This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagon Zalez. Sound Fox
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kat z R two SA at iHeartRadio Station Goo. Good afternoon, everybody,
Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve
Rivera, He's Jagan Zalez. We got our guy Ryan with us today working
the board. Big day to day. What a weekend it was, Oh
man hes and lows heis and Low's you know, good news, bad news,
Yes, terrible news on a couple of fronts. Yeah, crazy crazy
Weekend's let's start with the good news because we can transition into other things.
The good news is the men's baseball team right continue to find some magic.
They're just you saw three four games. I watched them all no, no
live, yeah four for you. I went three and one by the way,
just so you know, well they overcame the jinks. I watched what
I saw on TV. Uh disappointed that I didn't go see any but who
knows, maybe the weekend. But they continue to find ways and sometimes that's
magic that happens during the year. Well, you know, yes, and
and that's what you know, that's what good teams do. Special teams do
that. You know. There their walk off against against Oregon State, then
the walk off against against USC on Saturday night to win to win the tournament.
You know, that's just you know, when when you have a team
that is meant to be doing certain things, those are the things that happen,
right, No, no question. The number one thing they needed to
do on Saturday was get their starter out and they eventually and then they rocked
the rest of the way, you know, file and found a way.
So so there's that they played this weekend. Uh here, which is a
great thing. You're not gonna be able to go, are you not out?
No, I'm headed out of town tomorrow. I'm gonna try to get
out there. I think you were thinking about going, right Ryan, Yeah,
so that should be good. Uh. And then the women the softball
team, I got eliminated while we were they got to legend. Yeah,
it was not even close. In fact, Vick, who I hope calls
later not now. Uh, he was disappointed in how they played. And
sometimes Jay and I always believe this, and he'll let him say what he's
said to me, teams, you find you run into a team that's better
than you. It was very simple and much better than you. It was
very simple, or Oklahoma State was a lot better. Arizona did not have
the pitching, uh to to to stay with him, which has been an
issue all year long. We knew going in the pitching was. I mean,
Oklahoma State put up eighteen runs in the in the two games, shut
out Arizona. In the first one, Arizona got four, four runs.
You know, it seemed to well, you knew going in that they were
gonna have to piece it together, right, you know, I was looking
when I was listening to uh, watching, watching, I think it was
the first game, and uh the announcers made the made the comment that Arizona
had the worst pitching staff left in the tournament. Of the sixteen teams left,
Arizona had the worst. Is a bad word. They just you know,
they just get it. You know, they did. They had the
they just didn't have the pitching staff, and so it was gonna take some
magic for them to go any further, which means a couple of things.
Jay. They got that far with that pitching staff, which is the good
news, which is great news, right, because who would have thought that
they would get that far already? Right, get through the Arkansas. But
the bad news is that was their pitching staff and that's and sometimes that happens.
You know, they had some injuries and that's that's what happens. Sometimes
Caleb Love and the rest of the guys can shoot straight and they get to
beat right, it happens. But you know, watching Oklahoma State, I
think Arizona could have played Oklahoma State ten times and would have lost eight or
nine, eight or nine times, yeah, without question. I mean,
and who wants to say that's it's uh uh, it's a bad thing.
They get to that point and they did well what you rated them eight point
nine? Now I got them back to an eight point nine, which like
athletic with a point four. Well, when when you think about what the
baseball team did, right, they were picked finished ninth, they won the
conference, and in the way they won it, they beat Oregon State,
who's just you know, ranked higher, you know, theoretically a better team
than Arizona, and then to come then to come and win the tournament as
well. Yeah, you know, if they get to the College World Series,
you bump it up over ten over nine. Yeah, okay, so
we'll see what happens there. Uh. And those are the two biggest things
connected to Arizona here locally. And then, uh, we lost a friend
of ours, right, a friend of many. It's funny. It's funny
that, uh, he was polarizing. I don't know if you read my
story I posted ten years ago, and then I posted again yesterday, how
polarizing he was. I thought he was great going because he's the dad of
Luke, and Luke is a fantastic guy played here, obviously a big fan
favorite. But he was polarizing, and all of a sudden, everybody,
everybody, everybody loves it. Doesn't matter if he was if if you if
he upset you on the TV or not TV. Everybody was connected looking all
the photos. Everybody had a photo with him. Yeah, exactly, everybody
exactly. You don't hate you, Bill, do you have time can be?
You had yours? Mine? Uh, everybody, my son has one,
my you know, my god son has one. I mean they're just
everybody's got one, you know. Uh. And that and that was the
thing, you know, I told the story about, you know, the
those two China games that I worked that the packed well, played up up
in Shanghai. You know, I had breakfast with him, you know a
couple of times and just he just sit down and we would chat. Well
he did most of the chatting, but you know, but you know,
he would just sit down with anybody, right and have and have breakfast or
lunch or lunch or whatever. Or you'd go talk to him at the arena
and sit down with him. And yeah, everybody's got them. Didn't mind,
didn't mind you sitting down with him, or you know, if he
was hurried, you eat and make sure that you knew that he was hurried.
