Speaker 1: This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, everybody, Welcome to you. I on the Ball
Speaker 2: here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and
Speaker 2: with me today Dave Silver. Dave, how were you.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Good to be back.
Speaker 3: Good to be back.
Speaker 4: A busy week for everybody around town, but good to
Speaker 4: be here talking basketball and yeah, golf, tournament's over.
Speaker 3: Things like that. I did not. Did you have a
Speaker 3: chance to go out there?
Speaker 2: I did Saturday and Sunday. Nice weather. On Sunday weather
Speaker 2: was okay. On Saturday, walked a lot. My feet hurt.
Speaker 2: I'm getting old.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So you know, I watched most of the coverage
Speaker 4: on on Sunday and it looked it looked great.
Speaker 3: Great, It was great.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I saw I got home before the final maybe
Speaker 2: three or four holes, so I wanted to watch on TV.
Speaker 3: It was great, It looked great, It looked good.
Speaker 4: I mean visually, you know, we all know what Tucson
Speaker 4: can look like this time of year in blue skies
Speaker 4: and the mountains.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was perfect for TV.
Speaker 4: I'm sure the Chamber of Commerce loved having Tucson all
Speaker 4: over the place for those few hours on the Golf Channel,
Speaker 4: and it was it was really good. It looked you know,
Speaker 4: it looked good. I don't know what else you can say.
Speaker 4: Yeah youah, no question. Next day, a lot of people
Speaker 4: enjoyed the day. I'm sure we'll try to catch up
Speaker 4: with people at the Comcucators later this week to talk
Speaker 4: about that. What did you think about the basketball situation?
Speaker 4: Just to catch up The brue.
Speaker 2: Ha ha was not so much about the game, but
Speaker 2: about Tommy's cumments about the fan.
Speaker 4: Yeah, talking to kind of comparing the Kansas fans to
Speaker 4: what we have here yesterday.
Speaker 2: I thought, before you start, we had a very good
Speaker 2: show with a lot of people calling in and watching
Speaker 2: their opinions of for and against Tommy's thoughts. He did
Speaker 2: talk about it today in his press conference. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure who asked the question. So we're gonna have Brian
Speaker 2: Peterson at the four fifteen hours for seventeen hour talking
Speaker 2: about that and who asked him the question about the
Speaker 2: fans and he said he just wants them to be better.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, you know, I mean we all kind of
Speaker 4: know what's what the crowd looks like at McHale Center.
Speaker 3: We have for years.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think you can even compare it to
Speaker 4: some of the places where, like Kansas, crowd just goes
Speaker 4: crazy in the Dukes. I mean those are also the
Speaker 4: exceptions too. I think most crowds are not like that.
Speaker 2: Did you ever go, and you you're from that area,
Speaker 2: the northern California area, did you ever go to a
Speaker 2: Stanford game when I ever want to play?
Speaker 3: I never did. I don't think I went to believe
Speaker 3: it or not.
Speaker 4: I actually went to a Stanford ASU game almost by
Speaker 4: accident one time when I was younger, but I never went.
Speaker 2: May Those Maples fantastic, fantastic atmosphere. Stanford was rocking at
Speaker 2: the time, with Montgomery and Lout obviously facing in Stanford.
Speaker 2: It was crazy, probably the best atmosphere I'd ever been to.
Speaker 2: And then Matt Court at Oregon crazy place, crazy times
Speaker 2: with the Stotto Myers going back home and played against
Speaker 2: the Ducks, and when Orgon was pretty good. There's been
Speaker 2: other places l s U a time or two, Michigan
Speaker 2: State come time or two, So you know there are
Speaker 2: other places other than Arizona. That's that has a pretty
Speaker 2: good crowd.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, But I mean we always had the reputation
Speaker 4: in Tucson just for having big crowds. Obviously, they were
Speaker 4: the Pack ten and Pac twelve in attendance forever, So
Speaker 4: I mean we had that going for us in Tucson.
Speaker 4: But as far as crazy routiness, there would be those moments,
Speaker 4: there'd be a few games in the season, especially in
Speaker 4: the earlier years, where there would just be a huge yeah,
Speaker 4: you know, big crowd and just the intensity and just
Speaker 4: the excitement for certain teams that was away.
Speaker 2: You were there, You got here in eighty three, right before,
Speaker 2: right same week. Maybe. So at what point, what point
Speaker 2: did you see that this that he had some magic
Speaker 2: going on and the crowd believed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I would guess maybe by year two we sort
Speaker 4: of saw something again.
Speaker 3: And the fans started to show up. Fans started to
Speaker 3: show up, but not full probably not no, not completely.
Speaker 4: No, I don't I'm sure we could probably look up
Speaker 4: the statistics and what the average attendance was in those
Speaker 4: early couple of years. But by the time they made
Speaker 4: the tournament, you know, all of a sudden, the bandwagon
Speaker 4: was there and people should jump on it and people
Speaker 4: are buying season tickets and you know that kind of situation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he was right when he was out there saying,
Speaker 2: you better, Richard, you better get your tickets now because
Speaker 2: it's gonna be sold out or they have me a
Speaker 2: hard ticket again. So yeah, and that turned out to
Speaker 2: be what it was. In fact, I was with the
Speaker 2: group of my friends last night and I asked him
Speaker 2: we had a show today and I don't know if
Speaker 2: you listened to it. They said, yeah, maybe, maybe not.
Speaker 2: And I says, do you like the crowds? And they don't.
Speaker 2: They have tickets and they said, it's not like it
Speaker 2: used to be. I didn't prompt them. I didn't say anything,
Speaker 2: and it has it's not like it used to be, right,
Speaker 2: It's simply not. And you've gone to a game or two, right, Yeah? Sure,
Speaker 2: which did you go to the Big Ones game?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 4: So Duke was obviously that was that was probably the marquee. Yeah,
Speaker 4: at least early in the season.
Speaker 2: And they were and they were not as great as
Speaker 2: they should have been, but they were losing most of
Speaker 2: the game, right, so there was hard to cheer and
Speaker 2: get them go, right.
Speaker 3: And then it was great.
Speaker 4: The first maybe ten minutes of the game, and then
Speaker 4: when pretty much took control, that was that was it.
Speaker 4: But you know, I mean, there was always such a
Speaker 4: situation where you'd circle that, you know, that game, the
Speaker 4: you know, the Stanford games or U C l A
Speaker 4: for sure, uh during the regular season.
Speaker 3: And there would be a couple of you know, big non.
Speaker 4: Conference games that we would look forward to, and and
Speaker 4: the crowd you could just tell. I mean, there's enough
Speaker 4: smart basketball fans they know when to show up and
Speaker 4: when the game means more nowadays, who even knows what.
Speaker 3: That even means with the tournament, and yeah.
Speaker 4: Everybody kind of figures, well they're gonna get in.
Speaker 3: Now, let's just see how things go in the last
Speaker 3: parts of March.
Speaker 2: Right you you're you're I don't know, are you a fan?
