Friday, May 10, Hour 2

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Breaking down all the exes and oh'sit's Steve Rivera and Jagen Salvias. This
is I on the Ball on FoxSports fourteen to fifty. Welcome back down
in the ballind of Fox Sports fourteenfifty. I'm Jacin Zalish sitting in with
without my friends Steve Rivera, who'son the road. But I do have
another great friend here co hosting withme today, Dave Silver from A formerly

(00:23):
from k GUN and the U ofA working in as a as a fundraiser
over there and now retired. Yousay, right, Dave, it's the
third part of my life, thethird chapter we're in that we're in that
chapter. Yes. Anyways, we'retrying to figure out what's gonna happen next.
But Dave, because he's retired,was availble to come in and sit
in with us for a couple ofhours. So having a great time with
them. And now we've got onewith breaking news. This is I on

(00:48):
the Ball breaking news on Fox Sportsfourteen fifty. All right, so we
got some local NBA breaking news.The Phoenix Suns and Mike Budenholz are closing
in on a deal to make himthe next Suns coach for five they're reporting
five years fifty million dollars. Dave, life is good for the NBA coaches
the world. We can maybe haveSteve Kurr comments on at some point too.

(01:11):
So they get their coach who wonan NBA title what a couple of
years ago, then gets fired afterlike maybe one year after he wins it,
right, and then sits out fora year, and here he is
back with with the sons. Whoyou know who orchestrated the Vogel exit?
Did you guys talk about that?Yeah? We're like yeah, I'm like,
okay, who messed this up?Right? I mean who messed that
up? Nobody did. They've gotthe three amigos or whatever you want to

(01:34):
call him that, uh you know, should be leading the team, and
they I don't know if they bringin a defensive minded coach, So I
don't know. It was a itwas a mess from the get go.
But you know, we're talking aboutMike Butenholzer from Holbrook, Arizona, small
town up in northern Arizona. Like, Okay, how do you get to
the NBA from there? Right?I Mean it's like whoa yeah one,

(01:55):
can you wikipedia him? Figure outwhere he was. Yeah, I mean
he went through I mean he hadto play some college ball. I don
know if he was in the NBA. I'm assuming, you know, some
connection there, got into coaching andthe next thing, you know, not
only is he a NBA coach,he was a fired NBA coach, won
World championship, but now back andnow coaching in his own state. Similar
situation. You know, he's withGiannis. He's like, you know,

(02:17):
one of the great players, andit didn't work out. They had I
don't know, they had a badstretch, and the Bucks have had a
lot of injuries too, I thinkgetting a little bit older, so I
don't know. He's kind of runninginto the same situation in Phoenix. Yeah,
with Kevin and Bradley Beal and thatgroup. Well, my guess is
they're going to welcome in with openarms because it just did not go well.

(02:38):
You know, they bring they bringthese three guys in. You've got
Kevin Durant, They've got Bradley Beal, They've got you know, argu Devin
Booker, one of the great starsand young stars in the NBA, and
Devin Booker, and they were justkind of middling, you know, all
season long. Yeah, it justgot to stay healthy. I mean,
it really is. And we've seenDurant kind of break down in the last
you know, five years or so, and bro Booker's had his aches and

(02:59):
pains, and certainly Bradley Beal didn'tcome in healthy at all. Right,
took him forever to kind of getrolling. They were, they had a
good stretch, but boy, theythey got run out of the playoffs just
like that, Just like that.There wasn't able to find exactly where he
was, say he's from Arizona,but oh yeah, on that same page
it does say he is the headcoach of the Phoenix So already that's funny.

(03:21):
Al right, Well, my Butenholzer, they haven't it's not been officially
announced by the Son, but believedto be the next head coach of the
Phoenix Sun. That was fast.I mean, Frank Bulgle got fired yesterday,
so you certainly have to believe thatthis this had been in the works
for a while for sure. Yeah, all right. And some other NBA
news, the Pacers head coach RickCarl Carlisle uh find thirty five k first

(03:43):
public comments and criticisms of the officiatingduring the series against the New York Knicks,
right, he was shredding and thenhe made the comment that, you
know, the small market teams needto you know, need to be taken
care of better or whatever. Andyou knew he was going to get fined.
But I'll ask you, Dave,because I had this conversation yesterday with
Adam, and Adam's a different thanI am, right. He's way more
tolerant than I am. Right.I wanted Patrick Beverley kicked out of the

(04:04):
league for what he did, youknow, throwing the basketball not a fan,
not once, but twice. Andthen the thing that he did in
the postgame presser. He got fourgames. For that four games, I
know either of those were worth Idon't know, right, and I don't
know what it is. I saida season, but you know, because
he's gone through this so many differenttimes. I mean, I was talking

(04:27):
about the fact that the malice inthe Palace, right, the fight with
the Pistons and the fans. Iwas walking into the sports book at the
Mandalay as that thing erupted, andI sat there and watched it. I'm
like, holy hell, So mythoughts of Patrick Beverley throwing the ball at
the fans went to having seen that, and I'm like, you're not.
You can't do that with fans.You just can't. And I don't know

(04:49):
how four games is enough for that. It hadn't to me, it had
to be twenty. Now Adam disagree, he said, I maybe ten or
whatever I said to me. Halfa season or a season. You just
can't do that. It's just somethings that cross the line, right,
I mean Charles Barkley, you know, back in the day. Things are
much different in the eighties, andthere were fights almost every night, but

(05:13):
not necessarily with the fans. Yeah, and so when the fans get invallved,
that's where it's a little right icy, right, I don't know the
right. And then Jamal Murray getsone hundred thousand dollars for throwing stuff at
the ref. I'm like, youcan't throw stuff at the ref. You
know. Pete Rose poked a pokedan umpire and what are you losing?
Like twenty games or something like that? Remember remember that in an argument and
didn't poke him on purpose, buthe just, you know, hit his

(05:35):
chest. It's like, okay,you're out for twenty games, yea.
And Murray throws some stuff from thesidellines and I get it. He didn't
hit the ref, but he's throwingit at the ref. Yeah, and
they give him a hundred thousand dollars. I said, you know that changes
in his pocket, right, AndI'm waiting for a good baseball screening match.

