This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Son Fox Sports
fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services. It's sure your most prized possessions,
kat z R two, SAG and iHeartRadio Station Yet. Hey, good afternoon,
everybody. Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera, a partner Jagan Zalas and my guy Kwan for the
final the O of the week. We thought it'd never get here, but
we're here. Goodness see you good to be here. Any any adventures this
week? No, no sky diving. I thought about it, but no
sky div you got to make the trip. No marriage, no girlfriends,
You're good. Yeah? He was busy on college football? EA sports thing?
Are you playing? Yeah? You know you and created the dynasty with
Arizona Radio. You did, okay? You and Jason Sheer Yeah talking about
it. Okay, good luck for you. Good luck of that. Help
you get something out of it. We're making too, so proud the footprint
through one good look. So what's up with you? Jay? You know
I was telling you, you know, with this grudge conversation we had yesterday,
you know, after I read the kid ul Key article and stuff,
and I told you I only had three. Well we found two more.
They're gonna be carling out of the wood. We had, you know,
as a you know, I always gonna ask, you know, how the
show going stuff? And I told me we had talked about the grudges and
stuff, and it actually kind of became kind of a deep conversation with my
family because my wife thinks I hold a lot of grudges. And yeah,
if you're on, if you're listening, to give us a call. We
had to we had to clarify what's a grudge versus just not liking someone.
And I'm sure that's a long list too. Oh yeah, there's a lot
of people I don't like, and there's a lot of people. But in
terms of you know, to me, I said that a grudge is that
it's somebody that when you see them, like you're gonna go the other away,
or you might punch him in the face, or you know you're gonna
confront them because you don't you know. So so to me, a grudge
is more like, you know, just somebody you hold some anger towards.
So you said you had three, I said I had three. Okay,
so two more found more that you confirmed. Yes, so that's fine,
that's fine, And that doesn't include the guys you don't even like, yeah,
you know. And then she tried to say, well, you you
know, like my daughter said, well, you have a grudge against the
Astros. They said, yeah, but that's a different kind of that's that's
a different kind of that's a different kind of grudge. I'm talking about a
hard grudge against some a person. Yeah that that has been or was yea
in my life. Yeah, that's a grudge. But yes, But but
her to her point is is, uh, you don't like them for whatever
reason. Yeah, but that doesn't reach the level of your grudge, right
yeah, because she well you what about this person? I said, well,
I don't like that person, but I don't hope it. I don't
think about him, hold a grudge against him to the point where you know,
you must be fun at Christmas parties. Way you don't like anybody.
That's that's not true. Christmas list is very short. No, we have
a very long Christmas list. It Steve, it's it's it's a select group
of people. And and the two additional ones that we came up with one
was another work related one. Okay, the guy that I told you that
I fired, okay from at TEP. That guy, because my grudge about
him is that he wrecked our He wrecked our department, he wrecked some friendships,
erect the department, and in a lot of ways, that was the
beginning of the end for me at TEP. Okay, So I hold that
grudge. If I see him, I want to punch him in the face,
all right. The second one is a guy who I did some business
with. So he's a guy that I've known for a really long time.
You know, you're growing up. But I did business with him and it
turned out bad. And if I see that guy, I'll punch him in
the face. Now, he might kick my ass, but I'll get one
in. You're ready to get it in. I'll be that that like that
that dude in the day isn't confused, right, I'll get the first punch
in, but I might you know, I might lose after that. But
there's a guy out there that you know, he did a lot of things
that you know, I trusted him with some stuff and and he did a
lot of things that caused a lot of problems for me, and so those
are great, and I think those are legit grudges. My wife wants me
to get rid of all of them, and I say, why, just
because you're carrying all the same I said, I'm not, I said,
I mean, you know, I don't think about him all the time.
If you bring him up, I get pissed, right, But I don't
sit there, and you know, you know, I'm not trying to go
to sleep and not thinking about this person. I can't sleep because I'm thinking
about this person. It's just that if I see him, I want to
drop him. And that's it's as simple as that. Don't live your wife
that morning, Well, doude, don't don't follow his footsteps. You have
any grudges some fun in your young life to you, not not not against
a person, but definitely like teams. Okay, well yeah, but that's
that's that's not They haven't done you any harm. Now, those are healthy
grudges. But yes, the Astros did me harm, okay, And I
have a huge grudge against the Astros, but I only think of them in
the context of sports, which to me is always about the fun. So
I don't lose sleep over the Astros, right, you know if they if
if if if what's his name? The short guy is walking coming down,
you know, coming towards me down the street. You know, as he
walks by him, I tell him to f off. But I'm not going
to fight him, right, I'm not going to cross the street, you
know, but you know I'll be you know, jerk my head or something
like that. Who's this? Yeah? That was that? What I do
to you? Yeah? You you you cheated, you piece of crap.
So you know those are different, you know, And it's funny. It's
not as U is not a grudge. I just don't like them as a
rival, right, that's not I got a grudge. You got a grudge.
