April 28, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
National Baseball Poetry Festival Blends Sports & Fine Arts – 3rd National Baseball Poetry Festival is coming up May 2-4, 2025 at Polar Park, Worcester, MA. Steven Biondolillo - founder of the National Baseball Poetry Festival joined Dan.
Massachusetts High School Selected to Represent the State in National Mascot Showdown! Justin Woo - entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of The64 (group responsible for competition) stopped by.
What to know about the results of the NFL Draft for the New England Patriots. Chris Price – Boston Globe Sports Reporter checked in.
How the organization Be My Eyes connects people who are visually impaired with volunteers and companies worldwide through live video and artificial intelligence. Joan Hamilton – Volunteer for Be My Eyes discussed it with Dan.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
National Baseball Poetry Festival Blends Sports & Fine Arts – 3rd National Baseball Poetry Festival is coming up May 2-4, 2025 at Polar Park, Worcester, MA. Steven Biondolillo - founder of the National Baseball Poetry Festival joined Dan.
Massachusetts High School Selected to Represent the State in National Mascot Showdown! Justin Woo - entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder of The64 (group responsible for competition) stopped by.
What to know about the results of the NFL Draft for the New England Patriots. Chris Price – Boston Globe Sports Reporter checked in.
How the organization Be My Eyes connects people who are visually impaired with volunteers and companies worldwide through live video and artificial intelligence. Joan Hamilton – Volunteer for Be My Eyes discussed it with Dan.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice side We've did, I'm going and Mazy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much, Harry Small. As we started another
week here on nightside. We really started yesterday. We had
a fabulous event at the Narrouli Restaurant in Westwood. We
had a two seatings for a nightside brunch, one at
eleven and one at twelve thirty. We had folks from
really all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, one hundred
(00:31):
and seventy eight reservations and I think virtually all of
them showed up. I spent two hours meeting and greeting
nightside listeners, loyal nightside listeners, some of whom I knew,
some of whom I met for the first time. We'll
talk about that later on tonight. But for anyone listening,
I really enjoyed yesterday. Never had brunch myself, spent really
(00:52):
three hours meeting and getting to know a lot of
our listeners. An incredible experience. I just want to say
thanks to all who showed up, to thank the people
at the early restaurant, and of course want to thank
Bo and Bill Winnaker and their group. The Winnaker Band
played for the better part of three hours. They were fabulous.
(01:12):
Everyone enjoyed themselves. Now we are going to start off
our first hour tonight. No phone calls on the eight
o'clock are. We're going to interview four guests. We're going
to start off locally with the National Baseball Poetry Festival.
I suspect that probably some of you were unaware that
there was a National Baseball Poetry Festival. But the founder
(01:34):
of the National Baseball Poetry Festival joins me, Now, Steve
beyond dough Lillo, Have I pronounced that correct, Steve? Or
have gotten close?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You've got a.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Lot of vowels in there, man, there's a lot of vowels. Yeah, absolutely,
I'll tell you well, Steve tell us the National Baseball
Poetry Festival. This is the third year of the Poetry Festival.
I guess it's held in Worcester in honor of the
(02:05):
great author from Worcester, a poet from Worcester who wrote
the one poet poet poem that all of us know
about baseball, Casey at the bat. And we're not talking
about Casey Steingele, We're talking about the mighty Casey exactly precisely.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Ernest Staire was born and raised in Worcester, and indeed
he is the author of Casey at the Bat right,
the most famous ever baseball poem, but also arguably one
of the most famous poems in all of English literature
or American literature, I would say, And so it had
to be Worcester, right, And Worcester has a deep history
(02:43):
in baseball. Also, the first perfect game was pitched there.
The industrial leagues of the late nineteen hundreds were really
there in a very strong, strong way. And so you
know Worcester, and you know Polar Park as you know.
You know, it's been there now four years and it's
just the newest, shiniest, best run tripa a ballpark in
(03:07):
the country. Actually won the award this past year for that.
So it had to be Worcester. We thought it up
about five years ago. It took a couple of years
to get off the ground. And I'll give you the
origin story if I've got admit it, and that is
I was reading a magazine on the West Coast and
saw an article on the Fisherman's Poetry Festival, and I thought,
(03:32):
Fisherman's Poetry Festival, how many how many poems are there
about fish? I'm not exactly sure. I was an English
major undergrad and grad, and then I said, okay, fish,
all right, we've got commercial fishing, we've got recreational fishing,
we've got sport fishing. Sport. My goodness, how come there's
no baseball poetry festival. And that's a true story. That
(03:53):
was the actual origin story of that about five years ago,
a couple years to get it off the ground.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, it looks to me like you're gonna have thirty
poets of some level. I'm just counting the numbers here.
I think it's about thirty poets, many of them with
you know, great baseball names. None of them I don't
believe played. But you have a will Cox in there.
There was a Milt Willcox who pitched in the major leagues.
(04:23):
You got a more head showing up, spelled a little
differently than Dave moorehead of the Red Sox, no hit fame. Yeah,
there's more than a few names here. There's a Tony Brown,
There's there's fifty guys that have played with the last
name of Brown. There's Alex Thomas. I assume no relation
either to Frank Thomas or Lee Thomas from the Red Sox.
(04:47):
The Angels and the Yankees of the nineteen fifties and sixties.
She got to Thomas, She got a Paul Thomas and
a Frank Thomas. Where are all these poet poets coming
in from?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Okay, so let me back out, say what a festival is?
What is a baseball poetry festival? It's two things, right,
It's a contest for adults in youth to write baseball poetry,
write poetry about baseball. And the scenes are very broadly cast, right,
it could be about.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Poet what they call a poet. They call these a
poet poetry slam, right, where people are up reading their poems.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
I guess, well, yes, that's the open mic dimension of it.
But first, let me tell you the contest.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So we've had we've got about two minutes left here,
so you got to tell me that context quickly, Steve.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Okay, So we've had adult poets send in their work
from thirty seven states in four countries, right, and then
we've had youth poets send in their poetry from nine states.
And there's a contest, right, So we select twenty seven
winners amongst the adult, sixty winners amongst the kids. The
other side is the gathering, and we're going to have
(05:53):
poets from all over the United States in Worcester with
us reading their work. There are different opportunities a couple
at Pollar Park to be doing open mic reading, at
the Gene mcdone Art Centers of the open Mic Reading,
and at Electric Haze there'll be open mic reading. So
these poets will gather from all over the US. The
(06:15):
thirty you see are the ones listed on the website.
We're expecting closer to one hundred poets actually from around
the US.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Okay, so think where's the best. Here's the best thing
we can do. You're giving me a lot of information
in a brief period of time, which is great. You
have a website. I assume it's called Baseball Poetryfest dot org.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Right, you've got it, Baseball Poetryfest dot org. All the information,
the schedules, the uh all the opportunities to listen to poets.
Of course, we've got a couple of games this weekend,
the Wu Saws versus the Toledo mud Hens, and so
it's it's just a fun and fabulous weekend for people
(06:55):
who love the art and who love baseball. Because baseball
is the most intertwined sport with the fine arts, film, theater, literature, music, everything.
So this is the celebration the uniting of sports. It's
the first festival in the US to unite sports and
the fine arts.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
All right, So all you got to do is go
to the one word Baseball Poetryfest dot org. There's a slash schedule,
but I think Baseball Poetryfest dot org will get you there.
You have the schedule, the contest, venues and hotels, everything
you could possibly need to know about the Baseball Poetry
(07:35):
Fest that will be taking place this weekend in Worcester.
So congratulations, Steve. I think it's a great idea and
I wish you all the luck and I hope you
have a big turnout and maybe maybe someone will come
up with another poem, a poem to rival Casey at
the Bat. Did you know that there's a section they
talk about in Casey at the Bat how Casey strikes
(07:58):
out and there was gloomy doing in Mudville that day.
Mudville is no joy in Mudville, No joy in Mudville.
Did you know that there's a there's a section of
Holliston that's called Mudville that I believe is named after
that poem.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I think you might be right there, but you know
Worcester is going to stand firm with the pride of place.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh no, no, no no. I'm just saying that that
the that the law of Casey at the bat extends
even well across across the country at around the world. Staves.
