Wednesday, June 19, Hour 2

GUEST: Judy McDermott, Executive Director, First Tee – Tucson

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is High on the Ball withSteve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to thepodcast on the iHeartRadio while just Surgery I
on the Ball. Welcome back toon the Vulkan of Fox Sports fourteen fifty
am. Your host Ja Gonzalez.Steve will be up for the rest of
the week, but I do haveHenry here, and Henry's got breaking news.

(00:23):
This is Eye on the Ball breakingnews on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty.
Well the first set of breaking news. Former Rutgers right handed pitcher Christian
Coppola has committed to Arizona with twoyears eligibility. He was named the freshman
All American and All Big Time FirstSeamer in twenty twenty three, but he
struggled last year with the seven sixyear already my sophomore year. Interesting.

(00:46):
You know, you take a guyhe's got experience, so that always helps,
regardless of you know, what you'vedone recently. We'll see how that
adds up for Chip Hale and pitchingstaff. You know, he's got some
guys that are gonna be He's he'sgonna have replace some guys. They had
a really good pitching staff but guyswho are probably all you know, all

(01:06):
going to be out of here,so we'll see what happens. Uh.
So you know, go get go, get go, get some guys.
It never hurts. It never hurtsto have pictures, right, you need
lots of them. And so,uh, if Chip thinks this guy can
contribute, then more power to him. So we'll wait and see what it
looks like. So there you go. Uh. Former Arizona diver Delaney Schnell
will be representing Timyosa in the Olympicsand this will be her second Olympics.

(01:30):
Right. She won a silver battlein the last Olympics in the synchronized dive.
She's in the same uh, inthe same event this year, So
we'll see if she can get upthat to a gold. We had her
on after her silver medal and shewas understandably very giddy about it. But
now you know that she's got asight set on some more. So we'll
see how that goes. But youknow, you have to you have to

(01:52):
say that. You know, there'sbeen some Olympians from Tucson, you know,
and and and uh, you know, she's a two time Olympia now,
so she's up there among among thegroup that has come from here and
been in the Olympics, and we'llsee what she can do, but certainly
keep an eye on her in thatin that event. According to Ross Dellinger,

(02:14):
the NCAA presents a new basketball tournamentmodel that would expand the field by
four eight teams starting in the twentysix season. I'm so against this.
Yeah, you know, I understandwhat they're doing. I'm so against them
messing this up. You know,the the first four okay, you know

(02:36):
the extra four teams that they put, you know, to make it go
from sixty four sixty eight. I'vecome to like the NCAA tournament starting on
that Tuesday. It's fun. Iwatch those games. I know there's you
know, people gamble on those games. That's that's great. You know you
get two games, you got twogames on Tuesday, two games on Wednesday,

(02:57):
and then the you know, thenthe brackets really get going on on
Thursday. Why do we need todo mess with that? I don't understand
it. I'll never understand it.Uh, you know, is somebody not
getting There's always gonna be somebody notgetting in right, You're still gonna have
controversy over the next the you know, the next four out. I really

(03:20):
really really wish that some smart peopleand these are smart people too, but
I don't know what they get caughtup and that they feel like, let's
mess with this some more. It'stoo good right now, so let's mess
with it's more. I don't understandit, and I don't understand why we
feel we have to keep doing that. Look, was I happy? Am
I happy with the twelve team footballplayoff? One hundred percent? You know?

(03:42):
It should have been eight a longtime ago instead of four, And
if it had been eight, maybeit would it would still be eight.
Twelve is a great number, youknow. I thought, if you're gonna
go to twelve, go to sixteenso that nobody gets a buy. But
they didn't, so they're at twelve. And I was a proponent of that
because I didn't think four was anenough Sixty eight is enough. Sixty eight

(04:03):
is enough? Why do we needto do this? And I don't get
it? And I really really hopethat somebody steps in and says, let's
not do this. I know that, you know, the money aspect of
it is just irresistible. Please don'tmess this up. The tournament is great.

(04:23):
Just the way it is. Leaveit like that. Well, we'll
see. I don't know. Ireally hope they don't do this. I
mean, what do you I mean, yeah, I just think the math
with sixty four makes a lot moresense. I like the first four idea,
right, that was great. Whenthey first did it, I didn't
like it. I've come to likeit. It's only two games, right,
I've come to like it, likeI said, because you know,

(04:44):
you get to selection Sunday and thenthere's games on Tuesday already, and I
think, okay, that's cool.Now you've got a whole week of games
there at night, so you gohome from work or you're at work.
You know, they come on whenwe're still on the air. That's great.
I love that. I love those. I love those two games on
Tuesday, two games on Wednesday.I don't like I wouldn't like it if

(05:04):
Arizona was in those games, right, But you know what some teams have
done well coming out of there.Ucla got to a final fri out of
that. I think it was VirginiaCommonwealth, I think got you know,
yeah, they got in there fromthe from the first four. So I'm
I've come to like that. Butthat's it. Stop there, just leave

(05:25):
it. Always upset exactly and isit is it the conferences to say I
want a little bit more, Ineed a little bit more money, we
need to get a couple more teamsin there. Just stop, just stop.
I hate this. So let's seewhat happens. LA sparts rookie Cameron
drink tour ha cl yesterday. Terrible, yeah, awful news. She's she's

