5-13-24 Hour 1

Levack addresses the Albany Firebirds-Minnesota Myth cancelled game More on AFL 2024 season Yankees-Mets weekend recap impact discussion

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is interesting. This is different. I kind of like it. Uh,
why we're here is also changed,which we're sure we'll get to.
But the fact this is the firsttime use the team president of the Albany
fire words. I have been inyour office. You have an award in
front of you from Firebird fan Lisa. It says Jeff Loovak World's Greatest President.
I love Lisa. She's got thelen That just words greatest president.

(00:24):
Yeah, which I mean I thinkfitting. To be honest with you,
I think that's more fitting words great, Like just what. There's a few
words that make me great, andI can't say any of them on the
radio. They're all they're all swearwords. They're all cuss words. I
decided to use the word cusmore.I like it. I was here early
this morning and one of our oneof our coaches that you all know very

(00:49):
well, Brandon Cis, was onthe phone in the very back of the
building. We were the only oneshere at that moment, and I heard
him. I heard him talking tosomeone and then he goes, see you
got comfortable, now, I'm matdWe'll cuss you out. And I went
that was the most intimidating non swearfiltstatement I ever heard like, because Brainon's
voice just booms, I don't thinkhe knew I was here. So I

(01:10):
was like, I was like,dude, I was nervous. He goes
Awsko my little cousin. I gethim ready to play some football. But
you know, everybody's a little nextto Sea said but that, so I'm
use word cussmore. I decided,Yeah, it sounds intimidating, Uh,
Levac, I don't want to dothis talk about Yeah, that was a
tough I can talk about talk aboutthe Knicks. I mean, that was
tough loss. We're not going totalk about the Knicks yet. We will
talk about the Knicks because I mean, that's the biggest story in New York

(01:33):
right that the Rangers weren't able toclose it out. Yeah, well,
we'll get to that later as well. I wasn't happy about that either,
the Yankees. Big win for theYankees. If all of that will be
covered on today's show, we'll getto all that. But there are certain
people who are probably listening right nowwho have never listened to the show before,
whether they're listening on the iHeart appwe appreciate you could be some local
reporters listening right now. Hello MichaelKelly, Hello Shawn Martin, Mark Singles,

(01:56):
whoever else. We appreciate you.Guys. Remember if you're live tweeting
this segment, please at w ofX nine eighty Lavac and guys the name
of the show. Uh yeah,Let's talk about what's not happening tonight.
I originally thought I was being inyour office in a suit and tie.
You're you like this though, youand your RAYMISTERIEO T shirt from nineteen ninety
five. Don't get distracted by myattire like most women are by what I'm

(02:19):
wearing. Short shorts, You gotregular short? Don't know? No,
No, my gams are fine,shorter than usual. Let's talk about what
happened. Let's go back to Saturday. Okay, I think it's the best
way for those who don't know.There was a game that was scheduled,
we played tonight, and then wellthere's actually originally the games because we played
Saturday. Correct, Yes, thatwould have been in Minnesota. The Timberwolves

(02:40):
handled business, so they actually theydidn't handle business. Eventually, they wished
they could go back in time onthis whole thing too, so that you
know the NBA, Trump's the AFL. So what happened is they had to
move. We were accommodating. Theywere gonna come here tonight. Everything looked

(03:01):
good, everything was gonna happen,and considering that there is some turmoil is
to put it nicely. In theArena Football League, we were excited to
have the myth here today. Butit turns out they can't make it.
And that's we were. We were. So you went Saturday, I'm I'm
home. I'm I was actually workingon your payroll as a member of the

(03:23):
team. Thank you. You doget a small pay for being here.
How's that going? By the wayI was with like this, I'm way
more focused on getting you paid herethan you are getting me paid over at
Fox Sports Radio. I can tellyou that right now. You Yeah,
So Mike called me and said,it's uh the owner of the team.
Yep, yep, Monday's dead now. I will tell you that Friday night,

(03:44):
there were some there was some rumblingsthat we could add problems. I
was on the phone quite a fewtimes with all three owners. Uh.
They were on the phone with otherteams throughout the league trying to figure exactly
what was going on. Yeah,so the Myth were unable to make the
trip. By unable to make thetrip, I'm assuming, so stop me.
What if assumptions are wrong here?So they would have to have the

(04:09):
flight paid for, Get on theflight, find lodge hotel, have that
figured out, then fly back.Would an expense like that be covered by
the ownership group of the Myth theleague or is there a combination? For
those who don't know why that actuallymight cross paths of maybe that's the same
answer I just gave that. Ithink that is. I think that's the

(04:29):
question that is rocking the league atthe moment. We we have always we've
always been in leagues where you payfor all your own stuff. That's where
we've been. We're used to it. This league did promise and has come
through on some things like uniforms andhelmets and stuff like that. They've they
did do those things. I don'twant to everybody. There's a lot of

(04:51):
people who are tearing them apart.I'm not there at this moment in life.
I don't. It doesn't it doesn'tsuit me to tear the league apart.
But there was some I've seen thereports, You've seen teams talking about
payers players pay and help with traveland things of that nature. Minnesota is

(05:11):
an interesting one though, because,unlike the other teams throughout the league,
the owner of the Minnesota Myths lastname is Hutton. The commissioner of the
league's last name is Hutton. Sheis the wife of the Hunton and I
would think if anybody was privy tothe exact workings of the league, it