(05:55):
Haven't seen one. I don't thinkyou have this year. Been a
while. The baseball arguments with themanagers and the umps is usually classic television.
It is a crazy moment, butusually, you know, sometimes the
players. I remember over the years, you'd see a player go back in
the dugout and fire off some bats. Yeah, on the field, or
Loop Panella would run on the tearthe bases out and throw the stuff.

(06:15):
You know, that was great stuff. Yeah, you don't see what what
Beverly did, especially with a fan. With a fan, that's the thing.
And he had some explanation, butI'm not sure I bought this.
Not good whatever it is. Allright, it's going back to that Nicks
and Pacers series game free tonight aboutthe tip off soon and then later tonight
we got the Nuggets going to Minnesotaplaying the Timberwolves. So okay, so

(06:38):
the the the home team won thetwo games in the next Pacers there,
So that's fine. But you talkabout the Denver Nuggets and they lost two
at home. They're in big trouble, big trouble. I was, I
was shocking. I don't know.Maybe I haven't watched enough Minnesota Timberwolves hoops,
but they sure look good. Yes, and Anthony Edwards is amazing stories

(06:59):
this morning about it, comparing himto Jordan's already of course, so it's
gonna be interesting to see how hishis career unfolds. Maybe this is his
first big moment those I mean,it's got to happen sometime, and they've
got a lot of talent around himand the Nuggets maybe they figured him out.
I don't know how you guard Jokic, but he's already won his MVP,
so he's got that racked up.Yeah. Well, and somebody said

(07:21):
that, you know, some thatit looks like the nug at the Timbers
that quote unquote broke the code,you know, on on Denver and figured
it out, because to go inthere to their place and take too are
you you said your Broncos fan?You still are you Nuggets fan too?
No? I'm a Spurs fan.Oh a little bit all over them?
And you're a baseball fan of WhoLouis Cardinals. Woh, you are over

(07:43):
he's speaking of the Spurs. Idid look it up. You must have
missed it, but Budenholzer was withthe Spurs for like nineteen years. Is
everything from like a video coordinator probablyat the beginning, Yeah, to be
in one of Popovich's top assistants.And there you go. So he's got
that in his all right. Sohe's got some chocolate chips in his in
Okay, So let's see what hecan do in Phoenix. Yeah, all
right? And then some last secondlocal news, the Cardinals have signed x

(08:05):
Jags wide receiver Zay Jones. Okay, so if there's any doubt as to
who the number two would be forKyler Murray, they got their guy.
Yeah wow, I mean they gota wide receiver room now for sure.
Right, Marvin Harrison Junior and youknow all these guys speaking of staying healthy,
man, I mean if he getshurt again, yeah, it doesn't
matter who those receivers are, ifthey can't find a quarterback healthy can stay

(08:28):
healthy. Are you? Are youa Kyler Murray believer? Like I said,
when he plays, I am,but you know he's been hurt almost
every year. Yeah, so far. But he's fun to watch when you
know he's he's never not going togrow, he's not going to get taller
if he could be helpful. Butit's gonna be fun to watch Marvin Harrison,
that's for sure. Yeah. I'mglad they got I was happy that

(08:50):
they picked him up, you know, and not traded that pick. And
just you know what, get someexcitement on this team, right, Get
some guys that you can like,as you say, Murray's hurt so often
to saying like it's like he getshurt, it's like, okay, now
who do you watch? Right?Right? Who do you watch? You
don't have a Larry Fitzgerald or somebodylike that. So hopefully that you know
they got something like that. Notthat I really care that much, I

(09:11):
mean, but you know, Ipay enough attention to the Cardinals because they're
you know, they're they're here toknow, to have an idea and to
kind of like, okay, yousuck or you don't suck, right,
right, and you know that divisionis really good. Yeah, you know
when you get the forty nine ersin the rams every time you got to
play him twice and you know yougotta yet be able to compete. Yeah,

(09:33):
exactly, all right, that's it. Okay, that's all we got.
Got to mention. Arizona softball shouldbe getting started here pretty soon.
I think it's uh maybe four o'clockor for a thirty game tonight in the
uh in the uh PAC twelve Softballtournament. They've got UCLA, which is
always hard, but you know,they knock off few CLA they do something

(09:56):
like that, and you know they'retrying to host, like like the baseball
they're they're they're trying to host.So I'm looking this up right here.
It looked good last night. Whatwas the final? Uh they eleven to
three. They crushed Washington. Ohno, they're the late game today.
I take it back. You've gotyou've got Utah taking on Stanford that starts
at four thirty and then at seventhirty. Uh, you've got Arizona and

