Speaker 1: Day.
Speaker 2: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the
Speaker 1: Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rovera,
Speaker 1: you're Blake, Eager, you're one, and you're Ray. Got a
Speaker 1: packed house today, lots to talk about, some good guests.
Speaker 4: We pulled off a miracle. I shouldn't say we, you did,
Speaker 4: Bob Hoffman. Yeah, I mean I exhausted my resources, so.
Speaker 1: Yours, my rolodecks, we're running out of steam.
Speaker 4: We got them. My big names are all in season
Speaker 4: right now. Yeah, yeah, right, right right.
Speaker 1: I didn't think you'd be able to pull off the
Speaker 1: ones you did. But in George's like, you know, mccurracle,
Speaker 1: where do you find that.
Speaker 4: That guy's on the golf course, That's where you find them.
Speaker 4: Are in Tokyo, one of the two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So we'll get Bob Hoffman at three seventeen
Speaker 1: with the road Runners, so trying to get into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: I think they're good right now because water last night. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was at the game last night.
Speaker 4: Did you. Yeah, it was a great game. They played
Speaker 4: really well.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then at four seventeen, we're gonna have Ken
Speaker 1: hockey from PA.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I know Kenny very well, younger older, I'm younger, okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: don't put me like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I figured maybe you played against each other.
Speaker 4: No, no, we didn't play against each other. So I
Speaker 4: was the years of like the same years as j J.
Speaker 4: Hardy and and Kensler and those guys. Oh okay, so
Speaker 4: really they're old that old now forty No, man, we've
Speaker 4: got our walkers time time try and time up our retirements,
Speaker 4: time flash replacements, shoulder replacements, time flash when you can't
Speaker 4: pull the ball. Hey man, I didn't ever want to
Speaker 4: be in the batter's box in the first place. So
Speaker 4: because you knew you were a pitcher and you could
Speaker 4: hit these guys, Yeah, they could hit me if I
Speaker 4: was in there. I mean you remember JJ or JJ
Speaker 4: through like ninety two ninety four in high school too.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we'll have those guys will take some calls.
Speaker 1: We have these guys with their insight. Uh still, so
Speaker 1: a lot of baseball, right, we'll talk about baseball some hockey. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I was gonna try to get ed lolsperg girl
Speaker 1: shot to get him on too.
Speaker 4: I haven't asked you about the bat. Have I asked
Speaker 4: you about the bats? The torpedo bats. No, but they've
Speaker 4: been around for It's not like the first time. People
Speaker 4: tell me. I think it really started last year and
Speaker 4: then so guys were trying to figure that out. It
Speaker 4: just became kind of frontline headlines because the Yankees.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're doing stuff with it.
Speaker 4: Whatever you want. I don't remember. I don't advantage what
Speaker 4: point did the coming last year. I'll start probably start
Speaker 4: have no really word about it. No, no, oh, So
Speaker 4: it's kind of like old news, new news, old news,
Speaker 4: new news. Yeah. I have to be careful because those
Speaker 4: words want to go exactly together. For me, it's hard
Speaker 4: to enunciate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I didn't know that because you saw that. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the Yankees are doing really well with it. Some of
Speaker 1: the teams have picked it up. That's strange to be
Speaker 1: that that's old news and now new news because people
Speaker 1: are hitting home runs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think. I mean, you get that, and you
Speaker 4: can get the spider tech back for the pitchers, and
Speaker 4: let's let's have a go legalized steroids. Let's see what happens.
Speaker 4: Let's throw it all in the mix.
Speaker 1: Man. Oh, he's not the name for it. See that
Speaker 1: tells me how.
Speaker 4: Spider tech is. The sticky stuff pictures we're using to
Speaker 4: make the ball spin faster. Okay, at a higher rate.
Speaker 4: You want to start getting into spin RATESA no, No,
Speaker 4: I just want to play ball, man, I just want
Speaker 4: to play ball.
Speaker 1: That's why you did. What were your kids?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just grab a back, grab a ball, a
Speaker 4: needle in the butt, and let's go hit some home runs.
Speaker 1: Were you an analytics guy?
Speaker 4: I didn't become an analytics guy until pro ball, and
Speaker 4: then I started kind of delving a little bit deeper
Speaker 4: in that. But we didn't have that information while I
Speaker 4: was playing. Now they've got everything. I mean, you're setting
Speaker 4: up hitters. I saw. I heard it called scouting. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean high end scouting. Advance advanced metrics is what
Speaker 4: you're looking at. But I was. I was listening to
Speaker 4: podcasts the other day and one of the pictures on there.
Speaker 4: I was talking about, over the course of his last
Speaker 4: like forty starts or something like that, the number of
Speaker 4: fastballs that he's thrown down the middle, right down the middle.
Speaker 4: He's only given up like six heads, so you know,
Speaker 4: guys are trying to paints. No, No, Greg maddox is
Speaker 4: a whole different beast. But it's just funny when you
Speaker 4: think about that, because we were taught, you know, growing
Speaker 4: up that you you don't want the big part of
Speaker 4: the plate. Yeah, and now guys are so adjusted to
Speaker 4: their zones and so good at recognizing pitches out of
Speaker 4: the hand that they can make those adjustments pretty quick. Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 4: now it's just getting the ball quicker to the to
Speaker 4: the plate man, making it spin as fast as you
Speaker 4: possibly can.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 1: Wow, Well I've never I've never did you did you
Speaker 1: hit or do you didn't hit at all?
Speaker 4: High school? Okay, so I wouldn't call it hitting. I
Speaker 4: was in the box, I hadn't bat in my hand.
Speaker 1: That was my last hitting, and against good players obviously too,
Speaker 1: but nothing like the nineties mid nineties. To me, that
Speaker 1: would be just like holy craft, please don't hit me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I've I've worn some pitches off the
Speaker 4: elbow at like ninety five. That's not that made me
Speaker 4: never want to be aheader ever again. Because we had
Speaker 4: to hit in double A for nationally. Sho get a
Speaker 4: hit too. You never got it. It was a good bunner though,
Speaker 4: It's all I was paid to do. Man, get in
Speaker 4: the box, put a bunt down. You don't want me
Speaker 4: to get it, you want me getting hurt. So you
Speaker 4: were no Valenzuela. No, I was not the Madison Bumgardner
Speaker 4: of my generation or Jake Carri Yet I should say.
Speaker 1: You still you wouldn't be on the radio, would be
Speaker 1: still making money. I doubt that not with my age.
Speaker 1: Do you miss it? Do I miss playing? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think at times I miss the competitive nature. I miss, like,
Speaker 1: you know, being in a clubhouse with guys that's playing
Speaker 1: cards after the game, getting that knowledge, getting and then
Speaker 1: being in a clubhouse with I mean the extensive different
Speaker 1: political ideologies and everybody at the table or just social ideologies,
Speaker 1: everybody at the table or talking about it openly, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean that's what I didn't say that we were ballplayers.
Speaker 1: I mean there's not a lot of intelligent ball players
Speaker 1: out there are similar yea, And you had guys from
Speaker 1: different countries in that same conversation.