(05:46):
that player from Stanford, Arizona raninto her in the in the championship of
the of the NCAA tournament back intwenty twenty one. Really good player.
All American this year, top playerin the country. And already you know,
you know, in her first seasonshe blows out a knee and she's
out for the year. Just areally good player. And you hate to

(06:10):
see something that happen to those players, you know, And and I don't
know, you know what, Idon't know what it is that with you
know, with knees for for youknow, some of these female players.
You just see so many of them. Uh, it's crazy. You know,
my daughter blew out her knee playingvolleyball. You know, it just
happens, seems to happen a lot, and for a player like Cameron Brink

(06:31):
you feel bad for her, sotoo bad. And she was supposed to
play in the Olympics on the threeby three women's national team, so they
now will be looking to replace her. Gosh again, that's too bad,
all right. And then reigning alsay On Garrick Cole will be making his
season debut today versus the Oreoles.Get him out of here. You're a

(06:55):
Yankee fan or two? Yeah,you're happy with that. You're happy with
that, all right. I'll letyou have that one. Henri Lla,
you have that one, okay.That's all. That's all you got,
all right. Just something that camecame across a few minutes ago. At
Tennessee in the College World Series,they beat Florida State seventy two, so

(07:21):
they they've won that. They've wontheir fourteen bracket in the College Royal Series,
so they'll be going on to playfor the national championship. I think
it's Florida. Florida's playing Texas Aand M in take Yeah, they play
tonight. If Texas A and Mwins, they're in Florida wins. They've
got to beat Texas A and Mtomorrow. So we'll see how that goes.

(07:43):
I've lost interest in the in theCollege World Series, although I was
at lunch today Bob Dobbs and thegame was on, so we were watching
it, and h and Florida gotout. Tennessee got out in front of
them, and you know, nevergave it up. And so they're the
vault sort in the in the championshipgame, I think I don't think they

(08:03):
were. Were they the number oneseed? Do you have that? They
were either one or two seed?They were the one seed? Okay,
so they were supposed to get thereand they have. So we'll see how
that goes. And then the threegame series starts on Friday. Things starts
Friday. What's today? Today's Wednesday? Right, and so it starts on
Saturday. Yes, okay, soit's and it's a best of three.

(08:26):
So we'll see if that. Whenthat ends, maybe we'll be talking about
it here on Monday. But yeah, all right, Tennessee is in it,
so let's see what happens. Whatelse. There were a couple of
things, and I you know,it's I hate this because I don't write
this stuff down. I don't jotit anywhere. And then I get up
here and I forget about it.But uh, oh well, you know,

(08:48):
so we've been having some interesting conversationover the last the last few days
about Ariazon football. You know,I met with my not met with but
I had lunch with my with myWednesday group. These guys are giddy waiting
for the season to start. Ithink we're all kind of moved on now
from the PAC twelve. It's it'sover with and talking about this season coming
up. I kind of talk tothese guys because they're a couple of over

(09:11):
the top kind of guys that thinkArizona is going to go and defeat it
every year stuff like that. Butuh, you know, a lot of
a lot of excitement, a lotof feeling that you know, obviously Arizona
needs to win those first two gamesNew Mexico and NAU. And actually said,
look, even if we don't beatKansas State and we as in there,
excuse me, as in Arizona.Even if Arizona doesn't win at Kansas

(09:35):
State, if they put up agood showing, uh, you know,
because Kansas State is one of thefavorites in the league, they'll be happy.
And I'm like, okay, thatseems reasonable. You guys are you
guys are like, you know,in a in a good spot as far
as that goes. But you knowthat that as we get closer to that,
that's gonna be a fun and interestinggame that I think it's going to
tell us a lot about Arizona.Yeah, yeah, so I'm u.

(10:00):
You know, there's still a mysteryon on t MA Max foot or leg
injury, whatever it is. Ifit's an ankle, we don't know if
it's an ankle, if it's afoot, what it is. Uh,
you know, I think last anybodysaw he was still on a walking boot,
uh in it. So we'll see. But I think, uh,
yeah, you got plenty of time. But man, when you're talking about

(10:20):
a foot on a receiver, that'suh, you never know. So we'll
see. We'll see how that thingturns out. Brandon Brent Brannan has said
that he's going to be okay,So we got to take him at his
word until we hear otherwise or noor no otherwise. But uh, you
know, I think there's a lotof excitement building for this football team.
Should be a lot of fun.I think that it's uh, it's it's

(10:43):
gonna be something that uh you know, Arizona fans, we're waiting for the
for the shooter drop right. Everyten I've mentioned a number of times,
every ten win season has been followedby a not so great season. I
mean the best of the the bestof those seasons was after Rich Rodriguez' ten

(11:05):
win season. Arizona did go toa bowl game and won their bowl game,
although you know, the a lotof injuries during that year and didn't
get to where you thought they couldget to after winning the Pack Croff South
the previous year. In ninety three, Arizona goes ten and two, ten
and two, When when's the festival? Next year, they won eight games,

(11:26):
ended up in the Freedom Bowl,lost a tough one to a horrible
game to Utah and the Freedom BowlUtah was in the whack at the time,
or to the Mountain West at thetime. They'd lose that game.
So that wasn't a good season.The season after the twelve and one year
was awful. They went six andsix and didn't even go to a bowl
game, got blasted by Penn Statein the opener of that year and had

(11:52):
a horrible year. And a yearafter that, Dick Toomi was gone,
so the record has been good afterthe ten win season, so some of
us who have seen that, we'vegot some angst about what's gonna happen this
year. You feel like it's itwould be just like Arizona to go have
a horrible year, or if noteven horrible, just not a great year.