(10:20):
u C l A. But theycrushed Washington. Watching it last night,
and speaking of coach Candrea, hewas there, yeah, up at Stanford
and in the stands. They interviewedhim during the game. It was kind
of fun to hear him, andyou know, put a lot of praise
for Caitlin Love, former player,and it was good. She's done a
nice job. But the thing is, she hasn't done a spectacular job,
right, she looks every bit likeshe can. Uh, you know,

(10:43):
she didn't make it. They didn'tmake the tournament last year for the first
time since you and I were young. But uh, you know, by
by all accounts, you know,she she's well liked by the fans.
She's she's running a good programs,she's well liked by the players. You
gotta have players, actually, insome point, you gotta have pictures.
Yeah, and that's where they've struggled, that's for sure. And you know,
apparently some of the recruits coming ininclude a really good picture which they've

(11:09):
kind of had that reputation for anumber of players over the last few years
and just hasn't panned out again.Injuries and who knows why people come and
go sometimes in college athletics, andso she has to deal with that too.
But you know, watching watching theirline up last night, it reminded
me of some of those old Candrealineups where every person in the order was
somebody who could contribute, right.There weren't any weak spots in the order,

(11:31):
and they've got that. And notonly do they have that, but
they've got it defensively as well.They're a really good defensive team. They've
had the Defensive Player of the Yeartwo years in a row. But you
know, you even get to thebottom of the order and there's still got
people who can hit, people whocan get on base. They're fast again,
they're they're out there center field orshocky you know, I asked Adam.

(11:52):
Yeah, Danny Martinez, And youknow, Danny's the director of operators
of Danny. I know we thrownames around you people always comparing to who's
the next Mike Jordan one? AndI said, is I think it's Megan
Shaki? Is at her name?Megan Shakis? Is she you know,
Caitlin Lowe, you know, runningaround in center field, batting lead off
and doing all those things. Andhe kind of well, like, I

(12:15):
hate to put this on her,but yeah, you know, there's a
lot of feeling about that. Imean, there's so much history there.
When you go to Hill and Brandand you look at the names on the
on the on the scoreboard out thereon the fence, and you can't help
but do that. You help,but think well, you know, two
thousand and four we had this andJenny Dalton did this and Jenny Finch and
I mean, you know, there'sa lot of people to look up to,

(12:35):
and when you come here, there'sa lot of pressure. I mean
we used to joke about that witheven with the men's basketball, there's so
many names in the rafters and thenext generation's coming in and it's hard to
live up to that. It absolutelyis so. But anyway, so they've
got they've got UCLA coming up.You say, he was the conference champion,
number one seed in the tournament.Arizona came in as the five seed,

(12:58):
beat the four seed Washington last night. But they played really well.
They pitched well. Uh you know, one eleven to three, U says
always formidable. So you never know. But you know, Arizona gets past
this one, that might be thekey to get into to get into host
here. Nice. Yeah, becausehe'll win brand again, much like I
Corbett Field's a great home field advantagefans. And again the time of year,

(13:18):
there's something special, you know,late in May early June when those
games pop up right right, Sowe'll see what happens there. So keeping
on that and then we'll be sureto talk about it on Monday. All
right, We're gonna go ahead andtake our our next break. We've got
Kevin Guy. He's uh. Heand his wife own, you know,
Kathy owned the Tucson Sugar Sculls inthe Indoor Football League. He's the longtime

(13:39):
coach of the Arizona Rattler's multi timechampion. The two teams play each other
today. I know Kevin doesn't haveany mixed feelings about this. He wants
to beat the hell out out ofthe Sugar Sculls. So we'll see how
that goes. But we'll talk toKevin and see how things going on,
both with his team and the SugarSkulls. So stick around for Kevin Guy,
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This is I On the Ball withSteve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. Welcome back to Onthe balling on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

(19:15):
I'm your host, Jay Gonzalez,my usual partner, Steve Rivera's on the
road celebrating his birthday again one ofmany. And I've got Dave Silver for
our former former sports director at Kagan. Been a fundraiser with you a the
last few years and now he's retired, he says, So we'll see if
that's real. But U and onthe on the phone. We've got Kevin

(19:36):
guy wearing two hats, right,Kevin, owner of the Tucson Sugar Skulls,
but also the head coach of theair Zona Rattlers and your team.
Two teams are coming together for biggame tomorrow. Kevin, how you doing,
I'll do it great, guys.Thanks for having me all. We
appreciate you being on. So let'sfirst talk about your season so far.
You're in the kind of unfamiliar positionof being three and three this deep into

(19:59):
the season. I was looking atthe standings and those kinds of things,
Kevin, and it seems like youkind of created a monastery, went out
and got all these new franchises,new teams, and now they're good and
they're they're making an impact in theleague. So tell us a little bit
about the Rattlers and how things havebeen developing for you guys. Well,
let me let me address what yousaid at first. You know, I

(20:21):
do wear a couple of hats,but I have not had any say at
my dinner table in the last twoor three years. So these Gothy's definitely
uh tightened tightened the ropes on mehere. But you know, just just
looking at the league, you know, we we've really grown over the last
few years. Uh. You know, I've played a you know, a
small part and help them go outand recruit some of these ownership groups and

(20:44):
and and and try to put asolid league together. And you know,
but what's happened is is, youknow, I think when the Arizona Rattlers
came uh to to the Indoor FootballLeague in twenty seventeen, you know,
we left the Arena Football League,which is now trying to start back up
and they're not really doing a goodjob of it. And you know,
it bought some credibility to the IndoorFootball League. And you know, I

