7-10-24 Hour 3

Yankees are a mess and why is that?!
Coach Damon Ware of the Albany Firebirds
The Dump features local stories

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's love, acking guz On,the voice of the Capitol Regions Sports Fan,
Fox Sports ninety five, nine andnine eight. The suffering just continues.
There's just as I mentioned just secondsAGO's that's why you didn't get a
pinstraight parlay today. I'm not gonnawhy, like like why why why compound

(00:23):
or should I say parlay my miserybecause it's just I don't, guys,
I don't understand how we have gottenhere. This is we're in a situation
right now where this was like thehottest team in baseball. The starting pitchers

(00:44):
were setting records for you know,quality starts and you know, most straight
starts, with everybody making it outof the fourth inning, all these things.
Bullpen looks great, everything's cool.You're scoring a bunch of runs,
You're one of the best run differentialsin all of baseball. All these things.
Now maybe the worst pitching in allof baseball. You get the most

(01:06):
runs in baseball all of a sudden, same roster, Like it's like,
actually you added back Garrett Cole,you ga, Carlo stands out. But
like for the most Anthony Rizzo,like guys, who Stanton was stands the
big bopper that you actually lost.He was performing at a very high level.
Why is it happening? What's goingon? Because it's not it's not

(01:30):
like you Lostjan Soto and Aaron Judge. It's not like it's not like everybody
went and figured out Judge. Judgeis still annihilating the baseball. So it
was not as good as he wasbefore he got hurt. But still whatever,
it's fine. He's still good,so doesn't This is why it bothers
me. There's I can't see whatit is. I can't see what the
problem is. But here, herewe are. They lost tied three last

(01:51):
night, so there you go.I'm trying to figure it out too.
I know that's not what people tunein to be. Like gos and Leva
lavaking guys. One of those two'sgotta figure out exactly what's going on wrong
with the Yankees. It's the sameguys. I've got two potential thoughts on
what it could be, Livac,two thoughts, and you could say I
hate them both, guys, they'restupid and I hate you. I blame
you for losing. But let megive you the points before you say all

(02:13):
those things. One of them isdid something happen on this schedule. Where
we got tricked were the early partof the Yankees schedule. They had a
lot softer teams, because this happensa lot of times in professional sports,
college sports even more so. Youget a nice easy schedule to lead it
off, You get the fan baseall fired up that this is gonna be
the team to beat, and theyget into the meet the tougher part of

(02:36):
the schedule, they start to loseand you get, oh, man,
maybe they weren't that good. Maybethey really weren't as good as we thought
they were. I'm gonna throw thattheory out to you first. Do you
think it has anything to do withthe schedule that we were fooled by the
Yankees early in May and April.No, because you still don't win at
that clip. Like the team that'strotting out there right now would have got

(02:59):
annihilated by that schedule wouldn't have madea difference. Like do you think about
the last series they looked like theYankees, or at least the good the
who's it mister Hides, the badguy, Doctor Jecklelson guy, the Doctor
Jekyll version was against the Royals,who maybe one of the hottest teams all
of baseball. They've got one ofthe most all stars or some crap like

(03:20):
that man Kataro by the way,a little capitol region tie there, shout
out to that Bethlehem's own, right, I mean, I just yeah,
somebody called our guy, Charlie Walker. He's very close with him, they're
good friends. Maybe he needs tocome over, Maybe we need we need
to maybe we need to abduct himfrom Kansas City. I just I mean
again, that's that's that's my problem. Like what what is it? Like?

(03:44):
What has had? Is it theyou know, you think the first
bad this all started with them lettingthe Red Sox steel bases on them.
Well, I don't see a tonof stolen bases every game. I mean,
they're running a little bit, butit's almost it's this cascade of kaka
where the bats flowed down. Soall of a sudden, the pitchers didn't

(04:08):
feel as confident to challenge, sothey start getting wrecked. The bats start
to chase and try to catch up, and they I think I think the
the Yankees like e R since midJune is like almost seven, it's like
a six something Like I kept hearingthe old a rod line in my head
where they were. They went toa rod back towards the end of his

(04:30):
career, and they were like,you know, what do you think about
your pitching? He's I don't thinkanything about that pitching. I think this
lineup's putting six plus runs on theboard every night. Even if you did
that, you're still losing. Andthat goes to theory number two for me.
I'm gonna get there. I'm gonnause this example though. Would you
consider yourself a good one player shootergame user? I feel like you play
a lot of one player shooter games, you know what I'm talking about,

(04:53):
like the Halos, the Don't aWorld of Warcrafts one, but Grand Theft
Auto, you know those games aboutback. Would you consider your off a
decent one player shooter game? Oldand I for N sixty four, Yeah,
I mean any like No Borderlands.I like Borderlands. I'm terrible,
Like to the point where I didn'teven want to play as a kid,
Like I just stick to my sportsgame so so bad. My oldest Rex

(05:15):
is so good at him he wasdestroying dinosaurs. I'm like, who did
he learn this from? He justlike a high level one player shooting game.
I bring up that exemp because ifyou play one player shooter games with
video games with your friends, youplay Halo or whatever, long enough,
somebody might start figuring out your strategy. Fortnite was the best because he had
some people who wanted to play andsome people wanted to hide for the whole

(05:36):
game and then jump out at theend. There's a comparison between that and
Aaron Bone. Maybe people just knowBoon's idea. Remember, like we talked
about this way, this is twentyeighteen, twenty nineteen, that Joe Girardi
had the binder and he had allthese numbers and the binder. What about
the binder? What about the bed? It was like the assistant coach.
It was like that, and everybodyhad Okay, the Yankees will probably do

(05:58):
this because the ever what else hasthat information? Now you know they've cracked
the code. They're going at thispace while somebody else is going at that
pace. It's almost as if thegame plan's been let out, the scouting
reports. Better, someone figured somethingout about the Yankees. The war comparison
or the battle comparison. I knowit's a little too extreme when we talk
about sports because that is an extremeexample, but it's real, Like,