Speaker 4: It's it's it was a cool thing, and that's you know,
Speaker 4: let me ask you.
Speaker 1: I think maybe I have asked you this before because
Speaker 1: we're talking in baseball. Anybody wants to call divert us
Speaker 1: to a different subject. One hundred people in the in
Speaker 1: the bucket, what's the uh the ethnic backgrounds of the
Speaker 1: of the people.
Speaker 4: Of Major League Baseball. I think it's like more than
Speaker 4: half or the Latino at this point. I believe more
Speaker 4: than And then now with you're going to have a
Speaker 4: huge Asian influx with the with what Japan's doing. So yeah,
Speaker 4: probably right now, but that's going to substantially grow in
Speaker 4: the next I would say three to five years with
Speaker 4: advanced scouting. So that's that's kind of why I wanted
Speaker 4: George on today talk about that because he's in North
Speaker 4: American scout for the Tokyo Giants to give us some
Speaker 4: perspective what's happening with the Japanese players and the success
Speaker 4: that you're seeing, uh Latino Latino than African Americans. African
Speaker 4: Americans still very low. African Americans are still low. When
Speaker 4: that needs to be there needs to be a better
Speaker 4: reach out to them. They're doing that sort of through
Speaker 4: RBI Baseball. But uh, you know, I mean the history
Speaker 4: of Major League Baseball and professional baseball is usually ingrained
Speaker 4: in the African American culture and we need to figure
Speaker 4: out a way to get that back. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And then the rest, of course, the white Americans white,
Speaker 1: I just call him Americans American, yes, just Americans. Were
Speaker 1: most Americans? Yeah, white is Ben? Did you ever know that?
Speaker 4: Well, the conversation we had yesterday about us having to
Speaker 4: speak Spanish, we both were like, nah, we're not very
Speaker 4: comfortable with it.
Speaker 1: No, no, no for war Uh no good, but my boys,
Speaker 1: do do you speak Spanish?
Speaker 4: Well? Yeah, pretty well is my first language?
Speaker 1: Okay, No, you're like me, I'm a white skin.
Speaker 4: Yeah, at least we know who we are. Yeah.
Speaker 6: I don't hide it at all. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 6: see relatives that I don't know that our relatives and
Speaker 6: they try to talk to me, and I'm like.
Speaker 4: See yeah, see do they shun you for it? Because
Speaker 4: they should? They have to turn around and they do.
Speaker 4: The I listen. The ability to speak multiple languages, I mean,
Speaker 4: it's such a great you have such a great trait
Speaker 4: and yet to have like when I was living in Europe,
Speaker 4: I mean, most people speak at least three, right, if
Speaker 4: not someone sometimes upwards of five. And it's just reg
Speaker 4: and you're talking just from a pay standpoint and increases
Speaker 4: the ability to make a lot more money.
Speaker 1: Sure, sure, no, No, Then figure that if you were
Speaker 1: covering baseball right, and you were in Mexico or you
Speaker 1: were able to go abroad, you were able to communicate
Speaker 1: with you. That's I think that Pedro Gomez was so
Speaker 1: good at it because I was able to speak a
Speaker 1: couple of languages.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Yeah, and me it was just a do you
Speaker 1: understand it all? But to ask the questions would be
Speaker 1: the difficult part of it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I ended up putting my foot in my mouth
Speaker 4: and then people start laughing, which.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you picked it up because you were part
Speaker 1: of the.
Speaker 4: I picked it up because I grew up on the
Speaker 4: West Side too, grew up here right, and it was
Speaker 4: something that I wanted to learn and wanted to be
Speaker 4: in a conversation. I wanted to have that knowledge. And
Speaker 4: then when I moved to Europe and tried to learn Swedish,
Speaker 4: I was like, Nah, that everybody speaks, so I'm.
Speaker 1: Going off tangent, which of course is that's who I am.
Speaker 1: So in the world of the mix you gave me,
Speaker 1: I think the baseball itself has changed because you have
Speaker 1: the bravado of the of us, the latinos and the
Speaker 1: that flipping and all that.
Speaker 4: It's clear.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's changed the game that way.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, are you asking if I like it? I was
Speaker 1: gonna cut it's gone that way, right, Am I not correct?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think I think the personalities are becoming more apparent
Speaker 4: on the on the on the field, which I mean
Speaker 4: you date back to the seventies. It's similar to that.
Speaker 4: I think we've lost that. I mean, I think you
Speaker 4: look to sports like PGA, where you don't get to
Speaker 4: see their personalities anymore. It's just work, work, work, work, work. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think there's a good mix of that, right, and
Speaker 4: the unspoken rules of baseball I think should be broken
Speaker 4: at some point and develop what it would be I
Speaker 4: mean showmanship. Oh yeah, yeah yeah, showmanship like if I'm
Speaker 4: gonna attack you, you're gonna attack me like I was
Speaker 4: throwing the ball ninety eight miles an hour. Sports.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sports, Yeah, that's what I think.
Speaker 4: I think about the trash shocking in the eighties and
Speaker 4: nineties and basketball, ye, yeah, beat the crap out of
Speaker 4: each other. I mean Bird is famous for his trash shocking.
Speaker 4: Michael Jordan's famous for that, right.
Speaker 1: No, it was like when Bobby Heardy talked about love
Speaker 1: or whomever talking crap. Well they're just talking crap. Well
Speaker 1: they win the game and they want to stalk crap. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's I mean, you take care of your business. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: Like Bill Belichick said, I mean, I just want you
Speaker 1: to do your job. If everybody does their job, we've
Speaker 1: got a good chance of winning. Don't let things happen,
Speaker 1: don't let other people's voices tune what you're out. If
Speaker 1: you don't want courch storming on your court, guess what
Speaker 1: you do.
Speaker 4: You win? You win the damn game. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: We were in the same philosophy, which is kind of boring.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you want to mix it up a little bit.
Speaker 4: You're bigger than me. I don't want to give you
Speaker 4: a bat. Did anybody have a baseball bat? I got
Speaker 4: one in my car. Yeah, Well give me your keys
Speaker 4: be read back?
Speaker 1: Okay again today about Bob Hoffman, we haven't spoken to him.
Speaker 1: I haven't in a while. Good job with the Roadrunners. Uh,
Speaker 1: still connected to the pros. You know that that marriage
Speaker 1: that was there?
Speaker 4: Yeah with Utah. Yeah, they're they're triple. I mean, it's great.
Speaker 4: We've got a Triple Like we talked about all the time.
Speaker 4: You've got a Triple A team in your backyard, we
Speaker 4: need to support them. And I was having this conversation
Speaker 4: on a different show the other day and I want
Speaker 4: your guy. I know I did. I'm not going to
Speaker 4: name names. Listen to it's a good time show, but
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna you guys don't know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 4: but you do, Yeah, I want to. I want to
Speaker 4: ask you guys this question because the conversation we've had
Speaker 4: this before, and the debate is is Tucson a sports town?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 4: And I want to believe that that's the kids, And
Speaker 4: that's why I'm asking both of you guys, But I
Speaker 4: want your opinion. First. Do you think Tucson is a
Speaker 4: sports down because we're p mc County is a million
Speaker 4: and a half people, right, we should be able to
Speaker 4: sustain those.