But I always had time and always had had some funny stories. They
were a little long, but they were funny. Yeah, at his antics
where mostly show did you watch? So? I watched the thirty thirty seven?
Gone to see it? I saw it. I saw it for the
second time last day, four hours. It's uh, it was I would
see the third time. It's just so damn good. He's such a good
dude, miss misidentified or misunderstood by so many people. I would watch the
third It's fantastic. Yeah, Well, say what you want about whether or
not you would want to listen to him, do a basketball game. One
hundred percent of the people out there say he was a good guy, without
questions, right, without question So whether you liked listening to him to a
game or not, you had to admire the kind of a person that he
was and that that he would that he would take time for anybody. You
know, and everybody's got their stories. Uh, you know, Jay Bill
has told his story today. Dan Patrick was Dan Patrick was having a really
tough time with it, you know, because he I mean, he was
just like, yeah, he said a couple of times. You know.
I have to keep thinking that Bill would be pissed at me if I was
sitting up here, you know, crying and emotional and all that stuff,
and I thought, you know, everybody felt like they had that connection with
you. I guess it's what I'm saying, even if you just met him
for a little more, right, because oh I met him at this place.
Someone sent me a note last night saying that I remember meeting him with
you, and that says everybody knew a place time place. We were at
the at the MGM Grand during you know, during packed off tournament, and
I was walking with my son and we were headed we were headed for I
think we're headed for the food court. And Bill was walking back the other
way and my son just stopped him, said, Hey, can I get
a picture? He stopped, smile, gave a picture, shook his hand,
put his arm around him, and then went about his business. I
mean, just that's darn enough people like that. It's funny because you know
people, we all have people who have passed, uh, and he passed
unfortunately because of cancer. But what you think is, I don't know anybody
anybody who has had a bad word for him. Uh, And wouldn't if
you passed today or tomorrow or whenever, how many people would say it would
would be Well, he was a good guy, Bud. You know,
he was a good guy. But you know what I'm saying, Yeah,
how many people are gonna say a raven reviews from everybody, from everybody,
from everybody, you know, and like I said, everybody thought they were
his friend, right, you know? Justin Spears posted a picture Matt Ansor
from the you A. The communications office has posted a couple of pictures of
Nate Weakers, who you know, the basketball guy. Everybody's got their you
know, their time with him. You know that the picture that I posted,
well, he photo bombed us. Somebody's taking a picture of us at
the at the press table at the PACTFF tournament, and he photo bombed us.
And you know, just you know, and and and you know what.
We're trying to get our we're trying to get our our clips up from
our our last interview with him. There were I think we're having some technical
problems with it. We do. Oh, they're they're okay, they're in
so so. Well, it's seven minutes, we got about six minutes.
We let's let's do it after after after the first because we got a special
guest coming up. Yea, yeah, of course we have a show to
do. We do have a show to do. Well. One more thing
before he got off this, because there was another very uh, you know,
very tragic thing that happened over the weekend. There was a golfer PGA
Tour, golfer Grayson Miller who who uh was in the turn. He was
in the tournament. It was the uh the Charles Schwab tournament played on Thursday,
played on Friday. In the middle of his round on Friday, he
quit the round, said he didn't feel good. He left the golf course
and then in the next twenty four hours you found out that he had committed
suicide. And you just got a thirty year old guy. First of all,
the word came out that he had passed away, and he thought,
God, he got he got sick. What did he you know, what
did he pass away from? And then then the family, the family announced
that he had actually taken his own life. He had had some alcohol and
drug issues in the past, but there was it wasn't any indication that any
of that led to anything. He had just preshed anxiety. And here's a
guy, pro golfer, he had actually won a couple of tournaments. He
wasn't just you know, a guy out there trying to, you know,
make his way. I mean, he was a good, solid PGA tour
golfer and uh and and he took his own life and you just go,
yeah, you know what what goes You know, you can't you can't fathom
it. You know, any when anybody takes your life, you think,
you know, how bad? How bad is it? And how could you
have helped that? Especially for a pro golfer who is living what you and
I would think would be living their lives in a dream world. Yeah,
yeah, no, one hundred percent. And you know, and and uh,
you know, to think about but to think about that Steve that he
was playing. He was playing, he was in he was in his round,
and in the middle of his round he decided, I'm gonna I'm gonna
go do this and then he went and did it. And you go,
man, what uh the kind of despair that somebody has to has to be
going through? Well for that time. One of the big issues today is
mental health and trying to get that not fixed fixed, of course, but
trying to get it corralled and makes it, making it better for people who
suffer from it. Yeah. No, In fact, you Ryan making that
coming in Ryan, Uh And I said, yeah, well you're gonna mention
that early, so you know, you just uh, you just go oh
man. Right, So we're gonna talk more about about mister Walton. Bill
obviously in the second hour, I got a good buddy of mine and God
tell me, Bryce Miller worked with him at you say Today and and get
and all that he did. You read his column, I'm gonna read it
fantastic. Call him about Bill. He's in San Diego. He's a native
of San Diego. Bill is obviously and wrote a waxing poetic very fantastic for
call him about him. So we'll talk about that and just kind of what
he meant to San Diego, the Game Everything Conference, the NBA did you
you know he was a bright dude, right? I think that was that
bright dude. And I think that not pissed off people when he did basketball
games because he was well read. You don't want the reasons why he was.
