Listen to @BenThomasPreps talk about @AHSAAUpdates @ONTHEDMARK1 recorded April 28

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Down in Auburn.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
They've been our hot line since we've been on the
air almost nineteen years. We're going to the Spanish fort
daph Near on the Mark to bring in our good
Monday guest Ben got Game Thomas with al dot Com.
Ben Thomas, Good morning, my friend.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good morning to my friends up in the Alburnoble Laka area.
Hang out doing today.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
We been good in the neighborhood. Are you good?

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Everything's wonderful. Got a sunny day and no rain. Everything
too bad? After work, I'm sitting here in my office
looking at how sunny it is over the pool outside.
But I can't work in the pool, so I guess
I want to get in it.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
No buddy, car Buddy call me about five thirty this morning,
going fishing.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Said he was on a coach. Sav called.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
I said, you going fishing at five thirty in the morning.
I said, life is good, coach.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
I guess that's that's not my thing fishing at five thirty.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
But I understand that.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I know he's living a good life down there.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
He was in George.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
We had a good little chat this morning. He wanted
to catch up on a little bit, so it was
good to hear from him.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
It really was good. You get you get any news
off the mark or ah.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
We were mainly just just we were really just talket. Well,
we were just talking some personal subjects. It wasn't anything
we were talking subject but it was personal talk.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, it wasn't anything. It wasn't anything sharing on the news.
It was just personal conversation being I want to ask
you a question. I hadn't really seen Jeff like this.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Take this now.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
First off, I don't like what happened to Shador Sander's
phone call.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's bad joke, but it is a joke. What's your
take on that? The prank call? And I saw, I said,
the prank call. The prank call.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, I don't. I mean, I think it's a bad deal.
I mean, I don't, you know, I don't know how
old the kid was the Falcon DC's son was. I mean,
it sounded like he was aduld or.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
He's at old miss, he's in college.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
It's a it's a bad look for the d C.
I think, Yeah, Rich, I mean, I think is it
you know they said that he left his iPad open
with a number on it or whatever.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Okay, that's what happened.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
I mean that's what I thought. That's what the Falcon
statement said about it.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
I didn't see that about it.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
A couple of days ago, sense of that effect, but yeah,
that's not cool. I mean, I you know, I it's
just unfortunately, I mean, you put your dad's job at risk.
I mean, I know it's a young guy and he'll
learn from it the sun I'm talking about, but I mean,
you're really going to be smarter than that. I mean,

(02:45):
you're really putting your dad's job at risk. I think
when you do something like that, you know, I you know,
the whole door thing I thought it was. I mean,
it's just I don't know why we're trying to make
a scandal out of everything. I mean, you know, those
NFL teams got to do what they think needs to
be done so they can win games, so they aren't

(03:05):
going to have jobs. You know. I think, uh, the
guy can play football, But I also think that probably
his attitude and his dad's attitude had a lot to
do with him him falling in the draft the way
he did.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
It's a business, isn't It's some business?

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yeah, it's multi million dollar business, and you got all
those guys making a lot of money, and if they
don't win, you know, they're gonna be looking for another job.
So I you know, I think those teams, if they
thought he could help them in the first round, they
would have taken them in the first round because they
want to win. But you know, I think there was
obviously not privy to everything that went on. But I mean,

(03:43):
I think obviously there were some red flags. There probably
not not a whole lot to do with his play,
I wouldn't think, but we'll see, We'll see where he
goes from here. I mean, I got nothing against the guy.
I think he's a great player, but I think, you know,
to make to make it out to be this big
kind travers where the NFL got together and didn't draft him,
I think it's probably not the right way to go.

(04:05):
But again that's not my, yeah, area of expertise.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
So yeah, it's just it's just kind of to me
I've never seen. I shouldn't say never, because I've been
around I can't recall. But and I'm not trying to
put it like this. It's like the young man that
they're this on that MS thirteen. It's over in wherever
we sent those prisoners out. Salvador this guy is. You
would think he's a pope the way there. At my point, yeah,

