It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's nit coffee, Well not exactly nit coffee, but I
am well, I'm they pulled me out of the bullpen. I'm Scott Fitzgerald
coming to you along with John Alden over there in Studio E. Nick will
be back next week as he's on a well deserved vacation and had a great
chance to talk with Nick when we were at the Kentucky Derby out of Churchill
Downs, off the air, talking a lot of inside baseball and whatnot,
but we both One thing we talked about was how much we certainly appreciated being
able to cover the Kentucky Derby and be around these horses, and as we
get to every year, it is certainly a perk of this job. Not
only does Churchill Downs take care of us in every respect, iHeartMedia takes care
of us. They're like, hey, go cover it, go have fun,
just go enjoy, go enjoy the crowd. And that's exactly what we
did. So we love our horses here and it's hard to believe another Derby
is coming gone, hard to believe in another Preakness coming gone, but that
leaves one more big race, and that, of course is the Belmont Stake.
Sad Sarah Telga in the site I've been following for years now, and
when I was asked to fill in for Nick, I immediately went to these
guys to say, hey, can I talk to you? And that of
course is Racing Dudes. Racing Dudes dot com is the website. Curtis and
Curtis, I hope I don't butcher? Your last name? My friend?
Is it Kelly? What? How do you say it? You're close?
You're close. It's tallow word, but you almost at it? All right?
I got you, boss, Nick nickname or call sign Magic is when
I see they call you right, Yeah, that's the easy way to do
it. Just call me Mague. That's been my nickname with the Racing Dudes
for almost a decade now, Sweet brother, So where does magic come from?
Can I ask you that it's not a great story. When I first
joined the Racing Dude, I was there. I asked if I said I
was new to horse racing, and I asked them if I could edit their
articles in exchange for them, you know, teaching me about horse racing basically
was my way of saying like, you guys are really smart with the horse
racing, but your grammar, your syntax not so graceful. Let me help
you with that. And one of the first things that they texted me when
I first started working for them was hey, something's ready for and your magic.
But they put something's ready for you magic because I live in Los Angeles,
Magic Johnson the Lakers. Yeah. Yeah, it just stuck like glue.
Ah. That's awesome. All right, dude, Curtis, And tell
me kil Ward, Am I going to get that right? Cal word?
Can I say that cal a word? Like you're having to work a word?
Cal a word? There you go, I got it, Buss,
you're correcting me too, dude. Appreciate it only comes to you as right
right, No, no, no, I get it. Hey, listen,
I appreciate you making some time because I reached out to you guys and
and you said that you know, first you were Roger up. You said
yeah, absolutely in your West Coast guy too. So and I'm glad you
are because I want to talk to you a little bit about West Coast racing
as well. But certainly again, the website is racing Dudes dot Com all
right, Curtis, as we talked about the Derbys in the rear view,
sees the Gray had a great run at the Preakness missic Dan of course to
Kentucky Derby. Where does that leave us heading into Belmont. Well, you
know, there seems just to be a lot of interest for the Belmont Sakes
this year, which is great to see both as a fan and someone who
works in this tourt. But the Velmont looks like we could have a really
competitive field. People who had bet se ear lyon in the Kentucky Derby and
thought that he might have been the best horse so that he should have won,
Well they're going to get their chance again and he's going to be at
the Belmont Stakes possibly. What's interesting this year, Scott is unique. They're
doing construction on the actual Belmont Park racetrack, so demolishing the grand stand,
rebuilding. It's going to be this big, state of art facility. What
that means is for two years they're now holding the race that race weekend upstate
New York at Saratoga. The way Saratoga's configured, they can't do a mile
and a half with a distance, it just wouldn't work out. We'd be
starting in the middle of a turn, so instead it's the amount of the
quarter. So it's the same distance as the Kentucky Derby. And by shortening
it up a little bit, Scott, it makes it so horses that maybe
you look at them and say, not a quarter stretching it mount and a
half no way. Well now they're considering about going to it, and maybe
they think this is a good prep for this summer to come at Saratoga.
Serazoga has a Grade one race worth a million and a quarter. They got
to cast six hundred thousand dollars Great Toe Race, so there's a lot of
money to be made at Saratoga. Maybe use this as a prep as well.
Nice Curtis callowed, joining us from racing Dudes dot com. We're talking
about the Belmont and talking about the state of horse racing in general. As
Curtis mentioned, there are several changes this year, and keep an eye and
again, if you want to see more of these guys, I recommend you
get on board. They've got their podcast, they've got their free picks.
Racing Dudes dot com is where you want to go. Curtis, you're a
West Coast guy, obviously that is where Bob Baffort is home to. That
is his home territory. I think we've all seen the New York Times documentary
Broken Horses, did not paint him in a good light. He's been banned
from Churchill Downs, but they love them at Pimlico and Baltimore. When we
talked to with Scott Wykoff from WBA all they said they just embrace him there.