You know why he was so well read, just a guess his mom
was librarian. You know, his mom was librarian, and and he would
read books all the time because he'd say, she'd say, check out a
book, take it home, read it, took it out. And he
was a shy dude. He was just he happened to be. How can
I say this at Stokes and Stokes a big dude who was seven footer.
He didn't really like playing basketball, but he did because he was Bil was
the same kind of way. He was a big dude, but he wanted
to play basketball and wanted to win. But he was a geek to make
sure, and so he read a lot. He he loved being around people,
but he but he had a hard time communicating because he was a stutter.
Wow, just you gotta you got, I gotta go watch. I'm
gonna watch. I'm gonna watch it in down in Rocky. You got it's
four hours and you won't say, God, this is getting old. No,
four hours. I'll watch it for my second time. I'm thinking I
missed that part. I missed that part. Yeah all right. Well,
the special guess we do have coming up is Terry Francona. We wanted to
get his his uh, just his take. You know, he was he
was there for the first first three years six pack baseball, when Arizona got
into the uh into the PAC ten uh won an Astro Champ chip in nineteen
eighty. Uh. Most people that are around now know him as being the
manager of the Red Sox and the Indians won a couple of World Series with
the Red Sox, broke that horrible, uh historic streak that the Red Sox
went through without winning the World Series, and he was the manager who won
it. I think he's headed for the Hall of Fame. Yeah, yeah,
uh but uh we we also wanted to talk to him about his time
here at Arizona in the early days of the PAC twelve and what this means
to him. You know, everybody's you know Roxy Bernstein, uh Wes Clements,
who was who was calling the game the baseball games with with Roxy.
You know, everybody had their their their take on what this the end of
the PAC twelve you know, means to them. And and so we'll get
to we'll see what what Terry Francone has to say. He's been a guests
for the show a number of times. Yes, and he has time for
us. Who yeh us, Okay, cool, let's go get him.
All right, So let's go and take our break. We're going to come
back. Terry Francone will be joining us, and then we'll have some more
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Breaking down all the ex'es at Oh, it's Steve Rivera and Jagen SALVIAX.
This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth. They Hey,
welcome back to win in the ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve
Rivera. He's Jigginsauce. Now on the pole, we have Terry Francona.
There is gonna be small all American. If I give you all these titles,
they would take all the time we have. Terry. How are you?
I'm good, guys. How you doing. We're doing well. I
guess it's a good time to be a un baseball fan. I think it's
a great time, although I don't think there's really ever been a bad time.
Well you know, uh, I mean this team has done some magical
stuff with the walkoff for you know, to win the conference championship and then
the tournament championship and all that kind of stuff. Just from from where you
said as a guy who played, you know, for Arizona. I know
it was quite a long time ago, but you did and you won ton
as a championship with them. You know, when you follow Arizona baseball,
I mean, how much does it mean to you? And are you on
the edge of your seat watching this team. You know, I went to
the first couple of games of the Oregon State Series and you know, those
first two games, you know, they got beat around a little bit,
and then that third game seemed kind of apropos. I mean, they've been
coming back all year and to come back like like that in that situation and
then in the Pac twelve tournament. You know what, guys, sometimes you
have years like that and it's pretty special and you try to take advantage of
it. Yeah, we were talking about that before you got on the show,
where teams find some kind of magic, they find some kind of elixir
or whatever. Things happen and you move. Look at Mississippi two years ago,
nobody thought they'd get in. They get in, they win, Arizona
with under Andy Lopez, right, goes on that crazy ride because they were
just playing so well. Baseball's like that, right, coach, It's very
much like that momentum. Certainly pitching and Arizon. I'm so impressed with what
they've done with their pitching. You know, Kevin Vance came in and a
guy from Boston College, and they've really turned their pitching around. They don't
walk people, and in today's game, make them or earn it, and
they're doing that really well. When you think about think back to your nineteen
eighty national championship team, because when we when we talk about this team,
we will we'll talk about the pitching, the three starting pitchers who could be
the number one starter at a lot of different places. So when you think
back to your nineteen eighty team that won it all, what was the main
thing that that team had that you know, led to a championship. I
think the best thing we had was a ton of balance. I mean we
had we had speed. We had you know, Johnny Moses and Dwight Taylor.
