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May 30, 2025 • 52 mins
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services insure
your most prized possessions.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
And good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball.
You're on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and
when me today is holy moldy lookers in today.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Tim Bentley, Oh my gosh, get out of here.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's been a while.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
What is what's been going?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Where have you been? I've been, I've been here.

Speaker 5 (00:30):
You haven't seen You've been. I've been listening to you,
but I haven't seen you. And I thought I'd better
get anywhere. The ghost of Steve Rivera, lay some.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Eyes on you, make sure that things are still good,
that you.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Uh well take them to take my pulse inerature.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
I didn't work.

Speaker 5 (00:43):
I do work at TMC, so I'm uniquely qualified to
give medical to give you medical advice to uh.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
You're not just a doctor on the radio.

Speaker 5 (00:51):
Doctor Bentley. If I'm giving you medical advice, man, you're
you're in the world of hurt.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Still, don't you stay over there? Stay with there? Well,
you're in the You're in the shoe today better known
as the chair.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
So you're you're well, yeah, thanks for having me and
I've been listening. You've been having some good guests and
good shows.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
And thank you listening yesterday.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
I did well done. I mean it's that was fun. Yeah,
that was that was those.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Lots of fun. That was that was interesting.

Speaker 5 (01:18):
I always am just amazed at the careers that these
athletes have afterwards.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
You and you A you A grats you a big time,
just like bad ass.

Speaker 5 (01:27):
You know things are doing and it's and it's you
don't know they're they're in.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
This bubble for four or five years here and.

Speaker 5 (01:33):
They're basketball players, right, you don't know that they're you
don't see them as people sometimes.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
No, no, you're spot on, spot on, you don't and
you don't you might or may not see the potential
when they're nineteen twenty twenty one because you don't get
to spend time with them, right, But then they blossom
into these people and they're not kids anymore. They're not kids.
They're young men and or older men, you know, baffo
older men and and uh Lauren Woods is a you know,
forty fifty year old dude, very impres I know.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
So you know Harvey Mason that you know, you could
go down the roster of just successful people and I
you know, whether you're playing at a high level at
the U of A or you're just participating in sports
or some sort of activity in your school career, you know,
it really helps you be able roll rounded, you know,
just human being in general.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Well, and you know this, and it's just not specifically
the football team or basketball team or the major sports.
A lot of the great stories are in the other sports.
The runners, sure, the softball players, the track and field people.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
Well, if you think about it, you know, think about
your high school career and how many of the classes
that you took you really remember.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
You probably don't remember high school.

Speaker 5 (02:40):
Yeah, maybe a favorite teacher you remember, yeah, but you
remember the fun you had with your friends, either in
playing sports or doing an activity or drama or whatever
it is. Those are the experiences that create and shape you.
Oh yeah, and you know kind of further what you do.
You might be a great athlete along the way, but
your hopes and dreams.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
You who are going to extend beyond your.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
Career athletic and then because when you end your career,
what do I do next?

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Right?

Speaker 5 (03:07):
And you know these kids, their career. You know, they're
not kids anymore, I said, young men. But you know
they get to be thirty two, thirty three, thirty four
and they're faced with life decisions.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
You know, well, aren't you going through one? Now you
don't have to say if you are, you aren't. But
but and that's a critical age because it's like you
got to have that end game. If you don't have
the end game, you're screwed.

Speaker 5 (03:30):
Right, And it's you know you Uh, there's a kid
that I coached in high school that's a professional runner,
you know, and and he's got his eye on the
prize for twenty twenty eight for the Olympic Trials. But
that's three years away. What do you do when you're
thirty five there? But you know, and so it's start
to think about what the plans you're laying. And so
Lauren Wood's story, I mean, what a cool dude. Man,

(03:50):
that guy just had his eye on it.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Man spoke well, and then who would have thought, Okay,
here's this actor, dude.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
How is he's seven to one and he's writing. I
have to write my own stuff so my shows on.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
I was gonna ask you, so you've been a while
blah blah blah. God, it was just popped into my mind. Endgame, endgame. Well,
so you've been You've been a number of places right
all over your share career. So like for me, I'm
sure you've had an endgame, not because of you, but
because of other people. Say sorry to Tim, we're closing,
or you know, we're moving a different direction whatever. I

(04:25):
don't know, that could be false information for me. The
paper closed fifteen sixteen years ago. Fifteen sixteen years ago.
H And so my career, I'm thinking, what the hell
am I going to do? Now? This is all I've
done the rest of my life, all my life. I
was forty five, I'm thinking, crap, I can just say goodbye?
What am I gonna do? So I had to kind
of reinvent myself.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Well, you pivot, and you know it's one of the
things that you learn how.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
To do, is you know what a family engage.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
I have worked in the media for a long time,
and I have worked at stations that have been sold
station management change.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
They were making it. Hey, here's your rolodex, see you later.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
But yeah, yeah, no, we'll let us walk you through
the door.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know we're going to walk you out.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
So I think that's you know, I credit sports, but
I also kind of create just good people in your life,
you know, kind of giving you the skill set to be.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
That's it right there, That's it right there. You have
to know people, network with people, impressed people. You're in
a business. Uh, I'm in a business. Everybody's in a business,
whether they handled or not. People business.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
Right, you're in the people business.

Speaker 5 (05:23):
You're in the storytelling business, whether you're telling the l
tour stories or the newspaper stories or telling stories on
the radio. You know, you pivot. It's a skill, it's
a lifelong skill. You might do it in different ways.
And you know, so Lauren Woods is like, hey, I
was always drawn to being creative and an actor, and
you know, and and you had a chance to grow
with you a and then yeah, and we didn't know that,

(05:43):
never would have known. Yeah, you know, it's just I
listened to him. I just remembered they were wearing the head.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Bands, the headbands Passenger Creation.