(06:20):
how in the world did the Yankeesget this bad this fast? To me,
it seems like scheme, scouting report, what they've done for a decade.
All of their teams caught up thissummer and said, oh, we
already know what the Yankees are gonnado. They're gonna put these guys in
the lineup. You throw these pitches, we're gonna be fine. And this
is how you adjust the lineup.Because they've been doing the same thing with
the same guys. That's the onlything I got left that the game plan

(06:43):
for boone has been solved. Theykeep going back to the well for the
same time. But they dominated forso long and then somebody figured it out.
They know the plate. I'll usea weird comparison here, like a
sports comparison. There's a Alexander Madison'sa running back for the Vikings. There
was a stat that came out thatMadison had dying carries and then the five
yard line and he had negative sevenyards. What some people could say is

(07:04):
is he looking at the hole?Hey, don't look left, because you're
running left. You're tipping the playoff? Is someone tipping something off? Or
is they That's all I got left? Those are the two best things I
could come up with today. Twothings. I have a theory that may
go get your theory. But thefirst thing is, how dare how dare
you say such a negative thing aboutLas Vegas Raiders running back Alexander Madison.

(07:29):
He's tying with the Raiders in theoffseason. How dare you don't? Don't
come from me right now? Infootball, I'm dealing with baseball. Okay,
poor guys, catch it astray?What did I have to do with
the Yankees? Guys? He's like, He's like, I'm not even a
Viking. I'm a Raider. Nowleave me alone. Let me remember when
you first started working with me.It was a different cause. The very
first one yes, and were youever in the meetings with the legendary sports

(07:56):
radio consultant Rick Scott. I eventuallydid yes at times and joined those meetings
at other times they didn't. Yeah, if you agree with me. I
liked him. He made a pointto to Arman. Arm was always hit
a ten. Maybe I'm yelling atI. I'm crazy and everything's bigging.
It's crazy, and it's to thepoint where, like we literally started a

(08:16):
system where I would go, Iwould put my hand, I would like
point down, like calm, calmdown, Because if you're always hit a
ten, that becomes your base level. No one hears you get loud,
no one feels the excitement when youget excited, because you're always excited.
It is because Boone is always ata ten when it comes to rafts and
umps and everybody like that getting kickedout like the savages in the bleeping box

(08:39):
that like that lit a fire.I don't I think Boone might actually have
to light a fire to show theteam that he's upset at this point because
he'll go yell for his guys.I don't think he yells at his guys.
He'll go yell for his guys.And it's just every game like got
on a on the very first pitch, it's it's low and outside. Why

(09:01):
joy, It's like whoa wait,minit ude, it's the first pitch you
got? I can battle through this? That bat is it is? Dare
I say, is Boone's message gettinglost because he doesn't have a volume.
Now, Yes, that's the onlything I think is a real truth thing.
We could point it out. Look, other people are gonna have this
conversation with the Yanks. You're like, well, they're not hitting as well,
dude, Well the pitching is notdoing as good as dude, Like,

(09:24):
these are the obvious ones. Weget they're not hitting as well and
they're pitching those are too easy.Like if that could be fixed every team
in baseball, Dude, we gottatake them to the next levels. This
conversation we're having about what can happen. I know we've talked about this before
with Boone. We gotta bring thisback because this is another time. Levac
is the youngest of five. Yourmom, your mom and dad weren't yellers

(09:45):
and screamers though, right, Uhdad wasn't Mom? What if she needed
to? Okay, I bring upthat ask because there are some people who
mom and dad yell and scream,and eventually as the kids get older,
they're completely tuned out by it.They're like, like you said, the
Army comparison is a great comparison,and it's like, hey, oh God,
mom's yelling about something again. Idon't know whatever. I'll go take

(10:07):
out the trash, I guess,but eventually, all right, mom,
I'll do it in two hours.Eventually, they tune it out, and
that's what it feels like with Boone. Maybe it is that comparison between Armin
and the parents who yell all thetime that something's getting lost here, because
that's that's it. Like Boone's hada good run, Boone's gotten close.
He's got excuses of why they didn'twin. But the message, just like
arm the message is good, theknowledge is solid. Like what do you

(10:30):
like? I don't have a problemwith the guy, like I I remember
when he started you love to bringthis up. I was like, dude,
I'm not giving a new driver akeys to a Lamborghini, but I
think he's driven Lamborghini pretty well.He said, Okay, I mean at
least at least he hasn't wrecked it, you know, Or I mean,
yes, that's debatable. The wayyou're going right now stays like this,
that's a wreck, But like,how do you get there? How do

(10:52):
you well? Is if Girardi hisvoice got lost after ten years? And
what point this Aaron Boones like,I don't know, Like I said,
I don't And this isn't me doingthe whole like, let's fire a guy,
let's do this list. This isme legitimately looking at the situation going
what the hell am I looking at? Like, like, what is so
different? Is it because it's hotout? I know certain pictures that if

(11:16):
you if you watch, they gainbetter control of the baseball when it starts
getting hot out because they get thata little bit of sweat in their hand,
put them to get a little rosinand they're good to go. Man,
they're good, but an entire roster. By the way, Ben Rice
had another home run, like he'slike, he's coming on, he's starting
to play baseball. I just don'tknow. I just it's frustrating, it's

(11:39):
and I want I would love.I would love to believe because part of
me does that if I come onhere and tell you how terrible are they'll
turn it around, because they did. I said, up, great they
were, and they went the otherway. But right now they're trailing the
Orioles. They're worst run you know, giving to the most runs in baseball.
I just I don't know what youdo. There's no bad players on

(12:03):
the team. I'd love a bettercloser, even though he's an All Star.
But at the same time, it'snot like you're losing before you get
to them. Most games. What'sthe difference. So there it is.
Okay, it's not an easy fix, which stinks. You can't say,
oh, go get a starting youcan't get get a first base. It's
not that easy anymore. It's notI mean, I just don't I don't