(05:33):
it'd be the woman married to thecommissioner. So I'm not really sure.
Again, I don't I want togo both barrels, you know me,
I'm the kind of person to getticked off and this kind of stuff doesn't
go the way it's supposed to go. But I think the we're at a
very we're at a crossroads right now, and all many football is going to

(05:55):
be okay, but there's a lotof teams out there that aren't going to
be okay. And I don't wantto I don't want to dance on graves,
especially when there's players who are arenot going to get paid this season.
There's players who are you know,I had to find a way home
from certain teams and you know,just just being who we are. Right

(06:16):
when we sat down and we wentthrough how these things came together. There
was a lot of promises made andwe are we are all cynics here at
the Albany Firebrus. We've been throughsome things. Uh. The hashtag Fords
didn't fire is not is not usedlightly around here. So we literally want,
hey, if they come through onhalf these things, this is great.
Number one thing. We wanted toplay arena football. We didn't want

(06:39):
to play indoor football. This isa chance. I like, listen a
lot of people, I'll jump overanother thing in a minute. But like
they keep saying, like, wellgo here, go, there Goever,
this league gives us the best opportunityto play arena football at the highest possible
level. So that's one of thebiggest We were willing to work with this
league, help build this league,do whatever it takes to get this league
where it needs to be, aslong as we have to play arena football

(07:01):
at the highest possble level. Sothe fact that this game didn't happen is
very I know the fans are ticked. I'm ticked, but at the same
time, the anger doesn't serve usin any future direction. We lost a
football game, yeah, and notlost it because honestly, I've actually been
yelled that because I keep telling everybody, well, it's a forfeit, right
we win. We're three and zero, but nobody really cares about that because

(07:25):
we want to win on the field. But we have one less game to
play at this moment. Yeah,and the forfeit we might have to talk
about here a little later on,not so much involving all but in Minnesota,
but I'll also have in the leaguewe may not even have time for
that. You might have to lookthat into it. Let's go, I'm
more than having to go with otherteams. Let me. Let me go
back to what happened on Friday towhere we are on Monday, because a

(07:45):
lot of people again might not beon social media, might not be following
this stuff. All. This hasan effect to Capital Region Sports that on
Friday, I believe after our showsigned off the air, but Minnesota myth
head coach resigned. Yeah, thespecial teams coach resigned. Yeah, as
we found out that Saturday, theycan get on the flights and they're not
coming to the game. And nowMonday. This has been posted by Arena
Insider dot com Diana Hutton, whoyou referenced the wife of Lee Hutton,

(08:11):
the current commissioner of the vowner andpresident of the Minnesota Myth. Here's what
Diana Hutton said in an email quote. The timing to finalize the deal cannot
be done within the next two days. Talk who's looking for extra sponsorships?
Correct? This has also been delayeddue to the negative publicity surrounding our team
in the league's lack of support,as their main purpose seems to be to

(08:31):
sabotage this team, the Minnesota Myth, in order to force my husband to
resign as commissioner of the Arena FootballLeague. They even made changes to the
schedule without any notification us. Ifyou haven't seen this, reports are now
saying the Minnesota's gone from not havinga head coach and special teams coordinator to
now today being done suspending operations,no longer team in the league overall.

(08:54):
So I think a lot happened inthe interest of legality hid statement. I
believe it to be true, butjust to be safe, is there some
of that that Like you're when whensomebody says something that you talk about me,
I know you're not talking about me, Like the to change the schedule

(09:15):
without talking to us, That isif that better not be directed to us,
because we we directly spoke with bothHuntons and found a solution for them
having to not play a game.Yeah, it's it's more expensive to travel,
but again, you know, theleague has already said it has a

(09:35):
plan in place and it was gonnahelp people with that stuff. Minnesota shipd
the easiest one to travel. It'snot super expensive to get from Minnesota Albany,
New York. It's not cheap,but it's not like it's not again
from Albany to West Texas. That'sthat's that's tough. That sucks. That's
gonna hit you into back count directthe right or whoever it is, thank
you, is correct. Friday nightlights, there's there. I don't feel

(10:00):
like there's And I love Zach Bugand the ownership of West Texas good people.
I don't think there's a direct flightfrom anywhere to Odessa. Maybe maybe
a paper airplane from the border ofOdessa, but like that's a tough flight.
But Aubny, we're here, We'rewe wanted to make that one work.
We wanted that for our fans,We wanted that for for you know,

(10:20):
for our guys, because our guysand I don't could play a game.
They trained hard all week and theycould play a game. There might
be a lot of Firebird fans listeningright now. Ticket situation if you add
a ticket tonight's game, which isoriginally added. I know we have some
winners here on Fox Sports ninety fivenine, and any who want tickets are
some of our sister station had ticketwinners. I know our guy Junior called
some people today. But if youhad your phone off at the work,

(10:43):
has there been an overall decision madefor people who had tickets to tonight's game?
How that's going to be handled?Most have already been refunded, okay.
I And the only reason I saymost is because I haven't. I
didn't watched the screen. But thebox office here m VP Arena, working
with Joe Naire and myself, theywere able to you know, if you
play, if you paid card throughthe system, it went right back to

(11:03):
your card. If it's not thereyet, it will be by tomorrow.
And if it's not there by tomorrow, L E V A c K at
Firebirds a f L dot com letme know. We had a few people
pay cash for their tickets. Iknow Joe was able to refund one of
those instantly if you had, ifyou bought tickets to tonight's game, we're

