn't bringing us today. But since we're talking about
it, the FBS came out and said that twenty point five percent of all
rosters are now transfers. Wow, so so about a fourth of each team
are guys that hadn't been there. The fifth I can do a fit man
and see, I don't go to that. I don't go to school for
Matt. I didn't either, but I have that man. That's embarrassing.
They didn't mean to embarrassing. Oh no, it's it's kind of fun.
No, it is. But I think that's crazy. Like five years ago,
people would transfer and it would take them a year, if not two
years, to be able to play for the program, and now it's so
many years. Do you have one guy here, specifically a guy who transferred
in now we'll transfer out, not his own undoing, but you know,
de Laura, we expect him to be this to be gone. So he
hasn't announced or anything like that. But you know who's going to be shocked
if he's in the transfer portal? Nobody? Probably not a lot of people.
No, So here we are. Anybody want to call five two four
forty will take your calls? Uh today? Yeah, so you know,
I it's I guess it's just one of those things, Dave, where you
and I as the old guys, have to be like, this is just
different, and I'm accepting of it. I mean I don't. I'm not
gonna sit here and say that. I like the way things have have become.
You know, Uh, the transfer portal is as some as somebody says,
it's not. Basically it is free agency. It's whoever's going to give
you the most money, and that's where that's where you're gonna go, you
know. And and and these guys are gonna, well, some of them
are gonna want to get paid, but some of them are going to resist
that. Like like you think somebody who's doing well at a school, you
know, bringing in whatever he's bringing in. But if he stays there,
he gets more visibility than if he goes somewhere else where he becomes just another
one of the guys aka a Dorian Singer. Right. Imagine if he had
stayed here and been a part of this. First of all, uh,
almonious Craig probably doesn't come here, right because if they've got if they've got
t Mac and Cowen and Dorian Singer, who's going to transfer into Arizona that
wants to play right now? So you'd have had those three guys, Dorian
Singer. At the way things turned out, Dorian Singer would have gotten way
more visibility here at Arizona, you know, playing in a better bowl game,
playing for a better team than USC and you know who's gonna pay attention
to him in the bowl game because us. He's gonna go play in the
Independence Bowlers somewhere like that, the Sun Bowl where Arizona's gonna play against Oklahoma,
and that's gonna be a game that people are gonna pay attention to.
And he probably would have had I just saw a stat that both team act
and and Colween had over eighty catches this year? How many how many of
those would have gone to Dorian Singer? And where would he be? Did
he get a million dollars? Probably not? Did he get maybe a couple
of hundred thousand that he wasn't gonna get here? Maybe? So what's the
long term benefit of what he did? We'll know. We won't know for
another He's got another year to play. No, he's got another year to
play. Maybe in the end, maybe in the end, if he doesn't
decline. You know, he in the end he gets uh, you know,
he he gets the the focus and attention in the offense he was hoping
to get and he becomes that guy. It after this year He's not that
guy who's getting more attention Dorian Singer or team act Dorian Singer take him calling
and they and they benefited from his departure as well. They did do it.
They absolutely did. My thing is if you have money and this is
no knock on Dolor, but he's you got someone il right and someone else.
Uh, he didn't. He didn't play that much. What are you
thinking if you gave that NL if you're the businessman or the whatever the deep
pockets. It depends on what you were asking him to do for right,
I mean, if you're asking him, if you're asking him to endorse a
product, yeah, that you know you didn't get your money's worth. But
if you were just giving it to him and saying, you know, because
you wanted to give it to him, and saying just come and do this
and I'll give you this, you know, if you want to ask him
to go do some community to work or come and work you know, uh
whatever, then you know, I I Steve, I think most of the
NL money, not the big n NL money, like you know the Heisman
House and you're seeing Shador Chador and Shilah Sanders on car National. Uh was
the Toyota or one of the car you know, that's a that's a whole
different level of ni L. I think in most cases ni L is just
where you've got boosters and supporters wanted to give some money so that these guys
will have some money so that they'll stayed at whatever school they're supporting. I
don't think there's an expectation that by getting Jade and De Laura to promote my
potato chip company that I'm gonna make a lot more money because he's promoting my
potato chip company. I want a potato chip company and I like Arizona football,
so I'm gonna give some money so De Laura gets it. I answer,
what a lot of the nil is? Well, there's a lot of
it out there. Yeah, there's there's way a life. Well, we
talked about the slash with the Oklahoma quarterback who no, no, the local
Courtencato cars. A couple of cars. How many cars you need? Right,
he got a couple of cars. He didn't materialize. Williams stepped in
was the quarterback, and then he took him away and then he left too.