We had power with Wes Clements, with Clark christ who was a shortstop
that hit three nine, the Scott Stanley who was as steady as as you
could be. We just had a and then a pitching. You know,
It's like Ed Vossberg and Craig Lefferts and I don't want to leave Jeff Morris.
And then we had Casey Candell who was like you know, everybody,
the energy bunny. You know, It's like it was just it was just,
you know, and it wasn't easy that year. Like there was a
lot of times during that year. I think coach Kendall wanted to ring it
ring our next but then we got on that role and we were pretty good.
Yeah it's that role, right, Yeah, well that's the role.
Yeah. You got to win a bunch of games in a row to win
that, and you did so. So Telly, you go to a lot
of basketball games. You're very visible on the sidelines. Are you party just
as big a baseball fan and it's not bigger? Right? Well, I
certainly love baseball. I try to kind of be a little more low key
maybe at the baseball games, just because of my history. I don't want
to ever be you know, they deserve this was their time. But I've
probably gone to six or seven games this year and when I'm in town,
and I'm certainly going to go to the regional this weekend. So we have
athletes like you, guys, former athletes. How do you watch the game?
What do you mean by that? You watch it as a manager,
as a player, a fan? You know what I get? Okay,
that's a good question. I don't think you can ever manage a game from
the stands or the press box or and I know people probably laugh at that,
but when you're in the dugout, you're in the flow of the game.
You have you have information that nobody else has. You know who's pitching,
who's available, who's not, who's hurt, who's nicked up? I
mean, and you And the other thing is you just get in the flow.
And I when I was sick in Cleveland, I'd go sit upstairs with
my bosses sometimes and they'd ask me questions and I'd be like, guys,
I can't manage game from up here because I just I just don't have the
information I want, and I just I just feel really strongly about that.
Yeah, so it's more of a fan you watch it now, Yeah,
it's just for enjoyment. Yeah, I met you. That's good because you
don't have to worry about stuff, right, you know who the hit and
run, who the pinch hit. It's it's really nice not having to worry
about things that go haywire. Now. I did go out the other day
when they played Oregon State, and I wanted to watch the kids Bizano because
you know, Cleveland has the number one pick next year, so I wanted
to kind of get my eyes on him a little bit just for organization.
And he was impressive. So it's going to be interesting to see what happened.
Yeah. So, so you know, it was the This was the
end of the PAC twelve as as we know it. I mean, there
may be some some form of it down the road. But you know,
both Roxy Bernstein, the play by play guy, and Wes Clements, who
was your teammate you both on on Friday and Saturday, had kind of send
offs, you know, for the PAC twelve, and you know, just
talked about the history and you were a part of that history. You came
in in the first years of what became known as the six Pack. That
the three years that you were here in Arizona. Think about that right now
in terms of what the PAC twelve in baseball has been and was, both
during your time as a player and then since then as a as a fan.
Yeah, there certainly are a lot of changes that have happened. I
mean, I think, in my opinion, the six Pack was the best
baseball in the country at the time. Now I know the SEC has just
gone bananas and how good they are and everything. I thought. Wes and
Roxy both did a really good job. It was heartfelt and you could tell
it's hard. I mean, things are changing. It doesn't mean you always
have to love it, you know. I mean there's so much history the
PAC twelve. I mean all the national championships, and I'm not just talking
about the sports, but you know, the Olympic sports where I think the
PAC twelve has really excelled. And yeah, it's okay to say you're going
to miss it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we are going to miss
it. I think outside of your title in eighty, can you maybe reflect
on a couple of great moments. You don't have to be necessarily in them
unless you want to be, but some great moments during those times who were
kind of talking to people that can kind of give us some great memories of
the PAC ten. PAC twelve. Oh my goodness, I thought, guys,
I thought my freshman year, I thought that was our best team.
And USC beat us in the regional and they were loaded, but I mean
we had Craig Chamberlain and Dave Crutcher and Bobby Chalk. We were loaded.
We just again I think they'd beat us like three to two and two to
one and they went onto the World Series. So I mean it was just
really good baseball, and it was year after year after year. I mean
playing in Arizona State. Man, I remember the first time going up to
Arizona State thinking, oh, you know, what did I get myself into?
Right? It just it was such a high caliber of baseball was so
good. Yeah, and it was, and I think I think at that
time the six Pack was widely recognized as you know, as the best conference
with you know, USC, Arizona and ASU and all the national championships they
won, and Stanford came along and won a couple. Uh that that was
some crazy and just going to those games, and it didn't matter which of
the which of the other five teams were here, it was always a big
deal. It seemed like, you know, especially in Tucson and col was
really good, right, I mean we you know, everybody I think forgets.