I've seen too much heartbreak from them because of them. Who a issue?
Yeah? Like and what were you twelve? So no, I've already
experienced enough. That half court shot two years ago with the basketball, Okay,
I was there for that. It was a game. Look at this
the boys the reason holding drap I didn't. I wasn't expecting not, I
mean I was. I was there for that missfield goal. They came back
from them. I think what twenty twenty something? You just a little kid,
oh the block the blocked extra points to me, and that the twenty
no from a I think twenty nineteen. I don't remember that. Yeah,
we're up at home against them, and uh we just the fourth quarter came
and we just let it, let it go. Oh the twenty one points,
twenty one point take the quarterback, man, they score. They gave
up twenty one points in the fourth quarter and lost. It was like the
last eight minutes. Yeah, twenty nineteen, Yeah, twenty four to fourteen.
No, it was like forty one something. It might have been twenty
eighteen then yeah, that one twenty eight. But see though, to me,
those aren't grudges. Those are like horrible days, right you know.
I uh yeah, he's de fighting the grudge over here. It's a grudge.
Yeah, I'll sleep over that. I guess we all have our fight.
And you know what, if that's a grudge to you, then then
good for you. I'm glad you have a couple. I'm glad to have
Steve is just a big weenie. He doesn't have any No, I have
other things to worry about. The grudge. Just play it the next time
and beatle, that's all, you know. I really don't like that,
do you have a grudge against your ex wife. No. No, At
the end of the day, Jay, this is how I feel. We
get what we deserve. We just do. It all comes back. It
just it's just what it is. I don't understand what you mean by the
poop happens and it gets the level of poop works its way through the system
and we get what we deserve. I mean, honestly, you're tell Tuba
thing. Eventually the Dodgers will beat the Astros in turn in a in a
series or I believe, and it'll be watched away. I believe in what
goes around comes yea and eventually they'll say, you know, okay, I'm
over it. You know the one, the one can can I make this
publict I think it has been made pub The one that I thought was was
classic was lout and Greg and Bobby had to come come to that when she
was on her deathbed and your death. She said, Bobby, I want
you to Lute, I want you to uh to to make an American and
and he did, he did, and he did uh. That's the most
famous one that I know personally, because I was kind of that was okay,
here here's what okay, so my wife, My wife thought, she
said, you you have a you have a grudge against Lout. I said,
I do not know you. Well, you always talk about how you
always talk about how that period of time where you said he didn't like you
and you wouldn't talk to you something, and you hate you hated that.
I said, but that's not a grud. I don't know. I don't
even dislike Luke. No, that's that's not a grudge. That's just the
work. He said. You know, we we had. There was a
thing. He got mad at me. He was mad at me for for
a lot of years. I don't hold it, you know, anything from
that, you know. And then she said, well, you have a
grudge against the old city editor at the Star because, you know, because
because they I couldn't get promoted over there, and I ultimately left and I
wanted to be in newspapers and and and I was, I was, I
was in the business section. I wanted to go to the city desk and
they and they made you know, I tried to get it. I tried
to get it. I went in and said, you know, I'd like
to make a movie be considered for you know, any city desk opening,
and I was told you. I was told you're not You're not qualified,
you need to go to editing school. And I'm like, I've been working
here for a decade. How can you tell me I'm not qualified? And
she goes, you're you're and so she goes, you have a grudguate a
guy named John Silva. He was a state editor when I left. Okay,
don't so. I ended up getting to try out. They were gonna
give me a position, but by that time I got the job of that
him left. I wanted to be a newspaper. Well that sort of it.
That sorted itself out. Yeah, but that's and that's what I said
to I said, that's not a grudge. I said, do I think
that guy's a big turn? I said, yeah, he's him and you
know, a managing editor. I said, Was I angry at them?
Yeah? Am I mad at them? Not anymore? Well, that's that's
I don't know if a grudge can be considered a dislike or that's what taste.
Yeah, if I just don't like somebody, that doesn't mean I have
a grudge. Again, I just don't like. But here's the issue.
Here's the issue, and this is the mokey thing from you. There's a
grudge category at a dislike category, there's probably something else, a kind of
dislike kind of grudge. You have a lets, well, yeah, there's
another. Well there's another there's an anger. Okay, you know, she
goes, she goes. That's what you're You're angry at Lout, I said,
I stopped being angry at lou years ago. You were not even covered
the team the last thirty seven years. Years ago, I stopped being angry
at Loot over that, you know, over the fact that he didn't talk
to me for ten years. And large are open. We could take any
calls from therapists, kept Leeman, and you're if you're listening, give us
a call your help. I do take I do take a Blue Cross and
blue shields. It was like couch Jay, do cop. I'm United Healthcare
but so but I'm not a complicated guy. I just have. As you
said, I've got some compartments out there and they're they're nice or you know
order. I know who I don't like. I know who I'm angry.