(21:07):
think you saw some of the ownersdecide, hey, we're gonna jump over
to the Indoor Football League. Someof the experienced coaches jumped over. And
you know, we've created parody.We've finally figured out parody. And when
you look in the last seven years, we've had seven different champions and you
know, for us this year atthe Rattlers, we you know, we

(21:30):
really hit the injury bug right outthe gate. And I don't think I've
ever had this many injuries in mycareer. Right for over twenty years,
going on twenty five years, youknow, and when you build a team,
you build it down the middle withyour center, your quarterback, you're
running back, and on defense,your nose guard, linebacker, safety,
and then you go out and findthe players that can play the perimeter and

(21:52):
and right down the middle on bothsides of the ball is where we've had
all our injuries. And we've hadabout eight or nine injuries, uh in
those areas, and it certainly hasaffected our play early. But we've got
back on the win streak the lasttwo weeks. We're still waiting on a
couple of guys to get back inthe lineup, and we feel pretty good
about where the direction we're heading.And and you know, just you know,

(22:17):
I talked to coach uh Billy backlast week. You know, he
kind of hit the injury bug.When you lose a quarterback in football is
such a you know, league that'sdriven by the quarterback position, and we
both lost our quarterbacks early in theseason. Uh. I know he You
know, Billy has been a phenomenalhead coach in this league. You know,
you go back and you know,one of the reasons why Kathy and

(22:37):
I decided to hire him is becausehis track record over the last couple of
years, he was winning. Hiscoach over the last two years in the
league, had the best record,and you know he uh you know,
lost his quarterback after I think,I think on the third game, and
and has been struggling but also changinghis roster in and out. So but

(22:57):
it's really about how you play.You're not gonna win the championship and and
and and uh you know, MarchApril May. It's really about June,
July and August and and uh,you know, two experienced coaches here,
we understand that, uh both youknow, this game tomorrow night is such
a big game for for for bothfranchises. So you know, we'll see

(23:19):
who got healed up the most themost after a bye week. Last week,
both teams were on a bye week. So uh, I'm sure that
he's got got some surprises for meand I got a few for him.
So it should be a great game. You know, you mentioned you know,
your your your wife Kathy, whoruns it runs the Sugar Culls organization,
and uh, you know, thisis the fifth year of the organization,

(23:41):
which just that in itself says alot about the fact that you guys
have been able to you know,to keep this uh, keep this franchise
here and keep it, keep itgoing, and keep it busy. People
are coming out to the games.But you come to a week like this,
Kevin, do you become more ofa Rattlers coach and less paying attention
to the Sugar Skulls or you know, how how does that work for you

(24:04):
kind of being in the middle ofall this. Well, I think the
plan originally was, you know,we were winning a lot of championships,
you know in Phoenix, and myowner, Ron Shirts, was only about
build a brand, build a brand, and you know, he wanted me
to also work on my personal brandand uh, and he's a great guy

(24:25):
to work for, and and wewanted to grow the league. And so
I went to him with an ideaof years ago, back in eighteen and
and I just said, hey,I think if if we could put a
team in two soon, Me andCaafy just really loved to So we were
doing a lot of vacations and tucsonecame down. You know, our daughter
just graduated last night from the uof A. And and she's been down
there for the last a little overfour years. And and and you know,

(24:48):
we We've always loved Tuson, sowe wanted to you know, we
wanted to bring something that worked inthe space of entertainment and Tucson. We
thought spring and summer. Uh youknow, I thought it worked really well
because in between Arizona basketball and Arizonafootball, and I thought it would be
uh, you know, a greatspace for entertainment and and uh, you
know, the plan all along wasfor me to come in help build relationships

(25:12):
in the town. Uh, youknow, but at some point that this
was going to get turned over toKathy and she was going to run and
we did that. And if weknow, COVID was going to hit,
right, you know, and youknow, uh in twenty twenty. I
mean we started in nineteen. COVIDhits the next year. You know that

(25:33):
that was a major blow. Butbut you know, at the same time,
it was a blow to everyone andand just the timing network out.
But you know, we really appreciateeveryone and Tucson that that has supported the
team and and uh and that's whatwe signed up for. We signed up
for five years, you know,with with with the with the least with
a TCC, and we wanted tosee how it would work in the community,

(25:55):
and and uh you know I knowthat. Uh you know, I
I as as I'm slowly kind ofback down, and I still come down
in the off season and help withsome of the sales and business and and
and and it's tough. I meanI will I'll be the first one to
met when when we play in Phoenix. It's just another game for me in
that building. Uh that's what itfeels like to me when I come to
Tucson and you know, I'm coachingmy team and you got Kathy that has

(26:19):
her team, and and you're sittingdown on that field and you're you're coaching,
and then you know, you lookup and you see a guy that
you sold a sponsorship to or someseason tickets to. I mean, you
know, it's it feels different.You know, it feels tough, and
and uh you know, Uh that'swhy we've always tried to go out and
hire a coach and let him coachthe team. Uh. I don't have

(26:41):
anything to do with football, anduh, other than discussing the hiring.
When when when when Kathy is goingto offer the job. But once the
coach is hired, it's it's histeam. And and you know, uh,
certainly, you know, if anybody'sgot and and I spent a lot
of time, whether it was Dixie, whether it was seeing coach Coleman,