And now we have hiss or heisa, however you want to say it
here at Churchill Downs? Are we in a better spot with horse racing in
twenty twenty four than we were prior to all this? And where does that
lead Bob Bafford the great question. Yes, I would say this sport is
absolutely in a better place since the introduction of HITSA. That's really been the
main thing. The unfortunate situation, Scott is that for decades with all of
the individual companies only in different sections. You know, there's the New York
Racing Association, California Horse Racing for the Kentucky horse Racing, so they're all
different and independent, and then the operators of the tracks are all different from
each other. So it's like if you had thirty two NFL teams that each
owner had complete jurisdiction and say of what they wanted to do. It's a
complete madhouse. There can be no law, no order, no consistency.
And when it comes to horse racing, yes there is the history of Layton
drug youth and abuse with these poor animals, But this sport did not regulate
itself nearly well enough and had every chance, and there were people, there
are top trainers in the game that have been pushing for reform for a decade
at least publicly, and it never worked, and it lasted up until it
was the March. With March twenty twenty, right before COVID shut the world
down, the SBI rated two well known trainers down in Florida and they were
serving you know, long sentences for part of it. It was part of
this huge undercovered drug team that day uncovered. So it is very unfortunate that
the sport got to the point that the federal government had to get involved with
the FBIRA and now hits US. But on the plus side, it makes
seems a lot better. Safety numbers are better than they've ever been. We
had a completely safe week at Churchfield Downs where the year prior even there were
just a few way more than there should have been injuries in equine fatality,
so it's in a better place. What's interesting about the Bob back up part
is that the Kentucky Derby continues to set record handle numbers, meaning more people
are betting money or there's more money being bet on the Kentucky Derby. In
the last two years, Bob Baffert hasn't been in the race, and I
don't know how much of that is related to one another, but it is
astounding that some people said when Baffert was initially suspended that it was going to
be horrible for the sport. Nobody will bet to Kentucky Derby, and got
we've seen the opposite happen. Yeah, you're right. Curtis Callward's joining us
now. He is again with Racing Dudes. You can go to Racing Dudes
dot com. I highly recommend you go there. I've been following them for
years. They've got a great podcast up there. You can get their free
picks. They'll help you out there, that's for sure. Even betting one
a one is out there as well. And we'rest course talking about the Belmont
that's going to be running much different Belmont this year than what we've seen in
the past. All Right, till we all know the Brian Hernandez story there.
Curtissey of course got the double at the Oaks and the Derby. Who
is the hottest jockey right now out there in your opinion? I mean,
it's hard to say. Brian still won some races back at Pilmoko Weekend and
continues to do well. It's hard to say, at least in the month
of May, that there's not anyone hotter than Brian Hernandez. What could be
interesting is that, potentially, it's still early to say, but there's a
potential that Mystic Dane, your Kentucky Derby winner second in the Preakness, might
go to the Belmont State, as could the Kenny mcpee chain Torpedo Anna who
won the Kentucky Oaks Brian Hernandez. If both of those sources end up going,
it's going to have a very tough decision to make. Does you ride
the Philly or does he ride the Derby winner? Who knows what he's going
to do, But it makes for an excellent storyline. Again, we're talking
with Curtis cal War to get with racing dudes and Curtis. You look at
the record numbers at the Derby. It was a great turnout for everybody there.
We saw more than what we probably expected to get to the Derby.
Does horse racing need to do any more in twenty twenty four to promote itself
more? I mean you look at the new paddock area at Churchill and that
was clear to me when I was at the track the first Saturday in May
that I mean, this is the gold standard. You look at church and
you'll get a track like Keenlin. That's amazing. But after what we had
seen, with all the accidents and leading up to etc. Is horse racing
done all it can do? Is there room for improvement in other levels?
Can the sport get bigger? Can it get back to its glory days that
it had back in say the forties and fifties. I don't think we'll ever
get back to those dates. I think that there are enough animal activists,
and they have every right to feel how they want, But there are enough
animal activists out there who will continue to push the narrative that horse racing in
general just is bad. There is are you know. I won't bore you
now but there are plenty of examples of the way the horse racing actually is
good for the horses. For example, a horse in the wild is fifteen
percent more likely to die that it just you know from some for the cause
out there, than it is a race horse, because the race horses are
not all of them, but a lot of them are treated in pamphlets to
all. But take a back to your question, I don't think that it's
going to be ever back to that. There's always more can do you know,
trying to there's different way people trying to figure out how to way promote
the sport a different way. There has been a push lately to push kind
of a Hollywood glitz and glamour about it, and that I hasn't been very
well received from everybody that I've talked to you. But I think making it
as friendly to people betting as possible. It's a lot more intimidating you want
to bet horse racing than if you want to say, you want to bet
a basketball like Kentucky versus Louisville, Like you know, you take a or
b you take who's going to win, maybe you bested total something like that.