Speaker 5 (05:52):
Yeah, and then what a bunch of knucklehead these guys were.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Remember that?

Speaker 5 (05:58):
And I was just like, oh, I know, and they
just know that they're just goofballs. At twenty you know
their kids.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah, have all the answers.

Speaker 5 (06:04):
And then to hear him, you know, speak so well
and passionately about what he believes in and what he's
fired up about.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Right right, has a ha's an foundation. He has a
website that gives a t shirts he does in l
A now to the homeless groups out there. So good
for him. If you guys want to listen to our
show and and then then that's that interview was great.
I thought the Baffort thing was fun. You know, he
called or he I've been trying to reach him and
he said I can do today, said somewhere let's go.

Speaker 4 (06:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, So a big race for him next week at
the Belmont. He has Rodriguez not named after coach Rodriguez,
just just and he doesn't name the horses. It's the
owners wearing the horses. Uh like Midnight Lout and and
Care all these horses that were hot sean right right right,
So yeah, he's not the one that's doing it, but
they respect him to do that. You know, who else next?

(06:56):
Who else next? So so he was on is a
big race next? He was fantastic. Talked about his childhood
in Ogallas and his time here at the u A
and the Racing Foundation and stuff like that. So if
you have to, if you missed it, you'd like to
hear it, It's on my Facebook page. Just grab the
link and put it in your browser and you can

(07:16):
listen to it. It was a lot of fun. We
had a lot of fun with that yesterday. Today should
be an equal fun day. We're going to get a
hold of Joseph Blair. We all know him as JB.
He's in Houston. He's the coach of the Rio Grand Vipers,
owner organization under the Houston Rockets. So we'll talk to
him about that. What he's up to is helping create

(07:38):
a court right the basketball court at the Pellibury area.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
I'm excited to talk to him.

Speaker 5 (07:44):
He's looking at courts at Palaverty Park over there in
Broadway coalb area. He wants to help fund some basketball
courts to honor his mom.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
He's always doing stuff like that, Judith.

Speaker 5 (07:55):
Yeah, and I've been following him and I'm a big,
big fan of JB.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
He's for since he played here. Yeah, he's a good dude.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, good dude. Trying to do a lot of stuff
for the community here and there and everywhere. Uh, he's
you know, played coach and played at the NBA level
number of teams in Europe, so well versed. You know,
if there's a smart dude, the savvy dude, guess who
that is, JB.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know, and you were we were talking about Lauren.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
But I also think that there's a good foundation for
a lot of these you know a lot of these
U A athletes that stick around and there and there
their ambassadors for the team, their ambassador for Tucson, even
if they live elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
You know, they are always.

Speaker 5 (08:32):
Advocating for you know, wildcats, bear down, let's go. What
can we do to help? And I think the smart
coaches and the and the and the savvy coaches here,
you know, they bring them in and then it's a legacy.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, no question. You've been Okay, then.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Things are really good. Just got back from Rocky point O.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Nice.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
My wife finished her semesters, not very not very much.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
My wife speaks.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
So we did good.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
And you've got to translated, sit on the beach and
relax for a little bit.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
And so yeah, pretty good, okay, pretty good.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
How about you?

Speaker 4 (09:05):
What's going on with you?

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Okay? I had surgery last week. I took some time
off because the doctor said he can't go to work.
I started driving Tuesday, so I started my shows here Wednesday.
I'm fine, I'm getting better. And then here just you know,
kind of wearing the stuff that they make me wear.
You know, let me tell you secret, don't get old.
It sucks.

Speaker 5 (09:26):
I'm I think I'm one step behind you. Man, it sucks,
but you know, I guess it beats the alternative. Well,
this is true, you know. I mean, like it's good
to see it. Well, it's good to be seen, is
what good?

Speaker 2 (09:39):
That's the alternative.

Speaker 5 (09:40):
It's like, you know, but I mean, I have tape
on my shoulder today you can't see it. And and
I just got a shot in my foot because I'm
an old guy.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
And I need some quarts.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
I got the juice today in my foot, So I'm all,
I'm pretty good.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, you've seen weak in a burden sie. Have I
told you this? So you've seen I've seen him and
the two dudes hold them up? My meds was what
held me up? Those are the two dudes.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
Do you want a pair of sung glasses?

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Except mylive I mentioned of my two dudes, right, gotcha?
Stay strict to those diets and straight strict to those meds.

Speaker 6 (10:16):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
And that'll explain a lot of things on the show.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
I'm ready to go wherever you want to take it.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I'm ready to go.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Well.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
JB is going to come on first, and then we're
going to talk to Marcus Middleton from the Maccabie Games.

Speaker 4 (10:31):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
They're gonna be downtown DCC soon coming up in a
couple weeks in June. In June. Uh, they've hosted it before.
They're excited about it. I said, let's come on talk
about it.

Speaker 7 (10:40):
You know.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
One of the things that I Tucson, I don't know
the exact name is that the Tucson that's the sports authority,
but you know they have a sports Commission and they
really are well this is Son doesn't visit to Son,
it's on visit to Son now. And and you know,
I really like that they're reaching out to you know,
all kinds of sports, bringing people in sports, uh, events
to m H.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
No.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
And they're working a lot of projects I have, you know,
because what's his name is what's his name? Blake Eagers
on my every Wednesday or whatever. And he's part of
that with the Southern Arizona tourism, and he's the it's
smart baseball and the so many other things it's smart
to do.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
It's a big part of destination we'll travel is sporting events.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Let me say this to you because you're you've been
here on Trusson deserves it. But now they have to
prove that they deserve it. That makes any sense, you know,
there's there's one thing of winning the championship. Keeping the
championships the harder. So you get it and you've been
working hard for it. Now you have to prove that
they should deserve to stay because if no one goes,

(11:43):
what's the point, right, what's the point of all that
work of trying to get a team here at any level,
at any level baseball, basketball or whatever, and then oh,
great grood for you, Oh I can't go, I want
to go, I can't go.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Well, it's it's it's a delicate balance.