Yeah. Well, the transfer portal is tough, but it's also I
know because you've been watching you of A forever and this team wouldn't be as
good as it is today without the And I think that's where it's tough,
because we're we're so good right now where one to nine games. Jedfish is
a great coach, we have what seems to be a really close, tight
knit group. So now it's like, okay, it's still you have a
football and as a fan you're thinking, are these guys gonna you do?
But it's also like, okay, we've had this season because we got some
guys here, will more guys come here? It's a very o as a
you of a. We're very middle ground in terms when it comes to football,
at least this year. We're not We're not in the national team,
but we're not We're not the bottom of the barrel like we had been before.
So being a middle ground team in the transfer portal is tough because your
your top guys may leave, but you may be getting so guys coming from
a like little lower levels that are good. This is outside of the names
Jed and lout back in the eighty three years when he showed up, had
the reputation and being a great final you know, good, great coach.
Jed doesn't have that, but he could have eventually. But if if Jed
stays and he establishes this, he could have that moving forward, you know,
as a building block to moving forward and can continue it. But you
haven't had that. The continuation hasn't happened. But he he, I think
he has a better opportunity at that, a better chance to get to that.
I've been in the Big twelve. Oh, going back to back to
the conversation we had, oh the chap possibility, yeah, and his success.
So right, all right, let's take our break. Tom Leander,
studio host for Sons TV, will come on. We'll talk a little bit
about the end season tournament and then just how the Sons are doing. Devin
Booker is back, So they're doing really well right now eating one with Devin
Booker in the starting lineup. There you go, folks, Hey, Sammy
has all that information I locked up in. All right, we'll be right
back. I know you didn't buy Lockdom, you baby, don't even try
that at you day bomme. Yeah, if you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,
you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now, take a
look back at the Ludolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Loot,
it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players,
coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led
them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his
twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Lut is an insight to
how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one Email me at
Steve dot Rivera ninety five at gmail dot com. Hey Walcat Nation, Jake
Fisher here, I got to tell you about my winning team. Over at
Arizona Health Insider, I was able to get a custom private health insurance plan
with no deductibles, no copays, nationwide coverage, and I get to pick
my own DOCU for less than two hundred dollars a month. If you want
to avoid getting gouged on the exchange and you want real health insurance, call
Arizona Health Insiders five to two zero eight five zero six eight sixty six five
two zero eight five zero six eight sixty six fare down. What's your goal
a new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college.
PEMA Community College can help you make Someday today and reach your goals affordably
on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from and financial laid
available, it's time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for
the career you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you can choose
the field that's right for you. Learn how at PMA dot edu slash Someday.
During this Thanksgiving season, pitch Rocks Cooling, Heating and Plumbing wants to
say thank you for allowing us to serve you when you need us call my
two zero, cool, four zero or zero six y nine. Thanks Fall
season is upon us and fans are bearing down for our new and improved Arizona
football team. I know Edmund Marcus is. He's a huge Arizona football fan
and of course a University of Arizona graduate. If you don't see him at
the football game or a you a sporting event, go see him at All
State Insurance on Campbell and get a quote for your car and home insurance and
more. Visit Edmund Marcus or State Agency at twenty seven nineteen North Campbell or
give him a call at five to two zero three two three nine three three
to three. You are in good hands with Edmund Marcus All State Agency.
Do you want to be part of a winning team? A Team Security is
looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part
of our team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest
sporting events and concerts for over twenty years. We want you to join the
action. A Team offers a fun and exciting opportunity to work in the sports
and entertainment industry, with flexible schedules that are perfect for those looking for a
part time job or a second income. Come be a part of a win
team. The A Team apply online today at a Team security dot net.
Steve Rivera and Jake and Salez they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's
Sports yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming live. I mean I Odd Radio wap
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera, He's jacins offskind of Guys Sammy with us. Now
on the phone. We have Tom Leander from Son's TV. How you doing,
old buddy O'palell? Well, yeah, you're a buddy in Old Pal.
