Friday, January 5, Hour 2

Friday pod, Hour 2
− BREAKING NEWS: An Arizona football player in the transfer portal is visiting ASU. What?.
− GUEST: Arizona Bowl executive Eric Rhodes says a lot went right for the event this year.
− The last Fab 5 Friday picks of the season.

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Breaking down all the excess at all. It's Steve Rivera and Jacin Salvez.
This is I on the Ball onFox Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome
back to tying the ball, youknow, Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve, He's Jay, and nowwe have breaking news. This is I
on the Ball, breaking news onFox Sports fourteen fifty and apparently one of

(00:25):
the biggest stories in the history ofMichale Center. Last night, let's hear
this just stroying the history of MichaleCenter. Adam Sanders showed up and played
the pickup basket. It was notyour sarcasm. You're not good at sarcasm.
It's such a big deal that evenSports Illustrated reported on it. I

(00:47):
wasn't it wasn't gonna be in mybreaking news. I was just gonna break
it up at some point. Butthen I'm flipping through getting some last minute
things that during the break. SportsIllustrated has a story on the fact that
Adam Sander was playing pick up.Yeah, but you know, Sports Illustrate
isn't the same sports It's not theone that we grew up with. Everybody
doesn't right for them anymore. No, Ricky mannis does, but he's in

(01:11):
like some Hawaiian shirt and and somebag. What time did you get there?
You were we left here? Ithink he had just left when I
got there, because people were stillbuzzing about it and talking about it.
But I also when I when Iget there, out of walking into then
I get there and I go straightto the bathroom. I pretty much do
that anytime I get out of it. That's where you get it. When

(01:34):
you get here, you do thesame thing exactly. In fact, my
lead was exactly that with him,and Coleendo was there too doing his stuff.
I heard it with there too,doing imitations of Tommy and uh and
Bill Walton. Yeah, but hehe uh shot some some loose my understanding.
He's he's a he's a friend ofsomebody on the on the U,
a staff, one of the managersor something like that, and and they

(01:55):
sort of and I guess he's hecomes here his sister, his sister lived
here and she's getting some medical treatmentor something like that, so he comes,
okay here people after this came uphe were saying, oh, I
see him all the time, youknow, but he was here and he
was playing. And now it's it'sapparently become big big, you're sarcast Your
delivery sucked. I thought it waspretty good. What happened? What happened?

(02:21):
They beat him by forty seven?Well? What could have happened?
All right? Okay, okay,this is this is a head scratcher.
We had reported that Jacob kong Gekahad jumped into the into the transfer portal,
and so then his mom, uhtoday or yesterday or last night,
reports that Jacob is taking a visitto Asu. I'm you doing right?

(02:46):
Is it? Because you know youcan start over there and you're not sure
that you can start here. Sohe's taking a visit. Let's see.
Don't go into you don't even takethe visit. Come on, man,
come on, let him go.You said, you said, if you
don't want to be here, Yeah, but if you don't want to be
here, don't be here. Butdon't go there. Okay, you can't
go there. You can't go there. You can't. He may not go

(03:08):
there. You can't, you reallycan. You know you put on an
a s u shut a. You'regonna burst into flames. You just can't.
Well, to each his own,no, no, not to each
his own. You can't do thezone. You can't do that. I
wish you weren't a bitter man,but it's not my life, you know.
I it centers me to be bitter. It's funny because I have a

(03:32):
friend, not so much like you, but like you. He's one of
my best friends back home, andhe's a pain of the ass. He's
a he's a bidder. The biddershave the word, and I can't really
say the word on radio. Hegoes to church every week. It doesn't
miss it. He's very religious.He says, why do you go to
church all this time and you're painin the ass. Says, I'm a

(03:52):
paying the ass because I have togo to because I am a pain in
the gas. I don't rub itoff like that. Never. I'm not
even I'm not eve gonna see youneed You've given that. It's just all
your ticket was punzed a well longtime ago, long ago, and it
was like, what are you doing? What are you doing? All right?
More Transfer portal news h Tulia tongueof I Loo Hyeah his brother,

(04:17):
his brother uh. He's been thequarterback of Maryland Big ten career passing leader
in passing yards eleven eleven thousand plusyards. He's been at Maryland for four
years. He's jumped into the portal, but he's got he's trying to get
another season of eligibility. When hewas at Alabama, uh, he played
two games. He played one gamebeyond the mact. He played a fifth

(04:41):
game his one year where he justtook two snaps because his brother got hurt.
It was kind of like, goon, or your brother, go
take a couple of snaps. Andnow it's come back to haunting because now
he lost that year of eligibility becausehe played those two snaps. He's trying
to appeal to the n C DoubleA to give him another year of eligibility
so we can play. And ifhe gets that, he's in the poor
he's gonna go somewhere else. Ifnot the NFL, he done if he

(05:05):
doesn't get that extra year. Andand you know, uh, there's been
a lot of discussion about transfer Portlandtightening up the transfer rules and the waivers
and all that. So good luck. But he I, you know,
I I have a tough time thinkingthat he's gonna he's gonna get that.
Get that some dude just got sevenyears. Yeah, and who knows,

