This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jaken Salles on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen, powered by Nova Insurance Services. Make sure your most prized possessions
Katie z R two sal at iHeart Radio Station. Good afternoon, everybody,
Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve
Rivera, He's Jakin's ass. Got our boy No and again today on a
Tuesday, the Swami I wanted to say it. Did he say it?
No, you were cloth it was coming, you know it was. It
did come last night. Let me say, you know, when you've been
around, you've been involved in a relationship too long, but you forget about
the anniversary of the relationship and three years it's probably too long. I love
you, Steve. I love you. Give me flowers. You didn't get
me anything to give me there. You didn't give me enough to give me
nothing, not a burger, not a chicken wing, nothing. I was
going to say something, but you put it to me by Betty. I
did not. I did not take Philly or I did not take Philly yesterday.
I did not take Philly, and I did not take the sons either.
First who can about tell Okay, you explain to them what I'm talking
about. Well, the first one, the first you know, I as
the as the resident kiss the death. No, no, no, that's
not the first one O. The first thing. Oh the anniversary. Oh
I think it's I think it was yesterday, so she said, she,
I believe yesterday is Steve and I three year anniversary doing this show together.
Exactly. Um, you know, well, the thing is, Steve,
we don't have to go home with each other. We see part time,
part time people. We see each other for two and a half three hours
a day, which you know a lot. I think a lot of marriages
would last longer if that's all you had to see the first I have a
comment about that, but I won't talk about but three years ago, three
years ago, yesterday, Um, we started the show. And really it
was only like a week or two even before that that we even came up
with the idea to do it. Wasn't that right you? You? I
had just been I had just been laid off from the from the Sugar Sculls
because the season got cancel. You remember what I know exactly, I remember
exactly where I was. I want to say, what what how did I
go because I remember, okay, well I had been laid off on a
Monday morning. I went in on a Monday morning and got the call,
uh that that they were just cutting all operations because of the pandemic. The
season had been canceled. This time it was not your front, right,
the season had been canceled. So I mean I completely understood. I was
fully expecting the call. I got the call. And so that was like
on Monday morning. And on Tuesday evening, my wife and I are out
for a walk and I'm like, I don't I don't have a job.
I'm getting ready to apply for unemployment. You know, a whole bit ralph
for a walk at you do all you all park, you know, the
the that goes around soft off field, And had to be after five.
It was, it was, it was, it was dark, it was
late, it was late in the after it was it was evening. It
was early evening. And and you texted me or something like you know,
what are you doing or something like that, and I said, well,
actually, as I'm doing absolutely nothing because I just got laid off. Yeah,
no, no, no, so this is not I remember. I
think I must have texted you but then I called you and it says,
what are you up to? And he says, what do you ask?
Who are you talking to? And I says nobody, but I have this
idea. Yeah, because you you you no one really knew your situation,
right, it hadn't gotten out, and I didn't know. I didn't know,
I said, because I had some people in mind, and I you
know, you's right. I got the call and it was kind of like
I thought you were fishing for that, right right, right right because and
I said we had a story, but says, don't tell anybody until I
checked into stuff. And I said, okay, no problem. I said,
what do you like about this idea? And he says, m I've
never done it before, but yeah, it sounds like an interest. Let
me let me talk to some people. And you would have to talk to
your boss, your wife exactly, and yeah, you just said it.
Well, the thing of it was what I what else remember of that though?
Was that you know, a month earlier or two months or whenever,
maybe a month earlier. Remember, I had uh, Dixie Wooten and I
had gone on your show for an hour and as I'm walking out, I
said something like, hey, we gotta do this on a regular basis,
on a regular basis. So that's kind of where I what I remember from
that, But I remember, yeah, that's right. It was like you
were fishing. I thought you were fishing for Did you get fired? Yeah?
Yeah, no, no no, I said, oh really, oh
perfect time. It was perfect time. Every time. It just happenstance And
I said, okay, kill we run the story that you would let go
in a couple of days. Yeah yeah, and I yeah, I think
you talked to both you and and uh Havir Morales and that ran the story.
And that was years interesting, three years ago. It was. It
was well, obviously it was in April, so you know, they kept
me on for like a month after everything got canceled. Um, but as
kind of we didn't know what we were gonna do, right, so we
were trying to keep things in order. I remember I was actually at the
at the moment I got the phone call. I had gone in because I
was the only one that was still doing anything. We had laid off,
not laid off, but everybody we had was contractors except me. I was
the only employee, and I was actually going in and filling T shirt orders.