But even the even the angry, I'm not angry at anybody. I can't
think of somebody that I'm angry at that other other than the five people that
I came up with. That old brad so that said, or do they
have it in the reverse for you, like the guy the city editor.
He says, what the hell? No, you're not. No, I'm
not a pimple on his You know what, son? Why you don't worry
about that? I don't, That's what I'm saying. I don't worry about
that guy that my wife said I had a grudge against. I said,
I do not, even I haven't thought about that guy. And I don't
know how many years. She goes, well, you were mad that they
didn't give you, you know, promote you at the Star. I said,
I was mad at the time. Gab. I don't know, Gab,
I'm sorry, or or you can thank me later for having you guys
having conversations. I don't know if you talk at the house. But this
is great. It was It was a fun It was a fun. Uh,
it was a fun dinner time conversation. My daughter rich She goes,
I've got grudges and I said, yes, because she's probably like you.
Yeah, and then my wife doesn't have any. I said, because you're
you're you know you were brought up that she's as pure as snow and a
nice woman. You know, that's my point. How did she find you?
I don't know, Steve, I don't know, just must have fallen
on the But you know, I mentioned my parents were two of the biggest
grudge holders of all mankind. Doesn't shocked me because we learned from right,
we do we do well. First of all, after they got divorced,
they held against the grudge. They held against grudges against each other until they
die. Okay, they'd come over to an event at our house and one
had to be in one room and one hand. How long were they married.
They were married thirty five years years. Yeah, and then they got
divorced and they were your parents. Yeah, oh okay, I thought they
were married for a long time. No, they were married thirty five years,
they got divorced, and then they were divorced for the last thirty years.
Yeah, you know. But and then I mean, like, you
know, my my mom. You know, she was the ultimate grudge holder.
That's right. You learned it from somewhere. Yeah, you learned from
somewhere, you know. I mean, she would like she would have a
fight with one of her sisters and they wouldn't talk for two years. Yeah.
Well, well it's like I say, my family, Ya, what's
the point now? Honestly, it's looks like a car dealer. You just
said goodbye. Parents are pretty clear. Let's go move on to the next
one. So you know, man, you're it's not You're not complicated to
me because I know exactly what it is, what the listeners are finding out
about. It quad you finding out about I'm opening up to our listeners.
I want them to know me. This should call and this should be therapy
Friday or figure it out Friday. We got to figure it out Friday out
Friday, you know. Okay, let's go because we're going to figure it
out. What Jake Okay, Jake Fish is gonna come on. Maybe he
can console us. Well that's Jacob, he's got anything. Oh yeah,
that would be good. That'd be a fun conversation. Okay, stick around,
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evaluation today. Dreamy Live, I Mean iHeart Radio app. This is I
on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacob Salez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
Hey, welcome back to My on the Ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty on
Steve Rivera, Peace Cranky Jacobs as that's not true. That's that's just not
true. We got one with us and now we have Jake Fisher form UA
football player. Our first question to you, Jacob anything thanks for joining us
is always a friddy Are you a grudge? Not so much? Good for
you? Okay, do you I'm waiting for the next question. You told
me it was gonna stomp me something. That's what do you have that?
Do you have any Is there anybody out there that you hold a grudge against?
And by that not a not as like a sports grudge, right,
not like a I hate the Houston Astros or something like that. I mean,
is there a person in your life that maybe did something to you that
to this day you're pissed at them to the point where if you saw them
you'd want to beat their ass. I don't think so, because honestly,
you're just letting somebody kind of control your emotions. I mean, there's a
lot of people I've met that, or idiots that I you know, I
wouldn't, you know, go out of my way to go say hi to.
But I don't really only grudges. Okay, smart man, smart man,
I have grudge. I have gudges. I have grudges, not grudge
grudge and then wait, wait, wait, we're not done here. Grudges
and then kind of just he just flat out doesn't like and then there's a
kind of doesn't like. There's a lot of compartments to the gudge. So
he's got multiple all right, So just don't end up on Jay's bathside.
Well, yeah, no, it doesn't matter to you if you're on my
bad side. It's just that there are people who, yeah, I have
I have some people on my bad side, so you know, and look,
there's grudges and then there's people that I just don't like. There's a
difference to me, there's a difference between that a grudge that I feel like.
We all have people that we don't like. Like I said, there's
there's some people that I would not go out of my way to go say
hi to, Like, right, you know, I see you across the
room. I'm just not going to go talk to you because I don't like
your But no grudges. I have grudges, yes, and a lot of
that was my point. That was my point. What started this Jake was
back in March, there was a big story on Mochi Kim Molchi and I
read it and I said, Chase a lot like her, and he didn't
believe me. He didn't believe me. Five three months later, he's finally
read the story and he says, I understand the point what you're trying to
make because she's a grudge holder. Grudge holder, And now he gets it.