(04:31):
we can get behind something and just hammer it and
it's just like all not we I don't even know
who the first round of the pick was. I know
Shade Sanders didn't get drafted, but I don't know who
the other guys are. In my idea, I'm making a point, Ben,
it's like the whole draft is Chador Sanders draft.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
That's what this draft's about.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Once he fell out of the first round, then it
was let's make a controversy about it.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
It's all I heard you do is center, she do Saner,
she do, Center, she do Senter she do. And I
said I wasn't gonna talk about it, and here we go.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
And a lot of a lot of that is because
of who he is. You know that he's Dion's son.
I mean that that's all involved in that stuff. And look,
they brought some of that on themselves.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
They did.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
I didn't know we're gonna getting this topic, but they did.
They're retiring, They're retiring a jersey at Colorado.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Can't believe that I have a winter record.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
In saying Jeff told me that, I can't believe it.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
They're letting him do it.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I can understand. And retiring Hunter's jersey, I mean he
won the highest won the Heisman. I don't know. I
don't think you retire. I mean, you know, they obviously
had marked improvement since those guys got there, but I mean,
you know, it's not like they run the playoff or anything.
So but you know, to each his own.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I guess, yeah, I did not know. I did not
know that. I didn't know that either.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So and I heard, uh, I heard a clip of
Colin Cowherd clip I saw it on so for media
this morning where he was talking about that that Dion
had let had had made some statement before the draft
about you know, there are some teams that just don't need,
don't need to bother to draft us because we aren't
going to those teams. Well, those might be the teams

(06:14):
that wanted to draft you. You know, you just you
might have just alienated five or six teams that wanted
to draft you high up. So you know, if you're
gonna be picky, that's what you get.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
That is interesting, It is interesting, the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Let's get into the hs A we got baseball going on, Ben,
We're getting we got baseball, softball, what uh, I'm gonna
leave them out?

Speaker 1 (06:38):
Track, soccer, God finished up? Or no? Oh no, no, no, no,
God didn't finish up?

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Did it?

Speaker 1 (06:45):
Or did it? I gosh, I'm all behind.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
No no, no. Golf, Yeah, I think they're doing like
sectionals or something. This week. State tennis finished up. It
was going on down here. We're into softball area tournaments
or ongoing. Some of them have already been completed in
the Ward regional play there and then Hobefully you know,

(07:07):
the rain played played tricks on us in the north
part of the state, Birmingham North. For baseball, we still
got I was just looking at it. I think we've
still got six or seven series to be decided today
with Game three, some pretty big ones Homewood and Hartsville
play that Game three today, buck Horn and Mountain Brook,

(07:27):
Dan Hope, Elmore in Helena, Appalachian and Hackelberg. That's number
one and number two and Class one A playing in
Game three. So still some key games to be played
today as we hopefully that hopefully there won't be any
rain because they get put to another day. That's going
to affect you know, their next series. But it's uh,

(07:50):
we're getting down. We're in week week three coming up
for you know Classes one A, three, sixth A and
then obviously Class seven eight quarterfinals coming up up as well.
So I've been some good gay, a lot of walk
couple of walk offs, you know, Pauls John Stowers to
the two run walk off homer to beat Briarwood in
the in the game three, obviously that Bob Jones kid

(08:16):
hit a walk off homer to beat They rallied and
beat Thompson in a great series. And so now in
seven A you got Hewitt Trustll and Bob Jones, the
Hewett Trustle, the team that's been number one all year.
I think they've only lost two games against Bob Jones,
the reigning champ in the quarterfinals this week. So there's
gonna be uh, there's gonna be some huge matchups this weekend.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, those if games the third games today you got six.
So you got Buck Horning, Mountain Brook, You've got Heartsland Holmewood,
You've got Stan Hope and Helena Russellville, American Christian uh Burnt,
Vine Mott and Phil Campbell, Red Bay and Decatur heritage
and Hackelberg and Apple Acchian as you said, So there

(08:58):
you go, and of course they've got that.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Uh And if you don't, like I said, if you
don't know much about Apple Asian and Hackelberg, that's the
top two teams in our in our final baseball poll
was one A. So one of them going to be
uh not played in the quarterfinal round later this week.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, who's who's just off the cuff, who's the best
baseball team you've seen?

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Well, I mean I think you it is, uh thirty
one to two or whatever they are. They got to
be considered probably the best team of the state right now.
But I think seven eight, you know, like I said,
they got to play Bob Jones this week, who just
wanted the state title last year. So Hoover's still in it.
You know, Adam Moseley just wanted his fives on the
gamely Central Phoenix City. You know, it was always there.