(11:24):
refunding them. That's happening as faras the winners go. I'll say this
now to everybody who's listening. I'mmore than happy to give your tickets to
a future game. We'll just oncethey once we have all the details for
you. If you want to picka future game, more than happy to
to make good on that. That'syour winner and hopefully you were excited about
winning him. And if you really, if you still want them, we'll
get you a future game. That'sso cool. Continue to have the support

(11:46):
for the Firebirds, continue to comeout and support the team. We'll say
this is my well, likely thefirst time we say this, but Albany
didn't do anything wrong, Like ifyou're a fire right, like, if
you're a Firebird fan, you didn'tdo any anything wrong. This is it
didn't a year ago. Right now. It's a very different conversation, right
like it involves Albany. Albany isbeing affected by this, but you're watching

(12:09):
it happen. It's like watching amovie that you're in, which is bizarre,
like you're seeing everything happening around you. So we have to address this
right because we're talking about potential futuregames here, the next schedule, the
game where the phones would be ifwe were in the studio to take calls?
All right, everybody's calling. Yeah, I will keep an eye on
social media, I'm sure. Yeah, most people hold all questions today.
Let's let's go to the nineteenth here, because that's the next scheduled team.

(12:31):
That would be one of my workphones, we could that would be this
Sunday. Is Sunday's opponent, thePhiladelphia Soul. What's okay? So that's
done? Okay, So the Philadelphia'sofficially the term I think has been put
on pause. I've seen being useda suspended operation until next year, I
believe, is what they Okay,so it's efficient, is what they're saying.
Well, the press, they didcome out with the press leaves.
We we've been aware that that wasnot the most likely opponent, even if

(12:58):
we were somehow able to get themhere for the nineteenth, which right,
I will say this, right upuntil Friday, it still looked like we
were gonna able to get them hereon the nineteenth because we're so close.
But even we've got here in thenineteenth were supposed play again later in the
season. It didn't seem it didn'tseem realistic. We be able to get
here twice with the way things aregoing. So we've been I say we

(13:20):
ownership has been working on that straightthrough. There are there's still football they
played here in albody, there is. I want to make announcements already,
but there's some fine line crossing T'sdot and I stuff that's going on right
now. I will tell you this, I've seen a potential schedule against for

(13:41):
the rest of the season, andthe beauty of the first one I saw.
The home games are very close towhere they already were. But as
soon as we can make that official, as soon as we have one,
we'll get that out to everybody.On a percentage still, you know,
I like doing this in the topfoward four percentage that a game will be
played May nineteenth inside MVP. Arewe know zero to one hundred percent?

(14:05):
Nothing is one hundred anymore, becauseagain, if you would ask me that
on Friday during the show, Iwould have said Monday was one hundred percent
because I had heard from the dudeand the I'd heard from the people that
we were gonna do it. Yeah, I think, and again I would
I want to go you say ninetynine point nine percent if it wasn't over
what happened the last forty hours.Well that it's just you know, like

(14:26):
I'm I'm trying to get certain peopleon the phone before the show, and
everybody's working, and it's one ofthose deals where like nobody nobody wants to
make like half half commitments anymore.Like we we know what is being said
about this league. We know what'sbeen said about this league before. We

(14:48):
we know, we hear you.We we don't want we don't want to
play with you like we want toplay football for you. So there's a
lot of there's a lot, there'sthe there's gonna be one of those deals.
Like I said before the season startedmany times, I would rather you
be angry at me for being slowwith the information than be angry at me

(15:09):
for being wrong with the information.So we're working on it. We're gonna
we're hoping to have answers asap,possibly today. I was so I was
really hoping to be able to lockin the nineteenth forty today before the show,
and the chance it happens before theend, we got three hours you
can still happen. I mean there'sthere's bud. But as you know,
we're we're still we're about to putFlock You somewhere for Wednesday. We're looking

(15:35):
for a good place where we cango and actually feed all the guys because
right now, remember these guys,they're pays is based on play. We're
gonna take care of them where they'regonna nobody's gonna go without a paycheck this
week, because it's that's that's wrong. But then you know these guys,
these guys come here, you know, under good faith too, And so
we're looking what I'd like to dofrom now on is every time we do
a Flock You, I'd like toinvite all the players there with us to

(15:56):
eat like they're Onlineheart on the GreenTonight that's where they're gonna eat. Gonna
eat with the guys. They'll bethere at six. Please don't ask me
any questions about the schedule. Theydon't know. They know what we what
we know. We've done sixteen minutesof this. If you are a Firebird
fan, if you're a Capital Regionsports, and if you have more questions
on this again, we're gonna beon the air for three hours live here
from the Firebirds offices at MVP Arenaat the Jeff Lovaco. On Twitter,

(16:21):
we'll see the tweets at Tom gonsdomg it was easy on Twitter, Fox
Sports nine eighty dot com, orthe Facebook page. I know we have
a post up promoting today's show.You put a comment underneath that, we'll
get to it. I think it'sabout Twitter, Facebook, those are the
best ways to reach out to theshow. I have one last question and
then you can be done with thesoft grilling up done for you here.
There was a situation that happened inthe league involving rapid sitting Billions. I

(16:45):
don't know if you saw that.Yeah, Titus, the owner of Billings.
Like, dude, that guy's myspirit animal. Like he don't play
like I'm not like he He's obviouslyin a different situation than we are,
but he obviously loves this game.I've seen his statements. Man, that
guy he is. He is pullingno punches. I don't know. I