But he doesn't think he's that bad. But hey, does he have
insurance with you? Because I think take blue cross the blue for my therapy
for him? I do not. Yeah, but he did text me earlier
and I was gonna go ahead and talk, yeah, after we got done
with the show. Okay, all right, okay, so you saw my
email today? Okay, yeah, sorry, okay, So so Jake,
real quick, the coach coach Brendan has a big the press conference in about
ten days. Uh, what are you hoping to hear from him? Just
that you know everyone's ready to go and that people are you know, continuing
to do what they did to make him successful last season. You know,
I mean it's everything from what I've heard and just from what I saw last
year, and you know, with all the people coming back, it sounds
like our leadership, you know, in terms of the players is awesome,
and it sounds like people really want to be here. So as long as
we got good players here, they buy into the system, and you've got
good leadership on the team, you can basically accomplish whatever the hell you want.
So that's kind of what I'm looking for. Jake. You've been here
long enough to know that, you know, the the year after a great
year fari zone in football has always been not so great as a player.
Uh, you know, how do you avoid complacency kind of like, you
know, resting on you know, what you did last year? Uh,
those kinds of things going into a year where people are telling you how great
you are and how great you're going to be, and how do you how
do you keep from listening to that stuff and and keeping your your focus on
everything. Well, with us, we never had a ten win team.
I think every year that we went to a bowl game my four years of
playing. You know, we'll skip the year that we have the you know,
all the injury and whatnot when Stoop's got to let go. But I
mean, I think we only reached eight wins every single year. So these
guys, you know, it's a little bit different for them. I think
that you know, listening to an interview probably about a week ago, they
basically said that nobody on the team had had a back to back winning season
or you know, enjoying this much success. So I think just because of
the hard work that they have last year, the camaraderie, the fact that
they're coming back, the fact that you know, they have the basically the
coaching stat take off on them. I think they have a point that they
want to prove, and like I said, you know, you have great
leadership in the locker room. So I don't see a reason why they couldn't
go ahead and repeat that type of success. The one thing I'm worried about
it's going to be a bunch of new you know, teams that they're playing
against. You know, a lot of times when you play the same team
over and over, there's a level of, uh, you know, you're
kind of comfortable, right, you know exactly what to expect with this,
you know, going into basically coming off of ten win season, going to
Dolmable winning against a former Big twelve team, and you're playing against a bunch
of new teams. You know, you basically just joined their conference. They're
going to have a point. You know, they're going to try to prove
something to you too, right, So I think every single game you're gonna
have to come play or someone might run out of the building. That's just
kind of where it is. So they have to show up and play.
Yeah, yeah, no question. Do you think do you think that not
complacency? I don't like that word. But do you think it starts at
the top or is it the players? It's a little bit of both.
You know, the coaches are going to do what coaches do. They're gonna
give you a game plan. It's up to you to go ahead and execute.
And from everything I've heard, you know, coach Bavers he always puts
together great offensive game plans. You already know Coach A. Keene is gonna
do fine on the defensive end. And like I said, you've got a
lot of really, really good upper classmen that are gonna be playing on both
sides of the ball. So I don't really see any mental lapses. If
there are, they're going to be very few and far between. Yeah,
I will tell you, you know, getting back to that whole issue of
you know, of follow up season. Years later after the the ninety they
had they had gone ten wins beat you know, when won the festival.
Ninety three, ninety four was the rock solid year, you know, cover
of Sports Illustrated. And then they went I think they went in and they
went to a bowl game, but it was far below you know what people
thought. Probably five years later, I as a Dick told me when we
were playing base I said, what happened that year? Dick was why did
that team go wrong? And he just said, they didn't do the work.
That team did not do the work in the summer, he said,
they and he used the word complacent. He said, we got the he
I mean he I think he was kind of saying the context of the whole
team, but he just basically said a lot of our guys just did not
do the work. They listened to all these things that were being said about
him, and we didn't do what we needed to do and we lost.
That season went south in the summer, not even once the games began.
And that that's the thing that I worry about. Yeah, Well, like
I said, I think some of these guys have way too much to prove.
I mean, you got you got three guys that have the potential to
go ahead and be first round draft picks. On the offensive line, you
lose the guy in the first round, So those other guys are going to
have something to prove. Uh, you know the quarterback. Everyone talks about
how small he is and all this other crap. He's gonna have something to
prove. And he's one of the leaders on the offense. You know the
receiving corps. Hey we just lost Jacob Cowing. Who's going to be the
guy to step up if they're if they're blanketing t Mac. You know the
running backs he got, uh, you know the guys that are going to
get the majority of the carrier carries. They're coming from other schools. And
on the defensive side of the ball, you lost your defensive coordinator. Obviously
you get coach Aquina back, but I mean you have a brand new defensive
line. They're gonna have something to prove. Whoever starts next to Jacob Mono,
he's gonna have something to prove. So everybody's coming back with something to
prove. Is kind of the whole deal here. So I don't see any
of these guys really being complacent. And then once again, your coaching staff
basically took off on you. Thinking that they're going to greener pastures. So
I would have something to prove when it comes to that too. Yeah,
no, I think that. Yeah. I like hearing all of that.
