Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hana onto the fun court. He'll drive it inside man
all the way in left tens slam.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Wow, that is why you do the boo.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Doo that you do so well.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
All Right, it's four nineteen. It's the Andy Everage show
on the ticket. The Spurs take on the Cavaliers tonight.
As the season winds down, it will also be the
end of the twenty four year reign for the voice
of the Spurs, Bill Shoney. He joins us today. Bill,
First of all, congrats on your time with the Spurs.
But as you go into this last week or so
(00:35):
of the season, when did you say no Moss and
what was what are your memories of our a memory
of of your time here?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Wow, I don't know if I could narrowed down a
one memory. Going into the season, I kind of had
a feel and this might be it for me. Andy.
It's the twenty fourth season. As you mentioned, you know,
I'm still very very blessed, and I got good health.
I'm sixty six years of age, so I'm still young
enough to do some other stuff after I retire. So
I think I still want to do some other broadcasts,
maybe football, get back into doing some football, doing some baseball,
(01:07):
which of course I couldn't do while I was doing
the Spurs. But really the main reason is because I
want to spend some time with family, travel a lot,
continue writing. You know, I've written one book, I probably
have another book in me, so I got a lot
of stuff I want to do during retirement. I don't
think i'll be sitting around. You know, maybe i'll get
the golf clubs out too. Andy. I'm no golfel like you,
but I haven't flown the clubs in a while, so
maybe that'll be something I'll take up and have a
(01:28):
little bit more time for in retirement. But I'm looking
forward to the downtime. But if I had to go
to one moment in time, it probably would have been
that game where you just played that clip where Manu
dunked on Ray Allen in Game five of the NBA
Finals in twenty fourteen. I think for a lot of
us that went through the heartbreak of thirteen, the redemption
year of fourteen, not just the championship run but the
(01:48):
entire season and then of course punctuated by the dominance
over the Miami Heat in that five game series.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
You know, people that don't do what you do or
what I do with for UTSA will not necessarily understand this,
but we live our lives around the sports calendar and
somebody says, hey, do you want to go on a
vacation of the Colorado in December? Nope, can't go. I
want to go to Europe in January? Sorry, can't go.
And I think Marv Albert once wrote a book it
was something like, I'd love to, but I have a game,
(02:16):
and I mean, there's things that you want to do.
And I remember one year the Spurs missed the playoffs
and you got to go to the Kentucky Derby, which
was a bucket list of it. That didn't happen very
often because they were deep into the playoffs almost every year.
So I think that's one thing that people sometimes forget
that this is not a normal job. Your life revolves
around when the team's.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Playing, absolutely, you know, and of course when you look
at the schedule when it comes out, you know what
your life is going to be like for the next
seven months. And yeah, I'll be very fortunate to be
with the Furst. I've had the summers off and that
has given me a little bit of a tease Andy
to go hit these national parks. My wife and I
like to hike. I'm we go to these national parks.
We get thirty three of them in the last twenty
four years. With the SPURSS, we've had so much time
(02:56):
in the summer. So we're going to do a lot
more exploring and do things like that. But I certainly,
like I said before, I don't want to hang up
the microphone completely. I still want to keep my hand
in it, but not on a full time basis anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, and there's so many things that are going on.
Every school now has ESPN, plus there's it's trickling all
the way down now into the Division two schools, and
I'm sure they'll go further than that. So there's tons
of opportunities out there that you don't necessarily have to
commit to everything. You can kind of just pick.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And choose when you want to exactly, you know. And yeah,
I still have a lot of other interests, like I said,
my music and writing and you know, just a bunch
of stuff, volunteering. I want to do some mentoring too.
Andy there's an outfit out of North Carolina. You may
know Dave Goren from Wake Forest, but he is also
the president of the National Media Sports Association, and he's
(03:44):
got a new program that he's starting up called a
mentorship program, and I'll have an opportunity to work with
some college students on their play by play as they
try to, you know, get better and further themselves in
their careers.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
I've been asked from time to time with young broadcasters
talk show hosts want to bees or that's what they
want their career to be. What do you especially play
by play? What do you think is the most important thing?
