This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jake and Salez on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat
Z, R TWU, SAG and iHeartRadio Station. Good, good afternoon,
everybody. Welcome to Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera. Welcome back to my Mexican of friend Jay Gonzalez. They let
you back into the country, which is a shock to me. Well again,
it was kind of like get the hell out of our country kind of
thing. They didn't want you either. Yeah, they were like, you
know, I got to the border and they said they're waiting for you over
there. Just go. It was like Heaven, Heaven, Jesse, been
to bed, Jesse, somebody Gonzalez, Yeah, please go ahead. Wait,
we got to get this riff raff out of our country right now,
you know, you know what. Open a hole in the fence and get
him out of here, Russia, rush him through, get him through,
and you and you're here and I'm here, you know, good to be
back without you, you know, Steve. You know I was telling Henry
here on the on the way in, I said I you know, we
everybody goes through this. You need a vacation from your vacation, right,
I'm tired. I got home last night and just laying on the couch the
rest of the night, watched television and tried to regroup this morning. I
just, you know what, I'm gonna let let all the regrouping take place
in the morning. I didn't do any any work when I got home last
night, including I had a request on Twitter too, Hey, what the
hell get the podcasts up? So all the podcasts from the last week.
I'll get him up tonight. Okay, yeah, because because we had a
few requests about where's going, Well, he's in Mexico. Well the truth
is that downloading radio files where we were was not happening, aren't. I
mean, we go to a place where it's usually good. Internet servicing was
spotty this this year for some reason. So, okay, you're fine.
You're on vacation. Yeah, you know, and I was on vacation.
I mean I was getting the the social media, you know, announcing the
show's sure it's going there, sure, yeah, Ricky and Rocky, Ricky
and Rocky, yeah, catch yeah, but no big it was a good
show. Yesterday. You missed some good things. A lot of things that
happened over the weekend disappointing. We can kind of recap some things with you.
We had Lev on, we had Javier on talking about baseball. Uh
it's uh what did you say before you came we came on? What the
hell happened? Or what did you say? Uh? So, what the
hell was that? Yeah? Yeah, well it was just another And Henry
came in with the solution panicking, what was it? Just not upright?
Well, there's more pressure on him being a host. I think whenever there's
more pressure on you. Of eight teams recently, Carvier he used that theory
and think about it, and Lev came back with the same kind of solution.
They played for exactly what they got a home field advantage that turned into
craft. I'm sorry, I don't I don't buy that. It was too
much pressure on him thing. You know. Other number one seeds didn't do
what they did right. I mean, they just came out and I mean
there was it was listless. It was they looked they looked like they lacked
energy. You know, the hitters you were swinging a crap and then the
you know, and then the thing that had got them there, they're starting
pitching just went all to hell in a hand basket. And and so it
all fell apart. One of the things that we talked about. And then
momentum is is the word, uh the United debate or I don't agree with
you do, but in baseball of any sport, that has a lot to
do with a lot of things, you're playing, well, feed, well,
all that stuff. Uh, they had the momentum coming in right,
and I'm using that word loosely. Uh, and then it all fell apart,
all at the same time, all all at once, and they couldn't
couldn't find it again. It was the Oregon State Series. In the first
two games. Yeah, they couldn't field, they couldn't hit, they couldn't
pitch. Now, okay, so now I mean in the Grand Canyon game,
wasn't No, it wasn't the Grand Canyon Game. I think, No,
that was the never mind it was it was the it was the Pac
twelve series. But they just, you know, they were just doing things
that they just don't do, don't do right the thing. Okay, So
now we know the results, we all that and all that, and there's
still now some factions with Chip obviously that this is not just a one off,
right, it's a three off. It's a three off. Yeah,
and you know, and and you know, numbers are numbers, right,
and people are gonna say what they're gonna say. Yeah, but you know,
and he even said, he said, look, we got to do
something different to get it. So he'll obviously address that in whatever way.
He even said, I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna talk to friends of
mine. I'm gonna talk to people who've been through this, who coach this
kind of stuff, and I'm gonna come up with some thoughts on, you
know, on how to how to do this better. You know, he's
not digging his heels in and saying the way I do it is right,
and that's I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing right. Some coaches do
do that, so you have to again, you know, in the end,
they got into the n C douable A Tournament. It was ugly the
way it ended. It put a real damper. You know. It's like
it's kind of like the last thing that people see, you know, for
the season, and that's what they think of, just like they think of
you know, the Clemson game. They think of, you know, the
way Oklahoma State beat the hell out of the softball women, all of those
things, it's the last thing that happened to think about. And that's the
that's the taste that's left in everybody's mouth. Well I said that to to
Ryan, to Matt Reynoldson. You know, he's a TV guy. You're
as good as your last haircut, and this haircut was not very good.