(12:26):
know. This is the worst.Right, can't get any worse. I
feel like I've asked that. Ifeel like I've asked it three times.
This is the end, right.I keep trying to say, they're a
playoff team, They're fine. Thehorse hasn't gotten calm. I've been using
the Saratoga comparison. That horse isrunning out of guess coming down the stretch
here, something's gotta change. Ihave trouble with the with the horse comparison
because the races are like two minuteslong. There's one hundred and sixty two

(12:50):
game season. I have trouble.I mean, I hear what you're saying.
It makes sense. It's a validcomparison, I suppose, But the
two minutes to one hundred and sixtyguys can't more tortuous, Yeah, because
like literally like this would be forme. I'm like, I'm visualizing what's
happened to them since mid June,and like it would be the equivalent of
a horse like falling over prior tothe turn. And then if they're going

(13:15):
to make the playoffs and do goodthings like being so far out in front,
they if the horse falls over somehow, the jockey doesn't fall off,
so he's still in the race,getting back up and beginning to run,
Like that's how bad this stint hasbeen. So like if you're gonna come
back now, that horse has toget back on his feet before it's overtaken
completely and then crush the turn andrun for home. That's that's where So

(13:43):
that's where the race comparison hurts,because this is I've never seen a horse
fall over and win a race.And that's what it feels like. The
Yankees have fallen over. Dare theby the way, we're gonna be at
Saratoga on Friday. I don't thinkthat's gonna happen. I mean, can
you imagine if all of a suddenthat Saratoga said like some it's like we
always want all the horses to besafe, and they're all like it's all
about that, of course, butlike if one just literally like just tumbled,

(14:05):
got back up, looked around withlike dust itself, you know,
just dust itself off, takes offand wins the race. Loved. How
about the jockeys. They sometimes usedto race the jockeys for fun. Jockey
goes to charity jockeys. That's that'dbe great, you know, and I
can race What is the race onthe way Friday? Do we have a

(14:26):
number for the race? I don'tknow. Yeah, I'll look, I'll
look and see if it's been listened. But they were, they were asking
for the third race, so sohopefully right before we go on, you
know, that'd be nice. UhHey, hey, guys, how do
we elevate the Yankees elevation ten thousand? Christian could coach him up. Christian
probably can help out a little bit. I mean, he definitely, you

(14:48):
know, he's he's definitely one ofthose guys coaching teams, helping helping kids
get better at baseball, just likewhen he's over there at elevation ten thousand,
help you get better at your brandand everything else. The beauty of
elevation ten thousand is what do youneed to get from where you are to
where you want to be? Well, they've got it? Is it a

(15:09):
new website, a redesigned website.Is it a new marketing strategy that it
then incorporates a lot of the digitalmedia. Is it better branding? Do
you need a better logo? Doyou need better uniforms, clothes, whatever?
You can do that all at elevationten thousand elevates your brand? Weather?
It is that a pair of weather? It's that marketing. So many
cool stories we hear about elevation tenthousand social media as well. Just go

(15:31):
follow them. If you're maybe notlike a social media savvy person, have
someone pulled up me like, thisis the stuff that they can create for
your business, your team, yourbrand. See proof is in the putting
Levak elevation ten thousand. They won'tuse that cliche for a catchphrase. That's
why they do that stuff. Comingup, we're going to talk to the
head coach the general manager of theAlbany fire Where. It's Damon. Where

(15:54):
that's next? Right here? FoxSports Radio ninety five, nine nine eighty.
It's Lavak and Guz on nine FoxSports Radio. We are joined by
the head coach and general manager ofyour Albany Firebirds, Damon whare coach?
Is I I was thinking about thisand it's I don't even know if it's
a fair question, but I'm gonnaask it anyway, right out of the

(16:15):
gates, just right out of thegame, I'm gonna come out firing because
I know if you are you,is this one of the most pressured appearances
you've ever had, just because ofyour history here in Albany and how much
we've relied on you and not evenrealized it was you. We were relying
on it all the time. Nah, there's no pressure at all. This

(16:37):
is what I was built to dofrom from a young age. So I
you know, it's like riding thebike. It's it's just a baby thing.
And you know, well, asthey say, if you stay ready,
you don't got to get ready.And I feel that that the things
that I do in the off seasonand year round make it a lot easier
for me to be ready for everymoment. So I think we're right where

(16:59):
we need to be as an organization, as a team, myself as a
coach, as a leader of thiscoaching staff, I think we're right where
we need to be. And uh, all that he's going to have one
great show to see on Saturday.This is why it's so good that I
get to work with coach where becauseI'm the guy who's like, Okay,
what's gonna go wrong? Where's itgonna happen, Because I'm gonna fight it
when it happens. Something's roll,there's pressure. We have to just and

(17:21):
then where's over going? No,we already did that. We got it.
We're good well together. That's greatstuff. Coach. We're officially in
playoff times. Salina is a reallytough match of a really good team this
season. When you start scotting outthis team, what stands down to you?
I mean you always got to worryabout teams that just have good players.