People are still ordering T shirts. So I'm sitting there packing up some
T shirts to get shipped out, and they called me and said, get
the road. Yeah, I see you later. Yah yeah, okay,
perfect time. It was two years ago yesterday through a lot. You know,
I keep, um, you know, everything, Well, since we've
been doing this here, you know, we've been posting our social media every
every day. We post you know, photos and you know the graphic that
has everybody that uh that's been on the show. So I you know,
I go through the list and I see people like you know, Bill Walton
and Steve Kerr, Terry Francona, um, all the you know, all
the coaches's had, Mike Bibbie and a bunch of the the the old basketball
players, Pete Williams, a whole bunch of times. Um. Uh,
you know I'm sitting here. You know, guys like Burt Knirk right who
you know, a sports legend him and Frank Lund who knows the former a
d at Washington, Uh, Mike Ludd together, We've had Greg Byrne.
We've had uh, you know Olympians like you know, Chrissy param and uh
and uh Delaney Schnell. You know Dave Hickey has been a friend of the
show. A lot of local a lot of the local guys, local media
guys who have been great to us and sometimes come on at the last minute.
Sometimes they don't like today and we've only got one guest. But you
know Andy Lopez, uh, you know basketball player, active basketball players and
football players and whatnot. You know, I see a Zulus Tabellis in here
that you know, we had him on Kurk Cresa more recently, old friends
like Jack McGruder, Greg Hanson, I mean just I mean, I look
at these pictures and it's just crazy what we've been able to do over the
last several years. You know, Jason Gardner obviously, Jed Fish and Rich
Rod a number of times, Keith Smith and ortiez Jenkins. I mean,
the list goes on and on. You know, local folks, national folks.
Um. You know, it's been you know, national sports writers like
Pad Forty, Mike Decorsi, Dennis Dodd who you know, have millions of
followers of you know, their their shows and their Ralph Russo and the work
that they do so um, just a lot of cool stuff and it's been
it's been great to be able to talk to all these people. You know,
we both have a lot of these contacts, but some of them we
just make as we go along, right, you know. Um, Ryan
Ratkey has been a great, great friend of the show. Love. We've
always loved having him on to talk football and basketball. Steve Lavitt, right,
UCLA guy, I'm flipping through the pictures here right now. Um,
you know, you know, and again you know, Tommy Lloyd, all
those guys. So it's just been it's just been great. Yeah, let's
say we can hang out for another three you know, but you know,
let's take him one at a time. No, No, the next one.
I said, two things, Uh, anniversary and then hold you and
then we're talking to God about the game. Yes, oh, the short
thing, the short thing, the two foot pot as we call him.
That was like a one foot ten point favorite, and you tank it whatever
they do. I didn't watch the game until the end, and I'm thinking,
what, well, I saw that last shot by um by James Harden,
and I'm like that that's just a knife to Steve's chest right there.
That was just a dagger to you. I'm like, and I'm not saying
I wasn't rooting for that or anything. Right. I always want you to
win, Steve, I really do. I really do want you to unless
you're banded against me. I want you to wink. But when he hit
that shot, which one, because the one the three point at the end,
the one that hurt me, I thought, and I just saw highlights
was when he drove to the basket, kicked it out to the dude at
the top of the key and he hits the three pointer. I think there,
I think I think the one Harden he had put him on put him
up two points, like within like eight seconds second. That was I thought
that was the other show. Yeah, and I saw it and I felt
bad for you. But I gotta tell you, I laughed out loud because
I thought, that is just crap. Because I was thinking of what what
Noah said that James Harden was gonna do. I was gonna do something big
yesterday, and he did. And because he was the only dude left right
everyone else, no I think about his career. What happens when James Harden
is the only guy to play for his team, right, Like, he'll
score a lot of points if you If you couple that with the Celtics for
getting to show up then of course they're gonna win that game. You know,
like it's not like like it's not like no one else showed up there.
They're role players there, James Hurd at forty five and how many assists
like five times something like that. But it's like the Celtics didn't play defense
and like they they always been playing down to their opportents. They they like
Trey average like thirty points in that series. Of course Harden's gonna get you.
So let's get in transition to something that I saw maybe about two hours
ago that really kind of piqued my interest, and I said, what the
hell is this student? You might have to get the dumb button going here?
