Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
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Speaker 2: Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Iye on the Ball
Speaker 2: here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera and
Speaker 2: with meet today is Dave Silver from Tago nine anchor
Speaker 2: Sports anchor and Henry running the board with us today.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Wednesday. Luck to get too. Obviously, playoffs are
Speaker 2: going on. MLB playoffs kind of surprises.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: The Houston Astro is a team that usually goes deep
Speaker 4: into the playoffs, is done after two games quickly, so
Speaker 4: they're out. And Detroit's a team that nobody even was
Speaker 4: thinking about maybe a month ago.
Speaker 3: Moving on. That's how you play that day, Dave, or
Speaker 3: two days.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the Tigers, Like I think when I
Speaker 4: was in here last week, we're talking about Detroit. They've
Speaker 4: got some really good young players, really nice stadium. I
Speaker 4: think they've got a manager who's had success.
Speaker 3: Many different place A J.
Speaker 4: Hinch Okay, who you know, gotten kind of in trouble
Speaker 4: I guess during that Houston Astros stretch, but you know
Speaker 4: he had success with the Diamondbacks organization. I remember, and
Speaker 4: I think the Angels and things like that, former Stanford player,
Speaker 4: but he had Detroit looking good, good young players. Yeahs
Speaker 4: is a.
Speaker 2: They don't have a maybe the sy Young Award winner, right,
Speaker 2: that's what I heard a couple of days of the
Speaker 2: nineteen one of their pictures, one of the pictures and
Speaker 2: very young, like you said, not a whole lot of hitting,
Speaker 2: but they had enough today and yesterday. Yeah, big you know,
Speaker 2: big time hitters, bangers. So yeah, there's that. And I
Speaker 2: don't know what's going on with Baltimore because they're struggling too. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this Baltimore team that should have been better this year
Speaker 2: than last year. Last year they were pretty good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so we'll see, uh and uh, who else is did
Speaker 2: the Alans.
Speaker 4: The Mets winning on the road yesterday? So yeah in
Speaker 4: San Diego, San Diego looking strong. So meantime, they're all
Speaker 4: kind of waiting for the Dodgers and Yankees to enter
Speaker 4: the party.
Speaker 2: Sure, yeah, welcome guys. Well yeah, yeah, so we'll talk
Speaker 2: a little about that. Maybe today's I guess we have
Speaker 2: Bob Hoffman, the I think is GM of the Tucson Roadrunners.
Speaker 2: They're still in town.
Speaker 3: Still in town.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have a show on this channel, on this station,
Speaker 2: so keep an eye out for that. They just started
Speaker 2: their workouts or preseason right now, right just this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was just the first so guess
Speaker 3: that would be yesterday.
Speaker 4: Yesterday, So there's season's got to be right around the corner,
Speaker 4: and you know it's I'd be interesting to hear his
Speaker 4: take just on how this offseason is gone, obviously losing
Speaker 4: the Coyotes and they I'm still being here, right, there's
Speaker 4: got to be a connection with the Coyotes or whatever
Speaker 4: the team's called, Utah.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 2: Sure, you've been here a long time, a little bit
Speaker 2: longer than me, and I'll ask him this. They're one
Speaker 2: of the longer standing lower pro teams that it's lasted
Speaker 2: in this town.
Speaker 4: Yes, you know when you say that, I mean, obviously,
Speaker 4: if you want to call the we had for many,
Speaker 4: many years, a lot longer than that, but there was
Speaker 4: a series of hockey teams that barely even got started.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Well, you could do a long list of pro teams,
Speaker 2: pro or whatever you want to call it, volleyball teams,
Speaker 2: hockey teams, like you said, softball teams. I guess fast
Speaker 2: pitch yeah, we had that for a brief time. Yeah.
Speaker 2: What else, There's been a lot of basketball basketball. I
Speaker 2: think it's lower level basketball pro teams.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there was always some talk about maybe sticking somebody
Speaker 4: in the Tucson Convention Center, arena, minor league or basketball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that is just never.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you believe this would want to
Speaker 2: agree with me, But Tucson is not a basketball town.
Speaker 2: It's a college basketball town. They follow everything Arizona. But
Speaker 2: if you want to put another team here, unless they
Speaker 2: had other U of A guys, they wouldn't go.
Speaker 4: It doesn't make sense, I think so, I mean, you know, yeah,
Speaker 4: to put you know, thirty five games, that might be
Speaker 4: kind of tough. I know when they when the Suns
Speaker 4: had a brief training stint down here, they played a
Speaker 4: game or two.
Speaker 3: Here another day, another day, sitt in production. It was it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean that was during Shack and Steve
Speaker 4: Nash years, Grant Hill. I mean they drew. I remember
Speaker 4: I went to the game as a fan and watched
Speaker 4: it was fun. Yeah, no, I did too. You're talking
Speaker 4: nineteen ninety three, ninety four, something like that. Ninety five
Speaker 4: I think I was going to be married yeah, maybe
Speaker 4: even later. It was it was crazy, but it was
Speaker 4: it was. You know, you're right, I don't know if
Speaker 4: we could. I don't know if there's that much interest
Speaker 4: in in minor league basketball here.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think so. You have a pretty good product.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you'll they go to cheer the cats. I
Speaker 2: mean yeah, they and I don't know if you believe
Speaker 2: me this, They don't go cheer the guys. They cheer
Speaker 2: the team, right, it's the Arizona.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's not going to matter who's playing, right, I mean,
Speaker 4: we've Arizona fans have gotten to that point where it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, and you can predict it's going to be
Speaker 4: a pretty good team. Let's just kind of see how
Speaker 4: it plays out.
Speaker 3: Well, let's go there.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: You kind of just realize is that they're not going
Speaker 2: to have the Red Blue game in Glendale, but they're
Speaker 2: gonna have one here. Are you surprised that they're not
Speaker 2: gonna have one in Glendale?
Speaker 4: Well, I'm surprised that we're gonna do it to begin with.
Speaker 3: I don't know really what they were expecting. You were
Speaker 3: surprised for what reason? Just I don't know.
Speaker 4: I just didn't think no matter an exhibition game like that, really,
Speaker 4: so fans would go see it like a practice game.
Speaker 4: I know that when Arizona plays ash it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: Because half the half the races by Arizona. Yeah, well,
Speaker 2: so you're not going to tell me that Arizona Phoenix
Speaker 2: is Arizona Country. I haven't seen the billboards lately. I
Speaker 2: don't know's it is and it isn't. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of alums, but as one alum told me the day
Speaker 2: that broke on I think on Monday, he said, one,
Speaker 2: they're not going to go all the way to Glendale.
Speaker 2: And it's like going from Tucson for some places, you
Speaker 2: go from Maysa to Glendale. It's not coming down to
Speaker 2: Tucson an hour and ten to twenty minutes.