(05:25):
you know, who knows what what, all the what, all the considerations
are another name hard to pronounce,but Ken Neo Matlo, former Navy coach,
went to u c l A asa director of something. He's been
hired full time as the tight endscoach. You who he is? Right?
He should have been the new heshould have been the guy that they

(05:46):
hired when someone someone came right,but there was reportedly or supposedly or whatever
wordly the one little tweet next thewhole thing. Yeah, yeah, but
he's at u c l A now, you know, working his way back
up the ladder. He got firedfrom Navy. Yeah, you know,
hooked on at U c l A. I'm sure when the job they gave

(06:09):
him was come and do this.A job opens, you know, you
can get a job. And he'sgot a job, and you know,
I mean I I would put anin position that if Kelly Chip Kelly were
to get mixed at some point,well, I mean there's still rum yeah
the guy here, I could gothere there's that again. I you know,
I think I think, well,you know, I should I'll grab

(06:30):
the clip during the break, Uh, Jed was on Jim Rouman. Yeah,
he said, he's not going anywhere, right right, Well that's he's
not going anywhere anytime soon, anytimesoon. But I you know, I'll
I think his next move is togo to the NFL. I don't think
he'll go to another I don't thinkhe'll take another college. I think he
think he would go to the NFL. If you get him on, that's

(06:50):
a whole We'll get him. Jim. Hey, hi, hi, Jed,
this is Jim Roum. Can youcome back on our show. I'll
give him our phone number. He'llcall and we'll pren general. All right,
Okay, there's this really interesting fistfightgoing on over at ESPN. I
don't know if you've seen any ofthis, Pat paw. A couple of

(07:14):
days ago, Uh, Aaron Rodgersmade a very and I'm not going to
repeat the accusation, but just avery a wrong and stupid and reckless accusations
by Jimmy Kimmel, and uh,Jimmy Kimmel lost his mind obviously. But

(07:35):
you know, Aaron Rodgers gets paidto be on the Pat McAfee show,
and he said what he said.Pat McAfee had to come out and say,
you know that that's just what AaronRodgers does. But ESPN actually apologized
today they did. Okay that whatthey say, they said that he made,
you know, some accusations that arenot true, and we apologize for

(07:57):
Jimmy. That's that's two days there, forty eight in fact, a little
slow, a little slow, alittle slow. But then on top of
that, in the midst of allof this, Pat McAfee on his show
today said about Norby Williamson, whoI think is like the number two guy
at ESPN's that there are folks activelytrying to sabotage us from within ESPN.

(08:18):
More specifically, I believe Norby Williamsonis the guy attempting to sabotage our program.
So this number two, he's alreadyaccused, the number two guy trying
to sabotage the program. Well,I bet you that that show is gonna
end. Yeah, that's gonna endsoon. I for one have never seen
it, and I won't miss it. Yeah, I've seen it. I
like it in a weird way.Maybe because it's a train wreck or possibly

(08:41):
a train wreck, maybe that's whypeople listen to us, But it's I
really listened to it interesting, it'snot really informative. I mean in terms
of you're not gonna wake up andsay, oh wow, I got to
see this again, or I getthe information from there, but I get
it the surprises. He's paying Sabanand Saving and Rogers around million dollars each.

(09:03):
Uh. But to be the guyto be the group of people that
were fired, remember and each oneof them used to be actually what's your
name from here? Yeah? Andthen they hired that guy. Yeah,
that's kind of that's the run ofmy game day and the whole bit.
And it's like, man, andthen you say, you don't have any
money and you're paying him this this, It doesn't make sense. It doesn't
make any sense. Yeah, youknow there have been a time or two

(09:24):
that I've turned on my TV andhis show is on and I can't change
the channel. Yeah. But likeyou said, with your sons in that
group, they love it. Idon't know why they love it, but
they love it. I understand.I don't I don't understand. I don't
understand anyway. So there's a fewgoing on over there. Well see how
long? Yeah? Yeah, no, I didn't know that. When you
accused the second the second dude incharge, when you're poking the guy you

(09:46):
know that doesn't sign your checks.But also, like you know, if
they're paying you millions of dollars,you know who's gonna win that. Yeah?
Yeah, you fire the coach,you fire the players. Exactly related.
Aaron Rodgers was voted by the Jetsplayers as the most inspirational player on
their team. And I'm like,wait a minute. Don't you have to

(10:07):
play to be a player? Imean, like what two plays? Three
plays? Yeah? And it was, but they call him the most inspiration.
Who knows what the hell is going? Well, that's a bad team.
That's just a love fest for him. And like he you know,
he's the he's the the guardian angelfor for for the Jets. All right,
Uh okay, Steve. What wasArizona's record against the spread? Is?