Speaker 5 (11:58):
I have worked in that side of the of defense
on visit Tucson and now that arena and the delicate
dance that they do to get teams here and make.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
It a valuable product for people to live here.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
That's affordable.

Speaker 5 (12:10):
You know, people have you know, not a ton of
disposable income, so you want it to be a good value.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
Well that's what I was going to say. In transition
to that kind you can kind of put that translation
to freeway football. Okay, it's been here for a one
hundred years plus. Okay, now you have a good team
or bad team or whatever. But what are they asking
to do? Go watch you? And not all the time?
Does that happen? It doesn't.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
And it's you know and that and people speak with
their dollars, they speak with their attendance.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yes, especially in this town, especially in this You gave
me a slight that looks like, yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Have been an event planning and management for a long time.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
What do you think it is? I mean, Tucson is
a late arriving crowd. Uh, if you win, they will come.
But there's gotta be some kind of like formula. You know,
actually wyz to what the people?

Speaker 3 (13:00):
If you figure it out, you're going to make.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
A bazillion dollars. That's why I ask.

Speaker 5 (13:04):
You know a lot of other cities you go to
and they'll talk about, oh they're late registering or you know,
their Tucson cat or there's something casual Tucson is.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
It has been like that. And since I've been three
years that I've been.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Yeah, I've been here thirty seven, thirty eight.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
And it's been like that. And it's you know, the
back of winter.

Speaker 8 (13:22):
They're loyal exactly, but they'll hold a grudge if they fail,
you know, or if if they if they go, if
they go a cross that's understandable.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
Please don't go. I love you, Please don't go. I
found somebody.

Speaker 5 (13:37):
Better, right, So, Yeah, the work that they do down
there is you know, they're doing a lot of quiet
work behind the scenes.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, and it is tough. I mean, Tucson has grown
tremendously in my time at the same time as you.

Speaker 5 (13:50):
Well, and it's you know, people used to say, hey,
you can't do anything in the summertime here. Everybody goes
to San Diego. And that's just you know, the cliche
around Tucson. It's it's twenty twenty five now and people
live here year round.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
We have BC.

Speaker 5 (14:02):
Yes, you do, because this room is delightfully chilly, delightful.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
You didn't you didn't go to my old place.

Speaker 5 (14:09):
No, and I it was just it was it wasn't
in a goat field over there on the west.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
The cemetery I used to do the Silent Cross didn't
get out Obviously. I love that place because it started
to me here. But yeah, we're studios over there, right.
I have been a huge bohemoth of a building.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
I have been in there many times.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yeah, Hey, let's go and then come back and talk
to Joseph Blair about what's going on with him and
what he's trying to do down here in Tucson. Thanks everybody.

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Speaker 7 (19:05):
Streamy Live on the iHeartRadio AP. This is I on
the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
Hey, welcome back to I'm the Ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera and with be to
day is Tim Bentley. Hello, Hello, good you see you Tim.
And now on the phone, we have what are you
of a hoopster? Hoopstar Joseph Blair. Now they head coach
at Rio Grand Valley Vipers. Jib. How are you.

Speaker 4 (19:34):
I'm doing excellent. I'm blessed. How you guys doing.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
We're doing fine. We're doing fine. You're up to your
old tricks, are doing some great stuff for the community.
But we'll talk about that in a bit. What you've
been up to lately? I know you got to the
playoffs of the G League.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
Yeah, so we got to the playoffs, lost in the
first round unfortunately, but uh, you know, it went on
from there. And I'm not sure how much everyone knows
about the G League, but every team in the GLA
League is kind of like the child of an NBA team.
So we are affiliates of the Houston Rockets. So as
soon as my season finished, and when I had about

(20:10):
four days off, that was right back up with the Rockets.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Run as well.

Speaker 6 (20:14):
Yeah, so it keeps me pretty busy. It becomes a
long season. Yeah, it becomes a long season. It's kind
of divided because we start the season preseason with the Rockets,
the entire preseason, through training camp, through everything, and then
as soon as my season starts, I go.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
We get through the Rockets.

Speaker 6 (20:28):
Training camp, preseason games, and then the first rgular season game.
Then I branch off and we start our training camp
in the G League, and then we go through a
little bit and we don't even have a preseason.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
We jump right into games.

Speaker 6 (20:39):
We did have one kind of friendly game, and then
we jump right in the season and then the season finishes,
and then right back of the Rockets again to finish
their season and then the playoff run. So it becomes
a long year of a lot of different devisive you.
I guess it's segregated there. But and then it's a
great learning experience for me.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
I love it.

Speaker 6 (20:56):
I love what I do, so it works out wonderfully
for me.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yea question. In fact, I don't know if I've told
you the story, but maybe six seven years ago, mister
Brazi and Matt Brozie and I were sitting somewhere watching
some games and you were out there doing your thing,
and he says, you know what, Steve jb Is going
to be great at this. I'm thinking, really, why you know?
You know, not that I was questioning that. I says, why,
he's a communicator. He knows how to communicate to the guys.

(21:21):
He's been there, done that. But what makes him special
he knows how to communicate and at this level that's huge.