Thank you very much, best best of Luke with the
National Baseball Poetry Festival this weekend. Thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Take care Now.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Welcome we get back. There is now a Massachusetts high
school tournament for nash for a national mascot showdown. I
have gone over this group. There's uh the sixty four competitors.
I think some of them are from around New England
as well as Massachusetts, but we'll figure that out. We're
going to talk with Justin Wu, who's, amongst other things,
(08:58):
an entrepreneur, a fhil anthropis that's good work if you
can get it, by the way, and founder of V
sixty four, the group responsible for the competition. We'll be
back with Justin Wu and we'll give you all the
information you need to know about the high school mascot tournament.
And yes, I don't think that there are any Native sadly,
any Native American mascots. But well, we'll go through it
(09:20):
with Justin and we'll figure it all out later on time.
Go talk with Chris Price, Boston Globe sports reporter, and
talk about how he views the NFL Draft by the
Patriots that've signed a lot of players as free agents
as well. And then we're going to talk with one
of our most loyal listeners in Alaska, Joan Hamilton, who's
a volunteer for be My Eyes. Coming up at eight
(09:42):
forty five back on night Side right after this on
a Monday night, and pull down that that iHeart app,
the new and improved iHeart App, and make WBZ your
number one pre set. You'll be able to listen to
us anywhere in the world and you'll only be a
finger tip away three sixty five, twenty four to seven
(10:03):
every day of the year. Back on Nightside after this, it's.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
All right, we now are going to get to our
next guest, who is Justin wo And Justin, I guess
Justin you're the founder of this national mascot showdown. Tell
us about it.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
So yeah, at the sixty four Dot com it's a
new online platform we just launched, and it's all about
fun competition and giving them a voice to what people love.
And we definitely think that people love mascots and they
have a lot of spirit. So that's what we're doing
right now, is we have a high school mascot competition running.
We have an East division and a West division because
we got so many mascots that wanted to participate, and
(10:53):
it's going right now. You can head over to the
site and vote anytime.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Now, let me ask you, is this this was pitched
to me as a Massachusetts competition, but it looks to
me like it's from There are a lot of Massachusetts competitors,
but it looks to me like there's been some other
states represented here. How many states are in this? Again,
you're East competition.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
So I don't know exactly how many states are in
the East versus the West, but we have most of
the fifties states represented. We scoured the internet to look
for all kinds of cool high school mascots.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah. So for example, I'm seeing Bangor Maine. Or I'm
seeing Bangor, which I assume is Maine. I'm seeing Somerset,
which I'm assuming is probably New Jersey, but there's also
a Somerset, Massachusetts, so you don't have a rough I
see Elizabethan, Elizabethan. I guess that could be made if
(11:52):
it could be New Jersey.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, not one hundred percent sure, but I know that
we tried to get a couple from all different states
in the lot of the major markets.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah. I see for example, Ashland, which I think is Massachusetts,
but there's also Ashland, Kentucky. I know because there's a
federal prison there. I see Denmark. I have no idea
where Denmark's from. I know it's not from the from
the country Deadmark.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
If you click the profile for the for all of
these different places or the different mascots.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, that's Georgia video and then OK, yeah that's Georgia
the location. I'm not going to steal your time and
click all of them, that's for sure. How did people
qualify for this? Did they just volunteer or did you
did you actually go out and find them?
Speaker 5 (12:39):
We actually went out and found them. We scoured the
internet and we were looking for a lot of unique mascots,
so not the you know, the basic things like the
tigers and you know what everybody has, but some really
unique ones around the country. And then they all submitted
videos and the videos are amazing to watch how much
effort and energy the you know, the kids at the
school and the schools put in to putting them up.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, I'm looking at Somerset. It's Somerset. It's neither New
Jersey nor Massachusetts. At Somerset, Kentucky. I do notice that, Yeah,
there are none of the the animal well, there's there's
some referenced as like the antelopes, but the lions and
the tigers and all of that. And there's no Native
(13:23):
American mascot. So is this a Native American mascots? We
have several up here in Massachusetts. Were they not considered?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Oh no, everybody was considered. I just don't think that
maybe they got picked. There's some really crazy, you know mascots,
So yeah, I don't know. That just happened to be
by chance.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Okay, we got to hit one here from Massachusetts called
the Milbury Woolies. I'm not sure what a wooly is,
but that's a good looking mascot and that is now Yeah,
Milbury mill the Milbury Woolies have advanced to the second round.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
And yeah, they're in the current round against the Staggy.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So Staggy looks like an animal of some sort.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, it looks like yer kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so that's kind of a traditional that's
but again the staggy, that's that's pretty cool. I do
see that you have, ah from Jacksonville, Florida. We have
a crusader. Different times people have objective. Holy Cross also
uses the crusaders, so you know in this day and
(14:31):
a justin whenever you do these, it always gets into
some sort of political conversation. And I see that you
got the West coast here as well. Uh, and they're
going on. I'm just looking for some of the more
interesting ones that you have here. There's one here.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Yeah, there's a volcano. Yeah, there's some. Yeah, you have
to he's around this one.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
That's pretty funny. Here's one that's pretty funny. It's a
polka poka poka poka is in West Virginia, well.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Poker Virginia.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, the polka dots where.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
The poka poka dots? Okay, uh, yeah, I see what
you got going on here? You got uh you do
have a seat in Saint Bernard out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah,
that's you got. You got an interesting group. When when
will the ultimate winner? You're going to have two winners
(15:25):
who looks like no, no, You're going to have a
final playoff? Is that the deal with you?
Speaker 5 (15:28):
We're gonna have a final playoff in the fall. Because
of such high demand for this, we divided it into
the East versus the West, and then we'll take the
best out of each each bracket or each tournament and
put them into like a national And then the price
for that is we're going to give us sixty four
hundred to one of their you know, one of these
schools to their athletic department towards something that they want
that would help the school, so that they go and vote, yeah,
(15:53):
sixty four And then users that come in and vote
you can win things from gift cards to I think
a PlayStation for the for these first ornament.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So let me let me ask you. Something like this
obviously costs some money. Who's sponsoring this or is this
hob how do you how do you keep this afloat?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
So this one I sponsor, And then in the future
what we're looking to do is get sponsors of kind
of local community partners because one of the reasons why
I came up with the site is a lot of
media companies do you know, voting competitions, and they make
the contestants pay for that in one way or another,
and paying for it influences the outcome of the competition.
(16:31):
This one, none of the contestants can ever pay for
any of the you know things in the competition. There's
nothing for them to buy, and so it's purely fan voted.
And how much that they work on promoting themselves to
their own audiences.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Sure, sure, well, I would hope that in future years
maybe you could get a couple of these big corporate
sponsorship show the companies that are trying to get to
teenage consumers. I mean, there's a lot of product out
there that you know, high school students consume. And whether
or not it's you know, a popular non alcoholic beverage
(17:09):
or for sure or whatever it might be, I think
I think you're onto something here. Justin thank you very
much people, thank you for having me. Let's go to
your website. The website is pretty simple. It's the word
the th h and then the numbers the number sixty four,
So the sixty four dot com slash Tournaments slash high
school mascots. Great great Justice.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Finishing brought us that right from the from the homepage.
And you know, it's easy to register. It takes about
five minutes. All you need is a phone numbers to
do authentication. And that's because we want to be sure
that the integrity of the boats is up there, that
people can't create fake spots and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Sounds sounds sounds all on the level of me. Thanks Justin.
I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
To Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Welcome, all right, thanks, good bye, all right, we get back.
We're going to talk about the NFL Draft with Chris Price,
Boston Globes sports reporter, specifically of course, with an emphasis
on the New England Patriots. And they also signed a
bunch of free agents after the draft. We can't forget
about them, and we are going to talk about one
guy who they drafted, Kobe Minor, joins the club as
(18:17):
the twenty twenty six mister Irrelevant. We'll get to all
of that, I promise, right after the break for news
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Thank you very much. Sherry joining us again is a
great Boston Globe Sports reporter Chris Price. Hey, Chris, welcome
back to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
How you been I'm doing great. You studied the l Draft,
I'm sure, and with particular specific emphasis on the Patriots.