But I can't believe Samy's working with you. Man, he's got to
be carried guys. Yeah, he carries a lot of weight too. There's
there's some big guys in this. He worked for you, did he work
for you? No? Tom, Tom, you know we we worked together
a little bit with the Sons, maybe help get him in the door a
little bit along with Tim Kempton, and then he just did the rest of
his own on his own. But you know, Brophy guys, they're so
smart anyways, and they're going to succeed pass up. Oh my god,
everybody. Yeah, sure, I wanted him on. I see. So
you're must be covered a pretty good team this year. Finally, Well yeah,
people weren't saying that in the first couple of weeks. You know,
everybody's panicking and Frank Vogel wasn't smiling as much as he is now. But
still, I mean, we really haven't had the big three together, but
apparently with just Devin Booker were okay. I mean, that guy's unbelievable on
it wins. Another Western Conference player of the Week Award hits the game winner
in New York. Kd's been out the last couple of games, but man,
he's just taken his game to another level. My fear is when the
big three are together, how does Frank Vogel will pick out who gets to
shoot that shot? I guess for right now, it's got to be book
And then KD takes a back seat and Bradley beals a third option. So
you guys, they're into the quarters of the of the n Season Tournament.
Just for a novice like me on this has the n Season Tournament been kind
of what they hoped it to be from an interest standpoint, an interest among
the player's standpoint? What's that been? Jay? Were all novices. I'm
still trying to learn out what the heck went on in terms of qualifying for
the tournament. But I do know they're in. They're taking on the Lakers,
and I definitely think that it's become, you know, almost a master
stroke by the NBA. I say, I was pretty skeptical to begin with.
I wasn't all in on it. I know the NBA was really trying
to push this through their teams and broadcasters and players, but the more it
went on, the more curiosity it lent itself to, and then you start
seeing teams piling up. At the end, we were playing Portland and Chauncey
Billips was getting all rough around the edges because he was wondering why our starters
were still on the floor, and they had to go over and explain to
him. Kevin Gurant did, Hey, it's all about point differential, and
you know, Steve Kerr had to, you know, figure that out to
Billy Donovan didn't know. I mean a lot of the head coaches weren't even
aware of some of the schools. But I think when all was said and
done, I mean, the wild, colorful courts and then the players being
out there competed a little bit harder, and the curiosity factor and certainly the
competitive level increased. I mean the players, they're doing it for the guys
at the end of the bench. If whoever wins this thing, all those
players get five hundred thousand dollars, that's going to double. Some of the
guy's salaries who were at the end of the bench are on two way contracts,
so that definitely perked up the player's interest. I was just going to
ask you what's the purpose. I guess that's a pretty good purpose. That's
a really good purpose. I mean, you take a half a mill,
even if you're making you know, thirty two million like you are right now,
Steve, you know you still still take a half mill. You TV
guys. I'm not a TV guy. I got jail in my hair.
You know. You know that's a lie you got so at least it still
got hair. Yeah, that's true, very very so. So tell me,
Uh, DeAndre Hayton, we got to connect it to Arizona. Right,
how's that been? He's gone? Uh? He played recently there?
What was the reception? Like? Uh, you know, it's smattering a
booze, But I don't think it was too bad. I mean it was
actually a little even more awkward when Chris Paul came back because he was ejected
by Scott Foster and he wasn't even around to watch his tribute video. So,
you know, we've had a couple of homecomings back here, and I
think, you know, life is going to be better for DeAndre in terms
of being able to spread his wings a little bit more. In Portland.
He's got a lot of young players, so he kind of becomes one of
the leaders on that team because they're probably going to get rid of Brogden and
any other veterans that they have on that team. But you know, for
me, you know, I even said it on the air leading up to
the game, I really was hoping that there would be a bunch of applause
and a lot of support for da. He's a good kid, you know.
Certainly he didn't play as hard as everyone would have liked, night in
and night out. He'd give you a week or a couple of weeks of
just oh my goodness, this is how good he could be. But then
he couldn't sustain it. But I look back on that finals, running in
the playoffs, and we never would have gotten there without him. I mean,
his defense throughout the course of the playoffs, getting into the finals against
the Bucks, I mean that was critical for the Sun to make it all
the way to the finals against Milwaukee. So and I just I really enjoyed
him. He's he's a fun loving guy. I mean, he's not always
like the most intense player. He doesn't get to the free throw a whole
lot because he doesn't initiate contact. But off the court, he's a fun
guy. Yeah, tom So going back to the nd season tournament. So,
whoever wins this thing, if it were to be the Suns, they'd
be their first championship in franchise history, per se. What what would it
feel like in the building, Not necessarily with the team, but it's fan
bases, those who work for it. But it's still would it still means
something? I guess, by the way, that's the best question that anybody's
asking. Yes today, So that well known standards, you know, I
think you know, a guy like Frank Bogel who's won, you know,
in an NBA championship. It's probably more about, you know, the players
and the success and building on that and gaining momentum. I don't know that's
a good question because seriously, they don't know until they actually go to Vegas
and they're standing mid court and holding up the cup and you know, again
counting all the money that they win. But I think in terms of like
the franchise and the history of it, it's not going to mean a whole
lot. I mean, this whole season is not going to mean anything unless
the Suns win at all. When you collect this kind of talent on the
team, you know, winning an intern in tournament in Las Vegas is nice
and hopefully that's a step in the playoffs into a championship. But at the
end of the day, at the end of the season, it's not going
to mean anything if they don't win the title this year. Well, Tom,
I know you have to go, but could you tell the the the
people inside the bilding to turn the music down. It's a little too low.