Speaker 3: I probably ask you this before. Are you a fan?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, okay, what do you think on the level
Speaker 2: of fandom? How do you think they're going to do
Speaker 2: this weekend? And then at the beginning of.
Speaker 4: Next weekend, Well, you know, if they're gonna have to
Speaker 4: play Kansas again in Kansas City, which it you know,
Speaker 4: seems kind of likely.
Speaker 3: I don't really have super high hopes.
Speaker 4: Maybe I'm just being a fan and maybe not looking
Speaker 4: at realistically.
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
Speaker 4: Maybe it's going to be it's going to be a
Speaker 4: Kansas crowd. I would assume just being where it is,
Speaker 4: it's maybe not going to be as rowdy as it
Speaker 4: was in Lawrence. But I think we can expect it
Speaker 4: to be a tough a tough matchup for them no
Speaker 4: matter what.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be Michale, North, Kale, Midwest. What do
Speaker 3: you think? What do you think in what terms about
Speaker 3: the game itself? Well, I think that there.
Speaker 2: Was a friend of mine who and I said this yesterday,
Speaker 2: who said that Arizona travels well, they don't travel well.
Speaker 3: They'll have a lot of people.
Speaker 2: And you you know this because you you went to
Speaker 2: the places where they had a loves right right Midwest
Speaker 2: not so much.
Speaker 3: I don't know about I don't know.
Speaker 4: I mean, I'm sure there's some I'm sure there are
Speaker 4: going to be people who are looking forward to them
Speaker 4: coming that live in Kansas City or Saint Louis.
Speaker 3: I said, don't get to see him very often.
Speaker 4: Exactly so that it's always been the case whenever the
Speaker 4: team travels to, you know, a different destination like that.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a tournament, so there's a reason and people,
Speaker 4: I'm sure there's a pretty strong I don't know. I'm
Speaker 4: assuming the u A is going to send out playing
Speaker 4: load of people, the Boosters and the traveling Park. Yeah,
Speaker 4: the Bosters are gonna probably go with ye. And here's
Speaker 4: the issue.
Speaker 3: Here's the issue.
Speaker 2: Okay, so they played this weekend, right, They're got to
Speaker 2: turn around and go to the next destination. So either
Speaker 2: they have deep pockets or they don't have deep buckises
Speaker 2: to make these back to back trips. It's the reason
Speaker 2: why I'm not in Kansas City. I'm not going to
Speaker 2: go to Kansas City for a possibility of one game
Speaker 2: or two and then and then come right back, get
Speaker 2: dressed and showered and go to the next destination wherever
Speaker 2: that is.
Speaker 3: That's the problem.
Speaker 2: And I'm I'm you.
Speaker 3: I'm in fact, I.
Speaker 2: Might have to ask you for a phone number because
Speaker 2: this Isn't your son live in Denner?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well, I need I need a place to stay, McCall
Speaker 2: just a closet will do.
Speaker 3: It's not too far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So you know what I'm saying. It's it's not
Speaker 2: cheap for people to go from here to there to
Speaker 2: there Vegas. You know, people just drove up and and
Speaker 2: half of them didn't go to the games. They just
Speaker 2: want to have fun with the rest of the people.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I mean it's not certainly not going to
Speaker 4: be the same. We all know that in Kansas City,
Speaker 4: you know, in the heart of Kansas Country, it's going
Speaker 4: to be a big weekend for them.
Speaker 3: They can make a quick.
Speaker 4: Little forty mile drive over from from Lawrence. So yeah,
Speaker 4: and I mean it's basically the Big Twelve is very Midwestern.
Speaker 4: The Iowa State crowd apparently is going to be large.
Speaker 3: They were here, they were large here, they brought some people.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's going to be it'll be you know,
Speaker 4: I don't know how if you of a fans are
Speaker 4: really even care that much. I mean they do, but
Speaker 4: if they can get by Kansas, I suppose they'll.
Speaker 3: Care a little bit more.
Speaker 4: But I'm sure everyone's kind of like, really, we got
Speaker 4: to play these guys again, like less than a week later.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that kind of was the probably the thought
Speaker 2: of it, right, they got to beat somebody first, though,
Speaker 2: I think they have to beat who's the team coming
Speaker 2: to beat someone? Though? I thought they were on the
Speaker 2: bottom end of it. You have the bracket.
Speaker 3: I don't have the I don't have it in front.
Speaker 2: Of I thought we said that yesterday that there are
Speaker 2: a three right and the four is uh, who's the four?
Speaker 3: I can't remember.
Speaker 2: So that the four plays Kansas, I think, and then
Speaker 2: the next game would be Kansas. You'd have to get
Speaker 2: the bracket for me because I think the Cannis it
Speaker 2: might be b Yu. I mean by beuh right by
Speaker 2: us four. But who's going to play into the Arizona game.
Speaker 2: That's that's what I'm saying. It might be Kansas.
Speaker 4: The second round Kansas versus the winner of game four,
Speaker 4: which is today utah U c F will play Kansas
Speaker 4: tomorrow right right right where if that plays Arizona the
Speaker 4: winner of.
Speaker 2: The right of course, Yeah, so but who does Arizona
Speaker 2: play the winner of that game?
Speaker 3: The winner that bracket?
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, oh do they Yeah, so they
Speaker 2: didn't get it. They're gonna they're gonna buy it. Not
Speaker 2: a double buy that Arizona has a double buy?
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, no, no, but Kansas.
Speaker 4: Kansas does not. Who's come first? No, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: I'm just joking.
Speaker 3: Four seed is b Yu.
Speaker 4: So they're playing the winner of the Iowa State somebody game,
Speaker 4: Oh Iowa, it will be Iowa State and Cincinnati. Say
Speaker 4: that again, did Cincinnati win earlier? I think they're playing
Speaker 4: now they played the first game.
Speaker 3: Well here he is. Yeah, since I beat Oklahoma State. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's how it's going to play. Okay, so I'm just
Speaker 3: trying to get.
Speaker 4: Arizona, Arizona will play, will play Thursday late last.
Speaker 2: Game, And you're right, because I'm looking at the back
Speaker 2: of before.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they're at the bottom of the their the
Speaker 2: last game, right six thirty whatever it was going to
Speaker 2: be and Kansas again, and then they would.
Speaker 3: They get here there. I thought they were flopped, but
Speaker 3: they're not there the late day.
Speaker 4: They'd be the late game on Friday as well, which
Speaker 4: would be six thirty two, so on time, and then
Speaker 4: the championship is on Saturday.
Speaker 2: At I did say this, I said before they played
Speaker 2: on Saturday that if Arizona lost on Saturday, I think
Speaker 2: I think they'd win on this Friday against or yeah,
Speaker 2: this Thursday against Kansas. Because it's hard to be the
Speaker 2: team twice in a year. Specific the Arizona Arizona's kind
Speaker 2: of you know, just Timmy doesn't lose two in a
Speaker 2: row very often, if at all, UH and playing the
Speaker 2: same team twice back to back, that you know how
Speaker 2: to solve or try to solve the issues that that
Speaker 2: you're going to run up against.