(17:41):
And uh, you know, they'vegot some good vegan players on their
roster. They've got a good coach. He's actually still coaching, but a
Hall of Famer from the other league, which is pretty impressive. So he's
had great success and you know,has a good coaching staff, has a
good football team. So you alwaysgot to be wary of good people and

(18:03):
good players and not just the toughsaliona team, but you as a coach
in the gym, have animate someroster moves recently. Take us through what's
potentially happened here with this rosters we'veprep for the semi final game. Yeah,
I've been pretty vocal about it,just the schedule that we've had,
being as tough as it is,and just all the short weeks we started
the season with right out of trainingcamp, and we were already pretty beat

(18:26):
up because we had thirty five ofthe best players in the country here.
You know, it was health downthe stretch and so we had, you
know, quite a few people thatwere on IR. Getting the break was
allowed some of those individuals to gethealthy. So definitely had to make some
adjustments to the roster last two weeks. You know, Nick Hague has been

(18:49):
on the IR he was activated.In activating him, we were you know,
had to release Calvin fans and Wishfans, you know, fans the
best. Obviously, he's had greatsuccess and he's been around here since twenty
eighteen. Good guy, very successful. But that's the thing about us,

(19:10):
it's it's not about what you havedone, It's not about our relationships.
It's it's really about we're going totake the best players that are doing the
best things when we need them.And so it's a testament to just how
we do things. You know,when you have good veterans and you're willing
to let them go. It justsays a lot about how we do things
and we're you know, we're reallyserious about the games. We also had,

(19:33):
you know, I had to haveMark Roscoe, you know, just
dealing with some lower leg situations.Put him on IR. Obviously he needed
to come back as well, andwe put Malipe's henery on the recallable reassignment
list. You know, we couldpossibly pick him up for next week if
we needed to, but for thisweek, obviously he will not be on

(19:57):
the roster. The Firebirds Damon Warewith us right now on Fox Sports Radio
ninety five, nine eighty, Likeit's it's incredible to me because anybody who
knows the arena football, indoor football, or you know, outdoor football,
when you hear the names that you'reforced to choose between each and every week,
like is there every time, We'rejust like, you know what,

(20:17):
I'm just gonna recruit like nineteen studsand everybody else can be crap because then
it's to be easier, you know, that would be easier. And as
I told the team at the beginningof the week, Saturday night, we
watched the game, you know,when I gave us the address of the
union, so to speak, beforewe got started. It really is imperative

(20:40):
that everybody's a team guy. Wereally you know, I'll have twenty four,
but we had ie our guys,So there was really twenty six players
in the room on Saturday night thatcould start for anybody. And so the
sad part is is that when weplay the game on Saturday night against Rovna,

(21:00):
people will be playing. So fiveof those people will either not be
playing, and a couple of thosewill be you know, obviously not playing
at all, like I'm playing right, yeah, but so so so that's

(21:21):
the hardest thing. And for beas a coach, it never gets easier
telling really good players that have doneeverything right. It's it's tough to tell
them they're not going to play.But uh, you know, I won't
give any any secrets. But youknow, we've evaluated. We had three
outstanding days of practice. You know, it's it's been a while since we've

(21:45):
had this many consecutive days of thishigh level of execution. So everybody's motivated.
It's a new season. We allunderstand the pressure of it and and
it's winner go home, and sothere's gonna be some people that are left
off of the game day ross onSaturday that you know, our fans and
everybody around the country is just goingto be like wow. But that's how

(22:07):
we do it. It's it's aconstant evaluation. I'd never just tell the
player, all right, come onin, you're starting, and you hit
the job for the whole season.You know, who would I be if
I even said things like that.You will get evaluated on a week by
week basis, on a play byplay basis. And so if you don't
like competition, or you don't liketo be coaching, you don't like to
be critiqued, this just isn't theplace to come. But our guys have

(22:29):
all embraced that process. We reallydo have a culture here that is second
and none. We've built a greatsystem, and this system is you know,
can go the next ten years.So we're gonna sit back and enjoy
this ride. But obviously, yes, there will be a couple of people
that will be highly disappointed, andyou know, some of them may be
with tears in their eyes when Itell them, hey, look, you

(22:51):
know, not that you're not special, and not that you're not a great
player, but you're just not goingto play on Saturday in the semifinals.
There's so many moving piece that you'retalking about roster adjustments, we're talking about
playoff roster, having guys and findinga new opponent. SOALNI guys and played
it plus pus. We're talking aboutbasically two weeks off. This is so
unique that it almost feels like preppingfor a week one of the season.

(23:12):
How are you able to keep theseguys fresh with a long layoff? You
know, it's funny if we didkind of talk about having that training camp
mentality. But you know, andwith with all the moving parts that I
thought were going to be, thereare guys. A majority of our guys

(23:32):
stayed right here in town and continueto work, h continue to get some
knowledge, which is incredible in itself. I mean, you've been working that
hard and you're beat up, andyou haven't seen your family and your loved
ones for a while, and you'vegot an opportunity. You know, I
was surprised and not not a lotof them went home. A lot of
them stayed and said, you know, hey, we want to be here,

(23:53):
we want to work, and wewant to be ready for the moment
and So the weirdest part is weopened up, you know know, we
had our meetings and started to putthe game plan in on Sunday, and
we opened up with the you know, three three and a half hour practice
on Monday, and it was itwas almost fawless. It was almost scary,
you know. So I was like, Okay, well, Tuesday it's

(24:14):
gonna be the mess and I'm gonnabe kissed and I'm gonna hate, you
know, everything that's gone. AndTuesday came, and boy did we have
one heck of a practice and it'sjust like and then we practice today and
same thing, just high level execution. I think our guys are just so
ready and and just the way thisseason's gone and then up some downs and
ebbs and flows and all the thingsthat have happened. And you know,

(24:36):
one thing my guys know is Igot their back. And you know,
they listen to them to all theshows and and things and hear what I
say, and you know, I'mgoing to have their back to the end
that I will battle for these guysuntil the last breath I've got, but
I'm gonna make sure that they geta fair shot of everything and make sure
that they get their just due andultimately, again when it comes to these
player awards at the end of theyear, I'm you know, I'm still

(24:59):
going to be outspoken about that is. You know, there's there's teams that
have played very light schedules and they'vegot some decent stats, but I sure
hope they're going to look into thestrength of schedule and those things when they
picking up the all you know AFLstuff and and the awards that you know,
somebody that played seventy percentage all season, our stats might be a little

(25:22):
less than than maybe some of thepeople playing the bottom. But ultimately,
if you watch our game films,you'll see the best players in the country.
So I'll keep politicking for my guys, and but they're ready to go.
I'm really shocked of just how wellwe've executed in practice the last couple
of days. Coach, just oneto like the Saligna team, because I
know you've scattered them. You knowa lot of people over there, a

(25:45):
lot of us haven't seen them herein the Capitol region. What's like,
what's their personality, what's the thingthat they do best? Well? They're
going to come in with the theas I call it the new AFL.
You know, there's a traditional wayof playing arena football, and they are
not going to be of that type. They're going to come in and being

(26:07):
shotgun and they're gonna run some zoneread and they're gonna you know, run
the ball out out on the backfield. And so they're gonna be different,
and so our our fans have tobe, you know, a little open
minded as they see what they do. Uh, they're not going to be
as traditional as we are. Butuh, you know, like I said,
I spoke about it on the AFLpodcast, just speaking about innovation.