But in the in the in Omaha, I think we beat Cal twelve
to eleven in a crazy game and they had kind of had their away with
us during the during the season, so it was it was it was really
good competitive baseball. I'm assuming you're gonna probably be there this weekend unless we've
got to call security and have have a you no, no need for security,
because I'll definitely be out there part of the fun of not working is
being able to have a hot dog and a beer and watch the game and
enjoy it. Yeah, roote like crazy. But this was pretty cool.
It's pretty cool for Tucson. It's really cool for the U of A.
I mean, I can't think of a better sendoff to the Pac twelve than
to see them go all the way. And this is a first for you,
right because you'd be working in your real world. Oh man, this
was the first time in forty four years that you know, I'm able to
do something like this, and I kind of planned to take advantage of it.
Nice. So what do you think of the job that the Chip Hale
has done, because you know he's i mean even even earlier this year,
you know, I mean here he's one of these two, these two championships.
Earlier this year, there were fans who were, you know, shaking
their heads, wondering is he the right guy and stuff like that. I
don't know how well you know Chip. I'm sure you ran into him,
you know, in the at the at the major league level. But just
the job he's been able to do, especially after the tough start that they
had, Yeah, I know, Chip really well known him for a long
time, and I think he's done an extremely good job. And it's not
just Chip, it's just coaches. I think what people lose sight of sometimes
is it doesn't mean you're not going to have struggles, but when you do
have struggles, where do you go? And that's to me what good coaching
is and what you guys were just alluding to. Yeah, they were having
a tough time. I mean they went down to Texas. I think they
struck out nineteen times, two games in a row. You know, things
weren't looking real great. And then whatever MESSI he had and the way he
delivered it resonated and look where they've gone. Yeah, yeah, no question,
no doubt, no doubt. When you were in that turn again,
going back to the tournament that you won, the national championship, being in
the tournament, just getting in, first of all, I don't know how
big a deal it was if it was a regular thing to you guys.
You mentioned the same in the eight team that was that was or seventy nineteen.
That was so good. When you're going in what what's on the mind
of a player? You know, because you guys are young at that time
and now you're in this tournament, it's a big deal. The fans are
behind you, you know. In your case, Arizona had won a national
championship just a few years before in seventy six. What's going through your head
as you're getting ready to play in the in the NCAA tournament in seventy nine,
I think we were kind of just happy to be there, and when
we got there, we got beat around pretty good and had a quick exit.
In eighty, you know, we went there and we lost to Saint
John's in the first game, and I think we were all mad because I
think we felt like, hey, this is our time. And fortunately we
kind of fought our way back through the loser's bracket because that's not an easy
thing to do. But our mindset was definitely different that year because we felt
like we could win that thing. Yeah, without without question, we have
a just about three minutes enough with you, coach, let me ask you,
what do you think about today's deal with Ni l oh Man. I'm
probably sounding old, you know, I think it's great where because I know
when I was in college there were times where I wanted to go to dinner
or something and I couldn't do it, and and you know, just didn't
have any money, but for them, so for kids to have money to
be able to do I think it's great. Now, I think it's probably
gotten a little out of hand, and I think everybody would probably agree with
that. But I think the NCAA kind of kind of fought so long that
now this is what's happened, and now they got their hands full. And
I don't know where it's going to go, but it's almost like free agency
for college kids. And I don't know if that's the healthiest thing for for
for the for the college sports. But I'm also glad I'm not in charge
because I don't about how they're going to fix it. Right, you're no
ideas, no idea, no ideas. Okay, last thing, So this
was your first year off of baseball for however long? Right? What did
you do this? What did you do during this season? What have you
been doing? Do you miss it? Well? So far, I've been
golfing like crazy. I wish I could report that I'm getting better, but
I don't seem to be. But I'm enjoying the heck out of it.
I found myself actually watching more baseball because the last couple of years I was
getting kind of worn out, and I would watch, you know, like
the team we were going to play. And now I find myself like,
I'll turn on the TV and if a score is four to four in the
eighth inning, I'll watch a game, and you know, I find myself
watching more now than I have in the last number of years. Did they
at least give you, like a free major le MLB TV package or anything
like that, or you have to pay for like the rest of us.
They did, and they did. Ah, so you miss it? Do
you miss it? You know, guys, I love it, and I
don't love the game any less just because I'm not doing it. But I
was ready. I was you know, I think to do the job right,
you got to have a certain amount of energy, and it was getting
harder and harder for me to have that energy. And I just thought,
Okay, if that's how I feel, it's time to move on. And
it doesn't mean I don't love the game, because I do. It's all
I've ever done. But I did think it was time to step aside,
and I thought it through pretty thoroughly. Okay, then I'll ask you,
do you do you see yourself going back to it? And doing it again.