As a as an outsider, I think they had a
pretty good draft. What's your take?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah, I think think it was good. Of course, you
never know until you know you see him put on
the pads and get on the practice field down there
in Foxborough. But I think on the surface, you can
certainly point to the fact that they addressed a lot
of meats that they had this off season. First and
foremost with Will Campbell. I know, there was a lot
of debate about whether or not his arms, you know,
(19:19):
were too short for industry standards when you talk about
the position, But the bottom line was that he was
the best offensive lineman in the draft. The Patriots needed
offensive lineman, and so it felt kind of like a
natural marriage between the two. But yeah, I think it
was a good draft by large.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I read all that I read all that stuff about
his arms, Okay, I think you know, his his wingspan
would be another way to look at it is what
a couple of inches shorter than maybe someone who's six
foot six should be. I don't understand. I mean, if
his arms were you know, yeah, I don't understand what.
(19:56):
Maybe you can explain to me what the theoretical difference.
I mean, is he going to stop some guy with
an extra fingertip? I didn't get that.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Well. I think it's a great debate, it really is.
And I'll start by saying there there are a number
of really good offensive linemen, particularly at the tackle position,
who do have kind of shorter arms an inch or two.
Like I said, the industry standard is thirty three inches
for arm length. And he actually measured at his pro
(20:26):
day at LSU thirty three inches exactly. Now he measured
at the combine. A couple of you know, a month
or two before that just shy of that. And so
you know, you wonder if someone is you know, taking
a look at the numbers and kind of fudging, you know,
fudge the stats. But I think really for a lot
of people, when you talk about the people who play
that position, you need that you need as much length
(20:48):
as possible to kind of hold off those big edge rushers,
those big, fast, quick guys coming around the corner. You
want to keep them at arm's length for as long
as possible. Now, the Patriots had a guy like that
a few years ago in Nate Solder, who I thought
that a very very good job, and in the he
had long arms and he was you know, was able
to do that. Now the question is here, Dan, if
(21:10):
you look at history, he's a really good offensive lineman.
But there are a lot of other good offensive linemen
who had similar situations going into the pros who moved
inside to guard, you know, where you don't necessarily need
the long arms. So the question might be could he
move inside if he necessarily you know, the shorter arms
thing becomes an issue with the NFL level. So, like
(21:32):
I said, bottom line, though for me he was the
best offensive lineman in the draft. They need those guys.
They need guys for protection for Drake May upfront. So
again it was kind of a natural marriage for the
two as far as I was consumed.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, the protection can't be any worse than it has
been the last couple of years. I also, I love
the guys who are either undersized or you know, I
love the Julian Edelman type player, the guy you know,
he as a kid was a quarterback in college and
it comes out and ends up one of the best
(22:06):
wide receivers in the history of the league. He got
all these guys who were six' four and they have.
Butterfingers you, know you throw a ball anywhere Near, edelman
and he was going to get it and then he
was going to. RUN i don't, KNOW i want to.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Guy here you, Go, Dan i'll give you a guy
to roote. For how about this this guy The patriots
signed as an undrafted free, agent didn't wasn't even, Drafted Lann.
Larison And i'm not Sure i'm pronouncing his name, right
but AT. L. A. N. Lawson he's a running back
FROM Uc davis who put up incredible numbers over the
course of his career at you See davis just and
(22:41):
he did a bunch of. Things he was a you,
know he was a running. Back he put you, know
he threw some. Passes the other, thing he was a
high school rodeo. Champion so if you want a guy
to wish if you want to like a long shot
to wish on, to you, know to who can maybe
follow that same sort of. Career Arc i'm not saying
he's going to Be, edelman but a guy to ren
a late. Run got a root For Lane. Larrison he's your.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
MAN i liked. IT i liked, that and have a
two choice that guy from The Ohio State.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Stevenson yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah henderson is a really.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Mixing him up with the with the guy that said
the problem, fundling the question is the.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Steer you go.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Exactly you know what's really, interesting Dan is and you
talk About stevenson And henderson and maybe the positional battle
that will kind of start to brew there as a result,
of you, know The patriots getting that guy while they
have an established running back.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Already one of my favorite coats From Mike rabel is
that he said when he was a, player he used
to watch the draft every year to see who they
were trying to replace me. With and SO i think
we look at some of these positions here. Now at running,
back they drafted a wide receiver when they already had
a couple of young wide receivers in. There you, know
(23:54):
they drafted a kicker when they already have a kicker
on the. Roster there's going to be some really fun
position battles to watch for this team moving.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Forward, well the, thing the thing going back To. Stevenson
WHAT i loved About stevenson was he had he had
a great. Backstory AND i don't know if it was your, Article,
chris or someone else who talked about. HIM i think
he had dropped out of college and he was, working you,
know kind of a dead end, job and somehow he
got back into school and all of a sudden started
(24:23):
to play football and just his life turned.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Around and he's a really he's a really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Guy, yeah and he had a great first season for
a bad, team and then last, year you, know there
were you, know a couple of guys punch the ball
out on him and you, fumble and you get that
reputation and it's tough to. Shake and every time you're
carrying the, football you're thinking about holding onto the, football
not hitting the. Hole You you just wonder if his
days are. Numbered, now EVEN i, Was i'm rooting for.
(24:51):
Him i'm going to continue to roof for him because
he's got such a great.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Backstory well you know. What the other thing, too is
that when The, patriot if you look at and part
of this goes back To, belichick but The patriots Under
belichick never had a guy rush for a thousand yards
in back to back season as those fantastic, teams but
they always consider running backs a little fungible kind of you,
know you can just rotate them through there and get
(25:16):
the next. Guy and SO i wonder if that's kind
of playing into their thinking here with bringing in a
new guy to a. Place, stevenson who rushed for one
thousand yards a couple of years, ago had really done
a good job to establish himself as an every down,
back and NOW i JUST i wonder if they're going
to keep kind of that that spin cycle, moving or
maybe it's just kind of part of the you, know
the way people are looking at the position these. Days
(25:36):
SO i don't, know but, it's LIKE i, said it
sets up a really intriguing positional battle on this roster moving.
Forward not a.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Lot of job security in THE. Nfl there's a much
more job security in, baseball, basketball and hockey THE. Nfl
AND i don't know why. That maybe there's just too
many talented guys and this too many. Injuries why is, That?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Chris in your, OPINION i think part of it is
the physical nature of the. Sport it's just an inherently
violent sport and so you're gonna have guys with shorter.
Careers but, look the bottom line is that you, know
the old acronym that people think it stands For National Football,
league and, really in a lot of, ways for a
lot of, guys it's not for long that you, know
you've got to make your. Money you've got to do
(26:18):
whatever you can do to you, know to kind of
stake your claim there in THE, nfl and then you
kind of move on because teams are always looking, for you,
know as their reference with the raybel. Thing teams are
always looking to replace the older guys with younger. Guys
it's just it's a constantly churning.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Machine that next. GUY i, Think, okay your, Piece i'm
not sure if it ran, today if it runs, tomorrow mister,
Irrelevant Toby mine a great. Piece so little suggests a
little advice For Marty, moore who's who actually was also
the final. Pick, Hey i'd like to be a FINAL
i would have liked to have been a final LEFT nfl.
Pick nothing to be ashamed. Of tell us About Kobe.
(26:54):
Minor can he make the.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Team Kobe minor can definitely make the team if he
Follows Marty moore's. Advice Marty moore was the last overall
pick in nineteen ninety four and he ended up going
to Two Super. Bowls you want to ring with the
two thousand and one. Team so this is a guy
who knows of what he. Speaks he, Says, look don't
shy away from that mister irrelevant. Label embrace. It be
(27:15):
an underdog to come the kind of guy That patriots
fans want to root, for they want to cheer. For
people love those stories like you just referenced with with Romondre.
Stevenson people love a great comeback. Story people love a
good underdog. Story and if this guy just goes out
there and just. PLAYS i mentioned this someone. Before he's
got to play every snap like rent and food are
(27:35):
on the line every single. Play you just got to
go hit it, all hang out and he'll make the.