Yeah, you know. I mean, imagine how would people feel about the
football program right now if they had lost to Oklahoma and the way they would
have lost to them at the end, giving up the lead and yeah came.
So you know, it's it's the last thing. And because of that
Oklahoma win and the in the Alemal, well, that's why people can't wait
for the football seasons to start, especially now that the softball, baseball,
uh, you know, ended the way it ended, and and and men's
basketball ended the way it ended. At the end of the day, though,
I don't think your grade for the school changes. You had him at
nine. I had him. I had an eight point nine. And I've
been thinking about this. I I in the aftermath of what they did,
I put an eight point four on it. Oh you did point but now
two days later I think like an eight to seven. Well, just so
you dropped them two or three out at nine because of how they performed at
track. Because in the end, and it's not so much that that they
didn't win the national championship, is how they how they played in a regional
at home. Yeah, and and and for softball, the way they got
blasted in those two games like they didn't belong on the field. That's why.
It's just the look of the way it ended. I think Vic is
gonna call I'm just saying this. I'm predicting this because Vic, you're the
trophy guy, and for all of a sudden, I'm the trophy guy because
you're being more realistic, you're being candid in your review, whereas you know,
well you know, and I'm being more diplomatic. Where where they played
well, I mean, no one thought theyd get to this point and here
they were in the end as we saw, we saw. You know,
Arizona is one of six schools that got in a football Bowl game, bat
men's and women's basketball postseason, and baseball and soootball postseason. Only six teams
did that. You know, Arizona, Texas. I can't remember who the
others were, so you gotta give a lot of credit for that. That's
why it's over an eight and a half. Okay, but you have to
look at how all of those things, except for football ended. Hey,
miss America, inn't she beautiful? She has a pimple on her nose.
I don't think she's she's missing the two. You're a tough judgments to Russian
judge. Russian judge. Yeah, look, and again, I don't want
to say that, you know. I mean, baseball did a great job,
won a championship, overchieved you know, uh uh, you know,
overcame some things from early in the year. It was for me as an
Arizona fan, it was a really proud moment when they won both the regular
season and conference championship, which were the last championships for the Pac twelve.
Big deal. It was a big deal and I was ready to put him
at night. I think if they had gotten into if the baseball team had
gotten into a super region, I might have bumped him up to a nine
point zero. Have you ever seen naked and afraid at all? I don't,
So they have. They're going with these numbers to go in and they
do all these things and craziness, and then it's like five and then they
get out and they survive it and they move them to eat like in survival
mode or whatever. So you're you're pretty tough on the on the drop,
Well, they didn't make it a way to get to drop them, so
you know, I don't know they got where they were. They played poorly,
and you dropped him a lot of points. I thought a college World
Series would have warranted like a nine two or a nine three, but they
didn't get it. And then if if the softball had got into the World
Series, oh even higher. Yeah, we got a call. I'm not
sure this is high. You're on the air and I on the ball going
today, Brian, Brian, what we're doing. We're good? Can you
hear us? Yeah? Okay, baseball team did exactly what I think we
expected to do. You know, they they got to the tournament, which
we're happy there. They weren't as good as everybody. They're about as good
as we thought they were at the beginning of the season. But see,
I thought they were playing so much better I thought, and especially with the
pitching and that that's that's the deal, and that's what was most disappointing the
hitting. Brian, didn't you did? You call in earlier this week and
said the same thing, And I said, because you were there, right,
you went to the games. I went to all of them, and
overall, I think you were more pragmatic about the whole situation. Yeah.
I mean they were picked to finish ninth, they won both the league and
the tournament. We should be happy. Yeah, I think Chip Hal did
a great job for what he had. He did. I mean he lost,
he lost a ton from last year. Yeah. No, I don't.
I don't. I'm not debating whether or not he did. He did
do a great job to do what he did and putting this team together to
get to where they got to being picked finished ninth. But once they got
to there and you realize these guys are pretty good, especially when you think
about the way they beat Oregon State and then they you know, they won
the tournament. The expectation was you got to at least get out of your
region and not lose two games back to back badly to to mid majors.
Well, okay, okay, Grand Canyon. We lost them three out of
four times this year. Yeah, so it's this that should not have been
a surprise. You know. The pitching, unfortunately, was not as good
as we wonted and the hitting was about what we expected, not very good.