More tracing it there is ten, fifteen, twenty horses in a race,
and all of this confusing data points to try and tell you who to
bet or who nots to bet. So I think making it easy for people
to get interested in betting and learn about betting and feel comfortable doing it,
that's what drives the sport. So it is the betting truly. Curtis Calowo
joining us again the website Racing Dudes dot com. We're talking horse racing and
the state of horse racing in twenty twenty four. Curtis, as we're seeing
more and more expanded gaming coming up. Now, that was the big talk,
that was the big debate here with our lawmakers. I'm sure there were
some that are well vested in the horse industry. We're concerned that once Kentucky
went full on with expanding gaming, that would cut into the purses the horsemen's
game, that people wouldn't bet as much on the horse as they'd be betting
on other sports. What are you seeing, as you guys are there on
the forefront of the betting game, pretty much nationwide, has expanded gaming hurt
the horse game. Not for the big days people are setting. We're constantly
seeing records be broken for not just the Derby, but for Preakness, dates
for the Velmot, for the Breeders' Cup, which is the World Championships the
first weekend in November. As far as what the racing duds are doing,
you know, we're trying to figure out new ways to attract people over at
our end, so we're trying to be a lot more educational. So if
you're trying to get into horse racing, we have a YouTube channel where we
have every possible video they're explaining what we like. We're very open on social
media, by email, communicating with people. So we know that the way
to grow the sport is to help people feel comfortable getting into it, and
so that's just what we try to promote over there. And I like what
you're doing there, Curtis. I'm looking at im at racing Dudes dot com
right now and I recommend anybody go there if you're driving and you can't figure
it out, or you want to say, hey, I heard you talk
to somebody Scott at WHS dot com. Is my website or is my email
address? Excuse me? You guys have a section. It's right there.
It's betting one on one and you go in there, and you some of
the titles how to handicap pace and explaining lead changes, horse racing, betting
tips. You've got your racing dudes, picks and products, explained that kind
of thing. That's awesome. And I'll be honest with you, Curtis,
and this is in no way it's not a Peyton doorsman or anything. It's
why I went to you guys. You know, I wanted to figure out
how to bet, and you guys had stumbled on your website and it's like
it's there, So I think. So what you're saying is that's the key
is what some of these places are going to have to do to really kind
of embrace folks, is make it easier to bet, make it easier for
me to lay down. In fact, dude, I was at when I
was at the track, I actually went to the window. Even though I
have the app on my phone, I still went to the window. And
I was amazed at the number of people. And I don't know if it
was a a well greased betting crowd, but it seemed to take them forever
to try to bet. They were the way they and then the poor person
behind there had to sit there and and and just tell them how to bet
the horses, how to do what not. And I can see what you're
saying. I think, you know, if you educate people better on how
to bet, you know, they'd be more app to get into the game.
Of course, winning cures everything, that's for sure, But I think
you guys do a great job. Curtis, Before we let you go,
I want to talk to you real quick. Okay, so we've done the
Preakness year West Coast guy, what are some of the races we should be
looking at? If people go to racing Dudes dot com, they get educated
over the next couple of weeks, what are some of the things we should
be looking at? May put some coin on well, definitely. We'll have
previews up for whatever big races. Right now, it's a little bit of
a slow time, but if you wanted to play the Belmont Stakes, for
example, which will be two weeks from this coming Saturday, we'll have a
free preview with our pick who we both who we think is going to win.
And also not just like hey this is magic with the race? Can
do? Is I like the three mystic dan have a good day, Like
we go through every single horse and kind of tell you what are their chances
to win, how could they get it done, but put it in a
way where you can understand that. You know, we will link back to
a lot of different videos and that sort of thing as well to try and
help people out. I don't have a Belmonte for you yet. We still
we're in the field for probably another week and a half. But if anybody
is looking to try horse racing, or if you want to try our website,
we do South Pick, but we also have free wind picks every single
race, every track, every day. So if you wanted to play Churchill
Downs this weekend and try us before the Bellmont or before you actually give us
any money, you go right on the front page. You can see where
this got at the top there. Free pick every single check every single day
in America, you know. And what I like is you've also got a
wagering calculator on your website too, dude, that has big buttons. So
yeah, I can go because it's really cool because I can say, okay,
let's say I want to put five dollars down, you know, some
pardon to your point a pent effect. I had no idea that was even
a thing, So it's there and you can put that down. I mean,
you really are dude, Curtis. You guys are dudes. You are
a one stop shop. It's why I went to you, guys, and
this has certainly been an honor to talk to you, Curtis. I hope
I can put you in my Rolodex and call you guys as we get closer,
maybe Derby next year as well Breeders' Cup and maybe into our phone meet.