(12:15):
There is a you know, thereis a coaching change. Regardless of
how much we like or think BrentBrannan is, you know, can do
a great job, there is achange. These guys are going to go
into into that first game against NewMexico and it's going to be different,
uh, you know, a differentcoaching staff, different way of doing things.
We talked to Justin Spears on Monday, talked about the fact that,

(12:37):
you know, Brent Brennan's not gonnabe calling the place like Jed Fish called
the plays for the three years hewas here. Jedfish was the offensive coordinator,
he called the plays. He wasessentially the quarterbacks coach. Brent Brandon
is more of a hands off guy. He's got Dino Babers to run the
offense. I trust Deno Babers.Guy's been a head coach. He did
a nice job at Syracuse until hedidn't in his back here at Airs.

(13:00):
He was a great offensive coordinator hereat Arizona. So you trust that he's
gonna, you know, take careof business and Brent Brannan is going to
let him run the show. Andthat's a way different approach than either Jeed
Fish or before that, rich Rodwhen rich Rod was here. So we'll
see. But you know again,and you gotta like having Dwayne and Keena

(13:22):
as a defensive coordinator. I createdDuayna Keena for a lot of what happened
with the defense last year. JohnnyNansen great scheme. He's a really good
coach. He's a co defensive coordinatornow at Texas. But I think the
emotion and the fire that that defenseplayed with last year had a lot to

(13:43):
do with having Dwayne and Keena onthe field. That's what he brings now
is the defensive coordinator. You hopethat that continues. And you know,
Dwayne's been a great coach for areally long time, including here at Arizona,
So we'll see how he does.All right, let's go take our
break. We're to come back.We have an open segment because we're getting

(14:05):
get Judy McDermott on at four thirtyfive. So we'd love to take your
call five two zero four one sixseventy four forty five and give us a
call and talk about anything that's onyour mind. Would love to hear from
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Steve Prepera and Jacob Solids they havetheir tie on the ball on Tucson Sports.

(18:59):
Stay yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty.Welcome back down on the ball of
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm JacinZaliz your host for the day. Steve
Rivera will be out probably the restof the week. I have Henry here
running the board and joining in onthe conversation. We're another segment away from
Judy McDermott joining us. She's theexecutive director first T two Son. She'll

(19:21):
be joining us at about four thirtyfive. So we've got another segment open.
If you want to give us acall five two zero four one six
seventy four forty we'll we'll take yourcause. And we have a caller right
now, So let's take this call. Hi, you're on the ar and
I on the ball. Hey,Jay, how you doing good? Good?
Hard? What's up? I'm reallynot into Facebook, but I saw
that Steve's mom passed. That's what. Yeah, what you're doing really go

(19:47):
selling blessings out to him and hissons and the rest of the Rivera family.
Yeah, we appreciate that, andI'm sure he appreciates it. We're
getting we're getting some some emails andsome text messages and that kind of thing.
And you know, I haven't evenhad actually talked to Steve. We've
just exchanged some text messages. I'mtrying to kind of leave him, you
know, let him, let himbe with this, and we're here if

(20:07):
he needs us, because he's he'sgetting inundated, and he's a guy,
got a plan, the schooner.They got to do everything right right.
All those things are tough. Soanyway, I guess that's pretty much all
I had and just think it shortand sweet. Okay, Well, we
appreciate the thought. Hey, we'lltalk to you guys when Okay, do
that give us a call. Thanksa bunch. Yeah, so that.
Yeah, a lot, a lotof a lot of messages for Steve,

(20:30):
a lot of stuff on Facebook andand and Twitter, people giving you know,
giving Steve some condolences for the lossof his mom. So we appreciate
all of that. We know he'sgot a lot of friends and a lot
of support in this town. Steve'sbeen here a really long time and he
deserves all of that and he's gettingit. So that that's great for Steve.
So we'll, you know, I'msure there'll be a time when we'll

(20:51):
we'll, you know, get himback here and see see how he see
how it goes from there. Sowe're just not going to press anything.
Just let him, let him takewhatever time he needs. Means okay,
so let me get back to theNCAA tournament, because we we finished the
breaking news with that, I wentduring the break and read Ross Ellinger's story
from Yahoo Sports on this. Nobody'ssaying what the how it will look right

(21:17):
in terms of specifically how the BRACwould look. But you're they're saying that
it looks like, I mean,if you're going to add four or eight
teams, you're gonna have to haveanother first for sight. Uh so uh,
they're saying that the sixty four teambracket will stay. Let's take this
call. Hi, you're on theair and on the ball. How are

(21:37):
you doing today? What's up,Brian? How are you well? Just
calling about uh Willie Mays. Iwas luckily I got to see him play
when I was a kid. Yeahwait a minute, when you wait,
when you were a kid, Brian? You were never a kid? Okay,
sorry, anything to do, youknow, get out of get out