Speaker 6 (21:28):
Yeah, I think honestly, I go back to a lot
of what I did when I retired there in Tucson.
You know, when I were up for playing basketball. Most
people do recognize a lot of things. As you said,
a literally to earlier. I was very active in the community,
started a couple of nonprofits, served on the board of
nonprofits and coaching, in my opinion, is the same as
what I was doing before. You try to get a
group of people to believe in the same mission, at

(21:49):
the same vision and put their efforts into it. And
nonprofits a little bit different because you're asking people of
their time or their money to support something that you
believe is greater than yourself ask weall is the same way.
I'm asking these guys to give their energy and time
and I believe was something greater than themselves, something we
can't accomplish on our own. That's the same as growing
in community. It is the same thing I believe in

(22:10):
growing communitia or a community of a team. We're doing
the exact same thing. We're believing in something that's greater
than ourselves and we could have accomplish on our own.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (22:19):
Excuse me, I love that, JB.

Speaker 5 (22:20):
That's you know, helping you know, whether it's an agency
or you know, a young athlete get through. What do
you personally take away from coaching? You know, like you
know your folks are probably in transit back and forth.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
What do you personally get from coaching?

Speaker 1 (22:34):
What?

Speaker 5 (22:34):
What do you look forward to to bring you joy
and bring you happiness? There in that coaching realm.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
It's the same.

Speaker 6 (22:42):
Honestly, I'm probably go maybe this whole conversation, I'll go
back to this. It's the same thing as I did
in the community. See seeing other people thrive, seeing their collaboration,
seeing growth. That's what the biggest thing is for me.
I just believe that I've been blessed in my personal
life and now I want to bless others as much
as possible, and part of that is seeing their growth
and development as individuals and players. And that's more or

(23:07):
less the biggest thing for me. You know, I defer
all glory to God and to the people around me
support me and believe in what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
So you've never looked better, at least the last time
I saw you.

Speaker 6 (23:17):
Just to the vegan coach, Oh man, I will die
vegan at a very old age.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Don't you.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
How's that going? You know, obviously love doing it, but
you've been in shape for in this shape for a while.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (23:31):
I mean, it's crazy people ask me what you just
asked me was. It's kind of like me asking you
how's that meat eating going?

Speaker 4 (23:38):
It is me. It is part of who I am,
and there's no you know, you view it as a
different thing. I do it.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
It's just my lifestyle, and you know I I if anything,
I would say it's going wonderfully, probably better than yours is.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm from Kansas.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
I don't think I'm I think I'm legally required to
have a you.

Speaker 4 (23:55):
Know, but I would like I would you realize? Hold up?
First of all, I want to say this, Tim, I'm
from Texas, so.

Speaker 5 (24:01):
You're not legally anybody can do it exactly exactly.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
With that, With that, JB, give me give me three
things or two things that I should be eating that
would for me. I'm a very picky guy. Tastes good
and would be good for me.

Speaker 4 (24:19):
I don't know your taste number one, so to tell
you what tastes good?

Speaker 6 (24:23):
I mean, but I say this, if you eat chicken,
you eat chicken, Steve, Yes, Okay. If I boiled chicken
and hand it to you, would you like it? I
don't know, I don't know, probably not. So what do
you do to make it taste good? You put everything
that is a plant based thing on top of it
to make it taste good. So really, just stop getting
fare of the chicken and eat the things that you

(24:44):
like the season that and make that chicken in your eyes.

Speaker 4 (24:47):
Tast it's good. That's easy. So it's really easy.

Speaker 6 (24:50):
What you think, you've just been conditioned to believing that
the chicken is a major port of it.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
It's probably not the major portion of it. That's just
what the goodness sticks to.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
Okay, So salads, you're gonna eat a lot of salt
and pepper, that is what you Okay, I'm gonna go
get a little cheat sheet for people.

Speaker 4 (25:10):
It's much easier than what you think.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
There's there's tons of you know, broccoli, lagoons beans, black beans,
red beans, black eyed peas, or mustard greens, color greens.

Speaker 4 (25:20):
There's a spinach.

Speaker 6 (25:21):
There's chick peas, a great source of protein, garbanzo beans
being the same thing.

Speaker 4 (25:27):
Promise.

Speaker 6 (25:27):
There's there's a plethora of things that you can eat.
So I think that I think that's really to be
honest with you, I think that's a cop out with
most media to say, well, well I eat well, there's
there's more vegetables than there are actually the animals that
you're killing.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
To eat exactly.

Speaker 5 (25:42):
And my wife is is a vegetarian, and and it's
you know, really in twenty twenty five, people cater you know,
they really want it's an audience and it's a it's
a consumer that they don't want to miss. So it's
really easy to find options.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
For Well, I see that you're like a Twigg. So
I can't remember the last time were you. You were
in Tucson not too long ago.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Right, Yeah, I was there what last week?

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Week? Okay, this week?

Speaker 4 (26:07):
Just there for the week.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Yeah, just to promote your your situation or what you're
trying to do.

Speaker 6 (26:12):
Yeah, just working on this project at the honor of
my mom. So I was there just in meetings, trying
to hopefully scramble up some donors to help me with
to support.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
What we're doing.

Speaker 5 (26:22):
How do you start that conversation? I mean, obviously I
love your mom. I love your relationship with your mom,
and you know she's such a cool lady. But what
what what started this idea and what threat did you
pull wind up here at the park and start this project?