It was a bit of a surprise. If this team, if this
team gets down by three runs or whatever, they're done for the game.
Yeah. My thought though with the Grand Canyon game was that when Arizona played
Grand Canyon, they weren't playing there you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
starters. I thought Grand Canyon would be, you know, confident, but
they were going to see pitching that they didn't see against Arizona in those previous
games, and that Arizona they're like, okay, now we're going to play
with our best stuff. So I kind of I didn't discount those losses.
I felt like they would be important from the standpoint that Grand Canyon would come
in here believing they could beat Arizona. But I also thought Arizona wasn't going
to put a pitcher on the mound in this game that Grand Canyon saw earlier
in the year. Yeah. You know, if you would have seen the
Grand Canyon team and I saw all the games at the tournament. That team
could hit holy crap, and well soaka Dallas Baptist. You know, well,
and they did. Those teams could wreck the ball. I couldn't.
I couldn't remember, Brian, if you had given me a number of your
overall for the whole year for baseball, No, no, for the whole
just grade the program on a scale of one to ten for the year.
I think about eight. I guess. Well, football was higher than I
thought it would be. You know, Uh, baseball is about where I
thought it would be. Softball we had no pitching there. That's not where
we we should be. You know, men's basketball, You know, it's
got to a point where I can sit here. It's easier to say afterwards.
But you know, because everything changes so much in sports now, you
know, I mean, like what's going to happen? Like basketball? I
mean we have you know, there's going to be a twenty five win team
next year. We don't know basketball, Yeah, because there's just so much
that's everybody though. Everybody's having huge amounts of turnover. It's not just Arizona,
okay, And whoever has the most money is going to win. We'll
see what happens. Well, certainly in women's golf. Right, oh yeah,
especially there. Yeah, yeah, well, thank you. Good to
be back, Brian, thanks for colling. Yeah, so let me let
me go back to this thing. I got a I was with a bunch
of guys last night and one of the guys says, you know, one
of my friendstances, why are you so negative, Steve. I think I'm
not negative, I'm just really realistic. Uh we I talk about this with
you guys. You have your group of when they people, how many are
realistic? Have I asked you this before? Okay, okay, thank you.
That's that's so now I understand why they think I'm negative, because the
people who listen to us. Thank you for listening to us. One one
Pollyanna, Yeah, you come to the wrong place, and I think I
think I think I'm trying to be realistic. You're you're a little bit more
Pollyanna than I am, but you're also training more realistic. Yes, yeah,
well I okay, it kind of depends on the circumstance or the environment
or whatever. I try to be semi realistic here, okay, okay,
all right, okay, but it just depends on the conversation. Because look,
in the end, you know, did I think, look, well,
let's go, let's talk about the football season last year? When did
When did I told you when I finally gave in and believed that Arizona was
pretty good. Not until the Utah game. I kept thinking, they're going
to start losing. And that was November late, Right, They're gonna yeah,
they're going to start losing because I just don't believe that they're this good.
Right, and then they won ten games. So, you know,
in that respect, I thought I was pretty realistic, and maybe maybe I
was, you know, again shaded by you know, the heartbreak I've lived
through. You know, over time, I think we got a little giddy
about the basketball team. You know, from that November and December performance.
We thought they're pretty damn good, and then we realized that they weren't.
So I think neither of us were very realistic about that. You're right,
you know, So I think I can be pretty realistic. Then there are
times that I'm a little you know, I get a little over the edge.
Yeah, a little. I thought to pull you back a few times,
but we got to go after this first segment. But Tom Denahey,
a former columnists for the Two soun Weekly, just inducted to the Pema County
Hall of Fame Ports of Fame. And then we have in the second hour
we have Roberto Garcia, the head coach of FC two Song Women really well
the legendary Kelly Pierce. We'll talk to them about how they're doing and maybe
you can go out and catch a game or two of their So I'll be
talking to some FC twos on Women in the second hour, but coming right
up after the break, Tom Dany, Pema County Sports Hall of Fame.
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com to schedule your free evaluation today. Steve Rivera and Jacin Salez they have
their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports stage yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty streaming
live. I mean I had radio wap and welcome back to my in the
ball, you know, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, he's
Jacinsaus. Now I won't if only have Tom Danny the newest or one of
the newest members of the Pema County Sports Hall of Fame. Tom, how
are you? I'm good? You We're doing fine. Thank you? How
you been? I'm always good? Come on, you're always good, dude.
I haven't seen you a long time, you know. Don't get to
laugh with you anymore. I'm sad. Well, that's true. I haven't
been in the Arizona press box for quite a while since before the pandemic.