(21:59):
of high school or yeah you know, then go ahead over the high corb
field watch the games. Yeah,yeah, you know. And and that's
the thing I mean, he washere, you know, the the Giants
spring training was that was in Casagrand and they came here all the time
to play. I'm sure there's alot of people in Tuson out there who
got to see him play. LikeI said, I think I think I
saw him play, but I can't. I don't have a specific memory of

(22:21):
it. You know, one thingtoo, is I think, you know,
if there's anybody close to being whatme, he's the greatest player I
ever saw, right, but theclosest one to him would have to be
Ken Grif correct correct, had allthe injuries, maybe he might have passed
because he was applied to a playerright right, right, you know when

(22:44):
the way Ken Griffy attacked the outfield, you know, you know, going
to the fences. So that's whatthat's what Willie Mays did. And you're
right. If there's one guy thatyou put sort of in that classification,
it was him, And you're correct. If not for all the injuries,
uh, you might have you know, he might have been more on par
with what with what Willie Mays did. But that's who he was. Right

(23:07):
For somebody who saw Ken Griffy play, you say, Okay, Willie Mays
was him with a little bit more, right, but a lot more flair.
I mean, even though Willie Mayshad flair for I mean, considering
nobody had flair really back in thesixties, right, sure, Drysdale and
Gibson trying to kill people exactly,but William Mays, you know. But

(23:30):
but watch Willie Mays play. Itwas like, I mean, it was
like amazing. He could just doeverything. Yeah. Well, and then
remember, right, Willie Mays wasthe one who perfected the basket catch.
And we all tried it, andhow many of us got hitting the you
know where's or you know, orhitting the or hitting the shoulder, hitting
the chest or even in the headtrying to make that basket catch and your

(23:52):
coach would say, what the hellare you doing? Catch the ball?
You know, and he, youknow, don't have to worry about that,
you know. You know what,remember did you grow up playing playing
five hundred or you know, yeah, you know, you play five hundred
with the guys right where you're somebody'shitting balls to you. And if you
catch a ground ball and a coupleof bounces, you get points, or

(24:14):
you catch a fly ball, andthat's when we would try the basket catch,
right, and then you drop theball or or it would hit you
in the head or hit you onthe side, and you thought, how
does he do this so well?Right? You know? And if you
look Okay, you look at thecatch he made against Vick Wurtz and center
Frail. Okay, you know now, I mean basically what he did now,

(24:37):
he did that a lot of playerscan do now, but the much
you know, they're great athletes,right, but he was the one who
kind of said, oh, youcan play with some player and play the
game, you know, right,and just makes the game a little more
exciting. Yeah yeah, Brent,I know we've talked about this, but
you're growing up, you were afan of who Cardinals, the car even

(24:59):
back then. Okay, so soyou're Bob Gibson was your guy, right
and so right, okay, yeah, Lou Brock so but so to me
as a Dodger fan, you know, the Dodgers and the Giants were huge
driver. But as a Cardinals fan, how did you see Willie Mays?
How did you look at Willie Maysand the Giants? Just just amazed to
watch him play? You know,people had to remember to back in those

(25:22):
days. Unfortunately, we only gotone game a week, right, right,
you know, the Saturday afternoon game. Right. It was not like
now where every every game is onTV. So it was a treat when
the Giants rough you know, Giantsand Dodgers. You know, it was
just it's fun to watch. Yeah, you know, the Giants were coming
on, and even if you didn'tlike the Giants, you were going to

(25:44):
go watch that game because there wasa chance to see Willie Mays, Willie
McCovey. As much as I hatedJan Marshall for clubbing John Roseborg with a
baseball bat, you know, Iwanted to see him pitch because I wanted
to see him get rocked. Uh. You know, so you would watch
guys for those reasons and because youdidn't get to see them all the time.
You know, it's funny if youever seen the movie City Slickers where

(26:07):
Billy Christ talks about going to YankeeStadium for the first time and it was
the first time first you could seehe said, you could smile the grass.
It was the first time I hadseen the game in color, right,
And you think about that, andyou go, it was a special
thing to see a baseball game onTV. You know. I remember my
my very first Major League baseball gameever went to Uh I'm not a Dodger

(26:32):
fan, but I went to seethe Dodgers and the Cardinals play, and
in Dodger Stadium, yep. Andyou know that to me, that was
like the biggest treat ever. Thatwas the coolest thing. Right. Mine
was dodg Mine was Dodgers and theReds at Dodger Stadium. And I got
to see Cofax throw and I stillremember that. I can still remember from

(26:52):
from the seat that I was inand watching him wind up and throw.
I have that vivid memory. AndI was six years old when that happened,
right, Yeah, I got tosee Bob Gibson pitch, you know,
and it was like it was amazingand and and they right, and
they were our heroes, right.You went and saw those guys, and
it was a special deal to seethose guys. I go to I go

(27:14):
to a Diamondbacks game now, andyou know, if they play the Dodgers,
I know some of the Dodgers.I know zero of the Diamondbacks.
You know, I don't know whothey are. That's that's basically every team
now. It's we're really sad,yeah, you know. And that's what's
differentically, who can afford the bestplayers now? Right, it's different from
it's different from the way we gotto see it. And I feel like
it's a little more romantic the waywe got to see it. But that's