(27:02):
any of those guys have always had, you know, uh, the opportunity
to pick the phone up and callme and ask my advice if they needed.
If I don't hear from them,I assume everything's going well. Uh.
But the focus has been more onthe business side. And and and
we really appreciate too soon. Wereally love being down there, and I
think it's great for the community.So tell, how do you feel this

(27:25):
rivalry that you know, you wantit to be a fierce rivalry between the
you know, the two cities,but then you've also got Northern Arizona up
there. How do you think therivalries have developed, uh with these three
teams in the state. You know, that's a great question. I you
know, I We've had our wayuh with with with Northern Arizona in regular

(27:45):
season, but we've struggled, youknow, twice, they've beaten us in
in the playoffs at the at theRattlers. You know, Northern Arizona and
Tucson I think have developed into agreat rivalry as well, I don't know
who's one more. I would sayit's probably around five. Maybe one team
has a win, maybe one morewin than the other. But uh,

(28:06):
you know, I think that onewas the one that kind of caught everybody
by surprise. It was because theywent out and hired you know, less
boss. He was approven, experiencedArena Football League coach and and uh uh
you know, he came in andhired one of the coaches off my staff,
Rod Windsor, and and I hadactually talked to Rod Windsor, uh

(28:26):
sat down, you know, heplayed for me, he's he's worked for
me on the coaching staff, andI originally talked to him about being a
Tucson head coach before uh we movedon to Billy. But Rogers, you
know, Rod felt like he neededanother year of being an assistant coach before
he felt like he was ready tobe a head coach. And and and
then uh, you know, Billycame available. But I think that rivory

(28:48):
in state. I mean, whenyou look across the United States, Arizona
is the only state in the countryit's got three teams. And you know,
we recruit nationwide, so it's notabout just getting you know your players
from a pool of players from thestate of Arizona. But certainly it helps
when, uh, when you finda local player. But I think this

(29:10):
the state has really taken to theIndoor Football League and and UH and the
league, and it's really helped theleague continue to grow. All right,
So tomorrow, Oh go ahead,Dave. I was just gonna ask you
mentioned the players. I've always beencurious is where these players are coming from
and how you do scout them?Do you? I mean, where do
you look? Where do you lookto first to find players for indoor football?

(29:33):
Well, that's great question. Youknow, traditionally I can only speak
how I do it. You know, other coaches may have a different philosophy.
But I go after NFL cut guysand what's best of left over from
college football. And you know,there's plenty of football players out there.
There's a lot of schools to playfootball, and you know, it's really

(29:55):
this. I've always told people thatour league is a league of opportunity.
It's a developmental league. And youknow you've seen the XFL, the USFL.
You know that now they've merged,but you see those type of leagues
start up and it's hard enough torun a team, much less to run
a whole league. So UH andand and teams seem to always go out

(30:15):
right away. We're gonna pay thecoaches X, We're gonna pay the players
X. But they haven't sold oneticket, one sponsorship. And you got
to find a way to put buttsin seats and and uh and pay the
bills if you're going to run runa league. So sometimes I think these
other leaguess get too far ahead ofthemselves. They put the horse the cart
before the horse. And but youknow, we we you know, at

(30:37):
the Rattlers. Since I've been thehead coach, we've put fifty four players
in the NFL. We've probably doubledthat uh for players that went on and
played it, you know, likeCanada or XFL USFL. So we've always
looked at ourselves as the developmental league. We got a great business model.
And that's why you see these teamsstay uh in business. And you know,
we're committed, you know, toUH to making this league work.

(31:02):
And you know, we have ownerscalls probably every two weeks across the country,
and you know, we got someexciting news that's gonna come out,
you know, next year, youknow that we're gonna announce going into our
season. So we just continue togrow. And you know, you know,
Jay was with us those first coupleof years at the Sugar Sculls and

(31:23):
and he's certainly seen this this leaguegrow, and you know, but I
do think it's it's in a greatspace for entertainment and Tucson when in the
spring summer, you know, inbetween the two sports and when things get
hot outside and it's one hundred andten, one hundred and fifteen, and
people want to come in and aircondition and and and and have a drink

(31:44):
and watch a football game. Andyou know, it's more than just a
football game, which it's about,you know, the the engagement for the
fans, the fan experience during thegame, and we try to make the
game exciting as possible. So it'syou're not just coming to watch a football
game. It's like maybe, Imean, you know, to watch an
entertainment event and you got a footballgame going on at the same time.

(32:06):
Now, I'm gonna I'm gonna bringthis up to that I'm I'm gonna guess
you're you're not gonna feel horrible aboutthis, but you know, the Roadrunners.
It looks like they're headed out oftwoson that might be a little bit
less competition for the entertainment dollar,at least at the beginning of your season.
What kind of impact do you thinkthat can have when you guys down
the road, Well, it's gonnabe interesting, you know. And and

(32:29):
who knows what's gonna happen with theroad Runners. I mean, you know,
they say they're leave it, theysay they're staying. You know,
I I'm for anything that's good fortwo Soon, And if that means the
road Runners staying, I would,you know, certainly love to see that.
You know, I've always had ahealthy relationship with Bob, and you
know, I think the road Runnershave been good for uh, you know,

(32:50):
for two Soon and and but youknow, if they decide to leave
and and and certainly you know,it's funny because you know, when when
some of that stuff started, westarted getting a lot of emails like we
were getting blamed. This blew mymind. We were the Sugar Skulls was
actually getting blamed for the road Runnersleaving. And I was like, we
got nothing to do with it,you know that, you know, we
heard, we heard the news wheneverybody else heard the news. But you