And I always tell them learn the game. Learn what
if you're calling a game and you don't understand strategy,
(04:14):
go ask the coach or a player. And you've been
around the Spurs for twenty four years and Texas for
fifteen before that, so you've had a chance to pick
the brains of some of the best coaches and players
and understand what they're really trying to do on the court.
And I think that's sometimes young broadcasters just want to
go back and read all the stats and make it
(04:35):
sound like they prepared, but learn the game.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
When I got the play by play job the University
of Texas, I'll never forget this. John mcavic had just
been hired as head coach, and I really wanted to
do a good job. This was the job of my
career when I was thirty two years old and I
was the voice to the Texas Longhorns after three years
serving as the color analyst, And so I asked him,
I said, can I meet with your coordinators once a
week to go over the game plan, to go over
you know what their strategies are going to be? And
trust me enough to know that I'm not going to
(04:59):
go to the other tea or broadcast on my talk
show with the strategy job. I just want to know,
you know what the strengths and weaknesses are or the
other team. And I got to meet with the coordinators
a half hour each week, the offensive coordinator and the
defense coordinator and really helped me understand what the strategies
were going into the game and made me a play
by play guy.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
All right, let's you look at the success of this organization,
and it starts with pop, and it starts with r
C and it starts with Tim Duncan, and maybe he
I should have mentioned him first, because everyone says if
twenty one wasn't here, everything would have been vastly different.
But give us a bill showing Tim duncan moment if
(05:38):
you will.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh wow. You know, he never called me Billy, just
called me Philly because of DJ Carlissimo, who gave me
that nickname Silly Billy, which of course I didn't like,
and because they didn't like it, it stuck. So, you know,
all those old school guys when I first got there,
Bruce Bowen, Malik Rose, Tim, all those guys, Steve curR
the first time around or second time around, I guess
for Steve, but they all call me Philly, and it
(06:00):
just it's just so funny. So Tim was always calling
me Philly. And one time I think he addressed me
that way, and I think it was my wife who
was there as one of those you know, tuxs and
tennis things, you know, So did he just call you Philly?
And they all call me Philly? So anyway, but so
many great moments of Tim through the years, and of
course just watching him on the court. I had a
picture some one some of the other day I was
between Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neil. They were having not
(06:22):
an argument that were just kind of talking on the
floor and I was right between them. And when Shaq
in his later years was playing for Phoenix. So I
think Shaq was probably rocking about three sixty back then,
you know, he was. He was a big old back
in late in his career, Shack was a little bit big,
you know. But anyway, I just love that picture because
between these two Hall of famers, and it reminded me
of those great battles those two would have through the years.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Do you have a I know Philadelphia is your hometown,
but that or any other city that you went to
for games. Was there a city you enjoyed more than
any of the others.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
No, it's funny. I really enjoyed calling games in Indiana Indianapolis.
I loved that arena there. In fact, the Bank Center,
originally the SBC Center, was kind of designed. I think
that they took a look at that arena when they
looked at what they want to do. It's really kind
of a fieldhouse field. So it's probably my favorite arena
and to call game in the NBA. I love going
back to Philly, but all these great cities that we
go to, I'm really spoiled. New York is probably my
(07:15):
favorite because there's so much to do. And this last
trip this last year fitting for me. We had five
days over the holidays in New York City, so that
was really special. My son Carl got to come up
and do stats for me, and we went to a
couple of Broadway shows and so it was just really
really a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
How proud of you are of what Carl has done
following in your footsteps.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
You know, I think he's really gaining traction Andy. You know,
he works real hard at it. You know, he's you know,
your guy over UTSA. Uh, and he learned how to
do volleyball and soccer, which I've never done, you know.
And he also learned how to work behind the scenes
and manage you know, live sportscast live you know, all
of live streaming that he does right now. So all
of that kind of stuff that went way past me,
(07:54):
you know. So I was just a play by play guy.