(27:37):
right. You know, at leastmy son has been able to see baseball
because we you know, we've beeninvolved in so long, right, you
know, you know, back whenhe was you know, five six years
old, you know, go out, we go out the Dodgers stadium and
watch games, and you know,he could see baseball what it really was
back in the day. Yeah,yep, until all the free agency stuff
took over everything, yep, exactly, and fantasy baseball that changed it all

(28:02):
too all right, Brian, Hey, thanks so much, man, I
appreciate it. Okay, we'll talkto you later. Okay, there you
go, a couple of guys commiseratingon what baseball used to be. Not
look, and I love I stilllove baseball now. I watch the Dodger
games every single day. And Ilike the fact that I can go home,
put on the MLB app and watchthe games and I get to see

(28:25):
the games. Saw this game lastnight. That was an incredible game that
the Dodgers. Dodgers played unbelievable.I know, people get tired of hearing
about my Dodger rants and my Dodgersupdates. Here we've got another caller coming
in. Let's take that exactly.Hi, you're on the arm and eye
on the ball. All right,appreciated. Hello, you're on the air.

(28:48):
Hide Jim, Hey Jen, what'sup? Well? I was going
to tell you about memory I have. My dad I was eleven years old,
put me in the car one nightfrom South side of Indiana and we
drove down and watched the Chicago Cubsplay the Cincinnati Reds in one of the
last games in Crossley Field, theold field. Oh my god, oh

(29:17):
my god. You who are thewho are the players that that that you
that you remember from that game?Ernie Bank and Billy Williams. Yep,
yep, let's play too, Yeah, let's play too. Yeah. You
know again, as I was,Tom, Tom Brandt serve a romantic time
for us, right, we absorbedbaseball differently than the way you absorb it

(29:40):
now. And it's kind of likeit was real special to go catch a
game. Uh yeah. It's reallycommercialized now and at a high pig and
the game now your Dodgers that youlove so much, that's nothing but a
money machine. Yeah, but whocan pay for the players? And it

(30:02):
would like it would be like youremember, we used to pick teams in
the neighborhood and you'd use the bat, yep, and hand over hand,
and whoever got the thumb on theknob got to pick right, right,
right right. Well, the waythe Dodgers are doing it, it's like
they get every hand on the bankevery time. Yeah, well they are
money machine. But you know what, they're my money machine, and I'm

(30:23):
just kind of okay with it fornow until they win another World Series.
And that's why it's going to be. Well, you make one, you
make one. Now, I thinkthere's two. I think my son is
one is one of those as well, so there's two of us. The
other one that The other thing I'dlike to bring up while Steve is out
is fantasy baseball. Yes, Ihave the Woo's hitting Fantasy baseball, not

(30:48):
that I've ever had I've ever seen. I thought the worst team this year
doing something with the baseball this year, I thought I had the worst fantasy
team, Jim, I'm in lastplace in my league by a lot.
Yeah, I'm in third place becauseI do a good job picking pitchers.

(31:10):
Well, there you go. That'sit. That's the key. My pitching
staff sucks and that's just the wayit is. So there you go.
Hey, Willie Mays. Willy Maysmemories only a couple. He was,
you know, from Indiana. Hewas not in the market on TV very
often, so I didn't have butI saw the big cats you're talking about.
Yeah, and you know he's aguy hit six and sixty home runs

(31:33):
and patrolled the outfield the way hedid that right there, create the ends
of both ends of the specum rightright, he could do everything. He
was a six tool player. Yeah, exactly, exactly, all right,
Jim, appreciate it. Thanks somuch for the call. Talk to you
soon, all right. Yeah,so yeah, no again, you know
we talked with you know, talkingabout Brian and you know you went and

(31:56):
saw a game and it was itwas a special deal. Again. The
first time that I went to DodgerStadium, my family was in California,
went to two games. I sawa Gofax throw, saw him throw the
next year on the road in Houstonbecause we had gone to Texas where my
dad's where altis living, I sawa game in the Astrodome and I have
very vivid memories of those and Idon't know if the vivid memories come from

(32:19):
the whole movies that we have fromthat. But I have a real picture
of watching watching him throw, andyou know, to me, the greatest
picture of all time. Although youknow his again his career got cut short
by his arm problems, but youknow, it was a romantic time for
us for baseball. And do Ilove the fact that you can watch whatever

(32:42):
game you want to watch? Now? Yeah, it's great. I love
doing that. But I think alsoat the same time, was you know
that Saturday game. There was onegame It came on tuson time. It
came on at eleven o'clock in themorning, and so you'd watch your cartoons,
have your breakfast, get your choresdone, turn on the TV and
sit down and watch the game.And it could be the Reds and the

(33:05):
Cubs. It could be the Yankeesand the and the uh you know whoever,
the Yankees and the Red Sox,or you know, you picked up
the TV guide when it came inon Monday, you immediately turned to the
Saturday page, c who's the gamethis week? And if it was the
Dodgers, you were like, Okay, clear the decks for Saturday, I'm
watching the Dodger game, and that'show that's how we grew up watching baseball,

(33:30):
you know. And yes, youknow what's happened with with its availability
now the money that comes into itbecause of that great it's made the game
great. It's it is a greatgame still despite the fact that a team
like the Dodgers can do what they'redoing with all the money that they have.
But you know what, the moneyisn't guaranteeing anything. You still got

(33:50):
to go play the games. Youknow we're talking. I was talking about
this game last night with the withthe Rockies the Dodgers. You know,
had youh rally scored seven runs onthe top of the ninth inning to be
to beat the Rockies, should havelost the game when there was a check
swing by Taoskar Hernandez who should havebeen out, should have been the third

(34:12):
out. Instead he was not calledout. On the next pitch he hits
a three run homer to win thegame. Those are my Dodgers. I
loved watching that. It was great. Okay, let's go and take a
breakword and call Judy McDermott from Firstt tusaon where you give her a buzz
and talk about her program. Agolf program coming up, so stick around.
If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for
nearly forty years. Now take alook back at the Ludolsen era in my

(34:36):
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Twenty five chapters for his twenty fiveyears as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons
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Want one Email me at Steve dotRIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com.