OK. This is from NBA News and Videos from yesterday. No disrespect
to Steve Kerr, but Mark Jackson put together and developed a dynasty with Stephan
Curry, dream On Green, Clay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors, Jackson
surrounding them with phenomenal bench players and the veteran leadership of andre Iguadella. It's
gotta it's gotta be heartbreaking for Jackson to see Kerr and join his vision and
the fruits of his labor. What the hell. This that reminds me of
the Tommy Lloyd thing. Well, Mark Jackson had all those guys and couldn't
win with the exactly the point, it's not just the same way that Tommy
Lloyd is winning with the guys that that that got Sean Miller fire and this
same thing. And this is nine years ago. At some point along the
line, don't you start saying, Steve Yeah, right, what this was
posted a day ago. Sometimes people can't drive the sports car. Some guy
they get ticket, they reckon into a tree or whatever. Right that somebody
who could drive the sports car drive sports car. I so, I so
agree with you, because that's the thing that's kind of bothering me. One
of the things that bothering me about what they say about Tommy, Well,
he's winning with Sean Miller's guys. Well, Sean Miller couldn't win with Sean
Miller's guys, So what the hell would they prefer him not to win with
Miller? He's winning with Sean Miller's guys, plus some guys that he's brought
in like Umar Balow, you know, Courtney Raymy, you know, the
guys like that. He has to apologize and so so so what you know,
it's it's on social media. Somebody made the point. Yeah, well,
you know one of those teams would have gone to the NC Double A
tournament, but the tournament got canceled. What you know what that team,
we did not know if they were they were a bubble team. Sure,
sure, exactly so Sean Miller, I mean, and I know other you
know, the whole FBI thing was obviously a factor, and the U have
a just Clary just wanted to wash its hands of it. But he was
not winning, like like Tommy Lloyd has won the last two years with those
guys. So who know who do you give credit to? You give credit
to schan Miller for getting them here, or do you give credit for to
Tommy Lloyd for taking them and doing what he's done with them. Yeah,
I think in that case you think both of them, because yeah, but
you also need to be a good orchestra guy. If you're not a good
orchestra guy to do the leadership of the band thing, I'm doing the motion
that they do, but you're not gonna have good music, Tommy. Tommy
Lloyd could have easily come in and done the Dion Sanders thing and cleared out
the locker room and and you know, scorched it and started all over instead.
He said, these are the guys I've got. I'm gonna do what
I the best. I count to them, and he let them loose and
let them play, and he's as we've said in many times, he won
sixty one games. Which it still bothers me that Doug said that he's lost
faith in Tommy Lloyd after sixty one wins. And in fact, I texted,
I texted to call usaid and he sorry, he said, sorry,
I'm in work or doing working at the job, so he might call us
today. But it was funny because he's the one that said that exactly.
Yeah, so you know, and and it's again Steve Kerr won immediately with
those guys. Mark Jackson got fired because he had those guys and couldn't win
with them. Yeah, you know, and like you said, he had
a great car, but he he kept running into the wall. Yeah,
yeah, you don't put it in. They didn't. They didn't make a
change just because they made a change because they didn't see it happening, right,
And as you said, how many championships later, and you still don't
want to give Steve Kirk credit for that you and all the credit goes to
Mark Jackson. Come one at least I think it's four right or check?
Yes, yes, okay, I just saw that. I said, really,
really, you know what that is? What's probably that is the problem
we have with social media is that somebody can say that out in the woods
somewhere. Did they really say it? Right? But then they said they
put it here and we have to see it. These types of conversations were
held at the bar at the bar stool at twelve a midden and no one
heard, but they're around the water cooler aware, and and by that time
the next morning says, what did I say last night? I don't remember
saying that. Did I go home with her exact exactly? Yes, you
did so, and you did it. You have to own that. Good
luck with the We get to the first fifteen minutes for Marcus Smith's got to
come into all of this. Yes, all right, Marcus Smith, the
golf coach at Pima. His men's team won another region championship back to back.
So we'll talk to Marcus and maybe he'll give me some over the phone
chipping lessons. Because I was bad again over the weekend, so we'll be
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Southern Arizona Business Coalition, Steve Ravera and Jacin Solids. They have their eye
on a boy on two suns sports station Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. They welcome
back to I on the vault year old Fox Sports fourteen cuftie on Steve Rivera's
Jacin's now on the phone. We have Marcus Smith, the Pima Aztecs golf
coach, the successful guy. How are you Marcus doing good? How are
you guys doing We're fine? Hey, question uh, real quick, because
you know that's what we do. Uh. Two foot puts? How often
should they be made? He said? Two? Two foot puts? I
have a reason why I'm asking the question. Those those can't be missing exactly
exactly every single we've met make bets or two foot puts and they we lose
them all that we miss them all the time. What's up with that?
We suck mark for for Marcus for for the Just to clarify on this,
okay, you know, if there's like a heavily favored team that's like a
plus five hundred plus six hundred plus seven hundred on the money line, we
call those two foot puts because you take them just to kind of boost your
bed a little bit, and then they lose. And Steve had one of
those yesterday. He had the Celtics again, he had the sell ticks against
them. All they had to do was win. They didn't have to they
didn't have to cover a line. All they had to do was win,
and he lost. It's unbelievable. Marcus, you're in the state of Coach
Staate of coach coaches kids. Another another great showing for you. What the
heck, Marcus? Yeah, we're you know, the boys are trending in
the right direction. You know, we had a bit of a hiccup at
the region regional championship. Maria's doing great and Helica Martinez just made the national
championship. You know, the programs are off to another great year. So
where you headed to? Now, Yeah, you've got you Okay, So
your guys won the region championship, So what's next? Now? We had
to sand Creek Station golf Course in Newton, Kansas and on May thirteenth.