But he's really embraced that. I think he's doing a
good job for UTSA. I think he's got a brace.
All right.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
You got a game tonight. The Cavaliers are in town,
and they're pretty good. And everybody's picking Boston in the East,
but this this team, Cleveland's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Cleveland's very good. Jared Allen really dominated the Spurs last
time out with twenty nine points and fifteen rebounds. He's
a kid from right up the road in Roalmrock and
of course went to University of Texas, So I think
that'll be one of the keys that I trying to
contain him.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Mike Bartlett has been one of your producers, are the
producer for most of your career. Mike, I want to
ask her say anything to Bill before we let him
go get ready for a game tonight.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well, definitely don't want to give away all the off
air stuff that we you know, chit chatted to.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
The off air stuff is the best part it is.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Hey, wait a minute, guys, you just gave me an idea.
The off air stuff might be my next book, next book, Yeah,
off air stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
There you go. But like Bill says, yes, he does
have a book. It's on Amazon everywhere. Story sports and songs,
you know from Bill showing. We never got the audio
book though, getting going yet. But if that ever gets
up and going, uh it is.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Mike Bartlett the audio the audiobook for two years. Yeah,
it's out there, you can go get it.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
But some of my favorite by the way, some of
some of my favorite memories, you know, talking off the air,
and it is in the book, Uh, when we were
in Toronto talking about Scotia Bank Arena, and obviously the
the Boss Bruce Springsteen gets brought up in that. Uh.
But one of my favorite mistakes that Bill did was
(09:34):
I've never made any never never never made any never
made any. But one of my favorite ones that I
chuckled that that I have somewhere deep in my files. Uh,
Contavious calledwell Pope when he was playing for the Lakers,
and Bill unfortunately saidous called well Poop.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So one of my one of my all my opinion
of the player, I just mispronounced his.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Name real Breciate.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
You know, with all the farms coming in, you know,
it's a wonder that I didn't mispronounce those names. But
of course an American name I screw up.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, but yeah, it's It has been a pleasure and
honor for seventeen seasons, sir, and like I tell you
all the time, best in the business and we will
definitely miss you on Spurs Radio. Love you, buddy.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I appreciate that. I appreciate that. Mike. Just for clarification,
and you're probably wondering about that whole Scotia Bank thing.
I am notorious for being late in changing arena names.
I got Frostbank Center right away. That's her home arena.
But you know, throughout the league, these arenas changed every
couple of years, and sometimes I don't get the memo
and we don't look at the floor. So for years,
Conseco Fieldhouse remained Conseco Fieldhouse. Long afterwards, what is it
(10:44):
Bridgestone Life for whatever it is now, I don't even know.
But whatever it is now, it never became that. It
was always Concco field House. Yeah, it was the Air
Canada Center until it was the Scotia Bank Arena, which
I called the Nova Scotia Bank Arena, which is not
accurate either.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Yeah, I'm kind of with you. It takes me a
while to remember that they've got they've got a corporate
name that they've changed hands from time to time. Well, Bill,
thanks so for.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
The corporate Like the ball games, right, the red River
Shootout and is now sponsored by AT and T or somebody,
So I would always forget to mention who the red
River Shootout was sponsored by.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, and that's the red River rivalry. Because for some
reason they didn't like shootout, so I guess I'll be
the connotation to that. But anyway, gotcha. Well, Bill, thanks
so much for joining us today. Enjoy the rest of
this season, and if you want to tee it up sometime,
let me know we'll.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Go do that. I'll have to get some practicing before
I get out there with you, Andy, but I appreciate
your nice comments and anytime, thanks very much for having me.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
All Right, that's Bill shooning another week or so for
the Spurs as the team's voice, and he'll retire when
the season comes to a close here in the next
few weeks. And you'll hear him tonight when the Spurs
take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Let's talk more NBA. It's
coming up next. It's the Andy Everage Show. On the
ticket