Speaker 3: Yeah. What day of the week was that schedule? From
Speaker 3: Friday Friday night?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so even then, no one's gonna go Acrosstown during
Speaker 2: rush hour or whatever time a crossdown to Glendale to
Speaker 2: watch a game that's not really a game and just
Speaker 2: to kind of enjoy the provolity of it all. In Tucson,
Speaker 2: that's what we do. And still it doesn't sell out.
Speaker 2: It's about eight ten thousand and it's a different crowd too.
Speaker 2: It's not your regular season for people.
Speaker 4: Sure, it's the people who can't get into it is
Speaker 4: season close by and get to get those good tickets,
Speaker 4: But they don't do that midnight madness anymore, which was
Speaker 4: kind of another you know, introduction to the team.
Speaker 3: That was kind of a big deal.
Speaker 2: Kind of a big deal. You've been out for a
Speaker 2: long time. Do they have it when you were did
Speaker 2: you think it was no? People going to call it
Speaker 2: Steve always native, but I'm going to say that, did
Speaker 2: you think it was well worth the wait at midnight?
Speaker 3: Did you think it was fun? Say that louder for
Speaker 3: the people in the back? No, you know, for us professionally.
Speaker 4: Okay, so it's usually like on a Friday night or something,
Speaker 4: you know, late I just did a ten o'clock newscast,
Speaker 4: wrapped it up at you know a quarter of eleven
Speaker 4: or so, and then still got to go out to
Speaker 4: McHale Center to get sit out there for you know.
Speaker 2: Right, And it's it's kind of more made for TV,
Speaker 2: you know how the and you're in the TV business,
Speaker 2: I'm asking you, do you know how TV kind of
Speaker 2: sets it up better to look better on TV and
Speaker 2: when you're there in person, there's a lot of downtime.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of moving parts, and you gotta wait
Speaker 2: for the movie parts to happen and get the chairs
Speaker 2: out of the dunk contest. It's just it's a lot
Speaker 2: of waiting, sitting and waiting. Not a lot about basketball.
Speaker 4: No, No, but you know, in terms of but you
Speaker 4: know what, I think that would be better than having
Speaker 4: a red blue another red.
Speaker 2: Blue game, but possibly maybe. Yeah, I mean it's no,
Speaker 2: and I'm not poo pooing the whole idea. It's just
Speaker 2: it's just like it's a red blue game. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be fun. And then you get there what I shaved
Speaker 2: my legs for this.
Speaker 4: Yeah, if they if they considered any other way of
Speaker 4: engaging fans before the season, I'm sure not.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: And and what are they They are making more public appearances.
Speaker 2: Last week or so, they took uh, they went to
Speaker 2: the South Side, introduced themselves for a party or some company.
Speaker 2: But them in they're searching for nil, you know. And
Speaker 2: then that's what Phoenix was.
Speaker 1: It was n L.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I didn't think it was more of a sorry to say,
Speaker 2: cash gap maybe and they realized the tickets were not
Speaker 2: going well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 4: Again, like you said, going to Glendale, it's not even
Speaker 4: from Tucson. That's a good two and a half hour drive, now, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I'm sure if a few people were going
Speaker 2: to go and they had scheduled like this, a party
Speaker 2: or two afterwards. But really, you get your chance here.
Speaker 2: You're gonna go two and a half hours, like you said.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's not like they're not going to
Speaker 4: be on TV in about two weeks anyway, with their first,
Speaker 4: you know, great exhibition game against you know, Point Loma,
Speaker 4: whoever they're playing early in the season, they've got a.
Speaker 3: Couple of that's Dave. Send letters to Dave, not to Steve. No, no, no,
Speaker 3: just I think most fans understand that. Yeah, of course
Speaker 3: we're not like brand new to this. No, no, of
Speaker 3: course not.
Speaker 2: But to the credit of Arizona and the fans and
Speaker 2: all that, it's going to be a fantastic season to
Speaker 2: watch basketball for the first time in a long time.
Speaker 3: Why is that Duke's here? The big twelves, Yere minus Kansas.
Speaker 2: You know this, Historically it hasn't been great outside of
Speaker 2: UCLA and maybe one other team that come in, maybe
Speaker 2: and maybe maybe maybe, and there's you know, maybe another
Speaker 2: non conference team. But now you have the Big Twelve
Speaker 2: coming in. Yeah, good teams, and you have Duke coming
Speaker 2: in with a couple of other teams splashed in there.
Speaker 2: So if you have season tickets, more power to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're right. Hold on, write that down. David said it
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 3: You're right. That was good. That's perfect because you're you
Speaker 3: are right.
Speaker 4: The Big Twelve is going to be a whole different
Speaker 4: dynamic from a team standpoint, and everybody kind of knows
Speaker 4: who's coming. And then we these schools have reputations, good,
Speaker 4: great basketball reputations, and you know, historically again going way back,
Speaker 4: Luke used to try to get in a couple of
Speaker 4: those type teams anyway, but now that's gonna be a
Speaker 4: regular occurrence once we hit like January.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and these games, and they'll play UCLA on a
Speaker 2: neutral Phoenix, so you have to go up for that,
Speaker 2: and that's when the Phoenix people will show up. But
Speaker 2: Arizona guys will go up, you know, Arizona too soon
Speaker 2: guys will go up. So there's plenty of opportunity to
Speaker 2: see in Vegas. I think I'm thinking I can't remember
Speaker 2: if there's a game up there. I know UCLA is
Speaker 2: gonna be in Phoenix, Yeah, definitely. It's at the Sun's Arena.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So yeah, good Phoenix gonna have their chance there
Speaker 3: for a real game. Yeah yeah, why not. It's gonna
Speaker 3: be on TV.
Speaker 2: So we have Bob Hoffen here in about ten minutes,
Speaker 2: and then we're going to have Mike Vader at the
Speaker 2: other side of the hour about four seventeen talking about
Speaker 2: the mix and actually Baseball Fiesta that's coming up here.
Speaker 3: I guess starts tomorrow, it does.
Speaker 4: Speaking of you of A getting to play, Yeah, a
Speaker 4: little preseason action for them.
Speaker 3: Have you been to it? I hate to say this,
Speaker 3: but I have not, and I want to go because
Speaker 3: I just I just haven't had the time. Honestly. Were
Speaker 3: you retired, Well now I am, but no excuses.
Speaker 4: It depends on where I was. You know, I was traveling,
Speaker 4: traveling the country, trying to raise money for this is
Speaker 4: your first year retirement?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Since when? Since April? Oh Man?
Speaker 2: So you know, I hate brand New, I hate you.
Speaker 2: You can leave nice nice. I don't even know what
Speaker 2: the hell retirement's gonna be. But no, that's cool for you.