You've got to Kansas before for this, haven't you? I reasonly asked,
is Kansas sounds familiar? Or maybe it was soccer? I believe it was
soccer. So we we've only been to last year and a Death Texas.
Yeah, and then the year before that Lugock, Texas. So we've never
been to Kansas as far as golf wise. Why why aren't they like ever,
you know, Miami Beach or you know, some cool place like that.
Why can't they be in somewhere cool? Right? Right? I mean,
what the each of that, you know, someone where it's fun to
play? I don't know anything about Kansas, right where you going? What's
what's the place against in Kansas called Sand Creek Station golf Course? Exactly?
Where the world is? Says Where in the world is Carmen Morell where there's
there's way too many words. Yeah, I don't know what that means in
Kansas exactly. Yeah, but to your benefit you're going back. How do
you feel when you when you were able to qualify, you know, it
was it was a mixed feeling. Um. You know, we went into
the tournament as highly favored of winning it, but our boys, you know,
we didn't really compete as you know, in my opinion as region champions,
I don't think we competed as a team that you know, qualifies for
the national tournament. We had a lot of fumbles, we had a lot
of mispuss There was just a lot of a lot of bad things that happened.
But we were able to, um, you know, we were able
to face adversity pretty well by the fourth day and secure it. But it
was stressful and it was hard, and it was a lot closer than it
should have been. So we're feeling good that we qualified, but we know
that we need to go back to the course for the next two weeks and
figure out, you know, our lineup and what we're going to do in
Kansas because as of right now, you know, we you know, we
won. It wasn't pretty okay, I mean, it's it seems like,
I mean, you guys obviously have high standards for yourselves, but you still
have to be really happy with what you did. Right Absolutely, you know,
we just went back to back. You know, it's a great time
to you know, for us as a program and all of our boys.
You know, it's a great time. It's just like you said, you
know, the standards are are are so high with the program that it is
hard sometimes to find, uh, you know, it's hard to take yourself
out of your shoes and go, look, we I know, we didn't
play our greatest golf, but we're still region champions at the end of the
day. And not a lot of kids get get to say that when they're
done with their college career. Not a lot of coaches get to say that
they've done back to back region championships. So that's true, and it's super
happy and and now that we're kind of removed from the region championship and I'm
super blessed to be part of these guys journeys. It was it was a
lot of fun, but way too close. So I don't Maybe Jay will
remember what I said about this, because I don't remember much of coach.
So when you're motivating your kids and can give them a pep talk if you
do, what do you say to them? Because they're kind of individuals,
they just comprise the team. But I think we asked this, I asked
this of the women's golf coach or the tennis coach. You go in there
and give them some kind of you know, new rocky type of speech,
or you just let them play. Um. You know, it depends on
the day. You know, going into day one, it's kind of just
let's go out, let's feel it, let's play. I'm not gonna lie
to you. After day three there was a lot of a lot of words
that would be bleeped out from this interview. So you know, you kind
of got to go in and give them that rocky speech and you know,
let's go. We got a legacy to to keep building, uh, and
you try and motivate them in that way. Um, but you know,
it depends on the situation. You know, after the third day of regionals,
we were neck and neck with the team behind us, uh, and
you know that we weren't expecting that. So and kudos to that team,
they played outstanding golf. How does that work when, as as Steve said,
you got your you're giving them a talk and then they're going off individually
to try to play well. How do you put them in a frame of
mind that is going to work for that When you get down to the nitty
gritty of it, golf is at the college level, it's really a team
sport because that number one guy, he can go shoot whatever. He you
know, he can go shoot in the sixties. But it doesn't matter unless
that fifth guy comes in with the score that we can use or that fourth
guy comes in. So, I mean, you know, it's great for
the individual. We play the team sport and every guy has to come together
out there. And so a lot of times what I would tell them,
as this is a perfect example, is when you're making verties and you're making
cars out there, you know you're not making it for yourself, You're making
it for your brothers, so you can back them up when they make a
mistake and really just make it for everybody goes with the same goal and same
mind up with a you know, first team. Obviously, once they get
up there, it kind of on them to continue that and myself to remind
them throughout the day. But at the college level, you know, the
number one is only as good as the number six. You know, we're
all as strong as our strong as our weakest length. So it's funny,
Jay, because we talk about this all the time. We've talked about with
Steve Kurlick being the guy um, and you bring this up that you don't
want if if we're if there were threesome, you me and Jay, you
don't want to disappoint the guy next to you because he's trying to not disappoint
you, and together you're just moving forward, trying not to fail, right,
right, And I wouldn't say, you know then that's kind of what
our boys are are are trying to do on this course, not necessarily not
to fail for each other, but how can you give another guy the opportunity,
you know, if if you go out and have a birdie, well,
I don't want to have a bogie because it makes your birdie not look
as good. You know, I want to have a tar at least right
right, So I want you to ask him, Jake, because you'll say
it, because you're passionate about this. The Yannis uh excuse or whatever we
said about failure in success. I don't know if you saw Yannis after they
guy after uh the Bucksky to eliminate talk, somebody asked them, you know,
is this season of failure? You know, because they came in they
were the number one seed in the in the in the in the NBA,
but then they go out in the first round to a number eight seed.