(26:30):
As you know, I was apro style coach in the outdoor game,
and the spread systems and the airraids started to come in, and I
hated those things. And you know, sometimes you do need to sit back
and just kind of let innovation happen. I mean, the game has changed
so much over the years, obviouslyfrom the outdoor level. It doesn't mean
the arena game has to stay exactlythe same forever. And so I've you

(26:55):
know, being around some of theolder AFL guys last year, I kind
of saw both sides of it.And and there's some people that are stuck
on just certain ways of doing things. But the game has to be innovative.
The NFL has changed a great deal. There's so much change in the
football game. We can't say thatthat the AFL will be the only level
that can't change. And we mustsay what happened in the Avis and the

(27:18):
Nightbies. So you've got to beopen minded. It'll be a little bit
different, but ultimately they'll have theirown style, their own you know,
their own identity, and it'll bea lot different from ours. Coach damn
ware. Of course you hear themhere when when we talked to him all
the fat guys, but also Saturdaymornings when we rerun the Coaches show.
Flock University. Is that could benine am, nine am Flock University.

(27:41):
I know you guys are going outtonight. It should be a lot of
fun, as o wy coach.Coach, just you'll get this here we
go. We know, yeah,we've got a lot of great food,
have a lot of great time.Coach. You get a chance to you
know, say the stuff you wantto say. Oh, just to make
your decisions on the roster even moredifficult. Guys has been saying all week

(28:03):
that he's more than happy to stepin and take Jake mullinish his job and
his numbers. I'm on the paycheck, on the payroll, Coach,
think about it. I know wehave to do broadcasters coming in from CBS,
but I'm on the payroll. Soif you gotta work that out,
and if you need another forty four, I'm available. All right. The
payroll's good, but I'm gonna needthis lengthy document that's gonna be a waiver

(28:25):
of relief that if you so happento be injured or hurt, that you
cannot come back at us. SoI'm gonna need that sign before I can
consider this, but I will keepyou in mind. That's weird, Coach,
your phone's breaking up again. Idon't know what happened. We appreciate
your time as always. I don'tknow what happened. Maybe it's my headphones.
I'm not sure. Thank you,coach. Coach'll s over at BUKA.

(28:47):
Alright, let's see it later.There, he goes, Coach jamdware,
is the issues in your headphones?Right? Was he breaking up very
clearly that he would like a waiverif he's going to put you anywhere near
someplace that is athletic for injury purposes. But uh man, talking about great
times, great places. We hada blast yesterday at Mohawks Chevrolet. I
I just kept staring at that EVBlazer and then I think it was like

(29:10):
right after we left the Silverado,the EV Silverado got delivered, so like
I love Scarjoe, like baby,Baby, don't listen to this part baby
my Silverado. I love. Ilove my Silverado. She's twenty twenty two,
beautiful spring checking out there. She'sbeautiful. But that EV is so
freaking cool. It's so cool,and like I'm not, I'm not.

(29:32):
I don't look at the power ofthe vehicle politically like a lot of people
do. I don't. It doesn'twork for me like that way I watch.
I love my my gas power truck. I'd love the EV if it's
cool. And it's cool and theshifters back on the column takes me back
to my younger days. Man,I'm excited. It's so many cool vehicles
and because of how many people joinedthe Mohawks Chevrolet family all the time,

(29:53):
that our friends at Mahwak Chevrolet getthese vehicles first and get the great service,
the amazing just welcoming attitude. Ilove Mohawks Chevrolet together. Let's drive
at Mowawks Chevy just off Exit twelvein the North Way where they always go
out of their way to please you. Coming up, it's the damp right
here. Fox Sports Radio, ninetyfive, nine eighty on ninety five nine,

(30:15):
Fox Sports Radio. Can we go? Now? Can we do it?
Uh? I got to some listen, man, I gotta flock you
in a couple of minutes. Wecan't be playing around here. Get out
of here. No, no,no, we want to finish the show
first though. Where is Flock University? I don't know if we mentioned it.
Bokod to Bepo over on Wolf Roudbok book doing a little buffet for

(30:37):
the peeps, having some foods,hanging out with the friends, talking about
the upcoming playoff game. Coach Warewho just joined us, he'll be on.
He'll he'll do a long form onsome of these answers and really explain
stuff, you know, you know, how we get down the fun.
Yesterday we were talking about Arch Manning. He was he's now become the I

(30:57):
don't know face of the new collegefootball game. He did the commercial with
Uncle e Eli Manning and he said, you know, I'm in the game
and horns up. I thought this, but I didn't know it yet.
According to New York Post, careto guess how much money he got paid
to say I'm in the game?Like I knew it had to be money,

(31:18):
Like, there's no way he wentfrom I don't want to be in
the game too, I'm in thegame horns up. Ooh uh, I
wonder if wow, I'm stumbling onthis question because I know every player.
We did a story about this earlierin the summer where everybody got a check
where Hey, the fifteen thousand guys, you're I say, what you're doing
here? Art's got a lot moremoney than everybody else, Right, he
did not get the average paycheck ofthe regular third stringer at Central Michigan.