Team you, know he's certainly done. Enough like you, said
it's an honor really in a lot of, ways And
marty references in the, Story, look it's an honor just
to be. Drafted this is just this is LIKE i,
said you, know it's they're just there's turnover all the
time in THE. Nfl and if you get to a
stage where you play even one snap in The National Football,
(27:57):
league you, know you've got a social currency THAT i
think goes a long way with a lot of.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
People so, LOOK i, mean, yeah if you play one snap, here,
well you play one, staff you're in the. Book my
great friend of many, Years Ted, lepsio who played for
The Red, sox used to talk, about you, know one
at bat or one game in right field where you'll
get it at bat or, something you're still you're in the.
Book it Was ted's. Phrase so any of these guys
(28:24):
who get in the, book they're they're better than the
rest of, us that's for. Sure, Hey, chris no one's
better than you on this. STUFF i really appreciate every
time you come. ON i learned something every. Time thank,
you my. FRIEND i appreciate it so. Much enjoy yourself.
Tomorrow is that piece on myster? Irrelevant has that did
that hit? TODAY i read The Globe sports.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Batge, yeah it's it's it's online now and it should
be in it should be in print.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Tomorrow let's look for it, tomorrow sports. Fans it's a great.
Piece i've had a peek at it. Here, okay Thanks Chris,
price will talk.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Soon thanks, fan take care doctor You.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay we get. Back we're gonna talk about and a
great program that one of our long distance night, Siders Joan,
hamilton is involved. With it's called Be My. Eyes this
is a great. Story we'll be back On nightside read
after the.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Break you're on Night side With Dan. Ray i'm W
Z boston's news.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Radio, well one of our most loyal listeners lives In.
Alaska her name Is Joan, hamilton and she's also explained
to me that she's the volunteer for a program Called
Be My. EYES i never realized what a big, program
volunteer program this, Was. Joan, welcome welcome back. Home how
(29:39):
are you?
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Tonight, well thank, you and it is home to. Me.
Still i'm wonderful And i'm thrilled that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
This so tell us about Be My eyes and tell
us about the, program and then tell us what you
have to do if. YOU i guess they're always looking for,
volunteers absolutely.
Speaker 7 (29:58):
So about a year and a half, ago my daughter
told me that she was a volunteer for this wonderful.
Outfit bet My eyes is a company that started about
ten years ago In denmark and it provides people who are,
blind low, vision or even dyslexic to be able to
(30:20):
use an. App access the, app and a host of
volunteers all over the world will answer their call and
be able to help a person who's visually impaired to
navigate anything in their world that's going on that they
(30:42):
need help.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
With and SO i watched A ted talk from the
founder From, Denmark Hans Jorgen. WEIBERG i think was how
he pronounced his name Of. Vieburg he. Was he did
A ted talk In. COPENHAGEN i guess he has very narrow.
Vision so it's there's a lot of people who have vision.
(31:05):
Problems they don't necessarily have to be one hundred percent,
blind but you, know not at. All if you are
one hundred percent, blind this program can still help you. Correct.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Oh.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
ABSOLUTELY i talked to people who are completely blind who are.
Amazing it's been one of the most uplifting experiences for.
Me i've always had a pension for blindness SINCE i
was a kid AND i had a friend and situate
who was, blind And i've just always had a heart
(31:36):
and being amazed by what someone could.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Accomplish, okay so how explain to us how this? Works,
logistically you're sitting at home In. Alaska you're listed as a.
Volunteer so if somebody, has you, know a low vision
problem and they're trying to read a label on some
cooking don't, whatever give us a couple of examples of
(32:01):
people that you've. Helped give us make it tensible for. Us.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Okay so one of my first, calls And i've been
doing this for about a year and a half my,
iPhone i live recliner. Life so my daughter was looking
for a way for me to continue to be. Useful
i'm an old bird. NURSE i answer a call and
the screen is. BLACK i, say how CAN i help?
(32:26):
You and the woman had her phone facing what was
the back of her. Television she had knocked over something
and all of her cables from the back of HER,
tv HER hdmi cables music input had pulled away from THE.
Tv she was completely, blind and she was able to
(32:49):
show me the back of her, phone AND i was
able to talk her through plugging the mill back. IN
i had another fellow who had a LITTLE docs and
a little fifteen year OLD docs who was acting unusual
and he thought that he had a. Problem he showed
me the dog and was able to poke along AND
(33:11):
i had him move the dog around and look at
this and, that and we were able to figure out
that the dog was just having a hard moment as
a fifteen year old Doccun and Sometimes i'll chat with
people after and they'll be amazed That i'm In alaska and.
Whatnot but it's.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
When they call, you would they call, you it's they
could be connected with any volunteer anywhere in the.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
World they have it all set up so that volunteers
only get calls between their time zone eight and nine,
pm eight am to nine, pm but anyone who uses
the service gets connected with someone within fifteen. Seconds there
(33:59):
are only there are they're approaching a million users, now
but there are eight million volunteers, worldwide one hundred and eighty.
Languages and the other thing is this company is creating
AND i think will be a landmark resource to people
(34:22):
who are low vision. Worldwide they have partnered With meta Through,
facebook you, know THE meda and now people can get
The RayBan meta. Glasses And i've had two people call
that we're using those and they have the glasses on
(34:44):
and they can show me what they're looking at through this.
App AND i talked them through whatever issue they're. Having
one fellow, was you, know trying to find a certain
component on a piece of. Equipment and it's just. Phenomenal
and with all of the seniors now getting macular degeneration and,
(35:07):
cataracts this app is free to. Use there's no imprint
left on your phone or their. Phone it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Miraculous, well let's let's give the website so people can
check it. Out and this is perfect for people who have,
uh you, know good general. Knowledge you don't have to
BE i guess a television technician or Specific yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
And so And i'm, sorry, no go.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
AHEAD i just wanted to give The i'm going to
give this a couple of. Times it's all one WORD
b B e my m y ies dot, com simple
as that bmiyes dot. Com and you can contact, them
you can download the. APP i assume that you, can
uh you'll be able to, volunteer uh and and and
(35:59):
get right into the. System, God, joan you were making
a point THAT i interrupted on. You go. Ahead that's.
Speaker 7 (36:05):
OKAY i THINK i forgot the point for a. Second
the benefit is just you don't have to have any
technological skills to be able to, talk and if you
can't handle what's going on in the, call you can
hang up and they just Say i'm not able to do,
this and within fifteen seconds they'll have another volunteer, answer,
(36:29):
well we have got many.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
People, wow what a great oh to give you an
immense amount of. Satisfaction, oh it's.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
Tremendous AS i, said if you're someone who can't be
out and about very, easily if you're someone who just
wants a moment of, encouragement it's you, KNOW i had
a woman who was trying to decide what yarn to use,
crocheting and WHEN i saw the things that she was,
(36:58):
crocheting and she's completely, blind but she wanted to know
if the color was the same as the one she
was using in the. Project you, know AS i, SAID
i grew up with a young gal this is in the,
fifties who was blind and this was down In, situate
Mass AND i used to get down on the ground
WHEN i was seven or eight years old and make
(37:21):
a sound near the croquet hoop and try to track
her to play. Croquet and so this is like full circle.
Fruition to be able to see what technology is, DOING
i could tell stories about or explain the experience for
hours to. People it's been so uplifting to.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Me, well you can hear it in your. VOICE i
think that it's wonderful what you're. Doing and you're helping
people literally all over the. World it's well and in my,
eyes what they're, doing NO i, understand but you're representing them.
Here so be my eyes is so. Important be my
(38:03):
eyes just spelled. Us it sounds dot. Com and you,
know we had had a great chance to meet your
sister and your brother in law the event In, westwood so.
Speaker 7 (38:13):
Please WELL i, WAS i was there by, proxy so good.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Enough, absolutely it was a great. Time. Joe we'll talk, Soon,
Okay i'll see you, SOMETIMES i hope.
Speaker 7 (38:21):
So AND i just thanks so.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Much, Dan you're very, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Joe be my. Eyes great. Work, okay bye bye bye.