Yeah, well, but I'm sure you. I'm sure you've before we get
to the Pima County Hall of Fame thing with you, I'm sure you keep
your eyes on what's going on at you of a What did you make of
the season the entire program had for the school year. Well, obviously,
the football team was amazing, and it bothered me that they lost those two
overtime games. That would have been really niceouldn't it. But they I mean,
to come from where they came and then to end up where they did
that was just amazing. The basketball team, they're gonna have to get better
and now in the postseason obviously, But I mean, there are just some
people that just can't get over that hump. And I hope that Tommy Lloyds
and one of them. The softball team that Okay, the tennis I coached
high school real tennis, and and I actually played tennis in college a million
years ago, and so I've always been a tennis guy, and those guys
are amazing. That's probably my favorite thing of the whole year. I mean,
the baseball team did a good job of getting to the postseason, but
h the tennis team, they're my favorites. Yeah. You know, we
we talked a couple of times about, you know, saying that we think
that that good coach Plancy Shields maybe the best coach Michaeale Center right now.
Uh, you know very You know, when you think about what he's accomplished,
with what he's had, you know that you could arguably say that he's
the he's the best coach you've got over there. I wouldn't I wouldn't argue
against that. You know, he's something. Let me ask you real quick,
just because I wouldn't have a clue. How do you coach tennis?
Either you can play well you can't or no. Well, I think I
could get you out there and i'd hook you. I was your daddy,
you would. Let's get on the ping pong table, and daddy ping pong
and rap ping pong and tickleballer for people who can't play real sports anymore.
Well, right there with it. I think that category. I'm pretty sure
I'm old that's true. I love ping pong, I really do love ping
pong tickleball. Though. I wrote an article not long ago and I said,
please don't ask me to play pickleball. I'm only seventy one. I'm
not old enough yet. You know, it's just I refuse. But the
thing is, I coached the girls at Anti. I'm just I got to
say this. The six years before I got the Anti, the Anti girls
tennis team went four and seventy and uh. And all I did is I
got a bunch of basketball players out there to play tennis. So they're athletic
and and in the past three years we're thirty and ten. Wow. So
you say, you say you're they can't So you're a better coach because you
have better athletes out there? Is that what it is? Isn't that the
story for every coach? You know? And I L baby yeah, and
I L so okay, So let's let's talk about your Hall of Fame induction.
I mean it. You know you're you're one of them. I have
to mention this though. I also you know, I still coach the Anti
girls basketball team. Oh you're not number one thing. You're not immaculate heart
anymore. I'm sorry, You're not an immaculate heart. Anymore. Maculate heart.
Isn't that a maculate heart anymore? What happened to them? It doesn't
exist. Oh, I didn't know that. I'd news to me, news
to me. Okay, No, I'm not by the last three years.
And we we won the Regent Championship a couple of years ago. And and
we've had three winning seasons in a row, which is something because I had
I had twenty one consecutive losing seasons. I've got I've got great kids.
I mean I really do. And there aren't a ton of them, but
I have some really really good ballplayers. Yeah, and no seniors. I've
got three three going to be juniors that are are that could all play in
college. Yeah. You talked about us joking before you got in the air,
and I said, I'm old. I know, Jay feels like he's
old. You said you were old. But you've been doing this a long
time, with the with the coaching, h it must keep you young,
or at least a sense of being young. All Right. The thing is
some of the I coached boys for a little while quite a while ago,
and uh, and then I took time off to raise my kids. And
then when I got into coaching. I was. I was fifty when I
started coaching seriously and and I some of the actor to coach a girls freshman
basketball team one time, and I said, okay, fine, I've never
gone back to coaching boys. Boys walking to gym knowing everything, and girls
walking to gym teach me something. That's that's part of what he's too young,
you know, is that you see that look in their eye when you
go, oh, he actually knew what he was talking about. And when
they try something you're come to do and uh, and they get better a
little bit better every day. I hope that I'm able to coach until you
know, I'm in the ground, so I have no idea. I see
people all the time to go oh, I couldn't take it anymore, you
know, I stopped, But it's it's the most fun thing I do.
Well, you mentioned that you you you know, you started you started coaching
when you were fifty, and so you've been doing it for a couple of
decades and just staying involved. Why why has sports been something you've wanted to
stay involved with and do in Tucson, whether writing about it, participating,
you know, being a coach. However, you've you've you've done sports in
Tucson, and why, well, it's such a cliche. I grew up
in a rough neighborhood in Los Angeles. I grew up where they beat up
Rodney King and and but I had great athletes that lived in the neighborhood.