Okay, Okay, there's Steve Kerr, Steve Verver, all the Steve
Well, you guys all have hearing problems. We're just we're just old man.
I know it is. It is really loud in there. I do
have to agree with Steve, especially on Native American Night when they got the
drums pounding. Can't make everybody happy. Tom, thanks for making us happy
today. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. Tom. All right, guys,
take care of Tom. Cool, cool guys. That was funny about Kurve
when Yeah, by the way, he plays basketball in year. The funny
thing about it, he was he was embedded with them for a long time.
Yeah, the g l Yeah, you probably helped create that. Turn
it down. I love Tom. He's always been a great guy. He's
always been super nice. Yeah, okay, we're not gonna go to break
in the time. So we have eight minutes, nine minutes, do you
guys want to call? Well, you know, and he makes a good
point. I mean, yes, it'd be nice to win this tournament all
that stuff, but you know this franchise, it's it's about time and had
a championship. And so who's on the other side of the West. So
so okay, so it's Suns Lakers. We go to the Sons go to
l a and then it is King's Pelicans. The Kings will go to New
Orleans, and then in the East it's Milwaukee and New York Knicks, and
then you have the Celtics going to the Pacers. So you have kind of
like the Celtics, the Bucks, the Suns, the Lakers all expect to
be in it towards the end of the season. But then you have the
likes of the Kings, the Pelicans, the Knicks and the Pacers. You
haven't seen a lot of success that are still this This maybe means a little
bit more to them, can It could be? Especially for the Pacers.
You could see them if if if one of them wins, it sort of
giving them kind of acting as a springboard for them for the rest of the
season to kind of feel good about themselves, say hey, we're good enough,
and give them a whole lot of confidence the rest of the year.
Which so you know, I was like Leander, I I didn't think.
I thought, what are they doing with this tournament? But as it's gone
along, I have paid, you know, I paid attend to games that
these are part of the tournament. I was looking at the standings, you
know, then I saw the bracket. I'm like, wait, wait a
minute, this is actually kind of cool because these guys are competitive. They're
competitors. You know, you say, we're gonna have a Tiddley Wings tournament,
No, no idea, No, okay, well we'll explain that off
air. You know, we're gonna have a Tiddley Wings turnament. These guys
would be competitive, and I think the main goal of this was to limit
load management and get the best players on the floor and for them to care
about what the regular season is, right, And I think when you look
at it, you look at the Indiana Pacers with Ben Mathrin, Tyrese Haliburton
obi top of mouse Turner, those guys aren't necessarily household names, and now
they're gonna be They have one television one nationally televisionvised game a year, now
they're gonna get three because they're in this n season tournament. Like that's that's
important to those guys. It's important to that market. And when you're the
Lakers and you're the Celtics who have won champions championships after championship, it's still
kind of cool because this is the first And like you said, these players
are competitive. They wouldn't be here if they weren't. And so if you
say anything as a tournament or anything means more naturally, they're gonna maybe play
a little bit harder. And I don't know if you guys got the chance
to watch some of the games that were on last night, they were they
were fantastic NBA games. I saw. I saw they just pissed that game
away. Oh man, that was in some of my breaking news, but
it was. It was awesome. I'm not a big Warriors fan, never
have been, but to watch those two teams compete and what what has felt
like now like maybe the biggest rivalry in NBA right now because the seven game
series they had last year in the playoffs, and this year they play such
a fun style that when you watch it, it feels like they're going blow
for blow and it's it was great. And those guys cared last night and
it was the end of November. And that's the thing. Yep, that's
the thing. That's cool because a guy like me who doesn't really watch a
lot of NBA, I don't watch it because I don't feel like those guys
are all in, you know, week to week, game to game because
what it's ending pretty soon and then to go back to what they that's true,
but at least you have a segment for a while. But the the
thing, the timing of this is unique because you have this in season tournament
and then it's a couple of weeks before All Star Break, which maybe those
guys take maybe it doesn't do the job of maybe guys take time off,
But as soon as the All Star break's over, it's all these teams that
are in position to go compete for the playoffs and that play in newly playing
game. They're gonna be there, stillingna be playing hard. So I like
the timing of it too. Yeah, I mean, it gave you a
few weeks of guys, actually yeah hard and you and you get to see
as a Suns as a Suns fan, like you get to see what maybe