(31:41):
Oh. He got paid to notonly be in the game, but also
to be, you know, spokespersonof the game. I'll say, fifty
thousand dollars, ding, ding andding, between fifteen and sixty thousand dollars
are saying to shoot that, toput on shoulder pads and go, oh,
I'm in the game like that,dude, I'll tell you right now.

(32:01):
We talk way more than that.Sometimes it's coherent I feel like we
should be getting way more money tothis show. I just guessed fifty thousand
dollars because they tried to do inthe quick mathmad Like, Okay, if
there's ten thousand players in the game, maybe they're getting five hundred bucks,
maybe they're getting any any case,these are different puddles. Yeah, you
gotta remember, like you're pulling fromthe puddle of name, image and likeness,

(32:22):
like basically like the actors, youknow, like like what your your
dad would get to be an extrain a movie? Please back backup,
back there, Okay, backup afterultim is in an extra? My god,
look please a SAG member, thirdthird, hobe hobo from the right,
you know whatever. And then there'sso there's that, there's the money

(32:42):
to pay the actors. But thenthere's also advertising money. And the advertising
money is up there. That's alot of money. So what what EA
Sports did is they go, here'syour you know, twenty seven cents to
be in the game. Here's sixtygrand to say you're in the game.
How you doing? How you likethat, don't you? Buddy? Arch

(33:06):
I know the list is floating aroundsocial media today, the best one hundred
players in college football. Can youimagine those guys in the list thinking,
hey, I don't see arch Onhere. I'm better than arch On didn't
fifty one thousand, fifty five thousand. Something's not adding up here. Yeah,
well you're not. You're not thebiggest name in college football who's never
played it down or whatever the hellhas he played a single down yet?

(33:27):
I don't even know. He mighthave got in during blowout time, but
it's so hard to figure that outnow. Because of the freshman red shirting
rules, you can play up thefour games now in red shirt. Yeah,
it's kind of changed. There wasa point where you couldn't even like
sniff grass right now, you couldn'tput the uniform on, kept the eligibility.
But now that and I believe thatrule was just made for football to
slow down the transfer portal, whichis a little sneaky too. All right,

(33:51):
car, He did get in onegame in November of Is this twenty
four to the fall of twenty three? Is that what it was? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yeah, the twenty twenty three
season. But no, yes,it's twenty twenty three stats. Two completions
on five attempts. But then itshows me Friday. Yeah, okay,

(34:15):
So the twenty third yep, yep, yep, November twenty fourth against Texas
Tech in a fifty seven to sevengame. I don't know why this was
so hard for me to understand.It's been a day, bro. I'll
tell you. Basketball and football alwaysget me on years because it's the fall
of but the championship game is playedin the next calendar year, which is
always tough to figure that. Ihate when people give us trivia questions of

(34:36):
what year did something happen? Ialways miss it by year worst worst,
and then the Super Bowl that's theone too. Like one of the one
of the people used to work forme over at the at the full team,
not before we were the Firebirds,did like trivia and tried to like
I gotcha, even though I waslike, but no, I gave you
the actual year that the game wasplayed, and you gave in your max

(34:58):
because I didn't do the c thatit was like and was so like,
would not just was so excited thatI didn't get one right. That wouldn't
accept like everyone's walking round Darius Prince, who at the time couldn't stand me,
like we were arguing about something stupid. You know, no, the
back's right, like it was likeno, no, no, no,
like yeah, because the years,if I get one, I'm never giving

(35:19):
up on it because I never getthose right, never happens. Yeah,
so Arch Banning, I mean,at what point do some of these these
guys just go, you know what, I don't want to play? Why
should I play? Like I like, it's like, like the backup quarterback.
I got the best job in theworld, make a couple hundred grand
a year, everybody chanced my namewhen the other dude screws up. If

(35:42):
I'm rch Banning, Like, isthere anything that can happen on the field
that will surpass the way I'm alreadyliving? No, I was thinking about
this, but we were talking.We had a little quick conversation about this
yesterday. We were lying from mohawkshiver. It's someone's gonna be the nil
athlete. Someone is gonna be like, yeah, I made three million dollars,
I'm not in the NFL. I'mall right, I'm good. You
guys give me all the money.I'm good. Go like like this like

(36:04):
this changed everything. You remember whenMatt Lioner Barkley NOTTT Barkley, when he
came back, it was like youwould have been like a top three to
five pick and then you came backand you you screwed yourself over hardcore got
hurt. But yes, yeah,you fell down a bunch of rounds in
the draft. Well yeah, Imean you listen, you you say got
hurt, Like I get it.You can't he didn't plan and get hurt.

(36:25):
You should have planned on going topfive in the draft. We should
have done. But like now,if if you do Chris Walker, now,
if you'll do that, you knowyou gotta look at the money like
it's there. There's cash to bemade at college level. Johnny Manziel probably
the legacy of Johnny Manziel. Hecould have been the first. Although he
made his money, yeah he metit. At this point he actually kind

(36:49):
of like, well, like EricDickerson and those guys, those are the
first NIL monies. They just wasn'tlegal at all back at SMU. But
like now, Manzel, I wouldcount him as an il. This is
a large I mean, we coulddo probably a whole show on this.
The NIL is still better for collegesports. It is like the product.

(37:09):
I laugh when I say this,and I know it brought this up a
bunch, but it needs to berepeated a lot. There was a time
in our lifetime, hell probably tenyears ago, when on this format,
in this medium sports talk, whetherit be on audio or visual, people
are like, you know, someof the best players aren't playing college basketball
or college football. What's the bestway to save the product dev and stay

(37:31):
around? Well, I don't know, maybe change eligibility, Maybe what about
pay them? What hey, butyou're not We're not gonna do that.
Shane gillisover here. We got ourselvesa comedian. That clip of David Pollock
and Rhys Davis and Desmond Howard.I don't think Corso was there Herb Street

(37:51):
where all four of them are thereand they're like, oh, can you
believe these guys not playing in bowlgames? Caring about their money? Oh
my? And then it's like ahundred thousand seat arena with the four and
a half hour pregame show, justlike the irony of them not slapping them
in the face, like this wasa real thing that happened if Oh yeah,
it always was about the money.I'm fired up for the game.