Gary Matthews, the guy they called the star him. Yep, totally.
Uh, here's my best friends going out growing up in high school. My
my next door neighbor was a guy named Bobby Chacone who won a school boy
world championship in boxing school boy. Uh the same. I went to the
same high school as as Charles White. Yah, okay, I mean and
so sports. It sounds corny, but I had two good parents who kept
me on the straight and narrow, and I was gonna I was going to
be a good student, and I was going to go to college and everything.
But sports just made life worth living. I mean, it made it
made it better. I mean, if if there was bad stuff going along
in the neighborhood and outside in the world, uh, you get in the
gym and it was like an oasis. And I tell kids that all the
time I should be in the gym. All that nonsense stays outside and for
those two hours you're in the gym, and and I just you know,
a lot of people are saying, you know, you know, sports build
character. I don't know if it does or not, if it if it
reveals it, but I do know that that I love watching kids get better
and stronger and smarter. Uh and sport helps it along the way. And
it's not perfate. I mean, I hate what's going on in college sports
right now, but still I was. I'm gonna watch college sports on TV.
I know I will, but I just think that. And and a
Tucson too, I got. I got into writing when I was in college,
and that's that's not my major at all. But I've been writing for
quite a while. And my mother, may she rests in peace, told
me you should always have an opinion, because if you don't, somebody else
will have your opinion for you. And so I do. I could stress
myself. So let me ask this opinion. You've been coaching for a while
now. I don't want to ask you your age, but how have the
kids learned seventy one twenty one years you've been coaching. What any difference between
the kids from twenty one years ago to now phones cell phones that you didn't
have TikTok. And I tell the girls on my basketball team, dump that
dude. That's my favorite saying, Dump that dude. I don't care if
he's a nice kid in the world. You don't have time for him.
You got you're you're a student and you're an athlete, and you got to
set aside an hour each day for TikTok, and then you got no time
for boys. And so they're they're basically the same. You know, some
say that the kids these days. I'll tell you what I do know this
after the pandemic. The pandemic has mess kids up academically, not athletically.
I don't think it has done anything athletically, I know, but I know
kids that were straight A students before the pandemic and now they get b's and
c's and they just kind of shrug. And I think that year of remote
learning messed a lot of people up. Wow. Interesting, interesting are you
what makes you not say this? But are other people in agreement with you?
Oh? Just about everybody I know that's in education. It would have
been nice, if you know, if the country had any kind of solidarity,
it would have been nice to say, you know what we missed the
year, we're going to go back and everybody's going to go back to the
grade they missed because you've got kids now that you know in math and science
that have giant holes in their in their learning and understanding and and and I
think that I don't know where. I don't know how long it's going to
take before we catch up, or if we ever do. But I'm straying
wasting sports. So and a lot of people, a lot of coaches and
teachers and educators and the administrators, a lot of people agree with that that
it's that we're running in quick sand trying to catch up to where we should
be. Well, well, what do you what do you like about sports
and Tucson and why you you've stayed involved in it and aside you know the
mean, look, if you're a coach, it's because you love out there
coaching kids, but sports and Tucson in general and sort of being in that
environment so much, you know enough that you know. Pe mcconne would say,
this guy belongs in the Hall of Fame. Well, I like the
fact that the college town. I mean, I look back and you guys
are old enough. I looked back to ik Sean Ellington is a kid.
I used to play chess with him when he was a kid. I never
let him win, and he'll just yeah, you can ask him sometime,
you know. I mean, he get so upset. But I remember when
when that nineteen eighty eighteen made it to the Final four, and I remember
the entire town was just everybody had the T shirts and everybody was focused on
it. And then I drove around the day and I went, I get
I think, I want to get some fast food, and it was like
a ghost town before that game started on that Saturday against Oklahoma, and and
it was just unbelievable, and I thought to myself, this is really cool.
I mean, growing up in LA there's there were the professional teams and
the you know college junior college teams and the high school teams, and it
was just it was hard to keep track and everything. I mean, you
had a lot to choose from. But here it is truly a college town
and a nice athletic community. So you must have played ball when you were
younger. What did you play in and why? That's the other thing I
toked it nowadays that go, oh, I'm going to do this year round,
and I go, I hate that, I really do. I hate
club sports and I hate kids playing the same sport year round. I'm going
to say that a wild as I can. Yeah, in my neighborhood,
everybody played everything. Baseball was basically for me. It was something to do
between the end of basketball practice and the start a football practice. You know.
I mean at that time of year when we all played baseball, we
all played basketball and football. People ran track. Track was a big deal.