Bye so now we get back here on night. Side
we're going to right after the nine o'clock news talk
about the latest and The karen Retrow and there was
a lot that would end today AND i think today
was a tough day for For. Karen read now, again
the prosecution is putting their case. IN i think it's
(38:46):
being put in pretty. Effectively i'll explain, why but i'd
like to hear your take on it as. Well we'll
be back right after the nine
It's nice side We've did, I'm going and Mazy Boston's
News Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much, Harry Small. As we started another
week here on nightside. We really started yesterday. We had
a fabulous event at the Narrouli Restaurant in Westwood. We
had a two seatings for a nightside brunch, one at
eleven and one at twelve thirty. We had folks from
really all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, one hundred
(00:31):
and seventy eight reservations and I think virtually all of
them showed up. I spent two hours meeting and greeting
nightside listeners, loyal nightside listeners, some of whom I knew,
some of whom I met for the first time. We'll
talk about that later on tonight. But for anyone listening,
I really enjoyed yesterday. Never had brunch myself, spent really
(00:52):
three hours meeting and getting to know a lot of
our listeners. An incredible experience. I just want to say
thanks to all who showed up, to thank the people
at the early restaurant, and of course want to thank
Bo and Bill Winnaker and their group. The Winnaker Band
played for the better part of three hours. They were fabulous.
(01:12):
Everyone enjoyed themselves. Now we are going to start off
our first hour tonight. No phone calls on the eight
o'clock are. We're going to interview four guests. We're going
to start off locally with the National Baseball Poetry Festival.
I suspect that probably some of you were unaware that
there was a National Baseball Poetry Festival. But the founder
(01:34):
of the National Baseball Poetry Festival joins me, Now, Steve
beyond dough Lillo, Have I pronounced that correct, Steve? Or
have gotten close?
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You've got a.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Lot of vowels in there, man, there's a lot of vowels. Yeah, absolutely,
I'll tell you well, Steve tell us the National Baseball
Poetry Festival. This is the third year of the Poetry Festival.
I guess it's held in Worcester in honor of the
(02:05):
great author from Worcester, a poet from Worcester who wrote
the one poet poet poem that all of us know
about baseball, Casey at the bat. And we're not talking
about Casey Steingele, We're talking about the mighty Casey exactly precisely.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Ernest Staire was born and raised in Worcester, and indeed
he is the author of Casey at the Bat right,
the most famous ever baseball poem, but also arguably one
of the most famous poems in all of English literature
or American literature, I would say, And so it had
to be Worcester, right, And Worcester has a deep history
(02:43):
in baseball. Also, the first perfect game was pitched there.
The industrial leagues of the late nineteen hundreds were really
there in a very strong, strong way. And so you
know Worcester, and you know Polar Park as you know.
You know, it's been there now four years and it's
just the newest, shiniest, best run tripa a ballpark in
(03:07):
the country. Actually won the award this past year for that.
So it had to be Worcester. We thought it up
about five years ago. It took a couple of years
to get off the ground. And I'll give you the
origin story if I've got admit it, and that is
I was reading a magazine on the West Coast and
saw an article on the Fisherman's Poetry Festival, and I thought,
(03:32):
Fisherman's Poetry Festival, how many how many poems are there
about fish? I'm not exactly sure. I was an English
major undergrad and grad, and then I said, okay, fish,
all right, we've got commercial fishing, we've got recreational fishing,
we've got sport fishing. Sport. My goodness, how come there's
no baseball poetry festival. And that's a true story. That
(03:53):
was the actual origin story of that about five years ago,
a couple years to get it off the ground.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, it looks to me like you're gonna have thirty
poets of some level. I'm just counting the numbers here.
I think it's about thirty poets, many of them with
you know, great baseball names. None of them I don't
believe played. But you have a will Cox in there.
There was a Milt Willcox who pitched in the major leagues.
(04:23):
You got a more head showing up, spelled a little
differently than Dave moorehead of the Red Sox, no hit fame. Yeah,
there's more than a few names here. There's a Tony Brown,
There's there's fifty guys that have played with the last
name of Brown. There's Alex Thomas. I assume no relation
either to Frank Thomas or Lee Thomas from the Red Sox.
(04:47):
The Angels and the Yankees of the nineteen fifties and sixties.
She got to Thomas, She got a Paul Thomas and
a Frank Thomas. Where are all these poet poets coming
in from?
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Okay, so let me back out, say what a festival is?
What is a baseball poetry festival? It's two things, right,
It's a contest for adults in youth to write baseball poetry,
write poetry about baseball. And the scenes are very broadly cast, right,
it could be about.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Poet what they call a poet. They call these a
poet poetry slam, right, where people are up reading their poems.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
I guess, well, yes, that's the open mic dimension of it.
But first, let me tell you the contest.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So we've had we've got about two minutes left here,
so you got to tell me that context quickly, Steve.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
Okay, So we've had adult poets send in their work
from thirty seven states in four countries, right, and then
we've had youth poets send in their poetry from nine states.
And there's a contest, right, So we select twenty seven
winners amongst the adult, sixty winners amongst the kids. The
other side is the gathering, and we're going to have
(05:53):
poets from all over the United States in Worcester with
us reading their work. There are different opportunities a couple
at Pollar Park to be doing open mic reading, at
the Gene mcdone Art Centers of the open Mic Reading,
and at Electric Haze there'll be open mic reading. So
these poets will gather from all over the US. The
(06:15):
thirty you see are the ones listed on the website.
We're expecting closer to one hundred poets actually from around
the US.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Okay, so think where's the best. Here's the best thing
we can do. You're giving me a lot of information
in a brief period of time, which is great. You
have a website. I assume it's called Baseball Poetryfest dot org.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Right, you've got it, Baseball Poetryfest dot org. All the information,
the schedules, the uh all the opportunities to listen to poets.
Of course, we've got a couple of games this weekend,
the Wu Saws versus the Toledo mud Hens, and so
it's it's just a fun and fabulous weekend for people
(06:55):
who love the art and who love baseball. Because baseball
is the most intertwined sport with the fine arts, film, theater, literature, music, everything.
So this is the celebration the uniting of sports. It's
the first festival in the US to unite sports and
the fine arts.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
All right, So all you got to do is go
to the one word Baseball Poetryfest dot org. There's a slash schedule,
but I think Baseball Poetryfest dot org will get you there.
You have the schedule, the contest, venues and hotels, everything
you could possibly need to know about the Baseball Poetry
(07:35):
Fest that will be taking place this weekend in Worcester.
So congratulations, Steve. I think it's a great idea and
I wish you all the luck and I hope you
have a big turnout and maybe maybe someone will come
up with another poem, a poem to rival Casey at
the Bat. Did you know that there's a section they
talk about in Casey at the Bat how Casey strikes
(07:58):
out and there was gloomy doing in Mudville that day.
Mudville is no joy in Mudville, No joy in Mudville.
Did you know that there's a there's a section of
Holliston that's called Mudville that I believe is named after
that poem.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I think you might be right there, but you know
Worcester is going to stand firm with the pride of place.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Oh no, no, no no. I'm just saying that that
the that the law of Casey at the bat extends
even well across across the country at around the world. Staves.
Thank you very much, best best of Luke with the
National Baseball Poetry Festival this weekend. Thanks Dave, appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Dan.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
Take care Now.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Welcome we get back. There is now a Massachusetts high
school tournament for nash for a national mascot showdown. I
have gone over this group. There's uh the sixty four competitors.
I think some of them are from around New England
as well as Massachusetts, but we'll figure that out. We're
going to talk with Justin Wu, who's, amongst other things,
(08:58):
an entrepreneur, a fhil anthropis that's good work if you
can get it, by the way, and founder of V
sixty four, the group responsible for the competition. We'll be
back with Justin Wu and we'll give you all the
information you need to know about the high school mascot tournament.
And yes, I don't think that there are any Native sadly,
any Native American mascots. But well, we'll go through it
(09:20):
with Justin and we'll figure it all out later on time.
