WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:04.759 It's nice side We've did, I'm going and Mazy Boston's 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:06.080 News Radio. 3 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:09.560 Thank you very much, Harry Small. As we started another 4 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:12.839 week here on nightside. We really started yesterday. We had 5 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.480 a fabulous event at the Narrouli Restaurant in Westwood. We 6 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:21.800 had a two seatings for a nightside brunch, one at 7 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.559 eleven and one at twelve thirty. We had folks from 8 00:00:24.760 --> 00:00:31.559 really all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, one hundred 9 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:36.479 and seventy eight reservations and I think virtually all of 10 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:39.119 them showed up. I spent two hours meeting and greeting 11 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:42.679 nightside listeners, loyal nightside listeners, some of whom I knew, 12 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.799 some of whom I met for the first time. We'll 13 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:47.439 talk about that later on tonight. But for anyone listening, 14 00:00:47.479 --> 00:00:52.079 I really enjoyed yesterday. Never had brunch myself, spent really 15 00:00:52.119 --> 00:00:55.520 three hours meeting and getting to know a lot of 16 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.799 our listeners. An incredible experience. I just want to say 17 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:00.840 thanks to all who showed up, to thank the people 18 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:03.280 at the early restaurant, and of course want to thank 19 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.719 Bo and Bill Winnaker and their group. The Winnaker Band 20 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:12.319 played for the better part of three hours. They were fabulous. 21 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:16.760 Everyone enjoyed themselves. Now we are going to start off 22 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.799 our first hour tonight. No phone calls on the eight 23 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:21.920 o'clock are. We're going to interview four guests. We're going 24 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:27.319 to start off locally with the National Baseball Poetry Festival. 25 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.319 I suspect that probably some of you were unaware that 26 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:34.200 there was a National Baseball Poetry Festival. But the founder 27 00:01:34.599 --> 00:01:38.040 of the National Baseball Poetry Festival joins me, Now, Steve 28 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:42.439 beyond dough Lillo, Have I pronounced that correct, Steve? Or 29 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:43.159 have gotten close? 30 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:45.480 You've got a. 31 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:53.640 Lot of vowels in there, man, there's a lot of vowels. Yeah, absolutely, 32 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:57.280 I'll tell you well, Steve tell us the National Baseball 33 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.879 Poetry Festival. This is the third year of the Poetry Festival. 34 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.599 I guess it's held in Worcester in honor of the 35 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:09.000 great author from Worcester, a poet from Worcester who wrote 36 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.039 the one poet poet poem that all of us know 37 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:14.800 about baseball, Casey at the bat. And we're not talking 38 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:20.599 about Casey Steingele, We're talking about the mighty Casey exactly precisely. 39 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:25.240 Ernest Staire was born and raised in Worcester, and indeed 40 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.360 he is the author of Casey at the Bat right, 41 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:31.120 the most famous ever baseball poem, but also arguably one 42 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:35.240 of the most famous poems in all of English literature 43 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:40.120 or American literature, I would say, And so it had 44 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:43.520 to be Worcester, right, And Worcester has a deep history 45 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.319 in baseball. Also, the first perfect game was pitched there. 46 00:02:48.039 --> 00:02:51.520 The industrial leagues of the late nineteen hundreds were really 47 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:55.240 there in a very strong, strong way. And so you 48 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:58.360 know Worcester, and you know Polar Park as you know. 49 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:02.280 You know, it's been there now four years and it's 50 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:07.080 just the newest, shiniest, best run tripa a ballpark in 51 00:03:07.159 --> 00:03:10.479 the country. Actually won the award this past year for that. 52 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:13.879 So it had to be Worcester. We thought it up 53 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:16.080 about five years ago. It took a couple of years 54 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:18.599 to get off the ground. And I'll give you the 55 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:21.439 origin story if I've got admit it, and that is 56 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.960 I was reading a magazine on the West Coast and 57 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:32.280 saw an article on the Fisherman's Poetry Festival, and I thought, 58 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:36.240 Fisherman's Poetry Festival, how many how many poems are there 59 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.000 about fish? I'm not exactly sure. I was an English 60 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:42.680 major undergrad and grad, and then I said, okay, fish, 61 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:46.199 all right, we've got commercial fishing, we've got recreational fishing, 62 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:50.560 we've got sport fishing. Sport. My goodness, how come there's 63 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.680 no baseball poetry festival. And that's a true story. That 64 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.719 was the actual origin story of that about five years ago, 65 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:00.000 a couple years to get it off the ground. 