Speaker 1: The good thing is we have a choice of a
Speaker 1: guy who didn't grow up here and a guy who
Speaker 1: did grow up So.
Speaker 6: Tucson is a sports town. Are we support sports town?
Speaker 6: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's but we talked about this, talked about why I've.
Speaker 6: Actually had this conversation recently in the class where you
Speaker 6: have these kids where some of the only options are
Speaker 6: to become a successful athlete to get your your your
Speaker 6: living situation into a better place.
Speaker 4: Yes, so I have to be a.
Speaker 6: Sports person and this has to be a sports town
Speaker 6: for people to have success.
Speaker 1: You ask him the question that we were talking about
Speaker 1: yesterday at lunch. What makes it not that sports town?
Speaker 4: Though? Yeah, So that's what I was getting to because
Speaker 4: we were having this debate last night because the road
Speaker 4: Runner playing Calgary. Calgary's got a Triple A hockey team
Speaker 4: and an NHL team in the same city and they're
Speaker 4: a smaller city than we are, right, But the conversation
Speaker 4: we were having is that has anybody every fully like
Speaker 4: have we sent out a survey? Have we asked fans
Speaker 4: why they aren't attending games? Like what what's the difference
Speaker 4: between our city versus l Passo? Like why are they
Speaker 4: able to draw the fans that they do? And we're
Speaker 4: not right, Uh, And that's a question for you guys,
Speaker 4: because you're the youth movement and you can change you
Speaker 4: can change the course of where Tucson s had not
Speaker 4: but everything everything you.
Speaker 1: Know, certain sports, even I don't know what the attendance
Speaker 1: is that sugar schools sugar schools. So do you have
Speaker 1: that answer a little bit?
Speaker 4: A little bit.
Speaker 6: I think the city is a little bit spoiled when
Speaker 6: it comes to Arizona basketball. There's a lot of success.
Speaker 6: So that one bar that raised the bar raises the bar.
Speaker 6: It sets the bar for expectations, for expectation. Okay, so
Speaker 6: when you have a program like Arizona football who goes
Speaker 6: four and eight, you're not to get many fans. That's
Speaker 6: because everyone's waiting for Arizona basketball.
Speaker 4: Almost every year.
Speaker 6: You can guarantee Arizona basketball is gonna be good in
Speaker 6: some way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: Does money play a part well finances to in Tucson,
Speaker 1: Because if you have a certain bucket of money and
Speaker 1: you want to kind of go do this or do that,
Speaker 1: and you can't go to football because you're saving it
Speaker 1: for basketball, you don't want to your budget.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that that's that does come into play.
Speaker 6: Where would I rather spend a little bit here with
Speaker 6: the road Runners and then maybe a little bit with
Speaker 6: Arizona football or do I play all for Arizona basketball.
Speaker 6: I think most people in Tuscon are gonna say I'm
Speaker 6: gonna put it for Arizona basketball because there's a better chance
Speaker 6: I go see a win or even a decent game.
Speaker 1: Okay, No, so Ray, you're not from here. You've been
Speaker 1: here a few months now, right, a few months or
Speaker 1: a few years, a few years, okay, So it is
Speaker 1: to put your question, is it a sports town?
Speaker 8: I think it's a sports sound, but only for the
Speaker 8: darlings of Tucson, if that makes sense. So kind of
Speaker 8: like wa Juana's saying, it not too much because like
Speaker 8: not how many people are, well, they're fans, but I
Speaker 8: will say they won't spend money. So I go to
Speaker 8: the games and like you know, show out for for
Speaker 8: Arizona football and stuff, but they will for Arizona basketball.
Speaker 8: Also kind of what I've noticed, it feels a lot
Speaker 8: more like a basketball town than anything else. So I think,
Speaker 8: like you know, if the Suns had their G League
Speaker 8: team here, I think I don't people would probably show up.
Speaker 1: For So I don't think they would.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And that's the debate because we're going to we're
Speaker 4: going through this with one of our teams that we're
Speaker 4: talking about right now with on Ocera Group Cut could
Speaker 4: potentially bring a basketball team here, professional basketball team as well.
Speaker 4: Stuff you can say, yeah, I'm not going into it.
Speaker 4: I'm not naming names. It's just a concept that we're discusting, discusting,
Speaker 4: and the debate is could we sustain two teams? And
Speaker 4: that's a ray. You're absolutely right. I mean we don't know, right,
Speaker 4: I mean, and you view it as a basketball town.
Speaker 4: I'm always going to view as a baseball town. You
Speaker 4: have a basketball obviously is the Mountain Rushmore. But because
Speaker 4: we were we were raised on Major League Baseball, and
Speaker 4: most two Zonins that are in the you know, professional
Speaker 4: sports are big League baseball players. I mean you can
Speaker 4: name maybe and full of basketball players. A couple handfuls
Speaker 4: of football players, mostly big leaguers are are are baseball
Speaker 4: players here. So you're right. The cross contamination between the
Speaker 4: sports here is always short, right, There's not a lot
Speaker 4: of mixture, and I think that's where we need to
Speaker 4: blur the lines as a community. And this isn't my
Speaker 4: own thought process. I could be completely wrong that we
Speaker 4: look at sports as a whole and not individualistically. Sure,
Speaker 4: so it's not just you a basketball or you a
Speaker 4: football or two some road Runners or the Sugar Skulls.
Speaker 4: It's sports, Like we're going to go out to this
Speaker 4: event because it's an event that's going to support the community.
Speaker 4: It's at a cheaper costant almost any other city you
Speaker 4: can go to and you're gonna have a good time.
Speaker 4: Like if I'm not a hockey guy, but going to
Speaker 4: a hockey game is it's exciting. I'm not a bull
Speaker 4: riding guy, but when I went to I told you this,
Speaker 4: when I went to BBR, like unbelievable, Like I was
Speaker 4: out of my seat by the end of it. And
Speaker 4: it was the first time I went to one. I
Speaker 4: was like, every year I'm going to this. This is incredible, right,
Speaker 4: I Mean, you get that same feeling in different sports,
Speaker 4: but you just have to experience. Do people Do people know? See,
Speaker 4: that's the question I think that. Yeah, when we were
Speaker 4: having like where is that? You know, the antiquated version
Speaker 4: of getting the message out is potentially changing, right, so
Speaker 4: how do we all how do we merge that and
Speaker 4: make it a simpler marketplace to find information.
Speaker 1: This discussion gots so good. We got to get out
Speaker 1: of here because we've got to get a hoppin. We'll
Speaker 1: take some calls. I already got a text about what
Speaker 1: we're talking about, soul. We'll talk about this now and
Speaker 1: then later.
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Speaker 2: Steve Rivera he's got his eye on the ball on
Speaker 2: Tucson Sports station, Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Speaker 4: Hey, welcome back to Wy on the Ball.