Speaker 3: So we'll see, we'll see. It's it's it's tough.
Speaker 4: Because you know, again, all these teams have played each
Speaker 4: other and you just kind of never really know how
Speaker 4: things are gonna play it on neutral courts. You've got
Speaker 4: that that factor in as well. Did you does Texas
Speaker 4: Tech bring fans? Are their number two cere? They going
Speaker 4: to bring other people up to Kansas City?
Speaker 3: Who knows?
Speaker 4: Maybe there's good enough. Let me, Texas schools are one too.
Speaker 4: Did you follow the SEC at all?
Speaker 3: I mean a little bit, just that they're good.
Speaker 2: You're really good, and they say that the best conference
Speaker 2: ever and they some people last that I was I
Speaker 2: couldn't sleep. So I was watching the CBS college basketball
Speaker 2: team and they said that if you saw three or
Speaker 2: four SEC teams in the final four, that wouldn't be
Speaker 2: surprised and that would be a heck of a final four. Right,
Speaker 2: what if you saw something? What if you saw some
Speaker 2: big twelve teams in that uh four? I wouldn't be
Speaker 2: surprised if Houston's in there. I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 2: Kansas cut fire. They were the preseason number one. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so you know, Kansas Baylor not so much. If Arizona
Speaker 2: cut fire, I'm not sure that'll happen, but you never know.
Speaker 3: There's I mean, yeah, Baylor has been hot and cold.
Speaker 3: What are they there? I was State. Look at Ia State.
Speaker 4: I mean they're still the seventh seed. I mean, they
Speaker 4: gotta win a cup. They gotta win.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I was State. It's a tough, tough team.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: People were just a month ago saying that they have
Speaker 3: the chance to get to the final four to two.
Speaker 2: So, you know, it could be. I haven't really paid
Speaker 2: attention to Big twelve. I know Michigan State did a
Speaker 2: number on Michigan over the weekend. UH and there's some
Speaker 2: other other schools as well, But it could be a
Speaker 2: Big twelve sec situation in UH at the final four
Speaker 2: in San Antonio.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be interesting to see how Houston kind of
Speaker 4: maneuvers their way through the tournament.
Speaker 6: Two.
Speaker 4: Since they've kind of been, you know, kind of one
Speaker 4: of the favorites, they obviously win the Big twelve. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they're gonna be probably no worse than what a two
Speaker 4: seed in this thing. So it's gonna be kind of
Speaker 4: fun to see how the last year some of those
Speaker 4: Big twelve teams day Last year, I picked them all.
Speaker 2: I thought they were really good last year, and then
Speaker 2: their bad guy, their guard got hurt, right, and then
Speaker 2: they were toasted. Their issue is they can't score. And
Speaker 2: if you can't score against Bama or Auburn or whatever,
Speaker 2: it's gonna be tough. But they also don't let people score.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, they're obviously a great defensive team. The
Speaker 4: Wildcats ran and some of that when they play them here.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I mean, I just it's usually the tournament's pretty tight defensively.
Speaker 4: You know, there's not gonna be too many blowout games.
Speaker 4: You start getting scores in the seventies or so, things,
Speaker 4: they're gonna be tight.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm gonna let you introduce our first caller or
Speaker 2: not caller, but our guests here on the other side,
Speaker 2: And they were gonna have Brian Peterson at the four seventeen,
Speaker 2: who was coming on.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna bring in Marin Fader, who is gonna
Speaker 4: be in Tucson for the Tucson Festival of Books. She's
Speaker 4: an author and a writer sports writer from The Ringer,
Speaker 4: and she has got a new book out about Hakim
Speaker 4: Olajuan actually came out late last year. So she's going
Speaker 4: to be joining us here in a few minutes from
Speaker 4: LA and she'll be on her way to Tucson and
Speaker 4: we'll talk more about that and talk more about her book.
Speaker 2: Super Okay, So we'll take a break and come right back.
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Speaker 1: This is Ie on the Ball with Steve Ravera on
Speaker 1: Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Speaker 3: Subscribe now to the.
Speaker 1: Podcast on the iHeartRadio app just search I on the Ball.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome back to One of the Ball. Here all
Speaker 2: Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Ox stiver g through Dave Shilbert.
Speaker 2: We're trying to get hold of them. We're in and
Speaker 2: to see what's going on. Why don't you give it
Speaker 2: for the number? His number came in through? Uh so
Speaker 2: just make sure if five two o four one six
Speaker 2: seven four four zero. No, let's try her one more time.
Speaker 2: Uh what's the last? Just give me? Did you what
Speaker 2: for her her? No? I already got the first three.
Speaker 3: Three, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Hold on to have her call us or get the.
Speaker 3: Sorry guys.
Speaker 2: Sorrybody, we're trying to get her on the on the show.
Speaker 2: She had a hard time getting through, like we had
Speaker 2: some issues last week and now we're trying to get
Speaker 2: all over her and it.
Speaker 3: Was busy, so we'll see. Uh.
Speaker 2: Dave's well, he's switching the the number again. She's the
Speaker 2: author of a few books. Her latest is on Hakeem Olajauan.
Speaker 2: I guess it came out earlier this year, so it
Speaker 2: should be fun. We're gonna have a few of the
Speaker 2: authors out here in the next few days.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're lucky.
Speaker 4: We've got a number of sports books coming to two
Speaker 4: soun sports authors who've got some new books that have
Speaker 4: come out in the last year or so. So she's
Speaker 4: one of the authors we're looking forward to hearing from
Speaker 4: and seeing.
Speaker 3: She's written a couple of great books already. This is
Speaker 3: really her second book.
Speaker 4: She wrote a book about Giannis, the star for the
Speaker 4: Milwaukee Bucks, and she's a regular reporter for the Ringers,
Speaker 4: so she covers all kinds of sports, including basketball. So
Speaker 4: very timely that she's coming to Arizona this time of
Speaker 4: year where hoops seems to be the number one story
Speaker 4: no matter what.
Speaker 2: It's a variety of books. Right, it's a number of
Speaker 2: different type of books. Still not coming through. Ope, I
Speaker 2: wonder what's going on. Beatballs Meatball's phone came through, not
Speaker 2: hers five two O.
Speaker 4: I'm quite sure when we've had some you know, some
Speaker 4: problems connect to pass some of the callers or something
Speaker 4: with some of the some of the guests. So apologies
Speaker 4: for that, but hopefully we can get that worked out
Speaker 4: here sometimes.
Speaker 3: Yes, we'll get We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2: Okay, how many books sports books do you have in town?
Speaker 3: Do you think, Dave? We have about ten? Hello, you're
Speaker 3: on the air.
Speaker 2: Nine the ball?
Speaker 3: Is this marine?
Speaker 2: Hello, you're on the air and I on the ball?
Speaker 3: Is this marine?
Speaker 13: Yes?
Speaker 2: Hi, Hi, thanks for being uh patient with us.
Speaker 3: Good to hear from you.