Yeah, because I think you've got something there, right, So I mean
to prove because some believe that you probably couldn't do it in the first place,
right, Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, I get
it. What do you think of the schedule? I know we probably asked
you a time or two, well how many wins? Because you and you
nailed it last year, have you started to think more about it. I'm
still thinking nine or ten wins. I just think because it's going to be
a bunch of new a bunch of new teams that you're playing, and because
these guys are going to basically say, okay, well you know this team
won ten games and they're coming off as crazy, uh you know, seven
game win streak and all this other stuff. Just going on the road to
a couple of these places. I just have a feeling we might flip up
a game or two. I think that if we can go ahead and make
it to the first four games three and one, we're gonna win ten games.
Okay, because Week three and Week four is going to be tough.
I mean, you're at Kansas State and the Utah I think that the Space
game over at UCF is going to be tough. But I mean a lot
of these guys, it's going to be different. You're not gonna be at
a Stanford right where you've got, you know, a stadium that can hold
sixty to seventy thousand people and only like ten thousands show up. You're not
gonna have any of that craft. So you're gonna have to show up and
play every game. Yeah, I like that, And that's about where we
were. You know, Steve and I went through the schedule while back,
and you know, and the same thing. If you can split those the
Kansas the Kansas State and Utah, thing that that sets you know, sets
you up for everything else because after that, you know, we're looking at
the schedule, Jake, And at least according to the media pull, after
Kansas State, everybody Arizona plays the rest of the way out got voted to
finish after Arizona in the league. So conceivably they could be favored in every
one of those games. Maybe the Central Florida game because it's on the road,
they might be an underdog or a small but it probably a small underdog.
But it sets up well after that Kansas State Utah thing, and if
they can, like you said, if they can win one or two of
those one at least one of those, you're right, the season can be
can be huge. Well then yeah, and then the fact that the Kansas
State game is a non conference game, and the fact that they're missing playing
Kansas State, and then I earned Kansas and Oklahoma State. Those are three
of the top five teams in the league. So I mean we should be
favored in the vast majority of those games. And if our offense gets clicking,
I mean after the first couple of games, I think these guys are
going to be comfortable enough with the offense that we can start putting up some
ridiculous points just because I think we have a lot of talent returning. Obviously,
you've got the best receiver in the entire country, great quarterback for the
you know, starting five coming back on the offensive line, you know quality
and Jacory. I think those two are going to be fantastic. So as
long as we have a solid game play and going and these guys are comfortable,
I think we have a shot against both Kansas State and Utah and everybody
else that we're going to play after I'm going to ask you a question that's
not related to any of this and put you on the spot. So you
played for the end of Stoops, right, yeah, and the Stoops you
played a lot for for rich Rod and you've seen the coaches afterward. Could
you have played and I know you thought the world of rich Rod and his
linebacker guy forget his name now, the three three five guy? Yeah,
yeah, Castiel. So okay, you played for them, you love them?
Would you you probably would not have enjoyed playing for for someone? No,
absolutely not. And what about Fisher? I think I would have enjoyed
because, I mean, think about it, your rock bottom. He comes
in, he has a solid class coming in, He's you know, those
guys were able to get a lot of really really good transfers coming in that
can help immediately. And then, to be honest with you, I mean,
you don't care if your coaches and a hole, You don't care about
any of that crap. If you're winning ten games, you just don't.
I mean, something's working, so you're going to buy into the system regardless.
So obviously I think I would have liked playing for them, you know,
I thought that those other guys enjoyed playing for him enough that they were
all going to leave to go to Washington. So apparently they know something that
we don't because we were in the locker room. But I mean, at
the same time, you know you're gonna enjoy playing for a coaching staff and
a quarterback that helped you get the ten wins, right, No, I
think you said a lot there because we've heard the same team. And now
what about Brendon what you've heard. I haven't heard anything bad about any of
the coaches. I mean, you know, just the fact what they were
able to do over you know, at San Jose I mean that just says
a lot. The fact that they don't have I mean, they have like
high school type athletic facilities, and then you go to a big twelve school
that you know, the last Staft did a really good job of putting a
lot of money, raising a lot of money to you know, increase you
know, what they had available to them. And I just think that if
you're able to constantly get to bowl games over at San Jose State, I
think you're going to do fine here. Yeah, we're talking to Jake Fisher,
our resident football play, our football expert, because we're always picking your
brain on you know, actually being in a locker room. So again,
Jake, did the summertime is a time when as as I you mentioned that,
you know, coaches think that you can win or lose a season during
the summer. What were your summers like when you were when you were playing,
say this time of year, there's still a couple of weeks away from
practice starting, but you know you've had a long summer. What you know,
what were you trying to do and how did how did you want to
come out of summer? Come out of summer knowing that people can count on
you to do your job and hopefully coming out of summer workouts everything like that
film, knowing that you can trust the other guys to do their job,
you know what I mean. Like my freshman year, we had four senior
linebackers, including a nickel ahead of me. I trusted that they were going
to do their job because they were all upperclassmen and they're all going to be
gone after a year. Sophomore year, we had two brand new Juco guys
come in, so we had to spend a lot more time getting ready to
go, and we had a lot of returning good defensive lineman, so we
knew we were going to be able to you know, scrape off, get
you know, get some tackles, do our thing. Uh. That next
year was tough because everybody seemed to get injured, so we were all kind
of like, oh, this might be a bad year. After that,
it was hey, brand new coaching staff, We got something to prove.