Speaker 2: You know I would go just and I'm suggesting just
Speaker 2: not just for Mike or whatever. But it's a blast.
Speaker 2: I went to help Mike maybe five six years ago
Speaker 2: and went to this came out baseball, Right, it's not
Speaker 2: about baseball, Yeah, it's about the fun around baseball, which
Speaker 2: happens to see you see a baseball game because it's
Speaker 2: a party. It's a it's a fiesta, like it says,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of dance, a lot of music. Uh,
Speaker 2: you know you can get adhd there because you're just
Speaker 2: so distracted by so many things.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna try to go. I think maybe maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 4: I have to talk to Mike about that once it
Speaker 4: gets on the air. Yeah, yeah, but no, it would
Speaker 4: be fun. And you know again when you watch games,
Speaker 4: uh in Mexico or in Latin America, it's it is
Speaker 4: a party every every venue right everywhere.
Speaker 3: Right. No, it's just a lot of fun to go
Speaker 3: to and I'm thinking, oh wow, look at this place.
Speaker 3: So there's that anything.
Speaker 2: Also, we're gonnap breaking news by Henry. A lot of
Speaker 2: things going on w n B A. Fernando the Baseball
Speaker 2: You give us an update with the baseball scores and whatever.
Speaker 3: Else.
Speaker 2: I wanted to put a clip up. I guess Babers
Speaker 2: was on yesterday's press conference. I think maybe maybe today's
Speaker 2: admitting that that that this plan of him not calling
Speaker 2: the place had been set up a while back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that seemed to be the story that was circulating
Speaker 4: on the tu sign dot com this morning. He was
Speaker 4: kind of told beforehand that he was going to kind
Speaker 4: of be grooming some of the younger coaches to move
Speaker 4: into coordinator type positions, which, right, I don't know.
Speaker 3: I think his check still cash. I think he's okay
Speaker 3: with it. Right, what else are you gonna do? Right?
Speaker 2: And if he was calling the plays in the first
Speaker 2: two or three games, you're thinking, Okay, when does that
Speaker 2: change happen?
Speaker 3: And it happened over the weekend.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I you know, I again, I've never never been
Speaker 4: a big x's and o's guys, and I've always kind
Speaker 4: of marveled at how they do these jobs and what
Speaker 4: their strategies are and why is one play working and
Speaker 4: it's not working? As you know, there seems to be
Speaker 4: so many components who one single play, you know, what
Speaker 4: the defense is doing. Maybe maybe they're having another set
Speaker 4: of eyes there will.
Speaker 2: Be helpful right right, Okay, well, let's take a break.
Speaker 2: I think we'll be in time about three seventeen with
Speaker 2: Bob Hoffmann.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Henry.
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Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 1: Want to take part in the show? Call up Steve
Speaker 1: now at five to two oh four one seventy four
Speaker 1: to night.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to you. I in the ball here
Speaker 2: on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve RIVERA p's Dave
Speaker 2: Silver det Henry with us. We're just waiting for Bob Hoffin.
Speaker 3: Did give it as a quick call two minutes late
Speaker 3: where they can run a lap? Who do you run
Speaker 3: in your hockey? Do you run laps? What's that in
Speaker 3: your hockey? Do you run laps? Because now you skate lives,
Speaker 3: skate lists. Yeah, I gotta skate like around the ring.
Speaker 3: You cover hockey, right, yeah? You know you they just
Speaker 3: make a skate around this, Okay?
Speaker 13: Is there is that?
Speaker 3: He Well, it seems like you'd like on a motorcycle.
Speaker 3: Go give me two laps on a motorcycle because you're
Speaker 3: your schemes. But after you do it a couple of
Speaker 3: times I could make two laps in two hours, dude,
Speaker 3: because I don't know how to skate. I used to, well,
Speaker 3: how much time we're gonna hit? I mean I used to.
Speaker 4: I grew up in Buffalo, New York, or lived there
Speaker 4: for a few years, and it was so cold in
Speaker 4: the winter that you could literally skate on the street.
Speaker 4: Just check check you could skate, you know, get that frozen.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I don't know. For some reason, I was
Speaker 4: always a hockey fan. Yeah, okay, no, we're good. He's
Speaker 4: fro He's okay, okay, I think this might be him. Yeah, Hello,
Speaker 4: you're on the air and I.
Speaker 1: On the ball?
Speaker 3: Is this pop?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Hi?
Speaker 3: Good afternoons? Bob, how are you? We were just Dave
Speaker 3: Silver and I.
Speaker 2: We were saying, we're gonna put Bob on skates and
Speaker 2: make him run laps or skate laps.
Speaker 10: I know, I know it.
Speaker 8: Run laps on the field normal. You gotta do the
Speaker 8: sprints on the basketball court. You don't want to see
Speaker 8: me on skates.
Speaker 3: So that's two of us. That's twos. How you doing that?
Speaker 3: How are you? I'm doing great, I'm doing great.
Speaker 13: It's an exciting time.
Speaker 8: Of year, certainly, when October hits and the season's right
Speaker 8: here on us always exciting, got a preseason games and
Speaker 8: then our regular season getting ready to go. And you know,
Speaker 8: the fall is fantastic, get baseball, going basketball. It's just
Speaker 8: a great sports time of year. We're excited to be.
Speaker 13: A part of it.
Speaker 4: And nothing like one hundred and seven degrees in your
Speaker 4: home city too for the hockey season. But I know
Speaker 4: we are looking forward to your year, and it's been
Speaker 4: quite a year when you think about what's going on,
Speaker 4: you know, in the last three dor in sixty five
Speaker 4: days with your franchise and the parent club. How are
Speaker 4: things settled down as everybody ready to go full full
Speaker 4: speed ahead.
Speaker 8: Now, Yeah, it has been a you know, an up
Speaker 8: and down interesting off season for sure, and it has
Speaker 8: the dust has settled, and certainly, you know, having an
Speaker 8: uncertain future and uncertainty for even as what we were
Speaker 8: looking at at last spring to see what we're we
Speaker 8: going to be doing in October was always a concern.
Speaker 8: And to have that kind of squared away in the
Speaker 8: future in front of us of you know, filling out
Speaker 8: our lease here in Tucson and then adding a year
Speaker 8: to it at least, so a minimum of three years
Speaker 8: here in Tucson is something that we're happy about. And
Speaker 8: where the future goes from there, we'll see, and it's
Speaker 8: something that we're just excited to be a part of.
Speaker 8: For what's going to be our ninth season this year,
Speaker 8: Plans already underway for a tenth anniversary season next year,
Speaker 8: and we want to continue on our quest to bring
Speaker 8: a championship here to Tucson, and we're hoping that our roster,
Speaker 8: our coaching staff, everyone's prepped and ready to be able.