66 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.680 Yeah, it looks to me like you're gonna have thirty 67 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:07.680 poets of some level. I'm just counting the numbers here. 68 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.000 I think it's about thirty poets, many of them with 69 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.680 you know, great baseball names. None of them I don't 70 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.959 believe played. But you have a will Cox in there. 71 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:23.199 There was a Milt Willcox who pitched in the major leagues. 72 00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.120 You got a more head showing up, spelled a little 73 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:31.160 differently than Dave moorehead of the Red Sox, no hit fame. Yeah, 74 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:35.399 there's more than a few names here. There's a Tony Brown, 75 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:39.600 There's there's fifty guys that have played with the last 76 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:42.759 name of Brown. There's Alex Thomas. I assume no relation 77 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:47.519 either to Frank Thomas or Lee Thomas from the Red Sox. 78 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.319 The Angels and the Yankees of the nineteen fifties and sixties. 79 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.680 She got to Thomas, She got a Paul Thomas and 80 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:56.800 a Frank Thomas. Where are all these poet poets coming 81 00:04:56.879 --> 00:04:57.360 in from? 82 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:01.600 Okay, so let me back out, say what a festival is? 83 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:04.399 What is a baseball poetry festival? It's two things, right, 84 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:09.480 It's a contest for adults in youth to write baseball poetry, 85 00:05:09.519 --> 00:05:13.680 write poetry about baseball. And the scenes are very broadly cast, right, 86 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:14.480 it could be about. 87 00:05:14.680 --> 00:05:17.519 Poet what they call a poet. They call these a 88 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:21.680 poet poetry slam, right, where people are up reading their poems. 89 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:25.639 I guess, well, yes, that's the open mic dimension of it. 90 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:27.240 But first, let me tell you the contest. 91 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:29.480 So we've had we've got about two minutes left here, 92 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.079 so you got to tell me that context quickly, Steve. 93 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.759 Okay, So we've had adult poets send in their work 94 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:39.560 from thirty seven states in four countries, right, and then 95 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.319 we've had youth poets send in their poetry from nine states. 96 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.399 And there's a contest, right, So we select twenty seven 97 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:50.360 winners amongst the adult, sixty winners amongst the kids. The 98 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.160 other side is the gathering, and we're going to have 99 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.240 poets from all over the United States in Worcester with 100 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.920 us reading their work. There are different opportunities a couple 101 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:05.319 at Pollar Park to be doing open mic reading, at 102 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:08.160 the Gene mcdone Art Centers of the open Mic Reading, 103 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:12.240 and at Electric Haze there'll be open mic reading. So 104 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.240 these poets will gather from all over the US. The 105 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:17.720 thirty you see are the ones listed on the website. 106 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.560 We're expecting closer to one hundred poets actually from around 107 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:22.199 the US. 108 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.839 Okay, so think where's the best. Here's the best thing 109 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:27.480 we can do. You're giving me a lot of information 110 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:30.519 in a brief period of time, which is great. You 111 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.519 have a website. I assume it's called Baseball Poetryfest dot org. 112 00:06:35.639 --> 00:06:40.399 Right, you've got it, Baseball Poetryfest dot org. All the information, 113 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:45.120 the schedules, the uh all the opportunities to listen to poets. 114 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:47.600 Of course, we've got a couple of games this weekend, 115 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:52.600 the Wu Saws versus the Toledo mud Hens, and so 116 00:06:52.839 --> 00:06:55.800 it's it's just a fun and fabulous weekend for people 117 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.120 who love the art and who love baseball. Because baseball 118 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:05.920 is the most intertwined sport with the fine arts, film, theater, literature, music, everything. 119 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.079 So this is the celebration the uniting of sports. It's 120 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:14.040 the first festival in the US to unite sports and 121 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:14.959 the fine arts. 122 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.519 All right, So all you got to do is go 123 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:23.079 to the one word Baseball Poetryfest dot org. There's a slash schedule, 124 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.560 but I think Baseball Poetryfest dot org will get you there. 125 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:30.439 You have the schedule, the contest, venues and hotels, everything 126 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:35.519 you could possibly need to know about the Baseball Poetry 127 00:07:35.560 --> 00:07:40.000 Fest that will be taking place this weekend in Worcester. 