I got to ask that about an hour ago. The idea was when
I retired, that I would retire. I don't know that you ever put
a blanket statement, but the idea was to retire and again at some point
if I missed the game or I missed certain aspects of the game, well
you know what, then I'll try to figure it out. But right now
I'm kind of enjoying just not being as busy as I've always been my whole
life. That's cool, all right, man, Well, and enjoy the
golf and feel free to invite us sometime. Uh, and we'll we'll go
out there with you. You got it, guys, A good talking to
you, man to be thanks, Terry, Yeah, no, cool,
cool, He's always good. He's always good. And I don't know sure
if I was identifying him correctly because he's a coach. But you don't call
him coach because he's a manager. Yeah, but he's a coach. Yeah.
You know. Well, when you're talking to I mean you're in the
doug, you say hey, hey manager, Hey coach. Right, No,
that's cool. All right, Well, thank thanks to Terry for joining
us. That's awesome. It's always great. To have him. He's always
he's always a great kids. All Right, we're gonna take a break and
then we're gonna go back into into uh some you know some of our talk
about Bill Walton. I think we've got a clip from a past the last
time he was on our show that we're gonna bring up. It's kind of
a funny story. So we'll we'll take this break and we'll come back.
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mean, iHeartRadio. Wow. This is I on the Ball with Steve Robera
and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. Okay, welcome back to wyn
the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay.
We got Ryan with us today. I think we're gonna take a quick look
a quick one of the half of the clip. Right. So we had
Bill Walton on our show in December of twenty twenty two. So that was
during the non conference season for the year that the Dulis Sabellas Umar Bello Show
a front Line, Tommy Lloyd's second year, the Gerald what's in I mean,
Courtney Raimie and the other guy I can't I can never remember his name,
the other guard, the other transfer guard. Yeah, okay, anyways,
whatever, So you'll hear the clip because we're coming out of a break
and we've got Bill on the show, and he had actually was going to
be on the show on the previous Friday his car broke down and he couldn't
make it. Then we got him like on Tuesday, so uh, we're
just you know, wanted to talk to him about Arizona basketball. So here's
here's Are we gonna do both? Yeah, well we'll do one. They're
both seven minute clips. I don't know if we'll have time for the second
one, so we'll be the other one. But this is the start of
the interview. Basically, we asked two questions. Well, and that's kind
of the part. That was the funny thing that we asked two questions and
we got two really long, long, long answers. So here's here's here's
Bill Walton on our show back in December of twenty two. They can't hear
me. They're not playing. Stop playing. So that's all right, we'll
we'll we'll find a way. We'll find a way here in the second hour,
we'll get ahold of our guy and we'll see what happens. All right,
we'll figure this out, crut. But that was part of the that
was part of the part. You asked him two questions and it took fifteen
minutes, all right, because you know, he was just kind of a
long with a lot of different things. I last saw him in February,
I think it was home before he did the last game with with Pash and
asked him if ye had he read my book yet about Luke And he says,
Steve, I'm too busy right now. I'm flying everywhere and I can't
read it again to it. Ironically, I said, you know your son
wrote the forward for me, right, Luke, And he says, yes,
I do know that, Steve. I'm gonna get to it what I
can well again, and that was that was the funny thing. I'm really
upset that this didn't that this didn't play. I gotta figure out what's going
on here. But uh, you know, we asked him. All you
said was Bill, how are you doing? And we got a seven minute,
seven minute answer. Then then you asked him a question about the big
guys, and then we got another seven minute and that was it that we
had to go. And so but again, you know, you know,
going back to it, you know, just a really great guy, uh,
somebody who's you know, always fun to be around. And it's just
too bad. Sure, you know, I mean, you know, when
when he kind of went dark, I just thought it was all about the
because the PAC pop had broken up. Oh yeah, stuff like that.
Well they had said that at least the people had talked to you. He
had been ill to that severity. I did not know. But but Saturday
Friday night, Saturday night, when Roxy started watching Poetic co the PAC twelve
and he mentioned Bill at the end, right, not just once for the
PAC twelve network and then for the ESPN network. You're thinking, I wonder
what's going on. That didn't even enter my mind. I thought I just
thought it was appropriate that he was because Bill, if you talk about a
personality attached to the PAC twelve network networks, it was he was the number
one personality. Right. There were a lot of other guys, Yogi,
Roth, Ashley, Adamson, all the all the people that came through there
and were part of you know, football or basketball or whatever. But if
you if you lined him up in terms of who was the most if you
brought up to say, name me one person from PAC twelve networks that that
you know it reminds you the most of it, it would have been it
would be Bill Walton because of the cinder that he yeah in a runway.