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ball on Tucson Sports Big Chef,Fox Sports fourteen to fifty streaming live I

(37:42):
mean, iHeartRadio WAMS Welcome back town. On to the ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your hostJago Zalaz with Henry's here running the show
for us. Steve is out fora few more days, and on phone
got Judy mcgermott, executive director ofFirst t Tucson, come off of a
tournament, a youth tournament here inthe last couple of days, but running

(38:04):
a great program out there at FirstTea for kids who want a golf and
it's as simple as that. SoJudy, welcome to the show. Thank
you so much for having me.Jay, So I asked you, you
know, as you came on,you're out of the sun, but you
had a tournament for the last coupleof days. Tell us a little bit
about the tournament and the kinds ofthings that you know, some of these
kids that get into your program canparticipate in absolutely well several several years ago,

(38:30):
unfortunately I don't even remember what yearnow, but First t Tucson took
over the Ricky Brareck Junior Golf program, which was a big part of Tucson
for seventy years. And so RickyBareck Junior Golf is basically developmental, just
fun golf tournaments for kids six yearsold all the way up to eighteen years
old. And with their two daytournaments on Mondays and Tuesdays in the summer

(38:52):
in June and July. And thisweek we played Oral Valley Country Club.
It was a real treat on Monday, yeah. And then we played the
Views Golf Club on Tuesday, ohman. And so we had about we
had about seventy kids to participate,all ages and had a ball and everybody
gets to Hot Doug lunch when they'redone with their ground, which is toward

(39:13):
the treat. Yes, yeah,so wow. And we played the nice
courses yeah, and we charged verylittle. Luckily, our program is subsidized
by our great sponsors and the tushnkinKeys stores and the Cooligard Classics. So
a long time ago, the twohunkn Key stores promised Ricky Rareck when they
took over the Tucson Open from him, that they would make sure that the
Ricky Rare Junior Golf program lived on. And so that is pretty amazing when

(39:36):
you think about, you know,the program has been around for seventy years.
Very very cool. So in additionto the tournaments, right, you
said it. Mondays and Tuesdays,You've got you've got some instruction programs that
are when you're doing sign ups.Right now, tell us a little bit
about the sign ups. So ourfirst tea programs for the summer, we're
doing summer camps. We just completeda summer camp at El Rio Golf Course,
which is our home. But weare at about ten locations. Summer

(40:00):
camp coming up the end of thismonth at Cricketry. Unfortunately that's full,
so nobody can sign up for that. But we do have a summer camp
at El Rio July tenth, eleventh, and twelfth from eight am to eleven
am those three days. And it'sonly sixty dollars for those three days of

(40:20):
camp for all three days, socheaper than cheaper than babysitting. Yeah,
especially the day. We have aball with the kids and our coaches do
a great job. You know,we have water balloon fights. You know.
Obviously we teach golf skills and lifeskills, and we're we have clinics
to teach chipping and putting. Butwe make everything a fun contest and we

(40:40):
sometimes have a Hawaiian theme, dressup, you name it. We just
make camp fun. And that's foraged kids seventy seventeen. So you won't
take a sixty five year old guyfor the chipping and putting tighty clinics.
You know what I can tell youright now, you do not want me
coaching shipping. You don't. Youdon't have coach shipping. But you know,

(41:04):
I think you could teach them afew other things. Yeah, well,
and and again those are some thingsyou probably don't want them to be
taught either. So but but youknow, it's a fantastic program and and
I love it. I know oneof my one of my niece's daughters went
through first team. She's she's inon the in the high on the high
school golf team at Sunnyside. Learneda lot from your program. So I

(41:25):
do I have some personal knowledge thatthis thing, that this thing works and
and it's and it's great for thekids. And as you said, you
know, just just go out andplay, you know, get outside,
play, have a great time.It's meant to just you know, golf
of the game meant to be playedand have fun. And that's what we
do here is we try to makeit as fun as possible and don't make

(41:45):
it all about left arm straight andall that stuff. Funny time for that.
Yeah, So, so how manykids you have in each in each
camp like this real camp coming up, they get to come through sixty kids,
you know, to make the qualityobviously good. And we can do
a lot more at a Rio summercamp because we have our nice learning center

(42:06):
here and we have the entire useof the range with three part three holes
within it. We are going tohave a camp at fred Inink Golf Course
in July July twenty fourth, twentyfifth, twenty six. That'll be from
nine am to twelve pm, andthat's still open for registration as well,
and we'll probably we'll probably have aboutfifty kids in that camp. And I'm
presuming that everything, all of ourinfo is at first T twoson dot org.