And his comment was, you know there are no failures, you know you
I mean, yes, did you want to win, yes, did you
try to win yes? But you know you compete and you know it's it's
not a failure. And I really liked what he said about that. I
took it to heart that a game can be a failure. But you know,
in this sort of in the context of Arizona basketball, people said that,
well, they lost the Princeton so the season was a failure. And
now you and now you're you're in a situation where you know you have high
expectations for yourself. You know, let's just ask you. You know,
if you don't win the national championship, is your season of failure? You
know, not at all, because you know, I've got to grow with
these boys over the last three years and and we built relationships that are gonna
last a lifetime. And you know, I could give you, you know,
a thousand different memories of us laughing and having fun and and the best
part about having fun with these boys is we were doing it while we were
winning. You know, there's there's a difference when you're having fun and goofing
off if you're losing. You know, we were fortunate enough that we were
winning while we were doing it. Um, you know, if that doesn't
happen, it's not a failure, dude. That's what our goals are shut
out for. But you know, it's never a failure when you when you're
around to people and you know you guys are chasing greatness. That's that's that's
just a perfect answer, because that to me, that's what that's what it's
a failure. If you hate your season, you hate your coach, you
hate your teammates, and it just isn't rewarding to be around these guys.
To me, that's a failure. But that's more. That's less about winning,
more about you know, the experience that you have. To me,
I as rely so that that's kind of on that experience, you know,
that's you know, that was Ultimately we want to win at the end of
the day. That's our job. It's just the boys job, the girl's
job. But I'm a big believer and I want them to remember this time
in ten years. I want them to go, oh, man, you
remember that region championship. We almost you know it, didn't you know,
we kind of we came so close or we did win the whole thing.
You know. I want them to remember the fun stuff because at the end
of the day, we're trying to have fun. You know, I wouldn't
do this job as I wouldn't having fun. And I tell our boys a
second, we don't have fun. I'm doing my job, you know,
wrong, and we need to fix it. So having fun again. Okay,
So you guys are headed to the national championship tournament. In the national
tournament, what's what's the preparation, like, what are you guys up to
a lot of a lot of playing. It's really getting them mentally, mentally
focused, and physically ready for four straight days in a different environment. So
it's just a lot of playing, not a whole lot of drills, not
a whole lot of you know, make twenty puts, you know, make
twenty ships. It's really just we get you a teatime, let's go see
what we can do, you know, but let's see who the lowest score
is today. We'll do that for the next two weeks almost every day.
See what our lineup is, you know, see who's going to be our
number four and five guys, who's going to be a substitute. So the
guys still have a lot of pressure on their side. They're trying to,
you know, qualify themselves for the national tournament because they have such a good
team. But it's just a lot of playing right now. From a personal
side, how satisfying is it for you to continue the success you're on.
It's it's incredible, you know, it feels like a dream, it really
does. I think everybody when you start coaching and you get to coaching at
a high school right or or a middle school, you want to get to
that college level. Unfortunately, was you know, blessed to get your much
faster than most. But then define success while you're doing it, is,
you know, validation for what you're doing, all the hard work, you
know, the sacrifice and just seeing the smiles on the boys faces when we
went to reach the championship. Nothing like that. And uh, you know,
I genuinely feel like I'm living a stream and uh, there successfully have.
It's incredible. Well, you're an old grizzled veteran now because I know
when you when the first time we had drawn the show, you were brand
new did this? You were like the you know, the little kid at
the in the athletic department. And now you've been around a while, you've
got some You've got some miles. Um, you know, do you do?
You believe this? But I bet you you guys wouldn't believe this stat
if so in our conference when we all play together, I have been the
coach the second longest of any coach in our conference right now. That is
crazy, is it? Because the other people have been let go or they
moved on yet both of those you know, some of moved on to either
other jobs, some of them let go just from poor performance. Um,
but it stands that you know, Mason Community College, John Guerrero has been
there for you know, twenty something years. I you know, I don't
know. I don't think I'll get to twenty years. But I've been as
the second longest. Wow. So I know we're trying to talk about your
team, but I want to, you know a little bit more about so
when in this time that you've been the head coach there, how do you
perceive what are some of the things that you feel like you've learned the most
about not just coaching, but about yourself as a coach. Yeah, I
you know, I don't really just think it's it's relationships. The boys are
the boys are a million times more likely to go out there and compete for
you when you know when they're when there's love involved. You know, when
when you love them, they love you and they love the program, and
when our relationship is great. So I would just say relationships. You know,
my relationship with Jim Monica, the athletic director. You know, he's
been a father figure for me for the last three or four years, and
I love that guy. To jas Um. You know, just all sorts
of people that I've gotten to meet at the end of the day, it's
all about relationships and you know, making those experiences great. I would say
that's probably when I take it in the most from and what I making people
happy but also trying to strive for something better at the end of the day.