Speaker 13: Yeah, of course, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: I'm curious and Dave sent me a bio and congratulations
Speaker 2: on all your success with the book.
Speaker 3: How many have you written in total? Oh?
Speaker 13: Thank you?
Speaker 12: Two?
Speaker 6: Two?
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, when did you do the first one?
Speaker 13: The first one was in twenty twenty one, which I
Speaker 13: also was at the festival and.
Speaker 4: You came to the festival. This is this is Dave
Speaker 4: here on the other end here. Thanks Thanks again for
Speaker 4: your patience with all this.
Speaker 3: What was it? What was it like when you're here
Speaker 3: the first time?
Speaker 4: I know this is it's fun that you get to
Speaker 4: come back and I know we're looking forward to seeing you.
Speaker 13: Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to be back.
Speaker 5: It's so fun.
Speaker 13: Me as like just a literary fan. I was like
Speaker 13: trying to go to everyone else's talk because there was
Speaker 13: just so many amazing authors there and like I grew
Speaker 13: up going to the La Times Festival books over here
Speaker 13: in Los Angeles, but the Tucson one is like even bigger.
Speaker 13: I mean, it's just really.
Speaker 3: Really fun, nice, nice.
Speaker 2: What what gave you the idea to write the first one?
Speaker 2: And how was acxis? Must have been easy, I mean
Speaker 2: the axis, not the writing.
Speaker 13: Yeah, yeah, I was gonna.
Speaker 2: Say nothing's easy about it.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 13: The first book on Yannis, I actually when I was
Speaker 13: working at Bleacher Report Bag, which is where I worked
Speaker 13: before my current position at The Ringer, I was doing
Speaker 13: a story on Yannis's forest brother, Alex. He was in
Speaker 13: high school at the time, and I just happened to
Speaker 13: go to their house and Yannis happened to be there.
Speaker 13: I didn't think he was going to be there, and
Speaker 13: so that story came out, and you know, it was
Speaker 13: very It was just received very well and it was
Speaker 13: a very emotional story, and I just thought this would
Speaker 13: make a great book. And so access was difficult because
Speaker 13: I got the book deal literally right before the pandemic,
Speaker 13: so I couldn't go to Greef and do a number
Speaker 13: of things that I wanted to for it. But it
Speaker 13: definitely it made me a better reporter, I think, and.
Speaker 3: He was accommodating. I assume he was accommodating.
Speaker 13: He didn't want to be interviewed again after the articles
Speaker 13: I was able to interview, Yeah, but I was able
Speaker 13: to interview his brother, others, his mom. So I have
Speaker 13: a lot of other interviews in the book, which was
Speaker 13: very helpful.
Speaker 4: When did you decide to write something about Akim Olaje One?
Speaker 13: Yeah, So I was finishing the Yannest book and I
Speaker 13: was trying to figure out what to do next, and
Speaker 13: you know, I just kept thinking about how they honest
Speaker 13: book was very much not just a biography of him
Speaker 13: in his life, but rather a story about the landscape
Speaker 13: of international players and how this new school of players
Speaker 13: like Yiannis are really dominating and many of them come
Speaker 13: from Africa, and I wanted to sort of see if
Speaker 13: I could write about you know, who said the stage
Speaker 13: for all of these players like Yannis Joel Embiid, who
Speaker 13: set the stage. And I was like, oh, I cam
Speaker 13: Alaje one. You know, why has there nothing been done
Speaker 13: on him? Just felt like he was the most underrated superstar.
Speaker 13: And you couple that with all the human interest, you know,
Speaker 13: fascinating parts of his life, from you know, religion to family.
Speaker 13: I just thought he would be the perfect subject.
Speaker 2: It's funny, Becau because I'm guessing now I could be wrong,
Speaker 2: but he was probably playing in Houston before you were
Speaker 2: even born.
Speaker 11: So he one.
Speaker 13: I was born in ninety one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, title, Yeah,
Speaker 13: when I was two years old. Yeah, so that was
Speaker 13: a challenge. You know, Yannas is of my era, Hakeem
Speaker 13: is not. But that's what made it so fun. It
Speaker 13: felt like I was like a basketball historian going back
Speaker 13: in time and reading the archives and watching game film.
Speaker 13: I mean, it's just such an awesome era of basketball.
Speaker 13: I wish I could have been there to see it myself.
Speaker 3: We should mention quickly.
Speaker 4: The name of the book is Dream The Life and
Speaker 4: Legacy of Hakim Olajuan and it came out late last year,
Speaker 4: and it's going to be great to hear you talk
Speaker 4: about it here in Tucson in front of a lot
Speaker 4: of basketball fans. I'm sure you know we've got quite
Speaker 4: a basketball story here just at the university.
Speaker 3: When is that going to happen? When's that gonna happens
Speaker 3: here this weekend?
Speaker 4: But once she have a time, since you're gonna be
Speaker 4: involved in three different sessions, I guess right, So it'll
Speaker 4: be busy when you get when you get to town,
Speaker 4: that's going to be fun. So maybe a little bit more,
Speaker 4: a little bit more about Hakeem. You know, Steve and
Speaker 4: I are of the generation where we did watch him
Speaker 4: play at Houston in college college I was talking about Islam.
Speaker 3: It was he was. He part of the slim and
Speaker 3: jam and all that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then you know going on to you know,
Speaker 4: be drafted in the Michael Jordan draft with Barkley and
Speaker 4: stuff like that. I mean he came in and such
Speaker 4: such a flurry of stars were part of that that generation.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean it was the draft to change at all. Right,
Speaker 13: no more, when you.
Speaker 2: When you when you had this epiphany to find the
Speaker 2: originator or him, did you say, Okay, Now I got
Speaker 2: to find him. Now I got to make sure he
Speaker 2: could do it. Maybe he wants to do it, doesn't
Speaker 2: want to do it.
Speaker 13: That's definitely the first step. Although, as you know, you
Speaker 13: don't have to have full access or consent to write
Speaker 13: a book on a public figure. So while I definitely
Speaker 13: got very close and ended up meeting him in the
Speaker 13: home of one of his friends, and he couldn't have
Speaker 13: been nicer. He gave me numbers for people to contact,
Speaker 13: for people that are close to him, but because of
Speaker 13: his religion and a lot of the things that I
Speaker 13: detail in the book, he himself and just the kind
Speaker 13: of humble nature the person he is, the humility which
Speaker 13: is of course influenced by Islam. He himself said, you know,
Speaker 13: I don't want to participate, but you know, every time
Speaker 13: I'd call a friend, they would call him and he'd
Speaker 13: be like, yes, it's okay, I know she's working on it.
Speaker 13: And like I said, he gave me those numbers. I
Speaker 13: spent time at his mosque, so he ended up being
Speaker 13: really helpful.
Speaker 2: Wow, it's how difficult, you know, have you written a
Speaker 2: few of them, a few books? And how difficult is it?
Speaker 2: To not have the subject of the book really being
Speaker 2: the main character.