(42:30):
And that's first T spelled out right, not the number so fi R
s T and tee two sun dotorg. And I'm presuming that you know,
you can come to a camp evenif you've never played golf right.
The idea is to learn play rightcorrect correct. It's a fun instruction and
the best part about it is Isee all the kids just meeting each other

(42:50):
and having fun. I mean,you know, what we do on the
golf course of adults is network andthis is just networking for kids. And
like I said, we make itall friendly. And it's not like you're
waiting to be picked on a teamand you know, being the last kid
to be picked, and it doesn'twork that way here. Everybody's treated to
be coolly no matter their golf skill. And they you know, they just
have a good time and we givethem a few snacks and enjoy everything.

(43:12):
And like I say, the waterballoon fights are pretty popular. That's that's
well. You probably need to becooled off several times a day. So
talking me, when you know,the first morning of a camp, how
does it work, What what dothey do? What can the kids expect
to see when they show up,say at the Crooked Tree camp on the
twenty sixth. Every camp is alittle bit different. We do mix it

(43:32):
up a little bit, but forthe most part, when they arrive,
obviously we do meet and greet andwe do introductions and we do a little
warm up. But then we havea chipping station, a pitching station,
a putting station, driving station,but everything we do contests so the kids
have a chance to win a prize. So we have like a softa Cup
game and the kids get collings underthe salta cup if they hit the ball

(43:53):
into the soft cup, and weplay you know, home run derby with
in golf, you know, likewith baseball. And so our coaches do
a really good job making it funand creating different games that they'll play.
So it's not just the golf.There's a game and then like say,
we have points and we put everybodyin teams, so there's contests and then
we have prizes at the end ofthe camp to see, you know,

(44:15):
who won the prizes of who finishedwith the highest point total, you know,
unlike our golf score when you wantit low, but we do highest
points total when we're doing the clinicsin the camp. Well, if you
look at my card, you thinkI'm trying to shoot high, because I
do every time. It's bad.It's bad sometimes. So now, first
he's a national program, right,but it's got local chapters like like Tucson.

(44:37):
Is that how this works? Correct? And what's a neat thing?
There's aout one hundred and fifty chaptersacross the nation. But right now we
have two kids. They're at ourLeadership Academy in Atlanta, and they are
Arthur Blank, who owns the PGHWe're superstores. He sponsors these leadership summits.
And so these kids from all overthe country are now in Atlanta and

(44:59):
they are getting to go to thePGA Tour Superstar headquarters. They're going to
see the soccer team stadium. ObviouslyArthur Blank also owns the Atlanta Falcons.
They go to the Atlanta Falcons Stadium. And then all these people that are
in the sports industries and CEOs,they have all these panels for these kids
and so they just have a greatexperience. So Jojo Munoz who's in our

(45:19):
program, and Aidan Howe right nowthey are in Atlanta. Wow. And
then in August, Oliver de Giaand Frankie Felix are going to be going
to the leadership Summit in Montana atArthur Blank's ranch there. And then we're
waiting to hear for our kids thatapplied to go to Pebble Beach if they're
going to get to go to PebbleBeach. And then Jojo Munoz, who

(45:39):
I've already mentioned, she just gotaccepted to go to the Game Changers Academy
in Minneapolis. So the neat thingabout First Tea is there's national opportunities that
they can apply for when they're highschool aged and the teenage, and they
just have, you know, amazingworkshops for these kids. But what's really
neat is how these kids make friendswith kids from other chapters across the nation

(46:02):
at these events. So I'm surethere's you know, one hundreds of kids
coming through this program. Do youget to you know, do you see
them down the road, you know, whether when they're playing high school golf
or maybe even college golf for thatkind of jas in the high school golf.
We do a lot with high schoolgolf here trying to help kids.
We give them free golf clubs.A lot of the kids that are playing
high school golf now might be newto the game and they don't even have

(46:22):
golf clubs, so we give themfree golf clubs. And we're very lucky
that Don Pooley, the PJ prothat lives here in town, that played
the Tour and the Champions Tour,he comes and even gives instruction to these
kids. I mean, he's verykind, and so we do a lot
with the high school golf programs tohelp the kids with their games and giving
them equipment, and we do itbasically practically no cost. We're financial aid.

(46:46):
We we do provide, but wedo keep our prices really low,
so a lot of times people don'teven have to ask for us. Right,
that's so cool. What do youthink is the best part of this
for you? You know, atyou doing this, what gives you the
most satisfaction, enjoyment, whatever,however you want to put that. The

(47:08):
best part for me is obviously forme just getting to know the kids,
and it's hard to see them whenthey graduate. You know. One of
our huge success stories is James Lbucaswho got to play at Pebble Beach last
year, but he also has beencaddying at Tucson Country Club with our program
that we started with them, andhe actually received the Evan Scholarship. Okay,

(47:30):
yes, I've heard about it here. So he's going to be going
to Northwestern University to study mechanical engineering, and the Evan Scholarship is basically a
full ride, and he worked hardwith his caddying at Tucson Country Club to
get enough rounds in to be ableto even apply for the scholarship and it's
very competitive, but you know,the financial need has to be there to