I'd like to do some more stuff with you guys and talk to you
a little bit more, absolutely with the player speaking with you and being on
the station and on air with you. Really appreciate you reaching out and your
support, and anytime any reach right out to Scott would be weren't happy to
hop on with you or if someone else is going to be on here.
All right, brother, you enjoyed that West Coast lifestyle, will you?
I'm jealous for my days of living in San Diego. Thanks. I've been
in the thing top in the sports all day long. Not gonna all right,
brother, Hey, Curtis, take care of yourself. Brother, we'll
talk down the road. Well, Curtis Is, he's a good dude,
and they're good Dudes at Racing Dudes. Again, that was not a paid
endorsement by any means. I found them on my own. I have been
following them for years and I just now had an excuse to talk to him,
and I'm glad I did. They're good people. They will educate you
how to bet. Racing Dudes dot com is the website. Well, I
mean, come back, We'll talk some more sports with John Alden. I'm
Scott Fitztrol filling in for it Nick Coffee on Sports Talk seven ninety. Dude.
I'm telling you, man, you are riding a cool vibe because I
was just talking with Curtis Calwood from Racing Dudes and he's out in Cali.
Dude, that's a Cali song. Oh yeah, that's a Cali song.
That's that's my that's living in San Diego, great laid back energy. Oh
my god, dude, that's sitting outside my apartment three eleven East sixtieth Street.
Ironically, three eleven was my apartment number and smoking a cigar on a
Friday after work, we had palm trees right outside of our apartment. I
shared an apartment. You're just a traveling man. You've been all over the
place, dude, I just Anthony Boorde is my spirit animal. Okay.
When I'm in a bad way, I dial him up and uh and he
soothed my soul. But man, that I'm here, that's uh, of
course not it's that one. And slightly stupid is my other one. Okay,
I gotta be careful. And I played slightly Stupid because you can't play
everything on the area. And it was so funny because I don't know how
it was, but I was doing some stuff with the University of Lovall hockey
team and one of the players, I don't know how. We were all
standing around, we were talking and I mentioned slightly stupid. He goes,
oh, you listen to slightly Stupid? I go, yeah, I listened.
I hadn't know anybody else did. Here. In fact, I was
gonna try to take my wife to a slightly stupid concert when they were in
Cincinnati. You have to wear masks if you don't partake, if you know
what I mean, if you go to a slightly stubby concert, otherwise you're
gonna be real hungry when you leave. So no, it's definitely calible,
ye, but appreciate Curtis Coward joining us again from racing dudes. We're gonna
talk some more when we come back after break and wrap up this great two
days. This has been to really sit in. We're gonna talk a little.
We got to the start of the NHL plass. I am gonna talk
a little stick and puck. We've got some baseball coming up. The Reds
trying to speaking of Sandy Man, where is the San Diego vibe coming from?
That's who the Reds are playing again tonight, so they're gonna take them
on. We're gonna talk a little National League Central Baseball and we're gonna find
out. The Cardinals end up playing a double header today. They wrapped up
that game they were playing first off, and then they were gonna play the
second game after that. We'll see how they do, and hopefully the Reds
can find a way to get this thing turned around and get that bullpen in
shape after what was just a straight up successful season last year. Expected much
better from the Reds. But we'll see what they can bring up and then
well maybe if we have time, we'll get into a little NFL talk.
A lot of NFL teams are buzzing down because it's OTAs the Bengals start their
OTAs next week and this on the heels of pein Court Stadium making some improvements,
and you know, I heard everybody talk about that, and you know
they need to make these improvements. You know, they gotta do this,
they gotta do that. And honestly, every time we've gone up there,
it's been a great time. I didn't really notice anything. It's the one
stadium that is taking a lot of heat is of course Arrowhead Stadium where the
Chiefs play. In fact, I forget the Texas player's name, but he
was drafted by the Chiefs and got to the locker room. He's like,
oh man, He's like, because if you've seen the Texas locker room,
it's amazing. It's just immaculate. So he said, yeah, the Chiefs
are going to try to do some upgrades there and try to get theirs back.
So we'll we'll talk about that, we'll run that down. I'm gonna
find my way in front of the TV. I put all my chips in
on the Rangers to go on and win the Eastern Conference and that was before
the playoffs started, so hopefully I'll be away. I'm gonna hit the gym
up when I leave here, and if it's gonna be like last night,
I'm going to hit the gym and then go home and have something to eat
and crash, So I'll probably end up having to watch it in the morning.