(38:13):
We're nine days away. You know, we've talked a lot about it.
Where the road to the PlayStation fivestarts tomorrow? Oh? How many?
How many days? I thought nine? Today's Wednesday comes out next Roaday,
okay, so I'm I'm nine daysaway from it because I've ordered it.
I have a PS five. Howmany far? How many? How far
away are you because you don't evenhave the you don't have the console,
you don't have the game? Uhzero? Because also, I mean on

(38:39):
top of that, like, ifeverything goes the way it's supposed to go,
I won't be here when it firstcomes out. Oh that's awesome,
LEVC. I will go over toyour house and play. I'll change the
locks. Oh well, I'll changeI'll change the locks. You're not getting
there if you go over there.You got to take care of the cats.
Gosh. I do want to playit though, figure that out.

(39:00):
I have two stories here that bringshame to us, shame to us,
shame, shame of this show,because they're both local sports stories. I
don't think we mentioned one of these, and I know for sure we haven't
mentioned the second one. First one, the proudest Schenectady our guy, Joe
Testator is joining the WWE CBA SchenectadiesI know we went to CBA, but

(39:24):
Joe Testator going to the WWE oneof the great voices of college football.
You love him in the fight gameas well boxing. I've told that story
before when I was probably twenty three, Testa taur Is calling a fight when
Mickey Ward was at the Turning Stoneinto the Verona area. I stayed after
just get a picture with Joe Testaturbecause I looked up to him. That's

(39:44):
like the guy. Yep, heis doing the WW. I set out
a tweet about it. Our GuyJosh on Twitter wrote, what do you
think about this guy's that's your boy? And I said, I want an
all Schenectady booth with him in thelegend Damon Bruce, Damon Bruce. Our
guy wrote back, brought to youby Thereshid's Delian Union Stree Plaza. What
do you make a test getting thecall out of the w Do you think

(40:05):
it's gonna work out? So?What's he gonna be in Michael Cole?
Yeah, Cole's gonna have one showand Testtour is gonna call the other one.
And he's still gonna keep the dutiesfor ESPN. I wonder if he
sound does he sound too professional.Here's the thing that's happening. Some of
the guys sound a little too professional. So the guys who have done it,
who haven't this is so weird wayto classify this. But I guess
the more sports centric guys I thinkabout ed Nan Verk, oh, gosh,

(40:30):
Jimmy Smith believes the other one's nameMarrow Ronello. So there's been like
a run of these guys who aren'tthe ones who came through the system.
They're all gone like they do itfor a little bit. My thought is
that those guys Marrow and Jimmy Smithand and and Verk just think, oh,
I'm a broadcaster, I can doit, and probably they've got a

(40:50):
really good agent. The way heis a broadcaster, he calls fights,
he's gonna nail WW. It's reallydifficult. Of the guys I just listed
off, the one I think thatcould do it the best is Joe Testitur.
But I don't know his wrestling knowledge, and you really got to know
you're wrestling to feel like the fansare on your side. So I think
it will work. I will watch, I'll be entertained, but I'll know

(41:13):
real quick if it's not working.You just know who's sitting next to him.
I thought it was Corey Graves andA Wade Barrett. I thought McAfee
and Cole were staying on the otherone. They put out a press release.
I will double check it, butI believe that was the take waed.
Parent's very interesting to me, Imade Barrett and Corey Graves is what
he will work with you, right, and they'll alter. They'll both be

(41:36):
there at the same time. Allthree will be there at once. So
he's got training wheel, so he'llbe Okay. Yeah, I think that's
that'll work. I just I don'tThe best part about Michael Cole is he's
got that professional voice and everything likethat, but he there's there's times that
you hear him talking and you're like, that is the dude that these dudes
used to put in a locker like. You can hear it in his voice

(41:59):
that he he's affected by what's happeningin front of him. I think Testa
Tour can do that, but I'mafraid it'll sound too it will sound too
much like an old school movie orsomething. But well, I'm I'm excited
for him. Obviously, one ofmy one of my favorites love hometown Guys
doing good. I would say,in the history of this show, the
one person who I would have likedas a guest that we have never had

(42:20):
on he is number one on thelist. Even I had a McNamara because
I feel like the mc damara thing, we've gone through that storyline before.
He hopefully he'll be on the show, But Tessa's been there a lot longer,
like McNamara just got the town testatour has had. We got so
close back in twenty nineteen to halfhim on. He backed out the last
second. So Joe Test Tour.Maybe he'll do some promotion for that.

(42:42):
But he's on the list of numberone theveac and Guy's guest or just Guy's
guess is your number one? Getyes, mcdamara's again macdar now, but
it's been forever, like a longerlasted one has been tested tour, Like
if you could have anybody at all, I'm not and dear God, just
to prove how wrong you are ifyou do a mount rushmore of who you
want on this show, if youcould have anyone at all, is he

(43:05):
even on the top four? Imean like I'm excited about, like,
dude, good dude, don't getme wrong, but like I'm I'm Bill
Murray. I'm not there Jeter becausehe as much i'd love to talk to
Jeter, he's gotta be boring.Uh if I could, if we could
do it over drinks like a boJackson, but like I don't know,

(43:27):
McAfee would be way ahead the testaturfor me. Shane Gillis would be on
it, but we'd have to prerecord. Selfishly, my four would be
Macna Merit four Testitour would be it. I wouldn't want to do Tyson Fury,
I think again, you gotta likefigure out how they're gonna respond to
the show and everything else. Somine would be Jerry mcnamarat four, testitur

(43:51):
at three, Jim Ross at twoin primetime, Adam Shine at one now
Adam Adam Shann think is purely selfishthough, because like that would be like
somebody you grew up watching in thebusiness, Like, okay, I'm gonna
have so Adam Shine is the ultimateget. Like if Adam Shane ever came
out this, he won't because somebody'sbut like that would be like if I
interviewed Shine and then they said youtwo are fired to be like, you