So when when Roxy was doing that. I think it was just appropriate that
because Roxy worked games with you know, with with Walton. I know that
the two China games, remember the games that Arizona but Stanford, and the
very first one was Stanford and Harvard, and then the next one was I
went it was Washington and I can't remember, it's been about five six,
but there were the first two. I was asked to do stats for those
two games. I all the way to China to go do stats for those
two games. Bill Long called both of those games with Roxy Burnstein, though
I knew that they had a connection. Yeah. Yeah. One of the
big reasons too that he was here often more often than not, was he
loved his bike, right, we all know that. Yeah, and he
rode in el tour, so Eltur would have a big banquet before the big
ride and he would come and be part of it. Uh. And that's
when when when I was sitting with him with somebody else and Luke was there,
I invited Luke to come because Bill was there and he'd talked wax Poetic
about his bike. Because you saw the show, I mean, you see
the show, if you see the documentary, he's always on his bike.
Or a lot on his bike, uh, to exercise. Yeah, yeah,
so you know, and and that's sort of his connection with Tucson really,
you know, was the whole biking. Did you have your story today?
No Sports USA A fantastic story about hav his most, his most,
his last significant win as a college basketball player was here. I did not
I always I did see that. I did not see. I didn't see
that. Well, they went to triple overtime to get to the final four,
right against against who the North Carolina State. I did not know that.
I didn't have that one. I didn't have that one because I didn't
realize that that was Walton's last year. I thought he went out as you
know, as having winning lost. David Thompson, Yeah, they had that
eighty eight game winning streak and all that stuff. And uh, I didn't
I didn't realize that. And I remember when when you sell in Loston Carolina
State fourteen. Yeah, when North Carolina State beat them in the in the
in the final four. It was a big deal, right because you see,
just didn't lose national championship, but they had. And in the documentary
from last night, uh, they kind of kind of explained it away.
Because the guard uh, they were having kind of internal stuff with with with
uh with Wooden and a player or two where he went to them. He
went to the guys and said, it's my understanding guys that you are smoking
marijuana. And Lee, I think it's Greg Lee, I can't remember his
first name. Lee told him told him, uh, well yes kind of
you know, yes, reluctantly he told him the truth, and so he
kind of suspended him and he went to Bill and Bill says, uh,
after was pausing a while and said, I don't know what you're talking about.
So he didn't get in trouble, but Lee did, but to be
killing the truth, Yeah, it just you know, well, there's so
many things that was really fun. Yeah, because Dan Patrick, who you
know, felt he was very close to Walt and had him on his show
all the time. And they were doing their show I guess, I guess
from the Final four or somewhere where they were outdoors, right, they're doing
the show out of the Past out doors and there's a siren goes by and
Bill says, Dan Patrick, is that for you or for me? And
that he could laugh by and then he went into a little bit of that
like Yeah, I got some trouble back in the my you know, back
in my dad you know, caused a few issues, but it was it
was pretty funny. But you know, well they talked about about it because
he was in so much pain. He says, did you kind of dabble
in it or whatever? He says, uh, yeah, but a lot
of it was for my pain. After he had his back fused nineteen eighty
something, yeah, or maybe even after that, maybe in nineteen ninety because
he wanted title in eighty six with the Bust and Celtics right uh after after
after sitting out for a while. Yeah, because it's because it was yeah,
because yeah, and the hell the health issues were. I mean,
god, you just saw him walk and you knew his pain because you were
you were impressionable at that time. You were in your teens, guys,
ryeah, teens, twenties, and that's when you remember stuff. So today
everybody talks about Lebron, and everyone talks about Mike and Michael in my time
was the best player. Lebron to me, he is not. But you
see Larry Bird play, you're thinking, holy craft. Just the way they
played basketball, right, They're not athletic and you can see why or what
you know, whatever you want to say. But Bill Woton, excuse me,
very very basketball start. He was and he was underrated. He was
underrated as an athlete and to do the things that he was able to do.
You know, the twenty two out of twenty three or twenty one out
of twenty two championship game and I'm sorry, you're pretty damn athletic. Did
you do this too? And I didn't know this. I don't know why
I didn't know this. He was disqualified for four shots because he would have
gone twenty five for twenty six, four of them did not count. You
know why he don't get it because he done yeah yeah, five twenty yeah.
His his predecessor at UCLA. Because he was dunking over everybody, they
created a rule that you couldn't dunk. Was actually not correct. He was
twenty five out of twenty six. Yeah, yeah, not yet, and
and and and it was really there was always they you know, they didn't
have they didn't revert to instant replaying. There were a number of times where
he really didn't dunk, but they called it a dunk and you couldn't do
anything about it, right, right, No, I watched it again,
Like say I saw for the second time, I'd watch it for a third
time because he does get emotional. It's hard not to get emotional. Uh.