Speaker 13: You know, it's kind of the norm in biographies, especially
Speaker 13: because most biographies are written about people who are no
Speaker 13: longer with us. But you know, we do live in
Speaker 13: an anti media climate where the only you know, celebrity
Speaker 13: memoirs are very puffy, go certain kind of collaborative things.
Speaker 13: So I actually I think it's I don't I don't
Speaker 13: want to say it's easy. It's definitely not. It's very
Speaker 13: hard for the reasons you outline, But it also just
Speaker 13: gives you an independence and a freedom.
Speaker 14: You know, you're not.
Speaker 13: Beholden to anything. This is real journalism. This isn't influenced
Speaker 13: by what a celebrity wants in there or not. You know,
Speaker 13: you're getting the most unbiased version of the story. And
Speaker 13: the other difference is I'm interviewing over two hundred people
Speaker 13: for it, So I interviewed two hundred and sixty people
Speaker 13: for this book. So you're getting the true story from
Speaker 13: all the people around the subject, and that creates such
Speaker 13: a rich, more layered story.
Speaker 4: Have you had a chance to even appear with him,
Speaker 4: like publicly or anything when you're when the book first
Speaker 4: came out or no, with that too.
Speaker 13: Well, we did an event at his mosque, but he
Speaker 13: obviously didn't participate. It was funny. All his friends are like,
Speaker 13: you gotta come, you got to come. But you know,
Speaker 13: just the fact that that he allowed that to happen
Speaker 13: was really special.
Speaker 2: So so let me give you an example that and
Speaker 2: that's tough. Again, I'm thinking this is gonna be tough,
Speaker 2: especially to sell the books if you have to, you know,
Speaker 2: get the books, purchase the books on whatever you do.
Speaker 2: And then he doesn't show up and they come to
Speaker 2: sign you sign the book. So Ludelsen, who you probably know,
Speaker 2: I did a few things. My last book was on him,
Speaker 2: and he's passed since, right, So the people who wanted
Speaker 2: the book didn't want to, didn't care about me. They
Speaker 2: came to the guy his signature and you know, meet
Speaker 2: him and take a picture. So I understand how it
Speaker 2: is not having that guy. So how was it not
Speaker 2: having your guy?
Speaker 13: I mean it, I don't. I mean it was fine.
Speaker 13: I I yeah, I went on a multi city book tour.
Speaker 13: It was really fun and we went to so many
Speaker 13: different cities and you know, people really loving the book.
Speaker 13: So yeah, I'm super happy with it.
Speaker 4: Very nice when you when you think of him in
Speaker 4: history too, I mean he like again he was, he's
Speaker 4: mixed in there with some great great players. Where do
Speaker 4: you think he stands, you know overall kind of amongst
Speaker 4: the you know, the centers saying the last I don't know,
Speaker 4: fifty years ish when you know he was really in
Speaker 4: his heyday and you know that that and that position
Speaker 4: too has changed quite a bit too that I don't
Speaker 4: know how many other great centers we're going to have
Speaker 4: in the next the next generation.
Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean he's for sure top five, no question.
Speaker 13: But part of the reason why I wrote this book
Speaker 13: is because I felt like he was being left out
Speaker 13: of those conversations. When you talk about the all time centers.
Speaker 13: You never hear his name. And part of that is
Speaker 13: because he's not on t and he with a lot
Speaker 13: of his contemporaries. He's not a coach, he's not on
Speaker 13: social media, and so you know, unfortunately, in our like
Speaker 13: you know, very player driven media ecosystem, somebody like Hakeem,
Speaker 13: who preferred to let his play speak for itself and
Speaker 13: be such a dominant force is kind of like not mentioned.
Speaker 13: And so, you know, my hope with this book is
Speaker 13: that people realize you know, he's somebody that gave every
Speaker 13: center their best game. You take, it's very rare to
Speaker 13: find a player like him who wasn't just offense, wasn't
Speaker 13: just defense. He was both of them. He gave it
Speaker 13: to Kareem and Shaq and David Robinson, all these people
Speaker 13: in different generations. A Keim was the one that everyone
Speaker 13: everyone knew they had to bring their best for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no question. Did you go in after you did
Speaker 2: it and completed it and maybe did some interviews? Uh,
Speaker 2: did you grow more appreciative of him or his accomplishments
Speaker 2: before you know, when you're.
Speaker 3: Done done with this?
Speaker 11: Yeah?
Speaker 13: I mean, oh my god, I have so much respect
Speaker 13: for him. You know I had it before, but I
Speaker 13: think you know, when you talk about when you talk
Speaker 13: to people that you know, pray alongside him, that various
Speaker 13: Moss in Houston, and talk to people that have just
Speaker 13: so been impacted by him emotionally, spiritually, it's just a
Speaker 13: different level of respect. And part of what the book
Speaker 13: really talks about is his impact on other people and
Speaker 13: how he never wants any credit for it, and the
Speaker 13: stuff I learned about what he gave to other people
Speaker 13: without ever announcing it, without ever wanting any credit. I
Speaker 13: thought was still moving and just such an example for
Speaker 13: all of us that just you know, do the work,
Speaker 13: don't seek the credit.
Speaker 3: What are you working on now? Anything new book wise?
Speaker 13: Yes, I'm starting my third book, but I can't say
Speaker 13: what it is, but I'm super excited.
Speaker 2: Don't worry, no one listens to us. Go ahead and
Speaker 2: we won't tell Anyboddy.
Speaker 3: What are you? What are you doing with?
Speaker 4: What are you doing day to day with the with
Speaker 4: the ringer though, I mean we see your stories posted
Speaker 4: all the time.
Speaker 3: Do you have a specific beat or how does that
Speaker 3: working out?
Speaker 11: Yeah?
Speaker 13: I usually refer to myself as the weirdo without a beat.
Speaker 13: I look for what's interesting, what's compelling, what is going
Speaker 13: to move somebody beyond stats? So I focus on all sports,
Speaker 13: but I would say primarily basketball and football, but you know,
Speaker 13: I've done track stories there and soccer stories there. Somebody
Speaker 13: recently recently asked me to do a curling story. So
Speaker 13: I'm just honestly after what's interesting.
Speaker 2: It's funny you're not too far removed from college, maybe
Speaker 2: ten years i'm assuming now if you're born in ninety one.
Speaker 2: But you know, in journalism now, I think more journalists
Speaker 2: need to have that passion that you have. You're trying
Speaker 2: to find the story, your storyteller, more than anything, right,
Speaker 2: You're trying to find the quirky or the weird and
Speaker 2: the story that compels or inspires, right, right.
Speaker 13: I think you know, more than anything, finding the story
Speaker 13: is the hardest pass right, Like reporting is hard and
Speaker 13: writing is hard, and we know that, but finding the story,
Speaker 13: finding the angle that's different from everybody else is really
Speaker 13: the hardest part. You know, the Ringer is only on
Speaker 13: the Internet, and the Internet is a very crowded space,
Speaker 13: and people are commenting daily, every hour, every second about
Speaker 13: these players. So your job is to give them something
Speaker 13: that they don't find elsewhere. Your job is to get
Speaker 13: to the heart and soul of a person's journey. And
Speaker 13: so you know, I just I feel so grateful to
Speaker 13: do that work and talk with such interesting athletes.