128 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:42.959 So congratulations, Steve. I think it's a great idea and 129 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:44.920 I wish you all the luck and I hope you 130 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:48.439 have a big turnout and maybe maybe someone will come 131 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:52.959 up with another poem, a poem to rival Casey at 132 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:54.839 the Bat. Did you know that there's a section they 133 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:58.399 talk about in Casey at the Bat how Casey strikes 134 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:01.800 out and there was gloomy doing in Mudville that day. 135 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.399 Mudville is no joy in Mudville, No joy in Mudville. 136 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:07.319 Did you know that there's a there's a section of 137 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.079 Holliston that's called Mudville that I believe is named after 138 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:12.639 that poem. 139 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.959 I think you might be right there, but you know 140 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:20.360 Worcester is going to stand firm with the pride of place. 141 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:22.720 Oh no, no, no no. I'm just saying that that 142 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:25.199 the that the law of Casey at the bat extends 143 00:08:25.240 --> 00:08:28.800 even well across across the country at around the world. Staves. 144 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:31.079 Thank you very much, best best of Luke with the 145 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:34.840 National Baseball Poetry Festival this weekend. Thanks Dave, appreciate it. 146 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:35.720 Thank you so much. 147 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:35.919 Dan. 148 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:36.759 Take care Now. 149 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.360 Welcome we get back. There is now a Massachusetts high 150 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:45.960 school tournament for nash for a national mascot showdown. I 151 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:50.039 have gone over this group. There's uh the sixty four competitors. 152 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:52.440 I think some of them are from around New England 153 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:55.519 as well as Massachusetts, but we'll figure that out. We're 154 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.639 going to talk with Justin Wu, who's, amongst other things, 155 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.440 an entrepreneur, a fhil anthropis that's good work if you 156 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:03.519 can get it, by the way, and founder of V 157 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:07.480 sixty four, the group responsible for the competition. We'll be 158 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.399 back with Justin Wu and we'll give you all the 159 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:13.759 information you need to know about the high school mascot tournament. 160 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.720 And yes, I don't think that there are any Native sadly, 161 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:20.960 any Native American mascots. But well, we'll go through it 162 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.159 with Justin and we'll figure it all out later on time. 163 00:09:23.240 --> 00:09:26.799 Go talk with Chris Price, Boston Globe sports reporter, and 164 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.799 talk about how he views the NFL Draft by the 165 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:33.279 Patriots that've signed a lot of players as free agents 166 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.360 as well. And then we're going to talk with one 167 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.519 of our most loyal listeners in Alaska, Joan Hamilton, who's 168 00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.679 a volunteer for be My Eyes. Coming up at eight 169 00:09:42.799 --> 00:09:45.759 forty five back on night Side right after this on 170 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.639 a Monday night, and pull down that that iHeart app, 171 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.080 the new and improved iHeart App, and make WBZ your 172 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.679 number one pre set. You'll be able to listen to 173 00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:59.600 us anywhere in the world and you'll only be a 174 00:09:59.639 --> 00:10:03.639 finger tip away three sixty five, twenty four to seven 175 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:07.440 every day of the year. Back on Nightside after this, it's. 176 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:13.039 Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio. 177 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:18.360 All right, we now are going to get to our 178 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:23.519 next guest, who is Justin wo And Justin, I guess 179 00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:28.679 Justin you're the founder of this national mascot showdown. Tell 180 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.279 us about it. 181 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:32.679 So yeah, at the sixty four Dot com it's a 182 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.320 new online platform we just launched, and it's all about 183 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:38.399 fun competition and giving them a voice to what people love. 184 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:41.919 And we definitely think that people love mascots and they 185 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.039 have a lot of spirit. So that's what we're doing 186 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.320 right now, is we have a high school mascot competition running. 187 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:49.960 We have an East division and a West division because 188 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:52.840 we got so many mascots that wanted to participate, and 189 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.120 it's going right now. You can head over to the 190 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:56.240 site and vote anytime. 191 00:10:56.759 --> 00:11:01.240 Now, let me ask you, is this this was pitched 192 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:05.320 to me as a Massachusetts competition, but it looks to 193 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:10.000 me like it's from There are a lot of Massachusetts competitors, 194 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:12.679 but it looks to me like there's been some other 195 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:16.519 states represented here. How many states are in this? Again, 196 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:18.480 you're East competition. 