(17:06):
don't I'm not like. I don'thave the exact same experience he's had,
so I can't comment on the exactsame things he can comment on but the
fact that he's just coming out withboth barrels like, yo, I'm fighting
who wants to fight? I'll fightyou all. To end to the story,
Billions as scheduled to play Rapid Citythis past weekend. The game is
in Billions. The Outlaws are onthe field, ye, Rapid City is

(17:27):
in the locker room, and RapidCity in the locker room said we are
not taking the field until we getpaid, So we're not coming on the
turf until we get paid. Whenwe get paid, we will go out
on the turf. This is likestuff you hear old professional wrestling. The
Ultimate Warriors got McMahon over a barrelbefore he defends the time, like they

(17:47):
are really trying to say pay usor we're not taking the field. They
didn't take the field, Rapid Citysaid okay, sorry, bye, We're
leaving. The game was forfeited.As the Levak reference the owner gone on
social media kind of reminds me ofDan Gilbert from the Cavaliers from years ago
when Lebron left talked about how disgustedhe was by having the team and the
franchise be embarrassed in a night likethat. I don't know the update on

(18:11):
Rapid City's future. I assume it'snot good as well. Billiings clearly wants
to play, So we just hadto address that. Because the Minnesota and
Almity thing happened today, the RapidRapid City and Billiings thing happened over the
weekend. I think it's safe tosay changes are on the way. You
know, we talked about on socialmedia address in the future. There's some
things you just don't know because you'renot in Rapid City or Billiings. If
we got a map right now,most people in the Capital region would know.

(18:33):
But at some point, who knows. Maybe you guys will play Billions
Outlaws, maybe there'll be a roadgame to that, because they clearly want
to be in this. In RapidCity that thinks they got screwed like other
people in the league, which whetherthe truth of that is true or not.
Well, I mean, at theend of the day, if the
players say they't get paid it and'tget paid, you know what I mean,
Like, it's not a matter ofwho didn't pay, you didn't get
paid. That's listen. I hadthis conversation earlier today with some of the

(18:57):
guys, said, the only thingyou need to do. The only thing
you need to do to be agood organization is pay your players. Like
that's it. Like I could,I could reuse uniforms, I could,
you know, I could do amillion little things that you know would make

(19:18):
you go that's not my favorite,but I but at least, hey,
they paid us. That's the numberone thing. These guys don't make as
much as people think they make.They make more in this league than another
indoor league right now. And thatthis the you know, Oh I shouldn't
say that because some aren't, butthis is the The plan for this league
was to be the the biggest arenafootball league in the world. Pay the

(19:44):
players the most money that you couldafford to pay them, you know,
based on what the business model wasthat was. That was like, hey
man, you're gonna get the bestplayers over time because you're paying them best,
but you got to take care ofthem. Like you can't have these
guys going to games not knowing notto get paid. We saw this in
Albany last year after we were out. You can't do that to these guys.

(20:06):
They don't they they don't make enoughmoney to play with them like that.
They just don't. I mean heck, I do okay in this world
if my paycheck doesn't show up myphone. Dude, Mike Corda, Andy
Gelchier, Richie said, your phone'sringing right away. Like, hey,
guys, just curious. Everything good? You know what I mean? You
tell me, let me know,and but it's like, you know,

(20:26):
that doesn't happen. So that's thenumber one thing like these guys, these
they are professional athletes. They deservethe respect of cash and paychecks. Whoever's
paying them, they deserve that respect. You write a contract with them.
That's on you. You gotta doit. Our guys they know we got
them. On the first payroll.We had two guys that the system either

(20:48):
I inverted a numbers or they wrotesomething wrong. We spent that day make
a chasing chasing deposits for two dudes, because guess what, that's the job.
That's the freaking job. So ifa guy doesn't get paid, he
doesn't want to play. I gotno issue with that. Thanks for doing
this. This is twenty two minutesof addressing everything. You were open,
honest, real, authentic. Alot of people in your position lovec even

(21:12):
though we're friends and co hosts.You are a team president. I'm literally
sitting in your office. You couldhave said, Gods, we're not gonna
talk about this, or there's toomuch going on, or I'm gonna one
word to answer you, or I'llwrite a press release. You did it
on the show. Hopefully people acrossCapital Region have everything they want to be
answered that you can answer right nowat three o'clock on a Monday, when
there's a game schedules for Sunday.That's about as good as we can do

(21:34):
right now. And if you're listeningon the podcast side, try to listen
live sometimes because who knows something mightdevelop throughout the show and everything else.
So all right, I love it, I love I'm watching everybody time me
and said I said there's eighty chanceof a game on the nineteenth. That's
just my way saying there's gonna bea game. But what if you said
ninety five? I didn't wonder thepeople that are working on getting that game.

(21:56):
But you heard what you heard whatSteve Tygers from Billing said, you
know how Mike Corda, Andy GelcherRichie says that are you know John chanting
down Orlando ain't done playing football?Like like you know, there's there's I
will play it like this. Thereare enough similar minded individuals having conversations right
now that there's gonna be football.The only reason that I said anything less

(22:21):
than one hundred percent is because Ihave not been given that call yet that
says this is your opponent on onSunday at one pm. It's the only
it's the only reason I haven't said, ye, it's Monday, since Monday
eight three. Yeah. But theschedule, I mean, and I don't.
I don't blame people for being unpatient, because this schedule should have been

(22:42):
set, you know what I mean, I get it. I just want
everybody to know that like we are, we're tacked off. We want we
are too, We just we justknow where our energy needs to go right
now to give you the best chanceof having as much football is seemingly possible.
Two and oh should be probably threeand oh, and then we're gonna