Speaker 2: They've an I deal with this, or Dave not so
Speaker 2: much now because he's kind of out of the business
Speaker 2: and I'm still almost out of the business. But now
Speaker 2: it's it's all sanitized because you have players who are
Speaker 2: moved to the podium and the coaches up there and
Speaker 2: they that's all the access you get to with them,
Speaker 2: and then they sue your bof the thing. Right, so
Speaker 2: everybody has the same material. I mean you're going, you're
Speaker 2: trying to go to the extra yard because.
Speaker 3: You have to, right right.
Speaker 13: I mean it goes back to our conversation earlier about access.
Speaker 13: We don't live in a climate where journalists are you know,
Speaker 13: respected and given time and so you know, for me,
Speaker 13: I want nothing to do with press conferences. I'm not
Speaker 13: going to get anything there. I need to get one
Speaker 13: on one with the player outside of it.
Speaker 4: Are you also doing podcasts at all with the Rant
Speaker 4: because they've got some amazing podcasts.
Speaker 3: I listen to them all the time.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 13: Currently I don't have a podcast there, but occasionally they'll
Speaker 13: have me on when I have a story, okay, sort.
Speaker 4: Of the Bill Simmons Network. It's pretty pretty strong, pretty fun.
Speaker 13: Yeah, so yeah, I work there.
Speaker 2: So do you know they brought this up for Saturday?
Speaker 2: So you have three three similars? Do you go?
Speaker 3: I can list them if you want.
Speaker 4: I'll just do it because I have them right in
Speaker 4: front of me. But you're going to be appearing at
Speaker 4: the u of A on Saturday at one point fifteen
Speaker 4: at the Stacks Book Club, which will be a booth
Speaker 4: that's going to be just outside the student union.
Speaker 3: That's going to be a quick one.
Speaker 4: And then you continue on Saturday in the Internet excuse me,
Speaker 4: Integrated Learning Center, which when you if you remember, I
Speaker 4: don't know if you were there last time, but it's
Speaker 4: down below underneath the mall kind of thing classroom with
Speaker 4: Melissa Ludkey and Howard Megdal, And then you come back
Speaker 4: on Sunday, also back in the ILC with Jack McCallum,
Speaker 4: a great basketball writer, and Lewis Moore, who has written
Speaker 4: book I believe about the African American quarterbacks. He's a
Speaker 4: professor in Detroit who he got to come to the
Speaker 4: festival this year. So you're going to be busy.
Speaker 13: Yeah, No, those are all great people.
Speaker 2: I'm super excited, very nice, very nice. And you think
Speaker 2: you said you've been here before. What school did, what
Speaker 2: colleges did you go to? And you did you always
Speaker 2: want to be a writer?
Speaker 11: Yeah?
Speaker 13: So I started out at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon.
Speaker 13: I played basketball there and then I transferred after my
Speaker 13: first year to Occidental College and that's where I graduated
Speaker 13: in twenty thirteen. So I definitely didn't want to be
Speaker 13: a writer.
Speaker 3: I had no idea.
Speaker 13: I wanted to be a WNBA player, and you know,
Speaker 13: I pushed it as far as I could go, and
Speaker 13: you know, went through a lot with that. But you
Speaker 13: know it was when I transferred that I really decided.
Speaker 13: You know, hey, I think sports journalism could be a
Speaker 13: great way for me to stay in basketball and pursue
Speaker 13: this new passion I have, which is writing and reading.
Speaker 2: Very nice, and you become a better writer by reading,
Speaker 2: right right.
Speaker 13: Yeah, if I could just read books all.
Speaker 4: Day would be.
Speaker 3: Good for you.
Speaker 2: You'll have a great time, and obviously you've been here before,
Speaker 2: and you'll meet some other great writers.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, thank you, thanks for joining us
Speaker 3: so much. Good luck to you. You'll sell a lot
Speaker 3: of books. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thanks.
Speaker 2: Mary Vader.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's that's awesome that she uh, she's coming back,
Speaker 4: and she was definitely a crowd favorite when she was
Speaker 4: here a couple of years ago. I think people are
Speaker 4: going to enjoy, you know, hearing from her and looking
Speaker 4: at her books and people we got tons of sports
Speaker 4: fans and basketball is right right in her wheel had
Speaker 4: and she's fairly young. She's like thirty three, thirty four.
Speaker 4: She's very young, just getting started.
Speaker 3: But you know what, they're not young anymore.
Speaker 2: That's not young because she's already in a second book,
Speaker 2: good Subjects. My whole thing is maybe I was spoiled
Speaker 2: because I had Loot to talk to you, right, yeah,
Speaker 2: and him to come with me for the Who's that
Speaker 2: he's the author.
Speaker 3: I don't want him.
Speaker 2: I want to cheer.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's kind of you know, and she
Speaker 4: was hedging on her her next books, so you know,
Speaker 4: maybe it'll be another basketball book.
Speaker 3: Maybe it'll be an ever another player from Africa. Let's
Speaker 3: take a break, dame.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna ask you a weird question, but you may
Speaker 2: be already used to those weird questions.
Speaker 3: Thanks everybody.
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Speaker 1: Breaking down all the I says and ohs. This is
Speaker 1: I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box sportsporteen
Speaker 1: fifty eight.
Speaker 2: Ray, welcome back to my on the ball here on
Speaker 2: Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera, Dave Silver, Thanks
Speaker 2: for getting Aaron. She was fun, yep, smart obviously. So
Speaker 2: if you had a chance to write a book, Dave,
Speaker 2: will you write it?
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, I don't know.
Speaker 4: It's interesting that she's picking especially Hakeem who really has
Speaker 4: not really been on the spotlight right but in a
Speaker 4: number of years and he retired I think two thousand
Speaker 4: and two.
Speaker 3: You know he's been gone for twenty over twenty years. Miss,
Speaker 3: is he still in Houston? She didn't say no, she said,
Speaker 3: I think I think he is probably, Yeah, I mean
Speaker 3: that team was. I remember seeing him.
Speaker 4: Play in Phoenix a few times in that run where
Speaker 4: they won championships. When Jordan retired, you know or whatever,
Speaker 4: stepped away for a couple of years and they won
Speaker 4: two right, Yeah, and they had that memorable game at
Speaker 4: whatever US Airways Arena what it was called where they
Speaker 4: beat the Sons and knocked him out and had Kenny
Speaker 4: Smith on that team.
Speaker 3: And you're talking him mid eighties to no, this is
Speaker 3: the nineties.
Speaker 2: There was they had to run in the eighties too,
Speaker 2: where Drexler and yeah in that group Ember because I
Speaker 2: can't remember who they were the best team in the West.
Speaker 2: Who were they playing, not Boston maybe Boston when I
Speaker 2: was a kid, nineteen eighty five, eighties time they did.