Speaking of scores, I did want to bring you up to speed on
what's going on at the SEC Baseball tournament. We talked with Darren Hendrick,
voice of the Cats. It was South Carolina beating Arkansas six to five.
So now that is going to set up a rematch tomorrow morning here on Sports
Talk seven to ninety. It is going to be the Kentucky Wildcats and the
Arkansas Razorbacks, and the Cats are going to have to win if they want
to stay alive. Now they're going to make the NCAA tournament, there's no
doubt about that. But it would be nice for all the ups and that
the Cats had this year and after really just taking it on the chin.
Oh my god, it was just such an ugly game today, losing eleven
to nothing, that in eight innings to LSU at the in the first game.
But they're going to take on Arkansas. Looks like Arkansas was just in
Lexington May third. They were there that weekend and the Cats dropped the first
game ten to three. They came back to win the second game eleven to
three, and then again seven to four. So we'll see what they can
do. We'll see if they can pull it out and maybe survived this thing
and move on. Also, coming up on Friday, we're gonna have the
Loulesvelle Cardinals. They're going to be playing. They'll play Clemson. That's pretty
much just really in all honesty, just for pride. Unless they can find
a way to rattle off some wins. We'll see what they can do.
And as we mentioned when it came to the other college baseball tournaments, a
lot of the other teams still in play, Western Kentucky, Moorhead State,
Eastern Kentucky was in their double elimination. And then again, we've just got
some local talent that's playing here. So the one thing and still alive as
well in a Big ten tournament. Yes, that's right, thank you,
John. I'm glad you said that. Yeah, they're gonna play the Ohio
State tomorrow. They're gonna get it going with them. You know. I'm
so glad that they finally deadened the sound of the bat that used to be
the one thing that always stood out about college baseball. It was the ping
ping when they would hit. So they've dulled that down a little bit.
We'll see, we'll see what they can get around with that, and who
knows. But as I was talking with Darren that it's awesome that we can
have two wonderful programs with two beautiful stadiums. Again, I get the rivalry.
You hate each other knowing, I mean even our own invertrees. He's
he's a devout. I mean, Louisville Cardinal baseball team walks on water for
as far as he's concerned. They now, he admits when they do wrong,
they do wrong, but he admits they they just walk on water.
He came in today with an lsu hat on. He did all that.
He took them town. He took them to town. So he's gonna come
in with that and and do his thing. And you know, look,
but that's that's the rivalry. But we are blessed to have two teams,
two beautiful stadiums. We did get a chance to taking Kentucky Proud Park one
time we were in Lexington. It is just beautiful, as is Jim Patterson
Stadium. I know that's been the talk that they wanted to make some upgrades.
They've been promised upgrades to Jim Patterson. Haven't quite happened yet. But
looking at some of these baseball stadiums that are out there, folks in Louisville
have it pretty good. But while we're talking about baseball, I guess we
got some time doing not John, we're not taking a break here for ba.
No, you're good. Oh good? Okay, I was. I
wasn't sure were time still getting used to I wasn't sure we were taking a
break. All right, Well, as long as we have time, we
might as well talk a little bit about the Reds because they're trying to get
their fortunes turned around. And they again open that series with the San Diego
Padres along the banks of the Ohio last night. And I will never forget
when my son came home and said to me a few years ago, his
dad's god by the name Elie Dala Cruz that's in the Red systems. You
gotta check him out. And so this is when someone was younger is like,
okay, somebody on TikTok tell you this, and he's like, no,
you got to check him out. And I was like, okay,
all right, And so apparently he might have been onto something because last night
pitch and it's on the ground on one hot pot the glove of the first
basement, thrown it words, they'll tear him into right field. Day La
Cruz heading for second run, Will score throw it a second not in time.
It's a double for Dey la Cruz and at RBI. Yeah, that's
the great time. He threw on wlw li Day La Cruz last night,
doubling the Fernando Tattoos Junior that scored Will Benson and that's all they would need.
They going to beat the Padres last night two to nothing. Andrew Abbitt
going seven innings in the shutout. He allowed just four hits and struck out
two. That's what they're gonna need more of if the Reds are gonna make
a move here. And I don't know where you get that from. Hunter
Green seems to be coming along. He's got to get better control of that
slider. But he's coming along the two by the way back at it weather
permitting tonight. I didn't get a check and see what the weather's doing in
the Natti tonight. But they're gonna send one into Nick Martinez to the hill.