(47:51):
receive this scholarship through the Evan scholarsFoundation as well. But stories like that
are obviously, you know, amazing. But just the kid in maths is
just so fun to see them enjoyingthe game of golf that I grew up
to play. And we encourage kidshere that don't be a one sport person.
Play all the other sports, butlearn golf when you're young, as

(48:12):
we tell them. You know,you look at somebody like Steph Curry,
professional athletes play golf in their offtime, and you know it's their hobby,
right, It's really important to learnhow to play the game when you're
young, because it's a heck ofa lot easier when you're older if you
learned it when you're young, exactly, you know, and from a you
know, from a purely selfish stample. And my son has been golfing since
he was five, and we wegolf together now and we you know,

(48:34):
right and you know, he we'reat each other's uh, you know,
first golf partner. We're the firstone that we each call to golf.
Anytime you get four or five hoursout there with your kid or him with
his dad. You know, it'sa thing that you know, you get
to be an old guy like me. You can still play. You might
suck, but you can still playand you have fun. And I watch
him, you know, beat thehell out of me. But we have

(48:55):
a great time. Every time weplay. We have a great every time
we play. Never never had.One of my favorite things is just the
Ricky Rareck tournaments. We do notallow spectators and because that was a tradition
that Ricky Rarek had, and it'sjust fun to see the kids out there
getting no one another and just havingfun on the golf course without their parents
watching them. Right, and youknow, the drive there's no drive home

(49:17):
saying why did you do this?You know, it's it's just meant to
be fun and to socialized with yourfriends and get you off that darn cell
phone for a little bit. Exactly, yeah, exactly, all right,
Judy, thank you so much.It's first T F I R S T
t ee dot org. Right,Tucson, first T two two sun dot

(49:37):
org. Okay, all right,first T two sun dot org. You're
trying to get information again. There'sa camp coming up next month at Elrio.
So, uh, forrage, I'mlooking at it and says for ages
seven to seventeen. So a lotof a lot of different ages out there.
So congratulations on what you're doing,Judy. This is this is awesome.
All right, appreciate you joining us. Talk to you soon. All

(50:00):
right. That was Judy McDermott fromFirst t Tucson. Again. There's nothing
like for me. You know,my son is thirty one years old and
we the time that we spend golfingtogether is quality special time for us.
You know, he kind of wantsto be around me to golf with,
and he loves playing well, heloves kicking my ass, which he does
every time now. But we youknow, we're competitive with each with each

(50:22):
other, but we both understand wherewe play. He's, you know,
he's on the blue te's. I'mon the silver teas. But we have
a great time. And so asI mentioned, we were out there on
last Saturday out at Ventana Canyon gettinggetting heat stroked. But we had a
great time. All right. We'veonly got a couple of minutes. We
had a person who called during thebreak if you want to give us a

(50:42):
call real quick. We've only gota few minutes. I think you might
have had some comments on us.We had to clear the phone with Judy,
so we're ready to take your call, but we've only got about three
minutes. Let's take this call.HI, You're on the air and I
on the ball. Hi, thisis Jonathan. I've been listening to your
show for a long time and somepart time caller. I was calling because

(51:02):
all those baseball memories about dad andthe Dad's been my first baseball game when
I was like seven. It wasthe Days taking on the Yankees opening.
Halfway through the seventh or eighth inning, it starts raining, plooring, people
leaving the stadium, and it gotto the point where we were the last

(51:25):
like five fans in the stadium.It's one in him and finally a guy
comes over and says, they calledthe game. You gotta go home.
And I've looked on baseball ever since. One of them comments to the first
team thing, it's my dad taughtme the game of golf when I was
younger, but didn't put me infirst team. But I've met a lot
of kiddos through teaching that are infirst team and their golf was had improved

(51:52):
greatly because they were in first team. He goes beyond just dad teaching me
the game. So I think it'sa very good program. And I really
liked listening to that last day.Well. Great, We appreciate, appreciate
you listening to this. I lovethe memory. You know, right,
you go to a game and it'sa special thing and you don't want to
leave the stadium, right, uh? And and that that that's too cool.

(52:12):
So what was that game in NewYork or in Oakland? No,
it was back in Oakland, Okay, in the area. Okay, my
dad's saying, son, I paidfor twenty seven outs and seven out and
that's not with me because he's goingto these games and it's like people are
leaving in the third corner or theeighth minute or whatever. I'm like,

(52:32):
you paid for the whole ticket.Why aren't you leaving exactly? That?
Great stuff? Great stuff, Jonathan? Why is great? Yeah? He
comes here, he comes here oncea year golfh in Tucson, and it's
the most fun we have once ayear in our golf. That's too cool,
Jonathan. We appreciate the calling asalways, appreciate you listening. Thank

(52:57):
you so much. Yeah, I'llsay listening, all right, that was
Jonathan, So yeah, you knowagain the thing ie we'll runn out of
timing. But the thing I hatedmost is going to a Dodger game and
have it to be a two hourgame. I'm like, I want my
time there, right. I hatedthat exactly, all right, Henry hey
Man, thanks a much for thisnice job today running the show and joining

(53:19):
in on the conversation. Thank youto Judy McDermott for information on the first
T two son and thanks to JodyAaylor for the insight on those Phoenix suns
in the NBA. So we'll beback tomorrow for with some more great guests.
We'll be sure to get to comearound and we'll take your calls and
join in on the conversation. Sowe will see you to tomorrow