Speaker 5: To do that.
Speaker 2: So, Bob, I'm not even asking you this question, but
Speaker 2: you're talking about nine years. Have you been here for
Speaker 2: all nine I don't think so.
Speaker 13: No, I have I had looks. Yep.
Speaker 8: I moved down to Tucson and joined the team back
Speaker 8: in August of twenty sixteen. We played our first ever game.
Speaker 8: It was October the twenty eighth of twenty sixteen. So yeah,
Speaker 8: I've been here for the run.
Speaker 13: It's been.
Speaker 8: It's been a lot of fun. It's been great to
Speaker 8: find fans that were already die hards at the sport
Speaker 8: of hockey. But then I'm proud of a lot of
Speaker 8: the new fans that we've made. You know, die hard
Speaker 8: hockey fans and that fan base to the Roadrunners have
Speaker 8: been able to put together.
Speaker 13: In our eight seasons. Playing here is certainly.
Speaker 8: Something we're happy about and and you know, something that
Speaker 8: really was instrumental in ownership.
Speaker 13: You know, not necessarily switching course for at least taking
Speaker 13: a long hard.
Speaker 8: Look at what that impact would be for the team
Speaker 8: to leave Tucson. So we're excited about that piece of
Speaker 8: it and happy with all of the roots that we've
Speaker 8: planned here in the Old Pueblo.
Speaker 13: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Again, why do you think it's worked here? Because we
Speaker 4: had so many little hockey franchises over through the years
Speaker 4: we were talking about it didn't didn't last, did something,
Speaker 4: didn't even get onto the ice. But I guess maybe
Speaker 4: because maybe this is obvious because you're, you know, affiliated
Speaker 4: with an NHL team and there's that support too, But
Speaker 4: you also had to find the fans, and you know,
Speaker 4: maybe that was part of the reason why the team
Speaker 4: is still here, is because there's a bit of a
Speaker 4: fan base that can support the team.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 13: I think there's a lot of different pieces to.
Speaker 1: It, you know.
Speaker 8: I mean, some of the struggles that had happened with
Speaker 8: hockey here in Tucson, prior to us coming. I don't
Speaker 8: know all the ins and outs of it, but certainly
Speaker 8: have heard the history, and we heard about it when
Speaker 8: we first came to town. You know, of of you know,
Speaker 8: well one year and you'll be gone in one year.
Speaker 8: You know, we heard a lot of that, and you know,
Speaker 8: once I heard.
Speaker 13: Some of the stories.
Speaker 8: You know, certainly don't want to belittle anyone that was
Speaker 8: here prior to us, but it really feels like maybe
Speaker 8: they weren't set up to succeed, or maybe the structure
Speaker 8: from an ownership standpoint, didn't have the resources that were there.
Speaker 8: Like you mentioned the team, there was a team. I
Speaker 8: guess it didn't even play right. They think they quit
Speaker 8: before they never got a game under their belt. And
Speaker 8: I mean that that all stems from, you know, whatever
Speaker 8: that depth in the ownership department is or how they
Speaker 8: were saying up. I knew when I took the opportunity to.
Speaker 13: Come here to Tucson, from the support we were going
Speaker 13: to have.
Speaker 8: From the National Hockey League level and from the Arizona
Speaker 8: Coyotes and what they had, I knew that there was
Speaker 8: resources here. They had a commitment from the city, a
Speaker 8: commitment from Rio Nuevo and renovations done to a building
Speaker 8: to bring it up to American Hockey League standards. It
Speaker 8: was something that I felt very strongly we could make
Speaker 8: it work. And then, you know, take that aside of it.
Speaker 8: You have to obviously have people that want to come
Speaker 8: and sit in the seats and be a part of
Speaker 8: that fan base, and you have to put on an
Speaker 8: entertaining product. You got to have something I think that's
Speaker 8: affordable for families, that's a great opportunity for guys night
Speaker 8: out and girls' night out, and really need to appeal
Speaker 8: to a large broad audience. And you know, we tried
Speaker 8: to put every promotion in place we could to see
Speaker 8: what worked, and I think we found some niches that
Speaker 8: were pretty successful. But I don't think we knew and
Speaker 8: I think, you know, maybe underestimated a little what that
Speaker 8: core fan base was. Whether it was transplants that had
Speaker 8: moved to Tucson from the Midwest, from retired from Canada,
Speaker 8: that snowbird population that grew up Blackhawks fans or Minnesota
Speaker 8: wild fans. They were here and they were dying for
Speaker 8: the sport that they loved, to be right here in
Speaker 8: their backyard and not having to drive two hours up
Speaker 8: the road.
Speaker 3: To see the Coyotes.
Speaker 8: And then you also had that little chunk of fan
Speaker 8: that did make that trip up there several times a
Speaker 8: year when they were in Glendale and then moved over
Speaker 8: to Tempe. They weren't opposed to that, just like they
Speaker 8: go up to the Diamondbacks games and Cardinals games and
Speaker 8: Suns games. They were hockey fans and they went up there,
Speaker 8: and now all of a sudden, right here in their
Speaker 8: backyard in downtown was this American Hockey League team with
Speaker 8: first round draft picks and you know, a lot of
Speaker 8: great players and a lot of depth with young guys,
Speaker 8: and I think they just sort of fell in love
Speaker 8: with it. And then, you know, a lot of credit
Speaker 8: to my staff and really doing some good things in
Speaker 8: the community and trying to make sure that we were
Speaker 8: a community asset that this town and that really the
Speaker 8: entire region of southern Arizona could be proud of. And
Speaker 8: that's what we've tried to do and tried to make
Speaker 8: sure we can hold that mantle, you know, each and
Speaker 8: every year, and we'll continue to do that here this year.
Speaker 2: So it's a general manager day today because we have
Speaker 2: Fader on the other side of this hour with you.
Speaker 2: So what's your role in your in your title, you
Speaker 2: probably don't make decisions day to day in terms of
Speaker 2: players up and down, So what is it or do
Speaker 2: you No, I do not know.
Speaker 13: There is a pretty good divide of the business side
Speaker 13: and the hockey side. So my role deals with the
Speaker 13: business side of the.
Speaker 8: Operations, from the staffing, from the the day to day
Speaker 8: on the on, all of the financial decisions, everything that
Speaker 8: goes with getting the team where they need to be,
Speaker 8: you know, taking care of getting them from A to
Speaker 8: B and giving them all the tools that they need
Speaker 8: to be able to play when.
Speaker 13: It comes to making any assessments about.
Speaker 8: A hockey team or you know, I'm I'm probably no
Speaker 8: more of of of an expert on that as just
Speaker 8: a fan in the stands. I would never pretend to
Speaker 8: go and tell our coach how to run a power player,
Speaker 8: how to take care take.