Speaker 1: Here on Fox Sports sporteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera and
Speaker 1: today with needs break eager.
Speaker 4: From Southern Airs on a sports tourism and film authority.
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, And now on the phone we have mister
Speaker 1: Bob Hoffin from the Two road Runners, mister president of
Speaker 1: the Whole Road How are you, Bob?
Speaker 11: I'm doing good, Steven. Hello, Blake, and that's that you're smart, Steve.
Speaker 11: Let Blake tell you that. That's a mouthful, huh to
Speaker 11: let him. Let him tell you where he works. Bobs
Speaker 11: it every time. It's unbelievable. He's he's such a pro,
Speaker 11: he's a pro. Don't expect me to do that. Don't
Speaker 11: ever get high with me on that, because I'm not
Speaker 11: gonna do that.
Speaker 4: Bob. How are you? How are things? I am doing great?
Speaker 4: Thank you?
Speaker 11: And things things are going well. I always tell people
Speaker 11: if if you don't love April, you're not a sports fan, right.
Speaker 11: I mean, when you've got you know, hockey and basketball,
Speaker 11: hitting the playoffs, stretch drive, baseball, starting up the masters.
Speaker 4: Is right here.
Speaker 11: Uh, I love April. And if you can't be excited here,
Speaker 11: you don't have a pulse.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you were listening into our conversation,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to that later. Let's talk about the
Speaker 1: road runners specifically now for the Christiano five minutes or whatever. Uh,
Speaker 1: you guys congrats right now, right you guys are in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. But everything's tenuous.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 11: Our division is always super competitive and every year we
Speaker 11: look at it and think, you can't get any tighter.
Speaker 4: And this year it's really kind of been.
Speaker 11: Most of the season's been kind of a tale of
Speaker 11: kind of two levels, with you know, three or four
Speaker 11: teams really clinging to the top of the division and
Speaker 11: kind of out you know, ten fourteen points ahead of
Speaker 11: the next tier, which is another group of four or
Speaker 11: five teams that have been right around that five hundred
Speaker 11: mark or just above five hundred, and it's seemingly tightened up.
Speaker 11: The teams at the bottom are going on some win
Speaker 11: streaks and catching up, and the teams at the top,
Speaker 11: you know, have slid a little bit. So you've seen
Speaker 11: teams like Abbotsford and Ontario jump up into that top
Speaker 11: tier and then you've seen some teams up at the top,
Speaker 11: like Calgary, who had a ten point lead in the
Speaker 11: division at Christmas. They are now all the way down
Speaker 11: to six and only a few games above five hundred.
Speaker 11: So it's been an absolute interesting season. And for the Roadrunners,
Speaker 11: we've had our ups and downs as well, sitting a
Speaker 11: couple of games above five hundred.
Speaker 4: But you're right at the moment we're in.
Speaker 11: That last playoff spot, you know, winding down with only
Speaker 11: seven games remaining, so every win is a big one.
Speaker 11: Last night came out with a big one goal victory,
Speaker 11: which are key this time of year, and we're going
Speaker 11: to go at it again to night against Calgary, that
Speaker 11: struggling team, and with any luck, we can get two
Speaker 11: points tonight on them with another win, and then all
Speaker 11: of a sudden, we're one win away from overtaking Calgary
Speaker 11: up into the sixth spot. So it's really close and tight.
Speaker 4: Blait to go watch, Yeah, I go, I mean, I
Speaker 4: go quite a bit. So yeah, Bob, Bobs been great
Speaker 4: to the organization of the community. And it's just I mean, Bob,
Speaker 4: we were talking about it earlier. You don't get that
Speaker 4: chance to see hockey at this level and Tucson. It's incredible.
Speaker 4: So we were there last night. I've got to ask
Speaker 4: you about this play because I'm obviously not an avid
Speaker 4: hockey fan, but there was I think it was in
Speaker 4: the second period they did a rotation. Calgary did a
Speaker 4: rotation where they went a six man rotation with no goalie.
Speaker 4: What was it. I've never seen that before that early
Speaker 4: in the game. Was there a reason for that because
Speaker 4: you guys were up to one I think at that point.
Speaker 11: Yeah, more than likely. What happened was sometimes they'll have
Speaker 11: a delayed penalty out there, and it's a penalty on
Speaker 11: the road runners, so they don't want to impede any
Speaker 11: momentum on the opposing team. So they put this rule
Speaker 11: in a place a while back to allow the offensive
Speaker 11: team who was penalized against to allow that team to
Speaker 11: kind of complete their chance. So they won't blow the
Speaker 11: whistle until there is an actual change of possession, and
Speaker 11: in doing that, the offensive team has no disadvantage whatsoever
Speaker 11: unless they put the puck in their own net to
Speaker 11: pulling the goalie and putting an extra skater out there.
Speaker 11: So sometimes it happens to where pretty much the defensive
Speaker 11: team will touch the puck within a second or two
Speaker 11: and you never really see it materialize. But I know
Speaker 11: last night that was one situation where it lingered for
Speaker 11: a little bit, and that can be a little confusing
Speaker 11: because you're like, why does this team have that extra
Speaker 11: guy out.
Speaker 4: There and no goalie?
Speaker 11: But as soon as the Roadrunners touched the puck, they
Speaker 11: blew it dead and then the penalty was called.
Speaker 4: Oh got it Because in the third period they did it.
Speaker 4: I thought it was from an advanced standpoint trying to
Speaker 4: get a goal back, and that's when the Roadrunner scored
Speaker 4: that third goal. So that was pretty interesting too.
Speaker 11: Exactly. That's when you do it late in the game. Typically,
Speaker 11: you know, there's some rules as to how coaches look
Speaker 11: at it, but there are least some guidelines, and usually
Speaker 11: if your two goals down, like Calgary was last night,
Speaker 11: they're going to, you know, pull the goalie a little
Speaker 11: bit sooner it's the last two minutes if you're only
Speaker 11: one goal. But sometimes I've seen coaches pull them as
Speaker 11: much as four or five minutes remaining in a third
Speaker 11: period of your multiple goals down, because they look at
Speaker 11: it as we've got nothing to lose and let's take
Speaker 11: a shot. At trying to get this, and especially with
Speaker 11: so I mentioned earlier, with the points so valuable, right now,
Speaker 11: teams are going to scratch and claw until the very end,
Speaker 11: just like Calgary did because even then, scoring late, you know,
Speaker 11: give us a moment a pause, right, I mean, I
Speaker 11: thought we were comfortable at at a two goal lead,
Speaker 11: but all of a sudden Calgary bumps went in. You're like, oh, geez,
Speaker 11: let's not have to hold our breath here at the end.
Speaker 11: But came away with a big win.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, no, no, you get the guys on the
Speaker 1: edge of their seats. But it's good too. It's good
Speaker 1: hockey because people come back for that type of hockey.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you, Bob, I can't recall how long
Speaker 1: you've been here, and I asked for a reason, more
Speaker 1: than ten years.
Speaker 4: Right at it.