(23:03):
hopefully be We'll be three and ohfor sure with whoever decides to show up
here. On the nineteen two corrections, real quick, Matt and mentioned this.
Thank you for the correction. They'reMatt. The game was in Rapid
City, nine billions. Thank youfor that. Thank you for the correction
there. Oh okay, and Stevenwrote, any chance already moves to the
US and we're not gonna do thatany of that stuff. Do it.
I'll do all of it. Youwant to do what come? No,
I'll I'll do answer questions, willcome back, all right, I will
all right, we'll answer questions.I didn't think that's the way we're gonna

(23:26):
go, but you know that showsthe passion of the fans here. So
yeah, we will react to somesocial media and and the thing is again
though, like there's questions. Ieither don't have one hundred percent of the
answer for right now, or I'vebeen told to hold on because you know,
blurting out information this moment could screwup negotiations. So just as long
as everybody understands that, let's talk. Le's sounds very cool, Steven,
cool, Steven, give me ahold there, I will get back.

(23:48):
You will lead off the conversation weget back. Before we do all that,
let's talk about our friends over Lilliand David Fine, Juelers Levac see
commitment. Yes, I thought thestart of the show was also gonna be
different. About seventy two hours ago, had a nice little message on social
media over the weekend for those whomight have missed it. I'm very excited
to announce I have a baby boyon the way, So very exciting.
Baby boy number three is no daughters, not all testosterone at the Goslowski household.

(24:12):
It's gonna be like the Gronkowski's.My wife put on the Shark Tank
episode and all five Gronks are there. I'm like, this could be you
this guy. I don't know ifwe're gonna have five though. Uh.
Shout out to Alyssa. By theway, a Lilian David Fine Jewelier's it
is her birthday today. A happybirthday to Alyssa. I sent her a
happy birthday text and she wrote back, thanks guys, you're really building your
own football team in your house boynumber three. Congratulations. She is actually

(24:34):
quitting this job and become their agent. David, are my kids your kid?
Oh? Okay, all three.I have a lot of friends who
have bet five percent of life earningson our kids. Of like, my
wife is very tall, played atSaint Rose to lock in for seven percent,
seven per seven. We having tonegotiation, Lillian, David find you.

(24:55):
We'll talk about that when we stepaway. Here in a few minutes.
But the most important part is Lilyand David find you. They have
been there from step one. Myengagement are ring Lily and David Finejueler's wedding.
Ben If I've been saying the wordpush gifts and you, guys,
you didn't know what that meant.Push gifts means when the baby's on the
way, you can get your wonderfulwife something. So I've been alluding to
that over the last couple of weeks. If you've been really inside, the

(25:15):
push gift references to the baby onthe way. So Lily and David Fine
Jewelers and must shout out a textwho listens, said I might be on
the way for a pushgift coming thisNovember. Before that, Guys, if
you have a wife who's expecting,get her a push gift in surprise or
Shops at Wilton is the place foryou, family owned, it operated business
stop in today. See you listen. Maybe you had plans come to the
MVP arena, maybe have a littledifferent route today and say, shops at

(25:38):
Wilton list it's your birthday, Happybirthday. I want to buy something for
my wife, my fiance, mygirlfriend, whoever it might be. It's
Lillian David Fine Jeweler's family owned andoperated business. So excited to say they've
been with us from the start before. We're engaged to boy number three,
and we hope that you go outand support that great business, Lillily and
David Fine Jewelers. Okay, we'llget some social media reaction to a lot
of things you just said. Firebirdfans, Apple Region Sports fans. We

(26:00):
see the comments coming in. Igot to grill Avac for twenty minutes.
It looks like Twitter and Facebook hassome comments for you as well. We'll
get to those coming up. VAClive from your office. Yeah, I
need shelves. I need shelves andI hang some stuff in the here.
It's Fox Sports thirty five nine nineslow ride in Latham on both sides of
Route nine right near altern at seven. We're also sluggish and Clifton Park on

(26:21):
the north down side right near oneforty six. So far, a pretty
good ride up Bend down the northWay seven eighty seven. So okay,
I'm ninety in the through way fine, little heavy on thirty two as you
travel north end south through cohoes fromwgy Price Chopper Market thirty two Traffic Center.
I'm Mike Barker. This report issponsored by Progressive Insurance. Progressive can

(26:41):
help you protect your home, auto, boat, motorcycle, ATV and RV
and more. And if something wasn'tmentioned that you had in mind, find
out if it can be covered.Visit Progressive dot com or call one eight
hundred Progressive because it probably can be. Sometimes intimate moments happen spontaneously at Him's.
We know it's always better to beready, and the best way to
be ready anytime is to go tohymns dot com today Because when you go

(27:03):
to hymns dot com slash radio,you'll find doctor trusted ed treatments for less
with the same active ingredient as CLIsavailable in daily pills. Or choose HYMNS.
Gives you that boost of confidence knowingyou can be ready whenever the mood
strikes. To connect with a licensedmedical provider, just go to hymns dot
com. No in person appointments orawkward conversations required. If prescription medication is

(27:25):
right for you, it'll be shippedto your door for free. Starting at
less than two dollars a day,you can get an ed treatment prescribed one
hundred percent online offer a fraction ofthe price of name brands. Get your
confidence back with Hymns. Get startedwith a free one hundred percent online consultation
today at hymns dot com slash radio. That's hymns dot com slash radio.
For your free online visit hyms dotcom slash Radio. Prescriptions require an online