(10:31):
Okay? Eleven games? How manygames? Thirteen? Thirteen games?
Football? Right? Yeah? Thirteen? I want to say, uh,
nine and four? Wrong? Close? Better eleven and two. So they
didn't didn't I know they were goingto cover Colorado? Okay, Stamford and
Stanford? Yeah, okay, theonly two games the didn't coach, No,

(10:54):
there were no fetus. Record againstthe spread is eight and one.
It's Colorado Colorado game that they didn'tcover eight one, so he he.
Well, the thing is we actuallynetwork gave him some gambling Heisman awards.
Well, the thing with us iswe we stay away from that stuff with
Leo. We coach team that wekind of talk about. Yeah, but

(11:15):
eleven and two for overall and eightand one for no fa fa against the
spread. I took. I didtake him once. I did. I
did take him in the pool andI did too. Yeah. I thought
that was I thought I thought thatwas a good pick, an easy pick.
All right. It wasn't easy untilthe fourth poarter. Yeah, all
right? Uh okay. So CollegeBasketball Report put out a listing of what

(11:39):
let me let me count of there'sabout fifteen twenty teams that the top twenty
coaching staffs and college basketball that arebest at utilizing the transfer portal didn't rate
them, just basketball mit list,right, And I'm bringing this up obviously
because Arizona's in there, But whoknows? What did you think is in
there? Else is in there?Basketball Transfer Portal? Man? I don't,

(12:03):
I don't know, I don't.And Za guys in there? Yeah,
okay, West Virginia's in there,Baylor Yukon. Yeah, it's called
survival now, it's called survival.But you know when you think about the
transfers that that that that Tommy Lloydhas brought in, I mean he's been,
he's been successful. You know,Caleb Love this year, Jade Bradley
this year, Ela Larson a coupleof years ago. I heard in April

(12:28):
he sucked at it. I wasgoing to recur these people, was blah
blah blah. Shut up. Youknow that the two guards from last year,
uh ramy uh brought me Raymie anduh the other guy we've already forgotten

(12:50):
lost the first round. You're entirelyyou're entitled, right, you're got who
is it though? Who was it? I can't remember his name now,
but you know, but you knowhe's been, he's you know, he's
been success what with these guys,and so you know, good good for
just win baby, just gotta winexactly all right. So okay, it's
not I don't know if you callthis breaking news, but there's a cornerback

(13:13):
out of a out of Carson,California, sixty three one ninety Cornerback,
a top twenty five recruit in thetwenty twenty five class he he put out
his top eight. His name isHayes Fawcett. He put out I take
it back, Uh, Djon Lee. He's from Oh, Hayes Fosters,
the guy who wrote this. DejonLee's a big, tall, stringy quarterback.

(13:35):
Here are the teams that that he'shis final eight Oregon, Georgia,
Washington, USC, Penn State,LSU, Florida, and Arizona. And
that's the neighborhood Arizona's running in.Yeah. Yeah, but but and they're
getting some of these guys, wellnot all of them. And yeah,

(13:56):
they may not get him right right, No, if they can get three
like they did over the last twothree years. Yeah, but he's out
of Carson, so you know,so you know now that the other teams
are gonna say, okay, yougo to Arizona. You know Jet's not
gonna be here. Yeah. Oh, you know they're saying that you know's

(14:16):
gonna leave. I'm gonna dig upthat that clip from from the Jim Rope
Show. Yeah, okay, justto get it all right, let's take
our next break. We've got EricEric Eric Rhoades coming coming in from the
Barstools Sports Arizona Bowl. We'll gethim to just give us a little bit
about, you know, how thingswent for them. I think they went
pretty well. They had a decentcrowd, they had a great game,

(14:37):
one of the better games of thebull season, and then a lot of
eyes on the TV. So I'msure they're gonna hang their hat on that
for quite a while. So tickaround for Eric Roads from the Arizona Ble.
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Sports fourteenth fifty. Hey, welcomeback to you the ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve RIVERAPeace Jenkins Aus known the phone. We

(19:49):
have Eric Rhodes of the Barstool SportsArizona Bowl. How are you, Eric?
And envoys? How we doing?We're doing well. Have you recovered
from the great weekend that you'd likethat? I don't know if you ever
really recover from, you know,working for a year for one day,

(20:11):
but uh, yeah, as muchas one can recover. I'm sitting here,
just turn the heater on in myhouse for the first time this year,
and uh, my dog and Iare ready to have a weekend.
So all right. So there's all. You know, when you when you
get to the end of one ofthese things, you probably you know,
do a lot of wrapping up ormaybe you guys are still in the middle
of that. But you know,coming out of the event, you know

(20:33):
a week ago, you know,what's the first thing that you guys are
are looking at in terms of whatwent right? And then let's talk about,
you know, things that you thinkyou know you're gonna work on for
the next year. Absolutely great question, I think no problem saying what went
right. We had a great gameday atmosphere. You know, Wyoming brought

(20:53):
a great crowd. We were announcedattendants of about thirty thousand, so to
a fantastic Chamber of Commerce day aswell, you know, up around seventy
degrees that kickoff almost a little warmfor folks here. But you know,
couldn't couldn't ask for a better dayand a better outcome of you know,
storyline of coach balls, last game, things to work on. We always

(21:15):
want to find a way just toget more people educated. It's still astounds
me when I'm out and about andmaybe wearing one of our branded shirts and
people go, oh, what's theArizona ble that's in Phoenix. No,
No, that's that's here. SoI always always working on educating and just
getting our name out there more andmore. It's funny because you're right,

(21:36):
I mean, for anything that's heldlocally or whatever, it's hard to get
the word out, even though youget the word out almost every day,
right, It's just kind of people'sretention on an event. You know,
I do something like you for youknow, work all year for one day
and you think, oh that's today, Well, well Christmas is December twenty
fifth every day, right, everyyear, So I get it. Yeah,