Speaker 11: This is our ninth season, so we're going into our
Speaker 11: tenth year next year. And I came and joined the
Speaker 11: team when they started in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: Okay, so perfect. I've said this a few times. I
Speaker 1: think maybe Blake's been with me, but he's he did
Speaker 1: something last night that I think that's starting to happen
Speaker 1: locally with organizations like you guys we had is WBC.
Speaker 1: You have the Roadrunners where we're brothers are helping brothers
Speaker 1: attend events, like minds are helping each other. Make Tucson
Speaker 1: a sports town.
Speaker 11: Yes, yeah, yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 11: Tucson is fantastic, all of Southern Arizona's and I think
Speaker 11: supporting each other because I mean, we're really only as
Speaker 11: strong as we can all be to pull the sport
Speaker 11: together and to make sure that everyone sees that value.
Speaker 11: I mean, anybody failing in this space is not good
Speaker 11: for anybody. Unfortunately, when I came to town in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 11: you know, I didn't know much about Tucson and super
Speaker 11: excited about the opportunity and the potential that the Roadrunners had.
Speaker 11: But I heard so many stories and so many people
Speaker 11: had so many negative just perceptions in my mind of
Speaker 11: what the past was and some of the sports to
Speaker 11: earth and some of those things that happened here in
Speaker 11: Tucson with minor league sports or with other hockey teams
Speaker 11: that had played here, other baseball teams, and I think
Speaker 11: sometimes people can kind of fall back on that and
Speaker 11: rely on that and make it an excuse. And you know,
Speaker 11: I didn't understand that into me When people would tell
Speaker 11: me that, I was like, no, no, no, no, you're
Speaker 11: you're You're off. We're going to be here a while.
Speaker 11: We've got the support at the backing, and we've got
Speaker 11: a plan and we're gonna We're going to show people
Speaker 11: what great entertainment is and what value is and they're
Speaker 11: going to become hockey fans that they're not. And there's
Speaker 11: a ton of hockey fans here already. And I think
Speaker 11: when you look at the Arena Football League and you
Speaker 11: look at you know, if L with the service goals,
Speaker 11: and you look at how how successful the World Baseball
Speaker 11: Classic was, and even the mark that SC two son
Speaker 11: has made in growing the sport of soccer and giving
Speaker 11: really I think so many people miss the boat that
Speaker 11: there's so many youthful opportunities there with FC two soon
Speaker 11: and growing some young people into you know, who knows
Speaker 11: what they would be if they weren't kicking the soccer
Speaker 11: ball around, or if they weren't involved in sports, or
Speaker 11: you always look at that. I know, Blake and I've
Speaker 11: had this conversation before too, how kids don't play baseball
Speaker 11: as much anymore like when I was growing up and
Speaker 11: I know Blake played and you know you look at
Speaker 11: you like, get these kids in organized sports, get them
Speaker 11: to rely and love something out there that can be
Speaker 11: something of a passion for him, a role model if
Speaker 11: you so, to speak with your with your player, with
Speaker 11: the sport itself. And I think that's just great for
Speaker 11: the community in general. So yeah, we you know, Blake
Speaker 11: and I are aligned, and I think all teams here
Speaker 11: in Tucson.
Speaker 4: Are aligned that way that the greater that the.
Speaker 11: Town becomes a sports toown, the better it is for
Speaker 11: all teams. There's a million plus people here right, There's
Speaker 11: enough for everybody. So I think it's a great sign
Speaker 11: at this town and the people that are running the
Speaker 11: teams in this town aren't petty and aren't looking to
Speaker 11: see each other fail.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, we were talking about Bob and just
Speaker 4: to key you in a little bit too on the
Speaker 4: crossover and how great Bob is. We ad our WBC
Speaker 4: kickoff event, and afterwards we took a group over to
Speaker 4: the road Runners with Bob and Jim Small, the president
Speaker 4: of World Baseball Classic, actually dropped the puck and then
Speaker 4: during the World Baseball Classic we had the road Runners
Speaker 4: out and Bob out so I mean there's a lot
Speaker 4: of crossover. Same thing with the Sugar Skulls, same thing
Speaker 4: with FC Tucson. I think we all we and Bob
Speaker 4: understands this more than anybody. We need to work together
Speaker 4: to promote the city as a whole from a sports
Speaker 4: town standpoint. And then you know, I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: the rising Tide lifts all ships motto and take that
Speaker 4: same and everything we're doing here, Bob, I have a question.
Speaker 4: Believe agree. Bob's a Guardians fan, right, so how excited
Speaker 4: are you about the Guardians this season? Oh?
Speaker 11: Boy? It told me on the spot with that, because
Speaker 11: you're catching me at a bad moment, because I'm thoroughly
Speaker 11: disappointed at the moment. But I guess maybe San Diego
Speaker 11: is really good? Should should we think that the Padres
Speaker 11: aer just pounding the poor Guardians here at the thirdly
Speaker 11: part of the year, But you know what, it's another year.
Speaker 11: I love the young players and it's always fun with
Speaker 11: that organization. You know, I saw a poll recently, Blake.
Speaker 11: It was really interesting. They talked about you know, kind
Speaker 11: of the most you know, I forget the word they use,
Speaker 11: but the fan basic gets disappointed a lot or that
Speaker 11: is the most apprehensive, and the Guardians were on there
Speaker 11: because they always get players like to lose any organization
Speaker 11: that would lose their you know, two of their top
Speaker 11: four bats that trade away with Nailor and with MNS
Speaker 11: the Toronto Yeah, you look at that and you're like,
Speaker 11: how do you replace that? And when they replace them
Speaker 11: with the young kids, because they're so great at developing
Speaker 11: young players, sometimes when those young kids pop all of
Speaker 11: a sudden right back there at the top of the
Speaker 11: division in the playoffs. And then some years you saw
Speaker 11: like two years ago and when the first year are
Speaker 11: Tito's last year, you know, I mean that the young
Speaker 11: kids didn't and they struggled and missed and missed the postseason.
Speaker 11: So that's the one thing with the Guardians is you
Speaker 11: never know what you're going to get. You know, ask
Speaker 11: me that question again, maybe August first and I'll tell
Speaker 11: you where they're at a right now. I'm a little worried.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Unfortunately we're cursed by being to the fan bases
Speaker 4: that are probably disappointing the most.
Speaker 11: Absolutely, you guys look good too, though the Cubs are.
Speaker 11: They look like they can hit the ball.
Speaker 4: They can hit. I don't know about our bullpen.
Speaker 1: But anyway, social Bomb, you brought something up that's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's kind of going on now with you a basketball
Speaker 1: if I can put the correlation and you send your
Speaker 1: break chime in. So Tommy has these guys right, are used.
Speaker 1: Henry as an example, comes in a prospect of the
Speaker 1: project kind of finish. Blah blah blah has a breakout
Speaker 1: year and I think he's fantastic. Well, now guess what
Speaker 1: he's going to be using that talent that he developed
Speaker 1: here somewhere else. Baseball happens all time, right, you're here
Speaker 1: for a while, you get better, and then someone pays
Speaker 1: you a million dollars or a thousand, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: millions to go somewhere else and you don't get to
Speaker 1: see it hockey. And I'm sure it happens in hockey
Speaker 1: all the time. How painful is that?