The year after that, the schedule got harder and we lost you know,
Matt Scott, who I thought was perfect for that, for that system,
and I think with an improved defense, I think that we could have we
could have done some good things. But I mean, obviously DJ did a
good job. I didn't have that type of feeling that these guys are going
to have because I mean you got basically, you got three or four guys
on each side of the ball that are going to be playing in the weekue,
right. You know, we have that on defense early on, and
then we have that on offense my last two years. But defense, we
just had a bunch of solid guys. So I mean these guys they should
have basically all the I mean they shouldn't know that they're going to win.
They just got to go out and do the work now as you just real
quick because we only have a minute. So ten guys and you don't have
the name names ten guys that come back, how many actually came ready to
play? Of the ten guys that came back, No, no, no,
I'm just giving you a random number. So you you had the idea
you can get ready, You're gonna be ready by the time you come back.
I'm sure there was a time or two when a couple of guys didn't
do that. Oh absolutely, But it just seems like this seems a little
different. I mean, you know, I'm just saying it happens. I'm
just saying it happens that people aren't smart enough or tough enough to get ready
for the for the faulp camp. Oh yeah, yeah, no. There
are some folks that, you know, break under pressure, they don't want
to do the workouts, they fall behind at the depth and they just wit
yeah yeah, yeah, okay, no, because it does. It does
happen. No, it does, of course it does. And that you
know again, that's when expectations don't get to where right, you know what,
what happens doesn't reach expectations. It's somewhere along the line things when ay
wire right right right? Okay, you want to tell U Swisher up to
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pretty much every day and bear down. Thanks so much. Man, Hey,
Jake, stay on the line and we'll we'll we'll talk about this email.
He said, you so don't don't go anywhere. Okay, well hold
on them. We're gonna go break that's right, We're going to go to
bread. Okay, we'll bury it. We'll bear it back. If you're
an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years.
Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book,
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you. Learn how at Pima dot Edu. Slash Someday breaking down all the
excess at alls. It's Steve Rivera and Jagen Salmiz. This is I on
the ball on Fox Sports fourteenth diff Hey, welcome back to I on the
ball here Fox Sports fourteen fifties. I'm Steve. I'm getting text from people
of it. Here's JA. I'm Steve. Is this well? No,
we have twenty minutes left before you get through. Groove on. I gotta
get my groove on. You do figure out, figure out. I have
no grudges. I've been a free life. I'm going to heaven hopefully.
Boy are you saying I'm going to hell because I've got grudges? A lot
of crap? Bac the condriition. There's nowhere in the Ten Commandments it says
thou shalt not hold grudges. Nowhere it says it doesn't say that. Anyway,
let's get some clearity here. Your ticket's been puzzled a long time ago.
Anyway, Okay, there's that. Okay, I'm with you on that.
But I you know, I don't need to go to confession over this.
I'm allowed to be. I'm allowed to have anger if I want to,
or hold grudges if I want to. Now, I'm not allowed to
go beat the hell out of those people. I mean, that's you know,
that's probably a sin somewhere along the line, I guess, you know,
but I mean, so so I've got these little things that that you
know that I that I I feel like they make me whole? No,
yeah, sure, sure, why not be honest to him? I think
you have to have a balance exactly, see exactly what it balances me?
What's the balance of what's the balance you have this really great person, you
have this really bad person you don't like I have that. Yeah, it
balances me, Steve, I like that. Okay, you're the law justice.
Well it's like you said, it's like a karma. Yeah you come.
Yeah, but what comes wrong goes around. What's the point? I
mean, honestly, I think Jake's would point to his point. Do you
let in a rent space in your head that you don't need the red space
to but yeah, okay, yeah, okay, there's yeah, there's a
there's a little piece, there's a little corner of my brain that that holds
these grudges there. But as long as I'm not as long as I'm not
you know, reacting to those all the time, yea be pissed all the
time because of those, there's no problem with him. Once in a while,
they crop up. Somebody will mention one of their names or whatever,
and I'll go, oh god, I hate that, right, I want
to beat that. You know, it's right there, It's just right there.
I like having that. Any therapists out there, give us a quick
call, Kevin Leman, please help me. It's like having an arrow in
the quiver, man, you just want to pull it out once in a
while and shoot it. I'm wondering if you're the target of many people too.
Oh, I know, I am. There's that, see, there
is that, there's no I know, there's there's probably people out there.