Go talk with Chris Price, Boston Globe sports reporter, and
talk about how he views the NFL Draft by the
Patriots that've signed a lot of players as free agents
as well. And then we're going to talk with one
of our most loyal listeners in Alaska, Joan Hamilton, who's
a volunteer for be My Eyes. Coming up at eight
(09:42):
forty five back on night Side right after this on
a Monday night, and pull down that that iHeart app,
the new and improved iHeart App, and make WBZ your
number one pre set. You'll be able to listen to
us anywhere in the world and you'll only be a
finger tip away three sixty five, twenty four to seven
(10:03):
every day of the year. Back on Nightside after this, it's.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
All right, we now are going to get to our
next guest, who is Justin wo And Justin, I guess
Justin you're the founder of this national mascot showdown. Tell
us about it.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
So yeah, at the sixty four Dot com it's a
new online platform we just launched, and it's all about
fun competition and giving them a voice to what people love.
And we definitely think that people love mascots and they
have a lot of spirit. So that's what we're doing
right now, is we have a high school mascot competition running.
We have an East division and a West division because
we got so many mascots that wanted to participate, and
(10:53):
it's going right now. You can head over to the
site and vote anytime.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Now, let me ask you, is this this was pitched
to me as a Massachusetts competition, but it looks to
me like it's from There are a lot of Massachusetts competitors,
but it looks to me like there's been some other
states represented here. How many states are in this? Again,
you're East competition.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
So I don't know exactly how many states are in
the East versus the West, but we have most of
the fifties states represented. We scoured the internet to look
for all kinds of cool high school mascots.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah. So for example, I'm seeing Bangor Maine. Or I'm
seeing Bangor, which I assume is Maine. I'm seeing Somerset,
which I'm assuming is probably New Jersey, but there's also
a Somerset, Massachusetts, so you don't have a rough I
see Elizabethan, Elizabethan. I guess that could be made if
(11:52):
it could be New Jersey.
Speaker 5 (11:54):
Yeah, not one hundred percent sure, but I know that
we tried to get a couple from all different states
in the lot of the major markets.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Yeah. I see for example, Ashland, which I think is Massachusetts,
but there's also Ashland, Kentucky. I know because there's a
federal prison there. I see Denmark. I have no idea
where Denmark's from. I know it's not from the from
the country Deadmark.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
If you click the profile for the for all of
these different places or the different mascots.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Yeah, that's Georgia video and then OK, yeah that's Georgia
the location. I'm not going to steal your time and
click all of them, that's for sure. How did people
qualify for this? Did they just volunteer or did you
did you actually go out and find them?
Speaker 5 (12:39):
We actually went out and found them. We scoured the
internet and we were looking for a lot of unique mascots,
so not the you know, the basic things like the
tigers and you know what everybody has, but some really
unique ones around the country. And then they all submitted
videos and the videos are amazing to watch how much
effort and energy the you know, the kids at the
school and the schools put in to putting them up.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, I'm looking at Somerset. It's Somerset. It's neither New
Jersey nor Massachusetts. At Somerset, Kentucky. I do notice that, Yeah,
there are none of the the animal well, there's there's
some referenced as like the antelopes, but the lions and
the tigers and all of that. And there's no Native
(13:23):
American mascot. So is this a Native American mascots? We
have several up here in Massachusetts. Were they not considered?
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Oh no, everybody was considered. I just don't think that
maybe they got picked. There's some really crazy, you know mascots,
So yeah, I don't know. That just happened to be
by chance.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Okay, we got to hit one here from Massachusetts called
the Milbury Woolies. I'm not sure what a wooly is,
but that's a good looking mascot and that is now Yeah,
Milbury mill the Milbury Woolies have advanced to the second round.
Speaker 5 (14:01):
And yeah, they're in the current round against the Staggy.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So Staggy looks like an animal of some sort.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
Yeah, it looks like yer kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so that's kind of a traditional that's
but again the staggy, that's that's pretty cool. I do
see that you have, ah from Jacksonville, Florida. We have
a crusader. Different times people have objective. Holy Cross also
uses the crusaders, so you know in this day and
(14:31):
a justin whenever you do these, it always gets into
some sort of political conversation. And I see that you
got the West coast here as well. Uh, and they're
going on. I'm just looking for some of the more
interesting ones that you have here. There's one here.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
Yeah, there's a volcano. Yeah, there's some. Yeah, you have
to he's around this one.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
That's pretty funny. Here's one that's pretty funny. It's a
polka poka poka poka is in West Virginia, well.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Poker Virginia.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Yeah, the polka dots where.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
The poka poka dots? Okay, uh, yeah, I see what
you got going on here? You got uh you do
have a seat in Saint Bernard out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yeah,
that's you got. You got an interesting group. When when
will the ultimate winner? You're going to have two winners
(15:25):
who looks like no, no, You're going to have a
final playoff? Is that the deal with you?
Speaker 5 (15:28):
We're gonna have a final playoff in the fall. Because
of such high demand for this, we divided it into
the East versus the West, and then we'll take the
best out of each each bracket or each tournament and
put them into like a national And then the price
for that is we're going to give us sixty four
hundred to one of their you know, one of these
schools to their athletic department towards something that they want
that would help the school, so that they go and vote, yeah,
(15:53):
sixty four And then users that come in and vote
you can win things from gift cards to I think
a PlayStation for the for these first ornament.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So let me let me ask you. Something like this
obviously costs some money. Who's sponsoring this or is this
hob how do you how do you keep this afloat?
Speaker 5 (16:10):
So this one I sponsor, And then in the future
what we're looking to do is get sponsors of kind
of local community partners because one of the reasons why
I came up with the site is a lot of
media companies do you know, voting competitions, and they make
the contestants pay for that in one way or another,
and paying for it influences the outcome of the competition.
(16:31):
This one, none of the contestants can ever pay for
any of the you know things in the competition. There's
nothing for them to buy, and so it's purely fan voted.
And how much that they work on promoting themselves to
their own audiences.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Sure, sure, well, I would hope that in future years
maybe you could get a couple of these big corporate
sponsorship show the companies that are trying to get to
teenage consumers. I mean, there's a lot of product out
there that you know, high school students consume. And whether
or not it's you know, a popular non alcoholic beverage
(17:09):
or for sure or whatever it might be, I think
I think you're onto something here. Justin thank you very
much people, thank you for having me. Let's go to
your website. The website is pretty simple. It's the word
the th h and then the numbers the number sixty four,
So the sixty four dot com slash Tournaments slash high
school mascots. Great great Justice.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Finishing brought us that right from the from the homepage.
And you know, it's easy to register. It takes about
five minutes. All you need is a phone numbers to
do authentication. And that's because we want to be sure
that the integrity of the boats is up there, that
people can't create fake spots and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Sounds sounds sounds all on the level of me. Thanks Justin.
I appreciate you taking the time.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
To Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Welcome, all right, thanks, good bye, all right, we get back.
We're going to talk about the NFL Draft with Chris Price,
Boston Globes sports reporter, specifically of course, with an emphasis
on the New England Patriots. And they also signed a
bunch of free agents after the draft. We can't forget
about them, and we are going to talk about one
guy who they drafted, Kobe Minor, joins the club as
(18:17):
the twenty twenty six mister Irrelevant. We'll get to all
of that, I promise, right after the break for news
at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Thank you very much. Sherry joining us again is a
great Boston Globe Sports reporter Chris Price. Hey, Chris, welcome
back to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Dan.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
How you been I'm doing great. You studied the l Draft,
I'm sure, and with particular specific emphasis on the Patriots.
As a as an outsider, I think they had a
pretty good draft. What's your take?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Yeah, I think think it was good. Of course, you
never know until you know you see him put on
the pads and get on the practice field down there
in Foxborough. But I think on the surface, you can
certainly point to the fact that they addressed a lot
of meats that they had this off season. First and
foremost with Will Campbell. I know, there was a lot
of debate about whether or not his arms, you know,
(19:19):
were too short for industry standards when you talk about
the position, But the bottom line was that he was
the best offensive lineman in the draft. The Patriots needed
offensive lineman, and so it felt kind of like a
natural marriage between the two. But yeah, I think it
was a good draft by large.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
I read all that I read all that stuff about
his arms, Okay, I think you know, his his wingspan
would be another way to look at it is what
a couple of inches shorter than maybe someone who's six
foot six should be. I don't understand. I mean, if
his arms were you know, yeah, I don't understand what.