Speaker 11: Well, I mean, as an Indian's and Guardians fan from
Speaker 11: the you know, the past of the Indians and now Guardians,
Speaker 11: I mean, we see it all the time and there
Speaker 11: and it's challenging adding for any fan base. And you know,
Speaker 11: I see it in hockey certainly at this level. It's
Speaker 11: one of those things when we came to town we
Speaker 11: wanted to make sure that we educated our fan base
Speaker 11: that we are the development ground to get players into
Speaker 11: the NHL, and that may not always be within your organization.
Speaker 11: And you know, honestly, some of the people that have
Speaker 11: had the most success that have played in Tucson and
Speaker 11: went up to the National Hockey League, you know, when
Speaker 11: the Coyotes were still in operation and that was our affiliate.
Speaker 4: And taking them up to Phoenix.
Speaker 11: They did it away from Phoenix though, right Dylan Strom
Speaker 11: became a twenty goal scorer in Chicago and then with
Speaker 11: the now with the Washington Capitals, and I mean the
Speaker 11: Capitals are on their way to contending for potentially the
Speaker 11: regular season championship in the President's Cup, the President's Trophy
Speaker 11: with Dylan Strum scoring another twenty five twenty six goals.
Speaker 11: So those are players that have done a great job
Speaker 11: of developing in Tucson. But our fan base have to
Speaker 11: kind of twist that loyalty because they're going to root
Speaker 11: for them and support them when they're playing in Nashville,
Speaker 11: or in pittsburghor in Washington or Connor Garland's case up
Speaker 11: in Vancouver. So it's interesting to see how that twists
Speaker 11: and turns. But I mean with the Guardians and the Indians,
Speaker 11: at least you get used to it. I mean you
Speaker 11: saw the pictures they win Cy Young's and then get
Speaker 11: traded for three or four prospects.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry, no, go ahead.
Speaker 1: Keyword loyalty. I mean that's the how do you hang
Speaker 1: on to the loyalty when they're crushing you emotionally?
Speaker 11: Well, at least I think, you know, as long as
Speaker 11: I think that you see that there's effort and that
Speaker 11: a team's not you know, mailing it in, and that
Speaker 11: you see that there's you know, whether it's nine guys
Speaker 11: in baseball or six guys on the ice and hockey,
Speaker 11: you see that commitment, that dedication, I think you can
Speaker 11: really get, you know, behind the mark and the brand,
Speaker 11: and that's where that loyalty comes into it. And we
Speaker 11: always made an effort here in Tucson that you know,
Speaker 11: players were going to come and go, and we weren't
Speaker 11: going to have people very long because the harsh reality
Speaker 11: is a player doesn't want to be in Tucson very
Speaker 11: long because if they are, that means they're not really
Speaker 11: achieving their goals. They're not growing, they're not striving upward.
Speaker 11: So we wanted to make sure that you know, it
Speaker 11: wasn't about the face, it wasn't about that player.
Speaker 4: It was about the brand the road Runners.
Speaker 11: What we could do in the community to make a
Speaker 11: difference and have an impact.
Speaker 4: And then you know, Dusty's are MVP.
Speaker 11: So I mean, we want people to know our mascot,
Speaker 11: to know Dusty and wherever we can get Dusty out
Speaker 11: and about in the community and where Dusty is always
Speaker 11: a part of the things that are going on in Tucson.
Speaker 11: If something's happening in this town, we want to make
Speaker 11: sure people see us. And that's what we're going to
Speaker 11: make our mark, more so probably than trying to over
Speaker 11: hype or publicize a first round defenseman that may be
Speaker 11: gone in twenty games.
Speaker 1: I'll let you ask the question that we started this
Speaker 1: conversation with in terms of sports sound, I'll be given
Speaker 1: that he's been here ten years, has he sent the progress? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then I want to get back to kind of
Speaker 1: the model of players going up and players coming down.
Speaker 1: But Bob, we've been talking about this and then we've
Speaker 1: been dating it. We've been debating it for couple of
Speaker 1: months now, you know, Tucson, we want to believe is
Speaker 1: and I do believe, and I think we do as
Speaker 1: a collective as a sports town, but it's kind of
Speaker 1: pick and choose your sports here. Do you feel that
Speaker 1: as a president of the road Runners and do you
Speaker 1: know from your experience in different markets what the change
Speaker 1: is that needs to be made.
Speaker 4: If that is the case, it's a great question.
Speaker 11: I mean, I think you'd have to do a lot
Speaker 11: of like you said, you've been talking about a couple months.
Speaker 11: I mean, I think a lot of in depth thought
Speaker 11: to it. I mean, I think you know, when you
Speaker 11: see you of a basketball when they're doing well, and
Speaker 11: you know when they've got some star players and that success,
Speaker 11: I think it's really great. And I think that the
Speaker 11: town rallies around and it's no different I don't think
Speaker 11: than a lot of towns that I've been in and
Speaker 11: I've had the you know, the fortune to be in
Speaker 11: a lot of different a lot of different markets, a
Speaker 11: lot of different views and places, and you know, I think,
Speaker 11: you know, two of the towns that I was in
Speaker 11: with San Antonio and Utah and both of the Salt
Speaker 11: Lake City, and in both of those cases, really one
Speaker 11: team ran the market with the Spurs and with the Jazz,
Speaker 11: and I found it so interesting that when you talk
Speaker 11: about little town.
Speaker 4: Like that don't have a whole lot going on.
Speaker 11: With it, as far as little town being not a
Speaker 11: lot of sports teams, how they resonated to those top brands,
Speaker 11: and how they it didn't matter whether the Spurs were
Speaker 11: winning or losing, and it didn't matter that Karl Malone
Speaker 11: moved on to John Stockton retired, and even to this day,
Speaker 11: the Jazz are bottom two in the NBA and still
Speaker 11: have a die hard loyal following. And it really feels
Speaker 11: to me that in Tucson, again not different than any
Speaker 11: other town, a lot really stems on the wins and
Speaker 11: the losses. I can think back with this U of
Speaker 11: A team this year. You know, I have friends that
Speaker 11: are die hard U of A fans, and my daughter
Speaker 11: goes there now, so I've become one and obviously inheriting
Speaker 11: them from being in Tucson now for nine years.
Speaker 4: But everyone had given up.
Speaker 11: In December, and I couldn't hear a good thing about
Speaker 11: this team, or even I heard people talking about Tommy
Speaker 11: Luyden replaced, and you just kind of shake your head
Speaker 11: and you're like, wait, what what are we talking about?
Speaker 4: Here they're having.
Speaker 11: A tough go of it, and then two months later,
Speaker 11: you know, at the top of the of the Big
Speaker 11: twelve and the standings, and everyone's changed their tune. And
Speaker 11: this is our team. So it is a little you know,
Speaker 11: you know, fair weathered.
Speaker 4: In some way.