Speaker 4: When they had Ralph Sampson. Yeah, then that had the
Speaker 4: Twin Towers with him and a team for a bit
Speaker 4: and that didn't last too long.
Speaker 2: But no, no, but you're right when they when when Jordan,
Speaker 2: when Jordan retired, they had that window of opportunity.
Speaker 4: Exactly, and he you know, he did quite well that
Speaker 4: he was obviously, like she said, you know, he's probably
Speaker 4: a top five center of all time when you look
Speaker 4: at his number and championships, and he's in the Hall
Speaker 4: of Fame of course, right, So it'll be fun to
Speaker 4: you know, kind of be here a person.
Speaker 2: And yeah, are you going to you're what's your part?
Speaker 2: Tell people what your part is.
Speaker 4: I've been part of It's called the Book an Author Committee.
Speaker 4: So our job was to basically get the people to come,
Speaker 4: get the authors to show up and come. And we
Speaker 4: looked at many, many authors from around the world who
Speaker 4: have decided to come here, and they're all divvied up
Speaker 4: into different sections and different genres of books, and so
Speaker 4: how many put together?
Speaker 3: I'm put together in panels.
Speaker 4: So, like I mentioned, she's going to be in a
Speaker 4: panel with a couple other authors, and she's also going
Speaker 4: to have one moment or a half hour or so
Speaker 4: where she's going to sign it all by herself.
Speaker 3: So they do the panels.
Speaker 4: The panels last about fifty five minutes. Then they come
Speaker 4: out of their panels and then they sign sign books.
Speaker 2: How many of how many people were like you doing that?
Speaker 2: Trying to arrange.
Speaker 3: We had about I want to say, around seventy five.
Speaker 3: Really it's a big group. Is it all local or no?
Speaker 4: Yeah, pretty much. The people volunteer pretty much are local.
Speaker 4: I suppose we could have done that job kind of
Speaker 4: remotely because you're you're really reaching out to authors and
Speaker 4: to publicists, and.
Speaker 3: Why would they I mean, I'm just hypothetical. Who would.
Speaker 3: Maybe they didn't, but.
Speaker 4: Very few did turn you down. Honestly, they want to
Speaker 4: they want to go. I mean it's a chance, you know,
Speaker 4: it's an expense to whom, to the authors in cases
Speaker 4: it's there. Yeah, I mean the Book Festival does a
Speaker 4: really good job of helping some of the authors come,
Speaker 4: you know, for financial things with you know, hotels and
Speaker 4: transportation and things like that for some of the authors,
Speaker 4: but not all of them. And many come pay their
Speaker 4: own pay their own way. Well, if they sell a
Speaker 4: bunch of books, it pays pays the way. There's not
Speaker 4: too many of these festivals. I mean, there's there's some
Speaker 4: and she mentioned, you know, Marin mentioned the Los Angeles one,
Speaker 4: which is really the other big one in the West.
Speaker 4: I think Tucson has got a reputation if you look
Speaker 4: at some of the you know, last stories written about it.
Speaker 4: Continace Traveler wrote about them, ranking them like one of
Speaker 4: the top ten in the world type book festivals.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a big deal.
Speaker 4: C Span comes and televises you know, throughout the weekend
Speaker 4: and they tape theirs some of the say some of
Speaker 4: the panelists and put them on their website so you
Speaker 4: can come, you know, you can go sit there on
Speaker 4: Saturday and not even go to the Sea Span ones.
Speaker 3: And watch them, you know, next week.
Speaker 2: So are you done?
Speaker 3: Are you done?
Speaker 4: Are you still or done getting getting the authors? And
Speaker 4: you said, I think Jay's going to be doing something.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So there's moderators and many most of them are local
Speaker 4: people that you know, you know, we know like a
Speaker 4: Jay Gonzalez and Elliott Glixman and some of my friends
Speaker 4: that I know. I'm in a group of people and
Speaker 4: we know a bunch of them that are going to
Speaker 4: be moderators, and it's going to be it'll be fun
Speaker 4: for them to you know, go off and talk about
Speaker 4: things that they know about. If you're an attorney or
Speaker 4: if you're into entertainment, or you're into the environment or medicine,
Speaker 4: things like that. I mean, there's so many things to
Speaker 4: choose from. The Daily Star does a great job of
Speaker 4: promoting it, along with the University of Arizona, which of
Speaker 4: course is where it's held, and TMC is a big sponsort.
Speaker 3: It's free, free. Yeah, I've been to last three. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I've been to a bunch. I mean it's free. It's
Speaker 3: it's really fun. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Did did the I want to ask, is I think
Speaker 2: you can say it publicly? Did my situation that.
Speaker 3: You told me? I don't know. I honestly don't know.
Speaker 3: It may still be.
Speaker 4: Paid for this sun No, it could be for this Sunday. No, truly, Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think I don't know. I don't know, Okay, I
Speaker 4: know that the years in a Daily Start put out
Speaker 4: a big special section in there this past Sunday, which
Speaker 4: is always good.
Speaker 2: Go through it.
Speaker 3: I looked at it online. Yeah, it's good. Okay.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess they're part of the availab. They're going
Speaker 2: to be available at the event.
Speaker 4: Exactly when you get there. Definitely when you get there
Speaker 4: pick up that also. Of course, there's an app if
Speaker 4: you're into that to some festival of books. App is fantastic.
Speaker 4: It's got maps and it's got all the schedules like
Speaker 4: the things I was just reading off about Marin's schedule
Speaker 4: is all on those apps.
Speaker 2: And it's funny, say, if you're into that, us old
Speaker 2: dudes are not into that. You need the paper where
Speaker 2: you go, Gertrude, we got to take a left right
Speaker 2: twenty three exactly.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's usually how I approach it.
Speaker 4: I usually kind of take a little list with me
Speaker 4: when I go, like I want to do ten o'clock
Speaker 4: in this room.
Speaker 2: And every year I go, it switches up and I've
Speaker 2: been to one, I've sold a book or two. One
Speaker 2: of the ends with Bob Elliott when he came out
Speaker 2: with his book, and she's been She's here for two days, right,
Speaker 2: so they're here multiple days, not just one day.
Speaker 1: Gone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it depends.
Speaker 4: She's one of the one of those who will be
Speaker 4: signing and talking three three different times.
Speaker 3: So two days some don't. I mean it's some it's
Speaker 3: their call.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: They'll tell you I don't want to do two, or
Speaker 4: I want to do three. No more than three is
Speaker 4: generally as much as they'll go.
Speaker 3: So who's the book? It begins at ten ten am
Speaker 3: on Saturday and runs like through fives free free both days.
Speaker 3: Plenty of walking, you can walk meet people.