(21:57):
it's a tough situation. I meanwe have to see those Christmas countdowns
starting in December of the days likejust add six or seven to that and
it's like this kind of almost likedoomsday clock that counts down of ready or
not here it comes. So so, Eric, you guys put out some
some what looked like or sounded likegreat TV numbers that you guys had,

(22:22):
you know, tell us first tellus what you know what that is,
and then tell us how key thatis for you guys to be able to
continue, you know, to togrow this Bowl game. Yeah. Absolutely,
I mean we we announced today andreally kind of a bunch of different
publications announced today that the CW atits peak of our viewership had one point

(22:42):
nine million viewers. Combining that withthe Barstool numbers, which we're still collecting,
but last year was right around amillion. I would expect a little
bit less than that because of theCW partnership, but we're gonna be over
two million views of the Arizona Bowl. And what that does for us day
is that it allows us to goto market to get bigger and better sponsors

(23:03):
on a more national stage because theyunderstand their brain is not just seen here
in southern Arizona, but it's seenacross the country. So, you know,
we had Mark Wahlberg's tequila company jumpedon board this year, a couple
other bigger sponsors, and so youknow, big numbers like that, Well
they may not seem huge for youknow, maybe an ESPN market or something
like that. Goodness, that's hugefor Center Arizona because it's just bringing more

(23:27):
dollars to our community. I knowyou're just a week removed from METT,
but what is the status of asponsor for next year and beyond? Is
Barstool coming back? Well, astoday, Steve Barstool is our title sponsor.
You know we were. We're atthe end of a three year deal.
So we're just stalking to them aswe would any any sponsor and seeing

(23:48):
what it looks like on their end, what it looks like on our end.
But trust me, you guys willbe the first if anything changes.
Oh sure, I've heard that promisebefore. Oh yeah, I remember me
tell you the school you're going togo to. Oh I'm sorry, I
for God. So Eric, youknow, you know, we all we
know, those of us who arehere and are familiar with that, we

(24:10):
know that the game isn't the onlything that's you know, that's part of
this event. You know, allthe other festivities, the taco drop on
on New Year's Eve, you know, tell us how some of that stuff
went and what were some of thehighlights. Oh my gosh. Yeah,
So this year. This year weadopted a new phrase called Pachunga week,
which you know in Spanish is it'sjust a good old party, right.

(24:32):
You know, there's a game upnorth that has Fiesta involved us a little
more formal than we are. Wewe wanted to do that party that like
starts at seven and ends at questionmark. So we were able to do
that. I think our pep rallywas fantastic. The bar crawl had about
two hundred spots available the night beforethe game and sold out in about fifteen

(24:53):
minutes. They had a great timeover on University Boulevard. The game itself.
The tailgate. I don't know ifyou guys to get a chance wander
out to the mall, but itwas as crowded as I've ever seen any
of our tailgates. So it's goingto be huge numbers, and then of
course it's become sort of a weirdnational phenomenon. But the Taco Touchdown,
Man, it gathers. It gathersthe weirdest people, but man, it's

(25:15):
a lot of fun. And Warranttook the stage to a packed crowd.
We had a different location this year, which was fantastic. The Weather Channel
picks it up again. There wasa website about Arizona that picks it up
that had about one hundred and fiftythousand impressions on that one of our Taco
touchdown. So it's just a lotto offer. Whether you like football or

(25:36):
you don't like football. We're doingour best to bring an event to Southern
Arizona that our community can be proudof. And also that's going to bring
revenue through our charitable giving. Whatyou guys know well about it's going to
come right back here and stay herein Southern Arizona. Well, I think
that's is the one where I wantedto go next. I saw that firsthand,
in part because I'll tour gut somemoney from there. You had a

(25:59):
number of people who received checks afew months ago. You bring them in
and and this is kind of whatnot what they live on, but what
they need to survive on, ifthat makes any sense, and tell us
one hundred percent. You know,we're in nonprofit ourselves. So the ability
to give five ten thousand dollars toa local nonprofit, that's gonna that's gonna
make a big difference. Well thatmay not sound like a big number to

(26:22):
a lot of people, that's gonnahelp a lot of those nonprofits we gave.
You know, Steve, I thinkyou were in the rooms this year
when we did give those ten checks. Uh, you know, and that's
on top of the one point twosix million a Barstool Fund gave last year.
So you know, we're doing abus to just bring as much as
we can to help our community.Be part of our community. You know,

(26:44):
is all the like stiff stay allthe time. This is by us,
about us and for us here intothe Arizona. So I don't know
how well you can answer this question, because you know, I've got history
right. I was on the Comparablecommittee later at the Inside dot Com book
committee. It was a tough sell. It was always a tough sell.
This ball seems to have been generatingmomentum from you know, from day one,

(27:08):
you feel like every year it getsa little bigger it, you know,
it gets more eyes on it,more eyes on TV. I mean,
you know part of you know,with the Comparable it couldn't even get
a sponsor. What's been key tothat? Why have you guys been able
to have this success when previous Bowlgames here haven't had that success? Well,
I mean we always say thanks tofolks like you, Jay, who