Speaker 11: It feels like Blake and Steve. It's just you know,
Speaker 11: with us here, we see a lot of momentum when
Speaker 11: we're at the top of the standings, and this year,
Speaker 11: when we're battling for this playoff spot, you know that
Speaker 11: buzz may not be as prevalent as it was like
Speaker 11: last year when we were in second place in just
Speaker 11: a few games out of the top spot. So I
Speaker 11: do think wins and losses matter. But on the other hand,
Speaker 11: that's what this is. It's competition. It's sports that should matter,
Speaker 11: and you know, the team should be trying to put
Speaker 11: a product out there that's trying to go and win
Speaker 11: a championship. And my intent always here in Tucson is
Speaker 11: that one day we can have a parade and poist
Speaker 11: the Calder truck the Calder Cup, which is our Stanley Cup,
Speaker 11: around the city of Tucson. So I mean, we're fighting
Speaker 11: for that and doing that, but the one thing that
Speaker 11: you just hope that you know, the business community fans
Speaker 11: out there that are sports fans, you know, don't lose
Speaker 11: track of that other support that you need to have
Speaker 11: there to support the team, because you know, when I
Speaker 11: talked about what happened when I came to town and
Speaker 11: nine years ago, and all the stories I heard, you know,
Speaker 11: those teams all left for a reason, you know, and
Speaker 11: in most cases, not all, but in most cases it
Speaker 11: was that lack of support. So, I mean, you really
Speaker 11: enjoy your sports team, You enjoy having the competitiveness and opportunities,
Speaker 11: even if it's just entertainment for you and your family.
Speaker 11: If you really enjoy that, you know, come on out
Speaker 11: and support it and watch it. And I think in
Speaker 11: Tucson we really run into a problem, at least in
Speaker 11: the hockey world, when the weather starts getting great out
Speaker 11: like now and in March and April. I think there's
Speaker 11: so many things to do. People love getting outdoors and
Speaker 11: hiking and all the different festivals and things that are
Speaker 11: happening in Tucson, and I think sometimes you can lose
Speaker 11: track of some of the great indoor events that may
Speaker 11: be happening here in town. Two, So you know, don't
Speaker 11: lose track. Just keep supporting your teams and that way
Speaker 11: you'll have that stability and the team will always be
Speaker 11: here for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a great way of putting it. So I know,
Speaker 4: we've got a little bit time left in about a minute. Okay,
Speaker 4: real quick question, just to educate fans and myself. So
Speaker 4: your parent club is Utah, that's your NHL club. Who's
Speaker 4: your feeder club that comes to Tucson.
Speaker 11: Are essentially if you go to the Baseball World and
Speaker 11: the Double A level from work Triple A and the
Speaker 11: Double A level, it's Allen Texas. So they're the Allen Americans,
Speaker 11: which is just a town a little bit north of
Speaker 11: Dallas in the Frisco, Texas kind of area. They play
Speaker 11: in a nice little event center there. And right now
Speaker 11: we've got about six or seven guys that are assigned
Speaker 11: and playing an hour, oh perfect.
Speaker 4: And then from the team last year to this year,
Speaker 4: how many of those guys that were in Tucson last
Speaker 4: year there now are now with Utah and the NHL.
Speaker 11: Oh boy, I mean it was too many to even name.
Speaker 11: We've got at least three or four that I can
Speaker 11: think of off the top of my head. That are
Speaker 11: up there right now. Our top score this season was
Speaker 11: called up two weeks ago and has already scored an
Speaker 11: NHL goal. An NHL goal up there with Utah and
Speaker 11: Kyler Yamamoto, so there's already been so much movement. Our
Speaker 11: goaltender four shutouts on the season, Matthew Valta and All
Speaker 11: Star last season. He's up with Utah right now. Josh
Speaker 11: Don Shane Sun, who's been an All Star for US
Speaker 11: each of the last two years, is up with UTAH.
Speaker 11: So it's challenging. That's one of the things you kind
Speaker 11: of have to deal with at this level is making
Speaker 11: sure you have great depth to plug the holes that
Speaker 11: appear when your parent club takes your players up.
Speaker 1: So this is a freebe. Here's your marketing for next year.
Speaker 1: See the future.
Speaker 11: Now, that's exactly right. That's exactly right, because the future
Speaker 11: is here right now in Tucson, and.
Speaker 4: Steve's gonna invoice you for that. Though it's not a freebee.
Speaker 4: I'll make sure to lose it in the mail.
Speaker 1: I have to take it by your hand to the office. Bob,
Speaker 1: Thank you as always, thanks for coming on.
Speaker 11: Thanks guys, Thanks bye.
Speaker 4: We got to go.
Speaker 1: We're a little over so we'll come back on the
Speaker 1: other side. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you
Speaker 1: know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take
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Speaker 2: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
Speaker 2: Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to One in the Ball hero Fox
Speaker 1: Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera, You're Blake, year Kwan
Speaker 1: and Ray with us talking sports locally. What would bring
Speaker 1: you to a game? Or take you to a game
Speaker 1: if money's an issue or not an issue or sports
Speaker 1: an issue? So I got a couple of texts here.
Speaker 1: Tucson is a town made up of transplants who'd loyalties
Speaker 1: reside with their former home teams. Pass is made up
Speaker 1: of locals who are more tied into their home teams.
Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like we have a big homegrown
Speaker 4: population that I'm not discounting that, especially our winter population.
Speaker 4: We were talking one You and I were talking about it. Ray,
Speaker 4: you and I were talking about completely. I get it.
Speaker 4: I lived in South Florida. I understand the transplant population.
Speaker 4: But we do have a lot of homegrown people here.
Speaker 4: It's not like we have fifty thousand homegrown and the
Speaker 4: other million and a half are are transplants. So where
Speaker 4: are we missing that connective?
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny because you and I have discussions outside
Speaker 1: of this place, right and you talk about how Tucson
Speaker 1: needs to be or should be a place to attract
Speaker 1: the Juans and the Rays do not go somewhere else
Speaker 1: for a job.
Speaker 4: Yeah, to stay here. You're talking about the retention talent, right, Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I think professional sports plays a big piece in
Speaker 4: that too. It because when you're looking at companies to
Speaker 4: try to come into a new community, they are looking
Speaker 4: at things for their employees to do. If we had
Speaker 4: an added bonus there. It's also creating workforce, right you.
Speaker 4: I mean we think about pro sports because of the
Speaker 4: athletes on the court or the floor or the field
Speaker 4: or whatever it is, but that's a very small piece
Speaker 4: of what actually has to happen. Yeah, More professional teams
Speaker 4: create more jobs, creates more opportunities. It allows us to
Speaker 4: retain the talent instead of being an exporter of talent,
Speaker 4: right right, It's Likeiclon.
Speaker 1: I mean he's and I've got on him a lot
Speaker 1: the last few months to get out his resumes and stuff.
Speaker 1: And he may not have to stay here, and you
Speaker 1: want to stay here, but you might have to good
Speaker 1: lead because that's where the jobs are. Yeah, we got
Speaker 1: a call. Hello, you on the AAR and I on
Speaker 1: the ball.
Speaker 4: Who's this?
Speaker 20: Hey, what's going?