And he was just a fantastic And you could see Luke if you if
you paid attention to Luke when he played here, how Arizon gonna put him
at the top of the key because he was the best passer and he could
see the floor. That was Bill, Yeah, that was Bill. He
could get the ball to Res or Lauren Woods or Richard or whatever because he
saw the court. Yeah. And I'm gonna have Jim Rosborough on tomorrow and
we'll probably talk about that where Luke didn't fall far from the tree. He
just wasn't seven foot he was ft tall. Right, Well, you know,
because you know growing up in that time, you know, my early
days of watching UCLA was Luel Cinder, right, Kareen Meduligaba and thinking,
I who historically rooted for the underdog, But I was always rooting for U.
C. L A because they were so great runner. No, I'm
not, I'm an Arizona fan. I've been a Dodger fan through thick and
thin. I resent that comment, okay, And you know, but watching
watching those guys play him, like I felt like I was watching something clearly
special. Instead of rooting against him, I was rooting for them, you
know, when they got to the final fours and stuff. And I remember
watching Leuel Cender and then Bill Walt comes along and I'm like, he's pretty
close to you know, he's pretty close to Uell Center. He didn't have
that skyhook that that that Leuel Cinder would would shoot and just nobody could do
anything about. But the way he moved with the basketball was crazy, and
you just couldn't stop him. And he was so fundamentally sound. He loved
the glass, yes, exactly, they just go up and bank everything.
He was. The purpose of the glass was exactly why he used it.
Just simple off the glass shines right, And partly was because you couldn't dunk,
you know, they didn't, they didn't let you, just so he
would bank it. But he but you know, you can you can be
in a banking you know, doing doing the little off the glass, even
underneath the basket. There's people there to block your shot from behind or wherever.
But he would get in position where you couldn't do anything about it.
Yeah, and he was just so good at that, yeah, fantastic.
And then they showed that when he got Portland to the title. This Portland
team that nobody thought would ever come into anything had just become a franchise just
years earlier, and they went it with Lucas who Lucas name wore, and
then went it in seventy seven I think it was seventy seven. And then
he six Ers, right, think the Sixers with with the best player to
my in my time, doctor Jas remember that. And then they were just
a pretty good team. And then and then it comes and goes to the
Celtics or goes to the Clippers, and that didn't go well because it was
injuries, right, and then goes to the Celtics and wins the champions and
wins the champions, right, So you know he only played far under fifty
camel a lot even well. Again, his health, you know, his
career wasn't you know, wasn't super long. He extended as long as he
possibly could well and and you know, and yet he got got a couple
of rings. In fact, somebody somebody said this, I think yesterday or
maybe somewhere after the showyk, I mean passing big man, a guy can
shoot it, who does a lot of things. He was yoked before before
you could see the court and see the see open people. The fat guy,
well look oh another thing that I saw, fat guy, but he
can play god. NBA is all European. Look at you. Look at
dunk dunkinch dunkin from from Dallas is not saying the word yeah. So come
on, he's probably one of the best players in the in the in the
world right now. Uh. The Greek freak to two years ago. Uh,
the Denver guy. Like we said, all these guys, you'll get
all these Europeans. But I was gonna say, when you see this show,
Waltman was a wispy, skinny out of college dude, right, yes,
skinny skinny he was so there goes to years. He wasn't a big
physical until later Your Oklahoma guy, your Gonzaga guy, Oklahoma guy, right,
the skinny guy, Oh yeah, chat chet holmger chit. And then
this year and then Victor Webber, Yeah, this guy because Walton was that
dude. Walton was that dude in seventy fought that. Yeah at that time.
At that time, my names were escaping me. But I mean,
and I was gonna say that's Jay j would think that Bill couldn't play because
he was so thin. Well, he wasn't an airport guy. He wasn't.
He was tall. No, no, no, and that's it.
He was not an airport guy. Yeah, because Louell Sender looked a part.
Even though he was kind of slender, he was still had a physical
look about him. We got a call, but you can have to call
can't take this call. Yeah, we can't take this call. You just
called call us after the break because we were about him or less than a
minute up against the top of the hour here. But now, yeah,
yeah, you're you're you're right, and and you know, people like to,
you know, compare the generations and stuff like that. But if you
didn't get a chance to see Bill Walton, you know, when he was
in college, especially the young dudes would say, Okay, all right,
I get it, I get it. I get why people talk about him
the way you're talking about All right, let's take a break. We're gonna
try and get this thing fixed and be able to play the clips, and
if not, we'll just keep chatting. But we do have Bryce Miller coming
up, who did an extensive He has done some pieces on on Bill Walton
and had some some experience with him as well, so but before that,
it'll be breaking news from Ryan