(27:48):
consultation with a healthcare provider who willdetermine appriate restriction and supplice website for details
an important safey information. The subscriptionrequired price faries based on product and subscription
plan. Texting privacy policy in termsand conditions posed a textplan dot us texting
roles Recurring audio to text marketing suchas message deater ates may apply. Er
play stopped out. Minimum purchase requiredinterest a CRUs from data purchase, but
is wave to paid within promotional period. Go to Window appointment Now dot com
for full details. Attention homeowners,do you know when to replace your windows?
Feeling two hundred called fog between theglass? Spending too much an expensive

(28:12):
energy that literally goes out the window. It's time to replace and right now
you can get a free in homeconsultation and free price quote from renewal by
Anderson Plus. During the month ofMay, you can buy one window or
door and get one forty percent offwhen you buy four or more windows or
doors. Just text Hot to twohundred three hundred for your free consultation on
top quality, affordable windows or patiodoors for no money down, no monthly

(28:34):
payments, and no interest for twelvemonths. That's right, you don't pay
a dime for twelve months. TextHot to two hundred three hundred to buy
one window or door and get oneforty percent off and right now save an
extra two hundred dollars off your entirepurchase. Hurry. This incredible offer is
only in May. Text Hot totwo hundred three hundred. Text the word
hot to two hundred three hundred.Hot to two hundred three hundred. I'm
getting vaccinated with Prevnar twenty, aPfizer vaccine. So am I because I'm

(28:57):
at risk for new mcacole ammonia.If you're nineteen year older with chronic conditions
like asthma, diabetes, COPD,or heart disease, or our sixty five
or older, you are at increasedrisk for new macacoal pneumonia. Ask your
doctor or pharmacist. About Prevnar twenty, new Macacle twenty valiant conjugate vaccine.
It can help protect you against newmacacoal pneumonia in just one dose, even

(29:18):
if you've already been vaccinated with otherpneumonia vaccines. Prevnar twenty may help provide
added protection. Prevnar twenty is approvedfor adults to help prevent infections from twenty
strains of the bacteria that cause newmiccacolpneumonia. Continued approval may depend on a
supportive study. Don't get Prevnar twentyif you've had a severe allergic reaction to
the vaccine or its ingredients. Adultswith weakened immune systems may have a lower

(29:38):
response to the vaccine. Side effectsinclude pain and swelling at the injection site,
fatigue, headache, muscle and jointpain. For full prescribing information,
please call one eight FI five twoone three two one three eight or visit
Prevnar twenty dot com. Did youhear? Macy's Monday Sale is Tuesday with
limited time specials to help you getready for summer, like twenty five to

(29:59):
thirty two person off active gear forhim and for her, and forty to
seventy percent off shoes, handbags,and jewelry for the perfect look. Plus
save forty five to sixty percent ondining and entertaining from Lenox, Fits and
Floyd and more. Macy's Star Rewardsmembers earn on every purchase except gift cards,
services, and fees savings off regularand clearance prices. Exclusions apply.

(30:22):
The Free iHeart Radio app has overone hundred commercial free stations waiting for you
to explore right now, like alltwo k. After a commercial free look
back to alternative from the two thousandsix d These Food Fighters, Wheezer,
Lincoln Park, Green Day, TheRed Hot Chili Peppers and more. Matter.
Just open the Free iHeart Radio appsearch all two k listen now iHeart

(30:45):
Radio Free never Sound. It's sogood, Hi Heart Radio, It's avaking
Gods on ninety five nine Fox SportsRadio. Is that why you don't want
to lie during the show? Happenedwhen we went there. I wish I
could have had a camera out.We will do I did. I've never

(31:06):
seen someone's phone go not stop likethat. I gotta go, I gotta
go, I gotta go, Ihang on, I gotta I'm like gosh.
I didn't think we were that controversial. I didn't think I got you
in trouble them. I thought everythingof the cart above us, the car
did scare me. I thought therewas like thunder or there's a card above
us. And I thought the ceilingwas gonna come down. That was so
loud. Your phone rang six timesin about four and a half minutes from

(31:29):
six different people. Yeah, Iwill keep those conversations between you and I,
But I think something I think aboutit's kind of interesting though, I
almost want to share the one,okay, Like the the problem that we're
having here is is kind of likereverberating through arena football. Like, like
I've seen a lot of people Iwant to talk about the other leagues real

(31:52):
quick. I've seen people post neverleft the NAL. The NAL's lost like
three teams this year, at leasttwo I don't remember, but but like
they're having problems. The the IFL, you know, has lost teams in
the past. But like, wheneverhe goes, should have went to the
IFL, Go join the IFL,merge with the IFL. The IFL is

(32:17):
a really cool league. Like Ihave nothing but respect for the IFL,
but it's the Indoor Football League versusthe Arena Football League. They're different styles
of play. We want to playarena football as long as we can.
I have I have the ultimate confidencethat Damon Ware can build a team that
would compete and I would dominate indoorfootball if that's what he had been building.