He's gonna go up against San Diego's three and four Michael King. Now,
when you're talking about the Saint Louis Cardinals, they finished up Game two
of their series. It was suspended in the bottom of the sixth due to
inclement weather at Bush Stadium. It was tied one to one at the time
of the suspension. They wrapped it up earlier. Today the Birds got a
three to one win. Nolan Gorman drilled the two run home run and then
winning effort. The Birds get the series win, coming off a seven game
losing streak. They're gonna play their schedule game today. They were supposed to
play it today. I'm gonna try to get a score. They sent Kyle
Gibson to the hill. He was taking on Baltimore lefty John Means. Now
also in the National League Central, a team that is right on the heels
of Milwaukee. That would be the North Siders of the Chicago Cubs. Lookitch
beg Chopper, right side bellancer comes into score. Cubs win the ball game.
The Cubs win it, and the Cubs win the ball game in ten
names by a score of four to three. I think the Cubs win the
ballgame. Uh. But by the way, the Cardinals, they're up five
to three on the O's in the bottom of the eighth. That was former
twenty eighteen first round picking the Cubs out of Stanford Nical Horner. He came
through an extra as the Cubs beat the Braves. That I thought that was
gonna be a good series. But the Brave boy, I don't know whether
what's going on with them, but they beat the Braves four to three and
ten innings, Luke Little getting his first winning relief. So if you're looking
at the National League Central, the Brewers winners last night over the Marlins seven
to five. The Cubs now a game and a half back with that win.
The Pirates, who some left for dead, are only five and a
half out. They beat the Giants last night seven to six. As we
mentioned, the Birds are trying to make some noise. They went into the
second game this afternoon six back of the Brewers. They can pull it to
within five and a half depending on what Milwaukee does tonight. And of course
the Reds are down eight games in the division now. Last night just down
the street, when we're at former twenty nineteen third pick of the third round
pick of the Marlins out of Wright State, Peyton Burdick wit Yard five hundred
feet and the Louisville Bullpin shut down Toledo the Tiger's farm system seven to five.
They'll play game two tonight at six point thirty. So a lot going
on, a lot of moving parts in baseball, John, I don't know
if you're an avid baseball fan. Baseball for me, so I've never been
the biggest baseball fan. I used to get into college baseball. There was
a phase in my life whenever I was really into it for whatever reason,
I was really into all college sports right before I got into that college space
myself. And then I also played a little baseball back whenever I was really
just a kid. Once it became so I went from t ball all the
way up the kid pitch, and once it got the kid pitch started hitting
and stuff like that, that was it for me. I couldn't do baseball
after that. Yeah, I hear you. I was for me. I
was rnny much in the same boat you were, And I went up to
we had what they called the senior Major leagues, and I was never that
good. I just wasn't good at baseball, but I would go to the
ballpark because I just like being there. It's a good vibe at a ballpark,
That's what I'm saying. Yeah, So when I played, so now
what I did when I lived in San Diego, what I would do is
I would go to the ballpark on Friday night after I got off work and
I was a single guy. I did it by myself. I could go,
I get a couple of beers. I'd sit there and watch them,
kind of like my happy hour. Most people go to a pub. I
go to the ballpark and then I would skip Saturday, and then I would
go back to the ballpark on Sunday because Saturday was always like that free giveaway
night, so like everybody's coming down, everybody's trying to get this, this
and this, and they went their free stuff. So I would go on
Sunday because a lot of people wouldn't go on Sunday. It was a cool
vibe on a Sunday, and I get seats right there. It was Qualcomm
Stadium at the time, right on the bullpen. I saw some good players.
I mean, I got nice pictures. I still have the eight by
tens a couple of them eleven seven by seventeen's like John Smoltz when he came
out with the Braves and their heyday and got some good pictures of these players.
But I would just go sit at the ballpark and that was my inner
piece. And I still do that to this day. I will go and
if my son goes with me and we go down here to sucker Field,
we may say two words to each other the whole night, the whole day,
but we just love sitting at the ballpark. And many times we'd go
up to Cincinnati and it was always the day game. It was the afternoon
game because we go up there because I don't know, for whatever reason,
but it'd be hot, but we'd sit there. And my wife doesn't do
heat well, so like she rarely will go to the ballpark with especially in
the thick of the summer games, because she just even at night sometimes it
can be pretty hot. Send it at the ball games. But did you
have a favorite food that you like when you go to a ball You know,
I always love a good pretzel, a good salted pretzel. And I'm
the kind of guy like all the salt put as much saligy want on there
that may be unhealthy for you, but that's a ballpark food is for yeah,
meant to be unhealthy. Do you ever do do you ever do like
the you get the crazy dogs, the crazy menu items that people have.
I'm pretty basic when it comes to a lot of things like that. Yeah,
I get a nicke. It has made fun of me before. There's
a lot of there's a lot of foods that maybe the average person, especially
like ballpark foods, that the average person would order. I just don't dabble
in that kind of stuff. Yeah see, And that's and that's become sort
of that's become sort of baseball is doing now, is that people people like
to go in and they like to try the foods. They'll have big food
unveils and they'll try to outdo each other in the foods. The other big
to do is, of course, the alter egos that baseball teams have.