(33:14):
know, I thought that would butI'm sure if we are some of our
fans would probably think that had somethingto do political if if something happened with
us. But you know, thetruth of the matter is, you know,
Tusigon has always been in college town. And and what I've found through
the years is there's a lot ofpeople that have made this comment to me,

(33:35):
you know, through the years thathey, you know, everybody loves
U of A. We love Uof A. Our daughter just graduated the
last night from U of A.We love U of A. But some
people get tired of just watching collegesports and they want to they want to
see some type of other entertainment.I think the Roadrunners and Sugar Skulls,
you know, has brought that toTucson, and you know, and given
given the fans of Tucsigon, youknow, a different experience. So you

(34:00):
know, if they move on,and obviously we would be at the time,
you know, the the only tenantthat uh that that that would be
at the TCC. But I thinkthe t c C would probably tell you
that, you know, they wouldlike to bring more concerts in and and
and in in that space so that'susually what the buildings do. I don't

(34:21):
know, I haven't talked to themabout it, but you know, you
just you just never know how it'sgonna fact. And you know, for
us, the Tucson Sugar Sculls,we've been really working hard. And Jay,
We've had a lot of offline conversationsabout this, but we've been really
working hard to try to put theSugar Skulls the only sports team in Tucson
that qualifies for a gaming license.We have really been working hard on that

(34:43):
for over over three years now.And uh, and and it's one of
those deals where just where's where's youout with with with how political it is
and and uh, but that that'ssomething that's doable and uh, you know,
I see it being a positive thingbecause it keeps the dollars in Tucson.
And and so we'll continue to workon that and hopefully we'll have this

(35:06):
wrapped up in the next six months. All Right, Well, a big
game, big game tomorrow at theat the Arena. Twoson Sugar Sculls Arizona
Rattlers. Should be a lot offun six oh five at the Arena.
Tickets can be gotten on the SugarSculls website, or you can just go
walk up and get yourself a ticketto hang around. Should be a lot
of fun. Looking forward to thegame, Kevin, I'm not going to

(35:28):
ask you for a prediction because Iknow you'll say we're gonna kick their butts,
but I don't know. Hey,I got some game time decisions.
You know. I think that favoritesthe Sugar Sculls for sure. All right,
Kevin, Well, good luck tomorrow. I guess you know, I
no, you know what not goodluck? Hope. I'm hoping the Sugars
Caills beat you guys. I'll justbe rude and say that I hope,

(35:49):
I hope they sell it out,and I hope everybody screams and yells at
me for three hours. So Iwould love to see a great atmosphere down
there. All right, sounds great, Kevin, Best of luck, say
Hyars house for me, and congratulationson your daughter graduating. She was a
little girl when I met you,guys, so it's hard hard for me
to believe she's already a college graduate. Unbelievable. Right, she got her
degree in law and minor Spanish andand uh sports management. So I'm excited

(36:15):
for proud dad, gratulations he's workedhard for. Yeah, proud dad.
All right, Kevin, thanks abunch of you tomorrow, Thank you,
see you guys, thank you.That's Kevin guy Uh, head coach of
the Arizona Rattlers, owner with hiswife Kathy of the Tucson Sugar Skulls,
and it all comes together at theirenda tomorrow. We we didn't even know,
you know, I was with themthe first year and we weren't even

(36:37):
trying to handle that, right,how do you handle this? And we
had, you know, we hadsome discussions about okay, let's do let's
not do this, let's do this. And I think it's come to a
point for now. He's the coachof the Rattlers. They're playing the Sugar
Skulls, and that's that's it.It's a big family affair. It's good
that the franchise is you know,stable, it seems like. And you've
got some good leadership. Yeah,in both areas with with the wife and

(36:59):
yeah, so all right, they'vecome a long way. Yeah, Okay,
take our last break. We'll beback. We'll take your calls.
Five two zero four one, six, seventy four forty how's reminded. The
guy who's trying to think of isRoss Tucker. There you go to announce
her. The guy who was onDan Patrick's show talking about this NBA NFL
thing but played at Princeton, playedin the NFL, and he was the

(37:19):
one who said that Austin Rivers isfull crap. Okay, all right,
let's take our break. Five totwo zero four one six four forty Fine,
give us a call. If you'rean Arizona men's basketball fan, you
know it's been successful for nearly fortyyears. Now take a look back at
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be a part of a winning teamthe A Team Apply online today at a
teamsecurity dot net. This is Eyeon the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay
Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the
iHeartRadio app Just Surgery I on theBall. Welcome back to all here on

(40:43):
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm jaconZales, my usual host. Co host
Steve Rivera is on the road forone more day. He will be back
on Monday. He's celebrating his birthdayin Vegas, so I guess we'll let
him do that. I've got DaveSilver. A lot of you want to
say, the older folks, butyou know, our generation guys know you
was the former K gun sports structorfor a lot of years through the eighties

(41:06):
and nineties into the two thousands,Right, it was a long run.
Like I said, I got herein eighty three Olson's first year, Cats
were in the top five, Iwant to say, in the rankings,
and then they lost or they tiedCalifornia. I remember as we were moving
to that season. Yes, RickyHunley senior year, Yes, so I
got to witness all that. Itwas a great It was a great time,
and like I said earlier, itwas kind of a just a good