Speaker 13: Part of a penalty kill.
Speaker 8: That's where the hockey guys come in and developing the team.
Speaker 8: We work very closely with our NHL affiliate, which for
Speaker 8: the first eight seasons was the Arizona Coyotes and now
Speaker 8: this year for the first year of a three year
Speaker 8: agreement with the Utah Hockey Club. So they put the
Speaker 8: team together, they put the roster together, and they have
Speaker 8: a mission of putting together a successful culture for their
Speaker 8: players so that when they get up to the National
Speaker 8: Hockey League, they know what winning is, they know what
Speaker 8: being a good, true professional is. And you know, I've
Speaker 8: got the obligation to make sure that they have all
Speaker 8: the tools that they're able to do that and that
Speaker 8: we can, you know, be a big part of the
Speaker 8: community and entertain an awful lot of people here in Tucson.
Speaker 4: You know, one of the beauties of minor league sports
Speaker 4: is watching these guys advance, you know, and move up.
Speaker 4: And we've had so many players come through here that
Speaker 4: have gone on to the NHL. Can you talk about
Speaker 4: maybe this year's roster and who we should be looking for,
Speaker 4: who's going to be a player who you know, could
Speaker 4: be playing in the NHL in a year or so.
Speaker 8: Absolutely, And I'm always so hesitant at the beginning of
Speaker 8: a year because on paper never wins championships, right, But
Speaker 8: I'm looking at this now, I can't wait to get started,
Speaker 8: because on paper, this might be the strongest group that
Speaker 8: we've ever had. The Coyotes when they were drafting and
Speaker 8: really in their rebuild plan that they had over the
Speaker 8: last four seasons under their general manager Bill Armstrong, they
Speaker 8: had a very intentional plan of drafting. They would trade personnel,
Speaker 8: they would trade assets. They had to really garner a
Speaker 8: lot of picks, and they would get ten, eleven, twelve
Speaker 8: guys each draft that they would draft, which usually was
Speaker 8: the most in the National Hockey League as far as
Speaker 8: just pure numbers of players drafted, well, those guys typically
Speaker 8: in the NHL, guys get drafted around eighteen years old,
Speaker 8: so those guys don't play in our league until they're twenty.
Speaker 8: So this is really kind of that culmination of when
Speaker 8: those years started of drafting those players that we're getting
Speaker 8: these guys now of age to get to the American
Speaker 8: Hockey League. So a lot of first round picks, a
Speaker 8: lot of great talent. There's a guy named Maverick Lamaru
Speaker 8: who's a six to seven defenseman. He's a giant, he
Speaker 8: was a first round pick two seasons ago, and he's
Speaker 8: somebody that the American Hockey League is kind of already
Speaker 8: looked out in front of. This is probably a guy
Speaker 8: we want to watch for an All Star, for somebody
Speaker 8: that's a great Hockey development prospect, So that's one that
Speaker 8: the fans can listen to listen to that name. Shane
Speaker 8: Doanes's son whose names Josh Doone, played with US last year,
Speaker 8: had an All Star year and then got his call
Speaker 8: up to the National Hockey League late in the year
Speaker 8: and had some really good success. Still a very young
Speaker 8: player with a lot to learn and a lot to
Speaker 8: grow with. But he's probably a guy that'll be back
Speaker 8: and forth or potentially in between the American League in
Speaker 8: the National Hockey League, so the fans will get to
Speaker 8: see more and more of him as well. So some
Speaker 8: really good young prospects. But then I think one of
Speaker 8: the biggest keys to what they're doing with this club
Speaker 8: this year from a roster standpoint is signing some of
Speaker 8: the veterans and getting guys to kind of mold these
Speaker 8: young players and to show them what it's like to
Speaker 8: be a professional, what they've learned over their time. So,
Speaker 8: you know, Robert Bortuso is a defenseman that won the
Speaker 8: Stanley Cup with Saint Louis several seasons ago. He is
Speaker 8: going to be spending some time with US. Kevin Connaughton
Speaker 8: has played close to five hundred National Hockey League games,
Speaker 8: so he'll be here and then an old fan favorite
Speaker 8: that our fans will remember from a few seas tis
Speaker 8: ago defenseman named Robbie Russo is one of our best
Speaker 8: players and always a first, second or third team All
Speaker 8: Ahl defenseman is coming back to Tucson. He loved it
Speaker 8: here and wanted to rejoin us and be a part
Speaker 8: of our future. So it's great to have Robbie back.
Speaker 8: So there's a lot of great names and a lot
Speaker 8: of great players that on paper, as I said, looks
Speaker 8: like it's going to be a fun year, and now
Speaker 8: we got to go out there and actually produce.
Speaker 2: No, it should be funny. We were talking about the
Speaker 2: longevity and you kind of did with David. With Dave here,
Speaker 2: Trader's here on the other side, and we talked about
Speaker 2: the longevity.
Speaker 3: You must be pretty proud of that because we talked
Speaker 3: about the teams that have come in and come out.
Speaker 2: Fader had the totals that we're here forever, even predated Toy.
Speaker 2: Mike Sidewinders did a nice little spot here, and you
Speaker 2: must love Tuson given that you've spend almost a decade here.
Speaker 1: I do, I do.
Speaker 8: I love it. Everyone that knows me or the fans
Speaker 8: that I have become close with here, with the team
Speaker 8: or my staff, they all know that Tucson's home for
Speaker 8: us and my family. I've bounced around in in the
Speaker 8: hockey world. This is my twenty ninth season, and I've
Speaker 8: been in eight different markets over that time, and now
Speaker 8: here Tucson for the last eight years. We love it
Speaker 8: here and Tucson from a sports town, seeing what the
Speaker 8: university means here to this to this community and really
Speaker 8: rallying behind that and finding that there is a place
Speaker 8: for hockey and a place for the sport that I
Speaker 8: love and have been a part of for so long.
Speaker 8: And you know, Tucson I think has really shown it's
Speaker 8: a hockey town, and I think it's just a tremendous
Speaker 8: sports town. In the sky is the limit in the
Speaker 8: future is so bright for all that's going to happen
Speaker 8: in Tucson with hockey as well as many other opportunities
Speaker 8: in sports that potentially could be coming down the road.
Speaker 3: What's the what's the health of the of the AHL.
Speaker 4: I know it's been around forever, what I mean And
Speaker 4: when I when I watch kind of from a distance
Speaker 4: and I'm seeing you're playing in cities that maybe in
Speaker 4: some cases have had NHL teams or still have NHL teams.
Speaker 4: What what's the thinking behind that, Like like San Jose,
Speaker 4: for example, is there still a team there?