But making those relationships has great. So what do you like about your
team heading into this tournament this year as a post to last year? This
team is hungry because this team knows they can do it, and this team
knows that nobody's going to hand them a national championship. This team knows they
have to work for it. But I think the most important thing is this
team knows they can they can pull it off. So I think you should
go to your your your dad, like you said, your father figure,
and that's for a bigger allowance. Well then he'll then he won't be the
longest coach in the good point. You better not do that, right,
Coach Marcus, Thanks as usual, Good luck to you. Thank you know,
I appreciate you guys. Hopefully we're on after the national tournament. Hopefully
we're bringing back bringing back somehow man, it sounds great. Good luck Marcus.
Coach Marcus, the conversation always cracks me up. Because I feel like
I'm talking to my kid and don't forget to tuck your shirt in and get
your take your Jamie with you and all the other stuff. What a good
kid. I think he's got to be twenty four about that. Yeah,
because you talked about twenty one, I think. Yeah, Okay, Well,
good luck to him. You didn't ask him for any tips. I
did not. I might. I'm hopeless as far as that goes. Really,
Yeah, you've got forty years of news too. I've been bat at
it for fifty years, so why change it changes? Okay, we've got
to go to break, all right, let's go to break. We'll be
back. We'll take your calls five two zero, four one, six,
seventy four forty. We're open to talking about anything you want to talk about.
To give us a call. Well, we don't have a gifts yet.
Yeah, right, we don't have a guest for the second hour,
so phones are open the rest of the show. Give us a buzz.
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Net. Steve Bravera and Shaken Salez they have their eye on the ball on
two Sons Sports Stage Jeff Fox Sports fourteen fifteen Streaming Live. I mean I
heard radio arm Hey, welcome back to whining about here on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. I'm Steve. He's Jake got a boy the control unit. You
got fourteen minutes if you want to give us a call, in fact,
please do thank us fort save us from each other. Fourteen years in a
day though, three years of a day, three years of a day,
three years in a day, So fourteen minutes to give us a quick call
or anything you you're saying. I got a text earlier for one of our
guys, saying that I won't see who it was because you know him and
I won't say his name. Umm. Oh, it's harder for Tommy because
he was working with someone else's players, but in essence, so was Steve.
So you know. But again, a good coach will go in there
and and and you know the good a good coach and the right coach,
right, somebody who's got an open mind will go and say, Okay,
this is what I've got, and so this is what I'm gonna do.
You know, I mean, you know who who I thought was perfect with
that Rich rud right, I mean you think about the guys. He didn't
have great players, but yet he put an offense together because he he he
based it on who he who he had, right the offense he ran with
Matt Scott his first year was different from the offense he ran with with with
uh Bj Denker, and different from the offense he ran with Andrew Solomon.
Those were three completely different offenses because there were three completely different quarterbacks, and
he won with all three of those guys. And and and he you know,
he saw the receivers that he had, he saw the line that he
and he built his his offense around guys that he had. And that's what
a good coach will do. And that's what Tommy Lloyd has done. That's
what Steve Kerr did, and that's been That was the knock on Sean Miller,
that Sean Miller would do what he wanted to do, regardless of who
he had, no question. And I think part of it and I said
this to somebody earlier this week when we were talking about this, um you
had this guy like you described Sean, which I think is perfect. And
he come in with the step dad who lets them do things within reason,
says, Okay, you're not gonna have a ten o'clock curfew, but don't
screw up. I'm gonna let you guys be free. Uh, don't get
in trouble, but you're gonna be have a more freer playing playing way.
And guess what, they loved it. They took it and it worked and
it continues to work right right, and you know, and I mean,
you know, for anybody to be unhappy that Tommy Lloyd didn't get to a
final four in his first two years is beyond me. Yeah, continues to
be beyond me, you know. So you know, I mean I hope
at some point, I hope, at some point and this will come to
to the case, uh, that we eventually run out of this topic because
because because he'll be fine. He said he's gonna be fine and trust the
process, you know, Sean said that, wait till it all comes to
fruition, right, Yeah. I mean again, you know, he's one.