In fact, probably the person that I told you I hold the grudge on
probably has the same one about me, because you know, he probably feels
I might. I came close to debrailing sliding him, right, Yeah,
yeah, I get it. Okay, we can move on from that therapy
session already. Yes, okay, we have we're breaking news from you,
Senor one. Yes, uh coming up? Yeah, you have. I
think there's plenty, right, there's a lot. I don't know if it's
a lot of local stuff, but we'll see. Yeah, recruiting or otherwise.
Okay, anybody call it what to call. We have eleven minutes.
You guys can save us from this disaster five to forty. Hey, Rick,
if you're out there, I know you wanted to call the last couple
days you were at the All Star Game. I'll let us know what's going
on with that or how how much fun you had. You know. I
liked what Jake had to say about this team, even though it's coming off
a ten and three season that they've still they that they have a lot to
prove, a lot of guys with a lot to prove one day, you
know, one of them maybe being that they they want to prove that they
can still be really good without Jedfish you don't running the show. They you
know, they stayed here to you know, to uh uh you know,
you know they're going to the Big twelve and they you know, they're going
to have a lot to prove in the Big twelve. So I like all
that because, you know, I'm sorry, I just feel like it's easy.
You know, It's like you've done a really good job on something and
you can't I go, got it. That was good, and then you
kind of coast for a while, right, And that's that's you know the
thing that concerns me and what I feel like may have happened in you know,
all of those seasons you know where we're well, the twenty fifteen season,
after the ten ten win twenty fourteen season was about injuries they all got
you know Scooby right, you know on Solomon, they all those guys were
getting injured. That I chopped that up to that one. The ninety nine
season, after the twelve and one ninety eight season, you know, that
was about the fact that they just got the hell beat out of my Penn
State. They they got over their skis a little bit, and we've talked
about that. And then, like I said, I just happened to you
know, because I was friends with Dick Tomy and knew him personally. You
know, he just told me that they just didn't do the work after the
ninety three ten and three. So so off the top of your head,
give me the best two year stretch here, the last I don't know,
thirty four years. Well, I think it goes back to you know,
the the you know, the well that was fifteen years ago, a couple
of years, you know, when Jim Young was here, and maybe maybe
from the Larry Smith era on god, uh, you might go ooh,
well, you know, rich Rod had a string where do you go five
straight bowl games or something like that while he was here? How many years
was he four? Four in a row? You know that stretch? Yeah,
no, because his numbers from great, but you know, but they
were a bunch of seven and five seasons, right and then and then the
ten and four season, eight and five and eight and five and ten and
four, So ten and four, that's eighteen and eighteen and nine, the
eight and five, the first eight and five eight okay, twenty thirteen,
that was that? Yeah, what what bowl game? Did they go?
Toston? Oh? That was that Independence Boston College? Okay, yeah,
see that that was not great eighteen and eighteen and nine in those two years,
but there was so there was one in uh. I was just had
it. I just had it. Oh ninety seven, ninety eight, nineteen
and six. Yeah, well again they went you know, Mexico, they
went, Yeah, they went seven and five and won the New Mexico Bowl
and then the Dobraska again and then then they had then the then the next
season was when they beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. So you know,
that's that's it, and that's the whole point of all this, they've never
really put two great seasons to get They've had, you know, a good
one and a great one. They had the one great one and then you
know, the the ninety three season, then thing eight and four ninety four.
Right, yeah, how do you get this? And you can't get
another thing? This is a case study and all you're, okay, you
should be examined for I'm donating my brain. You got you got that.
It's gotta be a CTE, an FBI, a m T, a PMS
in there somewhere. I don't know, I don't know what because you remember
this is I have the book in front of me, but you can't remember
because Steve, that guy, that guy, my, my, my for
and my and there's a group around me. Our year gets defined by the
fall and what happens in football, right since that determines whether we had a
good year or a bad year in a lot of cases, you know,
and and there were some bad ones, and there was there was you know,
there's been some good ones. But we it just just said, we
get to this part of the year. Football season's coming up, and it's
kind of like, okay, forget everything else. That's happened, you know
for the first you know, nine months of the year, we're headed into
or eight months of the year, and we're headed into September, okay,
and it's all on the line. And so we remember what those seasons were
like. I mean, you could start, you could ask me starting in
nineteen seventy three, what was Arizona's record in football all the way up to
this year, and I'd be able to tell you. I would your one
STAFFU was this week with the Jim Young thing with the gym Young going to
Purdue. Well, I know, but that wasn't record. Yeah, but
yeah, I just yeah, I just knew he yeah, I just knew.
He laughed, and then I thought of Army. But you're right,
he had you know, he'd gone to Purdue. But I can give you
every Arizona's record every year, started in nineteen seventy three, I can tell
you what their records were all the way up to now. So the best
back to back that I see, the seventy four to seventy five yeah under
Jim Yes, well, no, we talked about that. And again,
both both of those seasons, it was like the season ended at the end
of the season. No No, no bowl games. It was not a
bowl game for Arizona there. Yeah, because the wax champion went to the
festival in both of those years. Let me ask you school Remembery Lane.