(27:30):
we stand on your shoulders. Imean, it was It's not something that
was a brand new idea to havea Bowl game in Tucton. I you
know, I grew up here tooand went with my dad to watch it.
Drew Bledsoe in Washington State play inthe Coppa Bowl when I was younger.
You know, those games were fun. I think the difference that that's
made us sustainable and grow and growand putting us on a larger stage is

(27:52):
that, you know, you guyshad such a strong group of people leading
it, but it was a smallgroup for whatever reason. And I think
it does have a lot to dowith our charitable gives back. We've had
a large swath of Tucson get involvedand a large swath of organizations put their
support in their hat and the ringbehind us. So you know, we
have a volunteer army or Blue Blazersof over one hundred people who are small

(28:15):
business owners and just business folks herein the community who once a month come
together to help us and then spendtheir game week, you know, between
Christmas and New Year's helping us makesure that this product that people see is
as top self as we can getit. So long story to your short
question is I think we were ableto engage more of the community aspect than

(28:37):
the football aspects. Because football isgreat and we've been fortunate to have some
great games, but it really isa community event and a community buying and
that's what allows us to continue togrow to well. That strategy had to
come from somewhere, That thinking hadto come from somewhere, and you're right,
you know, we were selling thefootball, right you know, when
we were selling the comparable at theinside dot com bole as you say,
you guys are selling an event withyou know, the community, the give

(29:02):
back, all that kind of stuffthat came from somewhere, any idea and
where did it come from? Ithink that's that's large credit to our founders,
you know, Mark Irvin, AliFarhang, Fletcher McCusker, and then
you know Nova Home Loans Canmidire isnow our executive director, and John Bolpi
jumped on immediately and said, uh, you know, what do we need

(29:22):
to do and their their group cametogether and said it's got to be about
the community. So you know,they've spent a lot of those a lot
of those names have spent a lotof time trying to revitalize downtown right in
our community, and this was anothertool, another arm of that effort,
and it's just turned out to beone of those ideas that's worked. Yeah,

(29:44):
no question. But those are guysthat yeah, and those are guys
that have had success in that.I mean we talked about Fletcher McCusker and
Mark Irvin Bolpi, all those guys. Yeah, they've had success doing stuff
that looked undoable in this town.Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and
I'm one of those folks, muchlike you guys who say, like,
I've been a Tucson most of mylife and I get real tired sometimes and

(30:07):
saying well, this is the waywe've always done it. Well, okay,
and that may have been mildly successful, but maybe if we put just
a tweak on that. Going backto the credit to you guys, Jay
and you're committee with the Coppara Bowlnninsightdot Com bole, we're not doing a
bunch different. We're still you justput some good football teams out there.
We're still trying to do that.We're just you know, make stuff the
recipe a little bit. So whatdid you make or the organization make of

(30:30):
the words about the other other otherbulls that are unimportant? You know that
they're not the big guys, Sowhy even have the little guys? If
we get that question a lot,Steven, that's a good question. I
would always urge them to just comesee the two hundred plus student athletes who
come to compete in this game.And you can tell us all day long

(30:52):
that these games don't matter until youwatch a young man put it on his
shoulder pats for the last time,or go to top golf to hang out
with his teammates one last time,or this year, you know, Coach
Bowl. Not a lot of peoplewould have said Wyoming is a juggernaut or
like even you know, big timeon the landscape of college football. But
that storyline was incredible, And youknow, a guy who's had forty years

(31:15):
and with coach Osburn and Nebraska andall kinds of national championship success in North
Dakota State to bring hands last gameand his legacy and put it on the
line in Arizona Stadium. You can'ttell me that doesn't matter to the people
like Coach Bowl, who's been injust about every Bowl there is. Well,
or just a few years ago whenNew Mexico State and brought came here

(31:36):
and brought the whole time of LasCruces to you know, But I was
just gonna say, Eric, theteams themselves, the teams you bring in
are huge, are huge part ofthe success of it. Yeah, I
think you know, part of thatformula is due to our staff in kim
Adaire and del ar Bio and Benand that who do it a great job.

(31:59):
I mean, we sit down,I'm starting in about week four weekly
and we have a whiteboard kind ofgoing through one our matchups could look like.
And we pride ourselves. You know. I did a television interview this
morning when the guy's like, man, you've got lucky with your games,
and I pushed back a little bitand I said, sure, there's some
luck involved. But then the matchupsare intentional. You know, Wyoming wouldn't

(32:20):
have necessarily been on anybody's radar thisyear to come back to the Arizona Ble.
That's very you know, non traditionalon the Bull space. But when
they did and we would pick them, and we went through these conversations,
Man, we're like, this isgoing to be a good football game.
You know, the eleven win Toledoagainst an eight win Wyoming with Coach Bowls
legacy on the line. He wassixty and sixty going into that game.