197 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:21.799 So I don't know exactly how many states are in 198 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:23.720 the East versus the West, but we have most of 199 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:27.080 the fifties states represented. We scoured the internet to look 200 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.240 for all kinds of cool high school mascots. 201 00:11:29.320 --> 00:11:32.559 Yeah. So for example, I'm seeing Bangor Maine. Or I'm 202 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:37.320 seeing Bangor, which I assume is Maine. I'm seeing Somerset, 203 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:41.080 which I'm assuming is probably New Jersey, but there's also 204 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:47.200 a Somerset, Massachusetts, so you don't have a rough I 205 00:11:47.279 --> 00:11:52.399 see Elizabethan, Elizabethan. I guess that could be made if 206 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:53.480 it could be New Jersey. 207 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.960 Yeah, not one hundred percent sure, but I know that 208 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:59.759 we tried to get a couple from all different states 209 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:01.399 in the lot of the major markets. 210 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:06.039 Yeah. I see for example, Ashland, which I think is Massachusetts, 211 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:10.919 but there's also Ashland, Kentucky. I know because there's a 212 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:15.399 federal prison there. I see Denmark. I have no idea 213 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:17.600 where Denmark's from. I know it's not from the from 214 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:19.399 the country Deadmark. 215 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:20.320 Yeah. 216 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:22.799 If you click the profile for the for all of 217 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.600 these different places or the different mascots. 218 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:28.919 Yeah, that's Georgia video and then OK, yeah that's Georgia 219 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:31.759 the location. I'm not going to steal your time and 220 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:34.279 click all of them, that's for sure. How did people 221 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:37.120 qualify for this? Did they just volunteer or did you 222 00:12:37.159 --> 00:12:39.320 did you actually go out and find them? 223 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:41.879 We actually went out and found them. We scoured the 224 00:12:41.879 --> 00:12:44.559 internet and we were looking for a lot of unique mascots, 225 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:46.639 so not the you know, the basic things like the 226 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.159 tigers and you know what everybody has, but some really 227 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:52.879 unique ones around the country. And then they all submitted 228 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:56.480 videos and the videos are amazing to watch how much 229 00:12:56.519 --> 00:12:58.720 effort and energy the you know, the kids at the 230 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.039 school and the schools put in to putting them up. 231 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:05.159 Yeah, I'm looking at Somerset. It's Somerset. It's neither New 232 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:10.679 Jersey nor Massachusetts. At Somerset, Kentucky. I do notice that, Yeah, 233 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:15.039 there are none of the the animal well, there's there's 234 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:19.240 some referenced as like the antelopes, but the lions and 235 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:23.279 the tigers and all of that. And there's no Native 236 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:28.879 American mascot. So is this a Native American mascots? We 237 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:33.720 have several up here in Massachusetts. Were they not considered? 238 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:36.960 Oh no, everybody was considered. I just don't think that 239 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.360 maybe they got picked. There's some really crazy, you know mascots, 240 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.480 So yeah, I don't know. That just happened to be 241 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:44.000 by chance. 242 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:47.120 Okay, we got to hit one here from Massachusetts called 243 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:52.039 the Milbury Woolies. I'm not sure what a wooly is, 244 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:55.320 but that's a good looking mascot and that is now Yeah, 245 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.559 Milbury mill the Milbury Woolies have advanced to the second round. 246 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:04.600 And yeah, they're in the current round against the Staggy. 247 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.320 So Staggy looks like an animal of some sort. 248 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:11.240 Yeah, it looks like yer kind of thing. 249 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.320 Yeah yeah, yeah, so that's kind of a traditional that's 250 00:14:14.440 --> 00:14:18.440 but again the staggy, that's that's pretty cool. I do 251 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.720 see that you have, ah from Jacksonville, Florida. We have 252 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:29.080 a crusader. Different times people have objective. Holy Cross also 253 00:14:29.240 --> 00:14:31.759 uses the crusaders, so you know in this day and 254 00:14:31.799 --> 00:14:34.519 a justin whenever you do these, it always gets into 255 00:14:34.600 --> 00:14:37.559 some sort of political conversation. And I see that you 256 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.039 got the West coast here as well. Uh, and they're 257 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.720 going on. I'm just looking for some of the more 258 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:47.440 interesting ones that you have here. There's one here. 259 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:52.159 Yeah, there's a volcano. Yeah, there's some. Yeah, you have 260 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:53.240 to he's around this one. 261 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:56.240 That's pretty funny. Here's one that's pretty funny. It's a 262 00:14:56.399 --> 00:15:00.960 polka poka poka poka is in West Virginia, well. 263 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:01.840 Poker Virginia. 264 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:04.039 Yeah, the polka dots where. 