(32:40):
That's not what we build. Theydon't play iron man. They don't
have the same kicking rules. Theydon't have the same defensive rules. They
don't have the same offensive roles.Like it's like there's two men in high
motion, not one. The linebackersare free to roam from the rip,
you know, the mac jack stuffout the window, forget about it.
Like all those things are different.So it's like it's like when you say,

(33:00):
hey, just just get out ofthere, go to this other league
or whatever, you it would belike me playing chess and going and joining
a checker league. Like it's justnot like you know, or vice versa
or not one not saying one isbetter than the others. Just you're built
for one. You shouldn't just jumpto the other with no disrespect, right,

(33:21):
but with no disrespect to the NAALor the IFL. A part of
the success of the Albany Firebirds,at least from a marketing and branding perspective
is that people from the Capital Region, people who followed the Firebirds, associated
the Firebirds with success and success inthe Arena Football League. So a lot
of the early popularity of the Firebirdshas been the nostalgic association with Oh,

(33:43):
I remember the Firebirds from the ArenaFootball League. I think whether how much,
if at all, that played afactor in the decision. I think
that, but that's been successful sofar in the Capital Region, like that
association of those two things. Uh, let's let's start with this message we
got. I look the next verse, just got my phone sitting next to
me, applauding the vac clearly didnot attend the Belichick Q and a school
thank you back for Bill belichicking methere for the first minutes. I also

(34:07):
will I can't say we're on toCleveland, but I don't know who's coming
here yet. I mean, Ikind of, I think in necessary,
I think I do know who's coming, but I can't. I can't say
it. Uh. Steven wrote thison Facebook. I cut him off right
before we went to break there.He's he asked any chance Albany moves to
the UFL with the new soccer fieldbeing built in Albany. The reason I
put a pause on it was like, that's till twenty twenty six, And

(34:29):
I think he meant, well,that's the us FL, the outdoor,
No, the UFL, which isthe USFL, and the XFL. Right
now we're an arena football team andthat's two and a half years out.
It's just such a different And I'llsay this too again, I have complete
faith that if we went to buildone of those teams didn't wear those dudes
like there's dudes who just due willthey will jump through any ring of fire,

(34:53):
hoop whatever to play for Damon,But arena we would love of love,
love, love, love, loveto get this right, figure out
what's going on, trim the fatis if that's what needs to be done,
and play arena football, and that'swhat that's what it's gonna come down
to. So I'm the reason youcan't see this piece of paper, guys,

(35:15):
is it has a list of teamsand dates and all these things and
all these moving pieces, and theyare all part of the discussion right now,
and they're all like minded individuals whowant to play football right now for
their fans. I don't think Edward'sbeing sarcastic when he asked this question.
He could be there's no sarcastic fontyet on social media, but he asked,
is there any talk about reaching outto former arena football players like Kurt

(35:39):
Warner for a quick cash infusion?I know I wouldn't think so. I
think let's be let's be real,right, you see what's going on here?
Do you want to put it?You want to make an investment?
You know what I mean, like, like you can invest. If if
I were to do that, Iwould invest in my team, you know

(36:01):
what I mean? Like if wewant to play for the Iowa Barnstorm.
Yes, so they're in the IFL. Now that's where they play. Now.
If I was Kurt Warner I sawa situation like this over here,
I might go, hey, I'vealways had a good experience with the people
in Albany. I know Albany.I'll invest in Albany. I wouldn't invest
in this league right now. Yeah, let me actually go back a little

(36:22):
bit, just because I'm not surehow much Edward knows. And we've said
this before, but again, wemight have a new audience today that like
the Alliance American Football League surely.Actually, you know, I'm sorry.
Let me stop you real quick.That was one of the things that was
kind of sold to us too,is the relationship between the two gentlemen in
the front office and the NFL,like the NFL network was because they had

(36:42):
a relationship together, and the relationshipdid the NFL network did show up in
the beginning, and then they sawthat it wasn't Some of the teams weren't
where they needed to be. Allthose people from the NFL with money like
came on. Thibodeau is part ownerof Oregon. You know Jeff Fisher,
former NFL He's part of the nationfront office. Like that, that relationship
is there. I think guys likeKurt Warner aren't interested for a couple of

(37:06):
reasons, like one being, hey, I don't want to always just be
the indoor football guy. I happenedto be a Hall of Fame quarterback.
But to that point, we've alwaysthought that we were gonna have a close
relationship with the NFL, and Ithink once we get this right, we
will. Yeah, and to theAlliance American Football League in the XFL,
other leagues who got infusions of cash, it's important to remind people those leagues,

(37:32):
the teams were owned by the league. So like when the Carolina Hurricane
owner came into the Alliance American Footballagain allegedly was gonna give them a quarter
of a billion dollars. Then hepulled out. He's like, no,
I'm not giving you guys that muchmoney. Like if Kurt Warner came in
and said, we're gonna give youcash, was he given it to?
How's it being used? Why isit being used that It's not as simple
as, hey, give me abunch of money and we'll figure it.

(37:52):
A lot goes into that Dame Champagneproblems. I'll call it the amount of
arena fan page that just started followingme is gonna get in trouble? Oh
gosh, I'll probably say, well, let's let's reach reaction. Let's baller
six seven here comes up with thepeople. Baller six seven three seven one
five five nine wrote to Levac,Jeff D m me, please, I

(38:15):
have your next career path in mind. Bawler has an egg is a profile
and he has two followers. Isit? Is it feed picks? Is
it? I'm ready? I'm readyfor feed picks only wants to make sure
you're doing okay, I didn't seehim. Is he Where is he on
Twitter? Yeah? Baller sixty sevenseven fifteen fifty nine. He has your
next career path in mind. Heheard that segment, said I'm ready for

(38:37):
him. Move on to Matthew wrotethere, Gosh, mat I a toluteve.
This sounds too good to pass up. Ballers to be too well ballers
attempted Matthew. So the commission ofthe league's team is folded. I don't
want to hear this nonsense that thewife owned it. What does this mean
for the league folding and the leagueblanked Albany. Sorry, I'll just say

(38:58):
he will say screwed for the sakeof radio. Uh. I gotta be
careful how I say this. Letme say this one then, let me
let me do this one first.Uh. I don't know what went into
the commissioner owning a team and thewife owning a team Like I just literally
came off the point about the AllianceAmerican Football League and the XFL and everything
else. So how that happened behindthe scenes, I don't know if you're

(39:21):
privy to that. That's probably moreof a mic cord at question or a
ton Andy or Richie question than ayou question, Well, I mean it's
it's I think it's opinion at thispoint because because we're not it's we're not
done, and I don't have allthe information. Like I've been I've been
pretty clear with everybody, like myfocus is Albany always, Albany League proof.