Speaker 8: Yep, there is there there. You know from the health
Speaker 8: of the American Hockey League is a minor league. It's
Speaker 8: the It's as as strong as it's ever been. It's
Speaker 8: the number two league in the world. So you have
Speaker 8: the National Hockey League and the next best group of
Speaker 8: players are playing in the American Hockey League with markets
Speaker 8: that range all the way from from a Tucson to
Speaker 8: larger markets like you mentioned with Charlotte and Cleveland. Some
Speaker 8: teams double in Calvary, they have two teams, they have
Speaker 8: the Calvary Flames and then they have their affiliate who plays.
Speaker 13: In our league. And you mentioned San Jose.
Speaker 8: So the health of the league has never been better.
Speaker 8: Developing players is the number one goal of the league
Speaker 8: as far as trying to get these guys ready to
Speaker 8: get up in the National Hockey League, much like you'd
Speaker 8: see in the in Major League Baseball at the Triple
Speaker 8: A level. But all these communities have their own little
Speaker 8: pockets of trying to do great things in their markets
Speaker 8: and and really making a difference in an impact. And
Speaker 8: you know, I'm a fan of it obviously, and I
Speaker 8: love what this league does. I think one of the
Speaker 8: things that goes maybe you know, unspoken or overlooked a
Speaker 8: little is it's a development league for players, absolutely, but
Speaker 8: it's a development league for coaches, for trainers, for front
Speaker 8: office staff members. I mean, we're in eight years here
Speaker 8: with the road Runners. We're proud to say that we've
Speaker 8: put forty different front office workers, more than forty into
Speaker 8: higher ranks, whether that's working for the Suns, which we
Speaker 8: have several, whether that's working in the National Football League
Speaker 8: or going up and staying in the hockey world to
Speaker 8: the National Hockey League. So when you come to the
Speaker 8: road Runners, our average age of our staff is a
Speaker 8: little younger, maybe obviously than what the NFL or ANHL is,
Speaker 8: but that's because we have the opportunity to allow them
Speaker 8: to learn, to grow, to make mistakes, and to get
Speaker 8: better from them, and then we want them to move on.
Speaker 8: We want them to find success at whatever it is
Speaker 8: that their dreams are, and we love being a part
Speaker 8: of that. So when we see all those players that
Speaker 8: are up there, which it's up to seventy players that
Speaker 8: have played in Tucson that are now in the National
Speaker 8: Hockey League. And then we see what we've done as
Speaker 8: well with the front office staff and two different coaches
Speaker 8: as well, and Mike Van Ryan and Jay Verity that
Speaker 8: were coaches of the Roadrunners that are now on coaching
Speaker 8: staffs in the National Hockey League. That's one of the
Speaker 8: things I'm most proud of, and to show that we're
Speaker 8: really doing what we're supposed to be down here at
Speaker 8: this level.
Speaker 4: One last thing I was going to say, a couple
Speaker 4: of years ago, I had a chance to go to
Speaker 4: the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and there was
Speaker 4: your jersey.
Speaker 13: It's on display with.
Speaker 4: The maybe like in the Coyotes section or something, but
Speaker 4: the Tucson jersey is on display. In fact, if you
Speaker 4: want to go to a great Hall of Fame, that
Speaker 4: is right near the top of the list.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 13: I agree, we did.
Speaker 8: The history there is unbelievable and we're honored to have
Speaker 8: our jersey up there. They really like They usually put
Speaker 8: up teams that are in their first year and so
Speaker 8: they would have those there for the owners. But they've
Speaker 8: kept us up all these time. Because I think of
Speaker 8: our location. I think it's unique to see, you know,
Speaker 8: the ice hockey sport we talked about earlier one hundred
Speaker 8: and seven degrees outside, but.
Speaker 13: So far down in the Southwest and so close to.
Speaker 8: The Mexican border. I think they really view us as
Speaker 8: maybe even a little bit of what the future of
Speaker 8: hockey may be. Is we're seeing our fan base grow
Speaker 8: exponentially to the Hispanic market using an alternate identity called Alazo,
Speaker 8: to the Tucson separate uniform we use. We just want
Speaker 8: to make sure that everyone understands. Hockeys for everyone, and
Speaker 8: it's a great sport. And I think that the National
Speaker 8: Hockey League has recognized some of those efforts and us
Speaker 8: trying to help grow the sport in a non traditional market.
Speaker 8: So we're happy that they've kept the Roadrunner marks and
Speaker 8: logos up there in the Hall of Fame, and anybody
Speaker 8: that jumps in there can see them and read a
Speaker 8: little bit about the history of hockey and Tucson.
Speaker 2: So already you start Friday Saturday, right, it's right around
Speaker 2: the corner.
Speaker 13: Preseason games this weekend on the road in Henderson.
Speaker 8: I wish we could add a home one, but it
Speaker 8: didn't work out that way, and then our regular season
Speaker 8: starts next Friday. But the big day for us and
Speaker 8: for people down here in Tucson October the nineteenth. That's
Speaker 8: the home opener we open this year against the Texas Stars.
Speaker 8: So it's a great opportunity to come to the game.
Speaker 8: We have a red carpet and before the game to
Speaker 8: meet all of our players, watch them walk the red
Speaker 8: carpet as they come in, a tailgate party before the game,
Speaker 8: and then let's fill the Tucson Arena and get this
Speaker 8: team off to a great start.
Speaker 3: Bob, maybe my last one. Jay was here, Mike was here.
Speaker 2: They were connected to the Sidewinders for a few years,
Speaker 2: and they always said, then you show up for a game,
Speaker 2: even if it's your first one, you're hooked.
Speaker 3: I'm not a hockey guy.
Speaker 2: I don't know many, in fact, but if I went
Speaker 2: to the Roadrunners, would I be hooked?
Speaker 13: I think so.
Speaker 8: I'm obviously biased, but I always tell people give it
Speaker 8: one shot, and as a live sport, I don't think
Speaker 8: there's anything better. I went to a Cardinals game recently
Speaker 8: and watch it was fun the atmosphere, but I'd much
Speaker 8: rather sit on my couch and watch a football game.
Speaker 8: Baseball is a little slower to watch. You a basketball's
Speaker 8: fun on television as well. I think they do a
Speaker 8: great job of making that a TV production. Hockey is
Speaker 8: a sport you've got to see in person. I don't
Speaker 8: think you can appreciate how fast and how big these
Speaker 8: players are doing what they do on ice skates. It's physical.