And this really happens in minor league baseball. And there's a guy if you
follow him on TikTok, I'll try to get his name for you. I
was watching his video the other night. He takes a look at these and
he breaks him down. For example, like you'll have the Eugene Emeralds.
They're a team that are the high affiliated the San Francisco Giants. Well,
they'll play one game a year, maybe a few as the Exploding Whales.
And if you go back, if you can look this up on YouTube and
see the story in nineteen seventy it was the body of a massive sperm whale
washed up on the beach in Florence, Oregon, and the way to get
rid of the whale was they exploded it. But that whole thing blew up
literally in their face because parts of the whale kept falling around. You'll have
to go look at it. It's the Eugene Exploding Whales. A couple of
the others. This team, for me has one of the best names in
all minor league baseball. That is the Hertford yard Goats, the Double a
affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play as the Hartford Bouncing Pickles. So
when is a pickle not a pickle if it doesn't bounce? And that's what
they said in the nineteen The basis for a nineteen forty eight Connecticut state law
that says the targeted pickle sellers whose product was unfit for human consumption if it
bounces, don't need an ounce. So now the team has got new jerseys.
They picked them up. They call themselves the Bouncing Pickles. And then
you have the and what I think are two of the great names because Brendan
Fott, who of course went to Bellerman went to Trinity and sant Martha played
for the am Amarillo sod Poodles. They're the double A affiliate for the Arizona
Diamondbacks. They play as the Amarillo calf Fries c alf Fries. They're also
known as Rocky Mountain Oysters. There are a polarizing food, a fried food
delicacy. The sod Poodles, who operate out of Texas's Panhandle, announced their
calf Fries alternate identity. Well it was it last year, last year,
the year before they yeah, it was last year they announced it. And
you know, that's the cool vibe with Minor League Baseball and if I can
look up the x feed that it is. But there's I follow like m
I LB promotions. If you go there, you can see all the different
promotions that they give away, and it's really cool the way they track this
stuff and you can look it up, but nobody does it better. Than
minor league baseball in some of the and it comes not just with not just
with the uniforms, but also with the food that they serve as well.
I think if I go to a ballpark, I'm with you. Now that
I'm in this health kick, I don't eat the way that I used to
unless it's Saturday and it's my day of gluttony. But I know one of
my favorites we mentioned yesterday that I loved it. I was, I love
the South Side of Chicago. So when you go get a true Chicago dog,
you can get them at you can get one at Wrigley if you want.
I mean, it's just loaded up and it's got everything out it,
and you know a Chicago dog when you taste it. Which is really funny
because when it comes to pizza, I can't stand in Chicago style pizza.
I'm the same way the deep dish. Nah, dude, that's cast role.
That's not a pizza on you. That's what I'm saying. You might
as well have a plate of lasagna. But I know people that swear by
it. I'm a New York pizza kind of guy all the way. I
love that that thin christ you fold it in half. You know, you
can take a New York pizza and everybody's all, you're from Michigan. You
don't like the Detroit style, No, because Detroit styles a lot like deep
dish. It almost means it is a little more tolerable than the Chicago style.
I'll say that. But they are in the same family for sure,
right right, right. But the one thing that I did love when we
went to the NFL Draft was we went to and this place was packed the
whole time we were there, Lafayette Coney Island. And it's interesting because I
said, we're going to Detroit, Guys, I want a coney and I
want a Burner's. And I's like, what's a coney dog? Well,
to be honest with you, it's a glorified chili dog. And it just
depends on who you ask. And so we went to Detroit and you go
to Lafaytte Lafayette' chili dog. And if you've ever seen the Kid Rock video
for roll On, they have a competitor that's right next to them. I
think it's American Coney Island. It's the one that's right next to them.
That's where Kid Rock rolls into with the Uncle Cracker, and they have a
coney dog there. They said they sold in the two days of the NFL
Draft ten thousand coney dogs. And I know for a fact because when we
were in there that place you couldn't move. You couldn't move. So you
go to these different places. Chicago, if I go there, I'm gonna
get the Chicago dog. People ask me all the time, do you like
the Chicago dog or do you like the Coney dog better? You can't compare
them like trying to pick a favorite kid. You know, Coney dogs have
their own taste. Chicago dogs have their own taste. When I go when
I was in San Diego, the Big Delicacy, there was a Rubio's fish
taco. Fish tacos were amazing, which is really just kind of of taco
with fish in it. But it's just something about the way they prepare them.