(39:44):
These are my these are my thethings that I dream of and I
work on. I'm thrilled that we'renot the problem. I'm not thrilled that
there is a problem. I thinkif you were a fan and you were
mad at the league right now becausethat game didn't happen Monday, I completely

(40:04):
support your anger. But as theguy who's trying to make the games happen,
it's a wasted it's a wasted emotionfor me. Right now, there's
no point being angry again. I'mworried about the players from the myth,
like I know her, her releasethat got out, her email that they
got it. They said, youknow, hey, let us know if
you need rides home, we'll takecare of you. I love that.
Let's hope that happens. But forme, the sole focus, pun intended

(40:31):
is who's going to replace the soulon the nineteenth, because you guys deserve
football. And I don't care.If it's the love I would love to
play in the AFL. I wouldlove it. That would be so cool
to continue to play in the AFL. But I don't care if it's the
the Guys Football League, the VackFootball League, the Back and Gods Football

(40:52):
League, whatever, I don't Idon't care. As long as it's as
long as it's the top level ofarena football. All our goals are complete.
That's where we're going. That's whatwe're doing. That's what we promise
our sponsors, our fans, everythingelse. We were gonna go out there.
We were gonna we weren't gonna embarrassyou the way that everything got embarrassing
last year like this, And that'sand and I think we felt true to

(41:15):
that. Like our our our playersknow that we care about them. How
we probably spent more on our playersin like reward dinners than some of these
teams have spent all year. Yeah, which you know, he's neither neither
here nor there. It's like we'renot looking for patting the back. I
didn't pay for him. I enjoyedthem, though, but it's just we
gotta get I I can't afford tobe angry. I can't afford to get

(41:37):
in the mud with these people rightnow. My goal is as soon as
Mike Corda, Andy Gelcher and Richiecall me and go, this is what
we've got. Okay, I gottarun out to my staff. I cant
go out to Nick, who doesgame day opps, and go Nick,
here's who, here's who's here's justwalking into the building on the nineteenth,
you know, set up their practicetime. That got on the phone to

(41:57):
them, let them know how toget hold of our bus companies and everything
else. That's that's where we're at. So that's that's I'm with you.
This is this is annoying. Iwant to be able to just go,
Hey, schedules, the schedule thereit is. It's not the case,
and honestly, it's not the casefor any of the leagues in the country.
One of those calls I got duringthe commercial was, Hey, if

(42:17):
this falls apart for us, doyou know who come play us on this
day? I think they actually wantedus to come down and play them,
but that would have been I'd havedied for them. Sorry, Yeah,
they ain't ready for that. Theydon't want that smoke. If you don't
mind, just keep putting those onspeakerphone. If we break here one minutes.
I enjoyed that. Yeah. Againmore reasons why we might need a
live stream for the future. I'lljust do one more comment and again,
if you're listening, uh the weare here live from the Firebirds office on

(42:42):
Lovak and gus Fox Sports ninety five, nine to nine eighty. If you're
listening to the show, you wantto tag something again w o f x
nine eighty on AX Fox Sports ninetyon Facebook, you want to that path
was I see it? I musthave blocked them. We're gonna have to
connect with baller. Uh, Steve, one more comment, let's get this
some one in from Steve here Levac. We appreciate thank you for the info
and the arena football again the Firebirds, at least we have the best balls.

(43:04):
Did you listen to Flock University Saturdaymorning on Fox Sports. I listened
to the version I was set.I don't know if I'm missing and I
thought I listened to most of it. Maybe I missed what he's referencing people.
All right, so there were somebodyliterally messaged in because we're not using
the same balls as the league's aswe started the season with. Those balls

(43:28):
were cheap, they didn't play well, they're great collectors items. So what
we did is we reached out tothe league. We went through all the
proper channels we got to prove toplay with far nicer Wilson balls, the
deals with Wilson. We have veryexpensive balls here with the Firebirds. We
love our balls. We think wehave the best balls, and our balls

(43:51):
are so good here with the Firebirdsthat Nashville originally said we don't we didn't
practice with your balls. We don'twant to touch your and then they used
it for warm up and everybody,all the players looked at the coaching staff
and everybody from Nationville, what welove all of these balls. We would
like to use all of these ballstonight. So that's that's when we explained

(44:12):
that in great detail during Flock UniversityLive from when we were at the war
Room on Wednesday, and of courseyou can hear it nine ams every Saturday
on the Fox Sports. Are youtelling me very soon that the liners and
promos are gonna be seeing come andsee the best balls in the Capitol Regionirds?
I mean, I would say,the best balls in arena football okay,
the country, Yeah I would.I will tell you this. If

(44:36):
you look after our game, acouple of other teams may have similar balls
to our own. A little ballenvy out there, a little ball envy
going on in the arena football league. It's the worst type of ending it
really. I mean, I wouldsay that's nuts to have.