Speaker 8: There's so much talent out there that I personally think
Speaker 8: you come and watch it one time, you're going to
Speaker 8: enjoy it, and then if you're not a huge hockey fan,
Speaker 8: you don't understand the rules, maybe it's not your favorite sport,
Speaker 8: then that's on us. We want to make sure then
Speaker 8: that we entertain you so that even if you come
Speaker 8: and didn't really catch on to the sport and it's
Speaker 8: not going to be your number one choice of the
Speaker 8: four major sports, that you had a great time because
Speaker 8: we entertained you with our music, with our video clips,
Speaker 8: our movie clips, and the atmosphere that we provide. So
Speaker 8: we want to make sure we're great for a three
Speaker 8: year old that's jumping around in the aisles with their family,
Speaker 8: or for that diehard hockey fan that grew up watching
Speaker 8: Gordy outplay. We want to make sure we can entertain
Speaker 8: everybody and have a place for everyone to call home
Speaker 8: for their hockey team.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks Bob forget to cancel those two laps that
Speaker 2: we made you do before.
Speaker 13: Altho, I got to take them. I earned them. I'm
Speaker 13: gonna know if you worry, guys, I appreciate you having
Speaker 13: me on.
Speaker 3: All right, Bob, take take care a good season, Bob.
Speaker 4: Bob Huffman totally true what he just said about spectator sports.
Speaker 4: It is fantastic to watch. I mean, as a little kid,
Speaker 4: I would go to games, you know, and I was
Speaker 4: just first of all, like just what they're doing is
Speaker 4: amazing to watch. But just the sound of the skating
Speaker 4: and hitting on the boards, it's a great. It is
Speaker 4: a great sport to watch in person.
Speaker 3: Go see a hockey game, get a fight, go see
Speaker 3: a fight or what.
Speaker 4: They don't They don't even do that as much as
Speaker 4: they used to do. But that, I mean, that was
Speaker 4: kind of part of the attraction back in the way.
Speaker 4: But in terms of just and in person event, it's
Speaker 4: right up there with anything else. Yeah, fast, Okay, let's
Speaker 4: take a break, go and come back.
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Speaker 2: if you just want to get some food real quick.
Speaker 2: Discover the taste of Casino del Soul during your next visit.
Speaker 2: Discover with Soul. They've got a lot of places in
Speaker 2: there to eat. Alita's, the Mobi's, the Pizza place in
Speaker 2: the corner there of course, the p Y, and then the.
Speaker 3: Asian place there.
Speaker 10: Be.
Speaker 3: I can't forget. I know what it is, I just
Speaker 3: can't see. I can to so a lot of different
Speaker 3: different places.
Speaker 2: Obviously great atmosphere, the prettiest casino around with the sky
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: So if you remember again, going way back when they
Speaker 4: first opened, they did a big promotion here in Tucson
Speaker 4: for the Super Bowl, which I think was the one
Speaker 4: in Tempee and that can give him away tickets the
Speaker 4: ninety six game.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, when did the casino open? About that time?
Speaker 3: Around the almost three years. God got pretty sure that's
Speaker 3: what it was for.
Speaker 4: I remember the r TV station had something to do
Speaker 4: with it where I had to go out there, and
Speaker 4: that might have been the first time I ever went
Speaker 4: to the casino years.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it's that's a long time ago because the packs,
Speaker 2: the you know, the casino packs of best starting then.
Speaker 3: But it was ninety six when the super Bowl.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember that date, but I'm trying to remember
Speaker 4: if that was the actual game. It might have been
Speaker 4: a different super Bowl, but they could have been. They
Speaker 4: had something to do with us, Yeah, a lot of promotions.
Speaker 4: They're looking forward to having to come and visit us
Speaker 4: on October tenth, and then we'll probably be the twenty fourth,
Speaker 4: and then who knows after that. We'll set the dates
Speaker 4: after that and you'll get to see Jay and give
Speaker 4: him hell. You know, he's actually doing very well and
Speaker 4: his picks. We both went five for five five last week.
Speaker 4: So you do your picks on Fridays.
Speaker 3: Fridays.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're gonna move them to Thursdays when we're at
Speaker 2: at the casino.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what are you thinking about Saturday's game?
Speaker 8: Here?
Speaker 3: Ye?
Speaker 15: Here?
Speaker 3: Uh, I don't even know what the what's the spread's
Speaker 3: gotta be favorite, right, what's the spread? The Henry? Uh,
Speaker 3: probably a pretty good favorite all week. Oh have they
Speaker 3: a pretty good meeting Steven right, Yeah, yeah, then that's
Speaker 3: what it's going to be. The first one.
Speaker 2: The third East fans got of at six six I'd
Speaker 2: probably give I'd probably give the points. I take Arizona
Speaker 2: minus six. It's not that I'm sold. I just don't
Speaker 2: think that Texas text is that good. Yeah, and and
Speaker 2: and if if Arizona has found itself, you know, maybe
Speaker 2: this is the team. But I don't know. You probably
Speaker 2: don't read me day, but I said this week in
Speaker 2: my story on Sunday, is that, uh, we saw three games.
Speaker 2: They didn't look that good. Rights, they had one good game.
Speaker 3: So which team? Which one? Which team are you gonna believe? Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's the funny thing about football too.
Speaker 4: And he really does seem to change from week to week,
Speaker 4: sometimes very dramatically, and the other team matters.
Speaker 2: I mean, it depends on who you play. But people say, oh,
Speaker 2: they look great, especially week one of the NFL. Oh,
Speaker 2: those Cowboys look great. They're gonna be and then in
Speaker 2: the next two three weeks they look horrible. Right, it's
Speaker 2: how you play that day and the opponent you've played.
Speaker 3: You know, there was something I read today, and I.
Speaker 4: There's something I thought I saw today where a handful
Speaker 4: of starters on Texas Tech's defense are injured. So again
Speaker 4: that could figure into the line or the strategy, but
Speaker 4: there were a number of players that are going to
Speaker 4: be out for Texas.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, hey, you're on the air and on the wall.
Speaker 3: This is Steve.
Speaker 13: I see it's Jim.
Speaker 3: Jim. What's the word? Well wait, wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 13: Go on to talk about football game last week?
Speaker 3: Okay, before you go there, did you how was that
Speaker 3: crow tasting?
Speaker 2: I was what?
Speaker 3: How was that crow tasting?
Speaker 13: I don't have any crow to eat?
Speaker 3: Okay, then what do you have to eat? Tell me
Speaker 3: what you're gonna talk about? Then?
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 13: I'm sure Jay has been walking around somewhere in too
Speaker 13: Soon all week bringing like that.
Speaker 2: Jess Shire Cat he did call us Monday and say
Speaker 2: that he wanted the people to started and shut up
Speaker 2: to talk about the coach's jobs.
Speaker 13: I didn't say anything like that.
Speaker 3: No, that wasn't directed at you. That was just the
Speaker 3: normal things on Twitter.