(41:28):
time just to kind of be hereas the program was growing and these coaches
were arriving and things started to build. Yeah, and it's built to now
they're headed to the Big Twelve.Yeah, so that's the end. And
yeah, so that's why I wanted, you know, fer Antonia, I
wanted to bring something up. Whatare you most looking forward to and going
to the Big Twelve and what areyou most dreading about going to the Big

(41:52):
Twelve? If there is anything.Yeah, I don't know if I'm really
dreading. I think, you know, we're not players, we don't have
to worry about the travel situation.I'm I'm kind of just anxious to sort
of see how the schedules are goingto play out. Particularly basketball. We're
so used to kind of having youknow, the Thursday Saturdays or Wednesday Sundays
kind of games, and I guessthe Big Twelve, they seem to play

(42:12):
a lot of games on Mondays everyday of the week, and Wednesdays in
the league is so so huge thatyeah, I think we're gonna have to
get used to that. I'm hateto say this, but I'm kind of
glad the PAC twelve network is notgoing to be involved anymore. And I
do have ESPN Plus right, whichI think many of the games will be
on there. So that's going tobe good obviously, just new teams coming

(42:34):
in us going to visit these placesthat we've never been. But look,
just looking at the basketball, it'sgoing to be phenomenal. So, Okay,
you had a fundraising job at DOVA. Did it involve any you know,
like sports trips and things like thatwhere you would take donors or anything
like that. You do much ofthat? Well, personally, no,
because I wasn't really working for athletics, right, I know you were working
for athletics, but so I didn'tdo it that way. But there there

(42:57):
were situations though, where I wouldpiggyback on events. I would go in
my role and I would go toa Stanford game and we would put together
I would get donors to come thereto those games because a lot of people,
even though they weren't maybe necessarily bigathletic donors, they were donors to
our school or to our college,I should say, and we would try
to get them and sometimes sports wouldbe the attraction. I can say that

(43:20):
happened a number of times. Iwent to a number of places in the
Pac twelve, especially Okay. Soanyways, getting back to what are you
looking forward to then? Going tothe Big Twelve, I mean Kansas basketball.
That's going to be good. Imean having them either come here or
Arizona going there is going to beterrific. And that conference has been so
good the last five years or so, Houston emerging, you know, as

(43:44):
a real national power, and thefootball again bringing BYU back into the loop.
They're so popular, especially in thestate of Arizona. It's going to
be a huge game when they comein every year. Yeah, yeah,
that will be one. You knowwe were talking about, you know,
a Zona. They had scheduled thisKansas State football game long ago as a
non conference game. Now they're intheir league. They're still going to play

(44:06):
the game. It's not a conferencegame, but Kansas State's one of the
favorites in the in the Big Twelvethis year, right, so that's going
to be a huge game for Arizonain terms of gauging, right, where
are you are you going to be? You know, and they got to
play it on the road, sothey're going to probably be underdogs, but
you know, what they do inthat game could go a long way towards
people feeling does Arizona have a chancein this league this year or not?

(44:30):
Yeah? And with the team feelingtoo, what the players are gonna go?
WHOA, Maybe we you know,we were not ready for these guys,
or or maybe we are we areprepared. So you know, we
look at all the message boards andthings like that this time of year,
and there's all Facebook pages with thebig twelve, right, everyone's kind of
welcoming Arizona and welcoming these four schoolsto come over. So I think it's

(44:51):
gonna be fun. I mean itgot a little stale after a while.
I mean, how many times canyou go to Oregon State? Yeah?
But also too, from a formeremployee standpoint in development, most of our
alumni are on the West coast.On the West coast, that's going to
be a tough one to lose.Those Seattle trips and those trips to the
Oregon and the Bay Area in LAon top of Phoenix, which we'll still

(45:14):
have. But those are big,big donor centers, and that's what would
bring them out right, Well that'scoming to these games. That's an interesting
aspect of that because we talked aboutthat back when you know, the the
realignment actually happened. Is that,Okay, all of a sudden, Arizona's
not going to LA two or threetimes a year or or more. As
you said, you know the BayArea, you know, see, I

(45:36):
mean you would go on those trips. I went on a when I was
working at TEP. We had asponsorship and I went on the team playing
the donor plane to the Oregon Stategame, you know, and there were
two hundred you know, Arizona fanson that and it's like, and that's
just a little small one, butthat's about all the fans that are in
Oregon, that are in Portland andCorvallis and Egene and stuff. I mean,

(45:58):
that's it's going to be difficult losingthat LA trip. There are probably
I don't know twenty thousand alums insouthern California the number exactly, but it's
one. It's a big number.It's a big number in Seattle, the
Bay area. Those are big yeahalumni. Huh yeah. Well I'm looking
forward to what I what I've beensaying is that. I feel like Arizona

(46:21):
should should be at least with footballmore competitive in the Big twelve than they've
been in the Pac twelve. Nowthey've had you know, a year here,
a year there, and a yearhere and a year there. I
feel like with what they with whatgiven credit, what Jedfish built here and
what Brent Brannan has come into asthe new head coach, if he can
keep this momentum going or at leastmaintain what they've done, that they might

(46:46):
win a league title. Yea,you know they can in the next Maybe
in the next year is maybe thisyear, who knows? And that you
know, with with what's being donewith the with the playoff and the expansion,
right, I feel I want toput it this way. I feel
they've got a better shot to getin the playoff through the Big twelve than