It's not like he was, you know, a head coach at some
other big program and just you know, moved his thing over here. I
mean, he's a brand regardless of how long he was an assistant. He's
a brand new head coach. And I think you have to I think that
has to be a consideration because you feel like, you know, uh,
well, you know, he's been around a long time. Yeada, yea,
he should be able to do all the same. I don't know.
I know I shouldn't. I shouldn't have to be here defending Tommy Lloyd.
Right, I feel like we well and you don't, and you don't if
you didn't believe what you're saying. Right, you know what I'm saying.
You're not You're not. I'm not an al boy guy. You know that.
And there's not an aliby needed. He has what he's done, and
he's done very well and he doesn't need us exactly. Point. Cannot see
my point. We just bring it up because we get frustrated rated with what
people are saying. I just get frustrated with the fans. Yeah, you
know, but that's the way. They are your people, man, they
they're your people. You know you need to not say that because you don't
know what to say. I don't want to have one six seventy all right,
So who you're taking the night? Yeah, well, I know you're
taking the Warriors, but you're not gonna take anything to You're not gonna play
anything. That was like, I'm at the emergency room right now because that
was a I'm a wounded bird, all right. Nicks that nicks and heat
that's over. That's Nicks. We're gonna win. I don't mean the Heat's
gonna win that you think so? Yeah, yeah, what's the name is
like, didn't you say as us Jimmy Butler's got an ankle the size of
a softball or something. Yeah, they ruled them out. I think that
would be the best thing, kind of sent them out for Game two.
They already took control, got to split on the road. Yeah, yeah,
I still think the Heat aren't gonna do it, not because they won
the first game. I just thought that the Warriors in five or six did
what we talk about five or six, uh, and then the Suns,
then the Denver Broncos, the Denver Nuggets in about five or six, uh,
and here we go. I just kind of hope the Nuggets placed the
Warriors because I have both of them. Um oh yeah, they went into
is your bet on NBA Championship Conference? Both both? Yeah, because it's
gonna be tough. Well in the East now, who knows, because Milwaukee's
gone, so that kind of free to open a spot. Yeah in Boston
if they continue the lost at home, all right, So you don't know.
So you have you have, you have two like lines you put down
the right long. Yeah, Well so if you if you could, like
I don't know who would if you could ask, if you could say,
like who do you think is a better chance? And then who would you
say? Denver? So then would you would would you kind of root for
the Lakers to give them easier path because he'd rather have no, because I
think I would rather have two short, short things. But like that's the
that's the thing. Like I think that if if the Warriors get to the
like I think words or lesser chance to win UF they beat Denver like you
just was in the finals, I think the Nuggets have like an easy,
like easy road, they have a better chance of winning that. I feel
like both of those two if they beat each other up in the Western Conference
finals. You know, yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying.
But I don't believe that America. If he sees his teams move up in
the bracket, that's just just surviving advance. Maybe just don't let Jay pick
the Are you gonna get upset if I take the Warriors today? Oh no,
no, no, no, no not at all. What's it's four
and a half. In four and a half, it's in it's in four
and a half in Golden State at Golden State. No, because this is
a this is a sprinting to the marathon, not a sprint. The Knicks
are minds for sixty tonight, when Steve, are you taking the Lakers tonight?
Come on? I knew what I saw this schrist Jay put something on.
It's not even that it's it's the fact that he starts to think about
it, and then you know that the basketball gods were like when you're invested
with Seave Now, it wasn't even like you didn't take the bed she supposed
to close. I just could. It's fun. It was just the two
foot put that he said. What did he say? One percent of the
time? But how many times you've missed? But and I've done the same,
dude. The one that I missed, I had. I took the
Bucks when they were up fifteen in the second half. I took them on
the money line and they lost. Oh that was the final that they lost
because I could because I had put. I had, I had taken the
Warriors, and so I wanted to bump up the bet just a little bit.
And I'm gonna take this shirt thing because it moves it enough to make
it worth my while, and then they were I took him at minus eight
fifty and they lost. If you don't see that, you're the curse.
If you don't know that, you're the problem. So it's like Dylan Brooks,
Yeah yeah, okay, okay, so we'll talk about that later,
which is great, hilarious. That was I mean, that was one of
the worst. Oh yeah, miss this is after fifteen fifteen. But I
mean, I mean I took uh. I had a couple of college uh
it took something like you know those uh, you know eight leg college money
line parlays, right. I mean I had a team that was minus uh
fifteen hundred that lost. I had a team that was minus ten thousand that
lost. I give I'll give you. I mean, I promise that is
not your worst loss you'll ever have, because you will have some other worst
one. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean I had a seven team er
uh and just you know, we met ten twenty bucks uh with Arizona against
Stanford, and all I needed it was Arizona to close it out. They
had that lead, member like a twelve point lead, and they blew it.
And I'm thinking, and I had my pulse on the my fingers on
the on the get out of the bad thing. They said, no,
They'm gonna lose this, and they came down to six, they came down
to four. They're still not gonna lose this, and then they lost.