Speaker 6 (26:35):
Well, interesting enough, council. Remember Cunningham, Paul Cunningham with the
city two Son. He had done somewhat a similar collaboration
with Corey Williams. Yeah, out on the Jesse Wuns Park.
They redid one of the courts there. It's on a
little bit smaller of a scale than what we're doing.
But I remember going the ribbon cutting for that that

(26:56):
day and I had no clue that Corey was doing it,
that the city was doing it thing. And I talked
to Paul at the time and said, yea, I would
love to do this as well. And we did one park,
how can we do another park? And so I just
told him keep an eye on and keep an eye
out for when there's another park, and I'd love to
do it and put my name on it and do
the same thing. Well, time passed, and obviously my accessibility

(27:18):
there in Tucson was limited, so it really didn't pan
out the way we expected. But fast forward to a
bout the year ago, Paul called me and said, hey,
I do have a project that might work for you
if you'd like to like to hear about it. I said, well, yeah,
because this is a much broader scale. I think that

(27:39):
Corey's court has like and nothing against it whatsoever. It's
an amazing court for Jesse. I went to park by
the way, there was a cloth covering on it and
it's not regulation length or actually, we're building two NBA
linked courts side by side with They'll be the only
court in Tucson with both the high school line, college
and NBA three point line, as well as an NBA
lane which NBA length, and it's covered with a metal

(28:02):
covering solar lights on it with the scoreboard. It'll actually
be the home court of elementary's there in the community,
and three other schools in that area will be using
it for different programs as well. But when he brought
it to me, I was excited about it. And the
one thing I said is that if I'm going to
do it, I want to name it after my mom.

Speaker 4 (28:20):
I don't need a legacy. I'd rather build a legacy of.

Speaker 6 (28:22):
My mother, and I wanted to be the best court
as of right now and any park in Tucson. So
that's what we're doing, and I've been really fortunate the
city of City's jumped in to put a bunch of
money in that we're doing the entire park. It's going
to be an amazing park when it's all done. I
did walk the park last week when I was there.
But this court is just homage to my mom, and

(28:44):
this is the way I grew up. I grew up
playing on park basketball courts, and for me, I know
that number one, it brought me in contact with people
I would have never met. It made me the player
I am, And it builds community. And these parks in
the Tucson air in particular epicenters of those communities is
a this isn't out somewhere, it's dead in the middle

(29:06):
of a neighborhood, and I'm hoping it becomes a neighborhood
draw and I hope it becomes a draw for the city.

Speaker 2 (29:11):
Who what are you hoping for from this day forward?
What do you need help with?

Speaker 4 (29:16):
Fundraising? Fundraising?

Speaker 6 (29:18):
The City's put up a lot a lot of money,
but on my end, I still need to raise about
two und and fifty thousand dollars to get this to
see this project through. So anyone that just believes in
what I'm doing, even if you're just doing to support
my mom and her name and her legacy, I appreciate
that as well. But this is a thing that's done
for the community. It's a benefits community, but it also

(29:38):
honors the legacy of my mother and just then amazing
impact that not only two son have on her, but
she tried to have on the two Soon area as well,
Juus Blair Courts dot com.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
There's a website at Judahblair Courts dot com. You can donate.
You click on the donate button, I'll send you to
a city site.

Speaker 6 (29:53):
You'll go through a couple of continued continue buttons and
you'll go down to see Judah BLAIRER Memorial Park or
basketball court down there, and you can donate right there.
Anything will help. Some people think that I'm not a
huge donor, don't worry. Every single dollar helps and gets
us to the goal and is much much appreciated by
me and all my family.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Is there a quick date that you'd hope to get
some of this gun buy to finish.

Speaker 6 (30:17):
This well, the ribbon cutting as of right now would
be we're setting it for May of next year. Really
is built around when the rest of the park will
be finished as well. But I will say on my end,
I would love to get this money raise or at
least a huge portion of it in the next sixty days.
Has kind of earn this money on my side, so

(30:37):
the city knows that knows that I'm gonna I'm good
for it, and they can start the final building processes
of the court. So I am hoping that before the
ribbon cutting. The court will be available for the community
before that, and then we'll just have the official kind
of ground and I want to say groundbreaking, but the
ribbon cutting, the official usage in May of twenty twenty six.

Speaker 5 (31:03):
That what an inspirational story. I coached high school for
a long time, and I love the impact that moms
and aunts and those carrying adults have on these kids.
And I can see that that happened with your mom.
You know, you probably see that with the kids you
coach and these young men that you coach, you know,
the role of a carrying adult in their life.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
What have you seen in that as you coach and
work with these kids.

Speaker 6 (31:25):
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's it goes one of
two ways, quite frankly, and I think this goes as
indicative of the times of which we live. It's either
a single parent home, or it's a dual parent home,
or some quite frankly, or without a parent. And I
was fortunate enough to have my mother. I wasn't raised
in a dual parent home. It was just my mom

(31:47):
raising my brother and I on her own. But she
did one hell of a job in my opinion. But
my love for the game basketball comes directly from my
mother's love of the game. She wasn't unable to play
sports growing up. She had a brother and he played
all the sports, but there was no female sports offered
at her school. So growing up, even if she could
shoot the ball better than him and run faster at him,

(32:08):
she wasn't allowed display those abilities. And I think that's
one of the reasons why I see such a proponent
now or was there such a proponent for equality in
sports When you look at my basketball camps and I'm
ran there in Tucson for twenty years, we were always
co ed because of the same belief that it's not
right that there can be equality in the sports. But
going back to your question, I think that it's it's

(32:31):
not not only does it fall just on the parents,
in my opinion, to raise these kids, but it also
falls on our community as a whole.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
Were our community, You know that the I is very true.