265 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:09.440 The poka poka dots? Okay, uh, yeah, I see what 266 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:14.240 you got going on here? You got uh you do 267 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:19.480 have a seat in Saint Bernard out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah, 268 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:22.320 that's you got. You got an interesting group. When when 269 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:25.320 will the ultimate winner? You're going to have two winners 270 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:27.039 who looks like no, no, You're going to have a 271 00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:28.799 final playoff? Is that the deal with you? 272 00:15:28.919 --> 00:15:31.200 We're gonna have a final playoff in the fall. Because 273 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:34.399 of such high demand for this, we divided it into 274 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:36.080 the East versus the West, and then we'll take the 275 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:39.919 best out of each each bracket or each tournament and 276 00:15:39.919 --> 00:15:42.159 put them into like a national And then the price 277 00:15:42.200 --> 00:15:43.759 for that is we're going to give us sixty four 278 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:45.879 hundred to one of their you know, one of these 279 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:48.919 schools to their athletic department towards something that they want 280 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:53.279 that would help the school, so that they go and vote, yeah, 281 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.919 sixty four And then users that come in and vote 282 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.919 you can win things from gift cards to I think 283 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:00.279 a PlayStation for the for these first ornament. 284 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.320 So let me let me ask you. Something like this 285 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:06.000 obviously costs some money. Who's sponsoring this or is this 286 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:09.600 hob how do you how do you keep this afloat? 287 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.720 So this one I sponsor, And then in the future 288 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:15.679 what we're looking to do is get sponsors of kind 289 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:19.840 of local community partners because one of the reasons why 290 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:21.720 I came up with the site is a lot of 291 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:26.000 media companies do you know, voting competitions, and they make 292 00:16:26.039 --> 00:16:28.440 the contestants pay for that in one way or another, 293 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:31.559 and paying for it influences the outcome of the competition. 294 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:34.240 This one, none of the contestants can ever pay for 295 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.960 any of the you know things in the competition. There's 296 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.679 nothing for them to buy, and so it's purely fan voted. 297 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:43.240 And how much that they work on promoting themselves to 298 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:44.399 their own audiences. 299 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:48.399 Sure, sure, well, I would hope that in future years 300 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:50.840 maybe you could get a couple of these big corporate 301 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:54.240 sponsorship show the companies that are trying to get to 302 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:58.559 teenage consumers. I mean, there's a lot of product out 303 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:03.399 there that you know, high school students consume. And whether 304 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:08.839 or not it's you know, a popular non alcoholic beverage 305 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:13.920 or for sure or whatever it might be, I think 306 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:16.359 I think you're onto something here. Justin thank you very 307 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:19.559 much people, thank you for having me. Let's go to 308 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:22.240 your website. The website is pretty simple. It's the word 309 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:25.279 the th h and then the numbers the number sixty four, 310 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:29.480 So the sixty four dot com slash Tournaments slash high 311 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:32.799 school mascots. Great great Justice. 312 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:35.000 Finishing brought us that right from the from the homepage. 313 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.880 And you know, it's easy to register. It takes about 314 00:17:37.880 --> 00:17:39.640 five minutes. All you need is a phone numbers to 315 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.480 do authentication. And that's because we want to be sure 316 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.119 that the integrity of the boats is up there, that 317 00:17:44.160 --> 00:17:46.680 people can't create fake spots and whatnot. 318 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:50.079 Sounds sounds sounds all on the level of me. Thanks Justin. 319 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:51.680 I appreciate you taking the time. 320 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:53.160 To Thanks for having me. 321 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.319 Welcome, all right, thanks, good bye, all right, we get back. 322 00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:59.039 We're going to talk about the NFL Draft with Chris Price, 323 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.599 Boston Globes sports reporter, specifically of course, with an emphasis 324 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:06.119 on the New England Patriots. And they also signed a 325 00:18:06.200 --> 00:18:09.160 bunch of free agents after the draft. We can't forget 326 00:18:09.160 --> 00:18:12.599 about them, and we are going to talk about one 327 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:17.519 guy who they drafted, Kobe Minor, joins the club as 328 00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:21.599 the twenty twenty six mister Irrelevant. We'll get to all 329 00:18:21.640 --> 00:18:24.640 of that, I promise, right after the break for news 330 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:25.720 at the bottom of the hour. 331 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:31.839 It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio. 332 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:36.319 Thank you very much. Sherry joining us again is a 333 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:39.640 great Boston Globe Sports reporter Chris Price. Hey, Chris, welcome 334 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:40.559 back to Nightside. 