(32:44):
You know, just some great storylinesand you know, you guys have been
there for most of them. Butthat's now four out of eight that have
been walking off wins at the ArizonaBle. I was gonna say that,
and those are fun again, Imean, it's an added bonus when you
have a great game, and thosehave been fun, you know, you
know, as as they do rightthere. People always ranking everything and in
terms of ranking the games in termsof were they good games? You know,

(33:07):
the Arizona bil was at the topof the list. Yeah, we've
had three. We have three.This is our third straight year game rights
in the top ten by CBS Sports, which is you know, one of
the obviously we follow their publication andyou know it's able recueable organization ESPN the
rankings to come out. But yeah, I mean our games, when you

(33:27):
have walkoff wins and you have storylineslike we do, it seems to have
You know, you had mentioned NewMexico State who hadn't been to a bowl
game in fifty seven years. Youknow, storylines are important, which you
know harkens back to the question ofwhy bowl games like this are important and
wins like that. You know,the kicker who made the walk off field
goal, you know, I'm astats nerd. I'm a sports nerd much
like you guys had missed seven ofeight field goals coming into the Arizona ball

(33:52):
seven of eight and then he wenthe went three for three and wound up
being our game MVP with the walkoffwinner. So you know, that's a
game and I'm moments that might propelthat young man's in some different things.
So you know, if you answera couple of questions, that's why our
games matter, That's why the otherbowls matter. It gives young men a
chance to show something they might haveshown or to cement their legacy, even

(34:15):
if it ends that night. Great, Well, well congratulations again. Well
I guess hear from you guys againone more time when you guys tell us
what you guys are giving away inwhat you earned. Yeah, yeah,
I mean well that always takes acouple of months because you know, as
things start to trickle in. Butyeah, right around that end of March

(34:37):
early April, we'll have that numberand we'll put it out. You know,
we can say a couple of numbersalready. We gave twenty five thousand
dollars to Southern Arizona teachers this yearin thousand dollars increments, one thousand dollars
for every touchdown scwarding our game,although there weren't a ton, but that
ended up we gave five thousand dollarsto that fund anyway, you know,
just some those hero tickets we stillsold. I think we had six thousand

(35:00):
and plus Heroes tickets, which aretickets underwritten by folks in our community for
you know, military both active andveteran, first line work, frontline workers
and first responders and educators to cometo the game on the community's behalf.
So we'll have those numbers and youguys can hold me too. I'll give
you a little tease, you knowwhen we we have an announcement here in
a little bit. Well, I'lldo my best to come and break it

(35:22):
on your show that we'll come findyou. We know where you're at gonna
say, you know, I can'tpay that light because you guys being nowhere
to find exactly. Thanks, Ihave a great date. You to Eric
Rhodes from the Festival Arizona b whatI say, although I will say Steve

(35:45):
when I think what John I thinkof Like, you know, my uncle
face down in the driveway, wellsaid seven to whatever it was. That
looked like a big party. Sothat's a lot of fun, all right,
I stick around. We'll take yourcause or no, we're not going
to take you. O. Weare that five Friday pick, so uh
check around for that if you dare, we'll be right back. If you're

(36:15):
an Arizona men's basketball fan, youknow it's been successful for nearly forty years.
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Fall season is upon us and fansare bearing down for our new and improved
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the Ball with Steve Rivera and JayGonzalez sound Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen.
Subscribe now to the podcast on theiHeartRadio app just Surgeon I on the Ball.

(40:00):
Hey, welcome back to Win onthe Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen
fifty. I'm Steve, You're Jay. Final week of this disas well disaster.
I'm falling fast. Been a disasterfor me, Skip, but I
got a four last week, whichis my high score of the season.
That means that I'm not going tohave the lowest score in the history of
this pool that we're in. I'mstill more than a thousand spots out of

(40:23):
first place I've got I've got twentyfour points, You've got fifty two.
So this contest ended a long timeago. My winning percentage is thirty seven,
Yours is fifty nine. That's apretty good year. That's for me.
It's thirty seven is not that bad. I thought you were liking on
twenty fives. I was for awhile I've been on a tear. I've

(40:46):
gone in the last uh in theI've had two two, two and three
in the last four weeks. I'mgetting. I'm getting I've gotten more games
though, anyways. But okay,so this is it. This is the
this is the final. You wonthe best. So I've got to pay
your your entry feet next year.And don't forget the five bucks every week.
When the five bucks a week,I think you're up by forty dollars

(41:07):
something like that, me and so. But I'll use it to pay your
dinner. Sent Well, you oweme a bunch. I've been adding up
the bets that you lost it.Tell me what We'll do this for another
day. Yeah, but no,real quick, you lost it. You
lost it over under on Arizona.Yeah, well I haven't paid that yet.
No, you lost I haven't paidthat yet. No, okay,
you lost uh the USC game.Remember when the spread was twenty one and

(41:30):
I and you only gave me fourteen. You haven't paid any of the bets.
We have just been collecting these inWashington and then uh then Washington,
right, I had Washington. Ithought I paid the second one. Well
maybe you did so, but Iknow your dinner and that was the first
one the over under on air onarea. That's probably right too. Yeah,
okay, I get you probably onlywell, we'll settle it all.