I ran track. I had to run the distant races because there's no
way I was going to be a sprinter or a hurdler or a jumper.
And and I also played tennis. I have. I have six sisters,
and I had three older sisters if I used to play tennis, and they
used to make me go along with them so that they could play doubles.
I learned to play tennis and never told any of my friends because tennis was
not cool back in the day. And and then when I got to high
school, since I played football and basketball, when I played tennis in the
spring, I played baseball tennis in the spring. It was just I was
just eccentric, you know, instead of nerd right, But again, sports
we did. We did sports every single day. Yeah, but whatever the
season made an agreement that we have played basketball every day of high school.
We all stuck to. Let me ask you, because I know you have
a long history in Tucson. What brought you here? That might be our
last question because we're in out of time. But what brought you here?
Was it the writing? H? No? I was I went to I
played some sports in in California. I played freshman basketball at remember remember when
you had to play freshman Yeah? Uh? And I played freshman basketball at
at cal State north Ridge. And then I played a season of football someplace,
and I just I got a scholarship offer to play basketball at co Chief
in Douglas, and I thought, this is great. I can be outside
of l A, not that far and I can play. And I actually
went showing up ready to play football because that's my favorite sport to play.
And they did have a football team, so I ended up playing tennis.
They had tennis in the fall and then basketball in the winter, and I
played baseball in the spring, and and I played all three sports. And
then and then after getting out of Coachief, my lovely wife was coming to
the u of A, and I said, well, see, I think
I'll go where she goes. And uh, and I came to the u
of A and just I mean, I love Tucson and and I've I've written
I've written stuff for TV, you know, back in l A. And
I never They always say, oh you want to come with her? No,
I'll never go back. Yeah, And so I I really, I
mean, is it's my home till I die, which I don't plan on
doing. Good luck with that, Okay, father time is undefeated. Okay,
well, thanks so much for joining us. It's great to talk to
you, and congratulations again. One last thing Bregg Hanson, you know,
he emailed me and I said, seriously, but you guys like run out
of like worthy inductees. I like the depeste mode of the party Hall of
Fame. Now, man, you're you're you're everybody. Look if you're talking
about local sports, everybody knows who Tom Danny is. So so just take
that and and and accept it. So you are our you are our Mick
Jagger stuff. Thank you, Thanks about It's good good. I always like
talking. So he's a funny dude there. And there are guys like that.
You know, there's a whole lot of guys like that that you know,
they didn't do one particular thing, right, they did weren't an All
American or or played Major League baseball. They were just involved, yeah,
right, just involved in sports for years and you just go. Everybody knows
who they are everywhere, and and it's great that the that the Hall of
Fame recognizes. You know, one of those guys that didn't play maybe he
did play sports was Lopez uh Lipus, the announcer who's al upus. Right,
he was just around. He's he's just been involved in sports in so
many different ways. They think what would all that be if he hadn't been
around, right, And Tom's one of those guys. Let's take a break.
I want to talk about multi sports because you don't see that anymore.
Yeah, and I obviously you're a good athlete. You want to play a
lot, but it's mostly one sport guy, right, playing all around,
all the round the year. Okay, stick around. We'll be back an
Arizona Man'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,
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live, Honey. I heard radio WAP. This is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome
back to our aball here a Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera here
Jacobs also got our guy Henry in with us today. We have thirteen minutes.
If you guys want to give us a quick call five two oh four
one six seven four four zero talk to us about whatever you'd like to I
kind of wanted to go with what Tom was talking about, the good old
days, what we talked about, Jake uh And I assure you, one
of those guys, you could play a lot of different things, not just
one sport. In today's today's kids because of the parents, probably played one
sport from August to August, right, And that's not a bad thing.
It's just what it is. I'm gonna say it is just because you know,
whether you're having fun or not, sports can be a grind. And
when you're doing the same thing over and over and over again, I'm sorry,
it just can't be. It just it just got It has to be
hard to stay at a certain level and be good at something over and over
and over again without getting burned out. I look, I've known I don't
say a gazillion, but plenty of kids who are great athletes, great baseball
players, great basket mostly baseball and basketball players. We're just great at those
things. And then by the time they were finishing high school, they'd had
it, they were tired of it because they played it a year ound.
Now there are a lot of kids, as you know, you know,
who were maybe you know, towards more of the elite category, who feel
like, Okay, if I do this, I'll get to the NBA,
or if I do this, I'll get to be a Major League Baseball player.
Who can you know, who can stay with it and do it?