How the world I should gonna have hit that a long time ago, I
called my parachute. Yeah, I it just it just drives me crazy.
And funny thing about it though, Jay with the basketball team, I'll go
back one more time. They how did they lose their games in the regular
season? Pretty much? Four games, five games, most of them coming
from behind. They had, they had the lead. How they do against
the pencil? Yeah, if you are who you are, you are who
you are, and people didn't want to recognize that exact combody did, I
mean exactly? He thought they were gonna, you know, yeah, if
you are who you are, and that's what they do who they were.
Yeah, I think we shouldn't be surprised. No, we shouldn't. But
Dangan, this is six weeks one, about six weeks after the fact,
we're still six weeks after the season, still lamenting this, Steve. That
is what it is. Yeah, I don't know what to do. I'm
looking at and I haven't baseball. I can't tell you because I don't.
I haven't paid attention to any of that. Did you see that Aaron Boone?
They're calling for his head? Yan Yeah, because they're that bad.
I've never I remember when they got they hired him. I thought, I
don't see that guy being personality A guy, you know, in a locker
room that's gonna, you know, especially in a Yankee locker room, that's
gonna be able to you know, just have have their ear right, Yeah?
With the egos. Yeah. Let me also say this, just referring
to the Mark Jackson Steve kerrting, do you know how difficult it is to
to rain in a bunch of star players? And Kerr is the perfect guy
for that because you have six dudes that have this ego, dream on being
part of the leader of it, and how you keep them happy with one
basketball and one you know what I'm saying, it doesn't happen. It doesn't
happen if you're Steve Kerr. Won you show him your rings? Right?
You say? I know you guys think that I'm you know, it was
just some role player. But I've got what what do you have? Six?
Six rings or five? Rings as a player, yeah, and then
a bunch more and now as a coach, and you just go, I
know, I think, I know, you think you can. You know
you you can take me one on one on the corporate I was a pretty
damn good player who played on some of the greatest teams in the NBA.
So if you think that I don't have the knowledge or experience that's needed to
run this team, then get the hell out of here, right And and
I think, and then then I think, on top of everything else,
he's he's such a humble guy that they do enjoy playing for him. I
really think that they do. Uh, And guys, you know, that's
what guys are looking for. And I think probably they respect the fact that
he has been, you know, in the locker room and he's been on
these on these teams. You can't deny his resume. So I don't know,
um, but you know he he again, you know when he gets
up and talks about himself, and you know he's such a you know,
very self effacing kind of guy. You know, you want a guy who
doesn't have a huge ego because you feel like if he makes a move,
it's he's making a move. About the team, You're not about him,
right, and he has good people surrounding him who make the decisions. He's,
you know what I'm saying, in the GM role and all that.
So a perfect marriage, perfect merge. Getting back to your Yankee take,
the Yankees are fifteen and fifteen taboo for Yankees, but they're in last place
in their division and they're eight and a half games out of first place.
That's a hard place to be, you know, Yankee month, you know
and change. That's a hard heell decline for the rest of the year.
When you get you behind that many games, it's a slog the entire season.
You know, you win a game, you lose the game. You
win a game, you lose a game. You know, I suppose that.
You know, the Dodgers are only four games over five hundred, but
they're in first place. They're you know, head of the Diamondbacks by half
a game. And you know, you got Colorado down at nine and twenty.
Colorado's nine and twenty, but they're closer to first place than the Yankees
are. So you know, the Yankees don't take losing. Colorado can't move
to that division. Yeah, So it is what it is. You have
to play with what you're given. Yeah, okay, Okay, I don't
know, man, it's a you know again, what you know, what
are your standards? Right the you know the Yankees Yankees managers about probably about
to get fired, you know. But you know, and I and I
and you know, I think Tory Lavallo over at the Diamondbacks, you know,
kind of on the hot seat starting the season. But he's got his
team half a game out of first place. So you know, I could
not tell you because he let go bump bump guard, right or who's on
that roster? Well, I know Zach Gallen is the best pitcher. He's
one of the best pitchers because he's my top pitch on the Oh, you
haven't cursed him yet. I have not. He hasn't got the memo.
No, he doesn't know, just bout us talking about it. He's just
over here. It's over now. He's gonna go into the tope. I
get paid in my ear. He's about to go into the toilet just because
of me. The dog the team trips. I see nothing in there,
but I hear it. Okay, I just got to I just got a
twinge in my neck. What the hell? It starts with the ge,
it ends with the back he's throwing tonight, I'm gonna have to throw a
little, little little change on here. This is gonna be fun. Okay,
four and two outs today. All right, let's take our break here
at the top of the hour, we'll be back with breaking news, all
kinds of stuff out there for good old note, We'll be right back