Speaker 2: Watch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a lot of a lot of that. I mean,
Speaker 4: you got you know, Maureen Dowd from the New York
Speaker 4: Times is going to be here. She's going to have
Speaker 4: a session with our friend David fitz Simmons, who you know,
Speaker 4: we all know is the editorial cartoonist to the Star
Speaker 4: for years, who he's going to be there. And Governor
Speaker 4: Gretchen Whittmer is coming in from Michigan. She's she's got
Speaker 4: a book out, she'll be there. Scott Tureau who wrote
Speaker 4: Presumed Innocent. That he's a you know, attorney who's written
Speaker 4: tons of you know, law books, novels.
Speaker 3: He's going to come cool, cool, cool, cool. So who
Speaker 3: would you write your book on if you have to.
Speaker 4: I still am thinking about that. Your time, like a
Speaker 4: biography on somebody. Yeah, if you have a ches, you
Speaker 4: get to meet the person. You may not you may
Speaker 4: not want to quote. He might not be like the
Speaker 4: king you can't talk to.
Speaker 3: She wrote, like a biography on him without he had
Speaker 3: no assistance for.
Speaker 2: That's well, assistance yeah, but not his voice. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: not his voice. I know I would have a heart time.
Speaker 2: But she's right, you know, my last book with Loot
Speaker 2: was nothing participated. It was everybody else's thoughts on Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so I guess, yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I've never really thought about writing a
Speaker 3: book about anybody. No, but you let me go back then.
Speaker 2: So your stories that you've done when you were in
Speaker 2: the in the TV business, Ye, your stories were shorter,
Speaker 2: shorter form than longer form.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Who was one of your better longer form stories, you
Speaker 2: know if that makes any sense, because you had to
Speaker 2: do specials.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: So one thing that I've always been fascinated by is
Speaker 4: kind of the history of Tucson sports, just in terms of,
Speaker 4: like I don't know how far I go back, but
Speaker 4: say maybe the early nineteen hundreds and just kind of
Speaker 4: start tracing how things were going. It is interesting high
Speaker 4: schools were really the only thing we had, I guess
Speaker 4: maybe dirt, dirt, playing fields, shields. Yeah, and then you
Speaker 4: look at well it's Tucson Highs. You know, baseball team
Speaker 4: one like every state champ they did, and they did
Speaker 4: they won all those chance That was always something a
Speaker 4: bit interesting.
Speaker 2: Well interesting you say that because I did that for
Speaker 2: the blue Book that I did, you know, the blue
Speaker 2: Book with it looked like a coffee table book cofage
Speaker 2: its one hundred top games up until two thousand whatever
Speaker 2: it was. And that's what I found out. It was
Speaker 2: like peach basket stuff of dirt, dirt, floor games, all
Speaker 2: all these things.
Speaker 3: How they just kind of made do.
Speaker 2: And you know, and Freddy Ink, Freddink the son, Freddie
Speaker 2: the Dad was very good. But Freddick Junior was like
Speaker 2: the star of the city at Tucson High. He was
Speaker 2: dominated when to World War Two, came back, dominated here
Speaker 2: and then become this basketball guru and football guru.
Speaker 15: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, Tucson was small town and a
Speaker 4: lot of different types of people living here that weren't
Speaker 4: maybe some weren't even allowed to go to the schools
Speaker 4: and play publicly.
Speaker 3: Things like that didn't happen, like.
Speaker 4: In the uf A didn't have any African American athletes
Speaker 4: till what the fifties because it.
Speaker 2: Was a god, the red red.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've written a bottle without how do he read?
Speaker 3: Had he read?
Speaker 2: He read?
Speaker 3: I think's nineteen fifty eight ish, right, Yeah, So I
Speaker 3: don't know.
Speaker 4: I love just even you know, when there's old NBA
Speaker 4: games on or Major League Baseball games, I just love
Speaker 4: to watch this stuff just to see how it was
Speaker 4: broadcast or how the players play.
Speaker 3: Well, have you talked to I'm sure you have the God.
Speaker 2: I don't know why I'm blanking out. I do know
Speaker 2: why because I'm old. But the highest score in New
Speaker 2: A history for the game. He's in San Diego, Tucson
Speaker 2: native Ernie McCrae.
Speaker 3: I mean he.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah, a few times. You know, he's in
Speaker 2: the books. A well spoken man, bright as all. Heck,
Speaker 2: he's in San Diego now, author, he loves poetry. But
Speaker 2: he kind of lived through that and told you how
Speaker 2: difficult it was. But back in the day, Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think that'd be a good book. Why don't we think
Speaker 2: about putting together?
Speaker 3: Put that together? Anybody? He would write it, Yeah, he
Speaker 3: would write. We need to get, you know, the stories
Speaker 3: from these people before they go.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's so many, so many, like you said, in
Speaker 2: the fifties, forties, fifties, most of them in the forties.
Speaker 3: Well, well, if not all of them are gone the
Speaker 3: fifties and sixties.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know the guy who would have a lot of
Speaker 2: knowledge was coach Larsen. Yeah, Coach Larson. I went to
Speaker 2: him when I was doing one of my books. Him
Speaker 2: and his wife gave me access to all their pressure.
Speaker 2: It was tons of stuff. Mister Inky did too.
Speaker 3: Just kind of just here. It is just Freddy fred Junior.
Speaker 3: Which they live in. They live in him someone in
Speaker 3: the cotton fields.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he came down and maybe he was he's going
Speaker 4: in the p MC County Sports Hall of Fame or
Speaker 4: something like that, and he came in for that, so
Speaker 4: it was kind of fun to meet him.
Speaker 2: Well, it's kind of weird. I don't know if it
Speaker 2: felt with to you, but you're seeing these dudes. These
Speaker 2: dudes are these people who are like iconic, like, wow,
Speaker 2: you're still alive and you look good, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. Name schools after this guy, right, golf courses
Speaker 2: right right beyond famous there.
Speaker 3: Kind of like wow, that's great.
Speaker 4: You know, we're lucky we have their next generations are
Speaker 4: around too to tell their stories and maybe just you know,
Speaker 4: remind them, hey, this was my grandfather. Like Lacey Nimeier, Yeah,
Speaker 4: the great swimmer here in her family's got all kinds
Speaker 4: of generations.
Speaker 3: A couple, dad and grandpa. You're exactly right, and then
Speaker 3: she can tell stories about that. So it's good we
Speaker 3: have people like that. Yeah, yeah, I know you're right though.
Speaker 3: That name too came out a few times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Lincoln's, Lincoln Richmond's, and you heard that he
Speaker 2: was probably the best player, the best player back in
Speaker 2: those days to ever play the game in the forties
Speaker 2: and the fifties around around tu Son, Lincoln Richmond. And
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people that played in Morana, the
Speaker 2: mayor of Marana, the Honey's.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were at all the good old days, good days.
Speaker 3: Yeah, think about that. Okay, we write a book.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have about two left to me. I have
Speaker 2: two in my head already. I'm starting to think about.
Speaker 2: But they're not easy. They think about it almost eight
Speaker 2: nine months.
Speaker 4: Yeah, she said she talked to two hundred and sixty
Speaker 4: people that ain't Can you imagine and guess what a
Speaker 4: lot of it gets left on the cutting room floor,
Speaker 4: right right, Ye,