Speaker 4: What's worth Well?
Speaker 20: I just want to kind of chime in on what
Speaker 20: you're saying right now. And as far as the sports
Speaker 20: town that first and foremost what you're saying is the
Speaker 20: transplants are a big part of it. They they're not
Speaker 20: gonna support you of A or or the World Baseball
Speaker 20: Classic or and there's very few dummies. I I wanted
Speaker 20: to ask you, guys, Steve, both of your kids played
Speaker 20: travel soccer, right, yes, did you support go and support
Speaker 20: their team after they quit or not quit, but after
Speaker 20: they left the team?
Speaker 4: Good? Good, good point.
Speaker 20: But no see and and and me and Javier we're
Speaker 20: at the hot Sunnyside toos on high game and I
Speaker 20: was gonna actually ask him how many of these people
Speaker 20: are going to stay around after their kids graduate?
Speaker 4: None of them.
Speaker 1: But it's a recycled what's your point.
Speaker 20: Is that that's why, that's why in a sports town
Speaker 20: you have to have that acquired tape. Like I like
Speaker 20: women's basketball. I started back in the nineties when Brenda
Speaker 20: faz I laid here and you were the high school kid,
Speaker 20: and I've never left.
Speaker 4: And same with y.
Speaker 20: You know softball, I love going to watch. I'm going
Speaker 20: tonight to tot Point Ironwood Ridge. I know maybe a
Speaker 20: couple people on the team, but I like to go
Speaker 20: and watch and then go see them when they go
Speaker 20: to college or follow them so when they get to college.
Speaker 1: So your point is you sustain that love for the
Speaker 1: for that sport, right. Uh, let me ask you, Jack,
Speaker 1: let me else will ask you. Because you were You're
Speaker 1: from here, right if I'm correct.
Speaker 4: Correct?
Speaker 1: But then you moved away to LA to the big market, right,
Speaker 1: and then you came back. Did you report not that
Speaker 1: you regretted, but did you say, oh God, I gotta
Speaker 1: go back home and I'm not going to get the
Speaker 1: quality of sports that you used to see.
Speaker 20: No, And and for me, you know, high school baseball
Speaker 20: and foftball here in the tooth On are pretty high quality.
Speaker 20: So and everybody laughed because I'm faithbook in La oh,
Speaker 20: you never stay home whatever. But I did the same
Speaker 20: thing in la I was at my kids games and
Speaker 20: when they left, I followed their travel ball team games
Speaker 20: and high school game. I just don't like to stay home,
Speaker 20: if that's one of the things reasons. But you know,
Speaker 20: like going to the CSA thing and and all that stuff.
Speaker 20: I mean, it's kind of an experience for me. And
Speaker 20: I pick up the little squingy balls at the at
Speaker 20: the vendor things and the pens and stuff, and and
Speaker 20: I just like to be out and see people and
Speaker 20: meet people and all that stuff. And I follow too.
Speaker 4: Soon high softball.
Speaker 20: And there's a whole bunch of great people that go
Speaker 20: and made lifelong friends since I've been here.
Speaker 4: And okay, so.
Speaker 20: That that's that's a And even at the women's basketball game,
Speaker 20: you meet these I mean, I'm an ogizer now too,
Speaker 20: but you meet these people you see every week and
Speaker 20: and it's cool.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you one quick question. Are you okay?
Speaker 1: Are you it's been it's been almost a week. Are
Speaker 1: you overcome with the are you done with the basketball team.
Speaker 4: Are you okay? Now you're you're down.
Speaker 20: I was talking with Javier about it last. We're quick, Steve,
Speaker 20: I'll make a quick I'm an old geezer and and
Speaker 20: my sister would send me your guy's papers to LA
Speaker 20: all the time. And it was cool to to get
Speaker 20: to know Sean Elliott, to know his mom and that
Speaker 20: you know, he did the transplant for his brother. Little
Speaker 20: personal things like that that you don't find out anymore.
Speaker 20: I don't know Caleb Love's mom to names like we
Speaker 20: did Sean and Steve and all those guys. Right, Steve
Speaker 20: Kurk's dad was a professor, and obviously we know about
Speaker 20: the assassination. We don't find those things out anymore. So
Speaker 20: it does hurt when a guy like Henry leads because
Speaker 20: you're you know, you're excited and looking forward to next year,
Speaker 20: and obviously now you know who can deny him the
Speaker 20: money grab. But it was cool in the old days
Speaker 20: to get to know the players and have him stay
Speaker 20: at least two, three, four years and get to know
Speaker 20: them and and be able to root for them on
Speaker 20: a personal level. It was that was awesome And it's
Speaker 20: just man, just a different, different time now. And I
Speaker 20: doubt if it'll come back.
Speaker 1: Yeah, big, thanks for the call, appreciate it.
Speaker 20: Okay, you got to take care.
Speaker 4: Thanks Vic, I got another text. You gotta text you.
Speaker 4: I've got text but I'm not gonna read them. A
Speaker 4: uh no, but I mean just to get to fixed point.
Speaker 4: Vixen vix a perfect example of a Tucson fan like that.
Speaker 4: He's a fan like he's he's a supporting local community
Speaker 4: efforts and a higher levels. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 4: mean to a degree, I would say, but I do.
Speaker 4: I just I discount the transplant piece a little bit
Speaker 4: because if you and I know this, and you know
Speaker 4: this much better than I do, and so does one.
Speaker 4: But I mean, you have a basketball is I would
Speaker 4: argue a high percentage of transplant fans.
Speaker 1: Probably long term for for.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the season ticket holders are usually not two Son ins.
Speaker 1: Ye you've been another We've got about two minutes, two
Speaker 1: minutes another text. Tucson is not a sports town. It's
Speaker 1: an event in town. It will support a once a
Speaker 1: year event that won't deport the time to something that
Speaker 1: requires continuous support throughout the year, Classic, the World Baseball Classic,
Speaker 1: things like that, the Rodeo. It's they're not here all
Speaker 1: the time. I mean I think, I think, I think Bob.
Speaker 1: Bob draws a pretty good crowd for the road run.
Speaker 1: I mean, it could get better. It could be better.
Speaker 1: I don't disregard that. But why is that, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's also had included the relieval racetrack, golf tournament's a spoon,
Speaker 1: spring training game, one boxing match, you know, stuff like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I know Reto's seasonal, but I would
Speaker 4: still consider it a season I wouldn't consider an event
Speaker 4: if I mean, they have what twenty races when it's
Speaker 4: here about yeah, sixteen race days? Yeah? Yeah, I was close. Okay,
Speaker 4: I just walked the property. Oh, I haven't been there
Speaker 4: in a long time. They haven't been there. I don't
Speaker 4: ride horses. We have an agreement. They don't kick me.
Speaker 4: I don't write them. We're in good shape. Okay, can
Speaker 4: we go now, Yeah, we can go. I was that bad.
Speaker 1: We'll talk more about this on the other side. We
Speaker 1: got breaking news. Yeah, okay, maybe one can help you
Speaker 1: or maybe not. Okay, we'll come back