(19:56):
Maybe you can explain to me what the theoretical difference.
I mean, is he going to stop some guy with
an extra fingertip? I didn't get that.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Well. I think it's a great debate, it really is.
And I'll start by saying there there are a number
of really good offensive linemen, particularly at the tackle position,
who do have kind of shorter arms an inch or two.
Like I said, the industry standard is thirty three inches
for arm length. And he actually measured at his pro
(20:26):
day at LSU thirty three inches exactly. Now he measured
at the combine. A couple of you know, a month
or two before that just shy of that. And so
you know, you wonder if someone is you know, taking
a look at the numbers and kind of fudging, you know,
fudge the stats. But I think really for a lot
of people, when you talk about the people who play
that position, you need that you need as much length
(20:48):
as possible to kind of hold off those big edge rushers,
those big, fast, quick guys coming around the corner. You
want to keep them at arm's length for as long
as possible. Now, the Patriots had a guy like that
a few years ago in Nate Solder, who I thought
that a very very good job, and in the he
had long arms and he was you know, was able
to do that. Now the question is here, Dan, if
(21:10):
you look at history, he's a really good offensive lineman.
But there are a lot of other good offensive linemen
who had similar situations going into the pros who moved
inside to guard, you know, where you don't necessarily need
the long arms. So the question might be could he
move inside if he necessarily you know, the shorter arms
thing becomes an issue with the NFL level. So, like
(21:32):
I said, bottom line, though for me he was the
best offensive lineman in the draft. They need those guys.
They need guys for protection for Drake May upfront. So
again it was kind of a natural marriage for the
two as far as I was consumed.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Well, the protection can't be any worse than it has
been the last couple of years. I also, I love
the guys who are either undersized or you know, I
love the Julian Edelman type player, the guy you know,
he as a kid was a quarterback in college and
it comes out and ends up one of the best
(22:06):
wide receivers in the history of the league. He got
all these guys who were six' four and they have.
Butterfingers you, know you throw a ball anywhere Near, edelman
and he was going to get it and then he
was going to. RUN i don't, KNOW i want to.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Guy here you, Go, Dan i'll give you a guy
to roote. For how about this this guy The patriots
signed as an undrafted free, agent didn't wasn't even, Drafted Lann.
Larison And i'm not Sure i'm pronouncing his name, right
but AT. L. A. N. Lawson he's a running back
FROM Uc davis who put up incredible numbers over the
course of his career at you See davis just and
(22:41):
he did a bunch of. Things he was a you,
know he was a running. Back he put you, know
he threw some. Passes the other, thing he was a
high school rodeo. Champion so if you want a guy
to wish if you want to like a long shot
to wish on, to you, know to who can maybe
follow that same sort of. Career Arc i'm not saying
he's going to Be, edelman but a guy to ren
a late. Run got a root For Lane. Larrison he's your.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
MAN i liked. IT i liked, that and have a
two choice that guy from The Ohio State.
Speaker 6 (23:08):
Stevenson yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah henderson is a really.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Mixing him up with the with the guy that said
the problem, fundling the question is the.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Steer you go.
Speaker 6 (23:20):
Exactly you know what's really, interesting Dan is and you
talk About stevenson And henderson and maybe the positional battle
that will kind of start to brew there as a result,
of you, know The patriots getting that guy while they
have an established running back.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Already one of my favorite coats From Mike rabel is
that he said when he was a, player he used
to watch the draft every year to see who they
were trying to replace me. With and SO i think
we look at some of these positions here. Now at running,
back they drafted a wide receiver when they already had
a couple of young wide receivers in. There you, know
(23:54):
they drafted a kicker when they already have a kicker
on the. Roster there's going to be some really fun
position battles to watch for this team moving.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Forward, well the, thing the thing going back To. Stevenson
WHAT i loved About stevenson was he had he had
a great. Backstory AND i don't know if it was your, Article,
chris or someone else who talked about. HIM i think
he had dropped out of college and he was, working you,
know kind of a dead end, job and somehow he
got back into school and all of a sudden started
(24:23):
to play football and just his life turned.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
Around and he's a really he's a really fascinating.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Guy, yeah and he had a great first season for
a bad, team and then last, year you, know there
were you, know a couple of guys punch the ball
out on him and you, fumble and you get that
reputation and it's tough to. Shake and every time you're
carrying the, football you're thinking about holding onto the, football
not hitting the. Hole You you just wonder if his
days are. Numbered, now EVEN i, Was i'm rooting for.
(24:51):
Him i'm going to continue to roof for him because
he's got such a great.
Speaker 4 (24:54):
Backstory well you know. What the other thing, too is
that when The, patriot if you look at and part
of this goes back To, belichick but The patriots Under
belichick never had a guy rush for a thousand yards
in back to back season as those fantastic, teams but
they always consider running backs a little fungible kind of you,
know you can just rotate them through there and get
(25:16):
the next. Guy and SO i wonder if that's kind
of playing into their thinking here with bringing in a
new guy to a. Place, stevenson who rushed for one
thousand yards a couple of years, ago had really done
a good job to establish himself as an every down,
back and NOW i JUST i wonder if they're going
to keep kind of that that spin cycle, moving or
maybe it's just kind of part of the you, know
the way people are looking at the position these. Days
(25:36):
SO i don't, know but, it's LIKE i, said it
sets up a really intriguing positional battle on this roster moving.
Forward not a.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Lot of job security in THE. Nfl there's a much
more job security in, baseball, basketball and hockey THE. Nfl
AND i don't know why. That maybe there's just too
many talented guys and this too many. Injuries why is, That?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Chris in your, OPINION i think part of it is
the physical nature of the. Sport it's just an inherently
violent sport and so you're gonna have guys with shorter.
Careers but, look the bottom line is that you, know
the old acronym that people think it stands For National Football,
league and, really in a lot of, ways for a
lot of, guys it's not for long that you, know
you've got to make your. Money you've got to do
(26:18):
whatever you can do to you, know to kind of
stake your claim there in THE, nfl and then you
kind of move on because teams are always looking, for you,
know as their reference with the raybel. Thing teams are
always looking to replace the older guys with younger. Guys
it's just it's a constantly churning.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Machine that next. GUY i, Think, okay your, Piece i'm
not sure if it ran, today if it runs, tomorrow mister,
Irrelevant Toby mine a great. Piece so little suggests a
little advice For Marty, moore who's who actually was also
the final. Pick, Hey i'd like to be a FINAL
i would have liked to have been a final LEFT nfl.
Pick nothing to be ashamed. Of tell us About Kobe.
(26:54):
Minor can he make the.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Team Kobe minor can definitely make the team if he
Follows Marty moore's. Advice Marty moore was the last overall
pick in nineteen ninety four and he ended up going
to Two Super. Bowls you want to ring with the
two thousand and one. Team so this is a guy
who knows of what he. Speaks he, Says, look don't
shy away from that mister irrelevant. Label embrace. It be
(27:15):
an underdog to come the kind of guy That patriots
fans want to root, for they want to cheer. For
people love those stories like you just referenced with with Romondre.
Stevenson people love a great comeback. Story people love a
good underdog. Story and if this guy just goes out
there and just. PLAYS i mentioned this someone. Before he's
got to play every snap like rent and food are
(27:35):
on the line every single. Play you just got to
go hit it, all hang out and he'll make the.
Team you, know he's certainly done. Enough like you, said
it's an honor really in a lot of, ways And
marty references in the, Story, look it's an honor just
to be. Drafted this is just this is LIKE i,
said you, know it's they're just there's turnover all the
time in THE. Nfl and if you get to a
stage where you play even one snap in The National Football,
(27:57):
league you, know you've got a social currency THAT i
think goes a long way with a lot of.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
People so, LOOK i, mean, yeah if you play one snap, here,
well you play one, staff you're in the. Book my
great friend of many, Years Ted, lepsio who played for
The Red, sox used to talk, about you, know one
at bat or one game in right field where you'll
get it at bat or, something you're still you're in the.