(41:52):
You're probably a lunch and said,shoot, you're you're you paying for your
own dinner with my money that Iwant for you exactly. So anyway,
all right, so we've got ourlast fab five Friday picks. It's a
it's all all NFL, with theexception of the College Football Championship Game,
which is our special game that weboth got to pick Washington in Michigan.
So you know what, Steve,I'm gonna let you go first because you

(42:13):
are the champion. Okay, Ineed to do at least three here.
I need to to stay in thetop one hundred because I've fallen fast.
It is bad. Okay, SoI'm gonna go with Obviously there's only one
college in four pro I'm gonna gowith Las Vegas Monastery over Denver. Wow.
I think this is going to bea game where if they win it,

(42:34):
it makes no sense that your guyAntonio Pierce gets a head coaching job.
How do you fall forward as muchas he has in the last couple
of years. A su I'm suremust either. Well, I'm sure they
don't like him. Yeah, wellhe's got They're gonna be on probation because
they and his herman. Right,they already, I mean already, you

(42:55):
know, gave up a not notthat they were going to go to a
bowl game this year, but youknow they gave that up at the beginning
of the year. Uh. Youknow, you know it was hard to
look you're looking at the at theschedule, it was hard to find games
that mattered to enough, you know, to either or both sides. And
and so you know, there wereall these quarterbacks. I think I read
you the list of quarterbacks. Yeah, and I didn't pay attention. Well

(43:19):
who aren't who aren't playing on?Yeah, you said that some of the
key ones. Yeah, it's it'sit's crazy here. Let me let me
call it up real quick. Butit's uh, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson,
Matthew Stafford, Brock Purty, JoeFlacco. You know, none of
those those guys are all starting quarterbacksaren't playing. So that took five teams
out that you don't even want totry and pick. I left them all

(43:44):
alone. All right, my firstpick, You're gonna love this because you
are a Cowboys fan. I'm takingthe Cowboys. They're still trying to get
They're still trying to get an oldgame, a Cowboy fan in fact,
to get my the Cowboy fan always. I have a pretty good life now
and then. And the Commanders areso bad. The Cowboys are giving thirteen,

(44:05):
but they're they're they're, uh,they're they're I think they're just gonna
kill the Commanders. They're playing forsomething, right, They're playing to keep
keep their high seats. I'm goingI'm going with the Commanders, I mean
the lot the Cowboys. Sorry,okay, that's my thirteen. Okay,
okay, So my second pick willbe the Bucks. I took him last
week, I think it was,and they killed me. They killed me
with with Mayfield. I'm mistaken onemore time with them because they need to

(44:29):
win, I think to get youknow, he's questionable, right, I
think, yeah, but he's well, yeah, he's just a questionable guy
for sure. Okay, So I'mtaking the Bucks month four and a half.
Yeah, okay, And the Panthersare so bad and that's that's why
I'm taking the Bucks. Yeah,yeah, all right, Uh, I'm
gonna I'm gonna continue to smash myhand with the hammer. Uh, you

(44:52):
know, taking the team that justhas hosed me all year long. Not
that I keep track of stats,but I do keep track of stats,
Steve. This team for me thisyear is one and three against the spread.
I'm taking the Lions. Oh really, yeah, they're they're also they're

(45:12):
also trying to get certain things canhappen that they can get the first round.
That's not This isn't good because Itook the Lions as well. I
took them against the Vikings two threeweeks ago I think it was, and
they covered for me. So Ithink that do it again. That one.
I think they're like lost four gamesagainst the spread and three of them
that I have. You have theother, No, they've been they've been

(45:34):
okay for me. So I'm takingthe Detroit as well. Monustreenhow yeah,
so, uh, I'm gonna lookthat up Vikings because they've really let's see
the Lions. The Lions are tenand six against Yeah, no, they've
had three of those six timing,baby timing. Okay, So you did
you say you're taking them? I'mtaking them to Okay, all right,

(45:57):
my third pick and again I keeptaking these guys thinking that they're gonna get
their crap together and they haven't.But I'm taking the Eagles again again.
They're they're trying to solidify, youknow, who they play the Giants.
They're they're they're at home against theGiants, but no at the Giants.
But they're giving five and they havegot to get their stuff together. Yeah,

(46:19):
they well, this is their lastchance to get their stuff together before
the playoffs. Their fans are pissed. I know if you've seen some of
the you know, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, I mean, you give them donation
of ten dollars and they'll say,how come you didn't give me eleven?
Yeah? Or fifteen? Yeah?Yeah. So I'm gonna I'm gonna stick
with them, and I'm gonna takethe Lions giving five to the Giants.
Okay, I'm going with the fortynine ers minus four. Okay, who

(46:45):
they play the Ram Yeah, neitherquarter neither starting quarterback is playing. Who's
oh really? Yeah? Yeah.San Francisco they're just crushed me. Last
week. They crushed me last week. They've done a twice to me know,
on the stupid, frivolous extra fieldgoal with no time left right,
they're kicking it and they cover,and then last week they give up a

(47:07):
ninety yard the punt return kickoff return. Oh man, Okay, but I'm
going with the forty nine ers,all right. I just stayed away from
that just because you don't know whatquarterback is. I left that one and
this is one. This I'm takingbecause again, every time I've gone against
the Texans, they've kicked my butt. So I'm gonna take them this time.

(47:28):
J. Stroud is back. They'rethey're giving one and a half to
the Colts. Oh, I likethe Colts. You like the Colts.
So they're giving in Indianapolis one anda half, So I'm gonna take.
I'm gonna take the Texas just becauseCJ. Stroud is that guys, it's
in indian indian Okay, what's yourbest bet? You don't have yet?