What was it when we had we went to Seattle. I was trying
to remember what we had when we went up to Seattle. But you can
have the different delicacies that are out there. Do you think the hot brown
is a good Louisville delicacy or do you think that it should belong to something
else is like the iconic Louisville. No, no, no. What was
interesting was we went to It's a place out in London. It's an old
train station. We went there for Christmas dinner. I think it was the
second ever, the second ever hot brown I've ever had since I was in
Kentucky, and it was amazing. I told my wife, I'm like,
how do I not eat more of these? How did it? Because people
come in at all the time, they go, well, we're gonna come
in and visit. We want something that's that's unique to Kentucky. And I
said, well, you guys probably want a hot brown and I can't make
those, so let me take you out for a hot brown. And those
are I couldn't make them, and there's certain places that do them right.
God, wish I could remember the name of this place. I'll figure it
out. I'll find out what it was. But they made it like it
was no other. And I was trying to think, if you go into
Indiana now, some of the delicacies in Indiana. Oh, there's another place.
When we're talking about sports joints that we want to go to. You'll
have to forgive me because I'll look this up every time we go to a
game and IU it is a a bar slash pub that's up there is Nix
English Hut maybe no, no, no no, But I'm looking it up
for you as we kill now kill Roise. I know where kill Rois is
and I know they Oh man, that's gonna bug me now that I can't
find that. I'll know when I see it. But we go up there,
and I love it so much that I can't think of it now when
I go there. But see, we'll go up to Bloomington. That's one
of my one of my favorite when I do go see a when I do
go see a college football game, Bloomington's one of my places on my list.
I just I love that. I love going to Bloomington. I'll find
it, brother, darn it. I wish I could find it now.
But those are the places I like to go to when I hit up.
When we were in Toronto, it was very interesting when we were there,
people would tell you one of my favorite things to do when we get to
a new place is one we walk everywhere, Like I can't tell you the
steps we took in Toronto, but our favorite things to do are you just
duck in somewhere and you go, okay, help me out where do I
need to go. So we did that and we were in Toronto in September
of twenty nineteen because it was right before, right before the pandemic hit.
We walked in and Toronto on a Saturday afternoon on a fall day is a
lot like it's a lot like Marty Gras's just a party. I mean,
everybody's outside, everybody started drinking probably about ten in the morning. We walk
in. There's these two southeast behind the barn. If you've ever seen I
don't know if you have you seen Letter Kenny yet. No, that's what
I haven't seen. Oh my god, Letter Kitny. I live in.
There's two guys in Letter Kenny. These were the two guys that were in
this bar. And we're like, man, where do we go? Where
do we go? What are we doing? They just start going on and
on and on. They're like, you go here, you go here,
you go here, you go here. And it turns out they were absolutely
right. But that's how you find these places. And you know, I
just try to find these places and look a him. And since we're gonna
go to break, I'm gonna find this place in Bloomington and what it was,
and I can't think of it now because I'll find it. We're talking
about places to go food die before we come back and wrap things up.
But a great show. We'd been fun to sit in with you here.
I had a lot of guests coming. This has had a great guest Darren
Hedrick, thank you, and of course Curtis col Ward, thank you so
much as well. We're gonna come back and wrap things up here before we
get to the Thursday is a new Friday part of the week. I'm Scott
Fitzgerald. He's John Alden. We'll be right back after this on Sports Talk
seven ninety. Oh man, Well Clark would love you for playing that one.
Dude. He's a Zach Brown guy. Oh yeah, that's good stuff
there. Hey, brother John, this has been so much fun, dude.
This was a very fast two days. Bro. It has been a
pleasure and we will have you anytime. Oh man, I sure do appreciate
you, Bro, I appreciate it. I thank Nick coffee, and thank
you all for listening. It's a good grind again. Yeah, I'm I'm
tired, but it's a good burn. You do what you love, you
love what you do. And it's been that kind of spring and I'm looking
forward to some downtime on the Memorial Day weekend and I've been going it feels
like since thunder and it's gonna be nice to enjoy some downtime. John,
enjoy your holiday weekend, Bro. You deserve it. You work as hard
as anybody else here. No no one's don't mean to kiss you, but
you're behind, but no one who works harder than the great Scott fish Year.
Well, thank you, John, you have been so kind all this
year at iHeartRadio. You guys have really taken care of us. Tony and
Cruz now will be back on the air starting at five o'clock tomorrow morning,
and then Joe, Jackovino and I will be on the air Saturday morning and
what we like to call Radio Study Hol a special Memorial Day edition of Study
Hall, and we'll remember those who have fallen before us and service to our
country and a very special time to remember, a big day of racing.
And may you appreciate the day and be able to spend it with your family
and your friends and just enjoy. So for John Alden, I'm Scott Fitzgerald,
and for all of us here at Sports Talk seven ninety and News Radio
eight forty whs. Have a great evening, everybody. Remember Thursday is the
new Friday. We'll talk to you tomorrow at five on news Radio eight forty whas