Speaker 6 (32:41):
It takes a village to raise a child, so especially
in these days and times when we in which we
live are so much different than when I grew up.
Because now we didn't have social media, we'd have all
these outside influences. It was literally you had to be
in my face to influence me. But right now, there's
so many different influences from so many different directions, so
many different areas. There's so many and quite a bit

(33:02):
of false influences as well, people portraying a life in
which they don't live. And this idea of that our
kids have now that they need to live like this
and they need to do like this is so it's
quite sad, to be honest with you. And it happens
also in sports because you see the players that I coach,
they see a player in the NBA that's making so

(33:22):
much money, they think, okay, well they live like this,
so I need to live like that, or I need
to pretend as if I live like that. And it
gets in the way of the work. And a lot
of times, sadly, people want to they want the job,
but they don't want the hustle that comes with the job.
They want the glories of being a professional athlete, but
don't understand the work it takes to become a professional athlete.
They want to get paid to do the work instead

(33:43):
of working to get the pay.

Speaker 2 (33:46):
Yeah, no question, in fact, in fact, god, I can
remember this pretty well. Nineteen ninety had to be some
time in nineteen ninety. You can fix the year if
you want. Get a press release just from who Jodah Blair,
My son Joseh Blair has committed to the University of Arizona.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Who's Who's Mama Blair Man? She's like one heck of
a pr agent.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
So she well, back in the day, she was that person,
and you kinda laughed, right because you probably remember those days.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
I mean, my mother, without a doubt, no one will
ever even attempt to fight for the biggest fan of Joseph.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Blair award outside of my mother. Everyone knows that. Everyone
in Tucson knows that as well.

Speaker 6 (34:25):
If you ever said a loader and asked how I
was doing, you're also gonna, i mean, how she was doing,
You're also going to how I was doing as well.
So well, yeah, God blessed me with an amazing mother.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
She Speaking of moms, my mom just texted, I'm curious
about JB. What he thinks is a secret to a
strong board for a nonprofit.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
You're we only have a couple of minutes, so sorry,
but mom asked a question.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
Well, my my answer to that is finding a board
that ever one is engaged in the vision of the organization.
They have to be engaged in the mission and the vision.
They can't just come on board because someone ask them.
They have to be on board because they truly believe
in what the vision and the mission of the organization is.
And then because you'll have people that will just dig

(35:17):
their feet in and be in the trenches for something
they believe in more so than they would if it's
just something they can throw money at. So it's always
a belief in what you're doing. And this kind of
goes back to exactly what I said as far as coaching.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
You have to believe in it.

Speaker 6 (35:30):
You have to believe and you're truly doing something that
you can never do on your own. You have to
believe that you're a part of something that's greater than yourself.
This serves a purpose that will live on way past
your lifetime and builds a legacy for the community in
which you're serving.

Speaker 5 (35:45):
Well, thank you. My mom was already a fan. Now
she's a bigger fan. Well, he has away with the woman.
He knows what to say. Hey, JB, thanks a bunch
for joining us. I also want to say, in addition
to your mom, your mom was everywhere. I mean everywhere.
I worked at the other station before I moved to here,
and she was also. I mean, you go to a
basketball game, guess where she Judith, what are you doing?

Speaker 2 (36:03):
You was everywhere? And you know that she was everywhere.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
What's the website again?

Speaker 6 (36:07):
One more time, Judith, Judith Blair courts dot com and uh,
just alluding to what you just said. See, my mom
loved twusons, She loved the two Sonans, she loved everything
about southern Arizona. And I remember she would tell me
I just drove around today saying hi to people and
go in and pray for him.

Speaker 4 (36:23):
So that that was her life. That was my mother.
That's and that's exactly why she deserves to be honored
in my eyes. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Nice, nice, good, great, totally great, good. Okay, JB, thanks
a bunch. Good luck on the draft, and good luck
next year.

Speaker 4 (36:35):
Thank you, fellows, got Jamy be.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Well, thank you. If anybody wants to listen to this tomorrow,
if you missed it, well you can tell anybody who
missed it. Just go to the website, go to the
podcast podcast. Yeah, thanks a bunch of Thanks Timmy, good
good question. Thanks Mom. What's your Mom's name, Susan. Susan,
Thanks Susan, Thanks Susan. If you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan,
you know it's been successful for newly forty years now.
Take a look back at the Ludelson era in my

(36:58):
new book, Lessons from the It was a labor of
love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches,
and friends to give insight to the coach and the
man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them.
Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's
beloved coach. Lessons from newt is an insight to how
he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one,
Email me at Steve dot Rivera ninety five at gmail

(37:22):
dot com. Where do you buy exercise equipment?

Speaker 14 (37:25):
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Speaker 7 (40:23):
Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio while this is Eye
on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
And welcome back to the mark here on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is
Tim Bentley. Hello Tim Bentley. You want to say who
you represented or just Tim Bentley?

Speaker 5 (40:44):
Tim Bentley, I'm the executive director of Communications and Marketing
at Tuson Medical Center.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
Yes, well, I've been there for eleven or so years.

Speaker 5 (40:51):
I've been in Tucson since I moved here as a
kid when I was nine or ten in the mid seventies.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Went to Sabino High School Northern Arizona.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
Worked in TV and radio for some time, and then
worked you know, some nonprofit. I was a high school
coach track and cross country at Saint Augustine is still
part of that. I am not ill you have you people.
So I have a you know, I had a really
nice run there. I had, you know, eight or nine
years of coaching and and a lot of those kids
that I coached.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
I was talking to you know, JB about it is.
You know a lot of these kids now.

Speaker 5 (41:22):
Are thirty two thirty three that I coached as you know,
as kids all the way through their senior year, you know,
and they're always seeking out advice even though you know,
not about running or anything like, hey, coach, I'm getting
ready to buy a house, do you think I should
get insurance or anything? You know, so life advice and
you know, health insurance and and you know that role
that coaches and I talked about that caring adult.