(47:51):
Wow? Uh, I'm gonna goCowboys. I'm gonna go Cowboys as my
lock, and who's your lock?They didn't the camera? Okay, my
lock is gonna be Uh. Ithink the I think the Bucks, right,
is that right? I think it'sthe Bucks? Yeah? All right,

(48:12):
Okay, Washington, Michigan. It'sa cash college football championship game,
Michigan minus four and a half,the games in Houston, Uh, what
do you do? Whatever you do, you're not gonna say because I'm not
changing my mind. I know,I'm not worried about that because it's but
it's not between you and me.It's me and the world or a hundred

(48:32):
of people in front of me.I'm gonna go with Washington because I think
they'll stay within the four and ahalf. They finally convinced me the last
couple of games that they're pretty good. They're very good. In fact,
Panics was fantastic and Michigan. Thething about it with Michigan is it would
be poetic justice for the whole yearthat Michigan, a team under great scrutiny

(48:55):
and under investigation, wins the yearto screw it up, yeah and win
it. Yeah. It throws meback to that member that there was that
one year where Al Davis and PeteRoselle were just fighting the whole year Rosette
and then the Raiders won the wonthe Super Bowl and Roselle had to present
him the trophy. Well, you'veseen it in basketball when when Larry Scott

(49:16):
had to give Tommy Sean Elliott Seanthe trophy and they bowed that. They
the fans were relentlessly So, yes, that's one of those situations. Yeah,
it would be just like Michigan dothat. But you know what,
I've been on the Washington train allyear long. I thought at the beginning
of the year they were going tobe really good. I don't know that

(49:37):
at the beginning of the year Ithought they were going to win the National
Championship, but I did believe theywere at least going to win the Pac
twelve and get in the playoffs,which they've done. They were impressive last
week although that it was funny becauseSteve, you know, in an Arizona
game, you know, at theend of the game and if it's a
tight game, you know, myheart gets beating and I'm like nervous.

(49:58):
I felt like that with the Washingtongame last this week, when when you
know, Texas almost went down,and I found myself feeling the same way
I feel for an Arizona game,and I'm like, what the hell is
going on? It's Washington. Imean, I really in the end really
don't care. But they did carealmost they want them to win this because
they almost blew it, almost blewit. And I want him to win
this thing. I want him tobeat Harbor. I want Harbor to lose

(50:20):
and get off to the NFL andand and then let everybody move on and
take his signs stealing a program overto the NFL. I'm taking Washington as
well, plus the four. Okay, so there you go, you have
the tell me I got I've gotthe Cowboys minus thirteen, Lions minus three
and a half. Cowboys are mylock, Eagles minus five, Texans minus

(50:44):
one and a half, and thenWashington plus four and a half. I've
got you for the Raiders minus three, the Bucks minus four and a half,
Lions minus three and a half,forty nine Ers minus four in Washington
plus Yeah, this last week isalways a sketchy one because of the quarterbacks,
the and the so many guys notplaying. Yeah, I hope I
get at least three. Got tohave three step there and at least collect

(51:07):
collect something out of yea. Andyou know I would love to get out
of I'd love to get in tripledigits. So we'll talk more about the
big game on Monday. Right,we have, like you said, justin
coming in, justin spears, andthen we're gonna have Jack McGruder as well.
Yeh, yeh Jack, Jack's beenanalyzing the game, will get his

(51:29):
pick. And then he's gonna gloatabout as I am about Panics in Washington
because yeah, they've been there allyear long. We both crawl over those
guys. Don Yeah enough, alreadyenough already, Hey, don listen,
listen on Monday, because there's gonnabe more common all right. So,
hey, fun week. You knowit was a short week thanks to Lamon,

(51:50):
Hunley Bryant, Jeffreys on Wednesday,Reggie Gary, Michael lev Yesterday,
Jake Fisher missed it. If theymissed the shows, yep, if you
missed if if you missed it,uh, go to our podcast page on
the iHeart website. Go to ouror you can go to our social media
either Facebook or UH or Twitter orx as you might call it, and
we have links to our our podcastpage there as well. We can find

(52:15):
us on Spotify. You can findus on Apple Podcasts, and of course
the iHeart podcast page. So tooOld Dude, Too Old Dude podcast.
Yeah, okay, thanks. JaviaMorales has been posting it on on on
social media because I'm too lazy todo that. But I'm hoping you guys
find it on uh you know,on on Apple podcasts and on h on

(52:37):
Spotify, so be sure to listento that. We've had some good stuff
and we're hoping, we're hopefully we'regonna bring you some more. But we'll
have the College Football playoff preview forus on on Monday, and we'll have
that, but you already know Stevenmy my peck and Steve's pick because I
not only think Washington's gonna cover,I think you're gonna win the game.
Yeah. I think that's very possible. I really do. Like it's just

(52:59):
pull itic just how the situation wouldrun well. And you know, people
are saying, Okay, it's eithera Pac twelve Big Big ten matchup,
where it's a Big ten Big tenmatchup. You know, Washington headed over
there next year, so either way, the defending champion is going to be
in the Big ten next year,so it would be fun. All right,
Thanks for being here all week andthanks for your patience for us being
up too long. So we'll seeyou on Monday,