these role players or new additions are gonna play, like when it when the
lights are a little bit brighter, and there you have a feeling of a
playoff game, like I don't know how Grayson Allen or Eric Gordon or Nurkic
is gonna be able to perform in a game six in a in a playoff
game, but this next couple of weeks you might be able to get that
feel a little bit of a feel of like, Okay, the Kings,
they haven't gotten over the hump in a long time and made a push in
the playoffs. Let's see if they can play when when pressure matters in the
games means something. And and as a fan, if you're a Kings fan
or even man, I'm a Suns fan. And like I said, we
haven't won anything ever. Conference championship. No, we're talking titles like man,
Western Conference like this that the other the Diamondbacks just into the World Series
and I'm still mad that they lost in the World Series and we weren't even
so supposed to be there. So it's all about holding up trophies at the
end of the day. And if you can win the first in season tournament,
I think that's pretty cool. Yeah, okay, I agree you fan
boys, sure, as as fans as we love sports. Yeah, you
love sports and you know it, you deny it, but you know,
like even if even if your team isn't in the top eight, like these
are still gonna be high quality basketball. And as an NBA fan, I'm
interested, well to your point, I'm interested in the Pacers now given Ben
and uh, I'm right trying to come up with the name, Oh god,
Steve Trunk Kennedy, but I got called on that again today. But
you know, you think of Lebron James and the competitor that he is.
He's going out, He's going out, yeah, in that in that quarter
of final game to bust some butt. She wants to win that. Yeah.
And you look at it as the Sons and Lakers very well, or
the Kings Pelicans very well could play each other in the playoffs, and you
don't think whoever wins this Sun's Lakers game will have some loose ends the tie
up. If they do play against each other, you never know what's going
to happen. And I'm just thinking of the point. If the Knicks going
to win this thing, the New York faithful won't stop talking about it,
right, And that's that's as of until they don't make the play exactly the
playoffs. They're actually not that bad. But that's that's as a fan that
that's even delusional or not. And New York nick fans are some of the
most. But that's something you you can root for, and it's around it's
around the holiday time. You can be with your friends and you watch games
and you and you care well well again, you know, let let's put
it in more of a local perspective. You know, the way Arizona basketball
fans react when they win a MILEI imitation or they win whatever tournament that they're
in. When they would win the preseason n I t right, people are
immediately saying, we got to shout at the national champion. That stretches out
until the season, until they get to until until they don't. We see
this year, this is the worst, the worst thing that happened with this
team. They beat Duke and they played the great in Kains Michigan State.
The best thing is they beat Duke in the Yeah, Michigan State. Yeah,
and it's going to be really up to those guys. By those guys,
I mean the guys on the team to block out the outside noise and
just keep playing both as we have a minute and a half. Okay,
now that you've seen five six games, what's what's the worst case scenario for
them moving forward in March? What's going to be a disappointment anything getting to
the final four? Right? I was gonna say the second weekend, No,
the expectation, No, are you kidding me? If they only get
to the sweet sixteen with this team, they're gonna be a disappointed. It's
like it was two years ago there, unless they unless they follow over themselves
the rest of the year, they're gonna go in as a probably a one
or two seed, and which you go in as one or two seed,
you're expected to get to that. It's March though, like last year we
were two, party was a one. They lost in the first game of
their See, you get it, you get it. You're not a typical
fan who's gonna jump off a ledge in March sixteenth, because I hear everyone's
like, oh, you guys didn't win the National championship. You know what,
only one team wins a Nationals still, of course it is, but
but everybody that follows these guys sure feels that way, especially after a couple
of big wins. Yeah, I agree. I mean he was talking about
brick for football. What more unrealistic fans in basketball? Yeah, there's a
lot more though, a lot more of those, right, a lot more
because it's just because there's been some success, that's why. Wow. All
right, okay, cool. We went in a lot of circles there,
we did. We still into a lot of stuff and we're back where we
were, alright. Country music, Yeah, take our break, ord to
come back. Sammy's loaded up with breaking news. So will I lose my
dog and my girlfriend? In this song? No, he talks about Jesus.
We need to find Jesus here. Let's get out of here. We'll
be right back. Right outside of this wan Church town, there's a gold
dirt road to a whole lot of northern gotta d to the land. But
it ain't my ground. This is God's country.