Now Coach Smith, Larry Smith, he went to to USCUS he had lost
to USC that same year. Uh, what was his appeal? What was
his appeal to them? To them because he had gotten Arizona to you know
they they beatn as U. He had gotten Arizona, you know, close
to the Rose Bowl. Who's your coach before USC at USC? Uh?
Is that when John Robinson left? That might have been when John Robinson.
So the the reason I asked him this was in the he was in the
league. No slight to to coach Smith. I'm just thinking there had to
be other coaches out there that were pretty name, pretty big names. But
what what was his appeal if he was kind of like a muddling or middling
Pac twelve. But he was coming on, he was coming off an eight
and three season. Was this was a surprise to people here? Yeah?
Oh yeah? So so my point exactly, how did you gut this guy
who's middling in the in the Pac ten? You know what I'm saying?
Well, he had beaten a s U who went to the Rose Bowl that
year. Yeah, Greg, if you're listening, great, can't you give
me a Yeah, he had beaten a SU who had who went to I
don't know, I mean, you know what I'm saying, I do I
do? You know? You think us he would go get somebody bigger,
right, but who I don't know who were who else? At this particular,
I mean, why didn't he go get See it's my point where GARYL
Rogers Rogers he was, he was the coach that year, I believe.
Yeah, see you know what I'm saying. It's it's just, uh,
obviously coach was a pretty pretty good couch. Why didn't you go get the
guy who just won the league? Instead you went and got Larry Smith.
I don't know, but maybe there were other people that they had turned it
down or whatever, who knows. But at that time USC was us C.
You know there, weren't you. Well us C was when they ended
up with Pete Carroll, who was like their their fourth or fifth pick,
and that was the great pick. Yeah, well a great secondary pick.
Yeah, so yeah, you know, Larry did fine. He went he
went back to back Rose bulls. But you know, he kind of pissed
off the alumni over some some various stuff and then had a couple of not
great seasons and the next thing you know, you're he's gone. You know,
did he ever, God, if I were to do another book,
did he ever regret leaving publicly? I don't know that he did. Steve,
I don't think he ever said that. I mean, he always you
know, he ended up living here again, right, so he always considered
Tucson his home after you know, he moved here. I wouldn't say he
ever regretted it because I think he you know, he was right. I
mean, he went to Missouri, I had I had a Cheryl on here.
I don't know before you came up to his son the other place,
Corby Kobe, Yeah, okay, we can. But I talked the show.
I don't remember asking that question. But I just remember talking to him
about the rivalry because it was rivalry and how much he despised she I love
beating him. Very competitive guy. Uh, maybe we asked her, maybe
we get her ond. I mean I would say, without knowing for sure,
I would say that if you think if he were to would be able
to talk about those three jobs. I would think he would quit that he
had his best time in area Arizona, right, Okay, because of you
know what he was thought of here, you know, the appreciation of this
community had for what he had done with the program, uh and all that.
You know, he got the you know he got he started from scratch
and got this program to where he got to, I mean, got so
good he got the USC job. I think there was a lot of pressure
on him at USC. So he remind me if I asked you this question
too, I'm just going reminiscing. Was the distaste or disdain or whatever word
for Larry the same or worse or less than the disdain for Jed leaving the
circumstances of a bit oh, I think you were way more pissed than Larry
left because USC was a rival, right, Arizona was trying to be USC
become USC, and thought they were on their way to being in the USC,
and then the coach went to the USC. And then the way he
did it. You know, there was a whole thing about how they were
flying back from Hawaii. The plane stopped in LA and he got off the
plane and the team the rest of the team came home and he stayed in
La to accept the USC job. That really pissed people off. And then
then they cleared out their offices, you know, at midnight, the coaching
staff did, oh that same night. I don't know if it was that
night, but you know, they came and they were you know, their
offices were full one day and the next day and everything was gone and the
only one that was left behind was Mark lunz Foot. So we gotta have
him on the show because I've run into him and he said he'd love to
do it again. So we'll have him on maybe next week, kind of
reminiscent about that time. Yeah, okay, no, that that'll be fun.
That'll be fun, because I'm just curious. I'm just curious because obviously
we know what Jed went through, and the crowded Jed wasn't here long enough
for people to get so attached to him. People got attached to Larry Smith
and and and you know, plus Larry, Larry had done the BT A
s U you know, five times in a row thing, and people they
just love that, right, and then you know, and then you have
this great season. You're you know, you're looking at you like you're gonna
have another great season, and then he's gone, and and and then again.
Of all places to us, the only thing he could have done worse
would have been to go to your A s U and he didn't. People
are really pissed about it. Okay, okay, thanks for the memory Lane
trip. I won't be mad at you. And you know what, I
don't have a grudge against either one of you guys. They love you,
guys, today, today, today, But don't piss me off. All
right, we'll be right back and Jan's going to have breaking news.