(47:06):
what they've had having to play USC, Oregon, Washington, you know every
year in the Back twelve. That'sall coming well in a couple of years.
So it's gonna be It's gonna beinteresting. Can you imagine we have
a playoff game at Arizona State?Oh God, you know it comes.
I don't know Oklahoma's coming to tieright coming in Auburn. I don't know,
it's gonna be It's gonna be hugefor these college towns to get a

(47:28):
playoff game. And the money,you know that that's a whole other factor,
but that's gonna really increase big time. I'm just trying not to get
too far out over my skis onthis one, right because because you know,
I mean, I you know,I grew up here, right,
and I've told you that we've gotall the heartbreak stories over the years.
Uh, you know, the closecalls to getting in the Rose Bowl and

(47:50):
stuff, and the Rose Bull iskind of so far off my radar anymore.
You know. The only way youget into that is if you get
into it through the playoff. ButI feel like there's a better chance of
that than the chance that they've hadwhere they were sitting in the Pac twelve.
Yeah, it's going to be interestingbecause you know, at least of
all the preseason comments that we've beenreading, you know, they're giving high
hope to Arizona and that they couldbe one of the favorites, and you're

(48:15):
bringing you know, you're bringing alongUtah, right, and you know,
who knows what Colorado is going tolook like certainly Utah is going to be
good no matter what league they're playingin Colorado, and I don't dislike Deon
Sanders, I don't. I mean, I I've never been a big fan
of all his flash and dash kindof stuff from the time he was a

(48:36):
player and even when he was atFlorida State. I've never been a big
fan of that with pretty much anybodyout of But I don't mind him.
I don't dislike him. But whyI do. What I don't like is
how he's handled the stuff at Coloradoand they are they're sliding into that neighborhood
where Arizona State sits at the youknow, the head of the street.

(48:57):
I'm Colorado's becoming a big villain tome because of all this. And you
know, you read about how theplayers, you know, the players talked
about how they were treated. Youknow, when he came in, and
I get what Dion did and whathe's doing. His job was to make
Colorado football a success and make itmore exciting for for their program and stuff

(49:19):
like that. And I guess hewould come and done that here. I
would have said, well he's ajerk, but he's our jerk, right,
But I'm really starting to view Coloradosort of a villain program that I
don't root for, right, andwho knows the way they handle things with
his kids and where there's some socialmedia posts about hey, if you're an
offensive player and you want to comecontact me, won't even contact I mean,

(49:43):
it was it was weirdly handled,right, and players have come and
gone it's ridiculous. And then hisson going on and you know, ripping
on a on a guy who justsaid I didn't get treated very well.
Yeah, you know, just leaveit alone and instead, you know,
now here's you know, and thenDion comes back and says, you know,
my son's going to be a youknow, a first strong draft pick
quote about you, you know kindof thing, and I'm like that kind
of stuff. I you know,I don't have a stomach for that.

(50:06):
I know you're a young guy.I mean, what do you what do
you think? One? Do youdoes that bother you at all? Or
do you what do you think ofall of that? I mean, I'm
a very old school typic even thoughI'm barely turned twenty one. I'm into
the traditional kind of EBB and flowof college what college football used to be
right, even even as I triedto adjust to what it is now.

(50:29):
Yeah, I don't. I don'tlike that. There's some part of sports
too, and maybe I'm old,I'm even older. School is to be
humble and to have some humility,right, and Dion has never had that.
He never said he even when hewas you know, playing baseball and
football. So I guess you haveto take that if you're going to hire
Deon Sanders, that's what you get, right, that exactly, And like

(50:51):
I said, I'm it's none ofit is surprising to me that that that's
how he's uh, he's running hisprogram and that's how he's doing things because
you know why it's worked for him. He's built a hall of fame.
I mean, he was a greatathlete. But in addition to all that,
his brand quote unquote, his brandis huge. And so that's why

(51:12):
he got the job. If hehadn't been Dion Sanders, the character,
he doesn't get the Colorado job becausehe hadn't coached long enough, right,
And so Okay, that's what youasked for, that's what you signed up
for. And if you're Colorado,like I said, he's their guy and
he's going to be their guy.Sitting over here in Tucson. I'm like,
I'm not sure I like that allthat much. And you know,

(51:34):
I hope we kick your ass everytime we play. You. You know,
he's not old school by an byany means, and it probably ruffles
the feathers of some of the othercoaches who've been around for a long time
and handle things differently, right right, I'm sure, I'm sure it does.
But you know, we'll see,you know, this year, tell
us a little bit more, youknow, canny coach or can he not
coach? You know, everybody thought, oh, he's you know, he's

(51:57):
off the charge, and then hewent four and eight, right, A
lot of just could have gone inthere and gone for it. So yeah,
so I don't know, but youknow, they're they're in the league,
so we're gonna be seeing them ifwe're not getting rid of them.
And in fact of all the ofall the the the cities, where the
where the where the teams are,Oh, we got to get out of
here. Color you know, Denveris the best trip. Ye we have

(52:20):
we have alumni in college, yeahfor sure too. So yeah, it's
the best road, all right,Hey, Dave, thanks a bunch,
appreciate you being here. This isa lot of fun. We're gonna have
to do this again. We willsince here. I'm available, but available.
W A nice job on the board. Thank you. Everybody had a
great week. It was a lotof fun. Thanks for being here.
Steve will be back on Monday.We'll be back with some great guests,
so be sure to come back onMonday. Have a great weekend, everybody