Speaker 13: Here's what happened to me, Stee. For me, that was
Speaker 13: a different team that showed up Saturday night, and the
Speaker 13: difference in my opinion as a former competitor on two
Speaker 13: or three different levels, is they were for the first
Speaker 13: game that they were prepared to play, they were focused,
Speaker 13: and they were intense about their focus. And by the
Speaker 13: time Spooks put his helmet into the center of that
Speaker 13: running backs on the left edge and knock him down
Speaker 13: for fourth and out, everybody's confidence was surging, right right.
Speaker 2: I think in fact, you texted me about that time.
Speaker 2: It says they're confident, they're building their confidence. And I
Speaker 2: think you texted me somewhere in the third maybe early fourth,
Speaker 2: is they're going to win this game.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I did.
Speaker 4: You only see some intensity and on the defense, I
Speaker 4: mean there there were there were just times where the
Speaker 4: poor quarterback was a true freshman. You could tell he
Speaker 4: looked like he was scared to death sometimes because Arizona
Speaker 4: was coming at him pretty fast.
Speaker 13: What's the entire game they were? Well, as a team,
Speaker 13: you you you plan to win, you prepare to win,
Speaker 13: and only then can you play to win. And I
Speaker 13: do think that this week, this past week, they were
Speaker 13: prepared to win and that's what they did.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, so, go ahead, go ahead. Well, I
Speaker 2: think that there was a lot of factors involved.
Speaker 3: One Utah.
Speaker 2: They had beaten them last year. They knew that they
Speaker 2: were capable. They had to play out of their mind,
Speaker 2: and they did. The change of the offensive scheme helped
Speaker 2: probably get them prepared for that.
Speaker 13: And one thing, huh what change? What change in the
Speaker 13: offensive scheme?
Speaker 2: They moved from offensive coordinators. Okay, so there's that there
Speaker 2: was a different plate calling from a different person. Uh
Speaker 2: So a lot of factors that that played a part,
Speaker 2: I mean, not just one.
Speaker 13: Well, and I want to add something about Flacida. He
Speaker 13: made some good decisions and he made a couple of
Speaker 13: really fantastic throws, both of them.
Speaker 3: To Burnett, and those were great throws.
Speaker 13: Great catches, and and he's got to come off of
Speaker 13: T mac as a full time pursuit. He's kind of
Speaker 13: spread the ball around and once that happens in a
Speaker 13: number of games, these teams won't be able to key
Speaker 13: on T. Matt full time with two or three.
Speaker 4: Players, right, Yeah, right, I'm sure the defense does know that.
Speaker 4: Yeah sure, who the number one target is?
Speaker 3: So sure? Which makes teams.
Speaker 13: I'm sorry. They still have one deficiency that I checked on,
Speaker 13: and that is that they they can't control the ball
Speaker 13: for the clock in spite of losing, Utah had had
Speaker 13: the ball for about ten more minutes than they did
Speaker 13: and ran twelve or fifteen more plays. And that's happened
Speaker 13: in every game so far.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see what happens the spread of six. What
Speaker 3: do you like about that? Or don't?
Speaker 15: Uh?
Speaker 13: Who's getting the six? Texas?
Speaker 3: Texas getting the six?
Speaker 13: Yeah, that's probably a good bet.
Speaker 3: I think so too.
Speaker 4: And it's they're talking high scoring too. I mean the
Speaker 4: Runders like sixty two that.
Speaker 13: Tex scores forty points a game, just expected.
Speaker 3: And they have a quarterback too who's good.
Speaker 4: Fourteen touchdown passes already this year in just a couple
Speaker 4: of games, three games, four games?
Speaker 3: Does he run a lot?
Speaker 13: Davis?
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 13: He's I haven't. I haven't seen them play yet. I've
Speaker 13: seen some highlies with them involved, but not a game.
Speaker 3: I need to look a little deeper into this, into
Speaker 3: their statistics.
Speaker 4: He's got fourteen touchdown passes, two interceptions thrown Fronder over
Speaker 4: fourteen hundred yards in their four games. So yeah, bigger kids,
Speaker 4: sixty two and twenty pounds.
Speaker 13: Yeah, that's a big quarterback.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 13: Well, all of my statements about wins and losses and
Speaker 13: performance are all conditional, and so if those conditions are met,
Speaker 13: they usually take place. So I'd also like to say
Speaker 13: how refreshing it is to see the Tigers step up
Speaker 13: and winning win a series against the Astros.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, we'll see what happens next. Next step who
Speaker 2: they played out? Yep, all right, thanks, thanks Jim, thanks
Speaker 2: for calling. Appreciate it. You just got a couple of
Speaker 2: minute stuff do on this segment, so if you want
Speaker 2: to call, you got to be real quick with it.
Speaker 2: Otherwise we're gonna get to the commercials and then we're
Speaker 2: gonna have Henry with the break the news and then
Speaker 2: have Fader on the other side as well.
Speaker 3: Okay, anything else, Dave.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Detroit, I mean it was that's an impressive win.
Speaker 4: Like he was saying, I don't think anybody expected Houston
Speaker 4: to lose in the first the first round like that.
Speaker 4: They've been to World Series and the AL Championship Series
Speaker 4: consistently in the last decade.
Speaker 2: I was just going to ask you they're probably living
Speaker 2: off a reputation now well and good play because they
Speaker 2: didn't play well at the beginning of the year. I
Speaker 2: don't think they rallied in the middle and then they
Speaker 2: finished pretty pretty what they finished.
Speaker 3: They make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: In fact, I've been communicating with Francisco Romero here in
Speaker 2: the last through thirty minutes. He said, what are you
Speaker 2: gonna do? Are you gonna come back home? And he says, well,
Speaker 2: I can't because I sold my house or someone's living
Speaker 2: in his house. He lives in Houston now full time.
Speaker 2: And he says, uh, he wants to be the sidekick
Speaker 2: every now and again. Well, he has to be infict
Speaker 2: in town. I don't want to do it on the road.
Speaker 3: Does he have any U of A connections anymore?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still doing the Hispanic website all you know,
Speaker 2: the information they put on, but not the broadcast. No,
Speaker 2: his buddies are his buddies, the ones that used to
Speaker 2: work with him there. I think they just kind of
Speaker 2: slipped into the chairs and that used to have So Yeah, no, No,
Speaker 2: he's a big time now, he's you know, he is.
Speaker 3: A big time majors for a long time. Yeah, he has.
Speaker 3: I've laspianol good good U of a grad what Pueblo
Speaker 3: High School? Been all over the place? Yep, got a
Speaker 3: few World Series rings more than we do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right, I had to buy. I had to
Speaker 2: buy his mind from the bubblegum machine. That's worth about
Speaker 2: a buck now, yeah, okay, are we ready to go?
Speaker 2: Henry please say yes. I guess we're okay. Thanks and