Book it Was ted's. Phrase so any of these guys
(28:24):
who get in the, book they're they're better than the
rest of, us that's for. Sure, Hey, chris no one's
better than you on this. STUFF i really appreciate every
time you come. ON i learned something every. Time thank,
you my. FRIEND i appreciate it so. Much enjoy yourself.
Tomorrow is that piece on myster? Irrelevant has that did
that hit? TODAY i read The Globe sports.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
Batge, yeah it's it's it's online now and it should
be in it should be in print.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Tomorrow let's look for it, tomorrow sports. Fans it's a great.
Piece i've had a peek at it. Here, okay Thanks Chris,
price will talk.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Soon thanks, fan take care doctor You.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Okay we get. Back we're gonna talk about and a
great program that one of our long distance night, Siders Joan,
hamilton is involved. With it's called Be My. Eyes this
is a great. Story we'll be back On nightside read
after the.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Break you're on Night side With Dan. Ray i'm W
Z boston's news.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Radio, well one of our most loyal listeners lives In.
Alaska her name Is Joan, hamilton and she's also explained
to me that she's the volunteer for a program Called
Be My. EYES i never realized what a big, program
volunteer program this, Was. Joan, welcome welcome back. Home how
(29:39):
are you?
Speaker 7 (29:39):
Tonight, well thank, you and it is home to. Me.
Still i'm wonderful And i'm thrilled that you're doing.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
This so tell us about Be My eyes and tell
us about the, program and then tell us what you
have to do if. YOU i guess they're always looking for,
volunteers absolutely.
Speaker 7 (29:58):
So about a year and a half, ago my daughter
told me that she was a volunteer for this wonderful.
Outfit bet My eyes is a company that started about
ten years ago In denmark and it provides people who are,
blind low, vision or even dyslexic to be able to
(30:20):
use an. App access the, app and a host of
volunteers all over the world will answer their call and
be able to help a person who's visually impaired to
navigate anything in their world that's going on that they
(30:42):
need help.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
With and SO i watched A ted talk from the
founder From, Denmark Hans Jorgen. WEIBERG i think was how
he pronounced his name Of. Vieburg he. Was he did
A ted talk In. COPENHAGEN i guess he has very narrow.
Vision so it's there's a lot of people who have vision.
(31:05):
Problems they don't necessarily have to be one hundred percent,
blind but you, know not at. All if you are
one hundred percent, blind this program can still help you. Correct.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
Oh.
Speaker 7 (31:15):
ABSOLUTELY i talked to people who are completely blind who are.
Amazing it's been one of the most uplifting experiences for.
Me i've always had a pension for blindness SINCE i
was a kid AND i had a friend and situate
who was, blind And i've just always had a heart
(31:36):
and being amazed by what someone could.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Accomplish, okay so how explain to us how this? Works,
logistically you're sitting at home In. Alaska you're listed as a.
Volunteer so if somebody, has you, know a low vision
problem and they're trying to read a label on some
cooking don't, whatever give us a couple of examples of
(32:01):
people that you've. Helped give us make it tensible for. Us.
Speaker 7 (32:04):
Okay so one of my first, calls And i've been
doing this for about a year and a half my,
iPhone i live recliner. Life so my daughter was looking
for a way for me to continue to be. Useful
i'm an old bird. NURSE i answer a call and
the screen is. BLACK i, say how CAN i help?
(32:26):
You and the woman had her phone facing what was
the back of her. Television she had knocked over something
and all of her cables from the back of HER,
tv HER hdmi cables music input had pulled away from THE.
Tv she was completely, blind and she was able to
(32:49):
show me the back of her, phone AND i was
able to talk her through plugging the mill back. IN
i had another fellow who had a LITTLE docs and
a little fifteen year OLD docs who was acting unusual
and he thought that he had a. Problem he showed
me the dog and was able to poke along AND
(33:11):
i had him move the dog around and look at
this and, that and we were able to figure out
that the dog was just having a hard moment as
a fifteen year old Doccun and Sometimes i'll chat with
people after and they'll be amazed That i'm In alaska and.
Whatnot but it's.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
When they call, you would they call, you it's they
could be connected with any volunteer anywhere in the.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
World they have it all set up so that volunteers
only get calls between their time zone eight and nine,
pm eight am to nine, pm but anyone who uses
the service gets connected with someone within fifteen. Seconds there
(33:59):
are only there are they're approaching a million users, now
but there are eight million volunteers, worldwide one hundred and eighty.
Languages and the other thing is this company is creating
AND i think will be a landmark resource to people
(34:22):
who are low vision. Worldwide they have partnered With meta Through,
facebook you, know THE meda and now people can get
The RayBan meta. Glasses And i've had two people call
that we're using those and they have the glasses on
(34:44):
and they can show me what they're looking at through this.
App AND i talked them through whatever issue they're. Having
one fellow, was you, know trying to find a certain
component on a piece of. Equipment and it's just. Phenomenal
and with all of the seniors now getting macular degeneration and,
(35:07):
cataracts this app is free to. Use there's no imprint
left on your phone or their. Phone it's just it's.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
Miraculous, well let's let's give the website so people can
check it. Out and this is perfect for people who have,
uh you, know good general. Knowledge you don't have to
BE i guess a television technician or Specific yeah.
Speaker 7 (35:36):
And so And i'm, sorry, no go.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
AHEAD i just wanted to give The i'm going to
give this a couple of. Times it's all one WORD
b B e my m y ies dot, com simple
as that bmiyes dot. Com and you can contact, them
you can download the. APP i assume that you, can
uh you'll be able to, volunteer uh and and and
(35:59):
get right into the. System, God, joan you were making
a point THAT i interrupted on. You go. Ahead that's.
Speaker 7 (36:05):
OKAY i THINK i forgot the point for a. Second
the benefit is just you don't have to have any
technological skills to be able to, talk and if you
can't handle what's going on in the, call you can
hang up and they just Say i'm not able to do,
this and within fifteen seconds they'll have another volunteer, answer,
(36:29):
well we have got many.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
People, wow what a great oh to give you an
immense amount of. Satisfaction, oh it's.
Speaker 7 (36:37):
Tremendous AS i, said if you're someone who can't be
out and about very, easily if you're someone who just
wants a moment of, encouragement it's you, KNOW i had
a woman who was trying to decide what yarn to use,
crocheting and WHEN i saw the things that she was,
(36:58):
crocheting and she's completely, blind but she wanted to know
if the color was the same as the one she
was using in the. Project you, know AS i, SAID
i grew up with a young gal this is in the,
fifties who was blind and this was down In, situate
Mass AND i used to get down on the ground
WHEN i was seven or eight years old and make
(37:21):
a sound near the croquet hoop and try to track
her to play. Croquet and so this is like full circle.
Fruition to be able to see what technology is, DOING
i could tell stories about or explain the experience for
hours to. People it's been so uplifting to.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Me, well you can hear it in your. VOICE i
think that it's wonderful what you're. Doing and you're helping
people literally all over the. World it's well and in my,
eyes what they're, doing NO i, understand but you're representing them.
Here so be my eyes is so. Important be my
(38:03):
eyes just spelled. Us it sounds dot. Com and you,
know we had had a great chance to meet your
sister and your brother in law the event In, westwood so.
Speaker 7 (38:13):
Please WELL i, WAS i was there by, proxy so good.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Enough, absolutely it was a great. Time. Joe we'll talk, Soon,
Okay i'll see you, SOMETIMES i hope.
Speaker 7 (38:21):
So AND i just thanks so.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Much, Dan you're very, Welcome.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Joe be my. Eyes great. Work, okay bye bye bye.
Bye so now we get back here on night. Side
we're going to right after the nine o'clock news talk
about the latest and The karen Retrow and there was
a lot that would end today AND i think today
was a tough day for For. Karen read now, again
the prosecution is putting their case. IN i think it's
(38:46):
being put in pretty. Effectively i'll explain, why but i'd
like to hear your take on it as. Well we'll
be back right after the nine
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com