(44:12):
know what, that was a goodrun. I got that one out because
that he kind of influenced who you'vebecome. Yes, so like and probably
why more entertainer than sports talk showhosts like Bill Murray is who taught me
to be funny? Bill Murray,George Carlin, Bill Cosby before we knew
what he was drinking and hand outto other people. You be an interesting
guest? Well, I mean yougot to think about like, like most

(44:36):
of the people that I in theworld of sports that I would I would
personally most enjoy speaking to would probablybe the worst interviews in the world.
Like Harbaugh would not be a greatinterview unless you got him like unless he
unless he needed something from you professionally. Like if we go back to when
he was at Michigan and Rex isready to commit, we could get Harbaugh

(44:57):
on the air, and Harball wouldbe like, what do you guys want
to know? What you want toknow? Blood tied Last War of the
Social Mother's maiden name my you know, my nightmares, my dreams, what
do you want? I'll tell youanything you want to know. Just have
the kids signed on the dotted line. But like he wouldn't be, he'd
be born, Jeter would be boring. Mike Tyson is hard to figure out
what he'd be like Tyson would be. I would I would love how Hmmm,
that's a tough one, you knowthat when Sideways and we weren't in

(45:21):
the same room and I did Tysonto Tyson though, but he he knows,
he still knows a lot of peoplearound here. He could find me
if he, if he decided to. I would have to be respectful to
Tyson at all times. I think, yeah, yeah, that's it.
That's that's too tempting. That's tootempting, because like HERM Edwards, I
did her Edwards to herm Edwards.He hates me to this day, you
really he does. And it's justno one can figure out why he's Like

(45:45):
his agent was like, no,he likes everybody that we played the tape
for me goes wow, yeah,we're sorry, Like it's insane. You
may have interviewed this person before.I have not, but this self was
shame to us. But we didnot mention this until today. Shout out
to Shaker's own Jeff Hoffman All Starsselection for the Philadelphia h Jeff Hoffins An
All Start. They we probably shouldhave led the week talking about that with

(46:05):
a local tie. But shout outto Jeff Hoffins. He's had a wild
career. He's bounced around different franchises. He will be representing the Capitol Reagion.
Hopefully he gets in the game intwenty twenty four. We've had a
lot of cool Capitol Reagion ties inbaseball last few years and big games and
more with Ian Anderson, who Iknow, he's rehabbing back. He's looking
good, Tommy Cainley, Jeff Hoffinan All Stars shout out to him.
Yeah, I don't know if I'veever had him on because remember too,

(46:30):
like a lot of the time Ieither I either worked against or or right
after Roger Wiland, and Roger getsall the loves like like he he gets
them all like so like a lotof times you'd call those people's like representatives,
like I'd love to talk to him. Now he just did your station.
Yeah, but he just but notnot me. That's a good story.

(46:51):
Yeah, sorry, sorry about yourluck. Yeah, I'm trying to
think all the people I would Iwould definitely want to talk like I feel
like I had a really good conversationwith Bear Sanders, But that was I
was lucky that I had a cohost at the time who told me,
don't be hey, if you wantto be stupid and cliche and ask him
why I retired early, go ahead, and I just I pushed that out
of my head. I didn't doit, but it took everything I had

(47:12):
not to ask, like why whywhy? You know a thousand people have
asked and I've never answered. Why. Am I gonna tell you? Barry
Sanders is amazing. That documentary theydid run kind of was boring. He
doesn't talk about it. It's justnothing wrong with the content, the highlights
three, It's just him. Sometimesit's just the person, right, he
is as exciting as he is onthe football field. That that doesn't that

(47:35):
doesn't come out in like overall personality, Like I would love like Patrick Ewing,
but I I don't think that wouldagree. Yeah, the list goes
on and guys like that I'd beinterested in. That probably wouldn't be the
greatest on air, but uh yeah, that's it. I don't know why
that had to happen, but ithappened to the dump. So there it
is. Well that this could bethe last time you are in studio for
a long time. We might behitting about two weeks by the next time

(47:58):
you sit in the Grow Tomorrow atRivers Casinos, we start our C four
s mort Energy Bank World Challenge Fridaywhere at Saratoga. Next week at Honda
or an anerontech Tire where it's Sarah. We have so many live shows coming
up again in Jersey at the AmericanDream Mall. Yeah, man, yeah,
listen, I'm here whenever I gotI might be I might be a

(48:19):
phone in guest. Hopefully I'm oneof the top four people you want to
interview on the show, because itmight that might be how you get to
speak to me, uh, movingmoving forward, that could be a big,
big part of how you find andconnect with me. Speaking of finding
connecting, how about how to getto Saratoga in a cool way. C
DTA's Saratoga Summer Trolley is actually returningtomorrow and it'll run through Labor Day.

(48:45):
It's that popular trolley service. It'sa free of charge for customers, courtesy
of Nira Betts and the Saratoga CasinoHotel. The trolley operates Wednesday through Sunday
each week during the racing season fromnoon until ten pm. The trolley route
offers convenience service to the you know, the hotel attractions along Broadway and downtown.

(49:09):
Operates to the front door of theSaratoga Race Course and the Saratoga Casino
Hotel. So CDTA dot org,the navigator app the trolley's coming back tomorrow.
That's just a cool like you almosthave to do that just to have
the video of you on the onthe trolley. I mean, it's just
a cool thing. I remember likethe first time I saw that, I'm
like, what the hell is thatand why is it here? And then

(49:30):
I was like I need to rideon it. So that's back. So
thanks to our friends at CDTA forconnecting us to what matters and of course
doing cool things like the trolley.Guys, I wash your hands, don't
touch your face. How's that soundto you? It sounds good to me.
Fox Sports Rade of ninety five nine. I'm headed to booking a bet
ball. Hit that button.