And it takes a special kind of athlete to do that, to stick with
it, But that's such a small percentage of of of athletes who are that
good. Who can you know who can get there that you know, the
vast majority of athletes who focus on one sport, they play the sport through
high school and then they're done. Yeah, I think that that's a that's
a factor of it. I won't disagree with you. It doesn't happen to
all everybody, but it happens. Uh. The one thing I like about
it is that you become a better teammate. You learn how to be a
better teammate, not just with one sport but a lot of different And again,
like I said before on the show, that you become a better team
player. When we're the real road HiT's like for work, right, you
know what it takes to be a team member to big things work well,
or to succeed in the jump. Different sports required come with different types of
challenges. Right, If you're in a baseball team, you have got to
deal with the fact that if you're gonna lose some games, you're not going
to undefeated. Right, You're gonna lose some games. You're gonna have to
come back and and come back from losses, and you know you're gonna lose
to teams that you don't think you should ever lose to those kinds of things.
So that's one way. And then let's say you're in a great football
you know, a great football program. Maybe that you do go undefeated,
but now at some point you got to deal with a loss, and that
loss feels different from a loss in baseball. Well, when I asked Ravo
memories, is how did that first lost feel after all those wins that he
had, And he said it was different, but it didn't defeat it right,
right, it was like, you know, he had to figure out
and that's how you know, you know, you know, you learn something
about yourself. Now, basketball is kind of in the middle you know,
if you're on a really good basketball team, you might only lose two or
three games. Maybe you go into feed it, but mostly here was two
three, four games. If you're if you're really good, and you have
to still you have to deal with taking that loss and coming back the next
day or the next game and being better and and so, you know,
you learn different things by playing different sports. Let's also let's also realize that
it only takes us, well not only it takes a special athlete, women,
guys, whatever, to play all these different sports because you're you can't
be good at all of them. You could be mediocre or whatever, and
some some people can be, but most people aren't. But most people aren't.
But it takes us specially. I knew a couple of those people who
were fantastic in all the sports, and uh, they were just special dudes.
I mean, there were just dudes who could play. You know when
that comes to mind from from Rodney Pete. Yeah, okay, Rodney Pete,
he was a great baseball player. I mean as a as a as
a freshman in high school, he had pitched one game all season long,
and he pitched the state championship game and won the game. What position do
you play normally? I'll feel a thing. I don't know wherever he played,
but he didn't. You brought him into win the game. He started
the state championship game, but he didn't pitch all year. No, that's
strange. But they knew he could. Yeah, they knew he could.
Let's take this call. Hi, you're on the ar and eye on the
ball. Hey, what up? Guys? Is there? Vic? I
haven't heard from you since you were talking crap to me, So I want
to chime in on this thing you're talking about. And uh, I guess
I'll laugh both of you. So if you're the coach, whether it's high
school or a high level travel ball team, and your star player misses to
go play basketball, which is just he's doined for recreation or fun, what
are you going to say? Good question? I say, I say,
have at it. I have no problem with it. You have at it
because that's his choice, not yours. Now if now, if my star
player was missing to go to the movies, I have a problem with it.
But if I've got a softball player who's really good and they're playing high
school basketball and they're competing, I have zero problem you have to. Wasiit
zero have a tournament like a national type tournament, and your star softball player
says, hey, I got a high school basketball tournament or game. I
don't know, VIC, you would do that. Is this a trick question
or is there a right or wrong answer. There's no right or wrong answer.
My my girls were pretty good basketball players. I told you guys.
I did filming at them. They used to dribble with all the tough kids
from Compton at the back of the bleachball practice was going on, and they
were good. And when they went to go play high school basketball, their
travel team coach said, you can go do it, but you guess what
your scholarship is going to be given it up. Well, okay, and
I know you're a travel ball coach, VIC, but I think that's bull
crap. I really do. I think any coach that tells a player that
can only play one sport is a bad coach, nother nor other way,
no other way about. It's just you've got to be truthful with them.
And I I find it hard to to have my star player leave to another
sport where they're just kind of doing it for recreation, or how about how
about doing seven and seven football. You you missed one of these tournaments,
Uh, to go play recreational high school basketball. It's tough. It's it's
a tough call. So so Vick, you you're around it along. I
know you are, because you're your selfies out everywhere. So so do you
see this happening more and more or less and less less and less? A
kid that plays softball plays softball all year long. Kid that's gonna play,
you know, like basketball all the trial, the tournaments are coming up this
summer, there's you're getting recruited. There's not a kid that's gonna miss all
those Vegas tournaments to go play seven on seven because he's a recreational football player
in high school. But see what I'm talking about, VIC is like,
let's say you've got a star softball player who you know, whatever, and
they're on the basketball team at their high school and they're playing for their high
school. I don't see how you can, you know, crap on him
for doing that. I just don't. And again, but that's that's my
strong opinion about how important I think it is to play more than one sport,
because what's happening is you have in softball. You're having ball showcases and
spring showcases to be seen. And like I said, you're just one of
those who play basketball as well. In the winner, I think it should
be up to the athlete and they say, Okay, I understand that I'm
risking being seen or whatever, but it's important for me to go play on
my basketball. Let's also let's all put this in perspective too, though.