Speaker 4 (41:46):
You know.

Speaker 3 (41:46):
JB's right, it takes a village.

Speaker 5 (41:48):
And I would see kids on the coach that I
coached on the track and cross country teams, and if
they had you know, a you know, a family unit
mom and a dad, you know, but many of like
JB said, would have a mom, or they'd have a
group of aunts or a favorite sixth grade teacher that
helped them out really it's it's a village, it's a

(42:09):
carrying adult.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
It's a caring group of people that have a kid's back,
you know.

Speaker 5 (42:13):
And JB is the perfect example, you know, uh, you know,
a just self determined and you know, self sufficient mom.
And it could be any carrying adult that just you know,
has your back. And I'd always say to a parent,
I said, well, you know, we're not going to make
sure that.

Speaker 3 (42:26):
They don't fail their test.

Speaker 5 (42:28):
You know, they're still going to stumble and fall, but
we're going to make sure that they don't do something
really dumb.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (42:32):
Yeah, you know that's our job is to make sure
they were the bumpers of life.

Speaker 4 (42:36):
Right.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Well, you said it earlier. I think with me, uh,
high school stuff, uh, you know, not to you you know,
what did you learn? What do you remember? Blah blah blah.
You do remember your coaches, You do remember your.

Speaker 5 (42:46):
Coaches, your friends and your teachers and and those And
it's never an impact that you think.

Speaker 3 (42:52):
It's always something.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Right, right, you know, I remember I do remember some
stuff in chemistry in physics, Uh briefly I would. I
can't tell you, eh, and to know all that crap,
but I know how it works. So you had twelve
teachers from your first grade to twelfth grade.

Speaker 5 (43:07):
Well more than that in high school. You know you
probably have six. Oh yeah, that's true.

Speaker 1 (43:11):
You know.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
So let me give you let's say eighteen, just eighteen,
how many impacted you? Like, how many do you remember, say.

Speaker 5 (43:19):
That the coaches that impacted me? Of the teachers, yeah, yeah, yeah,
so probably just one and it's John John Brooks of
the eighteen Yeah. I mean I can dig a good percentage.
But if he's my favorite teacher, yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
No, I'm not criticizing the thing, but wow, you know
what you could be right, I could have.

Speaker 5 (43:36):
Well, you know, and I had. You know, let me
put it this way. I've had teachers that have impacted
me at every stage of my life. I had Ruth Solomon,
who was a state senator, was my sixth grade teacher,
and she taught us about independence and and you know, uh,
forming community.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
And really being involved in it. So you remember that.

Speaker 3 (43:55):
I remember, you know, so probably six or.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Seven that you're one was not a critician. I'm just
you know, as I look back, I'm thinking maybe three.
I maybe have a hard time rememory if.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
You ask, if you say, like, who's your favorite teacher.

Speaker 5 (44:07):
You could probably think of two or three quickly, you know,
and everybody in the let's listening.

Speaker 3 (44:11):
So oh yeah it was mister or missus so and so.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
I love them because, you know, and maybe they they
said something nice to you about something you wrote, you
something you wrote you wrote.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Yeah, so okay, so that's teachers coaches. How many two
the impacted you? But of the how many of the
how many.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
Coaches you have?

Speaker 3 (44:30):
Probably six or seven?

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Okay, so two good ones. Uh. I asked this up
David Adams, and I don't remember how many good coaches
did you have? Talking good coaches?

Speaker 5 (44:40):
Did you have a couple, you know, I mean, yeah, yeah.
But it's to JB's point, it's it's the ones that care,
that are invested in your success and you know that
that want you to succeed, regardless of what success looks
like for you. It doesn't necessarily have to be at
the highest level. It's just like, did you run your
fastest mind today? Or did you make a starting team

(45:02):
or did you make first chair?

Speaker 2 (45:03):
Yeah, well here's just coming into my mind now. So
I used to play ball. I have had about twelve
coaches probably overall baseball, mostly even a little basketball running
and all that stuff. Now, as I get older, I'm
thinking maybe I've had one or two that were pretty good,
pretty good, right, most of them are kind of Even
in the little league you have volunteer coaches who kind

(45:24):
of just their son plays and you play. But in
high school, I'm not sure there are any good And
I'm stilling going to say this when you play baseball.
When you play baseball, and I did that a lot,
and you're spending a lot of time running, you know,
running to get into shape or whatever. You do that Okay,
the first week or so, blah blah, did get in shape?
If you can continue to run all year or season,

(45:45):
just what you're not doing, you're not playing baseball. How
do you get better at playing baseball by playing baseball?
For you, as a running coach, what do you get?
How do you get better by running?

Speaker 5 (45:56):
We run, and then we run some more exactly, That's all.
It's different types of running. That's intervals and tempos, but
it's still running.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
That's my point. I mean, you know, go run five
laps or whatever. Elect in baseball, those laps don't mean crap.
Go hit more balls, Go hit more balls, because you're
not hitting any balls right now. You need to hit
balls in the game and in practice. Go you know
what I'm saying, You get better by being or doing
what you can't do. So I agree with you.

Speaker 5 (46:26):
And but I also think that there's some outside skills
and it's you know, we often from time to time
when play ultimate frisbee, which is running, but it's it's
a tough condition it's a it's a conditioning thing, but
it's also a teamwork thing. And and so people are
throwing frisbees and you have to you know, it's all
inclusive thing, boys and girls. And it was a way
to encourage, you know, camaraderie and friendship, but also to

(46:50):
keep keep you in shape, but also break up the
monotony of running sometimes. You know, as much fun as
running is.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
True, sure no, and that's the monotony of it. You
have to continue and get better, I'm sure you know,
you learn have to learn how the frisbee well.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
And you know, when I coached, you know, a lot
of my kids were three and four sport kids were
such a small high school. But you know, I think
that there's a lot of skill sets that come out
of high school. And you know JB wants to honor
his mom because she pushed him.