(09:43):
You know, they've been seemed like they've been in the finals,
uh every year for the last couple of years. They
actually come down here to play fair hope. I think
this weekend in the seven eight quarterfinals, so I'll get
a chance to check them out as well. We've got
some surprise teams we'll still playing. Alberta is playing really
well there in the quarterfinals, probably as deep as they've

(10:04):
ever been down here, and and then you probably don't
know that much about it up here, but we've got
Saint Paul's and UMS right playing a quarterfinals series that's
gonna be because those are those are two big rivals
that are a couple of miles apart on the same
road in Mobile. I think they only played once during

(10:24):
the regular season. I think Paul's won two to nothing.
So we got some exciting baseball as we get ready
to head toward Jacksonville and Oxford to finish it off
in a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Fun time of the year.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
I saw that email go out about credentials for everybody,
and I was thinking, guy, here we are again being
right here at the at the home stretch.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah. I got track State track in Cortland and Gulf
Shores this weekend and just everything. You know, this is
probably the toughest stretch. People ask me, you know, what's
the toughest season? Is it football? And really not football
because you're limited on the sports you have in the
fall and ring. It's see the next couple of weeks
where just you got something going on every day. You know,

(11:05):
Soccer seems like their playoffs are every day, you know
until they get to the final four. You got softball
area tournaments playing on different days, and now and then
the rain can throw a kink into all of it,
you know, if we get bad weather. So it's a
it's a busy couple of weeks, but a fun couple
of weeks.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah, it is busy couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (11:25):
And Robert still has their new coach. As time told
as we unfolded last Monday, Monday, Justin Jones.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
I was gonna say nothing official, but it is official.
Uh yeah, you I kind of I kind of reason
that on the air with you.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
You did you nailed it.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
I talked to Justin a couple of times he decided
about taking the Robert Stale job. I don't know if
we said that, but former Borough are successful rebuilding different
programs and they all have the same task down here
at robert Son and roberts Dale. I think the last
time they made the playoffs, it was twenty fourteen or
something like that. That they've really not been a factor

(12:07):
for a while. They had a twenty four game losing
streak until the first game of last year, so it'll
be another rebuilding job for him. But he's confident. He
thinks he's got the blueprint to turn him around. They really,
they know. They Roberts down moved up two years ago
from six A to seven eight and that actually helped
them because if you play six KA football down here,

(12:29):
you're playing against Spanish Ford and sarah Land and McGill
uhlan and you know, all those teams. There's some good
teams in seven eight, but there's also it's not the
region down here is not as deep as that six
A region is. So they got a chance that they
come in and win a couple of games. You know,
they got a chance to compete for a playoff spot.
It's just they need somebody that's going to stay. You know.

(12:50):
Chris Bell was down here for a year and then
went to Tescalusa County and he won the first two
games and then lost the last eight. But I think
if he ha ha stayed around, he had a chance to,
you know, to win some games there. So it can
be done. Robert still is a good place. My wife
actually has a her insurance office is in Robertstown, which
is only about fifteen minutes from where I'm sitting right now,

(13:12):
So it's not a it's not an impossible task. And
you know, for a guy who's turned programs around before,
like justin, I think I think he's got a chance
to go in there. I'm not saying they're gonna want
to state championship, but I think he's got a chance
to go in there and you know, get some excitement going.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, I agree, and he's fired up about it, and
I think, like you, I think you'll get a good
a good uh you know what I mean, a good
long set and run at it. I'm proud for him,
and we'll see what Boarguard has to do. He left
their program in good shape and we'll see what they
have what they do next. There's been some interesting inquiries
I think about that job across the state.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Yeah, he's done it. He did a good job there obviously.
Like I said, he's been good everywhere he's been, so
it can be fun to see him ws Neil. Also
their new coach, Michael Simms. You know, it's the place
in the lake. Hugh Fountain, who you know, just had
that tragic and I got cancer and died in a hurry,

(14:10):
you know, as will happen sometimes. But Michael Simms been
a long time coach Fountain assistant, and I hadn't talked
to Mike yet. He uh reached out to him and
he was at a track meet or something, I think.
But we'll see if he can, you know how, if
he can get w S new, he can keep them
going in the way could coach fountains unfortunate passing?

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, that's that's tough. Yeah, I saw you guys, has
any other excuse me, what other jobs? Tell me?

Speaker 3 (14:36):
Are we well? I know we still got obviously we
have beouregard now and we still got Alberta. Nate mcdangill
step down there, and they just hired a new principle.
So it may be a couple of weeks before we
know anything about about what the Alberta. If you're not
if you're not familiar, that's kind of around robert between
Robertsdale and Foley in that area of Baldwin County. It's

(14:59):
pretty new new school within the last decade for sure.
They haven't done a whole day. Like I said, their
baseball team is now playing in the quarterfinals. But football
has been a real struggle for the football team. I
mean they're in that same region with Viger and Williamson
Ums right, Uh, those type teams, so it's hard to
hard to make any traction there. So we'll see. Maybe