If you're that good, if you're that good and you're being seen by colleges
like this, you know where your brothers they're gonna find you no matter what
you well, you know where your ben and brother is and you probably do
that sport. You know that they're not gonna sit no, but that I
get they're gonna find you and and stuff. But if you're gonna miss because
not everybody is uh is Ali Skaggs or Cardi scooping anywise, some of those
are on the D two level. Jay, you got to remember, Hey,
you're you're gonna lose scholarship because you didn't go to this showcasing it seem
and it's not all. It's not all everybody Arizona U c l a good
talking about UH West Texas or Western New Mexico or or or one of those
schools. Yeah, no, I I I hear you, Vic, and
I just I don't know. I just think there's I know it's not.
It's not James Steve, it's not when we played and you played that callers
there. Sure you go play little le in the summer. Yeah, then
you go to Pop Warner in the fall, and then you know, if
you're good enough, you play pick up basketball at some part. It ain't
like that, no more, no, no, Hey, I'm a very
believer in miliality sports. My kids only played soccer and they were halfway decent
at it, so you know, and got a college scholarship. So whatever
floats the boat, and it's usually the parents will helped float that boat,
right and pay for the pay for the am I not right? Parents money?
Yeah, of course the kids aren't getting there on their own, so
you know that's a big decision. I mean, that's what my parents.
Again. I've got a cousin that the star soccer player. She came in
third in the state and go to the freshman and when she and she carried
over into she played at MIKELH. Mountain, I'll tell you, and she
carried over into softball, and the coach was like, well, you miss
tryout, and then he was a STARTI shortstop two games later. Of course,
well because she's good enough. No, absolutely, And look, I
mean we we've heard all the stories, right, you know. There was
a let's just say there was a south side coach who demanded that his football
players only play football, and the and the best football player at that school
was also a really good baseball player. Coach, you go play baseball,
you can't play football. And guess what he did. He went and played
baseball. So the coach was trying to tell him, if you play baseball,
you know you're you're done, and and and so instead of instead of
the players saying okay, I'll play football, he said, okay, I'm
going to go play baseball. And and the best, the best quarterback at
that school ended up only playing baseball because the coach wouldn't le him play fotball.
But the point is, Jay, now it's not so much if we
were just in high school, like back in the day, you could do
that, or you could play football baseball you're long and and there was no
compion. Now it's the travel world and thousands and thousands of dollars investment.
Yeah, I hear you, I hear it. I've I've just been again
you well, I've I've made it clear. You know, what I firmly
believe in is that these these these athletes, the more sports they play,
the better they are overall. And and again, the percentage of of athletes
who get scholarships and who go on to higher levels and stuff like, it's
so small that putting it all in that basket, I think is not a
smart thing. I just don't think it is. So, Vic, what
are you going to do this summer when you have nothing to complain about to
me in the summer. Still, I'll still be whining and get your energy
from football. Baby, I'll bring up I'll bring up some more rich No,
I think you have more souther stories. Thanks. Thanks about you too,
man. Yeah, you know, Vic and I are not going to
agree, right, We're not. And that's fine. That's that's fine,
you know. And and a coach there, the coach is going to do.
Look, the coach is gonna do what he thinks is best for his
team, and what do he thinks is best for the athletes. Now,
and I understand that two hundred to the point of the football thing. The
coach screwed himself, he did. And that's fine. That's because that kid
could have done both. He realized. I'm sure he realized. You know,
he called my bluff and blah blah blah. But yeah, that's too
extreme. I mean, the coach is too extreme. Yeah. You know.
There was another one that I know of where a coach a guy wanted
to be in the band and the and the football coach said no. And
then the player said, okay, and guess what he did. He joined
the band. The band. Now he's a multi millionaire somewhere. The band.
Okay, you go where your butter's bury? Do? You just go
with what you love? And I think that, of course, that's the
thing. And that's the thing. Too many kids or not. We gotta
get out her because we'd love to get some commercials. All right, we'll
be right back. Breaking is coming at the top of the hour.