335 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:42.240 Good to talk to you. 336 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:42.519 Dan. 337 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:48.200 How you been I'm doing great. You studied the l Draft, 338 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:52.680 I'm sure, and with particular specific emphasis on the Patriots. 339 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:55.839 As a as an outsider, I think they had a 340 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.279 pretty good draft. What's your take? 341 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.160 Yeah, I think think it was good. Of course, you 342 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:03.480 never know until you know you see him put on 343 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.079 the pads and get on the practice field down there 344 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:08.519 in Foxborough. But I think on the surface, you can 345 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:10.880 certainly point to the fact that they addressed a lot 346 00:19:10.920 --> 00:19:14.279 of meats that they had this off season. First and 347 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:16.359 foremost with Will Campbell. I know, there was a lot 348 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.519 of debate about whether or not his arms, you know, 349 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.440 were too short for industry standards when you talk about 350 00:19:22.440 --> 00:19:25.079 the position, But the bottom line was that he was 351 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:28.119 the best offensive lineman in the draft. The Patriots needed 352 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.680 offensive lineman, and so it felt kind of like a 353 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:32.759 natural marriage between the two. But yeah, I think it 354 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:34.079 was a good draft by large. 355 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:37.839 I read all that I read all that stuff about 356 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:41.559 his arms, Okay, I think you know, his his wingspan 357 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:44.359 would be another way to look at it is what 358 00:19:44.440 --> 00:19:47.559 a couple of inches shorter than maybe someone who's six 359 00:19:47.640 --> 00:19:51.319 foot six should be. I don't understand. I mean, if 360 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:56.240 his arms were you know, yeah, I don't understand what. 361 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.920 Maybe you can explain to me what the theoretical difference. 362 00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:02.079 I mean, is he going to stop some guy with 363 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:04.640 an extra fingertip? I didn't get that. 364 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:08.000 Well. I think it's a great debate, it really is. 365 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.160 And I'll start by saying there there are a number 366 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:15.400 of really good offensive linemen, particularly at the tackle position, 367 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.920 who do have kind of shorter arms an inch or two. 368 00:20:19.480 --> 00:20:22.680 Like I said, the industry standard is thirty three inches 369 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:26.240 for arm length. And he actually measured at his pro 370 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:30.240 day at LSU thirty three inches exactly. Now he measured 371 00:20:30.279 --> 00:20:32.039 at the combine. A couple of you know, a month 372 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:34.880 or two before that just shy of that. And so 373 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:37.799 you know, you wonder if someone is you know, taking 374 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:39.799 a look at the numbers and kind of fudging, you know, 375 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:43.200 fudge the stats. But I think really for a lot 376 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:45.200 of people, when you talk about the people who play 377 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.599 that position, you need that you need as much length 378 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.519 as possible to kind of hold off those big edge rushers, 379 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:55.920 those big, fast, quick guys coming around the corner. You 380 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.960 want to keep them at arm's length for as long 381 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.240 as possible. Now, the Patriots had a guy like that 382 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:02.200 a few years ago in Nate Solder, who I thought 383 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:04.799 that a very very good job, and in the he 384 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:07.279 had long arms and he was you know, was able 385 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:10.440 to do that. Now the question is here, Dan, if 386 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:15.559 you look at history, he's a really good offensive lineman. 387 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:17.680 But there are a lot of other good offensive linemen 388 00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.799 who had similar situations going into the pros who moved 389 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:24.440 inside to guard, you know, where you don't necessarily need 390 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:26.839 the long arms. So the question might be could he 391 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.079 move inside if he necessarily you know, the shorter arms 392 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:32.160 thing becomes an issue with the NFL level. So, like 393 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.559 I said, bottom line, though for me he was the 394 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.359 best offensive lineman in the draft. They need those guys. 395 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:41.039 They need guys for protection for Drake May upfront. So 396 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:43.880 again it was kind of a natural marriage for the 397 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:45.559 two as far as I was consumed. 398 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.960 Well, the protection can't be any worse than it has 399 00:21:48.039 --> 00:21:50.759 been the last couple of years. I also, I love 400 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:55.119 the guys who are either undersized or you know, I 401 00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:59.799