(15:22):
Daniel's a good football coach, but he couldn't get it.
They got great abilities down there, but it just hadn't
just hadn't worked out for him and just don't have
the athlete some of these other teams have. So we'll
see interest on that.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Did have they got a coach? Something? I don't know.
I have to look on that one now.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
I think, Ben, I want I want to say, Pisco
did hire a coach and.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
I have to look at I'm looking at I may
have missed that when I was I was thinking about them.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
You know, they can't have some.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
You're probably on the golf course.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
Being those out of he knows that three was one
in his hand. Ben, there's no doubt looking at up
to Albert Gilbert. Albert Gilbert, it was previous the team's
offensive coordinator will take over from Luke Pruitt.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Okay, hey, Jeff, I don't want to spoil anything for you,
but Shudor Sanders didn't get dressed in the first round.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
I missed that one too, You know what I did
miss the braves of one seven out of ten? Who
the seventy three and the last ten? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (16:25):
You see we picked up again Anderson again.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
I mean I know they did not last tame.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
They did. He's with the team going to Colorado. Yeah,
see him pitching Denver. That's gonna be tragic.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
Bim balls are gonna be flying out of there. Ben,
he's so good. That was priceless. Whatever happened to Kyle?

Speaker 4 (16:47):
Right? You know he won like twenty one, twenty or
twenty one games towards arm up that he did.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Now he well, he's yeah, I think he had an injury,
but he he went somewhere else. I don't know if
we well, yeah, he was of course, he's you know
Alabama guy right where he is?

Speaker 1 (17:05):
He's a city royal.

Speaker 2 (17:07):
Oh yeah, y'all got I remember that he's one in
three with a six e R he's doing Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
I think Bukhorns we played almost a seven e aright.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, six nine seven being right?

Speaker 4 (17:19):
How do you go from winning twenty one to being
one in three man with.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
A six nine seven e r E. He was twenty
four and sixteen overall. Well, yeah, he's right as you Darvis.

Speaker 3 (17:30):
It's just our luck. Hey, how about how about the
bread giving up four homers to the same guy the other.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
Day and one one and one.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
But you know, I'm looking not to change back to this,
I'm looking at right, here's the era's for in twenty
eighteen four or five in twenty nineteen. Of course he
didn't pitch that eight point six five point two nine
point nine three point one.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
And he had one year with that line that won
twenty one games. That's it. That's it.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
He's got twenty four major league wins and he had
twenty one in Atlanta. He's been in the league since eighteen.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
Mm hmm, well if we if we struggled, we just
promote Jesse shives as again.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
I like Jesse.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
He throws strikes bore you too, so strikes.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (18:17):
He pictures the contact there. They may contact it way
on out there, but.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
They ain't walking people. Yeah, good stuff, all right, man,
Anything else, buddy road before we go?

Speaker 3 (18:32):
Oh man, I don't uh, I can't think of anything.
We'll see, you know. I think HSA continues to hit
some people with eligibility issues. Think we got another one
of those last week.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Four somebody in softball.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, so they are, you know, they are taking whatever
is giving to them seriously and investigating it, it seems like.
And then we'll, you know, we'll keep waiting to see
what this task force does with the transfer issue, if anything. So,
but got to get through these next month. Got to
get through the on the playoffs first, and it'll start

(19:09):
looking at there will be timeball.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
People need to do the right thing. You know, the
copy that Spike Lee's movie do the right thing to
all these teams.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Being held cure it wouldn't. He's something else. But you
you know what get me is I'll.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Post those things on there when the HSA releases. In
the comments from these other guys about getting those small scoots,
they made me laugh.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Then I swear it's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
You know the thing, you know who they are there
whole they're they're funny. You have to admit those guys
are funny.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
Now, I mean, go out.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
They can do no right, no right, no right.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
They'll hammer somebody, but it's the wrong hammer. You know,
we're gonna get the so and so for this. But
we're not gonna go after so yeah, yeah, being tell
everybody where they can read your information, read your articles
and stuff.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Yeah, just go to ail dot com. You can find
us and direct it to the high School page. If
you haven't, if you're not subscribing to our newsletter, we
should do that. Just go to al dot com backslash newsletters.
It comes out on the main one comes out on
Thursday afternoon with trivia to get that whole question and
stuff like that. So but yeah, that's what. And you

(20:24):
can follow me at Ben Thomas Prepps. Almost forgot my
text account there, but uh so we'll have stuff, lot
of stuff going on.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
All right. We thank you, my family, doing good, everybody all.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
Right, everybody, everybody's doing good.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Everybody good good, all right, have a great week, Ben,
thank you, buddy.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
All right, thank you sir, Thank you.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Ben