Speaker 3 (47:17):
I was reading the story in the Star.

Speaker 5 (47:18):
She went in to play instruments, and you know, I
wound up playing basketball and she pivoted like like a
good parent or a.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Good coach would say, Hey, where where are your passion?

Speaker 2 (47:27):
It's called survival, man, you gotta do what you you know,
do you think is the right thing to do. Oh
by the way, Uh, we're not gonna have any breaking
news on the top of the hour. I'm too old
to do that, too tired. But I do have some
breaking news. Arizona one three to two, get out of here. Yeah,
they'd be a couple. They have to go.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
Do they have to win two games out.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
Of this or I think you have to win them ball?
So now they'll play the winner of Oregon and whoever
they play Santa Clara's overday. So now at least they
want right three to two so they advance. You just
got to win this region, so that's what.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
So how many you have to win three games together?

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Two? Three, four? Probably four? Just don't lose two games.
So now they'll wait for the winner of the organ game.
See what happens there if they win, they got one
more to win, so three, I guess got you as
long as you don't lose two. But they lost. They
beat Capuality too, eight three to two. So that's a
good thing. And here we go and this this team

(48:27):
and the track and field team are the only teams left.

Speaker 5 (48:31):
I think the are the the track and field team?
Are they at regionals? Are they at national regionals?

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Talked about that yesterday. There's a it's a handful that's.

Speaker 5 (48:39):
There's a couple of kids that that made that qualified
for regionals that can make to nationals.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
There's a long jumper and some some hurdlers.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah. Right, So let me ask you, Uh, you've been
in this business a long time, your thoughts on Fred
Harvey retiring? You know, I'm sure you know you I
didn't know, and uh, you know, I know. I'm sure
you are friends with him.

Speaker 5 (48:57):
Yes, I've met and Fred Harvey's recruited a couple of
my athletes and when I was coaching, and and the
longevity these days doesn't.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Happen, right, No, he came in at the same time
I did thirty eight years ago.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
And you know, I to set a legacy and to
bring people in like Bernard Lea Gott and other world
class athletes to mentor and coach.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
You know, that's the legacy that you set. You know,
there was a time.

Speaker 5 (49:21):
You know, NAU right now is the best distance team
in the country.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
Why is that?

Speaker 3 (49:27):
It's just it's a.

Speaker 5 (49:28):
Combination of coaching, altitude, commitment to excellence. You know, when
I was there in the.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Eighties, we were okay, but you you in terms of running.

Speaker 5 (49:37):
Right, running wise, But u A in the eighties was
the number one school.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Everybody came here, yea.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
You know with Fred Harvey and Dave Murray, they came
here because they could they could achieve excellence.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
So is there this is a dumb question because coaches
are coaches, but not really And I've said this forever
and I put this in the book Coaching matters. Coaching
matters if you have a good one, you know, if
you have a good and then so, so, what is
this guy in northern Arizona who could probably coach anywhere
right right? What secret sauce does he have that the

(50:12):
others don't have? If I have a bunch of good runners.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
He has success. He's put some people in the Olympic Trial.

Speaker 2 (50:17):
Oh yeah, But but what what is that success?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
He you know, he recognizes his talent and he's nurtured it.

Speaker 5 (50:23):
Okay, you know, And so he's brought kids in okay
and says, let's we're going to be great, We're going
to chase excellent. So he's brought in rather than just
one or two good runners, he's brought in, you know,
fifteen or sixteen.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Okay. So let me ask you. So this guy, I
don't what's his name, you know, Oh, it's mister x X.
He went and got a job at Creighton wherever, Tulsa.
He'd do the same thing, right, he would?

Speaker 5 (50:46):
You know, I often say this, you know, big time
uh football and basketball, you go to programs, right if
you want to be a good runner, a good you know,
tier two athlete, you know, not the big not football, basketball,
you go to a coach.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
You know.

Speaker 5 (51:04):
So you can go to a program and for football
and be great. You can go to Oregon. It's always Oregon.
You it's always that.

Speaker 3 (51:10):
But if you want to be a great runner, you
go to coaches.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Yeah, well I think that's the case for a lot
of other sports. It totally is.

Speaker 5 (51:17):
And it's so it's you know, you go to a coach,
because they're going to make you great. So you can
go to a Division two school and be a world
class runner. You don't have to be at a at
a top So.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
So what if you're established like Arizona was, how do
you lose that? You lose a Day Murry, You.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
Lose to Dave Murray.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
You and if this guy left and you wouldn't be
the same school. You know, the you could be you
could be honest.

Speaker 5 (51:43):
It'd be okay, and he would be okay because they
have the altitude right and that.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
He has that benefit to him in addition.

Speaker 5 (51:50):
To the older mammoth you know, these to be the
great coach, he has that right. And he also had
you know, he had elite teams running there. The Hookah
elite national team is practicing in flag Staff and so
if you're a college runner, you're running against Olympians. You know,
the Australian Olympic team is there. So you're getting your
butt kicked. You know, you win state in Arizona, you

(52:12):
go up to nau You're gonna get your butt kicked
by a bunch of Olympians.

Speaker 3 (52:15):
But it's going to make it.

Speaker 2 (52:16):
You know, good, right, just take a break and come
back on the other side,
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